Snowflake Freezes Up

by Joan Holub

  She shook her head. “Like Mermily said, most charms take a long time to come to students, and I’ve only been here a week. I’m not so sure about the good of heart part, either.”

  “Don’t be silly,” said Cinda. “Of course you’re good of heart.”

  Snowflake shrugged. Cinda didn’t know about the trouble Snowflake had caused at her old school.

  “There’s one way to find out if it’s your charm. Try to make it do something magical,” suggested Rapunzel.

  “Here? In the library?” asked Snowflake. The others all nodded.

  “Um, okay.” Standing back from them, she waved the wand in the air in a figure-eight shape. Nothing happened.

  “Try giving it instructions. In rhyme,” Cinda prompted.

  Snowflake thought for a minute.

  “Bestow snow,” she commanded. She waved it again. It began to snow in the library! But only on her, Cinda, Rapunzel, and Mermily.

  “It’s like standing in the shower, only with snow instead of water coming down,” said Mermily. She stepped out of the snow shower for a moment, and then back inside again.

  Cinda and Rapunzel began scooping up the big fat flakes of snow at their feet to make snowballs. Falling snow always seems to make people happy, thought Snowflake. It had perked up her spirits, too!

  Tap. Tap. Tap. Mr. Hump-Dumpty, the egg-shaped History teacher walked up to them. He wore an orange tunic and tapped his snazzy walking stick on the library floor with every other step, just as Wolfgang had done during Drama when he’d imitated him. The egg-teacher’s shell was cracked in a few places, including across his forehead. Now it cracked a little more as he knit his brow in concern.

  “Snow is not allowed in the library, girls! Wet floors are eggstra slippery and can be eggstremely, eggcessively dangerous. So please take your snow with you out the nearest eggxit!” He pointed the end of his walking stick toward the library door.

  “Sorry, sir,” said Snowflake. She thought it was a little strange when he didn’t appear surprised that it was snowing indoors. But magic was pretty much an everyday occurrence at the Academy. He’d probably seen plenty of things just as unusual!

  The snow shower followed the girls out into the hall. Rapunzel smiled. “Can you make it stop?” she asked Snowflake. “My hair’s getting a little damp.”

  “I’ll try.” Snow waved the wand again, but the snow didn’t stop.

  “Maybe say more magic words?” suggested Mermily.

  “And make them a rhyming command again,” added Cinda.

  Snowflake pointed the wand toward an open window along the hall. “Go, snow!”

  The small snow shower immediately whooshed out the window. The girls hurried over and gazed outside, watching it blow across the lawn.

  “Think it’ll just keep going forever?” Rapunzel asked.

  “Who knows?” Snowflake replied.

  Soon the snow was over the Once Upon River, halfway between Heart Island and Maze Island. That gave Snowflake an idea. She poked her flakey wand out the window and waved it, saying:

  “Snow, turn to ice, quick as a wink

  And make us a perfect skating rink!”

  The snow halted and dropped into the river. A small patch of ice formed where it fell and proceeded to spread outward.

  “Uh-oh, what if it turns the whole river to ice?” fretted Mermily. “I like swimming out there.”

  Luckily, the ice patch stopped growing once it had become a small island.

  “A skating rink!” squealed Cinda.

  “I’ve never tried skating,” said Rapunzel.

  “Me either, but there’s a first time for everything,” said Snowflake.

  Mermily grinned. “So what are we waiting for? Mr. Hump-Dumpty gave us permission to eggxit, right? Let’s go!”

  Snowflake followed her friends — no, acquaintances — as they stashed their stuff in their trunkers and dashed outside. By then, other students had noticed the ice patch in the river and were leaning out classroom windows to get a better view.

  “What is it?” Snow White called down to the girls.

  “Looks like an island of ice!” Dragonbreath yelled from one window over.

  “Yeah! Snowflake made it with her magical charm!” Rapunzel called up to them.

  “Grimmtabulous!” Rose shouted from a window on the second floor. Beyond her, they could hear the teacher, Ms. Queenharts, shouting about how shouting was unmannerly.

