ICE (The Benders Series) Read online

  She sniffled and reached into her pocket to retrieve her cell phone. Soon she’d dialed Bryce’s number and managed to reach Jon, who was immediately confused by Kenna’s words.

  “Jon, I told him,” she confessed, her voice still breaking after the bout of crying that had just taken place.

  “Kenna…” his voice was questioning and threatening.

  “I’m sorry,” Kenna apologized. “But he was never going to tell me. He says he wants to meet you.” For a few moments, she heard nothing on the other line. It was a silence that if cut by a knife would surely explode into blasting sound. “Jon?” she asked hesitantly, waiting for his anger to erupt.

  “Do you realize what danger you have put me and my entire family in?!”

  The girl knew she’d made a huge mistake in his eyes and that she’d altogether gone against his wishes by enlightening her father. “Jon, he’s doesn’t bend anymore. He said he gave up all that a long time ago. He’s not going to do anything,” Kenna explained though she wondered if Jon could even hear her through his heavy, angry breathing.

  There was another pause indicating that he had indeed heard her. His breathing had steadied before he spoke again. “Are you sure?” he asked. “You realize that if you are wrong that I could be walking into a dinner of death?”

  Kenna sighed. “I’m sure. My dad won’t touch you,” she confirmed. “He loves me enough to invite an ice bender over for dinner.”

  She waited again in silence for a response. It was obvious to her that Jon needed a moment to contemplate such an idea as to dine with a flame bender. “Fine,” he finally said. “I’ll be there at six. And if I suspect anything fishy, don’t think I won’t call my mother. She’d bend the bend right out of your dad.”

  Kenna couldn’t help but laugh a little. It was amazing how he could accidentally bring a smile to her face. “Okay, I’ll tell him six. I’ll make food and everything. It’ll be great.” She wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince him of that or just herself.

  “If you say so,” he said with a sigh.

  And with Jon conceding to have such a supper and after bidding a brief farewell, Kenna raced down the stairs to share the news with her father. Though he was just as unenthusiastic as Jon had been, Kenna couldn’t help but to feel hopeful, that surely they would both be willing to set aside their differences to make her happy.

  Kenna, however, quickly discovered that such hope was foolish and that as far as them getting along went, she couldn’t have been more wrong.

  And I thought the dinner at his place had started off awkward, Kenna thought to herself as she noticed the two making constant, but hidden observances of each other once Jon arrived and they’d all taken a seat at the kitchen table.

  Kenna had been careful in preparing the meal for the awkward pair. She’d made a course of lasagna and garlic bread along with a salad to the side. Being as Jon would only eat colder foods, she’d thoughtfully cooked the lasagna an hour in advance so that she could refrigerate some of it to serve cold. And to drink, ice water for the Colewell and room-temperature juice for her father.

  “So am I a chef or what?” Kenna boasted in hopes to get a conversation started.

  “I didn’t even know you knew how to cook,” her dad admitted. “I’ll have to quit babying you so much and let you make dinner more often.”

  She smiled at the comment. “Nah, you can keep babying me,” she disagreed with a silly smirk.

  “Perfect, I’ll have you locked in a playpen in no time!” he replied with an obviously fake chuckle.

  Jon, on the other hand, was quite unamused with the idea. “I suppose that would be a good way to keep her away from me, huh?” he asked casually, finding himself suddenly offended.

  Kenna gave the boy a stern glare, but he hadn’t bothered to look up from his plate to observe it. Kenna knew the moment he arrived that Jon was in a bad mood and altogether uncomfortable with the situation.

  “And why would I need to do that?” her father asked, the question arrogant and provocative. “You aren’t trouble, are you?”

  This time, Jon did look up, and the pair of men made lethal eye contact. Neither one of them was willing to break the stare, positive that doing so would be hailing the other some sort of victor.

