Seren felt their breath catch. Wynne stepped back and stood up fully. Staring at Miss Jass in the doorway. For an eternity, no one moved. Seren couldn’t even breathe. Miss Jass’s face turned into a nasty smile. She stepped back but hit a wall of ice. Wynne had conjured the wall as fast as Seren could blink. Their mouth dropped open but no sound nor airflow came.

“Don’t hurt her!” Seren finally choked out. Grabbing Wynne’s hands before they raised them. Wynne narrowed their eyes suspiciously at Seren.

“Let me out!” Miss Jass screamed. Seren stared in horror at Wynne, but finally Wynne sighed. Lowering their hands.

“Fine, leave.” Wynne said, the ice wall melted and the door appeared. Seren drew a long sigh of relief but Miss Jass didn’t run away. She instead shifted side to side and then stepped into the house.

“What are you doing?” Wynne snarled, “leave before I change my mind!”

“I have a better idea,” Miss Jass smiled. “Fae make deals, don’t they?”

“I have no interest in making a deal with you.” Wynne sneered,

“I think you should, after all if I run screaming. What’s going to happen?” Miss Jass walked closer. “It’d be my word, as a respectable member of a noble family, against the word of a fae and half a fae.”

“You’d have to prove any of it happened.” Wynne said, crossing their arms. “By the time you found someone to complain to, Seren would be home with no memory of me and I would be back in the fae realm. You’d bring more shame to your family.” Miss Jass sneered.

“Well that’s unfortunate,” She said. Rummaging around in her heavy winter coat. From under it she produced the antique pistol. Seren turned to look at the mattress that had been their bed, it was overturned and all the things that were underneath it, including the old box, were rifled through.

“Here’s my last and most generous offer. Make a deal or I shoot.” Miss Jass said, aiming the barrel of the pistol at Seren’s face. Wynne’s eyes widened, looking from Miss Jass to Seren.

“What deal do you want to make?” Wynne said finally, defeated.

“That’s better,” Miss Jass smiled. “I let the brat live, and in return, I get fae powers.”

“YOU want to be fae-touched?” Wynne said surprised.

“No, I don’t want to be merely touched. I want to be fae. Entirely fae.” Miss Jass said, gaining ground, the barrel moving in wide circles around Seren. “You will take me to the fae realm and give me the powers you possess.”

“What do you hope to accomplish? Being fae isn’t going to make you any friends.” Wynne took Seren’s shoulder, it felt like the hand of death had come to take them, but it was only Wynne. Pulling them back and away from the crazed woman’s wild aim.

“I don’t want friends,” Miss Jass said. “What have they ever done for me? I want magic. I want gold and silver. I want to take what's mine.”

“You want to take what you want regardless of if it’s yours.” Wynne snapped. Miss Jass shrugged.

“What’s the difference?” She giggled evilly. “Do we have a deal?”

“Of course not.” Wynne grabbed Seren’s shoulder hard. The pistol fired and Seren shut their eyes feeling themself being thrown off their feet and hitting the wood floor shoulder first. They opened their eyes when they realized they felt no pain.

“Damn it!” Miss Jass cursed, Seren looked around at Wynne lying on the glass covered floor. At first Seren thought she missed but a trickle of dark blue ran down her arm and stained her dress.

“Wynne?” Seren whispered hoarsely. Crawling closer to the fae. “Wynne. That can’t hurt you, not really. Right?” Seren whispered tearfully.

“If it won’t make a deal, then it will.” Miss Jass stormed over, cocking the pistol for another shot. Seren shook their head in horror.

“How could you” they whispered. Slowly getting to their feet. “I defended you, how could you?”

“Shut it.” Miss Jass said, placing a heeled boot on Wynne's chest and pointing the barrel directly at Wynne’s face. Seren felt ice again running in their veins, turning from ice to fire.

“Get away from them!” Seren screamed, discharging all the ice and fire pent up inside of them. Throwing Miss Jass off her feet.

“Seren,” Wynne said hoarsely. Seren held onto Wynne’s hands. Their hands were going from ice cold to lukewarm. “Water. I need to get back to the fae realm.”

