The Elementals - The Ice Princess

Chapter 6

Alexander can only look at me empathetically, like he knows what I might be feeling but can't find the words that will allow me any comfort. So he takes a seat beside me on the snow covered ground and waits, not saying a word, allowing me to collect my thoughts and digest what he's just told me.

"Talk." I finally say. "You brought me here, so tell me what I need to know and then I am going to find my dad." Alexander looks at me for a minute as if he is wondering where to start.

"It's a long story, but you're not a nobody like you think you are, you're actually quite important and people don't realize it. Your dad has done an incredible job of keeping you hidden in plain sight and safe. The reason for that is because you're an elemental, more specifically an ice elemental. No. That's still not entirely accurate, you're THE ice elemental. The only one in existence and I have spent the better part of two years trying to track you down because there is danger coming, a lot of danger and the focus is on you."

"Which means?" I ask.

"Which means that you're in danger and so is everyone around you and everyone you know. To make a long story short, the elementals are responsible for protecting everything from anything.

There are six of you altogether and each of you are spread far beyond where you will ever find each other. I know it sounds confusing so let me explain it this way. You are called elementals because you're responsible for one of the six elemental strings that hold the universe together. In your case, specifically, ice. This is part of the reason why you never feel cold. Or that hot things, never quite stay hot when you're around. I knew it immediately because I sat and watched you while you were passed out and your body didn't react the way anyone else's would have. Everyone else's body would have began to shiver from laying in the snow. You didn't shiver or lose feeling in your extremities, nothing! Let me ask you a question, what temperature did your dad keep your house?"

"I don't know, 60 something. He said that he always enjoyed the cold and it helped him sleep better after my mom died."

"And that never seemed odd to you? That your house was always at least 10 or 15 degrees colder than everyone else? What did your friends say?

"Actually, I never really had friends come over before... I don't see how that relates to any of this. If we are so powerful, why are separated?"

"Having you all apart is a safety precaution against any evils that want to pull you together. It's always been that way. The reason that I've taken you here is because something is wrong, very wrong. The darkness that is growing and trying to find you and steal your element? If it's able to gain control of even one element, it can completely destroy the harmony that is created here. Think for a second, imagine that the world is being held by those strings I told you about earlier. When one breaks, what happens? It puts more pressure on the others, until eventually they fail. One by one, as the strings break, the world gets deeper and deeper into places we don't want it to go."

I try my best to hold it in, but I can't any longer. I burst out laughing. Not just a chuckle, but a full blown laugh that causes my sides to hurt. "This is the most ridiculous story I've ever heard!" I say through the laughs. Tears form in my eyes but freeze on my cheek. The temperature must have dropped ten degrees while we've been sitting here.

I look over to Alexander, but he is not laughing. He looks at me puzzled. My laughing starts to calm. "What, you can't be serious?!"

A look of sadness appears on Alexander's face. "Gweneira, I'm serious," he finally says. Gweneira? How could he know my real name? The only people who ever called me that were my mom and dad and they did it so rarely that I began to think it was a nickname.

"How do you know that name?"

"I know a lot about you, I've been trying to track you for nearly two years remember?"

"How have you spent two year doing this? What about your family?"

If you want to know what heartbreak looks like, Alexander's face would be a great example at the mention of the word family. The color drains from his face and he looks like he is on the verge of losing it now.

"I lost my family to this darkness. It's part of the reason why I am here with you now. I told my family I would protect you, it was the last thing they said to me before they were killed." He stares off into the ground as if he is remembering something painful. He must be replaying the memory in his head. My heart breaks for him. The look of anguish on his face tells me that he must miss them dearly. It really is amazing what you would do for family.

The word family stirs something inside me. I begin to panic thinking about my dad and the trouble that he could be in. "Alexander, I need you to get me home."

He looks up at me, "I can't do that, it's not safe."

"I'm not asking you. I am going whether you like it or not. So if you're going to protect me, I would suggest you get up and get moving." I stand to get my bearings again so I know which way is home. "Ok, so we're about 5 miles out of town. It'll take us at least an hour to get back into to..." but before I can finish my sentence Alexander reaches out and grabs my hand and in an instant we are standing in the alley way behind my house.