Spring Frost (2 page)

“Even if she weren’t mean to you personally,” Logan said, “I wouldn’t hang out with her. She’s a bully, through and through; she’s just looking to control the people around her. She doesn’t even have a crush on me – not really – she’s just upset that she can’t have whatever she wants, when she wants it. And the fact that she’s  horrible to you – well, let’s just say that if she’s looking for a way into my heart, she’s not about to find it by hurting one of my best friends. She thinks she can pressure me into hating you, but it’s not going to work, Bree. I’m never going to leave your side. Best friends, remember?”

Yet despite Logan’s strength – and my mother’s unending encouragement – high school was still a daily eight hours of torment for me. Clariss soon decided sabotaging my friendships wasn’t enough – she started sabotaging my other passions, intentionally destroying the posters I carefully put up all over school for the “Environmental Protection Club” and defacing my “Save the Woods” banner that Logan and I had spent all night working on.

It was no surprise, in retrospect, that it was Clariss’ mother – a wealthy industrialist – who spearheaded the movement to knock down Gregory’s woods and build a strip mall there instead. Clariss’ parents, powerful though they were, were  helpless when it came to combating her tantrums. They did whatever she wanted. And what she wanted was to destroy me.

Chapter 1

         
I
looked over at Clariss’ cold, proud face. She had aged – I noticed that right away. I remembered her as a lithe, lovely girl of sixteen, her haughty imperiousness still budding; her legs growing longer, her skirt growing ever shorter. But the woman I saw before me was no adolescent girl. She was an adult. She was a young adult in her early 20s.

          For an instant, I was shocked.
What had happened to Clariss?
But then it hit me. Clariss had gotten older – just as I had. Time in Feyland often seemed so strange and moribund: with the twin suns of Feyland gone, we hadn’t been able to tell one day from another. But at least two must have gone by since I had first entered Feyland, first gone Beyond the Crystal River. But Clariss looked even older than that – she must have been twenty-three or older. I remembered what Kian had told me – “time in Feyland works differently than time in the mortal world.” Only a few years had gone by in Feyland – but back in the mortal world, time must have rushed by. The people I knew in high school would likely have grown up, graduated, gotten jobs, married.  And as I looked down into Clariss’  face, the full force of those years struck me.

          I wasn’t a kid anymore. I wasn’t a child, easily reduced to tears by Clariss’ adolescent jests. This was something bigger than that. A cheerleader’s torments couldn’t’ frighten me any longer.  I had grown past those days – forgotten Clariss and the cruelty she inflicted on me. I had bigger problems to worry about. But Clariss hadn’t changed. She had gotten older, to be sure – her girlish charms had vanished and a more womanly beauty had taken their place. But in her eyes I could detect the same jealous glare, the same malicious glint in her gaze. Nothing had changed for Clariss – that much was clear. She still hated me as much as ever. She still looked at me with disdain so powerful it could have shrivelled up the grass on the plains of Feyland.

          No, nothing had changed for Clariss – until this moment. Until now.

          “Who would have thought…” Clariss was smiling wickedly, “that it would end up like this, eh Treena? Who would have thought that we’d meet again like this?”

          Had the Sorceress possessed Clariss? I turned to Kian and Logan, who were staring at Clariss with shock on their faces. I gritted my teeth. I may not have liked Clariss, but if she had been possessed by the sorceress, she was probably in as much danger as I was.

          “Listen, Clariss…” words failed me. I looked up in confusion. What was Clariss even
doing
here? It wasn’t safe for a mortal like her – I knew that much. “Clariss, do you even know where you are? Are you okay?” My voice was slow, full of trepidation, as if I were calling to a kitten up a tree.

          “Oh, for Christ’s sake, Treena, of course I know where I am.” Clariss gave a snort. “A place only someone like you would dare to dream up, I’m sure. Feyland.” She scoffed. “I should have figured it out years ago – that you were one of them. It was so obvious, in retrospect. I knew there was some reason I hated you.”

          Logan cleared his throat loudly, stepping forward. His broad shoulders stood squarely between me and Clariss. His face was filled with shock. “Clariss – do you know who
you
are?” He turned back towards me. “The Sorceress might not have taken over – she might have some part of her…”

          “I know who I am!” snapped Clariss. “Clariss Dickens.”

          Logan’s voice was soft and gentle – even caressing. Something about his calm, familiar voice made the tension in my stomach dissipate. “Then you know you don’t want to be here, Clariss. You know this isn’t the place for you. You’ve got to fight whatever it is that’s controlling you, Clariss. You have to fight it.”

          “Oh, Logan,” Clariss rolled her eyes. “Logan, Logan, Logan. You’re always so noble – always so chivalrous. You always were so blind – you only ever had eyes for that ridiculous, gangly, skinny…” she didn’t even bother to identify me by name. “Haven’t you figured it out, Logan? I
do
want to be here. I want
here.
” She looked around over the horizon of Feyland. “I want
this
.” Her eyes shone with anger and terrifying power.

          “This?”

          “Feyland,” spat Clariss through gritted teeth. “All of it. The power. The rivers. The mountains. The forests. Winter and Summer. It’s mine.”

