Crown Of Ice Ξ Editing

Chapter 3, Ice Meets Fire

I put my hands on the metal door, feeling my power rush to my hands. And then nothing happens. My power is building up in my hand, and it's not freezing the door as I wanted it to. 

'That's weird', I think to myself.

Curious, I put my hand on the stone wall instead, experimenting. The wall is immediately covered in ice.

I move my hands back to the door and nothing happens.

'Something about the door must be stopping my powers from working,' I conclude to myself.

For now, I'm stuck until I come up with another plan. I could try freezing the walls, but they look thick and firm, not small like the shackles. To freeze the walls would cost a lot of my energy. I turn my head for a moment, looking at the small barred window on the wall. 

'Hmmm...that's could be another way out.' I wonder to myself.

I turn my head back to the door's barred window. The next thing I want to find out, though, is whether there's somebody behind that other door I saw across the hall. 

"Hello? Anybody over there?" I whisper-yell.

No answer.

I try again, this time louder.

"Hello? Is anybody over there?" 

I wait for a response and then hear a boy's voice.

"Who's asking?" The voice calls back.

I scoff. 'Really?' I say in my head.

"I'm asking," I respond with a smirk.

I watch the barred window of the door where the voice is coming from. Soon enough, a red-headed boy with diamond-blue eyes peeps through the little window. 

He scowls at me.

"No, that's not what I meant. What's your name?" He says, emphasizing 'name.'

"What's your name?" I reply with a question.

He sighs in frustration of my vagueness. 

"I'm not telling you." He says, glaring at me.

"Fine. I'm calling you 'Red-head' then." I say, hoping to annoy him for some reason.

"Whatever. I'm calling you 'Winter", then. You know, because of your blue eyes and really blonde hair. And of course, your cold sense of humor." He explains to me with a smirk.

"Great. Very creative. Now let's talk about how to get out of here. So - wait, how did you get here?" I ask, suddenly curious.

"Ummm...well." He looks cautious, looking straight into my eyes. He then nods, as if he's certain he can trust me. So then Red-head starts again. 

"At night, these people in black broke into my house. It's not much to break into, mind you. Old and ragged, you know? Anyway, these people tried to take my little sister. I fought back though, and I burned them."

I'm at first surprised by this, but then I realize if Karla and I have powers, a few others probably have powers, too.

I nod, encouraging him to keep going. So he continues.

"My sister and mom were shocked because even though they know about my powers, they didn't think I'd actually use it to hurt people. But I had to. For them. I threw a fireball at the two guys holding my mom, careful not to burn her, too. Then, I burned the guys that were trying to grab my sister. I got my sister and my mom out of the room, and we started running for the hiding place. But with all the people I burned, the house caught on fire."

Red-head takes a breath and grimaces like he's remembering bad memories. But he keeps going.

"So, we headed for the door leading outside instead. My mom and sister just got outside when I realized that my dad wasn't with us. So despite what my mom said, I turned around and ran into the fire, trying to find my dad. Because of my fire powers, I don't get burned, but my dad can. I finally found him on the floor in front of the hiding place, but I was too late. I noticed a cut in his side and figured that more of those dark figures had scouted the house and found my dad."

Red-head's grimace turns into a sad frown.

 "I grabbed him and started pulling him in the direction of the door, but I couldn't see anything because of the smoke. I don't know how to stop fire. I only know how to create it. I kept going though. It was a miracle when I reached a window. I broke it, and the wind felt so good on my face. Struggling, I picked up my dad the best that I could and shoved him out the window. Then, I followed him out, and just in time, too. The whole house tumbled into itself." 

I'm about to applaud him for his bravery and cheer that he got both himself and his dad out of the burning house, but something in his face stops me. Grief - that's what occupies his face.

"I dragged my dad away from the burning house and tried to wake him up. I yelled and cried, but he didn't move. He probably died from both the smoke inhalation and the bleeding cut in his side.  What hurts is that, in his hand, there was the metal lucky charm, shaped like a flame. And I know it sounds stupid, but I was upset that it didn't protect him as a lucky charm should. And worse of all, I realized he went to get the lucky charm after I dropped it when I went to save my sister and mom."

That's when I notice the metal flame he wears on a necklace around his neck. That's the lucky charm. I look back up to Red-head's face and notice that he looks like he's about to cry.

"I didn't -" His voice cracks in anguish. "I didn't save him."

I'm about to say something when I suddenly hear footsteps coming in the hallway. I look at him, and he nods, acknowledging that he hears it, too. We both run to our cots, but first I quickly shove my broken, frozen shackles under the cot. And then I pretend that I'm asleep.

And that's when the door to my jail cell opens. 

So, what do you think? Now you know more about what happened with Leo, our little fire boy. See what I mean with ice meeting fire? (Void meeting Leo.) I know, very clever. How do you think they're going to get out of those jail cells? Are they there for a reason other than they killed people?

Tell me what you thought in the comments below.

As always, stay chill. :)