She's Plotting Something

***She's Plotting Something*** is the eighth episode of *The Adventures of Evie and Mya* in Season 1 and the eighth episode overall.

## Synopsis

Winter mysteriously disappears around the same time as despotic school bully Daniela, leaving Evie and Mya suspicious that something sinister has gone on between the two - and soon, they're in a race against the clock to find the two before disaster strikes.

## Content Warning

*This episode contains scenes with blood, heavy violence, mature language, obscene gestures, and other mature content which is not meant for children. Viewer discretion is advised.*

## Transcript

*Long past midnight in Pineshadow. Everyone is asleep, tucked soundly at home, and the lights are out, with few yellows and oranges in the sleepy neighborhoods. Half a moon remains high in the sky, surrounded by milky stars, and here and there, an owl hoots, about to fly off on a night hunt.*

In Pineshadow, there was tranquility among its denizens, no evil afoot.

Not a peep was to be heard by anyone.

But, in the thick, foilage covers and dense flora in the Piney Woods, *skids* and *patters* and *ruckus* ran amuck. Pine needles were kicked aside, bushes torn through with no hesitation, and the few nocturnal animals, sensing a harrowing aura, fled.

Emerging from a clump of trees was a shadow - whoever they were, their figure was cloaked by blackness with the help of the canopies of many pine and fir trees, the only source of light reflecting off them from their bright eyes, serving as two torches.

They were on a mission.

The shadow, running with haste and confidence, effortlessly leapt over a creekbed, dodged more trees, stumps, fallen logs, fungai, nose wrinkling at the powerful pine scent, but they were unbothered.

Matters were on their mind.

The darkness wasn't that bothersome either - in fact, they embraced it, *welcomed* it, frolicked in it. It was what their heart desired.

Eventually, the shadow saw what they had came for and bounded ahead, their boots taking leaps and bounds, and finally, in front of them, stood a small structure: a gray-bricked cabin.

They rubbed their hands together, seemingly in joyful anticipation, though any sort of smile or grin was concealed by blackness.

Ascending up the small steps to the cabin, they crouched down, alert, turning to the left and then the right.

Everything was eerie. Silent. No one had heard their movements, just what they wanted. They reached into one of their back pockets and pulled out a small, black bobby pin, and then carefully snuck it into the lock of the cabin door.

They moved the pin up, down, swirled it around, and finagled a bit more.

*Click*.

The shadow nodded, rising to their feet and entering the cabin, analyzing their new surroundings for the first time. It was a tiny cabin, yet had enough legroom for movement, quaint and peaceful. Food and drinks stashed in one corner, magazines and books in another, clothes in another, Varien albums in another.

Only did they find what they were *truly* looking for when they faced the right of the cabin, where, sleeping daintily, was a young, teenaged girl curled in multiple blankets, her head resting on a pillow. Her mouth was parted, and due to the cabin's quiet, she could her her faintly inhale, then exhale, her fingers curling.

The shadow took a step forward and halted, using their glimmering eyes to scan the young girl. She seemed to be dead asleep and wasn't aroused by the footstep or the door opening. That was a good sign.

Furthermore, there appeared to be no weapon nearby or anything inauthentic about this moment. Another good sign.

Ultracarefully, the shadow crept forward, hunger pangs in their stomach - if they could just get to the teenager, the cravings would be nullified.

*Creak*.

Their sharp reflexes kicking in, the shadow retreated back, but the floorboard creaking had been a dead giveaway.

Winter woke up with a start, her ice-blue eyes dimmed and narrowed from exhaustion.

"Huh..." she mumbled, rubbing her tired eyes and blinking.

*Someone* was standing *in front of her*, and their gaze was *shrewd*.

The door to her cabin was *wide open*.

Gasping, the rest of her body woke up, and leaping to her feet, she drew her pocket knife, silver blade honed and *shining*.

"Who *are* you?" she demanded with a nervous tinge to her voice, holding her knife, her frame squared evenly. "This is *not your* property. You've *trespassed*. *Get out*."

The shadow did not reply, as much as they would've liked to, and kept painfully silent. Confrontation was métier - they could handle the defiant, spitfire Winter.

"Let me *repeat myself*. You've trespassed on *private property*. Leave now - I have a pocket knife on me. *Don't* make me attack you," Winter warned, hardening with fury, accepting the challenge this stranger had given her.

The shadow did not move, lighting their adversary's fuse.

Winter let loose a low growl, baring her teeth and stomping her left foot on the carpet of the cabin, loud enough for them to hear.

Still, even faced with the dare of a bloody duel, they did not obey Winter and stood glued to their spot, mouth curving to form a enraptured *smile*.

A smile that was masked in the dead of night.

"*Last chance*, buddy!" Winter hissed, the air growing with something *awful*.

Something was formulating - she wasn't prepared for it.

All she knew was that the intruder she was confronting was a *threat*.

The shadow had waited long enough and threw their dice forward, proceeding with their game.

They took a step forward, eliminating the last part of the gap between her and Winter.

And Winter knew that step reeked of *malice*.

Screeching in rage, she sprung at her opponent with the pocket knife in hand, and the blade *tore* through black flesh, cutting it open, and the shadow felt the pain bubbling and exploding through their wrist.

Usually, in most circumstances, any person who had just been slit on the wrist would have screamed and writhed, looking for a way to stop the bleeding.

But the shadow, contrary to those circumstances, *accepted* the pain. They didn't wince or scream, remaining in silence and staring at the *fascinating* cut on their wrist, red and oozing blood.

The pain was *euphoria*. It was sweet, maddening, *insanity*. Addicting.

Their blood was spilling onto the floor, and the sight was *pleasuring* to see. Wavelengths of *pleasure* flooded through their body, and it took their strength to not shudder and relish in it more.

Winter, disgusted, stepped backwards. "*What the*... what the hell?" she questioned.

How on earth had the figure not *ran*, screaming for the hills? That blow was *strong*. She could barely see the blood drops trickling to the floor.

Why was her assailant just *standing there* with a bloody gash on their wrist?

Her heart went wild and tremors rumbled in her body.

This had rapidly transcended into something *ugly*.

The shadow was enticed by her reaction and decided to put the final pieces together.

All of a sudden, without a roar or a shriek, they lunged at Winter and pinned her to the floor of the cabin. Her head smacking the ground, black and blue lines flew across Winter's vision, dazing her, and she could see pieces of the shadow on top of her. Their entire body weight had been placed on her chest.

Then, the fragments came back together, and her eyesight clearly returned, giving her a higher-quality picture of her attacker.

The darkness masked much of their body... except for one feature.

Their eyes.

Cynical.

And.

Amber.

Winter was so horrified her vocal chords *broke*, the air leaving her body, and she opened her mouth to muster out a scream.

"Sorry, Winter. But it's too little too late to cry now."

And before she knew it, Daniela had delivered a punch, brutal and violent, to the funny bone on the side of her neck, and everything around Winter faded to a haunting black.

**SEASON 1, EPISODE 8 - SHE'S PLOTTING SOMETHING**

"Oh, Evie, you will *not* believe the night I had with Winter yesterday!"

Mya asked the question as she and Evie approached Pineshadow Middle School, outlined in orange and pink from the rising sun. Some students walked inside, pulling open the glass doors leading to the interior of the building.

Evie, curious, faced her best friend, who had been walking calmly beside her. "Tell me about it!" she requested.

"Okay, so, I went to visit her, y'know... I wanted to thank her in person for helping me come out. She threw me a whole mini congratulations party... I think I ate eight oreos!"

Evie giggled. "I'm shocked you didn't come home wanting to throw up."

"I'm glad I did not," Mya responded, stopping. "Winter had another treat for me. She took me up to the roof of her cabin. I did parkour for the first time off that broken tree." She leapt into the air.

Evie smiled, thinking about how sweet it was that Winter had given her best friend such a night out - she didn't seem like the type of girl to party or go the extra mile to generate positivity in her friends.

"So then, she showed me the night sky... Ev, I think I understand why she loves the stars now..."

"Oh?"

Mya grabbed her shoulder, pointing to the sky - which was filled with clouds and patches of sunrise-colored oranges and pinks, not stars. "There were millions of stars, white, blue, clustered together, far apart... Winter says they call out to her. I can hear them call out to me, too... they were putting me in *millions* of trances!"

"Wow... that's fetching," she murmured, imagining the stars the way her friend was describing, and it sounded so peaceful.

*Maybe Mya and I could have a night under the stars.*

She noticed how calm she was, mixed in with her excitement - it was a change from days ago, when she was so excited the lines had blurred, causing mayhem, terror, and panic in their friendship, putting it on the rocks, but now...?

*I like this you, Mya.*

"Winter guided my hand with her own. She wanted to dream about holding the stars in my palms, their warmth, protectiveness... And *then*, we hopped down and were hot on each other's heels, dashing through the Piney Woods, the stars illuminating the dark spaces... it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in my life."

Mya trotted ahead of Evie, admiring her, and she joined her side, putting her hand on her shoulder.

*You're the most superior beautiful thing in my life,* Mya quietly thought.

"Happy to hear you had fun... and I'm relieved Winter's life has rebounded. To hear her so passionate and free-spirited, it warms my heart..."

Sighing, Evie put a palm on her heart, and Mya did too - she blushed.

"It does too. Okay, enough storytime. Let's head inside and meet up with Winter," Mya then stated, taking up Evie's hand, which she enjoyed - that touch was reassuring.

Hand in hand, the two headed inside the school building.

Like usual, PMS was buzzing with activity - students going to tutorials, the cafeteria bustling with students eating breakfast, hall monitors positioned in the corner to spot misbehavior.

Everything was normal - except in the office.

Catching a sideways glimpse of the interior, Evie saw Rex pacing in the office, her eyes frantic, papers strewn all over her desk. Her coffee mug was stained on the sides. The principal wrung her hands around as she paced, appearing to be worried.

What had happened?

Mya had seen it too, for she halted and squinted. "Um, is it me, or does Rex look like she's losing it?"

"I think Rex *has* lost her nerve since before we got here," Evie responded. "Something is wrong."

Mya put her hand on her shoulder, surprising her and saying, "Probably, but we shouldn't make assumptions. The T-Rex could be having a stressful morning."

*Whoa. She took the words out of my mouth.*

Evie nodded. "Right, fair point. Stressful morning."

The two moved onwards to Morning Gym, immersing themselves in the loud, rampant chatter of the sixth, seventh, and eigth graders, which inumdated the air *everywhere*.

Quickly, the two rose up the steps to the bleachers, heading to the row they sat by the most - the corner where Winter sat every school morning, never missing a day, keeping up her elusive lifestyle.

Evie opened her mouth to speak. "Good morning, Winter-"

Hold on...

She abruptly cut herself off, her cheeks awkwardly heating with embarrassment.

*Winter was not in front of them*.

*What the? Where is she? She's supposed to be right here!*

Instead of the thin, short-tempered tomboy, Evie and Mya were facing *Evelin and Sarah Rafiq*.

Both sisters raised an eyebrow, staring at them with the same puzzled expression.

"Uhh... can we help you two?" Sarah asked skeptically.

Evie's cheeks flushed harder, making her look at the ground stiffly, though Mya managed to face Sarah and answer her question.

"Hey, Evelin, Sarah. Our friend usually sits where you sit. She's here every morning. Have you seen her?"

"Uh, no?"

Evelin shook her head. "We don't know who you're talking about."

Evie tore her eyes off of the floorboards and met the gazes of the Rafiq sisters. "Winterlyn McCormick, goes by Winter. Pale skin, freckled face, *very short hair* tied at the back, ice-blue eyes. Do you know someone with the same appearance?"

She hoped that the sisters at least knew *some* information about Winter - any leads to where she was were important.

"No, I haven't seen anyone who looks like that," Evelin commented, scratching her chin.

"I am really lost," Sarah muttered, placing her hands in her chin.

Mya grimiced. The Rafiq sisters weren't really proving to be much help...

Suddenly, Evelin brightened. "Oh, wait! I think I know who you're talking about now!"

"Finally, a lead!" Evie rejoiced.

"Winter's the kid everyone calls "Snowblind," right? I've heard the insult spread around."

Evie frowned, sighing.

*I don't get paid enough for this stuff...*

"Unfortunately... you're correct. Have you seen Winter at any point this morning? You and Sarah?"

Sarah shook her head, as did Evelin.

"Okay, we're going to leave you alone now," said Mya, exhaustion creeping into her tone. "If you have any information, *or* if you *see* Winter, *tell us immediately*."

"Will do. See you in third period, guys!" Evelin waved them farewell, then turned to Sarah, engaging in an idle conversation with her.

Finding another space on the bleachers, Evie and Mya sat down, huddling close to each other, every part of them unsettled.

Winter *never* missed a day of school. She *couldn't*; skipping a day of school would spell a grim demise for the lifestyle she had lived since the day she ran away.

School staff would get suspicious, police would be called, and then it would be *doomsday* - *neither* of the two girls dared to utter the two forbidden words spelling out that *dreadful* place Winter loathed extensively.

When the bell rang, Evie and Mya sped to first period, praying for a *miracle* - Winter had been at school the entire time, just hiding somewhere else, and she'd be in English, already seated next to the antagonistic, bitter bully Daniela.

The girls couldn't help but think about Winter and Daniela's past relationship as they headed to English - an intimate, beautiful, and healthy forbidden love between two young girls, a barrier-breaking lesbian and intelligent, sugar-sweet bisexual - to enemies, one fueled by trauma, one fueled by the raging desire to make her ex miserable.

They *had* to keep Winter safe - which meant that facing Daniela would be a difficult challenge.

Evie and Mya, nodding, headed inside their English class. The pecking order in the class was simple.

Daniela arrived first. She *had* to be first. Even the *slightest* scrap of her being late would sour her mood and make her crave violence in a more extensive manner.

The second part of the pecking order was the arrival of Evie, Mya, and Winter.

The third part... well, that would be trying to stop the civil unrest Daniela would cause in English and trying to soothe an already short-tempered Mrs. Ikenna.

Evie and Mya braced for it and *hideous* results.

But this time, Daniela was *nowhere* to be found. Not in her seat, not anywhere.

Mya bit down on her lip, preventing a gasp from escaping, and Evie's stomach flipped.

*What the??? Daniela's never absent! She gets here before us! She's on top of everything! She hates being late! SHE NEVER WANTS TO BE LATE.*

Mya gripped her hand, a concerning stare prying into her outer layer, and slowly, Evie brought her stiffened shoulders down.

*No. I'm overreacting. She just went to the bathroom... yeah, it's that... that makes sense.*

*Daniela's here. She could be on her period or screaming at another teacher for all we know...*

Yet, two minutes elapsed, and Daniela *still* hadn't turned up, her seat empty and lifeless, Winter's desk nesk to hers untouched and lifeless as well.

It was clear what the girls were witnessing was *real*.

*Daniela was absent*.

