The Cold

October 4
The Morning:

The songbirds were louder than I ever knew, each sweet and foreboding in her own. I thought they must have been watching us, their little tweets perfectly surrounding me. There were more miles to cover today, all forest. Nobody had thought of what we could eat, and we didn’t bring anything for today. I didn’t know if this would somehow be a mistake. There was some necessity that this day be more pleasant than the last. The same, somehow, and I’d never sleep again. Worse, and that prior day would become pointless as we had to go back in some way or another. It was easier to imagine there being some purpose to all this.

“It’s nice to fly again,” Mina ascended until she could see the cars passing on the road. We could hear their horns, and feel the gusts of wind following them. There were always some passing through Maple. Leaving, they’d be subject to brief searches by the government when they left. But, they weren’t magical, so the DOO wouldn’t hassle them too much as long as they didn’t stop in Maple. They were quick enough with who they let in or out that there was seldom traffic in or around the town.

The sun must have been high for this hour. I was covered in sweat. My ears thumped like little drums, and my throat tickled, at first, then it burned. My breath was a little heavier than before.

I almost told my friends that I thought I was coming down with something. Then, I simply told myself that I wasn’t. It was impossible.

Pippa transformed herself into a cat so that she could hunt birds to eat. Some of the others considered trying it, also. Mina picked some little red berries off nearby bushes. They were dull and little cracks ran along them. She handed one to me, and was about to bite into one herself when Terrance yelled, “Stop! What are you doing?”

“What? What?” Mina asked.

“Don’t you know those are poisonous?” Terrance huffed, “Oh, Pippa’s got a rabbit over there. I can cook it up for us!”

“Yeah, you guys enjoy,” my voice came out raspy and hoarse. “I don’t want to eat meat. I can’t.”

“We can’t cook it,” Bruno shook his head, “making a campfire on the side of the road would be absolutely foolish.”

“What?” Terrance shook his head, “Then what’s the point of catching it?”

“I was planning to just eat it raw,” Bruno clicked his beak, “or my part of it at least.”

“What about the bones?” Terrance blinked.

“What about them?” Bruno flicked his wings slightly, “Whatever ones are too big, I’ll just make a pellet out of. The fur too.”

Terrance stuck his tongue out, “God, that’s disgusting.”

“It’s basic anatomy,” Pippa purred, “birdfolk do it, but so do actual birds.”

“And, I bet you cough up hairballs?” Terrance cringed.

“You don’t?” Pippa yelped. Terrance stared blankly.

I flew around him, “You’re okay, Terrance. You’ll get used to it,” I coughed.

“What do you know?”

“Too much,” I pretended to gag, “have you really never met beastfolk before?”

He shook his head, “Of course I did! I’ve met many. I just never realized they…”

“This is an easy way to find out,” I showed him a cheesy smile.

“Come on, you saw me do it in class when we were in Kindergarten or something,” Bruno glared at me.

“Yeah, in a classroom, not outside,” I teased, “What, did you think I was going to say something else?”

Mina rolled her eyes, “I’ll have a bite of rabbit. Alice, you should force yourself.”

“I’ll just throw up if I do.”

“It may not be until late tomorrow morning that you get a chance to eat anything, then,” She whispered, “I know it’s hard for you. You should try.”

“No.”

“Fine,” she looked away, “I don’t want to watch you die, Alice. Not in any way.”

“I’ll be okay. I promise,” I hoped I was telling the truth. My broken voice and labored breath sung a different song. I had the makings of a headache, ringing in the back of my head. It was too hot.

I watched everyone eat. With a quick fire spell, Bruno roasted Terrance and Mina’s cuts of the rabbit to a blackened crisp. It smelled like charcoal, but they both choked it down. Bruno flicked the largest portion, raw, nearly half the rodent up into the air and caught the entire thing in his beak. He tilted his head backward and the feathers around his neck shifted as he forced it down whole. Terrance watched him like he was some kind of barbarian. We were too far to see Site 84, but none of us could quite make out how much further we had to go. It was better to go too far than too short, it was one road, and Teddy would pass us eventually one way or another. The closer we were, the more likely we were to be spotted somehow.

