Flashback ( PDFDrive )

“Th-that d-does n-nothing,” she argued, copying the gesture over
and over.
“Oh, but it does. It creates friction. And if you let your brain
amplify the heat from that friction, you’d be warm and toasty right
now. But you’re still concentrating on the cold. Come on, Foster.
Think warm thoughts and snap again.”
She gave him her surliest glare before she closed her eyes and tried
to make her mind home in on the subtle hints of warmth drifting
around the basin—like the water immediately around her arm, which
had absorbed her body heat. And the water near the surface, where air
from the room had tempered the chill.
It wasn’t much, but it was something, and she willed her cells to
embrace that warmth, to soak it up and really feel it. Then she snapped
her fingers, imagining it like striking a match in a room full of
kindling.
“Oh wow,” she breathed as the temperature shifted—or her sense
of it, at least.
Suddenly the basin felt like a swimming pool, or a tepid bath. Even
the ice cubes felt like nothing more than floating squares.
But the warmth faded just as fast. And when the cold rushed back,
it felt harsher than before, stabbing her skin with icy needles.
“Holding on to the feeling’s the hard part,” Keefe said, wrapping
her arm in a soft towel as she yanked it out of the water. “That’s why
Alvar had me practice every day. He said if I kept at it, the instinct
would become second nature. Guess I should probably get back in the
habit.”
“We could practice together,” Sophie offered.
“Is that your way of making sure I suffer with you?”