Subject #013 | ✓

Chapter 15

My body leaves its dreaming state in phases. First, my senses. I can smell the scent of Colorado blue-spruce trees. I can feel the dusty texture of ashes beneath my fingertips.

Then comes the mortality. The hard ground digs into my side, making me extremely uncomfortable.

The thing that comes last is the feeling. The cold digs into me like a shovel, scooping out shovelful after shovelful of the warmth that was once there. It reddens my cheeks and nose, it freezes my eyelids shut, it swoops in like an eagle when it spots its prey, coming in for the kill. I'm the image of all things ice and snow. My toes are frozen in my boots, and my fingers are barely hanging on by a thread before they give in too. A blanket of snow covers me, coating my lashes and hair with white flecks. It must have snowed last night.

"Princess? You awake?" I hear a shaking voice call from behind me. It takes all of my effort to move, my lips attempting to open in response. Nothing, not even a word escapes my lips. "Looks like my little Fireball lost her heat. That might be a good thing, though."

I'm suddenly being lifted and pressed against a warm body. Alix. I let out a long sigh, leaning into him.

"If you say anything about this to anyone, I'm going to kill you." I mumble, half-unconscious.

He lets out a small laugh, and his chest rumbles with it. I press my head against his heart, listening to the steady da-dum, da-dum, da-dum of it. It almost lulls me to sleep again, but right before I pass out, Alix speaks again.

"Well, I'll enjoy it while I can, then."

I don't even have the strength to roll my eyes. "Where's Liz?" I ask, once I'm awake enough to process that she's not where she was last night.

"She said she was going for a walk to warm up and that she'd be back in about ten minutes." He says, and he must catch my expression, because he adds, "She also said not to worry about her."

That's the catch, isn't it? There's always a catch. .

"You are aware she could turn us in for the money, and that's where she is." I say, looking up at him. The feeling in my fingers is slowly coming back.

"She won't." He says, calmly.

"You said that we wouldn't need the sleeping bag in that tone of voice." I say.

I can practically hear him roll his eyes, though I'm not looking at him. "Can't you trust me? Just a little bit?"

"I do." I say, but he sees right through my half-truth.

"No you don't."

I say nothing, just stare at my hands bunched up in the front of Alix's shirt. A few minutes pass before I pull my hands away and untangle myself from him.

"I have to go back to Silverton." I say finally.

He nods, before crossing his arms in front of his chest. I open my mouth to explain but he speaks first.

"I know. You have a life. I understand." He says.

The way he says you have a life squeezes my heart, making it difficult to breathe. He doesn't understand. I don't have a life anymore. It's silly of me to hope that I can simply walk back into Silverton High School like I never left. If I did, I would be alone. Completely and utterly alone. If I even made it to the high school without getting intercepted by police and taken to jail for being seen communicating with a thief the whole world is after.

"At least let me take you back." He says firmly, because knowing Alix, his mind is saying act first, ask questions later.

I open my mouth to protest, but I shut it in defeat. If I tell him not to, he'll follow me anyway. Plus, I need him. I have no idea which direction we came from. I let out a sigh, running my thawing fingers through my hair.