  Kenna cleared her throat, but neither batted an eye at the signal. “You know guys,” she began, “if looks could kill, I’d be eating by myself.” Somewhere, deep down, she thought her humor might make another save, but it didn’t. And not to her surprise. “Seriously,” she shouted angrily this time, lifting her glass, then slamming in back down on the table, “lighten up, you two!”

  Jon was the first to revert his gaze. He turned to his date and remarked, “I’m sure your father is very good with light… destructive and flaming light.”

  “I’d rather be hot with life than cold as death!” her father interrupted with a laugh, a cocky and challenging laugh, one that Kenna thought should have been coming from Jon instead of him.

  With that comment, another stare off ensued. Kenna reached to take Jon’s hand, but it was even icier than usual. She looked at him and could see his eye beginning to go white with rage. When she turned to her father, she saw a smug little smirk splashed across his face.

  Finding herself increasingly angered by the pair, Kenna quickly pushed her chair away from the table and stood. At this, both turned to her in confusion.

  “No!” she hollered. “If you two want to sit here and fight like little boys, then go ahead! I’ll stay out of both of your lives if that’s the way you want it!” Kenna shoved her chair back into its place and began to storm away.

  Jon caught her hand first and tried to let out a quick apology, but the girl ripped herself away from him and continued out of the room and into the porch where she sat, arms crossed and jaw clenched.

  She heard nothing for the longest time. Kenna had deliberately positioned herself in the porch so that she could hear anything that might be going on in the kitchen. But nothing. Not a sound traveled from the other room.

  She rolled her eyes to herself and glanced out the window beside her. For as much as she’d heard about the beauty of spring, to her, the view was as dead and drab as ever. The magical and detailed frost that once accompanied the window had faded into droplets of clear water. And so the claws of the mighty snow leopard had dissipated into little balls of lackadaisical liquid. The arctic bird’s feathers had all but melted into pathetic and monotonous drops. The cool and clever fox whose frosty smile once made home to the glass was now just dull spring water like tears perhaps as it watched the winter fade into an acrimonious spring.

  And beyond the disheartening window sat another disheartening sight. The vivacious snow was gone and in its place lay brown grass. And the trees that once glittered in the sun were now lifeless against a cloudy, gray sky. There was not a trace of green, not a trace of flower, not a trace of hope.

  If Kenna had been angry when she entered the forsaken room, now she felt completely glum and even a little depressed.

  But she quickly perked up her dropping head when she heard footsteps make their way towards the porch entrance. The girl wondered who it would be, Jon or her father. She figured it was fifty-fifty odds either way.

  And so, it was no shock when her dad entered and took a seat next to his irritated daughter. He didn’t say anything as he sat, but put a comforting hand on her knee.

  “Sorry,” he said with a long exhale. “That was very immature of me. Is there a way we could start the dinner over? Jon and I have agreed to behave ourselves.”

  Kenna looked away from him. “I’m not going to go in there and find a dead body, am I?” she inquired half-heartedly.

  “No,” he laughed, a real laugh this time. “Good to know you think I’d win that fight though.”

  Kenna rolled her eyes again as her father stood and reached out a hand to lift her from her seat. “Yeah, yeah,” she replied, doing her best to brush off the last half an hour of her day.
/>   When she returned to the kitchen, she found Jon sitting just where she’d left him. She could tell by the look on his face that he wasn’t happy, but when he pulled out her chair, she knew that he had every intention of sucking it up for her.

  With everyone seated again, her father began in conversation. “So nice weather lately.” Both Kenna and Jon turned sharply at such a comment, unsure if he was prodding Jon again or attempting small talk. Realizing his error, the man quickly corrected himself. “But anyway. So you two have been dating for quite some time then?”

  “Several months,” Kenna responded.

  “I see, and so how did the two of you meet?” he asked politely.

  Kenna and Jon looked at each other, not completely sure how to answer the question.

  “My brothers and I were playing hockey down at the rink when Kenna and Britney showed up. We kinda started talking after that,” Jon answered quite matter-of-factly.

