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Fortunately, Julie looked away, and I hoped she didn't notice my tension.

I also tried to concentrate on the water in front of me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Julie take her hands out of her pockets and raise them.

It took a while, and I was beginning to think she really had no control over her powers, when ice crystals began to form on the water's surface.

“Good, good...” I said and checked off ‘consistency on the first attempt’ on my log.

Julie kept up the pace, freezing more and more water...

“That’s too much...”

Her voice trembled almost imperceptibly.

“Are you exhausted?”

“No...” she said, sounding strained.

“Then keep going.”

Mesmerized, I watched as all the water solidified into a block of ice and more ice crystals spread across the walls of the pneumatic trough.

“It feels like I'm losing the connection,” Julie gasped, flexing her hands, visibly tensing them, and suddenly there was a crack from the glass trough. “Quentin…”

“Julie, slower…”

“I can't...” she said with panic, and I was unable to do anything but stare at her, because I had never heard her voice like that before. “It's just coming.”

I looked back at the glass trough. There was no more water left that could freeze. Nevertheless, more crystals formed rapidly and spread across the lab table in all directions.

Julie jerked her Hands down, but even that didn't stop the ice from spreading, covering the entire table and forming dangerously sharp spikes that grew uncontrollably.

Julie backed away in fear, bumped into the tabletop behind her, and clung to its edges. Immediately, ice spikes shot out from under her fingers and she bumped into the next table in horror. Glasses crashed to the floor and shattered.

Without further hesitation, I snapped out of my stupor, threw the clipboard onto the table surface next to me, and lunged toward her.

Julie looked up in panic.

“No, go...” she gasped breathlessly, holding both hands out toward me. “Go!”

Ice shot out of her hands, and I had to dodge. A loud crack sounded behind me, and when I turned around, I saw the icicles stuck in the glass panes of the lab cabinets.

My heart racing, I turned back to her.

Horror was written all over her face as the lab table behind her froze completely.

This was, without a doubt, her own energy source with no dependence on external factors. And it showed no signs of abating. On the contrary. The icicles were getting sharper and sharper, and it was only a matter of time before the entire lab would be frozen.

Julie looked around, breathing heavily.

This was my chance.

I stepped toward her as fast as I could.

She turned her head toward me again.

“Quentin, don't! I'll hurt you...”