Hearts Under Ice - CS Patra Page 0,82
mental message to Donnie.
Donnie—if you can hear me, please send me a message…say anything.
She heard nothing, so she kept trying.
If you do hear this, just know that I’m on my way. Don’t give the Brotherhood of Iced Blood anything. They’ll threaten you, but you’ll have to stay strong. Don’t let them get near the Hearts Under Ice.
After five seconds, she heard something.
Olivia?
Donnie? Did you hear me?
Bits—and pieces. Are you okay?
Yes.
She wanted to wake up due to her excitement, but stayed asleep. She needed to get the message across.
Donnie, I’m in the Frostland, and on my way to you. I don’t want to give away too much, but I’m here. I won’t let anything happen to you.
There were a few minutes of silence, and then Donnie sent another message.
The Queen was right. You can live in this world with no problem because you have a gift.
Wait, you spoke to the Queen?
Yes. She’s the one keeping me safe. Look, we can’t communicate for long. Just know that you have to be careful, and I’m in the one castle that is—
The sleigh jerked, and Olivia flashed open her eyes. The snow was starting to fall on them, and the reindeer were slowing down. Astrid struggled to get a grip of the reins, and the sleigh was jerking around. Olivia tried to hold on to something as the deer came to a stop. She was breathing hard as the snow continued to land on her shoulders and head. Ms. Howard, who had been up front with Astrid, looked at the group behind them.
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I just threw my back out again. It’s nothing out of the ordinary.” Alice groaned as she sat up. “What happened? The ride was so smooth.”
“Sorry, everyone.” Astrid apologized, trying to calm the reindeer down. “They usually don’t get spooked, but I guess that shadowy thing got to them. I have no idea what that was.”
“Shadowy thing?” Olivia asked. She felt awful for not getting the last bit from Donnie, but this was interesting. “What did it look like?”
“No clue. It just darted out in front of me, and then the snow started to come down. I’m amazed I was able to slow them down.” She got down from the sleigh and took a look. “Well, I also have bad news. We’re going to need to get this thing fixed.”
“We don’t have time to get it fixed!” Gemma pointed to the road ahead. “We have no choice but to go the rest of the way on foot.”
“Are you sure? This snow is not going to stop,” Astrid said. “I want to get there as badly as you do, but we can’t do just barge in there. We need another way.”
“Can’t we just buy another one?” Olivia asked.
“Oh yeah, that would be easy if we were in a town. As we’re stuck in the middle of the woods—I don’t think so. Our next town is about two miles from here, and it’s not protected the way Thymasa is.”
“Great. We really don’t have a choice except to walk.” Alice sighed. “Those ice reindeer could break if we tried to ride them. The snow is also getting heavier. We’re just stuck right now.”
“Maybe not,” Gemma said hopefully. “If Olivia can get a good idea of what the Queen’s castle looks like, then we can try to travel to that area. The only problem with doing this is that we could inadvertently alert the Brotherhood to our whereabouts. That’s the reason why we’ve been traveling with the sleigh. We needed to keep a low profile.”
“It’s okay, guys. I have no idea what the Queen’s castle looks like. Didn’t she tell you, Jei?” Olivia asked.
“No, even I’m not allowed to know what the difference between the castles is. I asked for a hint once, and she refused to budge.” Jei shrugged. “We only two choices now—fix this sleigh so we can get to the next town, or try to get to the castle with Olivia’s teleportation ability. Either we waste time, or we risk being noticed. I’m not fond of either choice.”
As the others tried to come up with a new plan, Olivia sat down under a tree. Although it was cold and wet, and she didn’t like the feel of tree bark against her back, she was too tired to stand up any longer. Her legs were weak, and her feet hurt. She tried to figure out what Donnie had wanted to say. She felt her heart fluttering at the thought that