*And Winter was absent*.

Their friend and her remorseless, vile former flame had done the unthinkable and *missed school*.

Absolutely *inconcievable*.

Evie felt sick, and Mya, appalled, rested her head on hers.

"You don't think?" she started.

"We can't deny it, Mya. Dani's *gone*," Evie stated worriedly. "She has *never* missed a single day in the school calendar. She's a perfectionist. She's on par with *me* in terms of classwork. Dani's even said on plenty of occassions that she would *never* skip willingly!"

"And Winter's not here either! She *has* to be here too, or won't police search her cabin, confiscate her knife, and place her in... *that ugly place*?" Mya whisper-shouted, her leaf-green eyes disturbed and wide.

Shuddering, Evie's hold on her hand tightened until the flesh had turned *pink*.

"You're... *you're right*. We have to get a lead..."

Anxiously, they glanced at Mrs. Ikenna, who was grading papers from yesterday's assignment, scratching her pen across each and every paper.

"Mrs. Ikenna? Have you... *seen* Daniela this morning?" Mya inquired as a few of their classmates strolled in.

"No," she commented bluntly, not making eye contact with her or Evie. "Rex has not sent me an absence note."

The girls shared a glance apprehensively, unease fizzling.

That was incredibly suspicious. The daughter of the *principal* hadn't been marked absent when she was obviously not here.

Had Rex been hiding something? Was this the reason why she was frazzled in the office when they arrived?

More pertinently, *where* was Winter?

"What about Winter? We didn't see her in her typical place this morning," Evie queried, and Mrs. Ikenna batted an annoyed eye up at her.

"Also not here. Look, girls. Worry about your classmates later. Get out your notebooks, we have a lengthy reading comprehension assignment today," she replied, exasperated, returning to grading classwork.

"Evie, are we overthinking this?" Mya whispered, taking her seat and reaching into her backpack for her supplies. "I mean, they could just be somewhere else in the school we can't access..."

Evie, pulling out her notebook and sitting, crossed her legs. "True. I don't know, Mya. I don't want to assume things, but at the same time..."

"It's hard not to," Mya finished for her. She placed her hand on hers, twining her fingers in her fingers and giving a tiny smile.

"We have to hope for the best when the odds are against us. We'll find a way, Evie."

"Let's hope so, My." Grateful, Evie brushed the top of her hand with her thumb, the contact delivering the melotonin boost she needed with the uneasy revelations handed down this morning.

The day progressed at the pace of a snail, and no matter how hard Evie and Mya tried prying for answers on Winter and Daniela's whereabouts, they never got a clear, concise answer.

"Haven't seen them. Sorry, my hands are tied here," said Mr. Alann in third period.

"My goodness, I haven't seen the two of them," said Mrs. Hawkins in fourth period. "I'll keep an eye out, though."

"Nope. Haven't seen Winter. Get to work," said Mr. Gill in the first half of fifth period.

At lunch, the two poked their classmates, though no one had clues or information, much to their frustration.

Evelin and Sarah had also come back empty-handed.

"Never thought I'd see the day where Daniela would skip school. I'm relieved, actually," muttered Mrs. Limon to Evie in sixth period, the only class where she wasn't paired with Mya.

"Umm... isn't her being missing concerning?"

"Trust me, Miss Ly, you don't want to know of the unspeakable felonies she's committed in this class."

"I'd respect Winter a lot if she was out on the track running five miles as we speak," quipped Coach Samoski to Mya during an intermission in gym, her and Evie's seventh period.

"Coach Samoski, she's *absent*. Have you seen her or have you not?" she protested.

"Mya, don't get all testy with me now. No, I have not seen Winter today. If I had, she'd be with you with red ears." He fiddled with his whistle.

"What about Daniela?"

Coach Samoski sighed. "Mya, I'm not able to help you with absences. I don't *know*. Forward any of your concerns to Rex. You're in *gym*."

"Coach Samoski! This is-"

Coach Samoski blew his whistle in her face, promptly scaring her back a few steps and nearly sending her toppling into Evie, who's cheeks flushed red.

"Pines! Listen up! Split in two groups for the pacer test running practice."

*Good grief,* Mya thought, her head brimming with a thousand vexations.

Eighth period - the final period of the grueling, nail-biting day, ended in the same expected fashion every period ended in.

"Winter? Unfortunately, I haven't seen her around... strange," Mr. Naecher murmured thoughtfully, drumming his fingers on his world history book.

"Has she been acting suspicious lately?" Evie asked.

"No."

"Have you seen Daniela?"

Mr. Naecher grunted. "Rex's rabid daughter? Also no. Glad I haven't."

"Has she been acting suspicious too?" Mya questioned, exhausted, and Evie pulled her in for a side hug.

"No idea. I don't have much time to analyze her behavior. You'd have to take things up with Rex."

Evie sighed. "Oh well. Thanks for your help, Mr. Naecher."

The day passed on in the quiet eighth period, but the lesson on the Nazi party was of no interest to Evie and Mya, who took notes as instructed, yet felt their minds land somewhere else.

Winter and Daniela had not once showed up, made an appearance, or left a breadcrumb trail of *where* they had been. Their lack of presence at the school was ghostly and *haunting*.

Everyone had dismissed it with no concern.

Evie and Mya, in contrast, knew something was *wrong*.

*Winter's not here. She has to be here, or she's going to blow her cover and end up in foster care, trapped in a sea of lost children. She'd never skip school on purpose for any reason, not even when sick. She'd fight to the finish,* Evie thought.

*And then you have Daniela absent on the same day. Dani has said multiple times that she wouldn't dare skip school even if she wanted to. She's hellbent on being a prodigy and a demon child. Like me, she's a perfectionist down to her core.*

*Something isn't adding up... we are missing a huge piece of the puzzle.*

After exiting the school building, Mya and Evie ducked under an overhang, sharing twin, grim, dark thoughts - it sure as hell wasn't just them overthinking anymore.

Winter and Daniela couldn't just be absent on the same day.

Around them was a cloud of suspicion, coincidences, and mystery - they had to solve it.

School folk, whether students or faculty, were not an option. Their classmates nor their teachers could help, and they couldn't approach Rex; the T-Rex side of her was out and ready to bite.

With her state in the morning, the principal would have been a *beast* to approach.

"Ev, we've exhausted our PMS options. What next?" Mya inquired.

Evie, facing the Piney Woods ahead, retreated into her thoughts. School was a no-go and had no scraps of evidence scattered about. One location had been marked off the map.

They couldn't risk hunting down Daniela by themselves - she could easily overpower them and destroy them - and besides, Rex would be *furious* if they went on such a goose chase.

*We'd be entangled in Burton Vunquist family business... and with how short Rex's temper is, that's just like touching a nest of killer bees.*

That was another no-go and scratched off the list.

This left only one place left, and brightening the dim corners of her mind, Evie sat up.

"Mya. We have to search Winter's cabin!" she exclaimed.

"The cabin! Perfect thinking. We might not be able to get answers on Daniela, but we *can* get answers on Winter. The cabin is her stomping grounds! We have to get there immediately!" Mya responded, springing to her feet.

"Right on. No time to waste. Come on!"

Evie and Mya, lightning pulsing in their hearts, ran in the direction of the cabin.

For all they knew, they could be getting close to their cigar.

The Piney Woods was eerily silent when Evie and Mya arrived at Winter's cabin. There was no breeze, which let the trees stand still, their branches unmoving and frozen. While there was sometimes an animal to cry out or a bird to chirp and sing, no such sounds were present.

Despite there being no present danger, the girls couldn't help but shake a little, and they locked stares, knowing that what they could find could turn the tables - for good or for a code red.

Evie ascended up the steps first, stealthily and meticulously, followed by Mya, who stayed close in her friend's companionship for comfort.

She nodded at her, balling up a fist.

"Winter?" Evie called, knocking on the door.

*Thump, thump, thump. Creak*.

Evie, gasped, stepping back as the door opened on its own, leading into the dimly-lit cabin, and her heart began to pound, sweat beginning to form on the back of her neck.

The door was *open*.

"What??? The door's supposed to be locked!" Mya pointed out.

"Something is awry. I smell lots of rats..." Evie muttered, turning to her friend with green eyes ill at ease and reducing her voice to a whisper. "We have to investigate. Be careful, make your footsteps light. A predator could be lurking in the shadows and we *have* to be prepared for it."

Nodding, Mya fell into Evie's lead. The duo crept inside, steps light as cats, each footstep landing with precision.

They glanced around.

Winter was *gone*.

"**No**!" Mya shrieked in dismay, and flanking her, Evie had a dire, desperate look in her gaze.

"Call me crazy, Mya... but we're teetering on the edge of something *sinister* here. Winter's not at school and isn't at her cabin. She locks the door, but it's opened by three knocks. It's uncharacteristic of her to be so *careless*," she recalled, tone firm as she built up her stance, martial arts training flashing through her mind.

"She's impulsive, sure... and reckless. But not *this* reckless. She wouldn't leave and not come back or let her possessions sit this vulnerable..."

Mya, cautiously walking forward, spotted Winter's bed, and her mouth parted. It was a *mess* - her blankets tossed aside and pillows in disarray.

"Her bed! It's a bird's nest... like she up and left."

Evie, surprised, saw that she was right and nodded. "That's a solid lead. Judging from the way the blankets appear, it seems like they were kicked off or thrown aside..."

"She struggled."

Gasping, Evie faced Mya, incredulous. "*Mya*! What on earth?? Are you saying that Winter might have been..."

Mya held up her hand, silencing her, and she put a hand on Evie's neck, rubbing the creases on it. "I know. It's far-fetched and it could be a reach. We can't rule it out, though. Stuff went on in here and we *must* get to the bottom of it."

The way Mya spoke so *confidently* and so *calmly* sent *shivers* down Evie's spine, and she couldn't hide the blush that was growing on her face. Almost dreamily, she put her hand on her friend's and intertwined her fingers perfectly with hers.

*I've never seen Mya act so mature... and so professionally...*

*Wait, what in god's name am I doing?? Our friend is in danger!*

Snapping out of her daze, Evie shook her head. "Okay. We know that we have a clue in the cabin, so we *need* to keep searching here. I'll take the left, you take right. Shout if you find evidence," she instructed.

"Aye-aye, Captain Evie!" Mya, giving an *adorable*, comedic wink, took off to the right, and Evie, smiling, yet determined, took to the left, their search deepending into a tricky, ominous mystery.

Crouching down near Winter's food and drink rations, Evie studied the boxes that held her milk and water, tracing the outline with her palm. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

She checked the floor, but alas, her efforts for evidence were naught. *Dang it,* she quietly muttered, studying the walls.

There was no corroboration of a burgulary or a break-in.

Mya, on the right, picked up Winter's set of Varien albums and sifted through them, thumbing through their delicate covers. She lifted up boxes and objects, scanning for anything damning.

Her antiques were a nope.

She approached the box and lifted it up gingerly.

Nope.

*Drat...*

Sinking to her knees, she knelt, examining the lower shelf resting near her makeshift bed - this was where her clothing was stored.

A detail caught her eye - a shirt. Not just *any* shirt.

*Hold up...*

Mya grabbed the shirt, a quiet gasp escaping her shocked, open mouth.

White front. Black sleeves. Pink collar.

*Winter wears this in the daytime...*

Next to it, tucked in a corner, were her black leggings and boots, and adrenaline surging, Mya stared at them.

Her friend was gone - but her day outfit was left behind in her cabin, untouched and neatly organized.

*If you disappear in the middle of the day, you don't just leave behind your day outfit...*

Gulping, Mya crawled over to the next shelf space to the right of the clothing space, running her hand over the soft felt of Winter's coat.

*Her coat. That wasn't taken either.*

Suddenly, the realization, a brick falling off an old house, dropped on her head.

*OH MY HELL.*

Everything made sense. She had wanted to suggest it to Evie earlier, but had cut herself off, not wanting to terrify her friend and jump the gun too early.

Assuming she hadn't vanished *voluntarily* was a sentence the height of a *mountain* to even suggest.

Yet... Mya couldn't deny it any longer. She *knew* what had happened.

Winter did *not* disappear on her own. Her typical clothes being stored at the cabin corresponded to that point.

"Evie," she said, "come here."

Evie, rising to her feet, heard how somber and urgent that voice was, and her body flared with alarm. Nervously, she trotted to her side.

"What is it, My? Did you find something?"

"See for yourself." She pointed to Winter's leftover clothing.

Evie gasped, her heart plopping to the bottom of her stomach, and dark green eyes *disbelieving*, she reluctantly met the serious leaf-green of Mya's.

"Winter's clothes are here... but Winter isn't..."

"Ev... I believe I know what befell Winter."

Terrified, Evie slid her hands to her wrists and grasped them.

"I think I know too..."

Their eyes momentarily darted to the clothes before darting back at each other. For a moment, there was silence - neither girls wanted to speak the words they had *never* wanted to say out loud.

Then, Evie's mouth parted, and out came the cadaverous, *haunting*, *spine-tingling*, soul-*crushing* words she and Mya had quietly feared from the start, but had never spoke aloud.

"Mya. Winter disappeared during the nighttime. She'd never run away on her own or skip a day of school... she's... she's been-"

Evie paused, the panic welling, and the words hanging off her tongue froze in place. Perturbed, she tried to get them out, but they were still stuck.

*I... I don't want to say it...*

"Winter's been *kidnapped*!" Mya finished frantically. "She's been kidnapped. She's *gone*. Her life is in *jeopardy*! We **have to find her**!"

"But *how*?" Evie interjected, breaking away and pacing, her feet scraping the ground unevenly. "We figured out she's been kidnapped, but we don't *know* who the kidnapper is, *nor* do we *know where* she's being held."

Without warning, *another* dark, horrific thought entered Mya's mind.

"What if Daniela's the kidnapper?"

"**HELL NO**!" Evie snapped, startling her friend.

"We can't rule it out, Evie!"

"I don't want to believe that! Daniela is in no *way* powerful enough to *kidnap* Winter. She's a *child*. She only has power in school, and even then, she would *never* kidnap Winter in daylight or nighttime. Her absence *must* be a coincidence!"

Although Evie could *feel* and *hear* the momentum, she knew she was trying to deny it.

*I won't believe it. Not ever. Daniela wouldn't dare go that far - kidnapping is in a whole league of its own. She hates Winter and threatens her, but she'd never up the antee and put the stakes high...*

"We need more proof," she murmured. "We need to have *proof* a struggle legit went down in the cabin. Otherwise, we're going to make assumptions out of bad faith, and I *hate* blaming the wrong person and blighting their name in dirt."

Mya sighed, conceding and giving her a hug. Evie, when deadset in her ways, was methodical. If she firmly wished to continue the search, Mya was game for it.

After all, she did still believe her friend handled intense situations better than she did.

"Alright. Though, we've scoured every *inch* of the cabin..."

Filling with chagrin, she stared at the floor, wondering if she and Evie were truly at a dead end.

