Chapter 6

Cold as Ice

Angela was standing in the middle of the old market. She didn't bother to wonder why she was there in the middle of the day when it had obviously been deserted. The shops were open, but there wasn't anyone attending them, or anyone wandering the alleys. Just a light fog blocking her gaze.

A laugh. Angela turned around as the light sound echoed along the walls. It belonged to a child, she somehow knew. She decided to walk forward, hoping she would come upon the exit at one point or another. Her steps echoed in the silence, and the sound seemed almost foreign to her ears. She slowed down, taking only careful steps as if the ground would crumble under her.

Finally, she heard another sound and stopped. This time, it was the sound of a child crying. She took another step, then another, and the crying became louder and louder. The fog seemed to become less dense, as she noticed the shape of someone crouching in a corner. The cries seemed to come from there.

Tentatively, she tried to approach the person, the child. She tried to call them out but didn't know what to say. She was afraid of scaring them away. Finally, she decided to touch their shoulder, and make her presence known.

Her alarm rang loudly in her ear, and Angela grumbled. Her phone had fallen off her bedside table and landed right next to her head. She groaned and blindly tried to find the device, still vibrating against her cheek. Once she found it, she shut it off and closed her eyes once again. She wondered if she could go back to her dream, and learn who that crying kid was. Unfortunately, it seemed her brain was awake enough to refuse to conjure her dream once again.

With a sigh, Angela resolved herself to get up. She sat up and stretched her arms. Now that winter was here, it was dark and cold out of her comforter, and she really didn't want to move. But as usual, she had work to do.

Once dressed, she stopped by the kitchen to get a mug of coffee. Lena was already gone, as usual starting the day with a jogging, even when it rained or snowed. Fareeha was still asleep, she knew, because she didn't have classes until the afternoon. And Sombra, well, Angela had stopped asking herself where Sombra was, as long as she came back from time to time and paid her share of the rent.

As she waited for her coffee to brew, Angela couldn't help but think back to the dream she'd had. Usually, she knew, dreams were about what was on the dreamer's mind. Why was she dreaming about a crying child in the old market? It hadn't had anything to do with her work or anything she'd done or seen recently. She decided to abandon her reflexion once her coffee was done. It was just a dream, nothing she should over-think too much.

She barely waited for her coffee to cool down before she downed it in a few gulps, and went back to preparing herself. She had a busy day today, she knew. They were very close to the end of the semester, meaning her project had to be done by then. She was on schedule, so she knew it would, but she could never be too careful.

She drove to the campus and parked in her usual spot. Walking into the old stone building was a task unto itself, as the mass of students coming and going, especially at this hour, was terrifying to a lot of people, Angela included. After a deep breath, she sank in the sea of people, and almost let herself being carried inside. Then, it was only a matter of climbing, as the lab she worked in was on the fourth floor, and the building was far too old to be retrofitted with an elevator.

She usually arrived out of breath up the stairs and took a few seconds to breathe in before pushing the heavy wooden door open. Inside, a dozen of students were working on their project, whether at their desk writing paperwork or experimenting. Angela didn't know any of them, not only because everyone was so focused on their work, but mostly because she didn't really care about them, and neither do they. That was, except for Angela's desk neighbor.

When she arrived and let her bag fall on her desk, Mei was already at work. She was working with ice, and cold particles, meaning her workplace was always covered with the smoke coming from liquid nitrogen. Angela always shivered when she spent too much time close to her only friend.

"Hey, Angela, how are you doing?" the Chinese exchange student asked.

"I'm okay, as usual. What about you?"

"Well, I am a bit afraid my project won't be done in time, but I worked late last night, and I think it should do it."

"Good for you." Angela conceded with a smile.

Angela booted her computer, then went to instantly check on her test subjects. In the back of the room were ten little cages, each containing a mouse. Angela had bought them from a breeder who bred mice for dissection and testing. She'd handpicked them herself, because they were all wounded, or had lost a leg or an eye. But ever since she'd started taking care of them, those who had been wounded had been completely healed, and the one missing an eye had been once again able to see from both. Now she only had to accomplish the impossible, and regrow one of the legs of three of the mice.

