Young Writers Society

Rain felt the chill on her nose, putting her in a bad mood the literal instant she woke up. Why was it so cold in here? She hated it. She also hated that her body had no ability to thermoregulate whatsoever. She'd run her spaceheater until it was positively toasty in her room before bed, so it wasn't as cold in here as it was elsewhere in the town, and she sort of assumed it was her own body playing tricks.

She had a little electric thermometer in the corner of her room to check herself, since sometimes she was burning up and it was like 68 and then there were other days that she felt like she was freezing to death and it was like 73. And, invariably, if she tried to raise or lower the temperature based on how she was feeling, within about twenty minutes the truth would catch up, and it was often a mistake. So she tried to keep the thermometer at a solid 72 -- if she felt cold at that point she'd just pile on a blanket, and if she felt hot then she'd put on skimpier clothes. And, generally, she'd go back to feeling neutral before too long.

She felt like she was frozen clear through, which probably meant it was like mid-sixties since she was a complete wimp, and she cracked an eye open to look at the thermometer, but it was dead. She reached for her phone, and saw that it wasn't charging and also was no longer streaming Spotify. The power must be out, taking the WiFi with it.

Whatever.

That was future-Rain's problem.

She flicked her phone to low-power mode even though it was at 93% since she'd been charging it while watching TikTok before bed -- just to keep the power as conserved as possible. Then she burrowed under the blankets with a pissy huff, mummifying herself until there was just a single narrow channel directly in front of her nose to breathe out of, squeezing her eyes closed tightly and willing herself to stop shivering so she could go back to sleep.

It felt like she'd only just fallen asleep again -- although in reality I'd been near half an hour by now -- when there was a loud knock on her door. She sighed deeply. She lived alone. On purpose. She lived alone on purpose so that the only problems she'd have were her own. But no. Now problems were knocking on her door in the middle of the night.

The knock came again.

Rain sighed again and rolled out of bed, taking the blankets around her as she shoved her feet into her slippers and sulked to the door. She pulled the door open. Lia was shivering on her doorstep, teeth chattering. A gust of wind crashed into them, further chilling Rain's flat, and she huffed angrily and stepped back so Lia could shuffle in.

"I'm out of power too," Rain muttered, shutting the door behind her as she turned towards her baby sister.

Lia nodded vigorously, brow furrowed, but she looked miserable.

"You're welcome to stay," Rain said, starting back towards her bedroom. "Dunno if it's any warmer here though than it is there."

"Um..."

Rain sighed, turning back towards her tiredly. "Mom?"

Lia nodded. "She told me to come get you, and Dad told me not to, but, well..."

Rain nodded. "Alright. Is he too dumb to work the generator? Again?"

"Yeah..."

Rain walked back to her room, leaving the door open as she piled on all her outside clothes, grabbing a few instant hand warmers. She slid one in each glove and down her shirt, then tossed a few more at Lia and gestured for her to use them, too. She dumped more into her pocket and grabbed her battery-powered lantern, then walked outside.

It wasn't a far walk to their parents' house, and they made it in more or less silence, both absolutely miserable by how cold and dark and late it was. Rain sourly walked in first and down the stairs to the basement.

Her dad looked up, face twisting into a sneer as he saw her, then looked past her at where Lia was following her downstairs. "I told you not to get her."

"Good to see you, too," Rain said flatly, shouldering past him to get to the generator.

He grabbed at her arm, trying to yank her backward as he snarled, "I don't need you."

"You clearly do," she spat, ripping her hand free as she set the lantern on top of the generator and adjusted the choke, hoping he hadn't completely drowned the transmission yet. "Otherwise my mom and baby sister wouldn't be sitting in the cold right now. Or is it one of those days you're being incompetent for funsies?"

"I swear to god--"

"Better swear loud," she said obnoxiously loudly, yanking on the cord. "'Cause I don't think Cheva remembers us anymore. Maybe if you're a big enough of an attention-whore she'll come back and give us warmth."

"Rain..." her mom chided.

Rain looked up, just now noticing her standing in the corner. "Oh, hi, Mommy. I'm so very glad to see Daddy is keeping you safe and warm and not needing me whatsoever."

"Bitch," Dad muttered.

"Takes one to know one." Rain cranked the generator again, and this time it came spluttering on. She fiddled with the controls until she was satisfied it was running how it needed to be, then got it connected to the correct ports to warm their house and keep their fridge running, though she supposed that would be the least of their worries on a night this cold.

"Thank you, honey," Mom said, stepping forward to give her a hug.

"Of course." Rain offered a weak smile and a half-hearted hug, then gave her mom the rest of the handwarmers that she'd brought along. She started up the stairs again.

"Where are you going?" Mom called after her.

"Home."

"Rain!" she chided. "It's freezing cold -- below freezing! Isn't your power off, too?"

"Yep." Rain shoved her feet back in her boots and grabbed the heaviest coat that she'd left by the door.

"You don't have a generator!"

"Nope." Rain yanked the coat on, putting her hand on the door.

"Guess Rain will finally get as icy as her heart," Dad muttered, walking upstairs as well and going to open some of the vents to circulate the heat.

"I aim to please." Rain yanked the door open.

"Rain!" Mom chided again. "Don't go, please. Stay here where it's warm. This is madness."

"Meh." Rain turned away and started back towards her condo, ignoring her mom's pleas to come back. She'd rather be cold than spend another moment in the same house as that bastard. She'd already had dinner with them this week -- that had made her reach her limit of how much of her dad she could tolerate. She'd just pull another blanket out of her closet.

And, well, if she froze to death, at least she wouldn't have to grade the midterms.

She looked up as she saw a flash of motion, but couldn't quite tell what she was seeing in the darkness.

She could hear jingling, and what sounded like dogs panting. Pulling a sled over the inches of snow.

"Woah!"

It sounded like Lake, and suddenly a dog sled was slowing up beside Rain, with Lake driving it.

"Rain! Hey, I was looking for you. You weren't home. You okay?"

"I'm fine," Rain muttered. "Power's out -- had to go help get Lia and Mom warm 'cause Dad's too dumb to work the generator. Going home now... why are you out? It's middle of the night, yo."

"Actually it's the middle of the morning if you think about it. It's like, 4am or something," Lake countered.

"... I am too cold for this," Rain announced, deciding she wasn't in the mood for word games, and started walking again.

"Hey, let me give you a ride," Lake said. "You'll get home faster!"

Rain glanced at her. "Yeah, sure, whatever. Thanks." She stepped towards her, awkwardly getting on the sled as well. "You never answered why you're here, tho. You need help too?"

"Nah, my fam's got the fire going again," Lake said. "They'll keep the house warm. Can't do nothin' 'bout the internet though. Bummer. But yeah, uh--"

She paused, shouting "Hike!" to the dogs. They started pulling, and the sled moved forward. Rain tensed, finding her balance.

"So you know that book Fish lent me, it was actually pretty interesting," Lake started. "A lot of it I already knew but like, the map and everything was more detailed than I've ever seen. I think it's legit. And then I had like, this crazy intense dream and I think I had a spiritual awakening or something because I woke up with more sense of purpose than I have in like my whole life. Is that insane? It's a little insane. I know you're probably thinking that. But Rain, seriously, I've never had a dream that felt so terrifyingly real. It was about Cheva, and she needed my help."

She paused in her fast-paced explanation only for half a second.

"Well... our help," Lake said. "And it was more than just about her. It was about the whole town. All of us. Like the fate of everything was tied together. Cheva, Chevan. You, me. All of it."

Rain sighed. Was this a dream? It was sure a miserable one if so. And yet the characterization was too on the nose for that to be true. Her fighting with her dad. Mom enabling him. Lia getting caught in the middle. And now here was Lake with her rambles that it was entirely too early to be entertaining.

"Alright," Rain said tiredly. "And?"

"Fish has agreed to come," Lake said.

"What?" Rain snapped, jerking her head up. "Absolutely not. That's insane."

"We're going to go find Cheva, and I mean, I won't make you go, Rain, but I'm going whether you guys come or not," Lake said firmly. She seemed more convinced and resolute about this than Rain had ever seen her be about anything else.

"No one is going anywhere," Rain scoffed. Had she snuck a few of their beers? This was crazy-talk. "Except back to my place. And then we're gonna snuggle under the blankets and go back to sleep and you can dream of Cheva all you like."

"I'm really being serious, Rain," Lake said. "I'm going if you come along or not."

"Gee!" Lake shouted, and the dogs turned right in the snow-covered street.

"This is insane," Rain repeated.

"I knew you'd say that," Lake said with a sigh. "Still wanted to try though."

