Last chapter of Elicia's Ice. Enjoy! 

(Also pretend the Priest from Princess Bride can be seen above saying WUV. TWUUUU WUV.)

______________________________________________

Carlos looks just as shocked as I feel. "What happened?" He demands, feeling his no longer fuzzy nose. 

I look down at the churning water. "I'm more concerned about why we're hovering above the ocean of no reason."

"Sorry, Icy, that was my fault." I hear Endora's voice snicker. The invisible something lifts high, carrying us up to the ship and depositing us onto the deck. My gloves evaporate.

"ENDORA?!" Uma screams, tearing at her hair.

Endora, looking quite amused with herself, twirls her wand around. "Yeah... I'm kinda surprised you fell for all that, Shrimp."

Sera chuckles. "I know what ya mean. We already betrayed 'er once, and she thought we'd actually come back?"

Arson breaks away from his captor and stumbles over to Sera, hugging her fiercely. "I THOUGHT YOU BAD!" He wails.

I can barely see Sera through all his furry mass. "Ouch! Ar, I'm not gonna leave ya! Kinda insulted ya thought I would!"

"You were very convincing." I remind her. 

She shoves Arson away and grins. "Yeah. I was, wasn't I?"

Uma, who is turning a bright red, spits out, "Grab 'em."

I glance over at Endora, who gestures, have at it. I grin and step lightly in front of Uma and her crew. My hands ablaze with white and blue light, I slam my hands down on the ground like Sera used to do. Every pirate goes flying, losing their grip on my friends and falling headfirst into the water. Uma, Harry, and a few other people manage to grab hold of the boat, but Carlos runs over and shoves them off. 

Then he turns and grins at me. "That was awesome!" he cheers.

"Aw, it was nothin'." Sera says first, pretending to blush as she walks over to me and wraps her arm around my neck, rubbing my head. 

I shove her away. "Oh, shut up, Sera."

She snickers. "Hey, at least our plan worked, eh Dori?"

Endora smiles and flicks her gold hair behind her shoulders. "I knew it would. When we got attacked on the ship before, I had Uma tell me in my head just in case it was no cure. And you'll never guess what it was."

"Y'all really shoulda tried this first." Sera whispers loudly.

Carlos looks at me the same time I look at him. He turns pink. "Don't tell me..."

"TWU WUV!" Sera crows, laughing so hard she doubles over. 

"Wait---How'd you know?" Brit asks.

"Because Dori told me right before I came to the ship outta my coma." Sera rolls her eyes. "Duh."

"Right. Duh." Brit agrees meekly.

"Wait...." Evie's eyes grow wide. "Is that why you made us all come?"

Sera shrugs. "Hey, I know for a fact tha' Mal and Ben'll work. The rest I'm just hopin'."

I glance at Carlos again. Then I groan. "There's no way to stop Carlie now."

Sera's grin has never been more evil.

Endora, ignoring us, gestures to everybody else. "Well?"

"Uh.... You do realize how awkward this is, right?" Lonnie checks.

"Y'all wanna keep being furry?" Sera demands.

Brit raises her hand. "Uh...Why am I here?"

Sera wiggles her eyebrows. "Everybody knows Gil likes ya, Brit."

"Sera!" Gil complains. 

"And EVERYBODY knows you like Gil, Brit." Sera continues, not giving any mercy.

"SERA!" Brit squeals, burying her face in her hands. What little bit of her face peeks out is a tomato red. 

Sera grins. "And---"

"OKAY!" I hold my hands up. "Before you say that, lemme ask, why is Arson here? Everybody else already has a guy, if we're counting Bil. or Grit." I pause. "Hmmm.... You guys are hard."

"Grutta." Endora suggests.

"YOU GUYS ARE THE WORST!" Brit wails. 

Sera rolls her eyes, goes over to Arson, and plants a big kiss on his nose. After a bright light sears through our eyelids, Arson is back to human. 

Sera shrugs, leaning against him. "He's my bro. Family love can sometimes work. It did for yer aunt, didn't it?"

I think back. "Eh. That was an act of true love."

Sera shrugs. "Meh."

Mal glances sidelong at Ben. He doesn't seem to notice until she leans close and pecks his cheek. This time we know to close out eyes, and by the time I'm opening them again, Mal is actually kissing Ben.

"Nice to have you back." She laughs.

