Page 64 of Jack Frost
Pain beyond thought sears through my entire being, scorching my nerves, razing me to the bone. I scream, but Auxesia screams too, the high keening shriek of a being in mortal agony.
I hurl her away from me, panting and staring at my blackened hand.
Auxesia snaps upright, sailing toward me over the field. The tips of her toes don't touch the snow crust, but still it melts in her wake, and the dry grass sparks into flames.
She opens her mouth, and the glow in the back of her throat warns me one second before she vomits a flood of liquid fire.
I'm dead.
Am I dead?
No.
Somehow I managed to throw up a shield—a huge chunk of ice between her and me. The lava she spewed at me is eating it away. It's a glass-thin sheet now, and I skate upward into the sky, lobbing chunks of ice at Auxesia. My battle style is not as sophisticated as Jack's, but it's more effective than I expected, probably because the fire goddess is still exhausted from fighting Jack yesterday. One of the ice chunks strikes her head, knocking her to the ground, and another crashes against her shoulder, driving her onto her back.
She's down. I won't get another advantage like this.
I land and plunge forward through the crunchy snow and the brittle grass, flinging out my power, shaping it with my thoughts. Pinnacles of ice shoot up from the frozen ground, curving over Auxesia's crumpled body, securing her to the ground. She ignites, trying to melt through the bonds, but I keep hurling more and more energy toward her. Power explodes from my hands in clumsy bursts, layering the fire goddess in sheets and slabs and whole blocks of ice, until her fire fades to a weak glow, barely visible through the pyramid of ice.
Approaching, I place my hand against the outer wall of the prison I've made.
I can sense Auxesia's power, fluttering feebly. She's weakening fast, the last eddies of her energy burning away.
She is dying.
I can't kill her. But I do need to drain her of everything that she has, until there's only a flicker left.
With a blow and a thought, I crack the ice prison, sloughing off layers and shards until I can see Auxesia's face. I leave the last layer of ice in place, along with a heavy chunk on her chest, to hold her still; and I sit down beside her.
The scarlet light of her eyes is a dull amber now, and her flaming hair is all but quenched, a subtle glimmer across her scalp. She tries to vomit fire again, but she can only cough out a wisp of smoke.
"Bitch," she wheezes.
The word is so caustically familiar, so weirdly human, that I almost smile. "You started this."
She turns her face away.
"I'm not going to kill you," I tell her. "Not gonna lie—I want to, because of what you did to Jack and me. You've caused so much damage, ruined so many lives. But you're the last fire goddess, the only hope for balance in this world. So I'm going to let you live, for now. I think it will take you a long time to recover from this, and I hope you'll take that time to think about what you used to be."
"What I used to be?" coughs Auxesia. "Idiot child. You know nothing of deities and their roles."
"I'm not an idiot child. And unless I'm mistaken, this form makes me one of you now."
Her lips curl in a sneer. "You're a poor excuse for an ice goddess. You can barely control your powers. Do you know what havoc you wreaked, blasting the midsection of the United States with your cursed ice?"
"Okay, that was overkill." I wince. "I was trying to get your attention."
"Mission accomplished."
Wry humor is not something I'd have expected from her. It surprises me into a half-smile. "Look, we don't have to be enemies. Despite what you've done, I know you have a role in this world, a part to play. Jack says that at some point, before his time, you worked with the frost deities—a kind of push and pull, give and take, to maintain the earth's climate. Can't we get back to that?"
"The human masses work against everything we do." Her voice is a series of harsh pants, and smoke leaks from the corners of her lips. "It's as if they are actively trying to immolate themselves and their world, the fools. I was only going to give them what they desire—a blazing end."
"I won't deny that they tend toward self-destruction," I say. "But perhaps they could be taught. If we work together, if we educate them while in our human forms, then maybe eventually they will learn. In the meantime—"
"In the meantime we flit about the planet, fixing their mistakes?"
"Jack and I will have the lion's share of that task," I remind her. "Our powers are uniquely suited to combat global warming. All you have to do is bring the seasonal warmth when and where it's needed, and help us even out the weather patterns. Besides that, you could take human form and enjoy yourself for a while. Take a vacation. Goddess knows you need to de-stress."
