Fire in Frost

by Alicia Rades

  When I realized she wasn’t actually angry with me, I approached her and gave her a hug. “You always liked to be the finder anyway. I can hide from now on.”

  We laughed together.

  “I’m not mad at you, Crystal. I think it’s awesome that you’re a superhero.”

  “I’m not a superhero. I’m just psychic. It’s even weird to say that. I’m still getting used to it.”

  “Well, it’s pretty cool.” Emma stopped and sniffed the air. “Do you smell something burning?”

  We exchanged an alarmed glance and bolted for the kitchen together. Smoke was coming from the oven. Our pizza was burnt to a crisp because we’d forgotten to set the timer.

  “Maybe we should just stick with microwaveable food,” I suggested.

  We ate hot pockets before heading to our volleyball game. Justine kept throwing me nervous glances as if to ask if I’d found anything out yet. I sent her back a look that said, Sorry, nothing yet.

  Both the JV and the Varsity won.

  14

  That night, Olivia came to me in my dreams. I only saw her face for a moment, but she whispered something to me. “Help her,” she said, but I woke up not knowing who “her” was. I felt a wave of guilt rush over me. I knew I should have been focusing more attention on Olivia than on other things. She needed me.

  When I woke up that Wednesday, I made a list of all the people Olivia could possibly mean by “her,” but I only came up with one name: Tammy Owen. Did Tammy need help moving on? I had heard she was holding together pretty well, but some people are better at hiding it than others.

  I told my mother about my dream and my concerns about Tammy.

  “I don’t really know how to help her, sweetie. I mean, Tammy and I get along, but I’m not exactly her best friend.”

  “Oh.” I slumped my shoulders in disappointment. I didn’t know how I was supposed to help Tammy.

  “I’ll look into it,” my mother promised, which made me feel a little better. “But you know what? The girls and I can get together Friday night again. Maybe we can talk with Olivia this time and see what she really needs. With you there, I’m sure it will be easier.”

  My mom was inviting me to a séance? That should be interesting, I thought.

  “But don’t you have to get ready for the Halloween festival for Saturday?” I asked.

  “It’ll be fine. We don’t have to do anything for it Friday night.”

  “Okay, I look forward to it.” Did I really mean that? The whole idea of a séance scared me yet seemed exhilarating at the same time.

  That day at school, I spent most of my time focusing my energy on Kelli. I ignored my teachers as I concentrated on my breathing and tried to relax my body and connect with her, but I came up blank every time. Either there wasn’t anything to find or I wasn’t as powerful as I thought. Either way, I couldn’t seem to get through to her.

  At lunch, I spotted Kelli and Nate across the lunch room, which sparked an idea. Maybe if I focused on him I could find something. Since Emma and Derek kept asking my opinion about music and distracting me, I didn’t have the chance to concentrate on him. To top it off, all my teachers decided to actually do something in class the rest of the day, so I didn’t have the opportunity to find anything on Nate.

  When it came time for volleyball practice, our last practice of the season before our final game, Justine pulled me aside in the locker room. Unfortunately, I had nothing to tell her.

  “I’m trying. I really am. But I can’t see anything. Maybe if I could actually talk with Kelli, but I can’t just bring it up.”

  “Well try harder,” Justine hissed. “I’m getting really worried, and you’re my only hope to save my best friend.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Just then, Kelli pushed through the door into the locker room. We both stood upright in surprise, immediately ceasing our conversation. Kelli eyed us suspiciously, but I didn’t think she knew we were talking about her. How could she?

  After practice, I came up with the perfect opportunity to speak to Kelli. I watched as she left the locker room. I reached into my locker and grabbed the first thing my hands found.

  “I’ll be right back,” I told Emma.

  When I caught up to Kelli, I grabbed her wrist. She swung around at the same time she took a step back to distance herself from me. I was expecting to see something, an indication of her relationship, but there was nothing. My plan failed miserably. Interestingly, though, my touch allowed me to feel her emotions. She was confused why I was there and upset about something.

