I trudged up the hill, miserable. Snow clung to everything- my eye lashes, my back pack, the opening of my collar. It crept under my thin coat, turning my light skin red. It had been two hours since me and my friends, Clara, John, and Ashley had begun hiking the clear trail of Mt. Denali. It was the last day of summer, and we hoped to reach a good point to watch the sunset that would end it, plunging Alaska into night. But unexpectedly a snow storm hit, and the white out covered the trail. We got separated. Luckily, we were natives, and brought supplies with us, just in case. But we'd never expected a true disaster- they were just things we were warned about and TV and at school, never a true situation.
But now here I was, with no idea where to find the trail. I fought back the panic inside me.
Eventually I decided to just find a place to hunker down until someone found me. It was better to save energy while I had it, than to exert myself and face death. I looked around, trying to find some sort of shelter. I made my way forward twenty feet, trying to see through the snow blanketed trees. I could see the faintest shadow of an overhand in the rock.
I walked toward it, relieved that I could stop, finally. Then I was plunged into blackness. I had fallen into a small divot it the earth, and snow surrounded me in a biting cloud. It seeped into my clothes. Shit. I got up, and desperately made my way to the shelter of rock. I made it there, sitting down and wrapping my arms around my ridged body. I would last about an hour now that I was wet.
I closed my eyes, waiting for rescue or death.
Thirty minute later, my fingers were turning a frosted purple. My toes felt like blocks of ice, and I could barely feel my face. I tried to keep from crying, because the tears threatened to freeze my eyelids shut. I rocked back and forth, trying to keep up some motion.
Suddenly, there was a hand on my shoulder. With an effort, I turned to find a boy with pale skin and hair, kneeling beside me, concern coveting his features.
"Who are you?" I croaked in a raspy voice.
"I'm Jack," he murmured, "Are you okay?"
"What do you think?" I gripped bitterly. I shouldn't have been so rude now that someone was here, but his idiotic question annoyed me. He found a girl with blue skin, sitting in an overhang in the middle of a snow storm alone- how did he think she was doing?
He ignored my snarkiness,"We need to get you out of here," he muttered, moving to pick me up.
"Wait," I said, sitting up straighter, "Did they find the others?"
"What others?" he raised his eyebrows.
"My friends, Ashley, John and Clara, did the rescue team find them yet?"
He frowned, "I'm not from a rescue team,"
I was confused, "Then why are you out here?"
"I live here,"
I rolled my eyes, "On Denali?"
"In the cold," he answered.
"But," he stopped me.
"There's no time to explain. There are others?" he closed his eyes for a moment, then his eyebrows creased, "Oh no…"
"What?"
He opens his eyes, and I see the pain in them, "Nothing," he answers softly.
There's a moment of silence as I stare at the strange, blue eyed rescuer. Finally he stands.
"Ten minutes. I'll be back in ten minutes,"
Before I can say anything, he's gone, seeming to have been swept away in a flurry of wind.
The next ten minutes are the longest of my life. I hug my knees, waiting, pleading for hi to come back. I struggle to keep my eyes open against the exhaustion and cold.
Then he appears beside me, with another. My eyes widen as I see her.
She looks so much like a girl, and so unlike a human. Her slender body hovers above the ground, suspended my two thin, humming wings. The rest of her is covered in turquoise feathers, all for her face and hands. Her peach face is accented with golden feathers, that match the warm hue that starts at her neck and fades back to blue, then back to the turquoise. I stare at her. I can't find my voice.
Her purple eyes widen at the sight of me, "You're right, Jack. Hypothermia. We need to get her out of here,"
He nodds, moving toward me. I struggle for a moment, searching for words.
"Who are you?" I ask.
She looks shocked, "You don't know? Then how can you see?"
"See what?"
"Tooth, we need to hurry. We'll figure it our later," Jack says.
"Yes," she blinks, "Did you get North and Bunny?"
"Of course, they're getting the others,"
"Are we headed to the Pole?"
"Yes,"
"Alright, I'll take her. I know you'd be faster, but I think we'd better not chance it,"
I stare at them, wondering who "North" and "Bunny" were. The feather-girl turned to me.
"Alright," she scooped me up easily. I was surprised by the strength of her slender arms. I was a fourteen years old, a little too big to be carried. But I didn't protest. I was to weak to say anything, and warmth radiated from her, making me feel warm and safe.
I cringed as she buzzed out into the freezing cold.
"Jack!" she called behind us, "Get to the pole and alert the Yetis! Tell them to get the hospital wing ready for three more patients!"
Only three more patients?
All I can think about as we sweep through the storm is of which one of my best friends was being left behind
