Frozen Fear Book. 2

❅ Chapter 4 ❅

Her plan was simple, she claimed. She'd use the tiny potted plant that she left at the other end of the hall, and use her magic on it. She told me we'd use that to climb down.

"How do you expect a plant the size of your skull to help us climb down eleven stories?"

She scuffed, turning her back on me to go fetch said plant. "You need to have more faith in me."

I rolled my eyes, leaning against the window seal for some balance, watching her make her way down the hall. I dropped the cane by my dorm room door, and I was too tired to go fetch it. How I was going to climb down eleven stories, on a plant, was still a mystery to me.

My leg was still festering, and I wrenched up my pant leg to get a look at the bandages underneath. The white was stained with dark red blotches, the blood soaking through, and I almost groaned in physical and emotional pain. Could nothing go right? The blood seeping through the material was just a reminder of what I'd done - my failure. A dark red stain on my soul.

I hadn't seen Sebastian since we arrived, nor did I really want to. It was too painful to look at him and see no one home, or at least no one I knew behind he topaz gaze.

When Nicola returned with her small plant, she looked down at my leg. "I thought you said it was fine?"

I shoved my pant leg down, a deep resolve growing in the bit of my stomach a scarlet blush blooming on my cheeks. Screw it. I was going to get out of here, retrieve Sebastian's memories, find Foster, and help my people. And I wasn't going to let a stupid leg wound and a little blood get in the way of that. "It is."

Nicola rolled her eyes. "You should've told me before I went ape on those guards."

"Are you kidding me? I had no idea you were going to go ape on anybody, either wise I would've told you to wait a little while I healed."

Nic shrugged her small shoulders. "Well shit's about to hit the fan if we don't go. Now."

I nodded, tired of arguing. "Fine."

"Open the window while I encourage the plant to grow." I did as I told, but stopped to stare when I saw Nicola bend down and kneel in front of the plant as if it was a child being bullied and needed comforting. She stroked one of its dark green leaves, and I could've sworn I saw the plant shudder under her touch, perplexed. Like a snail emerging from its shell, it slowly began to grow.

Dark green vines twisted from the pot, twining towards the open window slowly, like a hair coiling into a braid. And the stems that protruded from its core actually got thicker and wound around each other like a thick, leathery rope.

"How'd you do that?" I asked, unable to hide the awe from my voice.

Nicola gave me a sheepish smile, her mossy eyes twinkling. "Now what's the fun in that? Some things should stay a secret." She winked at me.

While the plant was still growing, something flickered behind my eyes. A memory, maybe, but it made me stumble back, clenching at my temples.

Nic was there to catch me, her eyes round with worry. "Eve, what's wrong?"

Then the pain started, a deep ache that radiated from behind my eyes, deep inside my mind. "I'm not sure," I grunted out.

"Do you need to sit down?"

"I think I need -" but I couldn't finish my sentence. Instead, an earsplitting shriek erupted from somewhere inside me. It was the worse sound I'd ever encountered, like a thousand nails on a chalkboard, or hundreds of seven-year-olds screaming at the top of their lungs. The ringing sound felt as if it was splitting my skull open with white hot intensity.