(My school seems to have suddenly tripled the workload, so this may be the last chapter for a while, but I never give up on my stories. Thank you for reading.)

"Hex!" came Chill's voice along with loud pounding on the sorceress's front door, "Are ya there? Please answer!"

The frost warrior's words broke Hex out of her horror induced trance. Only then did the sorceress realize that many hours had passed and it was now early morning.

"Hex," Stealth Elf called out, "Are you okay?"

"I'm here," the sorceress said in answer to Chill not Stealth Elf. Afterall, Hex would rather not lie to her friends. She reached for the door knob but paused when she realized she wasn't wearing her gloves.

"Master Eon wants us ta go retrieve the Eye of the Ancients from Monstrous Isle soon. Please come out, Hex," Chill requested in an unusually soft voice.

"No," Hex replied sharply then hesitated, "I'm not feeling well." It wasn't exactly a lie. Though, the sorceress's new heartbeat had quieted down, it was very eratic. At times it would cease all together before starting up again without any rhythm to speak of.

"Do you think you could find someone else to take my place on the mission?" Hex continued. The sorceress's request was met with dead silence. Afterall, undead Skylanders never get sick. Hex could practically hear her friends surprise.

"I guess we can ask Smoulderdash or Starstrike," the ninja said slowly, "But when we get back, you're going to come out and tell us exactly what's wrong."

The sorceress closed her eyes, "Very well."

The clanking of Chill's armored footsteps faded away, and the sorceress knew Stealth Elf had gone with her. With nothing left to distract her, Hex's thoughts returned to the previous day.

Glumshanks had cringed away from her touch. Now, the sorceress was used to the mabu's inexplicable terror of her. Even the mabu that she personally saved remained wary of her. But never once had Hex thought Glumshanks would react like… Never Glumshanks…

The sorceress leaned back against the nearest wall before sliding to the floor in despair. Glumshanks had every reason to be concerned by her touch. The troll had seen Chill's frostbite firsthand.

Why had she done it? Why had she reached out and touched his hand? No one would ever accuse Hex of being a particularly affectionate person especially not in the physical sense. And, yet, at that moment it had felt so right. And now she had ruined everything…

Slowly, the sorceress stood and stumbled over to her closet. Hex mindlessly rummaged through her numerous black dresses and the singular pink and white polka-dot dress shoved in the back that she had been meaning to burn for the longest time. Finally, the sorceress pulled out a new pair of ebony gloves as her last lay in shreds.

Hex made to put them on, but her fingers refused to obey her mind and the gloves slipped from her grasp. The sorceress sank to the floor with her voluminous gown settling around her. She made no move to get up.

What if Glumshanks hated her? Hex was all too aware that fear led to hate, and fear was nearly impossible to be rid of. It warps the mind, weaving its tainted corruption into one's heart. It pollutes even the purest intentions turning them vile and selfish. It scars the-

The sorceress was pulled from her self-imposed mental torture by loud pounding on her front door accompanied by a voice. "Hex?" Chill called, "you there?"

Only then did she realize a few more hours had passed while she had been lost in her thoughts. "Yes," the sorceress replied as she quickly pulled on her gloves. "Come in," Hex said as she opened the door with just a hint of urgency in her voice.

Her friends complied and she quickly shut the door behind them. The darkness of the sorceress's home left Chill and Stealth Elf blinking as their eyes tried to adjust. For their benefit, Hex muttered a spell and candles scattered across the room flickered to life.

"Tell us what's wrong," the frost warrior blurted, "if this is about Glumshanks-"

"It's not," Hex snapped which was a lie and they all knew it. "There have always been tensions between the living and the undead. I'm used to it."

"Then what's this all about?" Stealth Elf asked.

The sorceress paused, unsure how to broach the subject of her physical condition. But she had promised them answers once they returned from the mission and since she was unwillingly to discuss Glumshanks…

"Upon arriving home yesterday," Hex started, "I discovered a phenomenon that I cannot explain nor even begin to understand." The sorceress removed her gloves deciding it would be better to just plunge in and get it over with. Her friends gaped openly as she showed them her arms.

"What?" Stealth Elf spluttered, "how?" While Chill stood silently at a complete loss for words.

"That's what I want to know," Hex nodded. "But that's not all. My heart has begun to beat once more."

The ninja's reaction to her words was to snatch up one of the sorceress's wrists and feel for a pulse. Hex waited patiently for her to confirm the inexplicable. Once she had, Stealth Elf started to pace the length of the room deep in thought.

"Does it hurt?" The frost warrior spoke up having recovered from her shock.

"No."

"A while back Kaos tried to steal all the undead essence in Skylands," Stealth Elf mused aloud, "do you think this could be the after effects of his machine on you?"

The sorceress shook her head, "Though he did attempt to remove my energy, the machine was unable to contain my undead spirit. And it was destroyed. I do not believe that experience would hold any lasting impact on me. Besides, none of those effected have shown any of these symptoms once their essence was returned."

"Then I don't know," the ninja sighed heavily, "We should inform Master Eon."

"Very well," Hex agreed somewhat reluctantly.

"And Glumshanks," Chill added.

"No!" The sorceress exclaimed a bit louder than necessary. "It's just…," Hex paused and her voice lowered, "I doubt he wants to see me..."

"Hex," the frost warrior started, "Glumshanks never m-"

Chill was interrupted as a regrettably familiar voice cackled.

"Attention miserable do-gooding fools! You may have thought you could hide from your doom, but you have only managed to prolong the inevitable! Behold! As I, Kaos, will personally destroy you and your stupid Core of Light!"

Kaos… Again…

Everything began to shake and Hex quickly extinguished the candles, as they raced out the door. A gigantic machine hovered over the academy and was attempting to swallow everything in sight! Almost immediately, the sorceress was swept off her feet by the gale force winds, but a strong arm wrapped around her waist.

"Gotcha," Blizzard Chill grinned but the strain was visible in her eyes as she dug a javelin deep into the ground with her free hand, and the ninja did the same with her dagger. Debris flew past their heads as the Sky Eater began devouring the islands.

"You might want to hold on to something," Buzz yelled rather unhelpfully. "We're draggen' too much weight! The engines are gonna blow! If we don't jettison some of this cargo, we're all done for!"

"We have to do something!" Stealth Elf shouted just to be heard. But what could they do? It was taking all of their strength to stay grounded.

"Hey, who's that?" Mags cried, "why, it's Glumshanks!"

Hex jerked at the inventor's words and she began frantically searching for him with her eyes. It didn't take long for her to find his green form struggling against the wind.

"Jumpin' cuttlefish!" Mags exclaimed, "That troll's gone daffy!"

"He's gonna get sucked into the rift!" Hugo screamed, "what's he doing out there?"

Hex's eyes widened as Glumshanks began tugging at the anchoring post, and Mags echoed her own thoughts a second later.

"He's savin' us."

Glumshanks paused as his eyes met the sorceress's and he gave a sad, little smile. Then, with one last yank, he wrenched the stake free. Glumshank's gaze returned to her. He opened his mouth as though to say something, but the wind ripped the words from his throat. And then he was gone…