Chapter 14: Snow
*Embry*
Never in my life have I really known the meaning of family. Sure, I had my mom, but it wasn't the same. It wasn't until after I phased that I truly felt as though I had a family, a group of people that would always have my back and be there for me. That no matter what, they would take my shit, and not hold it against me. For once in my life, I felt like I had something to die for, that in a moments notice, I would die for my brothers. But I never understood what it meant to live for someone, not until I had Neveah back at my side did I truly realize that. The moment I had her back in my arms, my whole world came back into place. Those few hours before midnight I couldn't help but do everything in my power to make her smile, to make her laugh, to just make her happy. The pain that I had been feeling for so long, was finally gone, and in it's place was the happiness that I had thought was lost forever. I was finally happy.
"So Call," Jacob leaned back on the couch as the rest of the pack slept. Neveah was curled up against my side, her head resting on my chest as I stroked her back, "you going to start acting like yourself again, and not like an ass?"
I smiled through the darkness and pressed my lips against Neveah's temple as she moved into a different position, "Sure, sure."
"Good because I was really sick of having to get everyone to stop talking shit about you," Jacob sighed and crossed his arms behind his head, "I'm such a great friend."
I laughed quietly, "You're full of yourself that's what you are," Jacob sniffed pretending to be offended, "but you are a great friend. Thanks Jake."
"Sure, sure," he waved a hand in the air and started talking about what I had been missing at school.
As he spoke I ran a hand through Neveah's hair, listening to her quiet breathing, the beat of her heart. She muttered something and turned in her sleep. Her hand clenched my shirt tightly as she buried her face in my chest. What the hell?
"So I told Savannah Hendrix that I would go to the Winter Harvest with her if she promised to stop sicking her cheerleader friends on me," Jacob sighed, "Why do I have to be such a handsome man?"
I gave him half a skeptical look which he ignored.
"You guys should go, give me a reason to talk to some real people," Jacob paused. Neveah shifted in her sleep again, "well real isn't the word you would use to describe us."
"Are you ever going to shut up Jake?" I rolled my eyes at him as Jacob shook his head and continued with the explanation of why we weren't considered real people.
I couldn't concentrate on what he was saying, suddenly Neveah clenched my shit tightly and buried her face in my chest. The next second she shot up, covering her mouth as a scream escaped her lips. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders, as she whimpered into my neck, "Veah, honey, what's wrong?" she didn't answer, only breathed hard.
"What the fuck?" Brady jumped up, causing Harlow to fall to the floor. The pack were at their feet in a minute, ready to go into action.
"Oh calm the hell down," Harlow muttered angrily and stood. She walked over to where I was holding Neveah. Sighing, Harlow brushed her hair out of her face, "Well I think we managed at least a hour more sleep. New record! Good job!" her sarcasm dropped on deaf ears though as Har became serious.
"What's wrong? Who screamed?" Sam came running out of his bedroom, scanning the room.
"Neveah, she was having another vision nightmare thing," Harlow's eyes got big and she slapped a hand over her mouth as Neveah gave her a cold look.
There was a moment of silence as we all processed what she had just said. I cleared my throat and tried looking Neveah in the eye, but she refused to meet my glare, "Nightmares….visions?"
"Harlow you said she wasn't having any visions," Sam growled.
Harlow scratched the back of her head and kept quiet.
Sam stalked forward, pulling Neveah up to her feet, "What have you been seeing?"
Neveah shook her head and reached for me.
Sam growled again and shook her, "No! Tell me!"
"Knock it off!" Harlow grabbed at his arms as I sprung to my feet, only to be held back my Paul.
"TELL ME!" I had never seen Sam like this, for once he wasn't in control, his eyes were wild, and the look he wore even freaked me out. I fought Paul as I saw the first tear make it's way down Neveah's. White hot anger roared in my chest, ready to explode.
"Sam if you don't let her go I swear I will fucking kill you!" I roared and pushed against Paul, but the soreness in my body wouldn't let me use my full strength and Paul easily pinned me in a position away from Sam.
"Answer me now, or I will take you to the counsel and have them force you to tell me!" Sam threatened.
