FROST- Jotun Chronicles #1

Dreams

Fevero was a tiny shop, tucked between a large Dutch bakery and a pet food warehouse. It was - as Charlotte had said - making an attempt at trendy, with its burnished steel fixing and wide, modern looking white chairs and tables. Modern art work was scribbled on every available wall. I thought it was all hideous. The Aryan club, as Charlotte dubbed them, was sitting at the back of the room, taking up a booth beside the gas fire place.

            Amy waved at us as we came in; to her credit she included Charlotte in her greeting.

            “Hey girls, come have a seat.”

            We walked over. I slid onto the white plastic seat and found myself sandwiched between Becca and Charotte.

            “Hi,” I said.

            “So,” Amy folded her hands on the table top and leaned forward like she was interviewing me, “you just moved here?”

            “Yup,” I said. Wasn’t that rather obvious?

            “Your parents, let’s see…foster parents, adoptive parents, uncles or aunts…”

            I blinked at her, “Foster. How did you know?”

            She gestured at the other girls, including herself. “We’re all the same. I was adopted, Margaret too. Stacy has foster parents and Alicia lives with an uncle who can’t prove he’s her uncle.”

            I stared at them. “I don’t get it.”

            She shrugged, studying me with blue eyes that had been heavily outlined with brown liner, “We’re trying to figure out the connection here, help us out, Megan.”

            I was confused, and starting to feel the flutter of panic starting in my belly that came when things didn’t make sense. Like when my foster parents took it into their heads to move in under a week, or when I froze a boy by just kissing him…

            I pushed the idea out of my head.

            Amy said, “I moved here two years ago, shortly after that Margaret did, and then Becca, Stacy and Alicia. Our guardians all just decided to move here one day. Most of them happened to get that big raise they hoped for, providing they moved here. All of us ended up at Grande Prairie High. How does that happen?”

            My mouth felt dry. “I…coincidence? What are you saying? We’re sisters or something?”

            Amy shrugged, glancing around at the other girls. One of them - Margaret I think - said,

            “We don’t know, but it’s no coincidence that we look like we could be related. Come on now. I’m six feet tall, and I reached this height by the time I was fourteen. I thought I would never meet a woman as tall as me.” She looked at Becca, “then I met Becca, she’s taller.”

            Becca’s cheeks flushed and she nodded. I got the feeling she didn’t talk much.

            Amy spread her hands, as if I couldn’t possibly disagree with her reasoning. “See? What are the chances? It just doesn’t make sense.” She glanced over at Charlotte. “Even you, as much as you might think you hate us…I mean, you’re super short, but your features are similar. Pale blonde hair, light skin…”

            Charlotte glared at her. “I’ve been going to school with you for two years and you haven’t so much as spoken to me until now.”