Flutter (5 page)

“Yeah, once, a few years back,” he said disdainfully.
“We went skiing, and it was terrible. I broke a snowboard and
rolled down the hill. It wasn’t that fun. Finland’s not that great.
You should just come home.”

“Jack.” I smiled when I pictured him tumbling down a
hill, but it faded when he went back to trying to convince me to
leave. “You’re wasting this call. My phone’s going to die, and I
don’t have a charger. Do you really wanna spend this time arguing
with me, when you know you’re not going to change my mind?”

“Yeah, I kind of do,” he replied. “Besides, I’m sure
Ezra has a charger that’ll work there, and you can use that.”

A few weeks ago, Jack bought me an iPhone. It was the
exact same phone that both Ezra and Jack had, so if Ezra had a
charger, it worked on mine.

“Ezra speaks Finnish,” I said, keeping the subject
away from Peter or coming home. “It’s pretty fancy, although I
can’t understand a word of it.”

“Ezra is fluent in like every
language known to man, even the dead ones. He thought he was so
cool when he watched
The Passion of the
Christ
without subtitles because can he
speak Aramaic, but I’m pretty sure that’s the
only
time that’ll ever come in
handy.” Jack lightened up, just a tad, and it made me
smile.

“Can you speak any other languages?” I asked.

“Spanish and German,” he informed me with pride. “I
learned Spanish in high school, and German in college, so I’m not
fluent in either. But I can ask if you speak English in both
languages, and I think that’s the only thing I really need to
know.”

“Yeah, that sounds helpful,” I laughed, but my
happiness made fresh tears in my eyes. “I miss you.”

“I miss you too. You can come home, Alice, whenever
you want. No pressure.”

“I know. But I have to help. It shouldn’t be that
long, I don’t think. We’ll find Peter, and then come straight
home.”

Jack started saying something about the Finnish
wilderness being complex, but Ezra came out of the bathroom,
distracting me. He had changed into flannel pajama pants and a tee
shirt, and he ruffled his hand through his damp hair, looking at me
questioningly.

“It’s just Jack,” I told him, holding the phone a
little way from my mouth.

“Ezra’s there? Let me talk to him!” Jack
demanded.

“You don’t need to talk to him,” I sighed.

“I take it he knows we’re in Finland then?” Ezra
asked me, and I nodded sheepishly. “Oh well. He’d find out sooner
or later.”

“Look, Jack, I should get some sleep anyway. I’ll
call you soon and let you know how things are going,” I said. Ezra
rolled down the teal bedspread, meaning he was getting ready for
bed and I should probably do the same.

“Alice…” Jack was almost whining, and he realized it
so he stopped. “Just call me soon, really soon. And take care of
yourself, okay?”

“I will,” I promised.

When I hung up the phone, I fought the overwhelming
urge to sob. Hearing his voice only made things worse. My heart
ached in my chest, and my body felt completely out of whack. I
hated that I could barely even survive being away from Jack.

“You didn’t have to get off the phone because of me,”
Ezra said.

I swallowed back tears, staring down at my phone, and
heard the rustle of blankets as he settled himself into bed. Even
though I’d just gotten off the phone, I thought about calling Jack
back. It wouldn’t do any good to make me feel better, so I decided
against it.

“I know,” I said. Setting my phone on the nightstand,
I crawled underneath the covers myself. “Are you going to call
Mae?”

“Not until I know anything. Jack can fill her in.” He
rolled onto his stomach and rested his head on the pillow. “Are you
going to be okay with all of this?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I nodded, and I wasn’t sure if I
was lying or not.

Rolling over so my back was to him, I allowed a few
silent tears to slide down my cheeks. He didn’t say anything, and
eventually, his breathing had the regulated quality that comes with
sleep. Unfortunately, sleep wouldn’t be as easy for me.

Ezra tore open the shades while the sun was still up,
and I squinted and pulled the blankets over my head. The little
experience I had with the sun so far made me tired and cranky, and
I had no urge to relive that. Fully dressed and whistling an old
Neil Young song, Ezra went about the room, and I knew it was time
to get up.

