CHAPTER NINE
Empowering Chloe
“Summoning supernaturalism will help you for few a thousand years,” Clijsters said, with an aggrieved look on his face. “You will be immortal throughout your life. This power will try to transform you through various ways as long as you’re still in this kingdom. You don’t know how difficult it is for me to make this decision to empower you.” They had been walking for days on the seemingly unending snow and the wind was gusting across the icy expanse making her eyes teary if she tried to look straight. Her limited experience of life confused her, regarding “the power” that he was telling her about. She shook her head woefully, staying quiet to listen to him. He sounded as if he was holding back some guilty secrets about his life. “You’re already on your way home, and you’re still afraid to fight them. Be aware that these powers are hostile to Satanism and they can make you very dangerous; my own experience with these powers is that I’m proud of their importance to me.”
The simple truth was that Chloe knew he intended to pass on powers to her. Though, she didn’t know the purpose; exactly why would she need that power? She knew he was trying to romanticize everything about the situation, to their blooming friendship; so giving her powers looked like an offer from which she would be required to give back something in return.
Her mind had not yet settled, as Clijsters thought. The whole situation was too big for her to relax, too risky for her to trust anyone here. The fact that she had met a talking penguin, made her look like a tourist; she had not yet revealed this to him, but it made her worry. The whole place looked and sounded like she was in a fantasy theme park (maybe a Harry Porter theme) somewhere in New York, she imagined. Though this one was the kind where there were no people. Suddenly she wound up accepting that it was a mysterious place with lots of mysterious things and it was definitely a different world than the one she was used to. She imagined, watching Clijsters deceiving her and suddenly turning against her at the final moment, when she would face the mystery Santa. She didn’t want to be so doubtful about him, but her mind kept reverting to it whenever she got idle. This would leave her in total devastation, creating a huge suspense about him.
Understanding that he was only expressing his feelings, she knew he wanted to hear or see her doing the same thing, especially in this difficult time that they were both facing. Surely the best gift he had proposed by then were the powers he was willing to pass on to her, although the powers had conditions that would have clenching effects not only on him but also on her. She didn’t know what they would be, and she just couldn’t imagine saying, ‘I love you, Clijsters’. She didn’t know any better way to say that to a man because she had never uttered it to anyone other than her mother, Tracy.
Clijsters rubbed his chin thoughtfully, although there was nothing like a beard on it, “Um...I think we’ll have to stop somewhere not very far,” he said before stopping. He sounded cautious to her, as though he had sensed approaching danger. “I feel they haven’t lost track of us, but don’t worry, I will tell you what to do.” In her stillness, and at a distance from him, Chloe thought, it would be silly to think that he loved her. After all, they had just met each other, so she just could not imagine how quickly his feelings for her had grown. Anyway, she liked his way; he made no endeavors to hide his fantastic feeling for her. It was all over him, all over his eyes, and he was even feeling guilty for the wild crush he had on her.
There were hopes of going and finding the forbidden gates together, but would he go with her-after this Odyssey? She turned to him; they were of the same height. He looked at her, his eyes straight on to her brown leather jacket over a shell top. She’s beautiful and she knew that as well, she was smart enough to accept that. Very few girls of her age accept their beauty without other people’s compliments. She was, in fact, sure of his infatuation for her and her suspicions continued developing from time to time, judging by his actions. Why he was doing so, Clijsters couldn’t reveal, it was a hard truth to tell at their age. He respected her for the fact that she didn’t fear him at the very first sight; she stood firm and approached him, as he was running on at break neck speed escaping the mystery Santa’s. And he thought she was special, given the fact of her lovely appearance. “I will do the best I can,” he said, and kept talking, thinking they would have a fine time after finding the forbidden gates. But Chloe thought differently as she also suspected him as a possible traitor, doing what he was doing for her for a hidden purpose. Although Clijsters had already conceded to help her, it made her laugh, and smile inwardly because it was a surprise that an unexpected person could show so much enthusiasm and interest in helping her.
