So there were some issues with publishing the last chapter. I believe it's fixed now so go check that out before coming here.

Also, I mentioned at the start that I started writing this arc in a heatwave, well it snowed and now it's back to mild weather.

Winter Wonderland: Part Six

Cress knew her power would be out since the traffic signals by her house weren't working and policemen were guiding traffic. She has never been happier because if left to treat as a four-way-intersection, she would've pulled over and walked the rest (but gotten back in the car since she didn't want to cross those streets).

Her father might be home if he loses power at his office. If he was in the dark, he might still be on the road.

As expected, she's cold when she walks in the dark house since the heater's down. She doesn't want to take off her jacket but does so to change. Her school uniform wasn't thermal, especially the skirt, but her warmest pyjamas fix that quickly.

She even puts her jacket back on for more warmth. Cress thinks that a hot shower would be nice. She could be sitting in a steaming bath and forget about the snow … but there would be no hot water if the house had no heat.

-o-

Selene Blackburn: How have you been doing?

"Fine," Kai says as he sits up on the couch. "I'm just chilling with the twins."

Kai looks up from his phone and sees Torin's twins, Skylar and Quinn, kneeling together at the coffee table. They glance at him when they were mentioned before returning to their puzzles.

Before Kai drove away from school, Mallory called him and asked to pick up the twins from school since their classes got cancelled due to the storm. Kai was only underwhelmed because Mallory would've called his school to sign him out for the twins, but he was leaving at the same time. He was lucky their school was a few blocks down but it was a nightmare to drive there.

He almost considered walking down to the school, grabbing the twins, and walking them back to school but thought that would take longer. And he was right. Kai took nearly thirty minutes to drive to their school because of traffic and a flood of parents and caregivers coming in to get their kids. Then he had to deal with signing the twins out and leaving the school parking lot.

Kai has never been more stressed and frustrated in his entire life. He's lived here for a while now and doesn't understand how Torin and Mallory handle it. Now they have him to do it for them. They've probably never been happier!

After the longest twenty minutes, Kai and the twins finally made it home. He changed into sweats, sat on the couch eating a bag of chips that he had to share with the twins or else they'd tell on him, and called his girlfriend.

He's done with today.

"They didn't want to do homework and I won't make them since I'm not doing mine and Torin could force them," Kai continues.

Selene Blackburn: Bad example.

"I'm hoping we don't have school tomorrow."

Selene Blackburn: Still, my Kai, you should be ahead of the game.

Kai scoffs. "As if you're doing homework."

Selene Blackburn: Do you have power?

"We had a brownout for a few moments but we're still good."

Cinder doesn't say anything and Kai checks his phone to see if he lost a connection but the call is still going. He's glad he has power since his phone is also at 10% battery. Kai holds the phone back to his ear and hears her laughing.

Selene Blackburn: That was the most Asian thing you've ever said.

"Aces, Cinder -"

Kai cuts himself off when he sees the twins looking up from their puzzles with shocked expressions. He wonders what happened to them but then he remembers. Aces. The twins point at the swear jar on the dining room shelf and Kai nearly forgot about that. Aces.

"Mommy says swearing is unattractive," Skylar says to him.

"Well, I still got a girlfriend," Kai argues back. He can hear Cinder starting to laugh in his ear.

"You won't if all your money's in the swear jar," Quinn adds.

"My girlfriend's got her own money."

"Are you a gold digger?" Skylar asks.

"No!" Kai yells as Cinder's laughing grows louder. "How do you know that word?"

"No, Skylar," Quinn says, "he's a sugar baby."

Skylar gasps as Kai looks mortified. He isn't sure whether he should be more concerned about the twins thinking he's after Cinder's money or what they know those words.

"I'm telling your parents you called me that!" Kai yells.

Quinn leans into her twin to whisper, keeping her eyes on Kai. "He didn't say no."

-o-

Jacin Bae: So, how's the storm?

"Brutal," Winter says, sitting cross-legged at her desk watching her candle flicker in her dark bedroom. "Cinder blames you for it."

Jacin Bae: Ah, spades, she's onto me. Next time, I'm putting a storm cloud only over her head.

Winter laughs and is about to say something but hears a beeping. She looks at her phone and sees that the call cut out because she lost service. Before she tries to call him back, her candle burns out. In the dark, Winter runs out of her room and sees Cinder step out of her room, putting her phone in her pocket.

"You did this!" Winter yells at her.

Cinder has never been more confused in her entire life.

-o-

Thorne realizes his house was even creepier in a blackout. For starters, his parents weren't home so it was always eerily silent. He knew Jeanette was taking Comet to the groomers so she's probably stuck there until the storm passed. The cold doesn't make anything better. Even with his jacket, he's shivering.

"Wait…" Thorne mutters.

He runs over to the fireplace and thinks to build a fire, but then he notices a remote on the mantle. Thorne picks it up and sees that it's for the fireplace.

"Spades…" Thorne grumbles, tossing the remote back up there.

The fireplace is the only modern thing in his house when all the paintings and art pieces are older than his parents.

-o-

Scarlet sits in her car and has no idea what to do. She doesn't remember if driver's ed had a lesson on this and if it did, she regrets not listening. She turned off her engine to conserve gas but that means she'll eventually freeze to death since the heat will succumb to the cold outside. And she'll die in this stupid uniform skirt too. She doesn't care. The next time she goes to school, she's wearing pants.

Scarlet tries to call and message someone again but the cell towers must be down. She wonders if any of her friends even managed to text each other in the chat. She looks out the window and the farmlands start to feel like a splatter of castaway islands

When she glances at her phone, she sees a bar of service and jumps to call Wolf. She has never been more relieved to hear his voice.

Alpha Wolf: I just got service back for a minute and you didn't respond to the group chat. Are you okay? Are you stuck at an intersection and can't cross? Did you just get back home?

Scarlet huffs and it scares her when she can see her breath. "My car is actually stuck in the middle of the farm roads where the plows don't come until the spading snow melts and I had to turn off my engine -"

Alpha Wolf: Say no more. I'll get you.

"Babe, it'll take you forever to get here."

Alpha Wolf: No it won't.

"You'll also need Thorne's snowplow."

Alpha Wolf: Thorne's snowplow needs a snowplow but I think I have an idea.

Scarlet bites on her lip. As much as she needs help, she doesn't want Wolf to get in trouble all the way here. "I hate it when you say that."

Alpha Wolf: Trust me. Just tell me where -

Scarlet glances at her phone and notices that the call ended because she lost service. "Oh, spades!"

I added Torin's kids more in the revamps and they will be in the story more from now on since Kai's living with them. (And they'll definitely be in my spin-off story.) This is the first chapter I wrote with them and I already love them. I also have a lot more ideas involving them.