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Ice Storm
ALEX
“Alex!” Mom cried, rushing toward me.
The cold metal was removed from my head. One of Dad’s guards circled around me.
“My apologies, Alex,” he said, stuffing his firearm behind his back. “It was too dark to recognize you.”
I nodded, and when Mom reached me, I threw myself into her arms, crushing her against me. Her fingers combed through my hair, and she planted a kiss on my forehead.
“I thought you were hurt or, worse, dead,” I mumbled against her shoulder. “After seeing Dad attacked by Andy—”
“What did you say?” Uncle Henry asked as he strode quickly toward me. “Andy attacked Jax?” His focus shifted to Dax and it was then I realized how closely his name resembled Dad’s. “Who is this?”
“This is Dax,” I blurted, unraveling myself from Mom’s embrace. “He helped me get here unseen.”
Uncle Henry shook his head, and I knew I would hear about this later. “Forget it.” His gaze met mine. “For now. What happened to your dad?”
“Andy betrayed him. He knocked Dad over the head from behind, stopping him from saving the rest of our people.” I dropped the backpack onto the ground. “I loaded as many weapons as I could into the bag. We need to save all of them.” Dax leaned forward to peek inside, but I pushed him back.
“How many?” Uncle Henry asked. He held up one of the weapons, before sliding it against his lower back and securing it with the band of his trousers.
My thoughts traveled around the group, taking in their exhausted expressions. “Thirteen, I think. Plus Andy.” I grabbed Uncle Henry’s arm as he secured a few daggers onto his belt. “You are all tired. How do you expect to take them by surprise?”
“We don’t have a choice, Alex.” His hand covered mine, which was holding his arm. “Do you know why they have attacked us?”
“They want the cloaking device in the ship,” I replied, glancing at Dax who only stood a few feet away. “And I would not trust anyone at this point if they believe the device is that valuable.”
Now that I was safely with Mom and Uncle Henry, I realized how much I did not trust Dax. His people were looking to steal the cloaking device as well, and I intended to find out why. If anything happened to Dad, I would hold the charming rebel personally responsible.
“I knew cloaking our ship would draw others to us,” Uncle Henry mumbled under his breath. “All the old anaman ships in this dimension are either nonfunctional or barely usable. With the cloaking device, they could hide their whereabouts from one another and the more primitive establishments.”
My gaze met his, and he blinked several times as if a realization was bubbling around in his brain.
“If they want the cloaking device, then they want the ship as well.” He whirled around to look in the direction of our smaller ship, which was our only transportation to the larger ship in orbit. “Did you make sure the ship was secure before leaving?”
I gulped back a ball of dread, thinking back to when I flew out of the ship. Did the bay door close completely? My eyes were widening, and I could feel Henry’s sharp stare searing against my face.
“I think I did.” My voice was barely a whisper. I fiddled with the top of the dagger I had at some point pulled from its sheath against my hip. “What if I didn’t?”
A crimson flush was climbing up Uncle Henry’s neck, and his clenched jaw spoke volumes. What had I done?
Mom’s fingers settled over my fidgety hand and gave it a squeeze. “We will send a team back to the ship.” She looked pointedly at Uncle Henry, and her reassurance seemed to calm him, as his coloring returned. “We cannot waste any more time discussing this. We need to run off our attackers and shield our new home as soon as possible.”
I nodded fervently, as if this were the best plan ever. How they intended on accomplishing this feat seemed to be a point that did not need to be discussed in front of Dax. I trusted Mom and Uncle Henry with my life. They always found a way to fix what seemed to be impossible to overcome.
“Chance,” Henry called, waving at one of the other men from our group.
“Good choice,” Mom said as she pulled me in close. She whispered in my ear, “Stay close when we go after these people. You are my number one concern.”
“Should I return to the ship with the others?” I asked, hoping she would say yes. I did not care what Henry and Mom said. I was not capable of fighting others or being a hero in any capacity.
Mom smiled and shook her head. “No, this will be a good lesson for you. This dimension is far more volatile then we imagined. This area in particular seems to have the least evolved humans across the world that we know of so far.”
I sighed. Then why did they ask me to pick our new home? I eyed Uncle Henry giving Chance and a few others instructions on what they might expect when returning to our ship, and I wished I was going with them.
