Chapter 8 #3
I started running. I was just near the back of the house when I saw Alaric, Bastian, and Garrick.
All frozen.
“Shit.”
Alaric and Bastian were in the middle of sparring with their vicious-looking swords, and Garrick stood to the side watching them.
I rushed up to them, hoping they could maybe hear me.
“Guys, I think I did something,” I blurted. “Actually, I’m fairly certain it was me. I stopped time.”
No one answered. No one moved.
I stared at them, breathing hard.
I had a spell to unfreeze. I’d used it weeks ago when I escaped. I’d tested it on a beetle before I tried it on anything else. Maybe I could use that.
But…
Damn it.
Bastian’s sword was right by Alaric’s face. I was sure he’d be able to dodge it. If he were aware. What if I unfreezed them and they were out of sync by milliseconds?
That sword would go right through his head.
In my desperation, I moved closer to Alaric. I inspected him, hoping I could move him out of the way. Even just a little. Then I could try the spell.
I tugged on his arm, and to my utter surprise, he unfroze, while Bastian remained frozen.
“Gods!” I gasped.
“What the hells…” Alaric hissed then noticed me. Then he noticed frozen Bastian and Garrick, and everything else. “What did you do?”
I couldn’t even be offended that he knew straightaway that this was my doing.
“I… I don’t know how it happened. I just remember feeling overwhelmed, then I portaled and this happened.”
“Holy shit.” His eyes snapped wide.
“I’m sorry.”
“How long have you been out here?”
“Fifteen minutes, give or take. Sirril made us lunch. I was in the sunroom with my family.”
Alaric pulled his time piece from his pocket and looked at it. “It’s almost dinner time now.”
I shook my head. “No. It was just after noon. Lunchtime.”
“Elariya, it’s nearly six.”
My stomach bottomed out. “Blessed Mother.”
I stopped time, then moved through it.
“Hey, please don’t faint on me.” He held his hands up and studied my face. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“How in the hells would you feel if you’d just stopped time, skipped hours ahead of everyone, and they were still frozen in time?” We barely had enough time as it was.
How ironic. With my curse, I was stuck in a memory loop. Now I had the opposite problem.
“Okay. Breathe. We have to fix this. How did you free me?”
“I just touched your arm.”
“Okay. It’s safer if I try and free Bastian.” He glanced at Bastian, and his brows knitted when he looked at the sword.
He went over, moving carefully behind Bastian so he wouldn’t get hurt when he unfroze. Alaric shook his arm, but nothing happened.
He looked at me, and we seemed to both realize that I had to do it. It was my magic.
“Be careful, Elariya. Get ready to jump out of the way if Bastian swings that sword. He will kill you.”
“Gods.”
Taking a deep breath, I joined him. Quickly, I touched Bastian’s arm and he unfroze. Just like Alaric predicted, Bastian swung the sword.
It would have gotten both of us if Alaric hadn’t grabbed me and flew up into the air holding me. I was always stunned at how quickly and effortlessly the guys could unfurl their wings.
We hovered a few feet in the air for a moment then descended when Bastian found his footing. A bewildered expression crossed his face when he saw what he almost did.
“Merciless Gods!” he yelled, rushing over to us. “What happened?”
“I stopped time,” I answered, trying to hide my embarrassment.
I didn’t wait to explain any further. I rushed up to Garrick and unfroze him, too.
“Hey, Elariya. When did you get here?” He stared at me, eyes narrowed, then they widened when he spotted a frozen pigeon by his foot. “Oooh-kay. Did you freeze us?”
“Yes. And I kind of froze everything.”
“Fuck.”
“You can’t go around touching everything,” Alaric pointed out. “And we don’t know how far this spread.”
“I may have a spell of sorts. I don’t know if it will work.”
“Try it. Because I sure as hells don’t have any other solutions.”
"Okay." I dragged in a deep breath and thought of the spell, then I spread my arms out wide, hoping I could use my air magic to amplify it. "Vethalan kaetrhis."
My hands glowed that mixture of gold and blue, and a breath later, everything felt normal. The wind caressed my skin. The trees resumed their dance, swaying from side to side, and the pigeon near Garrick’s foot waddled down the path.
Alaric released a heavy sigh. “You did it.”
“I did.”
I looked around and took in how normal everything felt. Then an idea came to me. Something to test. "Kythara vel'neth, thaelon mi'dar. Seren'dor kalanis, veridian talar."
The moment I uttered the words, everything froze again, including the guys.
"Vethalan kaetrhis," I chanted.
They unfroze and had no idea that I’d frozen them again.
Alaric looked at me. “Are you okay? You have that pale look again.”
I didn’t answer. Not yet. A thought was stirring in my mind.
I’d frozen time and everyone around me. And they only knew because I’d told them.
They were all none the wiser.
The thought swelled, taking shape, then flight.
And I came up with an idea.
A very, very bad idea.