Despite not getting any sleep I woke up relatively early. Not as early as Aurora did, she was stoking a hearth and cooking some fish and rice. Presumedly for us, with was nice.

"Good morning Craig, did you sleep well?" She asked.

I shrugged.

"Lair, you look like a mess." Peri observed dryly, hopping on top of my head and bushing through my hair. "At least try to look presentable."

Aurora laughed. "Lucky. Believe it or not, Chubby doesn't know how to braid my hair."

That made me smile, and Aurora handed me platter of food. "Hope you're hungry."

"I am." I admitted, something about having a breakdown in the middle of the night really gives you an appetite.

"Matri's disappeared, I was wondering if you knew where he was?" She asked, sitting down across from me.

I caught my eyes as I remembered. "He does that. We don't really know where he goes off too."

"So he's not one of yours." Aurora nodded. "That was some impressive...was that magic?"

Was this lady set on ruining my appetite? Who knows.

"Sorry, that was probably rude. I've just never seen anyone do anything like that before." She apologized, looked down sheepishly.

"It's fine...I uh...I don't really know what it is. I guess it's magic. That doesn't really make sense though because it's not coming from Peri." I tried to explain, pulling the little viridescent hair stylist off my head, as he protested.

"I was going to ask, you don't believe in those old tales, do you?" She glanced up at me.

Her voice had dropped into kind of a whisper, as if the topic was something taboo. I frowned, unsure of what she was talking about. Also I was trying to get some food in me before the topic inevitably came back to Felix and I inevitably would start sobbing again. Kosmos, I was a mess.

"You haven't heard those stories, have you?" Aurora realized.

"Nope."

"That makes sense, I was just a kid when Queen Persephone was coronated started issuing those new laws."

"What stories?" I inquired, just as I remembered last night's escapade and cookie canoodling. Oh.

Aurora glanced back at the direction of my sleeping friends. "There are rumors that people used to have like, magic. Magic that didn't come from their familiar. Magic that they would use to destroy each other."

I felt chills run down my spine. Could that be what the lady who kidnapped Felix was trying to do?

"What are you guys talking about?" Jason appeared suddenly, looking very tired.

Aurora sat up straight. "Oh hey, you up for breakfast?"

Jason eyed us warily. "Oh yeah. I'm starving."

"I figured we would need a good start to the day if we're gonna trek through the snow back to Sky's." Aurora effectively changed the subject.

"We?" He asked, looking hopefully up at her.

"Yeah, I figured while you guys are here I should help out. It kinda sounds like a big deal." Aurora agreed.

Jason seemed to forget how we were previously chatting and grinned. "Sweet, we'll be in good company then."

Aurora blinked, then smiled anyway. I started to feel like I was overanalyzing again. Yeah, there goes my appetite.

"You gonna eat that?" Jason asked.

    I pushed my plate towards him.

   
    Later, everyone was awake and we were chugging forward. I was numbly collecting snow crystals on my borrowed boots and trying not to think about how bad I messed up. About how obvious it was that Matri was Felix's familiar.

    "Are we gonna be scouting for cat test today or what?" Ryan asked, still very asleep.

    "Katestra, and I hope. Does anyone else feel like we're getting really close?" Eryan asked.

    "Oh yeah, definitely." Jason nodded, as he stared at Aurora.

    "You should go and talk to him." Peri suggested, noticing my scowl. "Try and become more than a mutual, at the very least."

    "I wouldn't know what to say." I sighed.

    "That's why I'm here." Peri tilted his head. "Ask him about his interests and see if they match up with yours."

    I snorted. "I highly doubt Jason's into jewelry making."

    Peri tilted his head inquisitively. "He thinks magic's pretty cool."

    "How can you tell?"

    "Craig, I can tell." He sighed.

    "I just don't know if-"

    "Are you talking about me?" Jason had stopped suddenly and was looking at me with a loose grin, Kosmos help me.

    "I uh, um. No. Definitely not, I mean I would never." I rushed out.

    I swear I must've shrunk five inches just by saying that. He slowed down so he could walk next to me and I silently prayed for death. Okay, breathe Craig, you got this. Not I don't, I have no idea what I'm doing. How do you make small talk, let alone flirt?

    "Okay, you're not talking about me, what are you talking about? Anything cool?" He tilted his head to look down at me, because I don't know if you've noticed, I am short.

"N-nah. Peri was telling me about his favorite bugs to eat." I managed, getting over my initial surprise, just a bit.

"Cool cool. Lafayette usually just likes to hunt small rodents of course." Jason agreed, gesturing into the air.

"That's so cool." I sighed, spotting his falcon circling above.

Peri bit my ear playfully. I grinned and shrugged it off. I guess that his way of telling me I was doing a good job.

"So this Felix guy." Jason started. "What is he like exactly? I don't know much besides his looks and well, if I'm going to commit to this quest I figured..."

