Special

Chapter 13

Ella had woken up, barely able to breathe with all of the snow covering her face. She opened her eyes, and saw Mina standing above her face, licking her forehead, and purring. Confused, Ella got up and touched her forehead.

Blood. There was blood on Ella's hand, her face, and all around her. There was searing pain in her forehead, and she reached up to touch it. Dried blood surrounded a huge gash above her left eye. She quickly found some clean snow, to wash the wound. She knew she had to find Lilith and Connor, hopefully they were searching for her already.

Ella had been trapped underneath the snow for the night, with nothing but an old dress and weathered jacket, and a huge, bleeding gash in her head.

She then remembered that Lilith would probably be up flying around to find her, so she needed to get to the highest point possible. But she was cold, and she couldn't feel any of her fingers. It would be hard to climb a tree, but she had to try. She put Mina in the empty coin pouch around her belt, and used the sleeves of her jacket as grips, while she climbed the branches of the tree.

When she got to the top, she thought she could see a dark purple shape, hovering over faraway trees. Ella knew that the only way to get to her was to stay on top of the trees as she moved closer. She quickly flew from branch to branch, careful to stop every few seconds. She kept doing this for what felt like forever, but she could see that Lilith was closer, and couldn't give up now.

When she looked down, she could see small animals between the thin white branches, and dark green pines. She was going at a faster pace now, it felt like she was walking on air.

Soon, the trees gave way to a large canyon, too wide for Ella to fly across. The only bridge in sight was broken, it must've snapped in the fierce winds of the blizzard. She could see Lilith flying overhead, and knew what to do.

"LILITH! LILITH! OVER HERE!" Ella yelled, waving her arms. She tried her best to get her attention, but she never even turned her head. She had to go to Plan B, try to fly across the canyon.

She held Mina close to her chest, and waited for the wind to go east, the direction of the other side. She put her hand out to feel the wind, and pushed off her feet once it was going the right way. Ella opened her wings and was flying quickly to the other side.

She put one arm out to grab a branch, but the wind quickly changed directions, and Ella was pushed fiercely back to the other side of the canyon, and smashed against a tree trunk. It felt like every bone in her back had shattered, and her frail body was now blowing in the wind, like a piece of debris, as Mina was being cradled safely in her arms. She was crying, giving up, choking on her own tears. She'd gotten so far, but how was she supposed to get out alive. It was as if everything was against her as she floated weightlessly through the trees.