Winter RoseA Story by Winterspell Winter Barnhart is a 30-year-old woman who longs to see snow. But one day, she discovers that she is not who she thinks she is. Prologue
The wind howled around what was
once a cottage on a snowy outcrop. Now, most of the snow had melted and the
outcrop had become a small rock that jutted out into the Antarctic Ocean. This
was part of the reason the three people inside the cottage were rushing about
so frantically. The man in orange stopped his pacing and started wringing his already sweaty hands " whether they were sweaty from the unbearable heat or fear was hard to tell. “There’s no way to get it working again?” the armoured boy asked, his voice slightly shaking. “Nope. It’s completely burnt out.” The woman replied, fingering a necklace she wore. She took it off and held it up. “We can use this. This will find her. I’ll follow it and make sure she finds it. You two just stay here and… try not to cause any more trouble.” She said to the other two. “But it won’t work! There are fifty things that could go wrong!” said the orange-clad man angrily. The woman tossed her head. “If you have a better plan, I’d love to hear it!” she said. The man in orange fell silent and went back to wringing his hands. The woman threw the necklace into the wind. Within a second, her feet had left the ground and she was flying, following the glittery speck that she knew was all of creation’s last hope.
Chapter 1
Unknowing of the trouble these two individuals were in, another woman was sitting in her room, talking to her friend on the phone. Her dark brown hair tumbled down onto her pale shoulders, framing her 30-year-old face with its pale blue eyes. She was wearing short black pants, a white shirt and a dark blue jacket that looked far too flimsy to actually be keeping her warm from the late autumn cold. Her book lay open across her lap. The funny thing about this woman was her name " Winter. She was not, however many times her family joked, the cold season personified. It was her favourite season, yes. But it stood to reason that if one was going to be in charge of the cold, one would have to know what snow looked like. Winter lived in Brisbane, Australia " where it doesn’t snow. How she wanted to know what snow looked like! Real snow, not the artificial snow that skiing parks and things made. She never understood why people wanted to copy nature " it always looked tacky, cheap, false. It never made sense. It’s different for the others " the Americans, the English. They had bright green leafy plants in summer, autumn painted everything gold and brown, in spring there were flowers everywhere, and in winter everything was carpeted in white. It was much the same all year round where she lived. How she loved winter. The cold, the wind… It always made her feel safe. Her favourite part was at the Equinox, because this was when it started getting windy. The winds weren’t strong enough to blow anything over, but when Winter had her back to the wind and leant backwards into it a little, she always felt like she would be swept off her feet. She loved doing that. But now, she was going to Cairns " she was going north. And in Australia, going north meant more heat. Winter was perfectly happy where she was, and she really didn’t want to go anywhere warmer for some Solar Eclipse. “I don’t get it, Jade, I’m thirty, and still Mum and Dad want to drag me everywhere with them even if I don’t want to come. I mean, do I get a say? ‘Hey, Winter, we’re going north, do you want to come?’ ‘No, thanks, but thanks for asking.’ That would have been wonderful.” “Yeah, it’s a case of MKGU syndrome.” “MKGU?” “My Kid’s Growing Up.” “Yeah, that sums it up.” It was here that her brother, Joseph, bounded in. He was only 7 and even now he couldn’t stop talking. “Come on, Winter, come on! We’ll be late! Hurry up, hurry up!” “Do I look as if I care, Joseph?” “Come on come on come on come on!” Winter groaned. “Sorry, Jade, gotta go.” “At least try to enjoy your week.” Winter hung up the phone wheeled her suitcases out to the car. Last time she checked, people were supposed to be told to hurry up by their parents, not their younger brothers. Just as she was thinking this, her mum stuck her head out the window of the car. “Get a move on, Winter, or we’ll miss the plane!” So people were told to hurry up by their parents. As soon as her suitcases were in the back and she was in the car, her dad took off " he was nearly speeding. We really must be late, thought Winter.
* * *
Joseph was bouncing around in his seat. Winter’s mum Sally had a smile on her face. Her husband Ben was clutching the wheel trying to find a parking spot. Winter looked gloomily out the window. Joseph was still worked up so much he could hardly sit still. The first step in the door of the airport, the family all took off their jackets. “Whew! It’s hot in here!” said Ben. “It’s funny, in summer you wish it was winter, and in winter you wish it was summer!” said Joseph to his older sister. “I don’t.” she replied. “I always wish it was winter.” Joseph cocked his head and frowned at her. “But isn’t it cold in winter?” he asked. “Yes.” “So don’t you want to warm up?” “No.” Joseph was getting more and more confused. His mind couldn’t comprehend what Winter had just said. If you were cold, you wanted to warm up " that was simply how it worked. What did Winter mean, she didn’t want to warm up? His attention was drawn away from this as Sally spotted their plane. All the passengers were boarding. The family hurried forward and showed the steward their boarding passes. Winter glanced at the name on hers. Winter Barnhart. What a boring name, she thought. Barnhart. Sally hustled them all on to the plane. Winter had the window seat. She always had the window seat because somehow it made her feel like she was flying " not in a plane, with other passengers, but by herself, just hanging in the air, or riding on the wind. Somehow it made going north seem okay.
Chapter 2
They got off the plane, arrived at the hotel, found their room and unpacked. They’d be staying there for the entire week, finding something cool to do every day. The eclipse was on Tuesday " tomorrow.
The next day, just the same as Monday, Joseph came bounding into Winter’s bedroom. Winter shooed him away and got some cornflakes out of a cupboard. Hopefully the eclipse would be worth watching. “So, Winter, what do you think the eclipse will be like?” said Sally over breakfast. “Pretty good, I think. Gran told me it was like the sun had turned black.” “It’ll be like a giant ring of fire!” said Joseph, his eyes glazing over. “I always thought it would look like a small black void in the sky.” said Ben. The family started fantasising about what it would be like. They all wanted to be on the beach when it happened, but Winter was the more artsy type. There was a lake not far from their hotel that Winter had taken a liking to yesterday. It had a figure-8 shape, and it was surrounded by trees. At the time of the eclipse the sun would be high in the sky. Winter wanted to draw the lake at the time of the eclipse. She was brought out of her fantasies when her mother turned up the volume on the television. “That’s ridiculous… temperatures like those in autumn!” she said. Winter glanced at the television and turned back to her breakfast. Then she actually processed what she saw and turned around again, frowning. This week, the temperature ranged between 40° and 45°C.
* * *
Nothing had really happened that day so far. But as Winter got her pencils and art book together her stomach seemed to be doing flip-flops. She had no idea why she felt so nervous " it wasn’t the Eclipse " or why it felt strange when she went down to the lake. It just felt different. She knew it was an ordinary lake, but she seemed to be dying to go there, but at the same time, she begged herself not to. She took a deep breath. She told herself firmly that there was nothing special about the lake and forced herself on.
When she got there, it didn’t seem so strange; it was an ordinary lake. Winter relaxed, and sat down on a rock to begin sketching. The eclipse hadn’t begun yet, and it was still beautiful. The trees crowded the edge of the lake, which was so still you could see the reflections of the trees as clearly as if they were actually there. The sunlight glinted off the water, despite all the storm clouds " Winter loved storms " but there was a patch of sky where the sun was, so she would still be able to see the eclipse when it happened. Winter sketched it all " in fact she was so engrossed in what she was doing that she zoned out. It was like those times on the road when you’re looking for a sign that has your destination on it, but you’re concentrating so much that you don’t notice it when it comes and drive straight past it. When Winter came to again, she had finished sketching the trees, the lake and the clouds " now she had to wait for the eclipse to finish it off. She held her sketch up to admire it. That’s when she noticed something odd " she had covered all the tree branches and the ground with snow. Instead of rubbing it out, however, she decided she liked it and thought no more of it. Winter strolled around the lake. Some birds twittered " they would have just left their mum’s nest. Winter looked at her drawing again. She blinked. She had drawn a small, pale blue light near some tree roots. She hurried over to the tree she had drawn the light next to in her picture, and crouched down. There was a necklace there. Winter picked it up and brushed the dirt off. The pendant seemed to be made of crystal. It was about half the size of a bar of soap. It sparkled with an unearthly light as the sun reflected off its snowflake shape. Shining blue jewels adorned the points of the snowflake’s arms, and a similar blue jewel lay at the pendant’s centre. That’s strange, thought Winter. First she had drawn snow where there wasn’t any, and then she had drawn a blue light where a snowflake necklace lay. She turned the snowflake necklace over. On the back was an inscription in tiny words " Essence of Winter. Winter frowned. What on earth did that mean? She needed to find out who it belonged to, but it looked old. So old, that Winter was sure that it would be immensely difficult to find its owner " and by that time, would the owner even want it? And anyway, what was the point? Winter read the inscription again. Essence of Winter. Her mind was telling herself she ought to find its owner, and something else inside her urged her to keep it. Winter gave in and put the necklace around her neck. It suddenly got very dark. Winter jammed her black eclipse glasses on and looked up " the eclipse had begun! She could already see the moon sliding slowly across to obscure the sun. She hurried back to the rock to finish sketching.