“Water? Water!” Seren jumped to their feet, looking at the bathroom. “Come this way, to the bathroom!” Seren pulled the fae onto their shoulder, dragging Wynne into the cramped, unlit bathroom. Putting them down and trying to turn on the faucets.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Nothing came out, only a grumbling in the pipes. Seren dropped to their knees beside Wynne.

“The pipes are frozen! I don’t have water, what do I do?” Seren cried, Wynne smiled weakly, taking Seren’s face in their rapidly warming hands and bringing the child down to touch their foreheads together.

“I’ll tell you what to do.” Wynne said, more memories flashing across Seren’s mind. Hearing Wynne’s voice in their head. “Live. Live to the fullest. Without regret or fear. Do that for me.” Seren shook their head, as the images started to fade away. Fading until Wynne’s hands fell away from Seren’s face.

Seren clenched their fists and rested their face in Wynne’s shoulder.

“Serenity!”

Seren looked up as Eric rushed to the doorway. He jumped over the threshold and skidded to a stop as he saw Miss Jass in the corner.

“Serenity, what did you do?” He asked, Seren’s lip quivered and they hid their face again. “Are you hurt?” He looked around back and forth for anyone else who’s attention was brought by all the noise. He quickly ducked into the house and creaked the door shut.

“You need to leave. Now.” He said, running over to them and grabbing their shoulder.

“No! I can’t leave them,” Seren pleaded. Eric pulled them up and hauled them into the main room.

“You have to. Go straight home and don’t tell anyone where you’ve been. Do you understand?” He said, Seren looked around to object but their eyes caught sight of Miss Jass in the corner. She was choking on her own blood trying to crawl toward the door. Seren bit their tongue at the sight.

“I didn’t mean to,” Seren whispered but they didn’t really feel any remorse.

“We’ll discuss this later, right now you need to leave.” Eric said, pushing them to the door.

“What about you? Aren’t you coming with me?” Seren grabbed Eric’s coat and pulled him along with them.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.” He said, kneeling to their face. “I promise, as long as I’m here, I’ll keep you safe.”

“What are you going to do?” Seren asked quietly.

“I need you to trust me, can you do that?” Eric looked into their eyes sternly. Seren stared deep into Eric’s face, reading the intent. They nodded slowly and took a last look at Wynne’s body.

“What about Wynne? We have to-” Seren tried to explain.

“I’ll take care of it. I promise.” Eric pulled them into a hug and held them tight. Seren pushed themself into the hug until Eric separated them. “Go home. Run. Don’t say a word to anyone, okay?” Seren nodded. As they ran out into the snow, Eric removed his winter coat and rolled up his sleeves. Facing the woman still clinging to life, her eyes widening in fear.

Seren ran through the snow. Their thoughts were spinning, making their head hurt. Making their ears pulse. The world spun around and they stumbled into a snow drift. Their eyes closed as the world rocked around them. The snow wasn’t even cold. It was soft and pillowy. Comfortable.

Snow was water.

Seren’s eyes snapped open. They sat up. Throwing a pile of snow off of them.They looked at the snow they’d thrown off of them in confusion. They’d only been there a few minutes and it wasn’t even snowing when they’d fallen. They shook their head and got up. Maybe it wasn’t too late. But when they stood up all they saw were guards running in and out of the Winter district. All were wandering around their old house. Seren stood up and took a few steps toward their old house before the guards noticed.

“Hey kid, stay back. This is a pretty nasty scene.” The woman said gently. “What’s your name?”

“Seren? I need to get in there though.” Seren said, trying to get around the guard. She took their arm and kept them back.

“Seren what? Why do you need to get in there?” She asked.

“Seren Win- no Asche-Winters. It’s hyphenated now.” Seren said, still feeling floaty, like they weren’t in their body any more.

“Oh! I think your dad’s looking for you.” The guard said, “why don’t we get you home? What happened?” She waved at another guard and pointed at Seren before walking them through the gates.

“I was running and I tripped and I guess I must have fallen asleep.” Seren said distantly.

“Okay, well let’s get you home and warmed up then. I bet you’re freezing!” The guard said. “You want to ride a guard-horse?”

“No thanks.” Seren shook their head. They wanted to ask about the house but they remembered Eric told them not to talk to anyone on their way home. So they just stared at the ground, counting all the footprints all the way to the front door.