by Perdita Finn
The phone went dead.
Faybelle laughed ruefully. “No pressure.” She ran over to the girls. She tossed her backpack to Daring. “Wait up, girls. I’m in!”
Briar was not surprised. “Faybelle has a thing about inviting herself,” she whispered to Crystal. “Kind of part of our Sleeping Beauty story.”
“Oh, come on,” Faybelle said, laughing. “With Farrah taking a break, this crew needs a fairy. Don’t you want to travel in style?”
With a wave of her hand, Faybelle created a lush sleigh for them to ride in.
“Not bad!”
“That’s more like it!”
Faybelle smiled. “Hey, wait a spell. You wouldn’t survive a day in this blizzard wearing those rags. How about something warmer?” She conjured beautiful, cozy new outfits for all the girls.
“It just needs one last thing,” said Crystal. “You never can get enough sparkle!”
The girls climbed into the sleigh. Uh-oh, Daring realized. He was going to be pulling it! “When I called the front, this isn’t what I had in mind!”
He started trudging up the icy road. Pulling the sleigh wasn’t as hard as he thought, and soon he was galloping through the snow. The girls squealed behind him. They were off!
Jackie Frost and Northwind watched them leave.
“Crystal is trying to fix things herself,” grumbled Jackie.
“But, Jackie, Crystal never does things for herself. That’s why she has us servants.”
“Had,” Jackie corrected Northwind. “Our days of serving are done. But to make sure it stays that way, it looks like we’re gonna have to close the book on Crystal’s story ourselves. You’re not getting cold feet, are you?”
Northwind laughed. “Kind of. Let’s switch to claws!”
Jackie rolled her eyes. “Fine. Now, let’s stop this rescue mission in its tracks!”
At that, Jackie and Northwind turned themselves into snowy owls and galloped after the sleigh.
CHAPTER 21
Spring into Spring
In the distance the girls could see the glimmering glory of Beauty and the Beast’s castle. Rosabella had been telling them all about how beautiful the rose garden was in bloom. But when the sleigh came close to the grounds, the friends were horrified to see that the garden was completely dead, covered in a fine layer of newly fallen snow. The curse had reached even here.
Thorn-covered vines twisted over the crumbling walls. “You should see it in bloom,” said Rosabella sadly.
“What if the Rose of Spring is dead?” Crystal said, worried.
Rosabella led them to a planter at the center of the garden. “It’s not dead. It can’t be,” she said. “This is the most special rose here. The rose my father, the Beast, gave my mother the day she transformed him back into a prince. This was the rose I was named after.”
“Spring’s Rose stands out, all alone,” Crystal said, remembering the words on the scroll.
But the rose was bare and thorny. It didn’t even have any leaves on it, much less a blossom.
“It’s not in season,” said Briar.
Rosabella sighed. “So we have to wait until spring?”
“But spring isn’t coming,” Daring exclaimed. “We’re doomed!”
The green eyes of two snowy owls peeked through a tangle of branches. Jackie and Northwind were watching everything.
Only Faybelle wasn’t worried. “Step aside, Daring. Don’t get your fur in a knot. I can help. Farrah Goodfairy isn’t the only one who can make some major fairy magic!”
She hovered off the ground and began waving her arms like a cheerleader. “Two, four, six, eight. Roses, bloom, we cannot wait. Winter, spring, summer, fall. Bloom till we can’t count them all!”
A delicate fragrance wafted through the air. Buds appeared. They began to unfurl and blossom. The whole garden filled with vibrant colors. Yellow roses. Pink roses. Purple roses. Faybelle floated even higher in the air, focusing on the special planter at the center. Rosabella and Daring stared transfixed as the rose began to bloom. It was bigger and more beautiful than any other in the garden. As the rose opened, red and radiant, the snow around them began to melt.
“Booyah!” shouted Faybelle gleefully. “And that’s how fairy magic is done, people!”
Everyone applauded.
“Way to flip the script!”
“You did it!”
“Fairy nice work!”
“That’s the Rose of Spring!”
“I’m impressed!”
