Wings of Ice

A Story by Gabby Amaya

Annett had been content with life so far, that is, until she meet a strange couple. And now her views on life, reality, and her own self-worth are challenged when she is titled Queen of Water and Ice.

Chapter One

No one knew what the sickness was once it sprung and no one knew how it had spread so quickly. People would walk around in masks and even avoided most all physical contact, but more and more people kept getting sick. Some died, some had it for just a few days and recovered, but a few handfuls of people would vanish completely without letting their families know of their outcome.

I had just started my first week in college, far away from my family and begun getting used to my new room when I caught it.

By this time the sickness had been given many names and terms, but there was still no cure, still no clue as to what it was and what it was doing to our bodies. The disease itself didn’t start in any unique way. It would start off as a common cold to some, while others would feel like their allergies were acting up and there were even some people that didn’t even get any type of symptom. They’d just end up coughing up blood during the peak of it and fainting, after that you were sent to one of the millions of now closed off hospitals to not only be “cured” but studied as well.

Sadly I was one of those unlucky ones to receive no such warnings.

I was heading out into town, walking off campus to look for a job before my afternoon classes started. I was alone, with a small can of pepper spray and a map to lead me back to campus. I had walked down three blocks before turning around, filling out employment papers and picking up some supplies and breakfast as I headed back.

“Hello?” I picked up my phone on the third ring, wondering who would be calling me.

“Hello, is this Miss Rogers?” said a peppy female voice.

“Yes, this is her.” I shuffled along as I walked across the street, stopping to rest on a bench in front of a small clothing store.

“Hi, this is the manager of the thrift store you were in just a few minutes ago.” Her jumpy voice was starting to make me tired as she spoke, making me wish I was back in my dorm taking a nap. “And I was wondering if there was a chance to talk to you in a few minutes about the job opening I have here.”

I stood up from my bench and turned to look at the clothing store, facing the thrift store beside it and seeing the distant silhouette of a woman on a phone.

“Ok, I’ll be there in just a few moments.”

“Oh, that’s perfect. See you in a few.” And with that she hung up and I stood there and watched as she stepped around the front desk and began busying herself with work.

I sighed as I made my way there, shoving my food back into my shopping bag to eat later. As I headed into the small shop I set my things down near the door, looking around at the painting buckets and half built shelves and things scattered all over the place. So instead of possibly tripping toward the only chair in the room I leaned back against the dry wall next to the door and waited. Once she stepped out from the back room she smiled and walked toward me, greeting me and stopping a few feet away from me.

When all formalities where done and over with she started asking me about my skills and talents, my age and any and all experiences I’ve had in different jobs. I answered them all and even asked her a few questions about the position that was open. She seemed pleased and even gave me a walk-through of the renovations and a quick look at the back room. I smiled and commented on things I found interesting, earning a rather overjoyed smile from her as we made our way across the scattered tools toward the door.

“Well Miss Rogers it seems I have found myself a rather perfect employee.” She said with a smile, moving a few things to clear a path to the door.

“Thank you so very much ma’am.” I grinned back at her as I reached for the door knob, turning back to ask when I would be able to come in and start.

But as I whirled around to speak, my vision vanished and I soon found myself losing all senses just before I heard an alarmed and shrill scream calling out for help.

That’s how I ended up in a hospital with a nurse hovering over me and a doctor exiting my room.

“What happened?” I croaked, but the nurse didn’t hear me and kept bustling around my room, writing something onto a clipboard as she starred at my IV. “Excuse me?”

I grabbed her shirt sleeve and tugged at her, finally catching her attention.

“What happened? Why am I in a hospital?”

“Oh sweetheart you fainted inside a thrift store and the very kind manager there called the ambulance for you.” Her voice was overly peppy yet I was still able to hear the tension underneath it as she continued to write.

“Well can you tell me why that happened to me? I’ve never fainted before.” I gripped her shirt a bit tighter as she worked, noticing that her eyes were flicking to my hand and back to her work.

