by Jen Calonita
“It had to be the princess when she was trying to get away,” Anna guessed. But what had frightened her in the first place? The ice she’d created looked almost like a sculpture, twisting and turning into a shape Anna couldn’t put her finger on. She’d never seen anything like it before. “I never knew winter could be so magical.”
“Yeah…it really is beautiful, isn’t it?” someone behind them said. “But it’s so colorless. You know, how about a little variety? Must we bleach the joy out of it all?”
Anna and Kristoff turned around and immediately jumped. The person speaking was a walking, talking snowman with short, stout legs, a plump bottom, a thin oval head, teeth, and a carrot nose. A cloud with a flurry followed him.
“I’m thinking like maybe some crimson, chartreuse…” The snowman continued to babble as he approached. “How ’bout yellow? No, not yellow. Yellow and snow? Brrr…no go. Am I right?” He blinked at Anna.
Anna screamed and reflexively kicked his head, sending it flying off his body and into Kristoff’s arms.
“Hi!” the head said.
“You’re creepy!” Kristoff tossed the snowman’s head back to Anna.
“I don’t want it!” Anna threw it back to him.
“Back atcha!” Kristoff sent it her way again.
“Please don’t drop me,” the head said as its body ran at her, waving its twig arms.
Now Anna felt bad. “Sorry. I won’t.” She was talking to a snowman. How was that possible?
“All right,” the head said. “We got off to a bad start. Can you put me back together?” The body waited patiently next to her.
Was the snowman serious? Carefully, she reached out with the head. “Ew! Ew!” Anna cried as she placed it back onto his body. In her haste, she put the head on upside down.
The snowman looked confused. “Wait, what am I looking at right now? Why are you hanging from the ceiling like a bat?”
Anna knelt down. “Okay, wait a second.” She flipped his head the right way.
“Ooh! Thank you!” the snowman said. “Now everything’s perfect!”
Anna wasn’t sure about perfect. It was snowing in the middle of the summer, the princess had the power to create ice, they were talking to a snowman, and Anna was having the strangest sense of déjà vu standing in the middle of Arendelle Castle. She stared harder at the snowman. He seemed familiar as well, from the curve of his head to his front teeth and twig hair. He’s the snowman from my dreams! she realized. He inspired my cookies. How can that be if I’m just meeting him for the first time? She started to hyperventilate. Kristoff stared at her strangely.
“I didn’t mean to scare you! Let’s start over,” the snowman told her. “Hi, everyone. I’m Olaf, and I like warm hugs.”
She tried to calm herself down. “Olaf,” Anna repeated. I know this name. Why?
“And you are…?” Olaf looked at her patiently.
“Oh…um, I’m Anna.”
“Anna? Huh.” Olaf scratched his chin. “I think I was supposed to remember something about an Anna. I’m not sure what it was, though.”
Anna’s heart started to beat fast again. She moved in closer. “You were?”
“And you are…?” Olaf asked Kristoff as he pulled off one of the snowman’s twig arms.
“Fascinating,” Kristoff muttered as the twig arm he was holding continued to move even though it wasn’t attached to Olaf’s body.
“He’s Kristoff,” Anna replied. “We came here together.” She watched the snowman continue to move around. If Elsa could make ice, then maybe she could make a walking, talking snowman, too. “Olaf…did Elsa build you?”
“Yeah. Why?” Olaf replied.
Progress!
“Do you know where she is?” Anna held her breath.
“Yeah. Why?” Olaf asked again.
Her palms began to sweat. This felt right. She was on to something. Olaf knew where to find the princess. “Do you think you could show us the way?”
Kristoff bent the twig. Instead of snapping, it bent right back into place. “How does this thing work?” he interrupted. The twig smacked Kristoff in the face.
“Hey!” Olaf snatched the arm back and stuck it onto his body. “Trying to concentrate here.” He looked at Anna again. “Yeah. Why?”
“I’ll tell you why. We need Elsa to bring back summer,” Kristoff said.
“Summer!” Olaf gasped. “Oh, I don’t know why, but I’ve always loved summer, and sun, and all things hot.”
“Really?” Kristoff almost laughed. “I’m guessing you don’t have much experience with heat.”
