Golden Eyes

Chapter 12

Alice POV

Ryan wakes me up at around 5:00, and I have a breakfast sandwich. After breakfast, I go into the woods to change.

We set out again, like every other day. After a few hours of trekking, we take a rest break. I sit on a log and take out my water bottle and a granola bar. I take 2 bites of the granola bar and a few sips of the water.

Trevor takes out the map and says, "It should be right here."

"You mean, close?" Kelsey asks.

"Well, you could say that. If you meant a few feet close."

"Maybe it's in the woods somewhere," I offer.

"That might be hard to find," Ryan says.

"Well, we might as well start looking," Trevor says.

We split up and start looking. I look everywhere, up, down, side to side, but no luck. I'm about to give up, but then I notice something. A small part of the ground, just about 5 square feet, is covered in frost. This is unusual, since it is warm outside and there is no frost anywhere else.

I walk closer and kneel, studying it. Just as I'm about to call out for the others, the ground collapses. I scream as I fall onto something that resembles a man made slide. I keep sliding for a little while before coming out into a huge cave.

I stand up and look around. The cave is made completely out of ice. It is very large and vast, with ice stalactites hanging from high ceilings, and ice stalagmites popping up out of the ground. Surprisingly, it isn't as cold as you think it would be.

"Alice!" I hear someone yell.

"I'm fine!" I reply. "I think you should see this!"

A minute later Kelsey pops out of the slide, then Trevor, then Ryan. We all stare in awe at the cave surrounding us.

"We should probably look around," Ryan says.

We start walking down a small incline, weaving through the ice. It's a little slippery, but we manage to keep our grip. After awhile of walking, we come upon a small tunnel. We notice a small light at the end, so we start walking through. We emerge into another cave, but this one is different. The stalagmites and stalactites have been removed, the floor has been mostly evened, and a little ways ahead of us there is a throne made out of ice.

"What is that?" Trevor asks.

"I don't know, but I get the feeling we might not be alone after all," Ryan answers.

"You're right!" A voice suddenly booms. It is fairly low, but it also sounds female. It shakes the entire room.

Ice monsters start emerging from nowhere, which causes us to get into fighting stances.

The voice laughs, sending shivers down my spine. "Not so fast!"

"What?" Kelsey asks.

"Uh guys?" Ryan says.

I look back at him. He is looking at his feet. I follow his gaze, and my eyes widen in horror. He is slowly turning into ice. It's not like he's being coated in ice, it's like his body is becoming ice.

We try to stop it, but nothing works. Pretty soon, he's entirely ice.

"No!" We yell in unison.

The voice laughs again, snapping my attention back to it. "What did you do!" I yell.

"We'll it's simple. His body has more water in it than anybody else, therefore he's easy to freeze. Now, enough with the small talk. Attack!" A gem is embedded in the throne above the bat queen.