"Are we all boarded up for the night?" Liyara asked as she sipped her Borovan. The Ogrin pulled her coat tight and huddled by the fireplace.

"I think so," her brother Athi replied. The Bruce knocked on their front door. "It's good solid wood; we'll be safe," he added confidently.

Liyara shook her head. "They say this will be one of the worst snowstorms in years. I do hope everyone is all right." There was a faint jingling of bells as her Raindorf hopped around her lap inquisitively, taking care to stay close by the fire.

"We've lived for years on Terror Mountain!" Athi replied cheerfully. "This house has withstood many bad winters. What's another one to us?"

Just then, there was another knock at their door.

"Was that-?" Liyara frowned, staring at the door.

"I didn't do it that time," Athi said, also frowning, as he began to open the door. "Who would be out in this weather?"

Before he could open it all the way, the door flew open, revealing their frail old neighbour, Mrs. Prawk, framed in a flurry of blowing snow.

"Please," the old Gnorbu begged, "please, you must help me! My children went out to play this morning, and they never returned! They could be stuck out there-"

"-and who knows how long the storm will last?" Athi finished. His eyes met his sister's across the room as the heaviness of that statement hung in the air...

Editor's Note: Because of the holidays, this storytelling will last two weeks. Enjoy!

Mrs. Prawk's eyes shone with gratitude. "I can't thank you enough."

The Bruce just nodded solemnly as he pulled on a thick woollen hat and gloves. Liyara grabbed his arm and looked at him. "Are you crazy? We can't go out there. The storms here can be dangerous. Maybe even... even..." She hesitated, unable to continue.

"Deadly?" Athi finished for her. He wrapped a scarf around his neck. "I know. That's the reason we have to go look for them. We can't leave anyone alone in a storm like this. We have to try."

Liyara sighed and gazed into the flames. She knew her brother was right. As much as she didn't want to go out into the storm, she knew it was something they had to do. "You're right," she muttered as she grabbed herself a pair of mittens.

Exchanging grave looks, they got up and walked to the door. Mrs. Prawk had already left, retreating to the warmth and safety of her home. Talking one last look at the comforting sanctuary that was their home, Athi and Liyara walked out into the storm.

The door brought a cold rush of icy wind as it opened, surprising Taelia. The Snow Faerie set her cup of tea down on the table and looked at her visitor in surprise. "Tarla? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at home?"

The red Ixi brushed some snow off her jacket, and when she looked up, Taelia could see her usually mischievous eyes gleaming with anxiety. "Taelia," she said. "We need to talk..."

The Snow Faerie gestured to the chair beside her and handed the Ixi a cup of Borovan. "What's wrong?"

Tarla sat down and accepted the steaming cup gratefully. "Well, I was just closing my shop and preparing to go home before the storm hit, when a neighbour of mine came to see whether his children were there. I told him they weren't, so he went off. Now, usually this wouldn't worry me, but I got a few more locals dropping by to ask the same thing. I thought I should come to you. I was stopped by a few more Neopians on my way here, and my suspicions were confirmed. And, well..." she trailed off, looking uncomfortable.

"And?" Taelia inquired, already fearing the answer.

"It seems as though half the children on Terror Mountain are missing..."

"You're not going out there, are you, Taelia?" Tarla asked, getting up from her chair as well and setting her steaming cup of Borovan down on the table. "It's too dangerous out there. Even though you are the Snow Faerie, if something is doing this on purpose, which is more than likely, it's going to do all in its power to stop you."

"I know," the faerie simply replied, donning a light blue scarf and turning to face the Ixi. "I know that may be true. But we can't just sit here and do nothing. At least I can't."

Tarla nodded slowly. "You're right. Say, do you have an extra scarf for me? It's awfully cold out there," she said, shivering at the mere thought of going outside.

"I'm glad you're coming," Taelia said with a smile. "And there's a red scarf on the leftmost peg on the coat rack."

"Thanks," the Ixi breathed and went to put it on. Taelia fluttered her wings and looked out the window at the worsening storm. It seemed to strengthen with every passing second, as if time were making it more powerful.

