Myth

Chapter 12: The Alps

 Alwyn and I opened the shack door carefully, but apparently we were not careful enough, for the wind caught on the door and pinned it wide open. It took both of us to shut it again. I turned my head away from the door and found my friends. Most of them were lying down or rubbing their feet to keep them warm, and someone was even looking at the ceiling where I noticed that there was a single light bulb that was swinging back and forth, hypnotically slow, and that there was no break from the cold. Though having no wind was nice.

"Are you ready?" Demetri questioned, keeping his eyes on the bulb. "Yep, so now get off your butts and get moving we are already an hour late and don't want to get stuck in the mountains at night," Alwyn stated rather harshly, but I figured it was the weather talking. Demetri stood up immediately and started blinking repeatedly. "Told you staring at a light is not good for your health," Nickolina teased. Demetri shrugged and walked outside. Everyone followed behind him, except I stalled a bit waiting for Ethelios, who had a rather hard time getting up because his legs had fallen asleep.

"I missed you for that whole seven hours we were on that plane," Ethelios declared as he brought me into a loving hug. "I missed you, before we even got on the plane," I whispered back. Although I could not see his face I could tell he was smiling. He undid our hug and gave me a sweet kiss on the nose. "Do you know what I just thought about? This will be the first time you will meet my parents," he proclaimed, as he grabbed my hand and walked me out the door to join everyone else. The thought had occurred to me before, but I was not really too worried, knowing that all of the mythical creatures that I had met so far were extremely nice and funny so I responded with, "I can't wait."

We walked as a mass of people through the back streets, twisting and turning attempting not to be obvious. I perceived a change in the landscape and buildings, and I started to believe that we were no longer in Lucerne. After rounding a final corner, we found ourselves gazing into a forest full of thousands upon thousands of needled trees, and my first sight of the Alps. A jagged stone crest peaked around two kilometres away, and was just visible over the foliage that surrounded us. We continued trudging and no one said anything about the view.

All of us zigged and zagged in and around the trees, occasionally getting smacked by a snow covered branch or two, even though I was pretty sure that Julian or Adessa had somehow made sure I'd get hit. The depth of the snow differed depending on how the ground curved and let the roots that had taken their home in it protrude. Surprisingly nobody fell, though I did have a few close calls, and I was pretty sure that I was the only one who saw. In a matter of minutes we had reached the base of the Alps.

A stone step jutted out, and a few other points were extended beyond the normal angle of the mountain range. "You first," Konstantin whispered. I reached the front of the line had stepped up onto the rock stair. I placed my hands on each of the protrusions and made my way up. It reminded me of the rock wall at Marcus' only this time there was no belt as my security blanket.

Once I had made it up I realized it had access to a skinny ridge that rounded a few bends so that I could not see what lay ahead. I stayed put not knowing what I was supposed to do. A second or two later Kosta's head peered over the top and he pulled himself up and onto the ledge. Konstantin walked in front of me and onto the slim ridge. At least I knew that if it did not crumble underneath his weight that I would be fine. He gestured for me to follow him. I slid my foot across the narrow ridge and clung onto the wall I was facing. I stuck my body along the flat cliff side and inched closer and closer to Kosta, not looking down.

It seemed to take ages to get across the flat, I felt successful until I spotted the place where the ridge continued. Konstantin saw my expression and took advantage of it. He walked closer to the next edge gave me a pleased look and stopped, turned around got back onto the thicker piece of rock and climbed in the space available up to another level.