On Thin Ice Novels & Stories

The day before the Qualifier, the rink was freezing, as always, but the tension in the air made it feel even colder. Elias glided across the ice, his blades carving sharp, precise arcs as he ran through his short program for the third time that morning. His breath formed clouds in the chill, but his body moved with fluid precision, each spin, each jump landing clean.

Like we were both afraid of stepping on thin ice and hearing it crack. I turned off my light but sleep didn’t come easy. The season was just beginning, and already it felt like we were playing two different games on the same rink.

"Good. Because I'm not planning on letting you go again until it's time for that plane." Before she can respond, he sweeps her off her feet, her glass clattering onto the counter as he carries her toward the bedroom, his eyes promising a night that would burn far hotter than any victory. Inside, the moon is a voyeuristic spectator, hanging like an oversized bulb in the Toronto sky, casting a silver glow over the bed. Elias pulls a single cube of ice from the glass. Without a word, he pops it into his mouth. The shock of the cold is instantaneous, numbing his tongue as he rolls it against the roof of his mouth, preparing himself for a different kind of game.

He’s watching me, and the hallway tightens around that fact. It occurs to me now that we've spent ten years on the ice, and we’ve never once been alone like this. There have always been buffers – crowds, team members, noise, motion. Now there’s nothing between us but heat and whatever this pressure is that's started to coil dark and strong in my gut. His eyes move over me slowly. Not scanning, not judging. Taking me apart.

It felt like standing at the edge of a frozen lake. Beautiful and Terrifying. One wrong step, and everything could shatter. “Don’t hope too much, Toby,” I whispered into the darkness. My heart ignored me. It already has.

“Doesn’t sound like I have much of a choice, so let’s do it, just one problem though my ears aren’t pierced, so your tracker is useless,” “Then we will have to fix that, won’t we,” Allie squeals, and I get scared. “Ok, I need some square ice, a sterilized needle, and some alcohol of both kinds,” She ordered. Liam runs to get the needle and starts sterilizing it while Melanie gets the alcohol. “Here you go,” She laughs. “Rubbing alcohol for your ears while the tequila will help you to relax so have a shot,” Liam comes back with the needle and hands it to Allie who tosses it into a small bowl filled

The Pacific Technocracy did not bring Avery Vane-Thorne to the Antarctic as a guest, but as a "Biological-Key." The fleet of titanium-clad icebreakers cut through the frozen Weddell Sea, moving toward a coordinate that existed on no map—a point where the ice was four kilometers thick and the temperature hovered at a "Standard-Absolute" that even the Sombra-spores couldn't penetrate.

However, before long, they begin to thin, until we have to separate enough to continue to remain undetected. ‘Up ahead.’ I announce through mindlink with my group. ‘There’s an opening.’ By this point, the earth beneath our paws was covered in ice, and the wind above was picking up. Soon, the snow would fall, and when it got really bad, we'd be left with little to no visibility. Quickening my pace, I move ahead of the group and begin to extend my senses further, searching for a hole in the aura that the Glacies produces. At first, I found myself coming up empty until I reach further into the mountains.

The Frozen Chukchi Sea. The Ice Bridge. 2:30 PM. The engines of the snowmobiles screamed like banshees against the howling wind. Jack rode the lead machine, towing Dr. Braun on the sled. Braun was clutching the sides, screaming words that were lost in the roar. Sebastian rode the second machine, with Harper clinging to his waist, facing backward, the AS Val rifle in her hands. The "Ice Bridge" wasn't a road. It was a jagged, shifting spine of frozen seawater, barely ten meters wide in some places. On either side, the black ocean churned, waiting to swallow them.

"There's been a new development. I'm going to leave it at that, Kat." He shifted uncomfortably in the driver's seat. His reaction was a bit strange but I decided not to pry. I was nervous as hell walking on ice, but everyone assured me the ice was very thick. There were shanties all over some were pretty far out where the ice could potentially be thinner. I was sure to stay far away from those. Other than the ice fishing there were some events like snowshoeing and ice skating on a secluded area of the lake. I was relieved because watching people cut holes into ice and waiting for fish to bite sounded extremely boring.