First Frost (24 page)

“I smell bad.” Ming wrinkled her nose and sniffed underneath her arms. She scrunched up her face as though she had just eaten a sour lemon.

“Yeah…I know,” Bianca replied.

“If I could move my feet…I’d kick you.”

Bianca laughed.

“Did Old Woman teach you how to conjure up water? Cuz I could sure use a bath.”

“Not the kind of water you wanna use for a bath.”

Ming shrugged. “Figures. I hope she taught you other useful stuff.”

“I thought it was.”

“What time is it?”

“Four o’clock in the morning.”

“Old Woman freezing time really did a number on our schedule, huh?”

“Yeah, but we’ll be all right. I’m going to set up the brick house. It would be good if we got some rest and got back on a normal schedule, you know what I mean?”

Ming nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

Bianca got up and grabbed the third little pig’s brick out of her backpack and set it down on the only bit of flat ground she could find. She got everyone to hold hands momentarily, and she chanted the spell that unlocked the magic inside the brick.

Terrance wandered off away from the group. His moment of elation was soon forgotten, and he went back to being shy and withdrawn. Bianca liked seeing Terrance smiling. She liked the cheerful version of him a lot more than this strange recluse that walked away from her.

“Hey,” Bianca said as she followed quickly behind him.

“Oh, hello.” Terrance turned around and gave her a smile that she knew wasn’t genuine.

“Are you okay?”

“Fine, fine, perfectly fine. Why do you ask?”

“First of all you just said fine, so that lets me know that you’re not in fact…fine. Second of all, you tend to walk away from people when you’re sad.”

“Nothing gets past you, Bianca.”

“It’s an annoying gift. So…you wanna talk about it?”

“It’s not something you can fix if that’s what your intentions are.”

Bianca said nothing. She just stood there and waited for him to say what he wanted to say.

“I forgot,” he whispered.

“Forgot?” she echoed.

“I forgot I was different from everyone else. For a single moment, I didn’t think about who I was, who my father or grandfather is, or where I come from. All I could feel was the ground beneath my feet, the wind at my back, and the sky above my head. It’s the only time I’m ever truly happy.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Why are
you
sorry? It’s not your fault.”

“I still feel bad that you’re upset,” she replied.

Terrance smoothed his hair back. He lifted his gaze toward the midnight blue sky.

Bianca smiled warmly at him and extended her hand to him. “Come on. It’s getting late,” she said softly.

Terrance gladly accepted her hand in his and followed her inside the house.

They rested in the safety of the brick house and then early in the afternoon, they trekked to the other side of the mountain until they reached a canyon.

“Whoa,” Bianca gasped in amazement as she looked down and saw the raging river and rocky ground below them. “How far down do you think it is?”

“I don’t know thirty, forty feet? I’m not sure, I left my measuring tape at home,” Ming replied.

“Don’t be a smartass.” Bianca narrowed her eyes and then pinched Ming lightly on the arm.

Bianca looked around and found a huge oak tree. “That should hold us…right?”

“I think so. It looks strong enough,” Ming said.

Bianca looked in her backpack and pulled out Rapunzel’s hair.

Ming’s dark brown eyes grew wide in surprise. “Is that what I think it is?”

“It sure is. Don’t tell my mom. She’ll
kill
me.”

“I’m not saying anything. I’m not getting involved in this craziness.”

“Umm…Terrance?” Bianca said.

“Yes?”

“How good are you at tying knots?”

“Not good at all, actually. But Prince Ferdinand may be of some assistance. Your Highness?”

“Hmm?” The prince turned away from the scene before him and gave his attention to his friend.

“You’ve been sailing. Do you think you could help us with some knots?” Terrance asked.

“I feel confident enough to say I can tie a knot secure enough to hold all of us,” he replied.

“Awesome.” Bianca handed him Rapunzel’s braided hair.

Prince Ferdinand took a moment to study the famous hair he held in his hands. Bianca could see the way he marveled over each strand of hair. How it glinted in the sunlight. Each strand brighter than the last.

“You okay?” Bianca asked.

“You read these stories…they are a part of our history—at least here in my world, and you feel as though it couldn’t possibly be true and yet…here’s proof.”

“I know exactly how you feel,” Bianca replied.

Prince Ferdinand shook himself back into to the present and tied a knot around the tree trunk. He tested it by pulling as hard as he could.

“It’ll hold,” he announced.

Bianca took the hair from the prince’s hands and chanted the spell.

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel
Let down your hair
So that I may climb
The golden stair.”

The hair then grew four times in length. She walked to the edge of the cliff and threw the thick lock of blond hair off the edge. She stood and watched as it twirled and performed a snake-like dance all the way to the bottom.

“What about your dad? He can’t climb down…” Ming said.

“Crap.” Bianca turned her attention to her father. “Dad…oh, God. I’m so sorry, I forgot.”

He shook his head and nudged her toward her friends.

“But what are you going to do?” she asked.

He sat down by the tree and growled. He opened his mouth wide, revealing perfect pink gums, a long mauve tongue and row after row of sharp white teeth. Nothing was going to get past him, of that Bianca was certain.

“Stand guard? Make sure no one touches the hair?”

