Children Of Frost (Book 1: Spirit Tales)

Chapter Thirteen- Shadow's Play Tricks

"Luna?" Winter whispered as soon as she woke up. Looking at Autumn, then at his arm. The only thing she could do, was try to get at of his grip. "Let go of me!"

She knew Luna was hiding something from her, but she thought that the girl would've told Spring, their sisters. Even if they have a different Mother, or had. Both had passed during child birth.

She didn't know how to get away from him. Pushing in his chest, she poked his ribs. Autumn didn't like people poking his ribs, awake or asleep. So seeing his reaction, she continued to do so, until he moved his arms to protect them.

Walking over to Luna, she knew something was off. She looked to peaceful, too peaceful. A smile on her face, and her skin was slightly pull. "Oh, dear snow."

"Winter? How'd you get away from Autumn?" Spring asked. She was next to her sister, since she didn't want to be near Winter. Looking at her sister, she saw that Luna was paler then normal, paler then Winter and she thought that girl almost matched the snow.

"Does that really matter?"

"Winter? Are you crying?"

"No."

"What's wrong?" Spring asked. Winter didn't cry, the last time she had done so was when Lily died.

Looking at her sister, she saw that her chest wasn't moving. Winter had ripped her dresses sleeve and Spring only looked at the wound with large eyes. It was turning green and purple, the puff made Winter want to lose anything she had eaten.

"Winter wake up the others."

"What's wrong?" Winter asked. She had hoped she was wrong, when Spring woke up she was about to wake her up. She just wanted to be wrong, for once in her life, she wanted to be so very wrong.

"Luna," Spring said tears slightly going down her face. She both sad and mad, since her sister had hidden this from them. She could've healed it, they could've protected her. "Luna, she's dead. Infection."

Winter only looked at her with wide eyes. She grew alarmed when her face started to turn purple, tears went down her checks. In that moment, to Spring Winter looked like a child, one who had lost too much. Pulling her into a hug, she rubbed her back. She needed to breath. "Breath, Win, breath. Everything will be fine, like grandmother said, everything heals with time."

"You're lying, you have to be lying,"Winter muttered, putting her arms around Spring's torso. She didn't want to believe that Luna was dead, that someone had died because she wasn't fast enough. "No, she can't be dead. I just can't lost anyone else."

"Spring what's going on?" Summer asked. All he knew that Spring was hugging Winter, and they were both crying. He had a bad feeling when he saw this, more so when he looked at Luna.

"Luna, she's, she's gone," Spring said. He knew what she meant, looking at her arm. He knew what happened. The wolf had bitten her, it had got it's claws into her and her blood had turned to ice.

He didn't know because he was knocked out. Spring and Autumn weren't even there, and Winter was too far to see if anything had happened. Winter only looked at him, she didn't need this.

She was used to death, she had to be. When hunting, you saw people die. She had to be used to it, but both Lily and Luna showed her she wasn't. Looking at Luna's body, she vowed to never liked anyone close, it was the only way she knew how to protect herself.

"I'm sorry Spring," Autumn said looking at the two. Spring just let go of Winter, slightly pushing her to the ground and hugged him. She didn't care that was crying, she loved her sister and now she was gone.

Winter only looked at them, Summer had gone and wrapped his arms around the two. She just got up and looked at them, she would never have anything like that. She knew that, she was always going to be by herself, dealing with her own problems, like this one. Walking over to her stuff, she grabbed her bow and arrows. She didn't care if they noticed, she had failed. Luna was dead, because she only cared about herself and wasn't fast enough, just wasn't good enough.

The fur and skin under the wolf's claws, show them that it had been in many fights, but now she knew. The blood, skin and fur were Luna's. How many people were going to die around her? First it was Lily, and now Luna.

She didn't care how they would react, she needed to be by herself. She needed to calm down and rebuild her walls. However, this time they needed to be higher and thicker. She didn't need emotions, they were a burden. Something she didn't need, nor one she had the time to deal with.

--

Winter just looked at the dark clouds, it was like the sky was showing her mood. Dark and grey. She needed to calm down, she didn't think that the others had noticed her leaving, like she actually mattered.

In the grand scheme of things, she doubted that she did. She bet that Spring only dragged her along, was because her precious grandmother told her to. She didn't need their pity, she didn't need anything from them, she didn't need anything from anyone.

No matter how much she walked, everything stayed the same. White snow, ice caves and a grey sky. A mocking sun, one that was slowly going over the hill, they still had a few bell rings. But she doubted they'd find it. Spring might as well, just pushed them onto the Seasonal River, Autumn might as well have left her to drown.

"Winter..." a voice said and she stood up. Looking around, but she didn't see anyone. She knew that voice, but it was impossible. She was dead. "Winter... Winter, why don't you try to find me?"

Winter didn't say anything instead, she only looked around the area. Where she was? She thought, stringing one of her bows. Just in case it was a trick, a low, no good dirty trick. But a trick none the less.

"Winter are you treating me like the rest of the village?" the voice mocked, it sounded like it was having fun, but Winter wasn't. "Are have you lost all words."

Looking at the sky, she quickly looked in front of her. The shadow was the same height and weight. Without thinking, she pointed her bow at the shadow, she wasn't going down, not without a fight.

"Don't you remember me? Winter."