Faryn's taxi pulled up outside of a wooden shack that to Humans would appear to be the only structure for miles in this part of the Dolomites. But Acurials could see past the illusion to the town built near the edge of a cliff that laid beyond. Lower Eiraacia. And high up on the mountain above it was Upper Eiraacia, only visible in the night because of the lights shining from its buildings.

Faryn slipped her new phone she bought at Heathrow into her bag. Once she had it in her possession, she had removed the battery from her old phone, cutting off her access to Acurial servers. In the taxi to the airport, she had risked a few minutes on her phone to watch the video of her and Nick that had gone viral. It did not paint her in a favorable light. She'd debated texting her boss that she was going to be out indefinitely, but her boss was a mouse Thorine and would soon know why she wasn't going to make her next shift at the tourist shop on Broadstreet. If Winter questioned him, for both of their sakes', it was best Faryn had no contact with him.

Faryn paid the driver and with a breathless "Grazie. Tanto Piacere," she exited the taxi. From Heathrow she'd flown into Malpensa in Milan and then took a roughly eight-hour train ride before having to switch to taxi so she could get to Lower Eiraacia. A bed with big fluffy covers sounded amazing.

The shack before her was famous to Humans as serving the best food in the area and for its breathtaking views of the alps to the continual amusement of Acurials. Yet Faryn was sure if Humans knew the backdrops to their pictures were illusion cast with magic, it would only make them more eager to flock here.

Walking up to the shack, Faryn tugged her wooly hat down and pulled the hood of her snow coat up over her head. She patted the dagger strapped to her waist, making sure it was secure. When she'd had to go through security at the airport, she'd tucked it into her bag, but the magic on it was able to fool even the metal detectors.

Stepping inside the shack, she found a few guests spread out among tables. A man walked up to her, and Faryn braced herself to be recognized, to be pinned to the ground, but he only said, "Buongiorno," and asked if she wanted a table. Faryn had a basic understanding of Italian. She often heard it spoken around Oxford, but she could by no means carry on a conversation in the language.

So, instead, she used the universal language of Acurials to greet him.

The man grinned at her and motioned to a rickety door on the other end of the room. "Through the back, please, signorina."

Faryn smiled, relieved, and crossed the shack to the door. She pushed it open, and a harsh wind snipped at her face, threatening to push back her hood. Clutching the end of it in one hand, she squinted at the town she'd stepped into. Cobblestone peeked out from underneath fresh snow. The buildings were a mix of brick and wood and lights in every Christmas shade were draped over them. Upper Eiraacia probably wouldn't have many lights strung up, if they had any at all. Lower Eiraacia was more known as a Winter Court town. Their Christmas celebration yesterday would have been spectacular.

As she walked through the town, she looked for a way to the lifts that could take her to Upper Eiraacia. The street signs were written in the Acurial language, but she still heard snippets of conversations in Italian. This was her first time being in an Acurial town, and yet she was forced to keep her head down instead of freely gaze around her.

Walking out of a shop ahead of her was a Thorine in her Celvian form, her great white wings the only visible indication she was Pegasus, but it was her scent that marked her as Thorine and not Cyra. Faryn had only seen a few Pegasi before. Since they couldn't get rid of their wings, they couldn't spend time in Human cities like Oxford. The same went for Unicorn Thorine. When they shifted into a Celvian form, they retained their horns. Faryn's pointed ears were easy to cover up. Pegasus wings and Unicorn horns were not.

Ahead of her, there was what looked like a cave carved into the mountain and, based on pictures she had seen, it was where the lifts were located

She caught the dry sharp smell of freshly cut ice and wind. Her nose twitched. Despite being surrounded by ice and wind, this smell was distinct. It was Fae. She glanced up in time to see a Fata side eye her as they passed each other. She'd never been able to explain why she hated the smell of Fae, especially as she had Fae friends. But it was a universally acknowledged truth between Fae and Elves that Elves hated the ice and wind scent of Fae, and Fae wrinkled their nose at the earthen scent of Elves.

She didn't know what caused it or if it was some sort of instinct to protect themselves from each other. She didn't hate Fae, but she distrusted them as much as she feared them.

It was only a few more streets to the lifts. Hopefully, she'd be able to get one without trouble and that no one would pay too close attention to who was boarding the lifts. Once she reached Upper Eiraacia, she'd have to put her trust in a Fae, and that Fae would have to want to help her—a half Elf.

