Come Winter

Chapter 6 Medio "Flys Away"

Himi entered the hot and stuffy classroom, gasping for breath, looking around wildly for Yuki. Her classmates were there, and the "hot gossip" was on who had murdered Medley. Ginny and Medio were settled at their desks, yawning and looking depressed, dark circles beneath their eyes. Himi leaned against the desks, dumping her bag in the floor. They were silent, and Himi didn't want to break it by asking if they had seen a white haired boy with grey eyes who was a year older than them. She couldn't destroy this solemn occasion, but Ginny piped up,
"I don't think Medley wouldn't have wanted us to mope." She swings her long, stick like legs over her chair and stands up, a fierce expression on her face. "Rather, we should find her murderer." Medio smiles and nods fast.
"It'll be like one of those mystery novels. It'll be fun, and we'll be getting our revenge as well." Himi looked at them both when they turn expectantly to her. Their resolution and strength lightened her heart, and Himi grinned.
"First, you both need to help me. A ummm...friend of mine, family friend from...umm the city is staying with me. He is a year older than us, his name is Yuki, he has white hair and grey eyes." Himi decided, sparing herself the pain of explaining the real story. "He's gone of somewhere, and well...he is really naughty and mischievous. A real bad boy, you know?" Medio smiles and stands up. That's when Himi noticed the long scar on her collar bone, that stretched from the right collarbone to under her ear.
"Hey Medio, how did you get that scar?" Himi asked, her eyes transfixed on its scabby, pinkish surface. Medio scowled, and wrapped her navy scarf around her neck to hide it, then sauntered out of the classroom. Him turned to Ginny, who shrugged.
"She didn't tell me either. Pretended she didn't hear me I guess." Ginny followed Medio out, Himi close behind.
Their school boots clicked against the polished wooden floors of the school in perfect unison, and they echoed down the hallway like eerie drops of water. Medio paused in front of the doors to the school, and she tightened up her cascading black hair. She turned to Himi and Ginny and placed her hands on her hips.
"We are firstly, going to the scene of crime. And, we might find your Yuki friend there, he seems like an inquisitive sort." Himi snorted.
"His only pure reason wouldn't be to investigate anything of the sort. He'd probably only ever step inside a school if it benefitted him humorously." Ginny snorted with suppressed laughter. Medio looked muffed, but she too smiled and opened up the spruce doors, letting in a gust of chilly air.
They crossed the snowy grounds of the school, and Ginny kept looking back nervously.
"You look like someone's gonna murder us." Scoffed Medio, and Ginny glared at her.
"Well how do you think the murderer got in the school then? What if he or she kills us? Is it alright to be waging school like this? People might get worried, they might think we were murdered too!"
Medio sighed, and looked up.
"This is important too," she said softly, her misty breath swirling like smoke, "I feel terrible for always picking on Medley. For spreading her secrets, and rumours around." She begins to cry, her crying was so sudden, Himi and Ginny only stopped just a minute after she started. Medio brushed her tears away and looked up, determination and valiance in her eyes, still moist and redish.
"I wish I was a better friend to her, she was such a good one to me." She then marched off, towards to the boarding house, then she spun to face Ginny.
"I want to make it up to Medley, and putting her murderer to justice is the only thing I can do." Ginny's shocked face cleared into a proud and envying smile.
"I wish I was as brave as you." She grabbed Himi's hand to walk beside Medio, and they walked on through the slushy white.
Apoun arriving at the door, the now smudged and washed out name of Medley Thorp a reminder that she was gone and a display of the shabby handiwork of the girls boarding house maids. Himi reached for the handle, twisted and turned. And lo behold. Yuki looked at them from the window, grinned and waved cheerily at Himi.
"Sup Himi! Hey, these must be your friends, right?"
Himi shrieked and raced a him like a Rottweiler. Ginny and Medio held her back, but even they couldn't keep their eyes of the handsome young boy. Yuki laughed like a maniac, and leaned into Himi's seething face.
"You must be sooooo excited to see me. Please please, no autographs!"
Ginny and Medio looked at each other, then at the fuming Himi, then back to a smirking Yuki.
"Ummm....you must be that family friend of Himi's from the city, right?" Asked Ginny,rather suspiciously. Yuki puffed out his chest, and to Himi's gratefulness, went along with it.
"That's me! I am assuming Himi has told you many stories of my amazing ness and brilliance, yes?" His arrogant grey eyes darted around about the girls faces, and then he sighed.
"Lets get to business, shall we?" Then before Himi could shriek 'No', ice shot out of Yuki's open hands, and froze over the hinges of the door behind the girls, encasing them in a ring of blue ice. Medio screamed, and Ginny shrieked. Himi groaned, and turned to their "demanding for answers" faces.
"Heh, um, guys. This is Yuki. He is," she paused to look at Yuki's beaming face, and continued, "the Son of Winter. His mother, is Gwendoline Dresty."
Ginny and Medio gasped and turned to look at Yuki in awe and wonder. Oblivious to their worshipping looks, he rubbed his hands together gleefully.
"To start off, I am gonna give you some things that'll help you in your investigations. We are dealing with a criminal here folks!" He turns to Medio, and looks at her sceptically. Then he inquires,
"When people receive their gossip from you and tell someone else, do they say "a little birdie told me," cause their gonna have to say that now." A bright blue light burst from Yuki's eyes, and hit Medio square in the chest. Ginny jumped into Himi, clutching onto her fleece jumper sleeve. The blue light died away, and in Medio's place, sat a small blue bird with lilac eyes and tawny coloured highlights to the edges of its wings. It chirped, and awkwardly flew over to sit on Ginny's shoulder. Ginny looked at the little bird, and whispered in awe, "Medio?"
The bird chirruped and tweeted in reply, and began to show of its colours by swooping and hovering through the air. Ginny and Himi looked to a haughty looking Yuki. He explained,
"We need a messenger, and a lookout. No one is gonna suspect a little bird as an accomplice. Medio can fly super fast to the action, and watch without being seen!" He turned to the singing Medio bird, as she fluttered around the empty room. Then, the polar bear head on Yuki's cloak roared, it's deafening, thunderous sound causing Medio to fly into Himi's jumpers front pocket. Yuki looked at the trio apologetically, and pulled the polar bear head hood over his head and ears. The three friends waited expectantly for something to happen, but Yuki just stood there, his face covered by the white and fluffy hood. After what seemed like hours, but probably was only 5 minutes, Yuki pulled off his hood and turned to the girls. There was a look of immense excitement on his face.
"Turuva, my polar bear friend, just called, apparently there is a commotion on the highway to Mossy Hollow. Something about cars crashing into an invisible wall, something like that." He held out his hand and looked expectantly at Medio, who flew to his outstretched fingers. He walked to the window, and began instructing Medio;
"When you get there, no matter what just watch from a tree or something. If you need to transform back to a human, go somewhere private and dream of the best moment you've ever had as a human." He held Medio out the window, and Himi and Ginny watched her ruffle her feathers, ready for takeoff.
"We'll be there soon, so hold on." Added Yuki, and Medio took off, her small blue and tawny wings flapping effortlessly up and down. Himi raced to the window, to watch her friend fly away into the grey clouds yonder.