The Marenon Chronicles Collection - By Jason D. Morrow Page 0,51

didn’t care that Alric wasn’t disclosing what the other item was and that one was just some staff. He needed to find Garland. He waited and then nodded. “I’ll do it.”

Alric breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. “You won’t be sorry, my friend. This is a good move for you.”

With that, Lorcan stood out of his chair, shoved the back door open and went out into the grass. Within seconds, Coffman and Inga silently joined him. There was no “Welcome aboard!” or “We look forward to working with you,” nothing. Silas wasn’t sure why the group was so angry at his joining them. Perhaps they didn’t want to share the money with a fifth person or maybe they hated the idea of including a fifth wheel in their close-knit group. Whatever the reason, Silas needed to find his grandfather.

“They’ll come around,” Alric said. “Tomorrow we prepare, then we leave the next day. Come on and I’ll show you where you’ll be sleeping.”

As Silas stood, he could see out into the grass where the three others had gone. Inga stole a look back and for a brief moment their eyes met. Alric should have had her ask Silas to join them. He wouldn’t have hesitated.

Chapter Twelve

It was almost Christmas and Julian Hobbes had just spent his meager allowance on brand new ice skates instead of presents for his family. He knew he shouldn’t have done it, but it was what his older brother Morgan had done. Morgan told him that if he said anything about it he would beat him up again. Julian was only six years old and his brother was ten. His threats were enough to scare Julian to silence. That, and he really couldn’t wait until after Christmas to skate on the pond down the road from their house. It was almost a half-mile away so there was no way they would be seen. Besides, their father had left early that morning to run his Saturday errands, so this was the perfect time for the two of them to try it out.

“Are you sure this is ok?” Julian asked.

Morgan looked straight ahead and smiled as they walked through the tall grass. “It will be fine.”

“I’m just scared that dad will find out and I don’t want him to get angry again. He told us that the ice wouldn’t be ready until after Christmas. I think he might be getting us these anyway,” he said holding up the shiny new blades.

Morgan put an arm on little Julian’s shoulder and pulled him close. “Listen. Pop only said that because he hasn’t skated on an ice pond in years. He’s much heavier than us, too. Of course he should be worried about skating on it, but we’re much smaller. We’ll be fine!”

Julian wasn’t entirely convinced, but again, he always wanted to do what Morgan did and Morgan wanted to go skating. Julian thought of the punishment he would get if his father found out. He wouldn’t be allowed to go out to the pond for the entire winter and that would be after he used his belt to ‘tan his hide’ as he always threatened. He wasn’t sure if his father really would, though. Since their mother had died during Julian’s birth, Morgan said their father had grown soft … whatever that meant. When Julian thought about it, their father’s threats had always been empty.

They reached the pond and surveyed the area. There was no one in sight. Perfect. They quickly took off their shoes and replaced them with the gleaming skates. Julian had never felt more excited. He had been skating on the ice several times, but never with his own pair. He imagined that it would inspire him to become a great skater so that he could be good enough to play hockey. But he needed more practice. Once their skates were on, Morgan looked at Julian and told him to test the ice.

“I thought you said it was fine,” Julian said.

“And it probably is, but you always have to test it no matter how cold it is.”

“Why me?”

“Because you’re lighter, dummy, now go!”

Julian reluctantly took his first step onto the ice, then the next. He then began to shift his weight back and forth until he was actually skating. This seemed to satisfy Morgan who then took off and flew past him. Morgan was better than Julian at everything and didn’t mind letting him know it. He came around for another pass and shoved Julian to the