"You're sure that you're okay, right?"

"I'm fine, Gus, really." Willow assured her friend for perhaps the twentieth time since she had begun explaining what had happened to him. She had to let out an ever-so-slightly exasperated exhale as she did so, but let herself smile just a small bit too. "I'm totally fine. No broken bones, or poisonous cuts or bites or anything."

Luz and Amity had been made to stay behind after school - Apparently due to some… Very colourfully described antics by one of their teachers that Willow didn't even try to make sense of. Whatever had happened, they had to stay behind leaving her and Gus to make their way back to Bonesborough alone.

Although Willow adored Luz, and her friendship with Amity was mending itself more and more with each passing day, and in spite of the relevance that Amity might have had to the situation, Willow wasn't sure about talking about the incident with Skara in the Plant Track homeroom with either of them. Her choice to… Approach Skara like she had been doing for the last week had been a personal one, and one that she wanted to keep personal. She didn't like lying to her friends if it was avoidable, but she wanted to respect Skara's privacy, and that had taken precedence in her mind, especially given how upset Skara was at the idea of her situation being mentioned to others.

So she kept it to herself. She was close to Gus though - Very close. Given everything that they had been through together over the years at Hexside, and how they had been social outcasts for the longest time, it was unavoidable. She trusted him with her life.

When he mentioned seeing Amelia and Cat heading towards the Healers Infirmary, saying that when he saw them, it seemed like they were coming from the Plant Track homeroom, and asked if she knew anything about it - Willow was in the same Track as Amelia, after all - Willow told him, under the condition that he not repeat it to anyone else. About her checking in with Skara, and about what happened in her homeroom.

She didn't mention why though, nor how she found Skara crying last week, nor why she was checking in with her - All she said was that Skara looked upset and that if she saw her, she would check in with her and make sure she was alright. She wasn't going to play into the fears Skara had about rumours spreading. And Gus respected that, and swore himself to secrecy.

It didn't mean he was happy with what he had heard though.

"I didn't mean physically." He clarified.

There was a pause.

He let out a sigh. "...How's Amelia? D'you know?"

"As far as I know, she's gotta stay with the Healers overnight." Willow explained. "Vehemence Witch Traps are… Not the greatest plant to get almost eaten by. She should be okay, just... Might take a while."

"...I thought that Boscha and her crew learned their lesson after that Grudgby game." Gus grumbled. "They've left us alone since. I thought we'd gotten past it."

His anger was understandable, Willow knew. He had put up with as much taunting and mockery from Boscha's crew as she had, almost exclusively because he refused to abandon her when it began.

But still.

"It wasn't… Entirely Skara's fault, you know."

"All you were doing was making sure she was okay." The Illusionist argued. "And she snaps at you for that, riles up your plant, and Amelia gets thrown into the Healers Infirmary! That's not on you, Willow!"

"It's not fair to put Amelia on her, Gus. She didn't know about the Witch Trap. And it only got riled up because I… I was making things worse, apparently." Willow sighed. Her mind floated back, remembering the things said in the exchange.

What, you just think I can't handle myself, is that it?

I don't need you buzzing around me, checking up on me like you actually care!

I am FINE!

It was… Obvious that she wasn't. And by the end of that entire incident, she had admitted as much. How the break-up had affected her as much as it had, how weak it made her feel. How alone it made her feel. How she was forcing on a smile.

Yet… She didn't tell Willow if she wanted her to leave her alone or not. She'd made it clear that she didn't like Willow approaching her, and Willow told her she just had to say so but… She never did.

And now, Willow wasn't sure what to do.

Gus sighed as well. "I should give her a piece of my mind - "

"Do not do that." Willow said immediately, giving him a very stern, and very serious expression. "I'm serious. She's… She's got enough going on as is."

On top of her break-up now, and how difficult she said it was for her, Willow remembered how Boscha had spoken to her. What she now had on her plate, and the way that she reacted to it. That entire environment she was in, just… Whatever that all was. She didn't need more piling on top of that.

For a moment, Gus looked away. His hands had been balled up into fists, but after a couple of seconds, they relaxed. "...Okay. I won't, but… Look, Willow. You know I've got your back no matter what, right?"

"...Yes?"

"I won't say anything to anyone but… It sounds to me like she doesn't want your help. And if she doesn't want your help, then…"

Another sigh escaped Willow. She… Never did get an answer to if Skara wanted her to leave her alone. All she knew for a fact was that Skara wasn't comfortable when she did check in on her.

What was she supposed to do?

"...Maybe."


Skara liked to try to find the joy in just about anything.

It had been difficult, especially recently, with Ves and Willow and the Vehemence Witch Trap and everything else, but Skara had started to try to return to her old self. And a part of that was trying to see the good in things as they came her way.

When she got a C+ on her music note test, she thought about how she could have gotten a C, or worse. When she tripped her way down the stairs after rushing out of Hexside too fast, she took it as a reminder that slow and steady wins at life.

And when she spotted Ves for the first time in weeks walking down the hall, cramming herself inside of a nearby locker certainly gave her an appreciation for its toothy inner workings.

Okay, some of her efforts were a little more forced than others, but she was trying at least.

She was nowhere near her normal self - That was for sure. All of that pain and sadness was still there, she was just… Trying to let something else be there too.

Sometimes she failed. Most times, actually. But she was so sick of feeling miserable so she tried, at least. She tried to find the joy in anything that she could.

Except for getting up at four in the morning on a school day so she could endure an impromptu Grudgby training session.

That was… Completely devoid of joy.

Of anything even resembling joy, for that matter.

"Com'n, Skara! Put your back into it!"

"I… am… Boscha!" Skara strained out. "I don't… know how… you can't tell… you're... literally… on... my back!…"

Skara mentally attempted to keep count of just how many push-ups she'd managed to pull off while Boscha sat atop her, yelling to 'motivate' her.

Normally push-ups weren't the most difficult thing in the world. Doing a ton of them in a row was more difficult, but after Skara had joined the Grudgby team at Boscha's behest, even though she was the benchwarmer, she had been made to join in the physical fitness portions of training, if not the strategies or plays. She'd gotten fairly decent at, at the very least, keeping up with the rest of the team, if only for a short while.

Not that that was good enough for Boscha anymore - Now that Skara was needed to help train the others, Boscha was pushing her to the nth degree. To that end, when Skara had dropped to perform her set, Boscha had come and sat crossed-legged on Skara's back, just to make it that bit more excruciating.

Doing push-ups with someone on your back, it turned out, was difficult. Everything today had been difficult. Extraordinarily so.

Boscha's new training methods were… Certainly creative, to say the least. If Skara didn't know any better, she'd guess that Boscha was enjoying putting her teammates through hell.

"Two-hundred forty…eight!..." Skara exhaled, from behind gritted teeth, with muscles so weak she could barely feel them anymore. "Two-hundred forty… Nine!… Two-hundred and-"

She could barely finish as she collapsed onto the grass, her breath feeling heavier than the weights she'd been made to lift earlier. Her arms felt like they had escaped to some sort of ethereal plane of existence, one that was very damp and sore, where physical touch was a long distant memory. She couldn't even feel her hands.

"So… Tired… Crave… Void..."

"Hey er… Boscha?" Cat walked out, similarly panting and covered in sweat from running laps. "I think… Me and Skara… Kinda did enough."

Boscha stared at her for a moment, before sighing, and looking at her watch. She looked at it for a few seconds, before actually standing up and finally getting off of Skara. "Alright, fine. It's thirty minutes until classes start. Guess we should hit the showers and get ready." She quickly began sprinting towards the locker room. "I call the good shower that actually runs hot water!"