“Did ya like it?” Pippa strutted along, her tail swishing behind her. She licked bits of blood off of her lips.

“I prefer when things can be cooked lightly,” Bruno admitted, “I mean, fire spells are a bit too heavy handed for cooking.”

“Y-yeah, it was great,” Terrance forced himself to make a straight face, “you guys did great.”

“If you use a transformation spell, you can eat it raw and chewy like they did,” Mina teased, “Though, I guess chewing is also a luxury that not all have.”

“I can chew when I want to,” Bruno walked ahead, “that was faster. It feels nice, too. Pippa, if you see a mouse, I could have some more.”

“Maybe Alice could turn into one,” Pippa said teasingly. Bruno stopped, glaring at her.

“Shut up,” Mina winced.

“What?” Pippa’s back arched upward as she stretched, “I was kidding! I was just kidding! It was a joke.”

“I thought it was kind of funny,” Terrance shrugged, “maybe they just didn’t get it, Pippa.”

“Terry… Landmine…” Bruno kept walking. Terrance tiptoed after him, shaking his head. I hovered for a moment to blow my nose into my sleeve before continuing after them.

“What’s going on this morning?” Mina whispered to me.

“I’m still a bit groggy,” I offered.

“Alice, I know that’s not the extent of things. Are you ill?” She spoke sweetly and hovered beside me to run her hand across her forehead, “Alice…”

“It’s nothing,” I coughed, “just a scratchy throat. Probably from all of the saltwater yesterday.”

“Saltwater?” She flew onward, “We can’t afford to lie to each other right now. I don’t care if you think I’m going to make you go back; I’m not going to.”

“I don’t know, Mina,” I said, “We have a long way to go. I’m just not thinking about it.”

“If you don’t eat anything, it will get worse, Alice.”

“It’s not going to kill me,” I slowly breathed in and out, “at worst, it’s only a cold.”

“Since when are you this careless?” She asked, “Alice, being sick can slow you down. If you’re slow, you could get hurt. We’ve seen that already.”

Later:

As midday neared, the sun only grew hotter. It must have been inside of my head as much as it was so far away in the sky. I hadn’t cast any spells all day, and my perception dragged and rolled like I had been all morning. My wings twitched behind me, my flight uneven, but still enough to keep up. I asked to stop, just for a moment to rest my wings. If I needed a break so badly, I thought everyone would have to. Bruno ended up placing me on his shoulder and carrying me. Our last break hadn’t been an hour earlier. After yesterday, when we couldn’t stop at all, today felt leisurely.

When I saw clouds coming in over the ocean, I whispered some thanks to nothing, to the weather itself I guessed. Then, the wind came. A coastal breeze, first, then a whipping gust. It carried leaves out of the edge of the forest and threw them around in all directions. Finally, it grew strong enough that Mina couldn’t fly quickly anymore, she had to be carried by Terrance. Pippa was still fully transformed into a cat. I jerked forward as a thick splash of water struck my back. Bruno held one of his wings against his face, the feathers blowing about wildly in the wind, the rain tapping against them unevenly.

“Did anyone bring extra clothes?” Terrance asked. It never even crossed my mind. The raindrops spilled down the back of my dress, heavy droplets were left sticking to my back and my wings. For a moment, the water was a relief from the heat. It only invited the shivers. It was an otherwise hot day, and I was shaking like it had been snowing for a week. I fell on my side, my fingers loosely clutching Bruno’s feathers. They felt so cool.

Bruno pointed deeper into the forest, “Quickly! The trees. Under the trees!” He yelled. I thought Terrance was following us. Pippa must have been going after him. I blinked, just blinked, and Bruno had run far through the underbrush. The foothills ahead warped with shadow, climbing into the lowering fog. I couldn’t see the tops of the mountains through it, I couldn’t see two feet through it.

“Is it night already?” My words were interrupted by sharp, forced breaths. I thought it was barely midday, but it was dark. It was too dark.

“I doubt it’s even noon yet,” Bruno looked back out the way he’d come. The rain still pierced the veil of branches over us, but at least it was blunted. He turned his head around, “Terrance! Terrance, where are you?”

