The Frozen Witch Book One Page 17

  Chapter 16

  I awoke, tied to a chair. I was in a simple, large room with no furniture and no decoration except for me. Though it took a long time to fight against the fog of unconsciousness, I quickly realized I was bound to the chair with more than ropes. Twisting, writhing chains bound my wrists, neck, and ankles with such force it felt like it would take an army to break me free.

  It took several bleary, blinking seconds until I realized there was a figure by the door. As soon as I shifted my head toward him, he took a step forward, removing a fob watch from his pocket and beginning to twist it around his hand.

  Hank Chaplin.

  I felt my face slacken in total fear, and as soon as he saw it, a manic grin opened his lips wide. “I’m going to have to thank that bastard before I kill him,” he said through another satisfied laugh.

  Trying to fight back the tears, I shifted my head to the side. “Where’s Franklin? What have you done to him?”

  “Why care about him? He made you a slave to your sins. What exactly do you owe him?”

  It was a good question. One I couldn’t answer, and yet one my heart appeared to know the truth of as it beat harder in my chest.

  Though I knew Franklin couldn’t be in the room with me, that didn’t stop me from searching for him desperately. I could still see the sorrowful look he’d shot me before he’d given up his weapon and Hank had struck him across the back of the head. I closed my eyes against the memory just as Hank crossed the distance between us and stopped right before me. He appeared to assess me for several long moments until he stopped, twisting his fob watch around one final time. “You want to know what I’m gonna do with Franklin? I’m going to kill him.”

  I shook my head, the move instinctual. “You can’t; he’s a god.”

  Hank just laughed. “You’ve got no idea what’s happening here, do you, Lilly White?”

  I shrunk back as he said my name, shrunk back as he shifted in close to stare at me from another angle. It was almost like I was some barnyard animal he was assessing before purchase. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he grabbed my mouth and started checking my teeth.

  “Franklin is mortal; Vali isn’t. So trust me, Franklin can be killed. And will be,” he smiled, teeth pressing wide, “momentarily.”

  My eyes drew wide.

  “What?” Hank ticked his head to the side in that same truly unnerving move. “You didn’t know that? That man of yours, Franklin Saunders, is the worst criminal of all. Don’t you know how Vali works?”

  I clenched my teeth as I tried to control my surprise.

  This elicited a low, dark laugh from Hank as he continued to spin his fob watch around and around his hand. “Trying to be tough now, are you? Bit late for that, love.”

  “I… I don’t believe anything you’re saying,” I managed.

  He snorted. “Yes, you do. Why wouldn’t you? You know nothing about this world,” he said slowly as he shifted forward. Still twisting his fob watch around his hand, he locked his other hand on the armrest beside me.

  I jerked back, terrified as his face came closer. Without blinking, he stared right into my eyes.

  “Yes, you do,” he said slowly, each word a percussive beat. “You believe me, because you don’t know any better.”

  I grimaced but hid it as I locked my jaw. Rather than snap that I didn’t believe him again, I just sat there in silence.

  This drew an even deeper, more resounding laugh. And by god was it unpleasant. That fob chain flicking around just a few inches from my nose, he straightened and took a step back. He began to pace, several meters to the left, several to the right, then he stopped in front of me once more. “He’s a murderer, you know,” he said.

  I tried so hard to keep my expression neutral. I couldn’t. My calm cracked, my lips even wobbled. “What?”

  “Franklin Saunders. I mean, I take it you know that Vali is a murderer. He’s the god of revenge; it comes with the job. But Franklin Saunders? How do you think he turned into Vali in the first place?”

  I shook my head.

  Hank grinned. It was an ugly move. For a supposedly handsome man, I was starting to realize his looks were only skin deep.

  “I… don’t believe you,” I said weakly.

  “Yes, you do.” Hank chuckled as he finally stopped flipping his fob watch around and caught it with a snapped move. “Vali is channeled. He’s the immortal – Franklin isn’t. Franklin did something so heinous that the only way to live was to channel Vali.”