A part of Skara actually wanted to call that out; Boscha had done the absolute least amount of work out of any of them - Nevermind that she was barely even sweating, she could still actually move, for Titan's sake - At the very least, either her or Cat should be allowed to call dibs on the one decent shower, right?

Apparently not though - And honestly, she was way too exhausted to even remotely care right now.

"I'm just gonna… Lay here. Forever." She muttered. What little strength was left in her arm, she used to try to make a waving-away motion. ""I'll… See you all in the next plane of existence."

There was the slightest laugh that followed from Cat. "Come on, Skara, get up."

Skara groaned as Cat helped her up onto her feet. Cat looked absolutely exhausted too, but she had been on the main team for a while now, so she was a bit more used to the demanding training regimen.

"So… How d'you think your first early practice went?" She offered Skara a water bottle once she was on her feet - And right now, water sounded like it was worth its weight in gold.

Quickly, Skara swiped the bottle, gulping down nearly the entire thing in a single swig. Normally, she would have tried to be polite, or appear thankful, or at least try to show a modicum of grace in what she was doing, but after such an intense workout, all Skara was focused on was catching her breath, making her throat less dry, and getting some sensation back into her body.

"Thanks." She panted, returning the bottle. She took a few moments to catch her breath again before answering. "And… I… I have no idea… I'm.. So exhausted…"

"They'll do that to you." Cat nodded, though she did let herself smile slightly at Skara's reactions. "Unless you're Boscha, apparently. She thrives under these practices."

"Boscha barely did anything." Skara muttered.

"Well… Fair point…" A slight pause. "Anyway though, you did well. It… Gets a lot easier, promise."

"I hope so. I don't… I'm not built for this kinda thing."

"You'll get there."

Another slight pause.

"Is… Is Amelia doin' okay? Is she gonna be ready for the Glandus game, or in time for next practice, even?"

It wasn't meant to sound as selfish as it had come out. Skara did care if Amelia was okay, genuinely. But a small part of Skara also liked the idea that, if she felt better sooner rather than later, maybe Skara would be allowed to escape another one of these nightmare training sessions.

Cat gave her a slight look for a moment, and then sighed. "Well, she doesn't think I'm a literal cat now."

"Hey, that's awesome! That's progress, right?"

"Er… kinda? Now she thinks she's some sort of lizard queen, so…"

"...Oh." Skara's face fell. "So... Not a ton of progress, then?"

"No, I'm afraid." Cat shook her head. One of her hands came up to her mouth, and she bit on one of her nails. "Still saying crazy things she never would unless she was under some sort of spell, like being the lizard queen, or talking about 'moon pants', whatever those are supposed to be, or telling me how she thinks I'm pretty and funny and that she really really really-" She cut herself off.

At this point, Skara began to raise an eyebrow at Cat's descriptions "You er, doin' alright?"

"I - I'm fine. Anyway, the, uh, other Healers insist she'll be ok, that it'll just involve a little blood magic to get it out of her system. But they don't see these sorts of cases every day. It's usually the normal stuff baby student's go through, like deep gashes and torn limbs. But a hallucinogenic like this? It, er… It might take them more time than we hoped."

The former benchwarmer felt a pang of guilt as she remembered just why exactly Amelia was in such a sorry state. Maybe if I hadn't been such a baby about… her…

Unfortunately, Cat, being a Healer, and not an Oracle, was unable to read that Skara did not want to be reminded of a certain other plant Witches name.

"Hey, you doing ok? You've been kinda out of it since the whole Willow thing."

Skara felt her entire body physically cringe at the reminder, both from Cat calling Willow by name and at her asking the same question she always had.

"I'm… I'm fine. Swear on the Titan."

It wasn't a full lie, sort of. On one hand, the breakup that had consumed her for so long had begun to fade to the back of her mind. It was now more a creeping spider then howling yeti; still there, but much more out of sight.

The problem, sadly, was that it had been replaced entirely with frustrations over Willow.

Why she still felt so frustrated over this, Skara wasn't sure. Willow had been the one bugging her, poking her, prodding her… It wasn't Skara's fault she'd gotten frustrated over it. Right?

Well it's not like that's a great help for Amelia…

"Well, ok," Cat said, smiling as politely as possible. It was clear she didn't believe Skara, but she didn't press on.

"Uh, tell Amelia I hope she gets better soon, 'kay? And… That I'm sorry? I don't have the time to go myself, but-"

"I gotcha." Cat nodded. "I'll tell her, promise."

She patted Skara on the back and waved her off as she jogged to the lockers, probably hoping to grab the second best shower, the one that might, on occasion, once in a blue moon, could actually produce hot water.

Skara, though, stayed on the field. She sat herself down, legs crossed, as she placed her chin in her hand.

Why… Why can't I just stop thinking about what happened? Why can't I just move on?

She groaned, plopping herself onto her back. Sure, a Grudgby field was the most dangerous place to simply sit and rest in the entire school, but at least if she was crushed or cut open or eaten she wouldn't have to face Hexside or Boscha or Willow…

Another groan - It didn't make even the remotest bit of sense. It made so little sense, it frustrated her beyond measure.

Why? Willow hasn't tried talking to me since that stupid plant attack. I can just ignore her in classes.

It had been what she had wanted since it had begun. Willow was leaving her alone.

After the incident with the giant flower, she knew that Willow leaving her be wasn't the be-all end-all fix to her problems. She knew that, but it didn't change the fact that it had bugged her that Willow kept trying to talk to her - She hadn't been wrong on that. And now, Willow was leaving her alone. She had gotten what she wanted.

And it only seemed to make things worse. And it didn't make any sense.

Sometimes, Skara would see Willow in the corridors, in the halls, just around Hexside, and she'd feel… Bad. It was impossible to properly describe. It seemed like Willow just did everything in her power to avoid looking at Skara, or being near her in the slightest, and it all just… Made her feel bad.

There's… There's no reason I should be this...

Her mind froze for a second.

...I - I don't even know. Stupid? Guilty?

She didn't even know what it was she was feeling right now.

Only that she didn't like it.

The strangely beautiful early morning sky, a mashup of warm oranges and dark hues, was at least a nice sight to see, she supposed, but it wasn't exactly comforting to Skara in this instance. Though she couldn't tell if it was because of the utter brutality of the training that Boscha had put them through, or her emotional state that was preventing that.

Her head fell as she let out another sigh, and as she did so, she spotted a small flower off in her periphery. It had a single stem with a large, white collection of fuzz on it's top. Skara remembered hearing Amelia call them "Tufts," or something similar. It seemed frail, almost too frail for the Isles. Like a single burst of concentrated air could send all it's little pieces out into the sky.

She decided to test that theory. Taking it between her middle and index finger, Skara plucked it from the ground, spinning it as she drew it to her face. Then, with a deep breath, she blew hard onto the tuft, sending all the tiny little seeds out into the world, to create more of these flowers or, more likely, to be eaten by whatever random feral beast wandered into Hexside next.

I just… I hate this. I wish I could just forget all this. That it even happened. That-

Skara heard a loud click from above her. And as an oversized guillotine blade descended upon her, Skara decided it was probably time for her to hit the showers.


One extremely frozen shower later, Skara less walked, and more staggered her way to her locker, about as ready for her day as any other student who started it with an overly intense workout. Her legs felt like jelly, and she had to lean against the walls as she made her way through the halls, just to avoid falling over.

Hexside was filled up with all sorts of students, and apparently one of those groups were a bunch of fitness-freaks that passed Skara as she tried to reach her locker. She heard something about them 'Pushing their muscles to the breaking point' or something, she barely paid any real attention to it. How anyone could enjoy this sort of thing was truly beyond her.