“Wasn’t he behind us?” My voice cracked, almost more than a squeak, “Terry…” I tried to yell out.

“Don’t push yourself,” Bruno said, “they’ll find us.”

My head lifted barely, “I won’t. It got so cold out.”

“Can you cast any spells?” He asked me. For a second, I thought I might be able to, but I weakly shook my head anyway.

“Can you cast a spell to warm us up?”

“No, Alice. That wouldn’t do what you want. It’s warm out, you know?”

“Really?” I coughed, “Okay, I believe you.”

“It should only be another day until we get our ride,” Bruno said, “I hope we don’t have to miss the train.”

“Why would we miss the train? The ride will be here.”

“I don’t know. Traffic?” He pondered, “Did you think it’d be this hard to get all the way here?”

”I didn’t know if we’d all make it. That’s good enough.”

Bruno sighed, “We have at least another week ahead of us including the trains.”

“How much worse can a week get from a day?” I stopped. I was wheezing between my words, “I don’t want to know.”

“We’re all going to find out together,” Bruno demanded, “so there’s no avoiding it. You’re going to find out, Alice.”

“I feel awful,” I admitted.

“I can see you. Your little cheeks are as bright as red stars and the rest of you, pale as snow. I've known all day.”

“I thought I was fine. Am I really such a mess?”

“You look cute like this,” he teased.

I buried my face in his feathers, their tips running over my lips and tongue as I continued breathing heavily through my mouth. He laughed, “What are you doing?”

“You’re warm. You feel cool. I don’t get it, but it’s nice.”

Bruno started to say something. He was cut off by a yell through the fog, “Bruno! Alice!” Mina’s voice cut through, “Alice!” Terrance ran through, barely stopping in time to not slam into Bruno. His shirt was covered in mud. Mina was still perched on his shoulder, there was also a muddy stain across her front and stretching up onto her face. Pippa’s fur was puffed out as she clung to Terrance’s head. Her bottom was dripping wet, getting more mud into Terrance’s hair.

“What happened to you guys?” Bruno broke out laughing.

“He fell in a puddle!” Mina yelped, “I could have drowned!”

“It’s because you distracted me!” Terrance argued, “Look at my suit! My suit is ruined.”

“You guys got me all wet!” Pippa hissed.

I giggled as I looked at them, “You’re all a mess,” I whimpered.

Mina reached toward me, “Alice…” She whispered as she saw me, “Are you okay?”

“She’s feverish,” Bruno said, “I don’t know how much. It doesn’t matter. She’ll be fine.”

“Feverish?” I muttered. I guessed I’d already known that. That something was wrong, I was sick. But, the word itself hadn’t come to the top of my mind. It felt like a poisonous word so early into our trip. Or else, I hadn’t been thinking straight since late yesterday.

“The rain is a bit thinner here,” Mina said, “let’s just set up whatever camp we can until the morning.” This time, Bruno and Terrance were in a better condition. Mr. Rose had discussed making shelters out of sticks and leaves during Treasure Hunting. I doubted Bruno or Terrance ever thought they’d use a trick like that. I had even ignored the lecture myself. What did it matter to me, sticks were mostly too big for me to even move.

“We may not be at twenty miles yet,” Bruno placed what would become the load-bearing stick at a 45-degree angle against a sturdy tree. There only needed to be two such shelters, barely big enough to fit Bruno and Terrance each. Mina and I could fit in their pockets again, and if Pippa didn’t return to her regular form, she could squeeze in with one of them. That’s one of the things cats were good at.

“Twenty miles, whatever,” Mina huffed, “We’re past Site 84, and they won’t even necessarily be looking for us yet. A difference of two miles won’t do us any good if they’re already searching.”

Bruno looked at his finished shelter. He slowly unbuttoned his shirt. He folded it casually on the bottom of the shelter, and carefully set me inside its pocket. “Sleep here, I’m going to get some kind of food.” The feathers along his chest were quickly soaked by the bits of rain still dripping through the leaves overhead.

October 5
The Morning:

Bruno moaned slightly in his sleep. He was curled in a ball against the very edge of the shelter to not disturb me. There was a little dent in the shelter’s top, and water was still dripping down through it one splash at a time from the trees above. Terrance was sitting on a pile of leaves just outside. His legs were curled across each other and Pippa, still transformed, was laying across his lap, purring loudly. Mina fluttered just outside Bruno and my shelter, watching us carefully.

