And now for the surprise that I was very excited to write.

Play It Cress-cendo: Part Seven

"Winter!"

Jacin didn't waste another second thinking before running straight into the fire. Everywhere he looks, there are burning flames wanting to grab him. Despite breathing through his tank top that he nearly tore off, he's still inhaling smoke. He can barely hear the outside noise of their classmates screaming and getting as far from Orion's Beach as possible. It doesn't matter to him. Nobody saw Winter which meant she was still somewhere in this fiery mess.

Somewhere completely ablaze, drowning in the fires. She has to be in trouble if she wasn't already out. Stars, what if she went looking for Cinder? Jacin wouldn't blame her for that since he would've done the same thing.

Come on, Trouble, come on. He couldn't lose her now, or ever. Aside from just making her his girlfriend after years of mutual pining, she's his best friend.

He isn't sure he could make it without her.

-o-

Jacin snaps awake from the nightmare, throwing his blankets off him. The cool air of his bedroom hits him as he puts his hands on his face to wake himself up more. Aces, it's like he's running a fever. Flashes of his nightmare appear behind his eyelids, traces of orange. He's sweating along his hairline and can feel damp spots on his pillow and under his back once the rest of his body cooled.

He lies in bed for a moment longer, looking up at the blank ceiling. Sunlight peers through the closed curtains. Orion's Beach is a strange memory in his mind. He either remembers it vividly, through a haze of rose-tinted alcohol, or a snapshot slideshow as if he's scrolling through other people's posts about it. He didn't post anything. Why would he? Everyone almost died and someone did die. Sometimes he can't remember what Winter looked like before the beautiful scars running below her eye. If he ever pulled up an old photo of her before Orion's Beach or even one taken moments before the fire, then her face seemed off without them. Her scars became a part of her in every way.

Jacin turns over and picks up his phone from his nightstand. He ignores all the missed calls and unread messages, seeing the time is the start of the afternoon.

His mind is still waking up so he doesn't have the energy to calculate the time difference between Artemisia and Commonwealth, but Winter and her friends were going to the beach or already went to the beach. Maybe the missed calls and messages would tell him but he'll look at them later. He's already hours late in responding so a few more minutes wouldn't make a difference.

Jacin gets out of bed and heads to the bathroom. After a quick shower, he gets dressed. School wasn't in session, a lot of the cadets went back home since most were from out-of-town, and his parents were at Andromeda Academy for a faculty meeting so he has no plans.

He gets back to his texts, quickly responding to Winter. By now, she's already at the beach and about to teach Cinder how to swim. Stars, how he wished he could be there to watch Cinder sink like an anchor. Then Iko and Kinney sent him a stream of texts starting from early this morning attempting to wake him up but he slept through them. Whoops.

Jacin heads downstairs and sees Iko and Kinney sitting on the living room couch, scrolling and texting on their phones as if they were sitting there for a while. Iko even has her feet up on the table. She stretches her neck back and smiles at Jacin once he walks up to them. Kinney turns off his phone and puts it in his pocket.

"I guess you slept well," Kinney says, sounding like a peeved parent. "Your mom let us in when she was leaving."

Jacin does some quick mental math. "You were here for five hours?"

Iko shrugs. "Kinney and I are still accustomed to the Academy's schedule. Your father was proud of us for that. We assumed you would be too, stars, even up earlier than us. Aces, your own mother was shocked you weren't awake by the time we got here. She almost went up there to drag you out of bed but we figured you'd be out soon … not hours later."

Jacin doesn't bring up his nightmare because he's grateful that Iko and Kinney didn't burst into his room and startle him. Wouldn't be the first time.

"We were here for hours and wondering if you were even here or possibly dead," Iko says.

"How nice," Jacin says. They're not joking either since he did flee the country once. They're never letting that go. Nobody is.

"At least you're already dressed because we have plans."

Jacin glances at Kinney. "I wasn't aware of these plans."

"Neither am I," Kinney states.

"If it helps," Iko adds, "I wasn't aware of them until a few minutes ago."

"Spades…" Jacin curses as Kinney grumbles in his spot. "Who put you in charge?"

"Nobody which is why I appointed myself." She smiles at him again. "Now eat up so we can get moving."

Jacin's about to head into the kitchen but stops when he sees a pizza box on the coffee table. He sits beside Iko as she opens a hand for him to help himself. He hopes Iko and Kinney just ordered it despite having a gut feeling that they ordered this at around 9 AM. He pushes her feet off the table as he opens the box. The quarter of the pizza that remains is room temperature which is questionable. He can barely tell what the toppings are since they all blend in a golden cheese colour. For the sake of his stomach, he tells himself it's a plain cheese pizza but he knows nobody ever orders a plain cheese.

At least they saved him some.

Jacin picks up a slice and isn't amused when all the toppings fall off in a single drop. He's unfazed as Iko and Kinney stifle their laughter.

"I should've made a boomerang of that," Iko says, taking out her phone and pointing it at him. "Try with the other slice."

" … these slices are now damaged goods," Jacin states.

His day isn't off to a good start. He doesn't think it'll get better.

If you couldn't already guess, the rest of this arc will take place in Artemisia with these three idiots.