Fire in Frost

by Alicia Rades

  “In case you’re wondering, I heard everything you said to Emma.” Her tone was difficult to read. It came off as a confusing cross between condescending and kind.

  “I was just joking around,” I tried, but my hands were trembling under the stream of water as I said it. I hoped this would convince her. I did not want this spreading around school and having to relocate because of being a “witch.”

  She moved over to the sink and twisted the faucet to wash her hands at the same time I turned to dry mine. “No, you weren’t.”

  “Come on,” I argued. “You don’t really believe I’m psychic.”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe I don’t have to believe it.”

  “Then why do you care?” I asked, crossing my arms over my own body to appear more confident.

  She shut off the faucet and turned to me.

  “Because whether you’re psychic or not, Emma was genuinely surprised at what you knew. You must be a pretty good detective.”

  Crap. What did she want? Didn’t my mother warn me this would happen if I told people?

  “Not really,” I tried, but she was so intimidating with her superior attitude and four-inch heels.

  Justine grabbed a paper towel to dry her hands. “I need your help.” She wasn’t asking, she was demanding. “Meet me at my locker after school, okay?” She tossed her paper towel in the garbage and turned to leave.

  “And what if I won’t help you?” I challenged. It’s not that I didn’t want to help Justine. After all, she had always been friendly, even if she was currently frightening me on some level. The thing was that I didn’t want this getting out the way it had on my mother. I didn’t want a repeat of kindergarten. But what if she was in trouble and did need my help? Could I refuse that?

  She turned back to me, her hand on the door. “If you don’t at least try to help me, I’ll tell the entire school that you’re psychic. I know you don’t want that, do you?”

  No, I didn’t.

  “Oh, and one more thing,” she said with a smile I couldn’t quite read. “Don’t tell anyone you’re helping me.”

  There was nothing I could do but meet her at her locker after school and find out what she had in store.

  12

  When I walked back to our lunch table, my mind was still on Justine. I always thought Justine was a nice person, but she seemed so menacing in the bathroom. My hands were trembling at the threat. Would she really tell the whole school if I didn’t help her?

  Honestly, I tried to rationalize with myself, how bad could it be? Maybe she just wants me to help her find something she lost. But then again, she told me not to tell anyone. Does that mean whatever she wants me to do is really bad? I couldn’t seem to set my thoughts straight and ease my anxiety.

  “Oh my gosh!” Emma squealed when I reached the table, pulling herself from an embrace with Derek. She was bouncing up in her seat, holding out the light blue book toward me. I sat next to her. She leaned over to me and whispered so only the two of us could hear. “It was right where you said it was.”

  Derek rolled his eyes from the opposite side of the table. “I don’t know how Emma knew where to look, but she made me open my locker so she could find the darn thing. I was sure I gave it back to her.”

  I picked up my fork and poked at my food, my thoughts still on Justine. What was going to happen after school?

  “Crystal.” Derek snapped his fingers in front of my face. “Don’t you agree?”

  “Uh, yeah, whatever.” I didn’t know what I was agreeing to, but it kept the conversation going between Derek and Emma. I was grateful when I didn’t have to weigh in.

  ***

  The final bell for the school day set off an alarm in my body, causing my heart to pound. Why couldn’t I just look into the future and see what Justine was going to ask so I could either relieve this anxiety or avoid her altogether?

  “Hey,” Emma started nervously when we met after school. I was crouched down at my locker. Emma stood above me and twisted a dark curl around her finger. “Do you mind if I hang out at your house before the game?”

  We had a home game tonight, which meant we had a few hours of free time.

  “Sure,” I shrugged, hoping it would hide my anxiety. I needed to meet with Justine. “Can I just go grab something from my gym locker?” I lied. “I’ll meet you in the commons.”

  “Are you lying to me?” She narrowed her eyes accusingly.

  “No. Why would you say that?”

  “Because your eyebrow is twitching.”

  My hand flew up to my eyebrow. Oh no. It really was twitching. “I’m not lying,” I lied again.