“Good morning,” I whispered to her.

“We should get to the road soon,” she said, “they should be coming in an hour or so.”

“Bruno…” I ran my hand along one of his feathers, “We have to go soon.”

“Y-yeah,” he stirred.

“He was up all night,” Mina muttered, “he said he couldn’t get comfortable, but he kept checking on you.”

“You weren’t supposed to say that, Mina,” he nudged me until I flew off his shirt. He slowly buttoned it around himself.

“Pippa was only able to catch mice this morning. Terrance is being picky, so I suppose there’s a lot for you.”

“Oh, great!” Bruno chirped. He held his wing out behind me, “How are you feeling?”

“Present,” I shrugged, “awake.”

“Want to taste mouse?” Bruno crawled out of the little shelter.

“It’s really something,” Mina sucked her lips in and shook her head warningly.

“No, I don’t really feel hungry,” I smiled at Mina. I had the morning before, and then, I just chose not to eat. I hadn’t had anything the whole time we were swimming. It was going on 48 hours until I’d eaten at all, and I felt full enough. I couldn’t have forced myself if I wanted to.

“It doesn’t taste like other kinds of meat,” Mina said cautiously, “mouse is really unique actually. I kind of get why birdfolk eat it. You should try something- something, Alice.” She was a terrible liar. I couldn’t even think why she would bother with such a joke. Clearly, she didn’t like it. I wouldn’t either. I didn’t want it.

Pippa had managed to carry one of the mice back to camp, still barely alive. Bruno’s head tilted to the side as he looked at it. Mina looked away, but I stared on as he loosely grabbed it in his beak. Yesterday, at least him and Pippa had the decency to kill the rabbit. The mouse wouldn’t have to suffer long, I hoped.

“Why not just break it’s neck, or something? Jesus.” Mina shook her head, “Let’s just go.”

“It goes to the same place either way,” Bruno chirped, “and the same thing happens to it.”

“You could have let it die with a tiny bit of dignity, you know,” she went on.

He stopped, “I could have. You said we need to go quickly. Make up your mind.”

We all stopped along the side of the road. Bruno knew the kind of vehicle Teddy’s family would be in, so we just waited there. They needed to come quickly enough that they got here before the passenger of some passing car told anyone in Maple about a group of kids standing awkwardly on the edge of the Pacific Coast Highway. That seemed more like a reality every fifteen minutes that passed. Bruno took his silver pills out of one of his pants pockets, and he gulped one down.

“I’m feeling hot again,” I took a deep breath.

“Already?” Pippa winced, “Ya can’t get sick two days in a row! What are the chances of that?”

Terrance reached down at pet her along her back, “Some sicknesses last multiple days.”

“I thought you were stupider than that, Terry,” she flopped on her side, purring.

“Are you enjoying being a cat?” Mina asked her.

“I’ve always been a catfolk!” She mewed, “Now, I’m a real cat. It’s like I was Pinocchio my whole life! Well, I gotta go back to being a catfolk too, but I’m gonna use both forms a lot!”

A wide, black van finally stopped beside us. I looked at. A long back, tinted windows. “Ah, the DOO…” I muttered, “We’re done.”

The driver’s window rolled down. Teddy was sitting there in the front seat, “My family is still packing some more stuff. I’m taking the first load down to San Diego, myself. Well, I’m not supposed to have anyone else in the car with me with my new license, but we won’t get caught.”

“That’s a DOO vehicle…” I muttered, “What are you doing with a DOO vehicle?”

“Oh, it’s my dad’s,” Teddy laughed to himself, “technically it’s for his work, but we can just use it… I think. CA Exempt license plates. That means the cops won’t pull us over even if we go over a hundred! And, these things can get over two hundred.”

“Why would a car ever need to get that fast?” Bruno opened the passenger-side door and started stepping in.

“Shotgun!” Terrance yelled. He tried to run in before Bruno could.

“Go around back,” Mina glared at him.