  “What?” My voice shook, and there was nothing I could do about it.

  “That’s how Vali works. He has to channel himself into one unlucky bastard to exist. And when that unlucky bastard pops his clogs, he just moves on to find another.”

  My cheeks paled.

  Hank snickered. “What? Thought Franklin would live forever? Franklin ain’t even going to make it past tonight. That asshole Vali is gonna have to find another poor sucker to possess.”

  A jolt of nerves shoved hard through my gut, and I pushed against the binds holding me in place. “What?”

  “Franklin ain’t going to live past tonight,” Hank said each word slowly as if he wanted me to write them down. “But you?” He paused.

  I froze. “What do you mean? Franklin—”

  “Really? You’re more concerned about him than yourself? Don’t you want to ask what happens to you next?” He leaned back, released his fob chain, and began twisting it around his hand once more.

  I swallowed.

  “There we go, starting to think of the future now, are we? Good girl. Because it will involve you.”

  I felt sick. Completely and utterly sick. It felt like my stomach was trying to rip out of my torso. But I held it together, held it together long enough to clench my teeth and pare my lips back. “Go to hell.”

  “No,” he said with a shrug, “I plan on going to the top. First this city, and who knows, maybe the world. Because you present me with a very unique opportunity.”

  I couldn’t pale any further, and god knows I couldn’t feel any sicker. But I could recede as I pressed all the way back in my chair.

  “Not every century a frozen witch drags herself out of the ice, ha?”

  My throat was suddenly so dry I could barely breathe. “Sorry?”

  “A frozen witch. That’s you. Did Vali not even deem to tell you that?”

  I couldn’t react.

  He clapped his hands together as if he’d just heard the funniest joke. “Keeping it from you, was he? Misguided attempt to keep you safe, maybe? Or, more likely, wanted to keep you for himself,” Hank’s voice dropped real low. The kind of low that slices hard into the base of your gut and leaves you shaking. “Anyhow,” he straightened up, stowing a hand in his pocket, “I’ll leave you to think about that. I have a man to kill.” He flashed me a smile, turned on his foot, waved, and walked out.

  “No. No! Don’t kill him!” I begged.

  Hank closed the door behind him, leaving me alone.

  ….

  I sat there, shaking, covered in cold sweat.

  I had to get out of here. Had to get out of here before it was too late. But how?

  This room was empty, but there was a window. And if I could just get to it, I’d have a good chance of breaking it. I could scream until I roused a pedestrian outside.

  The problem? The problem was these magical ropes. I had absolutely no idea how to get rid of these.

  Whatever Hank had done to my bangles, it wouldn’t be hard to reverse.

  Though I should have been more concerned about my own safety right now, I couldn’t stop thinking about Franklin. About what Hank had said. Not about the fact Franklin was a murderer – I just couldn’t believe that. He was too kind, too gentle. No, what was driving me crazy was the thought that he could die. Would die. He wouldn’t see the night through, as Hank had put it with a brutal laugh.

  I fought against my ropes harder, pushing into them, wriggling, forcing my shoulders forward, trying every
thing to loosen them.

  But nothing would work. In fact, the harder I fought, the harder they fought back. Small charges of magic kept tapping into my wrist and arms, feeling like electric shocks. As I bucked hard, throwing myself forward with all my force so I could at least topple the chair, a much harder shock jolted into my arms. My head spun as stars exploded through my vision.

  I did not, however, let myself blackout.

  “Come on, come on, there must be some kind of way,” I begged.

  If only I knew more about my magic, or magic in general, then at least I might have a chance. Now I was desperate.

  “Come on, come on, there has to be a way!”

  I’d seen Cassidy and Alice use magic. And god knows I’d seen that asshole from last night produce a fire sword. Why couldn’t I do that? Okay, I knew what was stopping me – these locks. How exactly did they work?

