Elsa

Sixteen

"Get behind me, Elsa," Pierce demands. I shrink behind him. The eye of the storm widens- whatever he's planning, he's giving himself lots of room to do it. The police cars, careening back and forth in the wind and ice, are swept out of the wind as the eye moves to include them.

Pierce directs the storm, and a gust pushes one of the cars towards us. I cringe and step back, but before it reaches us, he changes the course of the wind and the car shoots backwards, flipping over in the air.

It crashes on the edge of the eye, upside down.

"Pierce." I grab his arm. He's going to hurt somebody.

"Stay back," he yells at me. Two policemen climb from the other vehicle, guns pointed at us. My fingers claw into Pierce. He jerks his arm away and thrusts his palm toward them. The blow knocks them backwards. One of them hits the car, hard, and falls to the ground, unconscious. The other is blown into the storm.

Pierce puts one hand on the back of my neck and steers me forward, breaking into a run. "Let's go," he says.

Before we make much progress, the policeman that disappeared in the storm reappears in front of us.

Jack stands behind him.

The policeman scrambles away as Jack releases him. Pierce stops moving and glares at Jack.

"You conniving rat," he spits. "You can't convince everyone that you're innocent."

"I never said I was innocent," Jack says, stepping forward.

Pierce's hand on my neck gets tighter. "You never said you were dirty, either."

"Let her go, Pierce," Jack commands. Pierce throws me to the ground and grabs my hair, pulling my head back so my face is towards the sky. I gasp. My heart thuds inside me. What they're saying doesn't make sense. Everything I thought I knew is collapsing. What has Jack done? What is Pierce doing? 

"Try and take her."

Jack uses both hands to blast Pierce with ice, but the strong billows of the wind send it flying away before it reaches him. Jack runs towards him, jumping on top of him. I crawl away as a fistfight ensues. Jack's on top, then Pierce, then Jack again. I hardly know who to hope for.

Pierce lands a solid fist on Jack's face, but before long, Jack has him in a headlock. Pierce pulls at Jack's arm.

"Elsa," he gasps. "You're the only one who can overpower him." His eyes flick up at me. "He's lied to you! Don't listen to him!"

I freeze. Jack's eyes snap up to meet mine, and for a second I stare at him, uncertain what to think.

I form ice between my hands, setting my jaw.

"Elsa," Jack warns, "don't let him make your decision for you."

The ice crackles under my fingers. I hear the voices of the policemen, and they're coming closer. I only have a few seconds to decide. 

The ice swirls in my hand. I thrust out my palm and snow explodes forward, connecting against his forehead. He jerks at the impact and his head lolls to the side, unconscious. The storm around us slows every second.

Jack lets go and Pierce falls to the ground.

I swallow hard. "You have five minutes to explain," I say.

Jack steps forward and grabs my hand. We rocket into the sky, and I shout in protest. But we're flying now, and if he lets go I'll drop to my death. I cling to his sleeve even though he's gripping my hand tightly.

We set down in the snow, out of sight of the road. The wind has stopped blowing.

"Pierce said- you-" I stumble over my words. "Who are you?" I demand.

Jack runs a hand through his hair, pacing over the snow. He turns to me.

"I'm Pierce's best friend."

My eyes widen.

He looks at the ground. "I was Pierce's best friend."

"He said he showed his best friend his powers and he never-"

"Never came back?" Jack snorts. "He says a lot of things." He looks in the direction of the road almost wistfully. "He made me believe them, too."

I cringe inwardly. Even if I'm not sure if I believe Jack yet, if what he's saying is true... I believed Pierce, too. I don't want to think that I was taken in like that.

"Pierce and I grew up together. We both knew about each other's powers. We were orphans, and when we were old enough, we went to live on our own. We shared an apartment." He runs a hand over his face. "Pierce always liked showing his powers off. He lived on the edge, almost got us caught a few times. I got used to making excuses and switching friends every few years, every few months."

"He said you weren't innocent."

Jack bit his lip. "Yeah." He turned away from me. "We were out late one night, having fun. I started showing off with my powers. I used to- I mean, I was younger and I didn't know any- I-" he sighs. "I used to not be careful. Pierce's girlfriend was there. We were hiking on a trail by this river, and it was flowing really fast but I started icing the surface." He clenched his jaw. "We all went out on the ice. Thought it was cool. But the force of the current was stronger than me, and she stepped on one weak spot and-"

He breaks off. I squeeze my eyes shut. Being responsible for these ice accidents is something I'm all too familiar with.

"Pierce never forgave me."

"I wouldn't."

"Neither would I." Jack looks at me. "I haven't forgiven myself. I was stupid."

"So, what?" I ask. "You think I shouldn't run away with Pierce? Just because he's angry at you?"

"He's not just angry at me, Elsa," Jack declares. "He's using you. He wanted to use me. Any time he doesn't get his way, he'll ask you to do the dirty work. It gets worse and worse, every time. I've stolen for him. I've helped him escape from the cops- more than once."

"Why didn't you just say no?"

Jack looks at me pointedly. "Why didn't you?"

I jerk my head back.

But I realize that it's true. Pierce got me in his trap of manipulation without even trying.

"Why doesn't he just do it himself?" I say. "He's obviously powerful."

"He runs out," Jack says. "Now that we've killed his storm he won't be able to start one again for a long time. And he's not patient." He steps closer. "Elsa, you can't let him control you."

"I can make my own decisions!" I shout.

Gun shots ring out in the air. Jack and I flick our eyes at each other.

"Pierce," he says. He grabs my arm and we shoot into the air.