Hearts Under Ice

by CS Patra

  As they left town, she took one last look at it and prayed that things would be fine. Thymasa was going to be safe as long as the Queen kept her spell over it. She would hate to see such a beautiful place in ruins. There was just one thing that didn’t seem to make sense to Olivia. No one seemed to know if this town would ever lose the snow and ice. They had accepted being stuck in an eternal winter. She wondered if Astrid and Jei had ever seen the sun stay out long enough to melt anything. Jei had brushed her question aside, yet he had done it so quickly that it seemed like he was avoiding it.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Olivia spent the next couple of hours napping. She was trying to find out where Donnie was, and she figured that if the Brotherhood could send her messages here, then so could he. It had happened once before, and now she needed to get him a little more information. At the very least, she needed to know that he was alive. She had Jei’s word, but that wasn’t enough. She needed to know for herself. She kept drifting in and out of sleep because of the bumps on the road. During one moment while she was awake, she tried to send a mental message to Donnie.

  Donnie—if you can hear me, please send me a message…say anything.

  She heard nothing, so she kept trying.

  If you do hear this, just know that I’m on my way. Don’t give the Brotherhood of Iced Blood anything. They’ll threaten you, but you’ll have to stay strong. Don’t let them get near the Hearts Under Ice.

  After five seconds, she heard something.

  Olivia?

  Donnie? Did you hear me?

  Bits—and pieces. Are you okay?

  Yes.

  She wanted to wake up due to her excitement, but stayed asleep. She needed to get the message across.

  Donnie, I’m in the Frostland, and on my way to you. I don’t want to give away too much, but I’m here. I won’t let anything happen to you.

  There were a few minutes of silence, and then Donnie sent another message.

  The Queen was right. You can live in this world with no problem because you have a gift.

  Wait, you spoke to the Queen?

  Yes. She’s the one keeping me safe. Look, we can’t communicate for long. Just know that you have to be careful, and I’m in the one castle that is—

  The sleigh jerked, and Olivia flashed open her eyes. The snow was starting to fall on them, and the reindeer were slowing down. Astrid struggled to get a grip of the reins, and the sleigh was jerking around. Olivia tried to hold on to something as the deer came to a stop. She was breathing hard as the snow continued to land on her shoulders and head. Ms. Howard, who had been up front with Astrid, looked at the group behind them.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah, I just threw my back out again. It’s nothing out of the ordinary.” Alice groaned as she sat up. “What happened? The ride was so smooth.”

  “Sorry, everyone.” Astrid apologized, trying to calm the reindeer down. “They usually don’t get spooked, but I guess that shadowy thing got to them. I have no idea what that was.”

  “Shadowy thing?” Olivia asked. She felt awful for not getting the last bit from Donnie, but this was interesting. “What did it look like?”

  “No clue. It just darted out in front of me, and then the snow started to come down. I’m amazed I was able to slow them down.” She got down from the sleigh and took a look. “Well, I also have bad news. We’re going to need to get this thing fixed.”

  “We don’t have time to get it fixed!” Gemma pointed to the road ahead. “We have no choice but to go the rest of the way on foot.”

  “Are you sure? This snow is not going to stop,” Astrid said. “I want to get there as badly as you do, but we can’t do just barge in there. We need another way.”

  “Can’t we just buy another one?” Olivia asked.

  “Oh yeah, that would be easy if we were in a town. As we’re stuck in the middle of the woods—I don’t think so. Our next town is about two miles from here, and it’s not protected the way Thymasa is.”

  “Great. We really don’t have a choice except to walk.” Alice sighed. “Those ice reindeer could break if we tried to ride them. The snow is also getting heavier. We’re just stuck right now.”

  “Maybe not,” Gemma said hopefully. “If Olivia can get a good idea of what the Queen’s castle looks like, then we can try to travel to that area. The only problem with doing this is that we could inadvertently alert the Brotherhood to our whereabouts. That’s the reason why we’ve been traveling with the sleigh. We needed to keep a low profile.”

  “It’s okay, guys. I have no idea what the Queen’s castle looks like. Didn’t she tell you, Jei?” Olivia asked.

  “No, even I’m not allowed to know what the difference between the castles is. I asked for a hint once, and she refused to budge.” Jei shrugged. “We only two choices now—fix this sleigh so we can get to the next town, or try to get to the castle with Olivia’s teleportation ability. Either we waste time, or we risk being noticed. I’m not fond of either choice.”

  As the others tried to come up with a new plan, Olivia sat down under a tree. Although it was cold and wet, and she didn’t like the feel of tree bark against her back, she was too tired to stand up any longer. Her legs were weak, and her feet hurt. She tried to figure out what Donnie had wanted to say. She felt her heart fluttering at the thought that he was still alive. He would have told her about the castle if she had stayed asleep, but there was no way that she could fall back asleep now. It was too cold, and there was no guarantee that she would even be able to contact Donnie again. She closed her eyes and tried to get back in touch with him. Unfortunately, all she came up with was her own thoughts. She could not get back to him, no matter how hard she tried.