And then she saw it.

Dots of it.

The floor was dotted in red.

*Scarlet* red.

*Blood*.

Mya screamed.

Evie, frightened, flinched back. "Mya?? What's going on??" she demanded worriedly, holding her arm in an attempt to comfort her.

"L-L-Look at the floor!!"

Evie, obliging, saw what she had seen and was instantaneously *revolted*, covering her mouth with a hand, and she wished to pour bleach in her eyes until she was blinded.

Those red droplets were *blood droplets*.

*Winter's blood*.

The looming suspicions and discoveries that had been formed and drawn by the girls all day were saddled on their back, infesting like the black death, crushing, *searing* into their lifebloods.

No more going through the seven stages of grief.

No more trying to refute it.

They couldn't refuse the truth any more.

Evie, swallowing bile that had accumulated in her mouth cavity, crouched and peered at the bloodstains. They appeared to be relatively fresh and bright.

*Almost as if this happened just hours ago...*

"Fresh bloodstains. Wherever they originated, they stained the floor recently," she observed uneasily, returning to standing upright and meeting Mya's anxiously-brooding stare.

Mya saw the agony and tension within herself and Evie; the only thing she could find herself doing to bring comfort was link their pinky fingers together delicately, locking their eyes on each other, not looking away, but into the characters inside.

They had the same thoughts, same process.

"We know what happened now," Mya stated, her chin dipping, and Evie solemnly nodded.

"Winter vanished in the *dead* of night. She was definitely in her pajamas, her real clothes are stored here. She was also hurt and appears to have gotten in a scuffle with *someone* - assuming good faith, it's not Daniela - that led to her bed's disorganization. We don't know how the blood was drawn..."

"Self-harm can be ruled out," Mya remarked with tiny shreds of confidence. "Winter *doesn't* cope with her problems by cutting into her own flesh. She isn't depressed, she faces pressure. Self-harming or having the desire to cut is uncharacteristic of her."

"Exactly. Which means that our suspicions, our worst fears... they're true, Mya. They're *true*."

Evie knew it, Mya knew it, they *both* knew it. The air was thick, dense, and blinding, their bodies stiff and worn to fragile bits and pieces, stomach acid gurgling, hearts beating profusely.

The truth had been dug out from the bottom of the barrel.

The truth was *reflected* in the dark holly and leaf-green of the duo's eyes.

Winter did not disappear by herself. She hadn't fled and ditched Pineshadow.

She did not cut herself or vanish in broad daylight.

She had been *kidnapped*.

For all Evie and Mya knew, their friend's life was at *risk* - they were at odds with a mysterious kidnapper who they had no edge on.

And they hoped, *hoped*, and *prayed* with all their might that it wasn't the sadistic animal hiding in a blue sweater, conniving and malevolent, that had, to all intents and purposes, turned startlingly invisible.

Evie and Mya, longing for an escape from the horror show they had experienced, ran out, hopping down the steps and meeting each other in the clearing outside, where the fresh air flooded their lungs and brought them much-needed breathing room from the claustrophobic conditions in the cabin.

"Ev? What do we do now?" Mya asked, running on low spirits, her mind clouded from her spotting of the blood and clothes. "We have to tell *someone* that Winter's in grave danger! She could be tormented this very moment, without us, alone... I don't wanna imagine it!"

"Ssh, calm yourself," Evie assured, patting her on the shoulder, rubbing her cheek, and settling with the touch, Mya brought her nerves to ease.

"Yes. We *do* need to confess our discoveries to a person we can *trust*. Thing is... I don't know *who* we can approach. Police are out of the question - they'd take away Winter's life once they'd find her."

"One of her teachers?"

"Nope. They don't know her as well as we do."

"Students?"

"We've already tried that. About as useful as drying paint."

"Our classmates?"

"Reiterating point one - they don't *know* Winter the way *we* do. They don't even know she lives solitary in a cabin."

Mya curled her fingers around her chin, kicking pine needles aside with her shoe.

She and Evie were depleting their alternatives swiftly - they had to find a *link* somewhere - elseways, *everyone* would grow dubious over Winter's increase in absences - the staff included.

It was a tower of Jenga blocks. One loose block fell, the whole thing would come crashing down.

If anyone floated around the notion that Winter was in serious danger, she would lose *everything* she had worked *hard* to earn for nearly half a year, become trapped in police custody, and then isolated in foster care amongst a sea of lost, homeless children.

A fate she considered to be *prison*.

*No! We cannot let that happen to Winter. Over me and Evie's dead body! There has to be someone we can speak to who we can place enough faith in...*

No student, no teacher, or classmate was able to help.

Could they even trust somebody in the *office* to help?

*Wait... wait.*

Sparks formed in Mya's mind.

*I know she's a cantankerous T-Rex... and that she wasn't in a great mood earlier...*

"Evie! I've got it! We have to speak to Rex!"

Eyes widening, Evie frowned. "I don't agree with that. Rex was acting extremely discombobulated this morning and was in no state of mind to talk. We shouldn't encroach on her turf unless she's mellow..."

"That was *this morning*, Ev! We don't know what was bothering her... if you ask me, it might have something to do *with Winter*."

Evie raised an eyebrow, confused, yet hearing her friend out. What was she mining at?

"Remember how *violent* Rex was the morning we walked with Winter to school? She almost *snapped Daniela's finger in two*."

"Isn't she typically like that with Daniela?"

"Yeah, but I saw this... protectiveness in her. Like she went berserk for a *reason*. And I don't think she'd be *that* eager to protect me or you since we're able to fend for ourselves..."

Evie, shocked, saw the bigger picture she had constructed.

Rex was violent when she handled Daniela, but on that day, she was *protective*, a mother bear ready to protect her daughter, except that it wasn't her daughter at all.

She was protecting *Winter*!

"Holy cow. Are you saying that Rex was *protecting Winter*??" she questioned, breathless, and her friend nodded.

"Bingo. It's a difficult idea to put in perspective, but if there's a chance Rex knows Winter personally, we *have* to act. Her life depends on us!"

"Combine that with the insider knowledge on Daniela... we could get *valuable insight* on what could be up with her and why she's gone. Mya, your genius is showing!"

"Big brain." Mya, smirking, pointed to her forehead.

Suddenly, *snap*.

*Crack*. *Snap*. *Crunch*.

Gasping, Evie and Mya's hyperarousal kicked in, and their blood temperature rose to the warmth of the *sun*.

Someone was *coming*.

"Hide!" Evie yelped, grabbing Mya's wrist and throwing herself and her best friend in a nearby cluster of bushes. They ducked low, hid, and covered their mouths, biting hard on their lips to ensure not a squeak came out.

Through the gaps in the rough, thorny bushes, they could see *legs* - bulky, strong legs - making their way forward to the cabin.

Squinting, they observed that the person - a female - was wearing tall, polished black boots, signature jeans, and while the leaves mostly obscured it, a blue sweater.

The *deadly* combo of clothing.

Evie and Mya fought the urge to gasp, leap up, and run away in *panic*.

*Daniela was right in front of them*.

And why in god's *name* was she at *Winter's cabin*?

*She... she knows about the cabin???* Mya thought, trepidation pouring into her brain.

Evie was *mortified*.

*Winter's cabin is a secret to only us. Daniela wasn't supposed to find out... did she find it HERSELF?*

*Has... no, has Daniela been STALKING Winter?*

*Is she responsible for-*

Her stomach growled, not entertaining her dark thoughts, and discarding them, she barely resisted the urge to vomit.

Daniela quizzically took a few steps up to the cabin, studying the exterior and the wide open door in front of her. She appeared to be *pleased*.

*Satisfied*.

*Crap, the door!* Evie thought in alarm.

Humming, Daniela held her ground and didn't advance to the inside, amber eyes perusing the cabin like it was a delicious holiday dinner.

"Interesting..." she mumbled with a slick grin, staying put for a minute before, to Evie and Mya's *relief*, skipping off through the Piney Woods.

The girls didn't move for *five minutes*, paranoid she would come back, expose them, and break their *skulls* to shatters.

Once they were *certain* she had left the woods, they emerged, shaken, petrified, breathing in tatters, panicked stares stuck to each other.

"She... she knows about... the cabin.... which means Daniela... knows Winter's secrets... which means she's been stalking her. Which means..." Mya began, quaking, holding her hips.

"D-Daniela is respons-sible for Winter's k-kidnapping!" Evie stuttered, equally panicked, her pupils dilated. "But... but that's impossible! She's a *fricking child*! So are we! She can't pull off an elaborate kidnapping... she *wouldn't* go that far to make Winter pay... r-right?"

*She can't have resorted to kidnapping. She's a child! Rex keeps her eyes on her. It can't... no... she can't have done it!*

Mya faced her, a grim outlook reflected on her face, her eyes shimming with resignation to the facts, and she saw it.

Her heart fell.

She shook her head.

"Mya... it can't be true..."

"No," Mya stated bluntly. "It's true. Daniela wouldn't be coming here randomly and wouldn't be skipping school. She's not the average bully people, us included, treat her as. Evie, we've been underestimating the *lengths* Dani will go *the whole time*."

"*Underestimating*?"

"Daniela *has* the power to pull this off. She just doesn't have intelligence in her hands, she has *willpower*. *Craft*. She's already been threatening Winter long before we met her. She knows the Snowblind taunt. The cabin. *Her secrets*. Daniela has had power - **too much power**."

Evie stared back blankly, her lip quivering, and heart surging with empathy, Mya hugged her tightly, brushing her backside and resting her chin on her shoulder. Evie hugged back, drinking in her warmth, and she *refused* to let go.

"Evie. I know it's insanity. But we *must* get answers from Rex. She's the *only* one who could crack this case for us and save Winter from the torture Daniela is putting her through. We *have* to try!"

*Whoa.*

That Mya tone had *authority*.

She meant *business*.

*She's confident... when I'm not...*

Evie smiled, taking up her hands, and she nodded firmly. "You're right. We speak to Rex tomorrow afternoon... I don't think she's entirely a morning person."

Holding hands, the two proceeded back to the safety entanglement that was home, the weight of their mission tomorrow hanging over them.

They *had* to reach out to Rex, and if it went wrong, a girl's blood would be on *their hands*.

The day afterward, Evie and Mya consumed their breakfasts in full and strutted into school.

Winter and Daniela were absent again. Unsurprising.

They concentrated hard on their work and projects, pushing through the pain of not being able to reach Rex, who had once again been a wreck in the office in the morning, until the end of day bell rung.

By eighth period, they were *itching* for the escape - prized time was ticking, ticking, and ticking away.

Forty minutes later...

*Ring*.

Picking up their bags, Evie and Mya sped out of their world history classroom, veered to the right, hopped down the side stairwell, and ran through the swarms of students on the bottom floor.

"**WALK**!" a hall monitor screeched at them, her glare piercing.

Evie and Mya ignored the interruption and clawed for the office door, yanking it open and rushing inside.

The vice principal of the school, Bluelund, dropped the papers she was holding in her hands.

"Girls, what in the name of-"

"No time! Principal Rex is *needed* immediately!" Evie retorted in desperation.

Her plea was answered.

"Evie? Mya? I'm here, I swear I'm here!" Rex shouted, appearing from a corridor, her eyelids baggy.

*No sleep?* Mya pondered.

"Principal, we have to discuss an urgent crisis with you!" Evie exclaimed.

"Urgent?" Rex inquired, puzzled, rubbing her eyes. "Girls, it's the end of the day... can we please talk about this another time?"

Shooing Bluelund away with a hand gesture, Mya glared at the principal's blue eyes with determination.

"Winter is *missing*!" At her words, the principal gasped, her frown twisting into a horrified expression.

"And we know for a *damn fact Daniela* has something to do with it," Evie added, and Rex's face went devoid of color, her fingers twitching.

She stood there, frozen like an iceberg, mouth stuck open, staring at her star students like they had just offered to replace her on the *job*.

"Umm... Principal Rex?" Evie prodded awkwardly.

Snapping out of her stupor, Rex shook her head and turned to face the hallway she had came out of.

"Follow me," she instructed tersely, leading the girls down the hall and into a private office room. She shut the door and took her seat behind a burgundy desk; Evie and Mya took the two chairs in front and sat down, placing their backpacks below.

Rex, clearing her throat, addressed the two.

"Let me get this straight... Winter vanished and *my daughter* has something to do with it???" she asked incredulously.

Evie and Mya nodded, and alarmed, Rex sat bolt upright.

"No! **Absolutely not**! Dani... that reprehensible being... my daughter, causing a *remarkable young girl* to **DISAPPEAR**??? A girl I **WORKED TO PROTECT**???"

She roughtly slammed her fist down on the table, rattling her utensils and a potted plant.

Evie and Mya gasped, glaring at her with a look screaming *what the hell did you just say*, and gulping, the principal's face went a pale shade of pink.

She had said words meant to be unspoken to the public.

She was *ashamed*.

"I... oh god... I can explain!"

Giving in, she moped and stared at her feet.

"I can explain..."

The guilt was overwhelming - she had accidentally given pivotal information to the girls, things she kept a *secret* from them - when she was pretty open with truths about her own daughter.

But not one of their best friends.

Evie, green eyes narrowing, burned into her flesh.

"Principal Rex... can you *clarify* the extent of your relations with Winter? What *do* you know that we *don't*? Your info can help us break the surface of the ice in our case."

Judging by the principal's admission and quick honesty, she was hoping that she'd be able to share what she knew - Winter's life was depending on it.

She sighed.

"Well... you caught me with my pants down. I *have* been in cahoots with Winter since the day she fled her home."

"Tell us more, please," Mya asked warily, unsure of how to process this news.

"Back when Winter ran away, she disappeared, and Daniela told me that she broke up with her. I promised to find Winter, send out search parties, arranged them. I led them for days. Half a month, if I remember correctly. I *never* found her, but I *never* wanted to believe that she *died*! Winter was beautiful, intelligent, spunky... she's so *unique*. That tomboy couldn't die with a heart as audacious as hers...

"However... none of us had the energy to keep searching, and... we reluctantly called it quits. She was only eleven... an eleven-year old wouldn't be able to survive on her own for long..."

"You thought Winter died?" Evie asked.

"I had to convince myself of that eventually, though a part of me continued to rebuff it," Rex explained. "Then, one school day, I had gone to one of Winter's classrooms to beckon her teacher outside, and I *saw her*. Her new hairstyle, just... Winter was *there*. *Alive*. How she survived, I *had no idea*. She looked pretty gaunt and pale, the poor thing..."

Her blue eyes clouded over with misery and feelings from memories past. Evie and Mya were feeling sympathy for her - as the mother of Winter's ex, Rex definitely went through a tumultuous period coping with her "death" and random spotting at school.

"I immediately summoned her to the office for questioning... Winter didn't want to admit everything to me. She was adamant. The ice-blue of her eyes was sharp and secretive. She didn't want any part of me invested in her life..."