“I’ll go get the doctor for you alright, he’ll explain everything.” She spoke quickly and jerked her arm out of my grasp, briskly walking to the door and out it within a few moments.

I leaned back and wondered why she had acted like that, thinking back to everything I could remember that happened before I blacked out. But nothing stood out to me, I hadn’t been near any sick person of any kind, I had eaten a small breakfast before going out to job hunt, and I had emptied out two water bottles during my hunt.

As I sat there and thought I heard loud noises coming from outside my door. Then, as if from a crime movie, a man in a grey trench coat kicked the door in and walked right up to me. There was two other men with him, the doctor and nurse that had left scurried along right behind them.

“Excuse me; I don’t think that’s any manner to enter inside a hospital room.” I said, backing away from the stoic men and watching my nurse and doctor nearly jump out of their skin.

“Has your doctor informed you of what you have Miss?” said the deep voiced man that kicked down the door.

“No-“

“I was just coming up to tell her.” Said the doctor, interrupting me and looking at me with rather guilty and apologetic eyes.

The man nodded then tilted his head to look at his partners who quickly began unplugging me from the machines next to my bed.

“Whoa hey what the hell is going on? Am I on leave or something?” I jumped away from them as they yanked the cords out, flinching when one of them grabbed my arm and pulled out the IV needle.

“You really don’t need to do this sir I’m sure that it’ll kick in in just a few minutes; I mean I did just administer it to her.” The doctor was frantic and edgy, wiping his brow of sweat and no longer wanting to make eye contact with me.

“What do you mean? What’s going on? Why are you people unplugging all of my hospital stuff?” I looked around for someone to tell me but no one would. The doctor and nurse wouldn’t look at me the two men were busy turning all of the machines off and their leader friend was looking through the hospital clipboard that the nurse had used to log in my information.

“Your doctor won’t be able to answer your questions, seeing as he has only seen this happen just one other time right?” the man said turning to a rather pale and guilty doctor.

“Then you tell me!” I narrowed my eyes at the man as his goons finished unplugging everything.

He turned and smiled, walking up to me and taking a look at my charts again before speaking.

“Well Miss Rogers it seems that you have contracted the unknown virus that this world has been so plagued by for the last several months, I’m sure you’ve heard of it.” I froze as he spoke, feeling my body shiver as if someone had poured a bucket of crushed ice down my back and on my head. “But all that aside, your symptoms and your condition are quite unique in a way that requires us to take you to our special facilities to be studied, examined, and in where you’ll be living in for quite some time until we fully understand what you are becoming, how your becoming that, and how to better effectively kill you and your kind.”

Once he finished speaking his goons laughed at me, grabbing an arm and a leg lifting me out of the bed.

“WHAT? NO! LET GO OF ME!” I shouted and screamed and tried to fend them off but I was still weak from my fainting and couldn’t really do much except make it difficult for them to hold me.

“You can’t! I can’t let you take another patient like this! It’s wrong, it hurts them and your purpose is completely twisted!” the doctor stepped up to the man and shouted back as I struggled, his face red and angry with self-guilt.

“And why would we do that doctor? You were the one that administered the test to this girl right? You saw how she didn’t so much as nap after her ordeal. Quite the contrary! She woke up as soon as you administered it! And you know that once a patient with the unknown abomination reacts this way he/she must be taken away for studies.”

“WHAT TEST?!” I shouted at them, still struggling with my captors.

“You see the doctor here has been ordered to induce a coma in patients that arrive with the… thing inside them, and those that slip into it are kept here for the doctors to patch up.” The man walked up to me as his crazy men set me down on my feet, keeping my hands behind me. “Then there are the rare ones like you that don’t slip into the coma at all, no matter how many drugs are in your system while under this virus, and it looks like you were given enough to not only force a normal person into a coma but potentially kill them as well.” He lifted the clipboard and skimmed it while he spoke, as if to prove his findings with my information.

