by Dani Swanson
“How were you to know, Irving?” Thea walked over and placed her hand on his shoulder as she offered a sympathetic look. “How were any of us to know?” Her head tilted to the side as she looked down at the old man. She could see the worry in his eyes.
The group made plans to meet with the soldiers after breakfast to devise a plan to find Penelope, Robin and Edward, and Lilly. Irving personally walked the group through the castle to their bed chambers. Irving brought Charles into a room, making small talk of the swords which were hanging on the wall above the fireplace.
Thea faded in and out of the conversation as her head was starting to pound. She hadn’t had a good night’s sleep for months and the guilt and worry for her grandmother and best friend were becoming overwhelming. The little witch had begun to break out in little hives all over her arms that she nervously rubbed, trying to not scratch the skin. “Hey, we’ll find her Thea. All of them. Don’t you worry.” Dean wrapped Thea in his ample arms, pulling her tight in an embrace against his chest. She hugged him back, silently crying. Dean leaned down and kissed her on the top of her forehead. Thea immediately stopped crying and slightly pulled away as Irving emerged from the room.
“Shall we?” Irving said, faking a cheery smile, as he too was wearing a worried look.
Awkwardly the two pulled apart and followed the Ice King down the hall. A sleepy Fig was laying in Irving’s arms, enjoying the free ride down the long hallway.
“Good night.” Dean clumsily nodded at Thea as he went into his chamber.
“Night, Dean. Sleep well.” Thea said in a small voice, as she turned to keep up with Irving.
“That one is sweet on you.” Irving said, without making eye contact.
Thea could feel her face getting hot. “I don’t know about all of that.” They walked to the door of the room in which she had stayed before.
“I had my staff make this room up especially for you. I really am glad that you have returned, Thea.”
The Ice King opened the door to a magnificent sight. The room was redecorated in soft lilac colors. From the pillows to the rich fabrics of the curtains – the room was fit for a princess! There was a bench at the end of the bed that was covered in fluffy fur, pictures of her and her grandmother framed on the wall, and even a cat bed next to the fireplace for Fig (who had already found his space and was settling in next to the fire).
“Irving, this room is amazing!” Thea stated, as she noticed the open closet was full of shoes and clothing for her as well. “You didn’t have to go through all this trouble for me! Thank you!” She gave him a hug as tight as she could, wrapping her arms around his wide frame. He was happy to see her smile.
“I think of you as my granddaughter, and I will do everything I can to keep that smile on your face.” He tapped her on the tip of her nose with his pointer finger, just as a grandpa would do for a little kid. “You let me or anyone on my staff know if there is anything else you may need. Good night, my sweet Thea.” His voice was comforting, and Thea could feel the love in his words.
“Good night Irving. Thank you….thank you for making me feel at home.” Her sweet smile made the Ice King feel warmth. The Ice King turned, shutting the door behind him.
Thea sat in a chair near the fireplace, watching her little cat sleep for a moment, before rummaging through her bag for some arrowroot tonic to help her headache. Her last bottle was nearing the bottom. “Too bad Agatha was the only one that could make this strong enough to work on my headaches.” She said, as she gingerly sipped on the bottle. Fig lifted his head and meowed in response. “Sorry, did I wake you?” Again, the cat meowed, as he came over and climbed on his human’s lap.
“I don’t know what I’m doing, sweet boy. I’m worried about Robin and Penelope….Sorgin, Cricket, and most importantly, what Lilly is going to do.” She was rubbing her temple as Fig nuzzled his face in her other hand. She weakly smiled as she aggressively rubbed the cat’s face. “And what was that about in the hallway with Dean? Did you see that?”
“Meow.” Followed by a long purr.
“Yeah, I don’t know either.” She scratched his ears as if Fig was responding to her. “Let’s go to sleep, I have a feeling that it’s going to be a long while until we get to sleep in a bed again.”
Thea went to the closet and hung up her bag. She found a cotton night shirt that was the perfect size for her. She climbed into the softest set of blankets she ever remembered feeling and felt instantly relaxed laying on a bed that seemed to be built just for her comfort.
Sleep came easily for Thea for the first time in a long while. She slept solidly, as she dreamt of her cabin and studying spells from her books while sitting on the porch with Fig. Dean, Charles, and Robin where there for a moment, before they disappeared. She could see Robin’s fiery hair in the distance of the field and was chasing after her but could never catch her. The trees were dancing around, causing her to get lost in the forest. It was getting dark, but the red hair glowed in front of her. “Robin! Wait for me! Come back!” Thea would call out to her. She ran through the branches, ignoring the scratches – running with Fig in all his fiery glory, chasing the flowing red hair. “Robin STOP!” Thea could feel her chest getting tight as she was running out of breath. “Robin?!” She leaped toward the hair and was able to tackle Robin to the ground. Robin landed hard on her face, with Thea turning her over from behind. “Why are you running from me?” Thea questioned, as she turned her friend over to face her. Thea could see the structure of the face: a nose, sockets where the eyes should be, and a mouth, but there was nothing defining of the face; just a blank canvas of smooth porcelain skin.
