Prologue
I feel the power surging through me. This can't happen. Not here. I squeeze my eyes shut, and focus on keeping the ice armor that threatens to encase me at bay.
"You alright?" I hear my best friend, Abbi whisper to me. I shake my head faintly. The cold burning sensation threatens to go further up my arm. I can only keep it from going further, this power is too strong. The ice blue armor stops at my wrist, covering my hands that are clenched into fists.
"I need to get out of here." I force through clenched teeth. No one knows about my power except for me. I can't risk anyone knowing, they already think I'm a freak of nature as it is.
"Just raise your hand and ask to go to the nurse or something…" She suggests. Well Abbi, thanks for that suggestion, but I'm afraid that's not going to work for me.
"Is everything okay Miss. Wood and Miss. Nicole?" I hear our teacher, Mrs. Jones ask. I snap my eyes open and see her standing in front of the white board, hands on her hips. Her short blonde hair is swept to the side, and her ice blue eyes pierce my hazel ones.
"I'm not feeling too well." I admit. She raises her thin eyebrows.
"What's the matter?" She questions. I decide to have some fun with it.
"I'm really cold, I have the chills. It's like I'm covered in ice. And my stomach feels uneasy." I say. The whole class turns around to look at me expectantly. What did they expect to find? Me actually covered in ice? I swear some of these people are idiots. But I guess they wouldn't be too far off. I actually am turning into ice.
"Alright. I'll give you a pass to the nurse. Come up here." She says reluctantly. She digs in her drawer, pulling out the nurse pass. I keep my fists shoved in my pockets. How the hell am I going to take this from her?
"I think…I might need someone to go with me…" I say. Faking a gag. I hold my stomach from under my sweatshirt, and lean forward. She sighs and looks behind me.
"Abbi, would you mind taking your overdramatic friend to the nurse?" She asks, bored.
"Yeah." I hear Abbi respond, a smile in her voice.
"Thank you." Mrs. Jones says before getting back to her lesson.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Abbi asks, raising an eyebrow.
"I told you. I have the chills. And feel uneasy." I say. I feel some of the ice recede back down my wrists.
"Yeah. Okay." She scoffs. I roll my eyes and continue walking down the empty corridor.
"Well, we're here. See you later bro." Abbi waves, and winks before turning around and going back to class. I watch her short figure disappear down the hall. Abbi is short, but she's absolutely one of prettiest girls in school. She has short light brown hair that's usually straightened and parted to the side, and these bright green eyes. She would never agree with me.
"Hey Sheryl. I don't feel too well. Can I make a phone call to my dad?" I ask the nurse. We're on a first name basis now. I come here so often and she actually likes me and thinks I'm great. Same with Abbi too. She slides off her glasses, and studies my face. Her dark curly hair falls in her face. She pushes it back to get a better look at me.
"Oh, Gabby. What's wrong?" She asks me. I can see in her green eyes that she's skeptical. Great. How am I going to convince a freaking nurse that I'm sick, when I don't have any symptoms? Well any symptoms that I can explain.
"I feel cold. Like the chills, and I feel a bit nauseous." I say. It's better to stick to the story that I told Mrs. Jones. Finally, the very last of the ice disappears, leaving me ice-free. I let out a small sigh of relief.
"Okay. I'm going to take your temperature." She gets up and pulls out the thermometer and some rubbing alcohol. She wipes off the thermometer and hands it to me.
I place it under my tongue, and wait. She leans against her desk, crossing her arms, and looking at floor.
"It's a little chilly in here, don't you think?" She asks, looking outside. It is snowing. But I have a feeling that's not the reason. I nod my head.
The thermometer beeps, and I take it out. I glance at the temperature. 48.9 degrees Fahrenheit. I can't let her see this. I press the button quickly, erasing the data.
"What was it?" She asks.
"102.5 Fahrenheit." I lie. Shouldn't I be dead right now? 48.9 degrees?!
"Are you lying to me?" She asks, squinting her eyes.
