Chris felt as if the world was going blank. He could only register the hand gripping his. After a few seconds of stupor, he became dimly aware that she'd let go of him and that someone was arguing in his vicinity.

“What do you mean, you can’t let us pass? We have documentation!”

Chris thought that someone was pulling his wallet from his other hand and he thought he should stop them, but his palm was still cold from her fingers and his thoughts were barely moving, and, and...

“I’m sorry, miss, but you need to wait a few more minutes--”

A boy’s voice insisted, “This is terribly urgent! We have all the sufficient documentation, we must enter right this moment--”

“Winter!” Chris’s heart fluttered and he felt his face flare up when she turned around, all snow and cold scented, her hair falling to frame her face swiftly. Her blue eyes narrowed.

“I am glad we caught you on time.”

Winter's companion ignored him in favor of another few words exchanged with the employee, who was giving the best resistance they could in the face of a clearly unusual situation interrupting their daily routine.

Chris stammered: “I’m… so-so glad to see you! And uh,” his smile wavered, “Ian's here too.”

Ian waved his hand at him impatiently, now switching over to a louder tone in Aurorian. The employee seemed to be on the verge of tears, insisting on the rules. Chris felt sorry for them, especially since there was also a crowd forming now, primarily of other passengers who seemed to think the newcomers were cutting in line.

It was at this moment that Daniel and Julia finally made their way through to them.

“Oi, Chris, what’s—You! So it was you!”

“You know that there are a bunch of Hunters coming over, yeah?” Julia drawled, “And I don’t have any plans to stand here and wait for them to trample me! And I thought we were done running for today! Can we get out of this crowd?”

“The crowd is convenient,” hissed Winter. “You two go away. Christopher, we need to leave. Now.”

Julia started, “Excuse me?”

Winter swore loudly, grabbed Chris’s again and dragged him past the now definitely crying employee, and Chris had little time to marvel at the lax security the Gates apparently had.

Ian kicked the door behind the desk open and the entire group – Daniel and Julia had also trailed them in their effort to either find out what’s going on, or get away from the angry mob – fell into a bright white room with two round holes in the wall opposite from them. One was completely dark and had the eerie aura of being able to suck in everything like a vacuum, while the other was lit by a swirl of pleasant teal light.

“You! Close the door!”

Daniel hesitated, so Ian pushed him out of the way and slammed the door shut right under the nose of a Hunter who’d just reached it. Taking a breath, Ian placed his palm on the gap and the door frame was engulfed by solid ice. The noise on the other side seemed to be duller now.