I know it's been a really long time. But I just got back home from my vacation a few days ago and I've been having a very stressful week. Anyway, enjoy:

It had been thirty six hours since Icicle left and we hadn't heard a word from her yet. Her Ice Dancers kept assuring us that she was probably in China by this point and they were currently working on freeing Ember. I was starting to worry. What if she stole Dojo or something horrible like that?

I tried not to think about it and enjoy myself as much as I could. The ice palace was huge and there were hundreds of workers to talk to. Plus, my friends were there. I wasn't totally alone but I kept thinking about Ember anyway and if she'd be okay. But I had to stop thinking about it. Even if Icicle did follow through with the plan it would be days before they were back.

The dancers were kind enough to prepare four rooms for each of us. Each room was located closely to the others. The rooms were basically identical. Each was pretty small, with a large bed made out of ice. Yes. Ice. The bed, like everything else in the room, was ice. In fact, all the furniture was ice. There was a fake lamp carved out of ice. It didn't do anything though.

That's because the REAL light source in the room was long, skinny pole cutting through the ceiling and the floor right in the middle of the room. This is where the rooms differed; the poles were neon lit and each room had a different color. The blankets in each room matched that color. There were a lot of blankets in each room because it was SO cold. My room was the red one.

I spent the first day catching up on sleep and talking with my friends about the plan. But by the second day I decided to talk to one of the ice dancers. They were secretive, but at the same time seemed friendly.

We were all sitting at breakfast when I made my move. Breakfast was served in a huge cavern-like room with a gigantic table stretching nearly forty feet long. I noticed that the table had once been a normal wooden table, but Icicle had encased it in an ice shell which made it nearly double in size.

Surprisingly the ice table was incredibly functional. The top was slick and we could slide dishes to each other across the surface. It was a lot easier than picking up big dishes to pass them around. The only down side was that the chairs were made out of ice and they left a certain body part feeling numb after every meal…

Another down side was that Icicle absolutely hated anything hot so all the dishes were served cold. And things that were cooked were very rarely prepared. All we had was cold cereal…cold cuts…cold soup…raw fruits and veggies…cold drinks…cold…cold…cold!

But I ignored the chilly food and turned my attention to a tall girl sitting a few feet away from me.

"So…how long have you been working for Icicle?" I asked, trying to sound casual.

"Since she's been working here." The girl answered. She was dark-skinned, with long curly hair and big deep brown eyes. Her voice was rough sounding.

"Oh okay…um…how long is that?" I tried to keep the conversation going.

"Hmm…'bout four years. But I've worked for this organization LONG before that. I've been here since I was three, earlier than most. I'm eighteen now." She told me between bites of food. "By the way, my name is Terra."

"Oh right!" I smacked my forehead. "Sorry, I'm Raimundo. Okay…so Terra…uh…what was the organization like before Icicle took over?"

"The frost queen did not just 'take over'!" She shouted at me angrily. "This organization started over a hundred years ago…it was actually some sort of branch off the Ku Klux Klan…" She turned her attention down to her own chocolate-colored skin. "Obviously things have changed…Anyway, no one really knows when exactly, it's speculation that is happened during the sixties riots, but eventually the group stopped being crazy racists people and turned to thieving. It's been a crime group since then."

"Okay…that interesting. Um…what were things like when you joined?" I asked while taking a bite of cereal.

"Back in the eighties some guy took over and made the group total chaos. It was coed back then and you can only imagine what it was like in an organization of teenage boys and girls together. Crazy stuff went on, I swear. And the leader himself, Frank, was mixed up in all this drug crap. The only good thing that came from Frank was that when my parents abandoned me he took me in for some reason. I was just sort of assimilated into the group at a young age. Oh, and by the way, the group has moved all over. It started in Georgia, but during the Frank-era it was in Arizona."

"So when does Icicle play into all of this?" I noticed that every time I said Icicle all the other dancers would cringe. I was wondering if I should start calling her "Frost Queen" like everyone else did.

"Both the ice princess and that…sister of hers, Ember, was the name? They joined a few years back. They were traveling runaways that got mixed up with the group. A lot of people joined back then because Frank was very…public about things. He didn't try to hide the crimes, instead he'd show off. A lot of our members are also runaways who have gotten mixed up in bad things, or abused, ect. We really change our lives here." Terra beamed. Well yeah they changed their lives, but is it really for the better?

