ICE (The Benders Series) (20 page)

And so Kenna went to bed feeling satisfied but also incomplete.

She lay there restless, happy that she got see Jon again, but sad that she was constantly butting heads with the man she’d been closest to for her entire life. Knowing that such thoughts were sure to keep her awake, Kenna tiptoed down the hall and toward her father’s room.

Before she could tap at the door, it flung open, and he stood directly in front of her. Her lips parted as she began to speak, but her father grabbed her and pulled her into a hug before she could get the words out.

“Can we just not worry about it for now?” he asked as he held her. “Can we go back to us for the moment?” Kenna nodded as she squeezed him. “Good, then we both can sleep.”

She smiled as she released him and walked back to her room. When she fell back into bed, she found herself unexpectedly comfortable as she fell into a deep sleep…

But a brief deep sleep.

Kenna’s eyes shot open as she heard what she thought was a loud thud from the floor below her. She still rested there, wondering if the sound had come from her dream or if she’d actually heard something.

Her hair began to stand on end, and an anxious feeling began to build in her gut as she waited.

But nothing.

Though it was quiet, she couldn’t help but feel very nervous and even afraid. Her eyes wouldn’t close, and no matter how many times she told herself she was fine, she couldn’t help but feel that she wasn’t. Finally, using all her will power, Kenna closed her eyes.

Just when she thought she might have been relaxing, the girl heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

It’s just your dad
, she told herself as she controlled her urge to get up and investigate.

Despite her fear, Kenna called out, “Dad?”

When there was no answer as the footsteps quickened, she felt her stomach tighten, and skin begin to swarm with goosebumps.

It wasn’t her dad.

She shot out of her bed and sprinted silently across the room and behind her door.

The footsteps got closer.

And closer.

All of a sudden, her door began to creak open. As an instinct, Kenna snatched one of the figurines off her dresser and held it tightly. It was the only weapon she had.

A large man began to appear from behind the door. Though his back was to the girl, Kenna knew he was looking intently at her bed… looking for her.

The girl held her breath as she wielded the make-shift armament and took half a baby step toward the man. Then, as quickly and strongly as possible, she swung the figurine over the man’s head. But apparently, the move wasn’t strong enough to make the man react much more than a slight flinch.

He swung himself around to face her. She was staring into dark, evil, glinting eyes that clearly had no good intentions.

She dropped her weapon in shock, and her jaw went slack when she realized who he was.

Just as she began to scream, the man reached out an arm and a damp cloth covered her face.

Kenna was only able to fight the wetness for a moment before her surroundings went black.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Fluttering.

Kenna’s eyes didn’t immediately open. Instead, her eyelids seem to seizure until finally she was able to keep herself steadily awake.

Initially, everything was dark. And the little light that she saw was only blurred shadows. She wondered if she was dreaming or if the events she was beginning to remember had actually taken place. When the girl tried to move, she quickly realized that she was in no dream. She was sitting on a hard wooden chair with her arms and torso tied tightly to it. In an act of resilience, she jerked herself forward. The move was strong enough to knock the chair off balance as she came to a hard fall on a dusty hardwood floor.

Kenna winced as her arm hit the ground. Being jammed between the chair and the floor, she could feel the limb beginning to swell and bruise as it lay helplessly. She tried to jerk herself and the chair toward the light, though she was still a bit dazed and unmethodical in her escape plans.

“Ah, so you are awake then?”

Kenna recognized the voice but couldn’t believe who she was hearing. She glanced up from her sideways position to see a dark figure step into the room from what must have been a doorway.

She blinked her eyes hard, doing everything she could to get them to focus. But before her sharp vision could return, the figure approached her and set her chair back up on its four legs.

Kenna blinked again. Some of the room was beginning to become clearer. Wherever she was, it was damp and warm. The plaster walls were full of large holes that revealed the inner wooden and cement workings of the room. There was no furniture, just her little kitchen chair. There were no frames on the walls, no clocks, and no decorations. If there was a window, she couldn’t see it, and she couldn’t feel or taste and fresh air if it did indeed creep into the moldy room.

“That’s better.” The voice was conceited and strong as its master relinquished his grasps of the lowly chair.

Suddenly, the figure came into view and into perfect focus. Standing before her was a tall, large man. His hair was dark and the blackness of the room made the contours of his face spell out his identity. The built and muscular man wore a devilish grin, and his arms sat relaxed and proud at his sides.

“Uncle Ray?” Kenna heard herself ask. Though, at this point, it was obvious to her that he was her kidnapper, she couldn’t fight off her instincts to play dumb. “Uncle help me! Untie me!”

