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Chapter 3: Let It Snow

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"There was a boy

A very strange enchanted boy

They say he wandered very far, very far

…a little shy and sad of eye

But very wise was he."

-Nature Boy, David Bowie

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Adrian spun and soared as high as he could, riding an updraft into the gathering dark. He knew that Henry needed him, but he figured he could take just a little time to be alone with his thoughts. He preferred to be alone with his thoughts, especially tonight.

He thought back over the time that he had spent in Woodhollow since he'd been found unconscious upon the cold stones of the bridge in the park. It was amazing that it'd been already six years since the Henry had found him, and brought him into his home for a time.

"You were colder n' ice when I first saw ye lying there. Thoughtch're dead as a post too, 'til I touched ye and found you still had a little life left in you." The old man spoke in his peculiar drawl. "I'd just been walking along in the park at around dusk, minding me own business", Henry said, his old knobbed hands pulling on his long beard in a thoughtful manner. He looked at Adrian through the thick haze of smoke issuing from his pipe.

"It started getting dark so I turned meself around and started heading back for the shop. Once I got to the bridge I nearly tripped over ye, sprawled out over the stones like that. An' surrounded by those feathers ya were! I never seen nothin' like it.

Adrian had been watching him intently.

"But you took me home, Adrian replied. I could have been dangerous, for all you knew- why did you do it?"

Henry scoffed at that.

"Dangerous! Ye 're weak as a newborn kitten them first few days. And besides, I have ways of knowing wither a person be good or bad", he said, tapping his pipe against the arm of his chair and looking merrily at Adrian from under his bristly eyebrows. Of what were his ways he would say no more.

Adrian had indeed been very weak those first dark days. In fact, (though the old man wouldn't say) he'd been waltzing upon a frayed thread between life and death. Adrian knew this somehow. There were dreams, also which plagued his feverish sleep. He could only remember words and voices, nothing more.

Words and voices that kept weaving themselves into his fitful dreams.

"You have no power over me."

Repeatedly he heard this phrase in his sleep until he felt that he'd go mad from the repetition of it. And laughter of an overwhelmingly powerful presence he felt in these dreams at times. Sometimes he fancied he felt a cool, slim hand touching his face- and that voice-

"Forever dreaming, my prince. All is lost to you now."

That shockingly feminine, but cruel voice sent coldness deep into his marrow. She laughed gleefully at most times, and somehow he knew that she was laughing at him. Mocking him...

After a week in this strange comatose state Adrian had awakened with only a quickly fading memory of these dreams, and not a memory of himself- only his name. Adrian Rousse. He was tortured by this emptiness of memories. He knew there had to be something that could remind him of his past. And he was certainly not normal.

It was no small wonder Henry found him surrounded by white, downy feathers. It took Adrian by surprise to learn that something else had remained of his past besides his name- the ability to change into the form of a white barn owl at will. Adrian knew then he was not an ordinary human- in fact, that made him wonder if he was indeed human at all. At first, the mental concentration for the transformation drained him immensely. He'd nearly slid back into the clutches of his strange, dream-like sickness again. It took him nearly a year, but the process had become less and less stressful until he could slide into the shape at will.

Swooping down into a darkened alley Adrian landed, and assumed his human shape again. Although he loved the freedom which flight afforded him, Adrian enjoyed his human shape much more. It was so much more natural to him than the owl- and he did not want to raise the curiosity of the townsfolk at to why an owl was flying around during the day. He shoved his hands loosely into the pockets of his coat as he emerged from the alley and began walking down the sidewalk towards the store. Henry owned a small clock and watch repair shop- nothing special, but over the years Henry had developed a clientele, and managed to make a modest living over the years.

The trip between Ashvale and Woodhollow was always a long one when Adrian had first begun exploring the depth of this power. Nevertheless, he found that as his comfort and trust in this power grew, so did his speed. He was nary a white blur in the night sky when he wanted to be, as he had been this night.

