Hey again! This is turning quite good. I'm going to summarize everything, so we don't have to sit around for forever, and then we will actually get to the 'interesting' part. Romance, and shooting, and tragedy, and so on.
And you guys? Don't ask me how a sheltered spot is out of danger of an avalanche. I don't know. But anything is possible, so pretend you believe me.
absolute power: Exactly. Okay, in the dark, you can't see past the ring of your light, and everything else can see you. (If it's white or yellow light. You can see in the dark and use a gree or red light. To prove it, use a clock to read, at night, and then look up. You can still see just as well, but if you use a white light, and then look up after turning it off, you won't be able to see anything. Unless you have weird eyes.)
AgiVega: Yep. It was cute. Romance and shooting starts about now. Tell me what you think.
allstarplayer324: Someone new! I love getting new people. There will be new chapters everyday, if you haven't noticed already. Keep reading.
aperfectattitude: Thanks. Butler has arrived.
avovisto: That part. One and a half chapters I guess. It's less than the rest of things. Sorry. Explain about the disappointed part for the all works out. I meant I knew what would happen. There are still a lot of problems in the the story.
Elyne: Yep. Juliet is better. In her own way. And no, the Anthonys don't train with Madam. They and the Butlers would tear each other apart. They train at home. Most of them are idiots with muscle, obviously. The only people I wanted to develope (not spelled right, sorry)were Justin and Chance, so I was stereotyical about the others.
Holly Rox: I'm curious now. And excited. A sequel or more chatpers? (I assume it's a sequel) Update Endurance.It's definitely my favorite.
notdapunkprincess: Not exactly. You'll see.
The Blazing Blade: Fine. Be that way. I shall pretend you're not there for a while.
Disclaimer: Juliet Butler and all references to the Artemis Fowl series are in the sole possession of Eoin Colfer. I do not own anything except everything else.
The next week and two days were… good. Justin was nice, and left her alone. None of the men volunteered to get in any fights with her. The bugs ignored her entirely.
They even beat their scheduled time of arrival, which gave them an extra day to rest. But Juliet was not happy. Where was Dom? When was he coming? Would he even find her?
She didn't know, and she didn't want anyone to wonder what was bothering her, so she was careful, but she worried about Justin asking too many questions.
After their extra day of 'rest', most of which the men spent arguing, they loaded onto a plane, and flew to Salta.
Juliet slept the whole way.
After spending a night in another small, crowded hotel, and driving as far as roads permitted, they took off into the mountains.
At first, it wasn't that difficult, and it was almost enjoyable at times. There was a light powdery snow on the ground here and there, and the sun was out. It was almost warm without a wind.
Then they started to get higher up. The ground was steeper, and rockier. They had to climb in places. There were no trees to block the wind. And there was much more snow— wet snow, that got in their shoes. At night, Juliet spread her coat over her, instead of using it for a pillow, and Justin used all his blankets and jackets, rather than one.
There was less talking, and more shivering.
Juliet glanced up again, and then looked back at Justin. "It's going to storm. A snow storm."
"You can you tell? It's looked like that for two days!"
"It will. It's going to start now. Light, at first, like they always do, but it'll get worse. I know it will. It's going to be bad. We'd better be careful, is all I'm saying. Know it's coming."
"Yeah right," snapped Justin.
A thick snowflake drifted down between them. And then another.
Juliet looked at him.
"Okay, fine. You win; you happy?"
She shook her head. "It's going to be bad. Really bad. Where's Chance? I want to talk to him."
"He's up front."
Juliet moved forwards in the line. "Hey Chance!"
Chance turned around, squinting at her. "What?"
"This isn't going to be a light snow. Not a medium snow. Not a heavy snow. It's going to be huge. Really bad. Really bad storm. We need to have some kind of idea of what we're doing. It's going to hit full force in another hour or so. Probably a couple of feet."
No one said anything for a moment. They were all looking up. Most of them had to blink snow out of their eyes.
Finally, Chance nodded. "Fine. As soon as we come to a good spot to camp, we'll camp, and wait it out."
The snow began to fall faster, and everyone picked up the pace, whispering in worried tones, and glancing up every now and then.
After about thirty minutes of this, Chance stopped, motioning to a sheltered spot that wasn't in danger of an avalanche. "Let's hurry. We'll switch the guards every twenty minutes. Pitch the tents, and start a fire, if we can. Stay warm everyone. Be careful about going to sleep without enough to cover you. You'll freeze if it gets much colder."
The tents were pitched at an amazing speed. Juliet was sure no one had ever been this eager to get inside. Not even the first night. In fact, she found herself helping Justin, stomping on the stakes to push them into the frozen ground, and snapping replies to questions he asked.
Finally, they ducked inside, Justin quickly zipping it up behind him. "You okay?"
"Yeah." Juliet paused a moment, and then opened her backpack, pulling out a sweater, and fumbling with it.
Justin watched her a moment as she struggled to get it over her head. She was so numb, she could barely do that. There was no way she was going to sleep without freezing herself. Not with that, and a coat.
Juliet lay down, wrapping herself tightly in her jacket, but he could see that she was shaking.
