Chapter 10 Lead the Way

"I'm going to try and get closer to her." I announced. "You should lie down on the ice, flat on your belly. That way your weight will be distributed as evenly as possible." Annabeth told me, and I nodded. I'd already known this; I'd been ice-skating out on a lake plenty of times and my dad had always warned me about what to do.

And so I gathered all of my courage, and lay down on the ice as close to the hole as I dared to walk. I tried to throw the belt, but it didn't reach the hole. I'd have to get closer. I sighed. "Can someone please hold my leg?" I called out, and someone did indeed grab my leg. It would only be worse if I fell in myself; then there would be two of us to rescue. I reached out my arms, and crawled closer to the hole. I moved a few inches at a time, then waited tensely to see whether the ice wouldn't break. I wasn't as heavy as Emma, but the ice was already cracked.

Then, when it finally seemed I was close enough, I reached out and grabbed the belt. As I threw it to the hole, I was terrified of falling in. The cold was already bad enough; I could only imagine what it would be like to swim in the freezing water. Luckily, Emma got a hold of the belt quite quickly. There had already been many horror scenarios in my mind, where she failed to grab on. But none of that happened; she hooked her hands through the loop and got a hold of it. I was glad I'd though to make the loop; I doubted she'd be able to hold on otherwise. I could see her hands shaking as it was.

I breathed out a sigh of relief when she caught the belt, but then I realised something. I'd made a loop on Emma's side of the belt, but not mine. How would I hold on now? My hands were cold, and my gloves were slippery with the snow. What if I couldn't pull her out? Then it would be my fault. I shuddered.

I took off my gloves, one at a time. My hands were shaking from the cold, but at least I'd have a better grip. I hooked both of my hands around the belt. There was not enough room to make a loop; and besides, I doubted I'd be able to. I couldn't feel my hands at all anymore. I would just have to hold on as best as I could.

I took a deep breath, then readied myself. "Pull!" I shouted out, my voice hoarse. Almost immediately, I could feel someone tugging on my leg. I was pulled to the right, but luckily, someone had the presence of mind to hold on to my other leg as well. I found it difficult to hold on to the belt. Emma wasn't that heavy, but my hands were frozen and my muscles were cramping. My friends had always wondered at my supreme arm strength; I could hold on to anything and they wouldn't be able to pry my fingers off, as much as they tried.

Thinking about my friends gave me strength, and I tightened my muscles. We had to get her out. I didn't think we would manage to do this a second time. I held on to the belt with both hands, the leather carving into my hands sharply. I ignored the pain; I could barely feel it through the cold anyway.

And it payed off. Slowly but surely, Emma was pulled out of the water. There was one tense moment when we heard the ice crack, but nothing happened, and so we just kept pulling. Emma let out soft moans as her face, fingers, legs and sides were pulled across the sharp edges, but she seemed barely conscious. And then, finally, she was on solid ground again.

I collapsed into the snow, spent, as the others rushed towards her. My eyes fell closed, so I didn't see what was happening. I could hear a lot of commotion, though. There was a lot of worry about frostbite. The cold that Emma had suffered was unimaginable, and none of us had any idea how to help her.

"If she's undressed, she'll warm up more quickly." I heard Annabeth say, and Regina didn't even argue. She was probably too shaken from previous events. I didn't follow any of the conversation after that; I was too tired. I woke up to the feeling of a warm hand on my cheek. I hadn't even realised I'd fallen asleep.

"Aïcha?" I heard, and the concern in Henry's voice was obvious. "Wake up, please. Wake up!" He said urgently. I wanted to open my eyes, to tell him he shouldn't be worried, but my eyelids felt so heavy. And I couldn't even feel the rest of my body. "She's undercooled." I could hear someone say. Annabeth. "She spent too much time in the cold." "Look at her hands!" I heard Henry say, aghast. Annabeth sucked in a sharp breath. I wanted to laugh. My hands? There was nothing wrong with my hands. My hands were fine.

Henry's warm hands started stroking my face, and slowly, my eyes fluttered open. "Henry?" I croaked. "You're awake!" He said, and the warmth and sweetness in his voice almost made me tear up. I was so terribly tired! I didn't usually get this emotional. He almost stopped stroking my face, but didn't, in the end. I was glad. His warm, soft hands were the only thing keeping me in reality.

