Andreya understood now why she'd been one of the only women wearing a dress. Her muscles burned and her breaths came heavy and to top it off, wherever Reide slipped through a thicket ahead of her, her skirts caught on every branch and thorn.

Eventually, she had discarded every moral value she had once held and tossed her skirt and corset and shawl under a bush. She felt every part naked, even with her remaining pantaloons and long-sleeved blouse, but now her physical fitness—or lack thereof—was the only issue remaining, along with the biting cold breeze.

Reide stopped abruptly in front of her and she skidded, knocking into the quiver on his back so hard they both almost toppled over. Instead of being mad, though, he was holding in laughter and asking briefly if she was alright as he dropped to a crouch behind a bush and pulled her down with him. After she nodded, he peered just over the leaves and pointed. "I bet the blue team's scouts are going to take this route back to base with their Mandy. Any minute now, they'll try to slip through here, so I propose we lay a trap for them."

This was where the satchel he'd taken from the house this morning came in handy. He pulled out a full skein of twine and a knife and his bow from out of its holder, tied one end of the twine to an arrow, and told her to hold the other end. Then, in one swift movement, he leapt up and shot the arrow straight into the tree across the path, just low enough to be hidden by the underbrush. Andreya stared in awe, the other end of the twine still in hand. Reide ducked back beside her and replaced his weapons.

"Now we wait. When they get here—and they will, this is Seres and Kella, after all—you pull the string taut, they'll trip, I'll steal the Mandy. Good?"

"I—isn't this unfair play?" Andreya sounded much more childish than she would have liked.

Reide only tsked and wagged a finger. "The only rule in the Mandy Reel is no injuries, and I make sure everyone's safe when I run the game."

"Are you running the game now?" she whispered.

A distant rustle in the woods interrupted Reide's reply and they both dropped to silence. The crunch of leaves continued, whatever it was obviously going at a decent pace and not caring too much about noise.

"Ready?" Reide said, shifting to the balls of his feet, ready to sprint at a moment's notice. Andreya nodded.

"Now, Kella!" a young boy's voice rang out at the same instant Reide signaled for her to pull the twine.

Everything after that came in somewhat of a blur. The string went taut, Andreya toppled forward when a girl raced past and tripped on it, and Reide darted in the other direction after the boy, whom she assumed had this Mandy everyone wanted.

"Keep running, Seres!" the girl, Kella, shouted from the ground, and just as quick was untangling herself from the twine. She was halfway to her feet to escape when Andreya scrambled forward and pinned her down, every bit acting on panic and not at all sure what to do with Reide gone.

The girl grunted and swore. Andreya struggled to keep her grip, her knees on the girl's back and her hands holding tight to the girl's wrists. When she resisted, Andreya pressed harder.

"Ow!" The girl said it like another curse. "Geez, you can let me go now."

Andreya waited another moment, unsure whether or not to trust her, but conceded when the girl let out an aggravated sigh. She rolled her wrists as Andreya stepped back, wary.

The two examined each other, sixteen-year-old to twenty-two-year-old, Isantadi to Nasavtean, native to foreigner. The girls exchanged hesitant introductions just as a sudden wind whipped through the canopy and drew their eyes upward.

Kella cursed under her breath as stray leaves fluttered around them. "Hope it doesn't rain."

Andreya shivered at the thought but didn't say anything. They could only catch small flashes of the sky through the trees, but a distant crack of thunder told them everything they needed to know. The sound rumbled in Andreya's chest and bristled her hairs.

She wished she hadn't left her skirt and shawl under some bush.

"We should head back," Kella said, though she was technically the captive in this situation.

Andreya agreed.

──── ❉ ❉ ❉ ────

Before Seres had fled far, Reide's pursuit was already over.

The Mandy was neatly tucked under his arm and he was now escorting the young teen back to base as a prisoner. Reide hadn't seen these kids in over a year and man, how he missed home.

"I can carry you if you don't move faster," Reide said, only half teasing. "I don't want to leave Dreya and Kella for too long, and we have another Mandy to steal, too."

Seres pursed his lips and hopped over a root. "I know Dreya's new and everything, but you're a real worrywart."

They reached the Reel and stood at the top of the trail, finally seeing the sky again without the cover of trees. A spilled pool of ink had stained the clouds a malicious storm gray, unexpectedly aggravated after the smeary sky earlier that morning. The wind picked up and tousled both boys' tawny hair.

"Would you look at that," Seres commented unhelpfully, and the rain started right after, as if he'd called it and doomed them all to sopping boots and a lack of umbrellas.

The boy still cursed at his being right.

Reide cursed, too, and tugged him toward the base again. "Let's go."

The rain started as a sprinkle, droplets sitting atop the shoulders of their clothes and speckling the dirt at their feet, but by the time they were halfway to base, it was a downpour. Every remaining player returned to the cover of an alcove—whether theirs or the base of another team—and Reide and Seres kicked into a sprint, reaching cover moments later, soaked from the waist up and flicking dripping hair out if their faces.

Five other players filled the alcove, staring in shock at the wall of rain outside. Above the roar of the water, Reide shouted, "Who's still in the forest?"

A deafening bang of thunder was the first response, then the remaining players took attendance and connected who they'd seen go in the woods, coming up with five people still out there. The mention of Andreya and Kella made Reide stiffen.

"Should someone go out to find them?" Reide turned back to the storm, all of them getting misted with muddy spray from the force.

Felia shook her head. "Storms like this don't last long. If somebody doesn't return after it breaks, then we'll start searching."

There were several caves along the mountain for them to take cover in, too—Reide knew that well enough, if they could get to them.

What worried him was that Kella may not know where they were, and the temperature was quickly dropping.

──── ❉ ❉ ❉ ────

The storm was immediate and unforgivingly cold.

"Good ghosts!" Kella swung an arm above her eyes so she could see. Both she and Andreya slowed to a stop on the slippery, rocky trail. "Where did this come from?"

"How far are we from the Reel?" Andreya shouted. It didn't matter, though, because it was hard enough to climb down into the crater when there wasn't water streaming into her eyes or mud and rocks as slippery as slime beneath her boots.

Above them, the thunder mingled with the cold and the canopy amplified the crash of the rain to an overwhelming roar.

"Let's wait it out by that rock." Kella pointed through the downpour and Andreya followed blindly, teeth chattering and clothes plastered to her skin.

Andreya knew her life was not threatened—her curse had made sure at least of that—but Kella was not the same, and hypothermia was very much a risk here, if not fever or infection. More urgently, Andreya could still feel every bite of the cold, every sting of her frigid limbs. Even if it would heal, it would first hurt, and she had a primal fear of freezing again, lost in the forest and unable to die.

Unable to die...

Do you really want to die?

The single doubt flitted into Andreya's mind and she cursed. The two of them trudged through streams running across the path and lightning flashed again in the gray, followed immediately by another crash of thunder.

"Here!" Kella reached and pulled Andreya next to her, both of them pressed up against the side of a large, jagged rock. "The storm shouldn't last long. Are you okay?"

"I'll survive. And you?"

Kella said nothing, but they both shivered uncontrollably, blinking water out of their eyes and huddling closer together without meaning to. The answer didn't need words.

If they were okay now, they wouldn't be for long.

──── xxx ────

Hey there! I had to rewrite this chapter a few times to get it right, but I hope it turned out okay! How do you think this turn of events will resolve? Is there a resolution? Let me know in the comments and don't forget to vote if you enjoyed!