Elicia's Ice-A Descendants Novel BOOK 1

Aunt Anna's Book Really Kills

"You have WHAT??!?!" My dad explodes. 

Carlos shrinks back until I nudge him. "Um, I have the death part of Ellie's powers."

Dad's right eye is twitching dangerously. 

"Um, Dad, remember that he didn't do it on purpose." I say nervously. Mom's smiling behind him, her arm hooked through his to hold him back. 

"Oh, I'm not worried about that." Dad hisses through his teeth, his twitchy eye saying otherwise. "I'm mad because MY powers chose HIM for a host! And they're not supposed to go to anyone you're not close to!"

"He's my boyfriend, Dad."

"So?"

"Uh, Ellie?" Carlos interrupts. "Look." 

He points to show almost all of my friends (and Maira) stomping towards us, looking very unhappy. Ben in the lead. Carlos looks ready to dive behind me to try and hide. 

"WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED??" Mal yells, getting there first. "Your mom shows up with Ares and Uma in tow, saying something about you being in the hospital, and nobody will say anything, and why are you so freaking red?"

"What?" I ask, looking down at my arms. They look fine to me. 

"Uh, I was going to tell you later." Carlos mutters, scratching his neck. "You kinda look sunburned on your face and neck."

"It'll be the absence of my powers." Mom says. "I looked like that for a few weeks after I accidentally gave mine to you. Though I must say, your nose is much more impressive than mine."

"MOM!"

"What?"

"Wait, what do you mean, the absence of her powers? You don't have them?" Evie asks. 

I shake my head. "Nope. When Ares tried to take them, they backfired and zapped Dude and Carlos, instead. Dude has---"

"AH-CHOO!" Cue the snowball. 

"Dude has my ice powers. And Carlos has my death powers." I say, continuing on. 

"I have snoseballs!" Dude says happily, wagging his tail and sneezing again, hitting Maira's sneaker. 

"Gross!" Maira says, shaking her shoe until it flops off and starts melting on the sidewalk. Jay looks like he wants to laugh but has the decency not to. 

Ben shakes his head like he's clearing it. "Wait, Carlos and Dude have your powers?"

"Yeah. I'll figure out some way to get them back later. Right now I think Dude is having too much fun."

"AH-CHOO!!"

"See?"

"Uh, I don't think waiting is an option, Ellie." Ben says. 

"Why?" Carlos saks before I can. 

"Because these two weren't made for your powers. You've lived most of your life with them. Like the death one. You're used to it, and your dad had it before you, so you were kinda made for it, so it doesn't hurt you. But..." Ben stops.

"What?" He doesn't continue. "What, Ben?" I demand. 

"But Carlos has never had powers. They're death-y, right? So... they might be killing him. And Dude. That might be why he's sneezing."

"AH-CHOO!"

"Um, just saying right now, I feel fine." Carlos volunteers. 

"Of course you are. You just got them." Ben scratches the back of his neck. "Dude, do you feel kind of weak? Just barely?"

Dude stops wagging his tail and sits. "Um, kinda. Why?"

"Well, Ellie, remember that book you remembered when you found out about your curse?" Ben asks. 

"Yeah."

"Well, I read through it. The whole thing."

"And....?"

Ben sighs. "Come with me. Just you three." He points to Carlos, Dude, and I. 

"Uh, okay?" Dude says, trotting alongside us as we follow Ben. Mal looks very unsatisfied with our answers, as does Arson and Brit, but they all let us leave. Ben leads us back to his office and spends five straight minutes flipping around the book, folding corners down to mark his places. 

"So... Ben?" I ask. 

He looks up. "I'm almost done. It's kind of hard to explain, so I thought I'd just let you guys read it."

"I'm a dog!" Dude so wisely points out. "I can't read!"

"Then Ellie and Carlos will tell you." Ben says. He hands us the book and points out at least ten bookmarks. I take the book and flip through it, scanning the pages he points out until I sigh and lean back in my chair. 

"Great. Now we have to go on another mad dash to find some way to stop this." I groan. 

Carlos takes the book and reads through it. "You've got to be kidding me."

"WHAT?" Dude asks. 

Carlos taps the page he's on. "I'm going to shrivel into nothing if I don't get this out of me. It's not meant for me, and not for you either, so if we don't get it to someone who can control it, it's going to kill us."

"Oh, perfect! And I had a pedicure next week!"

All of us stare. 

"What?"

Ben sighs. "Well, actually, this time, we might not have to go on a wild search."

"Why?"

"Because... I have a sort-of-solution... but you're not going to like it."

"Why? What is it?" I ask. I glance sideways at Carlos, who is now examining his arm, probably looking for the black veins mentioned in Chapter 3, Darkness and Death.

Ben watches him for a second until Carlos realizes we're watching him. He stops looking at his arm and flushes red. 

Ben shakes his head as if to clear it. "Well, you know how our museum has a bunch of artifacts?"

"Yeah. Why, would one of them work? Oh, are you talking about that temporary thing Jane did with Ellie?" Carlos asks. 

"What?"

"Oh, right, you weren't there for that." Carlos looks embarrassed. "Sorry."

"Yeah, I was being held captive here." Ben mutters, rubbing under his eye where he still has a brilliant purple bruise. 

"Sorry."

Ben shakes his head again. "No, I'm getting off track. Not the wand. Temporary isn't a full fix. No, this one actually wouldn't fix it, but it'd give us a way if we asked right."

"What?" Carlos, Dude, and I yell. 

"Evie's mirror."

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Hi! I'm back from camp! Hooray!

(Duh.)

Anyway, hope everyone liked this chapter! 

Comment and bask in the cliff-hangy-ness of this story!

(Also, for the peeps who are going to be all "Oh, another power-curse-thing, so unoriginal, blah blaaaaaahhhh..." Don't. I work hard on these, and I have a bunch planned to get these out. It still includes Ellie's choices, but it will NOT mirror Ellie's curse. 

Okay. Have fun reading!