Kenna jerked around frantically for a moment as her breathing began to quicken and the panic began to set in.

The man just laughed. He laughed loudly at the girl as she made a brief struggle.

Adrenaline was shooting through every cell of Kenna’s body as she fought the ropes and fought her little prison. But with every move, her uncle’s cackles grew louder and more frightening.

“You know,” he started to say. Kenna immediately stopped and found herself staring into the man’s dark, cold eyes. “If you could actually bend, you’d have no problem releasing yourself from those ropes.”

Kenna felt herself glaring as her eyebrows drooped and her chin fell to rest on her chest.

She didn’t know what to do or what to say. Whatever was happening was beyond her knowledge, and she knew it. “I don’t understand,” Kenna choked. Each controlled word being strangled by her not-so-hidden rage.

At this, the man stopped laughing and came to a squat directly in front of his hostage so that his face was only a foot from hers.

Kenna had never felt such a loathing as this before. She was staring straight into a dark, evil abyss, the man’s eyes exactifying his malice and wickedness. His dark brown hair seemed black along with the bits of facial hair that covered his strong chin. Kenna supposed the black suited him better, though she could see that his soul was even darker than a complete absence of light.

The few memories she had of the man were not pleasant. He always seemed annoyed with Kenna and more concerned with her father and his business, a business they had been in together for quite some time. The girl couldn’t help but feel that the man had an unfair spitefulness towards her. And obviously, the current situation made those feelings feel completely justified.

“I’m sorry that it has to be you,” he replied with fake sympathy. “It’s all your father’s fault really.”

Kenna wished that looks could indeed kill as she knew her glare surely would have gotten the job done.

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” she said, still maintaining some control. “Just let me go. We can both walk away from this.”

At this, her uncle let out another loud and maniacal laugh.

“Oh, naive little Kenna. There are consequences to fraternizing with putrid ice benders,” he shot back at her after his laughter had faded.

“What are you talking about? I’m not with an ice bender,” Kenna lied quickly, feeling the panic returning. Her gut started to tighten, and every muscle began to clench as she began to worry about where the conversation was headed.

“So you have no ties to the Colewells? Jon Colewell? Then you won’t be too upset after what happens tonight,” he boasted, clearly unconvinced by her lie.

Kenna swallowed hard, yet again at a loss for words. Her hands began to scramble behind her as she prayed that perhaps she might undo the bonds that held her there.

Her uncle immediately noticed as a wide grin came across his face. “Like I said, if you could bend, you’d have been out of there in no time,” he tormented as he stood there as watched her as she began to struggle more. “It really is your father’s fault though,” he repeated.

Kenna stopped and glared at the man once more. “Shut up! You don’t even know my father! Let me out of here now!”

Though she didn’t think it was possible, his smile widened even further at her hollering. “No, Kenna,
you
don’t know your father. You don’t know what he’s done, you don’t know what he would still be doing if you were an elementalist.”

“What are you talking about?” Kenna breathed angrily.

“I’ll let you figure that out. That’s for your father to tell you… well… if you make it out of this burning building that it,” he said in the same evil tone that he’d been speaking with for the entire night.

Kenna immediately glanced around the room. From what she could see, there was no fire and no smoke, but she had a feeling that wouldn’t be the case for long.

Stall,
she heard a voice in her head saying.
Stall, someone will find you before he sets the house on fire. Just stall.

“No, tell me,” she heard herself say. “I need to know what he’s done, if what I’ve heard is true.” Clearly her uncle had issues with her father, and she had to do whatever possible to get out every last detail and save every last second.

“That’s between to you and that scoundrel,” the man said again.

“No,” Kenna argued. “I deserve to know. And I deserve to know what the problem is with ice benders. If I’m going to be burned alive, I should at least know why.”

Her uncle folded his arms across his large chest and raised one eyebrow as if to think. “Your father. He’s a lot of things. But mostly he’s a deserter. You don’t just leave the world of bending after you’ve been leading it for so long.”

So he was at the top of the chain
, the voice in her head said again.
So Jon was right.

“And what about ice benders? Do you really think that I like them any more than you do?” she shot back, thinking that maybe joining forces for pretend might stall things a bit longer.

For the umpteenth time, her statement was met with the sound of her uncle’s laughter.

“Oh, I would say that you like ice benders a whole lot more than I do.  Aren’t you dating Jon Colewell after all? That raging, frosty beast? Haven’t you even kissed that scum?” he interrogated as he put his face right up near hers again.

