Truff in the Arctic, PART 1
It was a hot day in July. I had gone over to Truff's for the day, and when I walked in I found him sitting at his kitchen table going over his mail. He looked up, noticed me and motioned me over. Ever since the incident with James our friendship had been closer than ever. I sat down across from him and he handed me a letter with a big grin plastered on his face. "Read it" he prompted. The letter stated:
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
You have won the following:
2 AIRLINE TICKETS TO
GRYTVIKEN, ALASKA
I looked over the paper at Truff. "That's great news and all, but do you even know how to pronounce this place?" Truff shook his head, still smiling. Wondering why he was still grinning, I re-read the letter and looked over at him again. "2 tickets...so who's going with you?" I already knew the answer before he said "you." I smiled back at him, then looked worried. "You know," I told him, "that we'll be leaving the safe zone." The safe zone was where there were no Valiors. He merely shrugged. "This is serious Truff. You and I both know that if we leave we'll be targeted. And now you don't have your ears anymore." He glanced at his ears which hung uselessly by his head. Ever since one of his fights with James, his ears had been broken beyond repair. He could still hear just fine, but if there was a Valior in the area, he would have no warning. He grinned at me and simply said, "I like to live dangerously." "This isn't dangerous Truff, this is suicide. And quit laughing! I'm being serious!" He calmed down enough to say "you really worry too much, Meg. First of all, it'll be cold, and I'll wear a hood to hide my ears when out in public. Second, since it's really cold, most scents are covered by the temp. Also, we'll pack light so in case we have to leave in a hurry, we can leave stuff behind. I understand the danger, but I'm used to it, I can handle myself, and I want a vacation." "That may be fine for you, but, like it or not, you need my help sometimes. And unlike you, I can't defend myself." "I'll protect you."
On the day the tickets were good for, Truff and I went to the airport and hopped on our plane. After take-off, Truff slipped into slumber. We go seats next to each other and I luckily got the window seat. As we flew I stared out at the clouds below us. Later (I lost track of time), there was an announcement that we would be landing shortly. I woke Truff, who had enjoyed his nap, and I continued to stare out the window as we descended. After we passed the clouds, we were in a blizzard-like snowstorm. I glanced worriedly at Truff who laughed and said "this is usual for Antarctica." We got off the plane, got a rental car and began to drive to the nearest hotel. Driving was bad because of the weather, and Truff had to keep all his concentration on the road. It was also dark since the sun had gone down. We were about halfway to the hotel when we hit a patch of ice on the road and went spiraling out of control. Truff pushed me and I banged against my door, which wasn't unlocked and opened, and I fell out. I landed in a clump of snow and heard the sound of tires crunching over snow. I couldn't see anything except snow and snowflakes but I heard Truff calling my name. I called back to him but it was no use as I was downwind. I heard tires crunching over snow again, this time heading away from me. I tried to call back, but lost my balance and fell into some more snow. Struggling up I decided to try and find my way back to the road, so I began to walk. After what seemed like forever I guess I eventually stumbled onto the road because I saw headlights heading my way. I tried to flail my arms to get their attention, slipped on some ice and all went dark.
The next thing I remember was warmth. That, and the sound of a crackling fire. I opened my eyes and sat up, a blanket falling off me as I did so. In front of me was a roaring fireplace. "I see your awake." Startled, I spun around and laid eyes on who spoke. Sitting on a nearby sofa was a young man with long brown hair that looked damp, probably with melted snow, and gentle blue eyes. However I knew that he was a Valior. He turned toward another room and called out "Charlotte, Chris, Adam, Jewel, our guest has awakened!" From the other room came 4 more Valiors. My worst enemies had taken me in.
I calmed myself down by thinking it over. They didn’t seem to need to kill me to keep me quiet. They had no idea I knew what they were, nor did they know about Truff (or so I hoped). To them I was merely a girl they found in the snow. Now my only worry was that Truff had been hurt. The Valior who had first spoken broke through my thoughts by asking “so, how did you end up way up north? I know this town and most of the people there, and I’ve never seen you before?” Quickly thinking I answered, “my friend won 2 plane tickets here and took me along. On our way to the hotel, our car hit a patch of ice and I fell out. My friend drove off, and that’s about the time I guess you found me.” After I spoke, one of the Valiors (she had long blonde hair and green eyes) walked over to me and began to sniff the air. “Jewel?” the Valior on the sofa asked, “what’s up?” Jewel turned to him “Matt, this girl is completely drenched in the scent of…him.” I knew what she meant: Truff’s scent. The smell of a Zerenix. However I merely put on a quizzical look, still trying to act the dumb innocent. Another of the Valiors approached me. He had short black hair and brown eyes. “Chris,” Jewel called to him in a warning voice, but he shushed her with a flick of his wrist. Chris came right up to me, then knelt so we were eye-to-eye. “Have you been with or seen a person with long almost dog-like ears?” He asked. I pretended to think about it when I was really thinking of a good lie. “Now that you mention it,” I began, “at the airport I think I bumped into somebody like that. But he took off before I could get a better look at him. Why, are you looking for him or something.” “That’s none of your concern, but we need to find him! He killed our brother!” I faked a shocked look before saying, “its for revenge! You want to avenge your brothers death by finding him!” Matt nodded as I continued, “why did he kill your brother? Is he a serial killer or something?” Matt shook his head, “it’s really none of your concern, but if you must know, he thinks we’re trying to kill him?” “But you’re trying to, aren’t you? I mean, to avenge your brother?” “No, that’s not it at all. He killed my brother because my brother was trying to kill him.” “So it was self-defense. But why was your brother trying to kill this guy?” “It’s a long story. Suffice it to say that it was for a good cause. “ Matt lowered his head, took out a pocket knife and threw it across the room. It hit dead-center. He looked back up and stared right at me “but you wouldn’t believe a word I say, would you, Megan? Because you’ll believe anything and everything that Zerenix, Truffer, tells you. Am I right?”
I immediately stammered “I, I don’t know w-what your talking a-about.” Matt sneered. “Yes, you do.” He flicked his wrist and the other Valiors left the room, besides Chris. He walked over to the dartboard and pulled out the knife and began to rub his thumb across one side of it. Matt sighed, lowered his head, and began to talk “don’t judge us by what that Zerenix tells you, we’re not all bad. We hunt his kind to keep ourselves alive. You see, each Valior is born with a disease, and only by drinking a mixture made up Zerenix…juices, are we able to survive for a long time. Without this mixture, we would die before we were even 20, and some younger than that. We hunt not for sport, or profit, but to keep our dying breed alive. So when my brother, James, had written that he had found a Zerenix in his area, I was thrilled for him. He was nearing the end of his own life, and needed a Zerenix. But you know what happened to him. Jewel hacked into the building’s security and found surveillance of what transpired that night. We had planned to go there and get revenge and were on our way to the airport when we came across you. I knew it was you from the footage I had seen, and we took you to our home. Now, I need you to play a little part for me. You see,” he nodded at Chris, who threw the knife at me. It flew over my shoulder and bounced off the brick fireplace behind me before I had time to react. Chris walked over, picked the knife back up, and went to where he was standing before as Matt continued, “we are too powerful for you to overcome, so don’t try anything funny. And don’t go getting a big head over beating my brother. What I need you to do is be bait. Lure Truffer here so I can get my revenge!” “What if I don’t?” “We’ll kill you and use your body for bait instead. If you do help us out, when this is over we’ll let you go. Nobody would believe you if you said anything, so it wouldn’t be a problem for us. The choice is yours, Megan: help us or die!