The sun was completely covered by the moon, and it looked like all the family’s fantasies rolled into one. Winter was smiling as she finished her drawing. She got up and strolled around the lake. But it didn’t feel normal; it wasn’t like it should’ve been, thanks to a sensation from the necklace " like some strange energy surrounding the necklace and where the pendant touched her skin. It almost felt like the necklace was spilling some unknown content into her. Winter shook her head to clear it of these thoughts and kept strolling around the lake. In the eyes of some other people, this would have been a miserable day, but Winter loved storms more than sunny days. The eclipse had finished, and it had seemed like nature had parted its clouds in respect for this event. But now it was over, and the dark grey clouds had respectfully closed up the gap. Winter looked across the lake. She loved storms. She knew that if the storm started that the lightning would want to strike the trees or the lake before her. She looked at her reflection in the lake. It was not the most interesting face " brown hair, blue eyes. A perfectly ordinary person with a perfectly ordinary name. Until the lake froze over. White frosty tendrils were snaking over the lake, at the speed a rabbit could scamper, or a kangaroo hop. A small part of Winter was admiring the ice’s beauty " she had never seen snow, or frost, or even ice except for flavoured ice blocks and the ice blocks served in cold drinks. But most of her mind had gone into shock. Nothing ever froze of its own accord. Especially not in this climate! Winter backed away from the lake straight in to a large wall of ice. She started to run back to the hotel, but another sheet of ice blocked her way. Thunder rumbled overhead. She ran back to the lake and tried desperately to find any way out, but her every path was being blocked by a sheet of ice that sprung up from nowhere. Hail started pounding down " hailstones the size of tennis balls. Winter tried and tried to stay under the trees, but it seemed the more scared and desperate she got, the more hailstones pelted down and the quicker the icy sheets sprang up. She spun on the spot, looking for anything that might help " a tree she could climb, a gap in the ice sheets, anything. That’s when a hailstone smashed right through one of the ice sheets on the other side of the lake, reducing it to splinters. Winter took her chance. She ran to the gap like the Devil himself was after her, but her way around the lake was blocked again by another ice sheet, and one behind her stopped her from retracing her steps. She couldn’t go forward, she couldn’t go back, and she couldn’t go into the trees, every path was blocked by ice. An idea entered Winter’s mind. A crazy idea, she knew, but it was either that or… she didn’t want to think about it. She put her foot slowly and cautiously out onto the lake. It was only a thin layer of frost covering the top, but if it would hold her weight even for a second, she would be off like a shot. As soon as her foot touched the lake, the patch beneath her foot froze over even more. In the confusion, Winter forgot to let her jaw drop. A hailstone whistled past her head. Without a second thought Winter took off across the lake, somehow protected from its depths by the patches of ice that mysteriously appeared beneath her feet. She had made it across the lake and the way out lay in front of her " she had almost made it through…
Chapter 3
A light. A smell of antiseptic. Her head was bandaged. Something soft underneath her. A throbbing pain in her skull. Winter opened her eyes slowly. There was a white tiled roof above her with a fan spinning softly. There were sounds of people walking around. Winter looked around. She was in a two-bed ward, obviously at a hospital. There was a long metal arm stretching over her head with a small bag hanging on it. Winter followed the plastic tubes coming out of the bag to an injection needle in her arm. Next to her was a patient eating something on a tray. Next to him was a wall that Winter assumed housed the bathroom. A nurse walked in the door and headed for Winter’s bed. Winter started shaking. An uncontrollable shaking borne from fear. What had happened? She had been at the lake, running for her life, and then… here. Had she been knocked out? Had she been injured? The nurse smiled down at her. “Winter Barnhart?” She said. “Yes.” Winter’s voice shook. “What day is it?” Winter’s fear was replaced by skepticism. “Er… last time I checked it was Tuesday, but I’ve probably been here longer than that.” “It’s Tuesday evening. Can you remember where you live?” “I’m staying at a hotel near the coast, but I live in Brisbane.” said Winter irritably. The nurse checked something off on her clipboard. “How are you feeling?” “Oh, I’ve just woken up in hospital with no idea how I got here and a pain in my head that kills and the only person I can talk to right now is asking me what day it is, but that’s nothing to worry about, I’m feeling absolutely fine!” she burst out. The nurse smiled. Winter felt like throwing a brick at her. “It’s completely normal to experience shock. You don’t remember how you got here?” “No. I just said that.” “You were found unconscious next to a lake, with concussion. Your mother called an ambulance.” Well, of course I didn’t remember. I was unconscious. Winter thought sarcastically. “What happened?” “There was a hailstorm " the biggest hailstones Cairns has seen in a long time. We had assumed you were heading back home when a hailstone knocked you out.” Winter frowned. She remembered the hailstones, but what about the sheets of ice? “Was there anything…” she searched for the word. “… anything else unusual there?” She said. “We have your drawing and art things here, if that’s what you mean.” said the nurse. Winter lay back on her pillow. No, that wasn’t what she meant. She decided that she needed to check if her concussion had made her go a little crazy and ask outright. “What about the giant sheets of ice?” she said. “What ice?” “There were all these huge walls of ice, and I was trying to leave but they kept on springing up from the ground. And the lake had frozen over too.” She said. “There were no ice sheets, and the lake hadn’t frozen over. Concussion can often scramble the immediate events beforehand.” So that settled it " none of it happened. “Nurse,” “Yes?” “When that happens, is the fake memory normally a little fuzzy?” “Oh, yes, most always.” She smiled. She checked on the other patient and left. Winter’s thoughts chased each other through her head. Why could she remember all the impossible details with absolute clarity when the nurse just said it ought to be fuzzy and her muddled head had made it up anyway? The other patient turned to her. “Heard ya got caught in that freak hailstorm. How’re ha doin’?” he said. “Fine, considering that thanks to concussion I don’t remember a thing.” The patient leaned over and shook Winter’s hand. “Name’s Alex. What’s your name?” “Winter.” “Nice to meet ya, Winter. You said you got concussion, yeah? I got a broken leg. Happened on the mo’orway. Some idiot was right up me bumper and another swerved in front of me, so I slammed the brakes on, and the guy behind me crashed right up into me car.” He said. He seemed to enjoy calling the other drivers ‘idiots’. “But enough about me. What happened with you?” “Well… Like I said, concussion, so I have some pretty strange memories of what happened.” “Tell me the strange mem’ries.” “Okay. I was drawing this lake at the Eclipse today, and I finished the drawing and started strolling around the lake, and it frosted over. Just like that.” She snapped her fingers. “That’s when the hailstorm hits. So I gather up my art stuff and go to leave, but there are suddenly all these ice sheets surrounding me " they just sprung up from the ground. So I freaked out. I was surrounded on all sides with hailstones the size of tennis balls whistling past my ears. I ran across the lake " which had completely frozen over now " and the way out lay in front of me and I was just about to leave, and I blacked out.” She avoided details like the lake freezing when she looked in her reflection, or the necklace. “Like I said, concussion.” She said, tapping her head as she waited for Alex to react. “Woah.” He said after a long time. “What do ya think actually happened?” “Dunno. I was just probably gathering up my stuff and a hailstone took me by surprise.” Alex nodded. “Probably.” He said and tucked into his meal. At that point a woman stuck her head in the door. She was one of the volunteers that did small tasks the nurses didn’t have time for " like writing letters for people who had broken arms, helping people on crutches get around and so on. She seemed to like the colours silver and black, especially black " she was dressed all in black, her hair was black and even her eyes were black " it didn’t seem like she had dyed her hair or was wearing contact lenses, though, the colours seemed too natural. She wore a silver belt and a small chain with a silver star pendant hung from her neck. “Anything need doing?” she said. Her voice was soft and even. It had a strange calming effect on anyone that heard her talk. “I’m good, thanks.” said Alex between mouthfuls. The woman’s attention turned to Winter, who smiled and made a small hand gesture indicating she didn’t need anything. The woman came in anyway. “I heard you were caught in that storm just after the Eclipse.” She said. “Yeah.” “What happened?” “Well, I’m not entirely sure, since I can’t remember anything except a jumble of ice and hail that doesn’t make any sense, but I know I was drawing the lake at the eclipse. That’s it there.” She said, pointing to her drawing that the nurse had left on a tray on wheels next to her bed. The woman picked it up. “It’s beautiful.” She said. “Thanks.” “I used to have a friend who was really good at drawing.” “Used to? What happened?” The woman took a deep breath. “Oh, it got a bit too hot for her here, so… she moved on. But she’s happy.” “Too hot for her? It’s too hot for anyone here " the maximum temperature this week is 45ºC " for late autumn!” “I know!” “What’s it like in summer here?” “Normally a little cooler than this.” “Wow.” The woman sat on the end of the bed. She held out her hand to Winter, who shook it. “Nightlight " most people just call me Night.” “Nice to meet you, Nightlight. I’m Winter.” At this, Nightlight seemed to freeze up for a minute, but it was gone as soon as Winter noticed it. “You know,” Nightlight said, as if to clear up her moment “Everyone is always talking about global warming. Who knew it could happen in less than a year?” “I know… the heat’s almost unbearable. My whole family says I can’t stand high temperatures, but even they don’t blame me for taking a fan with me wherever I go " it’s so hot up north!” “You don’t live here?” “Nah, my home’s down in Brisbane.” “Ah, a lot cooler down there, I expect?” “A whole lot warmer than it was.” “It’s like that everywhere " the temperature around the whole of Australia has rocketed.” There was a pause in their chats. Winter shifted in her bed. “Aren’t there patients that need stuff done?” she said. “Oh, I’ve just been around the whole area, nobody needs anything.” Night replied. “What happened when you…?” she tapped the side of her head. “Oh… None of it really makes sense.” “Concussion can do that to you. What you remember happening and what actually happened can be completely different things. One of my favourite parts of volunteering here is listening to all the weird and wonderful stories the people with concussion tell me. They know it’s completely bonkers and they laugh along with me. The man next door thought a chocolate mousse clobbered him over the head in a pub.” She chuckled. “He couldn’t stop laughing after telling me that. Although, I don’t think that was entirely concussion, I think that was partly the fault of what he’d had to drink that evening.” Winter laughed. “So what happened with you?” said Night. Winter told her. If Nightlight froze up for a second again she did her best not to show it. “Well that’s… bizarre. Almost like Jack Frost came along and decided to play a joke.” She smiled. A doctor entered the room and stood at the end of Winter’s bed. “Well, I’d better be going.” said Night. “Bye. Nice talking to you.” Nightlight left the room. “Good evening. I’m Dr. Tyler.” said the doctor. “And you must be Winter.” “Yes, that’s me.” “It may interest you to know that we did a quick scan on your skull earlier.” Dr. Tyler showed Winter the scan picture. “As you can see, you have no fractures or cracks, which is very good. I just need to run another quick test to see if we need to probe deeper.” He explained. “OK.” said Winter. “If you could sit up,” Winter obliged. Dr. Tyler took out a small flashlight and shone it in Winter’s right eye, moved on to her left, and back to her right. He returned it to his pocket. “What was that about?” “I was testing to see your eye’s reaction time to bright lights. The slower your eye’s reaction time the worse the concussion, and if it’s bad enough we’d do an ultrasound. Thankfully you don’t seem to be too bad.” The only words that actually registered were ‘you don’t seem to be too bad’. Winter took that as a positive sign.
Chapter 4
Nightlight’s remark had stuck with her. Well that’s… bizarre. Almost like Jack Frost came along and decided to play a joke. Winter was almost sure she was going nuts, but it had seemed so real " she could explicitly recall what it felt like when she stepped on the lake and it froze under her feet. Like so many characters in movies and books, she aggressively told herself what made sense " that she was loony. And like so many characters in movies and books, the annoying voice at the back of her mind whispered what didn’t make sense logically, but at the same time it was the annoying voice at the back of the mind that made the most sense. It was always the voice that gets banished to the back of the mind that made the most sense. This was happening to Winter " a battle with herself. What am I thinking? I just suddenly decide to believe in a childhood fantasy because someone I met at hospital made a remark. No, think about it: YOU drew the snow in your picture. YOU drew that blue light exactly where that snowflake necklace was. The lake frosted over almost instantly when YOU looked at your reflection in it. The frost froze into ice when YOU stepped on it. Think sense! No, you think sense. I’ve never even seen snow! I’m not Jack Frost! Who said you were? I’m not a goddess either! Are you sure? No! Goddesses don’t get concussion! Who said they didn’t? Common knowledge! They’re immortal! Ever heard of Chinese Whispers? How were the stories passed down before they were chiseled onto stone? Winter shook her head. “You alright?” said Alex. He was watching TV. “Yeah.” Among Winter’s belongings on the tray next to her bed was her iPad. Winter went into Google and typed in ‘winter deities’ and clicked the first link that she found. It was a Wikipedia page for Jack Frost. Winter thought she knew enough about him, so she skipped to the links to other pages. See also: Father Frost Yuki Onna Winter selected Father Frost. It depicted the season as an old man. The story said that in a cottage, there was a girl and her father, the girl’s stepmother and her stepsister. The stepmother hated the girl, so she ordered the girl’s father to take the girl to stay outside in the freezing snow for the entire night. She met Father Frost and was kind to him. She returned inside the next morning carrying precious stones. The stepmother was greedy and sent her own child out to return with jewels. She also met Father Frost and was rude to him. The stepmother found her the next morning frozen to death. Winter shivered. She selected Yuki Onna. It was a Japanese goddess. As soon as Winter read that she thought Oh dear, this won’t be pleasant. Yuki Onna’s story was that a man was heading home in the middle of winter. He met Yuki Onna and she told him to not tell anyone he had met her, otherwise she would kill him. The man led a nice life; he married a woman called Oyuki and had children. One day he decided to tell Oyuki about Yuki Onna. Once he had finished, Oyuki revealed herself to be Yuki Onna. There were two versions of the tale: one said that she couldn’t kill the man because of their children, the other said that technically the man didn’t tell anyone, he told Yuki Onna, so she didn’t have to kill him. Goodness, can these people get any creepier? thought Winter with a look of disgust on her face. She would have a little trouble sleeping tonight. She returned to her Google search. Another fantasy was that fairies came and put icicles on the trees and scattered snow in winter, other fairies came and painted the leaves orange and gold in autumn, different fairies came in spring and encouraged the flowers to grow and helped the bees collect pollen and so on. There was the Greek story of Demeter, the goddess of good harvest, and how her daughter Persephone was abducted by Hades. Demeter searched and searched in a land of white and snow. When Demeter finally found her daughter she said Persephone could return as long as she hadn’t eaten anything. Unfortunately, Hades had tricked her into eating six pomegranate seeds. Persephone had to stay with Hades for six months of the year, when Demeter would withdraw her gifts, creating winter, and then Persephone would return to Demeter for the other six months of year, upon which Demeter would bless the land with spring. One popular goddess that cropped up a lot was Beira, the Cailleach Bheur, who lived in the mountains of Schiehallion where she ruled Scotland as the Queen of Winter. Legend had it the mountains were made thanks to Beira dropping rocks from her apron, or her putting them there deliberately, and she protected the deer and goats of the mountains. There was a painting by Rosalba " a typical painting of a semi-clad woman that was his idea of winter personified " there were another three paintings of women for each of the seasons. Other Goddesses she found were Acca Larentia, who was Etruscan/Roman. It was said that without her the planet would sizzle and burn without her cold to level out the heat. There was Holda, who was Teutonic, and was both the Goddess of Winter and a pre-Santa " she slid down chimneys and delivered gifts. There was Skadi, the Viking goddess of winter and the hunt, and was apparently part giant. Nothing that seemed of importance, or rung any bells, until she got to an obscure little website of winter poems. None of them really seemed of any interest to Winter " they didn’t rhyme, they had no rhythm, therefore they weren’t poems in her mind. But at a particular poem by Frederick Weyer she perked up. It was called The Winter Tale:
Trees bared to winter’s touch By winter’s breath laid bare Leaves whisper of winter’s heart Of winter’s heart they share Upon the floor red, copper glow In waning sun, cold winter’s hold Whisper leaves, the story told, Of winter’s heart laid bare Tell it swiftly, in the fading glow, Ere all be covered in winter’s snow Tell it softly, speak it low Ere all things cease to grow Tell of autumn; brooding, dark For she made winter lonely, stark Speak of summer, distant, cold For on her winter has no hold Whisper of spring; haughty, lout For winter’s end she brings about FIENDS! FOES! FELL and FOUL! Soon to be swept under winter’s cowl When Sun is gone and Moon is dead Winter’s tale shall know no end For winter first did come And by winter all will be undone Tell it softly, speak it low Ere winter’s breath covers all in snow
After Winter had read it, she sat there, staring at the words on her iPad. It certainly sounded like winter personified. But some of the lines didn’t make sense " ‘Leaves whisper of winter’s heart, of winter’s heart they share’ and ‘whisper leaves, the story told, of winter’s heart laid bare’. It sounded like there was great news that all of nature was passing around about winter’s heart. But what was it? That it was cruel? By the sound of the last eight lines winter would certainly conquer all " ‘by winter all will be undone’. But winter was to conquer all in such a way, why paint the other seasons as ‘fiends, foes, fell and foul’? Winter returned to her search, but instead of searching websites, she searched pictures. With all the females " Beira, Holda, Skadi " they all wore a necklace. A snowflake necklace. Winter touched the necklace beneath her hospital gown. Strange dreams would enter her sleep that night.
