“You only almost swore once then,” Jac said in amazement.
“I’m weaning myself off,” the wrestler said as Cam returned with a fresh mug to pour her some more coffee.“I want to clean up my fudging act before the babies are born.”
“Good fudging luck,” Grace said with a smirk.
Vic flicked her a look, but kept her mouth shut so she didn’t immediately prove her right.
Grace and Wynter changed into ski jackets, ski pants and snow boots before heading out through the makeshift back door after breakfast.They had to reforge the path to the nearest hole in the lake since it had snowed heavily last night.Eight inches taller, Wyn took the lead.
Their first stop was to the closest edge of the lake to the spot they gathered water from.
“It’s so peaceful out here,” Wynter said in amazement, peering around at the pine trees and beautiful snowy scenery.The lake was completely covered, but she could sense the water lying beneath it.
“This place is the first real home I’ve ever had,” Grace told her.“Mom moved around a lot when I was a kid,” she added.
“What happened to her?”Wynter asked curiously.
“She overdosed on drugs when I was fifteen,” Grace said.“It was a relief when she died,” she went on.“She was abusive like your mom.”
Wynter shuddered that they had something else in common.“It’s amazing we both turned out okay considering our backgrounds,” she said.
“Yeah,” the teen agreed, then pointed off to the left side of the lake.“We keep the tools to bore a hole in the ice in a box beneath a tree over there,” she said.
“I won’t need them,” the newest recruit said confidently.“It’s completely frozen over,” Wyn said, then crouched down.She dug the snow out of the away, then took a glove off and touched her fingertip to the center of the hole that had become solid.The ice melted in a perfect circle about sixteen inches wide.“That should do it,” she said in satisfaction, standing and donning her glove again.The opening was large enough to lower a bucket into.
“It really won’t freeze over again?”her tiny companion asked.
“Nope,” Wynter confirmed.“Where’s the watering hole?”
“We need to follow the edge of the lake along the left side,” Grace said.
Wynter led the way again and came to a stop when she saw animal tracks.“I can sense the watering hole is half frozen,” she said, then melted it so the wildlife could drink from it whenever they were thirsty.“Jac mentioned there’s a fishing hole somewhere, too?”she queried.
“It’s on the far side of the lake,” Grace said, pointing in the opposite direction.“It’ll be a lot faster if we cut across the ice.”
“Follow me,” the taller cambion said, then began to slog her way through the chest deep snow.“What the hell am I doing?”she muttered after a few steps.Lifting both hands, she sent her power out in a straight line.
Grace gasped in shocked wonder when the deep snow parted.“Fudge me!”she breathed in awe.“You’re a modern-day Moses!”Both girls cracked up at that claim.
“I’ll hold it just long enough for us to pass through,” Wynter said, then took the lead again.
Grace followed her and glanced back to see the snow already resuming its original position.“It would be impossible to track you through the snow if you didn’t want to be followed,” she said enviously.
“I have a feeling I’ll be learning a lot of tricks as I play with my power,” Wyn said in anticipation.She knew Tolas was picking up on what she was doing.She could feel how proud he was of her.
They reached the far side of the lake and she altered the fishing hole so it would also remain unfrozen.“We’d better hurry back before Vic comes looking for us,” Grace said.Once again, one of her sisters had just proven how superior her skills were to hers.Feeling slightly hollow inside, Grace hid her emotions well.It was hard to keep up the pretense that she was the same happy, bubbly teenager her family still believed she was.