Faybelle blushed; she was actually a little embarrassed by all the positive attention. After all, she did plan on betraying them. Even now her phone was buzzing. A quick glance showed the Fairy Mob on the line—but Faybelle declined the call with a quick press of her finger.
Far away on his balcony, the Snow King saw a tiny spot of color sprout in the distance. “What’s this?” he wondered. “Who dares stain my perfectly blank landscape with that hideous color? I need a closer look!”
He turned his scepter into a telescope and gazed through it. Imagine the Snow King’s surprise when he saw his daughter, Crystal, laughing with her friends in a springtime garden full of roses. He adjusted the telescope and focused on the central red rose, the biggest blossom of all.
“Just as I suspected. My daughter continues to defy me. But not for long!” The Snow King laughed wickedly.
One of the last frost elves in the palace cowered behind him. But the elf already knew he was doomed. He held out his arms, prepared. With an angry zap, the Snow King turned him into, yes, another penguin.
No one was safe anymore from the Snow King’s curses. The deep chill was freezing all the land.
CHAPTER 22
Winter Break
The girls and Daring the Beast gazed at the remarkable rose. Rosabella reached out and gently took it in her hands. “The Rose of Spring,” she whispered. “I will guard it with my life.”
“One down, three to go,” said Crystal. “Thanks for your help, Rosabella.”
Blondie was consulting her MirrorPhone, studying the photos of the scroll she’d taken. “According to the scroll of Deep Magic, the Summer Rose is at Cinderella’s castle.”
“Yay!” squealed Ashlynn, overjoyed to be home. “My place! You guys will love it.”
“What are we waiting for? Let’s get this snow on the road,” Crystal exclaimed. But just as she was about to hop back on the sleigh, she noticed that her shoelaces were untied. “Um, can someone help me lace up my boots?”
Her friends exchanged looks of confusion. Did she not know how to tie her laces?
Ashlynn was the first to find her voice. “Let me show you how to do it,” she volunteered. “It’s really easy. First, you grab both laces.”
“Then grab the left over the right,” explained Briar.
Crystal carefully followed their directions, surprised at how easy it was to tie her laces.
The evil-eyed snowy owl spying on the girls in the garden growled. “How adorable. Little Goody Two-skates trying to save her parents. Well, whatever she’s up to, it won’t work.”
Jackie and Northwind crouched behind a bush as the sleigh whizzed past them.
Daring the Beast was grumbling. “My destiny turns out to be a lowly sled dog. Ugh!”
The clouds broke for a moment, and Crystal saw how low the sun was in the sky. Her curfew was approaching. She was supposed to be home soon. But my dad is a danger to us all, she thought. I can’t go back without a cure.
When the sleigh had passed, Jackie and Northwind emerged, transformed back into elves. Jackie was curious about what the Snow King was up to. She pulled a snow globe out of her pocket and shook it. It pulsed and emitted a high-pitched buzzing.
At his castle, the Snow King was trying to dig out his sleigh from the snow. None of the servants could help him. They’d all been turned into penguins and seals, and they flapped their flippers behind him uselessly.
“Lazy servants,” muttered the king. He was about to zap them all ag
ain when the snow globe on the top of his scepter began to pulse with light. It was ringing.
The penguins and the seals breathed a sigh of relief. They didn’t know what might be worse than this—but they had a feeling the Snow King could make their lives even more miserable.
The Snow King answered his snow globe. “Well, well, Jackie Frost and Northwind! Where are you two? This isn’t winter break!” The Snow King’s eyes were flashing, and his face was red; he was even angrier than usual. “My daughter, Crystal, is out past curfew!”
Jackie covered her snow globe with her hand so the Snow King couldn’t hear her. “We should probably go there and defeat him now,” she whispered to Northwind.
“Maybe we should destroy him later. He’s super busy.”
Jackie nodded. “Yeah,” she agreed. “Let him tire himself out. Then we take him down.”
Jackie took her hand away from the snow globe and addressed the king. “Don’t worry about Crystal, sire. We’ll track down your daughter for you.”