"No. I really don't feel good." I lie again. How can I explain a temperature that would mean that I would possibly be dead?
"Okay, here's the phone." She says, grabbing the thermometer from me. I pick up the phone, and dial my dad's number quickly.
"Hello?" I hear him say. Hearing his voice makes me feel better.
"He Dad." I say.
"Oh, hi baby. What's up?" He asks.
"I'm not really feeling well, is it okay if I drive home? I have a temperature." I inform him. I hear him pause.
"What was your temperature?" He asks me. The one thing about my dad, is he hates lying more than anything else. He always knows when I'm lying, too.
"It wasn't good. 102.5 F." I say as convincing as I can.
"Okay. Yeah that's fine. I'll see you when I get home. Ali won't be home, she's sleeping at her sister's house. The kids are with her." He says. Ali is my stepmom. My mom and dad split when I was seven, which was eleven years ago. I have three half-siblings, my dad and Ali have Lillie who is four, and Andie, who is two. My mom and her husband Chris have Sydnee who is six. My mom and dad had me and my brother, Ezra, who is eighteen. He's the only full-blooded sibling I have. I live with my dad and Ali, and Ezra lives with my mom and Chris.
"Which sister?" I ask. My stepmom has a million siblings. Okay, not really. She has three sisters and one brother. There's Tammie, Wendie, Heidy, and Troy.
"Wendie. The kids wanted to sleepover, and Ali thought it would be fun to spend the night." He adds. I nod.
"Okay. I'll see you later dad." I say.
"Alright. I love you, feel better." He says before clicking the end button. I hang up the phone.
"I can go home." I inform Sheryl.
"Okay. I'll sign you out, just go grab your stuff and feel better Gabby." She hugs me quickly. She shivers after the encounter.
"Thanks." I say, and walk to class. What is going on with me? Where did these powers even come from?
I walk into class and see Mrs. Jones talking with Ben. I was friends with him once. We were good friends, but one day he kind of just threw me away like trash. He kind of does that with everyone.
"I'm going home." I tell Mrs. Jones.
"Really? Aw. I hope you feel better." She says, looking to me.
"Are you really going home?" Abbi asks me quietly, as I bend over to gather my things.
"No. I was just kidding. I'm really just gathering my things to sit back down again." I say sarcastically. I roll my eyes and pull out my car keys.
"I don't know. You seem fine to me." She smiles. I roll my eyes and wave to her.
"Bye. Love you." She laughs lightly.
I walk out the double doors, and decide before I go home, I'd try something. It's December. It's cold. It's even colder near the ocean. I'm going to drive to Galilee in Narragansett. It's a far drive from the middle of nowhere, but it will work. Rhode Island is very small.
Once I reach the ocean, I step out of my car bravely. The cold temperature doesn't even bother me. That has been happening a lot. Being outside in snowfall, doesn't even phase me.
I walk through the parking lot and sneak along the rocks. I walk on top of the huge boulders in the water, noticing how cold the black water looks. I breathe in the cold salty air of the ocean. It somehow makes me feel stronger. I walk out to where the rock boulders suddenly end.
I remember that a person loses body heat 25 times faster in water than in air. I slide off my jacket, as if I needed it. I take a deep breath, and jump into the icy water right when I hear someone calling after me. The water feels warm to me, strangely. Whoever caught me is going to cause a problem. I'm 99.9 percent sure that when I resurface I will be perfectly fine. They're going to obviously think that I will go into hypothermia and they'll want to check my vitals. Which are a little whacky lately. I wonder what it will read.
I hear a loud splash behind me. I feel strong arms wrap around my waist, and pull me up to the surface. I gasp for air. I look behind me, and see a guy with drenched blonde hair and bright blue eyes staring at me in fear. He pulls us up onto the rocks. His teeth chatter and he shivers.
"Oh my goodness, you're going to get hypothermia, we have to get you inside. Now." I panic. I'm not normal, I'll be fine, but he won't.
