Week 1 NaNo Vote Goal #1: 185

Cryo did a lap to assess the situation from an aerial perspective before he landed.

With her long, dark hair in pigtails, Ella was easy to spot, as was Olivia beside her, auburn ponytail pulled over her shoulder. The pair were surrounded by a swarm of guards in shiny helmets that had a set of eyes on every direction. From what Cryo could tell, every guard was fully armoured and equipped with a sword and two lightblasters each.

After a quick glance around the courtyard to confirm there were no suspicious individuals lurking in the shadows, Cryo descended and landed among the guards with a blast of icy wind.

"You sure make an entrance, don't you?" said Ella, brushing her fringe back into position. "I wasn't sure how long we were going to be waiting for you, but given the way you speak Temple I should have known you'd be precisely on the dot."

Cryo raised an eyebrow. "Speak Temple, you say?"

"Yep," said Ella. "All formal and ridiculous." She wrapped an arm around Olivia's shoulders and pulled her close, much to the caution of the guards around her. "Good thing I have Liv with me, or I'm pretty sure I'd go insane today just from listening to you and all these Pillar guards talk."

"Are we good to go?" said Olivia, glancing at Cryo before she quickly snatched her gaze away.

Cryo felt like he'd been stabbed.

The captain of the guard straightened and turned towards Cryo. "We have prepared the Gleamerbike carriages to take us to the hospital. On the Cryophoenix's command, we will move."

Cryo swallowed down everything but his duty and gave the guard one sharp nod, making an effort to keep his gaze away from Olivia. He was doing the best thing for her. For him. He had to be. He would take that stab to his heart a million times if it meant she would never take one to hers. "Let us go."

The guards--all seven of them--took their formation around Ella and Olivia, led by their captain at the front. Cryo took his place behind the two girls, who leaned in close to each other, whispering and pointing with a variety of laughs and giggles. Ella didn't look anything like the girl that had been in the holding cell the past few days. She didn't look like the girl who had spoken to Jason about the hurt she didn't know how to deal with. She didn't look like the girl who had been overtaken by the compulsive urge to draw, or the one who had faced both Banshee and himself and told them that she was not going to let the Serpent control her.

Yet, if Cryo watched her long enough, he saw how her fingers kept lifting up to fiddle with the ends of her pigtails draped over her shoulders. He saw how she kept holding her breath and glancing around when Olivia wasn't looking, like she expected to find someone standing at every corner, waiting for her, watching.

And... on the few occasions he allowed himself a glance at Olivia, there was something different about her, too. It wasn't quite nerves, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. It was that quiet steel that let her face down anyone without backing down. A determination to stay firm and steadfast with the girl beside her.

Many would have dubbed her the weakest target in their group, the most defenseless, but to Cryo, she was by far the strongest.

Their group made it to the skyshrine at the edge of temple grounds where the Gleamers had been parked. A few Speakers stood at attendance, straightening up at their arrival. They assisted with the organisation, and as was the true temple way, they were extraordinarily efficient and the guards and the girls were boarded and driving off the golden starstone within minutes.

Cryo flew overhead, maintaining a height that would leave him relatively unnoticeable at a single glance towards the group, yet allow him to intervene quickly if trouble appeared. He kept his wing beats steady, his frost reined in and his eyes sharp. A group this large moving through the city would draw attention, but it wasn't entirely out of the ordinary. The presence of a Luminary, however, would only cement the fact that they were expecting trouble.

They were five minutes from the hospital when they found trouble.

The Gleamerbike carriages turned the corner to find a larger than usual crowd gathered in the middle of the street. There were a few single rider Gleamers flat on their sides and flickering, completely blocking the road. The temple's Gleamer carriages were forced to stop. Cryo landed on the rooftop above to get a stable view, one that would allow his aim to be far more accurate if need be.

The captain of the guard called out from his single Gleamer at the front. "Citizens, is anyone injured? Do you require assistance?"

"No, no!" said one of the people at the edge of the crowd, waving an arm. "No one was seriously hurt, thank Skypillar. We've just been getting it sorted. Thank you for your concern, Pillar!"

The guard captain nodded and gave the order to turn the Gleamers around and take a different route when, behind them, a second crowd was emerging from the buildings behind them, blocking their one way out.

Trap. Trap. Trap.

