“Liam!” I panted. “Wait!” We ran down the long halls. Or, Liam ran and I tried to follow.

“We can’t wait!” He yelled back. “They’re after us!”

“But‒” I slowed to a stop. Liam turned around, stopping.

“Nat.” He said seriously. “Three evil women with powers are after us. We need to escape before they kill us. Or, whatever they want to do with us.”

He looked me straight in the eye. His big green eyes were wide with . . . fear? Worry? Both?

“I know.” I said. “But we don’t know where to go. Or how to get there. We need a plan.”

“Nat, we‒” Liam sighed.

“We are totally unprepared to leave!” I exclaimed. “Let’s wait it out, until at least tonight.”

“No, we need to leave now.” Liam said, pulling me up. “If we go to that detention, they might kill us then! We need to leave right now.” He started pulling me by my hand. 

We reached a window on the fourth floor where students rarely went. The ‘Storage Floor’. 

Liam looked out a window.

“Um, I’d just like to point out that that is two inch thick glass that is four stories high.” I peeped.

Liam didn’t say anything.

He pressed his whole hand on the window. At first, nothing happened, but slowly, ice started to form on the window. 

The whole window soon had an icy layer on it. I could no longer see out the window.

“Sooo now it’s three inches thick.” I said. Liam flexed his fingers and electricity sparked. He punched the icy glass with an electric flash. 

The window shattered. I looked away. I’ve had too many experiences with breaking glass. When I looked back, Liam was grinning and gestured to the windowsill with broken glass and cold wind blowing in.

“So over the top.” I muttered. Liam rolled his eyes.

“You’re welcome.” He gestured for me to climb out. Of a four story building. I smiled smugly. I had my own tricks.

I swirled my hand in a circle and pushed it down. Then I jumped out of the window. 

The snow swirled and formed a soft slide. It was a twisty slide, the kind that turned in circles over and over. I slid down and landed gracefully in the snow.

I looked up at the broken window, and saw Liam’s face sticking out, his hair blowing wildly in the wind.

“Show off!” Liam yelled. He jumped down and slid down the slide. As soon as he hit the ground, the slide crumbled into a soft flurry of snow.

I copied Liam’s smug smile. He rolled his eyes again.

We trudged through the snow in silence. I occasionally glanced at Liam, and his face was hard, like he was trying to figure out a difficult math problem.

“Sooo,” I said. Liam looked up. “What’s the plan?”

“We’ve been over this.” Liam sighed. “Go to Missouri, then . . .”

I raised an eyebrow, a talent I’ve gotten especially good at.

“Mmhm.” I said, not entirely convinced we had a plan. “We know we’re going to Missouri.”
“Check.” Liam replied.

“Even though we have no money and no way to get there.” I noted.

“Check.” 

“If and when we get there, we’re going to ask your grandfather about our powers.” 

“Check.” 

“Then we have no clue what we’re doing next.” I confirmed.

“Yes we do!” Liam corrected. “We’re going to use our powers to kill the monster that‒”

"That you created.” I clarified.

“Yes, the monster I created,” Liam added grudgingly. “Then, we’ll go defeat the headmistresses.”

I stared at him.
“What?” He asked.

“That’s your plan.” I said.

“Yes.” 

“Your plan involves no detail whatsoever!” I pointed out. “You’ve stated what we’re going to do, but not how we’re going to do it!”

“I included plenty of detail!” Liam said.
“Well, then, can you explain how we’re getting to Missouri, how we’re going to defeat the monster, and how we’re going to kill the headmistresses?”

“You’re impossible!” Liam shouted.

“Don’t even get me started on you!” I fumed. “You are impulsive and arrogant and going to get us killed!”

“I‒” Liam started, but I wasn’t finished. 

“You created the monster, and now three evil women are after us! We need to get to Missouri, but we don’t have a car or money! If you think you’re so great, tell me how we’re going to do this!”

Liam opened his mouth angrily, but then shut it. We walked many miles in the freezing cold. I was glad for my boots and warm jacket. 

After a long time, I couldn’t stand the silence anymore.

“Liam.” I said. He didn’t answer. “I’m sorry. You aren’t impulsive or arrogant. We just need to learn to work together if we’re going to do this.” 

Liam was silent for a while.

“I know.” He said quietly. “We are miles away from anything, and we have no way to defeat those monsters.”
“We have‒” I started.

“Don’t get all cheesy on me, Smith.” Liam groaned. “I can’t stand those movies where they say ‘we have each other’.”

I stared at him with an open mouth.

“I was going to say, we have our powers.” I corrected. Liam shrugged.

“Just making sure you aren’t a Lilly Cambell girl.” Liam said.
I stared at him, insulted. Lilly Cambell was in a lot of rom coms.

“Kidding.” Liam said. I smiled. “Hey, I recognize this place!” He looked at a sign covered in snow. It looked like it said, arbor rings, in between piles of snow.
I almost choked on the freezing air. “Really?!” 

“Yep, there’s a little town pretty close to here.” He said.

“Oh, thank God!” I sighed with relief. I was a little surprised we hadn’t froze to death yet.

Liam seemed to know what I was thinking, because he said, “We have ice powers. We can’t get hypothermia or frostbite or anything.”
“Why am I still cold, though?” I asked.

“I dunno. We just can’t get really cold. Our teeth aren’t chattering.” He said.

“Huh.” I murmured. I sniffed the air. “It smells good.” 

“Welcome to Harbor Springs.” Liam said, grinning.