Chapter 30 Frozen
Sienna
Fuckkkkk. I screamed it in my head, over and over, until the word lost all meaning. No one—not even a supernatural being—could recover from this level of secondhand embarrassment. I wanted to dissolve into the floorboards, but I forced my face to stay frozen in a mask of "cool" as I kept walking beside him.
“Of course. I was referring to the travel,” I blurted out, my voice sounding like a dying bird. “The scenery felt... good. And my butt doesn’t hurt as much from all the sitting. Because of the car.”
My butt? Really, Sienna? Nice one. Why don't you just hand him a map of your dignity while you're at it?
Sev didn't even argue. He just let out another one of those low, smooth chuckles that made me want to punch him and kiss him at the same time.
I didn’t say another word through the entire lunch. I couldn't. Every time I looked at a piece of chicken, I just heard myself saying It felt good, obviously in my head. I didn’t even taste the food; I just chewed on my own mortification.
“It felt good? IT FELT GOOD?!” I hissed at my reflection the second I got back to my room. I’d basically sprinted away from the table. I officially planned to lock myself in until graduation, or maybe until I died of shame. Whichever came first.
I actually managed to stay hidden until the next morning. By then, my stomach was growling so loud it was starting to sound like a wolf shift. I was starving, and I was praying to the Goddess that the breakfast at this inn was better than the lunch I’d choked down yesterday.
I was walking toward the front desk to find the dining hall when someone slammed into me from behind.
“Hey!” I yelled, spinning around.
It was the kid from yesterday—Rice. She didn't even apologize, just giggled and bolted straight out the front doors into the biting wind.
I gasped, my heart dropping. “Wait!” I started to follow her, but the woman at the desk stepped out, looking worried.
“Ma’am, please. The storm is starting. You need to stay inside.” She was already moving to bolt the heavy wooden doors.
“But the kid just ran out there!” I argued, pointing at the white-out conditions beginning to swallow the porch.
“Rice is used to the cold, ma’am. She’s probably found shelter.”
“Probably?” I felt a stress twitch start under my eye. This wasn't some drama; this was a kid about to turn into a literal popsicle. “Don’t you dare lock that door yet. Wait for me.”
I sprinted back to my room, grabbed my heaviest gear, and threw it on.
“Sienna?” a soft, annoying voice called out in the hall. It was Elizabeth, looking like a literal angel even in winter wear. “Where are you going?”
“That kid just ran into a blizzard. I’m going after her,” I said, not even slowing down as I pushed past her.
“Wait! I’m coming with you!”
“No, stay here,” I snapped. I didn't want to play babysitter to the pack's golden girl while I was trying to save a thieving orphan. But she had that stubborn, "good girl" look on her face. Fine. “Whatever. Just keep up.”
The woman at the desk looked like she wanted to tackle us. “Ma’am, this is a mistake!”
“We’ll be fast!” I yelled back.
The second we stepped outside, the wind tried to rip my breath away. It was a wall of white and ice. Elizabeth and I trudged through the rising drifts, our voices getting drowned out the second we opened our mouths.
“Rice!” we screamed, but the wind just threw the name back at us.
The cold started seeping through my layers, biting at my skin. My face felt numb, and I couldn't tell if we’d been out for five minutes or an hour. Shit. This was a disaster.
Why did I think I could play hero against a storm?
“We have to go back!” Elizabeth shouted, her voice thin against the howling wind. “Sienna, it’s getting too strong!”
She was right. I turned around to head for the inn, but my heart stopped. There was no inn. There were no tracks. Everything was just a flat, blinding sheet of white.
“This way!” I yelled, spotting a dark shape through the haze—a small cottage.
We hammered on the door until it swung open, revealing an older woman who looked at us like we were insane. “Goddess, you’re freezing! Get in here!”
She practically dragged us toward the fireplace. “Where are we?” I asked, shivering so hard my teeth were rattling.
“The Southern area,” she said, wrapping us in heavy, scratchy wool coats. “You walked right into the heart of the storm.”
“We’re looking for a child named Rice. She’s out there alone,” I said, looking toward the window.
The woman actually chuckled, shaking her head as she set two bowls of soup in front of us. “I take that you’re visitors. That child is more capable than the both of you put together. She knows these woods better than anyone does. She doesn’t want saving, and she certainly doesn’t need it.”
She sighed, giving us a pitying look. “You’ve only endangered yourselves for nothing.”
“We didn't realize we’d... walked so far,” Elizabeth murmured, looking down at her soup.
“Stay here until it passes,” the lady said as the house began to groan under the wind. “Rest.”
Between the warmth of the fire and the exhaustion of fighting the snow, I felt my eyes getting heavy.
I drifted off, the "evil" thought I’d had yesterday about Elizabeth echoing in the back of my mind. Be careful what you wish for, Sienna.
I woke up to Elizabeth nudging my shoulder. “Sienna, the wind stopped. We should go before the others lose their minds worrying.”
I nodded, my joints feeling stiff and sore. We thanked the lady for the soup and stepped back out. The world was eerily quiet now, but the snow was up to our knees, making every step feel like a marathon.
“Be careful of the snow trenches!” the lady shouted from the doorway.
“Will do!” we called back.
The town was finally visible in the distance, the lights flickering like tiny stars. I could almost taste the hot chocolate I was going to demand the second we got back.
“I guess Rice really was fine,” Elizabeth said, her breath fogging in the air. “I hope Basti isn't too angry. I bet he's been so worried about us, and—”
Suddenly, the world went sideways.
Elizabeth let out a sharp, terrified scream.
I spun around just in time to see the ground literally vanish beneath her. My heart stopped. I watched, paralyzed, as she fell into a deep, hidden hole in the snow. I heard a sickening, muffled thud as she hit the bottom.
“Shit. Shit! Elizabeth!” I yelled, scrambling toward the edge.
I looked down into the trench. She was lying there, twisted and still, a dark smear of blood blooming against the white snow on her forehead. She was out cold.