Chapter Nine: Returned to the City

WHIT

Come on, Olaf!

How much time had passed since he leaped into the Portal? Ten minutes? Twenty? I had no problem keeping the Portal open with my powers earlier on, but now it was taking all the strength I had in my body. I could already feel my M debilitating, my energy sapping away. I felt it happening in the others too, for we were all linked. But I couldn't move or break the connection, not until Anna and Olaf came out.

How much longer did I have to keep this up? What if something bad happened to them?

It was unwise for Elsa to entrust such an important task to a snowman, but there was nobody else in the square except Olaf. And even if there was somebody standing nearby, I doubt they would risk a venture into the Shadowland to retrieve a girl who may or may not even be alive. Olaf was plucky, I'd give him that. I could only hope that he succeeds in finding her.

"Come on, Olaf," I muttered under my breath. "We're counting on you." I stared at the heart of the gigantic black pit in the ground.

Someone suddenly flew out of the void, so fast that I didn't get to see who it was. But I thought I caught a glimpse of a magenta cape and a flash of strawberry-blonde hair. The person soared in the sky and landed about twenty yards to my right. She rolled before coming to a halt, lying on her side with her back faced toward us. The girl sat up, rubbed her arms and legs, and got to her feet.

Could that be—?

"ANNA!" I heard Elsa cry.

The girl spun around at the sound of her voice. When she saw Elsa, she covered her mouth with her hands and gasped. "ELSA!" She shouted back in happiness. She took in the scene before her and quickly looked around at the surroundings.

"I can't believe it! You're alive!" Elsa screamed in order to be heard over the spiralling thick murk that was the Portal. She seemed to have forgotten that the five of us were still linked. I watched as she struggled in her position.

"Concentrate, Elsa!" I reminded her.

We needed her magic to keep the Portal open. If Anna was here, Olaf couldn't be far behind. I saw Anna nodding at her sister, indicating that I was right. Elsa smiled and returned her attention to the Portal.

Another person emerged from it and was thrown towards the far side in front of me. I heard a crash behind Beric. Somehow I didn't think that was Olaf.

Wisty turned to glance at the person, and yelled, "Who was that?"

I was just as curious to find out. It wasn't a Half-Light or a Lost One or any other soul that lived in the Underworld, but a mortal human being.

I heard the snowman's scream long before he came out of the Portal a few heartbeats later. Olaf whizzed past me and hit the ground behind me, the impact disintegrating his head, thorax, and abdomen. I couldn't help but gape as Olaf's body parts arranged themselves back together as neatly as the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

"Ahhhh, much better," Olaf sighed in relief after he was whole again.

I shook my head and turned back to the others. I noticed that they were also gawking at the snowman. Olaf got Anna out, and it was time for us to close all the portals.

Just when I was about to remind everyone, I saw a shadowy figure materialize from the dark pit. I caught sight of its decaying arms, the hollow yellow eyes, and the stringy flesh falling away from its bones, and immediately recognized it as a Lost One, one of the Undead. There was no mistaking it. It spotted Anna and glided towards her ravenously.

Elsa shrieked in alarm, "Anna, look out!"

Anna turned sharply and sprinted away from the creature, and the Lost One sped up and chased after her. Unfortunately, Anna wasn't fast enough. The Lost One closed in and grabbed her cape, which startled her and she let out a high-pitched scream. Anna struggled violently. Then, with one hard yank of her cape, she broke free of its grasp and ran.

Olaf spread out his arms and began scampering towards the Lost One while shouting, "Hi, creature! I love you, and I know that you love me too! Want a nice big hug?" The snowman intercepted the Lost One and gave it a warm embrace. It screeched and instantaneously burst into flames. A few seconds later there was nothing left of the Lost One but a small pile of burned paper on the ground. Olaf stared at it in astonishment and said, "Oops, I guess you don't like warm hugs very much after all." He giggled and kicked at the pile, scattering the pieces of paper.

Anna exclaimed, "You did it, Olaf. You killed a Lost One! You saved me!" She rushed over to pull the snowman into a hug. "Thank you so much."

"My pleasure, Anna!" said Olaf.

That Lost One may be dead, but there would be plenty more coming out of the Shadowland soon. I reminded the others, "We have to close the Portal, now!"

