Jason's breath formed ragged clouds, freezing instantly in the biting air as he wrestled the snowplough through Sunny's campground. What should have been a simple push of snow felt like shovelling mountains, each turn threatening to crush another trailer.

"You nearly flattened that one!" James yelled.

"No, I didn't!" Jason snapped back.

Clearing snow with a snowplough wasn't as easy as it looked. The blade jammed constantly, forcing him to use his power to melt the stubborn snow.

"Well, this is how we die. Crushed by bad driving," James muttered with theatrical dread.

"You could just punch your way out of here," Jade said dryly.

Jason swung the plough blade and dumped a heap of snow near the entrance.

"See? I won't crash," he declared.

He immediately plowed into a buried tent.

"Flawless execution," Jade deadpanned.

Jason jumped out of the machine with a scowl, trudging through knee-deep snow to the collapsed tent.

He raised his hands.

Twin beams of blue light flared from his palms, slicing through the icy mound.

Steam billowed upward as the snow hissed and melted, but the cold refused to budge.

He crouched beside the wreckage, fingers fumbling with the frozen fabric. The tent clung together like sheets of wet paper pressed into a block of ice.

With a sharp tug, he ripped part of the tarp free, tossing the icy scraps aside as he carved a narrow path through the snow with growing irritation.

"If we need more tents, we'll have to head back to town," Jason muttered, climbing back in.

"Official announcement: you're the worst driver alive," Jade sighed, arms crossed.

"I'm not that bad," he snapped, throwing the truck in reverse.

"You've nearly launched us into a tree twice."

Jason shot them both a glare.

He didn't argue.

He knew one wrong move could crush something.

He pulled up near the warped campground sign, killing the headlights. The engine coughed, and then settled into a sputtering hum that echoed in the silence.

Jason scanned the campground, jaw tightening. Snow had swallowed most of it, leaving tents crushed and gear twisted beyond recognition.

"Pretty sure you destroyed half the gear," James muttered, kicking at a buried cooler.

Jason said nothing. His eyes narrowed as he surveyed the wreckage: shattered coolers half-buried in snow, bent tent poles, and supplies scattered like debris across the frozen ground.

"Let's at least check the RVs," he grumbled, killing the engine.

He stepped out and trudged through the uneven snow, slipping once as he made his way toward a half-buried white trailer.

The door wouldn't budge. Jason pressed his glowing hands to the frozen latch, heat crackling against the metal until it hissed and popped free.

He slid the door open quickly. Cold air spilled out as he stepped inside, his dim blue light casting eerie shadows across the camp.

Jade peeked inside. "Looks like a dozen kids could squeeze in here."

Jason ducked under the low ceiling. "We'll have to gut these RVs."

"No construction sites around here," Jade said. "You could try the fire department, but Zane's still sick."

Jason had almost forgotten about Zane being sick. One more reason he wasn't leading this place like he was supposed to. He felt awful, but he was too exhausted to pretend he had it together.

"Did we bring any tools?" Jason asked.

"We weren't sure we'd find anything," Jade said, pressing her hand against a connected table. She froze it and kicked it as the small table snapped off. "Well, our supernatural abilities are useful."

"Just don't burn down the whole RV," James cautioned. "If you want to move to this place when the snow ends, we're going to need a lot of help."

Sleep space was only the beginning. They still needed firewood, water, and enough room to fit everyone.

"At least we've got water," Jason said, nodding toward the frozen lake nearby.

Jade sighed. "Problem is, we can't break through that ice. Not even I can change its density."

"We could just wait it out..." Jason trailed off.

Jade rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, sure. Let's just wait out a storm created by your evil stepsister."

The darkness pressed in on them, swallowing the faint light. Shadows shifted among the piles of debris, making every creak and rustle feel like a threat.

A sudden noise made Jason raise his hands defensively.

"This is the part where we get murdered," James mumbled.

Then, in a blur, Esme zipped by them, laughing. "I win!"

"No," Cindy said flatly.

"I found them first!" Esme shot back, waving her hands around and puffing out her cheeks. "Because I'm the fastest! Wait, where's Highlighter?"

Jason squinted through the swirling snow, trying to piece together the chatter. He didn't quite catch who they meant, until a faint, wavering glow caught his eye. A figure stumbled clumsily over the snowdrifts, barely keeping balance.

"There," Cindy said.

"Why are you three here?" Jason asked.

Esme swung her fists playfully in the air. "We came to beat up Ashley and find Lukey," she grinned.

"We found this place first," Cindy added flatly.

