Chapter 4: 30 years later

Alexander Cross looked over his shoulder through the spiraling snow flakes. Still no one was following him. Good. His
boots crunched on the crystals on the ground. The branches creaked
over head with their new bounty of ice, every now and then one would
break and crash to the ground. That was the only sound that broke the
silence of the night that night.


Eventually a light came into view up ahead. Finally... he ran the last quarter mile to his home. The hood to his cloak flew off, and his auburn tinted brown
hair smacked him in the face as he ran, getting in his blue eyes. He
shook it off though as the little shack like house came into full
view.


A small 10 year old girl clad in a deep green cloak, with a golden broach inset with an emerald tying it under the name of her neck was standing by the
entrance of the door. Her black hair caught snow and deep, deep blue
eyes stared at him under the torch. Daniel tried not to show she was
smiling inside, but the Cross boy saw the telltale signs of the smile
under her eyes.


She pushed open the door of the shack to reveal the 7 people inside. They all halted, and looked up. Alexander stepped inside of the shack and placed the book
carefully on the makeshift table. A boy in a black cloak and a
twinkle in his eyes stood and patted Alexander on the back. The boy
was rather muscular... especially considering he was hardly 15
winters old. Another boy in a deep blue cloak grinned.


Alexander looked at his family with a triumphant smile. Daniel silently sat by the table, with a little smile playing at her lips. She was the youngest, but
you would hardly guess it by how in control she always was. Then
there was James, too... only 11, and always wore a blue cloak. He was
happy to sit and grin. Henry was 15, always wearing a black cloak and
very strong. He was only a year younger than Alexander himself. Smith
was 14, and wore a shimmering dark gray cloak. Samule was 13, and
wore a deep purple cloak. Jack was wearing a white cloak, and aged
12. Each of them was a year apart, so evenly spaced.... Alexander
shook his head some to clear it.


“What's so special about this book?” his mother demanded. “That my baby would have to go risk his life for it? I can say everything in it you need to know!”


“We need to know what is happening,” his father sighed. He was very tired of explaining this to the irate woman, but she wouldn't be ignored.


“WHY?” she demanded. “Why can we not just ignore this?”


“Because if our kids are these people, then they need to know,” he snapped. His wife pouted, but he simply turned to look at Alexander.


“What does it say, boy?” he asked rather excitedly.


“I do not know I never opened it. I was too busy running,” Alexander sighed, looking at his father with irritation.


“Well, open it!” he said excitedly. Alexander obliged, and a plume of dust rose from the cover as he opened the ancient book to the first page. His eyes
greedily took in the neat handwriting. His shoulders fell, and his
face slid into a deep frown. His brows knitted together. “What?”
his father demanded.


“It's true,” he whispered hoarsely. “We are what they claimed. It is true.”