"You're hurting her Sam!" Emily stepped into the room, her face set in stone.
It took a moment for Sam to register just how hard he had been holding Neveah. With a look of disgust he pushed her away from him, so she landed on the couch again, and he stalked to the back of the room, pacing and running his hand through his hair.
"Let me go!" I growled at Paul trying to break free.
"Do it," Sam muttered and immediately I was released.
My arms wrapped around Neveah as she started crying into my shoulder. I rubbed circles into her back glaring over her head at Sam who was watching us.
Harlow stepped forward, "She won't say anything. I've already tried."
"But the drawings," Leah left off, waiting for an answer.
"No," Harlow shook her head, "I saw one and it didn't make any sense to me. After that I couldn't find anymore. Either she's not drawing them or is keeping them hidden."
We all fell into silence as Neveah's sobs slowly ebbed away, until she was only clinging to me. I cleared my throat, we needed to know what the visions were, even if it meant something horrible, "Veah," she made no movement to tell me that she had heard me, "where are the drawings?"
She sat up looking me in the eye, her blue sparkling with a pain that I couldn't comprehend.
"Tell me," I whispered, holding her face in my hands, "please. We have to know. Even if it's bad. No one will be mad at you."
"He's right," Seth spoke up, "None of us will be mad."
"Scouts honor," Quil winked at her.
I smiled at my pack brothers for trying to help.
Harlow sat down and rested her head on Neveah's shoulder, "Tell them."
We held our breathe as Neveah looked down into her lap, her eyes staring at nothing. Her hand snaked into mine and she held tightly, "They're in my art binder at school."
I smiled at her, "Thank you," Neveah said nothing, just kept staring at nothing. I placed a kiss on her neck and she let her head fall onto my shoulder.
"Alright, tomorrow morning I want Embry to go with Neveah to the art room. At lunch I want everyone to look at those drawings," Sam sighed, "everyone try and get some rest."
"Easier said then done," Neveah muttered and I grimaced at the expression she wore when the lights were turned off.
As everyone fell back to sleep I pulled her to me, so we were face to face. Wrapping an arm around her waist I made her flush with my body, "What can I do?"
"There's nothing, Harlow and I have tried everything," Neveah shook her head, her hair tickling my face.
"Everything?" I asked and she nodded, "Maybe you just need to be distracted for awhile."
Neveah gave me a look, "What?"
I smirked and brushed a kiss against her jaw, "Maybe you need to be distracted, that way when you fall asleep you're not thinking about having a vision."
"O…kay," Neveah muttered.
For a smart girl, she could be pretty dumb. I rolled my eyes, "Just be quiet," with that I placed my lips over hers, waiting until Veah finally rebooted and she pulled herself closer to kiss better. I smirked and traced her lips with my tongue before finally being allowed into her mouth. Her kiss set me on fire, filling every small place with so much heat I was convinced we would combust suddenly. There was no space between us as we kissed, pouring everything we had to say, all our thoughts and emotions into it. It was as though she was the other part of me, every part of Neveah fit exactly to me, like she had been made for me. My hands roamed her back and her hips, her hand running down my chest as I did everything in my power to make her forget about the visions, about everything except us. Right now, in this small space, the only thing she needed to worry about, was us. And nothing else mattered.
~Morning~
My distraction idea must have worked, because the rest of the night Neveah slept soundly, not even moving or muttering in her sleep as she sometimes did. As Emily walked around the living room, waking everyone up, I could still see the evidence of our kiss last night on Neveah's lips, they were crimson red. I had never noticed before, but she was absolutely stunning in the morning. Her hair had just the right amount of waviness to it, her eyes were framed by her thick lashes, and her eyes sparkled as she finally started waking up. Neveah was absolutely quiet in the morning, where's Harlow jumped around the house rambling about things that we couldn't comprehend this early.
"No you don't!" Neveah had curled back under the quilt and pulled it over her head and we laughed as Harlow tried pulling the quilt off her.
"Noooo! Too early!" Neveah cried as the blanket was ripped away.