"Oh yeah!" I realized, nearly tripping over a branch under the snow. "Imagine this cynical male version of Aurora."

    "And you guys live out in the North?"

    I nodded. "Yeah, it's not quite big enough to be a town so everyone calls it the Pack, cause it's a wolf society."

Sky's tree house was within sight, I was almost sad because this conversation wasn't actually going that bad.

    He nodded. "Rad, I used to live kind of North as well. Before I...moved. Well, I mean I didn't move, really. Actually I told you this already."

"Yeah." I blinked in partial disbelief, he was flustered.

"Yeah, I told you that." He remembered. "Don't tell anyone this, okay?"

I was fully prepared to be laid in the earth without spilling whatever he was about to tell me.

Jason leaned over and saw Peri nestled in the hood of my jacket. "Not even Peri."

"You heard him." I ordered, pulling the parrot out on my finger. "Could you spend maybe five minutes looking for some bees? Pretty please?"

Peri rolled his eyes almost violently. "There are no bees this far North, but yes."

He jumped off my finger and fluttered away into the forest. I turned back to Jason, who still looked a little embarrassed, despite every past notion I'd ever had about him.

"Sorry, I know I'm super paranoid-"

"No it's fine." I assured.

"I just trust you. Yeah, I kinda ran away, but I was also kind of kicked out. I guess I just want to say I appreciate you guys letting me travel with you? It's just...been a while." He rubbed the back of his head.

Wow, Jason trusts me. I would be lying if I said that didn't make me happy. I'm glad that I was trust worthy.

"Your parent's kicked you out? Why?" I frowned.

He shrugged. "Um, it's a long story. I...just..."

His voice kinda cracked and I let myself really pay attention to his face. He seemed troubled.

"Hey man." I gave him a supportive smile (or what I hope came off as supportive)  "it's okay if you don't want to talk about it."

He laughed, it came off as slightly relieved. "Thanks, yeah."

I couldn't tell if this was awkward or not, so I backed off.  Sky was waiting for us at the bottom of her tree. Her snow leopard, Carra, was no where in sight, which I inferred was normal.

"You guy's ready to do some scouting?" She asked, dressed head to toe in camouflage.

"We're underdressed." Eryan stated.

"That's okay." Sky assured. "I was planing on doing most of the important parts anyway."

    "Why? What have you got to gain from rescuing Felix?" Jason interjected, immediately going back to his cocky personality.

    Sky put her hands on her hips. "We've been over this, I have my reasons. I promise you Felix is my priority though-"

    Sky stopped and her eyes suddenly fixed on something behind us. I turned to follow us and immediately felt a shiver of fear run from my jaw to the small of my back. There he was, standing there in his eerie black cloak, just waiting for us. One of his hands was extended, a small flame hovering just above Eddie's finger tips.

I felt a hot anger fill me up and I started towards him, Ryan grabbed my arm.

"Craig." She warned.

"He knows." I breathed, my hands were kind of shaking. "He knows where Felix is."

"Have you been reconsidering my offer Mr. Ainwir?" Eddie called from across the clearing of snow.

I clenched my teeth. It took all my will not to...well I don't know what I would have done.

"Who's that?" Sky asked.

"That's the guy we told you about last time, the one you hadn't seen before." Eryan informed, drawing out her knife.

    Jason pulled his bow off from his shoulder and knocked it with ease. "Don't you dare lay a finger on Craig."

    Aw, that was kinda sweet.

    Eddie just snorted. "I didn't come here to force you to do anything. In fact, if you think about it hard enough, my offer might lead you to the right conclusions if we follow the same logic."

    I hesitated, this felt like bait.

    "What?" Aurora frowned, Chubby growled and she put her hand out to calm him.

    Eddie shrugged and started walking away. Again, he was surprisingly fast so I started to panic. I was running out of time, and options.

    I locked eyes with Ryan, she started to shake her head when I ran after him.

    "Craig!" Peri and maybe three more people called out.

    Peri caught up with me and nipped me on the ear. "What are you doing?"

    I batted him away, trying to focus on Eddie's disappearing cloak as my friends yelled at me to stop.

    "I have to do this, he's my only chance!' I begged Peri, giving myself through the rough terrain.

    "We can find Felix ourselves!" Peri insisted.

    "Sure! But I want to find him alive." I snapped.

    "This is a really bad idea, but I'm going to do my best to keep you alive." Peri groaned, keeping pace with me.

    It didn't take me very long to loose him. For a shrimpy little kid he was was fast. I stopped, gasping out large steamy cloudy. I glanced around wildly, trying to see where he went.

    "Eddie?" I called out, suddenly growing very scared again.

    "You're really dead set on finding this guy, aren't you?"

    I whipped around to see him leaning against a tree, twirling his coat things merrily.

    "I mean I admire your perseverance." He shrugged. "I would be lying if I said I didn't wish someone out there would do that for me."

    What? Was this...small talk? What? What was I supposed to do?