Cryo froze ice to his hands and swooped down from the rooftop to land beside the carriage with Ella and Olivia. Somehow, he got the feeling that they both already knew they were in trouble. Ella's face was pale yet stern as she nodded at him. Olivia gripped the edge of the Gleamer carriage she sat in and Cryo bore witness to the full brunt of her glare.

"Get Ella out," hissed Olivia. "Get her back to the temple, I'll--"

"No!" said Ella. "We already talked about this! It's just as likely that they'll be after you as they are me. Besides, this could just be a test, to see how we'll react, who we think they're after. Cryo, are there any Manifested yet? Any Serpent aura?"

"No Manifested," said Cryo quietly. "I couldn't tell you about the Serpent aura."

Ella swore, but Olivia just pressed her lips together. The crowds on either side were thinning out as several individuals in each stepped forward, their stances confident and sure. Cryo tapped his tattoo twice, praying that Banshee would get here soon, but as the seconds dragged on, his taps went unanswered.

The guard captain dismounted his Gleamer and stepped forward, a hand on the hilt of his sword. "Citizens, I ask that you make a path for our caravan immediately. We have important temple business to attend to and cannot afford to waste a Luminary's time more than necessary."

"I'm afraid we we won't be able to comply with your request just yet," said one of the people in the crowd behind them. They stepped forward, revealing a halo of golden hair that gleamed in the sunlight. "We would be happy to allow you safe passage, however, once you have given us Ella Spiritcaller. She has many things she needs to answer for."

"We will not surrender her," said the guard captain. "Your grievances can be taken to the temple to be dealt with through the appropriate channels."

"It's not our grievances we're here for," said the golden haired girl. "The Serpent demands her presence, and we shall see it done."

"They have hostages," muttered Olivia. Cryo followed her gaze to the crowd in front of them, where more than a few blades flashed in the hands of those that remained within the crowd. "This is bad."

Cryo straightened, the frost glittering on his claws as he kept the snow frozen and loose. These immediate reactions were always Banshee's department, but she still hadn't replied to his taps.

"Cryo," said Olivia, grabbing his forearm, her gaze still on the crowd. "Blizzard the area. Blind them. I'll use it to get Ella and myself into one of the buildings. You have to stall until Banshee gets here."

"Surrender now!" called the golden haired girl, lifting one of her hands into the air above her head. "In the name of the Serpent, the Scale of Skypillar, or face his wrath!"

Cryo really just hoped that didn't mean the Serpent himself was among the crowd as he pushed off the ground and steadied himself a few metres above Ella and Olivia's carriage with three powerful flaps of his wings and that scattered the first whispers of frost and snow across the starstone.

"I am Cryophoenix, Frost of Skypillar!" His voice boomed across the open space, echoing off the buildings as he let the full depth of Sae's power seep into his words. "The Serpent has led you all astray on the path of the Other. Ella is under my protection, and you will surrender yourself to the Luminaries or I will arrest and escort you there myself. Place your weapons on the ground and sit down, and I will accept your surrender."

People from both crowds stepped forward with long blades flashing in their hands.

"So be it," said Cryo, and unleashed his aura.

The air around him froze and turned a blinding white as the snow storm whirled around him. The icy wind pelted the area around him with frozen projectiles, not enough to harm, but enough to hurt and force the Serpent's followers to hesitate and back down. Beneath him, in the eye of the storm, Olivia and Ella huddled close, their heads down, as Olivia got the door to her Gleamer carriage open and pushed it out with her foot. She wasted no time, grabbing Ella by the arm and pulling her towards a nearby building.

Cryo didn't spare them more than a glance as the sound of battle rang out among the blizzard. Following his sixth sense of the ice itself, Cryo found the captain of the guard locked in combat with two assailants that had managed to make their way forward. Neither side was benefitted by the snowstorm, but only one was outnumbered. Cryo raised a hand and froze the feet of both assailants. Without their balance, they were quickly toppled and restrained by the guard.

Cryo moved through his snowstorm quickly, not by sight but by feel. He extended his senses out through the ice to find those that needed help, to freeze thick chunks of ice around the blades that were held to the throats of the hostages.

He cast his senses back through the snow to locate Ella and Olivia. Two figures, one leading the other, moved through the snowstorm, away from his blind spot at the centre of the storm, but they weren't alone. Another two figures were swiftly cutting their way through the weather towards them.

