The Frozen Beginning (Elemental Diamond Book 1) (20 page)

He sighs before gently laying her back to the ground. Glacier groans quietly as she is returned to the hard floor.

Why does he have to be so soft and warm, and the ground so… not soft and warm?

“I’ll be right back, ok?
Right
back
.” Glacier can feel his warm breath on her cheek, before he presses his forehead against the side of her face for a moment. The show of affection has her heart bubbling with warmth and content.

“Please don’t move. I will be back real soon.” With those words, something forms deep within her chest, a strong attachment to this caring, gentle boy. An attachment that quickens her breath and nearly stills her pounding heart.

His warmth leaves with him. Glacier peeps her eyes open to see him manoeuvring around the large spikes of ice, surrounding her like a fortress. She can see the blurry outlines of the other two teams, banging their fists against the frozen glass box, still trapped inside.

The Pyre team defrost the ice across the dome above them, providing a hazy view of the curious audience openly gawking from the stands.

The speakers sound crackly as Sasis’ familiar voice hums from them, “Good gracious! Looks like a winter nirvana in the arena today!”

His cheesy words create a dip between Glacier’s brows. Placing her hands beneath her body once more, she pushes her torso up from the slowly thawing ground.

“It seems our Elemental Diamond is the last one standing! My patient audience, the winner of today’s first Seeding battle is Glacier Wardgrave from the Hydra team!”

The crowd erupts in thunderous cheer, shaking the ice like a quake.

A loud crack sounds from behind me, and soon Glacier feels a different set of hands assessing her body.

These hands are not warm, simply neutral. Turning her head slightly, she is greeted by dark skin and a worried frown.

“Where do you hurt, Glacier?”

Branch’s concern surprises her. Turning her head in his direction, a painful spasm shoots up from the bottom of her spine to the centre of her skull.

Sighing heavily, she rasps, “Everywhere.”

From the corner of her eye Glacier can see him nod his head in understanding before he gingerly scoops her into his arms.

She groans in pain, apologizing shortly after. He laughs humourlessly at her apology, muttering something Glacier doesn’t hear. He pulls her close to his chest, ensuring a loose grip but tight stance, holding her like a delicate flower.

“Get that corridor open; she needs a medic!” Branch’s chest rumbles with his order, unintentionally jostling her in his arms. Glacier holds her breath to refrain from making any sound.

“We are thawing it as fast as we can. It’s not our fault the freak froze the entire bloody arena!”

Glacier recognizes the sound of Dolby’s annoyed voice. The word ‘freak’ seemingly has no effect on her, as she focuses solely on the immense pain coursing through her limbs.

“Dolby,” a dark voice bellows from the side. Branch whips his head, turning his body in the direction of the loud voice.

With her still blurred vision Glacier identifies a thick build and dark black hair. His voice was distant, but recognized.

Brink walks closer to Dolby, a trail of lava slithering behind him like a deadly snake, leaving a dark trail of thick molten ash. The ice within a metre of the lava melts instantly.

Dolby’s eyes cloud with nervousness, but he masks it faster than anyone can blink. “What? She’s an unpredictable bomb! Look around. She sealed the blimmin’ arena with ice!”

Brink seems undeterred by Dolby’s reasoning.

“Don’t call her a freak.”

Branch shifts Glacier’s weight in his arms. Had Glacier not been distracted by what Brink had just said, she would have told Branch to just put her down.

Dolby says nothing. He simply watches Brink with an irritated expression. Seeming to know when to pick his battles, Dolby leaves it and continues to thaw the thick ice coating one of the entries.

Brink turns to Glacier, a small smile on his lips. She tries to return the smile, but everything hurts.

“Cool thing with the ice,
Glacier
.” The way he says her name, stirs something in her chest. Something odd.

Brink walks over to another entrance that is blocked off, and flicks his hand, throwing the boiling lava in its direction. The moment she closes her eyes, sighing heavily from exhaustion, Neena and Keena rush over to where Glacier lies in Branch’s arms.

“Oh my goodness, are you OK Glacier?” Neena asks.

