by K. K. Allen
He’s here for me, I want to scream. Whatever the energy source is, he wants it, and he thinks possessing me will lead him to it.
Johnny looks at me and then back to Alec. His face softens. “We need to get Kat out of here.”
“You don’t know he’s actually here,” I argue. “We should take a second to think about this.” I don’t know why I’m putting up a fight. Perhaps because I’m hesitant to let Erebus ruin our night. By running, we’re conceding, and I would never want to give Erebus the satisfaction.
Johnny narrows his eyes. “Erebus isn’t playing around, Kat. You think he’s spent all that time away just because? No. He’s been devising some crazy scheme to get you alone so that he can turn your insides into serpent. We need to get you out of here. I won’t say it again.”
His outburst pulls me back down to reality. Demanding, broody Johnny. How I’ve missed his fiery temper.
“What about everyone else? Hiding me won’t stop Erebus from coming after everyone in this room.” I hold up my wrist, flashing my pendant. “I can help. He can’t hurt me, remember?”
We’re all distracted by a gold, glittery mask and a mane of long red hair approaching. “Well, well. The showdown has finally begun. Good to see you again, Johnny.” There’s a smirk playing on Arabella’s heightened cheek bones and red, pouty mouth. Sometimes she can really exasperate me. How can she joke right now?
“Cut it out, Arabella,” I snap. She turns toward Kaleb, pouting. He pulls her close and nuzzles her hair with his chin.
“Take her,” Alec says, ignoring our exchange and focusing on Johnny. It’s obvious he’s not happy with this situation, but he wants me safe as much as Johnny does. He looks at Kaleb and Arabella next. “Warn the other descendants and have them help us get everyone else out of here. We should go to Summer Island when we’re done.”
The plan sounds okay, but something unnerves me. It all seems too easy. If Erebus had a head start on Johnny, then he’d already be here. I remember the chill in my bones from earlier, which I’d almost managed to ignore after the balloon extravaganza … and then Johnny showed up. But what if my senses were telling me the truth? What if danger really is near?
Without wasting a moment, Johnny takes my hand, and I throw Alec an imploring look over my shoulder. He stands strong, appearing confident, but I know him well enough to know he’s worried about more than Erebus. He’s worried about us.
If I couldn’t feel the warmth seeping from Johnny’s strong hand into mine, I’d swear my entire body was numb. He still has the same effect on me, even in the most dire of circumstances. His mere presence overpowers every natural instinct and rational thought.
With Johnny’s bodyguard-like frame in front of me, the crowd parts easily. I try to ignore the charge of energy between us as we head for the ring of ice, our escape. A cold chill breezes through the room, a perfectly timed draft.
I tug on Johnny’s arm. “Did you feel that?”
He turns to face me. “Feel what?”
“The air. It was coming from the entrance.” I point to the ring of ice just as another gust of wind blows through. This time it comes with a white, powdery substance that whistles and twirls. “Is that snow?” I’m completely mystified.
As I scour the room to follow the whistling noise, little fluffy droppings of snow begin to fall from the ceiling. There doesn’t appear to be a snow machine anywhere in the room, so where is the snow coming from?
Johnny pulls me close so his chest presses against my back. “Is that some sort of special effect?” His question echoes my own. I don’t have an answer right away.
I suppose Trisha could have rigged something like that up. I search for Trisha and spot her almost immediately. The confusion on her face tells me everything I need to know.
“I don’t think so.”
Shrieks and cheers of laughter sound through the room, the crowd buzzing with excitement as they attempt to catch the white, fluffy snowflakes with their hands and tongues. The snow covers their hair, suits, and dresses, but no one complains of the cold. In ordinary circumstances, this entire scene would be a dream come true. But my gut tells me this display isn’t meant to be beautiful.
As if to confirm my fear, the snowfall begins to thicken and blow faster in a flurry of motion. The whooshing whistles of air grow strong, and the snow starts to pile up quickly.
My eyes are wide, unable to pull them away from the surrounding terror. Shrieks of laughter turn into screams of fright.