With that said he turned around and proceeded to walk out of the room. And as he walked the two men on either side of me followed, jerking and pulling me along as I tried to slow down and stop or somehow slip out of their grip. But I was growing weaker with each attempt and by the time we stepped out of the hospitals front doors I was starting to black out again.

Chapter Two

When I woke up the second time I was much more alert. Sitting upright and looking around before saying or doing anything.

The room I was in now was much more like a prison than a so called study area as I looked around. With a single twin bed with grey sheets on it, a small sink with a full length mirror beside it, a writing desk screwed into the wall and a lonely looking chair. And when I got up to look into the slightly open door next to the sink there was a toilet and a shower with no curtains.

“Oh boy aint this such a home-y place.” I hissed, crossing my arms and noticing that I was no longer wearing hospital garb.

Instead I had on grey sweat pants and a light grey t-shirt with a matching jacket hanging from one side of the bed.

“Those a******s better not have changed me.”

I jumped as I spoke, hearing a loud ring of some sort echo out from somewhere outside the big metal door across from my bed. After the ring the door gave off a semi-loud click and opened up, showing me that it locked from the outside with automatic switches that someone somewhere controlled.

Cautious, I stepped out of the room and heard voices, and, to my shocked disbelief, there were people in my same grey outfits coming out of their own prison type rooms. I gasped quietly and looked at them all as they stepped down the stairs and joined more people that had floor prisons like my own. And as I continued looking at them I noticed that they were all heading toward a set of open double doors, so I followed. The room on the other side seemed to be a type of cafeteria with a long buffet table thing going across two walls, restroom signs and doors to one side and long and round tables scattered all over the center.

“What the f**k?” I whispered, seeing all of these people walking in and stepping in line to grab their food and sit with friends that they’ve made.

Then, as if this place couldn’t get any worse there were people in the corners strolling around with fully armed black suits on. They were looking at all at those of us in grey with so much disgust and distrust that it made me angry. But when I started to follow the crowd and step into line for some food, I saw a little girl with light caramel hair running around and laughing with some other little kids that looked to be of all kinds of ages. She was quite happy even in her dark clothes but her mood changed rapidly when she accidently ran into one of the security guards near me.

“How many times do we have to tell you brats not to run around in here?!” the man grabbed the little girls arm and started pulling her back toward the double doors I had just crossed.

“HEY!” I ran up to them and stepped in front of her, pulling her out of his grasp. “Don’t ever treat a child like that!”

He glared at me backed away a little bit, then, out of thin air; his hand comes down and strikes me across the face knocking me to the ground.

“Know your place you filth.” He hissed before walking away, gladly without taking the little girl with him.

Pressing my hand over my cheek I sat up and turned over, looking at the frightened little girl as she quietly cried beside me.

“It’s ok it’s ok.” I kneeled before her and extended my arm out to her, smiling when she launched herself into my arm. “You don’t have to cry it’s ok.”

“Here.” A woman in grey stepped up in front of me and helped me up while I held on to my cheek and the little girl.

“Thanks.” I said, following her to her table where another person was already seated.

“You’re very brave for doing that for little Flora.” Said a man sitting across from the woman that helped me.

“Flora?” I turned and looked at the little girl sitting on my lap, smiling at her and hoping that my hair covered up the mean red slap mark I knew was there. “Is that your name?”

She nodded and rubbed her tears away attempting to smile at me.

“Yes, we named her Flora since she’s as pretty as a flower.” The woman smiled at her and she giggled, making everyone at the table smile and relax as she nestled herself against me and closed her eyes.

Brushing aside her hair, I watched over her as sweet little Flora slowly fell asleep against my shoulder.

“It looks like she’s taken a liking to you.” I smiled at the woman and thanked her when she slid a plate of food toward me. “What’s your name child?”

“Annett Rogers.” I said between mouthfuls.

“My name is Pearla Everest and this is my husband Azarius.” I smiled at them both as I eat holding Flora tightly with one arm; wrapping the other one around her once I finished my food.

