“Jesus this floor is still cold,” Alex said shivering with his hood pulled up underneath his spirit armor.

They were down on the fifth floor now. The floor that was referenced in the poem left for Ethan and it was a miserable place. It was snowing heavily and the ground was covered in both snow and ice. Hopefully whoever the red haired boy that was taken down here had a coat or he was likely to die of hypothermia before they found him.

After defeating the bosses on the fourth floor the group walked back along the bamboo pathway until they returned to the shrine and took the elevator down to the now available fifth floor.

As soon as the doors opened and the cold air and snow hit them Quin stopped any of them from getting out and hit the button for the school basement. She insisted that they all quickly return to their dorms, dry off, change out of their very wet clothes, and then meet back in the basement wearing their warmest winter gear.

Ethan was not about to complain. He knew that he wouldn’t last two seconds out in the ice and snow with how wet he had been. As it was he was a little worried he still wouldn’t be able to stay warm enough. He had a coat but it wasn’t super heavy duty and as far as pants and shoes went he didn’t have anything better than his school pants and tennis shoes. The best he could do was put on his warmest pair of socks and hope for the best.

Down in the basement Bella wasn’t dressed any better than Ethan but both Quin and Alex had snow pants, boots, and heavy winter coats on. Ah the advantages of being rich strikes again, Ethan thought annoyed though he couldn’t blame the two of them for their more fortunate circumstances.

“At least your coat is made for conditions like this,” Bella replied. “I thought I was going to school in California not Alaska. I do not do cold like this.”

“Keep moving,” Quin instructed. “It will keep your blood flowing and your core body temperature up. Honestly once you get used to the wind this isn’t that bad. Trust me Crystal Mountain gets much colder in the winter.”

“Are we supposed to recognize that name?” Ethan asked glaring at her.

Out of the four of them, Quin was the only one who seemed to be handling the cold alright. It made sense, he supposed, she was from Seattle, had the best gear, and was unquestionably insane.

“Just be grateful that those mountains are blocking some of the wind,” Quin said gesturing to the tall mountains on the left.

“Such comfort,” Ethan snapped sarcastically. “If you haven’t noticed we’re on a mountain covered in snow. Hell there’s so much ice and snow we can’t even see the tree parts of those trees.”

It was true there were scattered trees all around them but they were completely covered by snow and ice that had drifted onto them over time. The odd branch stuck out here or there but for the most part they were completely white and looked more like snow monsters than trees.

“Yeah don’t take this the wrong way Quin,” Bella said between chattering teeth, “but I kind of hate you right now.”

“Aw come on Bella don’t be like that,” Alex said shivering himself. “Think of how much worse this is going to get when a freaking Yeti jumps out from behind one of those trees and eats us alive.”

God what was the boss going to be on this floor? Ethan thought and nothing he came up with made him happy. It certainly was going to be something that was designed to live in these ridiculous conditions.

“At least we won’t have a hard time finding our way back to the elevator,” Ethan said trying to take his mind off of giant hairy fanged beasts. “We’re leaving enough tracks that it should be easy.”

“Ah but there you’re assuming they won’t be covered by the snow by the time we try to return,” Alex said. “Face it, we’re all going to die of hypothermia or frostbite out here. I’ve at least made my peace with the lord.”

“Thanks for the positive encouragement Alex,” Ethan muttered sarcastically.

“Just being a realist,” Alex responded. “This redhead is almost assuredly going to be dead when we find him and if the cold doesn’t kill us the Black certainly will.”

“We can’t know that and we have to try,” Quin said defiantly. “If one of us were trapped out here we would want to be saved. Do what you want but I’m not about to leave someone out here to suffer.”

Naturally Ethan’s first reaction was to hate Quin for pushing them so hard in conditions like this, but deep down he respected her for taking that stance. It was a stance he agreed with. He just wished they could have done this rescue mission somewhere else. Not in the freezing cold on top of a snowy mountain.

“Is it just me or did that tree just move?” Bella asked nervously.

“Probably just the wind blowing it,” Quin replied. “Come out let’s move faster.”

“Faster?” Alex asked. “We don’t even know if we’re going in the right direction.”

Shrugging Quin said, “Away from the elevator is usually the right direction.”

Too cold and tired to argue they marched after her moving as fast as they could, which wasn’t very in the snow. As they reached the ridge of the mountain they could look down into a valley where a frozen lake loomed large at one end.