Johnny’s arms tighten around me. “Kat, we need to go.” Even he sounds terrified.
“What about everyone else?” There’s sheer panic woven into my tone. I understand he wants to protect me, but I can’t just leave as if I’m the only one worth saving.
“I forgot how stubborn you were,” he growls, and within a second he’s throwing me over his shoulder and carrying me toward the exit.
I can’t see in front of me, but I feel the chill from the ring of ice. Then I hear a crunching and crack, before a shattering sound pierces my ears. Johnny halts and whips around, bringing me with him, and I can tell he’s trying to find another exit.
Another crackle of ice. This time, I can see where it’s coming from. The large, floating ice shelves with surrounding blue lights that decorate the dance floor begin to slide along the surface, throwing my classmates to the ground. People are running, slipping, falling, climbing. Our magical winter turned into a terrifying blizzard in mere seconds. To a Normal, it may appear to be a disastrous technical malfunction with the special effects, but a disaster, nonetheless.
A petrified yelp pulls my focus to the ceiling where Brent dangles, clutching desperately to one of the nets that once contained balloons. How did he get up there?
“Do you know how to stop snow?” Johnny asks as he sets me on my feet.
Adrenaline courses through my veins as I rack my brain and then shrug. “Fire.” With frictional energy, I can heat my senses to the point of starting a fire, but it’s not enough to heat the entire room. I look around. How am I supposed to create a fire from thin air?
“Alec!” I exclaim, the memory of his handmade fireballs from the carnival coming back to me. My eyes lock on Johnny’s. “Alec can heat the source of the snow. It looks like it’s coming from the ceiling vents.” I point toward the ring of ice. “It’s coming from there, too.”
I look up to see Brent still dangling, frantically trying to hang on to the rope, but it looks like he’s losing his grip. What’s more frightening is the sharp monument of ice below him. If he breaks his fall on that, he could very well die.
With a shiver, I bring my focus back to Johnny. “We need to split up. Find Alec and get him up there to stop this blizzard. Someone needs to get Brent down. And I’ll figure out how to clear the exit so we can get people out of here.”
Johnny wants to argue, but I reach for his face before he can shake his head at me. “This isn’t the time to be my hero.”
“This is the perfect time!” Johnny growls.
I squeeze my hands together, forcing Johnny’s eyes to focus on mine. “I will be okay. Just please, get to Alec before all of these people get hurt. Please, Johnny. If you want to be my hero, you’ll help my friends.”
There’s a flicker in his eyes that tells me he’s considering my words. As I begin to soften my grip on him, the blizzard quickly shifts to something even more destructive—an ice storm. The dangling balloons have turned into solid balls of ice, and they begin crashing to the ground one by one.
Instincts kick in, and before I know what I’m doing, I’m throwing my palms out to deflect the whirling gushes of wind that throw balloons of ice at our faces. Johnny follows my lead, pelting the falling ice at the opposite wall where it shatters and falls to the floor.
The music stopped a while ago, but students and teachers are trapped on the iceberg stage as it cracks, threatening to swallow them whole.
“Johnny!” I scream and point to the stage. “I’m going up there.”
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“No! You stay here. I’ll take care of it, and I’ll find Alec. Just keep deflecting.” He begins to run and then turns around, narrowing his eyes. “Do not go anywhere.”
Icicles crack loose from the ceiling and fall like daggers to the floor, shattering and spraying ice everywhere.
I nod in agreement. For once, I have every intention to listening to Johnny.
There’s a strangled cry from the ceiling, so I look up just in time to see Brent losing his grip and falling, the threatening iceberg sharp and jagged below him. I can’t run. My feet are planted to the floor, and I’m suddenly reminded of the Fourth of July bonfire and the devouring quicksand that kept me rooted in place.
It all happens so fast. An unexpected force throws me on my back, and pain shoots up my spine, down my legs, and into my arms. Then, as if there’s an invisible leash around my neck, I’m dragged backwards, sliding through the frozen ring of icicles, screaming all the way.