  “Why don’t I just come with you?”

  “No!” I practically shouted. “I—I mean, it’s kind of personal.”

  “Oh,” Emma said, elongating the word to show she understood. She winked. “Gotcha. So you’re finally a woman?”

  I let out a gasp and glanced around. “Emma!” I scolded.

  She laughed. “Okay. I’ll see you in the commons.”

  Students had fled the halls quickly to escape school, so they were empty when I made it to Justine’s locker. I wasn’t entirely sure which one was hers, but I had a general idea.

  When I arrived, Justine wasn’t there. I glanced around frantically, hoping to spot her. Had I taken too much time? Was she already on her way to telling the entire school my secret? It would only take a quick text to say, “Crystal Frost is a freak,” to spread like a wildfire. At least Emma and Derek would stand by my side.

  Just as I was about to turn and flee in hopes of finding her before she could tell anyone, I saw her coming down the hall. She had a notebook in her hand, and her heels clicked against the floor as she rushed up to me.

  “I’m so sorry. I had to talk to Mrs. Flick about an assignment.” Her voice emulated a tone of friendship. It was like she was a completely different person from the girl I spoke with in the bathroom earlier. She was beaming with excitement and energy.

  Justine twisted her locker combination as she spoke. “I’m so glad you’re helping me with this. I’ve been thinking about you all day and how we’re finally going to resolve this issue.” She sounded like I had agreed to help her decorate for prom or something. She was far more excited than I’d expected.

  She continued jabbering at a million miles per hour as she dug around in her locker. “You see, I’ve been trying to investigate this for like a year, but I just can’t find any proof, and Kelli won’t tell me anything.”

  “Hold up,” I said, stopping her. “I may be . . .” I glanced around, and even though I didn’t see anyone, I lowered my voice. “Psychic. But that doesn’t mean I have any idea what you’re talking about.”

  Justine spoke softly and cocked a finger for me to come in close. Then she told me everything she knew.

  ***

  I didn’t believe it. I just couldn’t. Justine thought Nate was abusing Kelli, but they looked so happy together. They had the kind of relationship every girl in the school longed for. Was it possible that the school’s hottest couple wasn’t so hot at all?

  “I’ve seen the bruises,” Justine had told me matter-of-factly. “But Kelli always makes excuses and says she tripped or it was from sports or whatever. That’s why she always changes in the stalls before practice. She doesn’t want anyone to see. It’s not just that, though. Everything about her is different. She’s more reserved than ever before.”

  “Why are you even telling me this?” I asked.

  “Because I need you to help me get proof. If we don’t do something, he’s probably going to kill her. I’ve done everything I can. I talked to Kelli, but she denies it. I told her parents, but they think Nate’s an angel. I even tried to turn him in, but since Kelli denied it, the police said there wasn’t anything they could do. I’ve never seen him hit her, but I’ve seen how nasty he can be. Once I was riding in the car with them and Nate called her a ‘fucking bitch’ just because we took a wrong turn and she was suppose
d to be navigating. It wasn’t even a big deal. He’s really smart about it, too, putting on a façade in front of everyone and hitting her only where her clothes can hide it.”

  She glanced around and lowered her voice even further until she was whispering. “Last summer, he must have done something really bad to her arms because she wore long sleeves for like two weeks and wouldn’t come out boating with me. I haven’t seen her put on a swimming suit since she met him. Sometimes she doesn’t even wear her spandex shorts at games but puts on long athletic shorts instead.”

  Strangely enough, I had noticed that, but wearing spandex shorts wasn’t a requirement for our uniform as long as the shorts were black. Could it be that she was hiding something under her shorts?

  “It’s only getting worse,” she told me. “I love her like a sister, but we’ve hardly spoken since the fundraiser. In fact, we’ve hardly spoken all school year outside of volleyball practice. It’s like something happened between them last summer. There were a few weeks there when I didn’t even see her, let alone talk to her. Nate has more control over her than ever. She does whatever he says, and he doesn’t want her hanging out with me. If you knew her like I do, you’d see that she’s scared of him.”

