Argh. No, people, that was not the last chapter! Not nearly!

I should really be doing my English homework... .

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Videll drifted back into conciousness, and immediately curled up tighter. It was cold. Still half asleep, she snuggled closer to the warmth next to her...

...and bumped noses with Ivan. Opening her eyes, she saw that their entire group had formed a little Adept cluster during the night. Looking up, she saw why.

Snow? That couldn't be right. It had been spring yesterday. Carefully, she freed her foot from Isaac's cape, trying not to kick Mia in the face as she did so. As she shook the layer of snow off her clothes, she felt Ivan wake up next to her.

He shivered, pulling his cape tighter around him. "It's cold," he said. Then a look of surprise came over his face. "It's - snowing?"

"I guess I'm not crazy, then," Videll muttered as she loosed her hair. It was full of snow and slush. "I thought it was spring," she added, shaking it out.

Ivan started to stand, then winced and fell back down. "Ouch," he muttered as he pulled up his pant leg. There was a long gash running up his right calf.

"Let me see," Videll said, moving closer to him. With the care of a healer, she gently moved the cloth back to reveal the rest of the cut. "I guess we were all really tired last night. We didn't even do any healing!" The two looked at each other, then at the rest of the party. The two Jupiter Adepts were covered in cuts and burns, results of the beating they had been given by the flame shields of Karst and Agatio. Garet had a few minor cuts, and a painful looking bump forming on the back of his head. Mia and Isaac had both taken major damage from Agatio's sword, and had several nasty-looking gashes.

Videll sighed. "You first," she said, turning back to Ivan.

"Why me? Mia and Isaac are both looking pretty bad. You should do them first."

"Because I'm the healer," Videll said. "Now stay still." Placing one hand on a gash on Ivan's chest, and the other on his injured leg, Videll closed her eyes. The healing winds of her spell swirled around them, Ivan's wounds fading.

Next she examined herself, then healed what needed it. Ivan spoke from behind her.

"Are you sure you should be doing all this healing at once?" His voice was worried. "We just beat Karst and Agatio; you can't have that much energy left."

"Don't forget, we have two healers," Videll reminded him. She held out her hand toward Mia, and her cuts closed. "I'm sure Mia won't mind doing Isaac and Garet."

"No, she won't." Ivan moved over to her. "You rest - I'll wake Mia up." He hesitated before moving away. "I just wish - we had more time alone." He brushed a kiss across her forehead before waking the others.

***

Once Ivan had woken Mia up, she had immediately assumed her position as mother of the party. She had gotten to work on Isaac right away, then fixed Garet's head. Now the Adepts were huddled together in a small cluster, puzzling over the snow.

The weather wasn't the only thing that had changed. The landscape around them had also shifted. Plains had been replaced with forests, forests with mountains.

This posed a problem.

"I really don't want to hike through the mountains during a snowstorm," groaned Garet, sandwiched between Mia and Isaac.

"It would take months to go around them, Garet," Videll chimed in. She and Ivan had formed a warm little ball of Jupiter between Mia and the stairs.

"I just hope our food lasts," Isaac murmured, digging through his pack. They hadn't bothered to stock up at Lalivero when Ivan was captured, and their food was running quite low.

"But what did it?" wondered Mia, staring out at the endless blanket of white. Normally she enjoyed the snow, but not when she had to hike through it. "It wasn't like this last night. It was spring last night!"

"Maybe it has something to do with the lighthouses being lit," suggested Garet. "Y' know, now that there's only one left, Alchemy's almost released or whatever..." He stopped when he saw the others staring at him. "What?"

Videll shook her head, a mischievous grin creeping over her face. "We're just surprised you of all people thought of that, Garet."

"Hey!" He reached over to shove her, but she was ready, and jumped to the side, still smiling.

Ivan shivered as the cold hit his now exposed side. "Get back here, Videll, it's cold," he complained.

Videll gladly obliged, crawling back to the warmth she had left. Tucking herself back between Mia and Ivan, she thought of something else. "We're all out of potions and that stuff, too," she realized. "We'll have to do all our healing by hand. And the healers'll have to handle it if anyone gets sick," she added. "We aren't exactly prepared for cold weather."

Isaac made a face. He didn't like to think about that. Standing up, he started to stretch, then pulled his cloak tighter around him as the wind hit. "I guess we'd better get going if we want to get anywhere today," he sighed. The others rose, grabbing their weapons and packs; their bodies were trained to automatically obey their leader's orders.

Isaac closed his eyes, and a golden glow surrounded their small group. "Retreat," he whispered. In a flash, they were standing in front of the lighthouse entrance once more. Stepping out the door, they drew closer as the snow and wind hit them. Pushing forward through the storm, they began to move toward the new challenge that faced them.

The mountains.

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There. And sorry if all my endings are cliffhangers, but really, everything is.

So review, and tell me what you think!