  “What?” she demanded when I didn’t say anything.

  For a moment, I couldn’t remember what my plan was, and then I looked down to find a bottle of lotion in my hands. “I thought I saw you drop this.” I held the bottle out to her.

  “Well, it’s not mine.” Not only did she sound irritated, but I could feel the annoyance as energy sizzled between us.

  “I’m sorry. My mistake.”

  Just as I was about to turn and leave, a car pulled up next to us. Kelli’s emotions shifted from exasperation to something entirely confusing, a mixture of emotions that made it hard to pinpoint. A sense of love, it seemed, washed over her when she saw the car. I also took note of the fear she conveyed by the sight of it. As her pulse quickened, so did mine. I wondered for a moment if it was a family member driving the car.

  “Are you okay?” I asked without thinking. It only made her widen her eyes at me in suspicion.

  “I have to go,” she said as she turned on her heel and flipped her hair over her shoulder.

  I glanced at the driver, and even though it was getting dark, it was still light enough to see his face. Nate Williams sat in the front seat. After Kelli closed the door, he jerked his head toward me and glared, his eyes dark below his eyebrows and the muscles in his jaw tense. It sent chills up and down my spine.

  He tore his gaze from me and drove off. Holy crap. He is a bad guy, isn’t he? And Kelli is afraid of him. I turned back toward the school, discouraged that my plan didn’t work. Or had it?

  I didn’t realize that I was frowning when I got back to the locker room.

  “Are you okay?” Emma asked.

  Suddenly aware of my posture, I straightened up and put a smile on my face. “I’m fine,” I lied and turned away so that she couldn’t see my eyebrow twitch.

  “So whose house are we staying at this weekend?”

  “Uh,” I stalled. “This weekend? I can’t this weekend.” I didn’t care how much Emma begged, I would not miss out on the séance this Friday. I needed to focus on Olivia, especially since I’d been neglecting her and she needed my help.

  “Why not?”

  I couldn’t tell her, could I? I didn’t know if it was right to tell Emma that Mom, Sophie, and Diane were all psychic, too. I decided to keep this one to myself.

  I ducked down behind my locker door so she wouldn’t see my face. “Uh, my mom kind of has a mother-daughter thing planned on Friday.” That wasn’t a lie. “Don’t worry. I’ll still be here when we turn in our uniforms and have our pizza party on Friday.”

  “Oh, yeah,” she said, trying to hide her disappointment. “Yeah, that will be fun.”

  I suspected that Emma wanted to be at home as little as possible, but I had other people to help at the moment. Besides, she said that home life wasn’t that bad.

  ***

  When I got home, I slumped onto my bed. I wanted to cry, to relieve the overwhelming knot in my chest, but no tears came out. When I finally gave up and lifted my head, my gaze fell upon the crystal ball on my dresser. Maybe that would have some answers, but I didn’t know how to use it. I thought about waiting for my mom to get home from the shop, which was staying open later and later as Halloween approached, but the longer I waited, the more I felt I needed to take my abilities into my own hands. I decided it was time to turn to the Internet for help.

  I pulled Luna down from the shelf next to my bed, holding her close for comfort, a
nd snuggled under my blanket. I flipped open my laptop and typed “How to Use a Crystal Ball” into the Google search bar. The first few sites I visited didn’t help me at all, but I continued my search anyway, clicking through links and trying to find some helpful information. I got excited when I found an article that seemed to make sense. It told me to set the mood with candles or incense, let go of expectation, and to practice discipline over the conscious mind. It also noted that I should listen to the more subtle voices of the universe, whatever that meant.

  I wasn’t sure how this was going to go, but I decided to take a shot at it. I mean, what could it hurt? Rising from my bed, I walked into the kitchen and shuffled through a few drawers before finding a stash of candles. I gathered the tea candles and a box of matches and headed back to my room. One by one, I lit three candles. I shut off the light and placed myself in my desk chair in front of the crystal ball.

