Chapter 14: “Second Snow”

 

 

            Sam didn’t know it at the time, as she’d been in captivity, but today was actually the second time snow graced their land this month.  Sam sat at the island in the kitchen, looking out at the heavy snowfall through the window above the sink.  She’d finished her breakfast and was sipping on some tea while she waited for Liam to text her.  The snow started sometime after she had gone to bed, continuing through the night until now.  It fell in big clumps, sometimes sticking against the window before melting slightly and falling off.

Sam wriggled her toes, feeling cozy in the soft socks Sarah had given her.  She’d stopped by the previous evening after Liam left and they'd finished the movie together.  Sarah brought with her some hair products she’d made just for Sam and had spent rest of the evening showing her how she could make her own.  As a man, Sam never appreciated the care and attention it took to maintain woman’s hair.  After, they’d bathed together, and Sarah showed her how to wash and brush her hair properly.

At first, Sarah was at a loss on how to care for Sam’s tail, but they decided to treat it the same as her hair, giving it a treatment of shampoo and conditioner before Sarah had Sam brush it out.

 

The results were worth it though, Sam thought to herself as she ran her fingers through her hair.  It felt much softer already, and there weren’t any more tangles.  Sam also appreciated her tail, now silky soft and warm, it had been far more receptive to the treatment than her own hair had been.  Sam almost couldn’t keep her own hands off her own tail now, resisting the urge to stroke it whenever she curled it onto her lap to sit.

 

In the end, Sarah left Sam with two generic recipes she could use, they wouldn’t have any scent unless she added some of her own.  One was shampoo, and the other a conditioner she should use every now and then.  Sarah offered some suggestions though; dried flower pedals and other fragrant things could diffuse their smells into the oils during the cooking process. 

It felt complicated to Sam but was assured this was something most young girls in Storm Rock knew how to do already.  Sam sighed, and wondered how many other things there were to learn about being a woman and taking care of herself. 

Her thoughts were interrupted by a text from Liam, asking her when she planned on coming over.  Sam quickly thumbed out a reply, “Be there in 15.”  Sam quickly put her mug in the sink and changed upstairs before grabbing her pistols and making her way downstairs again.  She stepped into the shop to tell her dad where she was going before heading out. 

 

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            Sam trudged through the snow, which was already almost up to her knees.  She wore a thick winter jacket and jean pants that she’d bought a couple days ago, and under her jacket she wore her holsters.  Sam felt a lot better after a full night’s sleep and good food, but she was having second thoughts as she wobbled through the snow.  Her tail was desperately trying to help her maintain balance as she stepped, flailing this way and that.  Ahh, maybe I should have stayed home or gotten a ride.

But she trudged on anyways, not caring for how wet her pants might be by the end of the journey, she’d brought a change to wear in her backpack.  Sam was excited to spend the day with Liam, she planned to drag him out and into the snowy city after they’d shot for a few hours to go to a shop they’d heard about called “Bigger on the Inside.”

 

Along the way Sam walked by the intersection that the Hunter trio lived at, and she passed her eyes over, not seeing them out and about like they usually would be.  Not thinking anything of it, but somewhat missing their happy smiles, Sam kept on.

Sam’s walk to the Ruth house took about five minutes longer than she’d anticipated, but in the end arrived just fine, if a little cold.  Sam felt her ears flick away some snow that landed on them as she knocked on their front door.  It was a large white door with a foggy glass pane near the top.  After a few moments, the door opened to reveal a Liam who looked kind of sheepish as he stood there, scratching his head.  “Hey Sam, listen, this wasn’t my idea – so don’t be too mad at me alright?”

“Hmm?  What do you –” Sam trailed off as she stepped across the threshold and into his house.  Down the hall in his living room sat most of Sam and Liam’s friends and once they’d spotted her, they immediately got up and cheered. “Sam’s here guys!”

 

They formed a miniature stampede as they came down the hallway towards Sam, but they stopped just short of her as they became self-conscious.  Sam could tell they wanted to hug her or tackle her playfully like they might have done when they were younger but felt awkward about it now.  “Well don’t just stand there guys, we already talked about this, ugh.”  Before the moment itself could become awkward, Cassie, who’d been at the back of the charge, strode forward and jumped at Sam – throwing her arms around Sam in an embrace.   

After she showed the way, Sam’s other friends followed after, turning the harmless group into a full-blown hallway-clot as they hugged it out.  Liam even joined in.  After a few moments they separated, and Sam got a good look at just who’d she’d been tangled with.  Looking at the group of faces before her she recognized her friends:  Eric, Tony, Fred, Cassie, and Meghan.  They’d been childhood friends since they went to school together.

 

Schooling nowadays was very different compared with previous generations’ encounters with it.  It was very basic in some regards, while perhaps more comprehensive in others.  It had a focus on ensuring literacy as well as the ability to comprehend danger.  Like schools of old if a pupil demonstrated exceptional abilities in any one area, they were given more attention to develop those skills.  Storm Rock still had a couple mathematicians and computer scientists for example.

 

Sam changed in the bathroom, before joining the others back out in the living room.  She put away her pistols for now and changed into one of the pairs of pants she’d picked up while out with Liam.  It had a small hole in it for her to poke her tail through, and after it’d been threaded, between her own fluff and the fabric nobody could see anything through the gap.

Liam’s parents had gone out for the day after giving the house to Liam and his friends this morning.  Sam was hoping to see them again, but it wasn’t meant to be for now.  “So, Sam, how do you keep your hands off of your tail?”  Cassie asked after Sam relented and let them pet her tail.  Meghan also nodded before adding on, “Mhm, its so soft Sam, I don’t think I can stop fondling it.” 

