Hearts Under Ice

by CS Patra

  “Really? I don’t think chaining me up in some ice prison is a good cause,” Donnie muttered. “Why would you bring me here?”

  “You know a lot, Dr. Vaughn. You are said to be one of the brightest men in all of the universes. You’ve wanted to cross over to our world for years. Now we’ve given you that chance and let you in. You are finally seeing what we have built over the years,” the voice went on. “I realize it’s a lot to take in now, and everything will be explained in due time. Despite the current situation, we mean no harm.”

  Donnie relaxed his shoulders and looked down at his ankles. They were turning bright red from all the moving he had been doing. He decided that fighting against the chains was futile, and the cold chains burned against his skin. “If you mean no harm, then why lock me up? Did I do something wrong?”

  “It was done by accident. I know you never meant to do it, but it happened. For that, we are going to need some answers from you. The Frost Queen isn’t very happy with what you’ve done to our world.”

  “What I’ve done to your world?” he repeated incredulously. “I have never even been here.”

  “That is true. However, you know someone who has. That person is a lot stronger than she realizes. We need to lure her into this world.”

  Olivia. His heart started pounding hard as he realized what they were getting at. “Hold up, are you using me as the bait?”

  “In a way, yes, you are the bait. You are the one thing that she cares about most,” the voice agreed. “You don’t have the same power that she has. You cannot move in and out of different worlds the way she does. Try all you want, you would never succeed without her help.”

  “Thanks for the confidence,” Donnie muttered. “If you want Olivia, why didn’t you just go ahead and kidnap her? I’m not worth anything to you, from what you’re saying.”

  “That is also true. You are not worth anything to us. However, you are worth something to Olivia. You’re worth a lot to her. You might not realize it, and she might be in denial about it, but it’s obvious that you two care for each other. If she were to find out you are in danger, she would come to this world and try to save you. She is the one person who knows how to find you.”

  “Once she does find me, what do you plan to do with us?”

  “You will see soon enough. In the meantime, don’t try to get out of those ice chains. You’re not strong enough, and you will just end up hurting yourself. We need to keep you alive for as long as possible. If she fails to show up—well, we’ll see what we will do. However, you’re not just the bait in our plan. We have more things in store for you. That’s where those tubes above you will come into play. If you don’t want to find out what happens next, try and see if you can send your girlfriend a little message from us.”

  “She is not my girlfriend!” Donnie snapped. “Why is everyone assuming that?”

  The next few minutes were silent, so Donnie assumed that the visitors had left. He realized now that his entire life was at stake, and his very survival was in Olivia’s hands. This Brotherhood of Iced Blood was keeping him alive only to get Olivia over to the Frostland. If she failed to show up, he was surely doomed. Breathing hard, he tried to find a way to get out. With his hands and feet bound, he could not easily break the ice. Heat would have been perfect, but his only source was the sun right now. He couldn’t make enough heat with his body to melt anything. All he could do was hope that Olivia would find him soon.

  “Olivia,” he whispered. It was the first time he realized how beautiful her name was. Closing his eyes, he tried to send her a message with his mind. Olivia, I have no idea if you’ll get this, but I hope you do. If you can hear me, save me. Hurry as fast as you can, because I won’t make it without you. I need you. I need you more than anything else in the world.

  Taking a deep breath, he looked around his prison and wondered why his plea, which should have been urgent and anxious, sounded more like a declaration of love.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Ms. Howard and Alice came back to the house after twenty minutes without much luck. The search through Donnie’s house hadn’t given them anything new. Olivia kept pouring over the words that he had written down, and sighed. Evidently, he had tried to figure out this problem, but didn’t write anything else to help her. The one thing she was sure of was that something from the Frostland had taken him. His house had no reason to be that cold, unless someone else wanted to make it feel like the Frostland.

  “I turned up the thermostat some, but I don’t think it’ll make a huge difference,” Alice said. “No one’s in that house at all. It’s safe to say that he’s probably no longer in this world.”