His mind finally hit the thing it had been dancing around all this time.

Sarah.

The girl mystified Adrian, to say the least. From the moment he walked through that door and she looked up at him, he'd known that there was something different about her- and a certain familiarity. She didn't shy away from him, as all other seemed to do. He felt a welcoming, warm sensation coming from her that other women seemed to lack. Others would rest their eyes on his mismatched gaze then keep their distance; like they sensed his power and were repelled by it. She was something entirely different, and it intrigued him.

He concluded a long time ago that it was indeed magic. Somehow, some way he had this power within him. He felt that it had been with him even before he woke up in this strange little town. It was something that he never worried about, and finally grew to accept. The magic was a part of him and Adrian welcomed it. He also felt the magic was a part of her too- somehow.

Adrian looked up at the stars that carpeted the sky and sighed. After a moment he shook his head and walked on, a lonely figure on the abandoned sidewalk. She was peculiar, this Sarah.

She was special.

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"Damn this... gah!"

Felicia grunted with effort, trying to gain those last few inches of zipper which would pronounce Sarah's bag closed. "Ug... Sarah, try sitting on it."

Sarah let go of the bulging sides and sat down quickly on the bag. The zipper hungrily devoured the last scant inches with a satisfying jump. Both women grinned and collapsed on Sarah's bed. There was silence for a while.

"Hey Sarah?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you have so much crap?"

"Shut up, Felic."

Felicia chuckled and rolled over into Sarah's covers as her friend got up and shuffled across the little apartment and into the small kitchen. She was jealous of Sarah for her acting ability, but certainly not her apartment. The living quarters were a bit cramped for even two people. However, Sarah had made the best of it, Felic considered as she looked around at the meager furniture covered in bright, cheerful cloth and random nick knacks. Various playbills littered the walls of the place, some featuring Sarah right on front.

Just like her mother, Felicia thought quietly. Bound for stardom.

Sarah emerged from the kitchen a few minutes later with a huge bowl of popcorn and plucked down onto the bed again and set the bowl between them.

"So, what is wrong with this Adrian guy? I've never seen you act like that before."

Sarah sighed and looked at Felicia.

"Honestly, I don't know what's the matter. He seemed to be a sweet man and all… But when he looked at me- It was as if we'd met before." Sarah held up her hand to stop her as Felicia opened her mouth to add on to that.

"I don't want to hear anything about destiny or fates or any of that rubbish. You know it's not true as well as I."

Although Sarah made this comment with much conviction in her voice, her green eyes still slid away from Felicia for just a moment. Felicia frowned. Sarah never even noticed as she continued, her eyes locked on the bedspread.

"Besides, we probably have seen each other before, walking around town or somewhere like that." Sarah glanced at Felicia, who looked unconvinced. "I'm sure you saw his eyes, Felic…how could I miss those?"

Her friend just stared.

Sarah finally stopped mid sentence, looked at her and sighed.

"Alright. You might think I'm crazy, but I'll tell you. I have these dreams..."

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Early the next morning it was bitterly cold, and snow was falling outside Sarah's window in a light steady sheet. Sarah was glad that Felicia had left when she did last night. The snow wasn't too bad, but would make for some cautious driving. She shuffled over and peeped out the window one last time as she was pulling a heavy coat over the dark purple cable knit sweater she wore, her normally bright green eyes pale and tired. After wrapping a black scarf loosely around her neck she grabbed her heavy luggage. With a final glance around to make sure everything was in order, and quickly walked out dragging her bag and locked the door behind her.

Damn it all if talking about those dreams to Felicia hadn't brought a fresh wave of them to her mind. She woke up feeling like she hadn't gone to sleep at all. Of course she couldn't remember anything about what she dreamed- they fled her mind as soon as she woke. They did that sometimes.. she would go weeks or months without dreaming like this, then the next wave would hit and the cycle would start all over again.

