Bryn's POV
I warmed my hands by the fire. Even with gloves on, the snow froze my hands. I could barely feel my fingertips and my feet were numb.
Rain stood at the window, looking out at our snowchild, Cloud.
I called over to him, "We won't have a kid for a long time."
He chuckled, "I know. But...something about the snowman out there."
I walked over to the window and looked out, "What? He looks exactly the same."
He pulled me closer, "I know, but...he's alone. Separated from his parents. He won't ever know that we made him."
I laughed, "He is only made of snow. Not like he has memories. He can't remember anything. He's not sentient."
Rain rested his chin on my shoulder, "You know I never knew my parents, right? Or at least, I can't remember them."
I nodded, "Maybe that's better. I knew my parents. And now that I lost my mother...I don't know...I can't even cry. I don't feel sadness. I felt anger, immediately, sure. But sadness? I don't think I know the feeling anymore."
Rain turned me around and kissed me, "I haven't felt sadness in a long time. When Nico's brother, Draco died, that was the last time I felt it. Then you got injured. I felt it then too."
I rested my head against his warm chest, "You cared about me, that's why. I honestly don't know if I cared about my mother anymore. She was always on my father's side. She always agreed with what he said, even if she knew it was wrong."
"She was Queen. But she didn't have power. The King is always the ruler, and his Queen is just for show. We figured that out a long time ago."
I looked up at him, "When?"
He scratched his head, "Long time ago. I was probably 13 or 14. Nico and I got arrested for stealing from a gambler in Lightstone. And gambling is illegal. Your father ordered that we be executed, and your mother told him that we stole from a gambler. He told her that what he says goes. Your mother probably wanted to let us live and arrest the gambler since we were only trying to survive, but when your father yelled at her, she dropped it and took his side."
I nodded. I knew my mother had no power. I had more power than she did. No one in the kingdom respected her. She couldn't produce a male heir to the throne. Her one job wasn't fulfilled.
I raised an eyebrow, "You and Nico were almost executed? How'd you end up living?"
Rain laughed, "We may have been only 13, but we had been stealing and surviving for like five years before that. We knew how to get out of situations. We waited until it got dark and I picked the locks on our jail cell and Nico slammed a guard's head into the wall, knocked him out, and then we started pulling the bars off the windows of the tower we were in and we climbed outside and jumped probably 20 feet down to the rooftops."
"You didn't get hurt from the fall?"
He smiled, "I didn't say that. I landed on my shoulder and dislocated it. Nico landed on his feet and sprained both ankles. But we still ran home as injured as we were. Petra helped us."
Rain stopped smiling and looked down at his hands. Dried blood, dirt, and scars were all over them. He rubbed his face, "I miss Lightstone."
"But my father was always searching for you guys. You were the most wanted fugitives in the kingdom." I was confused as to why he would miss that life.
He looked mad, "At least in Lightstone your father never thought to have his men check the sewers. Out here though? People who want us dead won't stop trying to kill us until we die, or until they die."
That much was true. Fiends would hunt us for every moment of our lives now, even if Aurora told them not to.
And my father had likely already hired bounty hunters to try to find me.
We sat down by the fire again, Rain sat with his arm around my waist, and he rested his head on my shoulder, "I'm gunna keep you safe."
I knew he would. I trusted that he would with every fiber of my being.
Petra's POV
Nico was starting to feel better after an entire day of feeling crappy. He ate his breakfast very slowly, however, as if savoring every last bite.
The snow outside was beautiful, but I knew if we went out in we'd likely end up sick, since our coats weren't very thick.
Marc didn't make eye contact with me at all. I noticed a scratch under his eye where I slapped him. Bastard got what was coming to him.
After our breakfast, Marc offered to take Naveah outside into the snow. We let him, but Nico sat outside on the balcony and watched them.
Clara and I stayed inside and took care of the motel room, then of some monthly womanly problems.
I sat on the bed again and started reading the Bible. Clara searched the other motel rooms and found one of her own. Why this motel had so many copies of the Bible, I didn't know, but Nico and Marc both made it very clear that they didn't want to see it. Last time Nico saw it he passed out, so that's understandable.