Chapter Four
My head feels as if it’s been bashed in with a hammer. My eyes flutter open, but all I see is blackness from the blow. Trying to sit up is no easy task either. I feel like I’m being weighed down by bricks, my lungs struggling for air as I bring a hand to my head and blink twice. Everything is fuzzy.
With a heavy arm, I reach for my face to wipe the wetness from my forehead. Blood.
“You’re weaker than I expected.” The elderly voice that speaks is unfamiliar, amused, and dripping with evil.
My eyesight adjusts from blackness to a haze, but I’m able to see a well-dressed man with a mask fully concealing his face, except for muddy eyes that glare intensely back at me. A black hood sits atop his head, but I can see that his neck extends forward, so far past his shoulders that I wonder if his head will pop off. Gangly arms hang loosely by his sides, making him appear uncomfortable in this new body.
Erebus.
“You just slammed my head against the locker. What do you expect?” I retort, trying to conceal my fear.
His mask mirrors his soul: black snakeskin with gold accents around the eyes. A permanent smile stares back at me, but it’s the head tilt that sends a shiver through me. “Never mind that. It’s good to see you again, Katrina. You look ravishing this evening.”
Surprisingly, Erebus allows me to stand. “What do you want, Erebus?” Why didn’t I wear my amethyst tonight? I could use the support right now.
A cackle rings out from his borrowed body. Have I ever seen this man before? I doubt it, but even if he is a stranger, it doesn’t make his looming death any more pleasant.
“Isn’t this fun? I brought you your very own winter. I know you’ve always wanted one. Consider this my gift to you—the first of more to come.” His smirk enrages every fiber in my body. How would he possibly know of my dreams of winter? As far as I can remember, I’ve never spoken to anyone about them.
He swirls his finger in midair, turning wind to snow as a miniature tornado swirls above us. “I’d say your friends in there must be pretty cold by now.” Then, with a flick of his finger, the tornado bursts into small ice particles. Snow falls around us, alluding to a calm I do not feel.
Listening to him is torture. My eyes search the area for something, anything, I can use to defend myself when he inevitably decides to attack. There’s nothing but snow and ice.
“I won’t give you my body,” I finally say, “and no one dies tonight.” I can only assume this is why he’s here.
“Katrina.” He speaks my name with thorough disappointment. “After all this time, you should know I always leave my mark. But you’re right about one thing. No one will die tonight. That will be the fun of it, and just the start to our little game.”
His indifference churns my stomach, and panic sets in. After another deep breath, I push away from the lockers and toward the gymnasium entrance. A thick sheet of ice quickly forms in the doorway, separating us from my friends like quick-spreading ivy. I’m trapped; they’re trapped. Before I can examine my surroundings further, a powerful force catapults me forward, smashing my body into the newly created ice wall.
As pain seethes through my body, rage sprouts from every vein. I need to think, quickly. My first instinct is to slice a sheet from the ice wall and decapitate Erebus with it, forcing his evil eternal soul from his stolen body, but I stop myself. That’s just a temporary solution, and he didn’t come here for nothing. He’s up to something, and if I want to have a chance of stopping him, I need to listen.
I turn around, my left hand still on the ice behind me, melting it with frictional energy. I know it’s working from the pool of water expanding at my feet, but it’s not working fast enough.
Erebus charges forward. At least I’m ready for him this time. I throw my right arm out, tossing up an invisible wall of energy to shield myself from any more attacks. I know I can fight back harder than this. He hates when he’s forced from his host body, and I could force him from this one now—but I won’t. While it takes more energy to hold back my powers and just listen than it does to melt the ice behind me, I do it because it’s better to have Erebus here in front of me than somewhere unknown, hurting someone else or possessing another body.
“What do you want?” I demand again, more forcefully than before. “Why now?”
“Katrina, honey.” His voice is sickly sweet. “Your friends and family are in grave danger. I’m here to warn you.” His expression is falsely sympathetic.
“From what?” I ask with a straight face.
He tilts his head again, his face twisting into a sinister smile. “From me.”