  Her dad nodded in approval. “And that was before you jumped under the ice to save her? You know, you could have just frozen the water so she didn’t have to fall through. Would have been much less dramatic,” he joked as he sipped on his warm juice.

  To Kenna’s surprise, Jon returned the laugh. “I would have if I had seen her go out onto the ice. But then again, no one would have known I was a hero if that would have been the case.”

  As the dinner progressed, the pair seemed to find some common ground. Though they were opposites, they both knew a bit about the other’s skills. Kenna supposed her father hadn’t talked about bending in years and probably felt relieved to be able to discuss it in front of her after such a long time. Likewise, Jon seemed to enjoy talking about bending with someone outside his immediate family. So even if they didn’t exactly see eye to eye, at least they could relate on some level.

  But as the dinner wrapped up, Kenna noticed her father becoming suddenly agitated and nervous. Before she could question it, the man came out with a question of his own.

  “Jon. Would it be possible to speak to you in private before you leave?” he asked in a very non-threatening way. Jon turned to Kenna, who shrugged her shoulders, not knowing how to respond herself. “I’m not going to assault you or anything,” he joked. “Just a discussion you and I should have before we finish off the evening.”

  Jon took a deep breath. “Sure.”

  “Outside okay, that way Kenna can watch from the porch and know that I’m not assaulting you?”

  Jon let out a small chuckle. “Sounds good.”

  Consequently, the three left the dinner table together while Jon and the man headed outside to have ‘a discussion.’

  Kenna sat in the porch and watched. They weren’t facing her so she couldn’t even make an attempt at reading their lips. There they stood, out near the curb so she couldn’t hear what they were saying. She could see her father constantly motioning with his hands as if they could somehow speak, and she could see Jon occasionally nodding in response.

  But as far as details went, Kenna hadn’t the slightest clue as to what was being said. After about fifteen minutes, the pair turned around and strode slowly back into the house.

  “So you two are done with your awkward chit chat?” she wondered as they entered silently.

  “Yes,” her father retorted with a smile. “And I’ve concluded that you two can indeed be alone together,” he went on to say. “That is if you two behave of course.”

  Kenna was thrilled with his answer but couldn’t help but to notice Jon’s solemnity. For someone who somehow won over her dad, he seemed awfully sad.

  “Awesome, I get to walk Jon to his truck in privacy then?” she boasted with a smirk.

  “Sure,” he agreed. “You have ten minutes. I’ll be counting.” With that said, he stepped out of the porch and into the house to leave Kenna and Jon to themselves.

  Kenna smiled, but Jon did not return the expression.

  “What’s the matter?” she asked in a whisper to make sure her father’s ears didn’t hear.

  Jon shook his head. “Nothing.”

  Kenna noticed that he was avoiding eye contact with her. And on top of that, his body language had gone quite sluggish. “What did he say to you?” she interrogated quietly. “Jon, if he threatened you, I swear I will-“

  “No,” he stopped her. “No, he didn’t threaten me.”

  “Then what is it?” she questioned again seeing that he didn’t intend on furthering his statement.

  “Nothing,” he said again, still avoiding eye contact. “He just wanted to have a,” he paused to think of the right words, “mature conversation with me. And you know me, I don’t like being all adult-like.”

  Kenna wasn’t entirely convinced. “You can tell me what he said,” she added innocently. She couldn’t help but feel that whatever the problem was that it weighed very heavily on the Colewell’s mind.

  Now he did look down at her. He must have felt her studying stare. “I can’t actually. It was a man-to-man thing.” Kenna’s face took on a rather skeptical expression. Seeing her uncertainty, he added, “I’ll tell you when you’re older.” At that point, he wore his typical arrogant smirk.

  Though she wasn’t even a little bit persuaded by his words or his cocky smile, Kenna decided to let the issue rest for the moment. After all, how could she be upset when her father and Jon had agreed to reconcile their differences to make her happy?

