"Jack? Why did you say Jack's darling girl?" I demand, trying in vain to stand up. Understanding seems to dawn on Sera's face, along with a good dose of fresh horror.
She turns slowly to look at Pitch. "Oh, my god, you think her dad is---"
"Pitch, why don't you help me?" Gothel suggests suddenly. Pitch nods, and the three villains huddle together to whisper. I glance at Sera, and she mouths DAD over and over.
Carlos also almost said something like that...
Oh, no. Nooo way.
Pitch thinks Jack Frost is my dad.
I feel a smile edging my mouth. That's too much. I suddenly feel like giggling, something I never thought I'd be able to do in the midst of three villains wanting to kill me. Again.
Sera, Pitch, Gothel and Cruella all turn towards me slowly.
"She's smiling. Why is she smiling?" Cruella asks, nervously squishing her stuffed puppy. It squeaks sadly.
"Icy, why're you smilin'?" Sera asks, sounding nervous. "If you just realized what I'd realized, ya shouldn't be smilin'."
A snort escapes my lips.
"Okay, she's a loon." Pitch says. "Gothel, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure what you're planning will work, since all she has is some ice here and there, and I've removed that."
My stomach crawls, and my laughter fades. The prospect of having to use my dad's powers to escape, without my mom's powers to back me up, makes nausea itch my skin. Not to mention I have no idea why Gothel's after me.
Gothel huffs through her nose. "Oh, please. I know what I'm doing. Now, Pitch, if you'll..." She pointedly glares at him, and he rolls his eyes. With a snap of his fingers, his grainy shadows engulf me, dissipating after a few seconds. When they're gone, I find I'm strapped onto a table, my arms and legs held down my huge strips of Pitch's powers.
I let my head drop. Of course. Why would they not have a freaky table in which to trap me on, including an extra freaky science lab around me, equipped with... science. Stuff.
Man, I can't believe I used to be a nerd.
I look around again, and can easily identify a scalpel, and a bunch of containers filled with weird goo and power, along with a handful of knives and needles. I also see a drill of some kind, and a miniature vacuum.
Yep, this is going to hurt.
I lift my head off the table, watching Gothel (who appears to be alone) as she crosses the room. She's still in her long red dress, but her poofy hair is gathered back in a tight bun, and she's wearing goggles and gloves.
Oh, great, I'm a lab rat now.
Gothel snaps one of her gloves on her wrist, moving towards me slowly. "I'm guessing you've already summed why you're here."
"Nope. Please, feel free to inform me."
Gothel rolls her eyes. "Teenagers. You never learn, do you?"
"Nah."
She repeats an epic eye-roll. But she doesn't answer, bustling over to a worktable and selecting a sharp tool. Taking her time, she dips it into a vial of blue goo.
"Please tell me that will relieve pain." I deadpan, knowing full well it won't.
"Of course not, you stupid girl." Gothel replies, sealing my suspicions. "This is a magic detector, so I can figure out where you father's powers lie."
I glance down once at the general are of my heart.
Yeah, sorry, can't help you there... Maybe it's in my foot!
Gothel faces me again. "You know, for an Auradon child, you're not terribly whimpery." She observes, her finger tapping the side of her face.
"I've learned that whimpering or whining doesn't do a lot but make you look stupid." I inform her.
One eyebrow jumps up. "Mm." She moves away again, doing who knows what behind me that causes a lot of clinking noises.
"Hey, freaky child kidnapper?" I try. "Is there maybe a small chance that you realize you're an idiot that kidnapped a child of Jack Frost who is actually a child of Elsa and Hades, and has no relation whatsoever to the Guardian?"
Gothel appears in my vision again, looking disgruntled. "I know you're the daughter of the god of Death, girl. I'm not a fool. That's the whole reason you're here. Because I don't have my flower power anymore---"
Against all my better judgment, I snort. Loudly.
"What?" Gothel demands.
"Flower power?" I repeat, snickering. "Flower power?" I'm shaking against my bonds, but I honestly don't care at this moment.
"The power of the sun flower!!" Gothel shrieks, her nails digging into the table as she tries to hold back from throttling me. "The power of the drop of sunlight! That kept me young and pretty!"
I snort once more. "I hate to break it to you, but you're never really that pretty, Gothel. Even when you were young."
She bristles, her lip jutting out and her cheeks pinching in like she's trying to make herself skinnier by the second. "I do not take insults from a teenager---much less such an idiotic one!"
"Oh, so I'm idiotic?" I demand. "What did I ever do?"
I mean, besides running off to the Isle, getting myself kidnapped like fifteen billion times, and setting a bunch of stuff on fire...
But I've hit something right with Gothel, because she doesn't answer me. She just turns around, fixes her hair, and then picks up that sharp tool covered in goo.
"Hold still, will you?" She asks, approaching me. "I want to enjoy this."
"With the pain-helping goo this time, I hope?"
"No." She dunks the knife in green goo this time. "This one is to cut through your current icicle-self."
I'll admit, I hadn't expected her to actually do anything, or anything to actually happen. Normally, around this time, something epic happens that halts all the baddie's plans and saves me.
But nothing happened, and she cut into my knee.
I'm telling you, that goo was made to inflict pain. I hadn't felt real burning in the longest time, since my dad's powers made me kind of immune to that. But this one felt like someone took a molten chunk of lava and stuffed it inside my leg.
So, of course, my real fire decided to pop out for a chat.
Gothel was thrown backward, blue flames erupting on her hand. She yelped and dropped the knife, slapping her hand repeatedly while trying to keep the fire off of her over-poofed hair. Pitch's powers dissolve, and I sit up easily, swinging my legs off as I watch Gothel do a dance around the crackling campfires around her.
I watch with horror as my fire devours the room, meling all the tools and goop, and singeing Gothel's dress. I feel the table beneath me start to heat up and I jump off, swatting at the fire on my clothes. When my injured leg hits the ground, an involuntary hiss escapes my mouth. Whatever that stupid goop was, it feels like it's eating my skin.
Just like my fire.
The thought jumps into my mind before I can stop it. I know the flames won't harm me, know it can't harm me, but that doesn't stop my panic from bubbling up my throat as I back away from the thing that lives inside my heart.
I look around once again, but I no longer see Gothel. I hug myself, trying to force my dad's powers inside again, but without my mom's ice to combat their heat, I can't. They won't even listen to me anymore.
Please. I beg. Please, just STOP.
Instead, I hear a crumbling under my feet, and the floor drops out from under me.
_______________________________
My last week of school is next week, so there's a hopeful chance that Ellie will be posted more often.
By the way... little hint at something. There are exactly NINE chapters of "Ellie's Flame" left before I finish and move on to D3. (Whenever it comes out XD)
I cannot WAIT for Aladdin to come out next week. I've been watching every single mini-clip I can get my hands on, and I have to say it looks AMAZING. EEE!