"It's only," Harlow paused to look at the clock, "five thirty.
"Night!" Neveah called and grabbed Seth's blanket and covered herself with it.
I couldn't help but laugh as we watched Harlow and Neveah battle for the blanket. It took maybe ten more minutes before Harlow finally gave up and went to shower in Emily's bathroom.
Neveah peeked out from the blanket and I took the chance nad kissed her forehead, "Wake up. You're the only one who hasn't walked around yet.
Neveah grimaced at me.
"Come on," Jace appeared, holding something behind his back, "I have something for you," Veah didn't even bother to look at him. He smirked, "I have poptarts," Neveah stuck her tongue out and covered her head with the quilt again. We all laughed as Jace walked over and dangled the poptart over her head, "it's chocolate chip."
Very stealthily if I might say, Neveah reached out from the quilt and grabbed the poptart as Jace looked bewildered.
"I love this girl!" Jacob laughed.
"I wanted some of that," Jace snapped.
"Here," Neveah threw a handful of poptart at him and crawled out from the quilt and sat up, "you lied….it's cherry."
"No the box said chocolate chip," Jace snapped.
"Then I guess you can't read," Neveah said slowly.
"No look!" Jace pulled her into the kitchen. Neveah threw the box at him and poptarts went flying around the kitchen until Jace tackled her.
Sam Cress laughed, "She's not a morning person."
"Really? I couldn't tell," Jacob laughed.
It took another hour before Neveah finally decided she should get ready. By the time she had showered and dressed we were all sitting around the table eating breakfast from Emily.
"Emily do you have a curling iron?" Harlow walked into the kitchen. She was wearing light blue skinny jeans, a blue long sleeved shirt, and tan boots.
"It doesn't work very well, but yeah I do," Emily left the kitchen as she went into the bathroom.
"You're not done yet?" Neveah sat down on my lap. She was wearing dark skinny jeans, a purple sweater, and black boots.
"No, but how did you finish before me?" Harlow asked.
"I don't do anything to my hair," Neveah answered and pointed to the perfect wave.
"Well aren't you lucky," Harlow muttered and disappeared into the kitchen.
"Oh," Neveah dug in her back pocket and pulled out a piece of folded paper, she smoothed it out and handed it to Sam, "Thought you should see that."
"What the hell does this mean?" Sam turned the drawing back around. It was of holly and the numbers 126 on the bottom.
Neveah shrugged, "I don't know, but I thought you would want it."
"Ok I'm good!" Harlow skid into the room, her hair in perfect tendrils, "Let's go!"
AS though that had been the cue we had been waiting for, we all stood heading to the door, only to be stopped by Harlow.
"Um, guys, I know the cold doesn't effect you, but don't you think you should at least put a jacket on?" Harlow said slowly eyeing our t-shirts and jeans.
"Right, good plan," Brady winked at her as we pulled jackets on. Almost immediately I felt as though I was being roasted to death, and when we got in the car it only made it worse, with three shape shifters in the truck it was like a sauna, Neveah enjoyed it though, we didn't have to put the heater on with all of us around her. She talked away to me as the radio played in the background, nervous rambling I think. As we pulled into school she became quiet, obviously wishing there was more time.
"See you later," Jacob waved as him and Jace went to our usual spot.
"Come on," I laced my hand through Neveah's as she pulled her jacket closer to her as the snow kept falling, "All we have to do is grab them, that's it."
"And then look at them and have everyone hate me," Neveah muttered.
"No they won't," I breathed deeply as we walked through the hallway.
"And how do you know that?" Neveah eyed me as I maneuvered her through the crowd.
"Because none of those guys would ever want to hurt you."
"Except Sam."
"He didn't mean that. It's just….being a shifter causes you to sometimes lose control of your emotions. So sometimes we do things without thinking. Last night I think Sam was just scared of what might be in those drawings."
"They don't really explain the vision though," Neveah muttered as we walked into the art room.
"Good morning star pupil," Mr. Meyer smiled brightly at Neveah as she walked in. He gave me a second glance before leaning against his desk, "What do you need?"
