Tara stared at the massive lake of ice before her, which extended as far into the horizon as she could see. Being from Kentucky, she didn’t have any intimate knowledge of the Great Lakes, including Lake Michigan, where she now found herself, but she’d imagined sandy beaches and serene shorelines, not a frozen tundra. Surrounding her were Elias, Professor Warren, the Hydro Academy instructor, and Lawson and Cara, a fire soul-bonded couple. They’d picked a secluded, wooded area to do their work, and Tara couldn’t help thinking she was in the wilds of Alaska rather than somewhere in Wisconsin.
“We’ll need to work fast,” said Professor Warren. “This lake has never frozen completely over, and it won’t do so on my watch.”
“And just exactly how are we going to thaw all this?” Tara asked.
“We w
