Frostbitten Past

X X I I I

IT WAS a blur after that. Noah wasted no time wrapping his arm around Andorra to take her down the stairs, past a glaring Kyle. If looks could kill, then Kyle's would be lethal as he held his hand to his nose, thick red blood dripping down his face from Noah's punch. Andorra didn't dare look him in the eyes, not after what they'd said to each other days before.

Noah led her out of the house, down the steps and out to his car. The entire way, she didn't say anything, didn't know how to say anything. In the back of her mind, she didn't believe that Kyle and Paul would just let her leave. No, there would be some implications.

When she strapped herself into Noah's car, and when he pulled out of the driveway, then she began to wipe her tears. She felt foolish suddenly, sitting in his car alone, blubbering like a baby. She wanted to be stronger than that. She needed to be stronger than that, but that was easier said than done.

"Noah, so is everything true then? I'm a faerie?"

Noah's grip on the steering wheel was so tight, but his face was a mask once again, giving absolutely nothing away as he stared at the road. He didn't even look at her, didn't even offer her reassurance. "Yes, it's true. I'm not sure what they told you, though. Or how much they left out."

She fidgeted in the seat, her body suddenly freezing in her dress. Goosebumps broke out across her skin as she wrapped her arms around herself. "I'm... a sun faerie? And the... Sun Clan was banished? There was a war... your clan was banished too. You're in the snow clan, right?"

It made sense; he was so cold all of the time, always looking like he came from the snow itself.

"Yes, I am. I'm not like Kyle, though. I'm not just some seeker."

She nodded, remembering everything Paul had said to her, even though she'd been distraught during it all. "You're the clan leader's son. And that's important... I think."

He didn't say anything to that for a moment. In his mind, this had all played out differently than it currently was. In his mind, she would be looking at him with those wide eyes, that bright smile, and she would be curled up on his couch. Maybe his lap. And he'd tuck her blonde hair behind her ear while he told her about the magic of his homeland, the place he'd only dreamed of, the place where things were magical. He would charm her with stories passed down from his ancestors, stories that he'd memorized as a young child. He would stroke her warm, soft skin and tell her about her own heritage, tell her about her own legacy back in this magical land.

It should have been different. He had wanted it to be different, but Kyle had stolen that from him, like everything else. It should have been Noah at that dance with her. It should have been Noah sitting beside her at lunch and in class and by her locker, sharing secret smiles.

Instead, he was sitting in his car, not even looking at her, telling her the worst news of her life. That she too was a faerie, and that whether she wanted to leave or not, she would be returning to Anlithamy. With or without him.

"Yeah. Something like that."

She ran her fingers through her hair, cringing at the knots she found from days without showering and days without a hairbrush. "If you aren't a seeker, why did you come for me? Don't you have seekers of your own?"

He wanted to tell her everything, right then and there, but he didn't. He bit his tongue and squeezed the steering wheel tighter so he wouldn't be tempted to touch her, or pull the car over and make it different.

He knew how she would react to him pulling over. Her eyes would widen, and her cheeks would redden, and she would look at him with that expression that nearly broke him. The same expression she'd given him in the library. The same expression she'd given him when they first met.