They all nodded to show that they were ready. Titus extended his arms out and used magic to 'pull' the thick black murk back towards him, sucking it like a vacuum. The tendrils met his open palms and gradually disappeared. Meanwhile, the Portal had turned back into a whirling column of the elements that reached all the way up to the clouds overhead, revealing the circular, gaping hole in the ground. Wisty gazed at the column intently, and her flames crackled, fizzled, and then died out. With a few gestures of her hand, Elsa transformed her ice, frost, and snow into tiny snowflakes which vanished one after another into thin air. After she was done, I caused my rocks, pebbles, and dust to drop into the gaping hole and return to the earth. Finally, Beric raised his arms and lowered them slowly, calming the intense vortex of wind. When the last of it had faded away, the circular hole closed in on itself and was gone without a trace of it ever being there. The gold porcelain tiles of the many-rayed sun on the ground looked as if it had never been damaged. It was almost like nothing happened.

I felt the weight of the magical link lifting off my feet. I could move again. The others felt it as well. The five of us left our positions. Beric and Titus began to pace around the sun. Elsa rushed to Anna and pulled her into a firm and deep hug. Wisty and I went to stand beside them.

"I don't even know what to say…" Elsa started after they broke apart, looking at her younger sister with love and compassion. I noticed that she was crying.

Anna cut her off, "You don't have to say anything, Elsa. All that matters is that I'm here now. I knew that you would come and find me."

"Of course I would! Did you really think that I would abandon the only family I had left?"

Anna made a face. "For a moment I feared that you would…" Her voice trailed off.

"I'm sorry I took so long, Anna. Hans imprisoned me in my castle after he cast you away, but I escaped. It took a while for me get here. And then I had to find a way to open the Portal in order to rescue you, and…" Elsa gave up, sighed, and just smiled at Anna in happiness.

"That's all right."

"I'm so glad that we're back together. I swear I'm never going to let you out of my sight like that again."

"It wasn't your fault, Elsa. I've missed you."

"Me too."

The sisters hugged each other again. Both of them had tears in their eyes, and I found that my eyes were watering too, and so were Wisty's. After The One vaporized our parents, Wisty and I had thought that we lost them forever. I've been through almost the same thing as they did.

Elsa gestured to me and Wisty. "Anna, I'd like you to meet Whit and Wisty Allgood, the famous and most powerful witch and wizard in the City," she introduced to her sister. I waved at Anna while Wisty curtsied politely.

Anna stepped forward and smiled, "It's an honour to meet you. I'm Princess Anna of Arendelle. You guys may have heard of me already from my sister Elsa."

"She told us quite a lot about you," said Wisty.

I nodded and then said, "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Anna."

"Hey Whit!" called someone. I turned around. It was Titus. "Beric and I are gonna go and check if any of the Lost Ones made it to the City." He held up a hand and waved at me. "We'll see you later."

"Be safe!" I called to them and waved back.

I watched as Titus and Beric ran off towards one of the exits of the square.

"I thank you and your friends for helping my sister to open the Portal." Anna's voice was full of gratitude.

"You're welcome," I said, but I gave Wisty a big-brother glance which was enough for her to know that I was hinting about her imprudent fight with Elsa.

Anna asked, "Elsa, what happened in Arendelle after I was sent to the Shadowland?"

Elsa began to explain to her the events that followed Hans and his comrades' rise to power. Wisty and I left them to their reunion and headed towards the other person I saw coming out of the Portal earlier. I frowned. The sight of his dark brown hair and his filthy, ragged clothing appeared familiar. The impact of the crash had evoked quite an effect on him, but he seemed to have recovered. He got to his feet and turned to face us, and my jaw dropped open in surprise.

It was Byron Swain, standing before us, alive.

"Byron?" whispered Wisty. I could tell that she could barely get the word out.

The memory came back to me in a flash. Wisty had said to The One that she loved this City enough to die for it. She was ready to sacrifice herself. When she was at the lip of the portal pit, Byron had hit her with a force so tremendous that she went flying sideways, and he leapt into the void instead. Byron Swain had saved my sister. If it wasn't for him, Wisty would've been the one trapped in the Shadowland. Byron paid for our freedom with his life. He was supposed to be gone. I never thought that I'd see him again.

"Hey Wisty, Whit," he responded, and then shrugged. "How's it going in the City?"

Tears welled in my sister's eyes and began to roll down her cheeks, rendering her speechless. So I answered, "Uh, yeah, it was great. Things were brilliant." I forced a smile at him. "What about you?"

"Well, I survived."

We were quiet for a moment. This was the part where I was supposed to thank Byron for what he did and give him a speech about how grateful Wisty and I were and about the depth of courage we never saw in him, but somehow I couldn't bring myself up to say it. I just walked toward him, gently patted his shoulder, cleared my throat, and said, "It's good to see you, Swain."

