Under the Ice (Open)

Tamara swam around in the ocean, flipping her fin. She shot forward much quicker than her sister, Aquale. The only one left besides herself from her family. Tamara then saw the hardened form of the ice on the surface. She could occasionally see shadows of humans or animals walking on the ice. She saw one fall on the ice, and she saw her chance.

Tamara shot towards the surface and fazed straight through the ice, looking at the boy that had fallen. He didn't even have a chance to look at her before she had grabbed his arm and dragged him down under the ice, fazing him with her under the sea. He struggled, but in vain. This boy was going to die. She hated humans, so she was glad it was the humans that was doomed to be her prey.

Yeva, who had gone for a stroll saw the boy fall in. Without a second though she stupidly ran out to help him. Kneeling by the hole she peered into the water, thrusting an arm into the bitter cold of it when she spotted him. As she did however she caught a glimpse of something she couldn't quite make out as it pulled him under. Then a thought occurred to her. "Помогите, помогите!" 'Help, help!' she called frantically. "Он тонет русалки ему помочь!" 'He's drowning a mermaid has him help!'

"Help!" she shouted again, this time in German recalling that not many would understand her cries in her native Russian.

Tamara looked up through the ice, seeing a girl trying to help the boy she had pulled under. She raised an eyebrow. The boy was as good as dead anyways by now. "Aquale," she said softly and her sister was beside her in a second. "Take the boy," she said. Aquale took the boy and swam away, further down.

Tamara shot up and stopped when she reached the hole the girl was peering down into. She looked at the girl for a second with angry eyes. Then she tilted her head to the side.

"Do you want the same fate?" she asked coolly.

Panic seized Yeva's heart and she recoiled from the creature. Her mind was screaming for her to run, and her arm burned with cold, but something unexpected roared loudly above the rest, her heart. Courage filled her with each beat of if. "Let him go!" she shouted beating her fists against the ice, drawing blood. "Let him go!" Then as if forgotten her hand flew to her wand and mind racing and blank in the same instance. She fumbled trying to remember something, anything that could help. Suddenly something lit in her mind, it wasn't something she'd learned at school but rather seen her Father brother Fedir use it many a times on their home, barn, or slaughter house when angered. "Confringo!" she belted pointing her wand at the creature.

Tamara saw the inner struggle of the girl. "He's already dead," Tamara said coolly.

She didn't like seeing the girl struggle, but she knew how to lock her emotions down, so she simply watched as frustration and fright turned to bravery. The girl pointed her wand at Tamara, and she got herself ready. the blasting curse rushed towards Tamara, but she easily phased through the spell, which continued on and probably hit a tree or something. She then vanished under the ice again and looked up. When she was beneath the girl she phased through the ice and her hand latched itself onto the girl's throat.

"You can perform magic, little child, but I am magic. Spells won't work on me as long as I don't want them to," she said coolly, "Now if you would please leave me be, or I'll drag you down with the dead kid."

Yeva was rocked once more with fear as the mermaid seized her throat. "Let him go!" she cried tears stinging her eyes. He wasn't dead she refused to believe it, he wasn't dead, he wasn't. A terrible thought occurred to her. His parents would never get to say goodbye. There would be nothing to bury, he would lie cold and dead at the bottom of the lake forever. A cry escaped her as her knees buckled, her bad leg gave terribly but the hand held her aloft. "Let him go!" she wept. "Please let him go, give him back!" The tears were quickly freezing and stung her face. Anger began to boil within, then, she was magic, magic couldn't hurt her. Her brows knit tightly Yeva roared, "Give him back!" as she plunged her wand forward like a dagger, intent on gutting the evil thing.


(Confrigno is a heat based blasting curse)

Tamara narrowed her eyes as the girl kept begging. She then considered releasing the guy. She could still save him with her magic, but would she?

Then the girl plunged forward with her wand as if it was a dagger. Tamara made herself intangible just like before, and rolled her eyes at the girl. But she seemed like she really wasn't want to give up. And the two remaining mermaids were really trying to keep a low profile. Actually, that made Tamara truly reconsider.

"Oh, all right, then," Tamara said with a pout, "I guess we'll just have to go for an animal then."

Tamara stooped down into the lake, catching up to Aquale easily. Said mermaid looked confused when Tamara took the boy and swam up to the surface again, slipping easily through the ice. She looked around and when she saw that no one was there, she raised herself fully from the ground, her green tail splashing a bit around her. She looked at the girl.

"You should really take this as a compliment, girl. I don't know what it is, but I just don't want to kill you, and your rattling us out wouldn't be so good. Anyways, this guy's life is not there anymore, but I can still bring it back as long as it happens in the next two minutes. But I will only do it on one condition: you do not say anything about this to anyone, or I'll make sure to take three students next time, preferably one of your own friends," Tamara said coldly, "Or you shut up. What will it be?"

