“Should we turn back?” Jesse spoke, scavenging through the leftover scraps of our belongs left in the cave. We are all soaked, clinging tightly onto own shivering forms. He lifted an empty can of beans and threw it into the cave wall with all his might. “We have nothing. Absolutely nothing. The bastards even made off with my diary!”

“You keep a diary, bats boy?” Erin spat, trying to start the fire. Her hands and voice shivering too much to properly cast a spell.

“And you keep stuffed animals,” Jesse spit back with a low growl. Arry sat down on one of the rocks in the cave. I continued pacing in a small circle. “You know, you're amazing and all. But everyone would appreciate if you quit being such a bitch.”

“Do you want a fight or something?” She was yelling now, her voice echoing through the cave.

“Shut up, both of you!” I stopped pacing. “We all would have been dead by now if Arry didn't do what she just did and you're fighting with each other? What the hell is wrong with you?”

Neither of them responded, simply looked at the boots, then towards Arry who sat completely motionless. Jesse sighed, pulling a small first-aid kit out his pocket and began patching up the cut on her hand. Erin seemed lost. More so than I've ever seen someone before. Part of me still was mad about she treated us up until now, but another felt bad.

“I met Emma before I ended up here,” I spoke, walking towards her. She still had the two halves of the toy firmly gripped in her hands, desperate to not let any more of the stuffing slipped out.
“How is she?” She asked with an amount of compassion that surprised me.

“Pretty lonely, I'd say,” I spoke, crouching down over the unlit fire. I tried the spell again, thinking about my mother this time rather than just saying her name. The flame grew quicker than I could react, but it felt cool against my skin as it licked my hands.

“She doesn't have to be lonely...” Erin covered her torso with her arms, looking out the opening of the cave. She sighed. “We came here a lot while she was at the academy – she was one of Petto's favourite at the time. One day, we came here because I missed being around her and we had this mini picnic and it started raining like this. We couldn't leave, so she wrapped me in our picnic blanket and held me so tight that I couldn't hear the storm anymore.”

“Why did she leave?” I asked, trying to warm myself up by the fire. She sighed.
“They all took it hard,” She said, looking at Jesse. “My sister. His parents. After your mother died, they were just never the same. They all went their separate ways.”

I hugged my knees, looking into the fire.

“I'm sorry about how I acted back in the dining hall,” She fed more wood into the fire. “I guess... When I heard there was a new girl, a human, joining the two of them, I got jealous. I was supposed to be there. I worked my ass off for it.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I don't understand why he chose me, either,” I admitted. She didn't respond, simply rose to her feet.

“We should keep going. Vanir isn't too far from here.”

“Arry and I can get some food for the trip once the rain settles down a bit.” Jesse spoke, “Perhaps the two of you keep going through this mess and maybe there's something we can still find.”

“There's a berry patch near the river.”
“Okay,” Jesse nodded before walking out with Arry. I stepped away from the fire and continued scavenging through the mess. I found a couple of empty bottles, a can of baked beans and a small book. I slipped the book into the inner pocket of my jacket and stepped outside of the cave, trying to fill the bottles up with rainwater. Erin stepped closer, helping channel the water into a focused stream with her magic.

It wasn't long before Arry and Jesse returned with their pockets stuffed with berries and a fish in her hands. She sat by the fire, slowly cleaning the fish with her sword breaker before setting it onto the flame to cook.

The fish, bare of any spices or anything tasted bland, but it had been something to keep us going until the next day. I stood up after eating. The rain had stopped now, too.

“We need to keep moving.”