Another long chapter…oh well, enjoy:

Two days later Icicle's demands were pushing us to the breaking point. We couldn't have a private conversation anywhere, and she generally enjoyed watching making us squirm. When she was bored, which seemed about every two minutes, she would order one of us to do something entertaining, and we'd have to put on some little show. These shows included everything from doing a silly dance to Clay having to serenade Icicle with a love song.

My friends and I had spoken with Ember about the plan. We explained how the deal would work and she greatly expressed her doubts in it. But regardless of her feelings, she agreed to it saying once again "Anything that frees me is okay." She added that she didn't think she could forever be cured of her 'thieving impulses, urges, and desires' but that she would at least try, for a while, trying to lay low and live a normal life after we left Alaska.

Even though Ember agreed to the plan she said she didn't want to start the "goodness lessons" until she was settled in. None of us were really sure what she had to do to settle, after all she didn't have any clothes or items with her, but we decided to give her a few days anyway.

It was early in the morning and I was making my way to breakfast when I saw a pale hand gesture me over from behind an ice pillar. Seriously. Here I am walking and I see this hand come out and beckon me towards it. I knew it couldn't be an Ice Dancer because they were always extremely quiet and practically invisible. And I knew it wasn't Icicle because when she summoned one of us she did it loudly, not in secret. And since there wasn't anyone else here in this ice cavern that I disliked, I made my way to the pillar, assuming it was Kimiko or someone.

"Psst! Rai! Come here!" I heard Ember hiss from behind the pillar as I approached. I rounded the corner and finally saw her.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Shh! Not so loud!" She whispered frantically.

"Why not?" I said quietly.

"Shh! Just shut up for a second and follow me!" She grabbed my arm and dragged me several feet away. Ember had either gotten better at controlling her temperature, or I was just always a little cold from the cavern, but either way she never seemed to burn me anymore when we touched. It was more a pleasant warm feeling then a burning pain.

"What is it? Why can't I talk?" I asked as she pulled me into a corner.

"Shh…okay, I found a room that I wanted you to check out with me. But, I don't want to be followed there." She explained in her lowest voice.

"I don't follow."

"Look…you know how I can turn into a flame?" I nodded and she continued. "Well, Eve can turn into a solid ice column. I've seen her do it; these columns are completely undistinguishable from the other ice pillars here, she made them that way on purpose; that's how she spies on people."

"So she could be anywhere?" I said, suppressing a gasp.

"Exactly. That's why we have to be quiet. Anyway, this is the room I wanted to show you…we can talk in there." She said and walked into a door way three feet away. The room was small and simple like the others. There was a huge thick curtain, carelessly thrown on the floor and a very dim light pole cutting through the room. Near the back of the room, starting at the floor, was a four foot high, gigantic ice block thing. That's really the only way I can describe it.

Approaching the ice I looked closely and saw a large wooden chest buried beneath the many ice layers.

"I found this room last night, I kind of got lost. Whatever's in that chest has to be something Icicle doesn't want us to see. The entire thing has been iced over, and this curtain was nailed to the door way." Ember told me walking over to the box.

"Nailed with what?" I said. I didn't see any metal nails around.

"Ice nails, of course. She wouldn't use anything but them." She said. I then noticed that there were small ice fragments littering the opening of the door.

"So, we're here to…snoop on your sister?"

"Exactly…you got a problem with that?" She snapped.

"Well…not really, no, but…still…"

"Oh, don't act all good, cabinet-boy."

"I didn't really look in your cabinet." I defended myself as she reminded me of the time I went through her bathroom cabinet. "Your girl stuff freaked me out so I only got a peek at what was inside."

"Whatever."

"Being serious though, Ember, what if we're caught?"

"We won't be, she hasn't been in this room in ages, I can tell, and everyone's at breakfast anyway." She said confidently. "You know, last night I tried to look into my bag?"

"Yeah? What happened?"

"Well, so I get into her room, right? I find my bag and open it up; nothing. I figured as much that it would be empty but I had to check, you know? But I didn't really care, 'cause I love that bag and I can still use it. As I'm leaving I notice this really funny looking icicle hanging from the ceiling."

"What was so funny about it?" I interjected, confused.

"The fact that it was there! All of the bedrooms in this place have smooth walls."

"Yeah, you're right! They've all been iced down."