Why Marc was so against it confused me. But it didn't stop me from reading.
I turned the page and read "If a person sins because he does not speak up when he hears a public charge to testify regarding something he has seen or learned about, he will be held responsible. Or if a person touches anything ceremonially unclean--whether the carcasses of unclean wild animals or of unclean livestock or of unclean creatures that move along the ground--even though he is unaware of it, he has become unclean and is guilty. Or if he touches human uncleanness--anything that would make him unclean--even though he is unaware of it, when he learns of it he will be guilty. Or if a person thoughtlessly takes an oath to do anything, whether good or evil--in any matter one might carelessly swear about--even though he is unaware of it, in any case when he learns of it he will be guilty. When anyone is guilty in any of these ways, he must confess in what way he has sinned and, as a penalty for the sin he has committed, he must bring to the LORD a female lamb or goat from the flock as a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin. If he cannot afford a lamb, he is to bring two doves or two young pigeons to the LORD as a penalty for his sin--one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. He is to bring them to the priest, who shall first offer the one for the sin offering. He is to wring its head from its neck, not severing it completely, and is to sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering against the side of the altar; the rest of the blood must be drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering. The priest shall then offer the other as a burnt offering in the prescribed way and make atonement for him for the sin he has committed, and he will be forgiven. If, however, he cannot afford two doves or two young pigeons, he is to bring as an offering for his sin a tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering. He must not put oil or incense on it, because it is a sin offering."
I showed it to Clara, "Are we sinners?"
She read the page a few times. "I...I think so. Does that mean we're going to Hell?"
I nodded. "Unless we bring God flour. But...where's God? This is an Old World book. It might have been common knowledge back then, but how do we find him now? And we need an altar."
I could see it in Clara's face that she was thinking hard, "Well there's bound to be a church somewhere, right? Naveah knew about this religion, so did her parents, every person that stayed in this motel knew about it, it's well known. There must be churches or altars somewhere that we can find and admit to our sins."
She was right. Then I hard a darker thought. "What if the Sun Churches in Lightstone were originally churches to worship God in, and the Sun priests defiled them and made people worship the sun in them."
Clara stood and picked up her backpack then went into the kitchen. She scooped some flour out of the container and put it in the small front pocket of her backpack. "If we ever find a church, we'll apologize."
Nico's POV
I sat in a folding chair on the balcony. Marc was playing in the snow with Navaeh, but her smile didn't seem to bring Marc any happiness. He seemed like he was just going through the motions of making a snowman with her, it didn't bring him joy. But she was having fun, so I wasn't going to complain.
I found a blank notebook in one of the motel rooms, and I used it to write. I wasn't great with words, but I knew how to write and I could get my thoughts across that way.
Dear Clara,
Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for surviving. You joined the fiends and nearly died, on more than one occasion, I'm sure. If you would have died out there, we would have had no way of knowing. I would've died alone, never being able to show you what you mean to me. Out here in the wastes, there's little we owe our lives to. Luck is most of it. Skill. Fear. Fear has kept us alive. God. God blessed us somehow...
My head throbbed and blood dripped from my nose on to the note. A scream echoed through my head and my vision blurred. I fell forward on my knees and forced myself to look out towards Marc and Navaeh.
Marc was backing up slowly, with his hands up. Naveah sat in the snow, wide eyed and with an open mouth, staring at a man. The man who attacked me in the alley.
Why wasn't Marc doing something? I was paralyzed. My body couldn't move much and I couldn't even scream. I used all of my strength and will power to reach back with my foot and kick the door of our room.
After a few kicks, Petra opened the door. She screamed and Clara ran out and crouched next to me.
Then they noticed what my eyes were looking towards.
Petra sprinted down the stairs and through the snow covered parking lot. She grabbed her gun on her waist.
Clara helped me sit up and my body regained its strength.
Petra screamed louder than I ever heard her scream before, "Get the fuck away from her, you bastard!"
Her words didn't phase the man. He reached down and quickly grabbed Navaeh by her hair. That broke her stun and she began kicking and screaming, but it was to no avail.
The man raised his knife.