New Frost: Winter Witches (3 page)

I threw my luggage on the bed and raced down to help Crow get the groceries and supplies out of the back of the SUV. The snow had covered the ground in a thick blanket—I couldn't even see grass or gravel or anything. It covered the cabin's roof as well as the trees.
 

"It's beautiful," I said as I stood on the driveway's edge and looked out over the sparkling hills.
 

Crow had been listening to the news on the way there. I walked inside and he had the flatscreen in the living room on and turned to WSB for more information about this freak storm. I set the last bags on the counter and started putting them away as Crow locked the SUV, the door and started a fire.
 

They were calling it SUDDEN STORM on the news. They even had a nifty blue and white logo with snowflakes along the bottom of the screen. We'd already decided on soup and sandwiches for dinner so I started on the soup as Crow fixed a couple of what he called his mighty man sandwiches.
 

"…reported five inches already in some parts of north Georgia."

We sat on the couch with our food on the coffee table. Well, Crow sat on the couch. I sat on floor between the two and ate while I watched the station's coverage.
 

"The National Weather Service didn't see it coming," Crow said as he finished up his soup. He still had his hat on. "Didn't flag. They insist the weather conditions for a storm this intense didn't exist up to ten minutes before it started."
 

"What does that mean?" I took a big swig of my Coke. The can grew hairy frost around my fingers as I held it and I nearly dropped it on the floor. The cold burned my skin. Cold
never
burned me. Ever.
 

Crow was on his feet in seconds and across the room to his holster. He removed his Colt and held it up. "It means this storm's not natural. And…" he looked at me. "We're not alone."
 

I jumped to my feet as the ice on my Coke can melted onto the coffee table in a puddle. Wind started up, whipping the snow outside into a frenzy. The frozen flakes made 'ticking' noises against the glass like sleet. I could actually feel the pressure of the storm outside. It moved against my skin like tiny fingers poking and probing. I inched away from the couch to the fire. When I stood in its warmth the poking stopped and the wind calmed, but didn't go away.
 

"Amelia?"

"Something's looking at me. It's testing me. Pushing me. I—I felt it touch me."
Ew!
 

Crow said a few nasty words my mom would have smacked him for. "Nature."
 

Nature? Seriously?
 

Not knowing what it was creating the storm scared me. But putting a name to it, a name I detested. Well, I was still scared, but I wasn't afraid.
 

I was mad.
 

The wind tossed more than just snow at the windows and I hoped they wouldn't break. I reached out with the old familiar power. Frost wove around the glass on the inside and outside to create a protective barrier against the onslaught. I thought it was odd that my ice and Nature's ice were so…different.
 

Abruptly the storm ceased. Just…silence.
 

Crow and I looked at each other from across the room. I shrugged. He shrugged back. Neither one of us knew what was happening.
 

Until something blasted out of the fireplace and knocked me into the air and over the couch. Luckily I made a pile of snow to cushion my fall. Now that I knew what it was like, had seen and touched its consistency, I could recreate it.
 

Crow crawled over to me on his elbows and knees. The inside of the house was quickly become its own Winter Wonderland as snow and ice shot out of the fireplace like a snow machine. His hat was gone and his forehead bled along his temple. We reached out to one another and huddled behind the couch until the snow stopped.
 

"There. That's much better."
 

That was a woman's voice. I pulled up from Crow and looked over the back of the couch. A woman in a dark green skirt suit stood in front of the fireplace. Her hair was bright red, her skin a soft mocha and her eyes emerald green. Her shoes were the same color as her dress. She brushed her hands together and zeroed in on me. "Come out now. I've made you feel at home."
 

What? I crouched down with Crow but realized too late he was unconscious. I didn't know if that was from the blow to the head with the blood or something else.
 

"Don't worry about the old Crow. He'll survive. Trust me," the woman said and her voice dripped with sarcasm. "He's a lot older then you know and he's lived through a lot worse."
 

I was shaking but not from the from the drop in temperature. I straightened my shoulders and faced the most destructive incarnation in the world.
 

Nature.
 

"Well don't just dawdle there behind the couch. Come and let me see you."

"No."
 

"No? Dear…do you not know who I am? Well, of course you do. Being Jack's daughter, you would have to know. But the real thing here is—how come I didn't know about you? What is it about the Frost family and their hiding children from me?"
 

"Maybe it's because you destroy them?" My voice shook at first, but I was gaining a bit of confidence. I wasn't cold. In fact I wasn't feeling anything but rage. How dare this…cow…break into my dad and mom's house and wreck it like this!
 

"Your uncle was not my doing. He chose to be mortal."
 

"And was conveniently mugged and killed after he made that decision. Which of course left you my father."
 

"Yes…and a troublesome ass he's been since he took the office."
 

I narrowed my eyes at her. "He didn't take the office. It was forced on him."
 

"Now," she said as she pointed a long black nail at me. "You cannot blame me because his mother's a nut job."
 

"I blame you for everything."
 

"Yes…" She moved through the snow littered living room without making a sound, much less an impression, on the snow. "I'm sure your mother's filled your head with all sorts of nonsense about me. I bet you think I'm here to take you away somewhere, don't you?"
 

"Aren't you?"

"Why would I do that? No, no. I'm here to make you an offer."
 

I looked down at Crow, wishing he'd wake up and help me get this bitch out of my house. "I don't want any offer from you."
 

"Really?" She crossed her arms over her chest and smiled. "Not even for the chance to see your father?"
 

•••

Yeah…I wanted to hear what she had to say. But I also threw down the condition that we talk away from the cabin and she put it back the way it was.
 

She agreed a little too eagerly and once I knew Crow was going to be okay, I followed her into the woods to a clearing I played in with my mom and Crow. The world rested under a blanket of sparkling white snow. The clouds moved away as we walked to the center of the clearing and the moon rose high and full.
 