"How'd you get her to speak, then? Winter's not easy to crack," Mya questioned.

Rex mumbled. "I gave her a fruit bar and water; she was starved and dehydrated. I promised her repeatedly that I wouldn't tell the whole school of what she was going through, or anyone around me, or any of her classmates - what happened in my office room stayed in my office room. For god's sake, she was a *shell* of the marvelous girl she used to be! That day, I desired no damn thing but to bring joy to that child... she *needed* someone.

"Winter was persuaded by my promise and told me she had ran away from home and found a cabin in the Piney Woods to take refuge in. She sounded brittle and terrified, oh... tears were in her eyes. I saw the scar her father gave her on her wrist. Such an innocent girl robbed of her childhood... it *infuriated me*.

"She was really thin and her cheekbones had begun to lose shape. She was starving. I realized that, if I didn't do *anything* for her that *second*, she'd die in a few days, alone in a bleak cabin. In that moment... I made a choice."

"Rex... are you telling us that you see Winter like another daughter?" Evie inquired gently, sympathizing with the principal's motherly, protective actions of their friend - she had done what any good samaritan would have.

Rex nodded. "You took the words out of my mouth, Evie. I saw Winter as a second daughter. I couldn't let her *die*! I'd blame myself for never doing enough. So, I took Winter under my wing and promised that I'd find a way to bring her food, water, and things she enjoyed, along with new clothing to survive all weather climates. She accepted my help... and she's still here today."

"Okay. You had a secret relationship with Winter?"

"Correct," she replied to Mya's question. "And I'm the one that got a friend of mine to stock up her cabin."

"Why hasn't Winter been found out?" she pressed.

"I made documents for the police that said Winter was living with extended family and was in safe hands. Winter told me how much she despised foster care... the thought of it upsets her. It angers her. I know I lied... I have made so many mistakes - but I did them because I *love* Winter like she's my daughter - if she was ripped away from me, the world would be in shambles..."

"Lying to the police is a *crime*!"

"Ssh. Evie. I'm sorry... but I did what I had to. I secured Winter a future that she could live in... some lies we tell can reap great benefit."

"Uh... alright. On another note, that elderly woman me and Winter saw together is *your friend*??" asked a stunned Evie.

"Oh, you saw her? Yeah, that's her. Our efforts brought Winter normalicy... I know she is still struggling. We speak from time to time, but in secret, because-"

"You don't want Daniela to discover you chose her *ex* over her," Mya finished, shocking the principal, and she slammed her hands on her desk, rattling the utensils again.

"*Mya*!!? Goodness gracious, I... I-I... oh lord..." Rex stuttered, tripping over her words. She hung her head in defeat.

The girls exchanged a glance, astonished by what they had heard.

Did Rex just *admit* that her bias for Winter drove a wedge between her and Daniela?

"You chose Winter over Daniela, didn't you?" Mya repeated.

"Yes... but look. Dani wasn't displaying signs she was in trouble or was going to turn *atrocious*. She was still a cheerful kid. Winter was in a dangerous kerfuffle, I *had* to do something to *save* her!"

"What about now?"

"I always try to make Daniela reform, but each time I yell at her or physically scold her, she doesn't obey. I've accepted that she probably won't change in the near future. That aside, I have *no regrets* when it comes to being Winter's ally. When there's peril, I *will* take a bullet to the head to let that girl live another day. She is the reason why I am still here serving as PMS' principal."

The two girls had been stunned into silence, drilling into the principal's head and embarrassing her.

Their stares were blank, demanding, horrified, and the tip of an arrow point.

Evie and Mya were most *certainly* not thrilled that they had been lied to and missing cardinal pieces of the puzzle they were constructing.

Had they felt as if her silence was a betrayal?

"Girls... I'm so sorry," she apologized, her voice cracking with the sorry. "I really am. I shouldn't have lied to you or withheld the details for this long... you deserved to know as soon as you befriended Winter."

"Hey, Principal Rex, we get it. Any one of us would have done the same things you did in any other circumstance. But... main issue at hand here, Winter has disappeared and so has Daniela... and *you're* the only person who can point us in the right direction," Evie stated.

Relieved the girls weren't about to drag her to hell's gates, Rex sat back up and faced them somberly. "Alright. I apologize for... umm... my behavior in the office. I'm happy to help."

"Good. Let's begin. Have you seen Winter recently?"

"No," Rex confessed. "Not a whisker of her. That's part of the reason why I'm so worked up..."

"The other part is Daniela strangely disappearing too," Mya concluded, connecting two and two together.

Rex's eyes stretched in disbelief. "*Y-Yes*! Daniela... s-she h-has gone m-m-missing. Quietly..."

"How long?" Evie prompted.

"Two days. Since Winter went missing. Before, she seemed rather silent... I haven't seen her in the house, not even in her... bedroom. There are no traces of her..."

"Sounds like she's covering her tracks - one of her tricks in her book. She's duping you and is somewhere else... *we* saw her in the Piney Woods."

"**WHAT**?" Rex demanded in response to Evie's question.

Mya stood up from her chair. "Daniela approached Winter's cabin... we believe she has been stalking Winter and following her back through the woods."

"Dani wasn't supposed to learn about the cabin!"

"Our thoughts exactly. Her random appearance there no doubt proves she made Winter vanish. She *kidnapped* her!" Mya declared.

Rex, nearly wanting to faint, sunk back into her chair, frought with worry, and agony, and doubt, and dubiousness.

"No... this is not happening... how could Dani kidnap a *child*! Take her somewhere... else... oh my god, Winter's in trouble, I... what have I done..."

"Principal Rex... calm yourself. This is distressing; every maternal instinct of yours is kicking in. Breathe," Evie encouraged delicately, and Rex settled down.

"Thank you, Evie. God, how much time passed? You two girls should be getting home."

"Getting home? Nope! Before we go home, we're going to find *Winter*."

"How? You don't know where she's gone, Mya."

"Do *you* know any other place Daniela lurks at?"

Rex grunted. "Hmm... oh! You know where the outdoor trails huts are? There's a small building there - I believe it was an old gym storage once. Daniela likes to go there, I don't know why. She *might* be holding Winter there."

"We have it, Mya! Our next lead!" Evie proclaimed, rising up and grabbing her backpack, as did her friend, and they faced Rex, beaming with gratitude.

"Thank you for your help, Rex," Mya said warmly. "We appreciate your honesty. Seriously."

"My honor," Rex murmured. She walked around, grabbing her phone and showing a number to Evie.

"Add this onto your phone and call me as soon as you find the girls. Stay safe and be wise - you don't know what you're facing."

"Will do." Evie copied the number into her own phone and hid it in her pocket. Then, without another word, the two ran out of the now-empty school and into the direction of the outdoor trails huts.

Winter *had* to be found straightaway - time was ticking, and so was the time before Daniela would reach her biggest low yet.

Outside, the weather had cooled and the sun had been masked by clouds, some darkening in the distance, casting shadows on the grounds as Evie and Mya walked past the outdoor track and to the huts.

"I swear to god if it rains, I'm filing a defamation lawsuit against nature," Mya muttered.

"I'd much rather rescue Winter than get soaked, but here we are," Evie muttered in response.

Halting, she observed their landscape - around them was the pale beige-and-gray outdoor trails huts, used by the outdoor trails classes for nature-related learning activities and labs.

Everything was quiet. A bird called in the distance.

Mya took to scanning as well, catching a glipse of something brownish-gray in brick color past one of the huts.

"Ev! Is that it?" She pointed to the structure, and her friend snapped her fingers in glee.

"Damn right. Come on!"

The two dashed toward the building, coming to a halt upon seeing it in full view.

It was small, pieces of brick and roof chipped off. The facade and rooftop were definitely beyond their time and were weathering the more the years went on.

"Makes sense Daniela would use this place *if* she has been here," Evie whispered. "It's peak inconspicuous."

"Not anymore," Mya quipped, trodding up to the door. Evie joined her a second later.

"Get ready, okay?"

"Ready as I ever will be."

"Okay. Three, two, one..."

With Evie's countdown, Mya turned the door open, and a minimal amount of light poured through the space inside.

The interior of the old storage building was dark and musty, smelling of old earth, and the walls were brown, patches on the panels where shelving used to be. Two support beams adjacent to each other held the roof up.

But what *really* repulsed Evie and Mya was the *thing* in front of the closest pole to the door.

It was a young girl, thin, her head hanging down limply. When she heard Evie and Mya, she froze, staring at the other wall, her ice-blue eyes terrified.

"***Winter***!" both shrieked.

Winter turned to face them, and what the girls saw next was their worst nightmare and a horror story *personified*.

Winter was in her pajamas, a t-shirt, shorts, and socks - likely freezing. Her hands were *bound* to the pole tightly by thick rope, so tight she could only move her fingers.

The most horrifying thing, however, was the *dishrag* that was tied around her mouth - preventing her from screaming. She let out muffled cries to Evie and Mya, shaking her head, trying to plead.

*I have never felt so sick in my life,* Mya noted, anger taking hold of her, and she balled up her fists.

"Winter! It's okay, sssh. It's just us! We're going to get you out of here, okay?"

Winter shook her head again, trying to give a warning to Mya. It wasn't working.

"Evie! Tell Rex that Winter's gonna be okay," Mya commanded.

Evie nodded, reaching for her phone.

Suddenly, *brute muscle* punched her hard on the funny bone in her neck area, and screeching, she fell limp on the ground.

"**Evie**!!!" Mya screeched, but before she could tend to her friend, that same muscle punched her on the back of her neck too.

She fell to the floor, blackness seeping into her vision, and the world faded to nothingness.

**AROUND TEN MINUTES LATER**

Groaning, Mya felt her sore eyes fighting a battle to stay open, colors scattered across her eyesight, and shaking her head, she felt pain on the side of her neck.

"Owww..." She gritted her teeth, swallowing the pain, and she tried to get up.

Her body didn't move. Something rough dug into her skin.

"What the?" Craning her head, Mya found that her hands - moreover, her lower body - had been tied to the support pole, and she gasped. Next to her was Winter, trembling and staring at her, no will to fight shining in her eyes.

She mumbled something, though the dishrag stifled it, and the words that came out of her mouth weren't discernible.

"I can't hear what you're saying," she murmured fretfully, straining in vain. "I want to help you, but... my hands are literally tied."

*Wait, if I'm tied, then...*

Swallowing rocks in her throat, Mya looked to the other pole and saw with *sheer horror* that Evie had been bound to it with *more rope*, frustrated and miserable, a scowl on her face.

"I hate everything. Every. Damn. Thing!" she muttered, shoving her arms against her ropes, but even with how bulky her arms were, they were too tight and dug in.

"We have to get out of here!" she exclaimed. "These ropes are tight as *hell*, but all ropes are escapable if we manage to have tricks up our sleeves..."

Recalling a defensive move from her martial arts training, she pressed her arms into her body and twisted. However, it was futile. The ropes scratched her across her arms, causing her to wince and sigh.

"Let me try!" Mya had a thinner and less bulky body, so perhaps, the chances of her escaping would be higher.

She did the shoving-in and twisting.

The ropes, displeased, dug in.

"Ow!" she said painfully, looking down at her bound arms in foreboding.

*Certain* foreboding.

Evie was tied, her hope depleting, Winter had been shaken and petrified, her typical fire and confidence fractured...

*My friends... giving up hope...*

Her heart pounded.

*No! We have to free ourselves! Winter's life is at stake. I can't fail someone so...*

Peeking at the shivering Winter, she stared within her ice-blue eyes and saw someone *beautiful*. *Unique*.

A young girl who had lost a proper life, conformed to no standards, made her own way, and was bound to the protective stars in the vast night sky. She was soft and liked her friends on the interior, warm as a fireplace and accepting, and on the outside, she'd burn with *immortal* flame, her insecurity granting her *unhinged anger* that would let her take down her enemies in a fight.

Yet here? That girl had been reduced to *prey*, and her predator was waiting to *devour* her *alive*.

Mya could smell the smoke in the air - it was pouring out of her *ears*.

Give up? Not in hell's name.

Forget sitting here idly - they *had* to fight back.

"We're not going to toss our hope away!" she declared, facing Winter, vigorous and protective feelings in her heart cascading, flowing like the stripes of the American flag.

"Winter, it may seem bleak... but I'm not stopping until we find a way out. You're going to be *okay*."

"Oh, do you really think so? It isn't *that* simple, you glorified deep-fried *simpleton*. You aren't going to be escaping your ropes at any point soon - in fact, **NEITHER** of you three will!"

Evie and Mya gasped, their blood going cold, and through her dishrag, Winter screamed.

In the doorway was an ambitious, conniving, manipulative, and *unvanquished* Daniela, her amber-eyes *blazing* with flames belonging to an arsonist - an arsonist who felt *jolly great* pleasure watching her sworn enemies be reduced to quarry.

It was *true*.

*Daniela had always been the one responsible for Winter's kidnapping*.

She had *always* been plotting *something*, deadly, sinister, vile, *cruel*.

And she had gone to *extremes*.

Evie and Mya had downplayed her - it was a *dangerous* mistake that had cost them big time.

Now, they were immobolized, trapped, and *stuck* with their *savage* enemy.

But if she had her amber eyes dead set on Winter... then what did Daniela want with *them*?

Evie's gaze anxiously fluttered over to her, and to her surprise, Daniela was holding a *rose* in her hand.

A *rose*?

*What on earth is she doing with a rose? Don't those symbolize... love?*

"Captivated by my *pretty* flower, are you, Ly?" she teased with a snicker, calm, yet horrificly sinister all the same.

Evie snarled, her cheeks heating up. "What do you *want* from *us*, you disgusting fear-mongering *kidnapper*?!"

"Blunt as usual. Typical Evie." Rolling her eyes smoothly, Daniela slid her boots across the old, dusty floor, a *click* there and *clack* there. "Retribution. A *sweet* nectar-y feeling that *heals* the soul and mind. I *had* to get it, oh, the turmoil inside of me is frankly *unbearable*!"

She reversed course and backtracked toward Winter, sliding her fingers up to the petals of the rose, tracing the drying, fabric-like red contraptions.

"Seems like years I've wondered what it *really* feels like. If I just let myself listen to that voice inside... maybe the stars would *align* and the world would be rid of **traitors**."

The girls shrunk back, and Winter whimpered repeatedly, a stray tear falling from her eye.

"Don't give me your pity party, *Snowblind*. You know *exactly why* you're here. Or, since the *brainless boneheads* don't know... let's recap some history, shall we?"

Daniela seamlessly plucked a petal of the rose, holding it with two fingers before letting it fall. It drifted and danced in the air, reflecting in Winter's frightened, tear-brimming eyes.

It landed on the ground without a peep, and Daniela began to walk around her hut slowly, *purposefully*, drawing out her *moment* so she could lap up every scrap of the *invigorating* juice it emitted.