  “We know that Donnie has been kidnapped, and someone in the Frostland has him now,” Olivia said. “If we’re getting more specific, they are some group call The Brotherhood of Iced Blood. What do you think they want with him?”

  “They’re The Brotherhood of Iced Blood, huh?” Alice said. “I swear I have heard that name before. People in another world mentioned them, but I didn’t care until now. All I know is that they aren’t friendly.”

  “Donnie’s definitely in danger, then. We need to get there, find him, and take care of these creeps once and for all.” She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. “Okay, I think we know the plan. We need to get into the Frost World tonight. Then, at the very least, we need to figure out where he is.”

  I need you. I need you more than anything else in the world.

  She opened her eyes wide. “Donnie?”

  Gemma looked at her strangely. “Excuse me, dear?”

  “Donnie! That was Donnie!” Olivia gasped. “I just heard his voice!”

  “You heard his voice?” Ms. Howard asked. “That’s unusual. What did he say?”

  “Just that—” Olivia stopped herself and thought back on his words. He needed her more than anything else in the world. The way he said it made her feel strange inside. “He just said that he was in trouble. I couldn’t figure out where he is.”

  “Well, that’s helpful.” Alice rolled her eyes. “It’s not like we haven’t figured out that he’s in danger. I’m just curious as to how you heard that and no one else did. Are you sure you didn’t imagine this?”

  “I’m positive I didn’t imagine it. I know what Donnie sounds like.” Olivia sighed, hoping that no one would ask for more details. “All right, we’re wasting time here. Let’s see if I can get into the Frostland with you now. Are you sure you don’t want me to see the process?”

  “It’s better if you keep your eyes closed. There are rumors that if you’re inexperienced at traveling and you leave your eyes open, they’ll pop right out.” Gemma said. “To be on the safe side, just close them and take my hand. We will make sure that you get there. Are you ready?”

  Olivia gulped. Deep down, she wasn’t ready for any of this. She had no idea what she was getting herself into, or why she had agreed to this at all. Everything kept going back to Donnie. She was doing this for a man that wasn’t even her boyfriend. It was so ridiculous that she almost wanted to hate herself. The old Olivia would have been more reasonable. She would never have gotten herself mixed up in this mess, or trusted anyone else with her life.

  Then again, the old Olivia had never met Donnie. She had never heard about traveling through parallel universes in reality. She had never cared about anyone the way that she cared for him. She could see in his eyes that he was lonely, and that he just wanted someone to listen to him sometimes. The old Olivia might have been a little smarter, but she wasn’t as curious. She didn’t have such bravery or desire. She didn’t know what a wonderful person Donnie was. These were things that this new version of Olivia had. All of that was reason enough to try this crazy stunt and hope that it would work.

  “Let’s do this.” She said definitively, taking Gemma’s hand and closing her eyes. “Tell me when to open them, okay?”

  “Of course.” Ms. Howard nodded at the other two, and they soon formed a circle around her. “Yo
u might feel some discomfort and nausea. Try not to open your eyes if you can help it. Hold on to Gemma’s hand tightly. This will be over before you know it.”

  “I hope so,” Olivia whispered.

  She chose not to speak anymore after that. They had only told her to keep her eyes closed, but she had no idea what could happen to her mouth if kept open. She had to stay strong, if only so she could save Donnie. For a second, she heard someone breathing, and then there was nothing. Her feet felt like they were off the ground, and wind was blowing around her. A wave of nausea hit her at that moment, but she kept it all inside. It burned inside her throat as she was floating around in the air. She kept her grip on Gemma the entire time. The temperature was also changing around her, from extremely hot to freezing cold. Her heart was beating fast, and she could feel the sweat dripping down her face. It was becoming unbearable now, but she had to hold on. She needed to get to this world while she was awake. She needed to be alive and well if she was going to save Donnie. After what seemed like a few minutes, her feet touched some solid ground. It felt wet and soft, but she knew that she had landed somewhere else. She prayed that it was the Frostland.

