Frostbite (Touch of Frost) (6 page)

My phone danced across the desk. A text from Scott:
On my way home.
Good. It’d been too long since I’d last heard from him. I sagged into my desk chair, picking my fingernails.

The computer screen jiggled again but not from the connection. Georgia got up, set her laptop on her desk and paced. Hands on her hips, she wandered in and out of view.

She stopped and stepped so close to the camera, her face bulged. “Why?”

“Ever hear of playing hard-to-get?” I laughed, but it was to cover the fact that I was sad about leaving him. Sad about having to leave town. Leave Georgia.

“Mandy?” Georgia’s picture and voice crackled. “Seriously, are you nuts?”

“Probably. Not certifiably insane, but not properly evaluated I’m sure.”

“All jokes aside…”

Oh, great, she was going to get sappy on me. It always started with that token phrase. I sat up, waiting for it. Every lie I’d told her since I arrived in town ran through my mind. Keeping everything straight wasn’t easy to do. I would have kept a journal, but with my luck someone would find it.

“Why don’t you like him?”

“Never said I didn’t.”

“Then why the hell aren’t you still out with him doing something naughty in the back of his car or something?”

I shrugged.

“Come on, Mandy. I’m your best friend. You can tell me.”

“Don’t trust him.” Or myself.

Georgia stared into the computer camera. “Why not?”

Oh, sweet Jesus, where would I begin? “Well, I don’t even know him. And then out of the blue he asks me out?”

“So? He’d been dating someone until recently. Got to respect the guy for doing the right thing. He’d said he’d had feelings for you since you came here.”

“I don’t know. It feels like a bet someone challenged him to or something.”

Georgia’s dark eyebrows puckered, and she hugged her stomach. “Someone must have really screwed you over.”

Those seven words rolled out of Georgia’s mouth and plowed through my protected heart like a bowling ball knocking down pins. Tears stung. Tension knotted my neck.

Georgia was like a sister to me. I’d never gotten this close to a person since my folks died and my powers appeared. I knew I shouldn’t have let her into my life like I did, but Georgia sucked me in. Like she knew I needed someone. We’d had some talks, but nothing super-deep. I told her about my parents being dead, but I didn’t get into details of
how
. Or why I came to this town. Or any of my powers. Or how I’ve had, like, six different last names over the past few years.

“Mandy?”

“Um…I’m here.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s okay.” I glanced around my bare room, then back to the screen. “I better go. It’s getting late.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Georgia’s face scrunched up. Probably worried she’d pissed me off.

“Yeah, sure. Tomorrow. I’ll call ya.” I signed off, slapped the screen down, then swiveled my chair. The dim light from the corner lamp cast a funky shadow across my empty room. Hadn’t gotten anything up on the boring, tan walls yet. Never knew how long we’d last in a town, so sometimes I didn’t even bother.

And staying here was still up in the air until Scott got back. He’d probably say we had to leave. It was the smart thing to do.
Coats
had come to Trifle. We were at risk, which meant Scott was. Even Georgia.

The thought of either of them getting hurt made my stomach churn.

A gentle breeze danced with the pale curtains around my window. I held my breath and opened my hand. It turned light blue, like the sky earlier today.

I stared at the crease in the middle of my palm with all the energy I could muster. I pictured a baseball. Just not one made of leather.

My breathing quickened, and my heart thudded against my chest. A marble-sized piece of ice appeared on my palm. I watched it grow and grow as I focused on it. My head felt detached, like a helium balloon floating near a draft.

Finally, it neared the size of a baseball. Drawing in another deep breath, I willed my pulse to slow. I wrapped my fingers around the ball, then tossed it into the air, catching it on its way down.

It was cold and slippery, but it didn’t bother me. Could I even get frostbite?

A door slammed. “Mandy?”

“Room.” I stood up. Scott came into view, and I whipped the ice ball at him. “Catch.”

He skidded to a stop and shot up his arms. The ball landed in his open hand, then slid out, and he fumbled with it. Finally, he caught it.

“Check it out.”

He held the slick ball, looked at me, then to the ice. He poked at it like it was going to bite him. “How’d you do this?”

“Practicing.” I fell onto my bed and glanced at the clock. Nearly eleven. “Am I packing?”

He tossed the ball of ice into the air and caught it, then glanced around. “No.”

I sat up and crossed my legs. “Really?”

I must have heard him wrong. Staying? Really? I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. I didn’t want to leave Georgia or the idea of Zach, but the
Coats
had come. What if—

“I thought about what you said.” He sagged onto my desk chair. “They expect us to move like we have every other time. And look what you did tonight with this.” He held up the ice ball. “You’re getting more control.”

I sighed. No I wasn’t, well maybe a little, but I wasn’t convinced it’d be enough to protect him.

“You are, Mandy.” He nodded. “Keep practicing.”

“Scott. What do you do when you go take care of…the human ice sculptures?”

“Don’t worry about it.” He shifted his attention to the floor.

“But if we stay, you—I—it’ll happen again. They may expect us to leave, but they’ll stick around to be sure, right? Especially when these two guys don’t check in. Or whatever they do.”

“I would expect so.” His voice was so quiet. Tense. I could tell he was worried.

“It’s not fair for you to have to clean up after me.” In the deep, dark parts of my mind I didn’t want to think about, I had an idea what he did. If something’s frozen and it’s hit hard enough to shatter into a million pieces…

“And it’s not fair for you to have to keep freezing people.
Or
keep running.”

So staying might be dangerous, but so was running. And it looked like Scott was sick of the nomad lifestyle as well. Maybe he was right. I was getting stronger. Better at defending myself. I could protect him. Georgia, too.