As usual, Angela spent most of her morning checking on each of the mice, making sure they were still fine and the nano-robots she had injected them had been evacuated from their bloodstream. The three still wounded – named Righty, Lefty, and Limpy – had to still be injected with more robots who were supposed to help regrow the bones and muscular tissues of the missing leg. So far it had been a failure, and every day she reworked the formula her little robots contained, hoping the next one would work. She really hoped it would work, because if it didn't, she wouldn't be able to pass to bigger animals. She'd either have to work for another semester with mice, or give up altogether and work on something else.

When midday break arrived, half of the room emptied as those who felt confident enough their experiment who be done on time went to lunch. Angela would usually skip lunch, or eat something quickly while she typed her report. Mei, however, didn't leave her workbench for a second, as if the nitrogen had frozen her in her seat. Instead, her girlfriend brought her her lunch.

Angela knew the mountain that was Zarya mostly through Fareeha. The two very athletic women had hit it off quite quickly a few years back. Zarya, however, was far taller and stronger than Fareeha. It was almost funny to see her interact with Mei as she was always very careful and delicate then.

Zarya walked into the room with confidence, a plastic bag looking ridiculously small in her hand. She quickly swept her pink hair on one side, and the weight of her steps as she walked closer to Mei was what made the small woman look up.

"Oh, Alek!"

"Hello Mei. I have your lunch."

Almost comically, the pink haired woman hunched forward to place a kiss on Mei's cheek, before carefully placing the plastic bag on the desk behind them.

"Hello, Angela!"

Angela acknowledged Zarya's greeting with a grunt and a nod, as she continued to type the results of her experiment on her computer. Zarya, used to it, focused once again on Mei who was taking off her protective gloves.

"So, can we go to the cinema tonight?"

"Maybe... I mean I'm still not on schedule, but I don't think I can take another working night."

"Good. Then I'll see you tonight."

Just as the two girls were sharing a kiss, the wooden doors opened once again, and Fareeha's head passed through, scanning quickly the room. Once she was sure her friends were inside she trotted to them, also holding a plastic bag.

"Hey, Zarya, match starts in five minutes."

"I'll be right there, do not worry."

Fareeha and Zarya were part of a group of friends who spent most of their lunch break playing basketball.

To Angela's surprise, Fareeha didn't come just to warn her friend. She stopped in front of Angela's desk and cleared her throat, forcing the blonde's gaze up. With a sheepish smile and a light blush which Angela didn't even notice, she pushed the plastic bag under her nose.

"I know you don't take a break to eat, but I don't want you fainting on your way home, so... here."

Angela could feel heat rising to her face, and tried to control her heartbeat. Her eyes fell away from Fareeha's face, to the plastic bag, and she tentatively took it. She opened it, while Fareeha nervously scratched the back of her head. Inside, she found a salad, a bottle of water and a piece of cake placed protectively in a plastic case. She guessed Fareeha must have bought them at the grocery store right next to the campus.

"Fareeha, thank you... I..."

But before she could find anything else to say, Zarya came clapping Fareeha's shoulder with a low chuckle and said:

"Time to play basketball! We will crush you this time! I have the feeling it will be today!"

Fareeha was suddenly taken away from her embarrassment, and smirked:

"Like hell you'll beat us!"

The two basketball enthusiasts left the room, and Angela watched them go, the plastic back still in her hands. As the door shut behind them she heard Mei declared besides her:

"There's nothing between you two, hum?"

Angela only glared at her friend and began to empty the bag.

The afternoon went exactly like the morning had, fast and leaving little to no time for Angela to do anything but work. She'd rethought the formula for the mice, and synthesized it. She only had to inject them before leaving. It was the hardest part of the job, she knew, not because she was afraid of needles or of doing something wrong. She knew what she was doing, and what kind of a doctor she would make if she was afraid of needles, really? But the mice moved quite a bit in her hands, and while some had gotten used to the daily needles, the three she still worked on were still quite scared. She needed the utmost focus when they were injected with the nanorobots.