"We should hurry."

Tarla grunted in reply as she zipped up her jacket, looking up at the Snow Faerie as a sign that she was ready.

"Let's go," Taelia said, and she opened the door…

Harsh winds bit at Liyara and Athi as they walked out into the snow. They didn't live in a very crowded part of town, so in a few minutes, there were no houses in sight. It didn't really matter, considering the blizzard half-blinded both of them. Sometimes, they would have to call out to each other just to know that they hadn't strayed off and gone in another direction.

"It's so cold out here, Athi," Liyara shouted. It was not a complaint; it was more of a statement. "I don't know how long anyone could survive in this kind of weather."

"Don't think like that, Liyara. We'll find them in time. Someone will. They can't just wander around in the snow forever," the Bruce argued, shivering and fighting against the cold winds.

I wouldn't be so sure, Liyara thought, but she didn't say it out loud. The Ogrin didn't want to anger her brother anymore, considering they were not in the most pleasant situation. The storm wasn't abating; no, it was the opposite. It seemed to be getting worse, and as it did, Liyara got more and more worried. What if they couldn't find Mrs. Prawk's children? Or worse: what if they couldn't find their way back home?

The wind picked up, and Athi stopped abruptly. Liyara stopped as well, mimicking her brother's movements. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?" she asked, trotting over to her brother as fast as she could. As far as she could tell, he was fine, but in this kind of cold weather, anything was possible.

"You... didn't hear it?" Athi asked, sitting down and looking dazed.

"No, I didn't hear anything, except for the wind. Come on, Ath, we've got to keep moving. Otherwise the cold is going to get to us." The Ogrin stuck out her hand and helped Athi up.

"Oh. Yeah, we should," he agreed, and under his breath, Liyara heard him mutter, "Maybe it was just my imagination."

Something's going on, Liyara thought worriedly. Athi's acting so strange all of a sudden. And he was so determined before...

The wind blew harder than ever now, and Athi stopped again. "Athi! Athi, is something wrong now?" Liyara asked, the concern immanent in her voice. The wind was too strong now, and she could barely move. She kept on going forward, though, one step at a time.

"You still don't hear it?" Athi's voice was more monotonous now, like he was possessed.

"What are you talking about? Is the cold getting to you?" Liyara screamed over the blizzard.

"Someone... someone said my name."

The wind was at its hardest now, and Liyara was unable to move any further. Instead she was blown backward, trying to stay standing as the full force of the storm pushed against her. "Athi!" she screamed, though she was sure he couldn't hear her.

And then, all of a sudden, the winds died down. Liyara heaved a sigh of relief, batting the snow out of her eyes and taking a step forward. "Athi, the winds are finally gone," she said, a hint of relief in her voice. She opened her eyes fully now, able to see very clearly.

Athi was gone...

"A-Athi? Where are you?" Surely her brother hadn't abandoned her. He would never do something like that!

"Athi!" Liyara turned around a few times, but saw nothing around her but shimmering white snow.

"This isn't funny, Athi! Come out from wherever you're hiding!" The Ogrin tried to keep the fear out of her voice. He had to be playing a trick. How else could he have disappeared so fast? He must be hiding...

But there was nowhere to hide.

A horrible thought struck her. What if her brother had been buried in the snow?

Liyara leaped at the place she thought he might have been last and started to dig frantically.

"Liyara..."

The Ogrin stopped short. She didn't recognise the voice, but apparently its owner knew who she was. She looked around, but she still couldn't see anybody around.

The winds were starting to pick up again.

"Liyara..."

The voice was beautiful, almost musical.

"Who's calling me?" Liyara whispered.

"Li--"

"No!"

Another voice interrupted the first. This one she recognised.

"Athi! What happened?"

"Don't listen to the voice! Don't list..."

Athi's voice faded, and the wind suddenly grew stronger, sending Liyara tumbling. As she got up, she could see two figures approaching in the distance...

"Liyara!"

"No! Not again! Please! Stop!" Liyara shouted as she covered her ears and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Liyara!"

Liyara opened her eyes. This time the voice sounded different. It did not sound like the beautiful, musical voice or even Athi's. It sounded like...

