FROST- Jotun Chronicles #1

Hidden Talents

            “I probably wouldn’t feel it.”

            He glanced at me curiously, then took one hand off the wheel and seized my left hand, just like I’d wished he’d do earlier. His fingers locked into mine, and his palm pressed against my hand. I could feel the heat radiating off his skin.

            “Hey…” I stammered, feeling myself flush. “What are you…”

            “Yup.” He released my hand and put his own back on the wheel. “You're freezing.”

            “Well, I’m always cold here.” I rubbed my palm, feeling the tingling warmth of contact start to fade. “And you feel hot.”

            He gave me another mischievous grin. “Why thank you.”

            “That’s not what I meant!” I squawked indignantly, and he laughed,

            “I know. I’m just kidding. My body temperature is actually way higher than a normal human being, and yours is way lower, and still dropping.” He regarded me seriously now. “You’ll have to make sure you avoid contact with people. Wear gloves.” His mouth quirked at the corner suddenly. “And don’t go freezing any more boys.”

            “So, wait,” I cried. “I can’t touch people? I can’t ever have a normal relationship?”

            “With another Frost Giant you could.” He grimaced. “But most of them are horrible in relationships. But you didn’t turn me into a popsicle, did you?”

            “No,” I said slowly. “So your heat sort of counteracts my cold?”

            “Exactly.”

            I let that one stew around in my brain for a while, watching the snow-crusted houses flick past as we drove onwards. I was fairly sure we were back in Grande Prairie, but we must have been on the outskirts or something, because I didn’t recognize the area.

            “We’re here.”

            We pulled into a long, winding driveway at the bottom of a snow laden hill. The van’s tires crunched and squeaked on the way up, spinning uselessly a couple times, and we almost didn’t make it up. We both heaved a sigh as we crested the hill, finding an empty spot alongside several iced over cars in the tiny parking lot.

            “It’s a bed and breakfast,” Loki explained. “I figure they’ll be checking all the hotels, and this place is pretty tiny and out of the way. We’ll wait here a few days. I’m betting they’ll expect you to high tail it out of town right away, so they’ll be watching the roads.”

            “Okay great.” I paused in the midst of opening my door, looking down at myself. “Um, Loki?”

            “Crap.” He looked embarrassed. “Sorry, of course you can’t go in there like that. They’ll think I kidnapped you.” He shrugged out of the jacket he was wearing and handed it to me. “Here, zip that up over your night gown. It will kind of look like you’re wearing a dress.” He bit his lip, looking worried. “I don’t have any shoes for you though. Damn.”

            “How do we explain no shoes?” I looked down at my feet, remembering I’d used blue toenail polish yesterday. How ironic of me.

            “Maybe they won’t notice?” He said.

            “Yeah right,” I grumbled, but we climbed out of the van and walked to the door together. Oh no, they wouldn’t notice a pair of teenagers, one in a dress and no shoes in below zero weather. Not weird at all.