He beheld my stammering and attempts at escape with a small twitch of his mouth and a raised brow. Amusement trickled down the bond—an emotion he wanted me to feel. Hewantedme to know that he enjoyed this, my squirming. Like a merciless cat playing with the poor fish trapped in a puddle.
I took a step back, or tried to, but my skate wouldn’t move. Glancing down, I saw a thick layer of ice encasing both my feet all the way up my ankles. My instinct to break free immediately threw me off balance, and only Ezra’s hand on the small of my back kept me from collapsing in half like a lawn chair.
“What are you doing?” I demanded, voice tight.
There was no answer, only the sound of footsteps crunching over ice. His hand suddenly disappeared, and I keenly felt thelack of its warmth, especially with two frigid cinder blocks now decorating my feet.
“Seriously, Ezra. What. The. Fuck.”
He couldn’t leave me here like this. No amount of chocolate chip cookies in the world would save him from my wrath if he left me stuck to the middle of this damned pond. I listened for his returning footsteps and nearly fell as I twisted to look over my shoulder.
Each second of silence added fuel to my growing fire, a fire I wished was real so I could free my skates and then use the blades like wicked throwing stars in my revenge. Like a ninja, Ezra wouldn’t even see me coming.
“If you don’t come back here right now, I’m going to scream!”
“You’re already screaming,” he countered, his voice close, but not close enough. I wanted himhere. Unfreezing me, so I—
Wait. I wondered if I could…
Admittedly, I wasn’t an expert at siren magick, but I’d gotten better. Even without the ocean fueling me, I’d managed to freeze raindrops and sling a frozen lasso, sounfreezing should be a piece of cake. Right?
Wrong.Sowrong. What the hell had Ezra put in this shit, cement? No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get the water to listen. It wouldn’t budge. In fact, if it had middle fingers, I was sure they’d be in my face right now.
With a growl of frustration, I tried one last time to channel my magick into my hand and use it to break free. When nothing happened, I prayed for a hammer instead. Lo and behold,thatwas what worked. Sort of. It wasn’t exactly a hammer, but my desperation did give me an icicle.
I immediately crouched over my frozen skates and went to town, pummeling the chunk of ice with the tip like a pick. A pair of sneakers appeared in front of me, but I ignored the assholewho wore them until a warm hand hooked under my elbow and pulled me to standing.
“Are you trying to stab yourself?” Ezra scolded, his eyes narrowing on my little, sharp ticket to freedom.
As if I didn’t know what I was doing. “What doesn’t kill me might make me kill you,” I smirked.
His nostrils flared; obviously, my cunning ingenuity was not part of his plan. He held out his hand, palm up, and set me with a stern look.
“Gimmie.”
“No.” I clutched my icicle to my chest. “It’s mine.”
“Fine,” he huffed, then lazily waved a hand, and my little tool melted between my fingers.
Just like that. I mourned my icicle and swore to get even for its senseless murder, but the surface of the pond trembled like a scene from Tremors, and I forgot about vengeance in favor of survival. Now would have been a good time for Ezra to release me, unless this was him making good on his earlier threat of melting the ice and dropping me into the pond.
I eyed the dark water beneath my feet.
I swear to God, he better not actually make a fucking hole.
He didn’t. Instead, a column of ice rose in front of me; wide enough that I could stretch my arms out to reach either side, but short enough that it stopped just below my waist. Flat across the top with a slope from the side closest to me, I wondered if he was making a throne. I could get on board with that. A little birthday worshipping never hurt a girl.
“You flirt in the weirdest ways,” I said, still stumped. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what this thing was.
“Only because I know you like it,” Ezra taunted, one arm holding the blankets from the base of the tree. Were those supposed to be a cushion?
He laid them over the top of thenot a throneand inspected his work. Something about that look set off warning bells. My skin flushed under a wave of adrenaline, and I started to sweat. It was chilly on top of a frozen pond, but in the rest of the glade, it was still summer. My sweater and leggings were almost too warm, and yet my entire body was covered in goosebumps. Like it knew what was coming before my brain did. I subtly resumed all attempts to free my skates.
“I’m going to give you your final birthday present and your punishment all at once,” Ezra crowed, arms crossed as he circled and watched my helpless struggles.
Giving up all pretense, I set my hands on the blankets and yanked with my feet. Even the fish swimming below me knew that was a shit plan.
“I don’t think that’s how it works,” I hissed.