  “You may open your eyes now,” Ms. Howard said.

  Olivia did as instructed, and was promptly hit with a blast of arctic air. Before she could complain, Gemma threw a snowball at her head. “Oops, you aren’t fast enough, dear!”

  “What the—”

  She was annoyed, but when the second snowball hit her, she laughed. They were all here with her. This world was covered in ice and snow, and they were standing around, throwing snowballs. “Okay, you guys, you got me! How did you get in my dreams?”

  “This isn’t a dream, Olivia,” Alice informed her. “Look around and take it all in.”

  She did take a look and saw that they were in the middle of a village. This was not like any place she had ever lived before. It felt like she had gone back in time to before electricity had been invented. There were no cars or sidewalks in this place. People were walking around, but they were all bundled up, and barely paid attention to her. Most of the light came from the lanterns they were holding. She rubbed her arms to stay warm and tried to make sense of this new world. Everything had snow on it. There was a sun in the sky, but it clearly didn’t provide much warmth.

  The stores and houses were all made of wood like she’d expected, but she couldn’t make out the designs. Still, she didn’t feel scared. This was the strange thing—the people were real, yet the animals were not made of flesh and bone. Instead, they were made of ice and snow, just like in Olivia’s dream. There were squirrels and birds of ice all over the place. Despite what they were made of, they still acted like normal squirrels and birds would. She even saw some dogs made out of snow running around. There was some light snow falling, but everything seemed to be alive and well. This dream world felt real to her, even if it was old-fashioned. At least now they had people they could talk to and get help from. Olivia shivered from the cold and let out a sneeze.

  “Whoa!” Olivia whistled, looking around the frozen world. It wasn’t the same place she’d seen before, but they had made it. This time, she knew she was awake. It really did feel cold, and she wasn’t wearing that stupid dress from her dreams. She cursed herself for not taking a coat. A frost world was expected to be cold, after all.

  Next to her, Ms. Howard looked around and found a shop on the corner. The lights were still on, and people were going inside it. Unlike Olivia, she didn’t seem to be bothered by the cold. Alice and Gemma were all right as well. They were all playing it cool and acting like they had been in this world before. Olivia wiped her nose and tried to stay still. If they could, why couldn’t she? Unfortunately, she wasn’t doing such a great job. After a second, she sneezed again.

  Ms. Howard finally noticed her and took some pity. “I think we should warm up in that shop over there. Olivia isn’t used to such harsh conditions.” She said, nodding at the shop. “Not to mention, we can get some directions and an idea of what this place is like.”

  “Oh, good. We’ll also need to get some supplies.” Alice said, handing Olivia a handkerchief. “Get this poor thing wrapped up. We haven’t even been here for five minutes, and she’s already caught a cold. We don’t need her to get any sicker.”

  “Yeah, a coat would be really good right about now. I forgot I wasn’t dreaming.” Olivia shivered visibly. It was a good thing that the weather was calm and that they had ended up in a place with shops. “Wait, how are we going to pay for it? I can’t remember where I put that bag of coins. It certainly wasn’t here.”

  “Don’t worry about how we’ll pay for things, dear.” Alice said, leading the way. “Don’t you remember that we’ve done this before? We’ve traveled from world to world and know how currency works in each one. We have enough coins to get us by around here. Of course, we will collect more along the way. Let’s see—we’ll all need some winter clothes, and I think we should get a tent as well. In case we don’t find an inn on the way, we will need a place to sleep.”

  “Don’t forget lanterns,” Gemma added. “We can’t go through the woods without them.”

  “Right, it’s about to get dark. If all the inns are full tonight, we’ll camp out near the woods,” Ms. Howard agreed as they approached the shop. “Remember not to overdo it on anything. That’s usually a sign that you might have a lot of money, and we don’t want to give that impression.”

