Chapter 3

Bill walked down the unplowed street, a knit Sabres hat on his head and a blue winter jacket half unzipped. A few inches had fallen over night, not enough to close school if it hadn't been a Saturday but enough to make the day off much more fun. Well ... after he and Dad had shoveled the driveway, that is. That had been gotten out of the way early, though, and now the rest of the day was his.

A car was coming up the road behind him, and Bill took a look back to make sure it wasn't aiming at him. There were no sidewalks, naturally, and even if there were they wouldn't have been shoveled yet. Nope, the car missed him. As long as he was looking back there, Bill also looked at the creature following him.

Creature ... yes, her name was Ai. He loved Ai. But ... what was following behind him wasn't her. Or, at least, not fully her. It was almost as if she came into that body from somewhere else ... or, maybe, she was trapped deep inside it and had to fight her way out each time. Hmm, that made a bit more sense. Regardless, he was going to have to watch himself from now on. He couldn't risk looking at or talking to Ai while around people. That was going to be especially important now, as she was still naked. He had found the rough white tunic on his bedroom floor that morning, and had spent some time examining it. It was crudely sewed together, with large stitches done by hand. He could probably do better after his Home Ec class. Bill had tried to put it back on her, but naturally it fell right to the floor. He hoped she wasn't getting cold...

He laughed. OK, there was little chance of that!

Five minutes of walking brought him to the turn for West Ledge Lane. Back when his street had been created and the houses built, the idea was for it to be part of a series of north/south winding roads connected by some cross streets. You could see, on some old local maps his Dad had, dotted lines showing where these were going to go. However, for whatever reason, apart from Ledge Lane where he lived and Clearview, which branched off and paralleled it for half its length, none of it got built. This had resulted in a number of dead end streets, ending at the large fields and woods which lay behind the houses on either side of the two streets. A perfect situation for kids of any age- not only could little kids play at exploring, but that exploration found the occasional mattress left by teens doing their own playing. He had always wondered how many half naked girls had plopped down on one of those, only to hear and feel squeaks and scurrying inside them...

Bill made his way down the four house long street, and climbed the pile of snow at the end of it. He looked out over the flat white field, and the two large sledding hills. A few years ago, there had been an attempt by someone to put a development here. They had gotten as far as plowing a long, straight roadway, piling up the excess dirt in two large mounds. Then everything had stopped and nothing had been heard from them since. The local kids took it as a gift from the gods, with two wonderful sledding spots where once you had to get your parents to take you somewhere to sled. Today, both hills were active. Mostly younger kids, although some had to be at least his age: Bill saw at least three creatures up there. In fact, one of them appeared to be riding in the front of a sled blowing the boy as he made his way down one of the steeper slides.

Bill shook his head. This had to be real: nobody could make something this stupid up.

Looking around, he didn't see Julie. He climbed down the hill, and walked a bit into the field. The path was well trampled in the snow, and he took a moment to use his tracking skills to examine the prints. His detective work was interrupted by a girl's voice.

"Bill!"

He turned and looked back at the dead end street, and saw Julie standing off to the side. She had been hidden by some trees, and thus not visible until he had walked far enough forward. Julie had on a pink jacket with white fur lining, and a hood that was currently thrown back. White pants completed the outfit. She smiled at him, and beckoned him over.

"Fancy meeting you here," he said, trudging off the paths to join her.

"It must be fate," she said, eyes twinkling. Bill gave her a puzzled expression, then he shrugged.

"Or at least a fateful note. What's up?"

Julie bit her bottom lip.

"I ... I wanted to talk to you, that's all. We don't talk anymore."

Bill thought they said at least a dozen words to each other each day, but gathered that's not what she had in mind. He shrugged.

"Ok ... what do you want to talk about?"

She was silent for a few moments, eyes on the ground. Her gloved hands seemed to be twisting themselves together. Finally, she just looked at him and suggested they take a walk. Sighing, Bill agreed.

Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!

None of this was going as Julie had planned. None of it! The well rehearsed conversations with him went right out of her head. Hell, he had gone off script with the very first thing he said! How the hell did they do it in romance books?!?

The two walked side by side through the snow, heading away from the other kids sledding. They were breaking their own path, and if Julie had been thinking more artistically that might have resonated with her. But ... Julie at times tended towards the literal. Maybe that was why the occult fascinated her so much, it was so much outside of how she usually thought. But, that was also probably why she hadn't fallen into belief with any of it. She liked answers, not vague feelings.

They came to a spot where a large clump of trees pushed out into the field, and Julie pushed aside the branches on either side of a now covered path and entered. Bill took over holding them open and followed, and the two found themselves in a small enclosed space. The snow wasn't as deep here, and there were some logs set up as seats. Julie brushed one off and sat, Bill following suit. They looked at each other.

"Why DID you write the note?" Bill was looking at her with ... she couldn't decide if it was curiosity or annoyance. Maybe both. She bit her lip. She really had to stop that habit.

"Well ... I just wanted to talk to you!"

"About what?"

"Does it HAVE to be about something?! Can't we just ... talk?" Her eyes were pleading with him. She saw him sigh, and unzip his coat a bit more. That meant he was staying, at least. She took off her gloves, as there was no wind here and it didn't seem that cold. They were silent for a moment, then Julie spoke.

"I don't know much about you any more, Bill ... well, I know you like to read, I see you reading all the time on the bus. Who's your favorite author?"

He sat up, thinking. That was one thing she knew she liked about Bill. He took things seriously. Some boys would just toss off an author's name, but, no, Bill was actually considering the question. Grinning, he looked over at her.

"It really depends on my mood. Last year I would have said Piers Anthony, but I think I'm outgrowing him. I've been going through Heinlein books like crazy this year. I've also started reading some comics."

"Anthony..." The name was familiar to her somehow ... Her eyes lit up. "Ah! Did he do some books about Tarot cards?"

"Yes!" Bill was excited. Maybe they did have something to talk about! "He did three books about a new 100 card tarot deck he invented, with five suits. I actually wrote him a letter about it."

Julie was impressed. Writing to an author!

"Did he write back?"

Bill laughed.

"Yeah, sort of. I got a white index card with a typed reply that was a touch rude, but didn't answer my question. One reason I'm outgrowing him. The guy's a bit of a dick. Well," he corrected, considering it again, "probably more the fact his books are a bit ... simple. That's probably one reason I loved them when I was twelve, though."

"I've been meaning to read that Tarot one," Julie said, happily. Bill smiled back at her.

"It's a sort of companion series to his five book Cluster series, which is about a guy who travels into lots of alien bodies and has lots of sex while in different forms." Julie raised an eyebrow at this, and put on a fake disapproving expression.

"You read books with SEX in them? Bill, I am shocked!"

"Best reason to read Piers Anthony!" He then attempted a lear at the smaller teen. "Wanna borrow some, with the good parts underlined?" She broke out laughing, holding her hand out in refusal.

"No thanks! I know where mom keeps her romances if I need that!" He laughed with her, and Julie's face flushed with pleasure. This was what she wanted. They were becoming friends again.

Bill's head suddenly swiveled to the right, looking at something. She followed his gaze, but saw nothing. Looking back, she saw his expression had changed. He now looked ... sadder. More uncomfortable. She saw him shift a bit on his log, almost as if he was getting ready to go.

No! She wasn't going to allow that!

Julie stood up, and went across and sat next to Bill. He looked at her surprised, and she gathered her courage up. She had to get this right.

"Bill, there's a reason I asked you here today." He waited, clearly confused. She saw his eyes once again flick off to the side before returning to her. Damn it, she had to keep his attention!