fast. It’s important!”
Olaf beamed. “Okay! I’m ready. Let’s go!” He wandered off ahead of her through the wall.
Anna struggled to find her footing as she made her way through the wall and into the snow. The wind was howling. She couldn’t see Olaf even though he was walking right in front of her. Around her, she could hear things creaking and falling. A sudden gust blew her backward. Olaf was lifted into the air, the three pieces of his body separating.
“Keep going!” he shouted as his parts blew away.
Anna held her arm in front of her face and turned into the wind. She needed to find Elsa before it was too late.
Elsa spun around, unsure of her direction. Her cape blew in front of her face and she pushed it away.
The storm was so fierce there was nowhere left to shelter.
She couldn’t go back to the castle. She was an enemy to her people and to Anna now.
The curse still ruled Anna’s life.
Elsa’s life was in ruins.
She couldn’t save her people from her madness.
She didn’t know how to save her sister.
She was at a loss on how to stop the storm, no matter how desperately she wanted to.
She’d never been more frightened or alone.
Elsa wandered around in the swirling darkness, barely making out the ship frozen in front of her. Let them come for me, she thought. Without Anna, I’ve got nothing left to fight for.
She’d lost Olaf, she couldn’t see where she was going, a ship had just appeared before her like a mirage, and Elsa was nowhere to be seen. She heard a bang and watched in horror as the ship’s mast tumbled into the ice and shattered, sending large chunks of ice flying. She raised her hands to her face to protect herself.
It felt like the world was ending, but she refused to let it.
There was so much to live for. She had a past to remember and a sister to get to know. Arendelle needed both its princesses. Maybe together they could bring back the sun.
Anna pulled her cape tightly around her for warmth, but it did nothing. The cold felt like it was inside her bones, just like it had when she’d been in the room with Elsa. Something was causing this new condition, and it wasn’t just the weather. Her pale hands were starting to freeze, small ice crystals forming on her wrists and fingertips.
Cursed.
Was that what was happening to her and Elsa? Had she been cursed to be kept apart from her sister? Was that why her birth parents had separated them? Maybe the queen’s letter explained what had happened.
The letter!
Anna felt her dress pockets, but the letter was gone. During the explosion and Elsa’s escape, it must have fallen out of her pocket. Now she had nothing that proved who she really was. Elsa was the only one who could help her, and she had run off. What if Hans found her before Anna could?
Anna slipped on the ice. There was so much of it, and slowly, she was becoming a part of it. Please, she begged, calling on Freya’s memory—her mother’s memory—to guide her. Let me find Elsa.
She felt an irresistible urge to turn around.
Elsa was huddled on the ground, feet from where Anna stood, with her head in her hands. Hans was standing over her. Did Elsa even know he was there? Or had she given up? No, Elsa! she wanted to cry out. I…I remember, she realized.
A feeling came over her, so strong that for the smallest of moments, it warmed her soul. Pictures flew through her mind: She and Elsa talking in their bedroom, baking with their mother in the kitchen, running down the central staircase. Do the magic! she heard a voice say, and now she realized it was her younger self begging Elsa to create more snow. Together they had skated around the Great Hall and made snow angels. They had built Olaf! She used to marvel at Elsa’s magic and always wanted her sister to use it. Do the magic! she heard herself beg again, and then she saw the moment when everything changed. In her haste to stop Anna from falling off a snow mound, Elsa had accidentally struck her. That was when she and Elsa had been ripped apart.
She remembered everything! She—
She looked up. Hans had his sword high over his head and was about to plunge it straight into Elsa’s heart.
Her sister’s heart.
With what little strength she had left, Anna lunged forward.
“No!”