Chapter 1

Ok. First off, those who haven't read the first book and have no idea what's going on (or who the hell Artur is) please go and read it. It will make this book seem a lot more sense, trust me.

Second, Hypothermia (for all those who have no idea what it is) is where your body loses more heat than it can produce, causing a dangerously low body temperature. Normal body temperature is around 98.6 F (36 C). Hypothermia (Hi-poe-thur-me-uh) occurs as your body temperature drops below 95 F (35 C).

What's so dangerous it? Well, when your body temperature drops, your heart, nervous system and other organs can't work normally. Left untreated, hypothermia can eventually lead to complete failure of your heart and respiratory system and eventually to death.

Liesl's POV

I feel like all my energy, all my strength, is being sucked from within me. I know, we've just slept, but my joints are still so ached from our last walk, and already the boys are forcing us up again.

Artur seems to be coping well, surprising for someone who has no idea what is going on. You could say I was coping, I'm scared obviously but the concern is a worse feeling. Not concern for myself, but for Brigitta. She felt freezing, and I mean freezing, when I was holding her earlier. She seemed distant too, but that wasn't unnatural for her.

"Get up!" I was snapped from my thoughts, looking up to see the black-haired boy shoving Brigitta to her feet.

She stood, stumbled a few steps at his force, before standing like some drunk man. Her skin was pale as I pulled my hand from Rolf's grip and hurried over to her. The colour had drained from her cheeks, leaving a faint greyish tint in the usual reddish colour's spot. Brigitta stares at the white sky, mouth parted just a little.

"Brigitta?"

She blinks a few times, and her gaze diverts itself down to me. She seemed alarmed and nervous, yet had nothing to say, like someone had just muted her. I knelt, so I was her height, and rubbed her shoulders like mother, before she died, used to do to me when I was little.

"L-Liesl?" she mumbled, a bit of a lisp arising when she said my name.

"There you go," I smiled, standing up, holding her hand.

"I'll take it from here gentlemen," I walked back over to Rolf, Brigitta's hand still in mine, and willingly allowed him to pull me along…

Artur's POV

I watched as Liesl retrieved Brigitta, keeping her firmly by her side. When the boy had shoved her roughly to her feet, I felt the anger ripple inside of me. I don't know why… well I do. Brigitta was my friend, one of the only ones I had, and she meant so much to me. Although, whenever one of the older children bully Josef, I feel angry. But… not as much as I did now… It was like someone had just switched my attitude from friendly and cautious to angry and cold…

When I met you, I thought, I expected you were just one of those sissy, silly little girls who spend their life hiding behind "dear old daddy's" back. You really had to show me wrong, didn't you? Turns out you're not at all like I expected, of course you're not… You're a Von Trapp. From what you described, you're all apparently different in your own way. All the girls in my village seem so plain and simple now, even the ones I had fallen head-over-heels for throughout the years…

My thoughts shocked me so much that I nearly stumbled, my boots dragging through the snow. I had always seen her as something different, and that different was always weird. It was only a day or two ago did I begin to recognise her for what she really was. Pure. Unselfish. Free… It must've run in the family, as it appeared that all the Von Trapp children bore this quality, as did their step-mother. How did I not see it in the first place? Was it because they were strangers, and that Captain von Trapp looked so fierce with his dirty yet smooth face, chiselled jaw and all. And earlier, when Brigitta stared into my eyes, I held her gaze. I actually held her gaze, I didn't cringe, I didn't shiver, I didn't look away, I held it…

Were we even strangers, unknown children from families of unfamiliar cultures? I doubt that now, I think it's just that I was too reluctant to open and try to at least get to know them. There was something there, the way she was willing to talk to me, to listen

I think… I think I'm in love with her…

No…No that's ridiculous. I'm thirteen, and she's only eleven. I don't understand what people like mother and father have, so I doubt she would either. Maybe I just care strongly about her, that's all, a brotherly love I have towards her… No. No, that's not right. I don't have the same feeling with Josef. It's just as strong, but not quite the same