Chapter 5
Winter tossed and turned. Pictures of all the goddesses swirled in her mind " Beira, Holda, Yuki Onna, Acca Larentia, Skadi " they all seemed so different but now, Winter could see something else beneath their faces, a common element " was it the eyes? The way they wielded the wintry weather? Something about them seemed so similar, so familiar, it was uncanny! Another dream took this one’s place. Nightlight was there. With her was a man with bright orange hair, red clothes and an orange robe. He looked guilty. A light came from Winter’s chest. She looked down and saw a blinding bright blue light coming from the jewels in the necklace. A voice called her name urgently. ‘Winter! Winter!’ Winter opened her eyes to the hospital. Alex was shaking her awake. How often that happened! Just when someone was in a dream, they’d hear someone calling their name " that someone always happened to be waking them up. “Are ya all right? How’s ya head?” said Alex. “My head’s fine, I’m just sleepy. Why, shouldn’t I be alright?” “You were mutterin’ somethin’ in ya sleep. Something about leaves whispering.” Winter thought for a moment. “You mean this?
Trees bared to winter’s touch By winter’s breath laid bare Leaves whisper of winter’s heart Of winter’s heart they share
It’s called The Winter Tale. I found it on the net yesterday.” Alex nodded. “Yep, that sounded like it. The last part sounded a lot like death and destruction, like ‘when Sun is gone and Moon is dead’ or somethin’.” “Yeah, not sure what that last part means, but I like the poem.” “Obviously " you were mutterin’ it in yer sleep!” Two nurses entered with a tray each. One made her way over to Alex with a large glass of orange juice and a plate heartily stuffed with scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, sausages and a tomato. The other nurse headed for Winter’s bed. “You weren’t here when the menus came around yesterday, so we had to pick something at random.” she said. “That’s ok.” Winter replied. On the tray was a one-serve box of cornflakes, a small milk container and a plastic bottle of orange juice " the type you found in cooler machines at cafés. Winter didn’t mind. It was probably what she would’ve ordered anyway. “You’re here now, however, so you do get the lunch menu.” the nurse continued. She handed the menu to Winter, who chose a sandwich. Alex and Winter tucked into their breakfast in silence. The amount Alex had to eat made Winter feel a little sick. “Do you always eat this much?” she asked him after she had finished her breakfast. “Oh, yeah,” he said between mouthfuls. “Me mum has no idea where it all goes.” He gestured at his skinny body. “We’ve been to doctors and things, there’s nothing wrong with me on that score.” “‘On that score’?” “Leg.” “Oh yeah.” “Ya know, once me little sister went to the beach and when she came back she was rubbing her arms. We had a look, and she was sunburnt. This is the funny part " Mum couldn’t tell her off for not putting sunscreen on ‘cause she had, we knew because you could see the stripe it left on her arm! The burnt part looked like a pair of pants!” Winter laughed. “And when ‘er skin started peeling, right, it peeled very carefully around that stripe!” Winter laughed even harder.
* * *
After Alex had finished eating the visiting hours arrived. A tall middle-aged woman strode through the door followed by girl that looked about 20 " obviously Alex’s sister. Winter could see the sunburn Alex told her about " it did indeed look like a pair of pants. At the sight of them Alex’s face broke into a grin and his arms spread wide. His mum and sister stood on either side of the bed as they and Alex exchanged news. Shortly after Alex’s family’s arrival, Winter saw her family head through the door. Sally and Ben looked more worried than Winter had ever seen them and Joseph looked grave. He perked up considerably when he saw Winter’s beaming smile. “Winter!” he cried and raced over to Winter’s welcoming embrace. He cannoned into her. “Careful with her, Joseph.” said Sally. Joseph let Winter out of his crushing grip and let her hug Ben and Sally. “How have you been?” said Sally. “I’ve been really good, the pain’s clearing up really fast.” “What do the tests say? Or haven’t you had them yet?” “No skull fractures and it wasn’t bad enough that they needed to do an ultrasound.” “Do you remember what happened?” “No, I was knocked out, remember?” “Have the people been nice?” Sally glanced at Alex behind her. “MUM!” “Oh, sorry, am I being too overprotective again?” “Yes!” “So… have the people been nice?” “Yes mum, it’s been really good.” “Are you gonna be alright?” said Joseph. Winter hugged him again. “I’m going to be fine.” She assured him. “So, what exactly happened at the lake?” she said to Sally and Ben.
Chapter 6
Sally shrugged. “Well, yesterday you said you’d draw the lake and you headed off just before the rest of us watched the eclipse on the beach. Then the storm started, we waited for you at the hotel for a long time, then we realised you were probably still down at the lake. We raced back to the lake and found you lying there unconscious. So obviously we called an ambulance.” “Joseph was asking if you were going to be alright so often that one of the paramedics offered to give him an anaesthetic!” Ben laughed. “What did it look like had happened?” Winter pressed on. Ben shrugged. “You were caught in the storm and a hailstone hit you hard on the back of your head. Why, was there more?” Winter thought fast. Should she tell them about the ice? No, she didn’t want them worrying too much about her. “No, it’s nothing. I just wondered, seeing as I’ll probably never remember it aside from the jumbled up mess of stuff I made up instead.” “Oh? What do you remember, sweetie?” “Nothing important.” Sally pushed back a curl of hair from Winter’s face. “What aren’t you telling us?” “It’s nothing important or interesting, trust me.” A nurse came in and announced that the visiting hours were over. “If there’s anything you want to tell us, you can.” Sally said quickly. Winter pulled Joseph, Sally and Ben in for one last hug. “Please email us!” Joseph chirped. “I will.”
* * *
Winter was reading The Winter Tale again, trying to decipher meaning out of its intricately entwined lines. She had practically memorized the entire poem. It wasn’t simply that the universe would end and winter would take over because it was so cold. No, it was something different. It seemed to have meaning for Winter " beyond the fact that she and the subject of the poem shared a name. She looked at the lines describing the other seasons. Tell of autumn; brooding, dark, for she made winter lonely, stark. It was in autumn that Winter was taken to hospital, she remembered. She could understand why autumn was a fiend and foe. Here, the only people she could talk to were Alex, who was more interested in food and TV than human company, the nurses and doctors, who were far too busy to say anything other than ‘We’re just going to do some heart surgery, if that’s alright’ and ‘this patient seems to have trouble moving his foot’, and Nightlight only came in when nobody had anything for her to do, and Winter only saw her family in the visiting hours. It was actually a very lonely place. Winter froze. Tell of autumn; brooding, dark, For she made winter lonely, stark It was true. Autumn had made Winter lonely. Not the season winter, with ice and snow, but the woman, Winter Barnhart. Speak of summer, distant, cold, For on her winter has no hold Whisper of spring; haughty, lout For winter’s end she brings about Winter had no idea what any of those lines meant, but now she knew it had something to do with her. She copied the poem onto a Word document and capitalized all the lowercase W’s in ‘winter’:
Trees bared to Winter’s touch By Winter’s breath laid bare Leaves whisper of Winter’s heart Of Winter’s heart they share Upon the floor red, copper glow In waning sun, cold Winter’s hold Whisper leaves, the story told, Of Winter’s heart laid bare Tell it swiftly, in the fading glow, Ere all be covered in Winter’s snow Tell it softly, speak it low Ere all things cease to grow Tell of autumn; brooding, dark For she made Winter lonely, stark Speak of summer, distant, cold For on her Winter has no hold Whisper of spring; haughty, lout For Winter’s end she brings about FIENDS! FOES! FELL and FOUL! Soon to be swept under Winter’s cowl When Sun is gone and Moon is dead Winter’s tale shall know no end For Winter first did come And by Winter all will be undone Tell it softly, speak it low Ere Winter’s breath covers all in snow
Now, in some places it made a little more sense, but in others, it was even more confusing. Despite the battle with herself that the annoying back-of-the-mind voice had obviously won, Winter still firmly believed she was nobody special " special as in superhuman. In her mind, she was a normal, human mortal and there was no way anyone could be otherwise " gods, goddesses, fairies and the like simply didn’t exist.
Chapter 7
Over the course of Winter’s stay, she and Nightlight became fast friends. When Night had nothing to do she would always go into Winter’s ward. Alex didn’t mind the women gossiping like " well, like women " because he would either be pigging out or watching the X Factor. The visiting hours had just been called, and Joseph raced in and cannoned into Winter, just like he always did. Winter and her parents were chatting away like they’d never get a chance again. “How’s your concussion?” said Sally. “It’s really good, it’s almost stopped hurting.” “Er… how’s your neck?” Sally was looking at Joseph, who was squeezing Winter’s neck so tightly it was amazing she could talk. She gently moved his arms from her neck to her waist. “Oh, I don’t think there’s going to be anything left of me when I leave hospital.” She joked. Nightlight walked in and stood by the door. “Who’s your friend?” said Ben, nodding towards Night. “Ah! Night, this is my dad Ben, my mum Sally and my little brother Joseph.” Winter gestured to her family. “And you three, this is Nightlight.” Night shook everyone’s hands in turn. “Are you Winter’s friend?” said Joseph. “Yes.” Night replied, smiling. “Winter’s told me a lot about you.” Joseph grinned, but didn’t seem to know what to say. Sally smiled at Night and asked if she had a knack for making chatty little boys become speechless. Somehow, the conversation turned to weather again. “It’s really really really really…” Joseph kept repeating ‘really’ “really really hot!” “42ºC, to be exact.” said Ben. “It’s happening to the entire world " they’re calling it the biggest heat wave this century!” said Night. “Big as in hot, or big as in countries affected?” Sally asked. “Both. It’s unbearably hot in every country " right down to tiny little Moldova.” Winter answered. “Moldova?” Joseph tilted his head on one side. “It’s a country. You know how Africa sort of looks like an upside-down boot? Moldova is about here” she rubbed her finger on the front of her ankle “on the boot. And it’s tiny!” The more that Night, Joseph, Sally, Ben and Winter talked about it, the stranger the heat wave seemed. Alex and his mum and sister joined in the conversation too, and they agreed that this didn’t seem the work of just global warming. The visiting hours ended. Alex and Winter said goodbye to their families. “Nice meeting you.” Night called after Sally, Ben and Joseph as they left. When Winter was sure that Alex was engrossed in TV again, she asked Nightlight to make sure that nobody needed anything done, because she needed to tell her something, and it might take time. Nightlight walked down to the next ward with Winter’s words spinning in her head. What would Winter have that she wanted to tell a new friend rather than her family? It might be… no, she couldn’t assume anything. Nobody had any jobs for her, so Night made her way back to Winter’s ward, her curiosity growing. Winter had a hard time explaining exactly what she thought. “Now, I am going to sound absolutely loony. If you think I’m stark-staring bonkers, I know you can be kind about it. It doesn’t really matter if you do think I’m crazy, I just need to tell someone.” She said it all in one breath, like she was desperate to get it out of her. Night already knew that Winter lived in Brisbane and she came up here for the Solar Eclipse, she knew she had drawn the Eclipse at the lake and what she remembered happening afterwards. But now, Winter told her about the snow on her picture, and how it wasn’t deliberate. She told Night about the little blue light, and the necklace, her suspicions about Skadi and Holda and all the other winter goddesses. She told Night about the poem, and her ideas about what the two ‘autumn’ lines meant. Nightlight couldn’t talk. Her mouth wouldn’t let her. It was partly to do with the fact that her mouth had formed a perfect oval and partly to do with the shock of recognition and the similarities between an old friend of hers and Winter. She had told Winter a lot about her old friend, but she never expected this. What she had never told the patient was her friend’s name. Winter Rose.
