The Ice Princess

Chapter 16

"When I woke up there," I pointed to the shattered ice coffin. "I wandered around, and I bumped into this girl. Her name's Cora. Maybe she's who we're looking for!"

"I knew Cora," Alex incredulously said. "I once had been sent to her place to deliver a gift to Marie-Hale."

"Do you still remember where she lives?" Olivia asked, her eyes wide.

"Let me think. Uh...yes! Yes! Follow me!"

We followed her, and I felt the gut feeling growing stronger. We wove through houses and structures, coming to a stop in front of a comfy little house. As soon as we did, rain fell. Olivia informed us that she felt great about the powerful person thing. And I did too. I was sure Cora was the one.

I knocked on the door. An old lady opened the door warily.

"Hello? Is Cora here?" I politely asked. Suddenly, to our surprise, she burst into tears.

"Oh, Cora! My poor, poor, Cora! She was taken away, princess! Taken away by the queen!" She said through her sobbing. We were too stunned to react.

"Ma'am," Carter gently said. "We'll get her back." That seemed to assure the lady. She wiped at her eyes.

"We will," I confirmed. We said goodbye to the old woman and rushed to the castle. Guards were patrolling the entrances, on the lookout for us.

"Now what?" Olivia whispered, hidden with the rest of us behind a shoddy lean-to. We were slowly getting wetter by the minute.

"Well," Anthony reached into his pocket. "I have a drowsy potion." We all looked at him.

"What? I stole it from Devora's lab." I was suddenly overcome with a fit of laughter, trying as hard as I can to muffle it. Everyone else stared at me. It was just so relieving. Maybe I felt like panicking at the time, and I didn't want to, so I just laughed.

Once I stemmed the laughter, I grabbed the small vial. The guards were also wet, so I froze the water, instantly freezing them, with no chance of escape. The four of us teenagers muffled their cries. I dropped a few drops of the potion into their mouths and they instantly fell asleep.

"Let's go find Cora," I quietly slipped into the castle, and ran quickly towards the dungeon. To my surprise, Cora was not among the throngs of prisoners.

I ran back up, whispering to others where I suspected Cora was. They followed me into the Golden Room. I opened it, and Anthony and Olivia gasped.

"Cora!" I immediately spotted her shivering with fear on a chair.

"Princess!"

"Are you alright?" I asked, concerned.

"Yes, but I have absolutely no idea why the queen kidnapped me!" She was on the verge of hysterics, but managed to talk calmly. The rest of us exchanged glances.

"Cora, you have powers," I explained. She furrowed her brows in confusion.

"Great way to announce, Belle," Alex rolled her eyes.

"You're part of some sort of magical trinity, Cora. I have the power of snow and ice. Olivia here has the power of fire. And I believe you, too, have magic."

"Marie-Hale kidnapped you because I think she knew you had power within you."

Her eyes widened as she absorbed the information. I think I knew what she felt. It's hard to accept you're a powerful human being, able to control elements.

"Are you aware of some words you don't understand?" I asked. "Words that don't sound English?"

"Come to think of it, I do." She thought hard.

Her brown eyes turned black. As black as deep earth.

"Virtutem de la terra!" The gilded gold chair she was sitting on lost its luster and glowed with a bright light. Once the light disappeared, the gold chair was no longer a gold chair. It was an intricate creation of vines and plants, with soil beneath it. The stems and vines were woven together to make up a chair.

Cora was frozen in shock. And so were the rest of us. She was the last powerful being. Cora had the power of earth. Her palm had a green light formation of a tree sapling.

"You...you...powers...earth...soil..." Carter couldn't form a proper sentence. He was so close to fainting that in any other situation I would have found hilarious.

Olivia and I walked over to Cora, but before we could do anything, the sound of mocking applause sounded.

"Well done, princess."

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Well hi there cliffy. And OH look a second update so close to the last one. I love you too.

And I do bet you know who clapped.

xx