Iced
Page 131
You do realize it will require impeccable timing. You have to draw it to a precise location, cut the tether holding the IFP, and hope the Ice Monster gets trapped in the few seconds its in our dimension. And whoever cuts that tether might get iced.
Dude, a few secs are all we need! Most of us can freeze-frame and Christian can sift. Were darned fast! Were setting up practically on top of the IFP. The instant the Hoar Frost King appears, we cut the tether, and both sound stage and Ice Monster get swallowed.
Her gaze spans the fifteen yards between the sound stage and the perimeter wall of what used to be Ros chambers but are now hers. And so does the abbey.
Were going to retether it before that happens!
Again, thats going to require impeccable timing.
Again, dude, we all freeze-frame. Sides, I heard the IFP wasnt moving all that fast. Ryodan says as long as hes got thirty seconds and gets it done before it enters the abbey, its a no-brainer.
And if it reaches the abbey?
It wont.
If it does? she presses.
Look, we got at least a minute before it hits the abbey wall. We aint going to let it take the abbey. Im not about to tell her that Ryodan said if it entered the abbey hed be unable to ward it off until it came out the other side. Something about a containment spell only working if you completely enclose on all four sides the object you want contained.
One minute, Kat says quietly. Do you realize if it destroys this place, we will lose everything our order has spent millennia gathering? All our books and sacred objects, our history, our home. Do you see the grass and flowers growing up against the wall? Do you realize if the IFP breaches the abbey, it may very well melt Cruces prison and set him free? The Sinsar Dubh will be loose in our world, walking around in the body of an Unseelie prince!
Look, Kat, I aint saying its a perfect plan. But if you dont have any better ideas, get out of the way and let us do our job. I look around at the swells of snow, the iced trees, the piles of crusted drifts. How much longer do you think well survive like this?
She sighs and says, Thats the only reason I havent stopped you.
You havent stopped us because you cant! I say heatedly. Youre just one person and were all superheroes!
I wont let it take my abbey, Dani. I wont let these women be ripped from the only home theyve ever known. Like you, Im willing to risk a great deal for those things in which I believe.
I watch her as she walks away and think shes starting to worry me alittle.
Its nearly eight when our concert begins. We laid out sheets of plywood on the snow to hold the audio equipment and made a second platform a short distance away for the generators were using to power it all, then a third platform for the music source and so our tushes dont get cold. We put that one far enough away that we dont get iced when it shows up. We build a couple fires and stack wood nearby. My hair and clothes smell like outdoors and wood smoke, and for a sec it makes me feel like Im on a family vacation or something. All these folks, including six that are fast enoughand I still dont get to have a decent snowball fight!
Me and Ryodan, Christian, and Jo gather on the platform, ready to dart in and cut the tether when it comes.
Jo shouldnt be here, I say. She cant freeze-frame.
Im not leaving, she says.
Make her leave, I say to Ryodan. Unless you want to be responsible for getting her killed.
Ryodan wont let anything happen to me, she says.
I roll my eyes. Dude, I say to Ryodan. Get her out of here.
Shes her own woman, he says. She can make up her own mind.
Jo glows.
I just about puke. Fine. Its on your head. Bugger it all. Now Im going to have to watch out for Jo and worry about everything else, too.
Kat, the sidhe-seers, and a couple of Ryodans dudes are at the opposite end of the abbey, down by the lake, with fires burning, sitting in total silence. Conversation is forbidden. Theyre to make no noise whatsoever.
I get a bad feeling looking at them. You sure they should be so far away? I ask Ryodan.
We need to be split up so, worst-case scenario, we dont all get iced.
Are we ready? Dancer walks up and joins us on the platform.
Get out of here, kid. You got no fucking superpower, Ryodan says.
Sure I do, Dancer says easily. Im the one who saves her life when you guys would have killed her. Remember?
If Jo stays, I say, cutting off my nose to spite my face, Dancer stays. Great. Now I got two people who cant freeze-frame that I have to watch out for.
Dancer and me settle back against a couple of extra speakers we stacked up for something to lean against. Crank it up, I say. Lets get this party started. I hand Dancer my iPod, loaded especially for tonights show. I got almost ten thousand songs on it! Motorhead to Mozart, Linkin Park and Liszt, Velvet Revolver to Wagner, Puscifer and Pavarotti and everything in between. I even got show tunes and cartoon soundtracks!