Jason gestured around the mess. "Are you guys going to help with this?"

They definitely needed extra hands to move the trailers and arrange them to make the most of the space. But the snowfall kept coming that blurred their vision and buried their process in minutes.

"We're here to fight and stop this storm," Cindy said.

Jason nodded. "How's town?"

"Interesting!" Esme beamed.

Jason's stomach tightened. It meant things were only getting worse. Zane was still sick, patients were still dying and being burned, and the storm still hadn't stopped.

"How bad are we talking?" He pressed for details.

Esme shrugged, waving a hand. "Emma's having a breakdown. Hanna's being mean. Mark's clueless. Oh, and the housewife took off somewhere," she added casually.

"Went where?" he panicked.

The thought of Bella leaving on her own was alarming. She could easily run into Ashley, or her scarf could fly off, leaving her sick and burned.

"I don't know, just rumours," Esme replied with a casual shrug. "We're here because we're bored and Luke's back. Cindy and I will actually kill him completely."

"Actually, we want to kill ugly Ashley," Cindy interjected.

"We'll kill her and then stop all this," Esme said, waving her arms at the sky. "Then we can have decent food and warm weather."

Well, they all had some type of game plan in operation. It was better than charging in blindly, but Ashley wasn't going to be easy to stop.

"How do you know you can stop Ashley?" Jade asked with a hint of worry in her voice.

"Because I'm fast, and so is Cindy," Esme confidently assured.

"We aren't even sure if we can kill Ashley," Jason stated.

"If you try to kill Luke, he'll just pop. We've never technically tried to kill Ashley, right?" Cindy inquired.

They had never actually physically attempted to stop her.

Divina had consistently tortured her, using increasingly brutal methods in an attempt to murder her. The methods ranged from drowning her to setting her face on fire, leaving it gruesome.

"See! That's why we've got to fight her!" Esme exclaimed as she bounced around in the snow.

"No."

They whipped around and spotted Ashley, wearing a hard glare.

In the dim light from River's glow, they could see Ashley's face. The burns were still evident, with red patches that looked infected and raw.

Uneven patches of hair had begun to grow back, and she no longer wore her glasses.

"Yay!" Esme cheered.

She sped at Ashley, arm swinging out to hook around her neck.

Jason raised his hands.

Ashley's growl cut through the wind.

Two followers burst from the darkness and sprinted in.

Jason fired on instinct—blue light flared from his gloves.

Both attackers dropped instantly into the snow, melting into a purple puddle.

He barely had time to watch them disappear before Cindy appeared behind Ashley. She kicked hard.

Ashley lurched forward and hit the ground with a thud.

Esme moved too fast to track.

One second she was beside them, the next she had a shard of ice in her hand.

The jagged block of ice crashed against Ashley's head.

The crack echoed across the campground.

Ashley's knees buckled.

For a split second she remained standing.

Then she collapsed face-first in the snow.

Then everything stopped.

The wind vanished so suddenly.

The last flakes fell to the ground.

Silence settled over the campground.

Jason stared into the dark sky.

The storm was gone.

All that remained was darkness, with River standing as their only source of light.

"It's not an illusion like in the car, right?" Jade asked in disbelief.

They all looked around.

The scene was chaotic: large snow piles, a pitch-dark sky, and the faint outline of trailers.

"Wait, does that mean I actually beat her?" Esme exclaimed, jumping up.

Ashley's glowing purple eyes widened.

She stumbled backward.

Her gaze darted from the empty sky to the motionless trees.

"No."

For the first time since she'd been possessed, Ashley looked terrified.

"What's going on? How is this happening?" she said.

Esme slammed the same chunk of ice on her head. "Night," she said to herself, nodding.

Ashley's voice was barely audible, trembling as she forced the words out. "It's bad," she mumbled. "This can't be possible."

"Esme, knock her out again," Jason said.

Esme didn't hesitate. She raised her pistol and pointed it directly at Ashley. There was one final line that Ashley said, and Jason knew something was definitely wrong by the way she was trembling.

"Nobody should be able to stop my storm, including Goddess."

Emma's eyes flew up, her heartbeat hammering, and she pressed a hand to her stomach. Something cold spread through her. It wasn't the biting cold of the storm but something deeper.

She threw off the covers and swung her legs over the side of the bed, stumbling toward the window. Her fingers trembled as she pulled the blinds open, expecting to see the same relentless snowstorm.

Instead, the snow had vanished from the sky.

A thick blanket covered the ground, piled high enough to seem impossible to melt.

