The Enchantress Returns (33 page)

Red poked her head up from the lower deck. “Are we here?” she said with a big yawn, just waking up from a nap.

“We’ll travel the rest of the way by foot,” Jack said. “A large ship hovering over her lair may cause some attention.”

Goldilocks opened the trunk she had brought onto the ship. She and Jack began tucking away as many weapons as possible: daggers in their boots, knives in their belts, rope around their waists. They both took a lantern and handed one to the twins.

“Are you two sure you’re ready for this?” Jack asked. He was very businesslike, but the twins could sense a paternal hesitation in his voice.

Alex and Conner took a deep breath and nodded. “We’re ready,” they said in unison.

“I don’t think I packed any
snow heels
; I may have to sit this one out,” Red said.

“Great,” Jack said. It was the best news he had heard all day. “Charlie, you should stay with the ship. If we’re not back in a day, come looking for us.”

“Yes, sir,” Froggy said.

Jack looked at Goldilocks and the twins. “All right,” he said. “Follow me.”

They climbed off the ship and headed in the direction of the northern lights. It was hard for Alex and Conner to keep up with Jack and Goldilocks—partially because the snow was hard to walk in and partially because they weren’t used to trekking through the wilderness like Jack and Goldilocks were.

As they continued farther north, the wind became stronger and stronger. It almost knocked them down and the sounds were piercing, like screaming—the Snow Queen’s screaming. Perhaps this was part of that wrathful blizzard they had been warned about.

After a long while of traveling by foot the twins looked up and saw the northern lights circling the sky directly above them. Jack led them into a small opening between two enormous glaciers, and the harsh winds were blocked. It was like walking in a narrow hallway without a ceiling.

“I think it’s this way,” Jack said to his three followers.

They traveled between the glaciers, farther into the mountains of the Snow Queen’s lair. The opening between the glaciers zigzagged through the mountains like an icy labyrinth, twisting and turning every few feet. Alex and Conner couldn’t tell which direction they were walking in anymore. They were afraid they would get lost but saw Goldilocks scraping the glacier wall with a dagger as they traveled, marking the way back out.

They started to hear voices echo through the glacier maze. Jack gestured for them to be as quiet as possible as they walked farther.

The group found themselves entering a large crater in the
middle of the mountains. A frozen river circled the bottom like a snowy floor, and a frozen waterfall spilled inside from the mountain above. There were several pillars of ice surrounding the frozen river.

Everything was white so it was hard to make out what they were seeing at first. But as her eyes began to focus, Alex had to stifle a scream. At the base of the frozen waterfall, the ice flowed into a gigantic chair on which the Snow Queen herself was sitting. They were on the edge of an icy throne room.

Upon seeing her, Jack and Goldilocks dove behind one ice pillar and the twins hid behind another.

The Snow Queen was a tall woman with a large white fur coat, a snowflake crown, and a cloth wrapped around her eyes. Her skin was so pale and frostbitten it was practically blue. She had a very strong jaw and tiny jagged teeth. She clutched a long icicle scepter in one hand, and her other hand was being stroked by something enormous and fluffy kneeling before her…
it was a polar bear.
He blended so well into the rest of the crater the twins had barely noticed him.

“Bear!”
Goldilocks gasped. It was the first time the twins had ever seen her
afraid
of anything.

“You’re afraid of bears?” Alex whispered to her.

Goldilocks nodded but her eyes never left the polar bear. “Ever since I was a girl and went inside the Three Bears’ house by mistake,” she said.

The polar bear gently caressed the Snow Queen’s hand—a faithful and obedient servant.

“How many people are there outside?” the Snow Queen
asked him hoarsely. One of the rumors Jack had told the twins was true; she was definitely blind.

“Thousands and thousands have come today, Your Majesty,” the polar bear said in a deep, growly voice.

“What have they come for?” the Snow Queen asked.

“They’ve come to bow and grovel at your feet and witness your beauty,” the polar bear said.

A snide smile came to the Snow Queen’s face and a slow, rattling laugh came from deep inside of her.

“Do I still control all the neighboring kingdoms?” the Snow Queen asked.

