Cold Snap (Warriors: S1B3)

Chapter 3

"And what if he didn't?" 

"Mom, I'm 12! He wouldn't take me seriously."

"And what if he doesn't?"

I sighed in frustration. "What would he do if he did? He's a welder! Who's he going to tell?" I gave a yelp as a frozen chunk tangled in my hair.

"Oh, stop struggling and come in the bathroom with me. Let me help you."

I followed Mom down the hall into the bathroom. She had me sit down on the cover of the toilet and retrieved a comb. "How do you even do something like this?"

I motioned for her to stand aside. I lifted a hand and blasted white mist into the shower stall. There was a crackle as the condensation froze solid.

"Like that," I said.

Mom put the comb down and stepped to the bathtub. She ran a finger down the tiles. She looked back at me and did a double take. "Is that you?" she said.

"Yeah. You watched me do that."

"Not this." She pointed at the ice. "That. The window."

I looked past me. The window had frosted completely over. It was a chilly night, in the high 40s, but not enough for the window to be as frosted over as it was. "I might have."

And then I heard the noise.

Every so often, my mom and I would be driving along, and a car would drive by us blaring rap music. You know the type: where the driver's poured most of his paycheck into getting as much acoustic power as he possibly can from their speakers. Typically, that power came from the bass, a low boom of a noise that would rattle the windows of our car.

A noise on the same register reached me now. The window trembled in its frame, and I could see my and Mom's toothbrushes rattled in the toothbrush stand. This noise...I'm pretty sure an elephant can't growl the same way a dog can, but if it could, I'd imagine it would sound like and be on the same register as this noise. And this noise definitely came from a living thing. Something about this noise told me it only came from some kind of animal.

Mom stepped to the window. I could see goosebumps on her arms, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't from the ice in the shower. "What was that?"

I stood up. "Mom, get in your bedroom."

She looked at me. "What?"

I'd watched a few episodes of Shameless while Mom was at work. I felt like Fiona, ordering my mother around. I did it anyway. "Your bedroom. Get inside. Lock the door."

"Margaret, what are you talking about?"

I walked past my mom and back into my bedroom. My watch was on the nightstand. I clapped a hand and thought, Guys, something's in my backyard. It makes a noise like this. I thought the noise I had heard. Help.

I whirled on my heel and fast-walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. My mom was still behind me, trying to find out what was going on.

I pulled the longest knife from the block and turned to Mom. "Mom," I said. "Something is outside. I can handle this better than you can." I raised my hand not occupied with a knife and let icy mist seep from my palm to demonstrate what I meant. "Get in your bedroom. Stay there. OK?"

She opened her mouth like she was going to say something to the contrary, and then said, "Grab me one of those knives." I slid the butcher knife out of its slot and slid it across the counter. She grabbed it and walked off. I waited until I heard her bedroom door close. Then I let my hands tremble like they'd desperately wanted to.

I went to the back door and looked out the window. There was nothing. I unlocked the door and let it swing open. I stepped out, holding the knife in front of me. I took one step down the back stairs, then two.

I heard a creak above me. I looked over my shoulder.

And something leapt on me.