“See that,” Quin said pointing to it. “That looks promising.”

“That looks like a difficult hike back up here,” Alex replied.

“It’s the only landmark of note I can see around here,” Quin shot back actually starting to sound annoyed. “Tell me, do you have a better idea?”

“Yeah, we turn around and head back to the elevator, ride it up, and find a nice fire to forget this whole thing by,” Alex muttered.

Secretly, Ethan was agreeing with Alex. While the slope down to the lake looked gentle enough, he really didn’t fancy trudging through the snow to climb back up here to get to the elevator.

“That’s not an option,” Quin said staring at him.

“I’m with Quin on this one,” Bella squeaked nervously.

This came as a surprise to Ethan as he was of the opinion that Bella was the most miserable out her out of all of them.

“Really Bella?” Alex demanded turning on her. “Why in God’s name are you siding with her?”

“Mostly because of them,” Bella said pointing behind the group at a set of the snow-covered trees that were lumbering towards them.

They were walking, though the limbs were far from even causing them to stumble and some of them to fall. Sort of humanoid in shape, devoid of any facial features, tall as trees, which they were underneath, and covered in white they were one of the most terrifying things Ethan had ever seen.

“Oh crap,” Alex said staring with his mouth ajar.

Keeping her head Quin fired an arrow at the closest one. It pierced the white powdery outside and disappeared leaving behind only a small hole to show where it had gone. The snow monster didn’t even acknowledge it was hit.

“I don’t think that’s going to work,” Ethan said readying his sword in what felt like a pointless gesture.

“Dear Jesus please don’t let me get killed by Frosty,” Alex said evidently praying. “I swear I’m working on being a better Christian. If Frosty is the reason I die that’s really going to ruin my childhood.”

“Alex quit muttering nonsense and get your shield up,” Ethan snapped at him.

Truthfully, he didn’t have anything against his friend praying but he really didn’t want them all to die because Alex was waiting for divine intervention.

“Alex your shield,” Bella exclaimed.

“I heard Ethan the first time,” Alex snapped holding the shield up, in front of him.

“No,” Bella said excitedly. “Put it on the ground upside down.”

“What--Oh,” Alex said evidently understanding something that Ethan wasn’t picking up on.

Flipping it over and throwing it on the ground Alex motioned for the rest of them to come over to him. Bella was the first to reach him and she climbed on top of the shield sitting down and sliding up to the front of it.

Oh my God, I’m an idiot, Ethan thought finally realizing what they were doing. They were going to use it as a sled and slide down into the valley, which would alow them to outrun snow monsters.

“Ethan, Quin come on,” Alex yelled. “Hold on to each other tight, we’re only going to just have enough room if we squeeze together.”

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Jumping on next Ethan slide up right behind Bella and wrapped his arms around her midsection. Moments later he felt Quin do the same to him pushing up against his back.

“Hold on tight,” Alex yelled and began pushing the back of the shield.

It slide slowly underneath them at first and then began to pick up speed right as Alex jumped on the back of it behind Quin. A second later Ethan felt himself being lifted up into the air as a giant snowy fist slammed down on top of Alex causing him and Quin to be pushed down.

“Alex?” Ethan yelled.

“I’m alright,” Alex yelled as the shield skidded sideways beginning to turn while still sliding down the slope. “It looked worse than it felt.”

“Is someone steering?” Quin asked with the shield still turning.

Ethan and Bella were now facing up the hill where he could see a group of the snow monsters clustered up at the ridgeline. Facing the wrong direction did not stop the shield from sliding. If anything it seemed to pick up speed as they went down.

“I don’t think so,” Ethan replied.

“I’m sorry this was a terrible idea,” Bella yelled. “I think I'm going to be sick.”

“I dunno Bella, it’s kind of fun like riding a roller coaster backwards,” Ethan replied.

“We have a very different idea of what is fun,” Bella said.

They continued to slide down backwards picking up more and more speed. The stupid part of Ethan wanted to throw his arms up in the air and cry out in delight. Lucky this was overruled by the sane part of him that held on desperately to Bella.

He hoped they stopped before they hit anything or slide out onto the sheet of ice that was the lake. Who knew how thick that ice actually was and if they fell threw, even if they didn’t drown they’d probably die of hypothermia.

