(A/N): Welcome to my book! Be sure to go to my profile and follow me to see when I post!Comments are always welcome. :D Enjoy your reading and have a nice day! 

Winter was one of Kendra's favorite times of the year, especially at Fablehaven: with snow everywhere and icacles that made the world shine a little brighter. The chilly air was always fun too, and watching how the creatures at Fablehaven reacted to cold was even better. The fairies were fashionable with woolen jackets that made them look more stunning than usual. The saytrs, remained the way they were, but with colorful scarves. Which made no sense to Kendra, why wear a scarf and no shirt?

She sat in the windowsil of the attic, reading and taking long pauses to look outside. The attic was chilly so she had curled up in a small blanket. Seth was sitting on his bed, looking at his emergancy kit, apparently it needed to be updated.

A knock on the door interupted her from her reading and her thoughts. Seth shoved his kit under his bed and leapt for the door, he opened it and grinned when he saw Warren. Kendra sighed and shut her book, looking back out the window. She knew why Warren was there, otherwise she would be happy to see him.

"Are you sure you wont go ice skating with us Ken?" Seth asked, still grinning as he knew she was too scared to do it. She nodded.

"Yes I'm sure Seth." Kendra said glumly. Warren smirked and nodded, patting Seth on the back and leading him out the door.

"So, if you wont come to skate, will you come to be backup?" Warren asked, he sounded sincere, but the way his voice sounded made her think he was tricking her.

"Backup?" Kendra asked.

"Backup." Warren confirmed. "You know, like if me and Seth fall in the water, you can run for help." Kendra nodded slowly and stood up, throwing her book on her bed and turned to her closet, grabbing her jacket and boots.

"Good excuse." Kendra said, Warren grinned successfully and disappeared from the doorway. Kendra could hear Seth laugh from the top of the stairs. She slipped her black boots on and put on her black leather jacket.  She emerged from the room and followed the boys downstairs. They paused and took a deep breath of the winter air as they arrived at the back porch, the door slamming shut behind him.

"Newel! Doren!" Seth shouted as he saw his friends playing in the snow by the forests edge, leaving Kendra and Warren walking not far behind.

"So why don't you like skating?" Warren asked as they walked and watched Seth talk with the Satyrs. Kendra shrugged.

"I just don't want to fall into freezing water full of Naiads." Kendra said simply and flatly. Warren nudged her with his elbow.

"You wont fall in, and even if you did, I'm not gonna let you drown." He said seriously, but then he chuckled. "Besides, your grandfather would kill me if I let you get hurt." He joked.  Kendra chuckled quietly, imagining grandpa strangling Warren. They reached the pond after a while, Kendra had been there a few times since the first snow, but she had always refused to skate. Seth already had his skates on and was already racing in circles around the island at the middle of the frozen pond with Newel and Doren. Warren put on his skates and looked to Kendra sitting in the snow by the water. "It wouldn't hurt to ate least put the skates on right? For emergencies of course." Warren suggested. "You're good with the Naiads and might be able to get them to back down if something happens right?" Kendra watched him hesitantly but nodded and grabbed her skates from the boathouse, slipping them on. Warren made sure they were tight.

"Seth! Slow down! You're going to get yourself killed!" Kendra yelled to Seth when she noticed him go by faster than a streak of light. It was probably her mind playing tricks on her as Seth could never go that fast without super speed.

"They feel like they wont fall off right?" Warren asked after making sure Seth did slow down. Kendra looked at the skates on her shoes and nodded.

"They wont fall off."  Kendra insisted. Warren nodded and looked out of the frozen water.

"Then come on." Warren said with a goofy grin. Kendra shook her head with a frown. Though she had the urge to smile thanks to his goofy grin.

"I said id wear the skates, I never said anything about actually skating. " Kendra said, he nodded sadly and looked over the water.

"Please don't hate me then." He said quickly and before her mind could comprehend what he said, and understand why he said it, he picked her up and skated out onto the ice, not close to the island, and not close to the edge of the pond either, an equal distance from both. Kendra yelped in surprise and gained the attention of Seth and the two satyrs.

"Warren!" Kendra yelled loudly, Warren chuckled and held her hands to hold her steady as he knees were shaking.

"You're fine." Warren told her softly. He glided backwards gently while still holding onto her hands to keep her balanced. She stared at their feet and the motion of the water undeneath the ice. She could already feel the ice shattering beneath herself and feel the Naiads claws pulling on her legs to drown her. Her breathing was fast and heavy. "Kendra, calm down and look at me." Warren said, she looked up at his eyes and felt her hands and knees stop shaking. Not focusing on the fear was helping her allot.

She even started to smile a little. Until Warren saw she was ok now and let go of one of her hands, allowing her to skate beside him instead of in front of him. She felt her nerves return quickly. She heard Seth laugh loudly at something Newel said and suddenly her free hand was taken.