Cryo took off towards them with a flap of his wings, but he wasn't fast enough. The two figures reached Ella and Olivia and separated them with a well-practiced movement, though neither Olivia nor Ella submitted easily. In the struggle that followed, Cryo couldn't tell where to attack, couldn't tell which ones were his friends and which ones were trying to take them away.

With limited choices, he dropped the power he was using to maintain the storm to find two girls with hair of blazing crimson and cloths over their face attempting to restrain Olivia and Ella. Given the hair colour, there was little doubt in his mind that these were Adande's twin sisters. As soon as the snow storm cleared, the shorter sister holding Olivia shoved her off to the side and drew a Lightblaster from the holster at her hip, pointing it at Cryo.

"Back down, baby," she crooned in a voice as smooth as silk. She cocked the gun at him and lifted a delicate eyebrow, a devious glint in her eyes to match the one in the corrupted fragment secured in the circlet across her forehead. "Wouldn't want our big man getting hurt, would we? I promise you that I just don't miss."

Olivia seemed dazed but okay. Behind her, Ella was still fighting to escape from the taller sister. With a screech, Ella threw her weight backwards, managing to rip her arm from her assailant's grip. She twisted around before her opponent recovered and brought her knee around, slamming it into the side of the girl's calf. The girl barely seemed phased by the hit that would have left most staggering. Instead, she grabbed Ella by the shoulder and drove her face first into the starstone ground.

Cryo froze the gun of the circlet-wearing shorter sister in a thick chunk of ice. The gun flared with light and shattered the ice as at the same time, Ella tried to rise, only to have the taller girl press her arm into her back and sit on her. Cryo flung out a second bolt of frost aimed at the gun, but the shorter sister dodged with an elegant step to the side and it missed. A third, a fourth, both of which also missed as she danced her way out of the way with a tongue darting over her lips.

"Darling, you are fun to play with, you know that?"

So, Cryo took a page out of Banshee's book and charged her, a shield of ice up in front of him that absorbed the next two shots from the Lightblaster. He reached out to grab her wrist to which she sidestepped once more. Struck with inspiration, Cryo reached out for her yet again, but this time as she went to dart to the side, he brought his wing around and slapped her with it. With the ground still slippery with ice, she lost her balance and went down with a cry.

Cryo froze one of her wrists to the ground as the second girl that now had Ella firmly pinned drew her own Lightblaster and fired at Cryo. With Ella bucking beneath her, her aim was off and the shots flew wide of Cryo's hastily frozen shield of ice. She didn't bother firing at Cryo again, instead pressing the barrel of the gun to the side of Ella's head. Even then, Ella refused to stop fighting, but there was little she could do.

"This gun is set to kill," said the taller sister. Unlike the shorter one's voice of silk, this girl's voice was clear and sharp, even through the muffling of the cloth around her lower face. Like the first girl, she wore a corrupted fragment, but instead as a choker around the base of her neck. "It will stun you in your transformation. It will kill her." Her gaze flicked to Olivia, who was attempting to back towards where her bag had fallen on the ground. "Stop moving, or I shoot her."

Olivia stopped.

"I doubt the Serpent would be pleased if you brought Ella back dead," said Cryo. Even if he froze her gun before the shot went off, the ice would shatter, and at that proximity to Ella's head he didn't know what it might do. If Banshee were here, she might have been quick enough, but not him. "Surrender. You've lost."

The taller lifted an eyebrow. "Have we?" She tilted her head towards the sky. "Scale of Skypillar, I call to you!""

At her words, Cryo's tattoo went cold. The air around him warped and crackled as not one, but two people that the guards had restrained turned Manifested. Black, corrupted crystal spread across their bodies, lengthening their fingers into wicked claws as their spines curved and sprouted long, barbed tails at the base.

The two newly corrupted Manifested screeched to the sky and broke free of their cuffs. One swiped a guard to the side, slamming him into a building before anyone had a chance to react. The remaining guards fell into formation as Cryo swore and tapped his tattoo five times.

Banshee, where under Skypillar's shadow are you?

"You'd better go save them," said the taller sister in a blunt voice. "I--"

She lifted her Lightblaster off the side of Ella's head and swivelled it around behind her to where Olivia was diving for the shorter sister's fallen gun. Cryo threw up a wall of ice, intercepting the blast that went straight for Olivia's head. Even as the ice was shattering, Cryo threw out a second blast of ice and encased the taller sister's hand in ice, freezing her finger on the trigger rather than the gun itself.