There was no one on the Isles who could possibly enjoy the sort of torment Boscha had just put her through - Skara outright refused to believe that was possible.

Thankfully, as she dragged herself towards her lockers, people who had been leaning against the walls moved out of her way, apparently deciding to just not question what the heck she was dragging herself along the walls for. Which was good, because if they asked, Skara didn't know if she even had the energy to explain.

And even if she did, it would be extremely difficult for her to properly convey just how little she was exaggerating.

So she just kept dragging herself along, trying her hardest to just not pay attention to the looks she was getting. She kept on keeping on, through the hallways as quickly as she could manage, before finally making her way towards her locker, and leaning against the wall for just a moment.

"But that wasn't even the weirdest thing that grew on my head!"

Skara's heart sunk as she heard the human's voice, no doubt regaling her friends with some stupid tale from The Owl Lady's shack or... Wherever. And amongst those friends, she knew one of them had to be…

She tried to ignore it, turning herself to work on opening her locker. It wasn't incredibly difficult to do, just required knowledge on where to tickle. But she tried to put so much effort into it that she could ignore Luz and Amity and Gus and her as they walked by her, that her locker began to cough - A sign that she was tickling it with far too much effort.

Looking at her was… the last thing Skara needed. It felt…

...Way too awkward to, at this point.

As Skara finished, Luz's voice faded, turning across the corner and out of earshot. Skara breathed a sigh of relief. But her wandering eyes couldn't help but glance over to where they gone, just to make certain she was safe.

The good news was that she seemed gone. But for a moment, their youngest member leaned out, glaring in her direction, almost shooting literal daggers at her as he did.

Skara blinked, and he was gone.

Her imagination, maybe? She was utterly exhausted. She rubbed her eyes.

A sudden tap on her shoulder. "Skara?"

"Gah!"

The Bard jumped, spinning around in surprise as she spotted Bo, now recoiling at the sudden reaction she'd had.

"O - Oh, Bo!" Skara awkwardly stammered out. "Hey!"

"Er… Hey.. What, er, what's got you so jumpy this morning?"

"I, uh… It's nothing."

"Oh," Bo said, biting her lip. Like all of Skara's friends, it was clear Bo didn't believe her. "Uh, are you-"

"Yes, Bo, I'm fine, really, truly, honestly, one hundred percent absolutely positively fine." She stopped, realizing just how defensive she sounded. She took a moment to just breathe, and then slowly, exhaled. "I… Sorry. I just-"

"Student's of Mr. Basilisk's classes."

Before Skara could attempt to explain, she found herself cut off by the sudden skwarking of the school loudspeakers, and then, Principle Bump's voice coming through.

"Today, he has planned for you all a surprise trip to the Knee. Accommodations will be made for any and all students who lack the proper attire for the environment. And… Please, nobody try to feed the Slitherbeasts this time. I can only survive so many spirits haunting me…"

The loudspeaker crackled to a halt. Both Skara and Bo blinked at the news. A surprise trip to the Knee? That was… Odd.

"...Huh." Bo blinked for a moment, but then smirked, apparently once the news had properly registered in her mind. "Oh, cool!"

Skara faked a chuckle as her mind raced with trying to figure out who would be coming...

Well, I have him for Ancient BI History, so that means Boscha'll be with me! And Bo has him in one of her classes, so that shouldn't be too bad!

But then there's Luz. And Amity. And Gus. And…

Ten minutes later, and a few hard pulls, Bo finally ended Skara's plan to once again learn about the shadowy escape of the Hexside lockers.


Field Trips weren't exactly uncommon with Hexside - A lot of the teachers at the school thought that it was good development for their students to be exposed to as many different environments that the Isles and that Magic had to offer. Even young Witches in the Baby Class would find themselves visiting the Astral Plains or one of the seven Spirit Realms, or to the Skull. Rumour was that even the Emperor himself encouraged it.

Some of those trips were so common that they were presented as a surprise to the classes that went on them. At least, ones that weren't day-long affairs. If a trip was to take up most of a day, then normally, the class would be informed beforehand.

That was what made the announcement of the trip today so unusual to Skara. Why hadn't they been informed beforehand?

She contemplated all of this as the Flying Boat that was taking them to the Knee flew above Bonesborough, and as she watched her hometown become smaller and smaller as the boat began to fly. Getting to the Knee wouldn't take all that long at all - It would take less time than it would have taken to get to Glandus, or to the Emperor's Palace. To that effect, a protective barrier spell had already been cast, designed to keep all the students and the faculty warm from the cold as they approached their destination.

Skara had taken her seat next to Bo, while Boscha took a seat behind her. Skara didn't really know what to do the entire trip, what to say or do. She occasionally closed her eyes, tried to catch a few extra minutes of blissful sleep, but a sudden lurch of the boat or a sudden shriek from a random student over one stupid thing or another forced Skara wide awake.

This, she thought, rubbing her eyes after the third time being interrupted, is gonna be a long trip...

Once the flying boat landed, everyone made their way to disembark. When Skara passed the protective barrier and stepped off the boat, she felt her foot sink up to her ankle in fresh snow.

She shivered, and began to hug herself. It was extremely cold. The Knee was one of the coldest regions of the Isles practically the entire year round, granted, but even then it was colder than she had expected, even with their protective, fur-coated cowls, coats, and insulated boots.

Maybe it had just been the sudden shift in temperature - Thanks to the protective barrier, everyone had been protected from the winds and sheer cold that characterized the Knee until they had finally stepped out of it, and experiencing it so suddenly felt like the temperature equivalent of running into a wall.

Either way though, it felt a lot colder than she was used to. And around her, she could notice that the other students were reacting in a similar way.

Mr. Basilisk, seemingly also cold, formed a spell circle, and a large fire burst forth from the nearby snow, which everyone quickly settled around. It was still colder than it had been on the boat ride over, but it started to help people acclimate to their new environment. As soon as that had been done, Mr. Basilisk went off to join the rest of the teachers as they discussed… Teacher things, Skara supposed. The students began to congregate into small groups around the fire, chatting idly while they waited for an announcement on what they were doing here.

"Brrr!" Bo shivered, making her way to the fire to heat up. She held her hands open in front of the flames, allowing them to heat up. "What d'you think they've brought us out here for?" She asked.

"No idea." Skara answered, rubbing her hands together to generate warmth. She took another scan of the area, though she wasn't looking for anything in particular. Predictably, that didn't help. "Hey er, am I going crazy, or was this trip not mentioned yesterday?"

Bo shook her head. "Not that I remember. I heard about it for the first time with that announcement."

"Ah." Was the only response Skara had. If that were the case, she could at least take comfort in the fact that her emotional, mental, and physical state hadn't distracted her so entirely that she had missed some sort of relatively big announcement.

Although that did confirm that this kind of trip was at least a little bit out of the ordinary, then.

"Hey." Bo said. "You never did tell me what's got you so jumpy today."

"Oh. Sorry, I just… I had to do Grudgby training this morning, 'cause I'm substituting for Amelia and…" She yawned. "...I'm gonna be honest, I'm… Beyond exhausted."

"Well, that explains you nearly falling asleep on the ride over here."

"Yeah… Guess I'm a bit… Out of it."

"You okay?"

"I… I'm fine." Skara smiled, although it was still a very forced and fake one. Out of all her 'friends' at Hexside, Bo was probably one of the ones that Skara kept the shortest distance from.

"Attention, everyone!"

