“Oh my goodness, are you OK Glacier?” Neena asks.
Neena, if I was OK, do you think there would be any reason for Branch to be cradling me?
Keena recognizes Neena’s pointless question, and pinches her sister’s arm. Neena cries out in shock, staring at her twin with wide eyes, “What was that for?”
Keena gives her a pointed look, “Neena, if she was OK, do you think she would look like that?”
Thanks…
Neena seems to realize her mistake, and nods her head in understanding. She gives Glacier a sad, but comforting look, before gently touching her arm.
“Don’t worry, Glacier. When the Pyre team thaws the ice, we’ll get you straight to the medic.” Neena’s short smile is consoling, but it has an empty background that doesn’t make Glacier feel any better.
Branch shifts her in his arms again, and just as Glacier is about to tell him to sit her down somewhere, a loud clutter is heard by one of the entrances.
Looking up slowly, in favour of her aching neck, she finds Brink moving away from the entrance he had been thawing earlier, now wide open.
Men and women dressed in dark green outfits run into the room, surrounding every person from each team.
It is then that Glacier realizes that the Terra team have escaped their entrapment as well.
Branch carries her out into the now open corridor, the green-suited elementals running around like headless chickens in a coop. Two men and a woman approach them. They start poking and prodding Glacier’s flesh, shouting questions over each other.
A dizzy spell sweeps over her like a blanket. All of the excitement and pain catches up, and her eyes grow heavy. Glacier leans her head against Branch’s shoulder, hissing when she feels a sharp sting.
Tilting her head at a different angle, she allows her mind to drift, her eyes shutting out the headless chickens.
The medics continue to assess her in Branch’s cradling arms as he leads ahead of them down the corridor.
That’s enough excitement for one day…
~
Two slow, constant and out-of-rhythm beeps echo through her head like a pounding alarm. Glacier’s eyes ache with heavy weights holding them closed. Accompanying the irritating beeps are loud curses and shouting.
“What do you mean dead?” The voice is male. Close and confused.
“…Was crushed…absolutely horrifying…” the other person speaks much softer. Glacier could only hear slightly louder phrases.
Crushed? Dead? Are they talking about Isaac?
Glacier’s mind rushes frantically.
Isaac is dead. I killed him. I’m a murderer.
Her chest tightens with a panicked disgust. The word ‘murderer’ echoes like an endless taunt. The image of Mr Michaels impaled on a spike of ice, and Isaac crushed beneath a large fallen shard goad her awakened mind like a cruel curse.
Tears leak from her eyes, as quiet sobs shake her chest.
Murderer. Murderer. Murderer!
Her eyes crack open feeling caked with dry sleep and exhaustion.
I don’t know how long I have been sleeping, but it still doesn’t feel long enough.
Glacier blinks her eyes to clear her furry vision, before tilting her head to observe her surroundings. Her neck is stiff and sore, a groan slips past her lips. The two elementals talking do not seem to hear her, as they continue their discussion.
“What do we do? This year’s competition is already getting out of hand!” The loud voice continues, now familiar.
It sounds like Karn speaking…
Another voice, different from the first two, speaks out softly, “We do nothing. Have you seen the reactions we are getting from the audience? They are really connecting to this year’s volunteers! Broadcasting is up one hundred and twenty three percent! And what Glacier Wardgrave did in the arena today was amazing, absolutely spectacular!”
This voice belongs unmistakably to Sasis. His raspy words are full of excitement and wonder.
“Sasis, they are getting killed! This is the second contestant––” Karn sounds outraged and worried.
“Miss Benns isn’t dead, Karn,” Sasis interrupts, attempting to calm his friend.
“She is not far from it,” Karn hisses.
Their voices sound from the other side of a wall, muffled but still audible. Glacier shifts in the lumpy cot when an uncomfortable tug pulls at the skin in the crease of her arm.