"The Snow Faerie!" Liyara exclaimed, heaving a sigh of relief.

As the two figures came closer, Liyara finally identified them as Taelia, the Snow Faerie, and Tarla.

"Liyara, what are you doing here? And why do you look so pale?" Taelia asked, concern in her voice and eyes.

"Athi and I were looking for Mrs. Prawk's missing children. Suddenly Athi... Athi..." Liyara broke down.

"What? What happened to Athi?"

"Athi... he dis...disappeared!"

"Disappeared?" Taelia and Tarla said in unison. They looked at each other in surprise. For a moment, everyone was silent.

By now, Liyara managed to calm herself down. She took a deep breath and shuddered. Taelia put an arm around Liyara's shoulder and tried to comfort her.

"We were struggling against the strong wind when Athi suddenly stopped," Liyara began. "He looked as if his mind had wandered off. Athi claimed that he heard a voice calling him. Just then, the wind picked up and when I opened my eyes again, Athi was gone!"

"A voice?" Taelia asked.

Liyara nodded. "After Athi disappeared, the wind picked up again, and the voice called my name. It was very soft and beautiful. But it was interrupted by Athi's voice. He told me not to listen to the voice."

Taelia and Tarla looked at each other. As if reading each other's minds, they nodded.

"It seems that we've found the source of the missing children," said Taelia.

Just then, the wind picked up and a voice called out...

"I-I hear it again" she gasped. "Soft, but powerful."

Taelia glanced at her with a look of amusement and fear.

"Are you sure that the voice you heard was calling your name?" questioned Taelia. "The cold might be getting to you, Liyara. Do you want to go back home and rest? Tarla and I can continue to look for the children if you'd like."

"NO!" cried Liyara. "Imagine if you found Athi and I wasn't there beside him, ready to comfort him. I know that the only one he would want to see after a frightening event like this would be me! I am his sister and I will stick by him."

Taelia and Tarla nodded in agreement.

"Take my coat," pleaded Tarla. "You have been in the cold longer, and your coat is damp and covered in snow."

Liyara nodded, and they continued on through the blizzard, calling out the names of different children until their throats were aching. Tarla coughed and then suddenly collapsed.

"Oh, my goodness!" Taelia exclaimed. "She must be cold and tired! We need to find a cave to sleep in; we are too far from town to walk home, and she is far too weak to walk more than a few feet."

The group wandered into a large cave surrounded by trees. Liyara took of one of her coats and laid it on the ground as a bed for Tarla.

As soon as Tarla was resting peacefully, Liyara had a chance to look around. The cave was icy and cold.

"Help, please!" whispered a voice in the cave. "I need help... I'm so cold, and my legs and arms hurt very badly."

Taelia looked around for the owner of the voice, and there, lying in the corner, was Mrs. Prawk's son, crying for help...

The white Cybunny looked up and whimpered, which Liyara took as a yes.

"What happened?" asked Taelia, hastily making a fire to warm Cheddar up. Tarla and Liyara hoisted Cheddar up and pulled him closer to the soft glow; the embers were beginning to light.

"Well, I-I don't really remember," he stammered, teeth chattering. "There was this voice, and it was calling m-me. It was the most musical thing I've ever heard! It was s-so... beautiful." He paused, flexing his paws as if he were amazed they were working. "So I f-followed it into this cave... there was a tunnel and..."

Tarla was snoring softly in the corner, disturbing the Cybunny's story.

Taelia smiled gently as Cheddar frowned, trying to remember.

"It told me to stay here... so I did... I didn't want to... but I couldn't move! So I crawled away from the voice, and it got mad at me. Then something began chasing me and I ran... back to the entrance. Next thing I remember, I was here."

He frowned again and said, "That's all I remember..."

Liyara wrapped Taelia's coat around the little Cybunny. He smiled at her gratefully.

Taelia looked around the cave. "I don't see any tunnel; are you sure there was one?"

Cheddar's eyes swept the cave.

"Well, there was one."

Tarla woke with a start, a terrified expression on her face.

"What was that?"