“Ok,” I looked at them both and took a deep breath in before speaking, hoping not to get into so kind of trouble with Flora sound asleep in my arms. “I would kind of like to ask about where we are and what’s going on here… if that’s alright with you.”

They both smiled at me, but leaned forward some, as if trying to keep everyone else near us out of our conversation. I leaned toward them slightly as well, making sure that Flora was still sleeping comfortably.

“Well none of us know exactly where we are as in state and city but we do know that this is where our people have been kept prisoner to be studied and later killed if we don’t cooperate with the humans demands. People like you and Flora that have been turned are kept here too, and you’re tested in more extensive ways than the rest of us. They want to know what we are and how we turned you into one of us. They are basically treating us like aliens even though we are much more civilized than what they’ve envisioned in their movies and books and much more peaceful as well.” Azarius explained, letting his wife pick up from where he stopped to catch his breath.

“Most of us have been brought or sent here to find the missing four that will inherit the Ice Queens crown, but so far we’ve found that one of them has died, the second is an elderly that’s on death’s doorway, and the third is just a child. And now we are stuck here looking for the fourth before the humans notice anything and try to take our future Queen away.” She looked upset but still hopeful somehow as she spoke. Her husband reaching out to hold her hand as I turned away to process their words.

They’re crazy, I thought feeling my grip on Flora increase. They have all become crazy from all the testing these guards have put them through.

“Ok,” I turned back to them and tried to be calm as I spoke, meanwhile my body shook with fear at becoming like them once they started testing me. “So how do we get out of here?”

Azarius frowned and shook his head, looking at his wife who mirrored his sadness.

“We can’t escape yet, at least not until finding our Queen.”

“We must get her back to Aether before these humans take the last hope we have of restoring peace and balance to our people.” Pearla was stern and determined as she spoke, making me fear for my own sanity even more.

“Aether?” I asked, but before they could answer another ring sounded throughout the room and everyone started to throw away plates and head back into the rooms. I got up just as they did and looked down at Flora, wondering where her mother was. “Um where’s Flora’s mom?”

“She has no mother.” Said Pearla, smiling sadly at the little girl in my arms. “She came here like you did, but she didn’t even have a name to go by and was very thin for her age. So most women here have been looking after her and take her with them into their rooms. We switch her out multiple times so they can’t test her… we don’t want her to go through what we do.”

I looked down as I held her and nearly cried thinking about how this sweet little girl has been living life before she even arrived here.

“I’ll take her.” I lifted her up higher to keep a secure grip on her sleeping form as I walked.

“Thank you Anny.” Pearla smiled at me and patted my head as we passed the guards.

As we walked I noticed that Azarius had the room to the left of mine and Pearla was to the right. Feeling worried that I might run into more people like them I rushed into my room and waited for the doors to close. Once they did I set Flora down on my bed and used my jacket as a blanket to cover her. I watched her sleep peacefully as my mind raced back and forth with all my unanswered questions.

Why were these so called tests making people crazy? What were these tests? Why were they testing us like that? Why were children here? Why was I dragged here? And why the guards? Was there someone dangerous in here too? Why mix criminals with citizens?

On and on my mind kept spinning until finally I fell asleep against the bed with Flora’s small breath blowing at my hair.

Sadly I didn’t get to sleep for long because in one moment I was finally relaxing and in the next there was a man shouting at me and banging the other side of my door.

“S**t.” I hissed, jumping up and finding Flora wide awake and frightened, with her back pressed up against the wall. “No no no, it’s ok they’re here for me not you ok?”

I picked her up and rushed her to the bathroom where I sat her on the lid of the toilet and kneeled before her, hoping to distract her.

“Flora honey I need you to stay in here and not make a sound ok. Just stay in here until you hear the door close again and when it’s opening up for me to come back run in here and hide ok. Just stay really really quiet and no one will come get you ok. You’re going to be fine; they won’t touch you I promise.” I brushed aside her hair and smiled at her the entire time, hoping that she wouldn’t be too scared and start crying once I left.

