Drifa hovered near the cliff's edge and the boy stopped to stare up at her. That poor woman of Lumi's had been so hopelessly lost by this point in the Taking. It had seemed easy to finish what had been started. But this boy, his eyes were sharp and knowing. Drifa's certainty faltered again. Something was wrong here.

"Icicles hanging from a snow-covered roof." The boy's voice was a ray of sunlight. She might melt if he kept speaking. "A sleigh ride through a winter landscape on a blustery day. Catching a snowflake on my tongue."

He laughed. Drifa's light flickered, her fingers shook as they thawed. "Take me with you, Wisp. Take me anywhere. Anywhere but there." He pointed to the sky above the roiling waves.

Drifa, nearly human again, floated towards the ground, her feet stumbling as they searched for solid rock. The boy caught her around the middle, pulling her from the brink. He shivered at her touch but instead of pulling away from her, he brought himself closer.

Her shock mounting, Drifa lifted her hands to his face. He did the same, then lowered his lips to hers.

Blackberry sweet on her tongue.

She kept him near for a moment, savoring the taste of ripe berries and lemonade. Only her curiosity made her pull away.

"How are you doing this?"

His eyes were closed; her glowing light had never affected him, but her kiss had left him in a dreamlike state. He rubbed his thumb over her lips. "You taste like hot chocolate."

"Drifa!" Lumi's screech brought them both back from their seasonal revelries. "Drifa! Don't take him. You cannot take him!"

Lumi came puffing up to the hill. She halted at the sight of them together. It would have made a bigger impression on them had she transformed into a glowing ice orb, but Lumi was only Lumi; old, slumped over, and more human than Drifa had ever seen her before. Either she was too distraught to change or too exhausted.

Her finger trembled as she pointed at the boy. "Get away from her, Fire God."

Drifa's eyes widened. Fire God?

The boy held his hands up as though Lumi was aiming a weapon at him. He took a step away from Drifa. "I wasn't hurting her. I wouldn't do that!"

Lumi scowled. "You haven't the sense to know you already have. Drifa, come. I'm taking you home."

"No!" Drifa took a step back towards the cliff, clinging to the boy. How could someone who'd known nothing but cold give up the only warmth she'd ever felt? "He was it, Lumi. I know it! But I didn't take him, I couldn't do it, you didn't want me to anyways. I'm not just going to leave him here, though. If I don't take him, another wisp will."

Lumi spun around in exasperation. "A will-o'-wisp maybe, but not our kind. Winter wisps have no business with him. He should know better than to meddle in our affairs!"

The boy waved his hand to get her attention. "I didn't--"

"You did," Lumi spat on the ground. "There was someone else in that tavern who was to be taken, I'm sure if it, but you had to interfere."

"I meant no harm."

"Your kind always mean no harm. Drifa, step away from him."

Lumi moved towards her. As though they were magnets repelling each other, Drifa stepped backwards, keeping the same distance between them. They repeated these steps as rain began to fall, gently at first, then in a torrent that could have kept pace with an autumn thunderstorm in Drifa's tempestuous world.

What had come over her? She should have done as her teacher instructed. Lumi understood something about this situation that Drifa did not. There was no reason to defy her for some boy whose name she didn't even know. And yet....

The next step she took sent her scrambling downward out of the boy's grip and nearly off the side of the cliff. Drifa screamed as her hands fought for purchase on the waterlogged turf. Her legs waved in the air above the rocky shore like those of a jumping jack doll.

"Drifa!" Both of their voices sounded above her, but to Drifa, there was only the ocean's roar taunting her with its desire to pluck her from the sky and pull her down into its depths.

Lumi's glassy eyes appeared above her. "Stay back!" she yelled to the boy as he crouched nearby. She stretched her hand down to Drifa. "Take it, girl!"

Sobbing, Drifa tried to do as she was told, but her fear of letting go of the cliff long enough to grasp Lumi's hand kept her fingers curled into the grime.

Rain turned to hail. Thimble-sized ice pellets pummeled Drifa's skin.

The boy scrambled closer to her, lying flat against the slick rock while lowering himself over it as much as he dared. Lumi continued her tirade against him, while Drifa attempted to ignore the pain in her fingers, her hands, her wrists. It was only a matter of time before she'd have to let go.

If she could transform, all would be well. But stress did not lend itself to the magic of the winter wisps. Try as she might, her hands remained hands; her body remained a weight which would fall to earth if given the opportunity and break just as any mortal human's would.

Both her would-be saviors continued to battle for the honor of rescuing her. "Grab my hand, Drifa," Lumi repeated. "I don't have to lift you up. Reach for it and I'll be able to magic us home. You'll be safe."

Drifa strained to hear her over the angry sea and even angrier hail. Lumi was right, of course. It would be as easy as that. A second of touch and this nightmare would be over. She'd be saved. If that came to pass, though, what would happen to the boy?

Both hands grasped for hers. With the last of her strength, she reached towards her salvation.

A boat gliding along the surface of a still lake, parasol positioned to soften the light.

The boy tightened his grip around her wrist as Drifa lunged for Lumi's hand next. The old woman pulled her arm away with a snarl, but not fast enough. Drifa brushed her fingertips against Lumi's palm.

Just as Lumi had promised, it was enough.

The passage from world to world was instantaneous.

All three of them stood on a barren field, hard packed mud cascading outward in frozen ripples to the hedge separating it from Drifa's cottage.

The boy let go of Drifa, shaking himself as he gradually took in his surroundings. Snow twirled its way to the ground as he laughed and danced, kicking white tuffs into the air. "I'm here. I can't believe I'm here!" He turned to them. "Thank you."

Lumi thrust herself at him. Drifa did her best to hold her back. "Thank you? Do you know what you've done? Do you realize what you've both done?"

"Not really." Drifa rubbed at her sore wrists. "But I'm sure you'll tell us."

Lumi strode up to the boy and yanked at the amulet he wore against his chest, holding it so that Drifa could see. "He is a fire god, you fool! You've brought a god of sun and heat to a land of snow and cold. We will all burn for this."

~Thank you for reading so far! Four more parts remain!~