X-Marks: Hiding Shadows

Destiny

We walked at the center of a frostbitten path. The sky was lit with deep reds and getting darker by the minute. Evee and Nate were still whispering in each other ears, and Ocean was lost in her book again. Without my tracker, or my closest friends I looked at the map of the postcard.

"Where'd you get that?" Nate said to me.

Nate's eager eyes stayed fixed on the etches of the map as we walked.

"It was given to us," Evee said, and walked closer to Nate, "Do you know how to read it?"

Nate nodded and put his hand near mine, "You mind if I look?" he said.

I placed the postcard in Nate's hand.

"You're lucky, this one has a scale," Nate said and held the postcard up to the last of the sun.

"So you do know how to read it!" Evee said, her heels bounced off the soil.

"How did you learn to read a map?" Ocean said and slowed her pace up the path.

Nate quieted and choked on his unfinished words.

"It's okay," Evee said and took the postcard from his shaking hand, "You don't have to say a thing. We understand, more than you know. Y. You'll see."

Nate's shoulders fell from under his neck and made his small body dwarf under his already baggy clothes.

"You losers better hurry," Mat said from the front of the path, "If the Allies come, I'm not coming back for any of you."

Nate looked at all sides and grabbed onto the bandage of his forearm like it was keeping him on the ground.

Evee held Nate's arm steady, "Correction," she said and handed me the postcard, "Most of us understand."

I retrieved the postcard and put it back into my bag.

"But we're going to need a lot more than a map," Nate said with the chip of his tooth in full view.

Evee pointed to the blinking tracker in my hand.

"We do have a lot more, just don't know how to use it all," Evee said and rested her arm on Nate's shoulder, "But, something tells me you can help us with that."

Nate shook his head and rubbed the back of his dirty neck.

"I can try," he whispered.

"Well, you've been more of a help, than lard brain up there," Evee laughed.

"Then this was destiny," Ocean said with round cheeks.

"Destiny," Evee said and smiled, "See, Nate?"

Nate looked around our circle as we walked. The gray under his skin bloomed into a rosy pink. I couldn't help but grin myself.

All winter this journey was so perfectly planned with just the four of us, and now with the change of a single path, we were five.

Destiny, as Ocean had called it, had more planned for us than I could have ever been prepared for.