Whatever After #6: Cold as Ice (5 page)

All four of them give us wicked smiles.

“They are?” Jonah’s jaw drops. “You are?” He makes his air-guitar pose, which is not very funny given the circumstances.

Oh!
That’s
why they have all these tree costumes! Not to mention the polar bear and penguin costumes. They wear disguises! To help them blend into their surroundings. They must have been robbing something before they saw us in the lake.

“We take things, yes,” the one-eyed mother admits. “And now we’re taking you. You’re the same age as our other prisoner.”

Other
prisoner? Oh. She must mean Gerda! Just as in the original story!

Mother points to Jonah’s wrist. “And we also want the watch.”

Jonah clamps his hand over it. “But it doesn’t work anymore! It got ruined in the water. See?” He shoves his arm at the woman’s face. “It says one thirty. It’s not one thirty, is it?”

She shrugs. “I suppose not. I guess you can keep your broken watch.”

Jonah hides his hand behind his back.

The mother’s face tightens. “Now get in the sled. Or else.”

Another tree woman threatens us with her fist.

I gulp.

“What do we do?” Jonah whispers to me.

In the original story, the little robber girl eventually lets Gerda escape. Gerda then comes back to the Snow Queen’s castle and figures out how to rescue Kai.

Tree Girl must be the little robber girl. So she’s going to let Gerda escape, which means we will be able to escape, too. Hmmm. Maybe going back with the band of robbers and meeting up with Gerda isn’t the worst idea.

Maybe it’s actually a good idea.

“Get in the sled!” the mother snarls. “Second row!”

And we don’t seem to have much of a choice, anyway.

“Let’s go,” I tell Jonah.

I climb inside the second of four rows. Jonah climbs into the space beside me.

The others climb into the other rows.

“Does this have a seat belt?” I ask.

Everyone ignores me.

I try to calm down. Everything will be fine. We’ll hitch a ride with Gerda back to the igloo castle, and then we’ll save Kai
and
Prince. Presto, we’re done. And that way, we don’t mess up the story at all! Easy peasy. Smooth sailing.

Or in this case, smooth sledding.

A
bout half an hour later, we jerk to a stop.

“Get out,” Mother orders.

There is a large house in front of us. It’s in shambles. It looks as if it’s been abandoned for years. The paint has peeled and it’s surrounded by sludgy snow. It is not an igloo castle. It is not even an igloo.

“Is this where you live?” I ask Tree Girl as we all get out of the sled.

“Yeah,” she huffs. “Do you have a problem with that?”

“No,” I say quickly.

“Put them in the basement with the girl,” Mother tells Tree Girl. “And don’t forget the reindeer,” she adds.

The reindeer, too? He’s a prisoner? Why?

We walk into the house, past a crumbling dining room table and broken chairs and half-burned-out chandeliers. In the corner of the room are piles of cutlery, statues, paintings — just like the stuff in the sled. Stuff they stole from other people, I’m sure. They
are
robbers.

Tree Girl leads us to a staircase.

“Here’s your new home,” she says, giving me a slight push down the stairs. “Don’t come out.”

Jonah and I head down reluctantly, and the reindeer clomps along behind us.

“Horrid, stupid, miserable place,” he mutters.

I glance back in surprise. I’m still not totally used to him talking.

The basement is about the same size as our basement at home. It smells like basement, too. Cold and damp. There’s no furniture. Just a pile of brown blankets in the corner. Water leaking from the ceiling has frozen into threatening-looking icicles. There are also patches of frosty green mildew growing on the walls.

At least this basement is bigger than the last location Jonah and I were trapped in, Rapunzel’s tower. Although this place is much grungier. And darker. The only light comes from one oval window near the high ceiling.

There’s a very skinny girl in the center of the room. She’s doing jumping jacks and wearing a bright orange tracksuit.

“I’m back,” the reindeer says. “They kidnapped some more prisoners.”

“A penguin and a polar bear?” the girl asks between jumps.

“They’re costumes,” I say, taking off my headpiece. “I’m Abby. And this is my brother, Jonah. Are you Gerda?”

Please let her be Gerda, please let her be Gerda!

“Yes,” she puffs.

“Hooray!” I exclaim. “It’s so nice to meet you!”

Gerda is Asian, with straight black hair that she’s wearing in two low pigtails. Her face is heart-shaped and tanner than mine, and she looks to be about my age.

“Oh, sure,” the reindeer grumbles in my direction. “Introduce yourself
immediately
to the human. I’ve only been with you two for hours. Did you introduce yourself to me? No, you did not.”

I flush. “Sorry. I didn’t realize! It’s just that —”

“That I’m a reindeer?” he humphs.