"I could say the same of you," he replied, slapping me on the back like he was congratulating me for winning a foolball game.

Then I pulled him into a long hug, and that hug was all I needed to know that he was okay.

Wisty finally found her voice. "I thought you were dead."

"I closed all the portals and locked myself in. I was trapped in the Shadowland. I never said I was dead," explained Byron, giving her a comforting smile.

Wisty rushed up to Byron and hugged him tightly. I stepped back to give them space. Their friendship may have been complicated and unstable, and Byron had never ceased to give me and Wisty cause to doubt his trust and loyalty, but despite all that, Byron did care about my sister and had a 'thing' for her. He was on our side and had always been fighting the good fight. It kind of felt amazing to see the two of them back together, like old friends.

"You cannot begin to understand how much I've missed you, B," Wisty said.

Byron smiled. "I've missed you too, Wist. You can ask me how many times I've thought about you during my time spent in the Underworld, but I'm pretty sure that I lost count."

Wisty laughed and Byron joined in. Then, Wisty leaned in and kissed him on the mouth. I raised my eyebrows. I couldn't say I was expecting that.

My sister immediately pulled back as if she just made a silly, stupid mistake. She squeezed her eyes shut, opened them again, and then divulged, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that. I just wanted to thank you for saving me, now that I finally got the chance to tell you."

Byron replied sincerely, "You know I'd do anything for you, Wisty."

Wisty glanced at Anna and then back at Byron. She asked him, "So…do you and Anna know each other?"

"Yeah, Anna and I met in Shadowland. We became good friends. Anna told me her side of the story and I told her mine."

"Wisty, Elsa, and I pretty much did the same thing," I said.

"That's cool. How long has it been since I jumped into that portal? I know that time in the Shadowland is different from that of this world."

"About three months had passed," I answered.

"Right, I felt like I've been stuck down there for an eternity."

"That got me wondering: how come you survived that long, Byron? Without food or water in the Shadowland to sustain you, you wouldn't have been able to last a week. You must also have to stay out of sight of the Undead who are tormented by loss and demented with hunger for your flesh," I pointed out. I observed Byron up and down. He didn't look emaciated like I expected him to be. Instead, he looked almost…healthy. "Even if you hadn't died when you jumped into that portal, you surely must have been dead by now. How did you and Anna manage to stay alive?"

Byron's hesitation only increased my level of curiosity. What was he not telling me?

"I had help," he finally replied.

I furrowed my brows and pressed, "Help? From who?"

I was interrupted by the sound of someone calling me and my sister's name. "Wisty! Whit!" I recognized Ross's voice. I turned to see him jogging in our direction with Janine. All those from the former Resistance were stationed with the rest of their individual group of magicians and teenage kids at places where the portals were used to be, bracing themselves to kill any Lost One that comes out. Ross and Janine must've just returned from their job.

I asked, "Hey, Ross. What is it?"

"We have news. Three people were killed defending the City from the Lost Ones at the entrances to the portals: two girls and a boy," reported Ross. "I think one of them was Bettina Alexandra Gannon."

I recalled the tiny girl volunteering to help with defending the City, even though I denied her request and told her that she was too young to handle such a dangerous task. But in the end Wisty gave her permission anyway.

"Bettina is dead?" Wisty quavered. She and the little girl had been friends. Wisty really should've listened to me and instructed her to stay out of it.

"The Lost One who killed her came at her so fast that none of us could stop him. He literally ate the little girl," apprised Ross.

Janine agreed, "It was horrifying!"

I solaced, "I'm sorry, Wisty. I know she was a good friend to you." I suddenly regretted convincing Wisty to help Elsa open the portals. If they had remained closed, those three people would still be alive and none of this would've happened. Maybe it was wrong of me to stop Wisty from fighting Elsa after all. Maybe I should've joined her instead. What had I done?

Wisty glared at Elsa and Anna accusingly, wiped her tear-streaked face with her sleeve, and then uttered, "This was all their fault." At that moment, I had a feeling that she would do something stupid again.

Ross continued, "Everyone else was fine. I think I killed over ten Lost Ones in a day!"

"Did any of the Lost emerge from the mother Portal?" asked Janine.

"One did, but Olaf got rid of him," I told her. "I'm glad that you're safe."

Janine got that brave look on her face, and said, "Don't worry, Whit. You know I can take care of myself."

Ross looked around. "Where did Beric and Titus go?"