Chapter 8
Night would not tell Winter any of her suspicions until she would leave the hospital. What she did do at the time was close her mouth, hold Winter’s hand in hers and say: “I believe you.” The words echoed around Winter’s head " did Night really say she believed her? Winter couldn’t quite accept what had happened, but even so Nightlight and Winter held each other. Night knew what this meant to Winter " to trust a new friend over family must have been difficult. But why do it anyway? She didn’t want to ask " now wasn’t the right moment. Winter knew just how loony her story sounded. For Night to believe her must have been difficult. What was going through her mind? How did she believe it? Why did she believe it? It didn’t matter, not now. All that mattered was that she did. It seemed they held each other in a tight embrace for eternity. At last they broke apart when lunch came. Night checked on all the patients in the area while Winter ate her sandwich. Winter finished her sandwich and lay in her bed, letting the previous events sink in. Nightlight wrote a letter for someone, while she came to terms with what Winter had told her. She herself couldn’t quite accept that she believed Winter. Once the two women reunited again Night asked the question that had been burning a hole in her mind since Winter started her tale. “Why tell me?” Winter thought about the answer. “I had to tell someone.” “Why not tell your family? I only met you when you came into hospital. You’ve known your family all your life.” “Exactly. I know that they won’t believe me and Mum will just feel my temperature or tell the doctors.” “But why tell me?” “I trust you.” Night couldn’t speak. Winter started asking questions. “Why would you believe me?” Night frowned and thought. “You described the impossible events with such clarity. If it was something concussion made up you would have said something like, ‘I’m not quite sure what happened but I think it went along the lines of…’ or ‘I can’t really remember this bit.’ And when you described the feel of the frost turning to ice under your feet, your foot actually twitched, like it was remembering the feel, too. Not only that, the little blue light in your drawing was proof. And the goddesses " you put those pictures in a Word document, and they all do have a snowflake necklace. The poem " the two autumn lines make uncanny sense. None of that was made up.” Night paused and added quietly, “And I trust you.”
Chapter 9
Winter was well enough to go home after another day. Her family had stayed in the hotel until she had recovered. Nightlight would be returning to Brisbane with them because they had discovered that their houses were only a street apart. Hopefully the weather would be cooler. It wasn’t. “Any minute a law will be passed banning all cardigans.” said Winter when they went outside. Home was even worse. Winter and her family put the air conditioners on, turned the fans on to maximum, and they all had ice blocks as Winter told them about her stay. “Well, I woke up, which wasn’t nice, then a nurse came along. I was terrified " I had just woken up in hospital, maybe they had cut my leg off or something. Now, you’d expect a nurse to come in and say ‘how are you feeling’ or ‘can you remember anything’, but no, this nurse comes in and says ‘What day is it?’!” Joseph giggled. “I mean, here I am, lying here, my head hurts really badly, I don’t know how I got here, and I want reassurance so that I know I’m ok and I still have both my legs, and the nurse wants to know what day it is! I thought I was the one with concussion!” Joseph laughed even harder. “So then at last she tells me where I am and what they assumed happened. Then I meet the patient next to me, his name was Alex. He described what had happened with his broken leg and asked me what happened, and I honestly had no idea what happened. So he went back to pigging out.” “Oink oink!” said Ben. The whole family laughed. “Nightlight sticks her head in, asks if anything needed done, which it didn’t, but anyway we start chatting away like we’d known each other all our lives. Somehow we were talking about the weather. Then a doctor came in and flashed a torch in my eyes. Then nothing happened. I tried talking to Alex but he was far too interested in TV or food. So I did a bit of stuff on my iPad. That was basically what happened every day. But the nurse not knowing what day it was didn’t happen every day, just the first one.” She added to make Joseph laugh again.
Only a week into Winter’s return home, Night had asked if Winter could come over to her place for a visit. Winter walked up to Nightlight’s house, taking in the surroundings. Wherever you could fit decoration, there were little silver stars, black ribbons or white solar-powered lights. Apart from that, it looked just like any normal house. It had a neat lawn, a few flowers, a curved driveway. Winter rang the bell. It played a dramatic piece of music Winter recognized as Gustav Holst’s Mars from The Planets. She started laughing. Here she was, visiting a friend’s house and her arrival was announced by a dramatic and dark fanfare. Nightlight opened the door to find her friend giggling on her doorstep. “So you like the doorbell, then?” she said, smiling. “Fabulous.” Winter entered Night’s house as the dramatic doorbell stopped. Nightlight ushered Winter into the living room, which was equally as black-and-silver as Night herself. Winter sat down facing Nightlight, whose face suddenly looked serious. “You’ve been having strange dreams, haven’t you? About things that seem impossible and faces you don’t recognise?” Winter had been having dreams. Nightlight was in them, and a man with bright orange hair, an orange robe to match and red clothes underneath. There was a cottage with all manner of electrical controls, with the snowflake necklace resting on one of the scanners. None of it made sense, but it was almost like she knew these people, these places. She described them to Nightlight. Night nodded. “You do know those places and things. In your heart, you know all this; it’s just locked away at the back of your mind.” “What?” Nightlight took a deep breath. “At the hospital, I believed you. I need you to believe me now.” Winter studied Nightlight for a moment. “I’ll try.”
Chapter 10
Nightlight took a deep breath. She had no idea how well this would go down. She started to tell Winter everything, hoping for the best, expecting the worst. “Those dreams you’ve been having " they’re not dreams.” Winter frowned. “So what are they, then?” “Memories.” “Memories?” “Yes.” “No, they aren’t " they can’t be. I dreamt about a hut at the South Pole that was filled with buttons and scanners. And even though it was the South Pole there was no snow on the ground, just rock. It isn’t possible for there to be no snow at the South Pole, and there is no hut like that there either. It’s not possible.” “Really?” “Really what?” “It’s not possible for a hut with a giant computer console to be at the South Pole when the pole doesn’t have any snow. That’s impossible, is it? I suppose you saw me there too " and two men " one wearing an orange robe and red clothes, one in black and silver armour.” Winter didn’t know what to think. “You did, didn’t you?” “Yes. How did you know?” “Because I was there. Literally, I was there, in the dream.” “So, that actually happened. Why don’t I remember it happening?” “You don’t remember it happening because you didn’t want to.” “What?” “Winter, I’m sorry, I’m really really sorry. You’re not who you think you are.” “What do you mean by that?” she demanded. “You’re… the spirit of winter.” “That’s my name.” “Yes, and you are the season personified.” “Okay… there are going to be more strange things to back this impossible stuff?” she guessed. “Yes.” “Well, tell away.” So Nightlight began her tale.
Chapter 11
Every year, winter would come. Snow would cover the rooftops, frost would trace its delicate patterns over window panes, and lakes would become play areas for ice skaters. Every year, spring would take winter’s place, and melt all the snow, frost and ice, as all the plants woke up from their long sleep and burst into flower. Every year, spring would depart, leaving summer in its place. The flowers would disappear, to be replaced with bright green leaves, stretching up to the sun. Every year, when summer was done, autumn would arrive, painting the green leaves on the trees glorious shades of red, brown, orange and gold. The leaves would fall off the trees, covering the ground with a crunchy brown carpet. And every year, when autumn was done, winter would come back and take its place, waiting for the cycle to begin again. All this happened in perfect balance, governed by two spirits " Sol and Winter Rose. Sol was the summer spirit. He had short, orange hair that stuck up from his scalp like the sun’s rays, and eyes the same colour. He wore red clothes and an orange robe over the top to match his hair and eyes. He wore red shoes and a single gold ring with an orange gem on his finger. He had a high temper and was easy to anger. Winter Rose was the winter spirit. She had white hair that tumbled down like a frozen waterfall down to her elbows, framing her pale face. She had large, sparkly ice-blue eyes. She wore a short white skirt over pale blue stockings. She wore an ice-blue belt with a silver buckle around her waist, and a cyan strapless top underneath a white silk jacket. Similarly to Sol, she wore a single silver ring with a blue gem on her finger. She was gentle, and kind. Both spirits had an accomplice " Sol had Starlight, Winter had Nightlight. They were brother and sister. Nightlight " or Night for short " had jet-black hair and black eyes. She wore a short black dress with thin straps, a silver belt with a star buckle, and a shining star pendant around her neck. The hair on the sides of her head had been scraped to the back and clipped with yet another silver star. Starlight " Star for short " like his sister Nightlight, also had black hair and black eyes. He wore a black outfit with a silver vest. For a long time Sol, Starlight, Winter Rose and Nightlight all lived in perfect harmony and balance " until the day of Sol’s insanity. Sol made the temperature rocket. There was nothing Winter, Starlight or Nightlight could do to bring it back down. The ice at both poles was melting so fast you could actually see the water trickling away. Sol knew that the higher the temperature was, the harder it was for Winter to bear the heat. This was what he wanted. It was causing Winter physical agony. She couldn’t go anywhere away from the South Pole, which was where she and Nightlight made their home. So they and Starlight hatched a plan. What Winter needed was to be able to stand the heat " but she couldn’t. She was the winter spirit. She, Night and Star decided to give Winter a mortal body " the versatility of that body would allow her to stand temperatures of 48ºC. But they ran into a snag: If Winter became a mortal, her body would not be able to cope with all her knowledge, memories and powers. The minute she was fully mortal, she would go bang. So they would have to take all her memories and powers away from her until the moment was right to give them, and her spirit body, back to her. Nightlight and Starlight would try to find a way to bring Sol to his senses, while Winter would be living an ordinary life, convinced she was an ordinary mortal " always had been, always would be. Any shadow of her previous life could jog her memory, and as soon as she remembered something, she would not exist any more. It was vitally important she didn’t remember anything " even what snow looked like. Anything relevant to who she was at any time in her life was dangerous. She would have to live in Australia " the country was famed for its heat. But what to do with Winter’s memories and powers? They would drain them into a small snowflake necklace which Night would wear with her, always, while she and Star tried to bring the temperature down. As soon as she succeeded, Night would take the necklace to Winter " who would have no idea who she was. She would receive the necklace in Christmas or birthday presents, or perhaps in a package in her mailbox. She would put the necklace on, and gradually get her powers and memories back. Her spirit body would follow as her memories came back, to compensate for the strain on her mortal one. Eventually, she would be Winter Rose again. Everything was planned and in perfect order. Winter staggered into a small chamber in her home at the Pole, clutching at her stomach, bent over. Nightlight pushed a few of the many buttons, had quick glances at some of the many screens in the room. Her brother Starlight stood behind her, biting his lip. There was not a space in the room that was not taken up with some sort of electrical control or monitor. There was a small pie graph showing how mortal Winter was. Right now it was completely white. Night moved to a lever and put her hand on it, slowly, hesitantly. She turned to Winter Rose. They had agreed that since Winter would enter mortality unconscious, Night and Star would take her to a family and make them and everyone they knew believe that she was their daughter " including Winter herself. They just hadn’t agreed which family. Nightlight and Winter exchanged a quick glance. “You ready for this?” asked Star. Winter nodded. A crystal door slid between Winter and her friends, and a blue light shone into the small cubicle, throwing the distorted reflections of Winter all over the walls and the door. Night closed her eyes and pulled the lever. A cry of pain came from in the cubicle. On the pie graph showing Winter’s mortality, the white area grew smaller as a small blue chunk appeared, and grew gradually bigger. It seemed the bigger the blue part got, the louder the cries of agony from Winter. Night and Star wished they could go to their friend, comfort her, but they couldn’t. They saw the roots of the white hair turn brown, and saw the brown spread down the hair like runny wet paint down a piece of paper in fast forward. They saw the flailing arms darken from almost white to a shade of peach. They saw the wide open ice-blue eyes darken to a more vivid, human shade of blue. They saw the clothes change from her spirit costume to an ordinary set of a pair of pants, a shirt and a jacket. And still they watched. The snowflake necklace rested on a piece of equipment. The gems lining its edges and the one at its centre had been pure white, but now they were darkening, very very slowly, to a pale shade of blue. That was what was happening to Winter Rose. Behind the crystal door, Winter stopped flailing. The machine stopped hissing. The light stopped glowing. The crystal door slid open. Night stepped forward. Winter was curled up on the floor, with her back to the door. Star turned her over. A strange new face lay in the place of the one that belonged to Night and Star’s best friend. This stranger wasn’t Winter Rose. She was someone else completely. Night picked up the necklace and hung it around her neck. A tear ran down her cheek, but she made no noise. Starlight picked up the new, strange Winter, and together he and his sister flew off in search of a family in which they knew Winter would be safe. The Barnhart family.