“Of course I do,” Olaf argued. “I’ve lived through winter, spring, summer, and fall, but I’ve always seen it through Elsa’s window.” He sighed. “Sometimes I like to close my eyes and imagine what it would be like to experience weather outside the castle. Or even outside Elsa’s chambers, but I guess I’m doing that now. I couldn’t wait anymore. Elsa didn’t come back after Hans and the Duke came for her, so I wanted to go find her.” He looked at Anna. “She was looking for you.”
“Me?” Anna stepped back, bumping into Kristoff. “She doesn’t even know me.” Her heart was beating so fast it felt like it would come out of her chest. In her head, images flashed by again. She heard the little girl she had seen on the stairs laughing and saw, again, the image of herself on a bench while someone drew her. Neither of those things had happened before. She’d never been to Arendelle or the castle, yet it, too, seemed familiar. And now finding Olaf—that felt like it was meant to be. She wasn’t sure why Olaf thought he knew her, but her heart said he might be right.
“Are you sure about that?” Olaf asked.
“Olaf? Will you help us find Elsa?” She held out her hand. Olaf took it and toddled down the hall, heading for the stairs. “Come on! Elsa’s this way. Let’s go bring back summer!”
Kristoff shook his head as he followed. “Are we really listening to a talking snowman now?”
Anna looked back at him. “Yes! We can’t go back to Harmon yet. Not if we can help find the princess and stop this winter.”
Kristoff sighed. “Fine, but Sven isn’t going to like this.”
Anna gave the castle one last lingering look. She had a feeling she’d be back. She wasn’t sure what her purpose was yet, but something told her finding Elsa would give her the answers she needed.
She was so preoccupied she didn’t notice the Duke standing in the shadows, watching the unlikely trio leave the castle.
As Elsa set off on her new journey, she realized she had no idea how to find the Valley of the Living Rock. In her memory, she hadn’t looked at landmarks or paid attention to the route her family took. She was just a child. And now, with the kingdom covered in white, it made finding her way even harder. What she really needed was a map. But would a regular map mark off a magical location such as the valley?
There was only one way to find out. She needed to locate someone who lived in the mountains and might know the area. Elsa used her magic to quicken her search, creating a sleigh made out of ice to take her down the mountain. The sleigh gained speed as she crossed into the forest. When she saw a smokestack in the distance, she headed directly for it.
The building was partially covered in a snowdrift. Ice had frozen on the sign on the porch. Elsa tapped it and the ice broke off, allowing her to read the sign: Wandering Oaken’s Trading Post and Sauna. Elsa paused before knocking. What if someone inside recognized her? Walking into the shop wearing an evening gown would give her away. With a wave of her hand, Elsa created a sparkling royal blue hooded cloak. She pulled the hood over her head and hoped it hid her familiar face. Then she walked up the steps and into the shop.
A man in a patterned sweater with a matching hat was seated behind a counter. “Hoo-hoo! Big summer blowout!” he said. “Half off swimming suits, clogs, and a sun balm of my own invention. If you’re looking for cold weather gear, we don’t have much left in our winter department.” He pointed to a sparse corner of the shop
that had a lone snowshoe sitting in it.
“Thank you, but I have all I need for this weather.” Elsa stood in the shadows as she looked around the dimly lit space. The shelves were cramped with supplies from ice axes to clothing and food. “What I really need is a map.” She paused. “Or directions to the Valley of the Living Rock.”
His blue eyes widened. “Ooh, yes, a map I have, ja? But I don’t know of this place you mention, dear.” He shimmied out from behind the narrow counter, trying hard to keep his large frame from knocking over any of the books stacked on the shelf behind him. He unfurled a large scroll and showed it to Elsa, pointing out different landmarks. One looked like a rocky area just northwest of where Elsa’s sleigh was stopped. “I hope you find what you’re looking for, even if this isn’t the weather to be traveling in. The only one crazy enough to be out in this storm is you, dear,” Oaken added. “A real howler in July, huh? Wherever could it be coming from?”
“The North Mountain,” she murmured without thinking. She pressed some coins into Oaken’s hand. “Thank you for the map.” She shuffled out again and discarded her cloak.
