Alice’s state was worsening with every passing minute. I could tell from her pained expression, lying stiff and pale against the sheets on the ground.


    My arms were crossed, the Emberite’s warmth softly crashing against my back, watching over Alice like a hawk, while my ears tracked Freya and Truman’s steps as they headed towards the entrance, in hopes of being able to unplug it somehow.


    My forehead was beaded with sweat, finally taking a breather after managing her fever for several hours now. She was coughing up a lot of blood, which genuinely threw me for a loop.


    I threw a look back as soon as their footsteps were no longer audible to me, and without a second thought, I pulled the antidote out of my pants’ pockets.


    I can’t believe I overlooked when I would be able to feed them all the antidote. Good thing Freya can take care of herself.


    I had already smashed the poisonous mushroom’s stem, which was the antidote specified in Wholeheartedly Yours, so in a swift motion, I slipped half that shit into Alice’s open mouth.


    Using my expertise in feeding an unconscious person medicine, I helped move her jaw, careful neither to wake her nor to let Truman hear the bizarre sounds she likely made.


    I leaned back once she had swallowed. But then, a thought emerged.


    Bro what if she dies from the poisoning.


    “Hell no,” I mumbled, putting the rest of the antidote in her mouth.


    I can manage my own pain.


    “Hang in there, we’ll get out of here soon. The snowstorm won’t last long.” I said. Alice was completely out, though. So in a moment of thoughtlessness, I couldn’t help but try to reassure myself. “A week… one last week and it’ll be over.’


    “And how do you know that?” Freya’s raspy voice sounded over my head.


    My eyes fell shut. I let out a sigh, but only internally.


    Looking up at her, I forced a business smile. “The spirits revealed it to me, dear Freya.”


    Freya mirrored my fake smile, “Say that again while holding this.” She puts a hand into the pocket of her red tunic and pulls out a Lucenite.


    My nose crunched up, completely weirded out. I turned around to look at both her and Truman in the distance.


    “Don’t tell me… You carry this everywhere?”


    Truman stepped up from behind her, his shoulders slumped forward. Gaze still sharp.


    “She has them on constantly,” he said, taking a seat beside the Emberite. “The stones make an obnoxious sound when rubbing together. Makes patrolling sound disturbing.”


    “Does she have more?” I asked Truman, trying to peek at him from behind Freya’s legs.


    “No, she dropped everything else on our way to the cave.”


    I nodded, smiling up at Freya.


    I need to break that thing.


    “No matter. Answer my question now.” Freya orders, handing me the cold rock. “How do you know about this cave, and about how long the storm will last?” There was a twirl of doubt in her eyes even towards the stone she handed me.


    I held it, waiting for her to sit as well, while I thought of a quick answer.


    “What is it?” Freya began.


    “I read about it in a book,” I stated, and the stone glowed.


    I set the rock down. Hard. Making sure I heard it crack.


    With a taunting look, I continued at the processing Freya.


    “The holy book taught me everything I know.” I gently spoke, nodding respectfully at her.


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


    “The exit?” I threw a glance towards Truman, who leaned against a wall, arms crossed, eyebrows furrowed in an almost adorable frown.


    “Completely blocked,” Truman said, his mild tone darkening for a moment.


    “Again, I’m terribly sorry, Sir Truman… It truly seemed like a good idea in the moment.” Freya said, reaching for Sir Truman’s hand.


    Truman shut his eyes, not reciprocating Freya’s gesture.


    “Let’s just hope I don’t watch you all die,” I caught him mumble, making me tilt my head.


    “What the- My lucky charm!” Freya’s stone was in two pieces, one in each palm.


    I ignored it.


    The lightheadedness from before had gotten intense now that I was no longer focused on Alice, making me drowsy.


    I leaned back, checking my forehead.


    … Okay, if the Emberite stops working, I at least know I can prevent frostbite using my forehead.


    Let’s just hope I don’t watch you all die.


