MCSM: Forgotten Demons (sequel to A World Unwound) [HIATUS]

~Chapter Thirteen~

Ruby dropped back onto the ground, the wings vanishing. "Hilarious." She said dryly.

"Ruby, don't shift again. You just freaked out those poor bunnies." Dawson told her, nodding towards a small group of black-and-white rabbits partially hidden behind an ice formation.

"Oh. Whoops. Sorry?" Ruby said, glancing between the rabbits and the blonde Author girl.

Rush snickered. "You should've seen how my cat reacted the first time Ruby shifted in front of her. It was almost a week before she'd even stay in the same room Ruby was in."

"To be fair, your cat's a grade-A brat." The shapeshifter pointed out. Rush shrugged. "Yeah, she is." she agreed amiably.

An accurately-thrown snowball collided with the side of Rush's head. She startled, shooting a suspicious glance at Lila, who was dusting her hands free of snow. "Did you just-"

Yet another clump of snow glanced off her shoulder, spraying her face with tiny crystals of ice. The cat-eared Author whirled around, walking backwards so as to address the majority of the group. "Okay, whoever threw that, I'm going to curse you with nightmares for the rest of your miserable life."

"It was Aiden!" Cindy called.

"Hey! You snitch!" Aiden said indignantly. Rush shot them both with a suspicious look, then leaned down and gathered another handful of snow.

Before she could throw it, a clump of snow hit Cindy full in the face, tossed by someone behind Rush. Cindy sputtered in surprise, pulling off her glasses to wipe away the frost. "Jasmine! You're supposed to be on my side!"

Aiden was the next to get hit, as he'd been too busy laughing at Cindy to see Dawson aiming for him. He scooped up a handful of snow and hurled it at the blonde Author, who squealed and narrowly dodged the projectile. Ginger, who had previously been trotting docilely alongside Dawson, leaped up and caught it with a joyful yip.

Rush flung her snowball at Aiden as well, hitting the shoulderpad of his armour. Jasmine barely escaped getting hit with Lila's next snowball as she turned to hurl another one at Cindy. It soon became impossible to tell who was responsible for who getting hit, since most of the group had now joined in the good-natured snowy chaos.

Surprisingly enough, Jesse was one of the few who wasn't participating. She was walking slowly, at the back of the group, seeming to be in her own world. She winced at every loud noise, glancing cautiously around at the towering ice formations.

She hadn't been to a snow biome since the disastrous events of the Shard trials, a little over three months before. She'd just begun pushing them from her mind, but the trek through the snow was bringing the memories back in full force.

Gill was the first to notice she wasn't acting normal, as most everyone else was busy pelting each other with icy projectiles. He slowed his pace, allowing the distracted hero to catch up with him.

"Hey. You doin' alright?" he asked gently.

Jesse glanced up at him. She was only a few years his junior, but their height difference was noticeably large. "Uh, yeah, I'll be...I'll be fine." She muttered.

Gill raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? You don't look fine."

She shrugged uncomfortably. "I dunno. I'm kinda regretting agreeing to lead this expedition. The last time I was in an ice spikes biome wasn't exactly a great experience, so it's just bringing back some ah...let's just say nightmarish memories."

"Can I ask what happened?" he said after a moment.

Jesse paused before simply saying, "I lost a friend."