Neena, if I was OK, do you think there would be any reason for Branch to be cradling me?

Keena recognizes Neena’s pointless question, and pinches her sister’s arm. Neena cries out in shock, staring at her twin with wide eyes, “What was that for?”

Keena gives her a pointed look, “Neena, if she was OK, do you think she would look like
that
?”

Thanks
…

Neena seems to realize her mistake, and nods her head in understanding. She gives Glacier a sad, but comforting look, before gently touching her arm.

“Don’t worry, Glacier. When the Pyre team thaws the ice, we’ll get you straight to the medic.” Neena’s short smile is consoling, but it has an empty background that doesn’t make Glacier feel any better.

Branch shifts her in his arms again, and just as Glacier is about to tell him to sit her down somewhere, a loud clutter is heard by one of the entrances.

Looking up slowly, in favour of her aching neck, she finds Brink moving away from the entrance he had been thawing earlier, now wide open.

Men and women dressed in dark green outfits run into the room, surrounding every person from each team.

It is then that Glacier realizes that the Terra team have escaped their entrapment as well.

Branch carries her out into the now open corridor, the green-suited elementals running around like headless chickens in a coop. Two men and a woman approach them. They start poking and prodding Glacier’s flesh, shouting questions over each other.

A dizzy spell sweeps over her like a blanket. All of the excitement and pain catches up, and her eyes grow heavy. Glacier leans her head against Branch’s shoulder, hissing when she feels a sharp sting.

Tilting her head at a different angle, she allows her mind to drift, her eyes shutting out the headless chickens.

The medics continue to assess her in Branch’s cradling arms as he leads ahead of them down the corridor.

That’s enough excitement for one day
…

~

Two slow, constant and out-of-rhythm beeps echo through her head like a pounding alarm. Glacier’s eyes ache with heavy weights holding them closed. Accompanying the irritating beeps are loud curses and shouting.

“What do you mean dead?” The voice is male. Close and confused.

“…Was crushed…absolutely horrifying…” the other person speaks much softer. Glacier could only hear slightly louder phrases.

Crushed? Dead? Are they talking about Isaac?

Glacier’s mind rushes frantically.

Isaac is dead. I killed him. I’m a murderer
.

Her chest tightens with a panicked disgust. The word ‘murderer’ echoes like an endless taunt. The image of Mr Michaels impaled on a spike of ice, and Isaac crushed beneath a large fallen shard goad her awakened mind like a cruel curse.

Tears leak from her eyes, as quiet sobs shake her chest.

Murderer. Murderer. Murderer!

Her eyes crack open feeling caked with dry sleep and exhaustion.

I don’t know how long I have been sleeping, but it still doesn’t feel long enough
.

Glacier blinks her eyes to clear her furry vision, before tilting her head to observe her surroundings. Her neck is stiff and sore, a groan slips past her lips. The two elementals talking do not seem to hear her, as they continue their discussion.

“What do we do? This year’s competition is already getting out of hand!” The loud voice continues, now familiar.

It sounds like Karn speaking
…

Another voice, different from the first two, speaks out softly, “We do nothing. Have you seen the reactions we are getting from the audience? They are really connecting to this year’s volunteers! Broadcasting is up one hundred and twenty three percent! And what Glacier Wardgrave did in the arena today was amazing, absolutely spectacular!”

This voice belongs unmistakably to Sasis. His raspy words are full of excitement and wonder.

“Sasis, they are getting killed! This is the second contestant––” Karn sounds outraged and worried.

“Miss Benns isn’t dead, Karn,” Sasis interrupts, attempting to calm his friend.

“She is not far from it,” Karn hisses.

Their voices sound from the other side of a wall, muffled but still audible. Glacier shifts in the lumpy cot when an uncomfortable tug pulls at the skin in the crease of her arm.

Gazing down, she finds a needle buried in her flesh, a small tube leading up to a bag with a clear dipping contents. Her wrist is surrounded in a clear brace, holding it stiff and straight.