With a sigh of relief, Angela placed Limpy back in its cage. She could feel the beads of sweat running down her forehead. She'd just locked the cage and was taking the needles to the biohazard trash when there was a loud crashing sound. All the heads in the room turned to Mei, who was grunting desperately. Angela threw away her material and quickly walked up to her friend. Mei was already picking up the pieces of test tubes which seemed to have broken under the cold temperatures Mei had put on them.

"Are you alright?" she inquired.

"Yeah, yeah, it's nothing, just half of my work down the drain!" Mei angrily grumbled.

"That's awful! Let me help you."

"No Angela, it's okay, really. I'll just have to work tonight, again," she added with a sigh.

"I'm done for the day, I can help you if..."

Mei stood up, a large piece of frozen glass in her gloved hand. Angela instantly noticed the anger in her eyes but understood Mei was mostly angry at herself.

"No, it's fine. There's nothing you can do anyway, it's all complicated physics and it's not your thing. I can deal with it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Just go home, I'll see you tomorrow."

Angela gave one last concerned look to her friend before Mei disappeared under her workbench again. Angela walked away, fetched her things from her desk, and left the room.

Angela felt quite sorry for Mei all night, sure to find her friend dead on her feet the next morning. She was still thinking about it when she woke up the next morning, and how cold it had suddenly gotten. They were getting closer and closer to winter, Angela thought.

When she arrived at the lab, Angela was both surprised and relieved to find Mei's desk and workbench empty. Her friend had probably realized she was too tired to work and had gone home, only to oversleep. Angela was sure she would see her run through the door in an hour or so.

So Angela went on with her day, checking the mice, noting everything different she found about them. At first glance she was almost sure there was something different about their stumps, but comparative pictures told her that it was just wishful thinking, and she'd have to rework her formula, again. It was only by midday that Angela noticed Mei was still missing. She'd been so engrossed with work that she had completely forgotten about her friend.

When the double doors suddenly open she was almost sure it was Mei coming in, but it was only Fareeha, who was frowning and looked visibly concerned. She trotted to Angela and asked:

"Has Mei come to work today?"

"No, not yet. She said she had to work late last night, I'm assuming she's still fast asleep."

"She isn't. Zarya hasn't heard from her since last night, and when she came to check on her her apartment was empty."

Angela felt an uncomfortable weight fall in the pit of her stomach. She could feel her heartbeat suddenly quickening.

"Do you think..."

"I've already called Sombra, just in case, she'll be here soon she said. Zarya is also coming back to check around the campus. If we can't find anything then we'll go to the police."

"Why wait?" Angela asked, her voice slightly shaking?

"Because if its something only Sombra can deal with they'll be a hindrance more than anything," Fareeha whispered.

Angela nodded and picked up her purse.

"I'll come search with you. Let's call Lena and then we'll get going."

The two friends rushed down the stairs and onto the campus ground. Angela shivered. She'd taken her coat, but it didn't seem enough of ward off the November cold. Fareeha checked her phone.

"Sombra's on her way, and Zarya just parked. She said to meet her at the north entrance."

"Alright, I'll call Lena."

While the two of them walked quickly through the short grass and toward their meeting point, Angela took her phone out to call Lena. They all knew Lena never really bothered to check her phone or answer unless it was Angie calling her.

"Hey luv, what's up?"

"Lena, where are you?"

"Oh, I'm at this super great café right outside of campus with Emily. It's super cold outside so we thought..."

"I get it! Lena, we need your help. One of my friends disappeared and..."

But before Angela could finish explaining, a strong and cold wind hit them straight, making Angela's hair fly behind her. She shivered and tightened her coat around her.

"I'm sorry, luv, but I don't think that's going to be possible. There's like a super snow storm hitting us right now. Pretty sure it's not natural."

Angela frowned and slowed down her pace.

"A snow storm? But it's not snowing?"

