❄️|Frostbite|❄️

2

Y/N POV

I stared out at the dark forest ahead of me, the trees taller than they seemed like a protective barrier. I took a deep breath and turned back, but I could've sworn I saw something the shape of reindeer antlers, but not quite.

I stood still and watched, hoping I'd see what it was but nothing.

"Y/n? Are you coming or not? Moms gonna be mad if you're out this late again!" My brother, Erik, shouted for me, I looked back, and he was riding his dark coated reindeer, Matt, while holding a small torch for light. I took one last look where I last saw the weird shadow that was now gone and turned around.

The walk back to camp was just him ranting on about how he tried to cover for me.

"It's too hard when you run off that often," He said, looking down at me while I walked next to him and his reindeer.

"I'm not asking for you to try and defend me all the time." I said, and he scoffed, putting a hand over his heart.

"You should be thanking me! Anyways, fix yourself. Being late to dinner is one thing. Looking like a mess at dinner is another." He answered, and I did so, shifting the poncho so it wasn't too wrinkled.

"Better?"

"It's enough, I guess,"

We made our way back to the camp, where we found our mother awaiting us. She was sitting by a fire, stirring a pot of stew. "Where were you two this time?" she asked.

"Y/n here thought it would be a good idea to run off without saying anything. So I decided to be heroic and go find her before one of the spirits did!"

"Oh, good grief," my mother sighed. She set down her spoon and gave me a look of disappointment. "You're too old to be running off into the woods like that."

"But I didn't do anything wrong," I protested. "I wasn't even gone that long! Erik just got all caught up in his own hero-complex again."

"I'm not so sure about that," my mother said, shooting me a suspicious glare. "Did anything strange happen while you were out there?"

The memory of the deformed reindeer figure re played in my mind, but I just gave a smile and shook my head.

"No, nothing strange," I lied flawlessly, and she nodded, pouring spoon fulls of stew into bowls for us.

Erik talked about his day while sharing some of his food with his reindeer.

After dinner, mom put out the flame, and we went to bed.

but right on the edge of sleep and awake, I hear a deep and distorted chuckle. I sat up, eyes adjusting to the dark tent.

Both my mom and brother are still asleep, so I peek outside of the tent. All I could see was the faint burning coals from the remains of other campfires.

A frigid breeze makes me sit back down in my cot and hug myself, trying to become warm again.

I lied back down and pulled the blanket up to my chin. I just had to hope it was just the wind spirit, and pray it was in a good mood tonight.

I tried to go to sleep, reminding my self curiosity killed the cat, but another part of me kept saying we were no cat.

My imagination was running wild, and the more I tried to ignore it, the more it seemed to creep in. Eventually, I gave up and decided to see what was waiting for me in my dreams.

My eyes felt droopy, and a sense of relief came over me as I knew as I was about to fall asleep.

But the flap to the tent flew up from the breeze, and I swore I saw a pair of feet, pale and blue, no shoes or even slippers with a black marking around each ankle, and probably wearing a long black cloak. I grabbed the flap before it could go back down and watched carefully.

"What the?.." I whispered, and the person stopped. I covered my mouth and watched.

There is a pause in the air. I lay in the tent, just waiting for something to happen. The sight of a stranger in our camp was shocking. has the fog finally disappeared? are we free?

"Don't act like I can't see you, mortal."