The six children had taken off down the icy terrain. The blizzard was beginning to wear down, and the high snow had started to harden into ice, allowing the kids to simply walk on top of it. Occasionally, the ice would break, but they were just happy to be away from the Yeti.
Finally, the kids came to a stop at another ice river. Witchy slumped to the ground while Wynter paced around the area in deep thought.
"Is the monster gone?" Taffyta asked. "I think he is," Willow said in an exultant tone. "Now we just have to wait until Reese boy recovers from his winter blowout."
Taffyta raised an eyebrow at Willow's comment, but before she could say anything, Wynter strutted over to the two and tapped Willow on the shoulder without saying a word. Willow raised her hand and extended her index finger to Taffyta as if to pause her, and then she and Wynter quietly sauntered away from the group.
The moment they were gone, the three heard Rancis moan. Taffyta and Licorice immediately hugged him to the point of strangulation, but Witchy just stared at him, here arms crossed.
"You know Rancis, what you did was incredibly...imperceptive," She muttered. Rancis frowned slightly at her insult before opening his mouth to respond. However, Witchy continued.
"I mean seriously, you thought a shrimp like you could have gone up against a behemoth like that Yeti?" She berated. "Did you and Candlehead switch brains?"
"That's enough, Witchy," Licorice said before helping Rancis to his feet. However, he started to stumble around the place, still dazed from the blow the Yeti dealt him.
"Something's not adding up," He mumbled. Witchy cocked an eyebrow. "What's not to understand?" She asked. "A big monster attacked, you got floored like a pussy, we get away, end of story."
"No, not that," Rancis said. "It's about Willow and her brother."
"What, it's not like they caused the attack," Taffyta interjected. "No, did you look at Wynter right before that thing came after us?" Rancis said. "He just waved at it with a huge smile on his face like he was an old friend."
"Now that you mention it," Witchy said, "That yeti barely seemed to notice Willow. He just walked right past her."
"In fact, the same thing happened with the wolves," Licorice said. "They beat the tar out of us but didn't lay a claw on Willow."
"But they did attack Wynter," Rancis reminded. "Something strange is going on here, and by the looks of it, finding Candlehead may be the least of our problems."
Witchy turned in the direction Willow and Wynter had gone in. "What are those two doing anyways?" She asked.
"I'll go check," Licorice mumbled and strutted over in the direction the twins had gone in.
Licorice heard talking coming from behind a hill covered in ice. She looked behind the corner of the hill, and there she saw Willow and Wynter. She was talking to him, and he was talking back.
"Willow, I still don't understand why Mr. Snowman attacked us," Wynter said in a despondent tone. Licorice's jaw dropped. She had never heard Wynter talk before.
Willow just shrugged. "Maybe he was having a bad day, and decided to lash out at somebody," She muttered. "I know him, he would never do that," Wynter shot back.
Willow put her hands on his hips. "Did you really know the guy?" She asked. "Of course I did!" Willow shouted. "Well, I didn't, so why should we trust him, especially after he hurt Reese boy?"
"I don't know, but something's confusing me," Willow said. "The wolves were a stuck-up but friendly pack, and yet they tried to tear us apart before. And now Mr. Snowman goes on a wintery rampage."
Licorice's face distorted into that of confusion. The wolves and the Yeti were friendly? What was going on in this weird winter world?
"Maybe they got a bad taste of frost bite," Willow said sarcastically. Her eyes then traced around and landed on Licorice, who was frozen on the spot.
Licorice's eyes widened in shock. Every muscle in her body was telling her to move, but for some reason she just couldn't. It was like her legs were frozen to the ground.
Willow stomped over to Licorice, her arms crossed, and muttered, "Licorice, why couldn't you just leave us in peace for a minute?"
Back at the ice river, the other kids were throwing snowballs at the river, bored out of their minds. Witchy happened to turn around and see Licorice and Willow and Wynter returning.
"Oh hey, they're back," Witchy muttered plainly. Willow then tossed Licorice towards Witchy, knocking them both to the ground.
"Hey, what was that for?" Taffyta asked. "Taffy cake, why was Licorice spying on us?" Willow asked, clearly not amused.
