“Ren!” I shouted.
Her muffled voice traveled to me, but still I couldn’t make out the words.
Then I heard the sound of a whip being cracked. A hairline fracture traveled through the ice, stopping only inches away from our feet.
“It’s going to break,” Hondo warned. “We gotta bolt.”
“Running will for sure make it break,” I argued. Why would Ixtab give me such a dangerous entrance to hell? Maybe she was so confident in her shadow magic she never thought I’d need it.
“Zane.” Brooks pointed to my feet. “You’re…you’re melting the ice.”
Water pooled around my feet.
It had to be a result of the fire I’d pulled inside of me a few minutes ago. Crap! Crappity crap!
“Dude, really?” Hondo rubbed his arms.
“What do you want me to do?” I groaned.
“Don’t be so hot!” Brooks said.
Hondo raised his eyebrows and let out a shivering laugh.
Brooks threw Hondo a scowl as I lifted my feet one at a time, trying to shake the heat out. Rosie gave me a look like Not happening.
“Zane, we can’t stand here all day,” Brooks said.
“I’ve got an idea!”
I had just called Rosie over to hitch a ride, when Hondo said, “This place feels muy dead.”
The stillness of the moment was shattered. Upon hearing the word dead, Rosie launched a massive fire stream from her nose and mouth directly into the ice.
“STEAK!” I yelled, but it was too late.
Brooks’s NO echoed across the forest as the ice collapsed and we were plunged into the freezing dark….
I totally expected violent waters, but instead I got a g-force drop through a howling tornado of wind and ice. Hail stabbed me like a million needles as my screams echoed. Fuego slipped out of my hand.
Brooks, in hawk form, dove past me with Hondo clinging to her back.
“Zane,” he hollered. “Grab hold!”
I grasped one of her talons, struggling to get a good grip. I swung mightily as she flew through the air. Her widespread wings acted as shields against the ice daggers.
Kee-eeeee-ar! she cried.
Rosie tumbled past me, howling with such ferocity the ice walls shook. Streams of fire spewed from her mouth, melting the falling hail. Then I did a double take. I couldn’t believe it—Rosie had sprouted wings! Huge black wings. How in the…?
Brooks flew back up, up, up.
Freezing rain pounded us. I’d never been so cold. My fingers were so numb I wasn’t sure I could keep holding on.
“There’s no opening!” Hondo yelled when we got back to just under the surface of the ice lake. “It’s frozen over again!”
“Where’s Ren?” I screamed. Had she fallen past us?
Rosie’s howl carried from below. Brooks beat the ice ceiling with her massive wings with zero success. “We can’t leave Rosie behind!” I hollered.