Stealing Snow (23 page)

Power trumped beauty. And then there was the matter of her real daughter. What was her daughter worth to her? Would she give up magic and power? It was a calculation I hoped was true, but I wasn’t so sure.

I thought about telling her about Magpie. But the story wouldn’t necessarily endear me to her.

“How did you learn the spells?” I asked, pushing the mystery of Margot’s daughter aside for the moment.

“I was lucky enough to learn from a great witch, like I said before.”

“And what kind of sacrifice do the potions require?”

“That’s where you come in, my dear.”

Finally, we get to the heart of the matter
, I thought, my brain ahead of my body for once. But unlike before, I wasn’t afraid of the answer. I needed to know.

“I don’t want to hurt you. I just want a little blood. Your blood. That’s what the magic requires. You will give me your blood. Then you will help us steal the piece of the King’s mirror at the Duchess’s palace, and in return you will have our assistance in retrieving the boy you love.”

Blood? Jagger had shown me Algid’s magic, but not where it came from. Nor its cost.

“Before I agree to anything, I must know if you possess what I need. I’d prefer to ask rather than take. It’s much more polite that way,” said Queen Margot, taking a step closer to me.

“That’s not creepy at all,” I blurted, remembering what the River Witch had said about magic. She was right. It was a dirty business filled with sacrifice and, I assumed, blood.

“There are much greater sacrifices,” Queen Margot said evenly, although her tone carried the edge of a threat. Margot may not have been a witch, but when her eyes caught the light I saw something that reminded me of the River Witch. Something that made me want to run in the other direction as fast as I could.

But I didn’t run. Like it or not, we were in this together. I needed Queen Margot as much as she needed me. She was the key to getting Bale back and returning to my world. I had no choice but to agree. I was careful to choose my right arm. The one without the map of Algid on it. Taking a deep breath, I held out my arm and pulled back my sleeve, revealing the faded puncture marks of hundreds of Whittaker needles.

Margot unsheathed a deadly-looking, bejeweled knife—but she hesitated for the briefest of moments at the sight of the needle marks. Whatever she was thinking, it was only a short pause before she slid the blade across my palm.

The cut wasn’t deep, but it still hurt. The pain was physical and tangible—not the swarm of conflicting emotions and confusion that had been circling me since I stepped through the Tree.

What was I doing? How much blood did she need?

I pulled my arm back, putting pressure on my palm to stop the flow of blood. It was my turn.

“You want Jagger to take another trip to my world to find your daughter, right?” I asked.

Margot looked up sharply. “Jagger told you that? Jagger talks a lot, but he so rarely gives as much information as he takes. One would think being surrounded by pretty girls all the time he would eventually become immune to their wiles, but you must have had quite the effect on him,” she said.

“Let Jagger take me and Bale with him when he goes, and you can have as much of my blood as you want,” I offered.

“Dear, do you think this is a negotiation? I think I could have every last drop of your blood if I wanted.”

It was clear that Queen Margot felt she had the upper hand despite my lineage and where I had come from.

“And I could level this place,” I countered, almost biting back the words as I said it. I had failed to defeat the Enforcer. How did I expect to defeat the King alone?

“Could you? You admitted yourself that you do not have control. Something tells me that you’d rather not rip apart my palace if it means killing all those innocent girls and my Jagger.”

I answered with an icy, silent stare, and Queen Margot continued her examination of me by candlelight.

“How does it feel knowing that a whole world was destroyed because of your existence?” Margot asked, a hint of excitement in her voice.

“No different than not knowing.”

It was a lie. But I could not wrap myself around her claim, or the River Witch’s, even after what I’d seen. Everything in my life had taken place in the tiny Whittaker snow globe, and now they were spinning some epic tale with me in the starring role. I did not want to be Algid’s savior, and I did not want to be its curse. I wanted to go home.