"Well, you were gone for a while, and Licorice was worried and..." Taffyta didn't know what else to say. It was rather rude and inconsiderate to secretly watch people when they don't want to.
"Wynter was talking!" Licorice shouted. Every head snapped over to her. "What are you talking about?" Witchy asked. "I thought he was mute?"
"When I was, well, spying on the two, I clearly saw Wynter and Willow having a conversation with each other about the Yeti and those wolves," Licorice explained. "Show them, Wynter."
Every head was now on Wynter, whose eyes darted around the place nervously. Eventually, he opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He seemed confused.
Licorice twiddled her fingers, somewhat embarrassed. Then, Willow pelted her with a ball of ice. "How dare you put words in our mouths," She scolded. "Hey, leave her alone!" Witchy shouted. "Or else what?" Willow asked in an innocent smile.
What Witchy did next nobody could have anticipated.
She slapped Willow.
Witchy's hand shot out and her open palm connected with Willow's cheek. The brunette girl stumbled backwards in shock, her eyes widened in disbelief. Everybody gasped, except Wynter and Witchy.
Willow just stood there, frozen in place, before shaking her head rapidly and glaring at Witchy in anger. Before Witchy could react, Willow shouted and lunged at her, tackling her to the ground.
The two girls slapped and kicked at each other, rolling on the ground and punching each other in the face. Wynter covered his mouth in horror while Rancis shouted something along the lines of, "Yeah, get her, Witchy! Show her who's boss!"
Eventually, the two girls bumped into something. The two looked stopped fighting and looked up. It was a large white polar bear, the same one who had encountered Candlehead.
The bear was breathing heavily and he glared down at the two sinisterly, but he did not move. However, Witchy was not planning to wait for him to attack. She kicked Willow off of her and ran screaming towards the group.
The polar bear roared loudly and got on all fours and charged after the group. But just like the wolves and the Yeti, it raced right past Willow without noticing her. Willow sighed in relief, but her face turned to horror as she noticed the bear was running towards Wynter.
"Run, Wynter run!" She shouted. Wynter obeyed and turned around and took off with the bear hot on his trail.
The other kids returned to Willow. Before anyone could say anything, Willow took out an ice club and said, "Come on guys, we are not letting my brother become bear food."
"But won't he just regenerate?" Taffyta asked. "It's still very unpleasant," Willow shot back. "Now let's go!"
Instantly, they heard the bear roar, followed by a thud. The five children barrelled towards the same direction Wynter and the bear had gone.
When they finally got there, they froze. Wynter was whacking the bear upside the head with a club, creating the thudding. The bear was trying to swipe at him, but missed every time. The two were standing near a large chasm.
"Come on!" Willow shouted and the group charged at the bear. The bear spun around in shock and was tackled by the group. Taffyta kicked the bear in the shin while Rancis bit onto the bear's arm.
The bear roared in frustration and struggled to shake the kids off. He started to stumble towards the edge of the cliff. Finally, the bear tossed Rancis off his back. The Reese boy landed at the edge of the cliff and hung on for dear life.
"Wynter, help!" He shouted, panicking. Wynter, without saying a word, moved towards him and extended a hand, but the bear's large paw smacked into him and sent him flying off the cliff and into the chasm below.
"Well, I guess I'll just be hanging here for a while," Rancis muttered.
The bear roared again and threw back his head, causing Witchy to lose her grip on him and land on the ground. She started sliding on the slippery ice and ended up sliding right off the cliff along with Wynter.
"Witchy!" Taffyta shouted in shock. The bear used the opportunity to snatch Taffyta off his back with his claws. Holding the girl upside down, he roared loudly in her face before tossing her away in disinterest. She fell screaming into the chasm.
The edge of the glacier started to crack. Rancis' eyes widened in horror as the ice cracked near his hands. Finally, the ice broke apart and Rancis started to plummet off the glacier. Instinctively, he grabbed the nearest thing: Willow's leg.
Willow screamed in shock and horror as she was dragged into the chasm with Rancis.
Now Licorice was the only one left. The bear stared down at her and huffed loudly. Licorice turned away and looked down at the chasm, and then back at the angry bear in front of her. She then shrugged and said, "Oh well."
With that, she jumped off the cliff and into the chasm.