Of Giants and Ice (Ever Afters, The) (34 page)

“Do you have any idea how worried Lena will be if we don’t come back right away?” I said sharply.

Chase shot me an irritated look. “Lena is going to worry anyway. It’s what she does. But do you think anyone else will be able to see this room?”

He had a point.

I sighed deeply.
Every second spent in the Glass Mountain dramatically increases the probability of a personal encounter with the Snow Queen,
said a voice in my head that sounded a lot like Lena.
But I couldn’t leave Chase. If I didn’t help him, it would only take longer to drag him back to the desk.

“If someone comes in, and we get caught, I’m totally blaming you,” I said.

“If someone comes in, we’ll dive through that doorway before Lena can say, ‘Oh, my gumdrops.’” Chase went to the filing cabinet.

I tackled the desk, keeping my sword pointed at the old man and the sack, just in case he woke up. Each handle was shaped like a snowflake, but the drawers wouldn’t open when I pulled on them. I had to content myself with the papers that covered the desk.

“Most of it looks like fan mail.” I put aside one letter and picked up another signed by
Your Most Affectionate Troll, Lord Grumblot the DisGruntled.

“This too.” Chase slid another drawer closed, making a face. “She’s
filed
them.”

Your Illustrious Majesty,
I read,
I sincerely hope that you can get the information you require in some other way. I deeply regret to inform you that the American EASers you recently offered to purchase have escaped with the help of the rings of return I’d meant to throw in as a bonus—

I dropped the letter mid-sentence, heart thumping. I had the sneaking suspicion that the same hand that had written it had also cut off Evan’s fingers a couple weeks ago.

“Torlauth sent her a letter. Just this weekend,” Chase said, scowling at a file. “And he’s included a detailed report on our fighting force. I
knew
the last-minute tournament was suspicious.”

“Is he on her side?” I asked.

Chase shook his head and shoved the file back where he found
it. “Torlauth is on
Torlauth’s
side. He just likes blood. Do you know what he told George after the ref stopped them? ‘I miss the war. They
wanted
us to kill people then.’”

My mouth went dry. No wonder George had lost the third match.

“Don’t tell Lena,” Chase said uncomfortably, realizing he’d said too much. “George made me promise not to mention it to anyone. He knew it would scare his family.”

I nodded quickly and turned back to the desk. Lena definitely didn’t need to know.

After reading the next letter, I checked and double-checked the signature. “Chase, look at this.” I crossed the room, reading aloud. “‘A Catalogue of Damages and Disrepairs incurred upon the Palace of the Indomitable Snow Queen, as reported by Her Majesty’s Humble Servant Genevieve Searcaster.’ It’s dated yesterday. It’s not a coincidence that Searcaster got Jimmy and Matilda out of the house and to the Arctic Circle. She was on a reconnaissance mission.”

That
worried Chase. “Keep looking. Maybe we can figure out why she wants the harp so badly.”

“Did you see these?” On top of each file cabinet sat a stack of papers, held in place by a glass paperweight. When I moved it, it was cold to the touch, and I saw a face caught in the glass, frozen in agony. Goose bumps sprouted on my arms. Even though I couldn’t explain why, I knew that it was a real person, trapped inside. I put it back as fast as I could.

Chase read the paper I held in my other hand. “‘Confirmed Allies.’ There must be tens of thousands of names here, way more than she had when she started out last time.” He took the list and started flipping through. He stopped at the third page and stared
at one of the names. “Crap. I
know
that guy. I used to fence with his son.”

I picked up the other stacks of paper, making sure I didn’t look closely at any of the paperweights again. “‘Potential Allies—To Be Persuaded. Potential Allies—To Be Bribed. Potential Allies—To Be Blackmailed.’ This is why she’s keeping track of her fan mail. She’s organizing the people who stay in touch with her.”

Chase rubbed his face, still reading the list of confirmed allies. “She’s a lot closer to getting her army back together than anyone guessed.”

We couldn’t let that happen. We couldn’t let her get out of prison. We had to return to the giants’ desk and figure out how to get the harp far, far away.

“Put that in your pocket,” I told Chase and stuffed the other three lists in my jeans. “The Canon will want to see it.” I strode across the room, toward the glass wall and the doorway waiting for us. “Let’s go.”