"You--" The taller sister's gaze snapped onto her circlet-wearing sister. "I know, Aya!"

The shorter sister, Aya, gave a delicate laugh. "You need to be louder, dear sister."

Aya lifted her free hand up like she held the same power as DragonFae herself. The corrupted fragment in her circlet flared, instantly attracting the attention of the two Manifested. The Manifested lost their interest in the guards and with a roar, began to charge Cryo.

Cryo froze the Manifested's limbs in place but he knew it wouldn't hold long. Before he had the chance to decide on the next course of action, both crimson haired sisters produced a small, green and black diamonds that fit squarely in the palm of their hands. The taller sister placed hers in front of Ella's face, while Aya extended hers towards Cryo.

The diamond in her palm did... something. It was a flash that had Cryo's thoughts feeling slippery, like the diamond had driven a wedge between his body and his mind. In front of him, the second diamond flashed, and Ella instantly went limp.

The Manifested broke free from the ice. The taller sister climbed off the unconscious Ella's back and threw her over a shoulder.

Cryo lifted a hand to stop them, but he couldn't remember what he needed to do. A body without a mind, without a purpose. He staggered, aware of nothing but Olivia's voice screaming at him to move right as the Manifested crashed into him, throwing him to the side. His wing smashed into the nearby wall. Consciousness became impossible to hold onto.

Cryo blacked out.

*+*+*+*

Cryo woke up with his mind instantly clear like he'd barely blinked for a second, but that obviously wasn't the case.

The crimson haired sisters were gone, as was Ella. The guards had corralled one of the corrupted Manifested and were doing their best to dodge it, but the second Manifested was fixated on Olivia. Olivia, who still had the Lightblaster in her hand, who was firing at the Manifested that was easily three times her height while still somehow managing to evade it.

She leapt to the side as it lunged for her, firing off a shot at its head. Cryo tried to flap back to his feet to find one of his wings ruined. With a mental curse, he quickly re-froze the wing in a blast of power that erupted snow out from his body, but those precious seconds wasted had a huge cost.

The Manifested swept its arm across in front of it and caught Olivia against the blunt part of its arm, knocking her back against the wall. Her bag fell to the ground as she cried out and stumbled, quickly lifting the Lightblaster to fire but it was dull and out of shots. The Manifested stepped forward, flinging her bag away with its foot before raising its scythe of a hand, preparing to strike.

With one, powerful flap, Cryo catapulted himself off the ground and slammed into the Manifested's side. It crashed onto the starstone pavement with a screech and writhed around, struggling to get up, but Cryo didn't give it the chance. He froze the Manifested's limbs in solid chunks of ice with a slow, rising gesture made possible only by its lethargy from the previous hits of Olivia's Lightblaster.

"Fragments on top of their heads!" said Olivia, still clutching the empty Lightblaster with both hands, her attention flicking around, obviously searching for something.

Cryo nodded as he turned and repeated the same gesture towards the other Manifested still fighting the guards. With its limbs weighed down, it became an easy target for Cryo to swoop over and pluck the corrupted fragment straight from its head. With both corrupted fragments in his hand, he crushed them to nothing more than black powder in his claws.

It took maybe about a minute, but when Cryo glanced over to the wall where Olivia had been, she was gone.

Dread gripped him.

"Olivia?" he called, frantically looking around and finding no sign of her. "Olivia!"

A quiet, wheezing voice answered him. "She went..."

Cryo glanced down, finding one of the temple Frostpillar guards laying a few metres away with blood seeping out from under his armour. The guard cut off as he released a gasp of pain and clutched his side. Cryo crouched beside him, freezing a patch of ice over the guard's injury.

The guard gave him a grateful nod and managed to lift a hand towards the doorway near where the two crimson haired sisters had attacked Olivia and Ella. "In there. She went in there." The guard gasped again, his eyes squeezing shut. "Go."

"Thank you," said Cryo, careful not to blast the guard with snow as he flapped and flung himself towards the doorway.

He dug a claw into the starstone archway to slow himself as he got inside. It was dark and even after a moment for his eyes to adjust, he struggled to make anything out. It seemed to be some kind of indoor alley that led to a variety of shop fronts, but it there was a severe lack of people that told Cryo they all might have been previously evacuated or simply run.