  A new, low sound reached their ears. It was the Hickory Dickory Dock clock bonging that it was time for fifth-period classes to begin. The girls’ shoulders slumped, and they started to return indoors.

  But then, Prince Awesome bounded out of Pink Castle and called, “Principal R heard about the ice patch and canceled fifth and sixth periods so we can explore it!”

  Whoops went up from students all over the Academy. Everyone disappeared from the windows and flooded outside. Snowflake, Rapunzel, Cinda, and Mermily scurried to the riverbank and hopped into a swan boat. Red Riding Hood, Rose, Goldilocks, and Mary Mary caught up and took a boat right next to them.

  “When we get to the island, I’ll transport skates for everyone with my basket,” Red Riding Hood called. Her basket was safely looped over her arm again.

  “Good thing — we’ll need them!” Cinda told Red as they pushed away from shore.

  Red Riding Hood laughed. As her group got ready to shove off, she called across to Snowflake, “Hey, where’s your bunny?”

  “In my room,” Snowflake replied without thinking. Then she sent Mary Mary a guilty glance. Why she should feel guilty, she wasn’t sure. Because it was Mary Mary’s grumpiness that had pushed her out of sharing that girl’s dorm room in Emerald Tower in the first place. Snowflake was not going to stay where she wasn’t wanted!

  Mary Mary scowled as her boat kept pace with Snowflake’s. Her eyes still had that strange glazed look from earlier as she glared at Snowflake’s wand. “So that’s your charm?” she snapped. “Humpf! I thought those only came to students who were good of heart.”

  Snowflake drew in a sharp breath, feeling like she’d been stung by some of those albino bees she’d stirred up back at her village.

  Rapunzel sent Mary Mary a disapproving look. “Well, that was kind of snippy, even for you.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the contrary girl sniffed.

  Oddly enough, Snowflake had a feeling Mary Mary really didn’t know she’d been acting extra rude lately. Did it have something to do with that new glaze in her gaze? Or was it possible that her contrariness was simply a defense mechanism so she wouldn’t feel hurt if no one wanted to be her friend? That was something Snowflake could understand. She pushed people away on purpose, too. Sigh. At some point, they were going to have to talk this out. Even though she’d really rather avoid friendship drama. Especially when she had her own stuff to deal with!

  “I’m sure Mary Mary didn’t mean to be mean,” Cinda said as the girls paddled farther out into the river, pulling ahead of the other boats. Mermily nodded, sending Snowflake a concerned look.

  “Forget her. Let’s go have some fun!” With enthusiasm, Rapunzel dug her paddle deep in the water, and their boat shot forward.

  They rowed out to the middle of the Once Upon River and were the first of all the boats to reach the icy shore of the new island Snowflake had made. Quickly, they disembarked.

  The minute Snowflake stepped onto the ice, she began to slip and slide. “Whoa!” she said as she nearly fell. Her companions were grabbing onto one another, trying to keep from falling, too. While the girls slipped and slid on the ice, more boats landed and students got out.

  Snowflake had been gazing down at her feet as they began to slide out from under her yet again when a strong hand took hold of her arm. She looked up into a pair of sparkly green eyes. Prince Dragonbreath’s eyes.

  “Thanks for the save,” she said after he steadied her.

  “You’re welcome.” He smiled at her, then let go of her arm
.

  Immediately, she started to slip again. “Whoa!” Reaching out, she grabbed both of his hands while still managing to hold on to her wand. Suddenly, she felt an odd added weight beneath her feet. She glanced down. “Hey!” she exclaimed, “Something’s happening to my slippers! They’re turning into …”

  “Ice skates! My boots are, too!” said Dragonbreath, looking down. Delighted giggles and exclamations sounded all around them as everyone else’s footwear was magically transformed into skates, too.

  “How is this happening?” wondered Snowflake. She relaxed her grip on his hands a bit, but still didn’t let go.

  “I think it’s this ice you made,” Dragonbreath told her. “It must be magic. The minute you step on it, your boots, slippers, or whatever transform into skates!”

