Long Way Down Epilogue
Title : Long Way Down : Epilogue : Home for Christmas
The wolf padded softly up the snowy slope, tentatively picking its way through the scattered boulders.
The sun was shining fiercely but the warmth did not penetrate the thin mountain air, and the beast’s breath swirled in fragile tendrils around the computer disk clamped tightly in its jaws.
The footfalls and breathing were all but noiseless, yet still managed to create a cacophony within the desolate mountain range. Surely he could hear everything but, for once, stealth mattered little.
Cresting a steep incline, the wolf paused briefly to examine the surroundings before advancing across the plateau. It stopped at a sharp cliff face and sniffed at the cold rock. After one last scan of the area, the wolf turned and walked through the wall.
“Please, my dear Mystique, you wound me. Do you truly think I would ask you here, my ally, only to let you be ambushed?”
“Yes,” she answered coldly, removing the disk from her mouth as she rose.
He grinned at her reply, but made no move to defend his honor. Instead he beckoned her closer with a jerk of his head and held his hand out expectantly. Mystique stared him levelly in the eye, and whipped the disk violently at his face. Without breaking their gaze, Sinister held his hand out and caught it, the corner of his mouth twitching when he saw annoyance flash across Mystique’s hard features.
Without another word, the shapeshifter turned on her heel and strode brusquely for the exit.
“By the way,” Sinister said companionably, as though Mystique were not blatantly trying to quit his company, “how is your daughter?”
“She is safe,” the woman replied flatly, not turning around. When it was clear there would be no more questions, she continued forward into the chill of the evening.
Sinister stood alone in the cave for a time, turning the plastic disk around in hands as though he could see the maps it contained if only he stared at it long enough. As the cave began to grow dark, he shifted his gaze to the dying fire. A twisted smile spread across his face as he rose and began to mumble the words of an old song.
“Later on, we’ll conspire, as we dream by the fire…”
He snuffed the last embers out with his boot and walked out into the night as he hummed.
“Walking in a winter wonderland.”