"So you've come all this way looking for your friend?" Aurora asked, over steaming cups of tea and coffee.

"Yeah, we think he might be really sick or something to so is there anything you can tell us to help out?" I asked.

Aurora rubbed Chubby's head gingerly while her brow knitted in concentration. "You say you're looking for a woman with a snake familiar."

    The four of us nodded.

    "There's the circle of elders here, they talk about this apothecary out in the outskirts all the time. I could take you to them. how long do you guys plan on staying here?" She offered.

I bit my lip, looking to Peri for advice. His neck feathers fluffed out.

"As long as you need too, kiddo." Peri confirmed.

"Uh, till we find Felix or we find out he's not here. If he's not here then I guess...I don't what we'll do then." I grimaced.

I just wanted to go back home. I wanted to see my mom again. She must be worried sick. She probably thinks I hate her or something for not letting me go after Felix.

"We'll figure it out as we go, right now we can just focus on Felix." Eryan patted my shoulder gently, I appreciated the gesture.

"Do you guys want to see the elders? Maybe they can give us directions or something." Aurora suggested. "We can probably make a trip out there and back before nightfall."

"That would be great, thank you." I nodded, as Peri hoped onto my shoulder.

Oratio shook out his fur, Peri snorted. "Oratio says we might misplace him accidentally if we have to go out there one more time."

Eryan laughed and patted her bag. "Hop up, stinky."

The fox jumped into the bag and poked his head happily, tongue lolling out. It was very wholesome and most of us laughed.

Aurora showed us out of her house and back onto the streets. They were less busy now that we were out of the industrial area. People had all sorts of familiars over here. White rabbits, scary looking Caribou, these short, chubby, birds Aurora referred to as penguins.

    "This is a nice town." Jason commented.

    Aurora nodded. "Thanks."

    "Do you know what else is nice?" Jason raised an eyebrow.

    Aurora huffed and pushed him away, but Jason just laughed. I stared, the twisted feeling returning to the pit of my stomach. Jason just kept looking to her for a reaction, not deterred.

    I felt sick.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked over to see Ryan looking at me expectantly.

"You okay?" She asked gently.

I shrugged and looked down, I kicked a pebble. I was consciously aware of Peri on my shoulder, listening in. He probably already knew though.

Ryan glanced at the three of them walking ahead of us. "Is it Jason?"

    I grimaced and looked away, rubbing my arm in embarrassment.

    "I wouldn't be to worried. Aurora doesn't seem to interested." Ryan side hugged me gently.

    I smiled weakly. "Thanks."

    "Besides you're adorable."

    I blushed, Ryan grinned. "I'm not kidding, hey Eryan?"

    She turned to look at us. "Yeah?"

    "Craig's cute right?"

    She snorted. "Definitely."

    I blushed again and covered my face with my hands. "You guys, stop it. You're making me blush."

    Ryan grinned again. "See what I mean? Cheer up! I'm gonna get to meet Felix soon, we're gonna rescue him and he's gonna be fine."

    I pushed her away and laughed gently. "Okay fine."

    "Okay so this is the place." Aurora interrupted, as she climbed up a set of rickety looking stairs and knocked on the door.

    The door opened and an elderly woman with warm eyes opened up and smiled at us. "Hey Aurora, hey kids, come in come in, I just made cookies."

    We shuffled inside and saw it was a spacious barn area. There was a huge fireplace in the middle and people had taken off there their jackets and were warming up. We slipped off our boots and walked inside where the woman brought forward a small platter of cookies. We each took one as she hugged Aurora and caught up.

    "Ah! It's so nice to see you again. What bring this large crowd in here today?"

    "It's to see you too Mrs. Pewter. You know the apothecary that lives on the outskirts?" Aurora asked.

    "Of course!"

    "Do you think you could give us directions? We're in a hurry." Aurora continued.

    "Of course! Connie knows, you can ask her." Mrs. Pewter offered.

    "Ask me what?" A sour voice called out.

    A small and very ancient looking woman in a rocking chair glanced up, frowning at all of immediately. "What do you want?"

    Mrs. Pewter rolled her eyes at Connie. "These lovely kids want to know where the apothecary lives."

    Connie looked like she was ready to hiss at all of us. "I'll tell ya', that is all of you but him."

    She pointed a shaky gnarled finger at Jason, who frowned.

    "Me?" He gasped.

    "Why?" I demanded, feeling slightly protective.

    "Come on Connie, they're just kids." Mrs. Pewter sighed and put her hands on her hips.

    She opened her mouth but Jason cut her off. "You know what? You guys go ahead. Lafayette and I will just wait outside."

    He turned around dramatically and walked out the door. The three of us shared a look while Aurora just looked confused. What was that all about?

    "Good riddance." Connie huffed. "You kids want to know where the apothecary lives? You go out west to the denser part of the forest, where we hunt in the winter. It's a few miles out."

    "Oh I know that place." Aurora realized. "Thanks."

Connie snarled gently. "Sure thing honey. Just don't bring that scoundrel back here."   

"Okay." Aurora agreed, obviously uncomfortable. "Come on guys."

"Don't let her get to you." Mrs. Pewter scoffed. "She always cranky for zany reasons. Come back if ever want any more cookies!"

I liked this lady. The door closed and I spotted Jason passive aggressively eating the only cookie had had gotten. It was cute.

"Sorry about that." Aurora apologized. "She's not usually like that."

Jason shrugged. "It's fine. Let's just forget it and keep going."

He brushed past us, and started off down the street. "Come on guys, let's just go."

I was still confused, but he had already sent Lafayette up into the air. Aurora had woken up Chubby, and we were heading off again.

After we made outside the city walls, it was mostly a lot of white for miles and miles. To which Ryan shuddered but pushed through.

"What was that lady's problem?" I scoffed, somewhat angrily as we trudged through the snow.

Jason heard that and perked up, glancing back at me, eyes full appreciation. "Eh, I don't know. I don't really care."

I frowned. "Are you...used to that?"

"Sometimes."

Despite being short and generally having no fighting skill, I wanted to punch something. "Why?"

He shrugged again, this time it seemed more forced. "I don't know."

I bit my tongue. I didn't want to push because I could tell the question was making him uncomfortable. Kosmos, I didn't want to upset him.

"Have I ever told you I don't trust him?" Peri sighed.

"Like everyday."

"Yeah. Just because you like him doesn't mean I won't tell you to drop him as soon as he turns on us."

I shot him a look. Peri rolled his eyes. "Kidding, I'm kidding."

I puffed and caught up with the group. Chubby was having a much easier time then the rest of us, the snow was pretty deep. This went on for a good hour or so, we were tired, and exhausted as the sun started dipping lower and lower in the sky.

"Okay!" Aurora announced. "We're almost there..."

She trailed off as she stared at the sky. I followed her gaze and noticed a thin trail of smoke drifting through the air.

"Fire?" Eryan raised an eyebrow.

I noticed Jason tense up in the corner of my vision. I felt my heart drop into my stomach. Fire could mean Eddie had already been here.

Aurora shrugged. "Sometimes they cook things, plus it's cold. I've just ever heard of the apothecary using fire before. It makes sense, I guess."

We continued forward, through the thick woods. The snow was thinner in here so it was easy to run. It wasn't long before we finally laid eyes on the house. Or rather what was left of it.

The five of us walked through a clearing to see the smashed and ruined remains of a wooden shack, completely burned to the ground.