Chapter 12
Nightlight finished her tale. “Well?” Winter didn’t know what to think. She couldn’t quite take it all in. She just sat there staring at Night with her mouth open. It felt like something had dropped out of her, like a piece of her heart had just vanished. Not a physical pain, a psychological one. “You ok?” said Night. Winter just nodded. She went home.
* * *
After Winter had dinner, she went straight to her bedroom, telling her parents that there was some catching up she had to do on games she played online. There wasn’t really. She had had her iPad with her all throughout her hospital visit. What she was actually doing was staring at the words of The Winter Tale. It’s misty, unclear message was beginning to reveal itself. Trees bared to Winter’s touch By Winter’s breath laid bare Leaves whisper of Winter’s heart Of Winter’s heart they share Upon the floor red, copper glow In waning sun, cold Winter’s hold Whisper leaves, the story told, Of Winter’s heart laid bare This was obviously the news of what Winter Rose, Nightlight and Starlight had done to create Winter Barnhart. Winter labeled the lines with what they meant " ‘news’. Tell it swiftly, in the fading glow, Ere all be covered in Winter’s snow Tell it softly, speak it low Ere all things cease to grow Winter still didn’t really know what those lines meant. She didn’t bother with a label. Tell of autumn; brooding, dark For she made Winter lonely, stark Winter had already labeled these lines with how lonely she was in hospital. Speak of summer, distant, cold For on her Winter has no hold This would be Sol’s megalomania. Winter wasn’t sure why summer was a ‘her’, but she put that down to the writer’s error and poetic license. She labeled them ‘Sol’s megalomania’. Whisper of spring; haughty, lout For Winter’s end she brings about It was in spring that Winter Rose became Winter Barnhart. The label read ‘changed’. That just left the rest of the poem. Now, Winter was certain that the ‘winter’ in the poem referred to her. But she didn’t like to think of her bringing creation to an end as the last eight lines suggested: FIENDS! FOES! FELL and FOUL! Soon to be swept under Winter’s cowl When Sun is gone and Moon is dead Winter’s tale shall know no end For Winter first did come And by Winter all will be undone Tell it softly, speak it low Ere Winter’s breath covers all in snow Surely it meant something else? Winter still couldn’t take it all in. She put her iPad on her desk, lay her face on her pillow, and started crying. She felt like screaming. If Winter Rose was so important, then who was she? Who was Winter Barnhart? Oh, just the person to give the necklace to so the world would have Winter Rose back " nobody special. Nobody important. Winter cried herself to sleep.
Chapter 13
The next day, Winter visited Night’s house again. There were a few plotholes in her story that she wanted filled. She pressed the dramatic doorbell. Not long after, Night’s face appeared in the gap. “You’ve got questions, haven’t you?” she said. Why did mortals always reject things they didn’t understand? Winter nodded, so Night invited her inside. “This necklace,” she gestured to the snowflake necklace around her neck. Even though she knew what was in it, she hadn’t plucked up the courage to actually take it off. “If you were never supposed to take it off except to give it to me, how come I ended up finding it at the lake?” “I tried to give it to you, but when I checked at the home I had left you at, you weren’t there. You had gone up to Cairns for the Solar Eclipse, but I didn’t know that at the time. I tried to find you using one of the gadgets at the Pole, but the heat had fried them up. Not a single one of them worked. I figured that the necklace would want to be as close to you as possible …” “The necklace wants?” “Well, if you’re one half of Winter Rose, the necklace is the other half. Both halves would want to join up again.” Winter nodded. She was one half wanting to join with the other " that was why she drew the little blue light on her drawing, she sensed the necklace. And that was also why she never managed to pluck up the courage to take the necklace off. “So I figured that the necklace would want to be as close to you as possible. It had Winter Rose’s powers " one of which was using the wind to propel herself. In other words, she could ride on the wind. So could the necklace. It could find you and seek you out " I knew that. So I threw it in Australia’s direction and flew after it.” “You flew?” “Yes. I’m not mortal either, remember?” Winter nodded again. “I followed it until it landed at a lake " the one you later would sketch the eclipse at, the one near your hotel. I didn’t know where you actually were, so I could only tuck the necklace in some tree roots and search for you. I heard about the hailstorm thanks to another family that was watching the news that evening " there was a small news story about the hailstorm. It said that all the victims were being taken to the same hospital, so I volunteered, hoping to bump into you, which I did. I obviously didn’t recognise you at the time " it had been so long since I had seen your face.” Night paused to let Winter take it all in. Winter had wanted the plotholes filled, and they definitely were. “Starlight… your brother. When Sol went crazy, what did he do?” “Tried to help us bring the heat down again. Just because he was Sol’s sidekick or whatever doesn’t mean he agreed with everything Sol did.” “And Sol increased the heat. You were only supposed to give me the necklace when the heat wave was over, but it isn’t. What happened there?” “Sol saw his mistake and stopped increasing the heat, but too late. The heat had already risen beyond his control. There was nothing any of us could do. We were desperate. So we called on the only thing we had left " you.” “And if I refuse to help?” “You’ll end up living in a world where 40°C is a cool day.” “What about the poem?” Winter said suddenly. “It’s not just the autumn lines that tie in with your story.” She got her iPad out and passed it to Nightlight so she could see the entire poem with labels.
Trees bared to Winter’s touch By Winter’s breath laid bare Leaves whisper of Winter’s heart Of Winter’s heart they share Upon the floor red, copper glow In waning sun, cold Winter’s hold Whisper leaves, the story told, Of Winter’s heart laid bare " news Tell it swiftly, in the fading glow, Ere all be covered in Winter’s snow Tell it softly, speak it low Ere all things cease to grow Tell of autumn; brooding, dark For she made Winter lonely, stark " loneliness in hospital Speak of summer, distant, cold For on her Winter has no hold " Sol’s megalomania Whisper of spring; haughty, lout For Winter’s end she brings about " changed. FIENDS! FOES! FELL and FOUL! Soon to be swept under Winter’s cowl When Sun is gone and Moon is dead Winter’s tale shall know no end For Winter first did come And by Winter all will be undone Tell it softly, speak it low Ere Winter’s breath covers all in snow
Nightlight read the poem, and took note of the labels. “Where did you actually find this poem?” she said at last. “On the net.” Winter replied. “Just… on the net?” “Yeah. There was a little poem website.” “Can you go to it again?” Night passed Winter her iPad back. “I think so.” Winter typed in ‘Winter poems, The Winter Tale’ into Google. She quickly found the website she was looking for, and showed Nightlight. Night scrolled through all the other poems on the website " Winter’s Chill, A Winter Message, As Winter Raged, and Winter before she came to The Winter Tale. All the other poems seemed to have been knocked together by a five-year-old. Night read through the poem. “I don’t understand!” she said, frustrated. “What don’t you understand?” “I don’t understand how this poem ties in so perfectly with events here, and yet it’s just another poem in this website. How many poems are on here?” There were not just winter poems " there were others about beauty, fear, butterflies, children, death and despair, family, dark, fire, graduation, hair and even football. “I don’t know. Lots.” said Winter. “One poem lost in a sea of thousands. Frederick Weyer wrote this poem, yes? How did he know anything about what’s going on here?” “Maybe he didn’t.” There was a pause. “No… maybe he didn’t. But still, some of those lines make sense because they’ve already happened. Maybe the lines that don’t make sense yet are future events.” Night persisted. “Okay, so, what do we do? Try and decode it?” “It could end up giving us vital information.” “So we do decode it?” “Yes.” She glanced outside at the setting sun. “But not right now, of course.” “No, not right now.”
Chapter 14
Winter sat in front of the TV the next day, eating her breakfast, when Joseph, yet again, came bounding in. Didn’t he get tired of doing that? “What’cha watchin’?” he said. “David Attenborough.” Winter replied. “Who’s he?” “He’s a man who tells you all about different plants and animals that live all over the world.” Joseph sat down to watch. “What animals is he telling you about?” “Ones that live at the North Pole and the South Pole.” “Like polar bears!” “Yes, and penguins and seals.” Shortly after Winter said this, the picture on the TV flickered out, and the sound became warped. Winter groaned. Joseph cocked his head. “Has the TV broken down?” he asked. “Do we need to buy another one?” “Hang on a minute, Joseph, I’ll fix it.” Winter said as she got up and made her way over to the TV. She made sure all the cords were in their sockets properly, and banged the screen a few times. The pictures of penguins flashed back to life on the screen and the sound righted itself. “There we go, Joseph. All back to …” Winter turned around and stopped dead. Her chair had disappeared. Not only her chair, but the coffee table in front of it, everything that was on the table, the floor, the earth, everything had disappeared. There was just a great big hole. Even the cushion where Joseph usually sat had gone. Joseph. Winter stared at the black patch, shock keeping her from realising the danger she was in. Joseph was gone. Her little brother. Only when she realised that the black patch had spread to half a metre in front of her did she run, run into her room and locked the door. She knew that if the blackness had eaten away a chair in a matter of seconds than a door wasn’t going to stop it, but she felt a little more secure by locking it. She sat down on her bed, her thoughts streaming through her head. This surely had to do with everything Nightlight had told her " Sol, Winter Rose, all of it. Winter didn’t have a clue how, but it was the weirdest thing that had happened in her life. Nightlight would have an answer. Winter quickly gathered up her sketchbook, a pencil and eraser, her iPad, stuffed them in a small bag, and opened the door. She quickly closed it again when she saw the blackness spreading along her wall. Instead, she opened the window and jumped out. Most of her yard was being consumed too, so she had to walk along the fence. She realised dimly that it was a lot easier than it should have been " she was becoming Winter Rose. Right now, that didn’t matter. By the time she had run across the fence and leapt down to the footpath, her whole room no longer existed. Winter just ran, down the street and as fast as her legs would take her, and not once did she look back at the horrible blackness that her home had become.
Chapter 15
Nightlight heard her doorbell. That would probably be Winter. She opened the door to find her friend on her doorstep, panting, her blue eyes wide open. Immediately she sensed the urgency of the situation. She ushered Winter inside and locked the door. “What’s happened?” she said. Night wasn’t entirely sure what Winter said, but whatever she said, it was at a gazillion miles a second. “Whoa, slow down. Say that again in English.” Winter explained about her house, and Joseph. Instead of telling Winter that it was alright, and Joseph was still somewhere, like Winter so desperately wanted to hear, she started muttering to herself, and making Winter even more worried. “Winter, we can’t stay here much longer. I can’t do anything about anything here; we need to get somewhere where we can do something " that is, the Pole.” “We’re going there? How long will that take?” “About three seconds.” Nightlight took a small something out of her pocket. Winter couldn’t see what it was, because it was emitting a fierce light that completely blocked out anything else. It was as if Night had a star in her hand. Night took a bag of blue powder from her pocket and poured some into the light in her hand, which turned a shade of icy-blue. Night threw it at a wall, where it exploded out into a vortex, or a very fast-moving galaxy-like … thing. “You coming?” said Night. She gestured to the light show that was obviously a portal. “You just… walk through?” Winter said, frowning. “Yes. Come on!” Night held out a hand to Winter. Winter wasn’t too sure about anything now, but she thought of what had become of her house, decided that she didn’t want to go the same way, and took Night’s hand. Night pulled her into the portal and for a minute Winter had no idea where she was, there was just endless stars and galaxies, spinning, flying past… “We’re here.” Winter got up off the floor to see a gigantic computer console in front of her. She spun around, slowly, with her mouth open. She had dreamed about the place many times but she didn’t think it was this impressive. The famous computer console covered every wall. The only lights in the room were the lights on the console, and the sunlight streaming in through the glass circles in the ceiling. That was plenty. Where the console didn’t cover there was gleaming white marble, and various pieces of crystal furniture dotted the room. Nightlight spread her arms wide. “Winter Barnhart… Welcome to the South Pole.”