“No, that I wanted to meet her!”

That sounded better in my head.

The reindeer double-humphs and turns up his black nose.

“Don’t mind him,” Gerda says between jumps. “He’s a sweetheart under all the grumpiness.”

“Rudolph the grumpy reindeer,” Jonah sings, and I laugh.

“You would be grumpy, too,” the reindeer huffs, “if the robbers forced you to help them rob people, wouldn’t you?”

“I definitely would,” I say.

“Also, my name is
not
Rudolph.”

“I know your name isn’t Rudolph,” Jonah says. “It’s just a song. It was a joke. What
is
your name?”

He squares his reindeer shoulders. “Ralph,” he says.

Jonah giggles. “Close enough.”

“Well,” I say. “It’s very nice to meet both of you, Gerda and Ralph.”

“We’re sorry the robbers took you prisoner, too,” Gerda says, still jumping. “I’m not staying long. I am getting out of here. I have to find Kai. That’s why I’m doing jumping jacks. To stay in shape and keep my energy up!”

I clap my hands. “Oh! Kai! We saw him!”

She stops in mid-jump. “You did? You know Kai? Is he okay?”

“He’s in a trance,” I admit. “He’s with the Snow Queen.”

“I knew it!” Gerda says, thumping her fist in the air. “I knew he was under her spell.”

“He definitely is,” Jonah says. “He’s not totally frozen, though. He’s walking around and building snowmen. He’s just kind of spaced-out. He’s half-frozen.”

“A frozen zombie,” I add. “A frombie.”

“Ha!” Jonah laughs. “Funny. Not as funny as ‘dogsicle,’ but still funny.”

“The Snow Queen froze our dog,” I explain to Ralph and Gerda. “Totally froze. He couldn’t even move.”

Ralph nods solemnly. “That’s what happens when the Snow Queen blows too many kisses at you,” he says. “You go completely numb. When she blows you just one kiss, you go just a little bit numb. It’s like you’re in a trance.” He nods at Gerda and says, “Like your friend Kai. But then, with more kisses, your entire body freezes. Even more kisses and you die. That’s what I’ve heard, anyway. I’ve never met her myself.” A shudder goes through the reindeer’s body.

I swallow. At least Prince was alive when we saw him. One more kiss and he might not be. We have to get there FAST.

“I’m sorry she froze your dog,” Gerda says. “And I hope she won’t hurt Kai.” She looks eagerly toward the door. “Sharon said she would let Ralph and me go
tonight
. I told her my whole story and she felt sorry for me. We’ll tell her to let you guys come, too! We’ll save all of them! Wahoo!”

“Perfect,” I say. I like Gerda’s enthusiasm. She’s what my mom would call a real go-getter. “Is Sharon the tree girl?” I ask.

“The who?” Gerda asks.

“The girl who’s dressed as a tree. The robber girl.”

“Yes! Sharon is the robber girl.”

“Great,” I say. This is going to work out perfectly. I grab Jonah’s hand and look at his watch. It says it’s two o’clock back home. “Do you know what time it is here?”

“Six,” Gerda says. “Sharon usually brings dinner down at about eight. Hopefully, she’ll let us go then.”

I nod. We were right about the time difference. Every hour at home is three hours here. That means we have five home hours left and fifteen hours here. We’re cutting it close, but we can make it. This wasn’t exactly the pop-in to get Prince that I’d had in mind.

Queasiness settles into my stomach. What if my parents wake up before we get home? For a second, I’m worried I’m going to be sick.

I take a deep breath. I can do it. I can get back to the Snow Queen’s palace, defrost Prince, and make it home before wake-up. I can do it! I’m a go-getter, too.

Gerda resumes her jumping jacks. “Come on, guys, let’s get some exercise. Who’s with me?”

“I am!” Jonah exclaims, and jumps up.

“Why not?” I say, and join in.

“Pass,” says Ralph from where he’s lying, hooves splayed across the floor.

“One!” Gerda yells. “Two! Three —”

My back starts to feel kind of sweaty. This polar bear costume is hot. It wasn’t made to be worn during exercise. Also it’s itchy.

I stop jumping and walk over to the corner to sit down. Maybe Gerda can be the go-getter while I
go get
a break.

W
hen Sharon comes back down to the basement a couple of hours later, she is no longer wearing her tree costume. She’s wearing black leggings and a long gray sweatshirt. She has blond hair that is stick straight and down to her waist. She’s carrying a tray of food and drinks.

“Who’s hungry?” she asks.

Gerda jumps off the floor, where she’s been resting after her workout. Jonah is sitting beside me. Ralph is napping.

“I’m not hungry,” Gerda announces. “I’m just ready to go, go, go! Ralph, wake up! We’re going!”

