Elicia's Ice-A Descendants Novel BOOK 1

It's Still You And Me. All The Way.

That night I lay in bed letting all my happy, bubbly feelings drown me from reality. In less then three weeks, I could be seeing Mal, Evie, Jay, Carlos, Lonnie, Ben, Dizzy, Gil, Arson---And Sera! I completely forgot to ask if she was awake yet! 

I roll over in bed, staring at the flickering blue flame that never goes out next to me bed. "Could she be awake?" I ask out loud, needing to hear it. She has to be. Brit said it could last UP TO a year. So... she has to be. Doesn't she?

I roll over again and stare at the ceiling. The flickering from the bedside fire makes the shadows jump all over the wall. I can't fight my grin as I think of all the people I haven't seen in more than a year. Is Dizzy still the best hair person? Does Mal still call her that? Are she and Ben still together? They probably are. What's going on with Uma and Ares? I hope they haven't escaped. Though they'd probably have come after me if they had. 

And, feeling happier than I have in months, I find myself dreaming about everyone I'll see in just three weeks.

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~Two weeks and six days later~

"DAD!" I yell, staring in pleasure at my creation. "Come here!"

"What? What?" he gripes, walking outside with a grumpy look on his face. But it disappears when he sees what I've made. "Wow."

I grin. "Soooo?"

He keeps staring at the life-like sculpture made almost entirely of ice of him and Mom. I based it off a picture I found of the two of them when they were younger. He still had fiery hair then, so his hair part of the sculpture is on fire. In the picture (and the sculpture) Mom is laughing so hard she looks almost short on breath, while Dad is holding her close and looking at her like she's the only thing in the world. 

He keeps staring. "Elsa!" he calls. "Come and see this!"

Mom comes out, wiping her hands with a dishcloth and stops abruptly when she sees it. "Did you make that, Ellie?"

I nod and hold up one fingers as the universal wait sign. I put a hand up, fisted closed, and open it up fast. A flurry of snowflakes burst upward and explode in a snowstorm. Soft white flakes start falling around the statue.

Even Dad gets a little teary-eyed. 

"I wanted to say thanks." I tell them. "And apologize."

"For what?" They both say. 

"Well, for mom, for everything I said or did after the garden party to now." I say. She gives me a sad smile and I know she's thinking back to when she freaked and kept telling me to talk to FG. 

"And for dad, I wanted to say sorry for sort of being a brat since I met you. And for not trying harder to be your daughter and not just an acquaintance. Since I'm going back, I don't think you'll be coming, since it's a school... But I----"

The rest of my speech was cut off when they both hugged me simultaneously. 

"You've got nothing to apologize for." Dad says. "I haven't exactly been a good Dad for your whole life."

"Yeah, that's another thing." Mom says. "I'm sorry for lying about your father."

"And I'm sorry for not being here." Dad says.

"This was supposed to be about me, you guys!" I laugh. But I hug them again anyway. I can't begin to even think about how much my life has changed since the first time Carlos, Jay, Evie, and Mal set foot on Auradon. 

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Even though I shouldn't be nervous, I feel butterflies swarming in my stomach as we draw closer to Auradon Prep. After we'd gone inside, I'd heard Dad yelling at the school board until they agreed to let me come back. Then he'd talked to Ben, and let Ben talk to me, and Ben sounded really happy that I was coming back. He told me that everyone was waiting patiently and that they'd be there when I went back. I'd laughed and told him to say hi.