* * *
I was exhausted. How long would Nightlight’s plan take to work? The Earth was running out of time, and so was I. Starlight couldn’t take care of me much longer, and I estimated I had weeks left to live. Never had my duties been so tiring. I hadn’t quite lost my life yet. But if things didn’t improve, I would lose my mind. I lay in a crystal fold-up stretcher set onto the wall, screaming with the effort it took to keep my powers in check, while Starlight wetted a cloth and laid it across my forehead. My orange robe hung on a hook behind me " my fever was too high to be wearing it. It would take a miracle to help this situation. That was exactly what I was thinking when I saw a flash from the next room. I paid it no attention and focused on the heat. My eyes were scrunched up. I felt the reassuring pressure of Starlight’s hands massaging the wet cloth onto my face. But now there was another hand, gripping mine. It was smaller than Starlight’s, more delicate. More…feminine. I opened my eyes to see a woman. For a moment I didn’t recognise her, but I saw her black hair and black eyes and realised it couldn’t be anyone else. “Nightlight…” I croaked. She squeezed my hand tighter. Nightlight turned around and beckoned to someone. Another woman bent over my bed. This face I also took time to recognise. The shape of her eyes, the curve of her lips… I knew I had seen her face before. But not like this. Her hair was the wrong colour. Her eyes were too blue. She seemed a little scared, as if she didn’t quite know where she was. Somehow, I knew that her face was a face that once had white hair. “Hello, Sol.” She said. She seemed to relax a little, even though it was clear she wasn’t entirely sure why. I smiled. “Winter.” I wheezed. Here was the miracle I needed.
Chapter 16
“So, Nightlight, I have questions.” “More?” Winter calmly sat down in a crystal chair and crossed one leg over the other, leant back, and crossed her arms. “You bet.” she said in a dangerously soft tone. “Fire away.” “What was that black stuff? What’s happened to my home?” The volume of her voice increased as she kept talking. As she talked, she got up out of her chair and thrusted her hand in what she hoped was the general direction of Australia. “What has that black stuff done to my brother? What about my parents? Am I ever going to see them again? Am I ever going to get good, normal things happening in my life ever again?!” By the last sentence she was yelling. She stood in front of Night, panting, her face bright red. Night just calmly asked: “Which question do you want me to answer first?” Winter sat down on the chair again. “What is that black stuff?” “That would probably be the Void.” “And what’s that?” “Well… It’s a little difficult to explain.” “I’m listening.” “And complicated.” Winter gave Nightlight a long, hard look. “I’ve had a bad month, Nightlight. I’ve had concussion. I’ve been terrified out of my life by a supernatural hailstorm. I’ve discovered that my destiny is to get rid of everything I am and let another person take my place. Now my mum, my dad and my little brother have disappeared. I don’t know if I’m ever going to see them again. I don’t know if they’re even alive. There is nothing left in this world for me to enjoy and you’re telling me the reason behind all this is complicated?!” She waited for her words to have an effect on Nightlight. “So what is the Void?” she said, not getting a reaction. “When you draw something and it really just isn’t working, what do you do?” “Rub it out.” “That’s exactly what the Void is.” “What, Earth got too hot so God’s using His eraser to rub us out and He’ll try making Earth again?” Winter said sarcastically. “Erm… In a manner of speaking, yes. You’re not Christian, are you?” “No.” “I didn’t think so " no serious Christian would joke about God having an eraser. Not as far as I know, anyway. But anyway, God doesn’t have an eraser. If you want to believe that God has an eraser, that’s okay, but really it’s that Earth is the Universe’s finest work and it just isn’t working so the Universe will get rid of it and make something even more impressive than Life. But probably nowhere near as exciting. But if you want to believe that the Void is God’s eraser, fine.” Winter wasn’t sure what Night was prattling on about " something about the Universe’s finest work " so she was content with the Void being God’s eraser. “What happened to my… home?” She figured that if she knew what had happened to her home her family would have gone the same way. She just didn’t want to hear the words coming out of Nightlight’s mouth. “The Void dissolved it. There’s nothing left, I’m sorry.” Winter hung her head. Night put her arm around her shoulders. “Gone for good?” “I don’t know.” Winter buried her face in her hands and started to cry. Nightlight let Starlight have a break from taking care of Sol. Starlight tried to turn on one of the many screens in the room. It didn’t work " it sputtered and hissed, and smoke came out of its edges. “Darn it, it’s still too hot.” he muttered to himself. He glanced at Winter. She was still crying, showing no signs of stopping anytime soon. Starlight came over to Nightlight. “How long has she had the necklace for?” he said under his breath to Night. “About a month.” She whispered back. “Is that long enough to have any effect?” “Not a noticeable one. If you want to know exactly how much she’s changed have a look at the colour of her hair.” “Her hair?” “Winter Rose had white hair, Winter Barnhart has brown hair. The whiter the hair the more like Winter Rose she is.” Night explained. Star glanced at Winter again. He could see very few hairs on her head that were white, but they were there. “So can she actually do anything? Freeze something? Make it snow? Anything like that?” “Sort of.” “Sort of?” “When she got the necklace, she found it at a lake, during the Solar Eclipse. The sky was almost black with stormclouds then. After she picked the necklace up she looked at her reflection in the lake and it frosted over. After she saw that it started hailing really heavily and great big sheets of ice sprung up from the ground. That was because she got scared at the lake frosting over suddenly like that. Her fear was controlling the weather. The more scared she got, the more it hailed, the more ice sheets sprung up from the ground, and that scared her even more in a vicious cycle. She ran across the lake while it froze under her feet, so that you could see ice footprints. When she got knocked out she was too busy being asleep to be scared, so all the ice and hail melted away.” “So all she can do is freeze over a lake and make a weird hailstorm when she’s scared?” “Pretty much.” “Can she drop the temperature enough for a screen to work?” “If she touched it, maybe. Don’t ask her now, though. She’s too upset about her family.” Starlight walked over to Winter. He knew how to deal with people when they were really angry or upset " he’d had plenty of practice from Sol. He crouched down in front of Winter. She had stopped crying, but she was still hunched in her chair with her face covered. “You ok?” Star said quietly. He wasn’t sure what to say because he knew that to Winter he was a complete stranger. But in a way, Winter was a complete stranger to him. “Do I look ok, Starlight?” she said. She didn’t sound angry " quite the opposite. “No. I know.” “Then why did you ask?” “I didn’t know what else to say.” Winter looked up at him. Her eyes had become a little paler, Star noticed. Mortals’ eyes didn’t become pale when they were crying, did they? Surely they went red? “Is the Void just where my house used to be or has it spread?” “I don’t know " it’s too dangerous to go there and it’s too hot for any of the screens to work.” Star knew he would be skating on thin ice if he continued " a fitting metaphor " but it was the only way to get the screens to work. “Night said you might be able to help with the screens.” Winter didn’t say anything. She brushed her hair over her shoulder and looked at it. A few more hairs turned white. “If I… do anything magic, will that make me turn into her faster?” “I think so, yes.” Winter sighed. There was nothing left for her as Winter Barnhart. No family, no home and goodness knows what else she had lost. But as Winter Rose she might have a chance of enjoying life again. “Alright. What do you want me to do?”
Chapter 17
Starlight lead Winter over to the screen he had been trying to turn on. He held Winter’s hand palm down and pressed it onto the console. The temperature became a few degrees lower, but the screens still didn’t work. Winter frowned. “You’ll have to concentrate.” said Star. Winter closed her eyes. Before the hailstorm, the necklace had felt strange against her skin. Winter knew now that it had felt like that because it was connecting with her and starting to turn her into Winter Rose. It still felt a little like that, but she had gotten used to it, and it was much weaker now. Winter tried to recall the exact feeling from the necklace. She could feel the power flowing into her as she concentrated " it felt like cold water flowing out of the necklace and into her chest. She could feel most of it congregating around where Starlight’s hand held hers to the console. Why was that? She wondered. She tried to shift the energy out her fingers and into the console. She could feel the cold energy pouring out of her fingers, but it wasn’t spreading around the console, it seemed to be clinging to her fingers. Winter opened her eyes. The energy she had felt around her hand wasn’t clinging to her hand, it had frozen. Starlight and Winter drew their hands away as a pale blue light lit up inside the crystal console " rather like the dancing patterns the sun makes when it shines into a pool. The pattern spread. Winter pictured it going up to the screen Star had been trying to turn on. The pattern stopped its outward path. Very, very slowly, after a tremendous effort of will from Winter, it started to make its way up to the screen. Star put his hand on a switch next to it as he waited for the blue dancing pattern to reach its goal. It brushed the edge of the screen. Almost instantly, the small trails of smoke around its outside disappeared. The pattern continued on to surround the screen. Star flicked the switch. The screen flickered uncertainly, and turned on completely. Winter collapsed, exhausted, in a chair. Star quickly found what he was trying to find and went to Winter. “That was amazing!” he said as Winter found her breath. “Absolutely amazing.” Winter eventually found the strength to say something. She flicked her hair aside. It had whitened a little. “How far… has the Void… spread?” she panted. Star showed her the screen. It was a revolving image of planet Earth. Star flicked a few switches until south-east Queensland in Australia showed. “Where was your home?” he said. Winter gave him the address. Star found her neighborhood. Winter’s mouth forgot to stay shut. Not only had Winter’s home been destroyed, the Void had also obliterated the entire street, and the three streets on either side running parallel to it. Winter went over to where Nightlight was taking care of Sol. “You want to know how much has been dissolved?” she said quietly. “How much?” said Night. “Have a look. I’ll take care of Sol.”
It was so good to see Nightlight again, even if it was for a few moments. It seemed like a few moments, anyway, before she pulled away from me. I felt another set of hands holding mine. I opened my eyes. “Winter.” I gasped. Her hands weren’t as cold as I remembered them, but they still provided a little relief from my fever. I felt her hands. Her ring wasn’t there. She normally wore a silver ring with a blue stone at its centre, but it wasn’t there. Then again, neither was the rest of her normal outfit. I guessed she hadn’t married in her mortal life. I knew she had noticed my ring long before she mentioned it. “Are you married?” she said. My ring was akin to the one she normally wore, except mine was gold with an orange stone. I nodded in answer to her question. “Who to?” she said. I knew I couldn’t tell her much. She was drifting away from mortality, I knew, but even so, her fragile mind couldn’t take much information. It was probably stretching its limits as it was. I couldn’t tell her anything that would bring back her whole life in a flash. Instead I nodded towards the siblings Starlight and Nightlight. “The mother of those two.” I said weakly. A bead of sweat trickled down my cheek. Winter moved her hand to my forehead. I sighed. She always seemed to know what I needed. It made me wonder what had made me turn against her. “You’re their father?” she said. I nodded. Before Winter had come I could barely recognise people. Now I could not only manage a conversation, I could think carefully about what I was going to say in case it had drastic effects on Winter’s memory. Come to think of it, my memory was working properly. “I think I might try standing up.” I said. Winter held my shoulder as I moved my arms. Together we hoisted my upper body upright. Winter slowly moved her hand away from my arms. Behind her I could hear Nightlight saying ‘I liked that house. I had to get a job for that house. I mean, imagine me with a job! An actual job!’ That made me smile. Winter helped me stand up, and leaning on her for support I hobbled over to Star and Night. Star turned around and saw me. He tapped Night, who also turned and saw me. I smiled. “Who knew that an ice pack could do such wonders?” I joked. Everyone laughed, but they all knew that what I was saying was absolutely true.
Starlight, Nightlight and Sol showed Winter around the building as Sol re-learned to walk. As they showed her various controls Winter kept tracing the shapes of screens, or trailing her fingers around switches " as if recalling the dim echo of a memory. She didn’t seem too angry or upset about having to become Winter Rose. She seemed to have moved on. Her hair had turned much whiter, and her three friends sometimes had trouble determining whether she was more like Winter Barnhart or Winter Rose. They had looped around the entire building and were coming back to where they had started now. “And this,” Nightlight pointed at the last control, “is for measuring…” “"physical traits in a person.” Winter finished. She massaged her temples. She had a horrible headache. “You ok?” said Star. “Yeah, fine. I’ve just got a bit of a headache.” “Tell me about it.” Said Sol. Even though he had almost returned to full health and could now walk properly, he still wasn’t rid of his own painful headache. His fever had cooled enough so he could put his orange robe back on. Starlight looked at Winter. “Your eyes have gone pale.” He said. Winter didn’t really want to know how much she was changing. She knew her headache was because all her knowledge and memories from being Winter Rose was coming back and her spirit body hadn’t caught up yet. It was always a little depressing when her headache stopped completely.
