Chapter 3

Kelly couldn't sleep that night. She tossed and turned thinking about the fight between her and her dad. What could they do to make this right? She, suddenly, got the feeling that she didn't want to make things right. What makes him think he can tell me what to do, anyway? She got out of bed and quietly grabbed a few things from the closet, not daring to wake up her brothers and sister. She opened her backpack and noticed that her blades were gone. Oh, Dad!

* * *

Kelly snuck into Tech's lab. She closed her eyes. Just follow the vibes, Kelly, follow the vibes… At that moment, she knew that he had locked them in the closet and hid the key in one of his drawers. She tip-toed to the desk and opened the top drawer, taking out the key and then opening the closet door. She saw her blades on the floor and picked them up, locking the closet door and returning the key to its original position before leaving the room.

Meanwhile, Tech was having trouble in his own sleep. He heard the Whisperers speak to him again:

"The Seer has caused trouble,

His world will fall apart,

His children will die,

He'll be alone with a broken heart.

They will leap into the darkness,

And he will not fight back,

He will be able to do nothing,

For strength and courage he will lack.

As the dead shall rise,

And their hearts, forevermore, be cursed,

The Seer shall die,

And leave all close to him a fate most worst."

He woke up, panting in fear. He wouldn't let their words get to him, but he couldn't help but wonder what they meant.

Sophie woke up next to him. "Are you OK, Tech?"

"Huh? Yeah, Sophie, I-I'm fine."

"You heard the Whisperers again, didn't you?"

Tech said nothing.

"Aren't you the one who told me not to listen to them?"

"I know, Sophie. It's just that…"

"They said something about Kelly again?"

Tech nodded.

"I'm sure you'll be fine. You always work out your problems."

"I just don't want to lose her like I lost you."

They both heard something come from outside. They got out of bed and looked out the window. Someone was going down the snow-covered street…a coyote with a pair of ice-skating blades.

"Kelly!" the 2 coyotes cried out in unison.

* * *

Kelly glided around the ice. The sun hadn't even risen yet. She was happy, though, for some strange reason. She did feel guilty about disobeying her dad. He meant well, he just overdid it sometimes. "Overdoes it sometimes"? Look around you, Kelly. That's an even bigger understatement than a squirrel saying he needs more nuts when he has 5 of them hidden in his tree…in November! Kelly shook the thoughts from her head and returned to her skating, not noticing the eyes glaring at her from the darkness behind a nearby building.

Looks like coyote girl has a new hobby. What do you say we amp up the tension and make it a little more fun?

* * *

Tech was pacing while the others woke up.

"Remind me again what happened?" Duck asked for the third time in the past hour.

"She snuck out, that's what happened!" Tech stopped pacing and fought back the urge to growl at the mallard.

"If you're that upset, why don't we just go after her instead of waiting for her to come back, which we very well know might not happen until sunset?!" asked Wendy, when the sun had just risen.

"Right," Tech said, beginning to leave, "I'm the smartest one in the room. Why didn't I think of that earlier? You stupid coyote!"

"Maybe I should go with him," Sophie said.

"You think?" asked Nadine. After that, she felt a strange sensation rush through her. "Did you feel that?"

Robert nodded, but the other Loonakids shook their heads. How come only Nadine and Robert had felt that?

* * *

Kelly continued to slide across the ice, preparing herself for her next move. She bounced her toe-pick off the ice and felt herself spin into her double axel.

As she was about to land, a fiery red beam shot out at the ice beneath her and she fell through the hole into the water. She hit her head on the ice and saw that the hole which she had fallen through was freezing over again, closing her in. Kelly pushed on the ice as she held her breath. She never did learn how to swim, let alone when she was closed in under a frozen surface, ready to drown!

* * *

The rest of the group had gone with the coyote couple through the snow-filled streets to the park. But, when they got there, they noticed that no one was there.

"That's weird," Tech said, as Slam went to inspect the pond and make sure she wasn't hiding somehow, "I thought for sure that she'd be—"

Slam said something behind him. Tech turned to see Slam punch the ice on top of the surface of the pond and send ice cubes flying everywhere. After the hole had been made, Kelly came out of the water, gasping for breath.

