lI'm kind of in awe of how fast Auradon Prep can move.
I mean, in less than half an hour, I'm packed and in my dad's car, on my way back to my mom's ice castle in the North Mountain.
It takes like four hours to get there, in which my dad says nothing. Won't even look at me. I mean, if he was in a normal mood, he would just POOF us back and we'd be home by now. But he's not doing it.
In hour three, I've got to admit I'm going a little insane.
"Dad?" I ask. He doesn't answer for a few minutes. "Dad. Come on. Say something."
He sighs and tightens his grip on the wheel. "What in the world do you want me to say, Liss?"
He used my nickname. Good sign. He's not totally mad.
"I'm sorry." I say. "I don't know what happened. I've never been that out of control before."
He taps the wheel of the car and it starts driving itself. With a poof, he's in the backseat with me.
"Liss, what exactly happened?" he asks. "As far as I know, you've been getting better with your powers. What in the world happened that made you so mad? Your friends told me you seemed fine before. You enjoyed your party. You enjoyed the presents. So what happened?"
I suck in a breath and let it out slowly. "I'm not entirely sure."
He sighs. "Liss..."
"I know what you're going to say." I break in. "You're going to say that I should've kept better control, I shouldn't've let the fire get to me, and---"
"Actually, I was going to ask if you wanted ice cream." Dad says, POOFing back to the front seat and turning into an Anna's Frozen Custard shop.
"Um... But..." I say stupidly.
"So, no ice cream?"
"Are you kidding me, of course ice cream!"
He snaps his fingers and we appear inside. A waiter lazily takes our order and brings me my chocolate sundae with a brownie and hot fudge, then my dad his monster-sized explosion of mint and hot fudge.
My dad gets back in the car and sets his ice cream down. Snapping his fingers, we POOF just outside my mom's ice castle, where she's waiting with a worried expression on her face.
"Ellie!" She cries, sprinting toward me and wrapping me in a bear hug the second I'm out of the car. "Oh, I'm so glad you're all right!"
"Mom!" I squeak. "Need to breathe!"
"Right, right, sorry!" She lets go and backs away, brushing my hair away from my face. "I'm just so happy you're home. I wish it was under better circumstances."
"So do I." I sigh. "Can we go inside, please?"
"Yes, yes!" Mom says, rushing both of us inside and seating us in the living room. Now I know for sure she's worried, because she normally never allows us to eat in her living room.
For a few minutes, the only sound is Dad and I slurping at our melting custard.
Then Dad sighs and sets his treat down. "Liss... We need to talk."
I set mine down as well. "I know. I'm sorry. I really am."
Dad shakes his head. "I know. We do need to talk about what happened, though. Why'd you set Auradon Prep on fire?"
"It was just one room!" I protest.
"I know."
I sigh loud and long, flopping back on my chair. "Fine. I had a... nightmare."
Dad's eyes bug out. "A nightmare? That was it?"
"It wasn't a normal nightmare, dad!" I snap. "It was awful. It seemed so real."
Dad's joking manner leaves in an instant, his skin going deadly pale. "No. Can't be."
Mom looks at him, confused. "Hade?"
"Elsa..." he gives her a look. Now, I can read faces fairly well, so I'm pretty sure it went something like this:
Dad: Can't be him.
Mom: It might be. He was stuck on the Isle, wasn't he? And so many have broken out...
Dad: But if it IS him... why's he targeting Ellie?
Mom: I don't know... But Ellie can't know. It'd terrify her.
At this point, I figure I'd better butt in. I clear my throat. "Hello? Daughter in the room! What's going on?"
They both give each other another look, like don't tell her.
"Nothing, Liss." Dad says.
"Don't "nothing" me, I'm not an idiot." I say angrily.
Dad glares. "Don't speak to me that way! Tell her, Elsa!"
Mom's worried gaze evaporates in an instant, and she snorts. "No way, Hade. This is your turn. I took care of her for sixteen years."
"But---but---"
Mom stands and gives him a kiss on the cheek, then she waves. "Good luck!" and she leaves the room.
Dad looks at me helplessly. "Er... any chance you'd pretend I gave you a talking-to?"
"That would make things move along." I agree. "Now, what did you mean? It can't be WHAT?"
Dad's finger starts twitching, like it does when he's nervous. "Er... Liss..."
"Dad, come on." I beg. "I'm sick of people treating me like a kid! I'm eighteen now!"
He groans, dragging his hand down his face. "When did you grow up so fast?"
"In the sixteen years you were gone." I reply, not bothering to keep the hurt out of my voice. It's best to play his guilt right now, or I'm never getting an answer.
He gives me an evil eye. "You had to play the guilt card."
"Yep."
He rolls his eyes. "Fine." he leans forward, balancing his elbows on his knees. "Liss, you know how I'm the god of Death and Fear?"
"I mean, technically, I'm pretty sure Phobos and Deimos are the gods of fear..." I say.
Dad's hair catches on fire like it does when he's mad. He quickly pats it out and then growls, "We don't speak those names in this house. those---those---thieves stole that title from me the minute they grew old enough to speak!"
"Okay, okay, chill!" I say.
"I INVENTED CHILL!" My mom's voice comes from the hallway. She pokes her head back in, grinning. "Sorry. Carry on."
Dad sighs. "I'm the god of fear because people fear me so much. The enemy of everyone is time. Because eventually, everyone dies. Everything succumbs to the Underworld."
"So?"
"So... Death is the one thing that cannot be stopped. Cannot be denied. But neither can your fire."
"That's comforting."
"Ellie..." Dad runs his hands through his hair. "Liss, what I mean is, your fire is unstoppable. But so is the person controlling it. You're unstoppable, Liss. Used right, your powers will keep you safe in ways you never could've imagined. People everywhere are happy, because they don't fear Death. But once the fear gets inside, it eats at you, making it impossible to think of anything but itself. You can't be happy when you're scared."
"So... I need to think happy, dark, flame-y thoughts?" I ask.
"No! Well, yes. But no. You need to focus on the beauty of your flames." He holds his hand up and a blue flame flickers to life on his palm, joyfully dancing in the light of my mom's palace. It's so different from the flames that were burning last night.
"Liss, you need to find a way to let go of the fear you feel of your fire." Dad says gently, taking my hand with his burning one. The fire spreads up my arm, tickling my skin almost like a puppy noses its master when it wants to be pet. I smile and run my fingers through the sapphire flames.
"I think I get it." I say. "But..."
Dad takes my other hand with his free one. "Liss, I'm going to tell you what my family would tell me in the few times I lost hold of my powers---and the few times they actually cared about it. just repeat after me. It helped me through a lot."
"Can you just say it already?"
"Everything can burn." Dad says seriously, his eyes glinting in the light of his still-burning fire. "But not everything has to."
BANG!
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Yeah, this isn't my best chapter ever. But I have a good reason! I'm in my school's play, (freshman play, whatever) and I just got bumped into playing a new character because the other one got sick. So I have to learn new lines---BY NEXT TUESDAY. IT IS WEDNESDAY RIGHT NOW. ACK!
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed!
(BTW, to the peeps who commented in "Elicia's Ice" that Hades wasn't the god of Fear, this chapter was for you guys. HA)