Lenya’s teeth audibly chattered as she surveyed the room incredulously. It didn’t strike her as the lair of a powerful mage bent on evil designs. It looked like it belonged to a kid with too much power and too little sense. Not a new phenomenon that.  Whatever the nature of the opponent it was clear he, or she, was not here and that now clever spell lay over the place to ambush intruders.
 
Reluctantly she abandoned the shelter of the afghan.
 
“It will be alright,” she assured Max in response to his unspoken concern.
 
“This will only take a minute. Despite her bravado the biting cold was enervating, she would need to work quickly. After a few moments of fumbling with the catches of her briefcase she tore off her gloves and pulled open the case. Instantly her fingers began to sting with exposure. Reaching deep into the case she withdrew a white stick of tropical coral. One of several she had been given during her time in Melanesia. Carefully she scribed a circle on the hard concreted, the rough surface abrading the coral like chalk.
 
Once she was completely enclosed she began to dance. A slow sinuous rolling affair, distinctly Polynesian in its tempo and gyrations. As she danced she spoke words in low tones, ancient tribal invocations to gods she didn’t believe in.
 
The whole procedure took nearly five minutes and by the end of it her teeth were chattering and her body was trembling uncontrollably from the intense cold. She reached forward with the toe of her boot and scuffed the circle open. A rush of almost tropical air erupted from nowhere, the warm salt smell of the sea. The temperature rose to just below freezing in a matter of seconds. It felt like a furnace compared to the chill settled into their bones. She opened a palm and poured a large handful of salt out onto the ground. It slowly began to dissipate, like a chemical accelerant devouring itself without oxygen.
 
She rushed unsteadily over to Max pressing herself close to the flame and wrapping herself in the afghan once again.
 
“It will last a few minutes,” she managed through chattering teeth.
 
“We should search and take what we need back to the office.”