"KELLY!" Tech and Sophie both called out, running to their eldest daughter's side.

Kelly could barely breathe, let alone move. The 2 coyotes helped her sit up while the rest of the team came over to see what had happened. Kelly finally caught herself and opened her eyes. She did open her eyes, didn't she? She saw everything around her fade, but she was still awake, still conscious, and not having a vision. So why couldn't she see?

"Kelly, are you OK?"

She recognized the female coyote's voice. "Mom?"

Sophie didn't know what to say. She was sitting right in front of her daughter's open eyes. At that moment, she noticed that all the color had drained from her daughter's hazel eyes. "Kelly, what happened?"

"I don't know. The ice melted."

"How could the ice have melted if Nadine is the only one capable of doing that when it's still so cold out here?" Ace asked the team.

"It couldn't have," Tech said, wondering how that was possible.

"But, it did," Sophie said, "We know that something must have happened."

"I have a question for you guys," Kelly said, sitting up straighter in her father's arms, "Why can't I see you?"

* * *

Kelly, Benny, and Robert were all in Tech's lab. While the team waiting to see what had happened, Tech sat on the couch in the living room next to Sophie, drumming his fingers nervously on the lamp stand.

Finally, Duck snapped. "Would you cut that out, Tech? You're driving me crazy!"

"Sorry, Duck," Tech sighed, withdrawing his hand and letting his ears droop.

"That's it?" Duck asked, "No insult or anything?"

"I'm a little too concerned about Kelly," Tech responded.

"We all are, Tech," Sophie said, grasping his hand tightly, "Nothing like this has happened to any of us before."

"You do realize that you and I have both died, right?"

"True, but this is completely different."

"And, by the way," Tech said, "Rev?" This caught the blue and purple-feathered roadrunner's attention. "When she comes in here, don't talk. Just have Nadine read your mind. If her vision is gone, her other senses will be enhanced for the first few days…maybe weeks."

At that moment, Benny and Robert came in, leading Kelly behind them.

"Well, we have good news and bad news," Robert said.

"The good news is that she'll survive and there are no serious external injuries or anything," Benny said.

"Oh, good," Sophie said, clutching Tech's hand more gently.

"The bad news is," Robert started, nervous about being the bearer of bad news, "she hit her head trying to get out of the ice, and it was such a hard impact that she knocked out some of her brain cells and we can't turn them back on. Until they can restart of their own accord, she's going to be completely blind for at least 2 weeks."

"What?" Tech clutched Sophie's gloved hand tighter.

"Ow," Sophie said.

"Sorry," Tech said, letting go. He couldn't help but think that this was his fault. If he hadn't been so hard on her, she would have gone out later and noticed that the ice was melting and refreezing or whatever had happened and then this never would have happened.

But, Kelly was thinking something different. If only I had listened. If I had truly understood that he was just trying to protect me, than this never would have happened.

"What do you think Zadavia is going to say when we tell her this?" asked Lucy.

"I already know."

The group turned to see Zadavia on the TV (Kelly was looking around because she couldn't see where the voice was coming from, though).

"I guess one of us should have figure out that something like this would happen eventually," Zadavia said, "But, if there's one thing I do know about what happened this morning, it was no accident. Someone purposely did that somehow and is probably out to get the rest of you, as well. But, one more thing, Kelly? Behind you." Kelly turned around to face Zadavia with her colorless, now blind, eyes. "I'm afraid that until your sight comes back you won't be able to go out into the field with your friends."

Kelly hung her head in shame. If only she had listened!

"The rest of you must figure out who is causing all this trouble and stop them. Zadavia out."

The team didn't know what to do. How would they survive without Kelly? With that, Kelly began to cry and remember the last thing she had seen before the last of her brain cells had gone out: her father's worried face.

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I know, it seems like I've copied off of that "Ice Castles" movie, but I have never seen the original or the remake. The commercial was the inspiration for this story, in fact. Just read the rest of the story and tell me what you think. (more reviews, no bad ones, please!)