“Finally, some servitude!” shouted the Snow King into the snow globe. “You find Crystal and tell her she hasn’t just lost her right to the winter throne—she’s grounded!”
Jackie Frost waited for the snow globe to click off. She cackled with glee. “Let’s close the book on whatever Crystal is up to, then take care of the big guy. And then we rule!”
CHAPTER 23
Polar Paths
The blizzard was blinding. All anyone could see in any direction was a sea of swirling white. Daring trudged through deeper and deeper snow. The sleigh was barely moving. They were lost.
“Where are we, Crystal?” asked Ashlynn, trying to hide her panic.
“Not sure.” Crystal sighed. “My MirrorPhone has no bars. We’re out of range.”
Daring the Beast’s nose twitched. He sniffed the air. He sneezed. “I can’t even smell which way to go. My nose is full of icicles!”
Briar shivered. “The only thing worse than being lost in the woods is being lost in the woods in the freezing cold.”
Blondie looked at Crystal. “What do we do?”
“I don’t know,” Crystal admitted. “I’ve never made decisions before; they were always made for me.”
Two winged shadows passed over the sleigh, but in their distress the girls barely noticed. Jackie and Northwind were disguised as snowy owls. They perched in a high tree and morphed back into elves. They sat like frosty gargoyles on a branch.
“Two paths to Cinderella’s castle,” noted Jackie, peering across the landscape. “One easy. One hard. And we’re going to help them get there.”
Northwind was confused. “Wait! I though we wanted to stop them.”
Jackie laughed. “Duh! Watch and learn, snow bro. Crystal trusts us, so it’s easy to trick her into telling us her plans. Then… bam! No more Crystal. Haha!”
Northwind shrugged. This didn’t make much sense to him, but he was happy to change into an owl again with his sister. They flew together through the snow-covered trees and landed at a fork in the path. They changed back into cold, helpless elves.
“Rescue us!” Jackie cried as the sleigh approached.
“Help!” called Northwind, imitating his sister.
Crystal gasped, recognizing the elves. “I know them! That’s Jackie Frost and Northwind. They work for my father.”
Jackie ran over to the sleigh. “We were trying to escape the terrible anger of the Snow King,” she cried to Crystal.
“You poor things!” Crystal’s heart went out to them. “He’s cursed, you know; it’s not his fault!”
“Oh, we totally know!” Northwind grinned. Jackie clapped her hand over his mouth.
“We were trying to seek refuge at Cinderella’s castle,” lied Jackie.
“Fableous!” said Crystal. “That’s where we’re going! The trouble is, we’re a bit lost…”
“Whaddya know! I know the way!” Jackie smiled sweetly. “In fact, I know a shortcut.”
As the elves hopped onto the back of the sleigh, Jackie leaned close to her brother. “This daddy’s girl and her friends will never get their hands on the rest of this so-called curse cure. They’re about to reach a dead end!” In a much louder voice, Jackie spoke to Crystal. “Turn right here!”
Daring the Beast veered toward a path that led up into the mountains. Snowy rock faces bounded the path on either side like bookends. Jagged peaks rose above them. The path looked more and more dangerous as they continued along it.
“Cinderella’s castle is just over this rise,” Jackie said.
“Careful, Daring,” warned Crystal. “Move slowly. By the look of these hills, this is avalanche country.”
“What?” Blondie asked in a booming voice. “Is that dangerous?”
“Shhh!” whispered Crystal. “Keep as quiet as you can. Loud noise can trigger an avalanche.”
The girls looked nervously at the cliffs above them. Snow seemed to shift, and a fine white dust wafted through the air.
Jackie’s eyes gleamed triumphantly. “That’s right, Princess, it’s a trap! You’ll never see the Winter Palace again!”
“Jackie! Northwind!” Crystal didn’t understand what she was hearing. “Why?”
Jackie laughed maniacally. “You’re even easier to fool than your dad!”
“Surprise!” announced Northwind. “We put the curse on him!”
“Plot twist!” Faybelle hadn’t expected this turn of events.