“What time is it?” I mumbled, still buried underneath
the thin hotel comforter.

“It’s a little after one, but we need to get going.
We’re burning daylight.” He chuckled at his own joke, and I was
starting to think that I didn’t agree with his sense of humor.

“You’re actually expecting me to get up now?” I poked
my head out, braving the blinding light that filled the room.

“We do need to get going.” He checked something on
his phone, then he glanced back at the open window. “I can close
the shades, if that helps.”

“You know it does,” I yawned.

Ezra complied, still fiddling around with his phone,
and I hoped that meant that he had a lead on something. His half of
the room was already completely straightened up, the bed made and
everything, and I wondered what time he had gotten up.

“I wish I still drank coffee or Red Bull or
something,” I said as I stumbled out of bed and made my way to the
bathroom. (Fun fact: Vampires still pee. Blood is a liquid, after
all.)

“Just take a cold shower. That’ll perk you right up,”
he said.

Following his advice, I took a quick, cold shower,
and it helped some. I dressed in a hurry and blow dried my hair so
it wouldn’t freeze outside.

The hotel was alive with people today, and I pulled
my scarf over my mouth and nose to muffle it. When we were walking
out, I noticed the décor in the hotel was distinctly green. Potted
plants were everywhere, probably to counteract the long winters and
oblique white window views. I enjoyed winter, but it would be odd
to live in a place that had snow eight months out of the year.

It really wasn’t that cold out, only in the low
thirties, but I bundled up in a winter jacket and boots, like any
normal person would. There wasn’t that much snow yet, only enough
to crunch underneath my feet.

“So what’s the plan?” I followed him out of the
building, and he walked towards the silver Range Rover he’d rented
yesterday.

“We’re going for a drive,” Ezra answered vaguely, and
I wondered if he was purposely infuriating or if it was just force
of habit. He got in the driver’s side, so I hopped in.

Without looking, he whipped the Rover into reverse
and sped out away from the hotel. Usually, he was a mild driver,
but it became apparent where Jack’s driving skills came from. As he
sped down the road, I pulled my hood up over my head and sunk lower
in my seat, hiding myself from the sun’s rays as much as I
could.

“How is this gonna work?” I yawned when we’d been on
the road for ten minutes. Already, I felt like napping, and I knew
as the day wore on, I would only get sleepier.

“We’ll be in tree cover most of the time.” He
motioned to the thick pine trees that filled the world around us.
“You have your hood and sunglasses, and when we get back in the
morning, we’ll both eat. We’ll be fine.”

We traveled about a half hour or so when he turned
off the road and parked in a small clearing. I’d been dozing a bit,
but I sat up when the vehicle stopped. I leaned over to inspect the
GPS system in the dash, hoping to find a clue about where we were.
Finnish words and names looked like gibberish to me, so I didn’t
gain any insight.

“Okay. What’s going on?” I asked, but Ezra turned off
the car and jumped out in response. “Thanks.”

I scrambled out after him, and I slipped on an icy
patch of snow. When I tried to catch my fall by grabbing onto the
car, I only succeeded in denting the side. It was pretty awesome
having almost no control over my body. I couldn’t wait for the
grace and strength to really kick in.

“Are you coming?” Ezra paused long enough for me to
collect myself and scurry after him.

“Yeah. Where are we going?” I asked when I caught up
with him.

“The woods.” We were already walking into a very
thick patch of trees, so he was doing nothing more than stating the
obvious.

“You’re really becoming my least favorite person,” I
muttered as I nearly tripped over a fallen log.

“I don’t know exactly where we’re going,” he
reluctantly admitted. “I just know the area we’re supposed to be
in, and this is it.”

We were in the shadows thanks to cover of trees, so
at least that was something. Looking around, though, everything
appeared the same as everything. Evergreens blanketed the area, and
somewhere up ahead, I could hear a river flowing.

Other than that, I had no idea how Ezra could tell
one tree from another, or how he could possibly have any clue where
we were. He was much more familiar with the area than I was, but I
couldn’t see what distinguished these trees from the rest.

“Where are we?” I stopped walking and stared up
through the trees at the sky.