Gazing down, she finds a needle buried in her flesh, a small tube leading up to a bag with a clear dipping contents. Her wrist is surrounded in a clear brace, holding it stiff and straight.
Looking around the white room, and the memory of waking up in a similar place strikes her. It is a different room, but extremely similar to the one Glacier woke up in after the introductions.
Great. Back in the hospice.
Glacier glances around, noticing the size of the room. It is a lot bigger this time, more than three times the size of her last room.
This must be the room all the contestants come to when they are injured.
Suddenly the thought of the girl who would be here with her has her head turning in both directions. Glacier’s eyes land on the bed to her left, furthest away from the door.
A body covered entirely in what was once white bandages is now stained with yellow and red splotches. The heart rate monitor hooked up to the body provides a very slow but constant beep. The stillness of the body gives her the shivers.
“Care?” Glacier tries to call to her.
Receiving no indication that the bandaged girl could hear her, Glacier tries again. Her voice is raspy and weak, but she knows she spoke loud enough to be heard.
“Care? Are you awake? Can you speak?”
Nothing. Not even a hitch in her heartbeat.
Glacier sighs loudly, exhausting her lungs. Everything feels sore. The heavy weight of Isaac’s death compresses on her shoulders, suffocating her, pulling her back into the dark abyss.
“It doesn’t matter. The tournament cannot be cancelled, if that is where you are heading with this!”
Sasis seems more agitated than before. Glacier’s hazy mind can still understand the words that travel through the walls.
“That is not what I am saying. We just need to reiterate carefulness and safety before tomorrow’s battle, because the way the contestants are behaving is completely out of order!”
“I am enjoying this improved tournament. It needed more edge, more danger. It keeps the audience on the edge of their seats.” The third male voice adds.
Sounds like the representative of Hale…
“Speak for yourself, Hampton. That is because members from the Terra and Pyre teams are now killers! They are only kids, and they have these ideas in their heads to kill one another, like a sport!” Karn’s words of disgust weigh heavily on Glacier’s mind.
‘Members from the Terra and Pyre teams are now killers’…
Does that mean that I didn’t kill Isaac?
The thick guilt on her shoulders suddenly lifts.
I must not have killed him.
Glacier smiles, wiping her damp cheeks with her uninjured hand until another dark thought rises.
Doesn’t matter. I’m still a killer.
That then raises the question.
If it wasn’t Isaac, then who was killed today?
Fear that it was someone from her team swamps her like a thick mist.
Glacier does not have the opportunity to worry about it, as the slow beep from the far side of the room suddenly flat-lines.
THIRTEEN
CAUGHT
Glacier doesn’t notice Isaac lying in a cot across the room, unconscious with his forehead bandaged until later.
Against the doctor’s orders, Glacier signs her release forms and makes the slow, agonizing journey to the lobby.
Glacier’s sprained arm rests in a white cloth sling. The corner of her upper lip is split to the crease o
f her nose, small transparent stitches pulling the skin. Dark bruises paint her ghostly flesh black, purple and yellow. Her eyes feel hollow, her hair hangs limp.
Finally reaching the exit, Glacier releases a long sigh. She couldn’t stand to be in the hospice any longer.
The memory of Care’s heart rate plummeting to nothing has a constant bubble of hopelessness lingering in her chest.
The medics had rushed in a few seconds later, after she started pressing her own help button like a mad man. They came to her aid, before realizing that Care no longer had a heartbeat.
Despite their efforts, she wasn’t saved.
Care Benns had been a small person. She seemed like a fly on the wall, someone who could blend into the crowd. Glacier had learnt from Karn that Care had been the Terra Chancellor’s Choice. The Chancellor had been her father.
Glacier’s body shakes, but not from the cold. Once she is outside, Glacier looks left and right, trying to remember which direction the Persia is. She had asked the woman at the administration, but she hadn’t been very helpful.
