赤裸裸的滑稽故事

“Wow…” Clara said as she stepped out of the car. Listening to the crunching of the snow under her boots. Watching her breath appear in the air before her.

She giggled and danced around like a small child.

Ashleigh sat in the car, watching her with a smile and the phone to her ear.

“Are you still there?” Caleb’s voice called her attention back to the phone.

“Yea, sorry. Just watching Clara try to catch a snowflake on her tongue when there is no snowfall,” Ashleigh laughed.

Caleb sighed.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“You’ve already returned to Winter, and I barely got a chance to see you while you were here,” he whined. “If Mother hadn’t changed your room, I could have at least seen you before bed most nights.”

“I miss you too, Caleb,” Ashleigh said, leaning back in the driver’s seat. “I won’t be here long. I just came for the weekend to surprise Bell.”

“I know. That’s why you stole my Beta. But, I’m still not sure why you stole my analyst,” Caleb commented.

“Clara is also my friend!” Ashleigh replied. “These past few weeks, she has been a gift from the Goddess.”

When Clara had told Ashleigh to expect to draw attention from representatives of Summer, she wasn’t kidding. For two weeks, Ashleigh had been meeting new people, though most of them didn’t outright ask about the rumors or what had happened between her and Caleb._.

Ashleigh and Clara had devised a system where Clara could get them talking about their field of expertise or special projects they were working on. This would give Ashleigh valuable information about Summer, while Clara would step back and chat with the others at the party about some of the details that clarified the rumors or confirmed what Ashleigh had already shared with the teacher.

From there, Ashleigh could chat with these different people about the things they were interested in or hoped to see in the future Summer. So she was learning about them while they were investigating her.

There were only two groups that Ashleigh had not heard anything from. One was the Military. Not a surprise when she remembered that Fiona was once their leader. It seemed they were making their stand known. If Ashleigh was to make any progress with them, she would need to be the one to approach them.

Honestly, Ashleigh was fine with that.

She had spent her entire life trying to prove herself to the military in Winter. How much different could it be to do it in Summer?

But for now, there was something else she was focused on, the other group. Science Division.

She had met with several people from the division, but they didn’t care about relationship dramas. Instead, they didn’t like her for an entirely different reason.

Winter.

Alpha Cain had been the head of the Science Division.

She needed to start making some progress on finding out the real story behind what happened to Alpha Cain.

In order to do that, she was going to need help.

Clara had proven herself very useful. She was observant and quick. And when they had friendly chats, Ashleigh had learned something vital about Clara.

She was interested in the fae and the historical tales of their time.

Which was why she had decided to bring her home to Winter.

Well, not exactly home.

“She was a gift from me,” Caleb said.

“Yes, my love is the greatest!” Ashleigh laughed.

Ashleigh quite liked seeing his childish side, especially because she knew it was for her alone.

“Do you even remember what your love looks like?” he asked with a huff.

“How could I ever forget….” Ashleigh smiled. “I promise Caleb, when I come back in a couple of days, we will find time together, even if it means I have to sneak into your room when Fiona isn’t looking.”

“Hmm…” Caleb smiled. “That does sound quite nice.”

Ashleigh laughed.

“I need to go now; Clara is about two steps from– yeah, nope, she did it. Stepped straight down into a snow-covered ditch,” Ashleigh laughed. “I love you, Caleb. I will see you soon.”

“I love you, too.”

Ashleigh put her phone away and jumped out of the car. She ran over and helped pull Clara out of the small ditch.

“Well, that was a surprise!” Clara laughed.

“Yea,” Ashleigh laughed, “you have to be careful. This isn’t a very trafficked area, so there will be ditches and abrupt falls you need to watch for.”

“So, where are we?” Clara asked as she cleared the snow off her pants and jacket.

“Before I tell you where exactly we are, I would like to have a chat with you,” Ashleigh said. She looked around and then decided on the truck. “Let’s get back inside the truck where it’s warmer.”

When they were back in the truck with the heat turned on, Clara turned to Ashleigh.

“Is this where you tell me that you have some kind of secret mission you’re working on. But you’ve come upon a problem that only I can help you with, and I can’t tell anyone, including Alpha Caleb?”

Ashleigh stared blankly at Clara.

“How did you….” Ashleigh started to say.

“Dang it!” Clara shouted, hitting her leg with her hand.

Ashleigh sighed.

“I’m sorry, Clara, I shouldn’t have brought you here. I know this puts you in a complicated situation. Let’s just forget–”

“Oh, it’s not that,” Clara interrupted, waving her arms in front of her. “Alpha Caleb told me from the start that you were to have my complete confidence, even if it meant keeping a secret from him.”

“Oh…?” Ashleigh asked. Feeling a mixture of relief and concern.

She needed to talk to Caleb about how much trust he placed in her. It was nice to know that he trusted her. But telling one of his wolves that they had permission to lie to him if Ashleigh told them

too… that was asking for trouble.

“I’m annoyed because I owe Galen fifty dollars,” Clara said. “When Alpha Caleb gave me that order, Galen insisted it was because Alpha Caleb knew you must have some kind of plan to bring around the wolves. But that you would probably need help from a Summer wolf to complete it.

“I thought he was just assigning me to help you feel more comfortable knowing that you had a friend behind enemy lines.”

Clara sighed.

Ashleigh laughed. This man never ceased to amaze her.

“Well,” she said. “If it helps, I have felt more comfortable and at ease with you around to help me. But yes, I have a secret plan I could really use your help with.”

Clara laughed.

“I’m here to serve, whatever you need,” she said with a salute and smile.

“Great,” Ashleigh said. “So, you know a lot about the fall of the fae, right?”

Clara thought for a moment before answering.

“I don’t mean to brag, but I have read every book, paper, parchment, napkin, whatever. Anything I could find about them, I read.”

Ashleigh laughed at her excitement.

“Well, we are near the southern most border of Winter. Do you know where Loki’s last stand took place?” Ashleigh asked.

Clara’s eyes widened, and she immediately began to look around the area. Though her excitement quickly dampened.

“This doesn’t look right…” she said quietly.

“So, you know what it should look like?” Ashleigh asked. “Good, that’s what I need. I need you to help me find the site of Loki’s last stand.”