Faryn smelt the magic a moment before a powerful wind barreled into her, knocking her off her feet. The snow broke the fall, but it still jarred her, knocking her breath away. The wind continued to shove against her. It pressed down hard enough to keep her from breathing. It threw her hood back and ripped off her hat before pushing her down a side street and away from any other Acurials. She had expected to find the magic's wielder waiting for her.

The wind released her, and Faryn, on her back gasping for air, reached for the dagger at her side and gripped it. Another wind like that could pluck the dagger out of her hand.

Boots appeared, crunching the snow underneath them. Pulling herself to her knees, she lifted her head to see who it was who had wielded their magic against her.

The young man that stood over her stared at her with her mother's gray eyes. His hair was just as white as Clora's, the wind lifting and holding it in its grasp until he stepped into the side street and out of the wind. His skin was white. Was the frost limning his cheeks a trick of the light or if it had it landed there, knowing who he was?

"You're a long way from Oxford."

"And you're a long way from Ruhnerium."

He cocked his head, studying her with those eyes that had always been comforting on her mother, but on him—Jack Frost—they gave her a chill that promised death and destruction.

"Where's my uncle?" His scent hit her, evergreen with a dash of ginger.

"We're family meeting for the first time. You could at least ask me how my trip was."

He lifted a hand, and an icicle formed on top of his palm. "You know, I've watched you enough over the years that I forget we haven't actually met."

Faryn nearly dropped her dagger. Was Jack the only Acurial who thought to spy on her over the years? How many of her so-called enemies had been watching her as she grew—playing and working and studying?

"I wish I could say this is a pleasure." She wouldn't be able to get past Jack, but she wasn't in an alley; the way behind her was open.

Jack shifted the icicle so his bare fingers wrapped around it. His face gave no indication that he found the ice cold at all. "Are you going to tell me where he is, or do I have to force it out of you?"

Right now, she needed more magic than a tolerance to cold and hair that preferred to be two separate colors. Though even if she had magic, she wouldn't be able to do anything against the future Father Winter.

Jack flicked his hand to the side, and the snow around them rose, tightening into a circle. It grew higher and quicker with every passing second. She tried stepping out of it, but a harsh wind acted as a wall, a wall that was constricting, forcing her closer to her cousin.

"It wasn't me."

He stroked the icicle, and its point sharpened. "Can't you be more original than that?"

"I spoke to him in the woods, but he wanted me to leave. He was getting annoyed. I left before the situation could escalate."

"Then why did they find blood in the woods?"

Startled, Faryn stumbled as the wind shoved her forward. "What?"

"There was blood. His reindeer said it was his."

"I didn't touch him."

"But that dagger did?"

He didn't give Faryn a chance to answer before he lunged. She whirled to the side, but not fast enough as Jack's icicle ripped through her jacket and cut across her arm. She couldn't stop the growl that passed through her lips.

Jack moved for her, but Faryn was quicker, raising the dagger with enough force to break the icicle in half as they slammed together. She drove the bottom of her boot into his stomach, sending him into his wall of wind. His magic faltered, and the wind evaporated, and he plummeted into the snow.

Faryn was already backing up, heading for the main street. "What is it going to take to convince you I don't have anything to do with this?"

Jack threw a wave of wind that sent Faryn sprawling in the snow, her dagger knocked out of her hand and her bag crushed underneath her. He pulled himself to his feet. "No one has more reason to hate Nick than you. Not Aurelius. Not Peter. You." As two new icicles formed in his hands, he approached her. Faryn tried to force her way up, even if it was only lifting her chin, but his power kept her completely pinned to the snow.

"I have no power. They do. How could I kill Nick let alone abduct him?" She strained for her dagger, her fingers brushing the hilt. "I don't have the strength."

Only a few more feet and he would be on top of her. "Don't sell yourself short, cousin."

He raised the icicles, and as he drove them down toward her chest, Faryn's fingers wrapped around the hilt of her dagger. Her cousin froze, the icicles inches from her shoulders. But it wasn't her dagger that had stopped him. Tendrils of white smoke encircled his wrists.

A second later he was thrown back. Boots crunched the snow near her ear, and two hands tucked themselves under her arms, the fingers long and their grip strong. The smell hit her and burned her nose as its icy scent forced its way up her nostrils.

Fae. 

Thank you so much for reading this far! The next update will be on Wednesday, and I hope to see you there! In the meantime, I hope you'll check out the Spotify playlist for Claus.