Instead, the receptionist had insisted that she call Glacier’s driver to collect her. Glacier scuttled out of the lobby as quick as her aching limbs could take her when the receptionist’s back was turned.
Moving on a hunch, Glacier heads right. Walking along the street in her battle uniform and her shoes in hand, she is glad that many of the citizens of the Alluvium are still at the arena.
Her feet feel sensitive against the rough concrete ground, but in her mind she knows that shoes confining her feet will only put more pressure on them.
Time moves as slowly as Glacier does, taking small simpering footsteps in a direction she isn’t sure is the right one. She gazes around the bright city, glass and concrete reaching heights unimaginable. Roads run easily above her, like an easy maze above her. Elemental’s mulling around the streets all send curious stares. Some ask for photos with her, which Glacier uncomfortably smiles for.
“Miss Wardgrave!” Glacier turns to the sound of her name. She finds Lien slamming the driver’s door to his hover closed. His dark tanned features seem annoyed. He moves closer to where she stands, stiff on the footpath. Glacier releases an exhausted sigh, glad that he had found her. Any longer and she may have collapsed with fatigue.
Thank goodness…
Lien approaches her with his thumb tucked into his waistline and his fingers curling around his belt, his elbow pointed out.
“The hospital called me. Where exactly are you heading?”
Lien’s question surprises her. Confused, she looks around for any indication of where she is. From the height and clustering of the buildings surrounding her, she guesses to be in the heart of the city.
“Um… I was heading back to the hotel.”
Glacier hums quietly to herself, approaching the hover with steady movements.
Her driver shakes his head, “You are heading further into the city, Miss Wardgrave. You’re nearly at the stadium.”
Glacier’s eyes widen with surprise. Nodding her head in acknowledgement, she moves past him. She opens the passenger door, taking care as she climbs into the hover. Lien joins her a short moment later, turning the vehicle around and heading the way she came.
They reach the Persia quickly. Lien drops Glacier off at the bottom of the steps, promising that he will be in the same place to collect her later tonight. After nodding her acknowledgement, Glacier turns to the large glass hotel.
And like an unexpected storm, the sudden noisiness of cameras swarms her like a plague. The questions they ask are loud, meshing with one another.
They ask how she coated an entire arena in ice. How she could create that much ice. Questions about how.
Glacier’s body is roughly jostled as the vultures move closer. Her teeth hiss.
Just let me lie down…
Blindly pushing through the crowd, she clenches her teeth as a hot burn laces through every inch of her body. Her good arm is pulled harshly in front of her, and she shouts in pain.
“Let go of me—” Glacier looks up to find it is one of the hotel guards pulling her forward. Another three workers separate her from the crowd.
“Get back, all of you!”
She is silent as security pulls her into the lobby. After whispering a quite thank you, Glacier escapes to the elevator.
Once inside, Glacier leans against the handrail, staring at the closed elevator doors.
Everything seems to finally catch up on her.
Mr Michaels, her father, Castor, Care, Isaac. Those that has been hurt or killed over the past week suddenly attack her like an anxiously waiting predator, hungry for grief.
Tears spill, her chest heaving with dark sobs. Her loud, pathetic cries reverberate around the small ascending box. Glacier covers her face with her hands, muffling the body-shaking cries.
A loud ding rings loudly in her ears. Hurriedly wiping her cheeks with her wet fingers, she holds her breath. The doors open, and she moves to step out.
Someone stands in her way. Glacier’s eyes roll up, finding concerned orange orbs staring down at her.
“Glace…”
Fielder stands taut on the outside of the elevator, his arms stiff by his sides, his lips tight with worry.
Without thinking, Glacier steps closer until she stands outside the elevator, holding herself to his warm chest. Fielder’s arms wrap around her like thick coils, pulling her tight against his torso.
The aching pain that has been echoing inside of her since the battle slowly dissipates as his warmth seeps into her muscles, soothing her.
“She died…” Glacier stutters, her voice soft and woeful.