I stared into his lovely brown eyes, and he didn't look away. "I really like you." I confessed. He raised his eyebrows, like he was saying "And you thought this was the time to tell me?". "You're tired." He said, comfortingly, reasonably. "I know." I said, not seeing the point in denying that fact. "You're not thinking straight." "And that's where you're wrong." I said, the reasonable one now. "I mean it." I insisted. Henry looked like he would argue, but decided to give in and just enjoy this tired version of me. "I really like you too." He told me. I grinned, but the movement felt strange on my face. "Yeah?" "Yeah."

I was so busy looking at Henry lovingly, that I didn't notice Regina walking up to us until she was standing over me. I gulped. She was probably here to tell me and Henry off, to tell us we shouldn't be together. I couldn't take that, not right now. "You're a very brave young girl." Regina told me quietly. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Regina was saying I was brave? I had to be dreaming again. "Thank you. You saved Emma's life, and I'm forever indebted to you." "You're-you're welcome." Was all I could stammer out. I knew how much effort it cost her. She nodded, and looked down at my hands.

"I'll ask someone to come over with a first aid kit." She said, motioning to my hands. She walked away, clearly glad for an excuse to leave. I looked down at my hands myself. I had a few nasty cuts from the belt, and my hands were a strange colour from the cold. The wounds looked awful, but I still couldn't feel them.

"She means it." Henry said. "You know how difficult it was for her to tell you that." "I know." I told him. "It's okay. I had to do something; I couldn't just stand around and watch." "Thank you." Henry told me honestly. "That really meant a lot to us. I wouldn't ever want to lose Emma. She's my mum. But think what it would've done to my other mom. Emma truly does mean a lot to her, although she doesn't always show it. I don't know what it would've done to her if she were to lose her." "It was no trouble." I told him honestly. It had been my decision, and I didn't regret it.

Annabeth bandaged my hands. I knew she had a lot of experience taking care of battle wounds, so I was being treated by the best. When the antiseptic was dropped into my wounds, the feeling started to slowly return to my hands. I bit on my lip to keep from whimpering. It really did hurt a lot, now that I could feel my hands again.

Half an hour later, we were on our way again. Emma had insisted she was fine, and so had I. We'd decided to cover two more squares, then call it a day. I was walking through the snow again, the numbness gone from my body entirely. In its stead there was an almost painful alertness. I watched my surroundings, and the others, carefully. And so I was the first one to notice when Percy suddenly bent over.

My first thought was that he'd tripped, but as soon as he recovered, he started waving his hands frantically. I ran towards him, not as quickly as I'd run before. I had no intention of tripping and falling into the snow again. I was cold enough as it was.

Percy waited until we were all standing around him to speak. "I can sense him. The Grinch." He said, and I could feel a wave of shock go through our group. "How do you know it's the Grinch?" Regina asked. She seemed to have recovered some of her confidence. "There's a giant spot in the water that feels like it's filled with unhappiness. I can feel all of the sea animals are avoiding it." He said. I knew that could only be the Grinch. So, we'd found him. We'd come here looking for him, and we'd found him. It was time to end this, once and for all.

"Lead the way." Emma said resolutely. I could feel her willpower; to decide that we were going to go ahead, when she had to be feeling absolutely awful. I wasn't feeling well myself, and I'd suffered much less than she had. I admired her strength and resilience.

Percy nodded, and did as she asked. He started to walk in one direction, and the rest of us followed. Everyone was strangely quiet; we were all caught up in our own worries. "Remember, we're just scouting the perimeter now. We're going to observe the Grinch, gather information. We're not going to attack just yet, so it's important to be inconspicuous." Annabeth told us, and we nodded.

We walked quickly for more than half an hour; the location appeared to be miles away. I was impressed that Percy had been able to sense it from such a distance. So far, the two demigods seemed to be the only useful ones on our quest. "Stop!" Percy suddenly whispered, and we all did as he said. He crouched down, and we followed his example. "It's here." He whispered. "Here?" Sirius asked. "There's nothing." Percy shrugged. "I'm sure of it. He must be hiding somehow." "A magical barrier." Regina said quietly. "For all we know, he's been watching us walk around all day."

"Well, how do we make it visible?" I asked. I wanted to get this thing over with. I was cold and tired. Somewhere in the back of my mind there was a slight doubt that we probably weren't fit to fight anyone, but I was too tired to focus on that. We'd just go ahead and give it our best shot. "I've got a way." Regina said, reaching into her pocket. She pulled out a vial, and I immediately realised that what was inside was probably magic.

Before anyone could ask what the stuff inside the vial did, she'd already thrown it onto the snow. But before it hit the snow, it hit something else.

A/N: Thank you to everyone reading this story! I hope you're enjoying it so far. I love to read comments, so please tell me what you think!