Unable to see, Cryo cupped his claws around his ears, freezing a thin layer of ice between his fingers to catch the sound.

"Well I did try to give you a heads up. I thought you might have brought more than just Cryo, but--"

"Where is Ella! I know they were your sisters, so where did they take her?"

He followed the faint voices down to the end of the alley. The narrow walls kept his wings in and useless. He had to stop to hear anything over the clacking of his claws against the starstone.

"I told you. They don't tell me anything. I just pick up bits and pieces.

"You're lucky I'm out of shots on this thing or I'd have knocked... knocked you out already."

Left. Pause. Listen. Continue.

"Speaking of knocking people out, I wouldn't get so worked up if I were you, or the only one you're gonna knock out is yourself--oh, I spoke too soon, didn't I?"

"Ella--Tell... tell me where--where Ella is."

"It was all the running chasing me down, wasn't it? Olivia, how do you expect me to excuse my way out of this one when you're literally going to faint at my feet?"

"Ella--"

Cryo burst in through the door a few moments later. Adande stood at the centre of the room, holding an unconscious Olivia upright. His perplexed expression dissolved for a thin-lipped smile as he saw Cryo.

"Ah, the excuse arrives," said Adande. "Here, you want--"

Cryo lifted a frost-covered hand. "Put her down now and I won't freeze you where you stand."

"Hey, bud, it's not my fault she keeps fainting on me, I've only intentionally caused it once," said Adande. "I was literally just gonna ask if you wanted her back or what. But for the record, in the future, don't even bother negotiating with my sisters. They're both fanatical nutcases. Trust me, I should know." He bounced Olivia in his arms. "You gonna come get her? She's pretty heavy when she's out."

Cryo stepped forward cautiously and took Olivia from Adande, who immediately stretched his arms out in front of him.

"Much better," said Adande. He bent down and picked up the Lightblaster from where Olivia had dropped it, passing it to Cryo like it was made out of sewerage instead of starstone. "Here. Wouldn't want Aya getting her blaster back any time soon. It'll be funnier to watch her try and beg one off someone else."

"Why are you being so helpful?"

"I'm lazy," said Adande. "This means less work. Don't really wanna drag her back with me if I'm honest, especially after she wakes up. I already feel bad enough for hitting her with the knock-out diamond the other day. I get the feeling she spends enough time unconscious. Anyway, I'm gonna have to ask you to just turn around and leave cos otherwise I'll have to hit you with my knock-out diamond and I wouldn't recommend two in one day, even when you're a Luminary. Has bad side effects."

Olivia stirred in Cryo's arms. "Ella--"

"And our knock-out awakens," said Adande. "Considering I'm now technically outnumbered, I'll catch you both later. I got places to be."

Cryo's mind was racing, weighing the options. Freeze Adande? Then there was the threat of the strange diamond rendering Cryo unconscious a second time. If he froze his hands, ensured he couldn't move, could that work? It was playing a risk. If he attacked Adande and failed, Olivia would be left vulnerable. He could let Adande go and then follow him, but it risked an ambush, a setup.

It didn't change the fact that every part of him was screaming at him to damn the consequences and charge straight in after Ella.

"No," said Olivia, her fingers digging into Cryo's arm as she tried to stand up on her still unsteady legs. "No! Ella, where is Ella!"

"Gone by now," said Adande with a shrug. "I couldn't find her if I wanted to, neither should you, if you catch my drift."

Cold realisation settled over Cryo as he caught the look in Adande's eye. If he'd been alone, he could have risked it. Trusted Banshee. But without her--

Olivia pushed herself away from Cryo to try and follow Adande as he headed towards a door at the back of the room, but she stumbled, and only Cryo's hand on her arm kept her upright.

"Stop him," said Olivia, reaching out towards Adande before bringing her hand back to steady herself on Cryo's arm. "Stop him, Cryo! We--we have to find Ella. He knows."

"You stop me, I knock him out and take you with me!" called Adande over his shoulder. He lifted a hand and glanced back towards them as he opened the door. "I'd have a little more self preservation than that, little Songstress. Seeya!"

Cryo wrapped an arm around Olivia's waist and pulled her back as she threw herself towards Adande.

The door slammed shut behind him, the click of a lock loud and final.

"Blast the door open!" said Olivia, pushing against Cryo's arm with weak fingers. The lethargy from her blackout still hadn't left her, but she was already fighting, already focused. "Follow him!"