  The only thing that made her feel good was that she had heard his voice. From that alone, he seemed to be okay. He had mentioned that he was in the Queen’s main castle, and she had told him everything. She knew it had to be the right one because he was trying to tell her about the difference. She thought again about the last thing he had tried to say.

  I’m in the one castle that is—

  Her eyes widened as she focused on that sentence. The real castle was different from the others because it was something, not because it had something. The question was, how had he wanted to finish the sentence? Was the castle different because it was square, or was it different because of its color? Or was made of something special? That couldn’t be it, because every castle would be made of ice and snow, she thought. Everything had to be identical. The Queen wouldn’t be foolish enough to make her fortress stand out like that. She had to be clever. If this castle was something, then the difference wouldn’t be visible on the outside.

  So he must have been talking about the inside of the castle! That made a lot more sense. The Queen wouldn’t make her castle different on the outside, so she chose to put the difference inside of it. Thank you, Donnie. Even without telling me everything, you still got the message across.

  “Guys!” Olivia called out to the group, who was now busy fixing the sleigh. The snow was starting to fall harder, but she felt good inside. Just thinking about Donnie was making her happy. “I think I know how we can tell the castles apart!”

  “You do?” Ms. Howard asked, coming to her side. “Did you get in touch with Donovan?”

  “Kind of. He was about to tell me everything before I woke up, but I think I figured it out anyway. He was trying to tell me that he’s in the Queen’s castle, but it’s different because it’s—something.”

  Alice looked unimpressed. “Oh, that’s helpful.”

  “No, you don’t understand. It didn’t make sense at first, but then I thought about what he said. He said it was something, not that it had something. Now, the Queen wouldn’t be foolish enough to make the difference so obvious to people on the outside.”

  “So you’re telling me that the difference is on the inside?” Jei asked. “That means we’d have to go inside each and every one to find out which is different
.”

  “Yeah, that’s the big problem,” she sighed. “In order to see the difference, we’d have to go inside all of them. I know we have a big group now, but I doubt we’ll be able to finish that fast enough. There’s got to be another way to figure out what’s different.”

  “Can you try contacting him again?” Gemma asked.

  “I’ve been trying that for awhile now, but with no luck. I guess I’ve lost my mojo.” She said, looking at the ground. Then a thought hit her. “What does this town produce?”

  “What do you mean?” Astrid asked.

  “Like, what are the imports and exports? What does it trade with other places? I highly doubt all you guys sell is ice and water.”

  “Well, that is one of our exports, but we also have a big mining and lumber industry,” Astrid nodded. “That’s why a lot of people come into our woods. We ship the lumber everywhere.”

  “So it is entirely possible the castle that we’re looking for is made out of wood on the inside,” Olivia noted. “What do people mine around here?”

  “Oh, the usual. Gold, silver, diamonds—all the gems that have been discovered anywhere else,” Astrid said. “Rumor has it that the Hearts Under Ice were found in the mines. No idea who found them or where they ran off to, though.”

  “Then maybe the castle is made of diamonds or something. That could confuse people,” Alice said. “Look, we can ponder all of this later. We need to get to those castles first. The good news is that we think we can work with this sleigh. We tested it, and it’s not perfect, but it will do. At the very least, it will take us as far as the next village.”

  “That sounds good enough for me.” Olivia stood up. The pain in her side had gone away for now, but she knew she wasn’t healed. For the time being, she had to deal with it. She was focused on finding out just which castle Donnie was in, and then figuring out what was going on. Her mind went to the shadow-thing and realized that she still had no idea what that was. “Um, you said a shadow-thing crossed our path earlier, and that’s why we slowed down?”

  “That’s correct,” Astrid said. “I didn’t get a good look at it. It just darted in front of me.”

  Olivia thought about the shadowy character she had seen in her dreams. Even though she had no idea what it looked like, she was sure of its existence. She had crossed paths with it before. She had seen it many times, and wanted to get some answers about it as well. “So it’s back.”

  “What’s back?”

  “I saw that shadow in my dreams, too. I’m sure it’s the same one, and it wanted to tell me something before. I bet that’s why it cut you off. I don’t know what it is, but I think it’s trying to help me,” she surmised. “I wish I knew what it was.”

  “Well, sheesh! You seem to have answers to everything!” Gemma pointed out. “Are you sure you have never been in this world before?”

  “No, I don’t know much beyond what I saw in my dreams. You have to trust me on this!” Olivia insisted. “Guys, I don’t know anything about moving from world to world. Until Donnie mentioned it, I didn’t take much consideration of it. Even when he told me, I was still skeptical. I stayed that way until you guys and my dreams showed me that this is very real. I have no idea why anyone wants me here. I don’t even believe I have special powers. Evidently, I am important, but I have far more questions than answers. I wish I knew more about this Brotherhood. Hell, I wish I knew more about everything.”

  “You’ll get your answers soon enough,” Jei said. “In the meantime, we need to move on. The storm may have slowed down now, but I don’t want to sit around and wait for the next one. Not to mention, I want to get to the next town before it gets dark.”

