Ned Vizzini - Battle of the Beasts

“But you’ve got a big blind spot.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You wanna smooch him.”

“No!” Cordelia said. “I just want to help him. What do you think, Eleanor?”

Eleanor looked back at Will. “He looks kinda gross, but I think you can trust him.”

“So that’s two against one,” Cordelia said to Brendan. “ And I took that self-defence class last summer. I think I can handle myself around Will.”

“Suit yourself,” Brendan said, “but I don’t trust him.”

Cordelia hugged her brother and said, “I appreciate you looking out for me, I really do.” Then she turned and went to Will. “Have a good day at school, guys!”

Brendan and Eleanor waved goodbye, and in a few moments they were continuing on while Will and Cordelia walked back towards Kristoff House.

“Aren’t you upset about missing school?” Will asked.

“This is an emergency.” Cordelia squeezed Will’s hand.

A strange thing happened as they walked home: Cordelia’s arm began to feel cold again, like it had before, when she saw the ice under her skin. She tried to ignore it at first, but found it was easier to let the cold feeling travel through her , to feel it in her heart and guts and limbs. That way Will felt warmer. He was holding her hand tight, as if it had been a long time since he felt a person’s touch. Cordelia liked that.

“Your hand is freezing,” Will said.

“I know,” said Cordelia. “Hopefully you’ll warm it up.”

They exchanged a smile.

When they got to the house, the fog was clearing. Cordelia led Will down the pebbled path – then yelped and pulled him behind a tree.

“What?”

“That’s my mom’s car. She must’ve skipped the gym.”

“I can leave,” said Will.

“No, c’mon.” She led him around the side of the house, dashing from tree to tree, and pried open the window that led to the back stairs. Then they tiptoed up to the second floor and entered Cordelia’s bedroom, which had its own bathroom, all while Mrs Walker was downstairs, on the phone talking to Gamblers Anonymous. Cordelia told Will, “Take a shower.”

He didn’t have to hear that twice. In thirty seconds Will was under the hot spray, singing “Keep the Home Fires Burning”, his favourite song from back home. With each verse, he got louder and louder, completely losing himself—

The door to Cordelia’s room opened.

“Cordelia?” Will asked.

No answer.

Oh no, it’s her mum!

Will rushed out of the shower, still dripping. I have to hide! He tried to find a place, but he was totally at a loss, desperate, as Cordelia entered with a black garbage bag.

“Whoa!” She snapped her eyes shut. “What are you doing?”

Will jumped back in the shower. “I thought you were your mother!”

“Nope.” Cordelia took Will’s dirty clothes from the floor and threw them in the garbage bag. “I’ll put these in the compost.”

She left, placing shaving supplies and some of her dad’s clothes on the back of the toilet. Will finished showering and shaved – but when he left the bathroom, he found Cordelia sitting on her bed, her head in her hands.

“What’s wrong? Cordelia?”

“I don’t know.”

She didn’t look up. Will sat next to her.

“You saved my life today,” he said. “You should feel wonderful.”

She took a long pause before saying: “There’s something wrong with me, Will. I’m sick. And I don’t have anyone to talk to” – she cracked a hopeful smile, keeping her lips closed – “except you.”

“Cordelia, what’s happening? What’s the matter?”

Cordelia opened her hand. A tooth sat in it.

Will gasped. The tooth was on a tissue with a bit of blood.

“That just fell out,” said Cordelia.

“What?”

“It started yesterday. This is the second one. And all of my other teeth … they’re loose as well. I think it’s linked to my entire body feeling ice-cold sometimes.”

“Are you saying it’s a spell ?”

“It’s possible,” said Cordelia. “I feel like I’ve brought back something from the world of Kristoff’s books. Something inside me.”

Will put his arms around Cordelia, trying to comfort her. But instead of warming up, Cordelia found herself getting even colder. She pushed Will away, looked down at her hands, and screamed.

The skin was transparent. And underneath …

Nothing but ice.

“We should get you to the hospital,” said Will.

“No,” said Cordelia. And she looked up at him.

Her eyes were gone, replaced by discs of clear blue ice.

Will was a hardened, fearless war hero – but he still cried out in terror.

“Cordelia, what is happening—”

She jumped to her feet and ran out of the bedroom and down the stairs. Will started to go after her, but then he heard the front door slam, followed by Mrs Walker yelling, “Cordelia, come back! Where are you going?!”

Will didn’t want to be hanging around Cordelia’s bedroom in case Mrs Walker came upstairs. And he didn’t like the idea of Cordelia being alone in the world, with some kind of spell spreading through her body. He opened a window and climbed out of Kristoff House, determined to find her, but then he realised he had no idea where she’d gone. Except … Perhaps she went to school, to meet with her brother and sister?

But what school? Will waited behind a tree until Mrs Walker pulled away in her car, off to search for Cordelia herself, no doubt, and then sneaked into the kitchen and took Brendan’s report card from the bulletin board. (He saw Brendan’s grades: lots of S’s and one E – in gym.) The report card had the address for Bay Academy Prep, so that’s where Will headed. He walked quickly down the street, appreciating that he looked like a proper young man, in Dr Walker’s clothes, as opposed to a homeless, insane wannabe plane thief. Within twenty minutes he reached the school’s imposing black gates.

Will reached out to open the gates. Locked. He could climb them, but that would almost certainly lead to arrest on the other side. He wasn’t sure what to do. Until …

A FedEx vehicle crunched the gravel as it drove towards the gates. Will backed off and gave a friendly wave to the driver. The driver identified himself over the intercom. This was followed by a loud buzzing, and the gates opened. Like magic, Will thought. He ducked behind the truck, hopped on to the rear bumper, and rode into Bay Academy Prep.

Looking past the duck pond, Will spotted a big, modern building next to the school’s main building. He leaped off the truck, scampered over, dashed inside a service entrance, and found himself in the enormous kitchen of the dining hall. The place was bustling with workers, all dressed in yellow smocks, preparing the day’s lunch (and vegan option). Will spotted a laundry basket filled with freshly washed smocks, snatched one, and put it on. Suddenly, a hand grabbed his shoulder.

“Hey, you! What’re you doing standin’ around?!”

The head cook, a burly woman with chin whiskers and a hair net, was a dangerous type. Will tried to explain to her, “I’m new” – but she was already shoving him out of the kitchen and directing him to the hot-food bar.

“In about thirty seconds there’s gonna be a stampede of hungry little silver-spooners! You’re on mashed potatoes and green beans, so shut up and get to it!”

The dining-hall doors burst open and students raced inside. Will made himself busy dishing out portions over and over from the steaming pans as the kids made ungrateful faces. Then he heard, “Will?”

He looked up. A confused Brendan faced him .