“Use panic then.” He shrugged annoyingly. “You’re doing a pretty good job at that.”
“I really don’t like you right now.”
“Fine. Use hate. I’m not picky.”
My pulse fractured.
The world tilted.
A blast of icy coldness erupted from the centre of my chest, almost as if it agreed with him. Hate would do. Stress would work just fine.
I staggered backward, clutching my heart, feeling as if I was breaking apart.
“I don’t...” I wasn’t ready. I wouldneverbe ready. I still didn’t believe in any of this. “Lucien...help.”
“I’m right here.” He reached for me and—
Snow surged like a tidal wave.
Panic mutated into raw terror as my vision flickered white. Something wild and archaic stole all my control and—
Snowflake Corp filled my mind.
How the air temperature had always dropped when I cried.
How my windows iced from the inside, even on summer days.
How the drinking fountain at school exploded—the pipes bursting as the water froze while I took a drink.
How I was homeschooled from then on...
How my mother sat me down and told me I was too smart for school, too bright for my age, and the only way I could continue with my studies was there in the lab, with her...at all times.
I sucked in a breath so sharp, my ribs threatened to snap.
I tried to hold it in.
I tried to push away the betrayal, the loss, but...I wasn’t strong enough. Every emotion I’d ever felt or forbidden myself to feel, erupted.
A blizzardshriekedout of my heart.
The air imploded with a thunderous crack, cold cancelling out all the heat in the world. Flames didn’t just die—they vanished with a flash of frost—ice devouring them whole.
The entire valley flooded in a shroud of white so absolute, it erased colour and night—turning the ground as bright as the sun.
And it didn’t stop.
Winter consumedeverything.
Snow flurried over the valley.
The river flash-froze.
The ground beneath my feet split with a violent fissure as ice ploughed through soil and stone, entombing everything in flawless merciless white.
I couldn’t stop it.
I tried to stop it.