True to her words, Meghan was the only one of the group of five that still sat next to Sam and Liam, her hands never stopping their movement as she stroked the length of Sam’s tail which she had trapped on her own lap.

“Uhhh,” Sam began with a light laugh, “Well, you get used to it I guess?”

 

Meghan and Cassie might as well be twins, they looked so similar.  Both of them had blonde hair, and hazel eyes, with an average height and athletic build.  But their personalities are where they differed.  Cassie was always more assertive, while Meghan was usually very shy.  This dictated their wardrobe choices too, while Cassie dressed casually wearing a skirt she’d changed into as well – Meghan was wearing something more reserved.  She had on a plain red turtleneck and a pair of tight jeans.

 

Sam could feel the eyes of her guy friends looking her up and down occasionally as she sat talking with Cassie and Meghan.  Checking me out, eh?  Sam chuckled to herself.

They sat in conversation for the rest of the morning.  Sam spent most of the time answering various questions about the different changes she’s encountered and what changes she liked and hated most.  Eric kept blushing and looking away whenever he met Sam’s eyes with his own brown ones.  Liam must have noticed though at some point because, without saying anything, Sam felt his arm slip around her waist, and she leaned into him without breaking the flow of her own conversation.  It just felt natural.

That didn’t stop the rest of the conversations from halting, however.  Sam looked around at their surprised faces before she heard Tony laugh in his deep voice from where he sat.  He was about the average height, Black hair, and brown eyes, with a boyish and kind face - but he was kind of fat.  Which was rare nowadays, and it also was something only magic users could typically achieve.

“Maaaan, Liam, you move fast bro.  She’s like the new girl in town and you picked her up before the month was out.”  But Liam just shook his head embarrassedly. 

“Well, we’ve got history, one thing led to another… and yeah.  We’re dating.”

 

Meghan laughed lightly, “By ‘one thing led to another’ you mean Sam turned into a girl, huh?”  She teased by mocking his voice.  Fred, a shorter ginger-haired magic user, didn’t miss a beat, adding onto Meghan’s subtle jab with his own laughter.  It was common knowledge to the group that Fred and Meghan liked each other, but they were oblivious to the other’s affection.  Meghan was too shy to act on her feelings, and Fred was too.  It was kind of cute, and they got teased occasionally, but the group never pushed things too far – just letting the two lovebirds figure out their own song.

There were two among their number who didn’t look happy however, Cassie and Eric.  Cassie looked like someone just bought the puppy she’d been waiting in line to get.  While Eric just looked like he had eaten something sour.  Sam didn’t think much of it, choosing instead to ignore them for now.

 

Sam realized that this is how her day was going to go unless she did something about it.  Sam looked around the room at her friends again and noticed none of them had brought any additional things, Fred, Cassie, and Meghan didn’t bring their firearms, so the range was out.  That left the store Sam wanted to check out with Liam, called ‘Bigger on the Inside.’  

Sam waited for a lull in the overall conversation before she cleared her throat to get their attention.  Once she’d created an opening, Sam raised her voice enough for everyone to hear.  “Guys I heard of a new store that opened up while I was in the hospital, it’s called ‘Bigger on the Inside.’  Michael told me about it, supposedly it's as the name suggests, things are bigger on the inside over there.”  She paused, "I think it would be cool to check out.  You guys wanna go?"

 

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            The walk wasn’t bad this time around.  As they went, Tony took the lead position, and Sam walked beside him asking him questions.  Tony wore a big blue puff-coat over his already puffy frame.  He had his gloved hand outstretched ahead of him, and ahead of the group the snow would melt, and the water would move off the pathway before re-freezing.

“How are you able to melt all of this snow?  Won’t you be exhausted by the time we get there?”  Sam asked incredulously.

“You wouldn’t be wrong if that was what I was doing.  It’s fine if you didn’t, but did you notice how the air became colder after I started using this magic?”  Sam pondered for a moment as they walked, placing a delicate finger on her chin in thought before she replied.  She was back in her snow-gear and armed with her pistols underneath her jacket.  

“I didn’t notice at first, but now that you mention it, yes.  It’s colder than earlier around you.  Why’s that?”  Tony smiled and nodded his chubby face enthusiastically, not at all annoyed by Sam’s questions.  “That’s because I’m not melting the snow like you initially suggested.  Instead, I am moving the heat from the air, into the snow, before moving the water off the path.”  He held up a finger to emphasize his point, “Remember: energy cannot be created or destroyed, only moved and changed.”

Sam nodded, remembering her lectures from school.  Magic was a phenomenon that was still being understood, but it still followed some basic principles.  The conservation of energy was one of them.  In life, whenever magic seemed to defy these laws, it was simply just not understood enough.  Oftentimes after careful study and thought, magi would figure out how their spells actually interacted with the world to become what they saw – and they always followed the conservation of energy, however abstractly at times.

 

“When I get a better feel for my own magic, can you teach me this spell?”  Sam asked Tony after they’d walked into the plaza.  It was cleaned of snow already from the various shopkeepers working together.  It wasn’t her first time encountering this magic – but it was her first time knowing she could learn to do the same.  The spell would be incredibly useful for when She went to camp with Liam. 

“Of course, I love teaching people spells!”  Tony laughed out.

 

Michael was right, back when they’d sat around the campfire a week ago, Sam had always been somewhat jealous that she couldn’t use magic.  As a result, she’d never really learned anything about it– now she had some catching up to do.

Sam slowed her footsteps while she thought, and sank back into the group, her place next to Tony taken by Eric as she fell back.  Ah well, even if I hadn’t been jealous back then it’s not like I would have chosen to learn about magic I couldn’t use.

 

Sam felt Liam’s hand take hers as they walked, and together with the rest of her friends they walked into the small shop called, “Bigger on the Inside.”