Liyara cocked her head. "What was what?" she asked.

"Sounds like..." They all went silent for a minute, listening. Tarla shut her eyes. "Sounds like... Neopets! They're children! Taelia! The missing children! They're here!"

All four looked around the cave. They could hear the children crying for help, but there was no other opening besides the way they had come in.

Liyara banged her fists on the wall.

"We're coming for you, Athi!" she cried.

"Liyara!" Taelia reached out to stop her from banging the wall.

The wall exploded, throwing Liyara, Cheddar, Taelia, and Tarla backward onto the ground.

Once all the rubble and dust had settled, Liyara opened her eyes and saw, to her amazement...

"See? I told you there was a tunnel!" said Cheddar.

"Okay, you were right," Taelia replied calmly. "But how did the tunnel get there?" She turned to Liyara. "What did you do?"

"I don't know," Liyara called from the other side of the cave. "I was just trying to find Athi in the wall. I was hitting the wall, hoping he would hear me."

"Where did you hit the wall?" asked a muffled voice from near the mouth of the cave. Tarla had been buried in rubble from the explosion. Taelia and Liyara ran over to help dig out Tarla. Cheddar tried to stand up.

"Owwww," he moaned. "My legs still hurt."

Taelia and Liyara moved bits of rock off of a large pile. Tarla tried to shift some of the rock from the inside of the pile with her foot.

Once Tarla was out of the pile, the group walked over to the entrance of the tunnel. Cheddar looked over at them.

"Wait!" he called. "I want to help!"

Liyara picked up the coat that Tarla had slept on. She walked up next to Cheddar.

"You can't walk, Cheddar," she said quietly. "You rest here, while we go and get the other children."

Cheddar nodded. Liyara threw the coat over him. He curled up into the corner he had been blown into. Liyara followed Taelia and Tarla as they entered the tunnel.

"The crying is getting louder," Tarla whispered. Her voice echoed eerily off the tunnel walls.

"Yeah," Liyara agreed.

"Wait," Tarla said suddenly. "What's that?"

Up ahead, huddled in a corner, was a small Bruce tied up in thick ropes, with several pieces of tape over his beak.

"Athi!" Liyara cried. She ran over to her brother excitedly. Athi shook his head frantically, struggling against his bindings. Liyara pulled the tape off his mouth.

"Liyara!" he gasped." Run! It's a trap!"...

Athi shook his head, his eyes glazing, then clearing. "Go."

"Stay!" the beautiful voice cried, drawing icy-cool shivers across Liyara's body toward the sound. "Liyara." Her name had never sounded so lovely. The other words, aside from that one ringing 'stay,' tumbled under the echoes of her name as if she might be imagining them. "I can help you. Liyara. They lie. Liyara. He is afraid. Liyara. They lie. Liyara. They did this to him. Liyara. Liyara. Liyara."

The Ogrin was swaying, her thoughts swelling and flowing and ringing with the voice.

"Liyara...." She jerked and gasped. Her brother's voice was harsh and ugly compared to the silver-ice tones -- but oh, he mattered far more.

"Athi," she panted, "how do you -- how do you resist? You warned me...."

"I thought about you." He struggled. "That's why they tied me up, because I fought. Liyara, go, you have to--!"

His eyes were fixed beyond her in horror. Liyara looked over her shoulder, and it felt as if a sheet of ice had slid down into her stomach.

She could dimly see Tarla and the Snow Faerie, yes. But she saw them as shadows, as if through a blizzard... or as if they were on the other side of a dark glass wall. She could see stone in front of them, and they were feeling around, puzzled and angry, as if the wall were all they could see.

"Oh, no," Liyara moaned, seeing her allies stymied, and then she had something worse to worry about.

For when she looked back, her cold arms held only the memory of the press of warm weight, and Athi was gone again...

Liyara looked up. The wall, the shadows of Tarla and Taelia... they were all gone, as if she'd woken up from a bad nightmare. She was in another cavern, but this one was like a picture straight from a fairytale storybook.

