The River

'You know, I never imagined the journey being this long', Iris said as we continued to take steady steps towards to top of the mountain.

'I don't think this is the time to complain', Zayn said.

'He's right. I don't think we're even halfway there yet', Axel informed us from the front as he continued to check his map to make sure we were on the right path.

'What?', exclaimed Aiden as he looked at Jaxon probably hoping it was a joke. When he realized it wasn't, he groaned.

'Don't be lazy Aiden', I called out to him.

He rushed to my side and wrapped his arm around my shoulder saying, 'You're the only reason I can endure this Snowflake. You're presence gives me strength'.

I just rolled my eyes while I heard Zayn scoff behind me.

I didn't bother removing his arm and I don't think he had any plan to remove it either so we walked side by side like that until we stumbled a fast moving river, all the while I couldn't help but notice Zayn kept glaring at his hand.

Jaxon stopped first quietly surveying the area.

'Do we need to cross the river?', I asked trying to figure out the reason for our sudden pause.

'No but this is the perfect place for training', Jaxon answered.

'How so?', I heard Iris say behind me.

'When did you learn to talk so properly?', Zayn said before Jaxon could answer.

Iris said a quick 'Shut up' while hitting him in the gut with her elbow.

'The river can help train both Amelia and Zayn. The speed of the water is fast which would make it hard to freeze and also hard to control', Jaxon explained.

'That is actually good for training. I've been trying to make the ice I create colder', I said smiling.

'I guess I could give it a try', Zayn shrugged.

'Oh Zayn. You should know by now that you don't have a choice', Coral said sweetly.

We all laughed as Zayn mumbled something about rights.

'What about Iris and I?', Aiden asked finally removing his hand.

'You guys can do whatever you want', the perfect spot to train will come for you two soon enough', Daniel answered.

'So what I'm hearing is... No training?' Aiden said looking ecstatic.

Daniel sighed saying, 'Yes Aiden. No training'.

'Yes', Aiden exclaimed. 'We'll catch up later Snowflake. Don't miss me too much', Aiden said winking at me before settling somewhere nearby.

Zayn was glaring at Aiden's retreating figure before he noticed me watching him and he quickly looked away.

Weird, I thought. He had definitely been glaring at Aiden a lot recently.

Before my mind could think of a reason, Iris' voice pulled me back to reality.

'I'm so sorry too leave you to practice on your own but... this girl's exhausted. Have fun', she said before leaving us just like Aiden.

The other trainers moved close to where Iris and Aiden were leaving Zayn and I along with Coral and Jaxon.

Zayn's voice called, 'So what do we do first?'

'Any progress?', Coral called from where she was talking with the other trainers.

'You know, maybe we could've done it sooner if we were actually... I don't know, guided', Zayn screamed as he tried and failed again to slow the river down.

'That would be too much work', Jaxon said from beside her.

'I can't believe you actually just left us here', I said trying to freeze the running water but the ice kept breaking.

Zayn was further up the river than I was, that way if I froze the water it wouldn't affect Zayn but I couldn't say the same for if Zayn succeeded first.

'You guys need to learn to do things without us', Coral said.

'We won't always be around to help you', Jaxon added.

'Aaaargh', I screamed in frustration as the ice broke again.

'I think it lasted longer this time', Zayn said looking at me after my sudden outburst.

'Thanks for the optimism Zayn', I huffed trying again.

I suddenly heard Iris laughing and looked in her direction. She was sitting with Aiden on a rock laughing at something he said.

I felt someone nudge me and turned to see Zayn now standing next to me looking at Iris and Aiden. 'Think of it this way, when it's their turn to practice we'll be the ones in their position', he said.

'You're right but that still doesn't help us accomplish our task', I said pointing towards the river.

'We just need to concentrate. I'm sure we'll figure it out', he said.

I nodded facing the river once more as I tried to freeze it again .

'You know it's weird', Zayn suddenly spoke.

When I looked at him he was back in his position but his eyes were closed.

'What's weird?', I asked.

'It's like I can feel the energy of the water but anytime I try to overcome it, it becomes so much, like I'm in some kind of struggle for control', he explained looking at me.

'Well, if you can't control it, why don't you just go with the flow?', I shrugged.

'Go with the flow?', he said, eye brow raised.

'Yeah. I mean if you can't beat them, join them', I said.

'Let me try that', he said.

I watched as he spread out his hands and closed his eyes. He slowly opened his eyes, moving his hands in a circle like he was directing the water to turn instead of directly stop.

The water start to slow down before it slowly started to move in the opposite direction at a much more steady pace.

'You're doing it', I exclaimed in awe.

Then he completely stopped the water from moving and created a large splash causing water to fall on all of us but somehow he was dry.

'Really?', I asked glaring at him.

'I had to have at least a little fun', Zayn said smiling smugly.

'You just had to splash on everyone, didn't you?', Iris called after she and the others were dried off, thanks to Aiden.

Zayn just shrugged as Aiden helped dry me off, 'There you go Snowflake', he said.

'Thanks Aiden', I said as he left after urging me to quickly freeze the water so I can join them.

I turned back to the river trying to figure out how to freeze it.

'Instead of just freezing the surface, why don't you start from freezing the deepest part first. Hit it at it's core', Zayn suggested as he came to my side.

'That's actually not a bad idea', I said.

'Of course it isn't. Afterall, it came from me', he said smugly.

I rolled my eyes and tried his advice. Luckily for me it worked.

I aimed at the bottom of the river and slowly the surface started to freeze. After a while it was finally, completely frozen.

'Finally', I sighed. 'You did it', Zayn exclaimed pulling me into a hug.

'Thank for the advice', he said.

'No problem. You helped me, I helped you. Besides, we're a team, we help each other', he said.

'You're right. Now that we're done though, I'm exhausted. Let's join the others', I said

We headed to the others as we joked around before finally setting up camp for the night.