The Adventures of Ice Woman

Part 12 - Phoenix

A phoenix is a mythical firebird that sets itself on fire when it is old enough to die, and is reborn from the ashes. In a way, Zev thought himself reborn from the ashes of his old life. His mother and father, his belongings, and everything else had been lost. He could never return to them, nor had he any inclination to do so. He was happy with his new “family” and loved everything about the new leaf he had turned. Maybe his parents missed him, but he had never truly felt a part of that world – the world in which everyone wasted their lives learning meaningless things so they could go out into the world and live a lie. Now he could do something with a purpose, like Elisabetta, and hopefully end up making the world a lot better. And maybe when it was all over, he could see his mother and father again.

It was exciting to live life in this way. There was no certainty of what would happen in the future, yet it was much safer this way. Having a plan meant that it could be broken, and he didn’t want to live with that.

‘Phoenix,’ Zev said to himself. ‘I like it.’ He looked around the room he was in and his eyes rested on Elisabetta who had fallen asleep reading. She looked so peaceful and happy. Although Zev didn’t know it, she hadn’t slept properly for a long time because of her worry for his safety.

She moved. Zev watched her, wondering what she was dreaming about. ‘I’m turning into a creep,’ he thought and looked out the window instead. The stars twinkled and winked at him and told him to go to sleep. Eyes drooping, Zev lay down on the bed and almost immediately fell into a deep coma-like slumber.

It seemed like a few minutes later that he woke again, very abruptly. The moon was still out and the inky blackness of the sky told Zev that it was probably around midnight.  Elisabetta was standing over him, and Ariadne was crouching behind the sofa, in her pyjamas, looking alert and serious. Elisabetta put a finger to her lips and guided him into a hiding spot behind a chest of drawers.

Someone knocked on the door, and Zev mildly remembered hearing such a sound in his dream. Ariadne stood up slowly, and walked to the door and opened it a crack.

“Hello?” she said pretending to stifle a yawn. From where Ice Woman and Zev were, they couldn’t see the stranger but his voice was ingrained in Elisabetta’s head and she recognised it immediately.

“Mrs Tiffany. I am here on official business. We are checking the houses in this neighbourhood to see if anyone is harbouring the criminal Elisabetta. She was recently seen in this area and for all of our safety, we must do a thorough check. If you will allow me in, ma’am.”  Ariadne’s eyes widened in surprise. What was Stephens doing here? Would he never let them be in peace?

“Oh dear, sir, I am sure you can’t be serious. It’s 1 o’clock in the morning! Why don’t you have a nice cup of tea and relax? I’m sure whatever you have to do can wait until morning. Come in!”

Ice Woman frantically grabbed Zev’s hand and almost leapt to the balcony. Quickly opening the door, she and Zev climbed down the stairs and hid in the garage, locking the door behind them.

“Elisabetta! What are we going to do? He’s found us!” Zev exclaimed, worried.

Ice Woman paced thinking. “Okay, Zev. Remember that on no account can he find out you or I are here. Understood? He already knows that I’m Ice Woman, so I can’t use my ice power against him. But I’ll bet that he doesn’t know about your fire. Okay, we have to cover our face so he can’t figure out it’s us. Crap!”

Zev busied himself with finding something to wear as a mask. He found a welding helmet and a pair of goggles. Elisabetta found a dust mask.

“Not the best stuff but it’ll work,” Ice Woman stated and put the elastic of the dust mask around her head. Zev wore him welding helmet and smiled at Elisabetta, who almost burst out laughing.

They made their way to the front of the house, just before the front door. “On the count of three,” Ice Woman whispered, her voice slightly muffled, “One. Two. THREE!”

She kicked open the door and caught Stephens by the ankles. Ariadne threw a length of tasselled cord for the curtains to Ice Woman, and she used it to bind his arms and legs together. The “rope” cut deeply into his flesh.  Zev ran up to him and bound him to a chair, setting a circle of fire around the man.

Stephens thrashed wildly around – or at least as wildly as he could considering how tightly he was tied up.

“Hey!” Ice Woman said indignantly. “I didn’t get to punch him.”

Zev smiled at her and turned to their prisoner. “So what do we do with him?”