Page 9 of Frost and Fate
“Good, Nova!” Laurie cheered. “When you’re ready, open it.”
Nova breathed steadily. As crazy as it had seemed, she had walked through a lively green forest and along the moss-covered path like Laurie instructed. She had even found the door in the wall and tried the knob. The handle wouldn’t budge. “It’s locked.” She tried again to open it.
Laurie spoke smoothly. “You must find the key.” Her voice sounded far away. Nova peered around. This whole thing was so confusing. She searched beneath the brush and above the branches. It had gotten colder, and darker now. Light flurries of snow had begun to fall.
“It’s not here,” she said, frustrated.
“Breathe, Nova. You already have everything you need.”
Nova exhaled in frustration. What did that even mean? The snow was falling in larger flakes. Nova stopped. A key. She needed a key. She held out a palm and visualized an intricate skeleton key. Ice began to take shape as the key formed within her hand. “I got it!” she exclaimed. She walked toward the door and inserted the cold clear key. She turned it once and there came aclick.
As the wooden door swung open, a blizzard of frozen air rushed out. Nova’s eyes sprang open.
“Good, Nova!” Laurie said. Nova turned her icy eyes toward the blonde woman. Lance immediately stepped in front of her, his toffee eyes beginning to glow. “Lance, please,” Laurie whispered. Snow began to fall around the room. Nova could feel herself detaching, falling beneath the icy veil of protective safety, letting go of control. A frigid wind began to whip around the room, intensifying in speed and strength. Ice crept up the walls, locking the space in shimmering blue as the air around them became harder and harder to withstand.
“Nova, stop!” It was Darren's voice that brought her back from the edge. He stepped up to her, his honey-fire eyes glowing through the snowstorm while his jet-black hair whipped around his face. “You can fight this. You alone can control this. You are the Chosen. You are a Celestial. This power isyours.” He took another step closer. The heat of his body radiated toward her. It cut through the chill in the room. “Nova, you can do this.”
She focused on his eyes and the way they burned. The honey glow seemed to warm some part of her deep within. She took a steadying breath. The blizzard conditions calmed. The creeping ice subsided. Gentle snow flurries began to fall instead. Darren smiled, a gorgeous, perfect, boyish smile.
“I knew you were in there,” he said, softly.
Nova let out a small laugh. “It was touch and go for a second.” She glanced around at the others in the room. Their hair and clothes were a mess, wind-whipped and unkempt. She smiled sheepishly. “Sorry about the wind.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Laurie said as she smoothed her blonde locks. Leah was frowning, but said nothing as she detangled the long length of her black hair.
“Well”—Darren raised an eyebrow—“show us what you got, Ice Queen.”
Nova gave him a playful shove before refocusing her thoughts. Her eyes closed and re-opened, and she could feel that they were in their icy-blue form. This time she felt more in control. She lifted her fingers, lacing them in intricate patterns. The snowflakes began to grow, sparkling beautifully as they floated down. She gathered her palms in front of her face and blew into them. Snow covered the floor of the training room, piling several inches instantaneously. Everything Nova was doing came straight from instinct. She barely thought about it before it happened. She closed her eyes and imagined the woods. When she opened them again, a forest of icy trees grew upward from the ground. Their branches were coated in shimmery frozen leaves.
“It’s so beautiful,” Laurie admired as she touched a freshly formed trunk.
The training room doors suddenly flew open, then a flustered assistant hurried inside. “Alpha, I need to…”
Startled, Nova sent out a wave of ice that immediately coated the floor around the entrance. The poor guy went sliding and landed with a thud at Gideon’s feet. “Whoops…” Nova squeaked out, embarrassed. “I guess you scared me.” She saw Lance stifle a laugh.
Gideon frowned at her. “I think that’s enough excitement for one day.”
“Can you take the ice away the same way you make it?” Leah asked.
Nova’s eyebrows pulled together. “I don’t know.”
“Try,” Laurie encouraged. Nova closed her eyes and imagined all the ice evaporating into tiny specks of snow and then disappearing into the sky. When she opened her eyes the room was as it had been when they first arrived. Nova smiled, proud of herself. “Wonderful, Nova!” Laurie beamed.
The assistant stood up and whispered something to Gideon.
“We will continue this tomorrow.” Gideon turned to leave, with Leah and Lance following suit.
Laurie gave Nova a hug. “I’m so proud of you! I’ll see you tomorrow!” She hurried out after the others. It was just Nova and Darren. The way he was looking at her made Nova’s cheeks flush.
“We better get you back to your apartment before you wipe out any more assistants. Poor James didn’t know what hit him.”
Nova laughed and gave one of his shoulders a shove. “It was an accident!”
Chuckling, he headed out the doors. “Uh-huh. Sure.”
Still smiling, she followed him to the elevators. Nova’s body was full of adrenaline. She had never felt as free as she had in that training room. It was unlike anything she had experienced before.
They arrived back on the apartment level and made their way to Nova’s door. She wasn’t sure what prompted her to do it but she turned to Darren and said, “Do you want to come in and hang out?” He looked at her, momentarily caught off guard. She quickly added, “No big deal if not. I just have all this energy buzzing through me and might end up freezing everything in my apartment if I don’t have some sort of social outlet.” She laughed, trying to make it sound casual.
