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Drift’s feet crunched in the snow as she made her way through the trees. It was cold, but she had a lantern and tools to make a fire with her, so she wasn’t worried. Besides, the cold felt kinda nice sometimes when it wasn’t killing her. Besides, the voice in her head was telling her where to go, she trusted them not to get her lost.
She made it to her destination, a small snowy hollow surrounded by slopes. It felt familiar somehow, but Drift wasn’t sure why. Standing in that hollow, black hair blowing about her face like the halo of some dark angel, was Apo.
Drift waved enthusiastically and broke into a run, immediately forgetting about the icy ground beneath her feet. One second she was running, the next she was plunging towards the ground. Moments before her face would have hit the ice, cold, unnaturally strong arms pulled her back upright. Drift found herself pressed against Apo’s chest as the wraith laughed softly, a noise that still sounded gentle despite the warping from her new voice.
“Careful, I don’t have anything to patch you up with if you get hurt.” They guided Drift by the hand to sit down next to her in the snow, cross legged, knees brushing.
“Yeah, sorry.” Drift giggled awkwardly, trying not to think too hard about the fact that Apo still hadn’t let go of her hand when they sat down, seeming to enjoy the contact.
“You had an okay trip over? I’d offer to meet up closer to your house, but…”
“Yeah, maybe not the best idea. I had to sneak away while Margaret and Viking weren’t looking, since they keep on insisting that I can’t go out alone. Honestly, what is their problem? It’s so nice here, nothing bad could possibly happen to me!”
“No, nothing.” Apo tightened their grip on Drift’s hand slightly, protectively. Then she paused, as though something else had just registered. “Wait, who and Viking?”
“Margaret. Y’know, the one who’s always calling the shots and acts like he knows everything about everything but then keeps not knowing any of the really important stuff?”
Apo’s brow furrowed in confusion. “You mean Legs?”
“Wait, is that what his name was?”
Apo burst out laughing, the most human sound she’d made yet. “Yes! How did you not know his name?”
“I dunno!” Drift threw up her free hand in bafflement at herself. She was more than a little embarrassed, but hearing Apo laugh like this made it worth it. “He said his name wasn’t Martha, so I guess I just assumed it was something close to that, and I called him Margaret earlier and he responded so I thought it was his name!”
“Oh my god…” Apo rubbed her eyes with her free hand, covering it in smears of black fluid. Their smile lingered, soft and happy and real in a way that made Drift’s stomach twist with something she couldn’t quite name. “Anything else going on that I haven’t seen?”
Drift thought for a moment, tapping her thumb against Apo’s hand in contemplation. “Uh, let’s see… Marg- er, I mean, Legs mentioned that he wanted to find something called a dark rod around here so he could craft something with his orb of summoning, so he and the others might be running around here sometime soon. Besides that, not that I know of.”
Apo nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind, thanks Drift.” They tensed suddenly, then stood up. “You should start heading back before the others get worried. Do you think you can make it on your own?”
Drift nodded, standing as well. “I think so, it’s mostly sled travel anyway.”
“Good. I’ll see you soon.” Her voice had lost its human quality, growing crackly and unnatural again. “Goodbye, Drift.”
“Bye, Apo!” Drift threw her arms around Apo, giving her a quick hug before running off to where she’d left her sled. Apo watched her go in silence for a moment before Drift turned a corner out of sight.
—
You’re attached to her.
“I know.” Apo tried to ignore how much colder she felt now. Drift was warm in a way they had only known in distant, fractured memories. Blurry flashes of a crackling fire and colorful stories of candy houses read under a haphazard blanket fort next to a boy who was her brother in all the ways that mattered. Well, she’d found her candy house, all right. She’d show him too, soon enough.
I will tolerate this for now, but remember your mission.
“I remember.” She remembered the shadowy being in his grand house of sugar and sweet promises. She remembered his great cooking pot in the corner, the consequences of failure. “I just want to let them feel the cold for a bit first.” Drift had been a fluke, a moment of loneliness overpowering resentment, a desperate attempt at something to make the cold less all-consuming. A bright smile, a laugh, a hug that felt like a ray of sunlight across the ice surrounding what was left of her heart. A moment of reprieve from the cold and sorrow and betrayal.
She would take the others in soon, but not before they’d felt what she had, the sharp ache of her blood freezing in her veins, the knowledge that no one was coming to save her, no one would even remember she was ever there.
Don’t let her distract you, I allowed you to have this meeting for information, nothing more.
“I understand. I’ll get another one soon.” She could lure Viking out onto the lake without much trouble. He was her dear brother after all, and it would be selfish not to share the candy house with him.