Rain sighed, seeing Lake's utter disappointment and feeling like a jerk. It was like she'd just kicked Lake's puppy, rather than called her on her sheer, objective, insanity. "Fine. We'll talk about it. In the morning."

"I mean, Fish still has to talk to his dad, so I was going to wait 'til morning anyway," Lake said. "And I need to get more dog food."

"Good," Rain said. Hopefully Fish would realize how dumb of an idea this was. Or, at least, hopefully Fish's dad would. And maybe Lake would realize it herself. But she wasn't going to hold her breath. They were both idealists.

"Woah!" Lake said, drawing the sled to a slow stop. The dogs wagged their tails when Lake hopped off, and she reached into her pocket, running over to them to give them pets and treats.

She said "good boy" and "good girl" to every dog with each pat.

Rain hopped down, still in a pissy mood. "Did Cheva say what she wanted with a bunch of burnt-out gifted kids?"

Lake laughed, still smothering a dog with love as she looked back to Rain.

"Maybe she's just lonely," Lake said with a smile.

"Maybe our dads should invite her to poker night," Rain dead-panned.

Lake's smile faded slowly, and she pulled away from the dogs, facing Rain with a more severe expression.

"I know you don't really care about her, or even believe in her much," Lake said slowly. "But I think... she's dying. I know that doesn't make much sense, but I don't know. It feels right. In my gut. And, I dunno... reading the book... I just had this weird feeling. Like I was meant to find it, and it was meant to find me."

Rain was silent for a moment, biting back the snarky part of her brain that wanted to ask if that made her Gollum and the book the Ring. Lake clearly truly believed the nonsense she was spitting, and Rain didn't want to crush her hopes and dreams. She'd save that for her students. And her dad.

"Maybe I am a little crazy," Lake said. "Or a lot crazy. But I've never felt more meant to do anything in my life. Maybe it's wrong to chase that kind of feeling, but it's more than that. Our town needs help, Rain, and I don't want to be the person that stays behind in a burning house without even trying to grab a bucket of water."

"I just don't see what it is you think we can do," Rain said, deciding to entertain this nonsense. "Let's say, we do find Cheva. She's alive. She's in danger or dying or whatever. What the hell are we supposed to do about it? I know nothing about nursing a sick goddess back to health."

"Maybe it'll be just like in the movies and we'll just know," Lake said with a shrug.

"... I'm going back to bed," Rain sighed. "But, like, wake me up before you go, or whatever, I guess." Her FOMO was entirely too strong to dip out on an adventure with her friends. Even though she was a skeptic through and through.

"Hey, it's only a weekend trip," Lake said with a smile. "My dad said I had to be back by Monday or he'd kill me. The last part was in parentheses."

"Oooh, I see, I see." Rain smirked. "Alright. Fine. Whatever. I guess I'm in."

Lake cheesed so big she thought her smile would take up her whole face. She looked like she was about to burst with happiness until she finally sprung up in the air, spinning around with her hands over her head.

"YES!" she laughed.

Rain laughed too, grinning at her. "Alright. But for now. Sleep sleep. Questing should be started well-rested, I feel like."

"That's a good wisdom," Lake said. "But make sure to pack more than a few lunches. Meet me at my house in the morning! I'll have the dogs ready."

"Yeah, yeah." Rain waved her away. "I'll be there."

Lake bounced again on her feet, doing a happy dance as she jumped back onto her sled.

"Go get warm!" she said, before shouting at the dogs again.

And, they were off.

Rain watched them go, then pulled her keys out and decided to get in her car to run her heater before she went back inside. And pack, she supposed, since she was going along with this nonsense. Cheva help us all.

Fish was going to tell his dad right away, but every time he was ready to tell him, he was scurrying off to do another task. Fix this, fix that, do this, do that... In the midst of everything, Fish didn't get the chance to tell him yet.

It was now 8am, and Fish had already packed his bag (even though he didn't really know what to pack, exactly), but he was still walking into the shop like nothing was different.

He rehearsed it in his head a few times.

"Hey dad. So, uh, what do you think about mountains?"

No, that was dumb.

"So I'm going to go on vacation... with Lake and Rain, in the mountains. No, I meant my friends Lake and Rain, but I'm sure there will be lakes and rains too."

Fish internally cringed, frowning at the thought of saying that, but glad it was only stuck in his head.

"What's wrong, son?" his father's voice boomed behind him, causing Fish to nearly drop the case of fish he was holding.

Fish knew he was behind him, but he still flinched when he saw his father like right behind him. He was staring down at him with a raised brow, seeming suspicious. Wait, no, that couldn't be right. Fish didn't even say anything. Could he read his mind?

"I, uh, um..." Fish stammered, and then weakly laughed and finished with a high-pitched voice to say, "Nothing?"

His dad narrowed his eyes at him before taking the case out of his hands. "Why have you been staring at the freezer for the past few minutes? Somethin' wrong with the freezer?"

It appeared that in the midst of thinking of what to say, Fish had spaced out and stared at the freezer too long.

"Uh, yeah, it's uh..." Fish stared at the freezer with the utmost concentration. "...stopped... freezing."

His dad effortlessly opened the freezer door to place the case in. "Seems to work fine," he mumbled, then walked away. Thank Cheva that he wasn't the type to overthink things.

It was now or never. With the clock ticking, Fish had to tell his father he would be gone for the weekend. But he had a feeling that he'd try to prevent him to go, and then what? He really didn't want him to make a thing of it.

"So, uh, dad, I've been meaning to tell you something," Fish said before he'd change his mind, but at that point all words left his brain and he paused for longer than necessary.

"What, the fridge stop working too?" he responded with a smirk.

"Huh? No, I mean... maybe. I don't know," Fish said back, glancing over his shoulder at the fridge. Not that they really had to use it much since outside was enough of a refridgerator and freezer.

"Did you already line up the sale items?" his dad asked instead.

Fish shook his head, instinctively walking to the counter to do exactly that. "No, not yet. But I..." He slowed down his pace, realizing again that he had lost his train of thought. He took a deep breath in and tried again, but his voice, again, came out more high-pitched than usual. "But I can get to it in a few days?"

His dad gave him the side-eye. "But the sale's today."

"I'm actually going to be gone for the weekend," Fish said nonchalantly. "Lake invited me for an outdoors trip. Rain will be there too. I'll be back Monday."

"An outdoors trip," his father repeated under his breath, then stared out the window. "So camping. In this weather? Do you have the right gear?"

"Uh..."

"It'll be cold out there, son."

"I know," Fish said curtly, not expecting the conversation to turn into a lecture about the weather. "I've brought jackets."

"Did you bring a fishing pole? The one for ice fishin'?"

"Why would I--"

"We're fishers, son," his dad said gruffly. "How else you going to eat?"

Fish stared at his dad for a few seconds in silence. "I packed a lot of granola bars," he said, maybe a too proudly than necessary since he didn't want to feel belittled. "Besides, it's only for the weekend. It's not like I'm gone for a month and need to fish daily."

His dad sighed, but offered a sympathetic smile. "Tell you what. You finish up setting up shop, and I'll pack some items for you. I used to go campin' a lot in the good ole days, and it's now about time you inherit what I have. When are you leaving?"

It was a relief to hear that, and Fish eased the tension in his back from standing up too straight.

"In an hour," he replied.

"So soon, huh..." He offered another smirk. "You better get packin' then."

Was it great to sleep in a running car? No.

Had anything bad happened so far? Also no.

Rain woke as it started getting light outside. She'd left her window cracked so she wouldn't die of carbon monoxide poisoning or whatever, but had fully taken advantage of her car heater for the night. But now it was time to get back to reality.

She groaned and walked back into her apartment. It was still as cold and powerless as ever. She sighed, walking into her room to pack a weekend bag with far more blankets and coats than were strictly necessary, then went to her kitchen and threw a bunch of poptarts and jerky and anything else that seemed easy-to-eat and nonperishable into a smaller bag.

It was approaching time to get to Lake's, but she needed to check in on her family first, to be sure they were still more or less in tact.

She threw her bags into her car and then drove to her parents' house.

She'd been hoping they'd have power back since it was a different grid, but there were no lights on in the house still, so she assumed they hadn't. She walked up to the door and let herself in then strode into living room.

Mama was curled up on the couch under a mountain of blankets. She started to get up as she saw Rain.

Rain gestured for her to stay put. "Don't."

Mama hesitated, but settled back into the couch again. "Hi sweetie."

