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"Now, my dear, this may hurt a little bit. Don't worry, it'll get worse," Pestilence said happily as I felt a sharp pain in my hand. I pulled my hand away and discovered that I had indeed been infected with whatever new kind of plague this was. When I looked back up, Pestilence was gone, a patch of snow where he was standing had turned to dust, and the grass underneath it was turned a dark, dead black. It seemed Pestilence wasn't only the spirit of famine, but he also brought death wherever he went.

I looked back down at my hand. Dark black veins ran out from the center of my palm like streams. I could tell the sickness was moving fast, for in the few seconds that I had looked away, the black virus had worked its way to the veins of my forearm. The pain was excruciating. I thought I had learned what true pain felt like all those years ago when I climbed the great mountain. I was wrong. This felt as if I was dipping my arm in a pot of liquid fire while it was being stabbed by hundreds of thousands of tiny needles. In a sad attempt to numb the overwhelming pain, I dropped to my knees and plunged my arm elbow-deep into the fresh snow. I yelped and bit my lip. The snow helped numb the pain about as well as dry grass helps put out a wildfire. Tears welled up in my eyes and I bit down harder on my lip. My tongue was soon met with the coppery, metallic taste blood. I said a silent prayer hoping that the blood from my lip wasn't the same sickly black color as the blood that was now crawling up along my shoulder. I squeezed my eyes shut and hoped to God that this would be over quickly.

Jack POV

There and back quick as the wind? Yeah right. The wind had another idea. Granted, I was still getting used to the whole flying thing and my powers were also going to take some practice. To be honest, I was still trying to wrap my head around the whole immortal spirit thing. I guess once you have eight people walk straight through you the word spirit has a different meaning. After flopping around in the sky for a couple more minutes, the wind seemed to have decided that it had tortured me enough and finally allowed me to get enough control over it to right myself in the air. My upright hovering was shaky at best, like a newborn fawn standing up for the first time.

Carefully, I urged the wind to gently guide me forward. To my amazement, I didn't crash. Not that there was really anything to crash into up there, but I'm missing my point. I flew forward a little faster than I wanted to, but I couldn't help but feel this sense of absolute freedom. I let out a shout and shot myself higher up into the sky. I could hear my heart beating in my ears and could feel the wind blowing through my hair. This was amazing. This was... fun.

As much as I loved learning to fly, I had to get back to Kei'a with her coat before she froze to death. I laughed as I zoomed down toward the clearing in which we had our snowball fight earlier. I spotted the worn down, oversized coat right away, the grey wool the sole spot of color in the white-filled area. Kei'a had slung it over a low hanging branch before our snowball fight, but thanks to the wind, the coat was a good ten feet from the branch. I landed and picked up the coat. It was freezing cold but I knew that it would do no good for me to try to warm it up. I seemed to lack any sort of body heat and instead only be able to give off cold. I, of course, couldn't feel it, but after sitting too close to me for a bit too long, Kei'al'i had begun to complain about the cold. I sighed and wadded the coat up as best I could to keep the inside from getting any colder during the flight back.

Hoping I actually knew what I was doing, I shot back into the sky. After a couple minutes of getting back into the hang of flying, my initial nervousness was replaced by a rush of excitement. Maybe once Kei'al'i got warm again I could take her flying. I knew she would love it. I smiled, picturing her smiling face, pink cheeks contrasting against her beautiful pale skin, her white-blonde hair being blown into an even bigger mess by the wind. Then, almost as an afterthought, I realized that if I took her flying, I would have to hold her. I felt a rush of blood go to my cheeks at the thought of holding her small, petite body against mine, her tiny yet strong arms wrapping around my neck.

I definitely wanted to take Kei'a flying.

It didn't take me very long to spot Kei'al'i's dark blue dress. I couldn't help but laugh. From my high vantage point, her pale skin and light hair blended into the snow almost perfectly, leaving her dress to look as if someone had forgotten it out here in the middle of nowhere. I started to slowly descend, and I realized that Kei'a was laying down, sprawled out in the snow. Fear hit me like a punch to my gut. I could feel my heart starting to beat faster. Was I too late? Was she already dead from the cold? I would never be able to live with myself if she died while I was flying and screwing around like an idiot when I should have been rushing to get her coat back to her.

I free-fell the last thirty feet to where Kei'al'i lay. After faceplanting, I got up and sprinted to where her small body lay, collapsing to my knees next to Kei'a. She was lying on her stomach, her right arm buried up to her elbow in snow, and she somehow seemed even paler than her natural color. Her hair was strewn about in its crazy mess of curls and waves, covering most of her face. My heart hammered in my chest. She couldn't be dead. If she was, it was all my fault. I'd never forgive myself.

I gently but quickly unburied Kei'al'i's arm from the snow. I fought to hold in the gasp of horror that was starting in my throat. There were black veins running all up her arm, twisting and overlapping like spider webs. Her dainty, delicate fingers were frostbitten, the purple at the tips of her fingers fading to blue the closer it got to her knuckles, which were bright red and cracked from the cold. I braced myself as best I could and proceeded to roll Kei'al'i's body over.