  A thrill shot through Snowflake. Her magic had done this? The two of them watched as students bladed away on their newly-made skates. When Red zoomed past, her bright crimson cape billowed out behind her. Rapunzel soon caught up to her and glided expertly around the rink, her dark hair whipping in the breeze. But she had said she’d never skated before!

  Pleased murmurs of “I didn’t know if I could do this, but it’s easy!” reached Snowflake’s ears as more and more students took to the ice wearing magic skates.

  As Cinda, Snow White, and Mermily skated by arm in arm, they called to her. “Grab on!”

  Snowflake finally let go of Dragonbreath’s hands. To her surprise, she skated smoothly out onto the ice on her own. It really was easy. Were the skates magical, too?

  She caught Cinda’s hand and soon picked up speed, zooming around the rink with her and the others. The skates did have magic in them, she decided. She’d never skated before, and she couldn’t have learned this fast. In no time at all, she was performing twirls and figure eights, even jumps!

  Before long, Mr. Hump-Dumpty joined the students on the island. Not to skate, though. It seemed he was concerned for their safety and had appointed himself security eggspert. He stood on the outskirts of the ice and pointed his snazzy walking stick at students every so often. “Slow down! Not so close to the edge, boys! No triple jumps, girls! Everyone skate counterclockwise. No eggceptions!”

  Snowflake paused in the middle of the rink after a while to catch her breath and watch the other skaters circling her. Wouldn’t it be fun to add more icy features to this island? she thought. Her mind began to form pictures of a castle that could stand at the rink’s center, while students skated around and around it. She knew exactly how it should look.

  Could the wand execute her idea for her? There was only one way to find out. She pointed her wand toward the spot where she wanted her castle to stand, then chanted:

  “Wand, please use your magic powers

  To build a castle with four towers!”

  A loud cracking, crunching sound came from the very spot where she’d been pointing her snowflake wand. Then, whoosh! An ice castle shot up through the island’s center to stand several stories tall.

  “Nice,” Snowflake murmured to herself, smiling. Built exactly as she’d imagined it, it was square at the base, three stories high, and had one turreted tower at each of its four corners. And all was made of white ice that glistened in the sunlight.

  “Careful! Watch out, everyone!” Mr. Hump-Dumpty yelled when he first saw the castle shoot up. But after a moment he proclaimed it, “An eggsellent addition to the island!”

  Students began skating around the castle, oohing and aahing. As pleased as Snowflake was with her creation, ideas for small changes and improvements were already forming in her head. She waved her wand again causing a fifth central tower and crenellated battlements to form. After brief consideration, she sloped the roof more, giving it a cute upward curl all along its bottom edge. Lastly, she added heart-shaped windows in each tower.

  “Nice work!” called Dragonbreath, skating over.

  “It’s gorgeous!” enthused Cinda as she and Snow White slid up on Snowflake’s other side. More students exclaimed over her castle and shouted out compliments, too.

  “I couldn’t have done it without this magic wand,” Snowflake disclaimed.

  “But it was your idea,” Cinda insisted. “You designed it.”

  “Yeah, you and your wand worked as a team!” Snow White declared.

  Snowflake smiled as happiness filled her. She and her wand did make a pretty good team. She had always loved designing buildings in her mind or on paper, but she’d never been able to actually build them until her magical charm came along. It was like a grimmazing tool, moving ice blocks into position that normally would be too heavy or unwieldy for her to even budge. She was still the one who decided how to put those blocks together to make things, though. The ideas were truly hers.

  “Three cheers for Snowflake and her Ice Island!” shouted Dragonbreath, punching a fist in the air. In response, students whooped and clapped enthusiastically.

  Snowflake sent him a smile. “Ice Island. I like the sound of that.”

  “Ice melts eventually,” she heard Mary Mary mutter somewhere behind her.

  True, thought Snowflake. But they could all enjoy the island for as long as it lasted, right? Already, ideas for designing the inside of the castle had begun to dance in her mind. She could hardly wait to try them out!

