On the Edge of the Blade: Book One

Chapter Twenty-One

Thanksgiving break was exhausting. Normally, Winter would have relished the days free from the torture of school, but this year he was counting the days until Alistair and Erebus left.

The two men went out of their way to make the rest of the house miserable. It got to a point where Winter asked to go stay in the Artjoms' apartment instead of the Foxes' just so he could get away from them for a while. When he wasn't at the Artjoms, Winter and the rest of the Quartet spent most of their days at practice or playing truth or dare with the rest of the gang – the "gang" meaning the Elites who were staying at Icebreakers, plus Eira.

The day before Thanksgiving, the four of them decided to go to the mall, wanting to get their Christmas shopping done before Black Friday. This was partly to avoid the crowds, but mostly because no one could stand another day of sitting around and skating, listening to Erebus's and Alistair's constant complaints.

The Quartet took the subway to the mall closest to Icebreakers. This was where they usually went to do their Christmas shopping, since it had a Lego store, a Barnes and Noble, and a Disney store. Those were the places Winter and Mani cared about, though Lumi and Cadence liked to look in home décor shops also.

When they got to the mall, Mani and Winter made a beeline for the Lego store.

"It'll still be there in fifteen minutes, you know," Lumi grumbled, jogging to keep up with their fast pace.

"You guys don't have to come with us," Winter pointed out. "Don't you want to go into Ballard Designs? Spend a couple thousand dollars on pillows you won't use?" Winter pointed at a storefront they were passing.

Lumi rolled her eyes. "We never did that."

"Um," Cadence said. "We did once, remember? Last year when your mom gave us her credit card and we bought like five thousand dollars' worth of Christmas decorations?"

"Well, yeah, but it wasn't all pillows!" Lumi gave Winter an indignant look.

He grinned. "It seemed like it was all pillows. I guess there were a few candles in there too."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "We have a budget this time."

"A rather large budget," Winter pointed out. "Khione was generous." She'd given them her credit card and told them not to spend more than ten thousand.

"And you don't get to spend it all!" Lumi said bossily.

"We know that," Winter said. "Just because we're going to the Lego store doesn't mean we're going to buy anything."

Lumi and Cadence both snorted. "Last time you were at the Lego store, you spent more than we did when we bought five thousand dollars' worth of Christmas decorations."

Winter shrugged. "Just because we did it once doesn't mean we'll do it again."

They both snorted again. "Come on, Cadence," Lumi said. She veered out of the group toward Pottery Barn, dragging Cadence with her.

Winter and Mani walked the rest of the way to the Lego store in blissful silence. As soon as they entered, an employee waved at them.

"Welcome! Can I help you find anything in particular?"

"We're good," Mani said.

The employee, who Winter recognized as Harry, grinned. "I figured. You two are such regulars that you know the store forward and backward. Your brother isn't with you?" he asked Mani.