Frost (15 page)

The car started to slow, and Erik's voice jerked me out of my stupor.

"Watch the road up ahead."

I squinted at the dull, gray pavement in front of us. What was I supposed to be watching for? We had slowed down so much that we were almost crawling.

Up ahead, there was a shimmer in the air, a faint blurring of the scenery in one spot.

I squinted harder. Was that light reflecting off the snow? Or…

We passed through the shimmer, and the fields disappeared, replaced by huge pine trees. The paved highway had dissolved into a dirt road surrounded by forest on all sides.

Charlotte and I gasped at the same time.

Erik whipped around to look at us and then grinned. “Well, I have to say I’m relieved that worked.”

"Did we just drive into—through...?” I couldn't say it.

"Another dimension?" He chuckled. "Yes, pretty much. Welcome to Jotunheim."

Charlotte squealed. "This is so totally exciting!”

My gaze was practically glued to the scenery, but I still had a million questions. “Why were you relieved it worked? Your magic portal thing fails sometimes?”

Erik cleared his throat and stared straight ahead. “Well, sort of. You have to have a certain amount of jotun blood in you to get through.”

Charlotte and I exchanged a look, and I gripped the leather seat. “Meaning Charlotte might not have gotten through? Like, we might have disappeared?”

He shrugged. “Why do you think I was going so slow?”

“Oh, like that makes it better.” I felt like smacking him in the back of the head. “A little warning next time!”

Charlotte’s eyes shone. “But I made it. I do have jotun blood just like you guys. Oh my God, I’m so excited. When do we get to the palace?”

"Another few minutes." Erik nodded, his gaze fixed on the road ahead. "She's pretty close to the border."

I leaned forward, my stomach twisting with a mixture of anxiety and excitement.

"Don't worry. She'll be ecstatic to see you." Erik drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, flashing me a reassuring smile.

It wasn't that. What if I'd made the wrong decision? Maybe I should have just kept running. Maybe I should have been in California, lying low.

Too late for second thoughts now.

I forced a smile. "I hope so."

The road wound up a hill, and Erik slowed the car, the tires slipping and squeaking on the packed snow. It still climbed steadily though, and after a few minutes, we crested the hill.

"And this, ladies....is the palace."

I stared in open-mouthed astonishment. Looming in the distance was a fortress made of ice, a full-on fairy tale castle with all the towers and peaks. The sunlight reflected off its surface, sending white light dancing across the smooth, white hills and valleys of the snow around it. It was impossibly tall, the tops of its towers scraping the clouds.

Charlotte pressed her hand to her chest, eyes round. "There's even a
moat
."

A wide expanse of dark-blue water capped with floating icebergs circled the huge palace. There would be no getting in unless they wanted you to.

Erik was speaking into his cell phone, announcing our arrival.

The palace only seemed to grow taller as we approached, and I craned my neck, tipping my head back and pressing the side of my face to the cool glass of the car window. I’d never seen anything so huge. It could have fit my school inside it a hundred times over. Even my "big" school in California had nothing on this.

"It's like an ice sculpture." Charlotte’s face shone. “It’s
beautiful
."

A section in the center of the castle wall shifted, dropping slowly, sunlight glittering off the ice. I shielded my eyes with one hand, struck dumb by the fact that something like this even existed.

The drawbridge lowered on two thick, silver chains, settling onto the snow with a crunch and a rumble that shook the earth.

Erik slowly moved the car forward, and before long, we were bumping across the bridge, the tires rumbling over the thick ice.

I dared to lower the window and look down into the deep-blue waters of the moat. A wash of cool air drifted past me. The water below danced and shone, and I could hear the gentle rushing sound of the river sliding past the icebergs and washing up against the frozen banks.

Then we passed through the palace gate. Beyond it lay a large, snow-covered courtyard, in the center of which was a massive, multi-level fountain decorated with blue lights.  It lit up the surroundings, and the cheerful trickle echoed off the icy walls. Stone pathways crisscrossed through the open space. Holly bushes grew all around the courtyard, trimmed into a mazelike pattern, red berries bright against the white snow. There were tall, beautiful people dressed in heavy furs, laughing and talking as they made their way through the hedges.               

We drove by slowly, and I watched one of the couples walking arm in arm, deeply engrossed in one another. He was tall and broad-shouldered, in chainmail and leather. She was draped in silver-gray furs, gazing up at him as she talked, her cherry-red lips contrasting with her porcelain skin.

Nobody even glanced our way as we passed.