Mom’s hand cupped my chin and pulled my attention back to her. “This place is not all that bad.” Somehow, she was reading my mind. “The reports from our other ships around the globe state that human and anaman life is beginning to flourish and cities are being rebuilt, but there seems to be an amalgamated delay in the vegetation growth. Being here, where that is mostly what the local tribes rely on, will teach us about the missing link for the rest of the world.”
“Is that why the colors are dull?” I asked, pointing at the nearest tree. “The ridiculous amount of vegetation is a hundred times more than in my day, but the colors are muted as if they are not entirely thriving.”
“What do you mean ‘in your day’?” Dax stepped closer to me and Mom. It was clear he had been eavesdropping on our hushed conversation.
My eyes narrowed at his rude behavior. “None of your business, Dax.”
Mom squeezed my arm. “Chance is leaving for the ship. We need to prepare for our fight.” She raised her brows at Dax and then shot me a sideways look. “Take care of this.”
My shoulders sagged as she walked away. I knew what she wanted to me to say to Dax, but I was not ready for him to leave, even though he had this annoying habit of invading my space.
I waved at Dax and walked with him a few feet away from the others. “Will you help us save my Dad and the other people in my group?” I asked, folding my arms over my chest.
His cheeks lifted with his lop-sided smile, and those dimples surfaced again. He reached toward me and pulled my arms apart. “You are so closed off and tense. Take a deep breath, my phantom sorceress. It is safe to let others in to your heart center.”
I glanced down at my chest and then my eyes shot back up to meet his. “My heart center? What in the world, Dax? Will you or will you not help us save my people?” My annoyance was flaring, and his gibberish was frustrating.
He laughed, and I could not stop from slightly lifting the corners of my lips in response. The sound was so genuine, and the sparkle in his eyes enchanted me.
Get a grip, Alex.
“Yes, I will assist you, my fair lady.”
I grimaced at his ancient day reference to women. Who was this man? He was causing my emotions to spiral in ways I had never experienced before.
“Let’s go,” Henry said, beckoning for me to follow.
I gave Dax one more pointed look and hurried after Uncle Henry, with this new mystery man on my heels. We crept past my parent’s half-built home, which stood on the edge of our town, then we made our way down the darkened path, pausing next to each home as we drew closer to the center.
I could hear voices as we closed in. A man screamed obscenities at the top of his lungs. He was not afraid to be found, but then he probably believed there was no one near enough who would save my people. They obviously did not do their homework.
Dax stood uncomfortably close to me, with his hand resting on the small of my back. I threw him a dirty look, but he just winked in return. I stepped closer to Mom. He followed suit. Rolling my eyes, I tried to ignore the tingly feeling of enjoyment from the attention he was giving me. And the nickname he had picked for me wasn’t so bad either.
Ugh. I am ridiculous, I scolded myself.
The shouting quieted, and Uncle Henry waved at everyone to separate into three groups. One to stay here, the other two to circle around from opposite directions and close in from the sides. I breathed a sigh of relief when Mom stayed put and motioned for me to remain with her. Dax followed after me, but Uncle Henry dragged him in the opposite direction.
“You can join my team,” I heard Uncle Henry whisper to Dax. “That way I can keep an eye on you.”
Dax just grinned, then turned and blew me a kiss. There were so many reasons he was driving me crazy, and most of them were in his favor. He was growing on me every second I was around him.
I watched them leave, a little disappointed Dax was no longer my guardian.
“Are you ready?” Mom asked, tugging me closer to her.
We settled behind the others crouching next to the squat structure.
I shuffled my feet, kicking loose the dirt underneath them. “Not really, but I am not leaving your side, so you don’t have to worry.”
She nodded, then patted one of the weapons sheathed under my arm. “You’ve got this, Alex. I believe in you, and so does Dad.”
She had a way of calming my fears. I was not skilled to fight, but seeing her confidence in my abilities was stirring a desire to learn. I did not want to let my parents down.
One of the women near the head of our team waved at us to follow her. I leaned down and crept past the home, drawing in a shaky breath to drown out my pulse pounding in my ears. Mom glanced over at me and smiled, then nodded toward my weapons.
I pulled out the two that were nestled next to my arms and held them in front of me. Cursing under my breath for not listening to Dad when he’d shown me how to use these when we were orbiting Earth, I really hoped those green buttons were the only trigger needed to make them function.
