“Yes… Have you seen him?”

  Emma’s voice was soft but clear, rising above the icy wind like a stiff ripple over frozen water. It carried through the pale-white snowfall that dusted the sloped ground around them. The cold wind tugged gently at the ends of her white hair, causing it to sway beside her cheeks like wisps of light. Her eyes those strange, unique white eyes, remained calm, locked onto Liz and Dan as she waited for an answer.

  The snow around them whispered as it fell. There was no sun, only the soft gray sky overhead, heavy with cloud and ice. The horizon was a blur, the mist of frost thickening further away, swallowing up the details of the mountainside and casting everything in a faint blue-white hue.

  Liz and Dan exchanged a quick look.

  Neither spoke at first.

  The question had caught them off guard, more than they wanted to admit. A girl.. a stranger, young and clearly not from anywhere nearby, was standing in front of them, asking for a man they knew but hadn’t mentioned to anyone around here...

  Dan tilted his head, squinting. His breath escaped in thin clouds of vapor as he muttered just loud enough for Liz to hear, “Is she… his child?”

  Liz’s brows furrowed, her eyes narrowing in thought. She turned her head slightly, lowering her voice into a near whisper. “That would explain it, right?”

  But the wind had already done its job.

  It carried the words directly to Emma, like an unseen messenger.

  “I’m not his daughter.” Her voice came quickly, without hesitation. “I’m just looking for him to ask some questions.”

  Dan blinked, taken aback.

  Liz straightened up, eyes slightly wider now, clearly caught.

  Emma stood with her arms at her side, her fingers brushing softly against the fabric of her skirt as the icy wind tugged it against her legs. Her expression hadn’t changed.. still calm, still gentle. She wasn't offended by what they thought she was to him, anyone would have thought that.. even she would have thought that if she was in their shoe...

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  Dan exhaled slowly, letting the tension in his shoulders ease a little. He scratched the back of his head with his hand, ruffling the messy strands of his dark blue hair.

  “Well… then why are you looking for him?” Dan asked. His voice carried a slight edge, not too rude but cautious. His sea-deep blue eyes studied her face.. those unusual eyes of hers, blank like untouched snow, but without malice. He couldn’t read her well. That bothered him more than he’d admit.

  But still… she was just a little girl.

  Wasn’t she?

  Emma didn’t blink. She nodded once, slowly, as though she’d been expecting the question.

  “I want to find out where the Tower of Mutation is,” she said, her voice still soft but steady.

  The words lingered, drifting through the air like falling snowflakes.

  Dan blinked again, digesting the answer.

  For a few seconds, he said nothing. He just stared, his lips slightly parted as his thoughts moved behind his eyes. Then, without a word, he turned to Liz.

  She looked up at him.

  No words passed between them.

  But Liz gave the slightest nod.. subtle, but clear.

  It was enough.

  Dan let out another breath, this time deeper, as he looked back at Emma for a moment.

  The wind picked up again, sending a soft howl between the rocks and trees, the snow whirled around their boots, leaving faint spirals in the frost-covered ground.

  Liz stepped forward, her red twin-buns bouncing slightly with the movement. She adjusted the strap of her black cloak and pointed toward the mist-covered slope ahead. Her emerald eyes were calm but serious.

  “We don’t know where Uncle Shane is right now,” she said, speaking with the careful tone of someone repeating something important. “But before he left, he told us to head above this snowy mountain.”

  Her finger remained extended, pointing upward.

  The path wasn’t visible.

  Only the vague silhouette of the incline, the rest buried beneath a thick curtain of snow-laced mist. The mountain seemed to vanish into the snowy clouds, unreachable, endless.

  Still, her words hung like a marker in the air.

  A direction.

  A start.

  Emma’s gaze followed Liz’s hand, staring into the endless white beyond. Her breath left her lips in a slow stream, vanishing into the cold air like a ghost.. The faintest hint of a smile tugged at the corners of her lips.. barely noticeable, like a flicker of warmth in the cold she already manifested resistance to temporarily...

  That was the direction she had been heading all along.

  Toward the pinnacle.

  Toward the Egg.

  “That’s great,” Emma said gently, her voice quiet but touched with something warm.. something settled... “That’s where I’m heading too.”

  Her white hair danced around her cheeks as the wind swept across the mountain again, carrying tiny flecks of snow that glistened against her skin like frozen stars.

  Liz smiled slightly in return, the kind of smile that didn’t push too hard but welcomed softly. She glanced sideways at Dan, who was already exhaling through his nose in that same tired way he always did when something unexpected was about to become his problem.

  “Would you… like to come along with us, Emma?” Liz asked, voice calm, kind. “Up to the top of the mountain?”

  Emma looked at her for a moment, her unique white eyes catching the light like polished frost. She nodded once.

  “I would like that,” she said.

  Dan rolled his eyes. A long sigh escaped him, his breath thick in the frozen air. He didn’t say anything, but the message was clear in his narrowed sea-blue eyes.

  Another person to slow them down. Another person to look after.

  But he didn’t argue.

  So now, they were five.

  The cold wind howled around them, playful and sharp as it rushed over the icy slope. Their boots crunched softly against the snow-packed ground as they began to climb. The incline wasn’t steep at first, but the snow made each step heavier, dragging at their ankles and pulling at their balance.

  Dan and Liz led the way, moving with practiced care, their figures wrapped in layers of normal cloth but wore fur-lined coats on top of it, but even that wouldn't be enough in this type of cold, Emma had a suspicion that they also had cold resistance on but that wasn't enough to fight the cold so that's why they wore those coats....

  Liz’s red twin buns bounced slightly with every careful step, while Dan just kept on walking carefree, like nothing bad can ever happen...