  Hank had called me a frozen witch. And as soon as he’d said the words, they’d had such an effect on me that I knew they couldn’t be a lie. But what the hell was a frozen witch? And how was it different from the other practitioners I’d already met?

  From what I’d seen of Megan and what I’d heard about her, it was clear she was one of the most powerful witches under Vali’s command. Yet it was equally clear that I had to be powerful, too. Otherwise Vali wouldn’t have taken me tonight, and Hank wouldn’t be showing so much interest in me.

  But what could I do? I already knew the answer to that. I could freeze things. If last night was anything to go by, as soon as I took these locks off, ice would spread from my touch and cover the entire room. And if anyone was in here with me, they’d be frozen, too.

  Blinking hard, I suddenly realized it had something to do with that kernel of ice that always felt lodged in my sternum. That fragment of cold that sat just above my heart, stealing away my attention whenever I was terrified. More than anything, I was scared of it. It had been growing for the last couple of months, or maybe it had always been there. If I cast my mind back, I’d felt it as a kid, hadn’t I? This sense of cold that always surrounded me, a sense of cold that terrified me more than anything else. And one that even now I wanted to push back. But push it back, and I’d be rejecting my magic, wouldn’t I?

  That thought – it was so powerful, I suddenly stilled. I imagined the room stilled with me. There must’ve been a brisk breeze pushing in from under the door, as the thick curtains around the windows were fluttering. Yet right now they stopped, almost as if they were waiting to find out what I would do next.

  What I did next was close my eyes. Even though I had always tried to push away that fragment of ice, even though I’d always tried to tell myself it was nothing more than nerves, for the first time I allowed my curiosity to flare. I pushed my attention into it, using every ounce of courage I’d gathered over the past several days not to turn away. The more I faced it, the more it grew until it pulsed like a growing blizzard.

  My lips tugged apart. “Come on, you can do this. You’re my magic, aren’t you? Please, I need your help.” I talked to it as if that growing storm were a person, as if it were somehow intelligent.

  I was an independent soul. I liked to do everything for myself. My grandmother had chided me that I never took instruction. I never sought assistance, even when I needed it most.

  Well right now, in my last moment, I reached out to that cold, begging it to open up to me.

  It did. Slow at first, draining through my body like trickling ice melt. Though it should have frozen me solid, it did the exact opposite. I felt more alive than ever.

  I succumbed to it. Charges of magic suddenly leaped up from my skin, sending a thrill of excitement chasing down my back. The more the sensation grew, the more I gave into it, the more my power returned.

  With a resounding crack, the chains fell from my wrists, throat, and ankles. And the locks around my wrists? I felt something fizzle and click, and they fell to the floor with a resonant thump.

  The symbols returned, blazing over my skin brighter than they ever had before. I snapped my eyes open in time to see their light spread forth like wildfire.

  It rushed out of me. The cold. But it was different this time. I wasn’t afraid of it. Instead, I leaned forward and embraced it with both arms.

  Ice spread out from my body, crackling as it covered the floors and spread up the walls. In a snapped second, my breath turned to mist as if I’d been plunged into the coldest, darkest winter.

  The ice grew so quickly, that in a flash, it covered everything. The brown, tan floorboards were suddenly white-blue, even the velvet curtains looked like nothing more than molded snow.

  With my breath still buffeting against me, I experimentally tugged my ropes. With a crack, they broke apart, falling into icicles and dashing at my feet.

  I stood, slowly, anchoring myself on the chair for balance. I didn’t need to, though. Just as had happened last night, I couldn’t seem to slip on the ice, even though it covered everything and looked as treacherous as a frozen-over lake.

  I wasn’t cold, either. I was in a backless satin dress, and it might as well have been midsummer. Because, hey, it was midsummer – just not in this room anymore.