“Hold on. If Lena was
that
worried, she could’ve come after us.” Chase hurried to the last file cabinet, half the size of the other three, and when he moved the paperweight to grab the stack on top, the whole file cabinet swung out of the way.

A door stood there, even though I knew it hadn’t a moment before. My heart missed a beat. The doorknob had a graceful scrolling
S
under it, decorated with a snowflake, but this door—I realized with relief—wasn’t wooden like the one I had seen in my dreams. It was made out of glass and swung slightly open, as if a breeze pushed it.

Chase hadn’t noticed it yet. “‘Known Enemies.’ I wonder if I’m in this.”

“Chase,” I said, pointing.

Voices crept through the crack. The first was a high, musical voice that made me shudder harder than traveling through the letter. The second voice belonged to a young man, one that Chase and I both recognized.

“Dad,” Chase whispered. He took a step toward the door.

I caught his arm. “He sounds fine. We have to go while she’s occupied.”

Chase knew I was right, but then we heard Jack’s voice again.

“
Please
, Rory,” he said, sounding a little desperate.

It was a terrible idea. So many things could go wrong. So many villains could get between us and the way back. So many doors could turn out to be the one I’d been dreaming about, and I wasn’t ready for that yet.

Then I saw Chase’s expression, and I knew that if it were
my
mother talking to the Snow Queen, nothing in the world would get me to leave before I made sure she was okay.

“Quickly,” I said, remembering my promise to Lena. Besides, Chase was much more likely to get caught if I didn’t help him.

When we stepped outside the door, I thought we were walking on air for one excruciating second.

I froze, hardly breathing.

Even the ledge we were standing on was clear. Outside the office, everything was made out of glass.

“Stand on the carpet.” Chase pointed out the light blue rug that ran along the ledge. “That way you won’t be able to see the drop.”

I stepped onto it carefully and stood exactly in the middle.

We could still hear the voices but we couldn’t see them—or even tell where they came from. The glass dome threw the sound around in a weird, echoing way.

“Why is it so hot in here?”

“Greenhouse effect,” Chase whispered. He picked a direction and started walking. “It’s a good thing. The heat makes it harder for the Snow Queen to gather magic.”

It was also incredibly bright. Sunlight streamed in from every direction, and I could see the dust smeared on Chase’s face and the gritty streaks on his shirt.

“You’re filthy,” I whispered.

“Look who’s talking,” Chase whispered back.

I glanced down. My dusty jeans were almost as gray as the Ferdinand statue. The light and the glass and the dirt on my clothes made me feel very young—and very conspicuous.

On one side of the ledge was a glass wall, just like the one in the office. On the other side was a maze of crisscrossing panes of glass, full of rooms and corridors and hallways. I sincerely hoped we wouldn’t have to go down there. We might never find our way back.

Chase’s eyes traced the maze too. “I wonder where all the people are.”

“What people?”

“She’s supposed to have, like, a hundred servants,” Chase said.

Then with every step, I worried that someone was going to appear behind us.

Every fifteen feet, a portrait of the Snow Queen hung from the railing above the maze. I only examined the first one closely. The Queen was in profile, so pale that she looked like she was covered in frost. She looked a lot younger than I expected her to be, not much older than Rapunzel. She held her chin high, defiantly, as if she saw an army coming for her just beyond the frame. In each portrait, her crown changed—one with towering icicles, one covered in delicate filigree like airy snowflakes, another brilliant with
diamonds, but her position and her expression didn’t. She always looked beautiful and cruel.

She also looked like Rapunzel’s carving.

The ledge curved, and the maze of glass panes gave way to one enormous room, bigger even than the giants’ kitchen. It was bare, except for the long glass table that ran from one end to the other and the trolls and wolves standing like guards at the edge of the room.

“I guess we know why the maze was empty,” Chase whispered.

He hadn’t noticed the two figures at the end of the table closest to us, a hundred feet below.

The railing was glass too—we couldn’t hide behind it—so I ducked behind the closest portrait and dragged Chase down with me. I pointed out the two figures—Jack seated at the head of the table and the young woman pouring something yellow and syrupy into his goblet. Her back was to us.