Crystal was indignant. “Traitors! You won’t succeed. I’ll stop you.”
“Little Miss Can’t-Even-Lace-Her-Own-Skates?” taunted Jackie. “You’re clueless without your servants to do things for you. We won’t serve anybody anymore! We’re going to rule winter, and there’s nothing you can do to stop us!”
Jackie opened her mouth and began to roar. She and Northwind were turning into polar bears! Their loud growls echoed back and forth. Avalanche!
Huge rolling waves of snow were crashing down the cliffs toward the sleigh. The girls were frozen in fear.
“Daring! Get us out of here!” begged Crystal.
Jackie and Northwind high-fived each other with their polar-bear paws. Success! They transformed into owls and flew high up into the sky.
Daring was galloping as fast as he could, but the wall of snow was gaining on them. The avalanche rumbled closer and closer. Jackie, peering down from the sky, watched the sleigh disappear into an ocean of whiteness. They were gone.
“Looks like Crystal’s story is at The End,” hooted Jackie. “C’mon. Let’s get rid of the king of winter and finish this snow job!”
Jackie and Northwind swooped happily through the clouds. Their evil plan was working!
CHAPTER 24
Into Thin Air
A still sea of snow stretched between the peaks. All was eerily quiet—until Crystal’s head popped up. One by one, the girls dug themselves out.
“Is everyone okay?” Crystal said, gasping. She checked to make sure they were all accounted for.
“Yes, I think so,” Briar spluttered.
“Now I know how a Popsicle feels!” admitted Daring.
“There’s snow in my underpants,” complained Faybelle.
They had all survived—but the path to Cinderella’s castle was blocked by snow.
“What do we do?” Ashlynn wondered aloud. “Going all the way around will take days.”
“Days we don’t have,” said Briar.
Crystal was thinking out loud. “Jackie and Northwind are headed to defeat my father and take over the Winter Palace. My family needs me now. We must push through.”
“But how?” asked Blondie.
The sleigh was jammed into the top of a fifty-foot wall of snow. But Crystal was determined. “I am the princess of winter. I will not let a little wall of snow stop me.”
“Um, excuse me,” Daring the Beast interrupted. “But that’s a super-gigantic wall of snow.”
“Even if we make it over, and even if we get the roses we need from Cinde
rella’s and Sleeping Beauty’s castles, we still don’t know where the final Rose of Winter is.” Briar felt defeated.
“The world of Ever After is counting on us,” Crystal reminded her. “This cannot be the end of the story. Did Jack give up when the Great Beanstalk was too tall? Did Rapunzel’s prince look for a princess with shorter hair to climb? No!”
Still, the others looked stricken. Frustrated, Crystal looked down at her boots—the laces untied yet again. She took a big breath, tied them tight, and turned to her friends. They needed a pep talk. “We can do this! But only together. First, we gotta get our sleigh back.”
Without turning around to see if the others were following, Crystal dug her hands into the ice wall. She was going to climb up it—without a harness.
“Is she really trying to climb that all by herself?” Daring chuckled.
“It’s called thinking of others,” Rosabella said pointedly. “She’s worried about her family—about all of Ever After.” Rosabella looked up at her friend. “Hang on, Crystal. I’m with you!”
Crystal was digging her heels into the slick snow. She clutched jagged pieces of ice and hauled herself ever upward.
Blondie took out her MirrorPhone. She had to report on this story! “Crystal Winter, leading by example!”
Crystal glanced down and gave everyone a thumbs-up. She could do this. Oops! Her foot slipped, and she tumbled all the way back down the wall.
“Well, that’s not going to work,” mumbled Daring.
But Crystal had an even better idea. She’d noticed the giant icicles hanging from a jutting cliff above them. She pulled out her sparklizer from her backpack. First, she broke off the biggest icicle she could find. The other girls followed her lead and grabbed icicles of their own. Then Crystal shot an icicle at the wall of snow—it stuck, creating a step! She shot another icicle higher up. They could make an icicle ladder to the top! It was like a super-slippery climbing wall.