"I just want to grab something from my binder real fast," Neveah gave him a smile back and walked to the cabinets. It took a few moments but she came back with a red folder, "I'll see you later."
"You're painting the wall today!" yelled as we walked out.
"That's what he thinks," Neveah muttered. She bit her lip as the bell rang, fingering the paper sticking out of the folder.
"Why don't we skip first?" I suggested, Neveah hesitated, "Show me and tell me so that when the others see I can help you."
"But the ones on top pretty much tell you right away what's happening," Neveah shuffled from one foot to the other.
I didn't say anything else as I grabbed her hand and lead her up the two flights of stairs that lead to the roof, pushing the door open and quietly closing it. This was one of my favorite spots to come when I wanted to skip class. No one ever came up here but me, the view looked straight over the top of the trees, so that if you looked hard enough you could see the ocean. The cement was slick though as I walked to the bench, half carrying half walking Neveah towards it. I dusted the snow off and sat down, wrapping an arm around her shoulders so she wouldn't be cold.
"You really want to see these?" Neveah looked up at me worried.
Did I really want to know some horrible truth? Did I want to know how I was going to die? Or how someone else was going to die? No, I didn't. But I needed to know, maybe there would be some way to prevent it from happening. I nodded and waited as Neveah opened the folder.
"I only drew a couple because they freaked me out," I squeezed her shoulder, "The others in here are fine."
"Let me see the bad ones first," I held my hand out as Neveah slowly gave me the first drawing. All I could make out was Seth's face, blood covering most of it, his neck twisted at an awkward angle. I had to hand her the picture back before I got sick. It was hard to picture fun, goof ball, kid Seth that way.
"Told you," Neveah whispered and handed me the next one.
I squinted but I couldn't tell who it was, "Who is it?"
Neveah cringed, "Jacob."
Shock spread through me at the thought of my best friend. Looking closer I could make out some of his features, but the more I looked, the worse it became. It wasn't just that Jacob was on the ground, black liquid leaking from every possible inch of him, but of who was behind him. It was Liwanu, his head thrown back and laughing. I made a fist, the paper creasing.
"How long ago was this one?" I clenched my jaw, trying to keep my voice steady.
"Last month, it's changed a couple of times. Sometimes Jacob is standing over Liwanu and sometimes it's the opposite," Neveah whispered as she bowed her head.
"What was the last time?" I almost didn't want to hear the answer.
"Jacob lived," Neveah gave me a slight smile.
"Good," I let out my held breathe and gripped the drawing in two hands before finally putting it back in the folder. I picked up the last paper. It was a mirror, with someone blurred reflected back at you. There was a long crack running the length, a slither of liquid following in it's wake, "What's this?"
Neveah looked over and sighed, "I'm not really sure. I keep dreaming that I'm walking through some building and suddenly I'm in front of this mirror. But when I look into it, I can't see myself, I only see that blur. The mirror cracks and starts bleeding, and…" she left off shaking her head.
"And what?" I whispered, swallowing.
"Arms wrap around me, but when I turn to see who it is, the mirror explodes," Neveah answered, looking out at the trees. Snow clung to her hair and shoulders and melted.
"Nothing else?" I asked and she shook her head, "What are the happy ones?"
Neveah smiled, obviously glad to be rid of the dream. She pulled a sheet out and held it between us, "It's Dianna I think," laying in a pair of arms was a baby girl, wrapped tightly in a blanket, black curls a halo around her head, tiny hands reaching up, eyes wide and trusting.
"She's pretty," I smiled at Neveah as she nodded.
"I like this one the best," the next drawing was of two hands laced together, on the smaller, slender arm was some scratches, but I couldn't tell what they were. The other hand was bigger, stronger looking. It took me a moment to realize that it was mine and Neveah's hands.
"Mine too," I kissed her temple as she put the drawing back and set the folder inside her backpack.
She leaned into my side, "You know what I dreamt last night, after that first vision?"
"No, what?" I played with a piece of her hair.
"It was something I always wanted to do," Neveah paused and looked up at me, "You kissed me in the snow. I always wanted to kiss someone in the snow."
