Excerpt: Rise of the Ice Queen

“Hello, Mr. Whitecourt.”

Tanner backed away from the window as a silhouette appeared, a young woman by the looks of her. It wouldn’t have been so weird, except for the fact that his office was on the second floor, and there was no imaginable way for anyone to get through that particular window, not without flying. “Who are you?” he blurted, the first response of anyone confronted by a strange, shadowy figure in impossible circumstances.

“It’s of no concern to you, Mr. Whitecourt,” the figure said. “I’m here to discuss business with you.”

Tanner inched closer to his desk, where there was a silent alarm trigger fastened to the underside. “You wish to talk business, yet you won’t tell me who you are?” he said. “Not very professional, is it?” He snorted. “At least come into the light where I can see you. I’m hardly inclined to take anyone seriously if I can not see them and do not know their name.”

“Point taken,” the woman said, stepping into the light. She was a beautiful young woman, tall and slender, with white blonde hair and striking blue eyes. Her dress was white, and made of a material so light that it seemed to float around her in the breeze still coming from the window. Even as he watched, she turned with fluid movements and closed the window. When she turned back around, her expression was serious. “Care to talk now?” she said; her voice was quiet and musical.

Tanner frowned. “I’m not usually inclined to discuss anything with someone who can’t make an appointment,” she said. “Much less someone who breaks into my office in some smoke and mirrors stunt.” His eyes narrowed further. “You still have not told me your name.”

“My name is Grace, Mr. Whitecourt,” the woman said. “And I am an Ice Elemental.”

Tanner stared at her incredulously. She had to be lying. The Ice had gone extinct long ago, not too long after the Elementals had moved up in status from freaks of nature to visible minority. No one in any of the regions, nor the International Council had found any evidence that the Ice still existed, and so they were declared an extinct classification. She had to be lying, and he told her so.

Grace tilted her head to one side. “You think so?” she replied. “Well, I suppose there is an easy way to find out whether I lie or not.” She opened the window again, the wind blowing back her dress. She stepped outside.

Tanner moved to the side, so she could see what she was doing. As he watched, she scooped up a handful of snow and walked back in.

Grace’s eyes had gone from a clear blue to almost pure white. The snow in her hand didn’t melt, as if it would in any other person’s hand. Instead, it turned from snow into a block of crystal clear ice. Her eyes widened, and it began to change shape, long tendrils snaking up her arm, until her entire upper torso was encased in ice.

Tanner felt as if his own chest was encased. He swallowed dryly as he watched the ice retreat back into the handful of snow. He quietly cursed as she tossed the remainder of the snow out of the window. What was he supposed to make out of this? A living, breathing Ice Elemental, standing in his office. It was never something he had let himself consider, because to do so would label him a superstitious fool among his colleagues.

“Well, Mr. Whitecourt?” Grace said. “Do you believe me now?”

Tanner sank into the chair behind his desk watching her warily. “I’m not in the habit of denying things I’ve seen with my own eyes,” he said. “Very well, Grace, I shall listen to what you have to say. Provided you get to the point quickly. I am, after all, quite tired.”

Grace frowned, as if she had planned on doing the exact opposite and her plans had been thwarted. “Very well,” she said. “As I speak, our representatives are speaking to the heads of each region. I, of course, was entrusted to speak to you. The Ice are not extinct, Mr. Whitecourt. Far from it, in fact. We’ve been here since the time of the first Elementals.”

“And there’s a good reason why the Society doesn’t have a single one of you in their records since its formation?” Tanner replied with a little snort. “The Ice decided to form some sort of secret society?”

Grace raised an eyebrow. “That’s exactly what we did, Mr. Whitecourt,” she said. “Is it really so farfetched to believe? After all, isn’t it exactly what the Light Elementals did?”

Tanner paused in mid-dismissal as he realized that she had a point. Not long after the formation of the Elemental Society, Light Elementals had been declared extinct. But only a few years later, a small community of them had been discovered, and the Light had been assimilated back into the Society. It wasn’t a common occurrence by any means, but it had been known to happen. The question, of course, was the very next one that he asked. “And why are you coming forward now?” he asked. “What do you want?”

Grace sank into the chair on the other side of the desk. “Our numbers are growing,” she said. “We honestly can’t support ourselves anymore. We need help.”

“So you’re here to beg for a handout?” Tanner said, absently picking up a pen and tapping it against the surface of the desk.

Grace drew back in her chair, as if the thought offended her. “Of course not!” she snapped. “I’m here to request that the Ice be assimilated into the Elemental Society, like the Light were before. Of course, as regional director, it’s your decision whether Kimran will accept and train…”

“No,” Tanner said. He shook his head to further illustrate the point. “We’re stretched to the breaking point as it is. Any more, and we’ll have to start turning trainees away.”