"Well apparently, not only can Ice' turn into a solid ice statue, she can also turn into an icicle. How fitting, considering her name. Anyway, so I watch as this icicle melts into a puddle on the floor right in front of my eyes in a matter of seconds. Then the pool shoots up into the air and reforms as Icicle!"

"Seriously? Then what happened?" I asked excited; I had to admit, Ember was a very good story teller.

"Um, she told me if she ever caught me snooping again she would personally turn me in to the police."

"Oh…" I started feeling nervous. What if she caught us now?"

"I told her that was an empty threat 'cause if she did that then she would just be thrown into a cell next to me, but she didn't seem very amused by that…Anyway, enough stories! Let's bust this thing open!" Ember said turning her attention to the big block of ice.

"Okay…um…how?"

"I'll melt it if course! Ember said, putting her hands to the chest. Her hands just barely glowed a pale red color as she very slowly began melting a hole through the ice. "Ugh…this could take a few minutes…what should we talk about?"

"Um…I don't know…Hey, didn't your birthday pass while you were in jail?"

"Yep. I'm fifteen now."

"Yeah, me too…happy birthday… So, did you get anything special for your birthday?" I asked, hoping it wasn't as dumb a question as it sounded.

"In jail? Are you serious? Well…I didn't drop the soap during shower time. I guess that was good."

I widened my eyes in shock. "So…so…stuff like that actually happens in prison? It's not like…an urban myth…? Ember!"

She started laughing hysterically. "Nah, I don't know what really happens; I didn't get to shower with everyone else 'cause the shower heads are made of metal. I had my own special shower in my cell. My little cell which I never got to leave except for one time when we had 'social day.'"

"What's social day?"

"For the other inmates, their friends get to come and hang out with them for a few hours. For floor sixers, that's what we called ourselves, we all got to meet at a table and discuss our uniqueness and superiority. We floor sixers take pride in our floor sixness."

"Do you now? So what were the other 'floor sixers' like? There's four of you right?"

"Yeah. Two boys and a girl, plus me. The boy was very nervous and jumpy. All I know about him as that his name was Brian, he started using drugs when he was ten, and that he is apparently very nervous. He was really, really jumpy all the time and kept muttering 'blood' at random moments. He seemed to have a thing about blood. As for his crime? His parents used to abuse him, so one day he just killed them. But he didn't want to stop there, so he apparently just went on these crazy rages and killed all his school bullies and a crap load of other people."

"Well that's just great." I said sarcastically.

"I didn't really talk to him…he didn't really talk. But the other pair there? The twins? They were cool."

"What were they like?"

"They worked together as a team and did just about every crime in the book. They murdered some relatives of their, robbed a dozen homes, created their own drug distributing network, posed as doctors at a hospital, forged checks, ect ect. Anything illegal, you name it, and they've done it. They escaped capture several times, too."

"Why did they do all that?"

"I don't really know…they said that they both had the dream to be the greatest criminals ever. Guess that won't happen anymore…Oh! They told me though that they had followed me whole crime career, and that they thought I was awesome, and that they were very sad when they learned I was caught, but excited to meet me." Ember said. "I'm nearly done with this ice shelf now, by the way."

"You sure met a lot of great people in prison…"

"Hey don't mock the floor sixers! We're awesome, okay?"

"All right, you're awesome. All hail floor six." I lied. I wasn't really okay with it. It really bothered me that she really seemed to like these people. She was practically a saint compared to them. "So…the boy and girl, were twins, eh? I guess crime runs in twins." I joked weakly.

Ember chuckled. "I guess that has to do with the fact that when we work together, we can be a very destructive force. There! Done! Now, let's see what's in here."

I glanced down and noticed that Ember had made a very sizeable hole in the ice. Carefully she lifted out the chest and kicked the latch open. As the lid fell into place we saw that the entire chest was filled to the brim with letters. Some were stuck back in unopened envelopes, but most were simply pieces of paper folded over.

"Dang…what did she do? Keep every letter ever given to her?" Ember commented then looked at the top part of the chest. "Something's engraved there, but I can't see with all the dust. Rai, blow the dust off." She instructed.

"Why can't you do it?"

"Because there's a good chance it'll combust if I do."

"Oh. Right." I leaned in and blew the dust off, but there was still a thick layer left, so I just wiped it away with my sleeve. Written on the chest, in fancy script lettering, were the words:

Eve Smith's Keepsake box

"Oh!" Ember exclaimed. "I remember these! I had one to, we got them for our seventh birthday." She paused and then muttered to herself, "Just where is that thing…"

"So…what are we gonna do with this stuff?" I asked.

