I need to stop leaving for months at a time.

Also, THIS is the chapter with the massive spoilers for If Only.

Cole looked up at the girl standing in front of him and Jay, falling silent. She was short, not even five feet, and her skin was a deep caramel color. Her hair was black, choppy, and cut very short, with single streaks of red, yellow, and blue on the left side. Her eyes were dark brown. The clothes that hung on her frame were baggy, and clearly too big.

"Who are you?" Cole asked the girl, looking her up and down. She huffed, pushing a pair of cracked glasses up her nose. Ignoring Cole's question, she crouched down, gently checking Jay's knee. The younger boy gritted his teeth, and let out a small whine. The girl quietly soothed him, before looking back up to Cole, nudging her glasses up her nose again.

"At best, it's just sprained," she said. "At worst, broken." She continued to soothe Jay, softly mumbling under her breath to him.

"You never answered my question," Cole said. Her eyes shot back up to his, burning with an emotion Cole couldn't quite pinpoint.

"I'm just here to help," she said. "Then I'm gone." Cole studied her face, willing her to look away, to bend, but she didn't. She stared back with the same intensity and fire in her eyes that he did. Her gaze was firm, and eventually Cole was the one who looked away.

"Are you the girl who was sleeping on a bench three weeks ago?"

She sighed.

"Yes, I am," then the glared, narrowing her dark eyes at Cole. "But there's no way in the Underworld that you're getting me to go back there with you." Cole bit his lip, before nodding at her.

"Jay," he said softly, touching his friend's shoulder. "I'm gonna try to pick you up, okay?" Jay looked up, gripping his friend's shoulders.

"Ready."

Cole slipped one had behind Jay's back, and the other under his knees. When he started to lift his friend, the younger boy cried out in pain, and Cole quickly put him down. The girl let out a sigh, standing up.

"Did you guys walk to the town?" Cole shook his head, absentmindedly rubbing Jay's back.

"We each have a bike," the older boy said, looking at Alex.

"We can sit your friend on his bike, and wheel him back to wherever you guys live," she said, taking a few steps. "Where did you stash them?" Cole told her where they were, and which one's was Jay's, and she started to walk, before pausing and digging through her bag. She handed two rolls or bandages and two long, thick pieces of wood to Cole. "Splint his knee with that. One bandage above his knee, one below. If you can, try to do it without moving his knee at all." She began to walk off again, picking up speed as she turned the corner and disappeared from view.


When the girl got back, she was riding Jay's bike. She skidded to a stop, before getting off the bike and checking the splint on Jay's knee. "Not bad," she said to Cole, before raising her eyes to his again. "Okay, we need to lift him onto the bike. You take most of his weight, while I'll hold his leg steady."

Cole nodded, before moving to lift Jay like he had before. The girl quickly steadied his leg as they sat the boy on his bike, Cole holding the bike up.

"Thank you," Cole said to the girl, as they worked to steady Jay's feet on the bike pedals. The girl looked up, smiling at him.

"It's the least I could do," she said. "I haven't seen you for a while, and... I figured that I should try to make it up to you." She nudged her glasses up her nose again.

"Haven't seen me for a while?" Cole said, looking over at her.

You two know each other?" Jay asked, looking back and forth at the two of them. "Actually... you two look a lot alike." Cole was stunned into silence, looking at the girl.

"You asked what my name was earlier," she said, as her and Cole began to walk, balancing the bike between the two of them. Cole nodded, not trusting his voice to work.

"Well, I'm Alex," she said with a smile. "Alexandra Brookstone. It's been a while since I've seen you, brother."


Kai walked quickly through the streets of the town, trying to find a hotel, or inn, or something, anywhere that he could stay for the night.

He and Zane had been separated two weeks ago, after a Treehorn attacked them. They had run off in different directions, and Kai hadn't been able to find Zane again. So, with what little money he had left, he was struggling to get enough food, and shelter at night. But he had noticed something strange, too.

Some nights, he hadn't been able to find a place to stay, so he would trek a short distance into the woods, clear away some of the snow, and start a fire. But when he was huddled near the flames and the heat, he noticed that, when a breeze would make the flames lick his clothing and hands, they wouldn't burn him. He would be absolutely fine, even when he would reach out and touch the flames, which he did after the first few times they brushed against his clothing.

He sighed, knowing that tonight would be another one of those nights.

So, defeated, he began to walk out of town, going along the road that went through the snow-covered fields and towards the woods at the edge of them. As he was walking out of the town, he saw three kids, one of them sitting on a bike while the other two pushed it between them. Kai continued walking, eventually coming up next to the group. That's when the kid on the bike jumped up, grabbing the shoulder of the boy on his left as the girl struggled to keep the bike steady.

The boy looked up, and the redhead pointed at Kai, making the brunette pause. That's when the boy with the dark hair almost dropped the bike.

"Kai, how on earth did you get here?!"