  Warily, I knelt down and picked up my broken bangles. I clicked them back over my wrists, even though I knew full well they wouldn’t work anymore. Maybe they’d buy me some time. Plus, I doubted Vali would be happy if I lost them.

  I shifted toward the door. Placing a hand on the iced-over handle, I took a steeling breath as the door opened a crack. When Hank’s goons didn’t suddenly tackle me to the ground, I took a hesitant step into the abandoned corridor.

  With every step I took, ice spread out from my feet, covering everything, marching up the walls and cracking the windows.

  The symbols and light continued to dance across my skin, so much magic charging across my body, it caught the tips of my hair as if they were being chased around by a sudden wind.

  I would have looked like a fearsome sight. A fact that was proven as one of the thick-necked goons from earlier suddenly came racing down the corridor. He came to a skidding stop, eyes bulging from his skull as he stared at me.

  His moment of surprise couldn’t last. With a snapped, precise movement, he brought a gun up from the holster around his hip. He fired.

  I had a moment to jerk back, fear pulsing through me, but the magic bullet couldn’t reach me. It stopped several inches from my face, and I watched as ice covered it. The bullet fell to the floor and shattered into 1000 pieces.

  I heard the guy bellow with rage. He fired off several more rounds. They too could not reach me. They literally froze before me.

  When that didn’t work, he brought his left hand up. I made out a blue, blazing symbol on his wrist. Licks of flame powered across it as he twisted his hand in a circle. A magical disc appeared in front of him, and he selected a weapon. A heavyset sword suddenly grew in his palm.

  He thrust forward with no warning and no chance of reprieve.

  I didn’t even have to double back. As soon as he came too close, he slipped on the ice. It began to grow over him.

  He jerked to the side, shoulder ramming into the wall, the entire room shaking. He sneered, swiping at the ice with his sword, but there was nothing he could do. It grew up him, quickly covering his feet then his legs, soon reaching his torso. As it did, he appeared to lose his fight. With a shaking step, he fell to one knee then the other, the sword slamming into the icy floor beside him.

  I didn’t want to kill the guy.

  Last night I’d had no control over my power as it had charged up John Lambert’s body. Now, I tried to concentrate. I squeezed my eyes half shut, the skin around them taut with tension.

  “Don’t… don’t kill him,” I begged.

  I could feel my power. It was a storm in my chest. Pure, pure chaos. I had about as much chance of controlling it as you did of catching a cloud in your hands.

  But I wasn’t willing to give up. Too much was at stake. If I couldn’
t control my abilities, not only would I kill this man, but my magic would probably go on to freeze this entire building, maybe even the city. I would have no chance of saving Franklin, either.

  So I concentrated – I concentrated with everything I had, begging myself to find a way.

  I’d never been more focused in that moment, never more driven.

  The man started to gag, ice covering his throat and marching across his stiff, white-blue lips.

  … My chaotic magic couldn’t be controlled, but maybe it could be directed.

  I suddenly pulled away from the man. Not just physically, mentally. I withdrew my attention from him, concentrating on my hands, instead.

  It took half a second, but it worked. Just before the man took his last, icy breath, he started to thaw. The apparently unstoppable ice finally receded.

  I took a shaky, relieved breath. I did not, however, allow my attention to lock on the man for too long, just long enough to ensure his skin was returning to a healthy pink.

  I pushed on. I had no idea where to find Hank Chaplain, but I figured – rightly – that it wouldn’t take him long to find me.

  Indeed, I didn’t even reach the end of the corridor before I heard footfall. Frantic, heavy, it came to a skidding stop behind me.

  I turned. The magic playing over my body now caught the ends of my hair, sending every strand billowing around my head like smoke. My whole body glowed – every centimeter of my skin aglow with those ancient runes.

  Though my encroaching ice no longer spread throughout the hallway uncontrollably, it remained concentrated around my body. The floor beneath me was so thick with frost, it looked as if it had been carved from diamond.

