HEART OF ICE

CHAPTER 9

At the sound of the alarm, it was time for me to roll over and try to get another solid fifteen minutes of sleep. Even Santa needs his beauty sleep, right?

"No, Christopher. Up," said my aunt as she passed by my door. It was open enough for her voice to be loud and clear. She must have opened it after the first two times the noisy clock beside my bed had begun its whining wail.

I moaned into my pillow that was half supporting my head and half blocking the first hints of the morning light trying to come through my bedroom window. "I'm up...I'm getting up. Just one more minut..." I don't know if I finished the sentence or not. I may have even dreamed waking up to actually say something.

Sleeping can be a wonderful thing to a teenager, especially when said teenager can make it last as long as possible. Add on that it was the first morning back to school after Christmas vacation and the prolonged sleep was extra sweet. Warm blankets, plus comfortable bed, plus not wanting my time away from school to end equaled the kind of math problem I could enjoy. Unfortunately, I would be the only one in that drafty house that morning that would have such an opinion.

My aunt's name is Meredith. And, she was definitely not in favor of me sleeping in another moment. "Christopher, now. No more stalling. This is your last warning." I felt her hands grip my blanket. "Christopher, it's time to get up."

She tried to pull the blanket off and away from me. I had sensed the attack on my comforter coming and tightened my hold. Her efforts only succeeded in pulling me partway off my mattress before she dropped me back down.

"Christophherr..."

I hated when she dragged my name out like that. I pushed myself away from my window, rolling lazily in protest onto my right side. "There...see. I'm...getting up."

Aunt Meredith sighed from above my bed. "Alright then, you've left me no other choice."

Her words seemed miles away, echoing into my brain from over the far reaches of a dreamy expanse. But an icy mist of water suddenly splashing against my face was dramatically closer. The single cloud of wet droplets was instantly followed by a second and then a third. All at once my eyes were open and I was sitting up off my beloved-and now damp-pillow. Beads of cold water dripped slowly down my soaked cheeks. Wiping away the drops matting my eyelashes, I looked up to the red, plastic squirt bottle Aunt Meredith was holding in one hand and then to the confident smirk on her face.

"I warned you," she said. "Now get up and get dressed before you're late to school."

"That wasn't necessary at all," I said loudly, not hiding my annoyance. I was sixteen and wanted to sleep. I won't be judged.

Aunt Meredith had already turned her back on me. She was on the other side of the doorway when she said, without looking back, "It could have been much worse, believe me."

Staring sleepily into the hallway beyond my open door, I suddenly became aware of another presence in the room. I shifted my gaze then turned my head slowly toward the end of my bed. Past the tangled collection of shirts and pants knotted together near my feet, I spotted what could only be a dwarf sitting comfortably in my rickety desk chair. His eyes were fixed unflinchingly on me. His ever-stubbled cheeks had a rosy, almost merry glow about them. This was Orion the Fierce, a mighty dwarf warrior and one of my loyal protectors.

"Mornin'," he said, raising the mug of steaming coffee in his hand, his smile widening.

I stared at him with wet, half-open eyes, unamused at the little man. "Why are you in my room," I asked after a long moment of silence.