Nature turned and faced me with that moon above her. I gave her kudos for the effect but a less than nice score on her execution. What…did she think I was still a kid? "Do you know what you are?"
 

"I'm Amelia Frost. Daughter of Jackson and Sarah Frost. And I'm a witch."
 

Her face wasn't hidden by shadows so I saw her eyebrows arch in surprise. "So you
know
you're gifted."
 

"I know I'm a witch because Crow told me I was."
 

"But you don't know what that means?"
 

"No." I put my hands on my hips. "What did you want and why are you using my dad as leverage?"
 

She held up her hand. "Patience and I will tell you. Incarnations such as myself, and others like Death and War, are all positions filled by humans after their death. We live our human lives and when an incarnation is killed, either through their own stupidity or sometimes no fault of their own, they have to be replaced. Originally the position held by your father was inhabited by one of the dead."
 

"No, it was my uncle."
 

"Before him. But because Winter screwed around with your crazy grandmother and had twins, that order was interrupted. Your brother was bestowed the honor—in fact he asked for it. Your father moved on to live a normal life. Until your uncle, that damn hybrid, fell in love and decided he didn't want to be Jack Frost anymore. So," she said as she lowered her hand. "He was killed and your father became Jack."
 

I held up my own hand. "Correction. My father was forced to become Jack Frost when my crazy grandmother put a bullet in his heart."

Nature shrugged. "Same thing."

"No. It's not. He's in that position because if he were to become human, the bullet would kill him instantly."
 

"Seems the old Crow has told you more than I thought."
 

"You mentioned hybrid."
 

She nodded. "Half human and half incarnation. Like your father and uncle, and like you. The seed was already in his blood even with his power sealed. Winter did that, thinking he could protect him from me."

"How did you find out about me?"
 

"A dwarf told me. I didn't believe him at first so I tested you and you instinctively used your power to protect the cabin. This is your element."

"Element?"

"You're a Winter Witch. An elemental. I've been without a Winter Witch for a century. Now that you're awakening and coming into your full potential, it's time for you to join me."
 

"Join you?"
 

"Yes. In our world. Your job will be to make sure the incarnations like your father stick to the rules." She smiled.
 

I sensed we were being watched—or I was. It was subtle at first, like that feeling I used to get when someone was staring at me in school across the room. As Nature droned on about human and hybrid, I scanned the tree-line and saw sets of red eyes. And I heard the soft, low growl of wolves.
 

I refocused on her. "And if I say no?"

"Then you'll never see your father again."
 

Something about her threat didn't sound right. It didn't have that ring of truth that my mom's threats used to have while growing up. She just didn't…scare me. "You just said I can't see my father because I don't believe."
 

"That's not an answer."

The growl of the wolves created a low vibration, like background noise. Nature looked to her left and right and then back to me. "You think they scare me?"
 

Wait…what? I tried not to look as shocked as I felt. She…thought
I
had summoned the wolves? I thought
she
had, that they were some kind of weird henchmen. I tracked the wood line again and acknowledged they were there.
 

So, who summoned them?
 

Was it…me?
 

But apparently I wasn't as good at hiding my emotions as I thought. Nature picked up that I hadn't summoned the wolves either. She turned to her right, then her left with her arms down at her sides, her hands balled into fists. "Where are you? This has nothing to do with you! I ordered you to stay away!"
 

I arched a brow at her, thinking that Nature had a serious problem happening here, talking to nothing?
 

Until I felt a chill breeze to my left. The trees didn't move, nor did the powdery snow on the ground. I thought I saw footsteps in the snow, visible under the moonlight. They didn't sink down into the powder like mine did, but made impressions like Nature's had.
 

A scent caught my attention—something I hadn't smelled in years. It was woody and reminded me of fires in the hearth at Christmas and cuddling under a blanket with my mom. Hot chocolate with whip cream and early morning frost.
 

It was the scent of my childhood and the excitement I had on those cold mornings when I used to wake and find messages written on the windows just for me.
 

This was the scent of my father.
 

The footsteps stopped beside me and as if on cue, the wolves stepped out from the woods.
 

Nature didn't move far from where she stood in front of me, though she kept her eyes on the beautiful gray beasts. "Stop it, Jack."
 

"I'm not doing this, Nature. My daughter is."
 

I turned so fast to face the footprints I nearly lost my balance. Someone helped me regain my footing. I looked at my arm and saw a hand, followed by an arm inside a soft white sleeve. My gaze followed the arm to a shoulder where I saw the sleeve was part of a white suit jacket. A light blue hoodie framed a strong neck and as my gaze trailed up a strong jaw, lightly bearded chin past a mouth to a nose and then to beautiful, bright blue eyes.
 

I took a step back, away from his hand and took him in from head to toe. I'd seen him in mom's pictures, lived with him as flattened images on a mantel for so long. To see him in the flesh, tall and whole and smiling at me… My eyes stung as I blinked a few times to focus on his face and finally found my voice. "D-Daddy?"
 

He opened his arms. I nearly knocked him over as I tackled him and I was…overcome. My shoulders shook as years of emotions poured out. His arms wrapped around me as he slowly rocked me back and forth.
 

"You're finally in my arms."
 

His voice…it was the voice in my dreams when I was a kid. The one that used to talk to me as I slept and disappeared when I woke. I felt it vibrate his chest against my cheek. I pushed back but he didn't let go. I looked up at him and he looked down at me. He was young and beautiful and yet so alien at the same time. His skin was smooth as marble and his hair as white as snow. His eyes sparkled with snowflakes as he looked at me and his lashes were frost tipped. His lips were a pale blue.