Trying not to slip on the snow covered steps Sarah made her way to the car and chucked her bag into the backseat. It looked like driving wouldn't be that bad, which was a big relief to Sarah. With visible effort she pushed the fatigued worry of the dreams from her mind and focused on the joy of going home. The weather seemed to be trying to help. The previous night the news had been talking about huge snowstorms in the area. Apparently, as she guessed they were pretty much wrong. Already the snow was beginning to taper off until it totally stopped by the time Sarah pulled onto the highway and started her long trip back home.

Although the area Sarah traveled through had a few towns, most of it was open country. Covered in the thick white blanket of snow, Fields looked like a wonderland, the occasional horse or other farm animal romped in charming contrast to the white, invigorated by the cold. Smiling softly, Sarah relaxed and began to enjoy the drive. The testy road conditions she had been expecting weren't nearly as bad, and there were only a few stretches of black, slick ice which she had to watch out for. Besides that, the trip was going smoothly.

As she approached Woodhollow the scenery around her became increasingly familiar. She passed silently through a stretch of pine woods, which cast the area into hazy shadow. Huge drifts of powdery snow were piled up on either side of the road, and she could easily see animal tracks leading up and over their sides. There was hardly anyone else on the road today, which made for easy traveling for her. The sooner she could get home, the sooner she could see Toby, Gramma Tessa and her dad. And Karen... though she didn't look foreword to that any time she visited.

Karen and she had 'buried the hatchet' so to speak, gradually over the years. It was still a relief to Sarah to be able to move out and start college when she was nineteen. Even though things had been relatively civil; and still were in the household when Sarah came to visit, Karen never connected with her. She never understood why Sarah was pursuing theatre just like her mother, which she considered 'a nowhere job', though she never would say it to her. Sarah could see it in her ice blue eyes however, whenever her father would make a comment or ask how her studies were going. She wished sometimes that her dad had never gotten married again... but he was happy, and that was all that mattered.

Absorbed in her thoughts as she was, Sarah never saw the huge deer which trotted out of the snowy haze and onto the road in front of her. His magnificently antlered head jerked towards her, steam billowing from his nostrils as he snorted, frozen to the spot. Sarah gasped and roughly came out of her dreamy reverie when this surreal vision finally snapped her out of her thoughts like a slap. Without thinking, she sharply dragged the wheel to the right just as the deer sprang to life and darted in that same direction. She braced herself for the impact, regretting her decision. The deer hit her car with a jarring thud, jerking her roughly against her seatbelt. The deer was fortunate, and the car merely clipped the creature lightly on the back legs. He fortunately recovered, and crashed off into the woods.

Sarah was not to get off so lucky. As she clipped the deer she kept sliding, her car careening wildly as she fought to regain control.

Please God- don't flip... don't flip... she thought through gritted teeth as she wrestled with the spinning car. Her efforts were in vain, she realized as she saw the huge snowdrift lining the right side of the wide road looming in the passenger window. She made a strangled sound of disbelief and held onto the steering wheel with an iron grip as the right side of her car plowed into the drift. Sarah was slammed into the driver's side door, stars exploding into her vision as her head cracked sharply against the window. Her car careened drunkenly, spinning once more and slamming its driver's side deep into the drift. Sarah felt something in her left elbow give with a pop as she was crushed against the steering wheel and door.

Blinking slowly Sarah tried to hold on to consciousness. She gradually registered that the side of her head was wet and warm. Blood began to run down her neck, and dull pain was slowly blooming in her left elbow and traveling up her arm. She groaned softly in the silence, the world becoming foggy as darkness closed in.

Sarah slowly registered the sounds of a muffled voice through the darkness. Her eyes opened slowly, registering the dim light around her- the car was buried in snow. Seconds- or maybe even minutes later she heard someone digging through the snow in which her car was half buried, and a rich honeyed accent speaking her name. For some inexplicable reason, she could have wept for joy.

" Hello? Are you hu-

Oh my God… Sarah! Sarah, stay with me…

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