Creatures of Snow Read Online Free Page A

your passes.” He put out his hands
towards the two stunned looking boys at his side.
    “B-but, Master Zeph,” The
taller one stuttered, “How will we-”
    Zeph simply raised a hand
to shut him up. “You’ll be with us, genius. No one will stop or
question you.” He seized the badges from their hands and promptly
held them out towards Sky and Al. “I would be honored if you two
would attend as well.” He said with a slight bow. “I am quite
certain you will find it very interesting.” There was no mistaking
the mischief behind his smile.
    Sky grabbed the two badges without even
thinking. He would be an idiot not to take an opportunity to get a
glimpse inside REALM.
    “Well, I’m off.” Zeph
turned, and before Sky could blink, he and his gang of grays were
quickly swallowed up by the masses.
    “ Are you snapped?!” Al
cursed and snatched one of the badges from his hand.
    “ What?” Sky shrugged,
“Don’t tell me you don’t want to see what all this fuss is
about?”
    “You must think I’ve had a
lapse in sanity! You think I’m going to march right in there, just
because Professor Crazy said we should?” Al already had it pinned
neatly to the left side pocket of his shirt.
    “ But you’ll do it for the
sake of science and adventure, right?”
    “Right. For science.” Al
nodded, as he meticulously adjusted the badge on his shirt, until
it sat at a perfect right angle, in the exact center of his pocket.
He ran a finger quickly over the shiny, raised lettering, but
paused when he got to the title of his fake I.D., “TLD, what’s
that?”
    Sky had no idea. “Tiny Limber Dancers? The
Love Doctors?...No, those don’t sound like jobs at all…“
    “ Sky,“ Al cocked his head
to the right, his telltale sign of annoyance.
    “Well, whatever it means,
it means we get in and that’s what’s important.” Sky charged ahead
towards the massive building. “Geeze…you were right.” He paused,
looking up towards the building. “That is a lot of stairs.”
    “ Only those truly
dedicated to entering would journey beyond this point.” Al nodded
soulfully beside him.
    He had to agree, it was a bit excessive that
any building would require climbing the equivalent of half a mile
of stairs to gain something as simple as getting through the front
door. “Do you think they would notice if we took the conveyers?” He
pointed over to the snail-paced loading ramps to either side of the
steps.
    Al actually looked to consider it for a
moment, then smiled, “Come on.”
    Sky gave a determined nod. “Right.”

Chapter Four
     
     
    Without any more
reservation Sky and Al began there ascent up the stairs towards the
entrance to REALM. Oddly enough, they were at the top before they
knew it. It must have been thanks to the nature of REALM. Sky knew
that time and space didn’t play by the same rules on the inside,
but as he looked down the incredible incline of stairs that they
had seemingly scaled in seconds, he realized, it must have extended
beyond the doors as well.
    The landing that stretched
out before the large steel plated doors wasn’t exactly what he had
been expecting either. Somehow he had always imagined some sort of
grand entrance with stone pillars, statues, maybe a plant. But
there wasn’t anything, not even a guard to sneak past. Just the
metal doors that silently swooshed open as they approached. He felt
the slightest hint of hesitation, but didn’t have time to stop as
Al charged on ahead without any vacillation.
    Sky did a downright poor
job of disguising his inhale of shock behind a forced cough as they
found themselves surrounded by commotion in the lobby. It was
bustling with hundreds of men and woman; those who weren’t dressed
in neatly-tailored, neutral suits were in bright white lab coats -
leaving the two boys in their rumpled street clothes painfully
underdressed.
    “I uh...” Al began in a
low voice, “I don’t think we belong here. “ He concluded after a
glance around at the