By afternoon the next day, Winter had learned a lot about her powers. She could freeze things, unfreeze them, trail frost around windowpanes, and make the frost or ice take various shapes. She was discovering she could make cold breezes blow when Starlight and Nightlight had gone inside to see how much the Void had progressed and find out anything more they could that might help. Winter knew that ‘finding out anything that might help’ meant decoding The Winter Tale. To her, it was pointless. If the poem really was predicting their future, then if they discovered the world was going to end, there wouldn’t be a choice and they might as well give up now. Sol didn’t quite understand the meaning of the poem. Winter was trying earnestly to explain when she was suddenly filled with an unnatural lightness. Sol’s face in front of her disappeared and there was only sky everywhere… and a very strong breeze. She felt a hand on her foot, and looked down to see Sol standing on the ground, gripping her ankle with a grin on his face. “I was waiting for that to happen!” he chuckled. Winter smiled. “Let me go.” She said. Sol let her go. The wind carried Winter up. She was being blown about like a leaf on the wind. She wobbled around a little hysterically, but she soon seized control. She let the wind drop her down so she was skimming above the surface of the Antarctic Ocean. She let her hands lightly brush its surface, leaving trails of ice behind. She drew away and let the ice continue on its path as she rose up above the cliffs. She laughed. She couldn’t help it. The sound rang across the world. Back in Australia, the Void hesitated in its destructive path. Winter looped around the building, and sped off into the sky again. Sol took off to join her. The two of them spun and twirled in the sky, laughing all their fears away as they spun around each other. In turn, they froze and melted an intricate pattern onto the waves. Swirling, looping, curving. They spun around each other in one last tornado and stopped, smiling, their cheeks flushed red. Winter felt her hand. A ring rested on her finger. She looked at Sol. “You said you were married to the mother of Starlight and Nightlight.” She said. She held up her left hand. “That’s me, isn’t it?”
Chapter 18
“I give up!” came the cry from the hut. Winter and Sol lighted down again to see what the fuss was. Star was holding Winter’s iPad. He was standing next to Night who was leaning into the back of a crystal chair. It was her that had shouted. The words of The Winter Tale showed on the screen of Winter’s iPad. “What’s going on?” said Sol. Winter had only just started to tell him about when the ‘autumn’ lines had coincided with her life, and he still didn’t have much of an idea of what the poem was about. “It’s the poem again.” “The Winter Tale?” “Yep.” “Why is that poem so important?” “I’ll explain later.” Sol knelt down next to Night. “So how much have you figured out?” “Absolutely nothing.” While Sol and Star calmed Night down, Winter went outside and sat down on the bare rock " a sharp stone she sat on was another painful reminder of Sol’s treachery. Why did Sol betray them? ~~Indeed, why?~~ Winter jumped up. Her head was throbbing again, though this time it wasn’t because she was changing. The two words she had heard hadn’t been spoken aloud; they had been in her head. It was as if someone had jammed the two words into her mind " it hurt. ~~Why would Sol betray his wife?~~ “Who are you?” she whispered. ~~More to the point, who are you, Winter?~~ Winter took off into the air. “How do you know my name?” ~~Your first name is easy, it’s your surname that there’s some debate about " Barnhart or Rose?~~ “Why are you here?” ~~Are you the spirit of winter, or are you a mortal? I’d say you are closer to spirit. When was the last time you thought about your family? You know, the mortal one " the one that dissolved into nothing?~~ “Stop it!” Winter clapped her hands to her ears, but it had no effect. ~~Did it ever bother you that your life doesn’t make sense? How old are you?~~ Winter opened her mouth to say ‘thirty’ but thought better of it, and shut it again. ~~Thirty years. Your brother was seven, wasn’t he? How did it come to be that a thirty-year old woman came to live with her seven-year-old brother? He’s young enough to be your son! Well, was, anyway.~~ Winter didn’t say anything. ~~Are you sure you’re thirty? Really, how old are you?~~ A number drifted vaguely into Winter’s head: 952. “Stop it!” A horrible laughing forced its way into Winter’s head. “Who are you?! Just tell me!” ~~Oh, I don’t need to tell you, I just need to show you.~~ The laughter resumed. Winter looked down. Creeping over to the hut was the Void. Winter let herself fall to the ground and burst inside. “The Void!” she said, pointing at the door. She was too scared to say anything else. Night, Star and Sol looked towards the door and saw the black horror and let their jaws drop. Sol raised his arm and pointed. “Er… Winter…” “Yes, I know it should be in Australia, maybe it’s devoured the entire country. But the thing is there was this voice…” “Winter, look.” The voice was Starlight’s. “Yeah, it’s the Void. I know.” Night turned Winter around. The Void was pouring on top of itself, as if filling a mold. It took the shape of two legs. The legs were slightly wispy, like smoke, or like reality was a painting and it had two strokes of very, very, very runny black paint on it. The Void filled the shape up to a waist, and that was when Winter, Nightlight, Starlight and Sol took off into the sky. The lower half of the Void-man turned around and followed them along the ground. As it did, the air was filled with a huge screeching, groaning sound, like rusted iron machinery that refused to work. Winter flew closer to the others so that they could hear her above the din. “It wants me!” she shouted. “I’ll lead it in another direction, you three go somewhere safe!” “Nowhere’s safe!” Starlight shouted back. “Anywhere without the Void is safer than here!” Winter peeled off from the others, did a big arc and flew in the opposite direction. The Void-man turned again with the same hideous noise as before and followed her. Now it had an upper body as well. The eyes were evil diamond slits that showed the world behind it. The mouth looked still incomplete " what Winter supposed would be called lips were partially joined, like they hadn’t fully separated, but that didn’t stop it from grinning. It had no nose, but it didn’t need one. Its clawed hands hung by its sides. Where it stepped, it left a small footprint of Void, but the blackness didn’t spread. ~~I consumed your family.~~ the evil voice hissed in Winter’s mind. “Yes. It’s a little hard to miss when something like your little brother is eaten by this black thing in your living room.” The voice laughed again. Winter did her best not to flinch as the sound forced its way into her mind. ~~Tell me… how does it feel? To have someone you love disappear for good?~~ “You wouldn’t know, would you? You don’t have a heart.” The voice laughed. ~~Tell me how it feels.~~ “What are you saying?” ~~You know what I’m saying, Winter Rose.~~ “Don’t call me that.” ~~Why not? That’s who you are, isn’t it?~~ “I… I don’t know.” ~~You don’t know? Well, you’ll need to choose. Choose, Winter. Choose.~~ The word danced around Winter’s head. It filled her head like air filling a balloon. She felt stretched thin. Any minute she would pop. Choose…Choose…Choose… “Why does it matter who I am?” she said. “My mortal life might be a story made up, but Sally, Ben and Joseph are my family. I don’t care if we aren’t related. They’re my family, and I love them!” The Void-man pulled a face at her, but kept on walking. ~~What does love have to do with anything?~~ it spat. “Just because you don’t love doesn’t mean you don’t have a heart! Do you have compassion, then? Pity? Kindness?” ~~Hearts can be broken. They are pointless things. They make you weak.~~ The Void-man rose in the air until he was level with Winter. “Why do you want me?” ~~To dissolve you.~~ “But why?” ~~Hot and cold have to exist together. You cannot have one without the other. You and Sol were the cause of the Earth’s problem. If I dissolve you, Sol will disappear also. That will destroy the cause of the problem so it doesn’t spread.~~ “So why destroy the planet in the process?” ~~Because it’s fun!~~ The horrible laughter filled Winter’s head again. She held up her hands with the wrists touching and her hands forming a kind of oval-shaped flower. ~~What are you doing?~~ the thing sounded a little panicked. Winter let a jet of ice fly out of her hand.
Chapter 19
A breeze played about. It whipped Winter’s hair and blew her jacket around. Her hair had almost completely faded to white, and her jacket was covered in a delicate tracing of frost. Fighting the Void-man had sapped a lot of her strength and sped up her transformation. Nonetheless, Winter stood and surveyed the scene of destruction around her. The Void-man had exploded when Winter had hit him. As if it was glass, black shards had flown around the area of the impact, but as each shard had hit the ground, a fresh Void had started to spread. Now the Void was stronger than ever. The hut with the console only half-existed, and it still was being eaten away. It seemed like reality was a piece of paper, burning in a fire. It was turning orange and was browning and curling when the Void touched it. On the other side of the continent, Sol was clutching his head. His headache had increased. “Nightlight, Starlight. I think I know why I betrayed you.” He said. “It was the Void. It used me, made me go insane.” “Why?” the query was Night’s. “It’s a void that dissolves things when it touches them. It probably wanted an excuse to dissolve the planet.” said Star. “What’s Winter doing?” Sol asked. His voice shook a little. The siblings turned to face the same direction as Sol. Winter was hovering over a huge nothingness. The Void was everywhere " eating away at the hut, turning the ground to ribbons " and Winter just hovered there, like… like a stranger. Not moving. She wore a thoughtful expression on her face. Star thought he saw Winter’s hand flinch, as if she longed to clap her hands over her ears, but he blinked, and nothing had changed. “She’s listening.” He realised. “It’s the Void. It can speak in your mind.” Said Sol. The Void-man was re-forming with the same ear-splitting grinding noise. Winter didn’t look scared. She let the wind carry her to the ground as the Void-man grew hands. She and the Void-man met, facing each other. The Void-man held out a hand. Winter held out her own hand to the Void-man. “No!” Nightlight tried to run to help Winter, but Sol and Star held her back. Winter flinched again, and drew her hand back hurriedly. Sol saw her mouth moving. What was she doing? What could the Void possibly have to offer Winter?
* * *
~~You don’t have to live this way, Winter. Always fighting, always fleeing, always in fear.~~ The horrible voice crept into Winter’s mind. “It is you I’m fighting, and fleeing from, and always fearing. Don’t think I’ve forgotten.” Winter retorted. ~~Such a sharp mind! A pity you won’t use it for sensible things.~~ “Sensible?” ~~Why do you care for your three friends? And do you really want to be Winter Rose? They didn’t care enough to put you in a family that might work for you. A family in Australia? With a so-called brother that is 23 years younger than you?~~ “They were in a hurry!” ~~Oh, excuses, excuses. ‘It’s alright that we didn’t put you in a good family, we were in a hurry! No hard feelings!~~ the Void said in a mock imitation of Nightlight. “Stop it!” Winter’s hand flinched. ~~What, does the truth hurt too much?~~ “Stop talking!” ~~Oh, my voice. Is it painful?~~ Winter could feel the pounding of blood in her ears. Was it painful? It was torture! ~~I do apologize. I wouldn’t want to hurt you.~~ The voice was quieter, and this time it hurt less. “Thanks.” Winter realised she was hunched over, and straightened up. “So why so kind all of a sudden?” ~~Winter, if you joined me, you could have your family back.~~ Her family. Winter had to concentrate to bring up their images now. She had almost forgotten they existed. “But you… you consumed them.” “Yes, but I can make them again.” The Void-man stretched his arm out in the direction of the Void behind him and opened his hand out palm-up. He raised his hand up, making three new Void-people from the feet upwards, again with the horrible screechy-groaning; a man, a woman, and a little boy that was about as high as the woman’s waist. The Void-man clicked his fingers and the man, woman and child started filling up with colour. When it had finished, Sally, Ben and Joseph were standing there. Their skin seemed slightly grayish, as if they had come back from the dead " which, apparently, they had. Sally’s blonde hair was done up in a ponytail, like it always was. For the first time, or what seemed like it,Winter noticed she had grey eyes. She was wearing her favourite T-shirt, and her hand rested on Joseph’s shoulder. Joseph hadn’t changed either. He still wore a racing-cars T-shirt and cap, a great big grin all over his face when he saw Winter. Ben’s messy brown hair hadn’t changed either. His green eyes seemed a little duller than last time. All three were smiling, stretching their arms out to Winter. There was something wrong with the way they moved, and their eyes seemed a little glassy, but it didn’t matter. They seemed so happy to see Winter again. ~~I can fix all your problems. Everything in your world will be perfect.~~ Winter drifted down and faced the Void-man. ~~Shake on it.~~ He held out a black, smoky hand. Winter held out hers. His offer was tempting. But at the last moment, a voice drifted towards her on the wind: “No!” The voice was Nightlight’s. Winter snatched her hand back. “Why do you want me to join you?” ~~Because it wasn’t your fault the planet overheated. I only want to help you. Everything you wish, I can grant. What in your life has hurt you, Winter? Join me, and tell me everything. ~~ Winter could think of a hundred things that had hurt her: The Void-man’s voice, concussion, the shock of a totally new lifestyle, her transformation " or rather, execution… and … and what had happened to her family. She looked up at the images of Sally, Ben and Joseph and for one horrible, terrifying moment, she didn’t recognize them. ~~You see what fills Winter Rose’s mind? No thought to family. No love. Do you really want to become that person?~~ No, she didn’t. Winter picked up her hand again " her left hand. She saw the silver ring on her ring finger and the blue gem studded at its center. It was sparkling, as if to tell Winter, Hey, I’m still here. Winter let her hand drop to her side again. No love? No family? “No, Void, you’re wrong. Winter Rose does have a family. Winter Rose does have love in her heart. She loves her kids. She loves Nightlight, and Starlight, and…” her voice broke as she choked back tears. She felt the necklace pulsing and she knew the tears were coming from Winter Rose. “And she loves Sol. She has a family. She has a heart. You don’t have either. I would rather be someone I am not who has love in their heart than stay who I am and join someone with a black heart. I am Winter Rose. And I’m proud of it!” As Winter finished her sentence, her transformation completed. The last brown scraps in her hair paled to white. Her eyes were a sparkly shade of icy-blue. Her ordinary blue jacket, white top and brown pants faded, blurred and came back into focus as a new outfit. Winter Rose’s outfit. Now, Winter wore a short white skirt over pale blue stockings. She wore an ice-blue sparkly belt with a silver buckle around her waist, and a cyan strapless top underneath a white silk jacket. The gems in the snowflake necklace had been blue when she had first found it at the lake, when all of this started. They had been white before the memories, powers and immortality had been extracted from Winter Rose. They had been paling from blue to white ever since the lake. Now, they were completely white. The necklace was empty. Winter Rose was free.