  I heard someone swear.

  Two of Chaplain’s men came to screeching stops along the opposite end of the corridor. Or, at least they tried to. As soon as their feet struck my left-over frost, they fell, skidding onto their backsides.

  They’d had guns in their hands, but they couldn’t keep hold of them as they flailed on the slippery floor. As soon as the guns struck the ice, they frosted over. A second later, they cracked, shattering like a sheet of glass thrown on the ground.

  The more I learned to direct my magic, the brighter that light glowed along my skin.

  I continued down the corridor, passing the two men as they lay spread-eagled on the floor. At first, they tried to jump to their feet, but as I concentrated on their shoes, ice grew up and covered them, locking the men to the spot.

  I walked right past them, balance perfect.

  I made it all the way down the corridor, following the flow of bad guys who uselessly threw themselves toward me. No matter what kind of weapon they used, they couldn’t touch me. A few were quick enough and powerful enough to produce flaming magical swords – and yet they could never get close enough to use them. Not their bullets, not their blasts of magic – nothing could touch me.

  Things became a blur of cold, of light, of ice. And yet, though it would have been so easy to succumb to the chaos at the center of my power, I kept my focus.

  Finally, I found Franklin.

  I found Chaplain, too.

  I came across a ballroom. It wasn’t the function room from before – it was grander than that. It was also empty except for two people: Franklin and Hank.

  I still didn’t understand how Vali worked. In my head, I’d convinced myself Chaplain had lied – that he would be ultimately unable to kill Franklin. Yet as I strode into the room, entering from above along a split, sweeping staircase that descended into the ballroom, I spied Franklin. He wasn’t tied to a chair like I’d been. Nor was he tied down at all, in fact. At least not by any visible ropes. Instead, he was down on one hand and knee, head bowed low between his shoulders as if his body were under great strain. Beneath him, a golden circle of light flickered. It sparked, suddenly becoming brighter as he saw me.

  Our eyes met from far across the room.

  Hank swore then shifted toward me, shoes skidding.

  I was still wearing my bangles – I’d kept them on in the misguided hope they might buy me some time. I’d forgotten that anyone with a functioning set of eyes would be able to see my magic – it played across my skin and spread out from my every touch.

  As Hank shoved toward me, he brought his hands up, suddenly spreading his fingers wide, his shirt sleeves rumpling as a wave of power burst up his arms.

  He incanted something under his breath.

  A second before it happened, I felt it – something gathering within my bangles. Though they weren’t part of me, they felt like an extension of my power. And right now that power was being forced back.

  I heard something clicking deep within the bangles, almost like they were clock mechanisms being wound up.

  “Take them off,” Vali bellowed. Suddenly that gold ring of light beneath him grew until it looked like a flare. But just as soon, it dwindled.

  The gold ring was rimmed by the strangest runes I’d ever seen. They didn’t just look ancient – they exuded age like it was a scent.

  Even as Hank threw himself at me, I realized that gold ring had to be the possession – the doorway that allowed the god of revenge into Franklin Saunders. Hank was obviously trying to remove it. Just as he obviously wanted to lock me back within the hold of my bangles.

  Hank reached the base of the stairs and threw himself up them, two at a time.

  I suddenly wrenched my attention off Franklin, locking it on my bangles. Whereas seconds ago they’d been loose, now they closed tighter around my wrists, as if they were about to squeeze through the flesh and cut through my bone.

  I jolted, concentrating on my bangles with every grain of power I had.

  But Hank was faster. Whatever incantation he kept chanting had a dampening effect on me. Not just my power, but my mind. My thoughts were starting to trail off….

  “Fight him, Lily-white,” Vali bellowed. Despite the fact Franklin’s body looked to be under considerable strain, Vali’s voice boomed out with all the authority and power of a true god.

  It had an effect on me. An emboldening one.