I was not prepared for what I saw.

The same black veins from her arm continued up her neck and across her chest to her other shoulder, all the veins meeting in a big black splotch over her heart. The veins had already spread down Kei'a's left arm and I could see some faint grey veins showing above her woolen stockings. Her face was sickly pale, her naturally glowing skin dimmed and black working its way up her cheeks like toxic rivers. Whatever this black stuff was, I concluded, was what was killing her. I had to get her to a doctor.

"Kei'a?" I said softly, shaking her limp form gently. "Kei'al'i? You need to wake up. I need you to tell me where your village doctor is. If I get you there fast enough, you can still make it." I wasn't trying to convince Kei'al'i of that as much as I was trying to convince myself. If I got her help before this poison overtook her entire body, she would have a chance. I had to believe that.

With a slight moan, Kei'al'i gained some consciousness.

"Jack?" She said weakly, her voice coming out about as audible as a mouse squeak. Her head rolled to face me and she opened her eyes. What I saw in them nearly broke my heart. Kei'al'i's bright silver-grey eyes had lost all their former spark of life, making it appear as if she had already given up on fighting. Their color was even darkened, as if the black that was poisoning her body had gotten into her eyes themselves and darkened her deep silver pupils. In a split second, Kei'al'i began coughing, her frail looking body heaving and convulsing with every cough. Not knowing what else to do, I sat her up so that she could breathe easier. Her coughing continued, and something happened that truly terrified me.

She started coughing up blood. Black blood. It stained the snow in front of her like ink blotches on blank paper. Her small body continued to shake as she coughed violently until all of the blood in her throat was cleared. Kei'al'i took a shaky breath, leaning back into me and wiping her bloody mouth off with the sleeve of her dress. If this were a different situation, I would have found this position immensely pleasant. Kei'a would snuggle into my chest and I would pull her farther up into my lap and rest my chin on top of her white-blonde curls. But this is not at all that situation. Kei'a was dying. My first and so far only friend. The girl I just realized I had been developing feelings for. I set my jaw in determination.

I was not going to let her die.

"Kei'a," I whispered gently, trying to put enough force behind my words to show how urgent this really was. "Kei'a, I need you to tell me where the closest doctor is. We can save you as long as you tell me where they are." Kei'al'i coughed again.

"I can't," her voice was weak and raspy from the cold and the coughing, "they can't save me. It's too late, Jack." I became even more determined. I gently turned her head so I could look directly into her eyes.

"No, it's not." I said forcefully. "I can't-I won't accept that." I picked Kei'a up, one hand under her back and the other under her legs. How was she so light? It couldn't have been the sickness.

"Wait, Jack," she placed a hand on my chest, "the moon." When I looked in her eyes, they were dull and clouded but I could see the strong desire in them. She wanted to get closer to the moon. I looked up. It all came down to my decision. The Man in the Moon wasn't helping me. Take Kei'a to a doctor that may have a small chance of saving her life, or let her go and allow her to die close to the Moon, flying freely in the sky.

"Let's go."

Being as gentle as I could, I commanded the wind to take us up into the night sky. As we soared higher, I began registering that it was cold. I couldn't feel it, but I knew it was there. Worried, I looked down at the fragile, dying girl in my arms. Kei'a's dimming eyes were still set on the Moon, she hadn't looked away since she first saw it. I felt a pang in my heart. Even though she was dying and getting frostbite everywhere, this girl was still extremely beautiful. Her hair was gently swaying beneath her head, her cheeks were still tinted pink, but now they had black veins running across them. This was the first girl who I had ever felt like this for. It made me sad to let her go.

"Jack," Kei'a whispered, "the moon. It's so bright. Like... like it's chasing the darkness away." I tried to swallow the lump that had grown in my throat. This was it. Kei'al'i was dying. "Jack?"

"Yes?"

"Return my father's coat. And once I die," she takes a shaky breath, "don't bring my body back. I don't want my parents to see me like this. I don't want anyone to remember me like this." Her breathing was becoming slower and more shallow with every passing second.

"I will and I won't."

"Promise?" Kei'al'i said slowly as her eyes drifted closed and her breathing finally stopped. A single tear fell from my eye and leaning down, I kissed both of her closed eyelids, trying to commit everything, the feel of her skin, her scent, the softness of her hair, to memory.

"I promise."

Just to avoid any confusion Kei'a (pronounced "key-uh") is Jack's nickname for Kei'al'i (pronounced "key-all-lee"). I was going to have Jack's nickname for her be Snow but with the way I was taking the dialogue, that didn't really end up happening. Oh well.

Thank you so much for reading! Please, please, please review! It would mean the world to me to know that at least one person is enjoying this story and would like for me to continue it. I don't mean to be one of those authors who beg for reviews, but they just let me know that someone out there is liking what I write.

Anyway, I love you guys so, so much! Until next chapter!