The painkillers had done their job, and Sophie felt like a cloud. After Howly had set her leg and wrapped it in gauze with the splint to hold everything in place she set up a small camping stove so Sophie could eat some deer meat. Sophie found it amusing to see the giant Howly hunched over a comically small camping stove trying to make it work.

Howly briefly left and returned with a Tupperware of innards and two filled water bottles. While the meat was somewhat bland, after what felt like days without eating Sophie had no complaints as she eagerly popped a grilled something in her mouth.

“So um… where are we?” Sophie asked.

“In the mines. The human town of Nulato is that way,” Howly offered, pointing towards the cave wall. It didn't help Sophie orient herself any more than knowing they were most likely in the Nulato hills somewhere still.

“Oh,” was all she could think to say. She really had no idea where to start a conversation, the brain fog wasn't helping. There was one thing on her mind. “Can you help me get there?”

“To the human town?” Howly asked, cocking her head.

“Yes, I need to get home so my family doesn’t think I’m dead.”

Howly made a strange purring growl sound. “You can barely crawl and it is not a short journey. You would not survive even with my help.”

“But I can’t just stay here, Howly. My family needs to know I’m ok, Mark can’t get away with this.”

Howly smiled, an eerie malicious grin. “He won’t, I promise. But right now you need to rest.”

Sophie took a shuddering breath. Howly observed her for a few more moments before searching through a pile. Eventually returning to Sophie with something clutched in her claws.

“My lucky tuque,” Sophie said, taking it and slipping it on. Howly had found her tuque. “Thank you.”

Howly nodded. “I like… collecting things,” she offered. Sophie swore she seemed almost embarrassed.

“My dad got it when he started his job at NASA. He gave it to me when I graduated high school, I’ve worn it ever since,” Sophie smiled.

“It is… sentimental.”

“Yeah.”

“You have seen my crown, it serves the same purpose.”

“The skull you wear?”

Howly nodded. “An old friend. Died a long time ago, shot by hunters.

“Oh… what kind of friend?” Sophie asked. Maybe it was rude, but she was too curious to help herself.

“A companion,” Howly replied after a moment of deliberation.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Maybe Howly wasn’t intentionally dense. The more Sophie spoke with her the more it seemed she wasn’t as fluent in English as she had seemed. In the same way, Sophie could technically speak French but it had been so long that she was very rusty.

Howly shrugged, “That is the tragedy of love. They were a good hunter though.”

“Well… I guess it’s a nice way to remember them,” Sophie offered. She wasn’t sure if being turned into a hat actually was, she didn’t think she would want to be a hat. The image made her chuckle. The painkillers were definitely getting to her.

“You should rest, you need your strength,” Howly said.

“I’m fine,” Sophie retorted halfheartedly. She was exhausted, the fact she hadn’t passed out from having her leg set had honestly surprised her.

Howly clicked off the light and crouched beside her. A long claw tilted her head up to face Howly’s silhouetted shape. “The more you rest the sooner you go home.”

Sophie’s heart pounded, both in nerves and excitement. She had seen the same claws rend meat from the bone with ease. Yet irrationally part of her wanted to lean into the icy touch that would certainly burn her skin.

Before Sophie could make up her mind Howly was gone. She hadn't even seen her leave, Howley's silhouette had simply faded until Sophie couldn't even be sure she had ever been there.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

She pulled the blankets closer, careful not to jostle her leg. Howly had a point, and if she stayed awake any longer she was going to overthink the whole “being lost underground in the mines in total darkness” thing.

Sleep, however, did not come, at least not peacefully. Her mind could only replay those last few moments on the cliff. The push, Mark’s cold determined gaze. It was both unreal and far too real at the same time. She was used to sleeping beside a body but it had been that body that had tried to kill her. She wrapped her arms around herself nervously. How was this her life now?

Eventually, she managed to drift off, her dreams were no more kind. Her sleeping mind was ever more creative with the ways Mark could kill her. She tossed and turned as much as she could with her leg as it was. At some point, she awoke, a scream echoing through her mind as dreams blurred with reality.

She felt exhausted, her leg throbbed with pain. She was sweaty and thirsty. Worn out from restless sleeping. She sat up and fumbled through the air, trying to feel for the camping light. After embarrassingly long she finally managed to find it and turn it on.

Sophie took a deep breath. She didn't have the energy to deal with the emotions rolling through her. She grabbed the pain medication and gulped some down the rest of the water bottle Howly had left. Needing a distraction she looked around and pulled a pile of camping supplies towards her to sift through.

Rummaging through a camping bag she found a set of water-damaged playing cards. Another bag had a few magazines. Nature, fashion… and porn. Sophie’s ears warmed as she realized just what she was looking through.

“You would be surprised how many pictures of naked people you humans carry around,” Howly rumbled with amusement, making Sophie jump and stuff the magazine under the blanket.

“H-Howly,” Sophie laughed weakly, “good morning.”

Howly nodded, “How are you feeling?”

“Can’t complain I suppose,” she shrugged.

Howly looked at her skeptically, “You are… too pale.”

