Ice (29 page)

The queen shrieked, “Make us live!”

Startled, Abby cried. “Shh,” Cassie said as she rocked the baby. “Don’t shout,” she said to the queen.

“Please,” the queen whispered.

She took a deep breath. “Promise to release Bear.”

“Promised!”

Her knees wobbled. She’d done it! But she wasn’t finished yet. Cassie glanced at Jamie, who was on the floor with his arms over his head. “And promise to take no more prisoners.” The queen soared up to the ceiling. “Promised!”

Cassie’s heart soared. Done, and done! She felt as if a bell had sounded deep within her, thrumming through her rib cage and over her skin. She’d done it. Mom was safe now. No more nightmares.

Cassie felt giddy. “Anything else?” She asked Jamie.

“It would be nice if they would stop dive-bombing me.” He batted away trolls as he stood.

Cassie laughed. “You take twenty-five thousand souls, in place of the polar bears. Go on. Take them.”

Jamie obeyed, and the trolls who surrounded him now leaped onto him. They compressed like wisps of cotton in his arms. Thousands swarmed him, but the mass didn’t thin. She wondered how many trolls there were. She may have found herself a lifetime task, she thought.

“And the remainder of us?” the queen asked, watching.

She thought of Fluffy the arctic fox and the mermaid Sedna. They’d helped, even if not quite in the way they’d meant to. “I owe a few favors. I’ll find you homes.” She smiled. What a way to save the whales. “I promise.”

“Done and promised!” the queen sang.

And then Bear walked out of the chaos of swirling trolls, and Cassie stepped forward. Bear paced toward her, and the mist of a thousand trolls melted around him. He halted in front of her, and his black eyes drank her in. The trolls whipped in iridescent spirals over their heads.

For a long moment, Cassie and Bear simply stared at each other. She felt as if every cell in her body were singing, as if she were going to burst out of her skin.

He touched the tiny head of their baby with his nose. “She is beautiful,” he said.

All Cassie could do was nod.

Eyes shining, he looked at Cassie. “My Cassie, my tuvaaqan.” Trolls whirled around them, thickening into a wind. “I told you I would find you,” she said. “I said I’d free you.”

“I will never doubt you again,” he said. He leaned his cheek against hers, and she closed her eyes and felt the warm fur soft on her face. “Shall we go home, beloved?” he asked.

She smiled. “Yes,” she said.

Cassie then looked at the queen, who signaled to the trolls. Swirling faster, the trolls rushed beneath Cassie and Bear and lifted them into the air. Below, Jamie waved as the castle melted around them.

Gray clouds swept alongside them as they skimmed over the black rocks of the island and above the waves of the sea.

With her new daughter in her arms, Cassie curled against Bear. Gently, he wrapped his front paws around her and baby Abby.

Together, carried by lost souls, they flew home.