Heat radiates off the ground so intensely that the towers above look like they're squirming. Michael wipes sweat from his brow as he stands beside Scy. Professor Frost has lined up the whole class, and now she's waiting for everyone to shut up. Plenty of others have realized what's happening, but several continue blabbing much to everyone else's chagrin.

"Maybe I should say something to them?"

Michael turns to say something to the students a few spots down on his left, but stops upon seeing David stomping his way over to the trio of students. There's a dangerous look in his eyes. Professor Frost watches on as David grabs the tallest of them by the shoulder.

"Could you shut up?!" David barks in the lanky boy's face.

The boy goes pale in the face as both his friends glare up at David, each one rebuking him.

"You're such a bully, David!" The blonde one says.

"Yeah can't you stop sticking your nose into other people's business?" The brunette adds.

Everyone else stares daggers at the trio, yet to them they're still victims of one of David's mindless outbursts. David's jaw is clenched as he gives the two girls arguing with him the stink eye, but before he can blow up someone else speaks up.

"Professor Frost is waiting for us to be quiet." The imposing guy to Michael's left says.

David glances up at the dark haired boy before sticking his tongue out at the group. He walks back to his spot while the three chatterboxes finally realize everyone else is waiting on them. Silence ensues, and Professor Frost smiles in a foreboding manner.

"Today you'll be training your coordination and balance." Prof. Frost starts.

There's a rumbling sound echoing off the walls of the arena. Heat dissipates at a supernatural speed, and frost starts to spread across the ground from beneath Professor Frost's feet. Michael's jaw drops as huge beams of packed ice sprout from the ground.

"Sometimes I forget how strong the professors are..."

The frosty structure continues to shape itself into a labyrinth of smooth beams high above. Professor Frost's whole face is covered in a thin sheen of blue ice, yet her maniacal grin is still clearly visible. Michael shivers, but he isn't sure if it's due to fear or the cold.

Icy wind knocks most of the students onto their asses when Professor Frost leaps up into the maze, her feet moving like a mountain goat's as she easily navigates the mess of frozen beams. She stands precariously at the topmost portion of the arctic jungle gym.

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"Your goal for this class is to reach me, but without using any magic." Professor Frost finishes.

~

Michael sucks in a sharp breath of frigid air as an icicle buries itself in the beam barely a meter in front of him. Getting up this high is a challenge in it of itself, but with others reaching the beams above he is being greeted with hazards like this constantly. He'll be lucky enough if he avoids being skewered, not to mention if he reaches Professor Frost.

Shimmying his way across the beam, he carefully steps past the embedded icicle. There's a light breeze passing through the gauntlet of beams, and it causes him to shiver. The whole structure makes an unsettling squeaking noise. Michael quickly scoots his way up to the next beam.

"AHH-" Someone screams.

Michael's blood runs cold as he watches the lanky boy from before go plummeting down the icy maze, his back crunching against a shockingly sturdy beam of ice before he falls to the hard cold ground below. Michael stares at the motionless boy in shock.

Professor Frost's snowy magic floats up around the boy like a mist, and Michael watches in fascination as the boy's body is frozen into a mostly opaque chunk of ice. Michael lets out a breath he hadn't meant to hold, and scoots forward once more.

~

Class could end any minute now, but he's still only two thirds of the way up the balance beams. Half the class has been entombed in the healing ice below, while no one has reached the very top. Professor Frost looks bored up on her perch, still standing there as if floating on the beam under her.

Michael's foot slips, and he clenches his teeth as he grips the beam beside his head with one hand. The biting cold hurts his fingers and palm, but he persists. The ripping sound of his skin being torn away by the frigid surface causes him to wince. He moves on once his footing is stable, and makes it up to the next beam.

There's someone above him, and Michael registers who it is a little too late.

"Oops..." David says sarcastically.

Michael feels David's hand push him in the shoulder, and slips right off the beam. The air whistles in Michael's ears as he descends, and he braces himself for the crunch of ice breaking his bones. Then he feels something firm scoop him up like a bowl, and blinks tears from his eyes. He's sitting inside a semi-transparent bowl. It's connected to Scy's outstretched hand by several squirming tendrils of magic.

"S-Scy!" Michael gasps.

Scy's veins are bulging as his magic is pushed to its limit by the unconventional use of the shield spell. Michael realizes he's causing his friend pain, and climbs over the side of the shield and onto the beam beside Scy. Michael even grabs Scy by the arm, letting him collapse against him for support.

"Are you okay..? Thank you..." Michael gives Scy a concerned frown.

"I-I'm fine!" Scy replies hoarsely.

Scy coughs, his heart beating a million miles an hour. He is obviously strained beyond his limits, but before Michael can protest Professor Frost's snowy magic envelopes the both of them in its wintry embrace.

"You're not fine, Mister Walker." Professor Frost says coldly.

Thin sheets of ice crack and fall off the two boys' skin, and they look good as new. Michael can see Professor Frost standing on a pillar of ice a few meters in front of them, and David is frozen in a chunk of transparent ice hovering above her.

"Thank you Professor!" Michael stammers quickly.

Just then, the bell rings. Professor Frost glances from Michael up at the bell tower, and the ice beams gradually melt away beneath the students' feet. Thankfully Professor Frost is kind enough to create a cushion of snow to soften the landing.

"...I'll be taking this one to the headmaster." Professor Frost says.

With that said she carries the entombed David off toward the Headmaster's office. Scy is still recuperating mentally, but Michael watches her go with a perplexed look on his face.

"She's nicer than people say, isn't she?"