Sophie shrugged, “I took more pain drugs.”

Howly sat beside her and handed her a full water bottle. Sophie eagerly drank more.

“I will have to hunt today,” Howly informed her.

“Already?” Sophie asked, there seemed to be plenty of deer left yesterday.

“My… appetite is greater than yours,” Howly replied with a smile.

“Oh, ok,” she replied awkwardly.

“I will be gone a long time, I have nothing to calm Mother and the skies are… angry,” Howly explained.

Sophie didn't bother asking what that meant, she was just glad Howly was telling her more. Even if it made no sense, maybe that was for the best.

“I uh… need to use the bathroom,” Sophie admitted.

Howly nodded, “Let me look at your leg, then I will take you.”

She lay back and motioned for Howly to go for it. Howly did so gently. Revealing dark purple skin underneath, Howly’s nose flared.

At the sight of the massive bruise, Sophie felt light-headed and decided to stare at the ceiling rather than her fucked up leg. “At least it's internal. That's where the blood is supposed to be,” she offered, trying to lighten the mood.

Howly didn't reply and wrapped back up her leg.

This time when Howly picked her up Sophie still braced for the burst of pain, thankfully the splint did its job. Howly’s body still leeched the cold from hers but Sophie’s full bladder was a surprisingly effective distraction.

Howly carried her once again through tunnels, Sophie was fairly sure they were going up. Eventually, she could hear the wind and after turning a corner there it was. The crevice in the rocks was too small for Howly to carry her through but there was a bigger problem.

Holy fucking shit it was cold. Apparently, the skies being angry meant a blizzard because outside of the cave was a wall of white.

“I uh… I think I’m gonna need your help.”

The experience of peeing in a snowstorm was not one Sophie ever wanted to repeat. It was painful, uncomfortable, embarrassing and really cold. Needing Howly to hold her up only made things worse.

After wiggling back through the cave entrance Howly carried her back. Sophie’s teeth were chattering and she was shivering badly. She eagerly buried herself in blankets the moment they were back.

“Perhaps hunting can wait,” Howly offered, sitting beside her. She was clearly worried about her but considering Sophie couldn't even go to the bathroom by herself she didn't want to be left alone either. Regardless of how hungry she was.

“C-Can you p-play c-cards?” she shivered and grabbed the deck of cards.

Howly cocked her head. “Teach me.”

----------------------------------------

“Go fish,” Howly rumbled with a smile.

Sophie sighed and drew a card. There were only so many rounds of “go fish” Sophie could play before her brain turned to mush. Not to mention her hunger was only growing.

In, what she guessed was three days, all she had eaten was a granola bar and a little deer meat. While she had water her stomach was becoming increasingly insistent.

Howly seemed fine, but predators usually didn’t eat consistently. Sophie assumed Howly was used to not eating. She didn't want to beg for food, not when Howly had already done so much for her. But she would need to eat and soon.

All of this resting let her mind wander. Howly had a tendency to be cryptic and Sophie had nothing to do except try and puzzle through things. She didn't want to ask too many questions, she didn't want to open a Pandora's box. Still, with such a creature in front of her, it was impossible to resist.

“You said I have a heart of ice, what does that mean?” Sophie asked.

“Did you not feel it? Murdered, left to be claimed by the cold in the dark of night. I sat with you,” Howly replied. “4 of hearts?”

“Wha…” Sophie began trying to decipher that as she begrudgingly handed over her 4 of hearts. “What does that mean though? Am I… dead?”

Howly shook her head. “You think of life and death as black and white. You are on the border, not of my world and not entirely of the human one. You have a heart of ice but it may thaw or… perhaps you will embrace the cold.”

“How do I… choose? What even are the choices?” Sophie frowned, putting down the cards. This conversation had taken a turn she wasn’t expecting. Now she didn’t know how to feel.

Howly was starting to seem far less… safe. Something far more than the kindly forest creature. Yet Sophie couldn’t put her finger on a reason why. But the energy had changed.

She was scared, not the abject horror of their first meaning. But an undercurrent of unease, the feeling on the back of her neck that there was something more sinister going on.

“There is no choice, Sophie, you are recovering and then you will make the journey back to your people,” Howly sighed, looking up from her cards with a sad smile. “Your heart will thaw.”

“Have you ever… saved anyone before?” Sophie couldn’t help but ask.

“You should rest, you are still not well,” Howly said, standing.

“Have you?” Sophie demanded, unease crawling through her.

Howly reached for the light but paused to look at her. “Yes, a long time ago. He was a good hunter.”

Then the light clicked off, and she was gone.

Sophie barely slept. When she did she dreamed of falling, the screams of the dreaming a cruelty of her own mind. Howly had not given her comforting answers, and being awake brought no more comfort.

Four days, by now it had been four days. It was a miracle she was even alive. But the hunger was getting to her. That and her injury left her tired and weak. She needed food, she needed to go to a hospital. She needed to get Mark thrown in jail. That was almost as bad as her starvation or broken leg, he was walking free despite what he had done.

When she got home, she would make him pay.