Cold Spell

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Kai pulls his hand from mine; the air that swoops to my skin is warmer than his fingers were. I lower the flashlight’s beam to the floor and stare at Mora.

“Come to kill me?” Mora asks simply.

“I want him back,” I answer, because as much as I want to stop her, to end what she does to boys and the girls who love them, what I really want is Kai.

“I know the feeling,” she answers, almost sympathetically, and steps between Kai and me, dangerously close. She emanates cold, so much that I take a step back to escape it. Mora leans against Kai, who swoops one arm around her and kisses the top of her head tenderly. She takes his hand and walks into the sitting room, as if I’m merely a houseguest to whom she’s giving the grand tour.

I inhale, turn, and follow. Mora sits down on the couch, Kai beside her; he hardly ever looks away, as if he adores her too much to warrant looking at anything else. Lucas warned me. He warned me Kai would trick me, I think, feeling sick. Mora smiles again and motions toward a swan-arm rocker opposite her, indicating I should sit.

“I’ll stand,” I say stiffly.

“You’ll sit,” Mora answers. “My home. My rules. Drop the knife, by the way.”

I pause and let the knife clatter to the floor, but I keep my grip on the flashlight. This seems to satisfy her; she motions to the chair, and I reluctantly sit down on its edge—not because I’m playing by her rules, but because I haven’t worked out a plan yet and any time is borrowed time. She looks pleased and runs her fingers up and down Kai’s pant leg. I shiver, fiddling with the flashlight switch when my body can’t handle the nerves.

“I liked you, Ginny. You’re the kind of girl I would have been friends with, once.”

“I can’t say the same,” I answer curtly. I notice magazines on the coffee table—fashion ones, though they’re strangely dated. Some from the sixties, some from the eighties, some more recent. She catches me looking at them and sharpens her tone, as if she’s embarrassed.

“Why are you really here?” She takes Kai’s hand again; I look away, though I wish I could meet his eyes for a moment.

“I’m taking Kai back. You can’t just take people because you want them, Mora.”

“That’s what happened to me—”

“I don’t care,” I snap—it’s so quiet in here, like a vacuum except for our voices. “I get it. The Fenris stole you; they stole your life. But that doesn’t mean you can do the same thing to others.”

“So you know about them,” Mora says quickly, and something akin to fear flashes in her eyes. “Did they follow you?”

“I don’t know,” I admit.

She frowns and then leans her head against Kai’s shoulder; he puts an arm around her. “They stole me from my life—took everything from me. But I gained so much more in return. Power you could never understand—power that means I can, in fact, do what I want.” Mora grins.

“He remembered when I touched him. He’ll never really be yours. None of them are,” I say, whispering. I can see my breath now—it’s getting colder in here, though Kai and Mora don’t seem to notice. I shiver without meaning to and squeeze the flashlight in my left hand, causing the beam to flick on and off.

“No one is ever really ours,” Mora says, tilting her head as if considering her words. “But he’s more mine than he ever was yours. You’re a silly little girl, Ginny. I admit I underestimated you—I didn’t think you’d keep coming for him. But that doesn’t change the fact that you don’t deserve him—you don’t appreciate what he is.” It’s getting colder, colder, colder. Mora stands up, pushes her shoulders back, and walks toward me slowly. My hands are a strange purplish blue, and it hurts to keep my eyes open. I struggle to breathe and realize I’ve stopped shivering. No. No. Don’t give in. I look down at the knife on the floor, reach for it—

Mora grabs my wrist, her skin so cold it burns like fire. I cry out, but Mora holds on, laughing so loud the sound echoes throughout the house. “Come on, Ginny. Really?”

I crumble, hating myself—but the pain is too much. It rushes through me like lightning that freezes my bones, my blood. The room is growing even colder, and Mora’s fingers feel stuck to my wrist. I shake, I can’t stop; it’s a cold and a hurt I haven’t known before, one that seems impossible and heavy on me. I squeeze the flashlight in my free hand, or at least, I try to—but my fingers feel as if they’re shattering, and for a moment I’m not even sure I’m holding it anymore.

