We weren’t sure where to go. Where would mom go? Where would Winter go? Where would she try to find us?
Our first thought was the Roddensteins, or Nerves’ house. Maybe Emmy could hide us in their nonexistent stable.
But what if Winter could find us? We were sisters. She was my mother.
We turned around to see if she followed behind, but we could see nothing.
We obviously couldn’t go home. If we went home, who knew what Winter could do?
It was mom’s house—Winter’s house—first and foremost, but we weren’t a guest. We were completely under her power. She couldn’t just take our talismans though, that wasn’t how these things worked.
Was it?
It wasn’t.
Wandering unconsciously, we found the tree and the bench we’d been at when all of this started. When Cindy had appeared, offering us a chance to save the day.
And I’d been an idiot ever since then.
As I cried, the roaring flames of Summer dissipated to a crackle, then embers, then finally snuffed out.
I couldn’t lead Winter to my friends, but I could lead them to Winter, let them know how to find her, and then they could take her down.
They had Death, and the others could figure something out to help.
I pulled out my phone, tapping the second speed dial. It rang a few times.
“The number you are trying to reach is unavailable. If you like, you may leave a message at the tone,”
I had to pull away at the loud beep, but brought the phone back soon enough, spilling my guts out.
“Nerves, I found Winter. It’s my mom, and she tried to make me give her the seasonal talismans. Maybe that’s what she’s been waiting for this whole time, because I think she knew I had Summer from the start. I’m going to call everyone else, don’t worry abou—”
Another tone as my message stopped.
I took a breath, and called Van. Maybe Nerves was with them right now. I thought through how to say everything faster as it rang, until it stopped.
“This is Van.”
“Van I—”
“I’m not available, but leave a message and I’ll listen to it in a year or so.”
It beeped.
“Van you shouldn’t pause when setting a voicemail message,” I complained, “Whatever. Winter’s host is my mom. I think she’s known that I’ve got Summer this whole time. She may have been waiting for me to get the other two before making her move. I’m going to call everyone to let them know. I can’t go home obvious—”
Tone again.
Next I called Emmy, planning an even more succinct explanation when it stopped mid-ring.
“Hey, Summer, what’s up?”
“Nothing much,” I said on instinct, “Wait, no. Winter’s my mom.”
“What!”
“She cornered me in a grocery store trying to make me give her the talismans.”
“What did you do after that?”
“I ran, and now I’m back at the park.”
“I can ask my mom to help pick you up and—”
“What’s your mom going to do once she picks me up?” I asked.
“Call your mom—oh, I see the problem.”
I nodded.
“Then you can fly over here, and I can hide you in the chicken coop.”
“I don’t want to hurt your chickens.”
“It’s more of a risk the other way around,” Emmy mused, “But we can help you.”
I shook my head like she could see.
“I think I should call Cindy first.”
“Okay, but let me know when you’re safe.”
I nodded, then hung up, then remembered she didn’t see the nod and cringed.
I couldn’t waste time though, I had to call Cindy or Cas.
Cindy was first. Cas could only be called through the Roddenstein’s home phone.
“Summer, what is it?” Cindy asked, tone already worried.
“I found Winter,” I said, “She’s my mom.”
Cindy made angry noises away from the speaker.
“Where is she? Where are you?”
“I’m at the bench where we first met. I don’t know where she is, or if she followed me, or if she can find me without following me. Maybe I should throw away my phone.”
“No, not yet.” Cindy said.
“Then what am I supposed to do?”
“You’re going to wait there until we can pick you up. Don’t turn into Summer and come to us unless you know Winter’s about to get you. If you do need to, then stick to warm places, stay away from water, and keep your embers down.”
I nodded again.
“I’m going to hang up now, so we can find you. Stay safe. Let us know if plans need to change.”
I collapsed a little on the Bench. It was probably grosser than I wanted to lay down on, but I didn’t care.
“Thank you,” I said as the call ended.
I sat in silence for a minute. Apparently the sisters were in just as much shock as I was. It felt weird not to have their conversations taking over my thoughts, not that there were many thoughts for me to have.
My phone rang, saving me from my silence. Luckily I could tell it was Nerves, and not somebody else.
“What’s going on Summer?” Van asked, “Are you okay?”
“My mortal enemy has been my mom this whole time. How do you think I feel?”
“Bad?” They offered.
“Do you have somewhere to stay?” Nerves asked, “Our parents might tell on you, but we know some people—”
“The Roddensteins are picking me up. I’ll be staying with them I guess.”
“You guess?”
“Yeah, guessing’s the best I’ve got.”
“Are you safe?” he asked.
“Probably not,” I admitted, “But I don’t know what else I can do.”
The other end got quieter for a minute.
“Then I’m going to stay with you until they can pick you up,” Nerves said.
I gave a relieved sigh.
“Thank you.”
“I have some time until Van’s mom drops me off at home, so at least this gives me something to do.”
I nodded.
“Summer?”
“Yeah, that’s great. Sorry I’ve been such a jerk lately.”
“I was the one pushing you away.”
“But I was a brat. You should be allowed to do whatever it was you were doing with Van without me being petty about it.”
“But you’re my best friend, and I should have talked to you.”
“But there had to be a reason you weren’t talking to me, and I shouldn’t have forced you.”
“I don’t know how to explain it to you. It’s…” He let out an aggressive sigh, “I don’t know how to explain it to myself, and I haven’t let my mom know. She thinks our club meetings go like 2 hours longer than they actually do.”
“She doesn’t know you’re hanging out with Van?”
“She knows Van’s mom is picking me up, and Van’s mom just stays out long enough that she won’t ask questions about the timing of when she leaves for the Roddensteins.”
It must have been something extreme if he went through this much effort to stop anyone figuring it out.
“So I knew more than your mom at least?” I asked.
He laughed.
“Yeah, and it’s not like Emmy hasn’t asked any questions, not that I’m worried about Emmy.”
“Why not?”
“Emmy would just get excited, you…”
“I’m a bad listener.”
“And I keep expecting you to just know,” Nerves admitted, “You’ve known me forever, so I thought you’d notice, and every time you didn’t notice, I felt like you didn’t care.”
“I care a lot,” I said, “You’re my best friend. I want to do everything with you for the rest of my life, but I couldn’t figure out my mother was Winter when she has the same eyes, literally staring me in the face so many times.”
Nerves let out a Nervous chuckle.
“I guess that makes me feel a little better. You were under the same roof as her and still had no clue. You’re not around me anywhere near as often, so how could you figure out I was a girl?”
“What?”
Girl? Nerves? A Girl? It didn’t not make sense, but I still didn’t get it.
“You’re a what?”
“Are the Roddensteins there?”
I saw Cindy’s familiar silhouette of gothic clothing.
“Yeah.”
“Great.”
He—She, apparently—hung up.
I sputtered at nothing as Cindy came up to me.
“C’mon. You can use our guest room for the night.”
Some readers might have clocked Nerves a while ago. I considered saving this discovery for Nerves' own book (currently in drafting phase), but realized the only way for her and Summer to make up was if she admitted everything, which required coming out.
It also frees me to write Nerves' entire book as a trans girl's story, which is incredibly important to me.