All eyes turned back towards the teachers, who had now all taken a position just slightly higher up the mountainside so they could look down at the students. Mr. Basilisk stood ahead of the other teachers, and was also the one who had addressed the noisy students in front of him.

When everyone had silenced themselves and were focused on their Magical History teacher, he began to speak again. "Thank you - Now, I'm sure you're all wondering why you've been brought here without any warning."

The thought had crossed my mind, Skara thought to herself.

"To answer that - Mrs. Haruspex?"

Mr. Basilisk took a step back, and Mrs. Haruspex took a step forward. The only things Skara knew about this particular teacher were what she could see right now - They had green skin, four eyes, and looked to be an elder. And that she was an Oracle Track teacher, if her dark-purple clothing with a weird upside-down eye symbol on her broach indicated anything.

"You've all been brought here to expand your horizons as Witches." Mrs. Haruspex told them. Skara couldn't tell from this distance, but she could have sworn that the eyes of the woman all scanned different directions. "Magic, just as anything else, has an enormous number of utilities, many of which most of you will have not even considered before. A number of you have changed your Tracks, some a number of times, because you learned that you are more suited to another type of Magic."

For the first time in the last couple of weeks, Skara thought of Willow without it being in some sort of confusing miasma - She'd previously been in the Abomination Track, but had gotten transferred to the Plant Track. Changing what Track one was on wasn't exactly unheard of.

"Perhaps after we're done here, you will discover that you chose the wrong type of Magic once again, or that you're now more certain in your current choice of Magic. Eliminating that uncertainty is why we're here today. And once that uncertainty is eliminated, perhaps then you will find yourself with a new focus and drive."

A few students glanced back and forth with one another. Was that what they were here for? A certainty check?

Two of Mrs. Haruspex's eyes began to glow a purple haze as she spoke, and she took off her Witch's hat from atop her head. Inside it was more of that purple haze, but it seemed to be more concentrated, with certain areas seeming to be thicker while others were almost paper thin, as though there were multiple, distinct pieces of the haze within the hat, constantly overlapping one another.

"To that end, you are all going to be paired up with another student."

She reached into her hat, seemingly grabbing pieces of the haze, and then throwing two of them out into the air. All of the students' eyes were on them as they floated in the air for a few seconds, before they shot down towards a group of students, enveloping their heads.

Amity and Gus.

The pair of them, although only a couple of feet apart from one another to begin with, were essentially dragged by their heads towards, and almost into, one another before the spirits released them, and returned to the teacher's hat. Amity and Gus both just looked at one another, confused, before returning their attention back to their teacher, watching the pair of them almost like she'd been waiting for them to look back at her. There was an ever-so-slight smirk on her face.

"The spirits will look into you, and shall then select you and your partner based on your potential for growth" She explained. An almost sinister, mild chuckle followed. "Trust in the spirits, children."

Another pair of spirits were thrown into the air, and they fell towards, and dragged another two students together. And another, and another, and soon, nearly everyone seemed to be criss-crossing through the snow as the spirits pulled them by their heads towards whom they decided would benefit the most from working with them.

At one point, with a yelp, Boscha was dragged around the fire, behind and past Skara and Bo, towards her chosen partner - Mattholomule, from the Construction Track.

Pretty evidently not her first choice, judging from her expression.

"Man, Boscha does not look happy with that." Skara muttered to herself, watching as the Potions Witch's expression twisted in disgust, until she looked like she'd just been slapped in the face.

"Hm? What'd you sa- "

Bo hadn't even managed to finish her sentence before her head was enveloped, and she was dragged to the opposite side of the fire towards her newly assigned partner - Which apparently, was Luz.

They both looked at one another with the same surprise Skara felt. How in the heck were they going to benefit from one another? Did they even -

Suddenly feeling a spirit envelop her own head was an… Odd experience, to say the least. It was like suffocating, or drowning, but being able to breathe at the exact same time, so it… Wasn't really like either of those things at all. Skara wasn't sure how to describe it in the single second that she had to register what had happened, before she found herself being dragged by the head towards whoever it was that she was going to find herself assigned with for this.

It was only a second or two of being pulled along before she was all but essentially thrown at her partner for all of this.

And somehow, when she looked up to see who she had been paired with, it didn't even remotely surprise her that she had been partnered with Willow.

"...Hey." Willow spoke first, and it reminded Skara of that first time that Willow had approached her, which ended up with the Bard getting her arm trapped in her locker's mouth. Awkward and unsure.

"...Hi." Skara responded.

Neither one of them could think of a single thing to say after that - They both just turned back towards the fire and the rest of the student body, waiting for the partnering process to be completed. When she turned, Skara saw all of Willow's friends looking towards the pair of them, a different expression on each of their faces.

Confusion on Luz's.

Apprehension on Amity's.

And anger on Gus's.

Willow walked the few steps needed to return to her friend group. Skara remained exactly where she was.

It took a few minutes for the rest of the student body to be fully paired up, but eventually, everyone had a partner assigned to them. Some were very clearly less happy than others, and some pairings, like Luz and Bo, didn't make even the slightest bit of sense. That was the way of the spirits though, apparently. And there weren't any 'takesies-backsies', as a couple of pairs that attempted to do found out, to less than non-explosive-and-flammable results.

Mrs. Haruspex took a few steps back after the final spirit had returned to her hat. The entire time, that same, almost sinister chuckle was with her. She stood next to the other teachers, and her eyes remained hidden behind the rim of the hat now back atop her head, and not once did she show any signs of stopping her chuckling.

"...Is it just me or is that teacher… Really creepy?" Skara heard Amity ask.

"Actually that's… Pretty tame for Mrs. Haruspex, all things considered." Luz responded, flatly.

Skara found herself quite happy that she hadn't opted to go for the Oracle Track, suddenly.

"Ahem." Mr. Basilisk cleared his throat to gather the attention of the students again. Once everyone was silent, he began. "Thank you. Now that you have been paired up, I shall now inform you as to what your lesson here will be."

He took off his rather large backpack, placed it in front of him, and opened it up. He reached in, and from it, he produced a single piece of paper, which he then threw gently to his side. The paper began to float on it's own for a few seconds, before it then, seemingly out of nowhere, unfolded, over and over and over again, until it was nearly ten times the original size.

It was a magical map of the Knee.

At the top of the now unfolded map, the peak of the knee was shown, complete with small, simplistic, yet stylistic drawings of the ruins that were scattered atop it. Towards the bottom, was an equally stylistic drawing of the fire they were all surrounding. A red dot flashed off and on again, catching the eyes of the students.

"You are here." Mr. Basilisk pointed towards the blinking red dot. "And your task for this trip will be to reach here." His hand trailed towards the peak of the Knee. "However - Each pair will receive a unique map, and on that map, you will find a number of similar markers, in a different colour."

Brushing his hand against the page, a series of lights began to burn onto the page. Some orange, some yellow, some green, and others a variety of colours. Some were located in the tops of trees, others in some tiny ruin that scattered the sides of the mountains, and some seemed to be buried by snow.

"These markers will indicate the location of a series of orbs that have been scattered throughout the area." Mr. Basilisk continued. "Your task will be to find each of the ones located on your map before you reach the summit."

"Ooooh, so it's like orienteering." Luz muttered quietly. When her friends turned to look at her with confused expressions, she explained, "It's a thing that we did in sports classes back on Earth. You had to use a map and compass to find like, numbers or tags or something that were hidden throughout an area."

"...What's a compass?" Willow asked.

"A thing for helping you know if you're heading north or south."

"Oh."

