All Chapters of Frozen on Fire: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

Miles turned in the white, starchy sheets. The hospital bed was hardly comfortable, but as he watched the snowfall outside he was, at least, grateful to be under a roof - reasonably warm and somewhat fed. He didn't have a memory of his favorite foods, but he could definitely scratch the dry, tasteless lasagna from the hospital cafeteria off of his list.  He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on his breath, but if it wasn't the sound of staff in the hallways or the occasional beeping and whirring of machines in rooms nearby, it was two sets of eyes pleading with him everytime he tried to sleep, that kept him awake. The wolf with the blue eyes and the woman with pale green irises. He felt caught in their sight, drawn to them, but he knew how this would go. Like in all the other dreams he’d had about them, the faster he ran toward them the further they would seem, and when he’d stop a dark shadow

“Hope these will do, my man,” Tom said as he walked into Miles’ hospital room. “We keep some clothes in stock, donated from a local retail store, for cases like yours. You’d be surprised how many we got through, actually.” “Lots of Traumatic Brain Injury victims?” Miles wondered. There was a lot wonder about, but he was unsure why he picked that particular morbid topic. “About half of them, the others don’t have folks to bring them new clothes to leave the hospital Or their homeless. Or all three, for that matter. Anyway, I also brought you the remainder of your personal items that survived your accident. Of course, the police have gone through all of it already and they said they didn’t need to keep anything more for evidence.” 

Miles struggled the next day between the world in his head and the world of his subconscious. Snippets of his dream flashed through his mind at every aimless moment, images of the ethereal woman and the wolf that had given him that nasty bite. He flexed his hand at the memory and was rewarded with a jolt of pain up his arm and straight to his heart. Frustrated, he dropped his hand and tried to focus on his surroundings. He needed to piece his life back together. Yet, searching his apartment provided few answers. He found no photos save the one on his bulletin board in his office. There were only a few pieces of paper throughout the apartment, mostly bills or credit card statements dating over the last few months.  “Thanks, Past-Miles,” he murmured aloud to himself when he realized everything was set up to be paid automatically. H

Althea focused on the heat deep inside of her and used what little magic she possessed to form a barrier around it. She fought the urge to stomp her feet or rub her hands together. Instead, she filled her lungs with frigid air and expelled it in a huff. Beside her, Destroyer uncurled, stood, stretched and then resituated his huge body around her feet and knees.    “You should leave me. You will die if you stay here. We can not wait much longer for him to rescue us,” she whispered, but the wolf simply opened one insulted blue eye and let out a sigh that sent the snow in front of his mouth flying wildly around them.   “I wish I had your faith,” she whispered. “Do you think he will come tonight? I can feel him drawing nearer, but the cold is deeper now. It almost reached my bones. I fear it will soon be too late.” The wolf opened b

  Milo found himself in the frozen forest before Althea and the wolf once again, but for once, this visit was entirely intentional. The wolf raised his head first and Milo nodded in respect to the beast, but when Milo’s eyes shifted to Althea her body remained motionless. She was still kneeling and her body was upright, but her eyes were shut and frost had gathered heavily across her lashes. His stomach lurched as he thought about poor old Bernie and how Milo had not even noticed because he had left his body in such a life-like position, not unlike Althea’s was now.    “Althea,” he shouted, his voice muted, but clear in the heavy snow as he ran to her. Even as he approached her, she did not stir. “Shit, please don’t be gone,” he whispered. The tightness in his chest returned, a feeling he now recognized as worry. "I need you," he added, though the rightness of t