    His words were strange. Truman had the best chances of survival out of all of us, since he seemed to have auto-healing abilities. I even doubt he might be some weird immortal, knowing he came out of a mountain of corpses to come find me during the Attack.


    … there’s no way he meant those words, since he himself is safe.


    Until now, I thought I had a good idea of who Truman was. Someone with an infectious thoughtlessness and relaxed air about him, who’s oddly honorable despite his opportunism and weak knees for a good paycheck.


    That was my mental note concerning him.


    But I guess… I could be wrong.


    ~


    I assumed it was nighttime when I came to consciousness again.


    My eyes still shut, I reflected on the weird dream I had, barely able to remember what it was. Likely misdiagnosing someone again or having to put the antidepressants in my mother’s mouth and making her chew on them.


    I must have sweated through my sleep. Is it even morning yet?


    Shivers crawled down my back, my back and the injury on it feeling hotter than usual.


    The fever.


    It’s the fricking fever.


    I forced my eyes open, but they were swollen.


    God, I bet they’re bloodshot, too. Now they’ll know and start considering me a burden again. That would be awful for my plan, since I’m over the weakling act …


    I looked around, eyes half open. But the location was strange. A cave. Seemed dark and lonely.


    I should… melt some water… my throat hurts.


    If I feel like this… Ugh, the thought that Alice could have been in worse pain before made me frown, shaking my head.


    I blinked, looking around.


    No one. Alice, Alice’s bedding, Lucenite Freya, Truman. I was alone. I looked down at my palms, and even they were not completely here.


    I flipped them back and forth, the realization slowly dawning on me.


    They’re see-through…


    “I’M SEE THROUGH!” I yelled, voice echoing through the cave.


    Eyes now fully open, I could see that there was light coming from behind me. From a large opening.


    This isn’t our cave. What the fuck.


    “No need to yell,” A deep, masculine voice spoke behind me, from where soft light came from.


    Shivers.


    Since I didn’t wear my coat, I could not use one of Truman’s daggers, which I had stashed in its welt pocket.


    Thus, I shoved my hand into my pants’ pocket, looking for the sharpest thing I could find. Without a second thought, I wrapped my hand around it and pulled it out.


    “Where am I?! Who are- why am I ghostly!?”


    I twirled around, spoon in hand, glaring at my opponent with all of the courage of a feverish idiot.


    I blinked.


    My hold on my weapon weakened.


    Black eyes, black hair neatly styled back, clothes perfectly tailored to fit his muscled styled. And the beautiful, big-eyed little fox was in his arms.


    The stranger. His posture, his pressed jacket in some rich, military green—he looked like he’d just walked out of a very important life.


    Or from some fancy cologne ad.


    I frowned.


    That was a feverish thought. Get your shit together, Penelope. You’re a ghost.


    At the sight of my stance, his gaze softened into a devilishly amused look.


    His gaze lingered on the spoon in my hand, the corners of his mouth twitching. “Is that a threat?”


    It’s what I had used to drink the poisonous soup. I must have unknowingly shoved it in my pocket amid the panic.


    “Not to be rude, but what the fuck is going on?”


    The stranger opened his mouth to speak, but then a question I would hate to forget again popped into my currently cooking brain.


    So we spoke simultaneously.


    “I have a new condition for the contract,” he said.


    “What’s your name?” I said.


    There was a strange tingling in my entire body, running all the way to the tips of my fingers. It felt like something within me was lost. Something that wasn’t my own, but I no longer had it.


    And without it there, I sort of feel… really awful.


    The pain from my stomach, the coughing, the dryness of my throat—everything doubled.


    “We shall get to those details in a moment, but for now, it would be better for you that I…” The longer he spoke, the less he seemed clear within my sight.


    I might pass out.


    “You must have brought me here…” I glared up, putting some force behind my knees.


    I won’t collapse, not now. I needed to make sure he isn’t a character in the book. That would give me an advantage against him he cannot fathom.


    “Put me back, you asshole,” I glared. “And tell me what’s your name!”