  Justine sighed. “I think he used to be a nice guy, but after his parents divorced, he just became dark. And now, it’s like he’s got this God complex and thinks he can do whatever he wants without consequences. Like he thrives on power over women or something.” She paused. “It’s disgusting.”

  I couldn’t figure out why Justine was confiding in me. Did she really think I could help her? I hardly knew how to use my abilities, and I was still trying to figure them out so that the next time Olivia showed up I could figure out what she needed from me, too. And then there was Emma, who I was really hoping to speak with about her parents’ divorce. With school, volleyball, and everything else piled on top of that, it seemed like so much responsibility falling on me at once. Suddenly, the idea of being psychic made me want to run away from who I really was, but hadn’t I said I was supposed to help people?

  With this, I caved. “What do you want me to do?” I was concerned. I really was. At the same time, I honestly wasn’t sure if I could help. I’d found out a few minor things about people by concentrating on them, but was I able to really know something this serious? Besides, where would I get the “proof” Justine needed? We couldn’t go to the police with a psychic vision as our only proof.

  “I want you to look into it, okay? Try to figure something out so we can save Kelli.”

  “Look, Justine. I don’t even really know how to use my abilities. I’m sorry, but I don’t know if I can help you.”

  She stared at me with a pout that even I couldn’t refuse. I wasn’t sure if it was an act or not, but I had to remind myself that if I didn’t at least try, she was going to tell the whole school and I might be bullied out of town. I couldn’t risk that with my mom’s business.

  “Fine,” I gave in. “I’ll try, but I can’t make any promises.”

  She smiled, and then in a shocking moment, she pulled me into an embrace. “Thank you so much, Crystal.”

  13

  “What took you so long?” Emma complained when I finally reached the commons.

  I didn’t want my eyebrow to start twitching again. Emma was too good at telling when I was lying. We’d known each other far too long.

  “I was talking to Justine,” I answered truthfully.

  “Justine Hanson? About what?” Emma seemed suspicious and rightfully so. I could probably count on one hand the amount of times I’d talked to Justine in the past.

  I bit my lip nervously but quickly stopped so that she wouldn’t notice. “She wanted help . . . with homework.”

  “Why would she ask you? You’re not even in any of her classes.”

  I shrugged. “She just needed a second opinion.” That wasn’t a complete lie.

  I was still nervous and overwhelmed with all the responsibility my new powers put on me, but I wasn’t going to let that ruin a great time with Emma, so I put on a smile. “Come on,” I said. “We need some girl talk.”

  On the way back to my house, I got Emma to open up about her parents’ divorce. She told me about how she was sad to see her family break up but that it wasn’t as bad as it sounded. She said her parents had tried marriage counseling, but they just couldn’t stand each other anymore and had separated.

  “But I don’t want to talk about my parents. I want to know more about you and this whole psychic thing.”

  I smiled out of nervousness. What could I say to her about it? “Emma, I don’t even know that much about it myself. I’m just learning.”

  “So, can you tell my future? Like if anyone is going to ask me to prom this year?”

  I rolled my eyes at her. “Yeah, it doesn’t work that way.”

  She kicked at a rock. “Aw, shucks.”

  When we reached my house, Emma went straight to the kitchen. “What should we have before the game?” she called, and I could already hear her opening and closing cabinets. I heard the buzz of the freezer as she opened it, and I knew she had found the frozen pizza.

  We put the pizza in the oven and went to my room.

  “Oh no,” Emma stopped in my doorway, alarmed.

  “What?” I cried, afraid of what had scared her.

  She turned to me, an expression of terror fixed on her face as she grabbed my shoulders and shook me. “Who are you, and what have you done with Crystal?” She swung around and pointed to my room. “I can see your floor!”

  I laughed. “Don’t scare me like that!”

  “Seriously, though,” she said as she plopped down on my bed. “Your room looks nice.”