"They went to check if any of the Undead made it to the Overworld," I answered. "Did they?"

"No." Ross shook his head. "I believe we did a good job of preventing that."

"Excellent," I said.

After Ross and Janine greeted Byron and then Anna, Wisty and I began to fill Byron in on our role as leaders of the City. Barely five minutes had passed before I saw Emmett tear across the square toward us. His face was flushed red with exercise, his hair was all messy and tangled, and his forehead was beaded with sweat. I wondered what was with the rush.

Emmett panted when he approached us, "Guys, he's here! He materialized from the portal. I tried to stop him, to push him back, I did! But he was too strong! He shoved me aside and darted away. He's back!"

I said, "Emmett, calm down. You're not making sense. Who's back? Who are you talking about?"

I noticed Byron inclining and shaking his head. He turned away from us and raked his hand through his dark brown hair, distraught.

Emmett stated, "Something wicked this way comes." He was staring in the direction behind us. We all turned to follow his gaze.

A tall teenage guy had just entered the square and was swaggering toward us. His white-blonde hair was brushed back and stood up from his forehead. His clothes were filthy and ragged, and there were smudges of dirt on his face, but none of it concealed his handsome, baleful appearance. I took in the sight of his wicked clear blue eyes, his prominent cheekbones, and the nasty pout of his lips. He almost appeared to be made of sharp, colourless glass. He was beautiful, but hard and cold.

I winced. A chill shot up my spine and cold sweat formed around my neck. My body stiffened and my heart thumped in my chest.

Wisty squinted into the distance and started, "Is that…?"

"…Pearce," I finished with gritted teeth. My hands instinctively balled into fists.

"Holy cricket," Wisty whispered in disbelief.

Part of me wished that I was hallucinating; that this psychopath wasn't right here in front of us, heading our way, that this was all a nightmare. I was just as confounded as Wisty. There was no freaking way that this vile bastard was alive. The last time I saw him, he was crawling towards the pit that leads to the Shadowland with his parasitic father on his heels, and a second later, he plummeted down into it with a thin and haunting cry. Pearce was dead, just like I was certain that Byron was. Or did I simply presume that he was dead? What was the snake's purpose this time? What could he possibly want from us now?

Wisty exclaimed, "This can't be happening!"

I had no idea what to do, so I went for the only thing I could think of on the top of my head. I hid my hand behind my back and used my M to summon a rag drenched in a highly concentrated solution of chloroform, then dashed behind the wizard with superhuman speed. I firmly pressed the rag against his mouth and his nose before he even saw it coming. Pearce was exceedingly strong. He tussled and clawed at my arms when he realized what I was trying to do, but somehow I still managed to keep the rag tightly over the lower half of his face, muffling his furious screeches and locking him in my grip. Just when I thought I couldn't fight him any longer, unconsciousness took over him and his body went limp. I threw him away from me to the ground with a groan of disgust. There. That should serve him right.

I looked up at Wisty and told her, "He won't be conscious until tomorrow morning. I reckon that'll be enough time for us to decide what we should do with him."

Wisty came over to me and praised, "Nicely done, Whit. What's the next step? There is no way that we're gonna lock him in the basement of my apartment."

I suggested, "Then we'll lock him in mine."

"I'll take him," volunteered Byron, who rushed to my side and bent to pick Pearce up by the arms. He looked up at me and asked, "Wanna give me a hand?" I studied him. There was this expression on his face that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Could it be sympathy, perhaps? I had a feeling that something was definitely amiss about him.

"Who said anything about carrying him?" I scowled. "You're being too kind, Byron."

Wisty joined in, "My brother's right. This creep is totally not worth our energy."

I levitated a sedated Pearce a few metres in the air with my powers and headed for the square's exit. Wisty and the rest of my friends followed.

The basement of my apartment was packed with my old sports equipment and toys I used to play with when I was a kid, as well as with sneakers and PE uniforms from school which I had outgrown. Byron, Emmett, and Ross helped me move the things against the wall and to the corners in order to make room for Pearce. I released the levitation spell I put on him and dragged him to an area where chains were embedded in the concrete. I shackled Pearce to the wall and then sealed the chains by making them glow with a bright light.

"That should keep him from escaping and wreaking havoc in the City," I crossed my arms and said. I motioned at the others to exit. "Come on."

We left the basement. I slammed the door shut and locked it. After we headed back upstairs to the living room, I noticed that Elsa and Olaf were missing.

I asked Anna, "Where did Elsa and Olaf go?"

