Frozen (29 page)

Authors: Erin Bowman

BOOK: Frozen

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This
is my brother. This is what I should have felt that day back in Stonewall: complete ease and sureness. I still don’t know how that Forgery fooled me for even the briefest of moments.

“I hope this isn’t too much for you,” I joke, shoving him. “Given your fragile, recovering state and all.”

He shoves me back. “I’m in working order again. Might even be able to outrun you if you don’t watch yourself.”

“I don’t doubt it. I took a knife to the leg two nights ago.”

This news seems to startle him, and never missing a chance to play big brother, his face flushes with concern. “You doing okay?”

“Yeah. My leg is the least of my worries.”

“Anything you want to talk about?”

Bree steps outside with the rest of our team, carrying our remaining supplies. She shoots me a scowl, and I turn back to Blaine.

“Maybe later.”

He winks, like he already knows everything I have yet to say, and then moves to say hello to the rest of the team. While Adam and Heidi thank Sylvia for her assistance, I help Elijah load the helicopter with our gear.

“New year, new start,” he says after we shake in greeting.

I pause, trying to recall when we fled from Burg and the number of days that have passed since.

“Today’s January first,” Elijah clarifies. “This is the year things turn around for us. I can feel it.”

A new year. What would have been Year 48 in Claysoot. The year I was supposed to be Heisted. The year I grew up fearing because it marked my turning eighteen. But no, I’ll be nineteen this summer. It’s like I blinked and missed twelve months of my own life.

I’m somewhat overwhelmed by it all. Here we are, going west again, moving even farther from the thing we have to fight. But I need to trust that Ryder and Adam know what they are doing. Clearly, I can’t be trusted with heavy things. Not missions, or lives, or people’s hearts.

I glance at Bree. Sammy’s heckling her about something. In fact, he’s been back to his sarcastic self since this morning. I think it might be the armor he’s chosen to wear as he recovers from the shock of the last few days. After a few foul words from him, Bree finally snaps.

“You know I can take you, so don’t push me.”

“Aw, you’re just looking for an excuse to wrestle,” he responds. “I don’t blame you, really. Girls can’t keep their hands off me.”

Bree rolls her eyes and I wish I were Sammy. She used to make that face at me, too. We used to be nothing but playful banter and ridicule. We used to be easy. But I don’t want easy anymore, because I want all of her. Every last drop. Even the pieces that terrify me.

Bree catches me watching her, and her mouth twitches into a tiny grin. She looks away even quicker, but the glance was there, mischievous rather than hostile, and it makes me think I can fix things between us if I try hard enough.

I hear footsteps in the snow and Adam is suddenly at my side, tossing the last few bags into the rig.

“So what happens now?” I ask him.

“Elijah has the details.”

“And I don’t get to know anything?”

“Guess that depends. Sometimes when a person has details, they end up running operations they never intend to.”

I could nod and let it lie. It would be easy enough, and I’m not sure I’m cut out for this type of stuff: knowing specifics, being trusted with missions and things of importance. But I think about my father, how he told me that I am stronger than most, and I feel like I should do this: stay involved,
be
involved. I owe him that.

So I look at Adam and say, “No, tell me. I want to know.”

“We’ll fly for about an hour to a refueling station. Then we’ll head to Pike.” A quick raise of his eyebrows. “Frank isn’t the only one with a domed city, after all.”

Sammy and September mentioned that domed cities sprang up around the country before the War split the land in two. It shouldn’t be surprising to hear that AmWest has one, or that Adam and his Expats seek refuge beneath its dome, but I’m still caught off guard.

“The ocean is right at our door,” Adam adds. “The
real
ocean. Puts that gulf you sailed across to shame.”

I instantly want to see it.

“I think you’ll like it. When the sun hits the water in the evenings, the entire thing lights up orange. But summer is the best: warm winds, calm evenings, loons that can be heard for miles.”

“Loons?” I ask. “Like the bird?”

“That’s the one.”

Adam climbs into the front of the helicopter, and I step into the rear. I take a seat beside Blaine, but I don’t join him when he falls into conversation with Sammy. I’m staring at Bree, who is sitting across the way with the others, staring back. I’m thinking about how trust is delicate but repairable, about how the loons sometimes get separated but then they cry and cry and don’t let up until one hears the other. They always reunite, two halves becoming one.

I cup my hands together and try to reproduce a call. I fail.

But Bree makes one.

The eerie cry fills the space between us, somehow as beautiful and reassuring as it is mournful. It is instantly drowned out by the roar of the helicopter, but Bree and I share a small, knowing smile as we lift into the uncertainties of an overcast sky.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I thought writing these the second time ’round would be easier than with my debut, and I thought wrong. (Turns out everything about sequels is a challenge.)

