Erica said as she glanced around the inside of the lodge and chomped on a piece of what smelled like strawberry bubble gum. She took a seat on one of two brown-and-grey upholstered chairs in the living room, while Fagan grabbed the matching chair beside her. Rachel sat on the arm of Erica’s chair, both of them obviously friends.I shivered as a cold wind forced itself through the front door, wrapping its icy fingers around my body. Trey closed the door behind me as I looked through the windows and noticed a dark grey sky attempting to obscure the otherwise snowy white horizon. The longer I watched, the darker it became until I realized dusk was already falling upon us. The flurries of snow increased and came down faster. I wasn’t sure if Erica might have somehow affected the natural progression of daylight with her little magical stunt that she’d performed earlier, but it definitely seemed like dusk had arrived too soon. Or maybe the incredibly shortened day had something to do with our traveling through portals?