Erebus doesn’t affect me the way he wants to; he just boils me to capacity. I glare at him. “You came all this way to cause a snowstorm and tell me that? Your scare tactics are a bit lacking in creativity, don’t you think?” I tilt my head. “What a waste of your time. My friends and family are well protected. You aren’t getting to them. Maybe you should have just picked up the phone—or emailed.”
He tosses his head back and laughs, his voice echoing down the long, narrow hallway. “I come from an ancient world of magic. Technology is not my thing.” His laughter ceases almost instantly, and his eyes narrow. “Now hear me, little girl. If you wish for your friend in there to live past winter, then you will obey my wishes.”
My heart sinks. What friend? My mind and insides are churning so fast I can’t surrender a response. I desperately want to turn around and see what’s going on behind the glass of ice, but Erebus isn’t done.
“That’s better.” He straightens his stance, and I can only imagine he’s referring to my silence. “My long quest is near its end. I’m close; I can feel it.” Energy radiates through his body in ripples of transparent blue light.
“If your quest is to find the energy source, then you’re talking to the wrong person. Rose won’t tell me. She’d rather die than risk you knowing a thing.”
Erebus nods. “While that might be true, I know it’s not beyond you to figure it out. Dear Katrina, you’ve been a part of my plan since before your birth. You’re where you are now because of me. Do not test me. Do not deceive me. You will do as I say, or one by one I will destroy everyone you love. Even you can’t protect them all.”
My body trembles in trepidation. I want to scream, stomp my feet, and muffle my ears with my quivering hands. But I have to stay strong. “Why come back now after all this time? Where have you been?”
His eyes grow momentarily distant, then return with a blaze. “Ask your friend, Johnny.”
The retort surprises me more than anything else that’s happened today. Erebus knows Johnny followed him.
He takes something from his pocket and throws it to the floor. It clatters, then skids to a halt a few feet away. I don’t dare take my eyes off Erebus to see what it is.
“That’s it?” I act disinterested. He can’t see my quivering insides, so I try my best to appear calm.
I can’t see his expression behind the mask, but I’m certain he’s smirking right now. “Almost. If
you want your loved ones to continue breathing this wretched air, then you will deliver the energy source to me. If you don’t …” His glare glows. “People will die. And their blood will be on your hands—quite literally, in fact.”
I try to stifle a gasp. The thought of Erebus possessing me is something I fear daily. He would have total and complete control of my body. The things he could do … I shudder. Of course, that’s only if he can gain entry.
“Did you forget?” I release the shield to hold up the wrist carrying my pendant. Erebus doesn’t waste a second to use this as an opportunity to pin me against the melting ice wall, lifting me up so my feet dangle beneath me.
“I do not forget anything.” He rolls his head around his neck, making a series of cracking noises as the old man’s muscles adjust. “You will be mine.”
Just then, I’m distracted by muffled screams coming from behind the thinning sheet of ice. I turn to see Johnny pounding on the glass. Alec comes up behind him, and I immediately hear the ice begin to crack.
When I turn back to Erebus, he’s backing away, eyes focused on me. “You have your instructions, Katrina. I’ll let you get back to your friends.”
“Wait! What happens when I get the information you’re searching for? How do I find you?” Of course, I don’t plan on giving him what he wants; I’m just curious to see how far he’ll go.
He smiles. “You don’t find me. I’ll find you.”
“When?” I practically scream it.
He doesn’t respond, and he doesn’t attack me again. Instead, the Equinox man collapses to the ground, groaning, as Erebus’ serpent form slithers away through the darkness. I’m falling to the floor, released from his magic, just as a loud cracking sound breaks the new silence. Someone is breaking the ice wall behind me. I turn to face it, but my energy is depleting rapidly. My legs feel heavy; so do my eyelids.
I hear shouting on the other side of the wall. I think they might be telling me to move. With a step backward, my sight goes fuzzy and I lose my footing, sinking into the darkness. The last thing I’m aware of is the cold linoleum floor greeting my face with a hard smack, just as the ring of ice shatters above me.
