146 Blizzard

---Katherine---

"We need to take shelter. Someone alert Lionel and Indigo. Everyone else—look around to see if you can find caves or other places for shelter!" I shouted, hoping my voice wouldn't start an avalanche.

My vision was filled with white until I could barely make out the person in front. I hunched over my horse, urging it forward. "Aaron, where are you?"

"I'm here, behind you." His voice replied. "Keep going!"

"Hurry, hurry, move quickly!" Lionel's commanding voice boomed ahead. "Everybody into the cavern!"

I looked up to see the gaping mouth of a dark cave, where the soldiers were hurrying into. We wouldn't all fit.

"Lionel, are there other caves? There's no way all of us will fit into that one cave." I dismounted my horse and approached Lionel. He nodded.

"There is, in fact, another cave. Once we fill this cave I'll have the rest go there." Lionel raised his arm and pointed to a spot somewhere to our left. I couldn't make out anything in the swirling snowstorm, but I nodded anyways.

"Kath, get inside." Aaron ushered me away from Lionel and into the dark cave. Surprisingly, it was very large inside. At its widest, ten people could sit side by side. I couldn't see the end of the cave from where I stood. About three-quarters of our troops were able to fit inside this cave, including horses and supply carts. Lionel led the rest of the army away towards the other cave.

People started little campfires to keep warm. Small pits of glowing light appeared in a zig-zag trail down the cave, curving away into the depths of the cavern. There was a slight echo in the cave, and as everyone began talking to each other, the noise level increased steadily. I stood up and addressed the buzzing crowd. "Will everyone please quiet down?"

Everyone hushed, and all attention landed on me. I looked around before continuing. "I want everyone to sit down. I'm sure there's enough space. Stay close to the campfires to keep warm." The clamoring resumed as people shifted and moved. Someone shouted "Quiet down!"

The cave hushed again. I resumed talking. "Thank you. Are any of the Rosewood Seven here, besides Aaron and me?" I asked, trying to peer into the darkness.

"I'm here." Indigo's voice resonated from somewhere deep within the cave. "I think Rachel and Lucian went to the other cave."

"Lionel is there as well. I'm glad to know that we've split off evenly." I couldn't tell where Indigo was. "Indigo, do you want to join us?"

"Erm…" There was a pause, presumably because Indigo was trying to pinpoint our location. "It's too difficult to find you guys. I'm pretty far into the cave. I'll just stay here."

"Alright. If you need anything, just shout." I said as Aaron joined me.

"Make sure everyone has warm clothing and food." Aaron's voice bounced off the cave walls. "We don't know how long this blizzard will last, so until then, talk, sleep, make some new friends, whatever you want to do. Just don't be too loud; this cave echoes."

In a murmur of "yes sir"s and "okay"s, Aaron and I sat down next to the closest campfire. The ten or so soldiers who huddled around the same fire snuck glances at us when they thought we weren't looking. There wasn't much to do. We snacked on some dried meat and crackers that we had brought while listening to the conversations around us.

From our position, I had an unblocked view of the snowstorm outside. Powerful winds howled, whipping up tornadoes of white. Due to an outcrop on top of the cave entrance, very little snow and wind entered the cave. Even so, the chilliness penetrated my warm coat, and I involuntarily shifted closer to the small campfire.

"Are you cold?" Aaron asked quietly.

I nodded, but quickly shook my head afterwards. "It's bearable."

Aaron opened his backpack, the magical one we were all given at the start of our quest. He dug around and pulled out a thick tapestry. I recognized it as the one we took from Lord Victor's treasury. "Here, you can use this as a blanket." Aaron draped the heavy tapestry around my shoulders. I looked at him, touched.

"Thanks Aaron. It's really big, though, so we can share." I held open one side of the tapestry towards Aaron. He shook his head, saying that he had Augustus's cloak to keep him warm, but I insisted. Finally, he relented and let me wrap one end of the tapestry around him. Aaron tugged on his end of the tapestry to make sure it was snug against both of us, shifting closer to me so the cloth wasn't stretched tight. The softness of Augustus's cloak against my arm drew me closer to Aaron.

"Um, Mr. Aaron, sir?" One of the soldiers sitting across from us half-raised his hand. He seemed to be fairly young, probably still in his teens. Both Aaron and I looked at him quizzically. "Would you mind telling us some stories from your quest? Maybe some exciting battles against Lord Victor? It's such an honor for us to be in close proximity with the chosen ones, and we want to know more about the Rosewood Seven and the quest."

"Oh! Sure, yeah, I'll tell some stories. And please, just call me Aaron." Aaron looked excited to share everything that occurred on our quest. "The storm outside looks like it'll take a while to clear up, so why don't we start from the very beginning, when the seven of us were still at the Academy? Kath, do you want to help tell our story?"

"Nah, I'll pass. I'm not a very good storyteller. I'll confirm facts for you instead." I smiled encouragingly at Aaron.

Upon hearing that it was storytime with the chosen ones, several other groups of soldiers scooted closer to listen. Soon we had a pretty large audience. I wanted to have Indigo join us as well, but someone said she was taking a nap.

When everyone was settled, Aaron began narrating. "Okay. So, my name's Aaron, this is Katherine, and there's also Indigo, Lucian, Rachel, Ashley, and Jason. We were all friends in the Rosewood Academy…"