In the days leading up to Christmas, I found myself quite busy; Another girl had vanished, so Aaron was determined to teach me offensive spells, and surprisingly, I grasped them more quickly than the protective ones they'd been practicing before. I made sure to steal away to the lab whenever I could, but I still hadn’t made much progress toward finding a cure.
The only solace I found was in my time spent with Noah. I took every opportunity to be close to him, although he was a bit grumpy about me not carving out enough time for him. He insisted that I come over on Christmas Eve.
As we left his family’s Christmas party and made our way outside to the back porch, Noah asked protectively, "Are you warm enough?"
''I’m fine,'' I reassured him as he began to take off his jacket. We could hear
