Snow Dyed Red

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Nicollo and I decide to meet up after school is over and so just like that the day passes by quickly and I am soon waiting for him by the bus stop. He told me earlier that he knew what to do but because of time I have yet to hear about it. That’s not the only thing that worries me. Why is it only us that can see the red snow? True there might be more people but as far as I know, I’m the only human in the school that can see it, and Nicollo is the only Nymph. Too add onto that Vampires can’t see it either if what happened today is any indication.

“Good evening Giselle,” Nicollo arrives and sits down next to me on the bench.

“There’s no time to be wasting. I want to know what’s happening immediately.” I tell him and pull the both of us of the bench. As relaxed a guy Nicollo may be, know isn’t the time.

“We can’t rush. The bus will be coming in a quarter of an hour and until that happens we can do nothing,” he says simply and sits back down.

I tap my foot relentlessly, “Doesn’t it worry you not knowing what is happening?” I ask him.

He sighs, “You humans always want the answers, but mysteries like this have been going on since the day we came to exist, since the beginning of time. Weather this particular one is of danger or not has yet to be determined.”

“Can you at least answer where were going, or is that too much?” I say annoyed with how laid back he is. Yes things happen out of our control, but if there’s something we can do then we have to do it.

“There’s a seer that goes to school here. We’re going to visit her house,” he finally says, but it’s not enough. This information doesn’t help me at all if I don’t know who she is or how to find her.

The bus arrives and we both get on. It takes us to an apartment building smaller and more farther from school than mine. “This is where she lives?”

“She is a girl of humble means,” he says as we walk up to her home. Nicollo seems to have been here before as he knows exactly which door is hers and has no problem finding it. He knocks and a the door opens to a small framed girl with thin white hair.

“Nicollo, what are you doing here. Come in, come in, it must be freezing out there.” She pulls us both into her house and shuts the door behind us, blocking out the cold winds. “What do I owe the pleasure to?” she asks after we are both seated and have warm cups of tea in our hands.

“I would like to use your abilities to see into the future,” Nicollo says. He sets his cup down and tells her about the situation were in. It sounds ridiculous hearing him say it, but I know from first hand experience that it happened, and looking at the seer she seems to believe us. “Amelia we need your help,” Nicollo say on the verge of begging her.

I add into the conversation, “We don’t know what’s going on, and you’re the only person that can help.”

She sighs, “I suppose I must then.” She grabs a small ceramic boll off of one of her shelves, “Do you have some of this red snow then,” She asks.

“I’ll go get some,” I get up immediately, embarrass that I hadn’t thought of it sooner. Just outside her house I grab a ball of the stuff and pack it so that I won’t make a mess in her home. “The snows just white right now, but back when it happened all the snow changed color. I’m sure this did too.” I hand it to her and she lets it fall into the boll.

“Everyone must be silent,” she says softly and places her hands over the snow. I look over to see Nicollo concentrating despite the fact that I don’t think it will help.

The room darkens to an orange glow and Amelia lights flicker. They don’t completely go out but whatever caused them to go haywire is causing Amelia trouble. She sways back and forth only slightly. For a moment everything goes still, the lights go out, she has stopped moving and even the air feels stale.

I touch Nicollo’s hand to ask what’s happening but he doesn’t seem to notice, or chooses not to. I’m about to ask what’s going on when the lights come back. Amelia’s eyes stare back at me her pupil’s gone and white voids in their place. The snow flashes a deep red before melting into water. It all happens so quickly that I’m not sure I saw what I did.

“Some one’s trying to stop me,” Amelia says, breaking the silence, “but I was able to see anyway.” She gets up and dumps the water out her window. Steam is released as it touches the snow.

“That’s good,” I say with excitement. Now we can finally do something. I know I’m not crazy.

“No not necessarily,” she says with tired eyes, and sets the now empty boll on her counter and sits back down in front of us. Nicollo has yet to speak. He squeezes my hand only now noticing it’s there. He too looks worried. “When I said someone was trying to stop me, I meant someone powerful. So powerful I don’t know who they are, but now the likely know who I am.”

Panic sweeps through me though I don’t know why. I don’t know who these people are and I have no reason to be scared. Nicollo says what I’m thinking, “That means they know someone is trying to find them. They’ll come after you and then us.” Amelia nods her head.

“Why don’t we start at the beginning, at least from our point of view. Why is the snow red?”

Amelia looks down at her feet and closes her eyes. The takes a moment before speaking and when she does it’s so quiet I can barely hear. “It’s blood, human sacrifices. I don’t know how many, or who is doing it,” she grabs both of my hands, “but you have to stop it. You have to save your people,” a tear falls down her face. I can tell she’s holding back more. She sits back and feverishly wipes them away with her sleeves.

“You need protection first, from whoever is coming after you,” I say jumping into action. I know exactly who could do it, though I’m not sure I want to ask him. Amir would frighten such a frail girl like her, but do I have any other choice.

She thanks us, “You two should go home tonight. We can talk about it in school tomorrow.” She pushes us out the door. I want to stay and help her, the girls seems so kind and giving, but right now what she needs is alone time.

Nicollo walks me back to my own home. “It’s a start, but we’re still missing a vital piece of information. Who’s killing these people?”

“Tomorrow,” he says repeating the seer. He doesn’t look at me. He sounds like he could fall asleep on the spot from sleep deprivations. The wisdom that usually fills his eyes is replaced by depression.

I rub his shoulder, “Hey, we’re going to figure this out,” I say good bye to him at my door but he doesn’t respond. That night I fall asleep to nightmares. The massacre of my people, and I can’t do anything to help them, at least not yet.