Kenna swallowed her rage. “That was all a mistake. He tried to rape me, even kill me. I would never go near that boy again. That’s been done and over for quite some time,” Kenna said with clenched teeth and tightened jaw.

The man backed away for a moment. “Really, now?” he replied sarcastically. He then reached into a pant pocket and pulled out what Kenna recognized to be her cell phone.

Shit
, her internal voice whispered in her ear.

“Yes,” she confirmed in an attempt to maintain her composure. “I have nothing to do with the Colewells.”

The man’s eyes twinkled at her response. “So I suppose if I give Jon a call, he wouldn’t come barreling to your rescue. I mean, if you two are truly over, he wouldn’t consider risking his life to save you from a burning building, would he?”

“I don’t even have his number,” she rebutted quickly. “I deleted it a long time ago. I told you, I’m not associated with Jon anymore.”

Her uncle continued to smile. “Oh Kenna, like I don’t know that Jon doesn’t carry a cell phone. His mother doesn’t either. It’s one of the reasons that they are particularly difficult to track,” he pointed out matter-of-factly. “But if I just scroll through your recent calls, I’m sure I can find a number to reach him by.”

“You’ll never even get into my phone without the password,” Kenna mumbled angrily as the man continued to outsmart her.

Her uncle then shot his eyes back on her. “You know, I could torture the password out of you. In fact, I could do whatever I want to you, you ignorant girl. So maybe you should keep your smart mouth shut for a moment, after all, I have a phone call to make.”

“He won’t come. It’s a waste of time. And you can’t get into my phone. Give it up,” she rebutted, her filter losing its control as the conversation continued.

Finally, Kenna seemed to get a little emotion out of the man. His arrogant smile faded, and he frowned very severely at her as he approached her chair. Before he could say anything, he shot his arm out and tightly grasped her leg. Kenna immediately felt the heat of his clutches as he squeezed her calve.

She suddenly let out an agonizing scream as she felt her skin begin to burn within his harsh grip. Unable to control herself as the pain began to overwhelm her, she continued to cry out and wriggle around in an attempt to free her leg from his flaming hand. But he continued to hold her leg as smoke began to form from where her skin was sizzling and burning.

Finally, when she thought she might pass out from the pain, he released her leg. Kenna’s hollers continued as tears made their way out of her eyes. The girl could not even tell that the man had freed her leg as the pain was too intense and powerful to allow processed thought.

“That will teach you to run your mouth!” he shouted back at her. Kenna, of course, had not registered his words as she continued to writhe within the ropes that held her there. “Now,” he continued. “I already know how to access your phone. I don’t need any help from a pathetic child such as yourself.”

Kenna began to come around a little as the insult broke through her physical pain and brought her back to the situation at hand.

“He won’t come,” she managed as her sobs and screams began to temper, and the adrenaline began to mask the pain.

The man let out a laugh as Kenna observed him through the tears. She lifted her head to see that he was scrolling through her phone.

“Calling Bryce,” he said conceitedly. “That’s the youngest one right?” he asked as he put the phone to his ear. “I suppose this world would do good with one less ice moiety. But he’s nothing compared to Jon or Elisa.” He ranted as he waited for an answer.

Please don’t answer
, Kenna heard herself praying.
Please, Bryce, don’t answer.

“Yes, is this Bryce?” Her uncle’s voice had suddenly become very normal and non-malicious sounding. He had turned his back to the girl as her eyes went wide with horror at Bryce’s answering.

“Hang up the phone Bryce!” she screamed at loudly as she could, hoping that the Colewell might hear her and obey the request.

Her uncle immediately put his hand over the phone and shot her a glare before stepping out of the room and into the darkness beyond the doorway.

But she could still hear him. “Yes, this is Mr. Rosen. I need to speak with Jon. It’s urgent.”

“No! Hang up!” she screamed even more hysterically as her fear began to build.

“Jon. Is this Jon Colewell?” His voice had changed again, now back to its sinister sound.

“Jon! Hang up!” Kenna screamed again. Tears were rushing down her face as she began to understand her uncle’s evil plot. If the building was indeed burning down, surely Jon would die if he ran in to save her.

“Yes, that is Kenna. Unfortunately, your little girlfriend is in a bit of a bind…”

His voice began to trail off as the vile man must have stepped further away.

“No!” she screamed again as she waited, hoping that she’d maybe hear some more hopeful sound like the cops or her father.

But when she heard slow and steady footsteps making their way back to her room, she knew that little hope remained. Her uncle still held the phone to his ear as he approached the fuming girl.

“Well, Kenna, now you just need to do a little convincing,” he said as he held the phone to her ear. “Tell him to come.”