Helpless (Blue Fire Saga) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Caitlin were already there. They both looked pretty much the same as yesterday—jeans, parkas and caps. Both wore taller boots today, and the only other change Leesa could see was that Stacie had woven her hair into a long tight braid instead of a ponytail. Leesa wondered if either of the other girls had doubled up on pants, or if maybe one or both owned long ski underwear. She didn’t want to mark herself as a California wimp by asking, so she remained silent.
    Cali bounced into the room a moment later, her wolf cap once again perched atop her head.
    “Everybody ready to do some snow?” she asked, an excited smile on her face.
    “You bet,” Leesa replied. “I can’t wait.”
    They all slipped into their coats and gloves, pulled their caps down on their heads, and headed out the door.
    Outside, Leesa didn’t feel nearly as cold as yesterday. The wind that had blustered out of the northeast with the storm had all but died, taking much of the chill with it. Gray clouds still masked the sky, but they were lighter in both color and weight than those that had dropped the snow. Few people were out yet, and with no traffic noise at all, the day was almost preternaturally quiet.
    The walkway outside the dorm had not yet been shoveled, forcing Leesa and her friends to push their way through the thigh high snow, moving with a series of slow, awkward steps that brought their knees up to their waists before they could set their feet down just a few inches ahead of the previous step. Cali quickly gave up her place in the front to the stouter, longer legged Caitlin.
    By the time they made it part way out into the courtyard, they were all breathing heavily. Puffs of white steam floated out from their mouths as they struggled to catch their breath. Leesa playfully collapsed on her back into the snow, which gave way beneath her for about a foot until the compacted snow finally supported her weight. She felt like she was lying in an open-faced cocoon. She had no idea how they were going to manage to build a snowman with the snow so deep. Maybe her more experienced friends would know.
    Getting back up onto her feet proved difficult—when she pushed down with her hands to get some leverage, they just sank deeper into the snow. Finally, after much twisting and turning and pushing, she managed to hoist herself back up. She brushed the snow off her parka and looked at her friends. All three had big grins on their faces. Leesa smiled back. She imagined she’d probably looked pretty funny trying to get up.
    “I wish I had video of that,” Cali said. “I can see it on YouTube now—California girl drowning in the snow.”
    They all laughed, Leesa included. For a moment there, she had felt almost like she was drowning—or was about to, anyway.
    “Since you’re so smart,” Leesa said when she finally stopped laughing, “maybe you can explain just how we’re supposed to roll snowballs in snow this deep to build a snowman.”
    Cali swung her head from side to side, eyeing all the snow. The task did seem to be pretty impossible. There was simply too much of the stuff.
    “I have an idea,” Stacie said. “We can use the snow that’s already here for the base of our snowman.”
    Her friends all looked at her with confused expressions on their faces, unsure what she meant. Cali voiced their confusion.
    “Um, exactly what do you mean, Stacie? Use the snow that’s already here? What other snow would we use?”
    “Use it how?” Caitlin added.
    An image popped into Leesa’s head. She was pretty sure she knew what Stacie meant.
    “Do you mean dig out some space around a big hunk of snow and use that as the bottom part?” she asked.
    “Exactly. Sort of like excavating the base of a buried statue—like that Ozmandias thing you mentioned yesterday.”
    “That’s a great idea,” Cali said. She flashed a wide grin. “I knew there was a reason we kept you around, Stacie.”
    “And why do we keep you around?” Caitlin asked,