I craned my neck to look over my shoulder, reluctant to let the beautiful courtyard out of sight. When I looked over, Erik was watching me, his mouth tugging up at one corner.

"Don't worry. You’re home now. You'll have plenty of time to look around."

My heart lurched. This place was gorgeous, but would I ever be able to call it
home
? It was all so regal and stately. I wasn't a regal type of person. I was the type who snorted milk out my nose when I laughed too hard. My stomach churned, and my palms went clammy. What if I did something horribly embarrassing in front of all of these majestic people? I’d probably make a total ass of myself.

Erik drove around the corner, pulling into a wide, icy lot filled with new cars.

We got out, and I groaned as I unfolded myself from the passenger’s side. I forgot my stiffness pretty fast as we followed Erik up the icy pathway.

We walked past the blue fountain, toward a set of large double doors leading into the palace. Erik stopped and said something to the two guards at the front, who were even taller than the other giants and looked as though they'd been sucking lemons.

One guard stepped to the side, his eyes set straight ahead, his mouth in a tight, displeased line. The other grabbed a silver ring set in the side of the left door and pulled.

Charlotte and I followed Erik through, and I stared down a long corridor on the other side. It was like stepping inside a chunk of crystal. Light reflected off the walls, making it almost blindingly bright.

I tipped my head back to look at the huge chandelier. It was made out of cunningly carved bits of ice, sparkling in the sunlight like a million tiny diamonds.

Beside me, Charlotte's breath puffed out in white clouds, and she hugged herself. "Wow, it's freezing in here."

I hadn't even thought about that. To me, it was, well...room temperature.

Erik stopped long enough to shrug out of his heavy leather jacket and hand it back to Charlotte.

“Thanks.” She slipped the jacket on—which looked big enough to swallow her whole—and started working on the buttons. “That’s way better.”

Erik raised his brows at me. "Ready?"

No
, I wanted to say,
not yet. Probably not ever.

Instead I nodded, and he led us down the corridor.

Up ahead came the sound of trickling water, the low murmur of conversation, and classical music. We rounded the corner and a massive room came into view.

Groups of people stood together, all dressed in sweeping skirts and fur jackets. Glasses clinked, and the murmur of voices washed over us as we came in, an ocean of gentle sounds.

Along the side of the room was a huge oak table that looked as though it might collapse under the sheer amount of food it bore. At the end of the room was a throne, a huge chair carved out of solid ice on a raised dais.

The woman sitting on the throne drew my focus instantly. Her face was perfect and pale, etched out of pure ivory. Her lips were bright red, her black lashes tipped with frost. Her hair was pulled back in an elaborate braided updo, and a white headdress curled around her face and rose out of her pale hair in jagged peaks.

I stopped, drawing a sharp breath in. The woman in my dreams looked exactly like her.

Erik took my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry. She'll be so happy. She’s been waiting to see you."

It was intimidating to walk through crowds of marble-skinned, platinum-haired giants. They stared with unnervingly bright-blue eyes, weighing, judging. What were they thinking?

At last, we were in front of the dais, and Erik dipped into a low bow. I tried to copy him, but mine turned into more of a clumsy head bob than a bow. I was too shocked to even care.

I had someone else’s memories of this woman, and it felt like I was seeing her again, and for the first time, both at once.

There were carvings covering the throne, detailed etchings of faces, realistic to the point of being eerie. Men and women with their mouths wide open in silent war cries. The arms of the throne were two ice warriors crouched in battle, their spears at the ready.

As the queen leaned forward, she rested her arms on their backs. She regarded Erik coolly, giving him a subtle nod. Her eyes slid past Charlotte without really seeing her and came to rest on me. Red lips curled at the corners in a smile, and she stood abruptly.

I stiffened, forcing myself to stay where I was as she descended, her fur cloak spilling down the stairs after her. She stopped in front of me, and I held my breath.

Queen Eira's eyes were a mesmerizing aqua blue, and they glittered as she inspected me. She placed a finger under my chin, tilting my face upward. Her hand was cool on my skin—
cold
,
actually—and I blinked in surprise.

When was the last time I'd felt
cold
?

The queen smiled wider this time. "Oh, child. You look so much like her." She withdrew her hand and took a step back.

I thought I knew who she meant, but still, it seemed impossible. My stomach twisted into knots, and my throat went dry and tight. It took a few seconds to work up the courage to speak. "Who, Your...Majesty?"

She smiled, and I wasn't sure if I'd addressed her properly. Was she was pleased or merely amused at my ignorance?