Every once in a while, a dragonfly put Kits underwater. That in itself wasn’t terrifying, because Kits could swim pretty well, but she’d wound up in water underground in the past and nearly drowned before she could navigate a way to the surface. She didn’t want a repeat of that experience. Which was why finding herself underwater meant she swam hard and fast trying to reach air no matter how close the sky looked.

She found herself in frigid water and swam upwards, almost immediately slamming into a blockade of ice. Like swimming, under normal circumstances, not a problem. Melt the ice. Simple. What wasn’t simple was making sure her magic was under control enough to do so, which meant managing her emotions. Which was a bit difficult considering she was freaking out.

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The threat of suffocation can do that. With her heart hammering, heating her way out became insurmountable. Every time she melted partway through the ice, her panic would rise and freeze it over.

Then something slipped across Kits’ ankle. Slick and insulated, it was an aquatic bird. With her magic unreliable, she decided to follow the creature.

It led her straight to a hole in the ice.