Queen of Summer's Ice (Book 2)

Chapter 11

     Nazim quickly lifted both of us up, "We need to try again," he said rapidly.

     I ignored the throbbing pain in my wrist, I didn't care if it was hurt. My sun burnt skin was ripping apart with this much movement but I could had this pain plus a sword lodged into my thigh and I would still not give up. So again I climbed on top of Nazim and made it all but inches hire when the sunken trap we were in started to condense. Our space became tighter, pushing Nazim and I closer together until we only had my arms length of a circumference. And my arm length compared to Nazim's was about half. So together we stayed in that tight spot, our breathing becoming heavy with panic and adrenaline. 

     "Who ever this is, is finding this quiet amusing," I muttered.

     The heat of the island and the body heat from Nazim and I being trapped underground was slowly creeping into my skin as we were patiently waiting for whatever was coming next for us. A minute passed and nothing happened, another passed and it still stayed the same. Unnerving panic started to churn inside my chest. Being underground as if I was being buried alive, suffocating from the lack of air, being blinded from the dirt that constantly kept falling onto me.

     "Evie..." Nazim said slowly, "Take slow deep breaths." I didn't even realize that I was having trouble breathing. He gently grabbed the sides of my face and made me look him in the eyes, "Follow my lead," he said. And then he started to take deep breaths, the kind that expanded your lungs.

     I followed him, only because he was right. He didn't say anything but I knew he was telling me to calm down. So I closed my eyes and breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth. With each deep breath I smelled the soil around me, it's deeply rich earth smell could be found as soothing - if it wasn't about to burry me alive.

     This compressed heat all around me made my bones crave winter. That is was I truly miss, my land. It's cool air that you can feel the coldness deep into your lungs every time you take a deep breath in. I looked deep within myself to where my ice and fire were being kept from me. My ice was behind the wall, and my fire right under it. I stroked my fingers against it, and felt the oddest thing, it wasn't a wall anymore. Or maybe it was never a wall, but instead it was like a sheet of cloth, muffling the connection.

     Cloth was easier to break apart than a wall. And I was desperate for any chance to get out of this trap. To get Nazim and I out of this alive. He would not die here, I would not die here.

     So I started digging my broken nails into the cloth, it felt like cotton. The wall of fibers started to bend inward every time I reached to tear at it. I could still feel the earths surroundings around me, getting smaller and smaller, but I could also feel the coldness of my ice just underneath my finger tips. With little time left I started frantically tearing the cotton with my nails and teeth, even putting my whole body weight into it just so there can be a way to break it.

     And finally, as my right hand slashed one last time, a small little hole was created and I felt the freshness of my ice leak through. I mentally smiled with relief as I tore the veil in two.

     As soon as my power came rushing into me, the force of it had me bending over in sharp pain. I let out a gasp that sounded like the wind was being knocked out of me.

     "Evie!" Nazim yelled, and in the tight space we were in there was no where for me to really fall without us touching. But it wasn't untilI put my hand on his forearm to lift myself back up when he felt the ice cold touch of me. He sucked in a breath of annoyance, one I was all to familiar with whenever I would tease him with my ice.

     I wanted to laugh an evil wicked laugh and show whatever spawn of spring was after me what it was like to go against the Queen of Winter. But not with Nazim around. He needed to be some place safe first. Without even thinking or even any effort at all I formed steps of a ladder into the dirt, I would have made stairs but there just wasn't enough room. 

     "Let's go," I said. And I started to climb out first. I didn't need him to protect me anymore, I had my power again. I still didn't have my fire, it was behind another vein beneath me, but I just didn't have time right now to get it. Oh well, I lived more than my whole life just with my winter abilities, I can give this person the fight that they wanted with just one of my powers. 

     This time around we weren't pushed back into the whole when we climbed out. Instead the second Nazim's full body was out, it closed back up as if nothing ever happened. And then the ground started to rumble, from a few feet away I heard the ground crack. Rocks were snapping like twigs and right beneath our feet the broken ground started to follow us. 

     "Get to shore!" I yelled over the broken earth. We took off running, in a race between an earthquake. But I could just make out the sounds of the ocean, we weren't far from it. We just had to make it out of the denseness of the trees to see it's blue again. Although, Nazim and I didn't have any sort of luck these past few days.

     Walls made out of smooth rocks started to form high around us, not trapping us fully, it was more like we were in an empty house.

     "It's a maze," Nazim said over catching his breath. I could hear walls forming all around us behind the walls we were in right now. 

    "He sure is having fun with us," I muttered as we took off running. "We just need to get back to shore, I'll make a ship and then we'll head on home."

     "Can't he just follow us on his ship?"

     "Sure, if he's stupid enough to follow us and attack when he'll be powerless in the ocean, the two of us against him."

     With that being said we kept running around the maze, our surroundings never changing, feeling as if we were running in a circle. The only hope that gave me any comfort was the sound of the ocean, it was coming out clearer.

     A few more turns, all left, and then there was a draft of fresh air greeting us.

     "This way," my cousin said. And he was right, the sun was greeting us with open arms to the white sandy beaches and the oceans blues. It was right there in front of us, we had finished the maze.

     But as happy as this setting looked, warning bells were ringing in my head. We had finished the maze, not beat it. Whoever he is wanted us here, he lead us here. But why. Why would he lead us to the spot we were heading towards anyway? Why not deeper into the island.

     Nazim and I were running full speed down the finishing aisle of the maze when the ground ahead of us just clear out of the maze started to sizzle and dissolve. Clear white smoke started to form just above the green grass that was greeting us just seconds before. I didn't know what was happening, but I wasn't going to play into his tricks. 

     Just a few more strides and we would have made it out, but I built an ice wall to block us just before we did. Both of us were running to fast to completely stop in time, we bumped into the ice with to much force that it had us sliding back onto the ground.

     "Evie!" Nazim grunted in frustration. He was standing again, rubbing his right shoulder.

     But I ignored him, and through the clear ice I could see that the ground ahead of us was no longer green and vibrant with land, instead it started to boil and fuse into reds and saturated orange. It wasn't land anymore, and I wasn't dealing with just any old stuck up spring royal. Whoever this was could manipulate the earth so much, that they could play with lava.

     "Oh-"

     "Shit," I finished.