Chapter 20
Starlight, Nightlight and Sol saw what was happening. They saw Winter pick up her hand for the second time and turned away. They couldn’t believe what was happening. Well, Sol could " it had happened to him. Sweat broke out on his forehead again. It seemed that the less hope he had, the worse his health was. He started staggering. “You alright?” said Star. He held Sol by the shoulder to keep him from falling over. “No.” Star and Night helped him lie down. He was breathing heavily. “What do we do?” said Star. “Winter’s joined that… thing, and Sol’s in no condition to help with the temperature.” Both Night and Star could feel sweat running down their backs. Night dimly wondered why Star hadn’t taken off his armour. “Don’t know. But at least now we know what the poem means.” “What does it mean?” Night took out Winter’s iPad and opened up The Winter Tale. How ironic that it seemed to be a tale about Winter when its title said that exact thing. Night added more labels to the poem and showed the finished thing to Starlight.
Trees bared to Winter’s touch By Winter’s breath laid bare Leaves whisper of Winter’s heart Of Winter’s heart they share Upon the floor red, copper glow In waning sun, cold Winter’s hold " waning sun = Void/Winter dissolve Sol Whisper leaves, the story told, Of Winter’s heart laid bare " news Tell it swiftly, in the fading glow " hurry, no time, Void/Winter destroying sun Ere all be covered in Winter’s snow " helping destablilise climate, strengthen Void? Tell it softly, speak it low Ere all things cease to grow " everything is dissolved Tell of autumn; brooding, dark For she made Winter lonely, stark " loneliness in hospital Speak of summer, distant, cold For on her Winter has no hold " Sol’s megalomania Whisper of spring; haughty, lout For Winter’s end she brings about " changed. FIENDS! FOES! FELL and FOUL! Soon to be swept under Winter’s cowl " no spring, summer or autumn When Sun is gone and Moon is dead " when Void’s dissolved everything Winter’s tale shall know no end " Winter will survive For Winter first did come And by Winter all will be undone " Winter’s fault everything ends Tell it softly, speak it low Ere Winter’s breath covers all in snow " Winter helps the Void
Starlight looked at the last label. Winter helps the Void. “So all this was for nothing.” He said angrily. Night nodded. They held each other tightly, and cried. A cold blast from the Void’s direction made Star and Night look over again. They smiled. “What? What is it?” croaked Sol. Star turned to him. “Mum’s home.”
* * *
Now Winter Rose was fully the winter spirit, she could use all her powers to their full potential. But now, she was also much more sensitive to heat. She did everything she could to bring the temperature down. She made it snow, she froze the sea over, she made huge blizzards, but the Void-man kept on marching over to her. He had huge, smoky black spears that flew around in the air, stabbing and dissolving everything Winter tried to do. She felt for her ring. Please, Sol, I have never needed you more than now. Prove to me you aren’t a puppet of the Void. Help me. Winter didn’t know if it would work, but there was no harm in trying. She held her hands up in the oval-flower she had done before and shot an icy-blue laser at the rock directly beneath her. Where she hit the rock, a white sheet of ice in the shape of a snowflake spread out and grew. It touched the Void and started dissolving. “Sol!” she screamed. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked to her left. Nightlight and Starlight hovered there. Winter felt another hand on her right shoulder and turned. Sol smiled at her. Winter didn’t need the zombie versions of the Barnhart family that the Void had promised her. This was family enough. Starlight, Nightlight and Sol added their own laser beams to Winter’s. Instead of being one snowflake, the pattern below split into sixteen different branches: Four were the arms of a snowflake, the four just after them were the twisting, twirling branches of plants and flowers, four were the straight, orange rays of sunlight, and four were tree branches adorned with orange and yellow leaves. Winter didn’t know where the plants had come from. She and Sol looked across to Nightlight and Starlight and gasped. Nightlight’s eyes had turned green and her hair blonde. Her black outfit had turned green, with a twisting, intertwining pattern of blooming plants. The star clip and necklace had been replaced by flowers. Starlight’s eyes had turned a golden orange-brown and so had his hair. His black pants and T-shirt had also turned brown, and his armour seemed to be made out of giant autumn leaves. They turned to their parents and smiled. And for the first time, Winter and Sol realised that their family was not just the spirit of hot and cold weather. They were the four seasons. The pattern down below spiraled around. The seasons were in perfect order " spring, summer, autumn, winter. They lead on to the next season in an eternal wheel. It was beautiful. It spread out to touch the Void, but when it did, it didn’t dissolve. It spread further to cover the hut with the console. The roof and two walls had been eaten away, but the pattern spread over it as if it was intact. Looking at it, Winter could almost believe the building was still there. The pattern spread over the globe, covering Australia, covering everything as though it was still there and the Void hadn’t eaten it away. The pattern spread to the North Pole and met again in a flash of light. Standing on top of an autumn branch, the Void-man scowled. Winter, Nightlight, Sol and Starlight moved their beams in perfect synchronization to the Void-man. The pattern moved with them, and the arms met in a slightly different spot to the North Pole as the Void-man screamed. ~~I hate seasonal workers!~~ he screamed in their heads. He disappeared in a flurry of flowers, tiny sunbeams, snowflakes and brown leaves. The Seasons drew back the pattern they had created. The buildings that had been eaten away by the Void had come back into existence. People were recreated. When the Seasons drew back their beams, the whole world blinked, as if coming out of a trance. Then all at once, the bustle started again. Freeways around the world started moving. In New York, all the lights came on, and it once again became the city that never sleeps. The Seasons flew down to the hut at the Pole. Winter Rose took off her necklace. “I guess I won’t be needing this anymore.” She said, holding it up. But when she held it up, she noticed that the gems outside were blue. It only did that when someone was stored inside it. She checked her hair. It was still white. She put it on a scanner on the console. “Computer, can you scan this?” she said. A computerized voice replied. “Affirmative. I have the appropriate equipment.” Winter rolled her eyes. “Can you please scan it for me?” she said. “Scanning in process.” “Winter, what are you doing?” Sol asked. “The gems are blue. And I’m not contained in it, so who is?” “Scanning " complete. Scanners detect a person contained in the object.” “Who is it?” said Star. The computer started putting facts together to find a person that matched. “Human. Mortal.” “Yes, yes, hurry up!” said Night. “Brown hair. Blue eyes.” Winter Rose’s own eyes grew wide as it dawned on her who was in the necklace. But the computer hadn’t finished. “Thirty years old. Barnhart. Scanning confirmed " the human contained in the necklace is Winter Barnhart.”
Chapter 21
The scanner showed a picture of Winter Barnhart. “Can you bring her out?” said Nightlight. “Negative. I do not have a body.” “Can you make one?” said Winter Rose. “Please?” Added Sol. “Negative. A DNA sample is required.” A slot opened up from just under the scanner " it was rather like a CD player. Winter Rose cut a small amount of hair off a ringlet and put it in the slot, which closed. “DNA sample acquired.” “Show us what the body will look like,” said Star. The screens showed an exact copy of Winter Rose. “Do you wish to make changes?” said the computer. The Seasons changed everything they needed to so it was as close to Winter Barnhart’s body as possible. Sol told the computer they were happy with the body. “Systems starting up.” said the computer. The crystal chamber where Winter Rose became Winter Barnhart closed shut again. A person stood there, perfectly still. “The body has been created.” “Now can you take Winter Barnhart out of the necklace and put her in that body?” said Night. “Please?” the other three Seasons added. “Affirmative. Downloading…downloading…”
My head hurt. I felt like my mind had been cut into two pieces, sucked through a vacuum cleaner, sewn back together, cut up again, and jammed via vacuum cleaner back into my body. It hurt. I stumbled forward into Night’s arms. She was different. She was wearing a green dress with flowers everywhere, and she was blonde and had green eyes now. It was a wonder I recognised her. Her silver stars had been replaced by flowers. Where was the Void? It was supposed to have eaten the hut away, so why were we standing in it? Were we dead? “Are you alright?” said Star. He had also changed " his hair and eyes were orangey-brown, and he seemed to be dressed in autumn leaves. I nodded. At least, I hoped I was alright. What had happened? I had been about to fight the Void, I was yelling about love, and then… here. “What happened?” I said. Sol came forward and explained everything. The strange star-like pattern covering the earth and repairing everything, Nightlight and Starlight’s new wardrobe, what had happened to the Void. When he had finished, a woman stepped forward from behind him. She had white hair and was dressed entirely in white and blue. “Winter Rose.” I said. “Winter Barnhart.” She replied. I guess the other three Seasons could feel the tension between us. Not that we hated each other, but because we had no idea what to say or do. We both opened our mouths at the same time. “So you’re…” we said at exactly the same time. “I’ve…” we tried again. This was a little awkward.
Chapter 22
“Well, now we really know what that poem means.” said Night. The others groaned. “Hey, once I tell you we can put it away for good!” “Maybe it was just a really nice poem?” said Sol. Nightlight just rolled her eyes.
* * *
The magic that had repaired the earth had also brought back my family, with two differences " the first one was that my family had become a little older and I had become a little younger so that we made sense. Joseph was now only seven years younger than me, not 23. The second difference was that now we lived in Tasmania, the southern triangle-shaped island of Australia, not the eastern coast, so we were much closer to Antarctica. The massive heat wave had stopped, too. Winter Rose had told me that I could keep the snowflake necklace, and if I ever needed her or one of the other Seasons all I had to do was press the jewel in the center and one of them would come. “Just in case the Void comes back.” She had said. The Seasons had said that when I went home my family would remember that they had just moved to Tasmania. They had arrived here yesterday really late and had gone straight to bed and they hadn’t unpacked yet. I had taken a trip to the store to get some groceries in Mum’s car and I would be driving back. I had a new start in somewhere different to live. I liked that. Sol created a portal like Night had done to take me to the Pole. The powder this time was red. The four Seasons and I stepped through the portal. We were standing next to the boot in Mum’s car as if I was about to get the groceries out. I told the Seasons thanks and surveyed my house. It was just like the one in Brisbane, but with one major difference. I spread my arms out wide and spun around in delight. Of course " Tasmania. Of course my dream home would be here. I went to tell Winter Rose thanks again, but the Seasons had gone. Instead I looked up at the sky and bade it thanks. It was snowing. © 2015 WinterspellAuthor's Note
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WinterspellAustraliaAboutWell hi guys, I'm Winterspell. I wrote most of the stuff on here a few years ago, I'm mostly inactive now but have a read if you like. Don't hold back for criticism and I'll try and log on more of.. more..Writing
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