The sphere started to grow. Spinning, twisting, turning, sparkling ice crystals grew in layers on it. The air temperature abruptly plummeted and the sphinx’s breath plumed white on the air.

The sphinx was a creature of the desert. All her long life, she had known arid heat and searing sunshine. Certainly, in the weeks since she had been tasked with guarding Alcatraz, she had grown used to the chill of the prison island, the damp bite of the bay’s rolling fog banks, the sting of rain, the bitter winds. But she had never experienced cold like this. This was a chill so extreme that it burned. Countless tiny crystals erupted out of the glowing sphere and alighted on her flesh like fiery embers. A snowflake no bigger than a dust mote landed on her tongue: it was like sucking a hot coal. And still the ball grew bigger.

Perenelle took a step closer. “I should thank you.”

The sphinx stepped back.

“If I had turned and run, you would have chased me down. But when you reminded me that I was more powerful than before, I realized the gift my husband and the twins had given me.”

The sphinx screeched like a feral cat as the icy air bit and stung her human face. “Your powers will not last. I will drink them.”

“You will try,” Perenelle said quietly, almost gently. “But to do that you need to concentrate and focus on me. And personally, I have always found it hard to concentrate when it is cold.” She smiled again.

“Your aura will fade.” The sphinx’s needle-sharp teeth began to chatter. Thin curls of ice were forming on the wall.

“True. I have a minute, perhaps less, before my aura fades back to normal. But I have enough time.”

“Enough time?” The creature shuddered. Frost now coated the sphinx’s chest and legs; her pale cheeks turned red, her lips blue.

“Enough time to do this!”

The snowball was now the size of a large pumpkin. The sphinx lashed out at it, an enormous lion’s paw cutting through the frozen crystals. When she jerked her paw back, the skin and nails were burned black by the intense chill.

“A shaman on the Aleutian Islands taught me this pretty spell,” Perenelle said, moving closer to the sphinx. The creature immediately tried to back away, but the floor was slick with crackling ice and her feet shot out from beneath her, sending her crashing to the ground. “The Aleut are the masters of snow and ice magic. There are many different types of snow,” the Sorceress said. “Soft…”

Feather-soft snowflakes curled out of the spinning ball and flurried around the sphinx, hissing onto her skin, burning and melting the moment they touched.

“Hard…”

Stone-sharp chips of ice danced away from the ball, stinging the sphinx’s human face.

“And then there are blizzards.”