I got up as I heard the door open and went to the bed, getting up as the first guard stepped in and zip tied my hands behind my back. He shoved me along and the door closed behind him, making me relax knowing that Flora hadn’t been spotted. But when they placed a dark bag over my head I became tense, not knowing where I was going or what doors I was going through. I tripped and scrapped my arms along the wall as they pushed me, gasping out when I fell to my knee and was jerked upwards by a guard to stand up.

When they stopped shoving me and handed me up to someone else I panicked, thinking of some rape scenario happening once the guards left. But the person that had me now cut the zip tie and walked me forward just a few feet before letting go. I didn’t know where I was or what was going to happen so I just stood there waiting. Then someone grabbed my arm and shoved a needle into it as they pressed down hard on the plunger, jerking it out, pushing me down, and knocking the bag off my head. I winced and held my arm tightly, feeling confused and rather angry that they’d inject me so hard. Gathering my knees up to my stomach I slowly got up and looked around as I breathed through the pain.

There were three guards standing next to a small group of people in lab coats, and a petite nurse with a needle in her hand was closing the door to the glass room I was in. I glared at that nurse as she took her place next to one of the doctor looking people, wishing she’d get to know what it feels like to get injected in the same manner that she had done to me.

Once on my feet though, I ignored that thought and looked around at all the people looking at me, feeling exposed like some child’s experiment as they wrote down things in their notebooks or clipboards. I stood there wondering what was going to happen when I noticed that they were all waiting for me to do something. So I crossed my arms and smiled slightly, letting them know that I was no one’s test monkey.

But then I started feeling a strange swelling pain in between my shoulder blades. It was nothing at first, just feeling like pressure. Then it kept increasing and getting faster as it swelled, making me keep rolling my shoulders to try and stop it. Yet as time passed the pain kept growing so much that even rolling my shoulder’s was hurting it. I paced and arched my back in all directions trying to relax it somehow but it refused to go away. Then it grew unbearable and I gasped out at the pain, falling to my knees and arching my back as the pain kept getting worse.

“What the hell did you do to me?!” I shouted, feeling hot tears stream down my face as I bit my lip so hard it drew blood.

My breathing picked up really fast and short, as if I was hyperventilating. But instead of lying on my back I was on my stomach, clawing at the floor to try and find something to grasp as the pain was pounding down on me with all its might. Soon the screaming started and my body was drenched in sweat, shaking and twitching in many different ways as the spot between my shoulder blades burned as if needles of ice were poking me with frost bite. Every scream after that was a blur as my eyes became foggy and started to droop growing weaker. Then it all stopped. The shaking the screaming the cold that burned my body. It was all done and over with leaving me numb and extremely dazed.

I rubbed my eyes, crying softly at what I had just gone through, but as I slowly got up from lying on my tummy I felt something slick and warm on the floor.

Blood. It was in puddles on either side of me as I got up, making me gasp and jump back a little. But as I did I hurt myself, feeling like I had bent a bone in the wrong direction. Yet when I looked down I was perfectly fine, my body was squatting down looking at the blood that was still dripping down from my sides. Then I squealed a gasp and turned around, trying to catch the thing that had appeared behind me when looking at the blood. But when I turned there was nothing there, just another puddle of blood that seemed to have been coming down from between my shoulder blades.

I reached back with my arm and froze, touching something slightly slick and fuzzy that was over my shoulder.

“What the hell?” I whispered, passing my fingers over it to try and figure out what it was.

But as I did the guards came in and grabbed my arms, dragging me out of the glass room without letting me get up on my feet yet. I yelled and shouted and even tried to stop them from dragging me but I was drained of energy, quickly giving up and watching the trail of blood that I was leaving on the floor before blacking-out for the third time.

