"Follow the sound, the beat of your heart like a map. I'll capture you back"

I ran towards the edge of the ice and looked down. I wish I could say that I didn't believe it, but here I was, witnessing it with my very own eyes. How could I not believe what I was seeing?

'Nat, we need to get down there. If the ice is bad enough to burn off my shoe their is no question that its harming him down there.' 

I looked back down to Jake who's face seemed peaceful... a little too peaceful...

'He's not... Nat! We need to get to him as soon as possible!' I urged him.

'Why?'

The simple response slightly knocked me off guard.

Jake could be dying down there, and he asks me why we need to save him?

'What do you mean 'why'? Because he could die down t-!'

'And so could you.' He interrupted me.

Nat's constant need to 'protect' me kept putting others in danger. I didn't like it. Its not like we were the only two in the world! 

He walked over to me and pulled my up from the ground I was currently kneeling at.

'You could die down there two. Jake looks pretty peaceful already, so don't you think that going down there is a greater risk to you when he could already be d-'

'Don't. Don't you dare finish that sentence. I don't see why you bothered following me down here if you really had absolutely no care for saving Jake!' I butt in.

Nat responded to me with an incredulous look. As if I should know why he was down here. As if he couldn't believe that I didn't know.

The look remained on his face as he proceeded to answer me.

'I've explained it to you many times already. I've made my reasoning clear to everybody by now. I'm not here to save or protect anyone else but you.  You are mine. Why can't you just understand and accept that?'

He was right. He'd said it many times now, but I never thought much of it. He did protect only me. However, saying that I was his was a bit of a stretch. I'm my own person.

Right?

Before I replied,  I let out a breath that I hadn't realised I was holding.

'If you're so sworn on protecting me, help to protect my heart. Help me find a way to save Jake. I couldn't live with myself if I did nothing to save him. Especially after all we've done to reach him.'

A low growl escaped his lips as he looked down at me. He was only a head taller than me, but from this angle I felt like an ant looking up at an elephant.

His words were slow and calculated. As if he was just a few words away from snapping as malice dripped from his words.

'Are you saying... that jake is in your heart?'

I was never quick on picking up hidden meaning's behind phrases, but with access to Nat's thoughts I knew to word my response carefully.

A small breeze passed as we stood there in silence, knocking any warmth left out of my body, and laving me only able to feel the heat practically radiating off of Nat.

'As my friend, he has a place in my heart. Just like how Kenz and Em have a place in my heart.' I looked up into his eyes as I spoke so that he could see my truthfulness.

He seemed slightly appeased by my response but there was still something else. I could see in his bright blue eyes that there was something else he wanted to know.

Nat was almost always straight forward.

'What about me? Do I have a place in your heart or do I have to make my own?' 

I could tell that everything was riding on my answer to this question. If Nat would help me or not. If we would leave Jake here to die, and thus loose Kenz too. If I answered this wrongly... I could loose. Period.

'Nat, I've known you my entire life, of course you have a place in my heart. You're practically family, I couldn't escape you even in death apparently.'

He seemed a bit disappointed with my answer, but nodded his head to help me and took a step back.

'From what you told me, only angels can go through, but if he is down there... I'm guessing it's their magic that can pass through.'

I thought about what he said for a moment before it clicked.

'So... If I mimic one of the angels powers... I can get though.' I still hadn't completely processed the thought, but it was possible.

'So have you seen any in use?' He asked.

I was so consumed in my flashback of Jewel and Amber poisoning me, that I hadn't noticed my hand subconsciously go up to my upper arm. But my arm felt like fabric, not flesh.

As I looked at it Nat spoke.

'I used the sleeve of my shirt to cover your cut until Kenz gets back from shopping for food and something for the poison. Kenz says that in one dimension there is an oil that when used can get rid of 97% of poisons.' He informed me.

I removed my hand from the white fabric and turned back to Nat, noticing a black orb starting to form behind him.

"I'm back, but i'm not talking to Nath. He upset me." Kenz announced herself.

Nat scoffed at her as she made her way to me. Kenz was holding both a brown paper bag and a green plastic one.

"This is for you, you have to pour six drops into your wound, it should heal within thirty seconds after that." She grinned, handing a small glass bottle with green oil to me.

I gave her a questioning look but did as she said.

Unwrapping Nat's school shirt sleeve off of my arm I poured six drops of the strange liquid into my cut.  It hurt like hell, but the wound began to close and within seconds, just as Kenz had said, the wound was gone.

I opened my mouth to speak.

"Arrows. Jewel turned into an arrow." I told them.

"Wait, what are we talking about?" Kenz asked me.

"Only angel magic can break through this barrier without being burned. Jake is down there. So if I mimic angel power I might be able to reach him and-"

"An arrow can reach Jake, but it cant bring him back up. Think of something else, have you seen them use anything else?" Nat interrupted.

I thought about it for a while. There was one other thing, but I didn't know if it was magic or just a trait that angels were born with, just like how Nat was born with brownish black eyes. Those weren't magic like his new blue ones.

"Do you think I could... Mimic their wings?" I asked.

It was more of a question for myself than anyone else, but I still received an answer.

"You never know if you don't try. Try both. If you cant form wings, I have an idea..." Kenz spoke up.

"What is it?" Nat asked.

Kenz remained silent.

"I guess you forgot I could read minds? Are you sure you could pull that off? Only Angel magic gets through." Nat spoke.

'Portals can't be burned.' She thought to herself.

That was good enough for me.

I tried to mimic the wings first. Thinking of each feather growing, each bone forming as they would have spread out from my back.

Key word would have.

"Soo... Are you gonna start or-?"

"I can't do it." I answered Kenz.

"What do you mean you 'can't do it'?" Kenz asked.

"I may be a mimic, but i'm not strong enough to mimic genetics yet, just powers, and their wings seem to be genetic." I explained

"Well that sucks..."

"I'll try the arrow now..." I replied, trying to move the topic along.

Kenz and Nat responded with a nod and I closed my eyes again.

I felt my bones and organs contract to form an arrow. The transformation was so painful that I cried out in agony as I continued. My head felt like it was being juiced.

Nat came over and shook me, trying to get me to stop, but I couldn't.

We had to save Jake.

"Lex I swear to god you should have stopped when it became painful. What do you want us to do without a bow for your damn arrow? Throw you?"

'Yes. Throw me and then have Kenz use her plan once I get to Jake.' I cut in.

Nat growled in defiance.

'I went through pain to become an arrow already now. Just throw me so that we can get home after this.' I replied.

"I don't-"

'Throw me.'

He had no choice. Using mind control  made my head hurt even more now, but we had to get this over and done with.

He picked me up from the ground and i could see the betrayal is his eyes as he threw me with full strength into the glass.