  I shoved back, that fog that had wended through my mind shifting. I moved just in time, throwing myself down the opposite side of the sweeping staircase.

  I heard Hank just behind me. He spat my name in between incanting. His voice arced and pitched, each word a spluttered blast of hatred.

  My skin crawled with sweat, my body shaking with adrenaline as I threw myself down each step. I kept a hand locked on my bangle, trying everything to wrench it off.

  It continued to tighten around my wrist, now squeezing the flesh so tightly, I was sure it would pinch my hand clean off. My hands were becoming numb, and with that lack of sensation, my power weakened all the more.

  The light no longer played across my skin.

  He was right behind me now – his breath a mere few inches from my back, his outstretched hand even closer.

  I reached the base of the stairs and shot forward, shoes slipping on the smooth, marble floor.

  I caught sight of Franklin again – he was now down on both knees, his head drooping so low it practically touched the floor. The light of that golden disc surrounding him dimmed, like a candle burning through the last of its wax.

  … He was about to die – Franklin. I was sure of it. Just as I knew I had to do something.

  I used all my energy to throw myself at him, but I did not reach him.

  Hank reached me instead. He shoved forward at the last moment, catching a handful of my hair and yanking me around.

  He wasn’t just strong – his magic darted out from his grip and sank into me like wave of electric shock after wave of electric shock.

  My teeth rattled in my skull, and my eyes threatened to roll into the back of my head.

  I heard a thump as Franklin fell.

  Though Hank wrenched me back, I still managed to see Franklin out of the corner of my eye. That golden disc was about to grow dark….

  Something inside me
snapped. It wasn’t the cold, it wasn’t the chaos, it wasn’t even my mind.

  It was that wall that had always kept me back. The one I’d built in my teens and I’d been adding a brick to every day since. My anger, my defensiveness – my bitterness at life. I may have technically grown up in opportunity, but it had bound me. And when I’d broken free, poverty had bound me instead.

  I’d never been free.

  And now Hank had me, I’d be more trapped than ever with no hope of escape.

  At the heart of me, there was something that needed to escape. That had always needed to break free.

  It wasn’t my magic. It was something more. That part of me that wanted to create, to protect, to make a difference.

  As I reached a hand toward Franklin’s now still form, I let that part break free.

  It erupted out of me. Not just the ice – the kernel of pure potential that lay at its center.

  And that was more than enough to cut through Hank’s spell. With a resounding, ringing crack, my bangles turned to dust and scattered at my feet.

  Hank still had a hand on my hair, but he didn’t for long. He had time to suck in a single, terrified breath.

  Then I concentrated on him. The cold spread from my chest, shooting toward him with such speed, I thought I could hear the very air freeze and shatter.

  Somehow, he tried to fight back. Though the brunt of my power was flowing into him like a relentless storm, he still reached a hand out. His fingers jerked as they spread toward my neck.

  I didn’t take a step back, just faced him and concentrated with all my might.

  He fought back, but as his eyes widened to the point of dropping out of his skull, I saw his fear.

  He was a sinner – one of the worst. Yet somewhere, somewhere within was something that didn’t deserve death. Yes, Hank Chaplain had killed, but no – I would not kill in turn.

  Though it would have been so easy to reach forward and snap him with my power, I let it recede. Not completely – I pushed one last time until the ice blasted across his chest. It was enough to send him reeling backward. He fell onto the ground and skidded to a stop several meters away. He lay still, the last of his magic crackling from him and discharging into the floor.

  I turned from him.

  I went to drop down to one knee to help Franklin to his feet. I needn’t have bothered.

  Franklin got to his own feet. Though his stance was shaky at first, it didn’t take long for his knees to lock, his shoulders to stiffen, and his head to lift as he faced me.

  “You – you’re alive,” I managed.

  He nodded. His body was covered with bruises, blood splattered over his shirt from a deep cut along his jaw. He looked as if he’d been beaten, and right in the center of his eyes, I saw a grain of fear – the fear of a man who’d almost lost his life.