She rubs her nose against his shirt, inhaling his smoky smell. The memory of Care’s body wrapped in red- and yellow-stained bandages burns her memory, as the thought of what was beneath them haunts.
He shushes her gently, trying to calm her nerves, “Who died?”
Glacier finds herself hiccupping, her sore cheek rubbing against Fielder’s shirt.
“She-she had been alive one moment, and then dead the next. Just gone—”
Fielder’s hands rest on her shoulders, pushing her back to look at her. He gives her a patient look, “Who?” His hand strokes the back of her head gently as he waits for her to speak.
Glacier takes a deep breath, “Care. She died. She was asleep right beside me, and then her heart stopped.”
Her words are near indistinguishable past her stutter. Her hiccups become uncontrollable as she tries to speak.
She gazes around, her eyes barring away from his. Glancing down the corridor, Glacier realizes she is on the wrong floor.
“Come with me,” he whispers.
She follows him without a word.
Leading her down the corridor, Fielder stops by the door with the number three on it. He pulls away from her hold gently, grasping her arms when he meets her watery eyes.
“Just wait a sec. The door needs to read my Passkey before you enter.”
Glacier nods her head. She remembers the Dormitory Keeper, Melana, explaining to her the first day that if the wrong elemental tries to open your door, they will be electrocuted and the lobby will be notified.
Fielder approaches the door quickly, and it collapses open in the same manner Glacier’s door does. When the door is open, he reaches out for her.
His arms swallow her short frame as he ushers her into his room. She looks around the room identical to her own. The only noticeable differences are the layout and colour scheme.
Glacier notices the neatly made orange bed, with bare stands on either side. The curtains are half drawn, casting a cooling shade over the entrance.
Her hiccups have calmed, as has her heartbeat. Fielder’s warm arms settle the nerves inside her that have been frayed from the day’s events.
“When did you get out of the hospice?” His words sound concerned, his frown is worried.
Glacier shrugs
her shoulders, walking further into the room. Fielder follows, the door swishing shut.
“I don’t know… I just couldn’t be in that room anymore…” Her voice is weak, her throat raspy from crying. Glacier hugs her torso with her free arm as the memory of Care’s heartbeat flat-lining sends terrifying shivers down her spine.
Fielder moves to sit on the bed in front of her, his hands outstretched for her to take. The gesture reminds her of the first time Glacier met him.
Hesitating for a moment, she silently wonders if taking his hand will be stepping over a line.
I can’t take his hand…that seems too intimate…
He seems to realize her hesitation, and lowers his hands awkwardly.
“Did you just get back to the hotel?” He watches her curiously, a lingering sadness haunting his eyes.
Taking a deep breath, Glacier steps between his open legs. He seems surprised by her advance, but says nothing. Standing close, she looks down with her arm supported awkwardly between them. Despite his seated position, Fielder’s eyes are level with her own.
“Yeah, I was just heading up to my room…” A sudden thought occurs, “Wait, were you going somewhere?” She remembers him waiting at the elevator doors.
Fielder shakes his head, his eyes never leaving. “I was just going to the lobby… to wait for you…” His deep voice sounds shy, but his face is solemn.
Her heart beats faster at his confession, but he seems confused.
“If you left the hospice an hour ago, why are you only just getting here? Did your driver take you somewhere else?” His words aren’t demanding, just curious.
“No, I just… went for a walk. I didn’t realize how far away the hotel was; it didn’t seem so far away in the Hover…”
His frown tells her that he isn’t happy.
“You walked in your condition? Why didn’t they call your driver?” Fielder’s words become angrier, “Is it because you’re different? Did they refuse to—?”
Glacier shakes her head at the question, lowering her gaze to the floor, “I didn’t want them to disturb Lien. I told you, I didn’t think it would be a far walk. But I’m fine,” she tells him, before adding, “I promise.”
The Frozen Beginning (Elemental Diamond Book 1) Page 16
