Leana hurtled through blinding darkness, arms waving frantically as she sought to control her fall. But her flailing did nothing to stop herself and she kept falling through nothingness, heading for only more nothingness.

Then the darkness changed color, in an instant, to a blinding white and she landed in a snowbank, face first. The shock of it all held her muscles frozen for a split second after the landing before she finally reacted, pushing herself up and out of the snowbank, rolling to the side and gasping for air, both in shock and in an actual need for air.

Leana jerked upright, still gasping, yanking from side to side in an effort to examine her surroundings. The deep white of the snow caused her to squint and she peered at the icy rock walls surrounding her, forcing herself to calm down.

Where am I? she wondered. And how did I get here?

Leana slowly rose to her feet, wrapping her arms around herself. She pivoted, staring at the rock and ice and snow surrounding her. She could feel the cold all around her, but it wasn't affecting her yet. Putting that down to shock, Leana pulled her hood up over her head and felt grateful that she had chosen her thick sweatshirt to wear tonight.

Tugging on the drawstrings of her hood, Leana drew in a deep breath. Carefully, she took a step forward, shoving her hands into her sweatshirt pocket and clasping them together. Her muscles were stiff, but she had to loosen up. If a need to run popped up, Leana didn't feel like pulling a muscle in the middle of a sprint.

She reached behind her to pull her foot up to her backside, one hand encased in her sweatshirt sleeve balanced against the cold rock wall to prevent her from falling over in the icy environment. But the shout from behind her almost made her lose her balance anyway.

"Leana!"

Leana spun, her arms flailing in an attempt to keep her balance that ultimately failed. Her foot slid out from underneath her and she landed, once more, in a hard packed snowbank. A hiss of pain escaped her lips as she pushed herself up out of the snow and glanced over in the direction of the shout.

Lucas came skidding down towards her. He had started out running, but the slick footing had taken control over his legs and his expression was one of terror as he waved his arms frantically. Leana pressed herself up against the wall and grabbed his arm as he came past, yanking him out of his slide and causing him to stumble into the snow as she slid forward.

"Darn, Leana," he muttered, straightening and looking at her. "But thanks. I forgot how to stop."

Leana nodded, feeling relief course through her at the sight of her best friend. "Do you know where we are? Or how we got here?"

Lucas shook his head. "I was hoping you knew. All I know is you shoved through the turnstile and disappeared. We followed you and – that's all I know."

"This is weird," Leana breathed, her breath forming clouds in the air. Lucas hunched his shoulders forward as the two of them looked up and around at their location.

"Looks like a cave," Lucas supplied, pointing up at the icy rock walls converging above them.

"But where?" Leana asked. "I mean, surely this isn't beneath the subway station?"

Lucas shook his head. "Leana, I don't know. I really don't. I'm just as stumped as you. But, like, it could be below the subway station, theoretically. Isn't Manhattan built on a rock?"

Leana shot Lucas a look. "Lumina's supposed to be the one with the useless trivia –" A thought drew her up short. "Where are they? What about Ben and Lumina? Are they here, too?"

Lucas shrugged hopelessly. "I don't know."

Leana huffed in exasperation. It wasn't Lucas' fault; she didn't know, either. But she hated not being able to figure this out, especially when pretty soon, the cold would start to kick in and their bodies would shut down. They had to find some way to keep warm before that happened.

"Are you cold, Lucas?"

He shook his head. "Not really, no. But that might be –"

"Because of shock," Leana finished. "We need to start moving. What's down where you came from?"

"Basically this?" Lucas said, gesturing to the walls around them. "Not much is changing."

"Then this way," Leana said, turning to face the opposite direction.

"All right," Lucas agreed, falling carefully into step beside her. "Well, Leana, you finally did it."

"What?"

"You ran into an adventure."

Lucas grinned at her as she glanced over at him, and she couldn't help grinning back. It always made her laugh when he was able to throw her own line back at her, and she knew that Lucas definitely enjoyed doing it.

"I did," she said. "But it might not be the best adventure I could have scrounged up."

Lucas shrugged, hands in his pockets. "At least all your running actually worked."

Leana laughed this time. "Yeah, I suppose it did."

A noise up ahead made the two come to a halt. Leana felt herself tensing, her flight or fight reflex coming to the fore. Lucas drew his hands from his pockets, curling his fingers into fists and turning slightly to the side.

"Leana? Lucas?"

Lumina's voice disarmed the two instantly; their fists uncurled and their muscles relaxed slightly. Lucas sighed in relief. "Lumina! Where's Ben?"

"Present," Ben's voice came back to them. The red hair was visible before Ben's face was as he and Lumina looked up from behind a big snowbank. On affirming that it was, indeed, Leana and Lucas, a collective sigh came from them and they climbed out from behind the bank.

"What in heck happened?" Ben asked as he and Lumina made their way towards the other two.

"We fell," Lucas said.

Ben looked annoyed. "I know that. But, like, why? And how? And –"

"We get it, Ben," Lumina sighed as Leana wandered forward, studying the walls and ground. "We don't know, okay? Just somehow, we're here."

"Where is here?" Ben persisted.

Leana stopped in an opening in the wall and peered into a chamber, feeling a pit of mixed excitement and apprehension form in her stomach.

"I'm not sure, but it's not good."

Ben, Lucas, and Lumina came up to stand beside her as she pointed inside the chamber, where bones with strands of meat lay scattered across the icy ground. Their eyes widened as Leana looked at them.

"We may have trouble on our hands."

/**/

Leana really has run into an adventure....

What did you guys think? Where do you think the four have found themselves?

Thanks for reading; please, vote and comment! I hope you enjoyed it!

Skylar Wittenborn