19
Snowed in
1,493
"Dad! Dad! Look! It's snowing!"
Martin looked up from his book with a smile as Skipper and Tiger lily came racing into his study, bouncing with excitement.
"I know," he laughed, leaning back in his chair to look through the curtains out the window at the thickly falling snow "You guys going to go outside?"
"Yeah!" Skipper tugged on Martin's sleeve "Can you help us get our coats on?"
"Oh of course," Martin let Skipper pull him to his feet "Let's go get your coats on."
"Wow," Lily peered up into the gray sky, snowflakes gathering rapidly on her face "It's really coming down now."
"I'm tired, Mum," Tiger lily tugged on Lily's sleeve "Can we go in now?"
"Yeah," Lily picked up her daughter, hugging her tightly "Oh you're all cold!"
"Are we going inside now?" Martin called from across the yard, a final snowball packed between his paws.
"Yeah, Tiger's cold."
"Okay," Martin spun around and hurled the snowball, nailing Skipper in the shoulder and knocking him to his tail.
"Martin!"
He laughed and dashed past her as Skipper yelled and chased after his father, flinging poorly made snow.
"Do you think it's going to snow all day and all night?" Skipper asked, looking out the window as he gnawed on a warm biscuit.
Martin joined him at the window, gnawing at a biscuit from the same batch, and he stared thoughtfully at the thick snow plummeting down from the heavens.
"Storm?"
Lily asked from the other side of the room.
Martin nodded, his whiskers twitching "Feels like it."
"So it is going to keep snowing?"
"Looks like it, little mate," Martin finished his biscuit with a large bite "Come on and help me bring in some more wood."
It was late the next morning and Martin was just awake enough to appreciate how warm his blankets were when he heard a muffled shout of dismay from downstairs.
Lily groaned and pulled the pillow over her head and Martin tried to bring himself into wakefulness as they heard feet pattering rapidly up the stairs.
"Daaad?" Skipper asked slowly as he pushed the door open.
"What?" Martin asked in a rough morning voice as he sat up.
"Um," Skipper scooted closer to the bed, Tiger lily on his tail "I opened the door to see if it was still snowing and..."
"And what?" Martin asked with a bit of dread brewing in his stomach.
"Come look."
With a groan Martin slipped out of bed and followed Skipper back down the stairs. Halfway down he stopped and his sleep laden eyes went wide
"Skiper..."
"I didn't know it was going to do that!"
Martin stared at the snowdrift that had fallen into the entry way when Skipper had opened the door.
"Blasted..." Martin trailed off with a moan "Alright, let's clean it up."
"It's still snowing."
There was a noticeable drain of excitement in Tiger lily's voice compared to the day before as she stared out the second floor window at the snow that was fast piling up towards the sill. It still had a good few feet to go before it reached the window but it seemed determined.
"When is it going to stop?" She asked as Lily wrapped another scarf around her neck.
"I don't know, soon hopefully."
"What if it doesn't stop?"
"Oh, don't worry, it will."
Tiger lily turned back to the window and squinted out across the road at the house across from theirs "Is Tim gonna be alright?"
"I'm sure Tim is going to be fine."
"Well, the good news is that it stopped snowing," Martin said to Lily as he stood at the window.
"And the bad news?" She asked from beneath the blanket.
"I can now walk from our bedroom window to the hallway window on Darkmoon and Shyshie's house."
"You're joking."
"I am not. Come see."
"No I'll take your word for it."
He frowned "Do you think I should go check on them?"
"What, you just walk over there on top of the snow?" She pulled the blanket off her head "Really?"
"I'm worried about them."
"Alright, dress warm, have fun."
He snorted softly as she rolled back over "Calm down you'll make yourself sick with worry."
"Mmm, okay."
He rolled his eyes and tugged his boots on "If I don't come back wait until the snow melts to search for my body."
"Will do."
It was an unearthly silence that accompanied him on the short walk. He couldn't even hear the sound of his own footsteps as he stepped on the soft fresh powder. The sound of his own fist beating against the glass of the window made his heart jump and immediately wondered if they could even hear him.
He waited half a minute before knocking again. This time he heard footsteps on the stairs and then saw Darkmoon's figure moving through the dim hole.
"What are you-"
He didn't wait for her to finish her sentence, and instead stepped down into the hall, brushing snow off, then pulled the window shut.
"Hello Darky, just having a bit of a jaunt around the neighborhood, thought I'd stop by and say hello."
She stepped back and planted her paws on her hips "Trevoiant, what are you doing walking around when the neighborhood is buried under twelve feet of snow."
"Saying hi to my neighbors," he pulled the scarf away from his face and grinned.
She gave him a hard look that caused him to reiterate.
"I was worried. You guys got enough firewood? Food?"
"We're good, at least with supplies," Darkmoon's scowl softened into a nonplussed look "But Shyshie's catching cabin fever."
"Really?" He turned to follow her down the hall "Thought she'd just read endlessly."
"Me too, but she's read everything and... she hasn't been able to go to the sea in weeks since the harbor is basically frozen over and I think it's getting to her head."
"What's wrong?"
Darkmoon stopped in front of a door and pushed it open "I found her this morning like this."
Martin stepped into the washroom, one eyebrow lifted, and he looked down into the washtub, where something dark sploshed quietly.
Darkmoon lit a candle and set it on the sink, it's light revealing the little seal sitting in the puddle of water at the bottom of the tub.
"O-oh kitten," Martin was torn between laughter and pity "What are you doing?"
The mournful eyes stared up at him for a moment then she settled back down into the puddle with a huffy sigh.
"She won't talk to me, she won't change back and she won't eat anything," Darkmoon leaned against the door with a frustrated sigh "Talk to her Martin."
"You gonna come out kit?"
She squeezed her eyes shut and ignored him.
"Shy...C'mon you've gotta be cold in there."
Her head swished back and forth, sending ripples through the water.
"Really? Are you going to sit in there until the bay unfreezes?"
She lifted her head slightly, then dropped it back down with a quiet smack against the water.
"Aren't you bored?"
No reaction besides a slight flick of her hind flipper.
"Because... I was talking to your mum about the pair of you coming over to my house for a bit. Lily's gonna cook something hot for breakfast, kids and I are gonna play some games..."
He waited a second, receving, as he suspected, no reply, then continued "Oh yeah, I still have that book from the library, y'know the one you haven't read yet...what was it....Oh yeah "Anthology of Devione's poems, sonnets, and rhymes"?"
The selkie's head jerked up in sudden interest and she barked.
Martin laughed "Yeah?"
"Thank goodness," Darkmoon muttered.
"Well come on kit, let's go."
The washtub creaked as Shyshie heaved herself out onto the floor.
Martin stared down at her in surprise "Uh, aren't you going to change back?"
She paused, then shook her head.
"Uh, yes you are," Darkmoon interjected "I'm not dragging you across the snow, you weigh twice as much as when you're a seal."
Shyshie shook her head again and continued heaving herself across the floor.
"Oh no, don't you take that attitude with me young lady," Darkmoon planted herself directly in front of Shyshie and glared down at her "You change back right now or you are going no where."
The seal moaned, then it was a little cat, arms and legs splayed out in an uncomfortable posture on the floor.
"But Mama," she said, sitting up dripping wet "I'm warmer if I'm a seal."
"You'll be fine once we dry you off and put actual clothes on you," Darkmoon snatched a towel off the rack and wrapped it around Shyshie "Come on."
Martin forced himself to bury his snickers as Darkmoon picked Shyshie up and carried her off.
"I'll just wait here by the window," he managed to call, shaking his head and losing the fight against his laughter.