Ink and Ice, Erin McRae [primary phonics .txt] 📗

The thought was, somehow, comforting, even though Zack still had no idea what they were doing. The cold air that whipped across his face and made him wish he’d put on a scarf before getting off the plane made it somehow easier to breathe more deeply.

Aaron turned to say goodbye to Stephanie the pilot. “Say hi to Sue and the girls for me, yeah?”

“Of course.” Stephanie pulled him into a warm hug. “Say hi to your folks for us, too.” She offered Zack a hand, which he shook on autopilot, and gave them both a cheery wave before turning to deal with something on the plane.

“You with me?” Aaron asked quietly.

“Barely,” Zack said. He felt queasy as his brain and his body tried to catch up with each other and also solid land.

“Okay. That’s the war of 1812 monument,” Aaron said pointing at the ridiculous Doric column that Zack had noticed from the air. He spun around. “That way is where the tourists go and my parents’ restaurant.” He jerked a thumb to one side. “Nature preserve... Canada is over there. America is back there.”

“Where’s home?” Zack asked.

“That way. Across the ice. See the island with the weird ruined castle looking thing?” Aaron said.

“Yeah? You didn’t tell me you have a castle.”

Aaron shook his head. “We don’t. We’re on an island behind that island.”

Apparently Zack had misjudged the size of the chip on Aaron’s shoulder about this place. Everything was, he was quite sure, about to get very weird. And he couldn’t wait.

Aaron led Zack the short distance to the little trailer and held the door for him. Once they got inside Aaron waved at someone; it took Zack’s eyes a moment to adjust but when they did, he could make out two figures, bundled up in coats and hats even inside. Zack couldn't blame them.

Aaron launched himself at the larger of the two and got a bear hug in return; Aaron’s father, Zack assumed. He held Aaron tight, his eyes closed. Zack wondered, wistfully, what it was like to have a family that welcomed you back like this. Even when he and his family had been on speaking terms, he’d never had a moment like this.

His gaze fell on the other person who had come to meet them, who had to be Aaron’s twin. Same cheekbones and sharp chin, same curly brown hair, though hers was longer; a braid trailed over her shoulder. And the same warm brown eyes, although hers were narrowed at him right now, clearly calculating.

Aaron’s father finally let him go and stepped forward to shake Zack’s hand, but then he pulled him in for a hug too, one of those one-armed ones the guys on the hockey team sometimes exchanged.

“Glad you boys made it,” Aaron’s dad said warmly, as if Zack were some lifelong friend of Aaron’s returning to the island for the hundredth time.

“Thanks for having me,” Zack said sincerely.

“Of course. Now. Zack,” Mr. Sheftall said, leading gesturing toward the door of the airport that led out to a snow-covered parking lot. “Have you ever been on a snowmobile?”

Zack had, in fact, never been on a snowmobile. He considered volunteering his past in various war zones as if his once-upon-a-time vague competence in one type of extreme environment translated to the same in another, but he knew—and he was sure these people also knew—that it did not. Instead, he stood around feeling useless while Aaron helped his father and sister secure their luggage on two different vehicles parked in the lot.

“You’re with me,” Ari told Zack, the first she’d spoken to him. She handed him a helmet.

“Okay?” Zack said, but he couldn’t help throwing a questioning glance at Aaron.

“Weight limits,” Aaron said, matter-of-factly, settling in on the other snowmobile behind his dad. He pulled on his own helmet. “Just hold on, and you’ll be fine.”

AFTER THE WHOLE thing with the plane, Zack was not anticipating enjoying a snowmobile ride across a frozen lake to a speck of an island. And yet, as the two snowmobiles raced out onto the vast expanse of ice, Zack felt his unease melt away. There were no sounds other than the engines, and no people other than the four of them. It was all so bizarre and delightful that Zack didn’t even have brain space left to feel awkward about the fact that he was clinging to Aaron’s sister.

This was, frankly, too damn much fun. Zooming across the blindingly-white landscape reminded him of adventure, the kind he thought he’d have back when he was a kid and dreaming of being an adult who could do whatever he wanted anywhere in the wide, wide world. Zack whooped when the snowmobile hit a bump, sending up a shower of snow. Ari glanced back over her shoulder at him, and while he couldn’t make out her face through the visor of her helmet, he was pretty sure she was smiling too.

THE SENSE OF ADVENTURE didn’t fade when they finally reached Aaron’s family’s house, a low, snug-looking building tucked between a sheltering rock face on one side and a bunch of evergreens which effectively encircled it. The side of the house facing the lake had the best view, but the smallest windows, presumably to block the effects of the wind from the water. Smoke rose invitingly from a chimney.

Aaron grazed his fingers over the mezuzah on the door post as his mother greeted them, and there was another round of greetings and hugs in which Zack was included as if he was a lifelong friend.

“Let me show you your room,” Aaron said once they’d shed their coats and boots.

He led the way through the kitchen, down a flight of wooden steps that creaked pleasantly, and through a door that stuck so stubbornly he had to lean into it with his shoulder to get it open. The room itself was pleasantly bright, with light coming in from the windows high up