ethereal | book one

prologue

It was Rose's thirteenth birthday. She and her friends had decided to go ice-skating on a frozen lake near their Brooklyn apartments.

The clouds were close to the ground, making it difficult for them to see where they were going in a park that was completely white with snow. Rose and Steve held hands so they wouldn't trip over each other, while Bucky scoped out where they were going until he led them to the nearest frozen pond.

The three of them sat on a bench facing the icy pond. Steve and Bucky easily slipped on their worn-down brown skates as they were more excited to teach Rose how to skate than she was to learn.

"Come on," Bucky said, smiling as he stuffed his gelled, brown hair into a cap.

"I'm coming, geez," Rose said. She knotted her laces.

The pearly white skates were her gift from them. They were tighter and, overall, better than the pair Bucky would steal for her from his sister.

Steve skated to Rose and tapped under her chin with his index finger before helping her stand on the thick cover of ice. Bucky soon skated over took one of her hands in his two while Steve held the other.

The boys moved cautiously backwards while Rose stared at her feet (which was what she wasn't supposed to do). Instead of gliding, she was trudging across the ice.

"Hey, Rosie," Bucky said, giving her hand a squeeze. "You know not to look there. Keep your eyes on something else."

Rose's eyes were still focused on her feet. "Like what, you knucklehead?"

The boys glanced at each other, Steve giving a shrug.

Bucky grinned and raised his chin. "Me," he said. "Look at me."

Rose's eyes widened and her cheeks grew warm. The blades of her skates smoothly gliding along the ice, even when she felt her legs separate farther and farther from each other until she slipped into Bucky.

He caught her before they could both fall — Steve reached to help, but she had already found her footing,

"We could try again?" Steve smiled. Rose agreed.

It took many attempts until she could glide on her own for only seconds before she lost balance again. That was fine — Rose didn't expect to learn how to do it in one day.

Bucky and Steve sat by the edge of the frozen pond, unlacing their skates. They encouraged Rose to come to them on her own and, though she still slightly trudged, she glided.

Rose dug the blade of a skate into the ice in attempt to launch forward, but a sharp snap threw her off. The only thing that would make such a sound was below her. The back of her throat thumped with her chest.

"Rose, are you okay?" Steve asked.

"I'm fine, it's just... don't move, please," she said, hoping her friends would listen.

Bucky squinted to see if he could see why she stopped; the crack zig-zagging under her feet. "What if you jump towards us? We're on thick ice," he said.

That was chance — luck if she made it. Either attempt to stay safe or wait until she eventually fell in.

Rose moved her foot to jump towards her friends, whom were reaching out their hands, when the crack branched into more and caved. Her body was almost instantly immersed in the freezing cold of the ice water.

The boys lunged for her; Steve's hand actually grazing Rose's before she fell in.

Bucky reached for one of Rose's flailing hands, but whenever he grabbed it and tried to pull, it would slip. They tried multiple times but they couldn't get a grip on Rose while she was thrashing around

The muscles in Rose's body tightened. She should have held onto the little breath she had for a little longer, but it made her chest pain. She gasped for air and inhaled fresh water.

Bucky and Steve noticed Rose's movements calmed and, with heavy breaths, they dug the blades of their skates into the thick ice they were on and used all the muscles in their bodies to grip her wrists and pull her out.

They huffed as they pulled Rose's limp body off of the ice and to the snowy land. Steve grasped her hand in his own as Bucky took her by the shoulders and shook.

"Wake up, Rosie," Bucky said, sniffling. "C'mon. Wake up."

Steve tried to breathe, but a lump in his throat made it difficult. Seeing Rose like this made this surreal. Maybe it was they way she looked — her skin was now closer in color to his and Bucky's than her own, and her once soft, pink lips were now more of a purple shade and cracked.

Bucky wiped his nose with the back of his soaked mittens. "Rosie," he whispered, moving her wet hair from her face. "Please."

Rose's stomach twitched as she regained consciousness and tried to breathe. She coughed out the water in her lungs — it spurted from her mouth and dripped down her cheeks.

"Rose," Steve gasped. Rose's eyes squeezed tighter shut before she slowly opened them to adjust to the brightness of the cloudy sky.

Steve sighed of relief and Bucky smiled. Rose smiled when she saw them.

"You can't get rid of me that easy," she said jokingly.