  “I usually keep it clean,” I defended, “but I’ve been busy for like two months with school and volleyball.”

  “And I haven’t? I manage to keep my room clean.” She was right, and that was part of the reason I liked staying at her place better.

  “Oh. My. Gosh.” Emma’s eyes widened as she caught a glimpse of something across the room. “What is that?” She pointed to the crystal ball on my dresser.

  “Oh, that,” I said nonchalantly. “Nothing.” But I knew it wasn’t nothing. I took the few steps over to my dresser and picked up the ball.

  “Are you, like, into dark magic?”

  “Dark magic? No!” I pulled the ball close to me in a protective embrace. “I just saw it at Divination and thought it looked neat.” I returned the ball back to its stand and stepped back to admire it.

  “But can you, like, look into it and see the future?”

  I laughed. “No. Not yet at least. I don’t know how to use it.”

  “This is so cool.”

  “What is?”

  “That you might be psychic. You’re like a superhero.”

  “It’s not a question of ‘might,’ Emma. I am psychic.” I almost wanted to argue the fact along with her and refuse my abilities and the responsibility of it, but I just couldn’t do that.

  “Come on,” Emma said, sitting up in my bed. “We’ll play a game.”

  Really? Was she serious? I knew Emma wouldn’t give up until I played. “Okay, but I won’t promise that it will work.”

  Emma shifted excitedly. “I’m going to take an object and hide it somewhere, and you’re going to find it.”

  “Emma, I don’t even know how to do that.”

  She held out a finger to me and made noises until I stopped speaking. “It’s just a game, okay? You stay here.” She leapt from my bed and left the room, closing my door behind her.

  Ugh. I plopped down on my bed and placed my arm over my eyes. She was going to find the smallest thing to hide and put it in an impossible place to find. I wasn’t going to win this game.

  I wanted to cry. So much was happening lately with Olivia, Justine, and everything else related to my abilities. But I held myself together.

  Emma came back a few minutes later and announced that I could start looking. I
didn’t move from my spot.

  “Well, aren’t you going to look for it?”

  “I am,” I teased. I’d never found things before except her copy of Charlotte’s Web in Derek’s locker. Then I remembered how I had found her CD. Maybe I did have a gift for finding.

  “Even with psychic powers, you’ll never find it,” she said smugly.

  Suddenly, I was up to the challenge.

  My mom had told me she could find things. I can also find things if I have something to touch. It’s called psychometry.

  I sat up in my bed and held my hand out.

  “What?” Emma asked.

  “Come here. I need to see your hand.”

  “My hand?”

  “Yeah, the one that held whatever you hid.”

  I gripped her hand and closed my eyes, concentrating hard on the object. Within seconds, I knew exactly what and where it was. I hopped up from the bed.

  “Not-uh. You do not know where it is.” Emma raced after me.

  I headed down the hallway and pounded down the stairs to the laundry room. There were two laundry baskets full of clothes, one with towels and one with whites. I picked up the one full of whites and dumped its contents onto the floor. Emma stood next to me as I did this, her eyes wide and her mouth open.

  I only had to toss aside two pieces of clothing before I found Emma’s sock with its signature pink stripe in the mess. I reached for her ankle and pulled up on her pant leg. She was missing one of her socks. I held it up triumphantly, and a victorious grin spread across my face that made me—if only for a moment—slightly prouder of my abilities.

  She frowned and snatched the sock out of my hand before storming back up the stairs. Was she mad at me?

  “Emma,” I called after her, but she didn’t say anything back. What did I do wrong?

  I slowly walked out of the laundry room and found Emma at the top of the stairs putting her sock back on her foot.

  “Emma,” I said softly. “Are you mad at me?”

  “Yes,” she answered crossly. When she was done tying her shoe, she planted her foot on the stair and crossed her arms, giving me the evil eye. “I’m mad because hide and seek is never going to be any fun again.” She couldn’t help it when her lips curled into a smile.