Gifted

VI

Allan came flying back towards us and swooped down to the ground. She approached Poe and opened her mouth.

"Squee!" Allan proceeded to regurgitate into Poe's mouth. I almost gagged myself and turned away.

"Yuck," Maze said, holding her nose.

"Can we go now? It's freezing." Asuna rubbed her bare shoulders and shivered. Staying here would be bad, we we're low on money and didn't pack clothes for cold weather either. But since Allan is taking care of Poe, we might be stuck here for while. I tried to go through the options and could only come up with 2 decent ones.

"Alright, everyone listen closely." The rest of the group turned their heads towards me, eager for instructions. Sometimes being the leader was rewarding. Your friends always looked up to you in time of need, and most of the time, you could do the right thing. But right now was different. I cleared my throat and rubbed my freezing hands together.

"We obviously can't stay here, so we have 2 choices. A, we leave Allan with Poe and continue our trip West with a different method of travel. Or B, we stay here until Poe is mature enough to fly on his own. So, with that being said, let's have a vote. Any questions first?"

Rafe raised his hand. "Can't you just summon another bird?"

I shook my head. "No can do, I can't just keep summoning giant birds when one's not available. They'll be all over the place. Plus, the pattern is finished." I smiled at Poe who was still eating regurgitated fish.

Asuna raised her hand. "We don't have a lot of money left, where would we even go if we stayed here?"

"Good question. But I think I have that figured out now." She gave me a confusing look and shrugged.

"OK, lets vote. All in favor of staying here, raise your hand." Everyone's hand shot up besides one person.

Asuna sighed and put her hands on her hips.

"Is there a problem Maze?" she said irritably. Maze ignored her and got serious.

"I, we, can't stay here. HH and my Mom could still be following us. What would happen if one of us got caught?" She glanced at me with a hopeful expression. She may be right,but I have a feeling staying here would work out in the long run.

I spread my hands. "Sorry Maze, we all voted on staying here. If you don't like it-" I gestured to the frozen road behind me. She stared at it for a few moments before her expression softened.

"Fine, but if I spot one HH worker I'm getting the hell out of this place." I flashed her a smile and she rolled her eyes. Ebi ran over and pulled my jacket.

"You said you figured out the money problem, what do you plan on doing?" he said. The entire group stopped in their tracks and looked at me. I smiled at Ebi and patted his head.

"Don't worry, first, we gotta get to the city."

Allan didn't look like she was moving from her makeshift nest in the field so we abandoned our supplies and was forced to walk  into the city. It had to be at least below zero degrees and I couldn't feel my ears anymore. After only 15 minutes of waking Asuna collapsed. I ran over to her and picked scooped her off the ground.

"You ok?" I asked.

"Ohhh I'm fineeee. Just can't feel my freaking feet is all." She sighed and shifted all of her weight onto me. We needed to warm up and fast. Just as I had this thought, a snowfall began. And suddenly everyone was looking at me again. Scratch what I said about being a leader. I looked around us but the entire landscape was just white with few trees. I doubt Dad had a power to summon a 5 star hotel too. For once, I think I was defeated. By Mother Nature of all things. The snow began falling faster and harder and eventually visibility became almost 0. I still didn't have any bright ideas. If I didn't decide something quick, all of my friends would freeze to death in some deserted place in South Dakota. Didn't sound like much of an honorable death.