"Each one of these maps has been designed so that your likelihood of running into another pair is severely limited." Mr. Basilisk continued. "This is to ensure that you have to rely on your partner - And you will have to rely on your partner to get through this experience."

There was a pause that followed, as if he wanted the students to let that knowledge sink in. A few pairs glanced towards one another. There were a variety of reactions. Some looked pleased and eager, while others looked disgusted and irritated.

Willow glanced towards Skara. Skara looked away.

"Teams will leave in five minute intervals from one another, so you can't rely on following another group." Mr. Basilisk said, as he recalled the Magical Map back to its regular size, and into his pockets. He then moved his rucksack so it was easier for the students to reach into it. "Come collect your maps, and make your way towards Professor Necneque. They will inform you when you're allowed to begin!"

One by one, the pairs of students made their way towards the rucksack to claim their maps. The pairs would then make their way towards the professor, and they would send them off on their way after the set amount of time had passed.

Throughout the process of waiting, Skara kept her distance from Willow and her group of friends. They all stuck together, talking the entire time, and laughing about something or another. Skara didn't pay too much attention to what exactly they said, just sort of tuning it out. Somehow, she got the distinct feeling that she wasn't wanted.

So instead, she looked up the paths that led up the Knee, and wondered which ones she was going to have to take. How long it was going to take to scale. What the purpose of this entire field trip and lesson was supposed to be. And what she was even supposed to say or do in regards to Willow throughout the entire event.

I have to rely on Willow for this?

In the corner of her eye, she saw Willow looking her way. When her head turned, the Plant Witch looked away.

A sigh escaped Skara.

"Hey… You doing okay, Skara?" Bo asked, tapping her on her shoulder.

"Huh?" Skara turned back towards Bo, surprised for a moment. "Oh - Yeah. I'm fine. Just… Tired. From Grudgby. Not exactly looking forward to trekking up there for the next few hours." She pointed behind her, up the Knee with her thumb as she spoke. It was only a half lie, too.

Everything else aside, she wasn't exactly excited about the prospect of a mountain hike for whoever knew how long.

"Okay - Skara and Willow, you're up!"

Hearing her name and that of her assigned partner called up, Skara stiffened up, and then let out another small sigh. She looked over at Willow, and at the same time, Willow looked over to her. There was a brief pause where they both stood still.

And then they both began to set off.

"...She'd better not mess with Willow."

Skara's ears twitched - That had been Gus's voice. And there was an edge to it. An anger. One Skara hadn't heard from him before.

He'd only spoken about her once he believed her to be out of earshot - But she was a Bard. Her hearing was a lot better than most. Skara could have turned around, stared him down, made it clear she could hear every word he was saying. It would have shut him up.

...But what would have been the point?

"Does… Anyone have any idea why those two would've been paired up?" Luz's voice. There wasn't any sharpness to it though. Nothing like Gus's. Just confusion, and concern.

"No idea." Amity's.

"I don't care what the reason was." Gus's again. "If she does anything to hurt Willow-"

"I know Skara isn't exactly your favourite person, but she's not just, pointlessly malicious like that! She... Won't do anything like that."

That was Bo's voice. That almost made Skara turn around.

It almost made her smile. It… It was nice, to know that at least someone was willing to speak up for her.

...It was just a shame that after Hexside, it wouldn't matter.


If there was one person that Willow did not want to be partnered up for this, it was Skara.

To be fair, it wasn't because Skara was being a jerk. It was quite the opposite, actually.

Skara hadn't even really said... Anything. The two of them had wandered through the forests of the knee in a relative silence, Skara wandering behind Willow like a crimson ghost, not making any sound at all for the longest time, not even letting her footsteps in the snow make any noise. It was almost like she wasn't even there

The trouble was… Well, she was there! Right behind her, always. Constantly forcing her to drudge up memories of everything that went down.

After everything with the Vehemence Witch Trap, Willow hadn't been sure what she was supposed to do when it came to Skara.

She took another look at the map briefly, just to make sure that they were headed in the right direction. As far as she could tell, they were - The orb that they were looking for was yellow, and it was supposed to be in a clearing fairly deep into one of the forests that dotted the Knee. They seemed to be making good time. She closed the map, let out a small sigh, and ever so briefly, glanced behind her.

It had only really just then occurred to her just how… Utterly convoluted and complicated a situation that she had found herself in. How Skara was internally handling the break-up, how it was all processing in her mind, combining that with her… Frankly warped perception of friendship, and the fact that she didn't seem to even comprehend the idea of being concerned about someone without an ulterior motive of some sort. And combining all of that with… Whatever it was that she had seen between Boscha and Skara after all of that had been said and done.

Honestly, Willow didn't know how welcome she was in this entire situation. Skara had made it clear that she didn't want Willow's interference, even though she never actually said it when Willow prompted her to.

But Gus had been right, she realized - Skara had to be the one to approach her, after everything that they had said had been said. Skara needed to tell her that she wanted her to try to reach out. That she didn't want Willow to leave her alone.

Otherwise another incident like the Witch Trap was inevitable. And the first one had put Amelia into the custody of the Healers. Willow didn't want to repeat it.

And she had been pushing Skara without realizing it. She didn't want to repeat that, either.

It did leave being around Skara… Awkward though.

Willow led, Skara stayed a healthy distance away from her, and everything continued smoothly.

Unfortunately, they didn't continue smoothly for long.

"...Are… Are we there yet?" Skara groaned, the first words out of her mouth since the two began their trek. She sounded utterly exhausted.

"We've... Only been hiking for about ten minutes." Willow replied. She took another glance at the map. "It'll be about an hour or so hike to our orb from the looks of the map, so-"

Skara groaned again. This time, her tone was a lot more visceral. "Great. I get up at four in the morning for stupid Grudgby practice, and now I get to spend the next hour hiking. What a perfect day for my feet…"

"...Look, Skara." Willow sighed and turned, staring at Skara and speaking like a teacher with a particularly troublesome student. "All we have to do is follow the map, get to the orb, go through whatever…. Weird thing the spirits want from us, or whatever is supposed to be happening here, and then we're done with it, okay? So please, just... Don't whine about this? I'm not entirely happy about it myself, if it helps any."

The Bard blinked, seemingly in surprise, before narrowing her eyes. "Ok. Fine, sure, whatever. Works for me." She gestured for Willow to keep moving. "Lead the way."

This felt a lot more like the Skara that Willow had known for the last few years.

She bit her tongue. A part of her wanted to make a snide remark. It wasn't as if it wouldn't be just and deserved. But Willow also knew that saying anything wouldn't help either of them. If she tried, it would just end in the two of them bickering and fighting. And the last thing Willow wanted at this point was to spend any more time than needed with the Bard. And she was getting the distinct feeling that the Bard felt the same way.

So… That's that, then.

With a small turn, Willow marched herself forward, and Skara followed, apparently now not caring if Willow could hear her footsteps in the snow anymore.

They aimed upwards, up towards the location on their map where they could collect their orb, and then up to the summit.

And after that, they wouldn't have to say a word to one another ever again.


The hike continued, onwards and upwards, for about an hour.

It wasn't a completely clean climb, either - They had run into a few obstacles, like fallen trees blocking the path that they had needed to climb over, losing exactly which path they were following for a brief period of time under the snow before finding it again, and one time, having to be extremely careful with how much noise they made, lest they anger a Slitherbeast they spotted just below a cliffside that they walked upon. The most difficult thing that they had encountered was the fact that occasionally, some flakes of snow would fall from the sky.

Not completely clean, but certainly not painful.

Each of these obstacles, they managed to make their way around, in a fairly decent time. None of them were especially difficult to work around. In fact, that described much of the initial hike - Not especially difficult.

