I twist my fingers nervously as Ake and I sit in silence. I just finished telling him everything that happened today and he has yet to say a word about it. He hasn't shifted away, which I will take as a good sign, but his face has barely shifted from this neutral expression he adapted the moment I started to talk. It's really unnerving and I really wish he would just say something, ANYTHING, just so I know how to respond and so my stomach and mind will stop trying to tear me apart from the inside.
My shoulders tense as Ake finally focuses on me, his eyebrows furrowing a little.
"And he was the only one there?"
I quickly nod.
"Y-Yeah, or at least, physically. He had been talking to this 'Sof' on the phone and telling them about how his device was picking stuff up, but he was the only one there." I twist my fingers in my lap. "If there had been more humans there I would have climbed into one of the pine trees to hide from them."
Ake frowns at me.
"And why didn't you with just this one human? One human can be just as dangerous as a group of humans."
Ducking my head, I stare at my lap as I purse my lips.
"I honestly thought that I would be able to fly off without him noticing me."
"But he did," Ake states, frowning as he turns to stare at my cold fireplace. Knowing that he was merely making a statement, I nod anyway, shame and guilt eating at my stomach.
"He saw me through those weird sunglasses of his."
Ake shifts next to me, a heavy sigh escaping him as he runs a hand through his hair. "Not gonna lie, Snowflake. That really isn't a good situation to be in. Uh ah," Ake holds up his hand as I open my mouth. "Let me finish. I personally understand why you did it. You saw an opportunity to gain answers for us, answers all of us were asking only just a few days ago. But I can tell you, Snowflake, not everyone is gonna be seeing it that way. I'm glad you held off on answering some of his more personal questions, but I know Ela and Zaman aren't gonna be happy hearing you interacted with him at all."
I press my chin into my chest.
"I know, I know," I mutter, wringing my hands in my lap. "And I don't know what to do. He wants to meet up with me again. He left me a card and everything!"
Ake turns toward me, eyes narrowed as he leans forward.
"Do you want to meet with him again?"
That's a good question. Do I? Rubbing my palms on my pants, I frown as I stare at the floor. The main reason I even stayed to answer his questions was to get answers of my own. Answers to questions that everyone had a few days ago. I shrug, fingers flexing in my lap.
"I-I-I'm not sure. I mean, he already answered one of our questions. Who was responsible for putting those wires inside that fox." I slump backward. "But I'm also really nervous. He asked quite a few personal questions that I didn't answer," I state quickly as Ake draws in a sharp inhale. "But I also didn't speak at all, so I don't even know if he can physically hear me. And if he can, does that mean other humans can? And that freaks me out a little bit."
Ake nods, leaning back into the sofa causing me to shift closer as the cushion sinks lower. Frost spreads across my cheeks as our thighs now sit flush against each other, the older entity's warmth sinking into me already. I sit stiffly next to him but Ake doesn't seem to notice as his fingers drum behind my ear. I peek at the moon entity from the corner of my eye. There is tightness around his eyes and a heavy frown weighing down his lips and eyebrows. A pit reforms in my stomach and I quickly drop my gaze, rubbing my fingers together.
Oh, why, oh why, did I think that this was a good idea? Why did I tell him? He's obviously upset with me. Why didn't I just fly away instead of stay to hear what Conroy had to say? I should have just hit him in the face with a snowball and flown off while he was distracted. Then all of this could have been avoided and I wouldn't have disappointed anyone.
Ake heaves a heavy sigh causing me to jump as his hand lands on my shoulder, pulling me even closer. My eyes widen and the air catches in my throat as he holds me flush against him.
"I can hear you thinking, Snowflake," Ake says softly as he puts his face in my hair. "You're also causing frost to spread across the floor."
Alarm shoots through me as I look down at where my toes brush the floor and sure enough, fern-like patterns of frost are spreading across the floor.
"O-O-Oh!" I yelp, quickly scrubbing at the frost with my toe. "I'm so sorry! I didn't get any on you, did I?" I twist toward the larger entity, frantically searching his person for any frost.
For the first time since Ake scared me, a laugh escapes the much larger being as he catches my wrists in his hands.
"Easy there, Snowflake," Ake says between chuckles. "My clothes are frost-free, don't worry. No need to pull them off of me. Unless—?"
More frost spreads across my face as Ake smirks down at me, my eyes wide as my heart hammers in my chest as his implied question sinks in. Coughing into my shoulder, I duck my head to hide my face.
"No, no, I wasn't trying—!"
Ake laughs, cutting me off as frost paints the tips of my ears, tugging me close to hug me.
"My, my, Snowflake! If anymore frost covers your red face, you'll start looking like a frozen tomato. I was only teasing you."
"That wasn't very nice," I grumble from my place in his shoulder before trying to lean back only to have the Man in the Moon tighten his hold.
"Oh, no you don't," Ake says, his chest rumbling against my cheek. "We aren't done discussing this. But I wanted to let you know that I'm not mad at you, Snowflake. Merely concerned for your safety and the fact that these people seemed to have specifically targeted you to track. Which I find odd, considering how all over the place you usually are when it comes to winter."
I shrug the best I can in the larger being's hold.
"Conroy said that he teaches at the college here in town, so, I'm guessing it's more for convenience than anything else, really."
Ake suddenly leans back, frowning at me.
"'Conroy'?"
My eyebrows furrow as I stare up at him.
"Uh, yeah, that was his name. It's on his card, too. See?"
Digging into my pocket, I show the small card stock to Ake and he leans in to squint at the small print. Ake's eyes narrow as he hums.
"Professor Conroy Ignosi, huh?" Ake reads aloud, his voice tense and something underlying his tone that I can't identify. "How...considerate of him to leave this for you."