And suddenly, it begins to get warmer. I exhale in relief—it’s a strange sort of warmth, after all that cold, one that seems to start somewhere near my chest and build out until it burns around my neck and wrists. I glance down at my hand and see I’m still blinking the flashlight nervously, automatically. The skin is blue, the movement sharp and robotic. Mora steps closer to me, lightens her grip on my wrist—though she’s still holding tight enough for me to know I can’t escape.

“It’s a lie,” Mora says delicately, right by my ear. Am I sweating? I shake my hair to the side, trying to cool my neck. “Right before you die from the cold, your body lies to you. Tells you you’re warm. Has mercy on you.” Kai shifts behind her. I flash the light again as my lungs tighten, refusing to allow another breath. One flash, two, three. One, two three.

One. Two. Three.

Come over.

“No one will take everything from me,” Mora whispers. “Not you. Not the Fenris. Not anyone. Not ever again. I’m the one with the power now.”

The flashlight catches Kai’s eyes. Black—but there’s gold. Gold flickering among the darkness.

My response is a whisper, the air hard and sharp in my throat. “But I’m going to win.”

Come over.

Kai dives forward.

When Kai slams into me, it feels as if I’m made of glass and breaking into a million pieces. I fall to the floor, knocking over the rocker and a small table. He shoves Mora to the side, grabs my wrist; his touch feels like fire. Mora screams something. I can’t focus, but I see her on the floor, see Kai yanking something off the bookshelf—the model ship—and bringing it down hard on her head. But then I’m falling asleep into the warm world, but we’re moving, and I can feel Kai’s skin on mine, still hear Mora screaming at me as I drift down into—

I’m awake. My eyes spring open, and I realize Kai is carrying me, sprinting, panting as we run. Suddenly it’s warm—not warm, really, but not the dead cold from inside the house. I grab Kai’s neck, pull myself up to see behind him. Mora’s house is disappearing in the distance, but there’s movement on the trail—something’s behind us, and Kai can’t run fast enough while he carries me. I twist and struggle until Kai lets my feet down. They feel like cinder blocks, heavy and dead, but I force them along. Kai keeps his hand on mine as we race forward.

A tree whips at my face, drawing blood. How far is the lake, how far is the lake? I trip and slide down an embankment, but Kai grabs my hand and yanks me up. I can see the smooth, pearl glow of the lake ahead, the path out of her world—

Something growls behind us, and I dare to glance back. Wolves, five of them, with sharp teeth and angry eyes. They dart in and out of the trees, well-practiced on the terrain. So close, so close—I heard a crunch as one leaps over a snowdrift and lands near me, but it doesn’t have me; they haven’t caught us yet.

Kai and I hit the lake, sliding forward but keeping our footing. The other side is too far away to see through the fog, but we fly toward it. I can tell they’re gaining on us by how close the sound of nails on ice is, clattering faster and faster. They’ll catch us. We can’t outrun them on a straightaway like this. Kai and I lock eyes for a harried instant, and I know he realizes it, too.

We keep running.

Hot breath at my heels, I hear jaws snap. I can’t go any faster; this is all I have. Kai’s hand hits my back. He pushes me, urging me to keep moving, but it’s no good. My chest aches; the wolves are growling, I try to take large steps—

I hit a slippery patch of ice and flail forward. My chin hits the surface first, then my chest, my hands. I try to bound back up, but it’s no use. My joints don’t work; my body doesn’t work. I flip over, draw my legs up as a dark gray wolf leaps forward—

The wolf cries out, falls out of the air. He hits the ice on his side, twitches, and I see drops of blood spattered across the lake surface. I turn around, scramble backward, torn between looking at the still-encroaching wolves and whatever stopped the gray one.

I see her smile first, the wicked one.

“Who is that?” Kai asks, breathless as we scramble to our feet. Flannery answers before I can.

“I’m the future Queen of Kentucky,” she says, “and I’m here to save your ass.”