She pressed her forehead against the icy glass.

No snow fell.

The silence felt impossible.

Her stomach dropped.

Had Ashley died?

She remembered Cindy and Esme going out to try and kill her.

Maybe they had succeeded.

If that were true, The Bubble would have fallen, and the sky wouldn't be pitch black.

Before she could think further, her body lifted from the ground.

"The storm stopped," she mumbled as Bryce carried her through the hallway.

She didn't protest. She was too confused by the sudden stillness outside.

"It probably got annoyed that you kept staring at it," Bryce said.

Emma blinked, "I wasn't," she whispered.

Bryce set her gently onto the plush sofa. The cushions sank beneath her, and she immediately curled into a tight ball, her back to him. The silence closed in. It wasn't just the embarrassment of being carried.

The familiar weight settled over her again.

People needed Emma.

Nobody needed her.

She was a tool.

A tool people picked up until it broke.

Her mother said suffering made people stronger.

Emma only felt more fragile.

"Are you crying again?" Bryce sighed.

"My eyes are just producing water," she murmured.

"We're supposed to show them it doesn't affect you," Bryce said.

She bit her lip. "It's hard. And now I have a bad feeling."

"Worse than the storm?" he asked. "Or bad that I'll throw a snowball at you?"

"Really bad," she said. "The storm stopped, and that's not normal."

She wondered if someone who got killed caused this. Someone who shouldn't have died. Ashley's name flickered in her mind. Ashley had always been unpredictable, but this was different.

"Someone broke in," she whispered.

He tilted his head, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. "This isn't a robbery."

"The Bubble," she said, her voice tightening. "Something stopped the storm. And only two people have ever come close to messing with it: Ashley or Divina."

"Shouldn't you worry about the sick still?"

Emma's gaze dropped to the sofa, her chest tightening, and tears slid down her cheeks. She wiped them away, but the weight of it all pressed down on her mind.

The sick.

The burns.

The unknown.

"I need to help them," she whispered.

"The doctor has to be in proper care," Bryce said.

"No, I've slept enough," she insisted, climbing off the sofa, but she tripped instead.

"Relax, Emma," Bryce sighed, crouching in front of her with a faint smile on his lips.

She looked up at him, her heart skipping a beat.

He never left her side.

Her chest tightened.

Gratitude.

Relief.

And that confusing warmth she'd been trying very hard not to think about since he kissed her.

The warmth lasted only a second before the guilt crept back in.

"People are still dying from the illness," she said, sliding on the floor. "Zane's still sick, and Jason's out of town."

Bryce shook his head. "Hanna said she's got it. You're supposed to be sleeping."

She didn't understand why anyone wanted her around except for healing.

Nobody cared about her own feelings.

Bryce caught her ankle and pulled her back.

The door then opened to Mark, who seemed breathless. "The storm stopped," he gasped.

"We've noticed," Bryce said.

"I'm guessing they already beat Ashley, or someone broke in," Emma said, pushing herself up.

"The temperatures aren't as harsh," Mark said.

Emma crawled to the door, opening it, and felt the freezing weather had decreased. It wasn't warm, but it no longer felt deadly.

"I want to find someone and ask, but I can't," Emma murmured.

"I figured I'd wait it out until something happened," Mark said.

Maybe another illness was coming.

Maybe the ground would split open beneath them.

After everything they'd survived, nothing felt impossible anymore.

"I think it's bad rather than good," she mumbled.

"What's worse than a deadly storm that's already killed half of us?" Mark asked.

It could be infections that eat away at the skin. That'd be gross, and she'd be vomiting every minute until she had nothing.

Maybe Luke joining Ashley's side stopped it.

The thoughts twisted in her head like an unsolvable equation.

She blinked hard, but her vision blurred anyway.

The tears came before she could stop them.

She attempted to wipe them away.

"You think someone broke in?" Mark asked.

"An adult?" Bryce questioned.

"Why'd Ashley want to have someone break in?" Mark asked.

"Ashley isn't the one who wanted the storm to stop," she said, lifting her gaze. "Divina was the one who did. Nobody knew the full extent of her powers, but what if they control matter, except The Bubble?"

It wasn't just controlling objects, like Greyson, but something much grander. This wasn't just about the mind, like Nevaeh and Eden's power, but something else.

"Matter manipulation," Bryce started. "I saw it in a movie once. They could control everything."

Since the storm stopped with the dark sky, it left numerous questions. It had to be something or someone. Esme and Cindy had already gone off, and adding more could risk injury if someone went out to look.