  I paused for a moment, mostly out uncertainty. I wasn’t sure I would really be able to do this, but if my crystal ball would help me help others, then it was something I was willing to try.

  I held the ball in my hands and stared into it for what seemed like an eternity. I didn’t see anything. Let go of expectation, I told myself as I tried to put both Olivia and Kelli out of my mind. For a brief moment, I almost believed that the ball had no power, but when I regained control of my mind, I allowed myself to do as the website instructed and opened my mind to all possibilities.

  Discipline over the conscious mind. Control yourself. Let go of expectations.

  I let my mind relax as I stared deep into the crystal ball. When it started glowing, I squealed with excitement. The light dimmed in reply to my squeal, so I tried again, doing as I had done before. This time when it glowed and the glass clouded over, I didn’t let my excitement get the better of me.

  I stared further into it, making the connection with my ball. When I was confident in our connection, I set it back on its stand. I allowed myself to fall deeper into my trance.

  The fog within the ball began to dissipate, and motion passed across it as if I were watching a scene unfold on a television screen. But when the image became clear, I didn’t see Kelli or Olivia.

  No expectations, I thought in the conscious part of my mind, but I let even that thought fall as I pushed my mind to connect with the ball and find discipline over my consciousness.

  The first image I saw was of a small bedroom. The walls were pink, and there was a collection of teddy bears stacked against the wall. Frilly lace curtains outlined the windows.

  As the angle zoomed out, I saw her, the girl whom the room clearly belonged to. She was curled in a lump on her bed and looked cozy beneath the sheets. I couldn’t see her face, but she didn’t look very big.

  Movement in another corner of the room caught my attention. A tall figure moved in the shadows. He was dressed in all black, so it was hard to notice him at first. He moved closer to the girl, and when he was close enough, he pounced, clasping his hand hard over her mouth so that she wouldn’t scream.

  The girl’s eyes flew open, and the image focused on her face.

  I pushed back in my chair too quickly, flinging the crystal ball to the floor. It landed on the carpet with a thud.

  My heart pounded and my hands trembled. What did that little girl have to do with me? Why did I need to see that scene? I’d seen her brown hair and big chocolate eyes in a nightmare before, but what did that mean? I knew deep down that it meant something. It wasn’t about Kelli or Olivia, my intuition told me, but I couldn’t help but ask myself the question: Why have I seen her twice now?

  I didn’t want to look into my crystal ball again, so I didn’t. Instead, I wanted to toss it across the room. I held back that urge, afraid that it would break. I already felt bad about letting it fall to the floor. Questions continued to race in my mind. How could I help a little girl I didn’t even know? Was the man going to hurt her? As much as I longed to do something, I didn’t know enough to help. All I knew about the girl was what she looked like and her approximate age.

  That’s not much to go on, I thought. Besides, I had too much to deal with already and too many people to help. Why hadn’t my crystal ball shown me something about Kelli or Olivia? That was what I really wanted to see—no, needed to see.

  Discouraged for not finding anything to actually help anyone I knew, and not giving me enough information to help Chocolate Eyes, I blew out the candles and crawled into bed far too early, but I fell asleep instantly.

  15

  After a sound sleep, I woke up Thursday well-rested. I still had problems to solve and a mystery from my crystal ball, yet I was relaxed and ready to take on the day.

  I could hear Teddy talking to my mom from the kitchen. I quickly realized that he had spent the night. Did this mean he was already working on moving in? I didn’t have a chance to check it out before I heard the front door close, indicating that he was already on his way to work.

  I started the day by taking a warm shower and drying my long dirty blonde hair. The hair dryer left my hair straight, so I kept it that way, brushing it to near perfection.

  “Crystal,” my mother called from the other side of the house. “I have to go to work, but Teddy and I will be at your game tonight, okay?”