He grins. "It's nice to be back."

Lonnie goes rigid suddenly. "Don't tell me you brought me here because of Jay."

Jay's beastly form seems to shrink. I didn't think Jay would ever cower. I guess all it took was a girlfriend. 

Endora twirls her wand around. "Well, we could always keep Jay as a Beast..."

Lonnie shudders. "This would be way less awkward without everybody else."

"Hey, at least you didn't do it right before you thought you were going to die." I argue.

"That'd actually be so romantic." Evie murmurs. 

Carlos, his face red, mutters, "can't believe we didn't think of this sooner..."

I elbow him. Right as I turn away, a bright light flashes and Doug and Jay appear as humans again, both as red as Brit. Lonnie looks embarrassed, while Evie just looks ecstatic. 

"Hey! It worked!" She cheers. "Does that mean it actually---"

"Woah there, E." Sera laughs. "Poor Doug looks ready to melt."

Doug indeed looks like he wants to crawl in a hole. We all laugh. Gil actually turns hopefully to Brit. She doesn't remove her face from her hands. "This is so embarrassing..." She finally squeaks. "I thought nobody knew..."

"Well, Uma already knew I liked you." Gil admits. "She told me so when she captured Ben last year."

Endora waves her hand in their direction. "Get on, you guys. We gotta get back soon so we can tell everybody else."

"Wait, why didn't we tell them before we left?" Carlos asks.

"Because you guys were our guinea pigs." Endora says bluntly. "In case it didn't work."

"Which we knew it would." Sera finishes, elbowing her brother.

"Erm." Brit squeaks, finally looking up a bit. "Uhm."

"Does it count if I kiss her?" Gil asks.

SQUEAK! Brit covers her face again.

Endora shrugs. "Sure. Why not?"

Gil's face lights up and runs over to Brit, hugging her and kissing the top of her head since he's three times taller currently. A bright light shines for the final time and Gil is back, still embracing Brit.

Brit and Gil's grins outshine all the flashes made so far.

"Yaaay." Endora mutters. "We're going back now." She waves her wand and we appear in mine and Brit's bedroom. Audrey yelps and guiltily hides the jacket Evie made for me behind her back.

I stride across the room and hold out my hand. "Mine. Now."

Sulking, she hands it over. I slide it on over my Star Wars T-shirt and escort Audrey from my room. "OH! Audrey, spread the word. The cure for the Beast stuff is true love, 'kay?"

Her eyes grow wide. "but---"

"Bye!" I slam the door.

Sear hisses a breath in. "Oof, Icy, that was nice."

Maira comes running in, a big grin on her face. "Hey, you guys! I saw Audrey running around screaming what the cure was, so I assumed you'd gotten back. I'm glad it worked, Sera!"

"Wait, how'd you know that alrea----" I stop. "Ohhhhh..."

Maira winks. "That's what Sera whispered to me to get me to shut up. And it worked!"

"Ahh, it was nothin'." Sera chuckles. 

"Back to the thing at hand---" Endora clears her throat. "We need to go outside and help people find their partners."

I snicker. "Ned and Chad will stay Beasts forever."

"They didn't turn, remember?" Endora taps her wand against her head, sending green and gold sparkles flying. "They're already such monsters, the worst part of themselves is already showing."

I rub an old bruise on my back from where Ned had held me the night he and Chad had tried to take my powers. "Got that right."

Mal glares at nothing. "I still haven't made them pay for that."

"I'm pretty sure my dad chasing him around was bad enough." I laugh. 

Everyone starts snickering. Even Endora and Sera imagine it and laugh. 

"C'mon." Maira gestures outside. "Let's go see what's happening outside." She opens the door and we pile out, running outside and into the courtyard, where a bunch of bright lights are flashing, the air filling with cheers as boys all over are turning back to human.

I wrinkle my nose. "Ugh. Hector's found a girl, I see."

He indeed looks very grumpy, glancing between me and a petite little girl with coppery skin and deep black eyes, her dark raven hair falling like feathers down her back against her yellow-and-brown dress paired with soft moccasins.

Maira snickers. "Oh, he's got to HATE that. That's Pocahontas' daughter, Poloma."

"Yeah, I guessed that from the moccasins." I laugh. She does look like Pocahontas, except for the fact that her face, instead of being a fighter's like Pocahontas, is soft and filled with hope. She's bouncing on her toes like she's about to take flight, and it may just be me, but where her toes are, the grass really does look healthier. 

