“Don’t be so modest. Most Merrics don’t even bother with the suit,” Manon said, and my face went red, followed by my chest and arms. The thought of being in there in my birthday suit made me want to yak. Yuck. It didn’t help that the only Merric I knew she knew well was my uncle, and that was far too gross to consider.
I hung up my robe. Motivated to get out of the freezer, I decided to get this over with. I crawled onto the table, thankful I had shaved my legs yesterday. “Okay. Make it fast.”
I think Manon translated what I said to Gudvin, but couldn’t be sure because he laughed when she finished. I saw Gudvin squirt something into his hands. Please be warming oil. My skin was already throbbing from the cold. Oh, please. I screamed as soon as he touched my skin. The oil he used was colder than the surrounding room.
“Anspent,” he said to Manon.
“He said you are tense.”
“Thanks.” He didn’t have to tell me. The air I exhaled created a fog around my face. “How long will I be stuck here?”
Manon zipped her coat up and put on a pair of white fur mittens. “Twenty minutes.”
Another five minutes might kill me, let alone twenty. “So is there a reason we are here, besides torture?”
“Torture? Relax, Waverly. Gudvin knows a great deal about tension and the Merrics. We are not here to torture you. I’m here to tell you about an interesting conversation I had last night.” Manon rubbed her mittened hands together. “You captivated Freddie Frederickson at the opera. He is single, did you know, and into beautiful ladies with intense gray eyes. He is very handsome and sweet, but I have been careless. I need to ask if you are single.”
My teeth chattered as I answered. “I didn’t want to date anyone from my hometown, and they didn’t feel that way about me either. So single, most definitely single.”
“That must be impossible; you are the find of a century,” she said, and I smiled despite the cold and embarrassing situation because it sounded like something Sasha might say. Sasha had sworn that the whole dating thing would be different in college.
Manon continued, her lips turning pale from the cold. “Wait until your first ball; men will long to be a name on your dance card.”
I longed to be out of that frozen room. Gudvin moved from rubbing my back to my arms. It might have been pleasant without the cold, but in the room, his hands were like icicles. I needed to distract myself if I were to make it. “So, what were you saying?”
“Freddie is very handsome, but this you know. He would like to visit you,” she said, and I wanted to remind her I wasn’t staying, but Freddie’s interest was a compliment. Too bad it wasn’t the ordinary man, and my thoughts wandered to the nondescript man who had calmed my nerves like some magic breath of air. My cheeks went blush.
Manon saw it. “I cannot tell if the pink is from the cold or something else, so you must tell me. Did he catch your eye, or was it someone else? Now, Waverly, if a man caught your eye, you will need to let me know.”
“No one, really.” And he hadn’t. He wasn’t anything. He was just some guy in the audience. Nothing big at all.
“Ah, I see. You are not good at lying, but there is someone.” She came in closer. “I will find him. I promise you.”
“No, really.” As I said this, Gudvin placed an icy stone down the center of my back. I bit my lip, so I wouldn’t swear. “Is this a punishment or something?”
Manon shook her head in confusion. “You dislike this? Every Merric I’ve met looks forward to their treatments. When I see Bollie in his cold spa, he is so relieved and happy.”
She lingered on the word happy for a beat too long. And Bollie? Who called Bollard Bollie? This bothered me in a lot of ways. Bollard was at least in his seventies, and Manon was young and friendly. I did not like the idea of a person like Bollard dating Manon, but between her staying here and the earrings, I had more than ample reason to believe something was going on. “Do you mind if I ask you a question?”
“I am an open book for you.”
“Are you dating my uncle?”
“Well.” Manon’s cheeks went bright pink this time. “He is a lover of all fine things, and I will leave it at that.”
I took it as a yes. I wanted to smile at her, but it was gross, and by that point, my teeth were chattering—loudly! I decided not to ask any follow-up questions and to only ask things I really wanted to know.
Manon rubbed her arms up and down.
“How much time do I have left?” I was already losing feeling in my toes and fingers.
“Fifteen, I believe.”
I’d die of hypothermia long before then. Gudvin placed another stone on my lower back, and I’d had enough. “Nope. I’m done.”
I jumped up from the table; the stones clanging to the floor. I partially walked, partially stumbled back to my bathroom and straight into the shower. Hot water ran over my body for at least ten minutes before my teeth stopped chattering together.
~*~
Doc sat next to my bed. “I am sorry. This is a standard treatment for the Merrics. Every single one of them needs the cold spa,” he explained.
I cared for Doc even if he had tried to turn me into a popsicle.
Doc ran the cubox by my face. He read the results. “You’ve baffled me. I’m officially perplexed.”
I offered a weak laugh. “Not a mystery. Getting a massage in a freezer while being covered in frozen stones, and in nothing but your swimsuit, makes people cold.”
Doc put his hand to my forehead. “True for most people but not Merrics. I meant it to help ward off the Tennabris.”
“Doc, I don’t know if I can handle twenty
