Thaw Fickle Buskin

Partly Cloudy

The next morning I sat by myself in the kitchen, letting the hot steam from an untouched cup of tea hit my cheeks. I was staring out the window at the bright morning. A thin layer of frost had covered the world and reflected the sunlight. The trees rustled from the squirrels hurriedly preparing from winter. I liked sitting there and watching the world work its magic.

My knees were bruising from the night before. I wasn't sure how long I had been on that floor, but I woke up with my body aching from the hard floor. My head was buzzing, still preparing for the worst. Garfunkel hadn't left my side since the incident, though, so I didn't feel completely alone.

The tea went cold in my hands, but I didn't care. I just made it to distract my mind for a while. There was so much I had to process that morning, but I wasn't ready for any of it. Kanoa was enough to make my head strain, but with that night terror...Everything about it made the floor sway beneath my feet.

Just then, I heard a knock at the door. I abandoned the tea and rushed to open it. When I swung it open, I was met by Garrett. He was holding a single rose that had dew melting from its petals. He reached out his arm.

"This is for you," he said innocently.

I grabbed it, letting the small thorns rub my fingers. "Oh my God, Garrett, thank you! Come in, come in. It's cold out there."

I let him walk past me and I shut the door behind him. He was wearing a flannel shirt beneath a loose jean jacket. There was a pride flag bracelet wrapped around his wrist that swayed lazily as he walked. He looked very put together and respectful.

"What're you doing here?" I asked. I went to the kitchen to find a vase to set the rose in. It was minutes away from opening and I could already smell its sweet scent.

Garrett followed me. He glanced at the full cup of tea sitting at the table but didn't say anything about it. "It's about Kanoa. She said that she might have something of importance that we need to look at ASAP."

I grabbed a tall, thin vase and set it next to the window. The rose glistened happily in the sunlight. "Oh, okay. Where is she?"

Garrett beckoned for me to follow him. "She's at that weird church next to your house. Not sure why, though."

The old church seemed to be the only thing totally untouched by the fire--

"Cool. Let's go then." I said. I tried my best to ignore the voice popping in and out of the back of my head. They would go away eventually--that's what I kept telling myself, anyways.

I grabbed my thick boots from the closet and followed Garrett out of the house. To my relief, he had a car parked in front of my house. The town had already done a decent job trying to clean the streets, but the sidewalks were still filled with debris. Some people had already gotten injured just walking down the street, according to Mom.

We slipped into his car and made the short trip to the church. He had a Troye Sivan song on full blast. I assumed he didn't really want to talk, so I just listened to the lyrics float lightly into my ears. Garrett parked in front of the church and shut off the engine. I realized he was humming along happily to the song.

When we walked into the old church, wood creaking as we opened the doors, I saw Kanoa sitting in one of the rotting pews. She was looking at a Bible that had probably been there for decades. I had to catch my breath when I saw that she was wearing a skirt that showed her tall, smooth legs.

She waved at us and through the Bible on the seat beside her. She strode up to us with a stained paper in her hand. There were markings all over the paper like someone had hurriedly taken notes. On one side was a less-than-adequate map, complete with little drawings of trees and trails. I recognized one as the Sol Trail.

"Guys, you will not believe this," Kanoa said excitedly. She showed the map to us. "A little bit of background--After the fight with Griffin, I came here and noticed something strange here. I felt more powerful somehow. It's hard to explain. But I stayed here to investigate why it was altering my powers so weirdly and found this whole hideout in the back room. But before I could look closely at this map, my powers got out of control"

Garrett's face contorted with concern, but before he could comment Kanoa held up her hand. "But sadly, it seemed like whoever was here took the most important stuff...Except for this. It's a map to something."

I examined it. There were a lot of small unnecessary details in the map, like rivers that lead to nowhere and rocks that meant nothing. But there was, indeed, directions on how to get to a hidden location.

"So you're saying we should go explore it?" I asked.

Kanoa nodded. "Uh, yeah!"

"But...why?"

Kanoa flipped the paper over and revealed what the notes really were. They were symbols that looked suspiciously similar to the markings on Kanoa's arm. She put out her arm, confirming that there were identical ones on her skin and on the paper.

"That's why. Because the person who drew this is connected to me somehow. They might know something about it that I don't," Kanoa said.

She folded up the map and shoved it in her back pocket. Garrett crossed his arms and stared off into the distance. "There might be another person like you in town?"

Kanoa shrugged. "That's a possibility. We need to go see what this place is to make sure we have control over this situation. This person could be dangerous or they could be just like me."

Maybe they're dangerous--

"So we better go as soon as we can, right?" I said. My voice came out more rushed than I meant it to, but I needed to interrupt the voice before it could continue.

Kanoa nodded. "Yeah. Garrett, would you mind leaving your car here while we start on the Sol Trail? That's our starting point and, luckily, its right here."

"Um, sure. We just have to back before dinner." Garrett said.

And with that, all three of us started out the door and into the sunny world. We made our way to the back of the church, where the Sol Trail was lit up by light breaking through the pine branches. I side-eyed Kanoa, trying to see if she remembered any if it. There was no sign that she knew about me carrying her home, though, because she looked around with wanderlust in her eyes.

Kanoa lead the way through the trees as Garrett and I followed in a straight line. She had her map outstretched in front of her, trying to see telltale cairns that would take us to the strange, unmarked place on the map. I wanted to walk beside her and help somehow, but I was pushed to the back of the group.

I wondered what she thought we would find there, at the end of the trail. The Sol Trail only went for so long before the terrain became steep and rocky. We would reach a point where it was nearly impossible to continue. But that was probably the point. Whoever made the map wasn't about to be exposed.

It was me....

A sharp pain shot through my head and down my spine. I stopped and gasped loudly, causing Kanoa and Garrett to turn around. I put my head in my hands, suddenly light sensitive. Kanoa pushed past Garrett and rushed towards me.

"Bea?! Are you okay?" she asked frantically.

I nodded, but I wasn't sure that was the whole truth. I opened my eyes and saw her face inches from mine, eyes filled with worry. I wanted to take that away from her. I wanted her to stay determined and happy. But there was no way I could get around this splitting pain in my head.

Kanoa's hands grew the familiar glow, except this time it was a light blue. It practically matched the deep color of the sky. She reached up and moved my hands away, putting her hands in their place. Almost immediately, the pain melted away. I was left leaning into her soft hands and feeling the warmth emanating from them.

Her smile added to my recovery. I slowly removed her hands and held them for a second, taking in their friendliness. Then I let go, already missing the feeling of her touch. To my surprise, Kanoa took them back in her hands and squeezed them, not letting me go.