“Fey honey mead,” Chase whispered in disgust. “How did she know?”

“Know what?”

“My dad’s allergic to it or something. It affects him in a weird way,” Chase said. “He doesn’t always remember what happens when he has it.”

“Then maybe he won’t drink it,” I said, but then Jack reached for the glass and threw his head back carelessly. It didn’t seem like this was his first serving.

“He loves that stuff.” Chase looked furious. “Don’t ask me why. It tastes like dirt, honey, and grape juice gone sour.”

“Delicious,” we heard Jack say. “Can’t get mead like this just anywhere.”

“I can see how you might find my prison pleasant,” said the
cold musical voice we had heard in the office. It came from the woman with the pitcher. “But it wouldn’t feel so luxurious if you couldn’t walk through those doors whenever you chose.”

She turned, and I recognized her. She was the girl I had seen in Ms. White’s mirror. She was the Snow Queen.

Her portrait didn’t do her justice. She was very beautiful, but it was a dangerous kind of beauty, like ice glittering in the sun, dazzling you while you slowly froze to death.

Jack certainly seemed a little dazzled anyway.

Chase wrinkled his nose. “Thawed isn’t a good look for her. See how yellow she is? And her hands are puffy.”

“It does get terribly lonely here,” the Snow Queen said. “Surrounded by guards and servants. I can’t tell you how pleased I am that you came to visit. It’s such a delight to have someone to talk to.”

Jack didn’t say anything, but he looked flattered. He held his empty glass up to her.

She refilled his glass with a smile, bending her head elegantly. Her shadow fell across him, and I knew something terrible was going to happen.

From the frozen look of horror on his face, I was pretty sure Chase felt the same way.

“I’m allowed so few comforts.” The Snow Queen sighed. “Perhaps a nice bottle here and there. A vase of flowers from an old friend. But nothing the slightest bit magical. No magic mirrors. Not even a singing harp.”

Chase and I looked at each other. “She
really
wants that harp,” I whispered.

“I would be more than willing to pay for such an extravagance,” the Snow Queen continued. “I do have a little of my own money
left, but Mildred is so strict. Terribly unfair. I’ve heard that she’s not always fair toward you, either.”

“I can’t say that,” Jack said, so swiftly that I was proud of him. “She builds her reputation on being fair. I couldn’t complain about that.”

Chase winced.

“They say that she doesn’t appreciate what you do.” The Snow Queen began to smile, and it was awful. You could practically see her plotting. “Someone like you, a Giant-Killer. In centuries past, the Canon would have covered you in the glory you deserve.”

“A little more appreciation would be nice,” said Jack, and Chase looked furious again. “She has me sit in these meetings, and she sends me to the dwarves; to the mountain trolls, rock trolls, and ice trolls; to the valley elves—”

“Shut
up
,” Chase whispered fiercely, but of course, his father couldn’t hear.

“They do mention you, you know,” the Snow Queen said. “Those
outside
the Canon. They know what kind of a warrior you are. They haven’t stopped talking about the way you defeated Habbilar the Magnificent. Slew Cosid the Odd with his own sword.”

This was why it was so easy for her to win allies. She found out exactly what you wanted, and she offered it to you but at a terrible price.

“Oh, you heard about that.” Jack scratched the back of his head. “We didn’t really mean to kill Cosid. The Director just sent me to check on him, to see where his loyalties were and all. He wasn’t in a talking mood. More of a fighting mood. A
killing
mood, actually.”

“Mildred has asked you to visit her allies?” the Snow Queen said politely.

“Don’t tell her
that
,” Chase whispered.

“Maybe if we sent him a message, threw something at him—” I had a vision of writing a note and sailing a paper airplane over to the table.

But even Jack wasn’t
that
stupid. He only sipped from his glass and stared at the Snow Queen, looking a little guilty.

Chase relaxed.

The Snow Queen set the pitcher down and pulled up the chair next to Jack. “Don’t mind me. I’m just making conversation. I must be a little out of practice.” She rested her elbows on the table and dropped her chin to the palm of her hand. Looking through her lashes innocently, she sent Jack a brilliant smile until he smiled back crookedly.