"Pretty sure it is. There's like, ice covering the windows and all. Pretty sure we're locked inside until it all thaws."

Fareeha stopped walking when Angela did and shot her a confused look. Angela's expression was that of pure bewilderment.

"Lena, I know you want to stay with your friend, but there's someone who may be in danger and..."

"No, I'm not kidding Angie I swear! We're stuck in a snowstorm!"

Just as Angela was out of words on the situation, Fareeha looked up over the old buildings.

"Hum... Angela, you might want to see that..."

Angela turned around and almost dropped her phone.

Dark clouds were not covering the sky, coming in from the south as if they had sneaked on everyone. Even from this distance, it was rather obvious that snow was massively falling from the clouds. The air continued to become colder and drier with each passing gust of wind.

"Had they announced a snowstorm for today?" Angela wondered.

"I have never seen such a localized snowstorm."

After the two girls had exchanged a glance, they decided to head there.

"Lena, I'll call you back."

"Oh believe me, Angie, I ain't moving!"

When the two women arrived on the other side of the building, they were stunned to find only ice and snow. This entire side of the campus had been frozen over, from the walls and windows being covered with frost, to the light layer of hard snow crunching under their feet. Angela crossed her arms, hoping her coat would be enough to keep her warm in this storm. The wind kept pushing them everywhere, making it even hard to stand. Through the curtain of hair falling on her face, Angela could only discern with horror the frames of frozen people, caught in the storm and turned to statues. Fareeha, however, was more focused on what was in the middle of the storm, or rather who. She'd never been more glad for her heightened sense then now.

"Angela, look!"

Angela frowned at the direction Fareeha pointed her, but only saw a vague figure floating at the center of the wind currents.

"It's Mei..."

Angela's jaw dropped when she finally understood what Fareeha meant. Mei was at the center of the snowstorm, somehow, and Angela knew it had nothing to do with her friend's research. She was trying to create a controlled snowstorm, not become one.

"We need to stop her!" Fareeha yelled over the wind.

"How?"

Not sure how to proceed, Fareeha quickly took off her jacket and shoes. Angela was about to call her crazy but under the intense cold, she feared her jaw was frozen in place. Fareeha barely shivered as her bare feet touched the snow.

"Call Sombra, I'll try to get her down."

Angela only nodded and looked away. The sound alone of Fareeha's transformation was always enough to make her cringe and turn her stomach. One second her friend was there, and the next there was a massive werewolf with straight ears and a long mussel in her place. She watched as the giant wolf's dark fur quickly began to get coated with white snowflakes. The wolf gave her one last glance, then ran as best as she could to the nearest wall, and began to climb it, her claws breaking through frost and stone.

Angela pulled her phone out, her hands shaking desperately. She knew if she stayed there for more than five more minutes she would fall in hypothermia, and probably become one of those ice statues. She hoped not.

She called Sombra, who answered almost instantly.

"Sombra... Wh... where are you..." she managed to let out through her chattering teeth.

"Stuck in a snowstorm, obviously! You better tell me you know what's going on."

"It's... Mei... She's crea... ting the snow... I think..."

Sombra took only a handful of seconds to compile what she knew of Mei and the fact that the young woman had suddenly become an ice elemental.

"I'd bet possession, but I can't confirm until I've seen it myself."

"Poss... possession?"

"A magical entity taking control of someone and using them, most of the time to channel a certain power through them."

Angela could feel Sombra's brain turning even through the phone, but since she didn't add anything Angela assumed it wasn't for her to hear.

"What... do we do...?"

"I'll run as fast as I can, but if it really is possession, you just have to find someone to remind her of who she is. Usually, when the host takes control of their body again the possession is broken."

"We'll... try..."

Angela hung up and looked up. Fareeha seemed to be falling back to the ground, either when she'd try to leap to Mei or Mei had thrown her there intentionally. But it had seemed enough to attract the elemental's attention, as she was now lowering herself to the ground. Fareeha was still in wolf form thankfully, but it wouldn't last long, she knew, if the storm was only focused on her. Angela wanted to run toward them, to help Fareeha, to scream at Mei to remember who she was, but she could only shiver desperately, feeling herself freezing over, ready to fall to her knees and bundle herself in the snow, hoping to warm up at least a bit.

