Ice Cold

Chapter Five

My body grew more stiff with each second their heads were bowed. There was nothing I could do to prevent my bones from seizing up, nothing I could do to roll back the ice from coating my inside as well as my outside.

Once my body was solid, I could only move my eyelids. Why I could still move my eyes was beyond me. Every other part of me was stiff as a board, until a hand clasped onto my arm and I began to thaw once more.

"Be careful doing that so close to someone else, Penelope, you'll freeze them too." A soft woman's voice was at my ear, soft as a pixie. "Come back down." She murmured.

Ever so slowly I felt my body turn warm and flexible once more. Once I had control of my limbs, I spun around expecting to find Flora chiding me for letting my nerves get to me again, but Flora was being defrosted herself.

I turned to find a familiar face smiling at me. And just as her voice was as soft as a pixie, was my pixie friend, Lilacia.

Lilacia and I were roommates at the unspecialized dorms before she'd found Ice as her affinity. After she left, I'd been alone, I hadn't even seen her at my other classes anymore and no one had ever given me a reason as to why. Perhaps now that she was with me, I'd get the answers to where my friend had gone and why she hadn't bothered to send an explanation to me.

"Lilacia!" I exclaimed, watching as she flawed our Flora who shook herself free from the ice. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you in our other classes in months."

"I know." She said softly. "It turns out pixies don't need self defense the way everyone else does. Being here at the Ice Building has taught me other methods specific to me."

Flora glanced between the two of us before giving the headmaster, who'd finally come up from his bow along with the rest of the Icanai. "Find a seat, Penelope," her eyes drifted to Lilacia. "My dear, help Penelope if you will." She made to leave but not before I caught the sleeve of her shirt. Everyone else had gone back to their meals so I no longer had the high-end nerves from before, just smaller-end nerves that had my body shaking slightly.

"I didn't mean to freeze you, Flora, please don't be upset with me. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

A soft smile appeared and she clasped my hands in hers. "I could never be upset with you, Penelope. I should've known this would be a shock and stepped a little away. I'm sure you'll get advice from many of your peers on how to overcome what just happened. You're already the talk of the building, now sit and eat. We'll meet back up tomorrow for your first lessons with me."

As she left, Lilacia directed me to a table in the corner, the furthest we could get from the hungry eyes of my new peers. She sat next to me just as a plate of food appeared along with a glass of water.

"Why didn't you tell me you wouldn't be in other classes anymore? Why would you leave me behind like that?"

Lilacia took a bite of some bread from her plate, dabbed her mouth with a napkin and sighed. "When I first came here, Penelope, I wasn't awake. The Ice came over me just before the Fire tried and my body reacted terribly to it. I only woke up two weeks ago even though I've been here for two months."

Though my stomach growled as it sensed the food in front of me, I couldn't bring myself to lift my hands and eat, my mind wouldn't settle long enough.