"Some moments close before you're ready for them to."
He asked, "Himari."
She turned toward him.
"Do you know me?"
She set her food down beside her, slow and deliberate, like she needed both hands free for this. Her eyes were too open, too steady .. none of the half-distracted blinking from before. Around them, Leo was still mid-argument with Tyler about something irrelevant, the fire popping between sentences, nobody paying attention to the two of them at all.
"Yes." Low. Flat. Just for him. "I do."
She gave him a small smile. Her silver hair was catching the firelight, glowing the same color as the flames. Her eyes did the same.
She looked at him. Waiting to see what he'd do with it now that he had it.
But before he could answer ..,
"Pack your bags!" Sir Vane's voice cut sharp over the fire.
The three already standing by where the tent had been looked over — bags already in hand. The tent itself was gone; someone had packed it earlier without anyone noticing.
Everyone started moving at once.
She got up too. Picked up her foil-wrapped lunch, fast, tucked the leftover food back into her bag. Pulled her cape on. Picked her bag up properly.
The moment closed without either of them getting to finish it.
Don't think about it. Don't think about him right now.
Oh my god he asked. I'd spent so long preparing for that question, and the second it came I forgot every answer I'd rehearsed.
Move on. There are bigger problems waiting at home. So much happened in a single day . I don't even know where to start untangling it. If I walk in looking like this, what's my father going to say? My hands are injured, I have a headache, a fever, an injury on my leg. My muscles ache everywhere. I lost my bracelet — I can't face him without it. I need to find it before I get home, or at least buy a brown wig, or I won't even be able to walk through the door. And if Kiro took my book ...I need that back too. I'm suspicious of him.
Ahh ....she was too deep in her own thoughts, walking without paying attention to anything around her. The forest at night looked terrifying. They were outside the dome now, and without the moon the dark clouds made it worse. Only the magic globes gave any light. Judy and Kiro carried the fire lamps; everyone else relied on the faint glow of their own magic. They walked in a single file, each gripping the strap of the bag in front of them.
The marching order was fixed. Niel first. Sir Vane behind him. Then Himari. Then Liliana. Then Judi. Then Leo. Then Tyler. Then Kiro .. at the very end, furthest from her.
The cold was a different kind of cold out here. Not just weather. It settled into the bones, past the jacket, past the cape, into somewhere clothing couldn't reach. Himari thought — just give me a break
Then her bag jerked.
Liliana had slipped in the snow behind her, and the pull on the strap dragged Himari sideways too. She grabbed Sir Vane's pack on instinct ,but he was solid, immovable, didn't so much as stumble.
The whole line stopped.
"Hey, Lily you okay?" Leo's voice came too loud, cutting through the dark.
Judi gave him a flat look. "Can't you see?" already crouched, hauling Liliana up by the arm.
"Well," Leo said, "I can see exactly how much you're helping."
"Just pick Himari up," Tyler cut in. "It's too cold for this."
Himari was still struggling against the weight of her own bag, just as Liliana had been a moment ago, half-buried in snow, fighting to find her footing.
Then the weight on her back lifted slightly. A hand had caught her bag strap, taking just enough of the pull to help her find her footing. Sir Vane's hand came in front of her. She grabbed it and got up.
Behind her — Kiro. Already letting go of the strap like he hadn't done anything.
"Thanks," she started, but her voice got swallowed entirely under Leo, still wrestling dramatically with Liliana's bag.
"Lily, what do you even have in here? Bricks? Did you pack an entire building?"
It pulled a small smile out of almost everyone. Even in the dark, even in the cold. That was clearly the point.
"Everyone up." Niel's voice carried back from the front, low and certain. "Let's move. It's getting dangerous to stay here. We're almost down."
They fell back into line.
The snow started falling heavier as they walked, fat and fast, cutting visibility down to almost nothing. Only the faint glow of the magic globe up front and the small firesticks scattered through the line gave them anything to follow.
"Whoa," Leo's voice, hushed this time but still Leo. "This is the last thing I needed. It's already freezing."
"Leo." Tyler didn't look at him. "Lower your voice. Sir Vane and Sir Niel are right ahead."
Leo was about to add something else, already forming the words, and was clearly about to name Judi as well.
"Yes," Judi said flatly, before he finished. "I'm also here."
Tyler stopped. Looked at Leo.As Judi said, "Stop calling our names. You sound like you're taking attendance."
"And stop complaining," Liliana added. "You're not a child."
Leo made a sound. "Hmph. What a small rat we picked up for this mission."