Thea could feel herself being pulled out of her sleep as Fig was laying on her chest, licking her face. She jumped up, now wide awake. It was still night outside. She had only slept for a few hours. Letting out a sigh as she laid back down on her side, with her cat cuddled into her arms. “I need to sleep.” She tossed and turned for an hour before she got up and went over to her bag. She pulled out a vial labeled “valerian root” sprinkling a fair amount into a glass of water, before drinking the whole thing. She laid back down into the warm blankets with her cuddly cat; she could feel her eyelids becoming heavy as she gently petted Fig’s soft fur. This time, she slept through the night – no more dreams, just the blackness.
CHAPTER THREE
Thea had slept hard for the remainder of the night, not waking until well past breakfast time. Fig was already awake, watching the penguins outside the window – chattering little cat noises as if he was telling the birds he wanted to eat them. She got out of bed, dressed, and was out of the room in record time. “Come on Fig! We need to get downstairs.” The little orange cat reluctantly left the windowsill, as he followed her down the hallway toward the stairs. She was in such a rush that she barely noticed that her pants and shirt clashed, before running back to her room for a different shirt. She picked out a neutral beige one over the bright orange she had originally put on – blending in is easier to do when you aren’t being flashy. She decided to grab a few outfits and stuffed her bag full before she left. The Ice King had everything perfectly in her size – even the fur lined boots which she grabbed as she ran down the stairs, with Fig in tow.
When Thea and Fig reached the soldier’s meeting room, Charles, Dean, Irving, and the soldiers were already surrounding maps around a large table and were arguing amongst themselves on where to start.
“What are we going to do if Lilly Quinn decides to come up the mountain? We need to track her down before she decides to feed on Izotzan souls!”
“We need to find my Penelope!” The Ice King hit his fist on the table as he spoke. “That Grimalkin hasn’t bothered us, and we shouldn’t bother it!”
“What about the Circle of Owls? What if someone here is a part of them? How are we going to protect our people?”
“The Tree Elves of the South said they saw Lilly.”
“But the Golden-Winged Fairies said they saw someone looking like Penelope by
the Winding Woods.”
“The talking bushes said they saw her to the north of the Kingdom of Owls.”
“Who listens to talking bushes?”
“The Bumble showed just the image of some strands of red hair he found in the snow!” The small Izotzan woman was flashing her enchanted mirror to the table.
“The Grimalkin and the Circle of Owls seem to be following that girl you let in here…..” the soldier immediately stopped talking when he saw the face of the Ice King.
Thea quietly walked to the table and listened to the chatter, until all the men realized that she had joined them and slowly stopped talking.
Thea could feel all eyes on her as she meekly looked across the table, stopping at the Ice King. She noticed that he was dressed for travel, wearing a thick shirt with a parka-styled coat draped over his shoulders.
“What about my friend? She’s my family and we need to find out what happened to Robin….and your friend Edward too.” Her gaze went to the map, not making eye contact, and her voice, though it cracked when she first started to speak, was strong and assertive in nature.
All of the side conversations started again, as the Ice King walked away from the table and started to write the names of the parties on a board of ice hanging on the far wall. He placed his two fingers in his mouth, and whistled so loudly, some of the icicles hanging from the ceiling fell to the ground and shattered. “We’ll go after all three,” he said sternly. “There are enough soldiers here to protect the castle, as well as to go out and search for them.”
“I’m going after the Grimalkin!” Charles called out from the back of the room. “I think I owe her a visit.” He wrapped his hand around the handle of the sword hanging from his waist. Thea recognized it as one of the blades Irving had shown him from above the mantle the night before.
“I will be tracking down my beloved.” Irving stated, as he pointed at a few of the soldiers to stand with him.
“I need to find my friend.” Thea said, looking around the room for volunteers.
The Ice King was busy dividing the soldiers amongst those who would go with Charles, who would stay behind, and who would accompany Thea.
“I’ll go with you, Thea.” Dean said, with his boyish smile. Thea could feel her face flush again.
Thea watched as the old man, who she loved as a grandfather, adjusted a heavy blade on his belt. Irving wobbled slightly under its weight. She got a wave of apprehension as she watched him struggle with it. “I appreciate that Dean, but I need you to go with the Ice King, and make sure that he comes back in one piece.”
For a moment Dean frowned at the request, until he saw how Thea was watching the Ice King. “If that will make you happy, I’ll do it.” Dean gently touched her arm before walking over to join Irving.
Thea saw Percy from across the room, she smiled at him and went over to hug him. “You’re coming with me on my adventure! I need you to show me the way through the snow.” As she pulled away from their embrace, she could see Dean’s face across the room; he did not look pleased that Percy was hugging Thea back.
“I will definitely be joining your group, but we only have a few of us available. With the Ice King taking ten men, and another ten going with your friend Charles, that doesn’t leave very many to stay and keep the Izotzans safe.”
Thea looked around the room and saw that there were mostly young soldiers left in the room without an assignment, as the older soldiers were suiting up to leave the dome. “How about you and I go on our own? I really just need a guide, I think we can handle ourselves against a few yetis and bazzles.”