Beautiful crystals in shades of pastel blue, green, and purple grew from the walls, and a faint blue light shone on them from somewhere to her left. The crystals reflected the light, and they threw stunning sparkles over the icy cave. The air was warm, despite the ice, and smelled perfumed. For some strange reason, she felt safe there. In this mythical-seeming cave of crystals, her memories seemed to blur and fade.

Liyara felt drowsy, but as she stared at the crystals, a flicker of her old curiosity sprang up within her. Where was that faint blue light coming from? She turned to her left.

A figure stood some twenty feet away from her, partially shrouded by a whirl of snow that constantly danced and swirled around it. But it was clear that it was another faerie. She looked very similar to Taelia, only her wings were closer to periwinkle than cyan, and they were translucent and glittery. She wore no thick coat like Taelia did, and her eyes were pure white. Her skin was the colour of chalk, and her hair was the same shade as her wings, the long tresses flowing and waving behind her like a pale blue blizzard.

She was so beautiful...

"You have finally come," said the figure aloud. Her voice was so much more powerful, so much more beautiful in person. Liyara could feel all her doubts slipping away. Why had she ever been afraid? This was right.

The memory of Cheddar, hurt and broken, Athi tied up and gagged...

Athi! He had warned her, told her... and yet somehow, she was here...

No, no, no...

She shut her eyes.

"Liyara," the faerie whispered. Her voice was like the tinkling of wind chimes in a breeze, and so smooth...

But she couldn't give in, not when Athi was in danger.

"He will be safe."

No, he won't be safe, you liar, not when he was so afraid of you...

"He was confused. He did not know what he was seeing."

All those children, crying...

"A lie..." whispered the voice of silk.

Liyara struggled, but the doubt was spreading like poison through her veins. How could she place faith in Taelia and Tarla when they refused to believe her at first, when the faerie before her was so beautiful?

But Athi vanished before Taelia appeared.

"They took him. I will help you return him, Liyara, save him..."

The voice seemed to blaze through her mind, burning all her resistance to ashes...

Liyara desperately grasped her last shred of willpower and closed her eyes, willing her memory to return.

"Athi... will I ever see you again?"

Every word dragged out of her throat burned like fire, and the noise was hideous, so raspy compared to the beautiful voice. And it hurt. So badly.

A single tear rolled down her cheek, splashing against the cold icy floor...

It started as the tiniest of all fractures, nothing more than a tiny flaw in the layer of frozen glass beneath her. A faint smudge in the centre, nothing to alarm either Liyara or the beautiful faerie in front of her.

"Poor Liyara," the faerie whispered, her voice ringing out like the crystal of bells, but bells so soft that the harsh edge to them was removed, leaving nothing but sweetness. "Poor, poor Liyara. You were tricked. You were hurt. You were betrayed by your friends who weren't really your friends."

Yes, Liyara thought, the last dancing spark of defiance in her slowly cooling as the voice washed over her. I was tricked. I was hurt. They were not my friends, never my friends. And Ath--

The tiny fracture began to grow, spider-webbing out into other cracks.

"We will find Athi," the faerie said. Comforting. Reassuring. Still, there was a tiny quake in her voice as she uttered the last syllable, a tiny frown on her face as she said the name, as if it were foul.

"Athi will be fine," Liyara murmured as the spark in her fizzled to nothing. "I trust you."

The faerie smiled, her brilliantly white teeth flashing, glinting, like hard diamonds. "Trust me, Liyara. Trusting me was smart. You will be fine now, Liyara."

Yes, she would be fine. She would be perfectly fine. She was safe now, watched over by this glorious wintry faerie. "And now I can find my brother," she murmured.

"No!" the faerie screeched, her voice leaping several octaves, shattering the sense of peace in the cavern.

A whole patch of ice was wrapped in the threads of silver that seemed to keep growing, pushing out, pushing wide, increasing in speed.

"Why not?" Liyara asked in confusion, her mind still orienting itself to the strange clearing of fog from her mind, the reverberating screech in her ears.

The floor crackled beneath them, barely audible, completely ignored. Threads of black began to weave through the already existing threads of silver. A stagnant stench began to seep into the cavern, slowly overpowering the sweet perfume.