“All of them, Your Majesty,” the bear said. “The whole world is covered in your snowy wrath—just as it was before.”

The Snow Queen’s smile grew wider. “What gifts does my army have for me today?” she asked.

“I’ll call for them, Your Majesty,” he said.

The polar bear let out a booming growl. A few moments later another polar bear appeared. He carried two long poles with several pairs of boots tied to them. He raised the poles and lowered them to the ground as he walked, giving the Snow Queen the illusion that dozens of soldiers were marching into the crater.

“My faithful army has returned,” the pleased Snow Queen said. “What have you brought me this time?”

“Jewels, My Queen,” the second polar bear said. He set the poles aside and carefully dropped a handful of average rocks into her hands. “Rubies, diamonds, and sapphires—all Your Majesty’s favorites.”

The Snow Queen gasped. “These are the biggest jewels I’ve ever held!” she said. “You’ve made your queen very proud.”

The polar bears looked to each other, relieved to have pulled off another hoax. The second polar bear retrieved the poles and walked off behind the waterfall, marching the boots along with him.

“Everything she believes is a lie!” Conner whispered to his sister.

“I wonder how long those polar bears have been fooling her for,” Alex whispered back.

“Pssst,”
Jack said, getting the twins’ attention. “I’m going to distract the bear. The three of you get the scepter.”

They all nodded.

Jack picked up a chunk of ice and threw it to the other side of the crater’s rim. The polar bear jerked his head toward the sound. He scowled, waiting for it to happen again, and then looked back at the Snow Queen when it didn’t.

Jack threw an even bigger chunk of ice in the same direction—the polar bear looked toward it and sniffed the air. He let out a low growl and bared his teeth—he knew they had company.

“What is it?” the Snow Queen asked.

“Nothing, Your Majesty,” the polar bear said. “Please excuse me for a moment.” The polar bear walked off to inspect the sound and disappeared from view behind the pillars on the other side of the crater.

“I’m going to keep him busy,” Jack mouthed to Goldilocks, and the twins and followed the bear.

The Snow Queen was all alone. Now was their chance.

“I say we just go over there and tackle her,” Conner suggested.

“No, I’m going to try to steal it on my own first,” Goldilocks said. “Stay here and keep a lookout. Whistle if you see anything.”

Goldilocks carefully stepped onto the frozen lake and made her way to the Snow Queen’s throne. As one would expect from a master thief, she was very agile, barely making a sound.

Goldilocks was halfway there. The twins crossed their fingers; they were watching her so intently they forgot to keep an eye on the rest of the crater. Just when she was a few feet away from the Snow Queen, a small piece of ice crunched loudly under her foot.

“Who’s there?” the Snow Queen yelled and raised her scepter.

Suddenly, the polar bear reappeared from behind the pillars and charged toward Goldilocks. With one swipe of his paw, he knocked Goldilocks to the ground and she slid to the center of the frozen lake.

“Goldilocks!”
Jack screamed, emerging from behind the pillars himself. He raced toward the polar bear with his axe raised high.

The Snow Queen heard him and pointed her scepter directly at him. A bright icy blast erupted from its tip and hit Jack. He flew across the crater and crashed into a pillar. He scrambled to his feet but was hit again by another icy blast from the Snow Queen—this time a sheet of thick ice pinned his
hands and chest to the pillar behind him. Jack struggled with all his might, but he was stuck.

Although she was blind, the Snow Queen apparently had impeccable hearing.

“Who dares disturb my
palace
?!” the Snow Queen demanded.

Goldilocks was hyperventilating on the ground—terrified of the polar bear before her. The Snow Queen glided toward her.

“Leave her alone!” Jack yelled from across the crater, desperately struggling to free himself.

The Snow Queen raised her scepter in Goldilocks’s direction. But just then, a giant snowball came out of nowhere and hit the Snow Queen square in the face.

“Hey, abominable snow-woman! Over here!”
Conner yelled at her.

The Snow Queen let out a furious moan and the twins could see her breath in the cold air. The polar bear roared and lunged toward them, but the Snow Queen stopped him.

“
No
, you stay here,” she ordered. “I want to kill them myself!”