Rain glanced at the fire place. They never used it. Ever. But her father was still pathetically trying to start a fire -- and failing, miserably. She glanced around and noticed that the house was warmer than outside -- and warmer than her own house had been -- but not nearly warm enough for her mother and sister.

"Hey." She forced a small smile, glancing around, but she didn't see her sister. "Where's--?"

"Downstairs. It's a little warmer down there," Mama said. "But very loud... and smelly."

Rain nodded. She'd ensured things were vented properly so Lia would be safe down there. Which left getting things warm for Mama. She strode out the side door, ignoring Mama asking her where she was going.

She walked to the shed and grabbed a large armful of firewood, then tottered into the house with it and set it gently next to the hearth. Her dad looked up and scoffed. Rain ignored him and stacked the wood up, then went back out and got another armful, and left it next to the first stack.

"Here." Rain bent down and took the matches from her father.

"I don't need--"

"If you didn't need me, you'd have the fire started by now," she interupted, glaring at him. "My turn."

She ignored his protests as she quickly fixed the pitiful structure he'd built in the fireplace, then shoved some paper and kindling into the center and got it started. She tried a little dance to get the flame started but it didn't work, so she resorted to natural means instead. It only took a few minutes for her to get the flames to catch, then she sat back on her heels to wait for it to be big enough for her to feed.

Then she thought better of it and stood up and went for several more bundles of firewood. She had to split a few pieces with an axe, but fed the flames in between her trips, and within half an hour had a solid wall of firewood lined up next to the hearth in case the power didn't come back for the rest of the weekend.

Finally, she sighed and looked at her mother. "This should last you for a few days."

"Us," Mama argued. "You don't have any heat at your place. Couldn't the two of you stop being bullheaded for a single day and call a truce?"

Her father snorted. Rain did too.

Mama sighed.

"I'm going on a trip," Rain said, looking back at her mother in an attempt to make her worry less. "So I won't be home anyway. It's fine. Thank you, though."

"In this weather?" Mama's brow furrowed. "That's insanity!"

"So right up my alley," Rain joked with a smirk.

"This isn't funny." Mama frowned even harder. "You're staying here."

"I'll be okay," Rain assured her. "It's just for the weekend, and I'm going with my friends."

Her father scoffed, getting all huffy.

"Perhaps you could explain what friends are to him?" Rain looked at her mother, then looked at her father. "He doesn't have much experience with that word."

Father sprang to his feet.

Rain did, too.

It was hard to tell which of them was glaring harder as Father came storming up to her. She was only slightly taller than him, but still loomed over him as she looked at him disdainfully.

"I won't have you disrespect me in my own home," he snarled.

"Hate to break it to you--" Her jaw was tight. "But you're not respectable anywhere."

"I will-" Father grabbed the front of her coat.

She knocked his hand off her -- now, very clearly, the one glaring more intensely. "Try it. I dare you."

He made a pass at her again, and she shoved him off, more than used to his strategies by now.

"Stop it!" Mama said, somewhere between chiding and begging. "Lee! She's your daughter!"

"Yeah, good point." Rain looked at her mother, then back at her father. "Does it still count as domestic abuse if I'm moved out, or is this just good old-fashioned assault?"

Father was seething.

Rain yanked her coat the rest of the way out of his grasp.

He put a finger in her face, still trying to threaten her.

"Try it," she repeated, glaring at him challengingly. "How do you think those headlines will look?"

"You wouldn't."

Rain's eyebrows shot up. They both knew she would.

His scowl deepened.

"I can cry very convincingly on camera," she added.

"Stop it," Mama pleaded. "Just come in. Please. Sit down. Get warm."

"I'm late." Rain walked over to Mama and wrapped her arms around her. "There's enough firewood there to last you the weekend. I taught Lia how to keep a fire going the last time this happened."

"Stay," Mama pleaded.

Rain kissed her cheek and then straightened and started for the door. "Love you."

"You--" Father started, trying to block her path.

"Don't worry, wasn't talking to you," Rain hissed, shouldering past him. She got to the door and looked at Mama again across the room, ignoring her father's spluttering. "Stay warm. Remember you've got those extra quilts in the guest room closet, in those vacuum seal bag things."

With that, Rain walked out and shut the door behind her, then got back in her car and started towards Lake's place, trying her best to shake off her anger before she got to her friends. Neither of them deserved to deal with her in such a pissy mood. There was a singular person on the planet who deserved this side of her. And she didn't have to deal with him for at least the rest of the weekend.

"Dash will fall in love with anyone who gives him any attention whatsover," Snow said, holding back the black and white husky dog that was trying to lick his whole face.

Lake giggled as her brother tried to push the overly-affectionate dog away to no avail. It wriggled in and out of his arms and finally reached in across his eyes with a big, slobbery lick. Snow sat there in the snow for a moment with his eyes shut as Dash bounced and wiggled and spun in circles as he reveled in his victory.

Snow sighed and wiped his face with the back of his mitten, flicking the already-freezing slobber to the ground.

The other dogs were already hitched up to the sled, sitting or lying down in the snow. They had nine dogs hitched up total, leaving six behind for Snow and the family to get around town if needed.

Snow finally got control of Dash with a harsh command and Lake helped him get the bouncy dog hitched up to the back. Dash was not lead-dog material, but still a very important pup.

Lake made sure Dash's harness was secure and then patted him on the head.

"There you go buddy," she said.

Dash licked her on the nose, and she grinned, but pushed him away.

"Gross," she said with a little laugh as she stepped back to take it all in.

At the lead was Storm, and in order following behind her were Claw, Fang, Fuzz, Big Guy, Odie, Poutine, and then, of course, Dash.

Her dad had already helped her pack everything, and he had been a lot more helpful than she thought. Lake had been on a lot of camping trips with her dad in the past, so she felt like she knew enough of what she was doing, but her dad was like, going all out with this. He made sure she had climbing gear, and fishing gear, and a whole-ass pickaxe that had his name on it.

"Please take care of this," her dad said, exchanging it between his hands and hers like he was passing some kind of heirloom. Like a sword passed down from generation to generation in some fantasy rpg.

It was a very weird but touching moment, because she could see the sincerity in her dad's eyes as he let go of the handle embossed with "KEIGAN" on the handle.

She weighed it in her hands.

She used pickaxes and axes and chainsaws all the time for work, so it felt familiar to her. She knew how to use it safely - that wasn't the hesitation.

She looked at her dad, raising a brow.

"I didn't know you were so sentimental about your tools," Lake said with a little smirk.

"It was a gift," her dad said simply.

"Oh yeah? From whom?" Lake asked, smiling even bigger.

Her dad simply smiled and glanced back at the house.

"Your mother," he said.

Was that like, an engagement gift or something? Maybe a birthday gift. You know what, Lake wasn't going to overthink it. She was going to vibe with her dad's cool fancy pickaxe. She slid the handle through the tool-belt around her hip, feeling very prepared for this adventure as far as supplies went, but very empty-headed otherwise.

She had a map, and she knew how maps worked, and it wasn't like that was the scary part.

The scary part was the weird sense of impending doom if she didn't leave soon. Like soon soon.

"Well, uh, they should be here any minute--" Lake started to say, and then her dad suddenly grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug.

"Oh! Haha," she laughed a little nervously, leaning into the hug and embracing him in return.

He wasn't normally so affectionate, but she found herself melting into her father's arms. It felt... safe.

And then he pulled away, patting her on the shoulder.

"Travel safe, Lake," he said with a small smile, and for the first time since she could remember, she really felt like her dad was actually proud of her.

Proud of her for doing something that was by all intents and purposes totally insane?

Maybe she understood her dad less than she thought? Or maybe they were more alike than she thought.

She was fuming by the time she got to her car. Before then, actually. Yet somehow it built with every step she took away from the house. What a flashback this was, she mused sourly. How many times in the past had she made this exact path? Angrily storming out of this house, cursing her father to every god above and below that she could think of. At least this time she had a car, unlike her teenage years when she had to balance her rage with her willingness to walk.

But, seriously. How did her father actually have the audacity to look her in the eyes and insult her, for the crime of keeping the family warm and safe? She supposed the meme was correct:



She got in her car and slammed the door a bit harder than she meant to, huffing a sigh.

She needed to get calmed down. It wasn't fair for her friends to have to deal with her when she was in this mood. But there wasn't time for her to sulk on TikTok until she felt better and could be pleasant. So instead, she blasted her heat so she could feel her nose again and felt around for a CD. It'd been ages since she'd listened to one. But she wasn't going to waste her phone battery for her saved Spotify playlists, so she found a random mixed tape from middle school and cringed a bit at the Avril Lavigne angst burned into the CD. And yet she still, embarrassingly, remembered every single word of sk8r boi and decided to belt it out as she was driving.