  “Yes,” he managed. “I am alive. Thanks to you.” He shifted his gaze from me and locked it on Hank’s still form.

  I turned to look at Hank too.

  I got the sudden impression that Vali was checking to see I hadn’t killed Hank.

  A fleeting thought caught me – one I tried to stifle, and yet one that flashed through my mind nonetheless. What if this had been a test? What if Franklin had never been in any real danger? What if Vali had held back to see what I could do? And, more importantly, to see what I wouldn’t do – whether I would choose to kill or save.

  As soon as that thought struck me, I shook my head and dismissed it.

  Expression unreadable, Franklin continued to stare at Hank.

  “I – I don’t get it. Why couldn’t you save yourself?” I asked.

  It took Vali a long time to answer. He returned his attention to the now still form of Chaplain. I expected to see anger rippling across Vali’s brow, darkening his gaze, tightening his jaw.

  I didn’t. As Vali looked at Chaplain – arguably one of the worst sinners in Saint Helios – Vali looked somber, sad even.

  For a moment, something flickered deep in the god’s eyes. Something that called to me….

  Vali ticked his head up and faced me. “To answer your question, Lily-white, I could not save myself.”

  “I don’t get it – you’re a god.”

  “Yes, I am. Franklin is not. I am… incapable of drawing on my full abilities at will. The actions of others dictate what I can do.”

  I didn’t understand. It felt like I’d need an eternity to fathom his mysteries.

  My stomach kicked at the thought, then it kicked again as Vali considered me, expression unreadable.

  He reached a hand out. “It is over.”

  I looked at his hand then up at his face. “Are you sure?”

  A wry smile spread over Vali’s mouth. He didn’t answer, just kept his hand held toward me.

  It took me a moment, a long moment. A moment filled with confusing expectation and knotted nerves. A moment of tight breath and tingling cold. And yet, at its core, a moment filled with a promise of warmth.

  I took his hand.

  His smile spread further.

  And together, we walked out.

  I was an indentured witch working off her sins for the god of revenge. My life would never be the same again. No more waitressing, no more arguments with my family, no more hiding.

  It was time to find out who I really was.

  Epilogue

  It was over. Somehow, it was over, and I’d survived. No, I’d done more than just surviving; I’d saved Franklin Saunders’ life. Now all I had to do was find out the secrets he’d been keeping from me.

  I was standing in his office. He’d healed his injuries. Don’t ask me how, but Franklin Saunders was back on his feet, not a wound in sight.

  For several seconds, we faced each other in silence. I had so many questions swirling around my head. There was one more than any other I desperately needed the answer to: just what I was.

  “So this is it, ha? You still aren’t gonna tell me what I am?” I faced him, but this time it was completely different. This time, I didn’t find Franklin Saunders imposing. Not even Vali underneath. Because this time I was giving in to my curiosity more and more. Fear may have seen me enter this new magical world, but it would be curiosity more than anything that would get me through this.

  I watched him take a deep breath, his chest pushing out hard against his shirt. I waited for him to answer. Instead, he inclined his head toward the view, pushed up, and walked toward the window.

  I frowned. “You’re not going to tell me, are you?” I concluded.

  “You’re right – I won’t.” He shook his head as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

  “Don’t I deserve the truth? I may still be a sinner in your books, but I saved your life and brought Hank in.”

  Slowly, he arched his head and faced me. There was something so vulnerable about that look, something so different from the god of revenge I was used to. “You’re right – you have earned the truth. I simply can’t give it to you.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “It means I can’t tell you what you are, because I’m not entirely sure yet.”

  Nerves blasted through my gut, but I didn’t pay any attention to them as I continued to face him. “Hank called me a frozen witch, and I know my magic must have something to do with ice. So why don’t you fill in the gaps?”