Percy smiled at her. “There’s more than just those guys out there….wolves, the Bumble – who is the biggest yeti you have ever seen, sometimes he’s on our side…sometimes not….dragons, fairies, nexivs, gnomes and the Baba Yaga. If you think Sorgin and Cricket are evil witches, you don’t want to deal with the Baba Yaga. She doesn’t just eat people’s souls…she eats the whole person.” Thea’s eyes were large as she stared back at Percy. She did not want to meet a cannibalistic witch. “Not to mention that most of these things are the same color as the snow out there, which makes it almost impossible to see them until they are on you. It’s not an easy treck to where the blue-scaled dragons live.”
“But I’m a witch, and I have a cat that turns to fire,” Thea leaned into him and sarcastically whispered to Percy. “I’m really good at making fireballs.”
“Meow.” Fig entered the conversation as if he was stating his dominance.
“Alright, I would feel better with some of the older soldiers staying behind to protect the dome anyway.”
Irving came up to Thea and gave her a hug. “Be careful young lady.”
“You be careful too.” She said as she hugged him a little longer and tighter than a normal hug, and then hugged Dean just as long. She felt awkward – she had this new sense of family when she was around Irving….and a different awkward feeling being around Dean. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you taking care of him for me.” Softly, she whispered into Dean’s ear before she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. That felt more natural than she had expected it would, but the same flushed awkwardness was running over her.
Charles had already left with his group without saying goodbye, heading toward the Monkey Tree Village. They had planned to cross the wall of Erresuma and head to where the Circle of Owls used to be; they had a trusted report from a brownie that Lilly Quinn was there.
Dean and the Ice King decided to head to the west of Erresuma, to Dragon Tooth Lake. There were reports from a group of fairies that a woman who looked like Thea was there. Irving made it a point to tell everyone that Penelope grew up near the lake too. “She told me that she used to live in a cabin there when her daughters were just girls.”
Thea pulled on her fur-lined boots and braided her raven hair into a thick braid that she stuffed into a hat. Her bag was filled to the brim with a few outfits, her book with the tattered pages, and a few small vials of potions and herbs. She took one deep breath and looked around the palace walls, as she took the path to the main entrance of the dome with Percy and Fig. Percy had a pack on his back filled with sandwiches, dried meats, cheeses and sweet treats. He showed her a small pot in which he was going to melt snow to drink. He didn’t feel that packing drinks was necessary when you were surrounded by frozen water.
She was excited and nervous in the same emotion. It was something about going on a new adventure that always made Thea happy – even though she was worried about her grandmother, and her friends- she loved the challenges.
“And then there were three.” Thea said to Percy and Fig, as they walked into the cold, snowy landscape of the Izotza mountain. “I hope we can find them.” The mountains to the east were taller than Izotza. Percy was right, all that Thea could see was the blinding whiteness of the snow covering the trees; the bricks of the path leading away from the dome were barely visible from the blowing flakes landing on the ground. Fig pawed at Thea’s leg to be lifted onto her shoulder.
“The last known of the dragons lived on the tallest peak of that mountain.” Percy was pointing across the landscape to a mountain that was so tall that the top of the peak could barely be seen through the clouds.
“Well of course it is. It couldn’t be anything closer to us.” Thea sarcastically shook her head as she looked at all the snow they had to track through.
“I grabbed something that should make it easier on your back.” Percy was digging in his bag to retrieve four toddler size shoes. “May I?” Percy started to reach for Fig’s feet but was greeted with a hiss and a scratch from his claws, as he touched the cat’s paw.
“Fig, you be nice and let him put those shoes on you. I can’t carry you on my shoulders all the time!” Thea scolded her cat, as she held him like a baby, forcing him to hold still as Percy put the shoes on the cat’s feet. Fig hissed the entire time the two humans were trying to fit him with the shoes.
“Spoiled cat.” Percy laughed,
as he watched Fig walk through the snow, shaking his paws with every step, trying to fling the shoes off his feet. Poor Fig was not amused by any of this snow business.
“They’ll keep your paws warm, leave them on!” Fig’s ears were pinned back as he slowly followed behind the humans through the snow.
The trio walked through shin deep snow that covered the path winding up the mountain. Fig followed behind Thea, jumping to her next foot print so he wouldn’t be lost in snow. The wind was howling through the tops of the pine trees causing the snow to drift, covering their steps as if no one had walked the path at all.
“How are we supposed to know how to get back if the path is always covered in snow?” Thea was getting frustrated as she could no longer see the kingdom over her shoulder. “How do you track a person in this?”
Percy chuckled as Thea spoke. “You need to know the trees and look for the things that are out of place. Like broken branches, or something that has been left behind. It helps to have walked through these trees hundreds of times over the years, too.” Percy patted the stump of a tree that was barely sticking out of the snow. “This tree has been gone for seven years or so. I use this stump to line me up with the path.” He pointed to the right of where they were facing. “Otherwise we would get lost.”