(OOOPS! I was thinking of Incarcerous... Haha, my bad, I edited the post! )

Yeva's elbow over extended a bit when her hand passed through the mermaid, it stung. Still teary she watch as the creature thought about something, and reluctantly agreed to let the boy go. Yeva shivered, kneeling on the ice as with baited breath she wait, praying she wasn't being played the fool. As soon as the mermaid emerged the limp, sodden boy at hand Yeva latched onto him her arms wrapped about his chest as she tried to pull him free from his would be murder. Yeva only half listened to what the monster was saying to her as she put her ear by his mouth to listen for breath and pressed frantically around his throat unsure of where to find a pulse. Her mind was abuzz as she searched it for any type of spell that could help. It was only after the mermaid had both made an offer to help, and a threat to the lives of her fellow students that it finally registered in Yeva's mind what she had said.

"Yes, yes I'll do anything, I'll be quite just please save him!" she shouted her words coiling up past her face as a white steam in the bitter cold before she let loose a sting of swears in her native language. She lived on a farm, so death was no stranger to her but seeing this boy was very different from seeing animals, different even from being in the slaughter house. Somehow, despite the nightmares that devilish place gave her, this was much worse. Remorse washed over her then as well, as she thought of the man who had lived beside them in Russia. A pang of quilt hit her, her father, or one of her brothers had killed him because of her own clumsiness. Did he look so pale and still? She wondered before beginning to cry a new. "Help him, please!" she sobbed.

(Not a problem, you didn't need to, to quote Professor Quirrell 'I {just} thought you ought to know!' )

Tamara sighed. Humans. Why did they care so much? It was nothing in it for them, was it? They were always willing to sacrifice something of themselves to make sure others were all right. She didn't understand why. She couldn't. And it annoyed her. It annoyed her that she didn't care more. She knew that to humans, she would be what they would call a sociopath.

She looked into the girl's eyes and then tried to search the girl's soul for answers, but she couldn't find anything. She supposed she just didn't feel enough to relate. Maybe it was time to start associating with humans again. She found that she kind of missed caring about things. She reached out her arms and took the boy in the girl's arms. She then pricked her wrist, and a few drops of a very light red color trickled out and she made sure the drop fell into the kid's mouth.

Tamara looked up at the girl. "He's out of harm's way, but if you truly want to save him, then make sure he doesn't get hurt in the next couple of days. If he does, he'll be in trouble," she said lowly.

Then, without looking at the girl, she slipped down through the ice again, vanishing into the depths.

Yeva watched stunned as the mermaid did this, her heart thundering in her ears as the mermaid disappeared into the water. Her mouth hung open and she didn't move for quite a long while. "Хорошо," (ok) she said to herself staring avidly at the spot in the ice where the mermaid dissipated, still in a state of shock. "Xорошо." she repeated nodding to herself with new found determination. "я могу сделать это!" (I can do this) She muttered lightly, grabbing the boy under his arms and began to pull him towards the snowy shore. The ice however, was slick and her poor legged wobbled with each step before giving out twenty feet to go.

"Все в порядке мальчик, все в порядке!" (It's alright, you're going to be ok) She said shivering as she pushed them over to the snow hoping the fall hadn't injured him in any way. "Я хочу, чтобы добраться до, чтобы помочь!" (I'll get you to help!) Standing she drug him through the knee deep snow her back straining. As her trek began in earnest a cold wind swept sharply through her and she started to seriously doubt that she would be able to do what she promised.

Agne was going for a walk to clear her mind, she wasn't so sure she liked it here and was ready to go home. A voice speaking in a foreign language caught her ear as she turned to see another girl through the trees, it looked like she was dragging something. "H-hullo," she called to her. "Are you alright?" she asked walking in her direction. Agne's hands flew to her mouth when she saw the boy. "What happened? Is he alright? Are you ok?"she asked rushing to the girls side. Looking at her Agne saw that her face was quite pale and her lips blue with the cold. On instinct she wrapped her arms around her, one of her sleeves was soaked and beginning to become stiff as was the font of her jacket and pants. Looking Agne saw the boy was equally pale and was dripping from head to foot.

Yeva trembled violently burying her face in Agne's jacket seeking warmth. Sitting in this manner for a few moments she tried to collect her thoughts, the urgent need to get back to the castle tempered by her fear that the mermaid might be pursuing them. "H-h-he fell through th-the ice!" Yeva said shivering as she rubbed the boys shoulders hoping to warm him as well.

Nodding in a grave and urgent matter she glanced back the way she had come. "I'll get some help, ok, I'll be right back!" she said taking off her coat she draped it over the boy the sharp air biting through her as a gust of wind rolled over her. Standing up she she trudged off through the snow in search of help, pausing only once to look back at the distressed pair.