She put her head on her knees and tried to think about something unrelated to the widespread illness or being used for personal gain.

"James would know this better," she mumbled.

"Are you planning to go find out the information?" Bryce asked with amusement in his voice.

"Cindy will probably come back and tell you," Mark said.

Emma just sat against the door, her back resting against the cold surface as she stared at the broken washer.

She wasn't sure if Cindy would tell her, but she assumed.

"I'll try and get people to move the snow," Mark stated.

"It could be a trick, so don't let your skin touch the snow," Emma said, rubbing her raw eyes.

They ached.

They had been that way from all the crying.

"Be sure to check on the housewife, or Jason will beat us," Bryce snickered.

"Yeah, she kind of left without telling anyone," Mark implied.

"Where?" Emma asked.

"No note or anything," Mark said.

Emma started chewing her lip at that thought.

The possibility that Bella might not return safely kept repeating in her mind. If that happened, Jason would yell at her, and it would be her fault if Bella's hands ended up getting infected.

"Don't tell me she's looking for the soldier," Bryce snarked.

"That's my guess, bro," Mark said.

If more people are gone, that means more injuries or deaths. She had seen enough people die from coughing up their intestines that she barely throws up anymore.

"Jason and the others probably ran into Ashley, which already puts harm on all of them," Emma began to ramble. "I could barely heal all those injured at the power plant!"

"They'll be fine. Don't they eventually end up okay?" Bryce inquired casually.

No, they don't. The injuries from those at the power plant made her exhausted with how injured each of them was. She mainly healed the pain that they experienced and closed the wounds, but that still didn't heal everything.

"What's that?" Mark asked.

Emma lifted her head to see Mark pointing to part of The Bubble through the open door. The sky glowed white before all of it became completely dark.

"Something terrifying is coming," Emma whispered, her voice shaking.

Bella slammed the car to a halt in the middle of the road. She had no idea where she was, but the storm had ceased. What remained was an eerie, unnatural stillness.

She rubbed her eyes, blinking hard. Maybe this was some kind of trick, a hallucination conjured by Ashley. Her gloved fingers trembled as she reached for the door handle. Outside, the darkness loomed—different from the usual kind.

It felt wrong.

Cautiously, she stepped into the snow, her boots crunching against the frozen crust.

She bent down and scooped up a handful of snow, bracing for the familiar burn that always followed contact.

Nothing.

The snow rested in her palm.

She yanked off her glove.

For one hopeful second, relief flooded her.

Then confusion replaced it.

There was no wind.

"Impossible," she whispered, barely able to comprehend what was happening.

Storms didn't just disappear.

Not this one.

Something had stopped it.

Her mind raced, trying to think back on some of Divina's words. She had said something about how she fixed the holes and the broken door of a house.

"It's horrifying."

A shape stood inside the headlights.

As it stepped, closer she recognized Vickie's silhouette. The only thing visible was the faint glint of her running shoes.

"The storm stopped," Vickie said, her voice trembling. "Which means Ashley is in danger."

Bella's stomach churned. "Why?"

"Divina's back," Vickie gasped, her eyes wide.

Bella's stomach dropped.

Divina.

Every encounter with that creature ended in blood, terror, or another impossible nightmare. Ashley had always been the centre of it.

If Divina was back, it meant they were all going to deal with that thing again.

"How?" Bella asked, her voice tight.

Vickie shook her head, her voice strained. "It shouldn't be possible. The healer... she feels something."

"Emma?" Bella asked.

"Terror is coming," Vickie whispered, her voice trembling with fear.

Bella heart hammered.

Terror?

That single word carried more weight than anything else Vickie said.

What kind of terror?

The terror of this nightmare finally never ending?

The terror of losing everyone, or watching them all fall one by one?

There were an endless number of possibilities, too many horrors waiting to unfold.

"Ashley doesn't have them all yet," Vickie mumbled.

Bella frowned.

Them?

She had no idea what Vickie meant, but the panic in her voice was unmistakable.

"Did someone break in?" Bella asked urgently.

"Nobody knows," Vickie replied, her hands clenching and unclenching. "Ashley doesn't understand."

If Ashley didn't even understand what was happening, then this wasn't about her. The storm stopping, the calmness—it couldn't just be Divina. There had to be something else, something lurking in the shadows.

"Why would they bring all this terror?" Bella asked, swallowing hard.

"Grower," Vickie whispered.

The word hit Bella like a punch.

Grower.

Ashley had whispered it before.

