Winter
“Hey, mum,” I say when she answers my call. I’ve gone to call her five times this week and changed my mind. I’m not sure what’s stopping me, maybe it’s finding out any answers I don’t want. I don’t think my mum would have lied to me my whole life. She isn’t that kind of person, my mum is sweet and kind. The type of person that spends her last money of the week on buying food for the homeless outside her church.
“A call a month? Is that all I’m getting now. I miss you Winter, and I’m worried,” she says, sounding upset as she talks. It hurts to know I’ve upset her. I never meant to.
“I’m fine, mum, I just needed an escape for a while, just like Alex said,” I reply.
“You think I believe that crap, Winter Masters? This is your mother you are speaking to,” she says, making me feel like shrinking in my seat. Why do mothers become the scariest people on earth when they’re upset?
“Mum, what was my dad like?” I ask her, changing the subject.
“What exactly do you want to know?” she asks. She isn’t saying no, so that’s a start.
“When did you meet? You never told me,” I ask her.
“Oh, well. I first met your father in university, we were just friends for a year, but I always liked him as more. He was studying to be a doctor, and I was just finishing my art course. He was two years younger than me,” she says. I hear her moving around in the background.
“So, how did you get together in the end?” I ask her.
“He moved onto my street around five years later. I took him a toffee cake over to say hello, and then we got together,” she says.
“Why weren’t there many pictures of him around? I can only remember seeing one of him at his graduation,” I ask her because that’s the only photo I’ve seen of him older. There are several of him as a young boy, but she has none of them together.
“He didn’t like the camera, honey,” she says tensely, a little too protective for me to believe her. I hate thinking she would lie to me.
“Mum, you wouldn’t keep anything from me, right?” I ask her, my voice betraying me as I try to sound strong.
“I could ask you the same question. But, I don’t hide anything from you unless I think it will cause you pain,” she says the end part in a whisper. I know she doesn’t want to tell me something, I can just hear it.
“What if I needed to know, mum?” I ask her.
“Are you okay? All these questions are worrying me more than I am already,” she asks.
“I’m good, just been thinking about things,” I reply. I hear someone come into the room and ask for her help.
“I have to go, Winter, I’m at work. I hope you enjoy the rest of your break and come home soon. When you need to,” she says.
“I will, mum. I love you,” I reply, feeling more than disheartened.
“Bye honey, I love you more,” she says and puts the phone down. Why do I feel like that conversation gave me more questions than answers? I know she is hiding something. Mum always avoided any questions about my dad. The dream with Elissa has been stuck in my mind this last month in the castle. We can’t leave because the king is insisting Wyatt stay to help him with council decisions. Wyatt says they are just idiots. Last night, Wyatt told me we could leave in a month, after the royal ball the king is throwing in celebration of me. I run my hand over my hair, it’s braided down my back, the braid hitting the top of my bum. My hair grows impossibly fast, and yet, the rest of me rarely need shaving. I’ve only shaved once in a month and my legs are still smooth. Alex said it’s the same for her. Training with Leigha is getting better but nowhere near her high standards. I can make it through nearly all of the course in ten minutes now, but I can’t jump the huge, metal wall. It’s impossible. What’s worse is when training is over, I’m nearly always alone. Drake takes Alex away, and Leigha watches me but doesn’t talk much. I usually stay in my room like now or go to the library. The library is slowly becoming useless, half the books are in Latin or French, and the ones in English are so poorly written, so it takes ages to read a few sentences. Nothing is coming up on the goddess that we can use to help me.
“Why do you look so down?” Atti asks as he appears next to me, making me jump out my skin. I don’t want to admit that things are difficult here. I don’t get to see Wyatt much, and all I do is train until I can’t stand up. I miss Jaxson, Atti, and Dabriel. I miss Freddy, too.
“I miss some people,” I say, choosing to look out the window again. I feel Atti move close to my side as I sit on the window seat. Three library books sit in front of me as I try to read them. One of them is purely French, so I’ve given up on that one.
“Like me?” he says, his voice holding a teasing quality.
“Maybe,” I say with a small smile.
“Everyone misses me when I’m not around, don’t worry it’s natural,” he says, and I roll my eyes, but the smile on my face stays there. I didn’t know I needed Atti until he was here, and he can always make me feel better.
“Dabriel and I want some time alone with you. You’ve been all work and no play for too long, Love,” Atti says and offers me a hand. I look down at my jeans with holes in them and my Batman top. It will do. Atti is wearing jeans and a tight, grey shirt that clashes with his eyes. I look at his hand before slipping mine inside it, and he pulls me to his chest.
“Smile, Love,” he says, and I feel his magic flowing around me. It’s only a second before my feet hit the ground. I open my eyes as Atti lets me go and standing a few steps away is Dabriel. His arms are crossed against his tight, white shirt. He looks normal in jeans and a backward cap covering his white hair. Dabriel’s purple eyes seem to draw me in as I walk over to him, and he greets me with a little kiss. His hands are sliding down my back slowly as he pulls away.
“I missed you, Dab,” I say, and he grins. I look over his shoulder in shock when I see the Disney castle behind him.
“Disneyland?” I turn, asking Atti who nods. He doesn’t seem jealous that I kissed Dabriel, but then Atti has never tried to take our relationship further than friends.
“Where else would a princess go to chill out?” he says, and I laugh.
“I’ve always wanted to come here,” I tell him.
“Then your dreams have come true. Please, I want to find that Thunder Mountain ride,” he winks at me.
“Let’s go,” I say and take Atti’s hand. Dabriel takes my other hand and we walk down the path, out of the small corner Atti brought us too. It feels weird holding both their hands in public and a few people stare. I think it has more to do with how hot Atti and Dabriel are. I wonder if humans can tell there is something different about them. I guess there’s something else about me now, too.
We go on several rides on the way to the mountain ride. Atti pulls out fast track passes for us all, so we don’t have to wait. When we get to the mountain ride, Atti sits next to me in the front cart, and Dab takes the seat behind us. I guess his wings need the extra space. I know he has some kind of glamour on, so the humans don’t see them, but I can. Dab looks hot with his angel wings. The ride starts inside the mountain, and as it turns, I slide into Atti. When we are just coming out of the mountain, I turn to look at Atti, and he kisses me. His arm is tightly wrapped around my waist as the cart swerves around the track but all I can focus on are his sweet lips. Atti tastes like the sweetest thing in the world, and when he pulls away, his glowing grey eyes tell me that he felt affected by the kiss as much as me. I slide to the left of the cart, when it turns, and I catch a glance of Dabriel’s face. I expected jealousy or anger, but instead, there is just a happy, warm look in his eyes as they meet mine.
For once, I can see this working for us all, the happiness Dabriel told me about once. The rest of the day we go on the rides, except when Dabriel and Atti have a competition in one of the shooting gun booths. I had to distract Atti when he lost, and he looked close to killing Dab who was grinning. Silly alpha males.
“The fireworks start in a minute, Minnie,” Atti says next to me as we move through the crowd outside the castle. I grin at him with my Minnie mouse ears headband on that Dabriel brought me. Dab jumps over a small bar to a bit of grass no one is standing on. I follow and stand next to Dab. Atti comes behind me and rubs my arms.
The fireworks light up the sky, shining brightly against the dark skies. This was just the day I needed, a reminder that even in darkness, a beautiful light can brighten up the world.