Magic

24: Practice and Puking

Niomi's POV: 

I whirl around to find a frozen Kaden there, legs suspended in a block of ice. I can't help but laugh. 

"Ha! I can't believe I just did that! And it was you!" I continue to roll around on the ground laughing while Kaden just rolls his eyes. 

"Yes, it was very funny, now unfreeze me." he says, motioning to his frozen legs. This makes me stop laughing, but only for a second. 

"I can't. I don't know how..." I trail off, finding the urge to laugh to hard to contain. I burst out again. He just sighs and then his hands sort of light up. A flame starts to dance between his outstretched hands, melting the ice away in seconds. 

He steps out of the ice-like crater and brushes off his clothes. I'm still a bit giggly, because when he looks up, I start to chuckle a bit more. He just brushes me off. He starts to come near me, but I back away. 

"Sorry, but I'm not good for any close-ness right now. I don't know how to control this thing yet." I say, a spear of ice shooting out of my hand. 

He nods in understanding and picks up one of the small chunks of ice off the ground. He sets it in his right hand, concentrates slightly and melts it effortlessly. This is a bit amazing, since he does it so well. I watch as he melts ice chunk after ice chunk. He doesn't even flinch when his hands suddenly burst into flames. 

When he melts the last of the small chunks, he looks up at me. 

"See? It's not too hard. You just have to accept that it can happen. Nothing wrong with it. Accept that it's weird. But weird is good." he points out. 

I smile and concentrate on taking the formation slow. I produce a few nicely-shaped chunks, but nothing that shows any amount of control. After a few more tries, I'm able to somewhat manipulate the shape of the ice. 

Within an hour of practice, I'm able to produce a ice block that can easily crush a tall person. When I make the last chunk, I turn to look at Kaden. He's sitting on a boulder that I had previously froze, but he must have thawed it out. He smiles and gives me a thumbs up. 

I smile to myself and walk towards my last creation. It is a good one. Inside the almost perfect rectangle of ice is a leaf-like pattern. I can't believe I made that. 

I press my hand to it, surprised when I don't feel any cold. Maybe it's because I made it? Now that I think about it, my body does feel a bit hot. In the uncomfortable way. I suddenly feel very faint, and I stumble into the ice block. 

Kaden is at my side instantly. I push him away a bit, but I end up almost falling into him as I collapse. He lays me down on the ground, putting a hand on my forehead. 

He smiles weakly at me, trying to give me some kind of hope. I try to smile back, but I'm greeted with the oncoming darkness. 

Just as Kaden says something, I pass out. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

 When my heavy eyelids open, I'm greeted with a cool, damp cloth on my forehead. I sigh in relieve. I feel like I'm burning up. 

"Your awake? Everyone, come quick! She's come to!" Winnie says excitedly. I hear rushing footsteps and soon I'm surrounded by people. Everyone is asking questions, but Hazel pushes them all back. 

"Guys! Give her some space! She just woke up from being asleep for three days! Give her some time to adjust!" she says loudly. Everyone kind of disperses, everyone except Hazel, Winnie and Kaden.