AN- Okay, not quite the chapter I was hoping to put up, but the other one was far too long so I had to cut some things out, otherwise it will have been as long as the past two chapters have been. And yes, the dogs will appear in this story, but not in this chapter. And the next chapter might take a while If you read the end of this one, you'll find out why. Anyways, in the meantime, please review. I only have about eight chapters to go before this story is finished and I go back to my other fanfics. As usual, apologies for any OOCness, grammar, spelling errors etc… Pretty please review.
Disclaimer- See chapter one.
Snow Secrets
A Detailed Explanation
The sight of Davi smiling down at them all sent shivers up Kai's spine. The wind suddenly got a lot colder and he began to wish that he had actually picked up a coat, or at the very least, one of the scarves that Rena had brought them earlier. Davi's eyes darted round the group, searching for something and she frowned down at Rena.
"Where're the others?" Davi asked, confused.
"They're still inside," Rena answered, nodding her head in the direction of the snowed up wall. "Why?" she asked as she frowned up at Davi.
Davi's smile disappeared into a thoughtful expression for a moment before she jumped from the wall and landed in a crouch. Her cloak automatically fell around her when she stood up and she brushed snow off of her shoulders as she spoke, "There's something I need to explain to you, and it would be better if everyone was present."
"I wanna go back inside!" Tamara said, folding her arms over her chest and pouting childishly. "It no fun out here."
Rena ignored her friend and shoved her hands in her pockets in an attempt to keep them warm. She too had noticed the drop in temperature whenever Davi was around. "What do you want with the others?" she asked.
"I told you," Davi replied, heading towards the secret entrance. "I need to tell you guys something."
"Like what?" Rena wandered aloud as she too headed inside.
A few minutes later, everyone was inside and as Tamara was the last one to come inside, she closed the door behind her. Rena immediately went over to the kitchen to put the kettle on the boil.
"So," she called over as the others removed the coats and scarves they had picked up and seated themselves around the table. Davi remained standing. "What is it that you want to tell us?"
"It's about the tournament," Davi replied, leaning against the window. "And you might want to wake the others up as well. It'll be better if I explain everything now, rather than you try explaining it to them later."
Tamara grinned evilly at this. Max and Ray, who were seated either side of her, wisely moved as far away from her as they could and watched as she stood and walked over to the kitchen area. Rena suppressed a grin and moved aside as her team-mate opened one of the doors and removed a bucket. Carefully, the taller of the two lugged it round to the couches and held it up over Tyson. A moment later, she tipped the bucket upside down.
"THAT'S COLD!" Tyson yelled as a bucketful of freezing cold ice fell on top of him. He leapt up from the couch and began to brush as much of the ice off of him as he could before it melted.
Unfortunately for Tyson, the fire had been going for a while, which meant that the room was very warm and the ice melted almost immediately.
"Who did that?" Tyson yelled at the others over the back of the couch.
Tamara grinned and hid the bucket behind her back. "Don't look at me."
"Aw, man, this is my favourite shirt, too, and now it's all wet," Tyson moaned, flopping down onto the couch. Again, his luck was against him. His shouting had woken Raine up, and she was not happy about it. Quietly, the leader of the Shadow Sirens stood up and walked over to Tyson.
Tyson noticed her shadow too late.
Her fist came down and whacked his head.
The others all winced in unison.
"OUUUUCCHHHH!" Tyson shrieked and carefully placed his hands on his head to assess the damage. Already, a large lump was starting to form and he wasn't sure how long it would be before it disappeared.
"Cold, cold, cold, cold," Tyson chanted as he moved.
Tamara rolled her eyes and stood over him. She leaned down and Tyson realised what she was going to do when it was too late. She pulled his shirt, jacket and cap over his head and turned to the fireplace.
"What was that for?" Tyson shrieked and watched in horror as she moved closer to the fireplace. "What are you going to do? Burn my clothes?"
"No, you idiot," Tamara replied as she wrung each garment out one by one and placed it over the mantelpiece, using the small statues to keep them in place. "Since you're complaining about being cold and wet, I'm going to leave your clothes here to dry. Although burning them wouldn't be so bad," she added under breath.
Davi cleared her throat and everyone turned their attention back to her.
"Oh, hi Davi," Raine said when she noticed the other girl's presence. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to explain the details of the tournament," Davi replied, nodding at the team captain.
"Oh, okay, but…" Raine trailed off as she glanced at the other people in the room. "Paine isn't here."
"I've already talked to Paine about this," Davi held up her hands to prevent any further questions. "Now, please, do not interrupt. This is very important.
"The plan is very simple; there are four matches in the first round. These are one on one matches and there are no rules you need to follow. The match is over when a person either gives up or their blade is destroyed, so you will only get one chance to beat your opponent.
"There will be a day's break between each of these four matches and I must ask that there be no foul play between either team during those days. After the winners between those first four matches have been decided, you will be allowed a three day rest to either train or recuperate from your battle.
"After that, we will start the second round. This second round will be the same as the first, there are no rules and the match is only over once someone either gives up or their blade is destroyed. This second round will be composed of two matches. You will be informed of the third round once the second is over. That is all for now."
She headed towards the door, opened one and paused in the door, "Oh, and one more thing. You have exactly one month to train. Ellie shall bring you to the arena when you are ready."
With that, she left, closing the door quietly behind her. Everyone remained still for a moment before the kettle began to whistle. This seemed to motivate everyone to move and Tyson was the first to the door.
"Hey, we got a few questions about this!" he yelled, skidding out into the corridor. "Hey, where did she go?"
Ray wasn't far behind him. He also had questions that he wanted the answers to, but it looked like they would have to wait for now. It seemed that Davi had just disappeared into thin air. He wandered if there were any other secret passageways in this castle, and thought that if Rena could make it to the main entrance and back in a matter of minutes, and Davi could disappear so quickly, then there probably was.
Wearily, they trudged back into the kitchen and Rena made hot chocolate for each of them. She gave them the mugs and sat down next to Ray. Tyson plonked down in front of the fire, hoping for his clothes to dry out as soon as possible because even though the fire was blazing merrily in front of him, there was a breeze coming from somewhere and it was really, really cold. Raine dropped onto the couch she had been sleeping on and fought to stay awake. Tamara sat down opposite Max and once more, found herself completely bored. In fact, the fight with Kai had done absolutely nothing to entertain her.
For a while, no one said anything, they just sipped on their hot chocolate and thought about the upcoming tournament. Tamara glanced out the window and thought about what they could do. She grinned once more and turned to the others. Everyone had grim expressions on their faces and as Tamara looked closely, she came to the conclusion that the grimness did not suit them. So why not liven things up a little? How about a nice game of—
"Didn't you say that Davi kept a few dogs?" Ray asked Rena.
Startled, Rena took a moment to comprehend what Ray had just said before she nodded, "Yeah, she's got a couple of Dobermans, two white German shepherds, a Husky-wolf cross and I think she's either got four or five Collies and a sheepdog, I think."
"Can we see them?" Max asked.
"Er…" Rena looked out the window. The snow had picked up again, and she couldn't even make out anything in the courtyard. "Maybe not, the wind's picked up again out there. It looks like there's gonna be another storm tonight."
"So what can we do?" Max asked, lowering the mug from his lips and licking off the chocolate moustache.
"Train?" Kai suggested sarcastically.
"I got a better idea!" Tamara said, grinning at them.
"Like what?" Rena asked with a frown.
"How about we play truth… or dare?"
Tbc…