Darkness carved in bone

Chapter 19

Helen

They left the hut within the hour. They had tried to leave it in the best condition they could, as to make sure their stay would not become a burden to the owner when he returned. Shiny was almost beaming with joy to finally be able to move freely again. The days in the shed had not been too tough on him, he had been warm and had enough food. But the boredom of being contained had obviously gotten to him.

Helen turned one final time to look at the hut as Ten tried to fix the bolts he had ruined when he had forced the door open. She was strangely grateful for the time they had spent there. She had dared to speak of things that she had tried to drown for so long. Ten had gone from not believing he could ever be free from the people controlling him, to admitting to the fact that he had made his very own choice by saving her.

That notion warmed her heart. She was proud of him, of how he had been able to turn his own determined and locked situation into something else. He was freer now. But a part of her also knew that he was not entirely redeemed. There were still things that made his heart and mind belong not entirely to himself.

She kept thinking back to that moment they had shared, when the storm had finally yielded. When they had yielded. It had been intense, warm, sweet, painfully agonizing and completely breathtaking. She wanted it to happen again.

A thought popped inside her mind, that killed her riveting mood that had nearly made her go to Ten again and claim him; was she repeating the mistakes she had done with Sam? Was she letting herself be lured by intoxicating feelings that didn't really reveal the true nature of her heart? The debacle with Sam made her not entirely able to trust her own heart.

How could you know the difference between infatuation and what came after that? She realized that the mistake she had done with Sam was not letting herself explore and enjoy the feelings he had stirred up inside her. Her mistake had been not ending it when she had realized that it had been wrong.

Ten looked up at her and gave her a smile when he noticed that she was looking at him. Her heart skipped a beat at that smile. For a moment she was not able to move or answer his smile, simply frozen as she let the intoxication of his smile fill her. Her heart felt like it was clenching itself so tightly together, because it needed to pump and release so much blood through her entire body for her to survive his smile in the next heartbeat. Every part of her body that was painfully cold became silent and forgotten as that smiled beamed at her through the night, warming her.

As her heart beat again, her body was freed, and she was able to reply his smile. And she found that her bright smile was perhaps the brightest smile she had ever given to anyone before.

They walked in silence, Shiny walking behind them. When they walked up a hill, that took them up and away from the cabin, Ten suddenly tugged at her mitten, and wrapped his glowed hand around hers.

Helen looked sharply down at their joined hands and then back up at him; her expression surprised as their eyes met. In Ten's eyes she found that he asked for approval with his curious eyes and kind smile. She replied to his smile with a smile of her own as her heart fluttered in her chest.

They almost turned in unison to take a final look at the hut that lay below them now. Helen felt her eyes widening in shock as she took in the sight before her.

There, what had been invisible when they had been too close to the hut, became vividly visible in the distance. Around the entire hut the frantic wind from the storm had formed a large vortex in the snow. A vortex that was identical to the one on the token in her breast pocket.

Helen felt her vision swimming as she took in the sight and held on tighter to Ten's hand to keep herself from falling. This was the fourth path in the prophecy, and even though it hadn't been as clear as the other three, it became tremendously clear now.

For a moment the world was silent. She didn't have to look at him to know what he was thinking. The connection that was made between them now, seemed somehow engraved in those markings in the snow. And those markings said they were together about this, and that was all Helen ever needed to know.

Ten looked at her, and she saw the same mixture of terror and understanding in his eyes that she felt roaring inside her. It seemed like there was nothing that hadn't happened for a reason.

Ten's expression shifted for a moment, into something curios as he cocked his head at her, "What's the fifth token?" There was amusement and challenge in his voice.

Helen looked away from him and looked down at the vortex as she said: "I am not telling you." Her voice was flat, not letting his amusement seep into her. She took a deep breath and continued, "The fourth step was by far the most enjoyable," she looked back up at him. "At least when you compare it to getting kidnapped, attacked by wolves, and drowning." She squeezed his hand and let out a small laugh which made Ten smile.

"Here's hoping that it will only get better," Ten bobbed his brows at her and gave her a suggesting smile as he replied with lightness and hope in his voice. He squeezed her hand as well, her heart skipping a beat again.

Helen laughed and gave him another bright smile as they turned away from the hut and continued walking along the lake to the village where they could buy their supplies.