between the bricks, nearly blowing the flames out. Even her chains were starting to freeze, making it hard to move.
She was trapped.
Elsa sat down on the bench and stared at the metal shackles on her hands.
She couldn’t just watch as her entire kingdom became a frozen tundra. She needed someone to find Anna and tell her the truth about her past. Maybe, just maybe, it would help her remember who she really was. Then the curse would break and…what did that mean for the weather?
Even if Anna knew who she was, Grand Pabbie had said nothing about her sister being able to stop this winter. Elsa had created it. Only she could end it.
Elsa flung her head back against the wall and heard the ice crack. Why didn’t she know how to reverse the spell she had created?
I know what fear is doing to your magic, she heard Grand Pabbie say. You must concentrate on controlling your powers.
What did he mean by fear? She wasn’t afraid of her powers, was she? What she was afraid of was not having her sister in her life. If she let Anna go, would the storm stop?
She wasn’t sure, and she didn’t know whom to ask.
She had lost Mama and Papa, alienated her people, and abandoned Olaf in her quest to escape her chains. There was no one left to help her.
Elsa hung her head and wept. “Mama, Papa, please help me.”
The only voice she heard was the wind’s.
“Princess Elsa!”
Elsa opened her eyes and stood up, straining against her chains. Someone was calling for her. It was a girl. But she she didn’t recognize the voice.
“Princess Elsa, where are you?”
“I’m here!” Elsa cried. It didn’t sound like Gerda or Olina, but it didn’t matter who it was. Someone was coming for her. “Follow my voice!”
“Found you!” The girl stuck her face in the bars and looked into the dungeon.
Elsa couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The girl in front of her had red hair and blue eyes. They locked gazes, and Elsa’s cuffs began to glow. Strangely, they didn’t freeze up. The ice melted away. “Anna?” Elsa whispered, momentarily forgetting everything else.
“Yes.” She grasped the bars. “I’m Anna.…Hi.”
Anna wasn’t a figment of her imagination. She wasn’t a ghost. She was real and on the other side of the dungeon door. Elsa’s younger sister was here. The curse was broken! She started to cry. “You know who I am?”
Anna paused. “Yes.”
“You remember?” Elsa’s tears came faster. “You remembered and you found me.”
“I…This place…” Anna trailed off. She held up a piece of parchment. “I have the queen’s letter.”
Elsa’s cuffs glowed brighter. “You have the letter? How?” Now they could read Mama’s letter together! “It doesn’t matter. All that matters is you’re back! You’re…real.”
“So are you,” Anna whispered. They continued to stare at each other, the only sounds coming from the storm raging outside.
Then came the sound of someone giggling.
“And so am I!”
Anna picked something up and held it in front of the bars. It was a snowman’s head. The head grinned toothily.
“Olaf!” Elsa exclaimed. “You’re all right!”
“Yes!” Olaf frowned. “But I left your room. I know I’m not supposed to.”
“It’s all right.” Elsa laughed through her tears.
“And I found Anna!” Olaf said happily. “We came to find you with Kristoff and Sven, but then Kristoff and Sven left and we went off with Prince Hans.”
“Hans?” Elsa’s smile faded. “Where is he?” she demanded. “Anna, you can’t listen to him!”
Anna opened her mouth to respond, and someone pulled her and Olaf from view.
“Anna!” Elsa cried.
“Get away from me!” she heard Anna yell.
“I can’t see! I can’t see!” Olaf shouted. “Put me back together!”
Elsa heard a key turn and watched the dungeon door open. Olaf’s head rolled into the room without his body. Hans walked in behind it, holding Anna like his prisoner. There was a fresh cut above his right eye. “Well, isn’t this refreshing?” he said. “A reunion between two sisters.”
“Let her go! You can’t hurt us,” Elsa shouted as her cuffs glowed bright blue. “She remembers everything!”
Hans smiled. “Does she now? Let’s see about that.”
He pushed Anna forward. She crashed into Elsa, then fell backward, gasping for air. Ice formed on her feet and began to creep up her legs.
The curse—it wasn’t broken.
Hans watched, unfazed, as the ice started to travel up Anna’s body and her hair turned completely white. Anna was freezing from the inside out. Elsa strained against her chains to get away, but she couldn’t go far enough.
“Anna!” Olaf panicked, his