"But when did Ember and Ici- I mean – the 'frost queen' come into control?"

"I'm getting there!" She snapped. "They were these two young cute girls full of new ideas to help the group. Slowly they started building a fan base. And when they finally decided to challenge the leadership, they had several followers. Frank was estranged from the group…we like to joke that he was marooned. Anyway, that wasn't enough though. The two made like a bajillion changes, including making it girls only." I noticed several pairs of eyes starring at me, Clay, and Omi.

"Hey, what's wrong with boys?" I laughed nervously.

"Nothing." One of the girls said. "Boys…are cool I guess. We're not like extreme feminist or anything, we've just never had all these boys around the base…it's weird."

"Are we the first boys to be here, ever?"

She shook her head. "No, but you're the first group of boys. We've had individuals before, visiting theirs sisters or something like that. Sometimes the queen invites over people for meetings and stuff…but you guys are the first group…albeit, a small one." She seemed bitter. I definitely gotten the feelings we weren't welcomed here.

"Well, back to the story." Terra said after a silence fell and the other girls finally stopped starring at us. "They kicked out all the guys, established some rules to the group, and a system of ranking. We started pulling off all sorts of job. And this time we weren't caught. They also re-named the group…the uh…" Terra shuddered. "It's sort of embarrassing…they named the group 'the princesses'."

"The princesses?" I tried to stifle my laughter.

"Yeah…our leaders were the fire princess and the ice princess. Some of us 'oldies' still refer to her the ice princess, but after Ember left the group she said she would rather be the queen…" Terra suddenly fell very silent. This was obviously an awkward subject.

"Why did Ember leave the group?" I asked tentatively.

"No!" A small girl yelled as Terra opened her mouth. She had a squeaky voice. "We're not supposed to talk about that! Rule three hundred sixty-two; don't talk about the separation of the leaders!" She recited. "And you've already broken rule four hundred nine; don't mention the name of a certain twin sister when in the presence of the queen!"

"Amy, I didn't break that rule. We're not in her presence." Terra told her condescendingly. "Gosh, you have SO much to learn! Where is your mentor anyway?"

"She was sick, and it's her day off today, anyway." Amy answered and Terra mumbled something angrily. I heard the word 'lazy' slip in.

Finally she turned back to me. "There isn't much to tell anyway. We don't even know what happened. They just started fighting all the time a few months before she left. One day she just got frustrated and stormed out…by which point we were located in Texas, near the town the lived in as children. After the fire princess left we became purely ice themed and moved here." She finished. "And that's that."

"We have a lot of theories though." A girl said from somewhere on the other side of the table. I couldn't see her very well. "Lots of theories about the split are just circulating around. They're all rumors though."

"I see…" I turned my gaze up. There was another neon light pole on the ceiling, only it was stretched horizontality "You guys obviously have power but…I mean…" I suddenly started to feel stupid. "I haven't seen any electrical sockets so…where are you getting your power?"

"Hydraulic power. That's powered by water for those of you who don't know." A girl with dirty blond hair answered. "There's a room, forbidden from outsiders, by the way, that contains a gigantic water wheel. The ice Queen planted a bunch of super thin icicles hanging over it. Even though it's cold, the icicles are constantly melting because they're designed in a way that makes them do that. I've only seen the machine once, but basically the dripping water keeps the wheel turning which builds up electricity. It's almost completely self sufficient; the queen just has to plant new crystals every month or so." She explained very matter-of-factly.

"Oh that's cool. So…what else has-" I start to ask another question but then Icicle's assistant, Bethany, came running into the room screaming with joy.

"The queen called! Everything went smoothly! They're leaving as soon as they can!" She yells happily. The girl is clearly devoted. "Everyone, quickly, make the necessary preparations; our queen is coming home!"

Hmm…don't really like how this came out. Oh well. Anyway, there are only about three chapters left and I am hoping to finish them next week(I'm busy this weekend). As I said, this is a very short story.

Well, review please! I need (Okay, want) to know what you think!