Back then, it had meant Divina.

Now the word felt darker.

"It's Divina?" Vickie didn't say anything.

"Something like Divina, but this is different," Vickie said.

Bella's mind raced through every possibility. Maybe adults had found their way into this nightmare. Maybe it was another creature like Divina.

After everything she'd seen, nothing sounded impossible anymore.

"They're dangerous," Vickie said. "Everyone could die."

Vickie then popped, leaving Bella to stand frozen.

She didn't waste another second.

She climbed back into the driver's seat and slammed the door shut.

Before she went to push the gas, the car lurched upward.

Bella was thrown hard in her seat as she tires lifted the ground.

The car swayed violently, spinning enough to make her stomach twist. Her forehead slammed into the steering wheel.

Before she could recover, the car shot through the air.

Breathing hard, she squinted through the blinding glare of the headlights.

A figure stood calmly in the headlights, brushing snow from her hat as though nothing strange had happened.

Eden had her hands laced together.

Stick knocked on her window, making Bella jump.

"You picked up the car!" she said, freaking out.

"Bella," Eden said with an innocent smile on her face. "You shouldn't be out here. God tells me it's dangerous."

"Then why are you standing in the middle of nowhere?" Bella shot back.

Eden's smile didn't falter. "Searching for a place to connect with God," she replied. "The world is vast, and His presence is everywhere."

"Where am I?" Bella asked, unaware of her location.

She had been driving for what felt like hours, trying to guess every place Jason might check. The hospital had been her best guess—it was abandoned.

"Near the hospital," Eden chimed.

Bella's eyes narrowed. "Do you know where Jason is?" she pressed.

Eden didn't answer.

Without asking, she opened the passenger door.

She climbed inside as though Bella invited her.

Then she shut the door with a soft click.

"I'm going to show Stick the type of person you shouldn't be," Eden said.

"I'm not taking you anywhere," Bella spat.

Eden tilted her head, her smile never wavering. "It's important that we help our friends," she said.

"We're not friends," Bella snapped.

The last thing she wanted was to be friends with this freakish girl. She was nothing like Scarlett, whom Bella despised for her manipulative, seductive behaviour and everything she's done to her.

Eden's smile faltered for a moment, replaced by something darker. "You remember what happened last time you made me angry?" she taunted.

Bella didn't get this girl's personality. One moment, Eden was all about religion—quoting scripture, talking about forgiveness, and acting like some sort of saint. The next, she'd snap.

"Are you threatening people now?" Bella shot back.

Eden's expression hardened, her eyes narrowing with intensity. "You should listen because I know how to fight," she said. "Now listen to my order, or I'll abandon you in the darkness. So, get going before I numb your movement!"

Bella stared over at Stick, who had climbed into the back of the car.

He looked out the window, chewing the inside of his cheek.

He hadn't looked Bella in the eyes once.

She wondered why he wasn't saying anything, especially because he often voiced his opinion.

Eden's tone shifted again, her face softened, and she tilted her head upward. "Sorry for my cruel actions, God," she murmured, her voice almost tender. "This girl just needs to understand the importance of friendship and forgiveness."

"Do you know where they were going?" Bella asked in a whisper.

"Nevaeh may have told me," Eden said. "They were going to Paradise Hotel, then Sunny's."

"It's a campground for poor people," Stick mumbled.

Normally during the summer, she'd spend her days at a private campsite—a place bustling with familiar faces.

"Why Paradise Hotel?" Bella asked.

Stick's expression darkened. "They want to find Ashley and kill her," he said, his voice low.

"We must kill Ashley," Eden remarked. "Who knows what will happen if we don't kill her?"

Bella felt a chill spread through her body at that thought. It wasn't something she liked thinking about.

"We'll all die," Stick mumbled.

"I'm sure the Lord will give us something that will save us," Eden said brightly.

They didn't need a lifeboat to sail away or some grand escape plan—what they needed was a miracle. Not the kind of miracle that brought light and hope. No, this was the kind of miracle that twisted reality.

"Get moving!" Eden hissed, her voice sharp. "Have you ever heard of the crackheads named Bryce and Mia?"

Bella obviously knew Bryce after seeing him around, but Mia she heard about from Nevaeh in bits and pieces. Apparently, Mia is like someone who is drunk and doesn't care much about what's going on.

"They knew me before I found God." Eden's voice sounded amused. "We all hung out together. So, it's important you keep that in mind, considering who they are."

The storm has finally stopped, but how?
Comment your thoughts!
-Lexi