"Um…well, you can pick a letter and start reading. I'm digging around for more interesting stuff." She said while plunging her hands deeper. Though I may have helped to break into the chest, I started having this uneasy feeling about reading any of the letters. I guess my conscious finally sunk in, and it just seemed like going to far. After all, what had Icicle ever done to me? Well, I mean, aside from making me do a ridiculous dance and stuff, she had never actually violated my privacy. At least, I couldn't recall of her doing so…

"Ooh, I feel something!" Ember exclaimed, breaking my train of thought. She then pulled out a small mirror with an embellished red wood handle. "Oh my God!" She gasped when she looked at it.

"What?"

"That bitch! That little bitch!"

"Who?"

"Who do you think?" She snapped.

"Icicle?"

"Duh."

"What's the big deal with that mirror?"

"This was my mother's mirror. Ugh! I can't believe her!" Ember continued with another chorus of 'that bitch'. "She's always done this! Ever since mom died she just horded all her stuff! And now I find this!"

"What's so great about the mirror?"

"It was mine! Me and Miss-Frost-Bitch split up my mothers stuff after she died, and this mirror was one of the things I was keeping… She flippen stole it. She went to our old freaken house and freaken stole it after I was caught! I know she did, the little devil!"

"Well…how can you be sure she didn't just find another mirror like it?"

"Why are you defending her?" Ember yelled angrily getting in my face.

"I'm not, I'm just saying that…well, I don't really know what I'm saying, but babe, you need to calm down. Someone might hear us."

"You…!" She paused and her face dropped. "…have a point. Fine. I'll be more quiet. But anyway, Raimundo, I know she stole it from the house because it was there nine months ago when we were on the run….or wait, has it been ten months now?"

"I don't know I lost track of time."

"Hmm." Ember turned her gaze to the mirror and studied her reflection. She pushed a small lock of hair behind her ear. "I think I'm gonna stay a natural blonde for a while."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I think I like it this length. I mean, I love it as the fire but it's to much work to keep dying it…Besides, it's still one of the colors of fire, technically." She paused and put the mirror down on the ice floor. "Do you like it this way?"

"Yeah, it looks great."

"Which look do you like more?"

"Uh…Ember, what does it really matter? I guess it like it both ways. I'm more used to the fire, but it's your hair, so do what you want."

"Yeah." She said and repeated again. "Yeah, I'm gonna keep it this way for a while. Maybe forever." She looked back to the mirror and then stuffed into one of her pockets. "I'm keeping this."

"Won't Icicle notice?"

"Rai, you saw the dust pile, she hasn't been in here in ages. Come on, let's look for more stuff! I may have several family heirlooms in here…"

After learning that Icicle stole from Ember it didn't seem so bad to snoop anymore so I buried my hands to the bottom of the chest. Feeling something big and heavy, I lifted the object out slowly. It was a photo album titled "My Friends."

"I remember when she got that." Ember said glancing at it. "I don't think she ever used it though; probably empty." I flipped through the book. It was empty except for the first two pages.

"Whoa!" Ember exclaimed. "Get out!" She grabbed the book away and looked at a picture of a black-haired girl riding a bike next to a much younger looking Icicle.

"What?"

Ember started laughing. "I can't believe she still has a picture of Patricia Oreczo."

"Who's that?"

"You ever notice how Ice's nose is a little crooked looking?"

"Yeah, I guess it is a tiny bit."

"Well, she used to be best friends with Patricia. They had one of those 'opposite attracts' friendships; they were always debating stuff but even though they had their different opinions they were always civil to one another."

"Okay, go on."

"Well one day they actually got into a huge argument…I think it was about politics. It drives me crazy that people get so worked up over politics; it's really stupid if you think about it… Anyway, Patricia got so mad she punched her and broke her nose in three places. They stopped talking to each other after that, and Icicle's nose never healed quite correctly."

"That's kind of sad." I said but I was suppressing a snicker. All of sudden we heard Icicle's chilly voice calling from the distance.

"Ember you better not be in my room again!"

"Oh crap…we should leave." Ember said getting up and heading for the door.

"What about the mess?" I asked; papers still littered the floor.

Ember paused, then smiled wide and answered "She'll probably just think it was one of her workers! The little paranoid freak!" She laughed and we quickly fled the room, leaving the contents of the chest where they lie.

Remember; just one chapter left. So get to that reviewing if you haven't already!