Chapter Three

“Wake up.” Said the voice, sounding very worried and even a little afraid. “Anny wake up.”

I groaned and tried to turn over onto my side, but something stopped me, making me gasp out in pain and sit up.

“F**k.” I hissed, feeling someone’s hand clamp down over my mouth before any other curse words slipped out.

I blinked my eyes and looked up, feeling stunned to see Pearla looking down at me as she removed her hand.

“Quiet Flora’s sleeping.” She turned and pointed on the bed, making me see a small bundle under my jacket and realizing that I was lying on the floor.

“What are you doing here though?” I whispered, taking her hand to stand up again.

“They allow me and a few other women to help those that have just gained their wings.” She said, leading me over to the mirror next to my sink.

“What are you talking about?” but I didn’t get an answer because I was already facing the mirror.

Pearla stayed quiet behind me as I stared and stared at my reflection feeling shocked and crazy and so very confused.

There staring back at me was a girl that was as tall as me, with bright blue eyes and carrot red hair. She was slightly pale and dusted with freckles across her nose and she had long legs and short arms. But the most significant thing about this girl was that she was me, and she had wings. Wings that were protruding out from between her shoulder blades, hanging all the way down until passing her a*s. The arch above her shoulders was as big as both her fists and the soft feathers that were touching her skin were the same color as her hair.

“Oh god.” I lifted my hand up to touch one and nearly jumped out of my skin once my fingers felt the silky feathers on the arch.

“They induced it, the doctors.”

I whirled around and faced Pearla who was trying very hard to stay calm for my sake, even though I could still see her happiness under the mask.

“What do you mean induced it?”

“The injection they gave you was blood from someone that was older then you. Someone that was born this way. And when someone who’s body has already accepted the change gets blood from an actual born Demon the process happens that much more quickly.”

“Wait.” I shook my head confused and in complete disbelief at what she was saying. “You’re saying that people are actually born like this?”

“No, not with wings that is.” She sat down on the floor and took a deep breath, smiling as she let it out. But along with her exhale came a pair of pale blond wings that matched her hair. “You see our kind; our species is born like humans are. The only physical difference is that when our Demon children hit puberty they also gain their wings. And it’s for that reason that people here hide the children, because if they are injected with an elder’s blood they will die. They have to gain their wings naturally, once they are of age.”

We both turned and looked at Flora as she slept, and my heart sank thinking about her having to go through the pain I did.

“Ok look, none of this makes sense to me at all. I mean why am I involved? Why were so many people getting sick? And why were only a few turning into this?” I spread my arms to point out the wings but as I did the wings responded and lifted up just like my arms.

“Don’t worry.” She smiled at my facial expression and started to explain. “I’ll tell you everything that’s going on alright?” I nodded, rolling my shoulders back and seeing my wings settle back down with the motion. “To clear things out we don’t know how the humans got sick or who started the outbreak. All we know is that that Demon is dead now so that’s that. But as for everything else we needed to happen. You see that outbreak was planned about two years ago but no one did anything until now so we came along and realized something quite terrible. It seemed that with all the humans that were turned and getting sick around us, it grew harder and harder to control ourselves and keep our wings hidden. This explains why we were captured and thrown in here with everyone else that was sick. So we took it up as a sign of good luck and started helping those that were turning, hoping to run into our future Queen. And it seems like our luck has proven to last because not only did we find her but the sickness has ended as well.”

“What really? Why? Did they find a cure or something?” I was happy that people weren’t going to get sick anymore but I was also still confused about what she was saying. What Queen?

“Well once you were admitted in here the sickness just left people.” She said with a huge smile on her face.

“Wow, just like that huh…” I was stunned to hear that the virus just dropped off the face of the earth like that. Then one of my earlier questions came into mind. “but wait what ‘Queen’ are you talking about?”

