Claus

Twenty-Eight

The icicle cut into Faryn's neck. "Do you really expect to fight me with that?"

"Oh this?" Clíodhna held up the knife. "I was just bored." Pocketing the blade, she slid down onto the polished floor.

"I must admit," Jack drew out the words, "I don't prefer hand-to-hand combat."

Clíodhna's lips twisted upward. "Good." She raised her arms, palms facing out toward them. A mist appeared around her feet, thickening into a black fog.

Faryn's mind emptied at the sight of it.

Jack's hand slipped from her hair. "What are you?"

Titling her head to the side, Clíodhna smiled, and even with only the moonlight, Faryn could see her eyes were pitch black.

Jack's power rose to meet the Leprechaun's, but Clíodhna thrust out her hands, and the fog swarmed Jack. Faryn dove out of the way as Clíodhna's power slammed Jack into the door, binding his wrists and ankles to the wood. There was a familiarity to her magic, in its scent, but Faryn couldn't place it. Not now while it was what kept her cousin from stabbing her.

Clíodhna crossed the room, her curly hair swaying with every step. Her lips were parted as she approached Jack. She tilted her head back, looking up at him. He had at least two feet on her, but it was clear he was not the one to whom the scales of power were bowing. With a twist of her hand, the manacles on Jack tightened, and he bared his teeth.

"When I release you, you're going to leave, and you're not going to even glance at your cousin. If you do, I'll shove my power down your throat and we'll see how good you are at holding your breath." The fog peeled away from her cousin, hovering in the air between Clíodhna and Jack, waiting for the moment her cousin screwed up.

He didn't look at Faryn though as he made his way to the window, a storm of ice billowing around his feet.

As a Leprechaun, Clíodhna wasn't supposed to have any powers, yet here she was in Faryn's bedroom frightening the Jack Frost off from his hunt.

Once he was on the windowsill, he glanced back, not at Faryn, but at Clíodhna who blew him a kiss.

He glared before he spread his arms and fell forward, toppling into the night. He'd use his powers to make the wind catch him. Were it Faryn, she would have just kept falling. Even if she could summon her powers, ice would only weigh her down as if an anchor were wrapped around her ankle pulling her straight to the bottom of a river.

Shutting her window, she found the lock broken by ice. There was nowhere in her world that would be safe for her, was there? Jack would come for her in the human one as well.

When she turned around, Clíodhna was seated on her bed, her eyes no longer black, and there was no trace of the fog.

"Thank you. Truly." Faryn placed a hand to the back of her neck and came away with a thin streak of blood. "How did you know he was here?"

"I was tailing him all night."

"You've made an enemy."

She shrugged. "What's one more?"

"Clíodhna . . ." Faryn wasn't sure how to broach this since the Leprechaun wasn't exactly being forthcoming.

"Hmm?"

"Your magic . . . where did it come from?"

For a brief moment, her expression shuttered. "My mother." She rubbed her arm.

"And where—"

Clíodhna stood. "I'm tired. And you should get rest if you want to handle tomorrow. You can put something in front of the window to keep your cousin out. If he decides to risk showing back up." She threw one leg over the windowsill and paused. "Sleep well, Faryn." A second later, she had slipped away.

Faryn sunk away from the window until her thighs pressed against the nightstand.

It finally hit her—what Clíodhna's power smelled like. Why it felt familiar.

She should have known immediately.

The power was Aurelius's.

I'm hoping to be able to share something fun for Claus with you soon! Who is your favorite character so far?