She slowed a bit as she saw someone walking along the side of the road. Who would possibly be out in these conditions? She made a wide berth as she approached slowly to be sure she didn't hit ice and spin out of control or anything, squinting the bundled-up figure and trying to figure out who it was. And whether they deserved a ride.

She'd offer one to most people, but there were a few exes she'd rather hit with a truck than let into her car. She slowed as she got just ahead of the person and squinted in her mirror to see their face and saw --

She stopped, rolling down her window and furrowing her brow at Fish. "What are you doing?"

Fish started to murmur -- or maybe he was speaking, it was hard to tell with his many scarves on -- but then pointed to her car to invite himself him.

"Yeah, yeah." She unlocked the doors, gesturing at her backseat for him to put his bags in first. She bumped up the fan to get more heat blasting into the car, since there was going to be a big gust of cold when he opened the doors.

Instead of throwing just his bags at the backseat, Fish threw himself in, quickly closing the door behind him before he melted into the seat.

"Perfect timing," he said with a sigh as he unwrapped his scarves so he could properly talk. "Thanks for the ride."

"Of course." Rain nodded and directed the heat to the backseat, since he was, apparently, expecting to be chauffeured.

"Are you going to Lake's too?" he asked.

Rain nodded. "Yep. It's a three musketeer sorta quest."

"Are you having second thoughts? I mean, not that I'm having second thoughts. I was just wondering if you have any second thoughts," Fish said, obviously projecting.

Rain glanced at him in the rearview mirror and raised an eyebrow, smirking. "Eh, it's not like we've got anything better to do."

Fish gestured towards the heap of bags he brought. "Yeah, and my dad gave me enough stuff to be out for a whole month. Can't tell if he's trying to get me out of the house or just be prepared."

Rain laughed at that, smirking mischievously as she offered a, "Don't worry, it's pretty obvious when your dad wants you out. Can confirm."

"Yikes," Fish said with a click of his tongue. "Did you tell him you were going on this trip?"

"You get one guess."

"Uh... no?" he guessed with a complete lack of confidence.

Rain snorted. "Correct, good job." She hesitated, then rubbed her face tiredly. "He doesn't care, and Mama would just worry. I got them set up with firewood for the weekend. They'll be fine."

"You'd think being the mayor wouldn't make him so helpless. Maybe he should be the one to go to this quest, huh?"

"Meh." Rain shrugged. "It'd probably have the same effect." She clearly was 0% bought into the purpose of their quest. "But he wouldn't make it a mile out of town. He's built for flattery -- in both directions -- not actually being useful in any measurable capacity."

"Well..." Fish said with a sigh. "Then I guess it's a good thing you're doing this." He paused, scooting over to the middle seat so that he'd be more in view. "So... uh... what are we doing, again? Lake didn't really tell me all the details."

"Something about destiny and quests and rescuing Cheva," Rain said, waving her hand vaguely. "Got dem magic dream vibes."

"Okay, but what does that mean?" Fish asked a little more desperately.

"It means we're going to spend a weekend appeasing Lake." Rain shrugged. "And trying to find a way to let her down easy... just a bro camping trip. In the middle of the Arctic circle."

Fish nodded. "So you also think she's on some mystic high."

Rain also nodded in confirmation. "If she was literally anyone else I'd say she'd hit a pipe a bit too hard last night before bed."

Fish chuckled. "Yeah, okay. Glad we're on the same page. It seemed really important that we come and I didn't want her to go alone either. What's the worst that can happen?"

"Freezing to death alone."

"At least with the three of us, we won't be alone," Fish dead-panned.

"Provided none of us..." Rain trailed off, deciding her humor was pushing the line of acceptable 'dark humor' and just getting mean. "I mean, yeah, sure. It'll all be fine."

Fish normally would question sketchy decisions made by his friends, but since Lake approached him at an ungodly hour and she was adamant about going, he kind of just shrugged it off and said sure. But after his father gave him too many fishing poles, machetes, match sticks, pots, pans -- literally everything -- it made Fish wonder what exactly he signed up for.

But like Rain, he didn't want Lake to do anything dangerous by herself. Plus he felt better going to the wilderness with these two than by himself. They were unlikely to find anything magical or significant in the mountains, and it definitely will not be easy, but hey, at least they had each other. And Fish was loyal through and through.

"So say the weekend rolled by and we don't find anything except critters and ice," Fish said, squinting at the back of Rain's head. "What do we tell Lake?"

"So I'm thinking..." Rain trailed off. "You know how kids kind of figure out Santa isn't real for themselves and it's kind of a dick move to tell them before they're ready to hear it? Yeah..."

Fish nodded. He knew that Rain didn't believe in Cheva. Fish did for a time since his father was a devout believer, but sometimes talking to others and reading book and other stories made him think otherwise. Obviously magic was real, but it didn't mean a specific ice god existed. He figured it was like a myth or fable, much like most fairy tales.

Although, there was never really a solid explanation of where magic came from and how it worked, and it seemed to only affect Chevan. They had access to the outside world but could not go there themselves.

If anything, these were the answers that piqued Fish the most, but he doubted that was what Lake had in mind. And he sincerely doubted that he'd get answers out of a random mountain from a random book.

Like Rain said, these were fairy tales. Pieces of fiction. A happy story to make kids feel better, much like Santa.

That was what the cynics of the town believed, anyways. Life went on anyways regardless of what people believed, and it wasn't like they was a church or anything. It was just a story.

"Yeah," Fish finally said with a sigh after a lingering silence of thought. "You're right. But I don't want to crush her dreams, you know? Should we just play along until we can't?"

"Mm... we should let her down gently," Rain said thoughtfully, making a turn onto a side street. "I'm thinking... I don't know. We shouldn't encourage it. But we also shouldn't discourage her?"

That confused Fish more. "What're we supposed to say then?"

"I don't know." Rain sighed and rubbed her face. "We're gonna be the dick either way."

Fish knew that Rain always spoke her mind regardless of who she was with. Fish did admire that of her, but also, it was kind of scary sometimes.

"I wish I had brought my Switch so we can at least have a distraction to all this," Fish mumbled, changing the subject since the thought of having a sit-down with Lake frustrated him.

Rain snorted. "We'll be on the sled before long, though. Won't be able to feel your fingers within like three and a half minutes, I'd say." She wiggled her fingers to demonstrate her point.

Fish groaned. "I wish we can just take your car."

Rain nodded. "Me too... but you know there's no prayer of getting it out of town. Barely any roads left here as it is."

"Why don't you just do a magic dance to get it through the snow?" Fish said with a smirk, holding back a laugh at his own joke.

Rain had turned the radio down, but cranked it up at this point and found it half-way through Fergelicious. She started dancing intentionally poorly.

Fish bopped to the beat. "I haven't heard this song in forever," he said just in time before the bridge. "D to the E, to the, to the, to the, hit it, Fergie."

wc: 1,721/2,500

Lake offered her dad another smile, but her attention was ripped away when she heard the crunching of snow under tires.

"Rain's here!" she chirped, spinning on her heels as she stomped through the past night's new few inches of snow to run around the back of the house up front, where she could see Rain's familiar car pulling to a stop in the snow-covered empty expanse in front of her family home that served as a "driveway."

As she ran up to the car she could see Fish in the backseat, packed in comedically like a sardine with what she had to assume were all of his belongings thrown around his lap.

Lake came around the side of the car and opened the door where Fish was, pulling out the giant backpack that buried him and slinging it over her shoulder.

"I hope there's room," he mumbled as he jumped out of the car, landing on the snow with a soft thud.

"There's room," she said with a small laugh. "For your stuff. Maybe not you though."

She elbowed him playfully, turning to watch as Rain stepped out.

Fish smirked but rubbed the spot where she elbowed him. "Yaaay," he said sarcastically.

"What up nerd?" Rain said as she got out.

Lake found her mouth turning up into a stupidly excited smile.

"Hi, nerds," she said, voice oozing with an almost cringy amount of affection. She played it off with a laugh though and stepped back, straightening up as she adjusted Fish's giant backpack on her shoulders. "What did you pack, Fish? Your whole life?"

"Honestly, probably. I originally only had a small bag of essentials but then my dad insisted that I leave with all this." He gestured at the bag. "I think we've got enough stuff to last a month."

"Dude, is your dad like, ready to go on a backpacking trip at any time with just a few hours' notice?" Lake asked as she reached into the backseat and pulled out what she assumed to be Rain's bag.

