closing in on her. The crying and the sobbing grew louder. She felt her heart racing. Her mouth was dry and there was a ringing in her ears. She knew what he would tell her would change her life forever, and for just a moment, she wanted to stall him. “I don’t want to speak in private. I want to stay here with everyone.”
Gerda put her arm around Elsa, steadying her.
Lord Peterssen looked around, his eyes wet. “All right. Elsa, there is no easy way to say this.”
She inhaled sharply. Then don’t, she wanted to shout.
“Your parents’ ship didn’t make it to the port.” His voice faltered.
“Maybe it’s gone off course.” Elsa felt her fingertips starting to tingle. It was a strange sensation. She pulled away from Gerda and shook them out. “Send a ship to find them.”
He shook his head. “We already have. We sought word from every nearby port, every kingdom. Now we have received responses from them all: the ship never arrived. Moreover, the Southern Seas can be treacherous, and there have been many storms lately.” He paused. “There is only one conclusion left to draw.”
“No.” Elsa’s voice was rougher now. Gerda immediately burst into tears again. “That can’t be!”
Lord Peterssen swallowed hard, and she watched his Adam’s apple move up and down. His lip quivered and Olina let out an audible sob. Several of the others bowed their heads. She heard Kai praying. “Elsa, King Agnarr and Queen Iduna are gone.”
“May their souls rest in peace,” said Olina, closing her eyes and tilting her face to the heavens. Others did the same.
“No,” Elsa repeated. Her whole body began to shake. Her fingers began to tingle again. She had the sudden feeling she was about to burst into a million pieces, exploding in fragments of light. Lord Peterssen reached for her, but she backed away, trying to disappear. Kai held up a thin piece of black silk. He and Gerda hung it over the portrait of her parents in the hallway.
Her parents couldn’t be…dead. They were her only family. Without them, she truly was alone. Her breath became ragged and her heart beat so fast she thought it would leap out of her chest. Every sound she heard was magnified a thousand times. “No!” Her fingers were burning now. “No!” She turned and ran, not stopping till she reached her room.
Elsa fell through the doors with such force they slammed shut behind her. She landed on the circular rug and didn’t have the strength to move. Instead, she curled up into a ball and stared at the pink wallpaper where a portrait of her as a child stared back at her. That girl was smiling and happy. She had a family.
Now she had none.
The burning sensation in her fingers was growing stronger, her heart pulsing so fast she felt like she could hear it. Tears began to stream down her face, wetting the top of her collar and reaching her hot chest. Shaking, Elsa forced herself to stand up, looking for someone—anyone—to talk to. No one was there. She had closed herself off once again. Elsa went to her hope chest. Her hand shook as she brushed the green wooden lockbox under the quilt. She rummaged around until she found what she was looking for: the small one-eyed handmade penguin she had confided in as a girl—Sir JorgenBjorgen. She held the penguin with shaking hands, but couldn’t put her thoughts into words. Mama and Papa were gone.
I might die of boredom. Wasn’t that what she’d thought earlier that day? How could she have been so selfish? She clutched Sir JorgenBjorgen so tightly she felt like he might disintegrate in her burning hands. They started to shake so badly she couldn’t hang on to him. She threw the doll across the room and he landed on her bed.
Alone. Alone. Alone.
Dead. Dead. Dead.
Gone. Gone. Gone.
She closed her eyes. She felt a scream rising inside her. It was so primal she knew it would rattle the whole castle, but she didn’t care. It gurgled to the top of her throat, threatening to overtake her, until it finally did, and Elsa screamed so hard she thought she might never stop. Her hands went from hot to burning cold as they flew out in front of her. Something inside her opened, like a chasm that could never be closed again. Opening her eyes, she saw it, unbelievably, form in the air in front of her fingers.