NOVEL NEXT Crystal and Ice
Everyone stopped dead in their tracks. The sound of gunfire seemed like it was getting closer. Looking outside the window, I saw a man covered in what looked like ice. He created what looked like ice and threw it at the cops as he ran. In his other hand was a bag. I could only guess that what was in that bag was money. Someone who emerged had used their powers to rob a bank. How typical. It was like watching a superhero movie. Only it wasn’t a movie. This was real life.
Dad tried to pull me back, but I could not help but watch. Something inside me told me that I needed to help, but I was just a 17-year-old wolf girl. What could I possibly do against someone throwing ice? Without thinking and to my father’s dismay, I opened the door and ran outside. Of course, this caused the cops to stop, seeing me emerge from the house.
“Ah great, another one. Why can’t these fucking freaks just die.” I heard one of the cops say. The man covered in ice looked at me. A grin began to creep across his smug face. Raising his hand, he created an ice shard and thrust it at me. In a flash, my wings emerged, and I took to the air. The shard just grazed one of my wingtips. The man blinked for a moment and then launched another fragment at me. This time I was able to move out of the way. Just as I had repositioned myself, I heard a gunshot and then the sound of metal hitting metal. I felt a vibration through my wings and looked only in time to see the bullet fall from my wings to the ground.
“I’m not the fucking bad guy, you moron,” I said, anger building inside of me. Another cop shot at me; only this time, I wrapped my wings around me like a shield, hearing another ping. I could feel the bullet, but it wasn’t a pain, really. It was more like pressure. I was irritated, but I knew that if I attacked the cop, it would only make matters worse. Just as I was about to say something, the guy covered in ice launched an ice shard at one of the distracted cops. It made contact, piercing through his bulletproof vest. With a cry of pain, he dropped to the ground. The other cops around him tried to catch him and to check on him. This was my chance.
I stretched my wings out until they were fully spread and then dove for the guy covered in ice, dodging ice shard after ice shard. When I was close enough, I punched him, feeling my hand begin to freeze at the slightest touch. He howled in pain and grabbed one of my wings. Unlike the bullet, I felt the pain as if my wing was on fire. I knew I had to get him to release my wing, so I did everything I could to try and break his grip. After trying to punch and kick him, something clicked.
Without a second thought, I grabbed one of the larger feathers in my free wing and pulled it free with a wince. It was hard like metal, unlike last night when they were more like bird feathers. Grabbing the end of it, I lashed out at the guys’ arm cutting it off. I never wanted to hurt him like this, but I could not let him hurt me either. He screamed in pain, but no blood came out. Instead, his hand started to grow out of the area where I had cut it off. At least I didn’t have to feel terrible about him only having one hand. Enraged, the man started attacking me blindly. I had to take to the sky again, just to keep him from hitting me.
In the cops’ direction, I heard them say that the one who was hit was losing a lot of blood. This guy had to be stopped before he could hurt anyone else.
“Open your mind, child, and call forth your bow,” a woman’s voice called to me. I could not quite place it, but somehow it sounded familiar. She said I needed to summon my bow. I did not see a bow, but I imagined that it was like my wings. Closing my eyes, I thought of a bow. I felt weird energy somewhere turn on, like pushing a button.
When I opened my eyes, what I saw I couldn’t quite explain. On my left hand and arm was a glove with what looked like wings won either side of my wrist. They grew and extended until they resembled a bow with a string made of pure energy. Now I had a bow, but where were the arrows, and was I really going to kill this guy. Just then, my body seemed to take over as my right arm reached for the sky. A ball of energy started to form in my palm before taking the shape of an arrow made of pure energy. Notching the arrow, I pointed my left index finger like a gun, the arrow resting on it. Picturing a rope, I released the arrow and watched it fly toward the guy, watching it shift into a rope made of light and binding him as he fell to the ground.
I heard gasps, and as I looked up, I saw both the cops and my family staring at me. I dove back to the ground, and as I landed, their eyes followed.
“You dumb bitch. Why would you help the fucking cops? Don’t you see, they will never understand us. They just want to get rid of us like some sort of disease.” The man said. I knew that part of what he said was true. There would be those who would wish us harm, even death. But I hoped if people could see that not all of us were bad in time, maybe we could have a little normalcy. I didn’t have too much more time to think about it as the cries of the injured cop rang in my ears. Moving as fast as I could, I pushed past the other cops and sat down next to the injured cop.
Without thinking, I pulled the ice shard out of his chest and instinctively placed my hand over the open wound. The light emitted from my hand, and we all watched in awe as his injury began to close up. I could feel my energy getting close to its limits, and fatigue started to set in, but I needed to help this man. When the wound was finally healed, the man looked up at me and smiled.
“Thank you. I can’t believe what you did. You saved my life. You’re a real hero!” The man said as he reached up and touched my face. My whole body wanted to move, but I did not, sparing the guy’s feelings, despite what he said about me. Our attention was stolen by the guy covered in ice yelling about getting revenge, you know, the typical villain guy statement. After the other cops thanked me, they grabbed the guy covered in ice and put him in the back of the police car. They said their goodbyes and all drove off. Looking back at the house, I noticed that all eyes were on me.
“Angel, what you did just now was amazing.” My mom said with pride in her voice. My dad, on the other hand, did not look too pleased. I guess mom saw it because she turned to him and said, “don’t even think about its Thomas. Your daughter just saved God knows how many lives.” Dad just turned to the van and got in the driver’s seat. He knew better than to argue with mom. Everyone else quietly piled into the van, and dad pulled out of the driveway. It was weird to have to use headlights during the day, but it was dark even during day because of the floating island.