"Who are you calling a rat?!" Liliana shot back. "And since when did you pick any of us"
"Shut your mouths."
Sir Vane's voice. Quiet. Not raised even slightly. But the kind of quiet that cuts through everything deeply, unmistakably, the voice of someone who has never once needed to shout.
"Unless you want to become a good meal for the wolves."
Silence.
Then Liliana's voice. Barely a breath.
"Oh crap."
Because there they were.
At the tree line ahead. Red eyes. Low to the ground. Blinking slowly in the dark.
One pair. Then another. Then more five, six, seven, all of them still, all of them watching.
The snow kept falling.
Nobody made a sound.
Niel's signal came without a word , just a single hand gesture, sharp and certain. Judi stepped out of the line first. Then Sir Vane. Then Niel. The three of them spread outward, forming a circle around the rest of the group without being told to.
The students understood immediately. Close in. Don't move.
Because the eyes were getting closer now. Slowly. One step at a time. Moving together.
Then Niel's eyes caught Leo already shifting his weight forward.
"Stop." His voice came low and cold. "Don't be foolish."
He didn't raise it. He didn't need to.
"Leo take Liliana and Tyler. Run left. Now." His gaze moved. "Himari. Kiro. Judi. Right side. Draw them. Lead them away. Sir Vane and I deal with whatever follows us." A pause. "When you see the flare and only when you see the flare, come to that side. Understood?"
He looked at all of them once.
"And don't use magic. That is my first and last warning. You want to invite something worse than wolves be my guest."
Nobody argued.
"Go."
She didn't even register what was happening before Kiro's hand closed around hers tight, almost crushing, her injured hand screaming under the grip, but there was no room to say it.
He was already running.
She had no choice but to move with him, half dragged through the snow, her feet barely finding the ground fast enough. On her other side, Judi had her other hand, both of them pulling her forward at a speed her body couldn't match on its own — the bag was too heavy, the snow was wrong, visibility was almost nothing as it fell heavier, the world reduced to white and dark, and the sound of something moving behind them.
"Judi."
Kiro's voice. Completely level despite the speed.
He held out the fire stick without breaking stride.
"Take this. Keep the light moving."
His free hand was already pulling the revolver from his side.
"I'm going to draw one of them"
"No." Judi's voice cut through, even and unhurried. "Niel handles them. We just need to get down the trail; we're already going the right direction. Follow me. Don't stop."
They ran. The trees blurring past, snow falling so thick now it swallowed everything more than a few feet ahead.
"Listen." Judi again, not even breathless. "When I say Himari, wind magic. Pull the snow down from those trees above us, as heavy as you can. Blanket them."
She understood immediately.
"Kiro right after. Ice magic. Whatever she brings down, you freeze it solid. Make it a wall."
A beat.
"Then I handle the rest. Don't ask questions. Just be ready when I call it."
"Judi." Her breathing was ragged, chest heaving, feet still moving. "I can't use much magic. Not here. We're still mid-forest, and I can't even see the trees clearly"
She didn't finish. Didn't need to.
Judi registered it immediately. One second of silence processing, recalculating.
"How much can you give me?"
Not arguing. Not panicking. Just how much? Working with what he had.
"I don't know, but if you give me a good tree, I can"
She stopped mid-sentence.
Her eyes went wide.
Right behind them. Close. Too close. The sound of paws in snow, fast and coordinated.
"Run FASTER"
"We ARE running as fast as we can—" Judi shot back.
"DAMMIT, they're almost on us"
"Himari." Judi's voice came sharp and fast. "Left side. The third tree the one loaded with snow. Be ready. Then fifth. Then seventh. Got it?"
She looked. Found them instantly through the dark.
"Kiro." He didn't turn his head. "Right after her freeze whatever she brings down. Make it solid."
The wolves were close enough now that she could hear them in the snow. Breathing. Moving together.
"Be ready."
One more second.
"NOW"
Judi let go of her hand.
Kiro snatched her forward, almost yanking her off her feet, and suddenly she was right behind him, closest to the first tree.
She threw her hands out mid-stride.
Wind hard and fast, everything she had in one second , it hit the branches above, and the snow came down in a heavy wall. Her eyes flickered. Pain bloomed sharply in her chest.
Nobody saw.
"Fifth tree GO—"
She ran. Judi cleared the first wall just before it solidified, Kiro's ice magic slamming it firm behind them.
Then her legs gave.
Mid-run, heading for the seventh tree, the friction of using her magic twice catches up all at once , knees buckling, body just done
She still threw her hands out.