"You thought you could *run from me*, Winter. That you'd *think* you'd disappear for a *millisecond* and believe you can regain the soft life you *once* had? Without *me* in the picture? Tell me, how *does* it feel to sit on your little cloud up in the sky, surrounded by your "starscapes," thinking that wherever you went, you'd be **without me**?"

She shook her head desperately, stating something muffled, and Evie and Mya pinned their backs up to the poles, utterly *flabbergasted*, every layer of them decked with *terror*.

They *still* didn't know what Daniela was planning, but from the way she was snapping Winter's nerves, they undoubtedly *knew* that her intentions were full of flames and *despotic motives*.

Completing her circle, Daniela plucked another petal and dropped it, smiling when she observed that Winter's eyes trailed the red fleck as it joined its sibling on the floor.

"I *knew* the lines you drew. Saw through *every last one* of them. You're *here* for a *goddamn reason*, you complacent cowardly *heathen* - you're a *dirty*, *dirty* liar. Only liars deserve *incomprehensible pain* when they've done nothing more than *shoot themselves* in their feet."

Mya glared at her, leaf-green eyes leaves of poison ivy. "**Let us GO**!" she spat. "You've gone **too far** this time, Daniela! Get your **malicious hands** away from *my friend*!"

Daniela wheezed, her witch cackle returning and making Mya shut her mouth. "Ha! Quite amusing you say that, Heartley. You'd understand... but you're *ignorant*. So is your mushy-tempered *friend*. The stakes are *higher* than you could *ever* dream *of*. Measures had to be taken."

After plucking yet another petal, she dipped low and trapped Winter in her moldering stare, wearing the last of her layers thin, and flinching, she pushed her boots down hard on the floor.

There was no freedom.

"I bet with all my money you're not going to utter a full *sentence* about my plans. But, who knows, you could have had a change of heart, right, Winterlyn?" Daniela suggested, curling her legs under her.

Winter shook her head.

"Aw, baby, don't be timid now. I know you wanna tell them what we're gonna do together."

Winter shook her head and attempted to kick her with her legs.

"Winter isn't your damn girlfriend!" Evie snarled. "Back off!"

"Oh, *screw you*!" Daniela flashed her the middle finger, swirling it around indignantly and then greeting Winter once more. "Anyways... have any imput to share with your *friends*?"

Winter squeaked, shaking her head, tears falling and falling and falling.

"Hmm," Daniela thought, scratching her chin and then snapping her fingers. "Isn't it boring when you're unable to talk for *extended periods*? I won't lie, it *soothes* me when I hear that voice of yours, Winter... muffling it was fun at first, how I love some classic gag *torture*. And I want to keep it on, but... maybe if I remove this *ugly* dishrag, you'd have something to share?"

Winter tried to repel her former flame and the paralyzing chokehold she had on her, but she had been glued onto her.

She couldn't *turn away*.

"That's it. Stay still," Daniela maliciously instructed, plucking another petal and slipping her fingers under the rag, pulling it off and dropping it.

Winter could now speak unhindered, but it was clear that she was too traumatized to do so, as she gasped, *hacked* for air and cried, her eyes scrunched up, the stunning shade of blue hidden, and Mya let a low growl of rage slide up her throat.

"*Better*. Now, Winter, *tell them* of my plans. **Tell them everything**! Fill them in! They've been left hanging..." Daniela insisted, rubbing her hands together.

"You... you c-can't m-make m-m-me!" Winter fired back weakly.

"Ughh. So predictable." Plucking and dropping another rose petal, she went back to walking around in her circle.

"Let Evie and Mya go! They have nothing to do with *this*!" Winter pleaded.

"Psh, why should I? They're just as important in *this* plan no matter how much I *hate* them."

Another petal fell.

"Answer me directly, you foul *brat*! What do you want from me and Mya?? What are you *scheming*??" Evie demanded.

"Boo, if I revealed it, this wouldn't be *fun*! Though, my best advice for you is to be prepared..."

Down went another petal.

"You *don't know* who you're messing with, Daniela!" Mya warned. "You can *claim* you got this in the bag, but we're going to get out of here and *defeat you*. Winter isn't your plaything! She's **not the person you are**!"

"Just spare Evie and Mya! *Please*!" Winter begged hoarsely.

The second to last petal fell, and Daniela's hold of the pale green stem tightened.

"Boy, you're incredibly *stupid* with that suggestion. Why did you think my only *business* was with you, Snowblind? It's always been with these two *dumbnuts* too. My fated rival and my beloved little cannon fodder... haven't you realized what led you here?"

None of the girls responded. Daniela sniffed.

"And none of you are going to give me a straight answer? *Go figure*, fine. You keep making the *same* damn mistakes. Underestimating me. Believing that I, a child, am not capable of going *above and beyond* to get what I want. Well, **YOU'RE WRONG**!"

She stomped her foot on the floor, approaching Evie and Mya.

"Fools. I *knew* you were at the cabin yesterday. I *wanted* you to be there. It's what I intended to happen... after all, I was pretty quiet these past few days - planning takes *time*, tick tock, and I'm *proud* of my results!"

Evie and Mya *gasped*, fresh horror scraping their bones.

Daniela had *known* they were at the cabin. She had *plotted* the whole trip there.

"The cabin was *part* of the bait I laid out. I put some *clues* there on purpose. Weren't you *revolted* by the blood on the floor? That barebones bed scattered about?"

"You *hurt* Winter! *Her blood* is on *your filthy hands*," Evie snapped, clenching her fists and baring her teeth.

Daniela laughed loudly, amused by how *amazingly dumb* her intelligent rival was.

Evie *growled*, the animal in her rising.

"Vice versa, *Ly*. *Vice*. *Versa*."

Evie faltered, alarmed by how *serious* Daniela was being.

*Vice... versa?*

Then, Daniela raised her wrist, exposing it to Evie.

*A long, red gash* was across it.

Evie gasped, and Mya, *horrified*, turned to Winter.

"That... wasn't your blood?" she questioned in a whisper, and reluctantly, she nodded.

*Oh no...*

Winter wasn't the one to be injured in the cabin. It had been *Daniela*.

She snickered again. "Missteps. Mistakes. *They're all the same*. *Pain* is pleasuring, so is the reward you get when *someone else* is your victim. Evie, Mya, you're *wrong* if you *still* believe I haven't been leading you *to me*. Every *sign* was there. *Every*. *Single*. *One*."

Mya bared her teeth, pulling back her lips. "Thanks for the info, but *we're damn aware* of what you've done to Winter. You've *stalked her*. *Tormented her*. Broke into her *cabin* in the middle of the *night*, knocked her out, *dragged* her here, and now *you're* keeping us as additional prisoners. If you *want* something from us, **then spit it out if you're that eager**!"

"Keen, are you?" Daniela taunted, approaching her and kneeling down. "A difference. You're crude and *unspeakably plain*, and now you gain the *strength* to *insult me*? **Insult me**???"

"Dani! Just stay away from her!" Winter cried, not wanting her ex to lay a *finger* on the friend she considered to be like a *sibling*.

*I can't... can't let Dani... hurt her...*

Daniela's gaze hardened. The fire burned *harder*.

Winter paused.

*She had unleashed the demon*.

"How many times do I have to **tell you**, McCormick? **STOP CALLING ME DANI**! You *lost the right* to use that *dumb name* when you **ruined MY LIFE**!"

Winter's friends gasped with the *power* exhibited in the remark, and twitching, Mya ducked.

Winter, shrieking, hit her head against the pole and groaned, more tears slipping and staining her sleeves.

Daniela stood up. "Mess with me... pay the price. Didn't I tell you to sleep with *one eye open*, Winter? Have you forgotten my *reputation's* shrouded with *dirt*? Your friends don't even know what their *fate* is going to be..."

Smirking, she plucked the final petal and dropped it.

It slowly fell, danced, swerved to the left, then the right.

Winter watched it fall, voices and screeching in her head a storm, lightning, darkness, and *evil* mixing together.

The petal landed on the floor.

The petals of the rose were crowded in clumps on the floor.

Then, the stem fell, and *then*, Daniela's boot *stomped* on the remains of what was a flower symbolizing *love*.

Not just any love - her romance with Winter.

*Dead* romance.

The symbolism clicked with Evie and Mya.

*She brought the rose and destroyed it to represent how their relationship fell apart,* Evie noted, sick and twisted feelings residing in her heart.

Mya had thought the same thing.

*Daniela isn't just cruel or a bully. She's beyond a sociopath.*

*She's a monster.*

"You **BURNT** our love to **ASHES**, Winterlyn! **TO ASHES**!" Daniela screamed, her boot heel kicking away the petals and the stem and scattering them around. Aggressively snarling, she dropped down to her knees and gripped Winter by the *throat*, pink marks forming on her flesh. Flooded with horror, Evie and Mya gasped, and Mya shut her eyes, unable to stare at her friend at all.

"Every time I see that *pretty face* of yours, it makes me **despise you more**. You make me *ashamed of myself*. You played the *game* and left me to **die**. You're full of *complacency* and *rotten ineptitude*. It's like you take *pride* in the suffering you **INFLICTED ON ME**!"

"I... Daniela, no! I didn't want that!" Winter retorted, the perturbed ice in her eyes skimming Evie and Mya from the corners - they looked like they had been *poisoned*.

"Answer me **DIRECTLY**, you slimy *bastard*!" Daniela hissed, her grip sharpening until the pink had turned to red.

Winter gagged, air draining from her body, and her lips began to be outlined in blue at the tip.

*Is Daniela going to suffocate her???* Mya thought, terrorized at the notion her friend would be choked to death, slumped facing forward, her skin cold, lifeless, dead...

*Dead*.

Hearing nails on chalkboard, she rioted, turned around, and spat at Daniela's cheek.

The slobber landed on its target *perfectly*.

"**FOR FUDGE'S SAKE**!" Daniela, recoiling in disgust, let go and rubbed off the saliva dripping down the side of her cheek. "Way to kill my *mood* as *always*, *Heartley*. You're lucky I didn't *butcher you*... that's not quite what I have in mind..."

Winter breathed in and out rapidly, gaining the air she had lost, but the calm didn't last. Daniela placed the heel of her boot right against her chest, pinning her to the pole she had already been tied up to.

She laughed. "Ah, before I got *rudely* interrupted..."

Mya shot her a hard glare.

"...none of you know that I've been waiting for this moment for *forever*. *Days*. All the planning, the effort I put in, the *savory execution*... **today** is ***the day***. The day I get my ***REVENGE***!"

Evie's eyes scaled back in *alarm*.

"*Revenge*?" she echoed, her foe catching her *very* off guard - a rarity for the star-studded, collected Ly.

Winter faced her, pleading that she be quiet. The world was spinning around, and around, and around, and she knew time wouldn't stop to let her teleport her mind somewhere else.

*I... I can't explain myself! This isn't a dream!*

The hellfire of Daniela's amber eyes set her battered, weakened, half-starved body on *fire*.

Pure *arson*.

Daniela was an *arsonist*.

She saw the flames and created them out of the lies she had formed to *asphyxiate* Winter's soul until it was *gone*.

She desired not one thing in life but *revenge*.

Even above revenge, there was *one thing* she wanted even *more*, so much so that her stomach quietly growled out of *hunger* for it.

Eyeing Winter and making her whimper, something which was *insanely* pleasuring, she placed a fingernail on her throat and slowly, *slowly* dragged it across the pink flesh like she was cutting a very fine steak sold at a meat market.

"It'll be a *beautiful* sight once your *pretty throat* is *slashed*," she murmured, and Winter screamed.

Mya screamed.

Evie screamed.

Daniela wanted to *kill Winter*.

She wanted to commit an actual *murder*.

*Behind our backs, she was plotting Winter's homicide... she wanted to do it so remote...* Evie noted internally.

Mya stared at Winter, watching an everlasting supply of tears fall down her face. She looked *weak* and *shriveled* like the rose Daniela had torn apart in front of her, reminding her of the relationship they *lost* that had turned into *dangerous toxicity*.

Daniela looked like she was *experienced* in murdering. She looked *proud*. *Victorious*.

*To know she's the same age as us, yet has the power, intelligence, and cunning of an adult...*

*We screwed up underestimating her because she's a child. Daniela's not a child.*

*She's a psychopath out for blood.*

Evie broke her out of her thoughts by speaking, though her voice was rattled. "You... you want to k-kill Winter?? Then... w-why do you have u-us here t-too? What's the *meaning* of this?"

Daniela, snorting, swatted her hand at her dismissively. "You're having your throats slit as well. Why, you think I'm going to exhibit *mercy* to you *entitled extras*?"

Evie gasped and Mya grimly bit her tongue, not wishing to hear another murderous promise tumble out of her deranged bully's mouth.

They should have seen it coming since their capture. Daniela wanted to murder *all three of them*.

Her ex and her bitter enemies, whom she viewed as a roadblock to her bloody ambitions.

Unless they found a way to make a break for it, they would *die*, and Daniela would get away with *everything* she had plotted.

"Daniela, you're *breaking the law* by plotting this. You *will* end up in prison for conspiracy to commit murder. If you had *any decency* left in you, *you* wouldn't do this!" Evie fired at her, manifesting in a final effort that she hoped would deter Daniela and persuade her that three homicides of school children was *never* going to benefit her.

But Daniela only laughed at her, mocking her for *believing* that would do anything.

"*Decency*? Law is meaningless. I can do *whatever the hell* I want, dumbass. Murder's on my ballot, 'cause revenge is *sweet*. Howweeverrrr... if you *want* decency, I suppose I'll give you around *five minutes* to say your goodbyes to one another. Say your farewells, blah blah blah. Then the floor's going to be *red* with **your blood**, and *by then*, I'd have rid Pineshadow of **treasonous spawn**!"

Huffing, Daniela skipped to the door, opened it, headed outside, and then shut it, letting darkness fill the empty hut she called her killing floor.

Mya glanced at Evie; they were barely able to make out each other's outlines, and their stares fixed on each other, bringing comfort in what could be their last moments of their lives.

A more nagging thought wiggled its way into their moment.

*Winter*.

And then they realized it.

*Oh my god... Daniela may have been plotting to murder Winter ever since she told us the truth. Or before then! And she didn't tell us out of fear we'd drive her away...*

"Winter... when you first told us Daniela was your ex-girlfriend, you didn't say she wanted to *kill you*. Has... has this been another secret you kept from us?" Mya asked quietly and as softly as she could, not wanting to make Winter believe she was turning on her.

Winter refused to meet her, staring down at her bound body and her lap. She sniffed, tears dripping in waterfalls.

She had lied to her own friends, *again*, and let *fear* drive her into silence.

She had made *another* ghastly blunder - and now, she wasn't the only one in danger.

*If I die... Evie and Mya will die as well.*

The thought of that made her let out a heartbroken wail.

Evie and Mya's hearts twisted as they witnessed Winter's breakdown, watching her sob in fits, her breathing spiraling, her bearings spiraling.