He nodded. Bianca thought about it for a moment, and she was going to stick to her no-one-gets-left-behind plan.

“No, Dad. We’ll figure something out.” Bianca turned to her friends and asked, “Any ideas?”

Ming’s eyes grew large as an idea came to her. She jumped up and down and raised her hand in excitement.

“Yes?” Bianca said.

“A harness! We can use the hair like a rope and tie it around your dad,” she said.

“He weighs a ton. Are we all strong enough to lower him all the way down?” Bianca replied.

“Oh…yeah.” Ming looked defeated.

“Hey,” she said softly as she patted Ming on the shoulder, “it’s a great idea, but we gotta find a way to make it work so Dad doesn’t get hurt.” Bianca put her arm around Ming and gave her a gentle squeeze.

David walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down. Bianca frowned.
What is he looking for?
She then noticed that his eyes were focused on the river at the bottom of the canyon.

“Daddy…no. We’ll figure something else out.”

David huffed and walked away. Bianca let out a sigh of relief and tried to think of other ways they could all get down safely when all of a sudden a black blur ran past her and jumped off the side of the canyon.

Bianca screamed and ran after her father. “No, no, no!” She stopped at the very edge of the cliff and reached out as though she could somehow catch her father midflight and pull him back to safety, but all she touched was air and empty space. Her stomach dropped. She watched in horror as her father soared through the air and landed right in the middle of the river with a huge splash. Bianca stared at the river and willed her father to float up to the surface. She covered her eyes and shook her head.

This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening.

“Oh, my God. He’s dead, isn’t he? I can’t look. Is he dead?”

“No, he’s fine. He’s finally out of the water.” Ming giggled. “He’s shaking the water off his fur like a puppy on shore.”

Bianca finally pried her hands off her eyes and looked to where Ming pointed. And just like Ming said, there he was safe, alive and looking very satisfied with himself.

“You’re crazy!” Bianca shouted.

His reply was a mix between a bark and a laugh.

“Not funny,” Bianca shouted back. She turned her attention back to Ming, Terrance and Prince Ferdinand. “All right, well, at least we got that part figured out.”

“I’ll go first,” Terrance offered. He took a deep breath and climbed down the cliff. When he reached the bottom safely, Prince Ferdinand was next, followed by Ming and lastly Bianca.

She wasn’t a fan of heights.

“It’s okay…I’m just using indestructible hair as though it were any regular ol’ piece of rope. No safety harness to make sure I don’t fall down and
die
,” Bianca muttered as she slowly climbed down.

Bianca took a moment and looked at the emerald hills and the aquamarine sky. She memorized every detail so she could draw it the moment she returned home. She was finally hitting her stride and becoming comfortable climbing when all of a sudden a gust of wind caused her to slam against the side of the canyon. A sharp edge sliced through her right arm, and she shrieked with pain. She then made the fatal mistake of looking down. Her vision swirled and her heart dropped to her stomach. Bianca closed her eyes tightly and wrapped herself around the long braid of hair. She hung on for dear life. She took several deep breaths and then opened her eyes. She needed to snap out of it, fast.

“I think I’m gonna throw up!” she shouted as she looked down to where her friends were.

“Don’t blow chunks down here, B. I didn’t bring any shampoo so if I smell like vomit I’m gonna have to stop being friends with you for a while. I mean it,” Ming shouted back.

“I’ll try.”

“Don’t…blow…chunks!” Ming shouted.

She had to agree with Ming. It would suck if she had to spend the rest of their journey smelling like Bianca’s bile. She thought of other things that made her happy as she climbed down. Warm jeans when they come out of the dryer on a cold winter’s day. Hot showers. Snowball fights. Hot chocolate with marshmallows on a snowy day. Her mother’s laughter. She couldn’t help but smile when she thought of Rose. She focused on thoughts about her mother. She thought of everything she wanted to say to her. She even had an imaginary conversation with Rose inside her head as she continued her climb down the side of the cliff. Before she realized it, she was at the bottom.

“I made it,” she said nearly fainting with relief.

“And you didn’t throw up on me. Good job, B.” Ming patted Bianca on the shoulder.

“God, that was scary,” Bianca admitted.

“What about Rapunzel’s hair?” Prince Ferdinand asked.

“I guess we have to leave it here. It’ll be all right. I can’t worry about that right now. Come on, let’s go,” Bianca replied.

Without even glancing back at the long, lustrous lock of hair that dangled gracefully in the wind, she headed toward the unknown: Lenore’s castle.

Chapter Twenty

Lenore gathered all of the saliva in her mouth and spat into her black cauldron.

“Stupid little bitch! Spying on me. She probably thinks she’s so smart. I’ll show her. I’ll show them all!” she snarled.

Lenore made her way down to the dungeon. There was one final ingredient she was going to need to complete the spell she was working on. She unlocked the door and opened it wide. In the middle of a tiny pool of light was Rose Frost, her prisoner. She never thought she would ever see the day that she would finally bring down the Frost family. Now, it looked like she would finally achieve what Queen Mirabel could never do.

Rose lifted her battered face and stared at her captor. The hatred she held for Lenore burned in her emerald eyes.