“Alex can you see where we’re going?” Ethan yelled over his shoulder and almost accidently bumped his head into Quin’s.

“Sort of,” Alex called back. “The good news is that were not going to slide out onto the lake. The bad news is that we’re going to crash.”

“What?” The other three of them exclaimed as the sheild hit a snow bank, turned slightly to the right, and launched them into the air.

The first thing Ethan felt was the shield falling away from underneath them. He only had a second for his brain to comprehend this and know that it meant something was very wrong. Then they hit the snow.

The impact was shocking and sent a jolt throughout his whole body. Instinctively he let go of Bella as they bounced and tumbled across the ground end over end. Unfortunately Quin had the opposite reaction and squeezed ahold of him even tighter every time they hit the ground. Hitting the snow wasn’t too bad, it mostly gave and cushioned the impact but when he landed on Quin or she landed on him depending on which was they were rotated it was less friendly.

Finally after a terrifying eternity that was probably only a few they stopped half buried in snow with Quin underneath him. The first thing Ethan did like all sane people was check to see if he could still move his limbs. Finding that while he was sore pretty much everywhere, his arms, legs, and neck all seemed to be functioning fine. That was a huge relief.

“Ethan can you please move,” Quin croaked below him. “I think you cracked my ribs and possibly popped one of my breasts.”

“Is that even possible?” Ethan asked surprised.

“It feels like it,” she said. “Please move.”

Gingerly Ethan rolled to the side off of her pushing some of the snow away from them as he went. Looking out from there final landing spot he could see a large debris field of snow over the crash site where they’d completely destroyed the clean white area.

Like Ethan, the first thing Quin did was check her limbs and neck and like Ethan they seemed to be working okay. After that she sat up causing a pile of snow to fall on her head which she quickly brushed away. Next she began probing at her chest with her fingers while grimacing.

“Not popped, but definitely going to be bruised,” Quin said after a moment. “Ribs could be broken, I’m not sure but man did that hurt.”

“Why didn’t you let go of me?” Ethan asked looking her over.

“It all happened so fast,” Quin replied. “My instincts took over and I guess their first reaction was to hold on tighter.”

“Well I’m uh sorry about your ribs and whatnot,” Ethan said blushing and feeling slightly embarrassed by the whole thing.

He certainly wasn’t used to a girl talking about her breasts to him let alone so nonchalantly, but Quin wasn’t like most girls and never seemed to follow the usual social norms.

“Can you walk?” he asked pushing himself to his feet and finding that while they weren’t huge fans of the idea they held his weight. “We should find the other two and make sure they are okay.”

“Yeah I think so,” Quin said standing up.

“Bella, Alex,” Ethan yelled looking out over the crash area and trying to locate his two other friends.

They weren’t hard to find. There were two distinct paths cut through the snow leading to their final destinations. Ethan and Quin reached Bella first who was closest to them. She was sitting up and leading against the snow, which was probably a good thing, but crying which usually wasn’t.

“Bella are you alright?” Ethan asked.

“Lost my Axe,” Bella muttered.

“I’m pretty sure you can resummond that,” Ethan replied. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah I’m fine, I don’t think I broke anything,” she said and then added, “This is the worst place on Earth.”

“Are we even sure this is on Earth?” Quin asked causing Ethan to give her a look meant to ask, really? Now isn’t the time.

“Come on, let’s get you on your feet,” Ethan said holding both his hands out for her.

She grabbed ahold and after a brief bit of struggling on his part he managed to pull her to her feet.

Quickly the three of them made their way over to Alex’s landing site where much to their surprise they found it completely empty. For a split second Ethan panicked thinking that his friend had been killed or something but then he saw the foot prints leading around the side of the snow bank.

Following them they found Alex as well why Alex had walked over here.

“Ugh, that’s disgusting,” Ethan said after he walked into full view of the stream of projectiles coming from Alex’s mouth.

“No one asked you to watch,” Alex shot back once he’d finished.

“Are you, uh going to live?” Ethan asked refusing to move any closer.

“I think so,” Alex said wiping his mouth off on his sleeve, “but remind me never to trust Bella again. Here I was thinking she was the most trustworthy person in the group and then she forces me to go down a hill backwards at high speed on a shield.”

“I’m sorry,” Bella said looking like she was about to cry again. “I was just thinking about how we could escape from those tree monsters and it seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Ease up Alex,” Quin said. “It worked. We not only got away from the monsters but we made it down here not too far from the lake. Personally I thought the ride down was exhilarating with the exception of the crash.”