  Unnoticed by the students whizzing around on the island rink, Jack Frost sat atop the ice castle roof, thinking hard. He’d lost track of this Snowflake girl after the incident in her Drama class. Naturally, he’d wasted no time in flitting over to the island when he’d seen her and these other students boating out here.

  So, she’d created all this, hmm? Who was she? And where did she get such powers?

  He lay on his back, crossed one pointy boot over his opposite knee, and slid down the castle’s sloped roof. It curved upward along its bottom edge, causing him to go swooping up into the air when he reached the end. Whee! He flew back up to the roof’s peak and slid down again, his mind working all the while on the question of which character in literature this girl might actually be. Something she didn’t even seem to know herself.

  Snowflake. Snow. Flakes. Ice. Castle. Ice castle. Snow …

  Suddenly, it came to him. Frosty icicle bicycles! He’d guessed who she was!

  Jack Frost dug his boot heels into the ice roof and skidded to a stop. Then he shot up in the air and did head-over-heel flips around the central ice tower till he was dizzy with joy. Because Snowflake, as she called herself, was going be his ticket to evil stardom!

  From high above the skating rink below, he watched her help Prince Foulsmell stand after he’d fallen on the ice. Hmm, that wasn’t something the most evil person left in Grimmlandia should be doing. If she was as clueless about her destiny as she seemed to be, she had to be told before she went too far over to the good side.

  And he was just the one to break the good, er, evil news to her!

  Snowflake gazed up at her ice castle’s five pointed towers. The exterior was done for now, but excitement flurried inside her as she continued contemplating how she might design the inside of the castle. First, however, she needed a way in. She lifted her wand. Using its magic, she traced an outline of a shapely arched door in the center of the castle’s front wall. But try as she might to pry it open, the door stayed firmly shut.

  Just then, Prince Dragonbreath whizzed by. He and some other boys had begun to play ice hockey with a puck and sticks that one of them had brought over from the Academy. Whack! He passed the puck off to another player.

  Noticing her struggle, he called to her. “Need some help?” He skated backward until he was in front of the castle. “Stand aside,” he warned her as he came even with the outlined door. She glided out of the way right in the nick of time.

  Zzzt! He let out a stream of fiery dragon breath. The fire traced the outline she’d drawn exactly. Cutting all the way through the thick ice, it zipped up one side, across the top, and down the other in mere seconds.

  Taken by surprise, Snowfla
ke gasped and cringed from the fire in fear. Luckily, Dragonbreath didn’t notice. Already he’d turned his attention back to the hockey puck, which had sailed his way once more. He gave it a good whack and then headed off to continue the game just as a door-size chunk of ice fell outward from the castle like a drawbridge. Ka-chunk!

  Alone, Snowflake stepped inside her castle for the very first time. Her skates instantly transformed back into slippers. There was to be no skating indoors apparently. Mr. Hump-Dumpty would approve of this precaution, she thought with a smile.

  She could see her breath in here. It was chilly, but for some reason, the cold air felt comfy and cozy to her. A good “fit,” as Ms. Goose might say.

  The inside of the castle was just one big hollow space right now. But she had grand plans for what she could do with it. Namely, add balconies, chandeliers, knight statues, and circular staircases, all carved from ice!

  Ka-chunk! Ka-chunk! With a wave of her wand, she caused blocks of ice to magically form, reshape, and move wherever she wanted them to go. She created stairs, passageways, and many rooms, all dusted with bright, beautiful sparkles. Taking a break, she gazed around. A thrill swept through her. With the help of her wand, she’d done this. And it was beautiful!

  She climbed up the grand staircase she’d made to the central tower and stood at its heart-shaped window to gaze out over the ice. Though it was late afternoon, the sun still shone brightly. Her island looked like a brilliant white winter wonderland!

  Things were looking up for her. Maybe she had finally found the building material she’d needed all along to realize her dreams of becoming a real architect, she thought happily. And that material, of course, was ice.

  “Too bad this will all melt away soon,” she said to her snowflake wand. Her voice echoed through the ice cavern.

  “Who said it has to?” said a small voice.