The twins didn’t waste a beat and took off running. The Snow Queen went after them, following the sounds of their footsteps. They ran behind the frozen waterfall and found themselves entering a large cavern.

The polar bear slowly walked toward Goldilocks. His sharp teeth were exposed and drool was dripping from his salivating mouth. “No one disturbs the Snow Queen and lives to see another day!” the polar bear growled.

“Goldie, get up!” Jack yelled. “You have to get up!”

“I-I-I can’t!”
she whimpered, sliding away from the approaching bear as fast as she could.

“What’s the matter?” the polar bear asked her. “Am I too close for comfort?”

“Actually,” Goldilocks said,
“you’re exactly where I want you!”

Goldilocks retrieved her sword and hit the frozen lake as hard as she could. A large crack bolted across the lake straight to the polar bear. The ice under his feet caved, and the polar bear fell straight through into the freezing water below.

“That’s my girl!”
Jack hollered proudly.
“Woo-hoo!”

Goldilocks got to her feet and caught her breath. It was very rare for her heart to race this fast. She carefully looked down at the hole in the ice, waiting for the polar bear to resurface, but the water refroze before he had the chance.

Goldilocks ran over to Jack. She reached into her boot, pulled out a few matches, and struck them against her belt. She held the small flames against the ice trapping him.

“We have to hurry!” Goldilocks said. “The twins are in trouble!”

Alex and Conner ran through the cavern with the Snow Queen hot on their trail. They were barely avoiding the icy blasts she sent toward them.

“Come back here!” she demanded.

The cavern was full of enormous icicles protruding from both the ceiling and the floor—as if the twins had discovered the mountain’s teeth. There was very little light but the ice was
extremely reflective. The twins could see themselves everywhere they looked.

As if the situation couldn’t get worse, the twins ran smack into the second polar bear. He was standing at a long ice table sorting through a collection of props: pots and pans, bells and whistles, pieces of metal, and blocks of wood—everything the bears needed to keep the Snow Queen’s ears believing their charade.

The polar bear sneered down at the twins, and they bolted in the opposite direction.

“How dare you intrude upon my palace!” the Snow Queen screamed, blasting icicles into pieces near the twins.

“You’re not in a palace! The bears have been lying to you!” Alex shouted back at her.

“You live in the mountains! You haven’t conquered anything!” Conner added.

“They’re liars, My Queen,” the polar bear proclaimed. “We would never do something like that to you—
to your left, My Queen
!”

The Snow Queen pointed her scepter to her left, and an icy beam hit the icicle directly to the twins’ left. Thankfully, the polar bear had mistaken their reflection for the real twins.

“To your right, My Queen!” the polar bear shouted, acting as her eyes.

The Snow Queen blasted away the icicle directly to the twins’ right, missing them by inches.

“Conner, I hate to say this, but I think it might be smart to—”

“Split up?” Conner said, finishing his sister’s sentence.

They separated and ran in different directions. It looked like there were dozens of Alexes and Conners running through the cavern now.

“Ahead of you, My Queen!” the polar bear shouted.

The Snow Queen followed his instructions and fired icy blasts in every direction he told her.

“To your right! Behind you! To your left! To your front! Behind you again! To your side!”
the polar bear instructed. Alex and Conner were running circles around them. The Snow Queen was going to blast the entire cavern away if she wasn’t careful.

“Now to your side! Turn around! One is right behind you! He’s getting away! Quickly, to your left!”
the polar bear yelled.

The Snow Queen shot a strong blast to her left and the cavern went silent.

“Well?” the Snow Queen grunted. “Where are they?!”

Alex and Conner looked back—the polar bear was frozen in a block of ice. In her attempts to shoot them, the Snow Queen had hit him.

The Snow Queen grew frustrated and yelled so loudly the entire cavern started to shake. The cavern rumbled and the twins looked up to see a massive avalanche rolling straight toward them.

Conner dived behind an icicle. Alex hid under the ice table. The avalanche swept through the cavern and engulfed the Snow Queen. She screamed as it crashed into her. The wave of snow settled and the cavern was dead silent.

Alex peeked her head up from the table. The Snow Queen was lying on the ground, covered in a mound of snow. Her crown had been knocked off and her scepter was lying nearby.