"They went home to their apartment down the street," said Anna. "I feel awful hearing about these three people who died at the hands of the Lost, and it was all because of me. Whit, I didn't mean for it to happen—"

I interjected, "It's not you, Anna. If anyone is to blame, it's Hans. He was the one who cast you to the Shadowland." I turned to my friends. "Emmett, Ross, Janine, thanks for helping to defend the City. You guys are happy to stay if you want.

Emmett said, "I'd like to, but I think I'm gonna go and tell the families of the people who died today that I'll pay their child my respect."

Janine stepped in, "Yeah, me too."

I proposed, "We should give the two girls and the boy a funeral. I believe that's the right thing to do."

"We'll arrange it soon," Janine assured me. "If we can't do it tomorrow, then we'll do it the day after."

Ross told us, "I'm not feeling too well. I think I'm gonna head home. Bye, guys." He headed for the door.

Emmett and Janine waved me and Wisty goodbye, and then they followed Ross out of my apartment.

I turned to Anna. "Are you planning to go home or…"

Anna said, "No, I think I'd like to stay."

"Okay."

I went to sit on a couch. Anna plopped herself down next to me while Wisty and Byron sat on the opposite couch.

Wisty was the first to speak up. "Whit, you know you can't keep Pearce locked down there forever, right? We'll have to do something about him eventually, and it just so happens that I have an idea: we punish him for what he did."

I questioned, "And how are we going to do that?"

"We torture him," answered Wisty.

"What does that accomplish? That would only make you and me just as bad as him," I objected. "We've already fought him a hundred times before. Torturing him would be the first thing Pearce would expect from us, and I'm not going to give him that."

Anna suggested, "Why don't we let him return to his hometown in the Mountain?"

"Absolutely not," countered Wisty, "We finally have the wizard in our hands, and I'm not going to let him slip from my fingers. Not again. Whit and I had spared him before for Izbella's sake, and he had ended up returning disguised as Darrius to seize control of the City. If we let Pearce return to the Mountain…who knows what kind of plot he'll be hatching next?"

Byron chimed in, "I don't think he has anybody left to conspire with. I mean, his mother is dead, he killed his grandfather, and his father—"

"—is the Lost One living inside him like a parasite, sharing his stinking, rotting soul with him, and controlling everything he does," Wisty broke in and reminded. "The One had gotten Pearce to carry out his bidding, which was to destroy Whit and me. For all I know, The One's spirit could be shooting out of Pearce's chest right now and commanding him to eradicate us!"

I guessed, "Pearce and The One could gather an army if we let them return to the Mountain. I know that Larsht is alive, so he would most definitely join them."

Wisty continued, "And together they will come for people of the City and for us."

"I'm sorry, Byron, but we can't risk it," I told him, shaking my head.

Byron sighed and then revealed with clarity, "Pearce was sure that he would die when he plummeted down the portal, but actually, it was the Undead part of Pearce's soul that was killed when he fell through the dark pit. It means that his father's spirit within him is gone once and for all."

"Now Pearce is just the normal wizard he had been his whole life," said Anna, "That's how come he is alive."

Wisty and I gaped at Byron and Anna. Well that is new, I thought.

"How do you guys know all this?" I asked eagerly, leaning forward in my seat.

Byron answered, "Because he told us."

What? I hardly believed what I was hearing.

Wisty repeated, "Pearce told you all this?"

"He did," confirmed Byron.

"Byron, since when did you become friends with someone like Pearce?" Wisty was practically shouting. Byron shrugged emptily and looked away, which was enough to give her the answer. "Oh my God, you can't be serious. You actually became friends with him?!"

That explains Byron's strange behaviour earlier, I realized.

"He's changed, Wisty," Byron blurted. "Whit, you were right. I didn't have anything in the Shadowland to sustain me. I almost died due to lack of food and water! One day, unexpectedly, Pearce found me. I passed out, and I was barely alive. But Pearce woke me up and he helped me. He conjured a bottle of water and a box of my favourite pizza for me with magic, and said that he didn't want to be the kind of person he once was anymore. He told me that I could trust him, and in time, I did."

Anna took up the story, "Byron and Pearce found me in the bone forest, surrounded by a swirling mass of Lost Ones. And do you know what Pearce did? He saved me. He protected Byron and me from the Undead by flashing this blinding white light at them. Life was so lonely in the Shadowland, but at least I had Pearce and Byron to keep me company."

"Did the three of you grow close?" I asked.

Anna nodded and said, "We did. We haven't got anyone else to talk to apart from each other."