  He slowly turned from the view. At first, he focused all his attention on straightening his tie pin. Then he faced me. “What you will ultimately be hasn’t been decided yet. Yes, you’re a frozen witch. But unlike other practitioners of magic, your path has not yet been decided.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” I asked, receding.

  He paused, and I could tell he was trying to figure out just how much to tell me.

  He suddenly smiled, and it was such a private smile that it stole away my attention.

  I didn’t push him again. I waited as he appeared to come to a conclusion.

  “A frozen witch, beyond all others,
is closest to the gods.”

  “What does that mean?” I asked through a stutter.

  “Your magic – there’s less of a gap between you and the divine. So I simply don’t know what will happen to you next, Lily-white; it hasn’t been decided, yet.”

  I still wasn’t following, but there was one thing I could follow easily: his expression. His direct attention as it didn’t waver, as he locked me in his unnerving stare.

  Suddenly I realized something. “I’m not here to work off my sins, am I?”

  His brow knotted, and I saw Vali return. “Yes, you are here to work off your sins,” he said in a strong tone.

  I thought he would turn from me, but he didn’t. Instead, he continued, “In part,” he added under his breath.

  My stomach knotted with tight tingles. “What do you mean in part?”

  “You are still the reason your grandmother died.” He dipped his head low, the shadows beneath his eyes lengthening. “You have still hurt others in the past without knowing it. And yet…” he trailed off.

  “And yet what?” I prompted in a quiet but firm tone.

  “And yet there is more to this situation.”

  “How much more?”

  “We will both have to wait and find out.” With that, the door to his office opened with a creak.

  I turned to it then shifted my attention right back to Vali. Or was it Franklin Saunders? It was becoming hard to tell. “I’m not leaving until you tell me more,” I announced defiantly.

  “You will eventually find out all the answers you seek. But for now, you must get back to work. For sinners never rest. And until they do, neither will you.”

  The end of Frozen Witch Book One. The next book in this series – The Frozen Witch Book Two – is currently available.

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  If you liked this book, you may also like other urban fantasies by Odette C. Bell. For a full list of books, please visit www.odettecbell.com.

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  Angel: Private Eye

  Right and wrong will cost you....

  Lizzie Luck is magical. Apparently. The DNA test came back proving she's from the otherworld.

  She's unemployed, has 24 dollars in her account, and is so out of luck it's killing her.

  Things couldn't get worse, right?

  Wrong.

  When she winds up in the police station and comes to the attention of the city's richest, most charming and most powerful vampire, her fortunes take a turn for the worse. Soon she finds herself under contract to him. She has to agree to his terms, and in return, he'll find out who she is....

  From magical murders to dangerously attractive vampires, Lizzie is thrust headfirst into a world of intrigue, mystery, and fantasy.

  ....

  With plenty of action, adventure, wit, and romance, Angel: Private Eye is sure to please fans of Witch's Bell. A seven-book series, the first five books are currently available.

  Modern Goddess: Trapped by Thor

  Yes, she's a goddess. And, oh yes, he is most certainly a god. You can tell from the fact he marches around in glinting armor, picking fights with titans and picking up divine broads. But she didn't sign up for this. Sea monsters, kidnappings, evil plots, and the end of the world? Are you kidding? She spends most nights reading the weather report and icing cupcakes.

  It's all his fault.

  ...

  Modern Goddess: Trapped by Thor is a two-part sprawling fantasy. intertwined with mythology, adventure, romance, and philosophy, it's sure to please fans of Odette C. Bell's Witch's Bell.

  The Enchanted Writes: The Complete Series

  Henrietta is painfully boring. She is uncoordinated, unsuccessful, and entirely unlucky in love. That all changes when a strange man walks into her life talking of witches, magic, and warriors. Soon she finds her life turned upside down, and any semblance of normality banished for good.

  ...

  Enchanted Writes is a light-hearted humorous paranormal series, with plenty of humour, action, and romance.