That raised the question though, at least in Willow's mind - Why had they been paired up for any of this? This wasn't a difficult climb. Time consuming, but not difficult.

Sure, it made sense to not just let teenagers climb the mountain on their own, if only for legal reasons - Willow recognized that - But they had made… Such a big deal about how the spirits had chosen them specifically based on their potential for growth, and that they would need to rely on one another. But so far, Willow and Skara hadn't needed to exchange much in the way of words, nevermind rely on one another to accomplish the climb.

So, what was this all supposed to be? The questions occupied most of Willow's thoughts -

Then, Willow stopped. Unfortunately, a completely unaware Skara didn't see this, and walked right into her.

"Oof!" Skara stumbled for a second before regaining her balance. "What - "

"We're finally here." Willow said, a sigh of relief escaping her lips. "Just beyond this clearing."

"Oh, thank the Titan!" Skara grinned, and showed even the smallest bit of energy for the first time since their climb had begun.

Willow formed a small spell circle, and the pine tree's branches that obscured their way rose themselves up, like tiny antennas up into the skies, and revealing a small clearing.

"Behold," Willow said, gesturing to the clearing, "The first leg of our journey, complete!"

At the centre of the clearing, surrounded by small mounds of snow underneath the heavy canopy of trees, sat a glowing orb atop a tall pedestal. Skara, just a moment ago seemingly too tired to keep herself awake, dashed her way past Willow, rushing to the crystal ball with a wide grin on her face. "Alright! Let's get this thing!"

Willow rolled her eyes, but walked behind Skara, keeping her eyes on the light brown or-

Wait.

"Hold on..." Willow muttered. "I could have sworn…"

In her hands, Skara held the orb, a grin on her face nearly reaching ear to ear. "We got it! Now we just need to get to the summit, right?"

Willow stared into it. The orb was… Not Yellow.

It was green.

"That… That isn't our orb." She realized aloud.

"Eh?" Skara blinked a couple of times. "It's not what, sorry?"

"It's not our orb." Willow repeated, her hand reaching for her face, and pinching at the bridge of her nose as much as her grip would physically allow her to. "Our orb is supposed to be yellow, like on the map." Her other hand showed the map to Skara. "This is green. This isn't our orb."

For a moment, Skara just stood there. She didn't say anything, or do anything.

Then, with a mighty heft that only a Grudgby player could match, she tossed the stupid thing as far as it could go. It was launched at such speeds that Willow didn't actually see where it ended up. She didn't even hear it land.

"Well!" Skara shouted, throwing her hands into the air. "Isn't that just great!!"

She paced back and forth, annoyed and frustrated on every level. It seemed much more like an explosion of pent up frustration than anything else. Like with the Vehemence Witch Trap.

"Fantastic! Just fantastic!"

She kicked up some snow as she paced.

"Today's just been swell!" She was no longer shouting, but her voice was utterly coated with the thickest sarcasm and cynicism Willow had ever heard in her life. "First I get dragged out of bed to a stupid sportsball game I don't even like and get run ragged, then this stupid field trip to a frozen tundra, paired up with you-"

Even if they weren't anything even approximating friends, that did still sting Willow.

"-And now you're telling me that we traipsed all this way to find some stupid orb, and because you can't even read a map right, we ended up at the wrong orb?!" What sounded like an actual, but very bitter laugh escaped the Bard. "There aren't even any other orbs marked on the map! How did you even accomplish this!?"

"I just followed where it told me to go!"

"So you're telling me the map somehow just led you to another orb - Just not the one we're supposed to be looking for? What, is the map defective?"

"I don't know - Maybe we ended up on the wrong path after it got buried by snow earlier, or we took a wrong turn or -" Willow shook her head. "It doesn't matter. We'll have to retrace our steps until we know where we are, or head back to the starting camp, or -"

"Oh, yay! Another hour of wandering around in the snow with, evidently, no clue where we're going!" " Skara kicked up another pile of snow, and then took a seat on a nearby log. She rested her elbows on her knees, and held her face in her hands. "Just great." She mumbled, a slight hitch to her voice. "Just - Just wonderful."

It wasn't like Willow didn't understand the frustration, but...

"Well... The sooner we start going back, the better. So…" Willow turned herself back towards the way they'd come, and began to walk. But as she exited the clearing, she heard a 'fwump' sound.

Turning back, she spotted Skara, splayed out on the snow on her back, groaning.

"Uh, Skara?"

"Just... Put me out of my misery." The Bard grumbled. "I can't walk back."

...Willow only had so much patience left.

"Skara, please don't do this." She tried to make it as clear in her voice as she possibly could that she was in absolutely no mood for any of this. "We're behind everyone else as it is."

Another groan. "I'm working on five hours of sleep, and nearly six hours straight of physical exercise - I need a break."

"I want to make good time back. We don't have time for a break."

"Just ten - five minutes. Just give me that."

"We don't have time."

"We're already an hour behind everyone else at this point - What's wrong with a little break?"

Because I don't want to be your partner anymore. Because I want to go back to Hexside and never have to think about you or everything that's happened ever again.

"Because I said so," Willow muttered. "Now come on, let's go?"

"No."

"What?"

"I told you, I can't." Skara repeated. "I've barely even been able to feel my legs for the past six hours. I need a rest. If you wanna go, you go on ahead, and I'll just lay here 'till I'm ready."

Willow could feel her bile sac pumping faster. "Skara, we're a group. We shouldn't leave each other behind-"

"You want to be in a group with me about as much as I want to be in a group with you, so what the heck do you even care?"

Skara got her there, Willow had to admit.

"...You know what? Fine." Willow spun around. "Fine! Screw it! No one gets to say I didn't try my hardest!"

Both with this trip, and with Skara.

"Just lay there. I'll see if we can get the longboat to come here and pick you up! Or maybe a Slitherbeast'll find you and eat you by then! See if I care!"

Her patience having finally snapped, Willow began to make her way down the same path they had come up, feeling a burning anger in her gut. She'd done everything that she could, tried her hardest, put up with far more than she otherwise would have, done everything she could have thought to do, but in the end, Gus had been right.

Skara didn't want her help, and Willow had no intention of wasting it on her again.


Skara couldn't believe Willow! After over an hour of walking, she just wanted to keep doing it? No breaks? Even at her best, Skara wasn't sure she'd be able to pull it off. But now, as exhausted as she was, with her muscles aching and with barely even a minute to catch her breath?

All she wanted to do was lay down and take a nap. It didn't matter that the snow surrounding her was wet and freezing her solid, it was better than taking another step with Willow.

"Well, at least she's finally gone." Skara formed a small pile of snow and nuzzled the back of her head onto it. If she ignored how clearly un-pillowlike it was, she could convince herself it was, in fact, a pillow.

As she tried to set herself up for a proper nap, she thought to herself about what Willow had yelled.

Just lay there. I'll see if we can get the longboat to come here and pick you up! Or maybe a Slitherbeast'll find you and eat you by then! See if I care!

Stupid Willow. At this altitude, it wouldn't matter - Slitherbeasts avoided this altitude. Why exactly wasn't known, they resided in regions both above and below this altitude, but they avoided this height. It just seemed to be one of their quirks.

...Titan, and she was doing so good at not thinking of Ves.

He always loved the Knee beasts the most. He'd go on about them for hours. It was really dorky and silly.

Apparently, she wasn't doing as great as she had thought that just maybe, she was.

Skara shook her head, trying to shake away the melancholic memories. "Well, who needs him? Who needs Willow? I'll just take a small nap, and by the time I wake up, I'll be able to make it back down to the boat in no time!"

