The Phoenix Stone

Chapter 12

Evander was still chattering away about his life in the rebellion. "And—"

"Look!" I twirled in a circle, my arms spread wide open. There were fat snowflakes floating from the sky and the snow was all the way up to my knees. The trees standing along the side of the path were also completely coated in thick wet snow. I also hadn't realized that the ground we were walking on had an upwards gradient.

Evander grinned at my childish delight. "You didn't realize?"

"No! I was too busy listening to you!" I stuck out my tongue as a snowflake drifted past me.

He bent down and scooped up a pile of snow, shaping it into a small ball. I didn't know what he was doing until I turned to admire the icicles hanging from a tree branch and I felt something cold and hard hit me on the back.

"Ouch!" I whipped around and glared at his cheeky smile. "What on earth was that for?!"

He didn't answer, opting for throwing another snowball. It hit me straight on the nose leaving me sputtering and coughing.

When I blinked the snow from my eyes I couldn't see him anywhere. I was about to call his name when a third snowball hit me on the back of my head. "Evander! I'm warning you! If you throw one more snowball at me I'm going to have to beat you up!" I seethed, rubbing the back of my head vigorously.

No response. In fact, there wasn't a single noise except for the creaking of the tree branches and an occasional twitter of birdsong.

"Evander?" The longer I didn't have a response the more I started to worry. By now my anger had dissipated and had been replaced with an intense feeling of panic. No response. "Evander? Kael? Izel? Anyone there?!"

When there was still no answer I looked for footprints around me. Sure enough there was a pair of footprints that lead off the path and into the woods and deeper snow. I followed them a few metres in but they abruptly stopped at the base of a large tree. I looked around for where they could start again but the snow was smooth.

"Boo!" Evander jumped from a high branch and landed right next to me, making me fall over from fright.

The first thing I saw after clearing the snow from my eyes was Evander's grinning face right next to mine. I sat up quickly and slapped him across the cheek. "Idiot! What on earth were you thinking scaring me like that?"

He laughed, rubbing the red hand mark on his face. "Loosen up, Nyx! Expect the unexpected."

I shook my head. "How did I end up having fun with such an idiot?"

"So you admit that you're having fun!" He threw another snowball at me but this time my magic sensed it and I raised an arm to block it from hitting my face.

"Are you sure you want to continue in the direction you're heading?" I warned, pointing at my cheek. My Phoenixmark was glowing brightly meaning that my magic had decided to join the fight. "It might get a little out of hand very fast."

"Oh, it's on!" With a cheeky grin he leapt higher than I thought was humanly possible and swung onto a thick tree branch. As he walked down the branch, mounds of snow fell onto me from above, almost burying me.

I leapt out but stopped dead when I had a horrible realization. "Evander! Get down here!"

Surprisingly he actually came running. Obviously he'd heard the panicked tone in my voice. "What's wrong?"

"Where are Kael and Izel?"

I could see when the realization hit him as well. His face turned white faster than I thought was possible. He glanced around but we were surrounded by snow coated trees and far in the distance, a tall mountain. So tall that if you look up you can't even see the top because it's taller than the clouds.