          Logan looked concerned. “You can’t possibly want this, Clariss,” he said, reaching out to her. “It isn’t yours. It isn’t anybody’s. It doesn’t belong to you – but rather to the people of Feyland.”

          Clariss gave a seductive pout, her dark eyes fixating on Logan’s face. “And is that what you say to Treena when she plays Queen over this whole realm? Do you tell
her
to stop playing her fairy-tale games?”

          “It’s Breena, actually,” I was trying to keep my cool. I wasn’t going to let my high school bully get between me and my kingdom. But I couldn’t deny that Clariss’ words needled in my heart, bringing back memories of the pain I had faced. “And you are in my kingdom now, Clariss. I recommend you go back where you came from – and quickly, too. You don’t want to cause trouble here, Clariss. Not in my place. Keep Gregory for yourself and your family. Build whatever strip malls you please. But you are not welcome here.”

          We were interrupted by the sound of hoof-beats. The knights were riding down, one by one, from the perilous cliff top, from which the suns were now gradually emerging. Each one had his lance in the air, his sword pointed squarely at Clariss. They knew what I knew – even without recognizing her. Clariss was an enemy, through and through.

          “Surround her!” I heard myself ordering. Instantly the knights made a ring around Clariss, the points of their swords gleaming in the newly raised sunlight.

          Clariss looked up at me with an arched eyebrow, her expression mocking and cold. “Really Breena,” she said, faintly pretending to be shocked. “Is that how you choose to greet an old friend?”

          Images of our shared past were rushing through my brain – Clariss laughing at me, her taunts and remarks, rumors spread in the lunchroom, rude words written on my locker, a gaze colder than ice, my friends leaving me, one by one…I had forgotten how painful those memories were; all at once, they hit me with a full force and sent me reeling. Memories of pain; memories of anger. Memories of a time before I knew who I was, or why I was special.

          Memories of a time when I was a nobody.

          I shook my head, willing the bad thoughts to fly out of my brain. “Funny,” I said, doing my best to keep my voice steady. “I don’t remember ever being friends with you.”

          “Good…” Clariss’ smile broadened, the ends of her mouth twisting maliciously. “I’m glad.” Clariss took a step forward, looking me up and down. “That means I won’t have any regrets.”

          “About what?” Logan turned around threateningly.

          “This!”

          In an instant, Clariss had darted forward; I saw the glint of a knife shining before me, and then I saw nothing but darkness. I could only feel a pain hotter than fire, colder than ice, like acid in my veins. I could hear myself cry out in pain; I could feel the blood pouring from my stomach. I doubled forward, falling to my knees. My head was heavy all of a sudden – so heavy….Clariss’ triumphant face glimmered in and out of focus as I felt my head loll forward, the crown I wore falling to the earth.

          “There…” Clariss was kneeling before me, her hands scraping at the earth as she picked up the crown and put it upon her own head. “See. Let’s see who is Queen of Feyland now – how about that, eh?”

          “Breena!” I could hear Kian’s voice – shocked and filled with pain. I could feel his agony – our telepathic connection stronger than ever.
Please Breena
, he seemed to be saying as he enveloped me in his arms.
Please, Breena, hold on – be strong – please, Breena, stay with me.

           
“Clariss?” I muttered sleepily.

          “How dare you!” Logan had rushed forward, roaring with anger as he lunged at Clariss, sword in hand. I could see the despair on his face as he slashed his sword into empty air: Clariss had turned into a pillar of dark smoke before our eyes, vanishing as quickly as she had appeared into nothingness.

          “No!” roared Logan. He turned to me and I could see, through vision that grew increasingly fuzzy, the hollow emptiness of his eyes. “Breena, hold on!”

          “Breena!” It was Kian’s voice – and Logan’s – mingling with the cries of others….Shasta, Rodney, Alistair, Rose…

          “Hold on, please hold on…”

          But their voices were only echoes. I could hear nothing more.

Chapter 2

         
S
uddenly, it was as if I had been split in two. My body remained upon the earth, blood – silver, now – pouring out from my inert body. But I wasn’t part of that body. I felt as if I were floating above the scene – watching from a distance. Unable to speak. Unable to move. Unable to cry out. All I could do was watch what was happening to me – take in the sight of my splayed-out body, sickening in its misshapen pose – and try in vain to stem my terror.

          “Breena!” Kian was crying out, falling to his knees beside me. “Please, Breena – I’m so sorry. So sorry…” Silver tears were falling upon his snow-white cheeks. His customary marble hardness was gone – now he looked open. Vulnerable. I ached to comfort him, to wrap my arms around him and tell him that everything would be all right. But I couldn’t move. I felt at once lighter than air and heavier than lead, unable to do anything but watch. “I’m so sorry, Kian…” I tried to speak, but I could say nothing.

          “What are you waiting for?” Logan was shouting. “Heal her – heal her now!” He shoved Kian in the direction of my body.

          “I
am
trying – leave me alone! Leave me alone!” Now Kian was shouting too, his voice booming and echoing throughout the mountain peaks. He placed his hands upon my wound, and I watched as silver and blue light appeared around his fingers. He closed his eyes, concentrating harder, pressing the light to my wounds.

          But nothing happened. The wound continued to gush blood; the light died from Kian’s fingers.