#(tagging this boy has been an adventure. i don't think i've ever written something woven together in quite this way before.)

[novelconcepts]

Chapter 2/3 Lottie Matthews only ever wanted to keep her friends safe--a dream that gets just a little more complicated when two Natalie Scatorccios appear on her doorstep at the same time.

Natalie is supposed to be hunting. She’s sick of it, honestly. Sick of taking the gun out, filling her pockets with bullets like they’re going anywhere. Sick of the wind scraping her skin raw. Sick of the gnawing ache settled so deep in her belly, she’s not sure there’s space left for anything else.

She’s sick of hunting, but stopping would be admitting defeat. She ties back her hair, layers her clothes, accepts Lottie’s insane blood tea—which is really mostly blood water these days, melted snow tinged pink by the prick of Lottie’s fingertip. She sets off, knowing they’re all counting on her. Their queen.

She takes a step, anticipating the crunch of ice beneath her boot, her leg sailing straight through a sheet of ice—

The ground beneath her next step is soft. Grass, she realizes. Grass without a hint of snow.

“The fuck?”

She’s standing, not in a fresh fall of endless white, but beside a lake.