Dude, a few secs are all we need! Most of us can freeze-frame and Christian can sift. Were darned fast! Were setting up practically on top of the IFP. The instant the Hoar Frost King appears, we cut the tether, and both sound stage and Ice Monster get swallowed.
Her gaze spans the fifteen yards between the sound stage and the perimeter wall of what used to be Ros chambers but are now hers. And so does the abbey.
Were going to retether it before that happens!
Again, thats going to require impeccable timing.
Again, dude, we all freeze-frame. Sides, I heard the IFP wasnt moving all that fast. Ryodan says as long as hes got thirty seconds and gets it done before it enters the abbey, its a no-brainer.
And if it reaches the abbey?
It wont.
If it does? she presses.
Look, we got at least a minute before it hits the abbey wall. We aint going to let it take the abbey. Im not about to tell her that Ryodan said if it entered the abbey hed be unable to ward it off until it came out the other side. Something about a containment spell only working if you completely enclose on all four sides the object you want contained.
One minute, Kat says quietly. Do you realize if it destroys this place, we will lose everything our order has spent millennia gathering? All our books and sacred objects, our history, our home. Do you see the grass and flowers growing up against the wall? Do you realize if the IFP breaches the abbey, it may very well melt Cruces prison and set him free? The Sinsar Dubh will be loose in our world, walking around in the body of an Unseelie prince!
Look, Kat, I aint saying its a perfect plan. But if you dont have any better ideas, get out of the way and let us do our job. I look around at the swells of snow, the iced trees, the piles of crusted drifts. How much longer do you think well survive like this?
She sighs and says, Thats the only reason I havent stopped you.
You havent stopped us because you cant! I say heatedly. Youre just one person and were all superheroes!
I wont let it take my abbey, Dani. I wont let these women be ripped from the only home theyve ever known. Like you, Im willing to risk a great deal for those things in which I believe.
I watch her as she walks away and think shes starting to worry me alittle.
Its nearly eight when our concert begins. We laid out sheets of plywood on the snow to hold the audio equipment and made a second platform a short distance away for the generators were using to power it all, then a third platform for the music source and so our tushes dont get cold. We put that one far enough away that we dont get iced when it shows up. We build a couple fires and stack wood nearby. My hair and clothes smell like outdoors and wood smoke, and for a sec it makes me feel like Im on a family vacation or something. All these folks, including six that are fast enoughand I still dont get to have a decent snowball fight!
Me and Ryodan, Christian, and Jo gather on the platform, ready to dart in and cut the tether when it comes.
Jo shouldnt be here, I say. She cant freeze-frame.
Im not leaving, she says.
Make her leave, I say to Ryodan. Unless you want to be responsible for getting her killed.
Ryodan wont let anything happen to me, she says.
I roll my eyes. Dude, I say to Ryodan. Get her out of here.
Shes her own woman, he says. She can make up her own mind.
Jo glows.
I just about puke. Fine. Its on your head. Bugger it all. Now Im going to have to watch out for Jo and worry about everything else, too.
Kat, the sidhe-seers, and a couple of Ryodans dudes are at the opposite end of the abbey, down by the lake, with fires burning, sitting in total silence. Conversation is forbidden. Theyre to make no noise whatsoever.
I get a bad feeling looking at them. You sure they should be so far away? I ask Ryodan.
We need to be split up so, worst-case scenario, we dont all get iced.
Are we ready? Dancer walks up and joins us on the platform.
Get out of here, kid. You got no fucking superpower, Ryodan says.
Sure I do, Dancer says easily. Im the one who saves her life when you guys would have killed her. Remember?
If Jo stays, I say, cutting off my nose to spite my face, Dancer stays. Great. Now I got two people who cant freeze-frame that I have to watch out for.
Dancer and me settle back against a couple of extra speakers we stacked up for something to lean against. Crank it up, I say. Lets get this party started. I hand Dancer my iPod, loaded especially for tonights show. I got almost ten thousand songs on it! Motorhead to Mozart, Linkin Park and Liszt, Velvet Revolver to Wagner, Puscifer and Pavarotti and everything in between. I even got show tunes and cartoon soundtracks!
