Hello! As you see in the title, YOU DID IT! Thank you guys! No, I did not forget what I said, just that pesky thing called “life” happened again and dragged me away from my blog for a bit.
Really quickly: “Ice” is still only £.99 on Amazon.co.uk! TODAY IS THE LAST DAY…so get it! 
Wow, I’m really caps-y today. Sorry; everything seems like a big deal to me in this post.
Anywho! Here is the interesting tid-bit I told you guys about. First a little information about it so you understand what the heck you’re reading:
I had started writing the chapters that covered Christine’s birthday and I was thinking, “What on earth would Kavick get her?!”
I was kind of freaking out because I had no idea. Naturally, I had to think like him.
Then I realized he would think, “What on earth am I going to get her?!”
No wonder I was stumped! He would have to ask someone for help, and who other than Anana, one of his closest childhood friends? So, when I wrote this scene, I knew it would never be in the book, but I needed to know how Kavick came to his decision on Christine’s gift, and I had this little idea in the back of my head that maybe I could publish a second “Ice” book (I had thought there wasn’t going to be a sequel back then) and it could be told from the perspective of the Wolf-People, being specifically Kavick, Tartok, Anana, and Suka. It would be their lives, leading up and through “Ice”. If you guys like that idea, let me know by commenting below.
Note: as I’ve mentioned before, spelling errors are many, and some things are different than in the published novel
Copyright © 2011 Elissa Len Lewallen
“What is that?” Anana asked in her small monotone. It didn’t even sound like a question when she said it. Questions always sounded like statements when they came out of her mouth. She was crouched on the floor looking at the item Kavick was savagely wrapping with newspaper and packaging tape, tearing a long strip with his teeth. After he patted the tape into place, he sat up straight and examined it, sitting Indian style on the floor.
“It’s a gift,” he said like he was wondering why she had to ask. He then looked at Anana, realizing that if she had to ask, that was a problem….
He looked back down at it and growled in frustration, ripping the newspaper off.
“What are you giving her?”
When he had it completely unwrapped she moved her head a little closer. There she saw an old rumpled red sweater folded loosely, nestled in the center of the nest of newspaper.
He looked to Anana again, looking worried. “I don’t know what to give her. Do you think she’ll like it?”
“What is it?”
“One of my mom’s sweaters. It’s the only female thing I have,” he said, holding it up to debate over his choice of gift again. He laid it back down on the newspaper, noticing it was pilling. “I can’t give her that,” he groaned helplessly as he dropped his face into his hands.
“Well, I think it’s nice, but is it really appropriate for you to give your friend your mother’s clothes?”
He kept his face in his hands. “Probably not,” he said in a muffled voice.
“Shouldn’t you give her something that means something to both of you?”
“Yeah,” he said in the same hopeless, muffled voice. He then removed his face from his hands, but kept his head low, looking up at the gray haired girl. “I can’t afford to by her jewelry….”
“It doesn’t have to be jewelry.”
“What do you give a girl then? I can’t afford to buy her much of anything….”
“Think about what you give me every year.”
He his eyes went up to the ceiling at he thought for a moment. His eyes then moved back to hers. “A frog?” he asked puzzled.
“That was when we were five.”
He thought again. “A rock?”
“That wasn’t exactly what I was thinking of either, but it’s not bad. You got that rock from the lake we always played at in the summer time. I had so much fun, and every time I look at the rock I remember how much fun we had.”
He looked a little more enlightened, but still worried. “I don’t have a rock to give her, though.”
She shifted her legs around from under her and stood up. “C’mon. I still don’t think you’re getting it.”
He looked up at her. “Where are we going?” he still sounded helpless.
“To my house since you can’t remember the other things you’ve given me.”
He stood up, his faded jeans wrinkled and torn in one knee. He was wearing a gray under shirt in the house, so he grabbed his coat and bear fur on his way out. Anana still had her coat on, so she just gave it a quick zip as she walked down the old, creaking steps where the white paint was peeling off the wood. Kavick didn’t bother locking the door, simply pulling it closed behind him. They tread through the snow and through the trees a few minutes before they emerged on the Miller’s property. The house wasn’t much different on the outside with white peeling paint, but it had gray trim and a second story. She unlocked the door from a little key under the snowy rug on the porch and he followed her in. The house was quiet and empty with no lights on. She headed for the hall and kept walking until they reached her room at the end. Kavick had been in there multiple times over the years so it wasn’t a new sight to him, but it looked a little different than he remembered, haven’t being in there for the last six months or so. There were less stuffed bears and no posters on the walls. It seemed quite bare compared to what he remembered. She walked over to her chest of drawers and pulled out a box. In the box was a very flat, folded piece of paper and a leather key ring he immediately recognized. His eyes widened in realization as she held it up from the metal ring. It was made of brown braided leather strips that hung down to grasp a smooth grayish pink stone that nearly matched her gray and red hair. “See? This is what I’m talking about. You gave it to me last year…”
“…because you had just learned how to drive,” he said, finally sounding optimistic.
The corners of her mouth turned up slightly. “You get it now.”
As she placed it back into the little wooden box of trinkets, her hand bumped the paper and a shriveled purple flower fell out. “Oh!” she gasped in a tiny voice.
Kavick carefully picked it up and held it out for her. “Who gave you this?” he asked puzzled, unable to remember anyone giving her such a little flower, or any flower for that matter.
She stared at it, hesitating to answer. For a moment Kavick wondered if she was going to answer at all. He saw how her face became somber and her eyebrows moved downward as if it were a struggle for her to answer. Kavick was completely caught off guard by this and was concerned by the change in her.
“Hey…are you okay? I didn’t mean to…”
She sniffed and wiped her eyes before the tears could leave her lashes. She still wouldn’t look up at him, though. “Tupit…”
Kavick looked at the flower in shock.
“Tupit gave it to me a week before…it…” She sniffed again and wiped her nose, unable to finish the sentence.
Kavick still stared at it in wonder. I never knew…
“We were walking along a cliff over some rocks…we came to a patch of grass that was full of these flowers…he gave one to me.”
She finally looked up at him, clearly knowing that he understood what it meant. Just as she her resolve was starting to crumble again he wrapped his arms around her in a warm hug. “I’m so sorry, Anana. I never knew.”
“I know,” she hiccupped. “I don’t think anyone did.”
Okay, so Kavick realized after this, “Hey! I can afford jewelry!” when he was working at the O’Connell’s shop one day, and c’mon. Kavick loves Christine, so even if he doesn’t have much money, he’s going to make it happen. Fortunately, the jewelry in the O’Connell’s shop isn’t expensive, either. It’s just a little gift shop.
Thank you guys again for your awesome support! And if you haven’t read “Ice” you can buy it here, on Amazon. And there’s the trailer below.
Talk to you later!
-EL
