The Adventures of Ice Woman

Part 8 - Time

A man smiled at the cameras, basking in the attention he received, promising stupid things to the equally moronic public, reminding them of the impending election and asking them to choose him, Thomas St.Jones, as their leader. As he finished his last sentence, a bird dropped its business on the sleeve of his immaculate suit, contrasting brightly white against his navy blue jacket. The state of panic his germophobia caused him brought tears of laughter to Elisabetta and Mrs Tiffany as they watched him on the live broadcasting news. It was the first time the former had cracked a smile since she'd arrived almost a year before.

So many things had changed over that year. Elisabetta has been re-acquainted with her only friend, Zev, only to lose him again when they were both kidnapped by the government. She had met Ariadne Tiffany and  begun living with her, changed her entire appearance, and Thomas St.Jones had become a major candidate for the presidency election. Not to mention the fact that she was now the most wanted teen in the country with a substantial price on her head. Charged with the brutal murder of some filthy rich man no one had ever heard of (due to his not existing) and his entire staff (also fictional), his "family" had pleaded to the public that should anyone know of Elisabetta's whereabouts they should contact them immediately.

Her school friends had been interviewed about Elisabetta, and what they had to say didn't surprise her at all. "Well," the more annoying of the group began, flicking her golden curls over her shoulder, and batting her long eyelashes at the camera, "she was very secretive. She never talked to us if she could, and even when we tried to get her to talk to us, she just ditched us. She didn't really like company, other than this boy who always followed her footsteps. Zev or something. Rather cute and all, but left before high school. I think I saw him the other day, but not much since..."

On the other hand, nothing much had been said about Zev's disappearance other than that. All that had been mentioned in the five seconds before the end of the morning news show, was that a boy, around 15 years old, had gone missing. They had got his name wrong and not even flashed a picture of him. Elisabetta's indignation at this had been so great that it had taken several cups of tea, a glass of soy milk and three apples to calm her down.

"How can they do this?" she said amidst sobs when she'd deciphered who they meant from the hazy details given by the presenter. 

Watching the old analogue TV that day, Elisabetta noticed something. 

"That man..." she began.

"He's Mr St.Jones's bodyguard. I think he's been at the post a year now," Ariadne said.

"IT'S HIM! The guy who captured Zev and me. Mr Stephens! His hand's mended nicely, but not for long! HE'S GOT ZEV! That bastard's got Zev! I need to find him, I need to kill Stephens and find Zev!" Ice Woman cried out in anger. Mrs Tiffany began to speak, but she was stopped by Elisabetta who's pale green eyes were shining behind her hazelnut contact lenses.

"I have to find Zev," she repeated quietly. "He wouldn't be there if it wasn't for me."

With that, Ice Woman ran to her room to begin planning.