"Yeah man, I guess so." Fish glanced at the sled with her own bags already packed up. "Aaaaand it seems that you are too."

"Okay but like, I've always been like this, dude," Lake said with a chuckle, turning to walk around back with both of the heavy bags either on her shoulders or in her arms. "I work outdoors for a living."

Fish pursed his lips, following behind. "I mean, technically my dad does too. But on a boat. And I sometimes help... when he makes me. So there."

"We got a right proper mountain man among us," Rain teased, grabbing the last bag and starting after them.

"Mountain WOMAN!" Lake said, lifting Rain's bag up higher, even though no one could see her flex her muscles under all of her poofy insulated layers.

"Okay but I wasn't mocking you," Rain said with a laugh.

Lake's brain lagged for a second.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh.

She laughed too, at herself.

"Har, har," Fish said effortlessly since he was used to Rain's teasing. "Maybe at the end of this trip, I'll be able to catch a salmon with my bare hands... Bare, like a bear. In the mountains. Yeah."

"See, this is the reason you get mocked."

Lake looked back over her shoulder at Rain and Fish with a grin.

Fish stuck out his tongue and crossed his arms. "I bet Lake thinks I'm hilarious." He shifted his eyes towards her. "Right... Lake?"

"You should've gone into comedy," Lake said, rounding the corner around her house. "You really missed your calling."

"Told ya," Fish said to Rain with a smug grin.

"Glad you've got an audience of one."

"Hey Rain," Lake said, casting her a smirk as she passed the dogs and plopped Rain's bag into the sled. "Your first heckler!"

Rain laughed. "I do what I can."

Lake grinned to herself, feeling pleased with her own joke as she threw Fish's bag off her shoulders. The backpack was huge, and it practically weighed as much as a person. She might as well have been giving someone a piggyback ride except without the fun of it being a kid actually enjoying it.

"Neither of you guys really know how to drive a sled, do you?" Lake asked as she started to rearrange the bags like jenga blocks in the back of the sled to make more room.

"I mean, there was that one time you tried to teach us in high school," Fish said.

"I'm just here to sit here and look pretty," Rain commented unhelpfully.

"Amazing," Lake said with a sarcastic laugh. "Okay. So I'm driving."

She turned to Rain and took the last bag out of her hands, sticking it on the sled before she started to tie everything down so it wouldn't shift and move around or fall off.

"So, when do we leave?" Fish asked.

"Well, did you eat breakfast?" Lake asked, pulling tight her boy scout knots.

"Define 'breakfast'," Rain said.

"Food?" Lake offered.

"If it's anything other than the snacks and cans I brought, I'm in," Fish said.

"Y'all really could've just said 'no', huh," Lake said with a laugh. "Okay then. I think we have some leftovers if you guys want sausage and oatmeal."

Just in time, Fish's stomach grumbled.

"How much leftovers are we talking? Just a bite, or...?" he asked.

"Dude," Lake laughed. "We can just eat it here real quick."

"I'm in for your sketchy leftover oatmeal," Rain said with a nod. "We all know I own no food outside of taquitos and pizza rolls... wasn't interested in a cronch this morning, since I can't heat them up and all."

Lake rolled her eyes.

"Well. Then let's make sure you guys get fed before we go into the icy, snowy wilderness, hm?"

"I will never object to getting fed," Rain agreed, taking a step towards the house. "Especially before going into the icy, snowy wilderness."

Besides, delaying their departure would suit Rain just fine. Was Lake's house warmer? She hoped so. She was already cold, and they hadn't even left yet. This was going to be a long forty-eight hours of freezing to death while trying to not literally freeze to death.

Oh well.

Maybe this would also give her a chance to feel out what Lake's plan was, now that it was daylight and she wasn't half-dead and angry at... well, okay, she was still angry at her father. But what else was new? Any time she thought of him she got annoyed, and she couldn't help but think of him when she thought about Lia or Mama.

She was sure she was going to fret nonstop this whole weekend, honestly. She knew she'd brought in enough wood to last them. And she was fairly confident that Lia could keep the fire burning, though she doubted she'd be able to regulate the heat properly and would probably alternate between the house being too hot and too cold.

But survivable.

And Rain would have to be okay with that, since she was going on this trip.

She bit back a sigh as they got to the door and she pulled it open and held it for her friends. She probably shouldn't go on this trip. If it was possible to trust someone a negative amount, that's how much she trusted her father. She hoped he wouldn't interfere with Lia and kill the fire and result in them all being cold. But, well, she had to hope for the best.

...Or she had to stay here.

She glanced at Lake.

Lake seemed absolutely adamant that she was going on this trip whether Rain did or not. Which also made Rain uneasy. Was it worse to leave her family up to their own devices this weekend, or Lake? Neither were good options.

But, well... at least her family was stationary. And there were others in the town that could help Lia and Mama if they needed it. Meanwhile Lake was going charging off into the wilderness. It could go south a lot faster.

They came in through the back door, where everyone stomped the snow off their feet and stowed their shoes in the pile of footwear by the door. There was a staircase right in front of them that went down to Lake's basement bedroom - that was what Rain was most familiar with - but to the right the small hall led into the living room and kitchen.

Lake's family home had a certain kind of cozy, homey charm to it. The fireplace in the living room was blazing, heating up the whole house. Electricity was still out, because none of the lights were on, but the windows were open, letting in the beginnings of daylight, and fire's light flickered across the whole room.

In the living room there were two well-worn in brown couches that dipped in the middle, and they faced the hearth. In the center was a big square, wooden table with a bunch of newspapers and books scattered over it, along with what looked to be an abandoned ongoing card game.

Further back in the kitchen, Rain could see Lake's mom, Olive. It looked like she was just cleaning up, but her eyes brightened when she saw everyone come in.

"I thought you were off already!" Olive said, hurring around the kitchen counter to rush up to Lake, giving her a big hug.

Lake laughed a little and patted her mother's head.

"Well, I didn't want us all to leave hungry," Lake said. "Did you put the oatmeal away yet?"

Olive pulled away, looking back to the kitchen.

"It's on the stovetop, sweetie," she said.

"Thanks, mom," Lake said, pecking Olive on the cheek.

"Thanks, Mom," Rain echoed with a little smirk as she looked at Olive.

Olive smiled and reached out to pull Rain into a hug. "Oh, come 'ere," she said with a small laugh. "You're family too."

Rain laughed and hugged her tightly. "An honor, as always." How she wished it was true.

As Lake ran off to the kitchen to go get their food, Olive held Rain back, with her hand on her arm. When Rain glanced behind her, Fish seemed to be stuck back at the door, talking to Keigan.

"Rain," Olive said, lowering her voice. "You guys be careful out there, okay?"

"We will," Rain assured her with a disarming smile and a nod, even though she wasn't sure about this mission herself. "You know we always pull through at the end."

Olive smiled, but Rain noticed her eyes turned to Keigan with a strange look of wistfulness and worry.

"That you do," Olive said, patting Rain's arm before she pulled away. "Well. Go eat up, then."

"Yes, ma'am." Rain smiled and nodded to her again. "I appreciate your continued donation to my sustenance. We all know how well cooking without power goes for me."

"Happy to help," Olive replied.

Rain gave her another nod and then walked around her to join Lake in the kitchen.

As she came around the long island in the kitchen, she found Lake with three different bowls of oatmeal, each neatly portioned, and she was setting out different options for what they could add. That included some berries, brown sugar, and syrup.

"Mmm," Rain said with a grin, sitting down at the island as she looked at the options.

"Do you want all three?" Lake asked. "I could toss 'em in for you unless you wanna do it yourself."

"Just berries and brown sugar, please," Rain said. "Thanks."

Lake nodded and pulled out a spoon, scooping out the sugar and then threw in some berries. Grabbing another spoon out of a utensil drawer, she stuck it in the oatmeal and slid it over to Rain.

"Bing bang boom," Lake said as she turned to put together what was presumably her own bowl. Was it her first or her second bowl?

"Thank youuuu," Rain said, digging in.

"You're welcomeeeeee," Lake echoed as she started piling sugar and syrup in her bowl. She also grabbed protein from somewhere and started scooping that in as well.

"So what's the game plan?" she asked past a mouthful.

"Well, I'm thinkin' it's gonna take all day for us to get to the foot of the glaciers," Lake said. "My dad said there's a good place to camp out that way and showed me where it is on the map so I'm thinking we'll stop there for the night. There's a cave n' all that. So we'd be able to get a fire going and be out of the snow. It'll be a lot of sleddin' though. We'll have to make stops for the dogs to take a break and whatnot."

