The Golden Core | Secrets of the Core #1

Chapter Twenty-Three

Every thought flying around in Winter's mind wandered to her brother. Not only did she miss him, but she was curious if Mother ever had a book full of her secrets. Maybe if she did it would explain why the two of them were always forced apart. Of course they always found their way back and became best friends, she just didn't want to imagine what it would be like without him. If she were in Phoenix's shoes, she'd take the book and run, too curious to learn all of this information and possibly more. "Do it, Phoenix," she whispered, not wanting to catch Astrid's attention. "It might be a million years before I decide to help you again. Listen to me and take the book."

Phoenix nodded, swiping the story from his sister's hands. "Thanks. How did you find this?"

Winter stopped listening after the first word he mentioned. He never thanked anyone for anything before, or at least as far back as she could remember. It made her wonder if he was really changing, but she knew better than to base that off of one word. She wasn't going to trust him yet, but it certainly was surprising. Astrid was talking her ear off as Winter finally chimed back into the conversation. "...In Father's desk drawer. He was out of the room we were never supposed to go in, even Mother, so I decided to sneak in. Anyway, now that I know you'll be able to learn about this, how did you two meet?"

Only hoping that Phoenix wouldn't dive into their long story, Winter answered the question before he could get to it. "It's pretty complicated. Your brother knew my father before he passed...that's the main reason."

"That doesn't sound too complicated," Astrid responded.

"Oh, trust me, it is," Winter mumbled, pushing the sleeves of her shirt up a bit when she started sweating from the heat. "We should probably get going now."

"Right," she answered. "I don't want to keep you." She looked toward Winter and smiled. "Thank you for helping me find my brother."

Chuckling nervously, Winter tried her best to grin back. "No need to thank me. He's the one that found me." Still unable to believe that she was so close to getting away from him, yet he still managed to find her. If only she could've found someone to take her to Goldenfordge, she wouldn't even be in this mess. Would the book of secrets tell her whether he really killed her father? If it said that he didn't, that would be the only reason to believe that he didn't kill him, but until then she had every right to continue thinking he was the one that did it.

Motioning for Winter to follow him, Phoenix said, "Thank you for the book, Astrid. I'm sure we'll see each other again sometime."

She smiled at him and gave him another hug, but he never reacted. Just like before. "I'm so happy you're okay. Mother would want to know. I'll make sure to pass on the information."

The response he gave was just a nod as he pushed his way forward and passed the hut. Winter followed quickly behind him. "What's with you and your sister?"

"What do you mean?"

She groaned. "Really? You don't know? You never actually gave her a hug."

"Ah right. Well, that's my biological sister, as I'm sure you know when she was talking about my father. I haven't seen any of them in quite some time and certainly never planned to. Lauren is my real sister in my eyes, not Astrid."

"That's understandable," she answered. "Do you really want to find out why your father did this to you?"

"If I didn't, would I be walking in the direction Astrid told me to go?"

With that answer, Winter stopped asking questions. He may not have seemed like he wanted to do this, but of course anyone would. It becomes a deep part of someone when a family member abandons them; she knew that feeling well. So occupied with other questions and her own thoughts, she hadn't realized how hot she'd gotten. Each step she took killed her feet even more than they were already hurt, but she wouldn't stop. This was too important. Part of her was afraid that someone would get there before they would and possibly take away their chances, even though they still had the book right in front of them. At the rate she's been going, anything could happen.