Secrets in the Snow

Chapter 3

This was stupid. This was incredibly stupid. Out of all the stupid things he'd done, this had to be the stupidest.  A faint snow began to fall as Shaemus silently slid out the front door and carefully shut it behind him. The moon was bright and full tonight. Perhaps that would explain his lunacy for the decision to venture out into the forest alone so late at night. He had made sure everyone was asleep before embarking on his adventure. If one should catch him sneaking out at this time of night, they would most surely ask for an explanation that Shaemus was not ready to give. He wasn't quite certain that he could even give an explanation. Winnie had not elaborated on what their meeting would consist of, and yet here he was off to meet the aloof girl with the frosty hair.

This was beyond Shaemus's normal range of behavior. If it had been any other girl under any other circumstance, he would have told them to get lost and that would have been the end of it. But this girl was different. She was different in that she was the oddest person he had ever met, but also in the way his own soul seemed to feel about her. Now, Shaemus wasn't a believer in all of that soulmate crap, but there was definitely something going on between the two of them. He physically felt different when she was near. Something inside him longed to be in the company of this girl. Not having control over his own feelings infuriated Shaemus and he was determined to get to the bottom of it.

Shaemus's feet crunched in the freshly lain snow as he started off into the forest. He wore a white wool coat with dark trousers and his black boots. The wind was calm tonight. Only a light breeze ruffled his pulled back hair as the trees began to crowd him. Shaemus had been in the forest millions of times before, but this visit felt different. He enjoyed the forest because most of the kingdom's people were too scared to venture out into it. The forest was peaceful. Shaemus could think out here, but now that he knew someone else with his gifts knew these trees as well as he did, it made him feel less dominant. He was supposed to be the only commander of the snow and now he had competition. That was, if the girl was telling the truth.

That thought had also crossed Shaemus's mind in the hours before his leave. What if she was making this whole thing up just to capture the man who stole from her daddy? She could have an entire facade of royal soldiers just waiting by the tree with the white bark ready to hogtie him and throw him into the deepest dungeon in the royal prison. That still wouldn't explain the gravitational pull he'd felt before though. Her scars also looked pretty real. If she had faked those, he'd be both impressed and freaked out.

Speaking of the tree with the white bark, where the Hell was it? Shaemus was now a decent ways in and he had yet to see any tree with white bark. The thieves house was no longer visible and all he could hear was the distant roaring of the river. He let out an aggravated sigh as he scanned the dark woods, looking for anything that contrasted with the shadows surrounding him. Suddenly, a snowy hare bounded out from behind an old oak tree. It stared at Shaemus with hollow eyes, bits of its snowflake fabricated body floating around in the breeze. The hare then hopped toward him and made a swift circle around him before darting back behind the trees. It left a shallow trail of snowflakes as it ran back to where it came from. Shaemus recognized this magic as his own, which it kind of was. The blonde boy quickened his stride as he followed the magical hare through the brush and undergrowth. He weaved and ducked and bobbed around trees, having to almost run to keep up with the snowy hare. After he was almost out of breath, the hare crashed into the feet of a cloaked person, vanishing into hundreds of tiny snowflakes.

"You came. I'd hoped you would," The soft voice of Winnie sounded out as she set her piercing gaze upon the thief.

Shaemus stared at the mystical girl. Her hair stood out like the moon in the night sky against her dark blue cloak. She was clothed in a matching dress with dark lace up boots. If he'd been a traveler, he'd mistake her for a forest fairy.