"Makes sense." Rain nodded. "Then up into the glaciers tomorrow?"

"Yeah!" Lake said. "I've got climbing gear and everything. Depending on what the situation is out there, we may need to leave the sled behind. I know the uh, park rangers and whatnot haven't really had a chance to scope out beyond that with all the snow. We'll have to feel it out."

"Fair enough... and what is it we're looking for, exactly?"

"Well, in the book it describes this uh, icy gate-type entrance. You have to get there through this tunnel. I'm sure I'll know it when I see it," Lake said as she started to aggessively mix everything into her oatmeal. "I know what it looks like I just don't know exactly where it is."

"Right..." Rain let silence hang between them for a moment. "And then once we get to the gate..."

"Something about a puzzle or some kind of ritual," Lake said. "To like, get through. You know, it was all very vague."

"Mm, yes, this does seem very vague," Rain agreed. And like a bad idea. "And, what, Cheva will be waiting for us if we get through?"

"That's what the book says," Lake said plainly.

Rain nodded and was quiet a moment, trying not to be an asshole. And yet. "I'm just not sure I understand what the end goal is here."

"I want to find Cheva and see if she needs help. And if not, if she can help us," Lake said simply, like it was obvious.

"... what kind of help could we possibly give her?"

"I think we'll figure that out when we get there, you know?" Lakes said with a small smile as she took a big scoop of oatmeal and started chewing.

Rain nodded and settled for silence as she kept eating. The questions clearly weren't giving Lake any pause. "So, uh... okay. Yeah."

"The oatmeal okay?" Lake asked idly, tapping her spoon against her bowl.

"It's great." Rain offered a weak smile, glancing around. "Where's Fish?"

Lake's head shot up, and she looked out into the living room.

"Fish?" she called out.

When there was no response, Lake pursed her lips. Taking her bowl with her, she marched out of the living room to go find him. Rain watched her go, then shrugged and went back to her oatmeal. They'd come back eventually.

Fish was looking forward to a non-fishy breakfast. Lake's house had always been warm and homey, albeit a little noisy sometimes with her family. Still, whenever he stopped by, Lake's mother Olive always treated him like he was a kind. Or their grandson. One or the other.

Except when he arrived at her house and was about to follow Lake and Rain into the kitchen, Lake's father Keigan stopped him after he took off his boots.

"Hey, Fish," Keigan said with a smile, though when he looked a little closer, the smile seemed a bit strained. "How are you? Did you and your dad work things out at home? You got heat?"

"Oh, uh..."

Fish glanced at the girls frolicking into the kitchen. The last time he talked to Keigan was in the fish shop just yesterday. It wasn't like he caught them fighting or anything - not that Fish ever really argued with his dad. It made him wonder if he thought something was wrong, though. Maybe he confused his dad with Rain's?

"Yeah, we got up early and turned on the generator together," Fish finally answered, shrugging it off.

"Ah, that's good," Keigan said. "You know, Fisch--er, your father--"

It sounded like Keigan almost got them mixed up as he went out of his way to differentiate the two. Fish didn't blame him, considering he went by the name Fish when his dad's name was Fischer.

"--And I," he continued. "We uh, we used to go on trips like this all the time. You know, big backpacking trips and the like. Always had to drag Lee along but your dad was great with survival skills. A real boy scout - not that any of us were real scouts."

To be honest, Fish was still shook that his dad was good friends with Keigan and Lee. Apparently Lake and Rain knew this and thought this was common knowledge, but Fish just found this out literally yesterday. It was hard to imagine his dad having good childhood friends, nevertheless good friends with the parents of his own friend's.

"Did he ever teach you anything?" Keigan asked with a tilt of his head.

Fish stared at him, blinking once, twice. What a vague question.

"Uh... he taught me how to fish?" he offered.

Keigan blinked back at him, before he let out a delayed laugh and slapped a few pats on Fish's shoulder. Fish felt like he now understood where Lake's touchy slaps of affection came from. At least Keigan didn't have the habit of hugging him so hard he could hardly breathe... maybe.

"Well. At least he taught you something," Keigan said. "Do you know what to do if you're walking over the lake and the ice gives out under you?"

Fish had to purse his lips back to not let the crazy question show too much on his face. He knew if Rain were here, she'd say something like, I don't know, drown?

"Uh..." was all he got out before Keigan continued to speak.

"Within just a few seconds, your body will go into shock, and soon the beginnings of hypothermia will start to set in," Keigan said. "So those first few seconds are vital. You want to throw your arms out like this--"

He threw his arms out at either side, level with some imaginary plane of ice.

"To make sure you don't fall in and get swept away under the ice with any current," Keigan continued. "Because once the current takes you, it's over. I'm sure your father's told you a little bit about river and lake fishing. You have to check the thickness of the ice and once you start getting to two to three inches, it's safest not to go further. Though right now, you should be good. The lake's been frozen over for two years. There's several inches of ice out there."

Fish was still not over the first part about going into shock and potentially being swept away by a current. So... death? Death? Death was on the table now?

Fish uncomfortably cleared his throat, shifting his weight from one foot to the other as he tried to best articulate his next words.

"So... uh... you think we'll have to pass lakes with thin ice?" he asked, his voice high-pitched and cracking at the end there.

"The lake," Keigan said. "The only lake nearby. But the ice shouldn't be thin, Fish. I'm just-- well you know, you can never be too prepared. That's what your dad would always say."

He reached out and gave Fish another pat on the shoulder, this time more gentle.

"Oh, uh-hah, yup," Fish said with a nervous laugh. "He, uh, prepared me for all that, for sure."

He did not prepare him for this.

Keigan gave Fish an odd look, like he was studying him.

"Just... be careful out there, alright?" Keigan said. "You kids... well, you mean the world to us. And, well..."

Fish had a lot of questions. Like, one, if Keigan was that concerned, why in the hell would he let the three of them go? And two, why did Fish's dad even let him go? He hardly asked Fish any questions, which now that he thought about it, was really not like him. He just packed up some stuff for him and let him go, like he was expecting this would happen.

This was all very, very weird. And also a lot more dangerous that Fish thought.

"...I know you have your own ideas about Cheva. But I think... this will be good. For you guys. For the town."

With a weirdly wistful look, Keigan looked out the back window into the snow, out at the sled.

"Tell Cheva hi for me," Keigan said. "Always wanted to meet someone famous."

Well, what a weird thing to overhear her dad say. She never really did understand her dad's sense of humor. Actually, on second thought -- yeah, that was kind of funny. She'd probably make the same joke, now that she thought about it. It was just different, hearing it from her dad, you know?

Do I really make dad jokes? she thought to herself as she came around the corner, finding Fish hadn't even left the back door, and was instead cornered talking with her dad.

"Fish," she said, seeing that he was looking at her dad like her dad was crazy. Maybe he was. So was she, honestly.

"You hungies?" she asked, pointing back in the direction of the kitchen with her thumb.

Rain listened to Lake going to fetch Fish from where he stood muttering with Lake's dad -- who even knew what about? Probably the trip, since this was, apparently, what their life was going to be like now. At least their weekend. Was Keigan as annoyed by the trip as her own father? Was Olive as paranoid as Mama? Who knew.

All she knew was that she was starving to death, now that food had been plopped in front of her and she remembered that she owned a hunger reflex afterall. So she systematically began shoveling oatmeal and brown sugar and chunks of strawberries into her mouth, glancing at the door every few moments to see if her friends were coming yet or not.

Finally, Fish and Lake came back to the kitchen. Lake was quick to grab the bowl she'd prepared for Fish and offer it to him.

"Eat," Lake said as she shoved the bowl into his hands and gestured to the options on the counter for things he could add to the oatmeal.

"You don't have to tell me twice," Fish said with a smirk, gladly taking the bowl and slurping it all down in literal seconds.

"Bro--" Lake started, but then only shook her head, taking up her own bowl to eat at a normal pace.

Fish's cheeks were too full of oatmeal to react much besides chewing.

"If you get indigestion out in the snow," Lake said with a shrug. "That's on you, man."

"Hopefully it doesn't end up on you," Rain commented past her mouthful of food.

Fish only shrugged, still chewing away.

"If it comes up, just aim away," Lake said between chews.

Finally, Fish finished the enormous bite, but wordlessly started to spoon more oatmeal in his bowl, this time eating in a somewhat moderate pace. "I figure now's the time to indulge before we eat the same stuff every day," he said before taking another big bite.

"Ah, yes, we shall certainly die since you did not bring nearly enough food or bags to last us months."

"Dude, it's not like we're going to be gone for three weeks," Lake said.