Looking around the white room, and the memory of waking up in a similar place strikes her. It is a different room, but extremely similar to the one Glacier woke up in after the introductions.

Great. Back in the hospice.

Glacier glances around, noticing the size of the room. It is a lot bigger this time, more than three times the size of her last room.

This must be the room all the contestants come to when they are injured
.

Suddenly the thought of the girl who would be here with her has her head turning in both directions. Glacier’s eyes land on the bed to her left, furthest away from the door.

A body covered entirely in what was once white bandages is now stained with yellow and red splotches. The heart rate monitor hooked up to the body provides a very slow but constant beep. The stillness of the body gives her the shivers.

“Care?” Glacier tries to call to her.

Receiving no indication that the bandaged girl could hear her, Glacier tries again. Her voice is raspy and weak, but she knows she spoke loud enough to be heard.

“Care? Are you awake? Can you speak?”

Nothing. Not even a hitch in her heartbeat.

Glacier sighs loudly, exhausting her lungs. Everything feels sore. The heavy weight of Isaac’s death compresses on her shoulders, suffocating her, pulling her back into the dark abyss.

“It doesn’t matter. The tournament cannot be cancelled, if that is where you are heading with this!”

Sasis seems more agitated than before. Glacier’s hazy mind can still understand the words that travel through the walls.

“That is not what I am saying. We just need to reiterate
carefulness
and
safety
before tomorrow’s battle, because the way the contestants are behaving is completely out of order!”

“I am enjoying this
improved
tournament. It needed more edge, more
danger
. It keeps the audience on the edge of their seats.” The third male voice adds.

Sounds like the representative of Hale
…

“Speak for yourself, Hampton. That is because members from the Terra and Pyre teams are now killers! They are only kids, and they have these ideas in their heads to kill one another, like a sport!” Karn’s words of disgust weigh heavily on Glacier’s mind.

‘
Members from the Terra and Pyre teams are now killers’…

Does that mean that I didn’t kill Isaac?

The thick guilt on her shoulders suddenly lifts.

I must not have killed him
.

Glacier smiles, wiping her damp cheeks with her uninjured hand until another dark thought rises.

Doesn’t matter. I’m still a killer.

That then raises the question.

If it wasn’t Isaac, then who was killed today?

Fear that it was someone from her team swamps her like a thick mist.

Glacier does not have the opportunity to worry about it, as the slow beep from the far side of the room suddenly flat-lines.

THIRTEEN

CAUGHT

Glacier doesn’t notice Isaac lying in a cot across
the room, unconscious with his forehead bandaged until later.

Against the doctor’s orders, Glacier signs her release forms and makes the slow, agonizing journey to the lobby.

Glacier’s sprained arm rests in a white cloth sling. The corner of her upper lip is split to the crease of her nose, small transparent stitches pulling the skin. Dark bruises paint her ghostly flesh black, purple and yellow. Her eyes feel hollow, her hair hangs limp.

Finally reaching the exit, Glacier releases a long sigh. She couldn’t stand to be in the hospice any longer.

The memory of Care’s heart rate plummeting to nothing has a constant bubble of hopelessness lingering in her chest.

The medics had rushed in a few seconds later, after she started pressing her own help button like a mad man. They came to her aid, before realizing that Care no longer had a heartbeat.

Despite their efforts, she wasn’t saved.

Care Benns had been a small person. She seemed like a fly on the wall, someone who could blend into the crowd. Glacier had learnt from Karn that Care had been the Terra Chancellor’s Choice. The Chancellor had been her father.

Glacier’s body shakes, but not from the cold. Once she is outside, Glacier looks left and right, trying to remember which direction the Persia is. She had asked the woman at the administration, but she hadn’t been very helpful.

Instead, the receptionist had insisted that she call Glacier’s driver to collect her. Glacier scuttled out of the lobby as quick as her aching limbs could take her when the receptionist’s back was turned.

Moving on a hunch, Glacier heads right. Walking along the street in her battle uniform and her shoes in hand, she is glad that many of the citizens of the Alluvium are still at the arena.