  “Fine,” Kenna said with an eye roll. “I guess I just expected you to be happier. You know, after winning over my flaming father and all.”

  Jon let out a small laugh. “Speaking of winning over, I may have been wrong about how powerful he is. I could definitely take the guy,” he bragged as he moved to open the door as the pair made their exit.

  Kenna chuckled at his boasting as they walked out to Jon’s white truck together. “Whatever you say.” Once there, they both stopped and for a moment, the world stopped turning.

  “Thanks for supper,” Jon said to break the silence. He leaned over and kissed her lightly on her pink puckered lips.

  “You’re welcome,” she smiled. And they stared into each other’s eyes, hers so brown and striking, his blue and glowing. Though so different, they couldn’t help but be endlessly drawn to each other. “You’ll have to come again,” she winked.

  Jon smirked back at her. “It wasn’t that good of food,” he joked as he leaned in and kissed her one more time.

  “Well I don’t really think any cold food is good,” she pointed out as he pushed past her and into his vehicle.

  “That’s fair,” he said as he stopped to look at her one more time. “I wish I could stare at you all day.” Kenna felt herself blushing as usual.

  “That would be creepy,” she retorted as Jon shifted the gears of his truck. “And I think our ten minutes are up.”

  He nodded at the observation. “I suppose they are.”

  They both took in a deep breath as they waved in departure. Saying good-bye to Jon was always so bittersweet. Though it meant kisses, it also meant that she wouldn’t see him again for a few days.

  But Kenna couldn’t help but smile. She knew those days would go by fast.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Normalcy.

  For how strange her life had become in the past week, things felt oddly normal.

  Here she was, resting on the couch, waiting patiently for her paranormal boyfriend to pick her up for a possibly elemental filled date. Whatever that meant. Despite learning of his hydrokinetic powers, Kenna felt very relaxed and very comfortable with the situation.

  And when he pulled up to the driveway in his beaten down pick-up truck, Kenna couldn’t help but be filled with the same joy she had on previous dates. Calling to her father to signal her leaving, Kenna strode eagerly out of the house and into the truck where Jon was waiting for her.

  “I hate the spring,” Jon said as she buckled herself into the vehicle. “If it were up to me it would always be winter.”

  “There’s always Canada,” Ken
na suggested sarcastically. “So what should we do this evening? Dinner and a movie maybe? We never do the classics.”

  “I have a plan,” Jon replied without hesitation.

  “Well as long as your plan includes food, I’m okay with it,” Kenna said while she placed her arm near his.

  “How about a walk first? Then food?” he asked as began to drive away.

  “Sigh,” Kenna said out loud. “A quick hike, I’m starving.”

  “I think you’ll survive,” he laughed rather unsympathetically as he weaved around a few blocks as came to a halt at the ever familiar park. “Here we are!”

  Kenna couldn’t help but notice that he was a bit more enthused than usual.

  “Don’t be too excited,” she said. “This place is just becoming one big mud puddle.”

  “Such is Spring!” he agreed as they exited the truck and began on their walk.

  “Ten minutes, Jon,” Kenna warned as they became enclosed by ugly, brown trees. “Then we go get food.”

  “Deal!” Jon assured, still a little too animated for Kenna to be completely relaxed.

  “So, you seem awfully chipper,” she noted while they took several twisted paths until they were treading on a small, rocky path that Kenna thought no one wearing shoes should walk.

  “Nah,” he said defensively. “Why would I be excited to spend time with you?”

  Kenna shook her head. “Well, the only reason I’m along is cause you are paying for supper this time,” she shot back at him with a devious smile.

  “Eh, I’m actually not hungry,” Jon said as his pace seemed to double in speed. Kenna practically had to jog to keep up with him.

  “Jon where are we going?” she asked, realizing that she’d never been on these seemingly forgotten trails.

  “You’ll see.”