The Razor's Edge: A Jack Frost Fanfiction

Chapter 33

Kate's face held an unreadable expression as she lowered the precious letter into her lap and looked up.

"How are you feeling Kate?" Asked Grace. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Gran, and I'm not angry at you for keeping this from me." As Kate spoke the words, a weight seemed to be visually lifted from both her grandparents' shoulders. "I'm glad you waited to show this to me actually." She paused for a moment with a contemplative look on her face. "I wanted so desperately to get some answers about my family before, but I don't think I could have handled reading this up until recently. So I am thankful that you were looking out for me like you always have."

Even though I had just met her grandparents and only recently learned more about Kate's mother, I felt myself tearing up. Everyone in the room was a little teary-eyed as the exchange came to a close, so I chose to blame it on the atmosphere.

"Well, thank you so much for the tea but we really should be getting back."

"So soon? You aren't going to stay here? But this is where all of your stuff is," Grace protested.

"I know, but for now my place is with the guardians. I promise I'll come back when I can."

"Oh, alright," Grace reluctantly accepted. "You better take good care of her or you'll have to answer to me," she threatened me. Though her words were harsh, there was genuine concern in her eyes. Behind her threat, she was really asking me to look after Kate.

"Of course, I'll do my best, Grace."

Kate gave both of her grandparents a goodbye hug, and I was somehow roped into it by Rick. After everyone had said their farewells,  Kate and I left her grandparent's house in silence. I wanted to ask Kate about the letter but didn't know how without prying or being rude. Before I had the chance to come up with something, Kate broke the silence.

"Hey, let's go do something wild."

The was the absolute last thing I was expecting her to say. "Uhm, wild how?" I asked with a small laugh. Kate sure is full of surprises today, I thought.

"Wild like, let's break into the abandoned bowling alley, it's only five minutes away from here," Kate said with a bounce in her step.

"Kate Alder, I would never have expected this kind of criminal behavior from you," I paused, pretending I was disappointed in her rather than wishing I had thought of it myself. "But, I suppose if no one can see us, then we can't get in trouble." I had to wonder though if her sudden spontaneity had anything to do with needing a distraction from her mother's letter.

"Aand, it's abandoned so no one's using it anyway," Kate drew out the 'a' in 'and' as she explained her very sound reasoning. "At least the building will serve one last purpose before they tear it down next month."

"Mhm. Okay, you've convinced me, let's go," I said as I grabbed her hand and call the wind to carry us to our destination. For some inexplicable reason, the wind felt a little sad today. It wasn't a tremendous difference from the usual motherly persona she usually showed, but I could just feel that something was making her sad. I hope, where ever she is, that she's okay.

Our feet crunched on the gravel as the wind set us down inside the fence that walled off the bowling alley from the rest of the world. Our own little sanctuary awaited just beyond the no trespassing sign hanging on the chained doors. I reached out with my staff and froze the chains, then I smashed them with the other end. I held the door open for Kate and said, "Ladies first." She responded with a roll of her eyes but headed in before me without further protest.

Looking around with the limited light coming from the windows, I could see bowling balls still in the ball return and scattered pins knocked down at the end of a few lanes.