hid her face in her father’s chest.
“No!” Papa said, and looked at Mama. “We’ll protect her. She can learn to control it. I’m sure. We’ll keep her powers hidden from everyone.” He looked at Elsa and paused. “Including Anna.”
“No! Please, no!” Elsa begged. This was too much. “I won’t hurt her again. I promise.” She looked at Mama.
“This isn’t a punishment, darling,” her mother said. “You heard your father and Grand Pabbie. We must protect both of you.”
Elsa couldn’t believe it. She didn’t want Anna not to know the true her. Anna believed in her gift. Other than her parents, Anna was the only one she could share it with. Who would she make snow with? Without Anna, a gift like this wasn’t much fun at all.
“She will be safe this way, Elsa,” Grand Pabbie reminded her. “You both will be.”
Elsa tried to think of something that would change their minds, but she couldn’t even get her parents’ attention. They were focused on Anna. Elsa watched in agony as Grand Pabbie touched Anna’s head, then swept his hand into the air.
Papa patted Elsa’s back. “I know this is hard, but you’re a brave girl. You want what’s best for Anna, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Elsa said, but she was also thinking, I need Anna. She’s the only one who understands. “Yes, but Anna is the only one I can share my gift with. Don’t take that away.”
“You’ll be fine, Elsa,” her father promised.
There was a whistling, like the sound of wind, and then an icy blue cloud formed above their heads. It reminded Elsa of her own magic. She watched as images of her and Anna flashed by: the two of them playing in the snow in the Great Hall, ice-skating across its floor, and building Olaf…all the things they’d done that would have been impossible without magic. How had Grand Pabbie been able to pull those memories out of her sister’s head?
Just as quickly, the memories of her and Anna changed. The Great Hall moment turned into one of Anna sledding outside. The two of them ice-skating indoors became an excursion on a nearby pond, and their time with Olaf indoors morphed into a scene of them building a snowman in the forest. Their memories were being erased. It was more than Elsa could bear.
“No, please!” Elsa cried, feeling the warmth tingle in her fingertips. A blue glow hovered above her hands.
“Don’t worry. I will leave the fun,” Grand Pabbie promised.
But it wasn’t about fun. It was about the two of them sharing a gift Elsa had been given. And now the leader of the trolls was taking it away. Elsa watched in agony as Grand Pabbie swirled the images into a ball, just as she usually conjured snow. His hands slowly moved toward Anna’s head. Elsa already knew what would happen. When Grand Pabbie touched her, the new memories would replace the old ones. Anna and Elsa’s bond would be lost forever. Elsa couldn’t let that happen.
“No!” she cried, pulling from her father’s embrace.
Her hand connected with Grand Pabbie’s just as his fingers grazed Anna’s forehead.
“Elsa, no!” Papa cried as Mama reached for her in a panic. But it was too late.
An explosion of light vibrated off the boulders around them. Rocks began to crumble and fall from the mountains the valley was nestled between. The trolls ran for cover. The light grew brighter and brighter till it burst into what seemed like a million little stars. It was the last thing Elsa saw before her world faded to black.
Elsa awoke from the vivid memory, gasping for air as if she’d been underwater too long. She inhaled deeply, trying hard to remember to keep breathing.
“Elsa! Elsa!” Olaf was standing over her. “You collapsed! Are you okay?”
Someone was pounding on her bedroom door. “Princess Elsa! Princess Elsa! Are you all right?”
It was Hans.
“Why isn’t she answering?” she heard him shout.
“Princess?” It was Lord Peterssen. “Can you hear us?”
“Yes!” Elsa called out, her voice sounding shaky. “I will be right there.”
How long had she been out?
“Elsa, what happened?” Olaf asked.
Elsa sat up, her whole body feeling like jelly. The memory cut like a knife. Her powers weren’t new; her parents had known she’d possessed them all along, but somehow she’d forgotten them. The pain of that truth and what had happened almost overwhelmed her. “Anna was my sister,” she choked out. “My magic killed her.”
Anna’s cheeks were flushed with excitement.
It was coronation day!
The bakery was packed. Even though most people she knew