On one hand, Skara knew taking a nap in the middle of the coldest place on the Boiling Isles was... Probably a bad idea. And under even remotely normal circumstances where she wasn't infuriated, depressed, and exhausted beyond measure, she wouldn't even dream of it. On the other hand, wasn't that what her parents had always told her youth was for? To have bad ideas, make dumb mistakes, so that when you were older you could both know better, and have amazing stories to tell your friends?

...Well, whatever. It was what she wanted to do, and screw what was smart.

Besides, if any piece of knowledge that her ex had taught her had stuck, it was that this far down the Knee, there weren't that many predators dangerous to Witches. Maybe the occasional Spider-Yeti, but those things were practically extinct!

Wait… Was it extinct or exorbitant? Hm… Oh, it was definitely extinct.

90% sure of it.

Skara sighed. "Well… Guess I'll just try to get a little rest then." A small magic circle summoned her harp, and Skara began to play a lullaby to herself. "Good night, harp." She yawned. "Good night, snow. Good night, trees. Good night, Yeti-Spiders. Good night, Skara…"

She closed her eyes.

And then opened them, looking straight up into the treeline as a large, white shape descended upon her.

Quick as she could, she tried to cast a spell on her harp to fend it off, but before she could, it slammed itself on top of her, and screeched in her face, a horrific sound like the dying wail of a thousand lost souls. And in Skara's paralyzing panic, it shot it's venom at her.

All she could do was scream before everything went black.


Willow's ears perked at the sudden cry as it echoed out across the air. Without even a moment of self doubt, Willow knew exactly who it was.

"SKARA!"

Turning on her heels, Willow bolted full speed back to the clearing. She dodged trees and fallen branches, trying to find the best path to follow back. She could feel her heart pumping, bile sac thumping against her chest.

She was such an idiot!

Well, great! Just great! You let Skara out of your sight and now she's probably getting eaten or mauled or something horrible because you couldn't take a break!

Or rather, because she was selfish. Because she hadn't wanted to be around Skara. And now, Skara was in trouble, because of her.

And Willow wasn't going to let her get hurt.

As she reached the clearing, a loud rustling in the tree's broke her concentration. Looking up, she spotted a fast blur of white, darting from tree to tree. Some sort of beast that lived on the Knee - Willow didn't have even the slightest idea what it was supposed to be. It had a lot of limbs and white fur, but that was all that she could make of the creature.

And as she watched, she realized it held on its back a Witch sized web cocoon. Her heart froze.

That thing must have grabbed Skara!

Immediately, she bolted after it, only ever taking her eyes off of it to make sure that she wasn't about to slam straight into a tree or a rock or anything like that. The creature moved fast, but in between it's leaps from tree to tree, it needed a few seconds to calculate it's next jump, which gave Willow the few precious seconds she needed to keep up with it.

Willow's mind raced with ideas of what she could do as she sprinted after it. I could control the tree's to attack it. But I can't guarantee Skara's safety that way. I could try to take it down myself… No, that's insane! I don't even know what that thing is…

Finally, she settled on the best idea she could come up with on such short notice.

I'll get to its lair. If it hasn't eaten Skara yet, it'll probably save her for later, so maybe I can free her before that happens. Solid plan!

It was an absolutely terrible plan and she knew it.

But it wasn't like she had any other options.

The white blur kept flying through the treetops as Willow continued running, trying to keep it in her sight without being detected. The last thing she needed was to join Skara as it's orderve.

Eventually, the… Thing that had taken Skara slowed. Willow stopped as it began to crawl down the tree's side, and towards a cave on the side of the nearby cliff. And Willow got a good look at just what exactly had taken Skara.

It was a larger than average spider, obviously; eight legs, creepy pincers, and a lot of eyes. Lots of eyes. All the hallmarks of a classic spider if Willow had ever seen one, albeit blown up about as large as a Slitherbeast. But unlike most spiders Willow had seen, this one was absolutely covered in snow white fur, from its head to its toes. A noise that she could only describe as clicking came from its mouth, and it skittered about the place too, staying utterly still for a few seconds, before quickly scuttling around, or twitching one of it's legs, like a normal spider would, creating a very… Uncomfortable display.

The Plant Witchgulped. She didn't enjoy most bugs on a good day, but this…

"It's okay, Willow." She whispered to herself, watching as the spider crawled it's way into the cave. She made herself breathe steadily. "Just tiptoe inside, open Skara's cocoon, run out. Everything will be fine! No problems."

Willow wished she was better at lying to herself.

But, confident or not, Willow took in a deep breath, let it out slowly, and began to trek towards the spider's cave.


The cave didn't seem too unpleasant, so long as she ignored the fact that she was in a giant spider's cave, the dripping walls and crunching noises beneath her feet that were definitely not bones so long as she never looked down!

Why does every creature on the Boiling Isles with a cave have to leave their... Twigs everywhere?!

She forced herself to calm down - Skara was in here somewhere. Unless she had already been eaten. In which case this entire escapade was completely pointless but if there was even a chance she was in here, then Skara needed her, and Willow needed to find her.

Just one step at a time… Just continue to breathe…. Just ignore the bo - the twigs. Just ignore the twigs…

Before Willow could further unsettle herself further by… Acknowledging where she was, she reached it; the central hub of the cave. It was a large, domed cavern, adorned with spider webs of all shapes and sizes across its walls. About as barren as one could expect a cave to be, honestly, though the hub was fairly large, relatively speaking.

On the opposite end, the largest web, adorned with torn up shards of webbed up cocoons.

And near its top, one perfectly intact.

Willow looked around, attempting to spot the spider. Unfortunately, she did spot it, and spent the next minute attempting to wash away the horrifying sight of its feasting.

That's what's gonna happen to Skara if I don't do something. Fast!

At least the spider looked like it would be feasting for some time, leaving Willow with ample opportunity to try to save Skara. Her eyes darted across the floor in search of anything that might be able to slice through the webbing. Finding what she could only assume to be a white stone that just felt like a half chewed rib piece on the ground, she drew out a small spell circle for a root to pick her up. Willow couldn't risk the spider hearing her footsteps across the… twigs, but the root, wrapped firmly around her, slid through the air as silently as possible. She kept her eyes on the spider the whole time, readying herself for an attack.

I don't want to hurt that thing if I don't have to. But if I have to…

Luckily, it didn't notice, still enjoying what Willow could only assume was an earlier victim. As she finally reached Skara's cocoon, she lightly tapped the root. "It's okay. I got this now, buddy." The root stopped, allowing Willow to prepare her 'rock' knife.

Here it goes…

She cut through the webbing, trying to only hit deep enough that she could get to the centre herself so she didn't hit Skara. When she did, Willow smiled; the webbing fell apart, revealing an unconscious Skara lying inside, almost peaceful in her posing, like she was asleep and not about to be eaten by some large spider.

"Yes!" Willow hissed, pumping a fist in the air in victory, and instantly regretted it.

Afraid she was too loud, she clamped her fists over her mouth, hoping to silence any future noise. But luckily, the spider seemed too focused on it's meal to hear her. So Willow reached out gingerly, tore through the few strands of spider webbing left, and grabbed Skara, pulling her out of the cocoon.

"Gotcha!"

Sleepily, Skara opened her eyes. First to slits, then to a half lidded look. She didn't seem to be fully aware of where exactly she was.

"Mom?" She yawned out, without any care for who could hear her. "I feel fun-"

Willow clamped a hand over Skara's mouth. Her half-awake eyes now widened in panic, realization dawning on her that, no, this was not her mother, and no, she was not in her room, but about thirty feet in the air, being held aloft by, of all people, Willow.