"Mind if I borrow the fair lady for a moment?" Newel asked Warren, who chuckled and nodded, letting go of Kendra's hand. Kendra felt terrified but couldnt help but laugh when Newel pulled her towards him and take her other hand. He skated around as though they were on a ballroom floor and waltzing. Seth and Warren were laughing out of their minds. Newel let go of one of her hands and spun her around, which was hard to do with skates on. He let go of her other hand as she spun and another grabbed her hand. Dorren. She laughed again as she waltzed with the other satyr.

"You two dimwits get back over here!" Seth yelled, Dorren smiled and let got of Kendra, almost makeing her tumble, but instantly Warren swwoped in and grabbed her hand and upper back to keep her from falling.

"Thanks." Kendra said as she got back onto her feet. Warren smiled and nodded.

"And you can repay me, by giving me this dance." Warren said, doing a dramatic bow and extending his hand. Kendra laughed and took the hand, putting one hand on his shoulder and the other one hand in his. It was suprisingly easier to waltz on ice than it was on floors. A bright smile remained on her face as they waltz around and she laughed every once and a while. Though her heart dropped to her stomach when she heard Seth talking.

"She's liked Warren since she first met him as an Albino. Though I dont think the crush developed until she kissed him." Seth said, her stomach lurched and as she began to think, she realized she was still on ice, and her breathing quickened. Though it became worse and worse when she looked up at Warren to see him looking at Seth and that Satyrs with a confused look. She took off, kicking off her skates and running off back into the woods. She didnt realize she made a wrong turn thanks to her blurry vision.

"Kendra!" Seth yelled, trying to keep up with her, but without her shoes, she was actually allot faster than she expected.

"Leave me alone Seth!" Kendra yelled. She didnt even know he knew about her crush on Warren.

"I didnt even know you and Warren could hear me!" He said as he reached and grabbed her shoulder to turn her back around.

"Maybe I should tell them your crush!" Kendra snapped. Seth's face dropped.

"I'm sorry, ok. You can tell Warren, Newel and Dorren. Actually, you can tell anyone! As long as you dont tell her!" Seth said, fidgeting with his jacket. Kendra shook her head and wiped her eyes.

"I wont tell anyone because I'm not a jerk like you." Kendra said quietly.

"You'll forgive me right?" Seth asked seriously. Kendra nodded.

"You've already been forgiven Seth." Kendra mumbled, even though they fought allot, she still loved her brother. Even if he was a dimwitted jerk. They smiled weakly at each other and hugged. Kendra let go of Seth as she heard a twig snap.

Warren sighed heavily and in relief when he realized he found them, avoiding eye contact with Kendra he opened his mouth. "I get that you two fight, but please dont run off into the middle of the dangerous forest." Warren said breathlessly. Since nobody was looking at her in that moment, Kendra backed away and ran into a thick part of the forest. The trees were so thick she had to duck and hold her breath to squeeze by them. At one point, they seemed to bend to get out of her way. She had never explored a part of the forest so thick. She saw a fairy wisp by, it looked at her and she noticed its tiny mouth move, but she only heard small sqeaks. It shook its head and seemed to be urging her to turn back, it grabbed her jacket and pulled her away from the end of the tree way. Kendra ignored the small tug of her jacket. "I'll be fine." She told the fairy, she flew away sadly.

The trees led to a large opening, where there was no snow. The dirty ground was instead covered by leaves, no fallen branches, no rocks, no movement, other than the slow swaying of the trees. There was no sound. As she looked around, she realized that the place she entered, was the only way to enter, everywhere else, the trees were too close to even think about trying to squeeze through. There was a huge dead tree stump in the middle of the clearing. It was entirly hollow with an enormous entrance. She approched it slowly, it seemed to call to her. She narrowed her eyes at the tree as she ran her hand over it. It still felt like it was calling to her. She heard a small whisper and turned around to see if anyone was there. There was nobody, no fairy, no small magical being, nothing. Kendra looked back at the tree and walked into its hollow trunk to see the inside. The inside was nothing like the outside, the walls looked fresh and polished while the outside looked damaged and dead. Kendra ran her hands over the wall and wringled her toes as the wood felt good on her sock-covered feet.

Suddenly words entered her mind, she didnt understand them at all, they sounded like Seth talking in his sleep. She mumbled them to herself in confusion and looked outside the tree when a sudden burst of wind lifted the leaves and made them spin in a tornado and drop to the ground again. Kendra felt her stomach do a flip, what if this was some witch's house? Is that why she heard whispering? Is that what was going on? She felt her breathing quicken again, entirly terrified. She zipped her mouth shut and refused to say the words again, but they kept echoing in her mind until she shouted them out with everything she had. The leaves once again made a tornado but instead of collapsing, they rushed into the tree stump and spun around her, making her fall to her knees in fear.

Her hair floated up and wipped her face thanks to the heavy wind. She closed her eyes tightly, scared of the leaves surrounding her. When she finally opened her eyes, the leaves had stopped, most of them returned to the ground outside the stump, but some of them took the shape of a woman. She held her leaf hand out to help Kendra to stand. As though she wasnt thinking for herself, she took the hand and stood to her feet. The leaf woman bowed her head and slowly, leaf by leaf she disappeared. A twig snapped and Kendra's heart raced wildly. . .

To be continued, see you next chapter!