Ake's hand twitches, as if to take the card and I quickly put it back into my pocket, ignoring the raised eyebrow that caused. I clear my throat and pretend not to notice.
"Y-Yeah, he seemed pretty serious about this meet-up, especially when he noticed that I was starting to get rather uncomfortable with all of his questions." Clutching at my forearms, I stare up at the much older being. "Do you think that this is a good idea? To meet with him again? Or do you things all of this was a mistake?"
Ake sighs, running a hand through his already messy hair.
"Honestly, Snowflake? I don't really know. I understand what you were going for and why you stayed to let him ask questions, but it makes me uneasy with how easily he was able to track you. This is twice now that you've randomly decided to do something and have run into some sort of trouble. First, the fox, which that professor dude just confirmed to be tracking you with, and a human himself. He says that he's not gonna hurt ya, but how can we be absolutely sure?"
A frown slips onto my face as I study Ake.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you know, Snowflake," Ake says, scratching his cheek, glancing off to the left before looking at me in the eye. "How do we know that he isn't going to use this as a way to trap you? To turn you over to this country's government? Just because they can't see us doesn't mean they can't touch us. And, well, don't take this the wrong way, Snowflake, but out of all of us, you're the most vulnerable. We have ways to withstand most extreme temperatures, but with how you were made, you can't even handle the mildest warm temperatures for extended times."
I blink up at Ake, slightly shocked by what I'm hearing. I can't handle even the mildest temperatures? What on earth is he talking about? Has he ever felt the weather during the transition from winter to spring or even fall into winter? Sometimes I have to deal with 80-degree weather! My eyes narrow.
"And you think Conroy would just blast the heat in his puny professor office on the off-hand chance that I might come knocking and have the government on call so that the moment I enter they can jump me? Seriously?"
Ake scoffs.
"Hey, it isn't outside the realm of possibilities! You've only met this human once, what makes him trustworthy, huh? He already knows that your body temperature is much lower than the average human, he could, and probably would use that to his advantage. And, c'mon Snowflake, he also knows that he's bigger than you, if he gets you warm enough and gets close enough, he can easily overpower you."
My eyebrows shoot towards my hairline as I study Ake. Irritation mixes with suspicion as I lean away from the moon entity. Ake rolls his eyes with a huff.
"What?" He asks, irritation missing with the aspiration in his voice. I squint at him,
"I never said how big he was, Ake. Only that he was having a hard time walking through the snow."
Ake stares at me for a beat before he sighs and rolls his eyes.
"Snowflake, no offense, but almost everything is bigger than you are. So, I can easily speculate that he, being an average male for this region, will be much bigger than you."
My lips purse together. The average height for males in this region is 5'10, only five inches taller than me. Ake is making him sound like a giant, which, to be fair, Conroy was taller than me even sunk into the snow. But of everything I told Ake, Conroy's height wasn't one of them.
"I think we should get another opinion," I state, purposely ignoring Ake's jab at my height, as I try to stand from the couch. Ake's hands tighten their hold on me, and I shoot him an irritated glare.
"Hold on now, Snowflake," Ake says, his face pinched in his own irritation. "Who on earth are you planning on going to?" I open my mouth but Ake cuts me off. "If you go to Cato, they will most certainly tell Zaman, who in turn will most certainly tell Mother Nature, who will then go to Vita and Mortem, who will most certainly not be happy about you even thinking of meeting up with that professor guy. And not to mention just how mad all of them are gonna be when they find out about this. Especially after the fox incident."
My lips form a thin line at his logic but I refuse to say out loud that I think he's right. My eyes shift down and I stare at the frost on my floor. An idea hits me.
"All right, then I won't go to any of them," I say, allowing Ake to sigh in relief and his hold loosens on me, his hands sliding to his lap.
"Good. Now, why don't we—"
I abruptly stand, cutting the moon entity off mid-sentence, and quickly step out of his reach.
"I'll go ask the other seasons what they think." I quickly head for my sliding doors, knowing that Ake can make it to the front door before me. Ake stammers behind me and the floorboards creak as he scrambles to his feet. I manage to make it to the glass doors and slide it open before Ake catches my elbow.
"Whoa, hang on, Snowflake, I think you should think about this more."
I pry his fingers from my elbow and stare up at him with as much determination as possible.
"Honestly, I don't think I need to. Besides myself, Vita, Mortem, and the sleep triplets, the other seasons have the most interactions with humans and they could help me figure out if I should try to gain more information. Besides, we still need to tell them about the fox incident and we should let the triplets know as well. And I know that Suvi enjoys visiting with the triplets every other week. So, if needed, she can inform them of everything that's happened."
Ake's hands flex at his sides as if he is holding himself back from reaching out for me. I stare at him for a beat, challenging him to dissuade my logic. Cursing softly, Ake throws his hands into the air.
"All right, all right, you win, just stop with the staring." Ake runs his hand through his hair as he glares off toward the trees. "I'll go talk with the triplets so that they can get the story from someone involved, not secondhand." Ake glares down at me as he turns to head back into the house, pulling out a handful of sand. "But don't come running to me if the others get upset at you. Like I said, I understand why you did it. You wanted answers. The others aren't probably gonna see it like that."
I square my shoulders.
"Well, they'll be even madder if I keep this a secret, so, it's really a no win-win situation, but I think I'll take it."
Without waiting for a response, I launch myself into the air. The cool air brushes against my face and I shake my head. If they get mad, they get mad, but the other seasons have a right to know what's going on and they're my best option right now. I shake my head. I should have gone to them after helping Mother Nature instead of bumming around the house.