"Go to sleep," whispered Juliet. She knew what he was thinking, he could tell. And it made her angry no doubt. Because she was sure he felt sorry for her, and she did not want that.
For a moment, he didn't move. Then, he stood, and threw his blankets over her. "Go to sleep. I'll check on you in a little while, and make sure you're still okay. I'm going to talk with someone."
She stared at him in surprise, uncertainty flickering through her eyes. "Are you sure Justin?Really. I—"
He nodded, and slipped out.
When he stepped back in, half an hour later. Juliet was asleep, curled up in a tight ball, half buried.
Justin rubbed his hands together quickly, and bent, brushing back her hair, and slipping his hand into the hollow of her neck. She felt warm, and her pulse was strong.
He studied her a moment. She was prettier than he had noticed. A lot prettier. Of course, he had noticed, but he hadn't appreciated it. Not really. It was hard to appreciate the beauty of someone who insisted on threatening your life, every time they ran into you.
Juliet stirred, pulling away from him. "Your hand is cold…" she mumbled drowsily. "Don't."
With a slight smile, he removed his hand, tucked the covers tighter, and went out again.
Juliet rolled over, glancing at her watch. Almost three hours had gone by. She shouldn't have slept that long. Quickly, she got up and 'shut' the covers to trap some of the heat.
Justin— he had come in to check on her when she was asleep. She had said something to him…
Juliet shook her head. Probably: 'Go away!', or something like that.
Quickly, she ducked outside the tent, looking around. There was almost a foot of snow already, and the wind was getting bad. Justin was walking from guard to guard, talking, and keeping them awake, in general.
"Justin!"
He turned, and came towards her. "What's the matter? Did you get too cold?"
"You should have woken me up! You need some sleep too!"
"What were you going to do while I slept?" He shrugged. "Go back and sleep some more. You need it."
She glared at him. "Get in there now! I accidentally woke you up in the middle of the night, and you got two hours of sleep. You can't afford to be running around that tired in this kind of storm!"
Justin sighed. "Look, I'm fine. Really. You don't need to worry about me. Go back and sleep."
"I will. Once you've gotten a few hours." Juliet reached out, pulling his hand out of his coat pocket. "Your fingers are frozen! You can't stay out here any longer, you idiot!"
"And what are you going to do while I'm sleeping?"
"Get in there!"
For a moment, he looked at her, weighing things out. Then, he bent and opened the tent.
"Inside."
She followed him in, zipping up the tent, brushing snow out of her hair. "Go on. Lie down."
"What about you?"
"I'm fine. It's much warmer in here than it is out there."
"Not warm enough." Justin looked up at her as he pulled off his other boot, and brushed the snow off of himself. "You're going to freeze, Butler, unless you have something warmer, and there aren't enough blankets for both of us. You know that."
Juliet pursed her lips, watching him slide under the blankets. He was right of course. And that was what was annoying her.
"Well?"
She leaned down, and gave him a shove. "Move over."
Justin stared at her in surprise, not quite believing she was serious. "Move over?"
"Yes, move over!"
Again, he paused, and finally rolled to the side, allowing her room to slip under beside him.
Juliet muttered something under her breath, and curled up with her back to him, pushing down her jacket between them. "Shut up; go to sleep; and don't get too close!"
He decided it was in his best interest to obey.
Butler glanced up through the falling snow, watching the men scurry around the camp, setting up tents, and starting fires where they could. He had caught the storm just in time. It had come up fast, almost out of nowhere. He just hoped Juliet was safe.
Again, he looked towards the pass, where three of the men had disappeared a few hours earlier. He shouldn't have sent them off like that. The mountains interfered with the walkie-talkies, and they weren't making any connection. If they didn't get back soon, they probably wouldn't, and they'd freeze, sooner or later. It was too cold.
That, and the fact that he felt old, was troubling him. Doing hard work in the mountains was always trying, with the smaller amount of oxygen, and the cold, and elevation, but this time, he was unusually tired, and it was extremely difficult to breathe. If it weren't for Juliet being on the line, he doubted he would have come in the first place.
A guard behind him shouted, and Butler spun, already reaching for his gun. Then he stopped. It was the three he'd sent off earlier, and they were obviously excited.
"We found them!"
They hurried up, grinning.
"Where? Did you see Juliet?"
"No," said one of them. "We couldn't get very close because of their guards, and the snow was too thick. But they're only about four miles west of here. And I don't think they'll probably move anytime soon. Not with the storm and all, so we have time."
Butler smiled. Something quite rare, lately.
This isn't quite as close to the end as you all think it is. I promise! There will be more complications. I am liking this a lot. It's closer to the kind of fiction that's mine. The novel I'm writing now, though sci-fi, is in this style. For me, it's very fun to write, and I don't get easily bored.
Anyway, why bother telling you to review? I'm sure everyone else does. I shall update very soon too, people, so be watching!
One question. Should I write another story like this? (not about Juliet, in this style) If everyone thinks so, I'll write one like that for next year too. I had a funny idea last night. Maybe it's short, and maybe it's long.