The Plant Witch shushed Skara with her free hand, and then pointed towards the giant spider. Skara's eyes followed the finger, until she finally saw it.

Her eyes only grew wider, and it looked as though everything that had happened prior to being rescued suddenly came flooding back into the Bard's memories. She looked as if she wanted to scream, clearly terrified. Willow could practically feel the blood pumping through Skara, hard and fast. Willow had to think of something.

"Hey, hey," Willow whispered, trying to sound as reassuring as possible. "Look at me, okay Skara?"

Skara looked to Willow, clearly no less terrified of the situation simply by looking away from the giant spider. So Willow continued.

"You scared?"

Skara nodded.

"Me too. But see, there used to be something I was even more afraid of! It was this big, humongous hurdle in my life."

The clearly terrified Bard raised an eyebrow, still scared, but also deeply confused.

"But don't worry - I got over it."

For a second, there was absolutely no response.

Then, Skara's eyes twitched, blinked, and then widened again. This time, in amused bewilderment. Willow felt hot air against her hand - Which, honestly, was a welcome feeling on this frigid Knee - as the once terrified girl began to snicker.

"S - Seriously?" She heard, muffled through her hand. "W - What was that?"

"My attempt at humour." Willow shrugged as the root gently placed the two down at the entrance to the room. Skara was still snickering at it, so she quietly hissed, "Hey, you're the one laughing at it!"

Skara chuckled, sliding out from Willow's arms and standing back on her own two feet. "I wasn't expecting a joke - And I wasn't expecting one so horrendous."

Willow rolled her eyes. She gestured for the two of them to make their way out of the cave, and for a short while, neither of them said a word. They walked as quietly as they could, trying to get away from the giant spider monster before they accidentally alerted it.

Eventually, they made their way to the entrance - Alive, uneaten, and not having alerted the monster to having ever been there.

"Okay." Willow said, holding her hands in front of her. "My joke's lame. It still helped you a bit, right?"

For a brief second, Skara laughed at being reminded of the joke, but quickly calmed down. "A… A little, honestly… Yeah."

And for the first time in… Quite a while… Skara smiled.

Not a fake smile that she put on for the sake of the people around her or to keep up appearances.

But a real smile.

"Good." Willow smiled too. "Okay, now, let's get out of here quickly, before-"

She was interrupted by a sudden hit from behind. She slammed to the ground, the impact causing her head to spin. Skara rushed over to her. Willow could tell she was saying something, but her ears were ringing too loudly to make it out.

But as she laid there, her mind reeling, only one thought came to her mind.

I… I can't feel my bile sac…

I can't do magic.

NONONONONONONO

Panic shot through Skara's body as she rushed towards the venom-smeared Witch who had just saved her. Willow laid in the gooey, black liquid, clearly caught off guard and confused.

"Willow," Skara shouted. "Are you ok? Can you hear me?"

"Wh-what…" Willow muttered, weakly. "I… I can't…"

The Yeti Spider smashed into the ground, screeching angrily at its escaped prey. The clicking became more and more rapid, and Skara could have sworn that she saw the very souls of death within its giant, glistening eyes, focused entirely on the two of them.

Quickly, Skara knelt down to grab Willow and run.

But stopped.

I can't touch that stuff! If it's half as bad as…

She looked back up to the spider, now rushing towards them. Fast.

Skara had only four seconds to save her and willow.

In the first, she formed a plan.

The spider scurried closer.

In the second, she summoned her harp.

Closer.

In her third, she prayed it would work.

Closer...

She strummed a few chords on the harp, imagining the furthest corner of the cave she saw out of the corner of her eye.

The spider was right in front of her…

And then, a loud, booming screech from within the cave.

The spider froze, turned back. It hissed, rushing now in the exact opposite direction of the two Witches who had almost been made its lunch.

On the ground, Willow began to stir. "What just…"

"C'mon!" Skara said, taking her cowl off of her uniform. "Spider-Yeti's are very territorial, but they're also incredibly good at hunting escaped prey, so I don't know how long that little trick will work." She began to wipe at the spots the spider's venom had hit Willow, careful not to touch it too roughly so as to get it on her skin. "Once I get all this off, I'll try dragging you out."

"I feel… I feel like I just got my soul absorbed… By a Greater Basilisk…"

"This stuff'll do that to you," Skara confirmed. "It soaks into the skin and gets into a Witches bile sac. It's not nearly as permanent as a Greater Basilisk, though."

Willow groaned. "I feel… So weak..."

Skara finished wiping up Willow as best she could. The back of her pants were still soaked in it, but everything above that was fairly clean now. Skara grabbed Willow's hand and tried pulling her up to her feet. "C'mon, get up. I'll try and... And help you…"

Skara threw Willow's arm around her neck, lifting her to her feet and helping her to move. What little strength Willow had in her legs, she used to try to walk, but relied on Skara heavily for any basic movement.

Least getting taken by a giant spider gave me the chance for a power nap.

The Bard carried the slumping Willow out of the cave. She made it another fifty feet before the return of the direct, freezing air hit her, and the adrenaline crash came in, making Skara stop and pant.

"Well… Great…"

The Plant Witch moaned, moving her arm away from Skara's neck and placing herself against a tree. "I'll be okay… Just need to rest…"

A small part of Skara wondered if she should bring up the irony of Willow saying that. But she quickly thought better of it.

"Willow, girl, we have to get to the boat, now! It's only a matter of time before that thing hunts us down again. Give me the map, we can find a way home from there."

Willow looked to Skara, a blank expression on her face. "The… what?"

"The map back to the boat!"

"The… Oh, right, right, the map." Willow dug her hands into her pockets.

And then she patted against them.

And again.

And then Willow froze.

And Skara froze too.

"Willow… Where's the map?"

For a moment, Willow said nothing.

"I… It must have slipped out when I was running after that thing."

Skara's heart sank.

She cursed the Titan.

She felt her heart palpitating.

"Okay… Do… Do you know the way you came from?"

"Yeah… Yeah, it -" Willow paused again. And her face turned pale.

"Willow?"

"...When did it get so… So snowy?"

They had been running on adrenaline. On fear. On trying to just get away from the Yeti-Spiders as quickly as they could. Nothing else had even registered.

But Willow was right - What had started as just a small snowfall had, in the time that it took since Willow had entered the cave and they had gotten out, had turned into a downfall of snow. Everything around them was white. Even the tracks that would lead them back to the cave were almost covered.

They had no map. No way to backtrack.

And they were caught in a blizzard.


QosmicQuartz - Buggery McBlimey this chapter was difficult. Mostly because me and Desmond did not in ANY WAY coordinate it, BUT we managed to get through it and honestly, for what this chapter is designed to be, I ended up pretty happy with it. I'm pretty happy with having come up with the idea of the Spider-Yeti. Hope ya'll're enjoying this story and because I never ask - If you do, please do let us know in the comments and leave us Kudos - We're very desperate for attention. But in all seriousness we enjoy hearing from ya'll and try to respond to everything - Hope to see ya'll next time!

DesmondKane - As Quartz said… god this chapter was a lot to write. Partly because we didn't really coordinate, partly because I had a contest I needed to write for (wish me luck), and partly because I kinda had to crunch so much that Quartz had to write in entire new paragraphs to really add the depth to the story I was looking for (thank you man, much appreciated). We hope you guys enjoyed this as much as we'll enjoy the next chapter, which, not to spoil anything, should be quite a bit… cozier.

Song of the chapter that has nothing to do with it but I adore anyway: "Moonbeam" by Lord Huron.