Chapter 14 Frozen in Time #2
I felt like I was suffocating under an avalanche of Christmas cheer. Each suggestion hit me like a physical blow, my anxiety climbing with each festive image they painted. Ice rinks. Carolers. Gingerbread. Sleigh rides. Everything I’d spent years avoiding.
The temperature in the room dropped dramatically, but no one seemed to notice as they continued their enthusiastic planning of my Christmas kidnapping.
“I could probably sneak into Reinberg if I wear a hat,” Vix mused. “Oh! I could grow a beard. If it’s long enough, I could even hang miniature ornaments on it.”
“It’s been a while since we stayed in the cabin by the lake during the winter. The stone fireplace is so cozy and perfect for decorating.” Dash rubbed his hands together as if he could already feel the fire.
“Stop,” I whispered, but no one heard me.
“—massive kitchen where we can bake cookies—”
“STOP!” I shouted, but my voice seemed to fade as something strange happened.
Everything slowed. The animated gestures of the men around me decelerated until they were hardly moving. Blitz’s excited bouncing turned to an almost-still hover. Dane’s hand, reaching for a chip, hung suspended in the air.
The sound died too, their voices stretching into long, distorted drones before fading into silence.
Only Rudy seemed different, his eyes widening slightly as he stared directly at me through the frozen tableau.
I spun in a circle, taking in the scene. This wasn’t like creating snow or ice or making hot chocolate explode. This was different. This was...
I looked down at my hands, which were glowing with a soft blue light. Time. I was controlling time.
As panic began bubbling over, the frozen moment shattered. Everyone jolted back into motion, voices and movements resuming at normal speed. Several of them blinked in confusion, looking around as if they’d momentarily lost their train of thought.
“What the fuck was that?” I jumped backward and nearly tripped over the coffee table. “Did I… did you all…”
The blue glow intensified, spreading up my arms like veins of electricity. The surrounding air crackled with energy.
“Neve.” Rudy took a step toward me, his expression uncharacteristically urgent. “Calm down.”
“Calm down?” I shrieked, watching as frost patterns spiraled out from beneath my feet. “I stopped time! I stopped fucking time!”
Nine pairs of eyes stared at me as I backed toward the hallway, my entire body trembling.
Their faces all seemed to swim together in my vision as the blue light pulsed from my skin.
I could feel frost crackling under my socks with each backward movement.
The air around me grew dense with cold, like I was generating my own personal winter storm.
“I can’t control it!” My voice sounded strange even to my own ears, wavering and distant.
The picture frames on the wall beside me began to rattle, and I swore I could feel time wobbling around me again, stretching and contracting with my panicked breaths.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. Controlling weather was one thing, but time?
That wasn’t just dangerous; it was impossible.
Even in a world of magic and shifters, some things were supposed to remain fixed.
My hands were weapons now, dangerous and unpredictable. I needed to get away from everyone before I froze them in time permanently, or worse.
They started to stand, and my anxiety shot up to new levels. “Don’t come near me!”
But Rudy moved toward me anyway, closing the distance between us with purposeful strides.
I pressed myself against the wall, holding my glowing blue hands out in warning. “I said stay back! I don’t know what will happen if… if…”
He seized my wrists in his hands, his grip firm but not painful. I jerked backward, trying to wrench free, terrified of what my touch might do to him.
“Let go! I’ll hurt you!”
Instead of releasing me, Rudy pulled me forward, straight into his chest. His arms wrapped around me, enveloping my smaller frame completely.
My entire body went rigid with shock. In all the days since they’d arrived, Rudy had never touched me. Now he held me like he’d been doing it forever, one hand cradling the back of my head, the other splayed across my spine.
“Breathe,” he commanded, his voice vibrating through his chest and into mine. “Find where the magic is coming from and push it back.”
I shook my head against him, hands trapped between us, still pulsing with that eerie blue light. “I can’t.”
“You can.” His chin rested atop my head, warm and steady. “Close your eyes. Feel the center of it.”
My panic began to ebb, replaced by the strange awareness of his heartbeat against my ear. It was slower than I would have expected, almost hypnotic in its rhythm.
I closed my eyes, focusing on that steady thump instead of my fear. Somewhere in my chest, beneath my sternum, a cold knot of energy pulsed in time with the glow of my hands.
The magic resisted when I pushed at it but then gradually receded. The blue light dimmed, the frost stopped spreading, and the crackling energy in the air dissipated until the room felt normal again.
Rudy’s arms loosened slightly, but he didn’t release me. His hands moved to my shoulders as he pulled back just enough to search my face, his eyes sweeping over my features with an intensity that made my breath catch.
For a moment, his gaze dropped to my mouth, and I thought he might kiss me. I wanted him to kiss me.
But then his expression shuttered closed again, back to that impenetrable mask. He stepped away, hands falling to his sides.
“We leave in an hour.”