"Are you guys almost done or what?" Fish huffed. A natural response from the typical teasing.

"Nope," Rain said, even though she had no other jabs thought up to make, yet.

Lake took in a deep breath and then started shoveling oatmeal into her mouth as if to match Fish's previous pace.

"One bite, one bite, one bite," Rain chanted, then went back to eating her own food at a normal, human pace, since it wasn't, in fact, going to go anywhere.

They all finished eating, eventually, with the occasional teasing remark and just general chit-chat. And now it was time for them to be off. Lake went through and hugged all of her family members that were present between the kitchen and the outside world. Fish stood awkwardly to the side and thanked Keigan for the advice. And Rain gave Olive another hug and then slipped on her boots and tromped back outside into the cold and snow and ice, towards the sled.

"So, uh, Lake," Fish began as she started to ready the dogs. "How often are you going to ride over ice?"

"Didn't you already ask me about lakes and ice?" Lake asked, giving him a look of confusion.

"I'm just wondering if you know that it's, like... thick," Fish added on.

"Dude, the lake is frozen ten times over," Lake said plainly. "We've had a forever winter."

"The cold never bothered me anyway," Rain sang entirely to herself.

Fish pursed his lips back, standing stiffly to the side with his hands in his coat pockets. "I'm just sayin'. Drowning wouldn't be fun."

"I mean, yeah?" Lake said with a laugh. "Neither would freezing to death either. That's more likely to happen than drowning."

Fish eagerly nodded. "Yeah. So if you have any doubts... you know. Now would be a good time. Right, Rain?"

"I... yeah." Rain nodded, not sure how to add to the conversation. And yet if this was Fish's attempt to gently discourage the trip... "Dying's not how I planned to spend my weekend, yo. I already graded too many essays this week. I demand a full week's notice before a death sentence so that I can enjoy it not grading."

Lake finished hooking up the dogs in their harnesses and walked to the back of the sled, hopping on.

"So are you two coming or not?" she asked, looking over her shoulder.

"Uhhhh, yup," Fish said with a skip and a nod, but then mumbled, "I don't think death scares her," just loud enough for Rain to hear before he walked to the sled.

"Death before dishonor," Rain deadpanned, and followed Fish towards the sled. She awkwardly looked at Lake, not sure at all how this whole arrangment was going to work with the three of them being stuck on the same sled for hours on end. And she couldn't even play DJ since there was no aux-cord attached to the sled. What a scam. Someone should really get on inventing a high-tech dogsled. "So... uh...?"

"You two get in the front," Lake said, pointing to the space in the sled between their mound of stuff and where she stood behind the big handle. "Sit down."

"Yes ma'am," Fish mumbled, plopping down on the seat. A conveninent gust of wind came by and happened to lift his fuzzy hood over his head at the same time.

"Do I get a treat if I sit?" Rain questioned, but also sat down as she was told.

"Maybe," Lake said with a little grin, waiting for the two of them to get situated before she shouted.

"Hike!"

Suddenly, the dogs started to pull forward.

Sometimes in the movies, there's a whole travel montage, and it makes it seem like miles and miles of trekking over rough terrain takes on a few minutes. It romanticizes it with beautiful sweeping panoramic shots of scenic views, sunsets, and the small silhouettes of the main characters making their way through it. There's epic music that fills the space in between, moving you with the spirit of adventure.

But in real life, the spirit of adventure really only lasts a few minutes, and from there, it's really more akin to a really, really long road trip where everyone asks "are we there yet." Neither Rain nor Fish had asked Lake the question out loud yet, but she could hear it in their heads.

They were so moody, the two of them. Lake was trying to make it fun, playing with the dogs when they stopped for breaks, getting them all snacks, and making little snowpeople along the way. They did have some fun moments, like when Lake put a dog snack in Fish's pocket, and all the dogs swarmed him in a puppy pile. Or when they all made snow angels and then the dogs trampled through them. Or when they stopped to have a little snowball fight (and Lake narrowly won, but it was a sweet victory).

But the less fun parts were like, when they had to go pee, and it would turn to steam as they went outside (though admittedly Lake always found it kind of cool).

There was also the general soreness of riding a sled off and on all day, especially since Lake was standing for most of it.

By the time they made it to the little campsite on the map, they'd made good progress. Lake was keeping track with some updated maps her dad gave her of the area but also with the map from the book. Rain made a couple of off-handed comments about google maps, but even if they had service this far out from Chevan, it wouldn't work anyway.

They could see from the lack of light in the town that the power was still out.

The campsite was small, and they almost didn't spot it because it was buried under feet of snow, but Lake spotted a trail marker just peeking out. They were able to dig it out and clear away some of the snow to create a wall of snow around them, and after getting the dogs some food, the first thing they did was make a fire.

Well, Lake made the fire.

Singing the same song she knew by heart, she breathed life on the wood they'd gathered in the fire pit they dug out, and it started to roar to life. She was relieved when the spell worked without hitch after the trouble she had back at home trying to get it to light.

Rain and Fish were both drawn to it like moths to a light, eager to soak in its warmth. Lake, however, knew she needed to get more water. Namely for the dogs, first, since they still had water in their water bottles to draw from.

Lake walked beside the snowy walls they'd dug out for themselves as a shelter from the chilly south winds rolling in and rearranged the little plastic bowls for the dogs on the snowy floor now that they were empty of food.

With a deep breath, she reached out, laying a hand over the snow.

"I thank the water first," she sang. "Purify, and quench our thirst."

As the words came out of her mouth, she felt a strange surge of like - pure energy and power that she'd never felt before. It caught her off guard as she finished the melody, and suddenly a chunk of the snowy wall melted instantly and splashed onto the ground, filling the bowls ten times over with what could've been compared to a small wave.

The water splashed on her, too. Thankfully her snowsuit was waterproof.

With a nervous laugh, she glanced back at the fire, which was a few feet back.

The fire was still going, but she saw that it had only narrowly managed to be out of the splash zone.

And it looked like Rain and Fish got some of the spray - though they weren't soaked. Thankfully.

"Oops," she said with an apologetic shrug.

It had been a long, long day.

Fish was used to long days. In the summers, the days were practically never-ending since the sun almost shined despite negative temperatures. He was used to working all day at the fish shop, he was used to long school days, and he was used to long days of doing absolutely nothing but playing video games.

But this was a different type of long day. It was boring, it was cold, and it was tiring. Fish was glad that they had dogs and weren't physically making the trek themselves, but that still resulted in many long hours of staying still with the freezing wind going against his face until it was nearly sundown.

It was fine. It was fine. They were only going to do this for two more days. Man, the things Fish did for his friends... Sometimes he was tempted to tell Lake that they were likely not going to see much else but this, but if doing this for a few more days made her happy, he'd muster through it.

Fish was cozying up by the fire, munching on his fifth piece of jerky next to Rain while Lake fetched more water. Since she was like the literal magic wizard of the three of them, it made sense for her to fill up on water by melting the piles of snow around them. It wasn't too usual for her to do.

But it seemed to kind of explode into a mini water bomb, and a little splashed on Fish and Rain. Drops dripped down his forehead, falling and collecting on the top of his nose into a mini icicle. Thankfully the splash wasn't enough to affect the fire.

"Thanks," Fish deadpanned after her expressing her innocent 'oops,' thinking nothing of it. He continued to chew the leftover jerky on his gloves.

"And here I thought I was the one responsible for all the Rain-Dances," Rain added dryly, though not too dryly, since she had water on her now.

"Okay, okay, I can dry you off with another spell if you guys want," Lake said with a roll of her eyes.

"If you burn me," Fish began slowly, then narrowed his eyes at her, "I will roast you."

"Oooh! BURN!" Rain added obnoxiously.

"It's not a fire spell!" Lake huffed. "I'm not that stupid."

"It's basically all fire spells," Fish mumbled, hardly audible as he started to chew through the jerky again.

Lake only sighed and turned around to the dogs, giving them apologetic pats for getting some of them wet. Fish could hear her sing softly to them, and suddenly their damp fur poofed up, fully dry. The dogs tails started wagging and they licked her face before diving their noses into the water bowls.

Fish watched this all, slowly chewing until there wasn't anything else to do but swallow. He sighed.

It was cold. It was always cold. It was so cold, the snot in his nose was frozen, and he could hardly taste the jerky since his tongue was practically frozen too. The water that Lake sent flying only made it worse since it seemed to almost instantly freeze on impact, and now little bits of ice were peppered across his face and hair, clinging to him and stealing the little body warmth he had.

So maybe being a poopy warm dog wasn't too bad.