She thought she had lost *everything*.

*I keep making mistakes... this is why I have no one. Maybe Daniela's right... I am nobody...*

"*I'm sorry*!" she wailed, refusing to look up at the girls, ice-blue eyes dulled from her days of agony. "I *lied* to you... *again*... I couldn't tell you Daniela has been planning this since shortly after Aiden. I... I had too much fear that I... was gonna lose you two... and then she'd find out, and I... I..."

"Winter... easy. *Easy*. You need to breathe," Mya urged, gently smiling despite the grim fates approaching, and her compassionate, leaf-green stare was enough to calm Winter a little. She gulped in fresh air and sat back, her ropes digging in.

"You're not mad?" she rasped.

"No. We aren't. We didn't know *this* was going to happen... but we *should* have **seen it coming**. You're not the only one who made mistakes - we swept concerns about Daniela under the rug."

"Mya's right," Evie added, "we didn't figure it out sooner. We had our suspicions. Just because *we're bound* to poles doesn't mean it's going to *end*. We *have* to escape this place and stop Daniela before she draws a *single drop of blood* from any of us."

"But Evie, how do we escape? My ropes are tied so that I can't reach my pocket knife," Winter questioned skeptically, the fear inside lingering.

She wiggled her hands to prove her point; they didn't budge. "It's pointless..."

"Don't think like that, Winter! Let me try," Evie insisted. Summoning her strength and recalling her training, she pushed outward on the ropes with as much force as she could create.

The fibers stung, scratching and pressing into her as she pushed harder, and harder. A stinging sensation shot through her shoulders.

With a sigh and with pain brimming, she panted and retreated. "Shrimp! Dani *really* tied me. I don't want to overexert myself - we may be facing a fight with Dani and I have to keep my strength up," she said, and she and Winter turned to face Mya.

"I'm not sure what I can do... mine are very... *uncomfortable*," she observed.

Dejected, Winter whimpered. Mya, mouth forming an o, saw the *pain* shining in her eyes.

*She can't conceal what Daniela has done to her.*

Although Mya only saw her exterior, she saw how thin Winter had gotten. She hadn't eaten or drank anything in two days. Her face lacked color. Her ice-blue eyes had lost *their* unique color. Her hair had lost its shine.

Daniela had took a sledgehammer, swung it at her, and shattered the short-tempered, yet soft-hearted, beautiful girl in front of her.

Mya noticed Winter's dismay. It was *everywhere*.

*Daniela broke her. She broke the person who showed me the stars. She broke a person with a valiant, badass soul!*

Mya's fear evaporated, reforming as crystals of something *powerful*.

A *deadly weapon*.

*Oh hell no. I'm not dying, none of us will die. Not on my watch. I can't stand that pain you gave Winter, Daniela!*

Mya had control of the *one* feeling that could be *game changing*.

*Fury*.

"Nonsense! I am **NOT GIVING UP**!" she suddenly stated angrily, and challenging her ropes, she took to a new method Houdini would be proud of.

She wriggled her wrists, turning them in, out, in semicircles, pivoting back and forth and back and forth. Evie faced her, puzzled, and Winter still felt hopeless, yet faced her, just as equally confused.

"Mya, what in the name of *Nero* are you *doing*?" Evie demanded, shocked.

"Something Houdini would throw me a bouquet of *flowers for*!"

She kept wriggling her wrists, but more violently, pulling and yanking to go along with the constant rotation.

She felt it. Part of her restraints had loosened!

*Yes! I'm going to do this!*

The ropes binding her had begun to go slack, and Mya saw her chance.

She pulled, yanked, repeated, rolled, twisted, and repeated the same processes. Each time she did so, the more she could feel her wrists coming free, like she had pulled the sword out of the stone.

"Mya...?" Winter asked in disbelief.

Yowling, Mya threw herself back against the pole as she yanked both of her wrists free, and the ropes around her fell. Her arms had been completely hidden in her jacket, which she then took off and tossed to the floor.

*Holy shrimp,* Evie thought. *Mya reduced her weight to wiggle free!*

In a way, that made Evie stare at Mya, her eyes shining with pride.

*She's learned well. I'm amazed.*

Mya, gulping in a few breaths of air, stood, glancing down at Winter.

"Winter, I'm going to need your knife. Can... can I use it to set you free?"

Winter nodded without hesitation. "Do *whatever* you must!"

Mya, dropping low, reached into Winter's back pocket and felt the wood of the knife's handle. She pulled it out and clicked the button, and out came the blade, sharp and deadly.

*Jesus... I'm holding an actual weapon.*

Take a look at my life

Staring in those deep blue eyes

Refusing to shudder and break up her spurt of confidence, she sliced through Winter's ropes precisely, and they slunk to the floor. Relieved, Winter leapt up and faced her, stacked with gratitude and a thousand layers of *thank yous*.

"T-Thank you, Mya. That was **seriously badass**. But... *how* did you manage to free yourself? Daniela had you trapped *forever*..."

She shrugged. "Spur of the moment elbow grease. Oh, and Houdini. Anyways, now's not the time for comedy. We have to free Evie!"

Now I'm ashamed

You've played the game

Missteps, mistakes, they're all the same

"Right!" Mya tossed her knife back at her, and catching it easily with one hand, Winter skidded over to Evie and cut her ropes as well. Freed, she rose to her feet and hugged Mya.

"You're an idiot, but you're also *awesome* when it comes to solving problems."

Both winked at each other.

Then Mya strode forward. "Okay, let's get *out of here* and report that Winter is safe to Rex."

I don't know where to go from here

I really wonder how it feels

"Rex... told you about me, didn't she?" Winter inquired nervously.

"Umm... yeah, long story. Let's go."

Evie reached for the door and pushed it wide open, expecting to step foot onto sunny, relieving patches of green grass.

Instead, the sun was blocked by a child, tall, black-haired, and amber eyes a *cesspool* of dumbfounded, scorching, white-hot *rage*.

Shrieking, the girls huddled together.

If I listen to the voice inside

If I free my mind

Let the stars come out

Daniela had *foiled* their sole chance of escaping.

"**WHAT**. **DO YOU THINK**. ***YOU'RE DOING***?!" she bellowed, causing them to retreat inside the hut with the severe amount of *domination* in her voice.

At the sight of *all* of her hostages free - especially *Winter* - the last of her nerve *shredded*.

"**You brats** thought you could just *escape somehow* and *leave* all *willy-nilly*? How *pathetic*! I **tied those ropes up tight** so that none of this would be **HAPPENING**! Which *one* of you *weasels* did this, hmm?"

If I fired through the night

Turning darkness into light

"Me," Mya retorted, sticking her tongue out at her. "You've *lost*. Take your murderous dreams and **get out of Pineshadow**!"

"*Exile myself from Pineshadow*?" Daniela sneered contemptuously. "*No one* tells me what I **should do**. I play by **my own rules**. I **run this school**. The ***darkness*** will be ***VANQUISHED***!"

Growling, she advanced toward the three girls and effaced the gap between her and Winter, and the traumatized young girl flinched. "I know **every damn thing** you've done. Lie. Lie. Lie *again*. You've **infected** everyone with your poison. **Deceived us**. And you were **callous enough** to *drag me down* with you. But I'm better than you, *Snowblind*. I'm **respected** and **SALUTED**!"

Stars off in space

Nothing's the same

Winter shut her eyes, bracing to be beaten to a pulp.

"You want to know **how it feels**? When you're *alone* and *thrashing in blackness*? Then you can see me ***FOR THE WONDER I TRULY AM***!"

With a howl that could have summoned thousands of undead beings, she soared into the air in an ambitious grab for Winter.

Now watch me burn your love to ashes

(To ashes, to ashes)

However, Mya had other plans, as she darted in front of Daniela and blew a raspberry in her face.

"Come chase after me, *Dumbquist*! Haste or liberty, you better *hu-ray*!"

She spat in the direction of her cheek. Daniela, hissing, dodged and grabbed her shoulder, but she wrenched it free and winked at Evie.

"Keep Winter safe. I've got a code red in containment ward three." Mya easily dodged another Daniela attack and decided to recall a little tactic she learned from the world of memes.

Now watch me burn your love to ashes

(To ashes, to ashes)

"**GET BACK HERE**, HEARTLEY!" Daniela roared, outraged that her uncharacteristically defiant fodder was *evading her*.

"Come and get it one more time!" She slid to the left and to the right repeatedly.

"**ARRRGHHHH**!"

"Cha cha real smooth, baby!"

(To ashes)

Daniela lunged for her, but Mya hopped to the left, blocking her view. She could see Evie near Winter, acting as a second line of defense.

*That pestilent mold-heart is not stopping me from obtaining MY VENGEANCE!*

She leaped for Mya, and applying as much power as she could, she grabbed her arm mid-leap, making her gasp, and she had no time to catch her breath before she was slammed up against the pole, feeling tendrils of pain rake the back of her head.

She groaned, Daniela blurring in her vision.

"You're a **thorn** in my side, *Heartley*. You sniviling **FOX**!" She yanked Mya by the shirt collar and swung her into the wall, where she impacted *violently* and sunk to the ground. Black dots were speckled *everywhere* in her sightlines, and her entire backside and head were throbbing with pain.

"**Mya**!" Evie and Winter screeched, Evie's the loudest.

Her friend lay on the ground weakly, appearing dizzy, her eyes half-closed.

Evie's protective instincts went *overboard*.

Charged with over nine thousand volts of electricity, she sprung away from Winter and directly at Daniela.

"Predictable!" Daniela exclaimed, squaring her fists and letting herself *believe* she would have the opportunity to punch Evie to dust.

She was *wrong*.

As Evie proceeded to leap *over her* completely, whirled around, and raising a leg, she *kicked her* on the back.

Lurching, the pain came as a shock to Daniela, and she fell face-first into the dusty floors of her hut. Evie's domineering boot pinned her, the heel sinking into her back as a dagger.

"Give up **now**," she warned curtly. "You **hurt Mya**. You've **kidnapped all of us**. You *will not win* regardless of what you try."

"**MAKE ME**!" Daniela retorted, suddenly gaining valuable scraps of vigor and sending Evie stumbling off of her.

Snarling, she made a rabid, *rapid* grab for Evie, though she was ready and headbutted her nose, hearing the force of the collsion, and Daniela tottered back.

Blood dripped out of her nose, but she wiped it off.

"*Look* at what it's come to," she said, circling Evie, who did the same, and they faced each other in sheer hatred. "Bitter rivals in a catfight. They *claw* at each other's throats until there's a *winner* left standing."

Evie bared her teeth in response, saying, "Unlike *you*, I was *born* with dignity and *honor*. Unlike you, I didn't *taint my name* in *infamy*. Whatever I do, I will **NOT LET YOU HURT MY FRIENDS**!"

Releasing the roar of a bear and lion combined, Evie bore down on Daniela and hooked her right leg out from under her, unbalancing her, and then delivered two punches to the side of her face.

Daniela stumbled backwards, but her boots dug into the floor, and she saw an advantage.

As Evie leapt at her for a second time, Daniela knew what she was going to do, and gripping the pole, she swung her boot up.

Evie's stomach *collided with it*. Winter gasped, covering her eyes with her hands.

"*Evie*!" Mya yelped, concern surging, and she crawled to her knees.

Staggering backwards, Evie couldn't regain herself in time.

Daniela, smiling in victory, punched her on her cheekbone, and the power was enough to make Evie *scream*. She flew into the wall unevenly.

Her hip *buckled* upon feeling the wood of the wall.

"Ah!"

"**EVIE**!" Mya, fighting the blistering pain in her backside, crawled over to her, steading her and feeling her hurt cheek gently with her hand.

"My... my hip..."

"Can you stand?" Mya whispered.

Evie tried to get up, but she fell back down. "Too... much... pain..." she rasped through pants. She noticed a flicker of candlelight in Mya's eyes.

*She's not gonna let this be the end.*

"Sssh. Ev. Don't move."

"But Daniela!"

Mya kneeled down and faced her. "Ev! We have a very secret weapon we can use here... use it wisely."

Immediately, Evie got a lightbulb.

*Mya's right! Rex!*

Quickly, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and entered her contact with Rex.

*We have Daniela and Winter*

*There's a fight*

*In danger*

*Come quick*

"Is... is that enough?" she asked.

Mya nodded.

Suddenly, both jerked as a blood-curdling *scream* echoed throughout the hut, and both froze, *mortified*.

They didn't want to look up.

They didn't want to look left.

They did so anyway.

And they wanted to delete the memory.

Winter, fragile, alone, and helpless, had been pinned against the wall by *Daniela*.

Daniela had the most satisfied, hungry, and *vengeful* gleam in her amber eyes.

The tears had returned to Winter's eyes, and without showing her any sign that they'd give her a break, they fell.

"Daniela... please... you *don't* have to do this. Do anything you *want* to me, but *don't* kill me... or them... *please*!" she begged feebly.

Refusing to obey, she stepped toward her, a hand tucked behind her back pocket. Was she reaching for something? The girls gulped.

"*Daniela*, listen to me!" Winter pleaded. "I *remember* the old you. The you who snuggled with me on *our* first sleepover. The time we hid under father's *duvet* and declared it our meeting place. The time you watched the fireworks with me, visited mother's *grave* with me, the time I **saved you** at the park and told you that you were *beautiful*! What **happened** to that you? What *changed*?"

Daniela tilted her head, showing that she was, in fact, listening.

"It *never* had to go this far. I don't want to be the bad guy! Neither do you. You *have* to still have a *heart*, Daniela! Please! If there was *any good* in your soul, we could *start over* and *try again*! Murder isn't the **answer**!"

She sniffed, holding her arms up, shaking as more tears fell.

Had she done enough to sway Daniela from evil?

Daniela's head returned to its regular erect alignment, her narrowed eyes widening, and then, with a single flick of her hand, she tossed her ex-girlfriend's empowering speech into the trash.

She had made it clear her words had *no brevity*.

"*That* me was a *weakling*," she replied harshly and bitterly, killing Winter's hopes like it was the rose she had murdered. "*That* me was soft and *cowardly*. I let *fool's gold* and *fickle heartstrings* decide my actions. And you strut up to me and **THINK** some cute words will ***CURE ME***??"

"What, I-"

"***YOU'RE THE REASON WHY WE WERE TORN APART, MCCORMICK***! You were the *real coward*. You did absolutely **nothing** to stop that horrific night in *your house*. Guess what? Your **psycho knife-obsessed father** attacked me too. **Beat me**. He sent me home **traumatized**! And it's **your fault**!"

Evie and Mya held onto each other. How could Daniela *accuse* Winter of such atrocities?

*She has to be lying!* Evie thought desolately.

Winter mirrored her thoughts. "*What*? Father... no, you're *lying*!" she protested.