"Nothing, Liyara," the faerie said, her composure and voice regained. "Nothing."

But it was too late. Liyara had been freed of the enchantment of the faerie's voice just long enough for one thing to flit back to her mind:

"Athi, how do you -- how do you resist? You warned me...."

"I thought about you."

Athi. Always thinking of her. Always caring about her. Athi. Athi. Athi. Her brother. Her best friend. Athi.

The Ogrin gasped as the world unravelled before her. The ice broke away from her feet with a tinkling, leaving nothing but the barren, disgusting walls of a subterranean cave. The faerie's voice was suddenly a screeching cacophony. The scent of perfume instantly became overpowering and made Liyara want to retch.

"You broke my spell," the faerie hissed. "Stronger than I thought. Good, good."

Liyara shivered. She didn't like the way the faerie said the last two words. "What do you want?" she demanded.

"What do I want?" The faerie's eyes clouded in pain, then cleared, glittering with malice. "I want my share of my inheritance. My share of power."

"I don't understand!"

"You were never in the shadow of another, let alone two! Taelia and the Negg Faerie, pah!" She spat contemptuously. "They were naturally gifted with their magic, but did they ever use it?"

Liyara scowled. "Yes!"

"No, they didn't! They used them for petty things, stupid things. Neggs and quests and little falling snowflakes -- a waste. I, however, knew exactly how to use that magic for the greater good. But I never had magic, not enough, anyway."

"Then why me?! Why the children?!"

The faerie's lips curled up into a smile -- a beautiful smile, but a cruel one. "I believe children have the strongest feeling of affection for their parents -- for anyone. Love." She spat it out, as if the taste was to her disliking. "As disgusting as it is --"

"Love isn't disgusting!"

"As disgusting as it is, I found I could use that power. Harness it. Change it. Place it inside me. I went around, choosing the sappiest children I could find... and then I found you.

"You, Liyara. You were more capable of loving than anyone I'd ever seen. If I had you, even the sky wouldn't be the limit! But I had to do this delicately. I had to do it in a way that wouldn't make you fight me, want to fight me. So I stole your brother, left him as bait, used him to lure you in until you were practically in my control."

"I'm not in your control now, though," Liyara said confidently with a tiny smirk, though she was still troubled by the faerie's words.

The faerie threw her head back and laughed. "No, you aren't," she agreed. "But that doesn't matter."

Liyara gasped as she realised what had been happening while the faerie had revealed her plan, distracting her. The warm spot inside her where Athi was, where Cheddar was, seemed to have cooled, spiralling away from her toward the now hated figure of the faerie.

Worse, she could feel no way to stop it.

"No, no, no!" she protested, stomping her foot. "No!" Something wet brushed down her face as her anger released itself through her tear ducts. "No!" Liyara rushed up to the faerie, hammering at her with her hoofs, biting her with her teeth, trying to do something.

"Stop it! Stop it!" she cried. Her voice seemed to echo back.

"Stop it! Stop it!"

"Stop it! Stop it!"

"Stop it! STOP!"

The faerie recoiled from Liyara as tears fell onto her. They sizzled, giving off steam, as if their heat was... melting her?

Liyara looked up through her tears in surprise and began crying harder, joy joining the mix. She could do this. She had to. She would. She gave everything she had, gave until her throat itched and her eyes stung and her mouth hurt, and still kept pushing for more.

And then the world faded, colours washed away by tears, reduced to grayscale images.

And then the world blacked.

And then there was Athi's face.

"Goodness, Liyara! You sure know how to sleep!" the Bruce said happily.

She raised her head blearily. "Huh?"

"The whole of Terror Mountain is waiting outside to hear from their hero!"

Things were still a little fuzzy, but Liyara was sure she'd heard Athi right. "Huh?!"

"Mrs. Prawk is there, and Taelia and Tarla, and all the children down in that tunnel thing we found you in, and -- Liyara, you look weird," he said in concern, prodding a thermometer into her mouth.

"I think... I think I hear someone calling me," Liyara admitted, frowning. Athi froze and stared, eyes wide with fear.

"Just kidding!"

The End