7

Ayla

“Snow, baby, can you hear me? It’s Mommy,” I said and inched closer.

“What the hell is that?” I heard someone yell in the distance and groaned.

I turned around to see Stacy staring at the storm, wide-eyed. “Snow is in the ice,” Leo said innocently and pointed at me.

I locked eyes with Stacy, and I could see the exact moment she panicked, then bolted out of the courtyard before I could say anything. “Shit,” I muttered, turning back to Snow.

“Snow, you’ve got to calm down, please,” I said gently and moved towards the ice with hurried steps.

I placed my palms on the solid ice she was encased in, then knocked gently. Snowflakes swirled all around me, and more ice crept onto the walls, and my teeth chattered from the cold, but I kept knocking until she raised her head and looked at me.

“Mom,” she said with an outstretched hand.

“Hi,” I said, placing my palm back on the ice, and she placed hers on the other side.

“The bad guys got to us, Mommy,” she muttered, and my heart sank as a lone tear streaked down her face.

“They did. They did, but we got away, Snow,” I said, forcing a smile onto my face. “Don’t cry, we’re safe now.”

She wiped the tear and stepped backwards; Steam curled from the melting ice as the storm around us gradually settled. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

I stepped forward, grabbed her hand, and squeezed gently. “You’ve done nothing wrong, baby. Let’s go,” I urged.

“Ragnar!” I heard Stacy yell as she ran down the hallway. “Ragnar, something’s wrong!”

“Come,” I said to Snow and pulled her out of the ice. We walked towards the door, and I grabbed Leo’s hand.

I heard the sound of feet shuffling in the distance as Emily’s shrill voice rang throughout the hallway. “There’s a storm in the courtyard? What are you talking about?!”

“I saw... I saw,” Stacy stammered. “Oh, just follow me. Hurry!”

The kids and I walked through the door and bumped into them in the hallway. “You!” Stacy gasped and pointed at Snow, who whimpered and hid behind me. “She was in the middle of the storm!”

“What?” Emily stepped forward, eyeing Snow suspiciously. “What happened in there?” She glanced towards the door leading to the courtyard, then looked at me.

Ragnar stared at the scene before him, and I could see him trying to find the best way to diffuse the tension. “Excuse me,” I muttered and walked past the three of them.

The kids trudged behind me, trying to match my stride as we moved towards the bedroom. “Come back here this instant and explain yourself!” Emily yelled and stomped her feet. “Ragnar, do something!”

I heard Ragnar grunt and follow us towards the bedroom. I arrived at the door first, pushed the children inside, and shut it.

“Ayla!” he called out.

“I’m, I’m sorry about that,” I said as he arrived at the door and stared at me in confusion.

“You’re sorry? What? What was that?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted with a slight shrug.

“You don’t know? Stacy said she saw your daughter making a snowstorm in the courtyard, and you don’t know? Can I talk to her?”

“No,” I said, immediately blocking the entrance with my body. “Leave her alone; I’ll talk to her first. This has never happened before; I think something triggered it. She was upset.”

“She was upset?” he repeated and chuckled. “A five-year-old is supposed to get upset and throw a tantrum, not make a snowstorm... how did she do that?”

“I don’t know, Ragnar. As I said, it’s never happened before. I’ll talk to her.”

He nodded and walked back to the hallway. I ran my hands through my hair and sighed. We had barely made it through the day without getting attention; I didn’t want to think about what the rest of our stay here would be.

Leo and Snow’s powers were manifesting rapidly, and our lives were changing at the same rate. I wasn’t sure how to handle everything, but I knew I had to find a way.

Whatever was happening now started during their birth; the moon goddess had appeared to me in the cave, and she helped me through the delivery.

But as her hands touched me, I felt something within me shift, like something had been unlocked, and since then, I’ve felt different.

Leo and Snow were touched by her too; that night, they inherited whatever was passed down from the goddess to me, and now they were manifesting traits for which no one had any explanations for.

I had carried this visit from the goddess as a secret for five years, but perhaps it was time to talk about it. I needed to speak to the worshippers of the moon; they might have an answer to my questions.

I turned around and held onto the doorknob for a moment, wondering how I was going to reassure my children that they were safe after everything we had encountered on the way here. I put on a smile and pushed the door open.

“Mom, is the big wolf mad at us?” Leo asked as I walked through the door. They had been standing together, holding hands and staring at the door with frightened eyes.

“Who? Ragnar?” I asked with a smile, closed the door, and knelt to pull them into a hug. “No, he’s just really concerned. Are you okay, Snow?”

She pulled away and nodded. “I feel better now. I was just sad that the bad guys got to us in the woods. Stacy showed me…”

“Stacy showed you what?” I probed, but she shook her head.

“I won’t do it again, Mommy,” she replied, and I smiled.

“I don’t think it’s something you can really control right now, Snow, but you can try,” I encouraged, and she nodded.

I flinched as someone knocked on the door and pointed to the bed. “Lie down; I’ll be back.”