Oaken had been right about the howler part: the wind had picked up that day, and many areas were now covered in a thick ice. Elsa climbed into her sleigh again and, using her magic to propel her, crossed the river and glided along while watching closely for the rocky area that she suspected could be the valley. Slowly the landscape started to change. Snow-covered trees gave way to large boulders. Something about it looked familiar. Elsa stopped and hid the sleigh behind a row of trees, then followed a craggy path until she reached what seemed to be an entrance to the valley. As she as she got closer, she knew she was in the right place. The valley looked just like it had in her memories; steam-billowing geysers dotted the wide-open spaces of the landscape, which was seemingly untouched by the deep freeze over the kingdom. A low-lying fog made it difficult to see, but she recognized a circle where hundreds of small boulders sat in a strange formation. As she neared them, her breath hastened. These were the boulders in her vison that had rocked and rolled when her father called to the trolls.
“Hello?” Elsa heard her voice echo from the walls of the mountains. “I need your help.” The rocks didn’t move, so she tried a different approach. “Grand Pabbie? It is Princess Elsa of Arendelle. I am trying to find my sister.”
Suddenly, the boulders began to shake. Elsa stepped back as they tumbled toward her, a large one rolling to a stop at her feet and transforming into a troll. The other boulders became trolls as well. She knew immediately that the one with the yellow crystal necklace and mossy robe was the one she was looking for.
“Grand Pabbie?” she asked, and he nodded. “I am here to seek your help.”
“Princess Elsa,” he said in a gravelly voice. “It has been a long time.”
Elsa glanced at the whites of his big eyes. “I’m looking for my sister. The kingdom doesn’t seem to know of her existence, but I remember her. The memories came flooding back the morning of my coronation when I saw a portrait of my parents and me with a small redheaded girl. I knew immediately it was Anna.”
Grand Pabbie nodded. “I see.”
“My parents brought Anna and me to you for help when we were children.” Tears started to flow before she could stop them. “I know I accidentally struck her with my magic, but I didn’t mean to hurt her,” she whispered.
“Of course not, child.” Grand Pabbie reached out, and Elsa knelt down in front of him and put her hands in his. His were coarse and cold.
“I didn’t want her to forget my magic, but somehow in interfering with your spell, I must have messed up everything,” she said, getting choked up. “I lost my sister and my powers in the process.”
“It was a grave mistake,” he agreed.
“I didn’t learn I still had powers until a few years ago. They suddenly reappeared when my parents died,” Elsa added. The memory was still so painful that it hurt to talk about.
“We were all sorry to hear of your parents’ passing,” Grand Pabbie said, and the trolls around him nodded.
“Thank you. Life without them has been difficult,” Elsa admitted. “Learning I have a sister has given me hope again.” Tears sprang to her eyes. “Now I can think of nothing else but finding her. Can you help me?”
“Elsa, I feel your pain, but you must listen to me,” Grand Pabbie said, and a hush fell over the other trolls. “You cannot try to find her.”
Elsa pulled her hands away. “Why not?”
“The curse that has kept you apart is something even I cannot fully understand,” he explained. “If you remember Anna, then that magic is starting to fade, but until this curse holding you both is broken, you cannot intervene.”
Curse? Intervene? All she wanted was to see her sister. “I don’t understand.” Elsa started to cry in earnest. “How are we cursed? You truly won’t help me find her? Anna is the only family I have left.”
Grand Pabbie sighed deeply. “It’s not that I won’t. I can’t. You just need to hold on a little while longer.”
“Hold on? We’ve been separated for years!” She was sobbing now. “Anna is all I have left. Why would you use magic to keep us apart?”
“You have been through so much, child, I know. What is the last thing you remember?” he asked.
“The last thing I saw in my vision was me reaching out to stop you from erasing Anna’s memories.” Elsa looked at him. “I feared my magic had killed her, but then I found a letter from my parents that explained Anna was alive. But…I had to leave before I could find out where she was and why we were separated.”
He held out his hands again. “Perhaps I can fill in the rest.” He touched his forehead, then swept his hand into the air. A bluish-white line of stars followed his fingers, sweeping into the sky, where an image from the past appeared that both Elsa and the trolls could see. Elsa recognized the image immediately: it showed her parents, and Anna, and herself, on the night she accidentally struck her sister with her magic.