  “Then why are we still hanging around? Hop on!” Astrid pointed to the sleigh. She helped Olivia sit down, and waited till everyone else was securely inside. “All right, guys. Get ready for the ride of your lives!”

  “Oh, joy.” Alice rolled her eyes as they started to make their way through the snow. Jei had been right—the storm had let up now, but there was still snow falling. This world was fascinating because the snow never seemed to melt. There was a sun all right, and some places felt warm, but nothing frozen turned to water. She wondered if Astrid had ever seen the ground when it wasn’t covered in ice. It was still strange to realize that she was here and that her dream world was real. Donnie had been right all along, and now she was a witness to it. She believed him. She believed that there were many worlds out there, and they now needed to explore each one. Sure, he may have been a scientist by trade, but he believed that the impossible was possible, and that made him a dreamer, as well.

  She realized that Donnie didn’t get the same treatment that she did. He probably hadn’t seen much of the world. He must have woken up inside the prison and was cold, hungry, and scared. He didn’t get the opportunity to make friends or see what this world had to offer. She felt guilty over the fact that she was out here, while he was imprisoned. They needed to be here together to enjoy this. They needed to go through each world as a team, collecting data, and seeing just how they could make each world a better place.

  Your poor thing. You’ve waited your entire life for this, and you haven’t seen any of it. She made herself a promise that once she got him out, they would take a few hours just to check everything out. She would walk down these woods with him and tell him all the things that she had learned. They could spend time in the shops, and admire all of the creatures that were made of ice. It was something that they could enjoy and observe together.

  Blushing, she was feeling more positive now about their mission than ever before. Donnie was going to be saved more quickly than she had originally thought, and they would soon have their time together. Maybe that would have been a great chance to tell him how she really felt. She was conflicted about her feeling toward him. They were just coworkers. He was her boss, and he only shared his dream with her because she would listen. That didn’t mean that he wanted to love her, or date her, or even hold her. They weren’t a couple, no matter what everyone else said or thought. They looked good together, they liked each other’s company, and they could trust each other. But that still didn’t make them a couple.

  The Brotherhood of Iced Blood could attack now if they wanted to. They could jump out from somewhere in the woods and attempt to hurt her. It wouldn’t stop her, though. It wouldn’t shake her confidence, or change her mind. Nothing was going to stop her now.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Donnie had been going around the room nonstop, trying to find a hollow part of the wall. The heat was coming from somewhere. The Queen had told him to stay put, but it was impossible. The room was too empty for him. He was starting to miss the ice prison that he had been in. It wasn’t exactly comfortable, but it wasn’t as dull, either. More than anything, he wanted to explore this world. He wanted to see just what the Frostland was like, and try to understand how people survived in it. He assumed that there was plenty of snow and ice, but he wanted to run around in it. He wanted to talk to the people and check out the architecture. He wanted to know how far they were with technology and industrialization. The Queen had a heating system, so they couldn’t be completely primitive. He needed to see how much more there was out there.

  A part of him was excited, but the rest of him was depressed. He was finally living his dream—he had crossed into another universe—and he couldn’t enjoy it. Instead, he was a prisoner, and live bait for what appeared to be a terrorist group. Well, as much as he seemed to trust the Queen, he couldn’t play this game anymore. He wanted to explore this world. There was a lot of research to do, and he had accomplished nothing so far. The Queen had locked the door, so he couldn’t just waltz out. He needed another way to escape.

  He felt part of the wall again and noticed that it was hollow at one end. “Huh, I think I may have found an exit. Let’s see—if I just put a little force in it—” Donnie pushed against the wall, and it moved. “I knew it! I knew there was a way out!”

 
He continued to push, and the wall moved away to reveal a staircase below. “Okay, this is new! I wonder if this leads outside—well, only one way to find out! Sorry, Your Majesty, but I’m not going to be bait anymore! I need to go home!”

  He started to walk down the steps and noticed that everything was dimly lit. It would have helped if he had a flashlight or something, but at least he could see in front of him. This felt like a stereotypical secret passage, and it wasn’t made of either ice or platinum. He touched the wall and noticed that it was also very warm. This didn’t seem like something that would belong in the Frostland. Now he had no idea if he could actually trust the Queen’s words or not. She might have told him that they were in her castle, but he had no real proof of it. For all he knew, they could have been fooling him the entire time. His previous notion of not being the Frostland might have been right after all.

  I think I might have led Olivia down the wrong path. He realized regrettably, touching the walls again. They were still warm, and he wondered if all the heat was coming from inside this prison. His room didn’t feel that way. All right, Donnie. Get ahold of yourself. You don’t know where you are. You aren’t sure if you believe the Queen or not. At the moment, all you need to do is find a way out of here.

  He kept on walking and noticed that it was getting hotter with each step. He assumed that was not supposed to be the case if he was in the Frostland. The only explanation he could think of was that this was the boiler room, and it meant that he was back to square one in terms of an escape. He wiped his brow and went down the stairs to the bottom, where he saw a door.