(You thought I was going to say GREENER, didn't you?)

Hector looks at her with distaste. "You realize I hunt things like you, right?"

Her sweet face crumples and she glares. "Since I just saved your hide, I'd be more respectful! Especially to the daughter of the Chief!"

"Daughter of the Chief, my butt." Hector says. "Still as prissy as all the other princesses."

She reaches out her hand above the ground and a stick jumps through the soil, launching into her hand. Hector goes pale and dashes off. Poloma chases him, throwing sticks at him. 

"CALL ME THAT AGAIN!" She calls, easily keeping pace with him in what looks like a jog to me. 

Maira waves. "Hi, Polo!"

Poloma notices her and her face brightens. She drops her sticks and runs swiftly over to Maira, hugging her tight. 

"Mai!" She cries. "I'm so glad I'm back. Papa and Mama wanted me to be in the wild for a bit so I wouldn't lose my powers here."

"Oh!" Arson greedily comes forward. "Powers!"

Poloma grins. "Hi! I'm Poloma, or Polo to some people. Yeah, I got powers. I can talk to animals, and can occasionally summon stuff from the ground."

She kneels down and taps the soil. A small, white daisy pops out joyfully and leans toward her. When she pets it like a puppy, I swear I hear it coo.

Poloma stands back up, grinning. "See?"

I nod over at Hector. "So, you kissed him?"

"Well, technically, he was stomping around demanding some girl kiss him, and people weren't exactly lining up, so I volunteered and he gave me this look, and said "As if you could fix me" so I had to prove him wrong." She says brightly. 

I roll my eyes. "Of course he did."

Mal bumps me. "At least he didn't try to get you to kiss him."

"Well, everyone knows Carlie is happenin'." Sera says, grabbing me and Carlos each and pulling us against her as she cackles. "Even if you two are denyin' it!"

"SERA!" both of is complain. 

She just laughs louder. 

Endora clears her throat. "If you guys are done... I can sense there are no Beasts left. Seems everyone found a girlfriend."

"I thought it had to be true love." Evie pointed out.

"Well, since most of my victims were teenage boys, I tweaked it a little." Endora shrugs. "Beast's was the only one who had to be true love."

"Yeah, Mom!" Ben laughs. "Old news."

"I'm kinda surprised you guys didn't figure it out super fast." Endora says. "I mean, I probably shoulda figured it out, too. But...whatever."

Poloma laughs. "Anyway, Mai, I gotta go. Aunt Nakoma and her kids should be here soon. Bye!" She hugs her again and races off.

"How old is she?" I ask.

"Older than you think. She's seventeen." Maira replies.

"Really! I would have said fifteen or sixteen."

"Nah. She just loves to embrace her inner kid." Maira laughs. "She's sweet."

"Hey, look!" Mal points. "There's Beast!" 

We all look over and find Beast (Now human Adam) and Belle standing on the front steps, saying something as a crowd gathers. We go forward and listen.

"----we have to thank my son and his friends for fixing this mess." Beast is saying. "When we all turned into Beasts, I feared the worst. But things seem to have fixed themselves! Also, an announcement---Sera, daughter of Ares, is awake again!"

"YEAH!" I scream, pumping my fists. Everyone turns to look at me and I sweep into a bow. 

Sera cracks up and the cricket silence everywhere. My friends all cheer through the silence.

Beast smiles a bit. "Yes. Well. Also, we can say that we have who started this is our midst. And, surprisingly, we can also admit that she helped solve this curse." He grumbles the last part. "Endora, daughter of the Enchantress."

"YEAH, DORI!" Sera cheers, clapping her friend on the back. Instead of cricket silence this time, a wave is going through the crowd as everyone tries to figure out who Endora is.

Endora sighs. "May as well." She lifts her arms, raising herself in the air, and bows deeply while twirling her wand. "I'm Endora. I cursed you. You're welcome, peasants!"

And angry buzz starts going towards her, but Sera and I simultaneously step forward. The crowd weakens and Sera grins. "Yuh-uh, step back, y'all! Sera's back, and she ain't leavin'!"

And I laugh. 

_________________________________________

BANG!