He sat up. “Something interesting happened tonight.”

I hugged a pillow to my stomach. “What?”

“Fire trucks were there when I showed up. Small fire sparked near some trees on the edge of a field of flowers.”

“And they didn’t see the
Coat
sculptures?”

He shook his head. “Those were further in. I had to wait around, that’s why it took me so long.”

“Talk about dodging a bullet there.” I let out a long breath.

“That was some pretty thick ice around them, too.” Scott smiled as if proud.

Proud of me killing people. Man our world was jacked up.

“Promise you’ll stay under the radar in town and at school. I want to see you graduate. We’ll take things on a day-by-day basis, okay? Eyes open. Very aware of everything around us at all times. And we’re packing up one bag each, ready for a quick getaway. Hopefully we won’t have to use them, but if we do I’m hoping it’s
after
you graduate.”

“Why is my graduating so important to you? I’ve never understood that, Scott. What’s the big deal?”

He let out a long breath and tossed the ice ball into the trashcan, then looked at the ceiling. “Mom and Dad would have wanted to see you graduate. We owe it to them.”

I gulped through the knot forming in my throat. Mom and Dad. God, I wished they were here right now.

“How was the date?”

“Ugh.” Hopefully that was enough to let him know not to ask any more.

“That good, huh?” He rested his elbows on his knees. “So, what’s the scoop with Zip?”

“You mean Zach?”

He nodded. “You’re home an hour before curfew.”

“I could go back and stay out all night, if you’d rather me do that?”

“Jeez, Mandy, can’t you talk to me like a normal human and not be such a jerk?”

“Maybe if I
were
normal and human.”

“You know I hate it when you say that. You. Are. Human.”

“Oh. So, can you freeze things with your hands? Make ice baseballs? Bench press a motor home?”

He stood and raised his arms in surrender. “I don’t have the answers to any of that.” He shoved his hands in his hair and left them resting on the top of his head.

I flopped onto the softness of my bed and scrubbed my face. I didn’t know why I had these powers, how Mom got them, and the not knowing really pissed me off.

Mom’s scream echoed in my ears.

I hate what I am.

The bed sank next to me, and I peeked. Scott sat close. His head hung low. He hugged his stomach like he was cold. Matter of fact, he shivered, too. I sprang to my feet. An electric-blue layer of frost covered both of my arms. Scott’s breath plumed in front of his mouth like little white clouds. Reminded me of Minnesota in the dead of winter.

“Settle down, Mandy.”

“Easy for you to say.” I leaned my head into the palms of my hands. They were covered with frost, but they didn’t feel cold to me. I closed my eyes and focused on regulating my breathing. “I have no idea how to control this stuff.”

“Sure you do. You made a baseball earlier. And it’s already starting to warm up in here again.” He chuckled. “At least our air conditioning bill will be low in the summer. I hear they’re outrageous here in the desert.”

“Ha, ha.” It’s all funny to him because he doesn’t have to worry about freezing anyone to death by accident. Hell, my time of the month could be lethal. For him especially.

I walked to my dresser and dug out a hair tie from the top drawer. Maybe we should leave. What if I couldn’t fend the
Coats
off if they attack again?

The memory of the day they’d turned me into a killer slammed into me.

Two jerks towered over me, cloaked in white hospital garb. The chick had a bun on her head with her hair pulled back so tight, her amber eyes slanted. She clung to her precious clipboard like she would a lifejacket in the stormy ocean.

“Where am I? Where’s Scott?”

“Scott’s fine. It’s you we want to talk to.”

“Talk, my ass.” I lurched against the metal restraints again. “You want to dissect me.”

Knowing how to use my powers better would come in handy right about now so I could freeze these clamps.

“There will be no dissecting, Mandy,” the tight hair chick said.

“Tell that to my mom and dad.” Images of their bloody wrists and mangled bodies flashed before my eyes. “You and your damn white coats. You killed them.”

White puffs of air billowed from the two scientists’ mouths.

“Mandy.” The tall, balding guy reached for a little silver tray set beside me. “We just want to talk.”

More needles.

The restraints dug into my wrists as I thrashed again. “No. Let me go.” I screamed so loud, my throat went numb.

The woman stepped away from me. The lens of her glasses crackled with frost. “Hurry, Landon, she’s losing control.”

“Never had control, lady.”

A dull thud drummed at the base of my neck. My fingers iced over. Glistening white frost solidified the chair I was pinned to. It streamed down the legs and over the puke-green carpet toward the two standing in front of me.

The man stepped forward, needle primed and ready. I jerked my hand, snapping the restraints. The frost encasing the metal must have weakened it—or my strength was raging like the anger coursing through me.

I gripped his wrist. Bones crunched beneath the pressure of my fingers. He opened his mouth, but only one last cloud of white air came out as the rest of his body went rigid.

The scientist behind him screamed. I pointed my free hand in her direction, and ice encased her. Clipboard and all. I ripped the metal clamps off my other arm, waist, and legs, then leapt to my feet. The wires connected to me tugged at my skin. I yanked them off and tossed them to the floor.

I ran to the door and grabbed the handle but chanced one quick glance behind me. An inch of frost coated the small hotel room walls, and the two human ice sculptures glistened against the bathroom light spilling through the cracked door.

I’d killed them. At fifteen years old, I was a killer.

“Mandy?” Scott said. “Getting chilly in here again.”

Scott’s voice permeated my memory, but I couldn’t grab a coherent word to say. I squatted to the floor and sat crossed legged, holding my stomach. The
Coats
had turned me into a monster. I’d killed again today. If we stayed I’d have to kill again.