Chapter 86
Ellie's POV
Ryan had been walking with Jake along the lake path—probably heading back from their morning workout. One second he was upright. The next, he was flat on his back in the snow, only his legs visible, the rest of him buried under the demolished remains of Lily's "masterpiece."
Silence.
Then Jake's laughter shattered the quiet—loud, uncontrolled, borderline hysterical. He'd dropped his gym bag and pulled out his phone, already recording.
"OH MY GOD!" Lily's hands flew to her mouth, eyes huge. "RYAN! Are you okay?! I'm so sorry! That wasn't—I didn't mean—"
She took off running toward him, and we all followed, scrambling across the snow. By the time we reached him, Ryan's legs were kicking weakly, like an upended turtle trying to right itself.
"Ryan?" Lily dropped to her knees beside him, frantically brushing snow away from his face. "Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead. I cannot explain to campus police how I accidentally committed manslaughter via snowball."
His face emerged—covered in snow, dark hair plastered to his forehead, eyelashes sparkling with ice crystals. He blinked up at us, dazed.
Then he started laughing.
"Holy shit," he wheezed, sitting up with Lily's help. "What the hell did you throw? A missile?"
"I am so sorry!" Lily was still brushing snow off his jacket, his shoulders, his hair, talking rapid-fire. "It was supposed to hit Ellie, but she dodged, and you were just—you were right there, and I swear I didn't see you—"
"Lily." Ryan caught her hands, still grinning. "I'm fine. Just... maybe warn me next time you're launching weapons of mass destruction?"
Their hands stayed linked for a beat longer than necessary. Lily's cheeks flushed pink—and not just from the cold.
Interesting, Thalia murmured.
Jake was still filming, shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter. "This is going on the group chat. No way am I deleting this."
"Don't you dare," Ryan warned, but there was no heat in it. His attention was back on Lily, who looked torn between mortification and relief.
I glanced at Megan. Her expression was softer than I'd seen it all morning—like watching Lily panic over Ryan had reminded her that life wasn't entirely awful. There was even the ghost of a smile on her lips.
"Okay," I said, catching Megan's eye. "I think we should, uh... give them some space? Want to check out that area over there? I think I saw a good spot for a snowman."
"Subtle, Ellie. Real subtle," Jake called after us, but I just waved him off.
As we walked away, I heard Lily's flustered voice: "Your nose is all red. Does it hurt? Should we get ice? Wait, that's stupid, we're surrounded by ice—snow—you know what I mean—"
And Ryan's soft reply: "Lily. Breathe. I'm okay. Promise."
Megan looped her arm through mine as we walked. "That was smooth coordination back there."
"I have no idea what you mean."
"Sure you don't." She looked back at Lily and Ryan, something almost wistful crossing her face. "They're cute together."
"Yeah," I agreed. "They are."
We found a spot with pristine snow and started rolling the base for a snowman. Megan worked quietly beside me, and I didn't push for conversation. Just let her be. Let her process whatever she needed to process in her own time.
After a few minutes, she said softly, "You know what Lily told me this morning? At breakfast?"
I looked up. "What?"
"She said her mom used to tell her that sometimes you have to shake off bad feelings. Literally shake them off." Megan's hands stilled on the snowball she was shaping. "I thought it was silly when she said it. But out here, playing like idiots, laughing at Ryan getting destroyed by a snowball..." She paused. "It actually helped. A little bit."
Good, Thalia approved. Pack knows how to heal.
"I'm glad," I said simply.
"I'm not... I'm not okay yet," Megan continued, her voice barely above a whisper. "What they said about me online, the things they implied—it's not true. Not the way they made it sound. But explaining feels like..." She trailed off.
"You don't have to explain anything," I told her firmly. "Not to us. Not to anyone. What matters is that you know the truth. And that the people who attacked you face consequences for it."
Megan was quiet for a long moment. Then: "Thank you. For believing me without needing the whole story."
"That's what friends do."
She smiled—small, but genuine. "Yeah. I guess it is."
In the distance, Jake's voice carried across the snow: "Jackson, dude! You gotta come see this video. Ryan just got destroyed—"
I looked up sharply. Jackson was here?
Sure enough, I spotted him near the lake path, gym bag slung over his shoulder, Jake showing him something on his phone. As if sensing my attention, Jackson looked up. Our eyes met across the snowy expanse.
He smiled—that quiet, knowing smile that made my heart do complicated things—and raised his hand in a small wave.
I waved back, feeling warmth spread through my chest despite the cold.
Mate, Thalia whispered, content. Good mate.
I wasn't ready to think about that word yet. Wasn't ready to examine what it meant that Jackson made me feel safe and seen and understood in ways I'd never experienced before. But watching him laugh with his friends, watching the easy way he existed in the world...
Maybe someday I'd be ready.
"Earth to Ellie," Megan teased gently. "You're staring."
"I am not," I protested, but I could feel my cheeks heating.
"Sure you're not." She grinned—the first real grin I'd seen from her since last night. "Come on. Let's finish this snowman before Lily and Ryan decide to rejoin us."
We worked together, building our snowman piece by piece. Megan found stones for eyes, a stick for a smile. I contributed my scarf for decoration.
When we stepped back to admire our work, it was decidedly lopsided, slightly melting on one side, but somehow perfect anyway.
"Not bad," Megan said.
"Not bad at all."
Lily's voice rang out across the snow: "Guys! Ryan says there's hot chocolate at the student center! And those good cookies—the chocolate chip ones that are always sold out!"
Megan looked at me, eyebrows raised. "Food?"
"Food," I agreed.
As we trudged back through the snow toward Lily and Ryan—who were still standing much closer together than strictly necessary—I felt something settle in my chest. Not everything was fixed. Megan was still healing. The people who'd attacked her online would still face whatever consequences the university decided. Life was still complicated and messy and sometimes cruel.
But right now, in this moment, we were okay.
Good day, Thalia approved, stretching contentedly inside me. Good pack. Good snow.
The sky was clearing, weak winter sunlight breaking through the clouds. The snow would probably melt by tomorrow, returning everything to normal, dead grass and concrete.
But right now, in this moment, everything felt clean. New. Like maybe we could all start fresh.
And that was enough.