So much time, attention, and care is required to put a book into the world, and while my name is on
Frozen
’s cover, a small army made the bound product possible.

First and foremost, the wonderful team at HarperTeen/Harper-Collins Children’s. My editor, Erica Sussman, continues to ask all the right questions—sometimes queries I don’t want to hear, but always ones that make the story stronger when I roll up my sleeves and put in the work. Erica, I am forever grateful for your keen eye and sharp intellect. Tyler Infinger, it has been an absolute privilege working with you on this series. Erin Fitzsimmons (and the rest of the design department), you exceeded my expectations once again, and gave
Frozen
a cover I love even more than my first. (I didn’t think it possible.) Christina Colangelo, Casey McIntyre, and all the other dedicated, astute minds who worked tirelessly to bring this sequel to readers: thank you!

My agent, Sara Crowe, whose steadfast guidance and savvy business edge have proved invaluable assets countless times over: thank you for fielding all my ridiculous questions, securing foreign rights, brainstorming everything from plot twists to marketing possibilities, and fighting (when necessary) on my behalf. Every author needs such a champion, and I’m so fortunate to have you in my corner.

Writing is a lonely endeavor, complete with unexpected panic attacks, waterfalls of self-doubt, and lots of staring out windows. (Perhaps enough to rival the time spent staring at blinking cursors.) I’ve found fantastic support groups in Pub(lishing) Crawl and Friday the Thirteeners. Ladies, thank you for talking me off ledges and keeping me sane. Especially Sarah J. Maas and Susan Dennard. You two are my rocks. Of the diamond variety. No,
crystal
s. Kat Zhang, I’m still suffering writer’s envy from the prose you churned out during our workshops while on tour. (This is a good problem. You’ve made me raise my bar.) Alex Bracken and Jodi Meadows, I’m requesting another breakfast and coffee date, respectively. One can never talk books for too long or too often. Marie Lu: you read
Taken
well over a year ago and sent me an email filled with so many kind words upon completion that I’m still grinning. We were mere internet acquaintances back then, and this then-debut was extremely grateful for your time. (I’d hoped to put that in
Taken
’s acknowledgments but missed my window. You know how publishing timelines are.) I’m honored to now call you a friend.

April Tucholke and Jenny Martin: many thanks for critiquing and beta reading. You guys have been on this journey with me (and Gray!) from the beginning, and I’d be scratching my head more than I already do without your advice and cheerleading.

Speaking of encouragement . . . Rob, the dedication for this novel couldn’t be truer. Writing this book wasn’t easy, and you pulled me back to reality when I required a break, and understood when I needed to be locked away in my office, typing by the light of my screen. I’m not sure how many times I said
just five more minutes
, and you nodded, well aware it would be closer to fifty. I’m a lucky girl to have such a patient husband.

Mom and Dad: you guys remain the greatest teachers I know. I owe you so much more than words can adequately express.

Kelsy, who knew I could find a best friend, first reader, and sounding board all in my sister? Love you to the moon and back.

Additional love to my friends (both online and IRL) and extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins, Grandma, in-laws). The support you have shown me and this series is truly remarkable. I need to hire each and every one of you as my backup marketing team. Your guerrilla tactics are gold.

To all the librarians, booksellers, and educators who put young adult novels on their shelves and in the hands of teens: you are real-world superheroes.

And last but certainly not least, a million
thank-you
s to you. Yes,
you
—holding this book and devouring every last word. Thank you for following Gray on this journey. Thank you for your emails and tweets and support and time. Sharing this story with the world is an honor, and none one of it would be possible without readers. Without you.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ERIN BOWMAN
used to tell stories visually as a web designer. Now a full-time writer, she relies solely on words. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband, and when not writing she can often be found hiking, commenting on good typography, and obsessing over all things Harry Potter. She is also the author of
Taken
. You can visit her online at www.embowman.com.

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BOOKS BY ERIN BOWMAN

Taken

Stolen: A Taken Novella

Available as an ebook only

CREDITS

Cover design by Erin Fitzsimmons

HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Frozen

Tree photograph by iStockPhoto

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bowman, Erin.

Frozen / Erin Bowman. — First edition.

pages cm

Sequel to: Taken.

Summary: “Gray Weathersby and a small team of rebels set off on a frozen, icy journey in search of allies to help them take down the cruel Franconian Order—but they quickly learn that no ally or enemy is truly what they seem”— Provided by publisher.

ISBN 978-0-06-211729-8 (hardcover bdg.)

EPUB Edition © FEBRUARY 2014 ISBN 9780062117311

[1. Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. 2. Brothers—Fiction. 3. Government, Resistance to—Fiction. 4. Fantasy.] I. Title.

PZ7.B68347Fr 2014

2013015447

[Fic]—dc23

CIP

Typography by Erin Fitzsimmons

14 15 16 17 18 CG/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1