"Fine," he said, extending his arms out. "Hit me."

He regretted those two words immediately.

Lake spun around, singing rapidly as her fist flew into his shoulder. He felt a burst of warmth as he was suddenly dried, like he'd been momentarily thrown into the sun, but he also flopped backwards onto the ground from the sheer force of Lake's punch.

For some reason, he half expected this.

Fish groaned as he sunk into the snow, now even more wet from before. He had to catch his breath for a second before he could even say anything.

"I know healing spells too," Lake said with a grin as she leaned over him.

"I knew you would do that," Fish grumbled, slowly sitting up straight as he stared at Lake with half-lidded eyes.

"Then why'd you ask it like that?" Lake countered with a tilt of her head.

"Now I'm even more wet," he grumbled instead, brushing the shoulder she hit and flicking a little wad of snow at her.

Lake pouted her lips in a teasing manner as she reached down and planted her hand on his head.

"Cheva's grace come keep me dry," she sang, normally now. "Share with us warmth as your reply."

The same pulse of heat surrounded him, this time, actually making him dry, seeing as he didn't fall into the snow. He couldn't see it, but he felt his hair poof up like a poodle, and his marshmellowy coat somehow felt even more puffy.

A little embarrassing, sure, but it was kind of nice. And Fish had to admit: it was a lot more impressive than the tiny sparks he could conjure.

"Thanks," he said, not sarcastically this time as he readjusted his hat. "Now I can fit in with the dogs."

"Yes! You will! We can run around together!"

"Run? Play? Play with us! Play with me!"

Fish flinched at the voices he heard, not recognizing them but knowing that no one else was around. He glanced at Lake standing next to him, then at Rain sitting nearby, but they weren't paying him much attention, nor did the voices originate from them.

His eyes slowly gravitated towards the two dogs, and the two fluffier ones at the front were staring right back at him, tongue out and almost looking like they were smiling happily at him.

Fish closed his eyes and shook his head fast.

"Ha ha, very funny, guys," he said tiredly, giving them both a long look. "You might as well call me Dog now instead of Fish."

wc: 2,695/2,500

Fish felt like he was maybe sort of losing his mind. He half-expected Rain and Lake to laugh and say that they'll stop with the teasing, but instead they kept up with the banter, thinking that he was the one messing with them.

He didn't actually hear the dogs speak, right? ... Right?! Right.

Well, his dad did say that it wasn't uncommon to lose your mind in the wilderness. Wait, did he say that? Fish really was getting his facts confused. Maybe he just needed to sleep. Staying awake has got him literally hearing dogs talk.

After they joked around some more and finished their food, they decided to bundle up in their sleeping bags and sleep for the night curled up next to the fire. The wind was brutal, but luckily they dug themselves a snow shield.

An hour passed, maybe two. But as much as Fish wanted to sleep, he couldn't. Everything was noisy, from the wind to the crackling fire next to him. His body was warm, but his face cold. Plus it made him feel uneasy that it was pitch black and icy cold and he didn't know where the heck he was.

And, from time to time, he'd hear weird wailing. Like, weird comments here or there, like: "I need to pee" or "This water is cold."

It didn't sound like Lake or Rain, but sometimes sleeptalking sounds different. The next random comment made him more aware since it kind of freaked him out a little.

"I hear something."

Fish quietly groaned, tilting his head up and squinting at Rain. Her face was facing him, and she wasn't talking.

"Bird?"

Fish tilted his head the other way, noticing how Lake's back was turned against him. He had a feeling Lake randomly sleeptalks like this, anyways.

"No. Doesn't smell like it."

Tired of the incoherent mumbling, Fish wiggled his feet at the end of his sleeping bag closer to her direction until he was able to nudge her head awake.

"Do you actually hear something, or...?" Fish mumbled back, trying to keep it cool.

Lake stirred, wiggling around to shove his feet away with an unintelligible mutter.

"Hey. Heeey," Fish said a little more loudly, not wanting to waken Rain even though she also slept like a rock. He nudged her head with his feet some more.

"Shh!" Lake hushed him. "I'm trying to sleep. Stop kicking me."

"You said you heard something. Should I be--"

"I didn't say anything!" Lake hissed in a whisper.

"But you... oh," Fish said in realization when it dawned on him that maybe her mumbo-jumbo sleeptalking mumbles really was nonsensical. "Can you stop sleeptalking?" he huffed instead.

"I don't sleep talk," Lake said more firmly, rolling over to face him directly. "Maybe you're just dreaming things."

"I was not," Fish said more sternly, internally freaking out even though he tried to not show it with a determined frown. He slowly started to sit up. "I couldn't sleep partly because of your mumbling."

"I'm not mumbling, Fish," Lake (ironically) mumbled tiredly. "Just-- I don't know what's keeping you up but go to bed."

"I smell fighting," a voice said. The same voice from before.

A shiver went down Fish's spine since now he knew that it didn't come from Lake. Her lips didn't move at the same time, and neither did Rain's. So... who was it? And why was he the only one freaking out?!

Fish jolted to his feet, now on high alert.

"You don't hear that?" he said quietly but urgently. "How do you not hear that? Someone's here. I can hear them."

"Fish, you're imagining things," Lake said, still trying to keep her voice low. "There's nobody here. Only noises are the fire and the dogs sometimes making noises. And you and your loud mouth."

The dogs.

Fish slowly turned to face the dogs. Three out of the six of them were awake. Two were laying down, and one was sitting, panting. And they were all staring at him, attentive.

"Can you hear me?" one of the dogs said with a head tilt.

Fish nearly fell back on his feet. And he did -- but not right away. He backed up in panic until he slid on the ice and lost his balance, but even slipping and falling on his butt didn't prevent him from freaking out and crawling away from the dogs.

"Th-th-the DOGS!" Fish stuttered, pointing at them and staring with wide eyes. He backed up quickly, bumping into Lake. That oddly made him feel way safer.

"Fish, you're going to wake Rain," Lake said, getting to her feet and grabbing him by the shoulders. "The dogs are fine, it's okay, dude. Calm down."

"I CAN HEAR THEM TALKING," he yelled anyways, her words to 'calm down' giving him the opposite effect.

The dogs seemed to tilt their heads at him, like they were understanding him too. Oh, Cheva, they could understand him too.

At that, Rain had started to stir, groaning under her blankets.

Rain sighed impatiently.

As if this night wasn't already bad enough. She was exhausted. Perpetually on the verge of hunger, though not properly hungry enough to justify eating. And frozen clear to the bone. She got progressively moodier before she managed to drift off to sleep, and she swore that every time she thought things couldn't get worse, it seemed to be a degree or two colder than before.

But, she'd managed to sink into a tense, fitful sleep.

Only for Fish to start screaming like a fool.

"And we all can hear you talking," Rain spat, but her words were muffled since she was buried literally up to her eyes in a coccoon of sleeping bags. She kept her eyes squeezed shut tightly, as if that would keep the sleep inside her body. But it didn't. She sighed deeply. "It's too late for this nonsense."

She huffed again and sat up, squinting up at the sky to try to gauge where the moon was overhead. But nearly the instant she saw it, dark, dark clouds billowed in and obscured it. It made her even angrier. A sharp, frigid gust of wind stabbed straight through her clothes and chilled her to the core. She got even angrier.

It got darker.

Colder.

A self-feeding cycle of discontentment.

"Wonderful," she snarled, pulling her blanket over her head like a poncho. She was so cold. And angry. And Lake and Fish were being so loud and she didn't even know what about. "Would you two just stop?"

At that, there was a huge crack of lightning and thunder that reverberated deep within their guts.

Both Fish and Lake went silent.

"Those storm clouds came out of nowhere," Lake muttered after a beat. "Now I gotta set up the tent. Looks like rain. Come on, Fish."

"Mm..." Rain looked up at the sky sourly. "With our luck, may as well be a blizzard."

At that, flakes of snow that felt more like ice they fell so fast and so hard began pelting all of them.

Lake hissed at the sky and ran to the wall of snow beside all of them.

"Okay, no time for tents!" she said to herself as she started singing hastily.

The snow-ice-mix-stuff started coming harder and faster, once again feeding the cycle of Rain's anger and the bad weather. She stumbled to her feet and glared at where the moon used to be. "STOP!"

Instantly, the sleet-rain-mix stopped.

Rain blinked, glancing over at her friends. None of this made any sense whatsoever. And now she was just overwhelmed on top of cold and tired and hungry and confused. She felt her throat constrict as her over-tired-tears began welling up in her eyes, and a drizzly rain began to fall. "I don't understand what's happening."