“So you’d rather turn us away?” Grace said, her eyebrows furrowing.

Tanner nodded. “It’s a difficult decision,” he said. “But in the end, my people matter to me more than you. I’m sorry to have to say it, but with resources stretched as thin as they are, with this complex struggling to meet the needs of our members and an increasing number of trainees…there’s no room to assimilate an entire new classification.”

Grace was rigid in her seat now. “So what are we supposed to do?” she asked, though her voice made it sound like an outright demand.

Tanner paused, wishing he knew of an easier way to let this girl down than to tell her that he didn’t care about her fellows, the only others of her kind that she knew. It was the truth, though; he couldn’t bring himself to feel any sort of compassion for them. It was as if there were some sort of wall between him and them. “I don’t know,” he said. “But I can not help you.” He jerked his chin towards the door. “Now, if you please, I really am quite tired. It’s time for you to leave.”

Grace bolted out of her seat with a speed that surprised him. Her eyes had gone pure white, and the air around her seemed to grow heavy with chill. She slammed her hands down onto the desk, and Tanner saw that bits of snow had remained under her fingernails. With the same surprising speed, ice shot from her fingertips, encasing the desk.

Too late, Tanner realized that one of his hands still rested on the desk’s surface, and, legs crossed, one foot tapped idly against a drawer. Before he could jerk either away, he was frozen to the desk, watching as freezing cold tendrils snaked their way up his arm and leg. He looked up at her, eyes wide. “If you go through with this, there will be all sorts of hell to pay for you!” he said. He reached for the silent alarm under the desk and pressed it.

“I don’t care!” Grace shouted, suddenly sounding quite deranged. “I come to you, asking for help for us, at our wits end, and you have the audacity to tell me that we don’t matter? That you don’t care? We’re Elementals! What happened to this big, happy family stereotype your public relations department is so fond of portraying?”

“Our big happy family doesn’t force its children to starve while it takes in a bunch of vagabonds off the street!” Tanner replied. His teeth were chattering; he could feel the ice closing up around his neck. He was almost completely covered by now. If security took any longer to get here, they would find little more than a lovely statue of him to display in the fountain outside.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, the doors to his office burst open. He let out a short sigh of relief as he recognized Thomas, one of the most accomplished Fire Elementals at the complex. “You’ve just dug your own grave,” he hissed at Grace, who had whipped around at the sound of the door opening, and was now trying to make the ice crawl along the floor to the newcomers.

Thomas wasted no time. In a gesture reminiscent of a hockey player throwing off the gloves, sparks flew between his fingers, and the very skin of his hands ignited. Within moments, his entire upper body was in flames.

Grace backed up a step, the fire reflected in her wide, pale eyes. Though there was nothing official to it, it was a long-standing legend that the Ice’s only real weakness was Fire. And it looked like it was time to put that to the test.

“Let him go,” Thomas said in a dangerous voice, the effect amplified by the fact that he spoke from the midst of a raging fire consuming his upper body. He took a threatening step towards Grace. “Let him go right now.”

“No!” Grace cried. “Not until he agrees to our proposal!”

Thomas tilted his head. “Strange method of coercion,” he said. “And not one you’re getting away with while I’m here.” He raised an arm, and a jet of flame burst from his fingertips, streaking towards Grace.

The woman gave a sharp squeal of pain as the fire burned at her skin. In that moment, it became obvious that Grace was neither as strong nor as persistent as she had made herself seem. She whipped around and released her captive.

Tanner pushed back from the desk as soon as he was able, cold and shivering. He was grateful – though of course he would never admit it – when Franklin hurried to his side with a blanket. “Get her out of here,” he hissed, his teeth still chattering.

Thomas nodded and advanced on Grace, who seemed to understand that it was over. Or maybe she was just scared of being burned alive. Her skin was an angry red where the flames had hit her. He grabbed her by the shoulder and roughly steered her out of the room. “The International Council will hear about this,” he said. “You’ll be damned lucky if they don’t take immediate action.”

Grace wrinkled her nose. “I welcome the opportunity to speak to them,” she said.

Franklin watched them leave, then turned to look at Tanner. “What happened?” he said, raising his eyebrows. “That wasn’t a real Ice Elemental, was it?”

Tanner sniffed. “It would seem so,” he said. “Turn the heat up a little, would you? I’ve got a phone call to make. The Council has to hear about this.”

“Are we going to see a repeat of what happened with the Light?” Franklin asked. “I should mention that we’re stretched tight enough in regards to finances without…”

Tanner rested a hand on his old friend’s shoulder. “Don’t concern yourself with it,” he said. “As long as I remain regional director here, we will never see an Ice Elemental within these walls.”