The frost reached out and gently, very gently, traced a finger along the edge of the soft white flower. The cold ran along the petal’s veins and shivered down the stem to caress its freezing leaves.

They were coming. Born of wind and ice with mouths that bit their frost-bites and tails that slung snow over the town in heaps…

The Icilbrack were coming.

If you meet one, keep your courage: only a blazing heart can save you from the Icilbrack’s gelid soul.

“Paze!” I waved him over. He’d been in our class for two months already, yet he gave everyone a wide berth and barely spoke. “Come see if you can figure out this stove. The kettle’s been lounging on it forever but can’t seem to work up a whistle.”

Paze and I had been assigned class chores for the week, which included preparing refreshments during Study Hall. (Barrington Preparatory School prides itself on incorporating “life skills” into curriculum.)

Reluctantly, Paze shuffled over to peer at the stove. A chill wind tickled my neck. I glanced at the window, but it was sensibly closed. Geez. The weather in this frigid town was apparently fierce enough to travel from another (less sensible) classroom.

“I’ll check the gas.”

I was so unused to hearing Paze speak that I jumped.

Hunching his shoulders, Paze stalked out the door.

Not ten seconds since he’d left the room, the kettle started shrilling.

“Paze! Wait!”

Too late.

I’d made the tea myself, and Study Hall was nearly over by the time Paze returned from his futile inspection of the gas lines. Guilt for not chasing after him mixed with annoyance that I’d had to make the tea solo. I stared him down, alternating angry and apologetic looks.

Odd. Something seemed off about Paze’s hand. He was favoring it, tucked away under his jacket.

Study Hall ended and Paze and I made rounds to gather the empty cups. Yes, he was struggling a bit, trying to hold the bus-bin one-armed while keeping his hand hidden in his sleeve.

I waited until we were both back alone in the kitchen.

“Come on, I’m taking you to the nurse. Did you forget your gloves checking the lines outside or something? It’s not frost-bite, is it?”

“Leave me alone.”

Exasperated, I stepped toward him.

“I get you’re unsociable, but I’m just looking out for you. You need to get that checked — ”

“I said leave me alone!”

I didn’t know his voice reached that volume.

Crazy kid.

I darted forward and grabbed his wrist, meaning to inspect his wound myself, but the moment I touched him, raw cold shot up my fingertips.

“Yeouch!” I stuck my fingers in my mouth to warm them, startled.

I stared.

Paze’s hand was no longer hidden. It was also no longer a hand. Where Paze’s hand had been was now a scaly, icy white dragonoid claw.

It was the terrified look in his eyes that kept me from screaming.

“Paze,” I said as calmly as possible, “we should probably leave.”

I didn’t really expect him to follow me, but I suppose he didn’t have any better ideas. We sat opposite each other on the dormitory couches. The room was silent; everyone was in class.

“Any idea how, um…” I gestured lamely.

Paze mumbled unintelligibly.

“What?”

“I wasn’t actually born human.”

“Oh.” I swallowed. “So, is this your natural state of being?”

I felt like a novice reporter interviewing a nudist for an Indie magazine.

“Would you be scared of me if it was?”

I considered for a moment, then shook my head. “If you were going to kill me, you would have done it when we were back in the kitchen so you could drain my blood in the sink.”

Paze made a face, but suddenly, his scales melted away.

I whistled. “If that’s an illusion trick, you have to teach me.”

“It’s not one.”

“I figured.”

Paze squinted at me, calculating…

“I don’t know why I suddenly became human. I don’t know why I’m changing back and forth.”

“Which do you want to be?”

He hesitated, looking confused.

“I-I’m not sure.”

“Well. I’ll help you figure it out.”