I smiled and put a hand under her chin, "Then your wish is granted," my lips brushed against hers, mimicking the kisses we had first shared together. So slow and light, that they were almost like feathers, but were more satisfying then any other kiss we could have shared at that moment.
As we separated, Neveah placed her lips against my neck before letting her head drop onto my shoulder, "I should have told you about the nightmares," I said nothing, knowing she was rambling, "but they scared me so much. But last night, when it started getting worse, I don't know, it was like I remembered you were there, and suddenly you appeared."
"Why did you scream then?" I asked, rubbing her arm.
"Because the mirror still broke, but instead of it hitting me, it hit you," Neveah answered quietly, "because I knew that it had hurt you."
I shook my head, "I would do anything as long as it meant you were alright. You should know by now that I will never let anything ever hurt you. You know that, right?"
"I know," Neveah whispered.
Though I wanted her to tell me everything she had dreamt in this past month, I knew that wouldn't happen. There was too much, and though Neveah had told me this vision, I knew she would be reluctant to tell me the others. So I let it drop, instead choosing to spend the rest of the period holding her, and wishing that I could take those dreams away.
At lunch everyone met near the edge of the woods, the pack pacing as Neveah and I walked over to them. They had the same reaction to the pictures as I had. Seth and Jacob looked as though they could have a breakdown. Within moments of seeing the pictures they had both phased, and ran into the woods, none of us made an attempt to follow them, we knew that they wanted to be alone for awhile, something like this was hard for me to see. But to imagine if it was actually myself reflected into those pictures, I would have done the same thing as Jake and Seth. No one said anything as the snow continued falling, hitting the ground and adding to the many layers.
Neveah cringed every time someone looked at her, waiting for the sudden outburst of anger, but nothing ever came. Instead Jared and Paul patted her on the head and left to their next class, Harlow and Brady both hugged her, and the others nodded before going to class. Neveah said nothing though as I walked her to the art room, staying quiet even as I kissed her goodbye. The only reason I knew she was feeling upset was how hard she held onto me when I hugged her. When I let go, I felt as though someone had ripped off my arm, but I unwillingly went into my history class and sat down in the back, waiting as the teacher took role.
"Today class we're going to be working on something a little different," Mr. Ames was an okay teacher, he could be pretty laid back at times, but he was strict and didn't accept any excuses. I was pretty sure he had something out for me, with how many times I hadn't been to school….or this class, "I've been reading to you guys a chapter of 'Ice Crystals' every week, and this is what it's all lead up to."
Though I wasn't too big into reading, I had actually enjoyed listening to Ames read us that book. It was about a man named Lucian, he had been a great warrior in the kingdom Devenia, but in a battle he lost his honor when he was defeated by the King's son. In shame, he went into hiding. It wasn't until years later, that the King called upon Lucian, begging him for help. The rival kingdom, Axon, was going to attack Devenia, and they needed Lucian's help to defeat them. Though he felt worthless, Lucian agreed to help the people of his kingdom, and sought out to find someone he knew would be able to tell him how to defeat the Axons. Along his journey, he encountered many battles and evil sprits, but finally he arrived to the small lake known as the Mirror Lake. For three days, Lucian prayed to the goddess of the lake to come to his aid. After three days she appeared, encased in ice and fire. She told him that in order to defeat the Axons, Lucian would need to seek out the Ice Crystals. Leaving the goddess, Lucian traveled in search of the Ice Crystals. In short he found them hidden under a mountain. When he returned to Devenia, he arrived just in time for the battle. He placed the crystals in his sword and he was able to defeat every last Axon. The King restored Lucian's honor, and he was made the heir to the throne.
Ok, so it was like every book out there, but I really had enjoyed it.
"We will be going to the art room today, each of you will be illustrating one of your favorite scenes. When we get there I'll split you guys up into groups and the art students will help you if you need it," Mr. Ames clapped his hands, "Alright lets head out."
I couldn't help but inwardly smile as I walked back into the art room and sat down next to Connor. He was an alright guy, on the hockey team, he could be loud and obnoxious, but Connor was smart.
