THE SECOND INTERRUPTION

 

‘Twas a steamy ride for a measure of reasons, and not one had to do with the translucent puffs of shimmer frothing from the train’s pipes.

After bidding farewell to Cornelius Britley and watching as Cornelius conspicuously grinned at Eliot’s situation, Kaley Bell led her captive off the train platform and into a town she knew only as an oval-shaped mass on a map she had glanced upon a quarter or three ago. Within slender hotels of shimmering red banners and pockets of tinsel, Kaley spotted a building with an ivory door, where pale steam painted the window’s insides like milk.

“You can’t possibly know where we are,” Eliot Gray tried, grimacing at the flock of crystal toads hopping along the town’s walkways, guided gently by an elf wrapped in crimson blossoms.

Kaley ignored him, yet still Eliot went on, “If you knew the rules of Winter, you’d avoid places like this. Places that are red,” he offered. After another pinch with no response, he tried a time again. “It’s not safe for us to be here, Trite. I’m on your side, you know. I went to the dead world to offer my apologies and bring good tidings to your sister.”

Eliot Gray abandoned his natter as he was led into the building with the ivory door. He drew a puzzled face, taking in the hot drink tavern he had visited a time or three in seasons past. “How did you know about this place?”

Yet a time again, he was ignored. Kaley lowered her Trite weapon and scanned the bustling tables, grabbing faces she would never forget into her memories.

Silence often spoke greater volumes in her opinion. ‘Twas in the silence Kaley was able to recall that morning of the not-so-distant past when pale-skinned monsters had come to her grandmother’s house with their long bows and violet eyes. They had hovered over Winston as he ate his morning oats—Kaley had nearly jumped from her fair skin at the sight of them when she’d descended the stairs. One had leaned to whisper in her brother’s ear, “Season’s greetings, Trite. Blink twice!” The words still haunted Kaley’s thoughts like a bitter whiff of smoke.

Eliot released a grunt when she did not say a thing. “Suit yourself. But if I have to let you drag me through the frostbitten snow, I’m getting a chocolate brew first.”

Kaley did not stop him when he left for the counter. She laid the rusted shotgun against the wall, for it was out of bullets anyway. She patted the metal barrel in thanks, offering a thought to her grandmother who had once taught her how to use it. And there inside the building with the ivory door, she would leave the Trite weapon of her ancestors.

Kaley’s attention travelled the misty room to a place Eliot had not bothered to look, where a rather charming boy in raven-black with a fur hood was flashing his strikingly wide grin all too carelessly. A sigh of disbelief escaped Kaley’s pink lips, for the boy did not seem to have a clue that he made magic with that smile.

Kaley waited until the youthful Patrolman spotted her. The look on his face was confusion at first but turned to candy and stars as he rose from his seat, heating the air with that impossibly, dangerously infectious smile.

Lucas Leutenski sauntered through the tables. The rich topaz of his eyes glowed, but the colour fizzled when he spotted Eliot Gray at the counter. A speck of uncertainty blotted his light as he looked from Eliot to Kaley, then back to Eliot a time again.

“What exactly are you doing here, Trite? Nothing responsible, I imagine,” Lucas said as he approached. He offered that treacherous grin again.

“You’re right, nothing responsible.” Kaley nodded toward Eliot who had gotten comfortable on a stool and was making a selection from the menu. “I’ve brought a prisoner here.”

“Well, that’s juicy. Please, explain that merry muddle to me,” he insisted. “Unless you’d rather I drag him into a brawl on your behalf? I think we could get the rest of the shop to join in; break some perfectly good tables, maybe even shatter a window or three.”

“As much as I’d love to see you two toss punches at each other to ease your inflated egos, I came here for you, actually.”

“Really?” Lucas bit his lip through his smile.

“My job is done with Eliot. I need to ditch him,” Kaley said.

Lucas’s eyes transformed to golden suns. “I was hoping you’d say something like that, you perfect little Trite darling.” His gloved hand came out. “Allow me to sweep you away on my steed.”

They quietly slipped out of the shop and to the alley. Kaley’s forest-green eyes rounded at the sight of that massive beast she had forgotten was so large and sharp. Helen’s plan had seemed like a clever idea until Kaley was before Lucas Leutenski’s reindeer again, and once there, she could not remember why she had agreed to any of it. The spears of its antlers sang a tune of death, slicing the air toward the pale Winter sky.

Lucas mounted the beast with a high leap. Taking a deep breath, Kaley approached on tiptoes, but Lucas snatched her by the arm and hauled her up, setting her in front of him atop the deer. Kaley tried not to react when he wound his arms ‘round her waist to hold the reins at her sides. Though, she did notice that he was rather warm.

“Where to?” Lucas asked, breath steaming in the air.

“Just get me away from here,” she said. “I never want to see Eliot Gray again.”

“Ragnashuck. That’s the loveliest thing I’ve heard all day,” Lucas said. But the youthful Patrolman leaned over and hollered through the shop’s cracked-open window, “Get frostbite, Gray! You positively scotchy rung-nut!”

And they took off.

 

 

A measure later, a windswept, rosy-cheeked Lucas brought the deer beneath a glistening, glass willow. The skies had creamed to soft white as a salty blizzard roared in. ‘Twas there that Lucas decided to take shelter in a cove of muscled evergreens, slowing the creature to a modest trot.

“Though I’d never object to a pleasant ride through the Winter winds with you, perfect-little-Trite-darling, I wonder where we’re really headed? You didn’t actually come here alone with Gray, did you? It wouldn’t make a pinch of sense if you did,” he asked.

Kaley twiddled her thumbs before she answered. “Well aren’t you clever, Lucas Leutenski. Alright, we’re going to the Green Kingdom. You and I are going to steal something from Timber Castle.”

At her back, Lucas yanked the reindeer to a halt, throwing Kaley off. He hopped down to catch her and plant her feet on the snow before she turned into a cranky, damp Trite mess.

Pinning Kaley against the deer’s warm fur, Lucas blinked, all the fun and giggles gone from his face. “What was that, Trite?” he asked. “There must be frost in my ears, because I thought you said something terribly scotchy.”

“I think you heard me,” Kaley returned.

“Why would I ever willingly go to Green?” Lucas asked, blinking slow and deliberate.

“To steal a crown. It’s the first step in Helen’s plan,” she said, but her voice dipped on her sister’s name. She cleared her throat, and Lucas stopped his blinking.

“This is Helen’s plan?” he prodded, and Kaley nodded, though she flicked her gaze to a passing bug in the air. “You must think me a spinbug,” he said.

Kaley released a breath through her nose. “I’m here for Helen, that’s all you need to know. And frankly, I’m starting to wonder why you still don’t get why I came here looking for you of all the Patrolmen in Winter.”

Lucas’s topaz eyes narrowed. “Whose crown are you luring me to steal with you, Trite?” The daredevil himself seemed to fear the answer.

But Kaley spoke the words anyway. “I need to steal the queen’s crown. The Crown of Pines.” And then, “perfect-little-Rime-darling.”