Novel & Cerita Thin Ice

Mouths slightly open. Frozen.

He had been flash-frozen to near absolute zero in a microsecond. I pulled harder. The cold expanded. It moved out from me in a silent, invisible sphere. Where it touched the floor, the stone cracked. Where it touched the air, the oxygen turned to liquid and rained down as blue droplets. And where it touched the enemy, they died. Hundreds of them froze mid-stride. They became statues of ice and bone. Then, under the stress of their own weight, they crumbled. It sounded like a chandelier falling from the ceiling a cascading, tinkling crash of shattering matter.

I smiled at the memories. Once I punched one of these motherfuckers and broke his nose. He cried like a little bitch. Unbeatable, my ass. Coach paused, eyes narrowing on a few of the guys who were still talking. "And I don't want to hear any of you giving them a hard time. They're here now, and we don't need to start any shit. Got it?" I nodded slightly, catching the gaze of a few teammates who were looking for my reaction. "Yeah, Coach, no problem. As long as none of those hockey jerks show up, we'll play nice."

"No treat?" He gave a long, slow shrug. "Should I expect one?" He turned around immediately. "See no. Just focus and watch me make you eat my dust." I skated a few laps, testing the ice, the glide, the sharpness of my turns. And damn, it was perfect. I glanced back at Tristan, who watched from the sidelines, arms crossed, his expression amused. "Not bad," I announced, gliding down and stopping right in front of him. "Makes it better that no one can hear us."

The northern lights exploded across the dark sky just as Kane and Elias stepped onto the frozen lake, painting everything in wild green and purple. "After everything we have seen, this still takes my breath away," Kane said, lacing his skates fast. Elias stood up and tested the ice. "Same here. This trip feels right. Just us, the lights, and old friends coming soon. Time to look back at it all." They pushed off together, blades cutting sharp into the quiet. The cold air bit but their moves stayed smooth after years of practice. Old teammates started showing up one by one, calling out hellos as they joined the ice.

It hadn’t felt that cold earlier. Laying my head back against the window, I couldn’t even feel excited about the snow. It was my favorite but all I could do was close my eyes and wish that everything would just go away. ‘Winter, don’t give up. Wake up. Stay strong. Please. He’s coming, Winter. Don’t worry, he’s coming for you.’

I get up, pull on gear without fully deciding to and walk to the rink. The ice at five-forty in the morning is a specific thing. The lights on half-power, the refrigeration hum, the cold that hits your face at the entrance and reminds you immediately that this is a real place and you are a real person in it. I lace up alone on the bench, no rush, nobody waiting, just the sound of the empty building around me. I step onto the ice.

“Get changed and meet me on the rink, let's have a warm up before the coach gets here.” The moment I stepped on the ice, the familiar feeling hit me. I pushed forward, my skates kissing the ice as I moved around to explore. This rink was new, since the old one was abandoned due to faulty buildings. My teammates joined me as we did our usual drills on the ice, the sun was already setting and our new coach who was allegedly a competitive player according to Jordan was nowhere to be seen.

There are two sides to every story, but everyone only listens to the heroines. Maybe that’s why I hated fairy tales growing up. My name is Ava Prescott. I’m the girl everyone loves to hate but secretly wants to be. I was from one of the richest families in Rivers City, captain of the cheer team, spoiled, popular, influential, worshipped, and dating the captain of our school hockey team, well, until the so-called heroine snatched my man and made me the butt of everyone’s joke. Well, it's not too late for me. I am Ava Prescott. I never lose. Maybe that’s why when Zane, captain of our sworn rival hockey team, dangled a juicy bait in front of me, I was quick to bite. How better to get back at my

His cousin and best friend, Sirius Blackheart snapped. Axel did momentarily, turning to him and saying "Could you not exist?" The male shrugged, his gold eyes glowing as he smirked "I try, but even the goddess likes admiring me" Axel rolled his eyes and looked back outside the window "It's so hot" "Axel" A low voice said next to him, her eyes on him "It's snowing" "Well it's not cold" Axel replied, turning to her "How do the wolves here survive?"