Hostile Holiday

Orla has been bullied, cursed, and locked in lower-level jobs because of family. Her mother is gone, her friends are in danger from association, and all she wants is peace. An invitation to her family's Yule party, one day early, bodes ill and makes her queasy. Orla prepares for anything, but having her grandfather demand that she prepare to be an organ donor for him wasn't on her bingo card. She agrees and begins plotting how to get out of it, but her brother curses her path home and sends her into an icy river. Got to keep those organs nice and fresh. Fighting her way out of the deadly water, she stumbles through the forest, holding only one thing she wants to keep with her—an ugly Christmas sweater that makes her feel warm and loved. It was thrifted, but it is now hers, and it feels like it was always meant to be with her. She is shoved through a dimensional rift by the avatar of winter, fights for her life in Winter's arena, and learns a lot more about herself in the process. A clerical error changed her from guest to fighter, and when Winter comes to her rescue, it is the beginning of the end of her family and the start of an actual life. She is just happy to make it home for the holidays, armed and angry.