  Olivia nodded, although she wondered where they had gotten the money. While they probably knew how currency worked in each world, she had no idea how they had coins. She still didn’t have that bag of coins that Jei had given her. Then again, she was now in a brand new place. Her coins had probably been stolen by now. She felt stupid for leaving them behind, but she had no idea how to take them out of a dream world. Not wanting to question anything at the moment, she stepped inside the shop and instantly felt warm. There was a roaring fire in a fireplace near the corner, and some people were gathered around it. The store smelled of pumpkin and spices, and was decorated with all kinds of twinkling lights and dangling items. The atmosphere was starting to clear up her sinuses, and she didn’t want to leave.

  Her mind flashed back to Donnie, and she straightened up. No matter how bad she felt, he probably had it worse right now. She needed to get to him. She needed to save him before someone decided to hurt him. There was a pain inside her chest every time she thought about what kind of hell he was going through. If he was here in this world, then he was alone. At the very least, he was lost. Hopefully, he wasn’t injured or dead. Her own world would come crashing down if he died here. She didn’t know why, but she couldn’t imagine him gone from her life. They still had so much left to do together, and they needed all the time in the world for that.

  Sniffling, she stood up. What is wrong with me? Why am I having these thoughts? I want to save Donnie, but I’m acting like his wife! She pushed all those thoughts out of her mind and tried to focus on the coats before her. There were so many different kinds, and she couldn’t decide which one she wanted. All of them were thick and designed to protect her from the harsh cold. She tried a black and gray one on and felt warmer instantly. This one also fit her nicely, so she knew it was the right coat. She nodded towards Ms. Howard and handed it to her.

  “I think I found what I wanted.”

  “Wonderful! That coat is made for you!” Ms. Howard said, showing her the gloves, scarf, and boots she had chosen. “These will go well with it. Do you want to try them on?”

  “Oh no, they look like they’ll be my size.” Olivia held up one of the gloves and saw that it was a little bigger than her hand. That would be fine. As long as it covered her up, that was all she cared about. Together, they went to the front counter where Alice and Gemma were waiting. They had gotten everything else together very quickly.

  “Welcome!” the shop owner greeted them. He was an older man who had bright red cheeks and a white beard. For some reason, Olivia thought that it was San
ta Claus himself standing behind the counter. There was something about his demeanor that made her think she could trust him. “How can I be of service to you?”

  “We’re going to buy these winter clothes, a tent, and some lanterns,” Alice said. “We have a long journey ahead of us.”

  “A long journey, you say? You must be trying to find the Frost Queen.” He began to count up everything that they had.

  “How did you know that?”

  “That’s the only reason why anyone around here goes on a long journey. So many people have tried to find her castle, yet they never can. She’s done a great job of hiding it in the woods. Might I suggest that you get some medicine and potions while you’re here? I don’t want to scare you, but if you’re going into the woods, you might run into some unpleasant creatures. They don’t like it when people walk into their areas, so it’s best to be prepared.” Carefully, he added up the prices by hand. Olivia noticed that he didn’t have a cash register, so he had to do this by himself. He was calculating everything quickly, and soon circled the final number. “That will be 1500 gold coins.”

  “Can you hold off on payment for a second? It sounds like we should have more than just potions,” Ms. Howard said. “By any chance, do you have anything that we can use to hunt with?”

  “Go down the third aisle. I guarantee you will find something you’ll like.” As the others went to get more things, Olivia looked around the shop and saw something hanging on the wall. It was a picture of a woman’s lips with a heart-shaped ice cube around it. She wanted to know if this was the Hearts Under Ice, but knew it couldn’t be. This was only one heart. She assumed there had to be two, and possibly more.

  “Don’t worry too much about the picture.” The owner said, pushing their things to the side. “It doesn’t really mean much. Someone painted that picture about a year ago, and I decided to hang it. We decided to make it the symbol of the Frost Queen. You’ll see it in almost every shop and home here.”