Byron said, "If it wasn't for Pearce, Anna and I wouldn't have survived. We wouldn't be here right now." He turned to my sister, "You wouldn't have seen me again and kissed me just now, Wisty."

Wisty's cheeks reddened at his mention of the kiss.

I said to Anna and Byron, "So because of Pearce's helping hand, you two are willing to give him another chance?"

"He deserves one," Byron nodded. "Celia believed in that too. She told Pearce that there might still be hope for him."

The sound of her name made me sit up straighter on the couch. "Celia told him that? You're kidding me, right?"

Anna said, "Nope. He's not."

Byron turned to me. "She wants me to tell you that she loves you, Whit. Don't ever forget that."

I looked at him appreciatively and said, "Thanks, Byron. I love her too." I looked to the ground in sadness, "It's too bad I won't ever see her again."

Wisty said with a faint smile, "I'm sure she'll come round at some point."

"I hope she will."

Silence filled the room.

After another minute I spoke up, "Listen, I'm not going to change my mind about allowing Pearce to return to the Mountain."

"I doubt that he'll want to anyway. He's family is dead, and I don't think he still has friends at home. He's got no one. There really wouldn't be much point for him to go back there," said Byron.

Wisty surmised, "Are you saying that he should stay in the City, then?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

This was insane. Byron hated Pearce. I couldn't get over the fact that he was so convinced a fiend like him could be saved. What happened to the old Byron I knew? I tried again, "Look, Byron, Pearce didn't help you out of the goodness of his heart. He helped you for the sake of survival. He did all that because he was lonely. Pearce took advantage of your dependence. Now that you're no longer in Shadowland, you don't need to rely on him anymore, so the things you had with him will be different. I know Pearce. He is psychopathic, unpredictable, and he has his own agenda. It's very likely that he'll betray your friendship and trust, and then unleash hell on the Overworld. I don't care about what Celia said to him. You give Pearce a second chance, Byron, and he'll throw it in your face. I am not going to let him indulge himself however he wants. You want him to stay in the City, fine. But he will suffer. I'm going to Excise him, to suck and remove every ounce of magic power he has in his body, and then turn him into a Normal. He'll live a life of peace and quiet, never to trouble me, Wisty, or the citizens again. That is what he deserves."

I gave them a few minutes to digest my intention.

Wisty beamed, "What a damn good idea. You're a genius, Whit!" Then she frowned and held up a finger. "However, you could just go for the simplest way: you kill him."

"No!" Byron and Anna retorted simultaneously, taking both me and Wisty by surprise.

Anna declared, "No one is getting Excised. No one is getting killed."

"And who are you? Our mother?" sneered Wisty. "I'm beginning to find you just as tiresome as Elsa."

Anna bristled at her rudeness. I sighed and quickly spoke before the two of them could fire any more insults at each other, "Byron, you're the one who has been defending Pearce this whole time. What would you have us do?"

"You talk to him when he wakes up, and see if I'm right about him," suggested Byron.

"And if you're not?" I asked.

"Then we'll go for the Excision method."

"Perfect." I smiled.

"And it'll be best if Wisty does the talking," added Byron. He turned to my sister with a smirk. "Apparently, Pearce still has a 'thing' for you."

Wisty clocked him in the head with a cushion, and Byron yelped in alarm.

"Seriously, Wisty, you gotta learn to control your temper," said Byron disapprovingly. He stood up, crossed the living room, and opened the front door.

"Where are you going, Byron?" asked Wisty, standing up. Anna and I did the same.

"To see Elise, let her know that I've returned," Byron told her over his shoulder. "I'm spending the night at her house. See you guys later." He went out and shut the door.

Elise was Byron's girlfriend. She looked hell of a lot like Wisty, with her red hair and lovely green eyes.

Wisty stared at the place where Byron left. She looked heartbroken. "Elise," she muttered scornfully, "Of course. How could I have forgotten?"

Author's Note:

I'm really enjoying writing this story so far, but I have to admit that writing is hard, hard work. I tend to get tired and a bit stressed during the process. Anyway, I wasn't able to go on holiday this summer so I'm glad that I have spent the time writing. I start college again on the 3rd of September, and I'll be really busy, which means I won't be able to update this story that often anymore. I know, it's sad, but I'll try to squeeze and devote some of my time to writing.

Just to let you guys know: later on in this story there will be a chapter that focuses on the events happening back in Arendelle under Hans's reign. It's not very far away from now. I'm looking forward to it!