"Great, more kids," smiled at all of us as he sat down on his desk, "Ignore the midget painting the wall."
Neveah gave him a look. She was standing on one of the desks painting the wall.
"I have no rules except don't break my crap or I'll break your neck," Meyer looked around the room, "got it? Good. My students will each be assigned to a group to help you, so pick someone or they'll choose I really don't care. What are you guys drawing anyways?"
"They're illustrating a scene from the book 'Ice Crystals'," Mr. Ames answered from the corner of the room.
"What a coincidence," smiled, "Neveah is painting a scene on the wall right now from that book. Show them child."
"You could say please," Neveah muttered as she jumped off the desk. On the wall was the Goddess of the lake. Silver white hair spread through the ice like flames, her skin was snow white, lips ruby red, and her eyes burning ice blue. It almost looked as though she was coming out of the wall itself.
"Amazing," Mr. Ames whispered as the class looked at it in awe. I winked at Neveah as she smiled slightly at me, "Well class, let's begin, shall we?"
We were let go to do as we wanted. Connor and I decided to draw the scene where Lucian placed the crystals in his sword. The only problem was that neither of us could draw.
"Alexis come here!" Connor called for a blonde girl sitting at a desk popping gum. In front of her was a piece of paper, with a very poor drawing of a flower on it.
"No wait," I stopped him from calling her over again, "Ask Neveah, she'll do it."
"No dude, she's good, but she's too shy," Connor shook his head. I tried to hide my amused look.
"Veah," I called and she looked over at me, "come here."
"What?" She placed her stuff down and stood next to my chair. Connor was in shock that she had actually walked over. I would have thought that everyone in school knew about us. Obviously I was wrong, because we got a few glares as I pulled her down into my lap.
"Draw this for me please?" I pleaded.
Neveah gave me a look, "It's your project, you do it. I'm working on mine."
I pouted, "But I suck at drawing."
"Well then get better," Neveah said in a 'duh' sounding voice.
"Haha, so funny," I snapped and kissed her fast.
"I'll outline it but you have to do the detail," Neveah gave in and snatched my pencil out of my hand and flipped our paper over.
"Thank you love," I gave an 'I told you so' look to Connor.
Neveah said nothing as she quickly outlined what I told her, being nice she did all the small intricate details, including the sword and crystals. She showed us how to smudge the lines to soften them and create shadows. Veah put the pencil down, "You get to do the faces and everything else, good luck."
"You have no faith in me," I shook my head.
"I have the utmost faith in you," she paused, "just not when it comes to drawing."
"Oh thanks," I muttered as she stood and went to talk to .
"Are you two, like, together?" Massie asked as a couple people got quiet to listen.
"Uh, yeah," I said.
"Why are you with her?" Luke looked over at Neveah and then to me, "you could have any girl at this school."
"Well it so happens I want her. You got a problem with that?" I glared at him and he said nothing as everyone else went back to their work.
Neveah gave me a look but I smiled at her and went back to work. I realized that people would make assumptions about Neveah and me, but I never realized just how much those things would bother. I loved this girl, everything single thing about her I loved. People couldn't see that, they couldn't see everything that made up Neveah. But maybe that was for the best. I knew what made up Veah, I knew what she was really like. And that's what counted. Just because to some people, love was artificial, to me it was so much more. Words couldn't describe it. But I knew that, and she did too.
"I really appreciate you helping me and Connor," I stayed behind as the final bell rang. Everyone else was filing out of the classroom, yelling and laughing loudly.
"I don't mind it," Neveah shrugged while pulling her coat on, "Could we go to the auditorium? Harlow's trying out for the play and she wanted me to go watch."
"I would do anything for you," I kissed her on the lips and allowed her to lead me.
I would finally be able to see Harlow being a real drama queen.
A/N Woooow….that chapter is long, but it went by really fast. I figured that everyone knows what an amazing artist Neveah is, but we haven't really seen what an amazing actress Harlow is. Well in the next chapter that's what we'll be seeing J I hope you all enjoyed, please leave any comments or suggestions. Review please! Lots of Love.
Oh! And don't worry the action is going to start very, very, very soon.