I jump, almost pitching off my bed. Brit actually does fall off, and gets up quickly, rubbing her back. "Ow." She complains. She waddles over to the door and opens it up. Sera is there, wearing her normal outfit but a sparkly red jacket and headband keeping her wild hair back.

She grins. "C'mon, y'all! We's havin' a party! To celebrate everythin' finally endin' nicely!"

Brit glances down at her pajamas. "Uhhh..."

I roll my eyes and wave my hands in the air. Black and blue magic swirls around both of us, finally settling and giving Brit smoky black jeans with her T-Rex pajama shirt, and me creating a simple blue dress with icy scales like my mom's shirt. It's one-sleeved and settles in waves downwards. I wave my fingers yet again and Brit's hair gets pulled back in a low ponytail by a some scrunchie, and my hair gets beaded behind my ears by snowflakes.

"There!" I say happily. I run over to Brit's bed and grab her purple jacket, tossing it to her. She catches it and pulls it on.

"Okay." She admits. "That was awesome. Also, can I keep these jeans? They're so comfeeeeee!" She squeals, rubbing the fabric.

I laugh. "Sure, by all means! They shouldn't evaporate."

Her grin vanishes. "Wait, what?"

I shove her lightly. "Kidding. Sera, where is it?"

"In Ben's room, it's gigantic, and--"

I snap my fingers and all three of us suddenly appear in Ben's room, Sera still talking. "---we need to be there quick, 'cuz...." She blinks. "Oh. Nice."

I smile proudly. Then someone catches my eye. "Hey, Endora!"

She grins and comes over. She's currently in gold sparkly tights with a neon green long shirt over it and her hair twisted back in a messy bun. As always, her wand twirls around. "Please, y'all can call me Dori now. I hate this "Endora" business."

I laugh. "I'm with you. What is it with moms giving kids really long names?"

"Especially the E people!" Dori laughs. 

Everyone else starts coming in, wearing something in the sparkly fashion (for the girls) and basically normal stuff (For the boys). We basically hang around in one huge circle laughing and teasing each other for a while until Dizzy suddenly beams and runs off, coming back with a big karaoke player. 

Mal groans. "Diz! No! We said no---"

"KARAOKE!" Brit squeals, running over and jumping up and down. "I GET TO PICK, I GET TO PICK!!!!"

Mal looks around at all of our grinning faces and shrugs, defeated. "Fiiiiiiine. But I'm not----"

"TOO LATE!" Brit cackles, grabbing the mic throwing it to Mal. "You're first! Pass along to your right!"

I glance to my left. Great. I'm second.

Mal glares at Brit and Dizzy. "I am so getting you back for this." She mutters.

Brit presses play, and after the music starts, I crack up. She picked this on purpose. Because of what Mal and I said on Uma's ship!

Mal groans and raises the mic anyways. "♫You know my mind starts to wander♫" 

She starts laughing halfway through the line at everyone's dumbfound expressions. What was she worried about? Her voice is awesome! 

"♫Standing here, alone. You know I dream in color, and do the things I want.♫"

She hands it to me quickly. I laugh and strike a dramatic pose.  "♫Y'think you got the best of me, think you've had the last laugh? Betcha think that everything good is gone. Think you left me broken-down, think I'll come running baa-aack? Baby you don't know me 'cuz you're dead-wrong.♫"

I pass it to Endora, who starts strumming a guitar mid-air. "♫What doesn't kill ya makes you STRONGER! Stand a lil' taller!♫" She literally stretches herself and pops back down. "♫Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone!♫"

"Mine!" Sera yells, grabbing it. "♫WHAT DOESN'T KILL YA MAKES A FIGHTER, FOOTSTEPS EVEN LIGHTER, DOESN'T MEAN I'M OVER, CUZ YOU'RE GONE!♫"

"Everyone!" Dizzy yelps. 

To my surprise, everyone, everyone obliges. "♫WHAT DOES KILL YOU MAKES YOU STRONGER, STRONGER! JUST ME, MYSELF, AND I! WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU  MAKES YOU STRONGER, STAND A LITTLE TALLER, DOESN'T MEAN I'M LONELY WHEN I'M ALONE!♫"

Sera hands it over to Evie, who grins. "♫Thanks to you, I got a new thing staaaaar-ted!♫"

Brit grabs it. "♫Thanks to you I'm not the broken-hearted!♫"

She tosses it to Ben, who actually doesn't back down. "♫Thanks to you, I'm finally thinking 'bout me.♫"

Jay. "♫Y'know in the end, the day you left was just my beginning.♫"

Everyone. "♫IN THE EEEEEEENNNND! WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU MAKES YOU STRONGER, STAND A LITTLE TALLER, DOESN'T MEAN I'M LONELY WHEN I'M ALONE!♫"

"Mal!" Dizzy yells.

