Later that night two people appeared out of the shadows into a teenagers room. Both were tall and lean, the only differences lying in their hair and faces, one was pale and blonde, the other tanned and dark haired. The blonde had a clean scar that ran down the right side of his face, narrowly missing his blue eye. The other had torn clothes that revealed various line scars across his arms, some of which were only half healed.

The dark haired one seemed to have an odd, almost wolfish gait, with his yellow eyes adding to the characteristic.

They walked across the room to the bed, trying not to shiver as the temperature dropped.

A creak woke me up.

I didn't dare open my eyes as my ears picked up the sound of padded footsteps and soft breathing.

Taboo? What's going on? Taboo!

I didn't get an answer from my ice tiger, so I tried to peek through my eyelashes. I couldn't see them properly, but there were two people in my room.

They walked into the moonlight that shone through the gap in the curtains and I struggled to remain calm.

I still couldn't see their faces, but I could guess who one of them was, because an arrow made of black sand was pointing directly at me!

I tried to keep my body relaxed as the arrow was drawn back. As it was released I shot up a small ice barrier to block.

The effect was instantaneous.

I heard a pair of masculine voices cry out in shock and I rolled out of the bed, scrambling to my feet as the one with the arrow ran forward.

I held back a gasp as Samuel stepped into my vision my blurry vision, I'd recognise him even without my glasses on. Tracey's warning earlier that day came back into my mind, so this is what she was on about.

I sent a blast of ice his way, which he blocked and sent a blast of sand my way. I moved to get out of the way, sucking in air through my teeth as my leg squealed in pain.

I reached for my glasses and shoved them on my face, blinking as the room was brought into sudden clarity.

As my eyes adjusted to the low light I could see that Samuel wasn't the only other person in the room. Behind Samuel was a set of glowing yellow eyes, and given the warning I got earlier, it didn't take much to work out who that was.

Pete.

I formed an ice cane as the shadows around me thickened. I thickened the frost already on the floor and drew it up behind me to stop the shadows from doing much. I needed to concentrate more on what was in front of me.

I ducked under another blast of black sand and blasted Samuel, sending him flying into my bookcase with a crash.

Pete snarled and changed shape, leaping over my bed to get to me. I raised my arm and sent a blast if ice into his chest, sending him back into my shelves.

Pete tumbled down to the floor and quickly got to his feet, shaking his head and growling. Samuel wasn't far behind, his hand becoming wrapped in black sand.

I ducked and drew up another wall to block Pete. He yelped and drew back, his fangs showing as he growled.

I couldn't fight them in here. I was amazed that we hadn't woken up my parents.

I needed to get outside.

Too bad the window was on the other side of the bed, where Pete and Samuel were. It was already open, almost tempting me to try, but I wasn't mad enough to try.

So the door would have to do. Curse my lack of imagination.

I sent a blast towards Pete and Samuel to distract them and I made a beeline for the door, hobbling as fast as I could.

I got halfway through the door when they recovered.

Samuel fired into my bad shoulder and I cried out in pain and spun around to see Pete leaping for me. I lifted up my cane and swatted him across the muzzle. I kept it up and almost fired it like a gun, sending a blast towards Samuel, then into Pete.

The pair of them fell down as I scanned the landing, assessing the options. I'd never make it down the stairs, so I went down the hallway and burst into the nearest room, the bathroom.

I locked the door behind me, which thudded behind me as someone rammed into it. I wasn't sure who I hoped it was.

I went forward, my eyes landing on the window. The damn thing still had a child lock, but if I could get it open then I could get out.

Leaving my parents inside with two Descendants out for blood.

The door thudded again and I could hear the lock struggling. If I timed this right, then I could draw them away from my parents. From there... I'd just have to think on my feet. Sorry Alfred, lying low didn't seem to be an option right now.

I opened the window and shoved hard to break the lock. Looking down I could see that there was no snow on the ground, which made things a slightly more difficult for getting down.

The door shook and rattled again as I climbed up onto the toilet seat to get up to the window. I levered myself up onto the sill and pulled up a pillar of ice. I stepped onto, waiting for the door to break.

The lock gave way and the black furred form of Pete barrelled in. He saw me standing there and let out a loud snarl, tensing up in preparation to leap at me. Samuel barrelled into view and I sent the pillar down to the ground, satisfied that I'd baited them away from anyone else.

Due to the lack of snow on the ground, so I had to waste a second forming a strip of ice to slide on, like I'd done in Canada.

In that second Pete had jumped down from the window and Samuel had reached the window.

The November air didn't bother me as I slid away, feeling refreshing as I essentially ran for my life.

Now would be great Taboo.

Pete quickly caught up with me, snapping at my ankles, although I swear I saw him grinning. I swerved away but he easily followed me, keeping pace with me with seemingly no difficulty.

I went into the woods, which I knew like the back of my hand, they couldn't trap me here.

Very quickly Samuel also caught up, riding a horse made of black sand, like Penelope had done five years ago.

In his hand was a sword made of sand, which I recognised as a Roman spatha, or cavalry sword. I could thank Tina for that bit of useless knowledge.

I formed my blades and blocked an attack from the sword on my right while on my left I slashed at the snapping wolf.

We burst out onto the lake and Samuel got a sudden burst of speed, his horse shooting forward and circling around to block my path. The horse reared up and I skidded to a halt in front of it as its hooves thudded into the ice. I turned around and got snapped at by Pete, who shifted back into a human, a knife forming from shadows in his hands.

I looked between the two of them and held up my blades. We were standing on the frozen surface of the lake, so if push came to shove, I could break the surface and send them swimming.

"What do you reckon Samuel? Is she looking much like a troublemaker now?" Pete joked and I was left blinking in surprise at the sudden 180 on his demeanour. On top of the horse Samuel didn't look all that impressed.

"You're trying to annoy the person who could drown us right now?" Samuel frowned, creasing the new scar over his eye.

"Aw, you're no fun." Pete nudged me in the bad shoulder, causing me to hiss in pain and take a step back. "Something you'd know all about, huh?"

I took another step back from the shape shifter my blades raised defensively, my eyes narrowed. I was Samuel's side here, what was Pete playing at?

"She wouldn't drown us anyway. Not much of a rule breaker, this one. I bet she'd sooner cause a snowstorm than drown us."

Pete was deliberately goading me, I could see that, but honestly, trying to make a snowstorm seemed more appealing than making two people drown.

I took a quick glance up and saw there was a thick layer of clouds above us. I wasn't in any shape to fight, especially without armour.

Samuel seemed to finally understand what Pete was doing.

"So, do you really want another two deaths on your hands for certain?"

That did it. Stuff what Jack said, there was going to be snow tonight.

Anyone get the Skullduggery Pleasant reference?