"Why lie? I could *never* tell a white lie in addition to abide by falsehoods," Daniela stated matter-of-factly. "Just like someone *else* I once knew."

Evie growled through pain and anger pulsing in her body.

Daniela stepped closer to Winter, the gap between them becoming nonexistent. "Maybe we *could* have been friends. *Partners in crime*. A *dynamic* duo. But then you took my heart and **ripped it to pieces**. You threw me out and discarded me like I was *trash*. You **abandoned me** and then became ***my mother's darling***. You ***STOLE MY MOTHER FROM ME, YOU INSOLENT TRAITOR***! I will ***NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS SCOURGE***!"

The girls gasped, and Winter's eyes shrunk until they were only fear-filled black dots. She cowered, and her fear pulsed off her. Daniela sensed it. She drank it in.

It was done. Winter was weak and beyond repair. Her friends were out of the picture.

She had only one job left.

The traitor's *execution*.

Snickering, she reached into her back pocket and pulled out a *steak knife*, black handle and sharp, long silver blade *glimmering* with a deadly, sinful shine.

Winter, shaking her head, screeched and pinned her whole body on the wall.

She had *nowhere left to run*.

"*No*!" Evie snapped, attempting to stumble to her feet, but her hip let off more waves of pain. She sunk back to the ground, defeated, but Mya held on, determination lighting two leaf-green blazes in her eyes.

Daniela's *steak knife* was *ten times as dangerous* as Winter's pocket knife. She stood no chance; her weapon was smaller and weaker.

The blade of the steak knife could *comfortably* slit her throat *wide open*.

Winter knew that and couldn't bear to imagine the pain that would befall her shortly.

*My life... this is how it's going to end... Evie, Mya... I'm sorry.*

*I should have been a better friend from the start...*

*I'll die as Snowblind, the worthless, pathetic kid...*

She cried, accepting her death.

Daniela smiled. "You made me be the *bad guy*, sweet Winterlyn. A shame it'll end like this... we had so much potential, but you burned it. Say goodbye and taste what ***REVENGE REALLY FEELS LIKE***!"

Time suddenly slowed down.

Daniela leapt forward, the knife blade aimed directly at Winter's jugular vein. As soon as it was split, she'd bleed out on the ground, dead on impact.

Evie let salty tears fall, knowing she couldn't stop her own friend's death.

But Mya wasn't somber. She had *not* accepted defeat.

She would *never* accept Winter's death.

Daniela was still falling, but at the speed of a sloth, and she was barely gaining ground.

Pain ebbed through Mya's body, but she didn't give a flying *fox* about it.

She saw the small frame of Winter, and images of her - *all* of her, invaded her mind.

The day they met. Their connection being built. The bond formed. Winter's passions, her bravery, her temper, her uniqueness, the mystery of her life, the wanderlust.

She had courage. *Guts*. Like Evie.

*The person I wanted to be.*

For years, Mya had struggled with her self-esteem. She had been bullied since she was in kindergarten, tormented, told she wasn't good enough, that she was embarrassing, that no one liked her because she didn't draw like the others or didn't *think* like the others.

The voices stuck with her. Fool. Idiot. Moron. The more she grew, the more they clung like the occassional burr or leaf in the Piney Woods.

The more weight. The choking on dirty water.

Trying to find what was right in places, from her little elementary to PMS, where the bullies had gotten cruel and demeaning.

Evie had helped her weather those storms, balancing out her lack of confidence with *someone* who was strong, self-assured, and *determined*, leadership in every step she took.

When she saw Winter, however, she didn't just see a friend in her short-tempered, red-hot, blunt-tipped new companion.

She saw *someone else* in that secret warmth, her rage, her secrets, her wonder.

*She's a sister.*

Even with the lack of blood relation, Winter, to Mya, was her sister. She cared *heavily* for her, relaxed in her grace, showed more of her with her encouragement...

*She peels back her layers to show me the real her... like any sister would.*

In her heart, Mya knew what she had to do and swelled with senses of *purpose*.

*Resolution*.

She saw Winter reconciling herself to her deathly, bloody fate, sniffing and whimpering in pain.

To her left was Evie, who stared hopelessly, her hip hurting too much and preventing her from standing. She was in anguish, her hand unable to reach her friend when she needed it most.

For a *moment*, less than the beat of a heart, Mya was floating in the middle of the ocean, her hair strewn back, the water murky and pouring into her nostrils.

Voices whispered to her, spitefully, malevolent.

*You're a fool!*

*She's gonna crack!*

*Mya can't do anything right!*

*We don't want you as our friend!*

*You're too weird!*

*Dumb kid!*

Her surroundings began to blur and turn darker, yet Mya shook them away, swatting her hand.

No, the darkness and the murky waters would not take her today.

She wouldn't drown, or stand down, or *refuse* to let others smear her luster in rubble.

When her eyes locked on Daniela's vicious, stormy, pleased amber eyes, the trigger she held to her gun snapped, and out came the *millions* of thundering horses from her soul.

Mya *leapt* to her feet swiftly, startling Evie, who shouted her name in trepidation.

But it didn't matter.

Mya flew right into Daniela's path, blocking her view with an exposed shoulder.

"***GO TO HELL***!"

Daniela was in too deep to pull out, and five seconds later, the knife had *torn* through the skin of Mya's shoulder, and startled, she gasped and hobbled backwards.

Mya slammed into the wall roughly, groaning and swaying. Winter, opening her eyes, saw *her best friend* standing in front of her on uneven two feet.

*Mya...?*

"**MYA**!" Evie howled, managing to crawl onto her hands and knees, her heart pounding so intensely that she began to fall into vertigo.

The other girls watched with *incredulous astonishment* as Mya *rose* to her feet, a phoenix burning bright. Her cyan sleeve had been stained red with blood, scarlet streaks trickling down her shoulder blade and arm, and blood droplets dripped onto the floor.

She faced a stunned, amazed, *stupefied* Daniela, who stared at her bloody knife blade, her intended target, and her doormat.

She had stabbed *someone* - but it had been the *wrong person*.

Her plan had *backfired*.

"***HOW***???" she questioned.

Mya, growling, stepped up to her, the million horses and a torrent of rushing water comprising the *only* sounds in her ears.

"*Who* do you **YOU THINK** you *are*?!" she demanded angrily, pointing a finger at Daniela. "Do you ***BELIEVE*** you can walk in and **murder my best friend**? Torment **my best friends**? I will ***NEVER LET YOU*** slice a ***goddamn inch*** of Winter's skin. If you're so happy-go-lucky wanting to be a killer, ***THEN KILL ME FIRST***!"

Daniela, for the first time in her entire history with Mya, was *speechless*, unknowing as to how she would be able to respond to a usual shy, reserved *monsoon* of *rage*.

"**YOU** don't know what kind of **mistake** you're making crossing me, Daniela. I'm not the **fodder** you make me out to be. You call me *soft*. *Weak*. **Pathetic**! I let your words drown me for a *year*. You made me think I was ***WORTHLESS***! But people around me have shown me that I have ***everything I need to show you that I AM NO COWARD***!"

Baffled, Daniela looked at her feet, red marks of embarrassment appearing on her face.

Mya was not appeased.

"***FACE ME, YOU FREAKING COWARD***!" she commanded. Daniela, stunning *everyone*, obeyed her subject like a peasant to a queen.

"When you *see* Winter, you *resent her* because you claim she **destroyed you**. I see someone else. A brave, kindhearted, generous, *starry-eyed* young girl recovering from her trauma and *re-learning* the world. The bond I had with her is ***nothing*** compared to your ruthless quest to burn her **alive**. Winter is like *my sister*! A **sister**! And you *think* I'd let you get away with your **sins**?"

Daniela opened her mouth, attempting to let out a form of protest.

Mya raised her hands. "Oh **helll no**. You stay quiet, *Dani*. I'm not through with you yet."

It was as if Mya hadn't even noticed her shoulder and arm had been drenched and sticky with blood, which was now spilling onto the floor in dots.

The pain was *obsolete*. She only had delivering *justice* to Daniela in her mind.

"I will do ***anything*** in ***my power*** to protect those I love. My friends. My *sister figure*. You screwed around and you ***found out***. From now on, Daniela, ***you are no longer my bully***. Do not **EVER** underestimate *who I am* ***again***. Because I'll come back for you, and you'll be served justice with a side of *just desserts*."

Mya took one step closer to Daniela.

"And if you have any **objections**, then you're welcome to *kiss my ass*."

Adding insult to injury, Mya did the very thing that Daniela loved doing - and gave her the middle finger square to her face.

Daniela didn't respond and fumbled her fingers, the knife hanging by her side.

On the other side of the hut, Evie was *struck dumb*.

She had seen the rare flares of confidence in Mya, mostly when she was around her, that gave her the esteem she needed to take charge.

But she had never seen the stoked flames of *such raw anger* in her friend before, or such *raw power* that made the inhuman, rock-hard, and *cold-blooded* Daniela *obey* her.

*She humiliated Daniela and made her listen to every word she said.*

Not only that, but Mya had charged up when she could not, fighting the pain and exhaustion in her body, and took an *ugly* gash to the shoulder, all to protect Winter.

She had *saved her life*. Winter hadn't died to Daniela as she feared would happen.

She saw the blood dripping, oozing, and staining the floor.

And even with how scary and trauma-inducing the situation was... Evie couldn't suppress a blush on her face, directed at Mya.

*Mya did what I thought impossible, CONTROLLED Daniela... she's standing so brave, prideful, a hero...*

*Oh, Mya... I have so many things to tell you, but you're a hero to me too... you've grown up so much over the years.*

Evie kept on admiring the badass in front of her.

Compared to Evie, Winter was petrified, huddled against the wall, wondering *what* had just happened.

*Mya deflected Daniela's killing blow to save me... she likes me like a sister...*

*She values me... she's my hero...*

She sniffed, cracking a tiny, happy smile.

Daniela stared at Mya, completely *astounded* by the events of minutes ago. Mya, a person she deemed *useless*, yet loved to torment because of how easily she squirmed in her grasp, had displayed *unlimited* courage and defiance.

She had taken a knife's blow even when she thought the game had been played.

She had done the impossible and turned the *tables* on her sworn foe.

*Mya is not the girl she was in the past,* she reflected. *She's gotten stronger. More protestant...*

An ember of respect flared in her heart.

"That was... sentimental of you, Mya, and bold..." she murmured, glancing at her twin reflected in the blade of the knife, and Mya raised an eyebrow.

Her tone didn't sound evil. It seemed like a concession.

Was this Daniela's redemption?

Her amber eyes hardened, and immediately, her lips parted in a *snarl*.

"**BUT YOU WON'T MEDDLE IN MY PLANS ANY LONGER**!" Returning to her old, violent ways, Daniela leapt at Mya before she could attack and threw her into the wall, her injured shoulder impacting first, and screaming with the added wave of pain, she hunched on the floor. The rose petals and the blood were scattered in a *haunting* pattern.

"*Mya*! *No*!" Evie gasped, and shaking, Winter froze, staring Daniela in her cold, hard-hearted eyes.

"Daniela, don't..." she pleaded, weak and hoarse as before. Daniela snorted.

"Mya may have been your saving grace, *Snowblind*, but no angel is going to get in my *path* now. Time for the lights to ***GO OUT***!"

She raised the knife and put it to her throat; instead of swinging it, she was ready for a real, quick slitting. Just as the tips dug in, however...

"***DANIELA BURTON VUNQUIST***!!!!!"

Yelping, Daniela hid the knife behind her, retreating a few steps, and Winter collapsed on the ground in relief. Mya and Evie turned to the door and faced the gates of *heaven*.

*Rex* had arrived.

And from the way her eyes were flashing with *eruptions*, *lava*, *lightning*, and *lashing seas*, she was more than *pissed off*, she had wanted to break *dishes*.

*Lots* and *lots* of *dishes*.

"**MOM**?!" Daniela asked, stunned. "But how-"

"**WHAT** DO YOU THINK YOU'RE ***DOING***???"

Rex, cutting her off, stormed up to her and thrust her into one of the poles holding up the roof, closing in on her face until her breath tickled her cheeks. Daniela squealed, terrified. This allowed the girls to clamber to their feet, the pain stinging, and they huddled next to each other.

"H-How did you f-figure this out?" she stuttered, her mother's gaze *burning her to ashes*.

"In *case* you weren't aware, **Daniela**," Rex hissed, "*some* of my *beloved* students have been onto you since the day ***you disappeared from home***. It was with the help of your so-called **rival** that I managed to find you committing five hundred ***FELONIES*** in here!"

Daniela gasped, now aware that *Evie* was the one that ratted her out to Rex. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Evie holding something in her hand.

Her *phone*.

Suddenly, pain *washed* over her cheek. Rex gripped her chin, forcing her to stare into those deep blue eyes of *hatred*.

"***YOU ARE INSANE***! You are a ***DISGRACE***! ***TOXIC*** to your dark little ***core***. I understand now. I'm ***never going to get my daughter back***, and whoever you are, ***YOU ARE NOTHING BUT EVIL***!"

"Mom! Stop!" Daniela begged, her mother's slashes opening wounds in her thick skin.

Rex was far from done.

"I will ***NOT STOP***, **young lady**!" she snapped. "**YOU** compromised your education and snuck off for ***TWO DAYS*** to plan this whole *escapade* of yours! You broke the **law**! You kidnapped *Winter*, a student who's ***innocent***, and nearly have gotten away with ***MURDER***! You are **vile** and **disgusting**!"

"You *don't care for me*!" Daniela retorted, adding, "Winter ***stole you*** from me. She's been ***lying about her life*** to everyone and you're *engaging* in this senseless cover-up!"

That hit a nerve. Rex's grip on her throat became so tight the flesh was turning purple, and a low, *warning* growl emitted from her throat.

She was *done* with Daniela and was on the verge of doing something *violent* herself.

"***TAKE WINTER'S NAME OUT OF YOUR GODDAMN MOUTH***!" she spat, releasing her throat at long last and pinning her to the pole by her intimidating mother bear prescence.

"You hurt an *innocent girl*. You wanted to *kill her*. You could have **killed** my students. That's ***UNFORGIVABLE***, ***Daniela***! ***AND I WILL MAKE SURE THIS IS DEALT WITH ACCORDINGLY***!"

She grabbed Daniela by the sweater collar and hauled her off with one hand, facing Evie, Mya, and Winter and seeing the sacrifices they made for each other.

Nodding at them, she again hauled Daniela out, but as her boots dug into the grass, Daniela faced the trio adamantly.

"*This isn't over*, goons. You'll all perish soon... **especially you**, *Snowblind*!"

And then, Daniela and Rex were gone, and everything had come to a halt.

It was over.

Daniela had lost.

The girls had won.

"Mya," Evie stated. "Oh my god, Mya, your *shoulder*!"

Mya, glancing down, finally saw how freaky her shoulder looked, half pale skin and half red with blood, and her entire shirt sleeve was soaking wet. Evie's hands were on her, *shaking her*.