"♫Doesn't mean I'm alone, ohhhh♫" Mal laughs. 

"♫What doesn't kill ya makes a fighter, footsteps even lii-iighter♫" I call out. 

"♫Lii-iiighter!♫" Evie joins. 

"♫Doesn't mean I'm over, 'cuz you're gone♫" Everyone jumps back.

"♫Because you're gooooooone!♫" Mal sings under us. 

"♫What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger! Just me, myself, and I! What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stand a little taller, doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone!♫" 

I wrap on arm around Mal and the other around Endora. They continue it, until we're all one big circle swaying back and forth along to the music, each of us laughing as we sing the lyrics. 

"♫What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger, just me, myself, and I, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stand a little taller, doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone!♫"

We all stop to take a breath. And then Mal finishes it off. "♫When I'm alone...♫"

Dizzy cheers. "THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!" She unhooks her arms around Carlos and Evie, who were bending down to be level with her. Everyone laughs and Brit untangles as well to run over and start a new song. 

"♫I did know what you were going through....♫" Not everyone knows this song, but Evie and Mal are jamming it out. Everyone else trickles away. I go back by the window and peer out, wondering where my parents are now. I wonder if they've even heard of the whole Beast-curse-thing?

Carlos comes up behind me. "Hey."

I turn around, smiling. "Hi." I sit down on the bay window's seat. He sits down next to me and we watch Mal and Evie sing their hearts out for a minute, then move on to another song I don't recognize. Carlos is humming along to it and wiggling in his seat, but he doesn't get up.

"♫Rotten to the core, core, rotten to the core...♫" I catch through Mal, Evie, and Jay's loud voices. I laugh.

"Wow, you guys really like saying that." I comment.

He chuckles. "Well, we haven't said it for a while."

I lean my head against his shoulder. He doesn't move away. "Would you ever go back, if you could?"

He doesn't answer for a minute. "Only if you came with me." He finally says. 

I smile and know he's smiling too. "I---"

"Awww, ya two are so cuuuute!" Sera plops down on my other side and throws her arm over my shoulder, forcing my head to come back up.

I roll my eyes as Carlos snorts. "Hi, Sera. Perfect timing as always."

"I try." She shrugs. 

"A little too much, if you ask me." I laugh, slinging my arm over her and Carlos. He mimics us, and we all watch them move on to "♫Looking back at yesterday, I thought I gave it everything♫"  and pretending to splash water. 

We stay silent for a minute. Then I smile happily to myself. 

You and me, guys. I think to myself. All of you and me. For as long as we can.

Then I stand up and join them, side-by-side with two people that, two years ago, I would have never thought would be the most important people in my life.

_____________________________________

So... Elicia's Ice is officially over. 

Moving on to (spoiler alert) Ellie's Flame!

yeah. That's right. I'VE GOT A TITLE! WHOOP WHOOP!

(not my BEST one...But Ellie's grown out of "Elicia". She's become herself. ELLIE! And while this book was focused on her MOM, Ellie has learned more about herself, and, to be honest, Ellie's just full 'o fire.)

Anyway, I wanna thank everybody who reads this, votes for it, comments, geeks to their friends, (Sara and Sopie! You know who you are!) and ads it to the libraries, follows me, and anything I'ma forgettin'.  : D

By the way, sorry 'bout taking long updating. I wanted this chapter to send chills up my spine. And, sad it say, it really did. Only took me 23 rewrites!

Also, it was stalled because I was practicing my audition for my school play. I guess my audition payed off, 'cuz I made callbacks! WHOOP! I literally left like an hour ago. I'll find out if I made a part tomorrow!!EE!

Anyway, I gotta say goodbye, for now. For those of you in love with Ellie as much as I am, Ellie's Flame's first chapter does not currently have a release date. I will post it ON MY WALL when I am done with the first chapter. 

(unless you are a future reader. In that case, SHOO! WHY YA STILL HERE?)