Elicia's Ice-A Descendants Novel BOOK 1

Back To Auradon

My dad stands there, blinking in surprise with his mouth wide open. 

"Lissy?" He asks. That name snaps a jumble of memories in the back of my brain I hadn't even known I had. Memories of someone I'd thought was my mother holding me as a baby but I now realize this person is much too warm, and memories of someone laughing while holding me, I'm feeling safe, of whispering stories to me of all the gods before King Adam was picked...

And a name.

Lissy.

I'd thought that was a name I'd made up, for a doll maybe that I'd forgotten about. 

"That name... that was you?" I ask. 

I notice he's wringing his hands, so I walk over and grab his hands to stop it. He goes completely still, not even blinking as he stares at my hands. Then his eyes slide up to my face and he smiles just a tiny bit. 

"I see you got your mother's looks, not mine." he whispers. I can't help myself and I laugh even though there's nothing funny in this situation. 

"I mean, I'd been seeing pictures and things... that people have been putting out..." he mumbles. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" I ask, quite forgetting everything I've learned about my dad. I can't believe he's here. My father is right in front of me! I WAS TOLD HE WAS DEAD. My brain can't begin to follow...

"For not being there for you." He sighs and pulls his slender hands from mine. "I should have... I shouldn't have cared that..."

"People were scared." Mahina says. "It's not your fault for running."

He looks over at my oddball group. "Er... I may be behind the times. Sera? Is that you?"

She pretends to tip a hat. "Yep. You're technically---technically---sort of my uncle, right? Ish?"

He see-saws his hand back and forth. "Of sorts. Zeus, your grandad, is my brother."

"Eh." Sera says. "Then I'd be related to Icy here. That wouldn't be so bad. But if we counted all of the god-ish stuff... I'd be related to some pretty annoying people. I'm fine with just Ar."

I press a hand against where my heart is. "I'm wounded." I say in a sad voice. 

Sera gives a bark of laughter. "A'ight, I'll take you and only you, Icy. But there is no way I am being related to Afro's kids."

"Afro?" Hades asks suspiciously. 

"Aphrodite." Sera clarifies. "I thought her name was Afro- Dite. Not Ap-fro-dite-ee."

Hades' lip quivers for a second before he bursts into snorty guffaws. He leans over and slaps his leg a few times before straightening up, wiping a tear away. "Aphrodite's going to love you for that."

Sera looks surprised. "She is?"

"Oh, gods no. She'll hate you forever and try to have you fall in love with a lamppost or a dumpster. She always says the afro stage was an awful moment in time."

Sera grins then. "Too bad that stuff ain't ever worked on me." 

"Vocabulary apparently hasn't either." Hades mutters. Sera just grins wider. 

Merida walks over. "Had, Auradon is under attack."

Hades' face goes red. "From who? Is Elsa all right? Lissy--er, Elicia, is your mom all right?"

I wave the name away. "You can call me Lissy for all I care. But yeah, mom should be okay, I think she was back in her castle by the time Uma got there."