    "Do you know where Felix is?" I wheezed, trying not to sound as desperate as I felt.

    In truth I was afraid I might start crying, I had to keep it together in front of him for Kosmos' sake.

    "Undeniably." He turned and started climbing up a pile of rocks and tree stumps, jumping over the other side.

    "Wait!" I begged, facade slipping.

    I attacked the heap and struggled over it with more effort than I've put into anything. I tripped coming down over the other side and rolled down the other side of the heap. Landing not broken, but maybe a little bruising at the lowest point. I scrambled back up to my feet, where did he go?

    "I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of worried, are you okay?" He asked, from a few feet away, scaring the living daylight out of me.

    "Am I...okay?" I was so confused, isn't he on Katestra's side or whatever?

    "Yeah, you've got bags under your eyes and the stamina of a dead fish, it's concerning to say the least." He shrugged again, Eddie seemed to shrug a lot. "Have you tried getting more sleep?"

    "I mean, I guess I'm doing...okay." I frowned at him.

    "Same." He sighed. "Who are all those other kids anyway? Relatives? Friends? They all have different familiars so I was confused. In fact, you have a parrot, how do you know Felix? Are you not from down South?"

"I'm from Northish, yeah. It's a very long story." I admitted.

"What about the other boy? Why do you keep him along? I'm very curious."

I blinked and blushed. "Uh, I mean he just kinda asked-"

"Just asked? And you let him? What? You don't have a crush on him or anything, do you?" He continued to talk as if we were having a jest over morning tea instead of facing off in the middle of the woods.

My mouth gaped as I tried to think of something got say that would not imply that I very much, did not, indubitably, had a crush on Jason. Only it had the opposite effect and Eddie looked surprised.

"Kosmos! I wasn't being serious. Do you really? I mean I can see why."

"H-how is this relevant to anything?" I stammered out.

"It isn't! Which is why I'm not fighting you over it. Have you tried flowers? It's cheesy and cliche but I think that's why guys dig it." He suggested.

"Stop it."

"What is he doing?" I could hear the edge of disapproval in Peri's voice. "Just attack us or something."

Eddie tilted his head and glanced down ad the belt on his hip. "Your familiar wants me to attack you? That is my job I guess."

He pulled out a thin dagger in each hand and I realized the only thing I had was a hunting knife that wasn't even mine. I was hopelessly outmatched.

"Great going there." I hissed.

"Yeah I take full responsibility for that one." Peri laughed nervously.

Eddie's fists lit up again, daggers at the ready. The metal started to glow from the heat of his fire. I swallowed at held up my knife, so not intimidatingly.

"Is that all you have?" He frowned. "Kosmos, I feel like a jerk now."

"I don't really...fight...ever." I croaked.

"Not my problem I suppose." He rolled his shoulders and advanced toward me.

The snow melted at his very footsteps. I cursed under my breath and back up against the ditch walls, slipping, and all around just doing a really great job. At this point I accepted my death, yeah Ryan, you were right, this was a stupid idea and it did end up killing me. Don't laugh to hard please. Eryan, you were always pretty chill, thanks for tagging along. Jason, I mean I would have liked to have kissed you before I died, but I guess this'll have to do-

Wait a second. Jason. My powers. As Eddie loomed above me I suddenly wondered if what I could do was somehow the opposite of what Eddie could do. Or something like that.

"Are you really just gonna stand there and let me stab you? You're legit making me feel really bad about this." Edie sighed. "Not that I won't...but still."

He paused. "Or is that your tactic?"

I took his moment of hesitation as my advantage and quickly tried to remember Jason just a few minutes earlier, ready to fight Eddie for me, talking with him, nice things. I mean it worked last time I tried this.

I felt the rush of tingly energy flow throw me again and the familiar glowing green handprint appear on my skin. I dropped the hunting knife and did something that was either really stupid or incredibly smart.

I grabbed onto Eddie's flaming fists.

As you can imagine, he was not expecting that. His eyebrow's flew up in surprised, and he backed up immediately. He did it so clumsily he felt backwards into the snow. I came out unscathed. Sure, his hands had been considerably warmer than normal, but I was unburned, and the feelings immediately disappeared after we touched. His hands were also extinguished so I wonder if we just cancelled each other out.

His mouth opened and closed for a few minutes.

"Have you gone mad?" He asked, seemingly genuinely concerned again. "Dare I ask if you're okay?"

"I'm fine, and this counts as a defeat in my book, so you have to tell me where Felix is." I demanded, feeling quite pleased with myself.

Eddie scoffed. "I can't just tell you. It's against the rules."

"Who's rules?"

"I can't tell you that either." He dusted himself off, standing up. "I can however, do this."

With a flick of his wrist, something black flew though the air and wrapped around my shoulder. I twisted my neck and tried to see what it was, before realizing my whole body had gone numb.

Within a few seconds the whole world turned to black, and I passed out.