Suddenly someone came running past her, at such a speed Angela almost thought it was Sombra. In the hard falling snow, she could only see a large white shape running at full speed toward them. Then a growling sound, one which she almost thought belonged to Fareeha, until she remembered Fareeha almost never growled but howled.

Fareeha was about to turn back, she knew. The wind had been focused on her like a strong stream of water, pinning her to the ground, for far longer than she thought she could take it. She'd tried to get back up, but every time she'd managed to lift her chest off the ground and cross eyes with this demonic Mei, she'd been pinned back down with twice as much strength as before. She'd known something was very wrong with the shorter girl as soon as she'd seen her dead icy eyes, and their sight only reminded her that there wasn't much she could do.

Suddenly, just as she was about to let go and turn back, a giant white figure appeared between Mei and herself. While they looked almost invisible in the snow, Fareeha knew what it was. A polar bear, but twice the size of a real bear. The bear glanced at her to make sure she was okay, and Fareeha recognized those brown eyes and that cross-shaped scar. Then, the bear's attention turned back to Mei, who'd tried to push it away ever since it showed up, which hadn't seemed to bother it one bit. All Fareeha saw was the polar bear extending its arms, and Fareeha was afraid it would hurt Mei. But suddenly the wind calmed, and the snow subsided all at once. Now able to move again, Fareeha got up and turned back. Under her cold feet, the snow began to melt, and the people who'd been frozen slowly but surely managed to extract themselves from their icy shell. The clouds disappeared, and what had been a cold day suddenly felt rather warm to Angela. She'd finally stopped shivering and was now walking quickly toward her group of friends, Fareeha's jacket and shoes in hands. Beside Fareeha, neither Mei nor Zarya had moved. Zarya had turned back to normal while hugging Mei, and the short woman was still in her arms, unmoving, as if she'd forgotten how.

Finally, she pushed herself away from her girlfriend, lightly, and looked around, utterly confused.

"What happened?"

"You've been possessed."

They all turned, only to find Sombra standing there, not looking as if she'd ran almost all the way there.

"Last night, I would assume. I think I know who's behind that."

Mei frowned.

"Lat night? All I remember is that I was working on my project, and suddenly I heard someone. I thought it was Angela, but it wasn't. I don't know who it was."

Mei continued to think deeply, as if she'd suddenly remembered something.

"They said they could help me finish my project in exchange for a favor. And then I don't remember..."

Sombra nodded, then glanced at Zarya, who was still holding Mei close.

"You're a Russian witch hunter, aren't you?"

Zarya nodded.

"It is a family tradition, yes."

"I may need your help sometime soon."

Zarya glanced at her as if Sombra's offer was meaningless.

"And why would I help you, hunter?"

"Because the witch who did this to Mei is still out there, and I don't think she'll stop there."

Angela was back in the foggy alley, making her way through the old market by following the crying sound of a child. She found them easily this time, still bundled in a corner. This time, she decides to clear her throat to get there attention. The child bolted and looked at her through teary eyes. While they first seemed scared, that quickly changes when Angela smiled.

"Are you alright?"

The child, she now realized, was a little girl, not even ten years old. Her blond hair was tied in a ponytail, and her blue eyes, close to gray, were still wet. She quickly cleaned her cheeks from any remnant of tears and shook her head.

"I don't know where my parents are... I think they abandoned me!"

Angela shook her head.

"Parents don't abandon their children like that. You probably lost them in the fog."

She extended a hand to the little and smiled brightly.

"Come on, I'll help you find them."

The girl smiled and quickly got hold of Angela's hand. Together, they disappeared in the fog, a smile on their faces.

A/N: Hi guys! Hope you had a nice spooky Halloween! I wanted to thank Blackadder261 for the review, I'm glad you liked the beginning, I hope you'll like what's to come as well! I'll see you guys tomorrow!