She blushed.

"Mya! You're still bleeding, there's blood everywhere, oh my goodness... are you okay? Do you feel anything? Do I need to call a doc-"

Mya chuckled, numb to the pain, and she held Evie's hands, stroking them with her thumbs.

"Evie, I'm okay," she reassured warmly. "Daniela didn't cut an artery or anything vital in my arm. It's just flesh deep. Mom and dad will help me clean it up when I get home. In the meantime..."

Mya headed over to the pole and grabbed her jacket, using it as a compression bandage and wrapping it around her injured shoulder, tying it with the sleeves. "This oughta do."

"It does." Evie moved closer to her, putting her forehead to hers and rekindling a spark Mya saw, but she didn't.

"You were so *courageous* out there. *Deflecting* a blow from Daniela! You stood back up like it was nothing... you stood without having me to prop you up. Mya, I..."

Evie trailed off, brought to tears by her own friend, and laughing, Mya touched her nose to her crush's, feeling a familiar heat.

*Evie's love for me as a friend, and my love for her as a romantic partner... no walls between us at all.*

"It was worth it," she whispered.

"I know," Evie said, yanking her into a hug, and even though her shoulder began to sting, she pulled her in, sharing the gift of their undying passion for each other. Mya felt it and so did Evie, who dug in harder, refusing to let Mya go.

*She could have died to save Winter, someone she views as a sister, and she displayed a glow, a bravery even I can't show... I'd want her to die for me, too...*

*Because you're beautiful, Mya, in so many unique ways. I don't know if it's wrong, but... I just can't bring myself to let go of you...*

Mya laughed, sensing that her friend was clingy, and she scratched her on the back of her head.

*Evie, you just don't know how adorable you become when you get mushy. It only makes me crush on you harder.*

It seemed like ages before their moment was broken up by the footsteps of Winter, who had approached lightly.

"Mya... is it true you see me like a sister?"

Mya, nodding, approached and allowed her hands to hold her wrists. "Indeed. Winter, I'd leap in front of you to save you more times if I have to. You're very special to me, in a different way than Evie is, but still *special*. I'm... I'm just so *glad* we met each other, 'cause I, for one, wouldn't change a thing."

"I don't wanna change a thing either," Winter whispered, and with a grin, she put a hand on Mya's shoulder and added, "because I see you like a sister too."

Mya felt the sensation of joy in the corner of her eyes. Tears of *joy*.

She burrowed herself into Winter's shirt, hugging her fiercely, and laughing, Winter didn't shove her off and kept her there, warmth and happiness and liberty flowing inside.

*I don't want to let her go.*

"Hey! Let me in!" Evie whined, and Winter pulled her in as well, letting her hug.

The three didn't let go for a single minute.

Then Winter broke apart, dusting herself off and rubbing her stomach. The girls remembered how gaunt she looked with the lack of food, her skin dulling from lack of care - she was *still* in her pajamas and in socks.

"Alright. I owe you two for this... but thank you. More than I could ever say thank you. I didn't know what I could have done without your efforts; Dani would have for sure killed me, but you were my last shreds of hope in a world that made no sense..."

The girls nodded.

"I better get back to the cabin... I'm dry as a desert and so hungry I could eat a whole herd of horses."

She was about to step outside into the cool, fresh air when suddenly a hand *clamped* down on her wrist.

"Oh *no you don't*!"

*Mya?*

Winter faced her, confused. "Wha-"

"Winter, you're *starving*! You don't have much food at your cabin that could fill your belly after going two days hungry. I *think* you should come over to *my place* and have *dinner with me*!"

Winter's mouth became a gaping hole of disbelief.

"M-me? At *your house*?? But... but surely I'm-"

Mya *ssshed* her, putting a hand on her cheek. "Winter, come on. You need something to eat and drink... and you need to be in your regular clothing for god's sake! You've probably been freezing!"

Nervous, Winter seemed uncertain. "I... I haven't been *invited* to your house before..."

Evie trotted up to her. "Mya's right," she concurred. "*Đi*. I have a feeling you'll have a good night tonight."

Finally, Winter took the offer to heart. "Okay. Can I please change, though?"

"Pfft... I'm not letting you into *my place* looking like that, you idiot!" Mya quipped.

Hours later, night had fallen, and Pineshadow was thrown into a veil of blackness, stars in the night sky, lights of yellow and orange all around in the streets, and after the events of earlier today, there was only tranquility and no more threats.

Mya had first taken Winter back to her cabin while Evie went home (having had lots of explaining from a demanding mom to do), waiting outside for a few minutes before she emerged in her regular outfit, her socks hidden by her boots.

She seemed happier now that she was back in actual clothing.

"Are you ready?"

"Mhm. Lead the way."

Winter and Mya walked side-by-side to her place, the sun setting until it had faded behind the mountains leading to farthermost Washington and Canada, the last of the pinks and purples vanishing altogether and giving way to blue-blackishness.

The calm was a relief to both, who pressed closer until they started to hold each other's hand.

Sisters, they were.

Eventually, they had arrived at Mya's place, and Winter hesitated outside. Mya had explained everything through text earlier, but she was still apprehensive.

The last time she had been in a household, it resulted in her almost being murdered.

"Are you s-sure I'm welcome here?" she asked anxiously, shuffling her feet.

"Don't be silly, Winter!" Mya replied. "Of course. You *need* hospitality right now."

"If you say so."

Mya knocked on the door a few times, and it didn't take long for the door to open, revealing her parents - Nita and Patrick.

"**Mya**! My baby!" exclaimed her mother, sweeping her up into her arms. "Your shoulder... your bravery... oh, baby, you risked so much to be here..."

"Mya, you could have gotten killed!" chimed her father. "What were you thinking?"

"I put Winter's life above my own. She means a lot to me... I don't care how much blood I lost, but every bit shed was *worth it* to defend a young girl from *treasonous horror*."

Both her parents were hugging her now, relieved, worried, and not even angry - sure, their daughter's story had shocked them and had left them terrified - but she was alive and defended someone she loved.

Nita undid her jacket, seeing the arm and shoulder caked in dried blood. "*Your arm*! Oh... come on, Mya. Let me get you to the bathroom and help you clean this up. You can change into your pajamas afterward."

"Alright!" Mya and her mother quickly ran to their bathroom down the hallway.

Nervously, Winter headed into her house, glancing at the new area before her. Mya's house was bright and lit, having lovely white, brown, and blue toning with glowing orange light and many picture frames of Mya and her family, with a few even being with Evie.

*They're meant for each other...*

Their sofa looked so cozy, and she approached it, tempted to flop down on it and sleep.

But she hesitated.

*Wait, I'm in no man's land. Am I... allowed to sit?*

"You can sit, y'know," a male voice teased from behind her. Mya's father.

Winter spun to face him, awkwardly blushing. "Uh, well... I don't wanna do anything you don't want me to do... I mean, you haven't met me in person..."

"Winter, it's alright!" Patrick assured, giving her a friendly smile. "You can sit down. Dinner's in the oven anyway. It'll be ready shortly."

Winter, nodding, sat down, and Patrick did so too.

"So you're the wonderful lady Mya's been *ranting* about?"

Winter blushed again. "She's been telling you about me??"

"Pfft... that's what she does!" Patrick commented, waving and laughing like his daughter did. It was clear how Mya got her comedic side.

"Ummm... I'm... pleased to meet you?"

"Charmed." Patrick offered her a hand, and reluctantly, Winter shook it.

"I haven't met someone Mya's been so avid about since she met *Evie*."

Winter gulped. Did Mya's parents *like* her?

"Well... it's my pleasure to be her friend. She's amazing."

Winter began to settle, flopping back more comfortably.

"Anything you want to watch?"

"Nat Geo, I guess."

Patrick flipped to that channel immediately. Just then, a *ding* sounded from the kitchen.

"Aaah. Food is ready. I better go get it." He went to the kitchen, leaving Winter alone.

Then, from the hallway:

"**FOOOOOOOD**!"

Out barreled Mya in her pale pink pajama set - which appeared to have cat faces on them - and Winter stared, finding it remarkably *cute*.

"You look so cute in that," she murmured unexpectedly.

"Evie says that all the time," she remarked. "So, dad, what's on the menu tonight?"

"Something I bet you two would enjoy." He wielded two plates and set them down on the coffee table.

*Pizza*.

"Dad! Pizza night's not until Saturday!"

"Who says it has to wait when your friend needs it more?"

Winter stared at the plate, surprised; she hadn't eaten pizza for more than a *year*.

*It looks delicious...*

Mya instantly took a plate and tore a hunk off, swallowing. "Mmm... cheesy."

*Why do you look so adorable when you do that?* Winter internally said.

Carefully, she took a slice and took off a small piece with her teeth.

It tasted *amazing*.

"Real food has never tasted like *heaven*."

"Have you really not eaten anything much since you ran away?" Nita asked, joining her husband in the kitchen.

"Mostly stuff Rex's friend buys me. Not much. Somehow I've scraped by."

When the girls were done, Mya flopped back on the sofa, her head laying on a blue-green pillow.

"Today... was hell. And strange. And death-defying..."

"You saved my life, Mya," Winter stated warmly. "How could I ever repay you? You could have had your shoulder sliced off for me..."

"You don't owe me anything," replied Mya. "But there's a space here on the sofa if you care to join me."

She waved at her.

Surging forward, Winter leapt on top of her, crawling beside her and grabbing a pillow of her own to curl up on.

"What an adorable dork you are," she whispered sweetly into her ear, resting her head beside her.

"I could say the same to you, dork," Mya retorted, her leaf-green eyes glimmering with amusement.

While the two were snuggled close in each other's embrace, acting like any sisterly duo would, Nita and Patrick turned to each other, hardening with serious business in mind.

"Pat, any update on those papers?" Nita questioned.

Patrick nodded. "Sent to the city for approval. We'll be hearing from them soon..."

Both faced the paper tray near the stove, in it a single paper sticking out that not even Mya was aware of.

Big plans were at play - and they had a high chance of being successful.

## Cast

* **Mae Whitman** as Winter
* **Eden Riegel** as Daniela
* **Dakota Fanning** as Mya
* **Peyton Elizabeth Lee** as Evie
* **Zehra Fazal** as Evelin and Sarah
* **Candi Milo** as Mrs. Ikenna
* **Hugh Bonneville** as Mr. Alann
* **Lynette DuPree** as Mrs. Hawkins
* **Steve Blum** as Mr. Gill
* **Nika Futterman** as Mrs. Limon
* **Jim Rash** as Coach Samoski
* **Rob Wiethoff** as Mr. Naecher
* **Kimberly Brooks** as hall monitor & additional voices
* **Grey DeLisle** as Vice Principal Bluelund
* **Nora Dunn** as Rex
* **Dee Bradley Baker** and **Kari Wahlgren** as additional voices
* **Wendie Malick** as Nita
* **Trent Garrett** as Patrick

## Songs

* Hellberg & Rich Edwards (ft. Danyka Nadeau) - *Ashes* (snippet)
* Draper (ft. Laura Brehm) - *Pressure* (snippet)

## Trivia

* The rewrite of the episode is notably released on Christmas Eve. Av jokingly dubbed the release day as "arson day" due to the metaphorical arson hints she snuck in throughout the episode.
* The opening with Daniela ambushing Winter is Av's favorite cold opening in Season 1.
* This is the final episode where Lynette DuPree voices Mrs. Hawkins. Upon learning of DuPree's death in March of 2023, Av announced that her role would be picked up by Paula Jai Parker.
* It is revealed that:
	+ Daniela is a masochist and loves it when someone inflicts pain on her.
	+ Daniela kidnapped Winter as part of a master plan to kill her as well as Evie and Mya, for most part as revenge for Winter "ruining" their relationship. She plotted quietly for a few days before enacting the plan and causing her and Winter to disappear without a trace.
	+ Mya and Winter have grown closer to each other and have spent more time together. Mya also admits that she does view Winter like a sister during her admonishing of Daniela, confirming that she does reciprocate Winter's sisterly affection for her.
	+ Mya has begun to mature following the events of *Dancing in the Dark* and *There's Something About Mya*.
	+ Rex has been caring for Winter in secret, devoting most of her time to protecting her and having a private relationship with her. She views her as another daughter and ultimately chose her over Daniela, in the process saving her life and shielding her history from Pineshadow, but also fueling Daniela's downfall.
	+ The elderly woman that delivers supplies to Winter is one of Rex's friends.
	+ Daniela had deliberately intended for Evie and Mya to investigate the cabin, wanting to lure them into the trap she created in her hideout with Winter.
	+ Winter's father also attacked Daniela, though the validity of Daniela's revelation is unclear since she is known to lie.
* Evie telling Mya that she's showing her genius is a reference to a similar remark said by SpongeBob to Patrick in *SpongeBob SquarePants*, to which Patrick asks where.
	+ Mya then taps her forehead and remarks, "Big brain," which is a reference to the Roll Safe meme, sometimes known as Big Brain.
* When Daniela asks Winter to tell her what it's like living in the sky thinking she could be without her is an allusion to the Halsey song *Without Me*.
* Daniela reminding Winter that she told her to sleep with one eye open, as well as stating that her reputation is clouded with dirt, is a reference to *Girl With One Eye* by Florence + the Machine.
* When Winter realizes that she can't explain herself, she references the Tut Tut Child song *Just A Dream*.
* During the beginning of Evie, Mya, and Winter's fight with Daniela, *Ashes*, a song by Hellberg and Rich Edwards, plays in the background. *Ashes* is a huge inspiration for the episode overall and plays a major role in Daniela's scenes in the episode.
	+ It is also the reason fire, ashes, and arson are constantly used as visual metaphors due to the song being about "burning someone's love to ashes."
* Daniela's confrontation is notably inspired by *Be Prepared*, one of the most famous songs from *The Lion King*, and she references a few of its lines in her dialogue.
* Mya's invitation for Daniela to chase her is a nod to the Rob Gasser and Miyoki song *Taking Over*.
* In her brief fight with Daniela, Mya notably mimics the *Cha-Cha Slide* (also known as *Cha Cha Real Smooth*) when trying to evade her. She also references the Krewella song *Come and Get It*.
* Right before Daniela attempts to strike Winter's throat, she tells her that she made her be the bad guy, which is yet another reference to *Don't Make Me*.
* When Mya rallies and deflects Daniela's killing blow, the instrumental part of the Draper song *Pressure* - her main theme - plays afterward.
* "Screwed around and found out" is a reference to the phrase "f\*ck around and find out," which became popular in 2022.
* As of this episode, Daniela is no longer Mya's bully.
* The scene where Evie marvels at Mya's strength and bravery, as well as her passionate hugging Mya in the following scene, further hints that she is falling in love with her.
* Winter telling the girls that they were her last hope "in a world that made no sense" is an allusion to *Waking Up*, a song by F.O.O.L and Laura Brehm.