“Alright, now please don’t speak of this to anyone else ok, it is of vital importance that the humans don’t know what’s going on in our world and that they also don’t know that we’ve been hiding our way back all the time.” I nodded again, still very confused and lost at her words. “And one more thing. I need you to keep an open mind to all of the things I am about to tell you, please.” She relaxed once I agreed and leaned back against the wall behind her as her wings drew back and tucked themselves against the wall as well.

“You may say that our people are aliens and other childish things like that. But yes, we aren’t from here, we weren’t born on Earth or created from this place. We come from a parallel planet in a distant Universe. In our world, our planet is called Aether and that is where we come from. We were all born here and raised here and it is our home, just like this planet is yours. And in our home we are called Demons, and to us it’s not an insult or some dangerous thing that causes fear like the humans say. We did not come from their so-called Hell or were created by their Devil. We do not believe in what they do. We have our own beliefs, but that is a matter for a different discussion.” She smiled apologetically for getting of track before continuing.

“Anyway that is what we are and what we call ourselves. We don’t have technology and we don’t use cars. We follow the old ways and travel by horse or fly. Our houses and buildings don’t get any bigger than just a few floors and we don’t produce any toxic chemicals that harm our world or our children. Our oceans and lakes are clear our woods and forests are green and never ending and our people are happy and filled with peace… that is up until a few years ago. The reason for this is because a rebellion has started up and is harming and stealing from our people and causing fear and bloodshed to spread. And normally this sort of thing would be destroyed by our four strong Guardian Armies, but they are kept close to their kingdoms to protect the Royal families that are growing weak.”

“Wait,” I spoke up when she stopped to catch her breath, her face falling as she explained everything. “Why four? Why not just one Royal family?” I was catch up in her people’s story that I completely forgot about all of the terrible things going on around me. Even trying to picture her words and her made-up world as she continued.

“Well we have four because they each represent the four important elements that create everything around us. Earth, Air, Water, and Fire, these four are used in everything in our world and in your own too. Everything uses at least one of the four to be made or to make something. Like heat to bend metal, air to turn a windmill for energy, water to nourish your bodies, and earth which is the very thing you step on every day of your life.” She smiled again, seeming to be proud of these elements and how they are everywhere in life.

“That’s amazing. I’ve never thought about that sort of thing before.” I whispered, earning a smile from her.

“Well most people ignore it. But anyways our four Kingdoms stand for those four elements and so do our four Royal families. In fact only the Queen and King have the ability to control the elements they represent. The Earth Royals can make flowers blossom ahead of time, they can make the grass grow faster, and they can bend the limbs of a tree at will and many other things, both peaceful and violent. The Fire Royals can heat up a room without fire, they can light a candle or stove, they can dry their hair or skin if they get wet, and even make a flame smaller or bigger if they need light. The Air Royals can make it breezy whenever they wish, they can make small and fast flashes of wind cut their food for them, and they can even sit in a small tornado of their own making.” She smiled and laughed as she told me what these people can do, watching my face grow in amazement as I pictured such tricks.

“What about the Water Royals?” I asked, trying to picture someone lifting water with their minds.

“They can walk at the bottom of a lake and not get wet, they can lift up a blob of water and drop it on people on hot days, and they can even freeze water to whatever shape they want.” As she spoke her smile started to fall, and when she looked back up at me she failed to give me a real smile. “I’m sorry Anny, it’s just that our Kingdoms are falling apart and the rebellion will soon attack them and we will all be forced to do their bedding or escape.”

“Why? What’s happening?”

“Well in order for the four kingdoms to stay in power, the current King and Queen must conceive a daughter that will inherit the mother’s crown. And the reason that it’s a girl and not a boy is because the families have noticed that its always the first born daughter that gains the ability to control the element that their parents control, and so she’s the one that is crowned when she marries. And when she does marry and sleeps with her husband for the first time he gains the elemental ability as well and they rule together until their own daughter takes over and so on. And when there is a war that arises both the King and Queen go and fight with their army, leaving their future Queen to be tightly looked after incase the worst were to happen. But many problems have risen among the four Kingdoms and they can’t allow the only people that can manipulate the elements to die now when the rebellion is growing stronger. They need a daughter to be able to leave and fight peacefully knowing that their kingdom won’t fall apart.”