“Anyway,” Teddy watched as Bruno buckled in beside him. Mina and I sat up on top of the dashboard. Pippa curled up in Terrance’s lap. “Who knows why they made these things go so fast? Actually, I do! It’s cause it’s absolutely rad. And, these DOO guys wanted to ask me all these stupid questions, so who cares if one of their little Fed-mobiles gets totaled.”

“If it gets totaled, we could all die,” Mina said calmly.

“I know, I know…” Teddy looked at the ground sadly, “I’ll only go 95. I wouldn’t want my cute dashboard decorations getting hurt!”

“I helped save your life, you know?” Mina huffed, “Lincoln students…”

“Oh, I withdrew from Lincoln,” Teddy shrugged, “I’m going to enroll back in a school in San Diego. My Dad thinks it’s too dangerous for me here around all the magic and DOO stuff. I mean, it’s all cool, but he’s probably right.” He pressed his foot on the gas, and I looked at the trees disappearing beside us. The Pacific Coast Highway went on and on. I’d only ever left Maple on one trip with Bruno’s family, and that was years ago. Now, I wondered if I’d ever go back. If I could save Mom and Dad, just that much, something I knew it wasn’t too much to ask of myself, only a little thing… If I could just do that, I’d go back to school readily.

I watched the tides rolling in against the beach, then I turned to see the forest on the opposite side of the road. I’d done that much already, and the rest wasn’t yet in sight. I didn’t know what to expect. It was only twenty minutes of driving before we pulled through a little town. There were one-story wooden buildings along the road, and a gas station. “Hey, stop here.” Mina said.

“I thought you guys are going all of the way to San Luis Obispo,” Teddy raised an eyebrow.

“I need to use the toilet,” Mina lied. Her and Bruno got up. Terrance handed them a few dollars as they went into the gas station together. I sat in the car. When they got back, Bruno set down a bag of pistachios next to me.

Mina smiled, “Surprise!”

I looked at them, and it only took me a moment to reach into the bag. Just one would be enough for now, just something. They were my favorite food. I felt myself drooling, suddenly. “I wasn’t even hungry earlier…” I took a bite. Now, I was starving. I lay down on my back, the rolling of the moving car shaking me from below. I fell asleep once I was done eating.

Later:

Teddy left us at the train station. Luckily, they accepted Terrance’s tickets despite the water damage. I’d never been on a train before, and as we all saw the long chain of steel cars, I almost gasped. Terrance ran into the little shop in the corner of the station before the last call to board. He bought a travel chess set and a deck of cards.

We went to our seats just long enough for the train to depart. There were few passengers at this stop, and I laughed as some of them saw us. They’d seen fairies before, and plenty of beastfolk and humans. But, I was still only forcing myself to fly. Mina was carefully hovering beside me. Terrance was strutting in front of everyone, and Pippa was, for the moment, a talking cat. We’d told her not to speak in public, not while transformed. She didn’t listen, or if she did, the direction went over her head.

Talking animals had to be magic users. I felt lucky, nobody seemed to notice her too much. And if anyone asked, the rest of us pretended we hadn’t heard her talk at all. For all we knew, Pippa was a completely normal cat. And, that she would remain until she found a chance to turn herself back. If people knew she was magical, maybe they could deduce that we were. At our age, we had to be at Ledoric’s if we were magic. If people knew that, then they heard about a group of kids running away from school whenever that news would come out in a few days. People were stupid, but not that stupid.

This first train ride would only be a few hours. Once we had the chance, we all ran into the dining car together. The stacks of hundred dollar bills that Terrance kept on him, whoever knew how he got them, finally came in handy. We couldn’t use our student cards to pay for things outside of Maple. And, presenting our student cards to anyone beyond Maple was a dangerous prospect. Everyone ordered as extravagantly as we could. We figured nobody would ask how or why we were here, how we could afford this, so long as we paid them in full.

I watched further and further hills disappear out the window beside our table. I’d been in many restaurants before, but the slight shaking of a moving restaurant complete with flowing white tablecloths was almost dreamlike. Looking at the ornate silverware, much too long for me to use, was whimsical. It was like we were suddenly in an old movie. I started to forget I even was feeling less than perfect.