“The lycan live around here.”

I would’ve liked to press him further about it, but
he didn’t want to talk. Ezra didn’t even slow down for me, so I
learned my lesson about stopping for no reason. We trekked through
the trees all afternoon, and while the sun didn’t directly shine on
me, I felt a burst of energy when it finally went down.

Once night closed in completely, Ezra started to wait
for me and insisted I stay close to him. During the day, other
vampires were much less likely to be out, which was why he wanted
to check things out then.

The biggest excitement of the night was when we saw a
few reindeer walking in front of us. Ezra explained that many
Europeans say that this is where Santa Clause lives, not the North
Pole, partially because of the large reindeer population. We
weren’t that far south from the North Pole anyway, so it wasn’t
much of a stretch.

By the time the sun started to rise, I was completely
exhausted. There’s a myth that vampires don’t ever get tired or run
out of energy, and Ezra did seem to exemplify that. Maybe I’m just
a wuss. I don’t really know. We made the long walk through the
trees back to the car, and I was incredibly relieved when I sat
down inside the Range Rover.

The gnawing hunger set in a few hours ago. Ezra’s
pulse had gotten more noticeable, and my hands exhibited a fine
tremor. The early morning light that filtered in through the
windows only made it worse.

When we got back to the hotel, I must’ve been
jonesing noticeably because Ezra put his arm securely around me
when we walked inside. It was after seven in the morning, so the
breakfast crowd filled the dining room. The scent of eggs and deer
sausage made me sick. Over that, I smelled the delectable scent of
blood, and I was grateful for Ezra’s strong arm steering me towards
our room.

Once inside, I peeled off my jacket and kicked off my
boots.

“That was a total waste of a day,” I said, squirming
about the room. My clothes felt too heavy and uncomfortable, and it
was hard not to take them off.

Ezra turned the temperature down low and filled the
bathtub with ice and blood bags before we left last night, so the
blood was still cool and intact. While I was in the room twitching
and not taking off my clothes, he was in the bathroom getting food
for us.

“We figured some things out.” Ezra came out of the
bathroom with a several bags of blood. “Tomorrow we’ll have a
better idea of where we need to go.”

The blood was in sight so any petty complaint I had
didn’t matter anymore. I practically ripped it from his hands. I
downed it, and Ezra watched me with an odd look of fascination on
his face. That wonderful warming effect spread over me, and I held
out my hand for a second bag.

“Get ready for bed first,” he shook his head. “I’m
not getting you in your pajamas after you’re passed out.”

“Fine. Look away.”

He did as he was told, and I took off my clothes as
quickly as I could. That didn’t end up being all that fast because
that tired, loose feeling took over me, and I almost fell over just
taking off my shirt. When putting on my pajama pants, I fell back
on the bed and didn’t bother to get up again.

“Done,” I announced and held out my hand to him.

“You’re going to have to learn to take it easier on
these. I don’t think I packed enough for you to keep going at this
rate,” he warned, but he handed it to me.

“I thought you’d be an over packer,” I said before
gulping it down.

“I am.” He looked at me severely and sat on his bed
across from me.

“It’s the sun.” My words already slurred. “The sun is
super draining. I don’t think I can go back out in it again, not
like that. And then walking around for like seventeen hours? It’s
just too much for me…”

“It’s not too much for you.” He shook his head as he
watched me struggle to stay conscious. “You have almost infinite
power, Alice. You’ve got to stop thinking like you’re human.”

“You are!” I spouted, but clearly, that didn’t make
sense.

“Yes, of course, I am,” he rolled his eyes.

I started to ask him a question,
but I didn’t even know what it was. Pleasure rolled over me, and I
didn’t want to fight it anymore. Ezra wanted me to express more
self-control, but then again, he claimed that I
was
expressing
self-control.

If this was me under control compared to other
vampires, then I’d hate to see what they were like.

“Oh… the lycans are worse than this, aren’t they?” I
groaned.

“I don’t really understand the question.” Ezra got up
and walked over to me. “Why don’t you get some sleep, Alice? You’ve
had a long day. Get under the covers.”