Ralph awakens with a yawn and looks around.

“Go where?” Sharon asks with a sneer.

Gerda keeps her chin up. “You said I could leave. Remember? You felt bad about my friend Kai and said I could go get him tonight.”

“Oh yeah,” Sharon says lazily. She twists a strand of her blond hair around her finger. “I did say that, didn’t I?”

Jonah and I exchange a worried glance.

Gerda puts her hands on her hips. “Yes. You did.”

“Maybe. But that was before.”

“Before what?” Gerda asks.

I get another bad feeling in my stomach.

Sharon puts the tray of food down on the floor and smiles. “Before I brought friends for you to play with!”

“But they want to come, too,” Gerda says, glancing at me and Jonah.

Sharon laughs as though this is the funniest thing she’s ever heard. “You think I can let all of you escape? Are you crazy? I can’t let all of you go!”

“Why not?” I ask.

“Mother would be furious. I can’t disobey her like that. The band would never forgive me.”

Jonah makes the air-guitar motion. I give him the evil eye.

“I’m sorry,” Sharon goes on, “but with the three of you, Mother can rob all kinds of new places. Like schools! She’s making plans. And anyway, Gerda, now you have friends to hang out with down here, so you won’t get lonely.”

“Hello?” Ralph barks. “Am I invisible? I’m right here! No one was lonely!”

“I don’t care about being lonely,” Gerda says. “I’m on a mission. I need to save Kai!”

“Why do you care so much about this Kai guy?” Sharon asks. “Is he your boyfriend or something? Do you
looooooove
him? Are you going to
maaaaarry
him?”

“For your information, I’m only twelve,” Gerda says, glaring at Sharon. “I’m not getting married anytime soon. But Kai is my best friend and I do love him. And I need to find him.” A tear drips down her cheek.

I stand up and put my arm around Gerda’s shoulders.

“Jonah and I really need to go, too,” I tell Sharon. “We have to get our dog and get back home.”

“Yeah!” Jonah exclaims. “According to my watch, it’s almost three in the morning at home! We have to move.”

Sharon scowls at my brother. “I thought your watch was broken.”

Jonah flushes and hides his watch hand behind his back. “Oh! Right. It is. Never mind! What watch? I don’t have a watch.”

“You’re a little liar,” Sharon snaps. “And you two should be grateful. You almost drowned. We saved you. Mother is giving you a place to live.”

“She’s making you lock us in a basement,” I say. “And she wants to use us to rob people!”

Sharon shrugs. “We have to earn our keep.”

Gerda covers her face with her hands. “Your mother is horrible.”

“She’s not technically my mother,” Sharon admits. “I just call her ‘Mother.’ All the ladies in the band of robbers do.”

Jonah makes another guitar pose. I give him another evil eye.

“What happened to your parents?” Jonah asks Sharon.

“My parents died when I was four,” she says, her voice cracking. “They were attacked by wolves.”

I gasp. “That’s horrible.”

Her eyes tear up. “If there’d been a hospital nearby, maybe my parents could have been saved. But the Republic of Blizzard is short on hospitals. It’s a problem.”

“So you were left all alone?” I ask her. I suddenly feel really bad for Sharon.

She nods. “Mother found me wandering the woods. She took me in. She gave me food and shelter. She still does.”

“And she makes you steal stuff from people,” Jonah adds.

“I don’t mind,” Sharon says with a shrug. “I like meeting new people.”

“You’re not meeting them,” Gerda points out. “You’re robbing them. And kidnapping them.”

Sharon’s expression hardens. “Enjoy your dinner. I’m out of here.”

“Wait!” Gerda cries. She presses her hands together and drops to her knees. “Please, please, please let me go. You told me you would let me go.”

Sharon shrugs again. “I know I did. But I can’t now that Jonah and Abby have shown up. Sorry.” She marches up the basement stairs. “Later.”

Suddenly, I have an idea. “Come with us!” I call out.

She stops in her tracks but doesn’t turn around. “Why would I do that?”

“Because the robbers are horrible people! They force you to steal for them. You said you’ve always wanted to see where the Snow Queen lives. Now’s your chance.”

“But where would I live?” Sharon asks, still not looking back at us.

“Anywhere is better than here,” Gerda says.

“You’re a bunch of snobs,” Sharon spits out. “I’ll stay where I am, thank you very much.” She slams the door.

We hear the click of the lock.

This is not good. Not good at all.

I slump against the side of the wall.

“You know what this means, don’t you?” I ask my brother.

Jonah nods.

“What does it mean?” Gerda demands.

I sigh. “It means we messed up
another
fairy tale.”