This story follows five-six months after the events of Something Wicked

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Chapter 1

Winter came early this year. Despite this, the battlefield on which we fought for our honor was barely covered by snow at all and if any, was barely noticeable. The edges, however, were a different story. A thick layer of snow bordered the circular stone-paved clearing that separated me and my enemy. I had already been struck by several projectiles. Part of me had gone numb from the cold. One more shot and I would inevitably lose. Couldn't have that, could we? I had gravely struck her as well and we were both at our last breaths.

Alex stood at the sidelines with eyes that hid a sadistic amusement at my plight. My opponent shifted her feet a bit to get better footing and readied herself. I narrowed my eyes at her and mirrored her slight adjustments. At an unseen signal, she dashed to her right and readied her weapon. I did much the same and for a split second, had doubts on whether I could beat her. She was better than me at this and had beaten me for the most part of our combat. Screw it, I thought, I'm gonna win this once and for all.

I only had a moment to react as a projectile soared through the air, aimed directly at my head. I managed to shift my foot only so slightly, but it was enough for the numbing cocktail to miss me by a few hairs. I took my opening and shot the tool I had readied and prayed that it would hit its mark. As I hoped, it hit her squarely in the face. Her mouth was slightly ajar at that moment, which I counted as lucky. Internal damage is way worse than anything external. The attack caught her by surprise and knocked her down more out of losing her balance than actual fatigue.

It was over. I knew I had won. It was finally over! I thrust one fist into the air and hollered my victory, savoring the moment of triumph over my enemy.

At that moment, I noticed something wrong. My eyes flicked to the side and registered immediately that Alex was no longer where he stood. Oh no.

I had no more time to react. I was too busy claiming victory that I didn't consider this a possibility. Alex had betrayed me. I felt the cold numbing sensation as the icy concoction was poured over my head, flowing up to my shoulders. The layer of warmth I wore was of no use to such a direct and close and sneak attack. I fell to one knee and managed to gasp, "Traitor!"

My declaration was cut short as I saw that my enemy, who I'm sure Alex, was planning to cross-over to all along, recovered and pelted me with the missiles. I fell to the ground and gasped in pain as the numbing sensation spread all throughout my wounded body, and worst of all, my wounded pride. My comrades had betrayed me, and were planning this all along. As if confirming this, Alex let out a scornful laugh.

I had enough of this. "Alright, alright, I give!" I shouted, in between the strikes and muttered, "Traitors..."

"I swear, Louis," Dinah said cheerily, still holding the snowball she was just about to throw at me. "You take these snowball fights way too seriously." She had grown a few, uhm, semi-inches. I'd suggest you don't argue the point. To her defense, she had grown much into her potential in just a few months into college. She had curves to show off and carried it well with her height. Her yellow hair looked paler covered in snow. Nowadays, she wore it even shorter and spiked it up a bit with no help from hair gel or any of those other overpriced hair care products. She wore a blue jacket, with the number 07 on its back and left breast, which complemented her blue eyes rather well.

I ignored her and muttered darkly as I stood up and patted away the stray snow that clung to my black hooded jacket. I was particularly fond of this one. It was cotton, I think, and had flame patterns sewn on. That and I wasn't happy with the idea of wearing a wet jacket in the cold. Snow is fun until it melts and leaves you dripping in a subzero environment. I wore a blue shirt under it, and had a small silver locket clinging to it.

A medium sized mound of fur that had been silently lolling its tongue out in a doggy grin, shuffled forward and went for a full sprint. I had barely straightened up when Ruby leapt and knocked me down again with a resonating oomph. She then playfully licked my face before prancing back to her master. Ruby had grown quite a bit in the past five or so months and was nearing the height of my knees. Despite her relatively small size, she's gotten strong enough to knock me off balance. Her coat had taken on the shade of completely black and slowly lightened until her belly. Kind of like the ones you see on TV. It was Maya's idea of advanced protection to force us to bring Ruby along to the university and keep her in our dorm even though the Millers' mansion was only less than an hour's drive away.