Cryo held his breath, ensuring his voice was steady and wouldn't crack before he spoke. "I can't."

"Yes you can!" said Olivia. "Ella's down there somewhere! We have to get Adande before he disappears and then we'll never find her! Get the door open!"

"I can't." It took everything in him to keep his voice flat and calm, to listen to what logic was telling him. It hurt him so much to keep holding her back when he wanted to go after Adande, but he refused to trade Olivia for a chance at finding Ella. "I can't take you with me, I can't leave you here alone, and I can't go in after him alone. Narrow spaces restrict me greatly, and I have no assurance that Banshee would even be able to follow me in. I could walk into a trap and leave you vulnerable to capture."

"Banshee will be right behind you!" said Olivia, squeezing his arm between her stomach and arm as she curled over it. "I'll tell her where you went! She'll be right here! I just need my bag and then she'll be here!"

Two quick taps echoed across Cryo's tattoo as she said it. Banshee, asking if he still needed her to transform.

He tapped back once, the guilt stabbing him in the stomach. It was too late.

"Then--then let me go in after him," said Olivia, her voice cracking. "Please. Please, Cryo. They'll take me too, and DragonFae can use my hair to scry for me, then you can come and get me and Ella and--"

"Olivia."

"--and you can save us both. You can--"

"Olivia."

She stopped struggling against his arm, her shoulders shaking as her hands went to her face.

Cryo released his arm around her waist but didn't move away. "Even if I were willing to put you at risk, there's no guarantee that they would keep you and Ella together."

Olivia was silent for a long moment before she drew in a long, heaving breath.

"We failed her, Cryo. We failed Ella." Her fingers squeezed his arm, and he released her waist. She stepped away from him, her back still to him, her hands fists at her sides. "I failed her. Me--me and these stupid blackouts!"

"It wasn't your fault," said Cryo quietly. "If anyones, it was mine."

"You had enough on your hands," muttered Olivia. "I had one Other-damned job, and I failed it."

"You didn't fail anyone."

Olivia turned, glanced at him over her shoulder with tears shining in her eyes. It was the briefest look, over and gone from all but memory as she flung her gaze back at the ground a moment later, yet it was enough to set his own cheeks stinging.

He barely recognised Olivia's voice as she spoke. "We lost her, Cryo. We lost Ella. We promised her and we didn't save her."

We didn't save her.

In his mind's eye, one scene, one sentence, was playing over and over and over.

Save Ella Spiritcaller before the festival.

Ella Spiritcaller as the corrupted Luminary Hydra, standing over Olivia's body. A body that was suddenly broken and bleeding, laying at twisted angles under the light of the festival night auroras. A body that was quickly becoming his worst nightmare to even consider, a body that was rushing into a reality for him because he'd brought her closer. Because he'd been selfish. Because--

No.

The word echoed through him, a resounding truth that melded with his core. No matter what, that vision would not come to pass. He refused to even acknowledge the possibility any longer. He would plan, he would fight, and he would rewrite reality itself to ensure that it did not come to pass.

He found a path. A way through: The next step.

"We should leave before any of the Serpent's less friendly minions find us," said Cryo.

"Leaving feels like we're abandoning her."

"We're not abandoning her," said Cryo, forcing himself to believe it. "We lost the round, but we'll win the fight. We will recover. We come back with a plan, and no matter what it takes, we will save Ella Spiritcaller."

*+*+*+*

A/N - BIG UH OH. We lost Ella =< 

Also: 

It's November, which means it's NaNoWriMo time!

How this is going to work:

> Every Wednesday, a ShadowSong chapter will be posted with the vote goal.
> If that vote goal is hit before the next Wednesday, I'll post up a second chapter with another, slightly higher vote goal. So on and so forth until the Wednesday rolls around. 

PATREON HEARTS COUNT TOWARDS THESE VOTE GOALS, EITHER DOUBLE OR TRIPLE DEPENDING ON TIERS~ 

So in theory, you guys could get several chapters a week. We're getting close to the end of the book (I predict less than 10 chapters from the end, but I'm also terrible at guessing), so IN THEORY the rest of SS book 2 could be posted before December. HMM.  

NANOWRIMO BONUS CHAPTER FUNTIMES EVERYWHERE. 

VOTE GOAL: 185