The memory replayed the vision she had seen on her coronation day, and once again she saw her much younger self reach out to keep Grand Pabbie from erasing Anna’s memories. Grand Pabbie and her mother tried to stop her, but they had been too late. Once her hand connected with the troll’s, there was an explosion of blue light. That was where Elsa’s memory had ended, but Grand Pabbie’s vision kept going.
Elsa watched as her younger self and Grand Pabbie were thrown backward. Trolls ran for cover as Papa shielded Mama and Anna. When the dust cleared, she saw her younger self unconscious on the ground. Mama gently put Anna down and ran to Elsa’s side.
“What happened to my daughter?” Papa rushed over. The image was almost too much to bear.
“My powers connected with Elsa’s.” Grand Pabbie was out of breath. “I believe it changed the magic somehow.”
“What does that mean?” Papa asked.
To Elsa’s horror, while they spoke, Anna slowly began to freeze from the tips of her shoes up to her legs. In seconds, ice would overtake Anna’s whole body.
Grand Pabbie turned around just in time. “Your Majesty, grab Elsa!” he called to the king. “Run to higher ground! Quickly!”
Papa scooped up Elsa in his arms and ran up the stone steps to the entrance of the valley. When Mama saw Anna’s small body slowly turning to ice she ran for her, but could do nothing to stop it. Neither could Grand Pabbie. Elsa felt her heart beat wildly as she watched the scene. It was pandemonium. Even some of the trolls were crying out and frightened. But as the distance between Anna’s and Elsa’s bodies increased, the ice on Anna began to melt. Mama picked Anna up and held her close, crying softly in relief.
“What just happened to Anna?” Mama cried. “I don’t understand. I thought you removed the ice.”
Grand Pabbie knelt down by Anna’s side and placed his hands on her head. He looked from Anna to the king, who held Elsa on higher ground. Everyone watched as Grand Pabbie made his way up to the king and placed hi
s hands on Elsa’s head as well. The valley was quiet as he came back down to the center of the circle to the queen.
“Grand Pabbie, what is it?” one of the trolls asked.
“I’m afraid they’ve been cursed,” Grand Pabbie whispered.
“Cursed?” Mama repeated. “How?”
“It happened when Elsa’s and my magic crossed,” he explained. “We were both trying to accomplish different things with magic—I wanted to remove Anna’s memories of magic, while Elsa wanted to keep them. The combination caused something else to happen entirely—a curse.” He looked back and forth between the king and the queen. “It appears Elsa has forgotten her powers.”
“But she will remember them, right?” Mama asked.
“Eventually. For now, her powers are wrapped up in her fear for her sister,” Grand Pabbie explained. “She won’t remember how to use them till this strange magic fades.”
“And when will that be?” Papa asked.
Grand Pabbie’s face was solemn. “When she needs her sister more than she ever has before.”
“But they need each other now,” Mama said, the desperation in her voice clear.
“We don’t always get what we want—that’s what curses teach us,” Grand Pabbie told her gently. “Magic can be unpredictable, especially when more than one kind interacts. It appears the curse affected each sister differently. Anna cannot be near Elsa without ice consuming her body and traveling to her heart. If it stays there too long, it grows, as ice can do, and it will eventually kill her.” Mama burst into tears. “And Elsa, while physically fine, cannot survive long-term if she is missing the love of her sister. She is her greatest joy.”
Elsa watched Grand Pabbie’s memory in agony. This was all her fault. If she hadn’t tried to stop Grand Pabbie’s spell, Anna wouldn’t have been hurt. This was why they had been separated: Elsa’s being near Anna could kill her. How had Elsa’s parents ever forgiven her for what she had done?
“Can you reverse the spell?” Papa asked hoarsely.
Grand Pabbie looked to the sky, then down at the earth before he spoke. “I don’t believe that’s possible.” Mama cried harder. “But there is hope. Magic wrapped up in emotions like Elsa’s fades over time. This curse won’t last forever. When the time is right—and the girls need each other more than ever before—their curse will be broken.”