  My heart flipped at the thought. Just one more game and the season was over, and I’d have more free time on my hands. I was excited and disappointed at the same time, but at least I would have more time to figure out my abilities and actually put them to use helping people.

  “Okay, Mom. I love you.”

  “Love you, too. Bye!”

  “Bye!” I shouted back. I gave myself a confident smile in the mirror.

  Gathering my backpack and supplies for the day, I left my room and headed for the kitchen, popping a bagel in the toaster and pulling out some cream cheese from the fridge to top it with. Yum. My favorite.

  I turned on the TV for a few moments to get the scoop on the weather, but when the news switched to a story about a local abduction, I turned it off. I wasn’t in a mood to focus on more unfortunate mysteries than the ones I already had on my plate.

  The house was quiet, and I was ready for school early, so I wiggled my way onto the counter and closed my eyes. It was bright behind my lids. I could hear the soft hum of the appliances and smell the delicious scent of a toasting bagel. It seemed so serene.

  What will I learn about my abilities today? I wondered. I let my body relax as I focused on my fingertips like my mother taught me. My mind spun in an elegant dance through clouds as I concentrated on the other side to guide me in my day’s decisions. I felt at peace.

  In an instant, it all changed, sending me reeling toward something dangerous. A frightening roar reverberated in my ears as a shock of terror spread through my body. My bagel popped, snapping me out of it.

  What was that all about? I thought as I hopped down from the countertop. My hands were still shaking and my pulse threatening as I spread cream cheese over my bagel.

  It was nothing, I assured myself, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling that it was a sign of something to come, that someone was coming to get me and would take me by surprise. My sense of peace shattered.

  ***

  I met Emma at our corner, my anxiety and paranoia just above its normal level, but I didn’t let it show.

  The moment Emma was close enough to me, she started speaking. “I was reading last night, you know, about your kind, and I was thinking—“

  “My kind?” I eyed her speculatively.

  “Yeah, about psychics and stuff,” she said, waving a hand nonchalantly. “I was reading that to make your powers stronger, you have to practice them, and—“

  “Why?” I interrupted again. I never expected Emma to ditch me as a friend when I told her about my abilities, but I didn’t expect her to be so accepting of it, either.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess it’s just intriguing. I mean, it’d be awesome if I were psychic, but if I can’t
be, then it’s cool that you are.”

  “Actually you can be. My mom said everyone’s born with psychic abilities but that I just have a stronger connection to the other side or something. Like how everyone has intuition. It just takes practice, I guess.”

  “Ohmigosh,” Emma squealed, stopping in her tracks. “We should, like, learn together, and we could both be psychic.”

  Something about the idea intrigued me. It was cool enough that I had my mom to help me, but I would be much more comfortable with Emma by my side.

  “That would be really cool,” I said, smiling. “But I really don’t know that much about how to do it. Maybe you could talk to my mom.”

  I threw my hand over my mouth. Was I allowed to tell Emma my mom is psychic? I didn’t think it would hurt anything, but I should have asked my mom first.

  Emma’s eyes widened. “Andrea’s psychic, too? I mean, a real psychic? I know she does all that fake voodoo stuff for Halloween, but she’s real?”

  I dropped my hand. “Well, let’s just say it’s not as fake as she leads people to believe.”

  Emma smiled. “This is going to be so awesome. When can we start?”

  I bit my lip nervously. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to include Emma in the séance right away. It almost seemed too much for me. I didn’t want to overwhelm her and scare her away.

  “Maybe it’s best if we wait until after this weekend once we all have more free time. Then my mom will be done with the Halloween festival.”

  “Deal,” Emma agreed.

  We got to school too soon.

  Emma grinned. “I’ll tell you about what I read later. Maybe I could come to your house before the game again.”

  “Yeah, sure. That sounds great.” Even as I said this, I wasn’t entirely positive. I was eager for some more alone time to practice with my crystal ball again. I was hoping to see something I could use to help Olivia or Kelli.