“Why can’t they just have a baby and go then? What problems are they going through?”

Her face dropped and filled sadness as she spoke, making me feel horrible when she finally explained.

“A very long time ago when the Kingdoms were advised by a small group of sister wise woman, there was a small war that broke out. All four Kingdoms joined together and fought, winning the war and returning home safely with few injuries. The night of their celebration the wise woman sent their youngest sister to go and speak to the Kings and Queens who were all sitting together watching their people and their children have fun. The child gave them each a paper and said that they must warn their children and their children’s children of a horrible downfall that will follow the next hundreds of years of great ruling. And with that she and the rest of the wise woman vanished and no one’s seen them ever again. They just disappeared. On that paper was what they thought was a poem and they handed it down to the next Queen and the next and on and on it went until the mother of our current Queen noticed something similar in the poem that was happening to her daughter. So she sent letter for a council meeting and all the Kings and Queens discussed the poem, noticing similar things in their own children. But before they could warn their kids the rebellion gave their first attack and killed them all at the council meeting. And as time went on the current Queens soon made sense of the poem and began to panic, fearing that their people would suffer for the hundreds of years of never knowing what the poem meant.”

“And now they are all trying to fix whatever it was that the poem said?”

“Yes, and it targeted each one of the Queens. The poem says, ‘When the mother of the Sea can no longer quench a seedlings thirst, Let the ground dry up beneath all soldiers feet. When the mother of the Flame can no longer bring about a daughters passion, Let the fires of destruction arise. When the mother of the Sky can no longer hear her sweet child’s voice, Let tornados of distrust strike down. And when the mother of the Earth can no longer bare enough strength to conceive, Let the world end in war.’”

“Oh god, what does all of that stuff mean?” I tried to match things up but couldn’t make sense of it,

“It all marks down one Queen. ‘When the mother of the Sea can no longer quench a seedlings thirst,’ it’s targeting Water, and our Water Queen was born sterile, she can’t have kids. ‘When the mother of the Flame can no longer bring about a daughters passion,’ our Fire Queen has only been having boys since she was crowned, and the oldest three have run off and given in to the rebellion. For Air, ‘When the mother of the Sky can no longer hear her sweet child’s voice,’ it’s talking about the kidnapped princess that’s still missing. Their first born was stolen and since then the King and Queen haven’t been able to conceive again. The Earth Queen was born in a very fragile condition which is the last part of the poem. ‘When the mother of the Earth can no longer bare the strength enough to conceive,’ she’s still too frail and can’t risk getting pregnant because if she does she won’t make it to delivery and both the Queen and the baby will die.”

“That’s horrible… so they can’t go out and fight and help their people?” I frowned as I thought about it all, feeling bad for all of those people that are dealing with the rebels.

“But our hope is not lost.”

“Why not? I mean that’s good but why?” I jumped up, stunned to see her beaming at me when I looked up at her.

“You see we recently found out that there are four human girls that are descendants from the first Royals in each element. And these girls have the ability to control the elements once they are turned into Demons like the rest of us and trained properly. Which is why we are here in the first place, we’ve come looking for one of the four girls that is old enough to take over and not only be crowned as Queen but fight in the war in place for the Royal couple.”

“Really? And have you guys found her yet? Or at least know where she lives? Or what her name is?”

“Yes, we know who she is, and I’m so honored to have already met her.”

I sat there confused as she looked at me, wondering why she was getting all ecstatic and smiley. I smiled back at her and she suddenly stood up and pulled me up with her, fluttering her wings as she stood and smiled at me.

“As the adviser to the Royals of Ice and Water, I, Pearla Everest, bow before you my most honored Princess, and future Queen of Ice and Water.” She then placed her left hand over her heart and got down on her right knee, bowing her head.

Then it clicked.