Chapter 188: It's going to be alright.
~Ava's POV~
"Why would you believe that you'd hurt me? What's wrong, Ava?" Anastasia's voice was calmer now, soft like she was talking to a scared animal.
I wiped my nose with the back of my hand, leaving a streak of ice crystals on my sleeve. The cold didn't bother me anymore , it never did, but seeing it spread to everything I touched made my stomach twist with guilt and fear.
"I don't know. These reactions started a week ago, right after Alexis left. I've been trying to stay away from everyone so no one gets hurt." The words tumbled out of me in a rush, like I'd been holding them back for too long.
I'd been holding this in for so long, carrying this burden alone while Grandmother was away. Now that I was finally saying it out loud, it felt too real. Too scary. Like admitting it made it somehow worse than it already was.
My whole body shook as I remembered the past week. The flowers in the garden dying and coming back to life. The way the kitchen maids whispered when they thought I couldn't hear them.
The fear in their eyes when they looked at me, like I was some kind of monster they needed to be careful around.
"Would that solve the problem? Staying away from us, from everyone?" Anastasia bent down to my level, her knees crunching on the frozen floor.
Her breath came out in white puffs, and I could see her shivering slightly from the cold that surrounded us.
I wanted to tell her yes, that staying away was the only solution. That it was better for everyone if I just locked myself away until Grandmother came back, until someone who understood magic better than me could figure out what was wrong.
But the loneliness was eating me alive. One week and three days of hiding, of wondering if I was slowly going insane, of being terrified of my own shadow.
Before I could stop her, she reached out and touched my arm. The moment her skin made contact with mine, I knew it was a mistake.
I flinched back trying to pull back but it was too late. Frost spread from where her fingers made contact, creeping up. It moved fast , faster than I'd ever seen it move before.
This wasn't like the gentle ice magic I used to have control over. This was something wild, something hungry.
Within seconds, it was climbing up her wrist, heading for her shoulder. I watched in horror as the ice thickened, turning from a thin coating to solid frost that looked like it could crack her bones.
"No!" I screamed, scrambling backward until my back hit the wall. "Get away from me! Please, just get away!"
The panic in my voice echoed off the frozen walls, making me sound even more desperate than I felt. But Anastasia didn't move.
She didn't even look scared as the ice covered more of her arm, spreading like a punctured gum.
Her lips were starting to turn purple from the cold, and I could see her shivering, but she stayed right where she was. The determination in her eyes scared me almost as much as my own out-of-control magic.
"It's alright, Ava," she said, her voice steady even though her teeth were chattering. "I'm a mage, and I've played with ice magic before. It doesn't hurt, so calm down. It's okay."
But I could see right through her lie. I looked at her purple lips, at the way the frost was still spreading up her arm as if it had a mind of its own, and I knew she was lying.
She hadn't been expecting the ice to grow so quickly, hadn't been prepared for how powerful it had become. Maybe my magic had gotten stronger without me realizing it. Maybe it had overpowered whatever protective spells she had.
"You're lying," I whispered, and a tear slipped down my cheek. It felt hot against my cold skin.
The tear landed on Anastasia's frozen hand that was still resting on my arm, and I held my breath, waiting for it to freeze too.
But instead of freezing, something incredible happened.
The moment my tear touched her skin, everything changed.
The ice began to melt. Not just on her hand, but everywhere. All around the study room, the frost receded as if it was running away from something.
Ice turned to water, dripping from the walls and ceiling, pooling on the floor around us. It was like my tear had some kind of power that could undo all the damage I'd caused.
I stared in amazement as the room transformed back to normal. The books weren't covered in frost anymore. The walls looked like regular stone instead of an ice cave. Even the air felt warmer, less threatening.
Anastasia stood up quickly, not wasting any time. She snapped her fingers, and all the water disappeared in an instant, leaving the room completely dry.
She looked down at me, still shaking in the corner, and I could see relief in her eyes.
"See, Ava? I'm alright. Look around, it's all gone. It will be alright." Her voice was gentle, reassuring me.
I stared at her hand where the ice had been. Her skin was pink and normal again, no sign of frostbite or damage.
No sign that anything dangerous had happened at all. Then I looked around the study room. She was right. Everything was back to normal. The terror I'd been living with for a week seemed almost silly now.
But how had that happened? How had my tear, just a single tear, made it all go away? It didn't make sense. Nothing about my magic made sense anymore.
"I don't understand," I said, my voice small and confused. "What just happened? How did you...? How did I...?"
The questions tumbled over each other in my mind. Was this connected to my twenty-fifth birthday somehow? Was this part of whatever was changing in my body? And why had my tear been able to undo what my touch had created?
"We'll figure it out," Anastasia said, holding her arms open. "But right now, you need to stop carrying this alone. You don't have to face this by yourself, Ava."
I couldn't hold back anymore. All the walls I'd built up over the past week crumbled. I jumped into her open arms and just cried. All the fear, all the loneliness, all the terror of the past week came pouring out of me. She held me tight, stroking my hair while I sobbed into her shoulder.
For the first time in days, I felt warm. Safe. Like maybe I wasn't completely broken after all. Like maybe there was hope that I could figure this out, that I could get my life back to normal.
"Ava, is that you?"
The voice came from the other side of the study room, near the door. Both Anastasia and I froze, and I felt my heart jump into my throat.
Someone else was here. Someone had heard everything.
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