We moved past a few towering trees and pressed our backs against another home. Dad was now lying on his stomach, and the anaman had his foot pressed into his neck. Andy stood a few feet away, with his weapon trained on Dad. My stomach churned with fury, and it took all my self-control to hold myself back. Forget my nonexistent training. I was going to throttle Andy with my bare hands.
The rest of the attackers surrounded Dad, with our other people kneeling near Andy. Their fingers were laced behind their heads, clearly in discomfort from their long-standing hostage situation. A few had tears streaming down their faces, while others looked exhausted, angry, or both.
Eshah was nowhere to be seen. My heart ached. Where had they taken her body?
I heard something thud to the ground, and my gaze shot over to the intruder on the farthest end. He was flat on his face. Then another followed him. The anaman looked up in horror as the entire group burst into chaos. Cretin, another anaman from our group, jumped up from his knees and smashed his fist into Andy’s face, then yanked his weapon from his grasp. Suddenly the entire scene was awake with blasts from firearms and shouts to run.
The anaman who was standing on Dad hauled him up from the ground and strangled him from behind as he pulled him away from the fight. The anaman was whispering in Dad’s ear as they shifted down the pathway. I yelped and pointed, but everyone else was in the action already.
I glanced around frantically, searching for someone to help me, but everyone was engaged in their own battles. A rising ball of terror made it nearly impossible to breathe. My hands shook as I pointed the weapons at the anaman holding Dad, but they shook so hard, I could not take the shot. My arms dropped to my sides in defeat.
An energy burst inside my chest, and I straightened with a chill that rushed through my veins. My eyes bored into the anaman and I rushed forward, pointing my weapons at the dirt. I did not want to accidently shoot Dad or someone I cared about. From the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of movement, then suddenly Dax was sprinting in front of me. The anaman saw us approaching and yanked Dad in front of him. He was going to escape if I did not run faster.
Without another thought, I flew by Dax, bounded into the air, and flipped over both Dad and the anaman who held him hostage, then landed like a cat on the other side. I whirled around, tucked my weapons back into their holsters, grabbed the stunned anaman by the neck, and tossed him to the side like a ragdoll. Dad sucked in a lungful of air, while Dax stood frozen where I had left him in my wake.
I was fairly certain his stunned expression matched mine.
“Alex!” Dad yelled. “Look out.”
I ducked just as the anaman’s fist breezed above me. Kicking out, I struck him in the calf, then swiped over and knocked him on his back. A flash of chilling ice filled within my chest, and suddenly the anaman was shivering, his lips as blue as my eyes.
I could not move. What had just happened?
The anaman pried his leg from what looked like a frozen puddle on the ground and leapt to his feet, shot me an icy look of disdain, and bolted into the darkened woods.
“Wow!” Dax exclaimed. He raced to me and helped me off the ground. “Your moves, my phantom sorceress! The ice storm you created was a nice touch, and where did you learn to fight and flip like that?”
I glanced at Dad over Dax’s shoulder. He was stooped over with his hands pressed in his knees, but his gaze locked on to mine. He was grinning from ear to ear.
“Beginner’s luck, I guess.” I shrugged my shoulders and pushed past Dax, running into Dad’s arms.
“Way to go, baby girl,” Dad whispered in my ear. His large hand swept down my hair, then he squeezed me tight. “I knew you had it in you. You will have to fill me in on that handy ice trick.”
“But I don’t know how I did it,” I replied, leaning back to look him in the eyes. “The adrenaline came out of thin air, as well as the freezing sensation. I didn’t mean to do whatever I did. Why are these abilities so difficult for me?”
“You will learn. Be patient with yourself.” Dad kissed the top of my head.
We turned around. Two of the invaders were lying dead, and one was captured as well was Andy, but the others had escaped.
“Jax. Henry. Adina. Anyone?” Someone called over our coms.
We all stopped and lifted our arms in unison, but Mom spoke first.
“We are here, Chance. What is it?” she asked as she sprinted toward me and Dad.
“The ship has been ransacked,” Chance blurted. “The cloaking device is gone, and it looked like they attempted to hijack the entire ship. We need you all to return now.”
I glanced at where Dax had been standing, but he was gone. My gaze traveled around the area, searching for his face. My heart sank into my stomach. He really had played me. This entire act had been a charade to keep me busy and away from the ship while his friends stole the cloaking device and whatever else they could get their hands on.
Once again, I was the naïve one. Uncle Henry’s shoulders sagged, and exhaustion spread down his face. This was my fault, and I had to find a way to fix it.