“Speak for yourself crazy lady,” Alex muttered. “I’m never doing that again. In fact if I never slide down anything on snow again I’ll be very happy.”

“Well now that we know Alex is alright we can get moving and before you ask, yes the brain damage was already there before the crash,” Ethan stated smirking.

“Says the person failing Drawing,” Alex retorted. “Like how is that even possible? You don’t even have to think to draw.”

“The teacher hates me and I’m doing alot better this semester,” Ethan responded and added mentally, I hope.

“I think I see something on the far side of the lake,” Quin said obviously growing tired of the bickering.

Looking up Ethan saw it too. There was a small orange glow coming from valley wall next to the lake. From this distance he couldn’t make out what exactly it was but as orange wasn’t typically in the frozen color palette of this place it was definitely worth checking out.

The immediate problem was that it was on the other side of the lake and while the lake was frozen Ethan wasn’t sure he wanted to trust the ice to hold his body weight. How did you even check if ice was thick enough? If any of them fell through it likely meant death. Hypothermia would surely be almost immediate even with the temperatures in the valley feeling warmer than it was up on the mountain top.

“Let’s move,” Quin said starting toward the lake.

“Quin I don’t know if we should walk across that,” Ethan said. “It might give out underneath us.”

“There’s only one way to find out,” she said smiling maniacally at him.

“I’m serious, if one of us falls in, it's probably certain death,” Ethan said running to catch up with her.

“I’m with Ethan on this one,” Alex said. “Personally it’s already cold enough out here in the snow.”

“Give me your sword Ethan,” Quin said holding her hand out for the blade.

“Why?” Ethan asked eying her suspiciously.

“So I can stab it through your cowardly heart,” Quin answered sarcastically before adding, “I’m going to check if it’s safe for us.

Ethan handed her the blade by the hilt before following after her to the edge of the clear blue ice that made up the lake. Carefully Quin took a few steps out onto the ice which thankfully didn’t give out. Moving deliberately she went about ten yards away from the shore before stopping and plunging the blade straight down into the sheet of ice below.

After working it for a minute she finally pulled it back out staring carefully at the hole she created below her. Finally after another couple of minutes she walked back over to the shore where the other three were standing and handed Ethan back his sword.

“I think it’s thick enough to hold our weight,” Quin said, “but we should cross spread out so as not to put too much weight on it all at once.”

“You think?” Bella asked.

Shrugging Quin said, “It’s hard to get a precise measurement only using a sword and besides the thickness is going to vary from place to place. Personally I’d recommend we stay as close to the shoreline and mountains making up the valley walls as we can when crossing.”

“Screw it, let’s just get this over with,” Alex said stepping out onto the ice sheet quickly where his legs almost immediately went out from underneath him.

“Careful,” Quin said looking down at him. “It is ice you know.”

“I know what ice is,” he snapped angrily while gingerly pushing himself back onto his feet.

“Alright, I’ll lead,” Quin said. “Alex wait ten steps then follow, Ethan same after Alex, and Bella you’re after Ethan.”

Slowly Quin led them around near the edge of the frozen lake where it butted up against the side of the mountains. Personally Ethan was glad they were going so slow. The traction on the bottom of his shoes were terrible and he found himself almost skating along instead of walking.

At least Quin was right about the ice. It didn’t give way while they walked. Heck, it didn’t even crack which was a huge relief to Ethan.

As they got closer it became evident that the orange glow they’d seen before was coming from a large cave which had giant icicles hanging over the cave mouth. The glow continuously flickered leading Ethan to believe it was most likely coming from a fire. At least we’ll be warm if we have to fight, he thought trying to stay positive.

Quin was the first one to step inside of the cave, followed by Alex, and then Ethan. Once he was inside and could get a full view of the cave he frowned. There was a fire sitting in the middle of a large round cavern and near it was Gavin sitting on the ground with his arms and legs bound by ropes. Behind him almost blending into the shadows, The Black was standing leaning against the cavern wall. His spirit armor was still far too dark to see anything that was inside of it.

“Gavin?” Alex asked.

“Oh look you found the Batcave,” Gavin said in typical Gavin fashion. “I was just telling Batman here that I have no idea where the rabbits are and that he should stop asking.”