As I returned to the heart of the Codie complex after a tedious day of reg work in the offices, I felt a slight ping in my pocket. Pulling out my phone, I saw that the text was from Claire.
Claire: U won't believe what happened this afternoon!!!
I wasn't sure whether she meant that thing or something less significant, and Amanda had told me not to tell her so that we could use the Bracelet of Arystenn on her, so I decided to be as vague as possible.
Justin: 51st floor?
Claire: Yeah, how'd u know?
Yes! If Claire already knew, that meant Amanda had confirmed that she was Princess Viviana and I wouldn't have to use the Bracelet! However, the querulous side of me wasn't too happy about this.
Having a celebrity for a sister was bad...just think about having a PRINCESS for a sister.
But it was a small price to pay for giving two species a chance at a free life again.
Justin: She summoned me too. She wanted me to help prove that you're the princess.
Claire: Well, I am the princess. Amanda gave me back my memories. I remember everything now.
Justin: A PRINCESS!!! First you're born a Glitch and now this! You're so unbelievably lucky it's not even funny.
Claire: NO I'm not lucky at all. The Icehearts are after me. They want to kill me, they think I'm a threat to their power!
Justin: But aren't they on some distant planet-what's it called-Laundries or something.
Claire: Lessaenes, and that's nothing to them. They're the most powerful people in the galaxy! U don't know, u have never even seen one! They can travel through any amount of space and time, and they are always watching.
And with that, Claire went offline. Somehow, the thought of the Icehearts chilled me. Especially Claire's last message. It made me wonder what exactly she had seen to make her fear them so much.
I tried to brush away the thoughts, yet they continued to haunt me. I felt my hands growing shaky and my head growing weak, until I felt a tingly feeling on the back of my neck and was absolutely sure that someone was watching me.
"Hey, Justin," said a sweet, cheery voice from behind me. I turned around to see a girl who looked to be about Claire's age dressed in a sparkly blue dress and silver high heels. On her neck was a glittering snowflake tattoo.
"Who are you, and how do you know my name?" I asked warily, backing up to a tree defensively.
"My name's Sierra. Sierra Valior," she giggled. Though she was so polite and so pretty, the sight of her chilled me to the bone. She reminded me of one of those creepy dolls in horror stories.
"No, I'm not a creepy doll," she shook her head. How did she know what I was thinking?
"I'm just an Iceheart, we know everything" she smiled cheerily. Oh no.
"We can also read minds, since you're wondering," Sierra shrugged.
"What do you want?" I asked, trying to sound confident, but it was hard with the evil alien girl in front of me. Claire was right, if a teenage Iceheart was like this, I definitely didn't want to meet an adult.
"The Council of Icehearts knows you know where Princess Viviana is," she said matter-of-factly. "So, where is she?"
"Do you really think I'm going to tell you that?"
"Did I say you have a choice?" Sierra laughed.
"What are you going to do, torture me? Sorry to ruin your evil master plan, but if I yell really loud, about fifty people will come tie you up and take you to Amanda. And trust me, you little Iceheart girl, Amanda's not nice to be around when she's mad."
"But you're the only one who can see me, Justin," she said as if it was obvious. "And even if everyone else could, it would take hundreds of trained human soldiers to take down a single Iceheart."
"What?" I looked around with panic, to see other Codies walking right past me, as if they didn't even notice Sierra. "But how?"
"Oh, please," Sierra snorted. "Icehearts learn selective invisibility when we're, like, two. Our powers are pretty much limitless."
Well, someone has an ego.
"So, as much as I'd love to keep talking about all the things Icehearts can do that humans can't, we have some business to take care of. I will ask you one more time, where is Princess Viviana hiding?"
"I already said I'm not telling you."
"Well then, I guess we'll have to do this the hard way," Sierra grinned, pulling a deadly looking needle seemingly out of thin air. "This needle is coated with essence of the Linaberry plant," she explained. "It has been found to have quite interesting effects when it enters the human bloodstream."
"No!" I shouted, but somehow, without even touching me, Sierra had me pinned against the tree.
"Sleep tight," she crooned as she drove the needle into my leg and a numb, detached sensation came over my body."
Claire was right...they really are all powerful, I thought dreamily as I drifted off into slumber.
"I know, right," Sierra giggled and my vision faded to black.
..........................
When I awoke, I was slumped against the tree and the back of my neck throbbed terribly. I lifted up my hair and placed my hand on it, to find that it was searing hot! I looked around, but Sierra was nowhere to be seen.
What did she do to me? I thought as I lazily stood up and walked back to my apartment in the Codie complex. As I walked, the pain worsened until it was almost unbearable.
The moment I was inside my apartment, I rushed over to the sink and wet my towel with cool water before pressing it to my neck. The cold cloth was soothing against my hot skin, and soon, the pain subsided to a dull ache.
Wondering what exactly had happened, I fished my phone out of my pocket and put it behind my head, snapping a picture of my neck and back. I opened my camera roll and viewed the photo, gasping in surprise and horror at what I saw.
Traced on my neck, in blue ink, was a complex snowflake. In the middle of it were the letters IH. Thinking back, I realized I had seen this symbol before, on Sierra's belt. It was the Iceheart insignia. And it was on me.