Still hit it.
She hit the snow hard. But before she registered it, the weight of her bag was gone, yanked off her shoulder.
Kiro already had her up. He grabbed her bag strap, took just enough of the weight to get her moving, and kept running. "Same as before, left side"
She did it. Wind. Snow. The pain is sharper this time.
Judi caught both bags without being asked. "Right side"
She did that too.
Then Kiro lifted her properly, piggyback, her weight fully on him , and kept moving like she weighed nothing.
"Bags," Judi said flatly, already carrying everything. "Run faster."
She couldn't complain. This was not the situation.
But then she felt it the cold creeping in wrong. Deeper than the weather. Spreading from her chest outward with every second. Her fingers are going numb. And then
Something warm on her upper lip.
Blood. From her nose.
In this cold. In this snow. That was bad.
She couldn't track what was happening around her anymore.
The voices, Kiro, Judi, the sound of the chase, all of it blurring together into something she couldn't separate or hold onto. Her vision was going at the edges, soft and white like the snow falling around her.
All she knew was
Ahh. My body hurts.
I can't feel my hands anymore.
And then the trees are thinning. The trail opening. The road just ahead, lights cutting through the dark.
Almost there.
That was the last thing she registered before everything went quiet.
Behind them, the other side wasn't going any smoother.
Leo and Tyler had sent Liliana ahead as the first runner, fastest, clearest path, and stayed back with their weapons. Tyler stopped Leo from using his fire magic, knowing what it would attract. But the wolves didn't come straight at them.
They flanked.
Left and left again, the herd splitting and curving, herding them instead of chasing , and Liliana, already ahead, looked back and screamed.
One second.
That scream was the only reason they weren't a meal.
Tyler took a bite anyway. Leo got there fast enough to pull him free, but not fast enough to stop it entirely. The wolves pulled back at the scream just enough, and then Niel and Sir Vane arrived from the trail end, clean and fast, finishing what needed finishing.
Niel saw Judi first.
Moving too fast. Double bags. Something was wrong in the way he was running, too urgent for someone who had everything under control.
Then Kiro is behind him.
Then Himari.
Head dropped against Kiro's shoulder. Arms hanging wrong. Still, in a way that had nothing to do with sleep or exhaustion.
The Niel who had shot every wolf clean and cold without blinking, that Niel walked faster without deciding to.
Judi hit the vehicle doors hard, wrenching them open. "Kiro, get her in fast," not quite shouting but close. "Everyone inside. We need to move NOW"
But Niel was already there before either of them.
"What happened?" Flat. Not a question. Eyes only on her.
Kiro said nothing.
Niel reached for her hand.
Stopped.
Ice. Not cold like the night was cold. Ice was like something that had been losing heat for a long time and had almost finished.
His face didn't move.
But something behind it did.
Nobody said anything.
Everyone piled in fast, Sir Vane taking the wheel without being asked, engine already running. In the back, two separate problems on two sides.
Kiro sat with Himari, rubbing her hands between his, fast and steady, trying to push warmth back into fingers that felt like they'd never had any. Judi on her other side, doing the same no sarcasm, no commentary, just working.
She kept getting colder.
On Tyler's side, Leo's hands were pressed firmly against the bandage on Tyler's arm where the bite had torn through. Tyler's face was tight, jaw set, not making a sound, but the color had left him completely.
The vehicle moved.
Snow is hitting the windows.
Nobody spoke.
From the front, Niel's voice cut through the silence low, already on his device.
"Be ready. Open the gates. Two injured, one critical. Mana overuse."
A pause. Someone is responding on the other end.
"I don't care. Have medical on standby. Now."
He didn't turn around.
But everyone in the back heard it.
One critical.
Kiro's hands didn't stop moving, still rubbing warmth into hers, steady, not looking up. Judi said nothing. Leo's grip on Tyler's bandage tightened slightly.
The vehicle moved faster.
She didn't understand what they were saying.
The voices were too blurred, the words not landing anywhere she could hold them.
Then her neck.
Sharp. The sharpest thing she had felt all night. The seal, flickering, sending pain through her like something electric and wrong.
Her eyes opened.
Just barely. Just for a second.
Someone tapping her cheek. Fast. Urgent. She couldn't see the face clearly, just light and dark and the blur of someone very close.
Then a voice.
"Hima"
Low. Familiar. Frightened in a way she had never heard from that voice before.
She couldn't place it.
She tried.
Then everything went quiet again.