"A-And y-you won't?" The violent movement of his jaws snapping together cause him to stutter. I shake my head, and pick up my jacket, wrapping it around him.
"Y-you n-need this." He protests. I feel fine, warm actually.
"No, I don't. Trust me. Let's get you warmed up. Come on." I tow him towards the building.
"H-How are you n-not freezing?" He gasps.
"I'll tell you later. When you're warm." I tell him. He follows me inside the office. The heat hits me like a truck.
"Agh!" I flinch. The air is too warm.
"W-what?" He asks me, stepping in.
"Nothing. It's just a little stuffy in here." I admit, grabbing a few towels from the shelf to the right of me. I toss a couple to him, and keep one. We dry off the best we can in silence.
"S-so…Will you tell m-me what the hell is wrong with you?" He asks me. I look on his shirt and see his name is Jake.
"Uh…It's complicated. I can't say anything to anyone. It's not safe." I say.
"No. I just watched you jump into below freezing water and n-not have one ounce of chills. You're telling me." He says, crossing his arms. There's no way I'm getting out of this. He just risked his life to save me, I think I can trust him.
"Fine. If I tell you, you cannot tell a soul. I don't even know what's happening to me." I say, serious. He nods his head, sipping a cup of steaming cup of tea on his desk.
"It started happening one day. I kept getting the chills, and then it stopped. I look down and see this thick ice encasing my feet, and moving up my body. It eventually went away, but I learned that it's almost indestructible. I tried cutting it with a knife, smashing it with a hammer, melting it with a blowtorch. Nothing worked." I rush out, watching his reaction. His eyes grow wide, and he stares at me in awe. I do have to admit he is attractive. His crystal blue eyes and soft features do it for him.
"And one day I got mad at my brother and this shard of ice shot from my hand. It hit a tree, and severed it in half. My temperature today was 48.9 degrees Fahrenheit and I didn't even feel cold. I am completely functional." I say, playing with my hands.
"Do your parents know? Does anyone know? Does it hurt?" He asks a million questions.
"No one knows.. It doesn't hurt. As far as I know, I'm perfectly healthy. I don't know what it is, but I'm trying to control it. It seems as it gets colder, the stronger my power gets." I think out loud.
"You are a superhero!" He jumps up, pointing a finger at me.
"No I'm not!" I snap back.
"You are. It's been going around. This geneticist wrote a book or something on people accessing their 'abilities'. We only use a small percentage of our brains, imagine what would happen if we could use more? Stuff like this!" He exclaims. He's very enthusiastic. I think its cute how gets excited over this stuff. He's not too bad. If I could have anyone know my secret, I'm glad it's him.
"Oh yeah? And who is this geneticist?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.
"Dr. Suresh. I saw it in the bookstore and I thought it looked cool, so I snagged it. It's at my house. I can bring it to you if you want." He tells me. I think about the possibility that this could be real. That this Dr. Suresh could help me.
"I need to get my power under control first. I'm becoming dangerous." I say sadly.
"Don't worry, I'm strong. I just beat hypothermia." He winks. I roll my eyes.
"I have to go home, I told my dad I was sick and needed to rest. I live far away from here." I tell him.
"Where do you live?" He asks. Usually I don't answer this question, but he knows that I can turn into an ice sculpture, I doubt telling him where I live will get me in trouble.
"In the middle of nowhere. I live in Historical Chepachet. That's what they call it over there. A long time ago a war was fought there or something." I explain.
"Whoa. You are a long way from home." He breathes.
"Yeah." I laugh. He laughs too. It's nice having someone who knows who I am, and still accepts me. Although I just met him, I like him.
"Here's my number. Definitely stay in touch. Maybe we can meet up one day at the library and look at that book." He suggests. I would like that.
"Yeah, absolutely. Here's mine." I scrawl my number out on a napkin and hand it to him. He hands me his more civilized piece of paper. I smile widely at him and turn around to go to my car. Hopefully I make it home in time.