“Jagger told me about your life in the Other World. Dreadful conditions for a princess. What happens when you go back? Do you really think Queen Ora is going to let you go home to her? Do you really want to spend the rest of your life trapped in that place?”

“I’ll confront her with the truth,” I challenged back.

“And then what? She’ll pretend you’re crazy and give you the cocktail again? Keep you drugged and safe until the prophecy passes?”

The cocktail? Jagger had more than told her. He’d gone into every detail. And hearing about it from Margot’s lips brought it back all over again.

“I don’t know, but I’d rather take my chances there than here.”

“But don’t you see? Once the prophecy passes and the Lights are extinguished, you will have no choices left. There will be one moment when you can ascend the throne. After that, the world belongs to him, and everyone in it will suffer.”

“This is not my world.”

“So you would leave us and not look back? You’re just like your mother.”

“She was saving me.”

“But what of her land? What of Algid? She was our queen. She put your life above all others, and you are doing the same with yours now.”

“I am, and I cannot care about a place that doesn’t care for me. I don’t know this place. I don’t need this place. And from what I’ve seen of it, it’s not worth saving. It’s filled with liars and robbers and bad people all around.”

Another lie. Gerde had gotten hurt and tried to save me. And Kai had used his Hopper. Even the River Witch in her twisted way had tried to help me. But I wanted Margot to stop talking, and this was a much better way than the icy alternative.

“Your Highness …,” Queen Margot began, and then quieted, reconsidering. “Very well. Once I have your blood and its magic and the mirror, your fate is up to you. I will grant your request.”

I had been convincing. I had effectively lied to the queen of thieves. I had shoved aside everything I felt for the good people of Algid, and then I held out my arm again. My blood pooled into a silver chalice that appeared from out of nowhere in Queen Margot’s hand. Margot smiled and held it up to the light. It did not look special to me, but she looked at it like she’d found the answer to everything.

For her sake and for mine, I hoped that she was right. Some tiny part of me twinged, though. If I indeed had that much power, should I have given it away? Should I have asked what she intended to do with it? I didn’t trust Margot or anyone here. Would she ultimately hold up her end of the bargain?

It was done, though. No use crying over spilled blood. I
leaned forward as I watched her. Her green eyes glowed with anticipation.

“I know you don’t believe, child. Contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t matter. Magic is not a matter of belief. It’s of sheer will and science—and I have enough for both of us.”

“What is the blood for?” I demanded, too late. I should have asked first. I’d told myself that I didn’t care what it was for. That all that mattered was Bale. But as she swilled the blood around in the chalice, I had a wild thought that she was going to drink it. Or somehow make a weapon out of it. The idea sounded like something Chord would have believed back at Whittaker, but after the things I’d seen in the last few days, the impossible was outweighing the possible more times than not.

“Telling you why was not part of our bargain. But I don’t see the harm in your knowing.”

Another wave of her hand and some kind of medieval-looking ring of knives appeared in the center of the room, hovering in midair in front of me.

“What is that?”

“The last time we were at the Duchess’s palace, we found out she had a piece of the mirror. It was only a matter of time before we tracked down the architect who designed her safe, and he was kind enough to make a replica of the lock for us. The knives are part of the lock.

“This device is identical to the one that guards the safe,” she continued. “Only royal blood will open the safe. We can’t replicate whatever trap lies behind the safe wall. But this will get us past the first obstacle.”

She took the chalice and carefully placed a drop of my blood on one of the knives. Nothing happened at first. Then the knives slowly turned their points in Margot’s direction.

Margot whispered some words I could not hear, and the knives fell to the ground.

“So I’m guessing that was not supposed to happen? It didn’t work?” I asked.

Queen Margot held up a crystal from around her neck. It glowed a scarlet red.

“This reacts in the presence of magic. It proves that you have magic in you. It should have worked. I don’t understand. You have your blood to take, entrance you must make.” This time she spoke louder, but nothing else happened. “I was sure it would be in your blood. I was sure it would be enough …” She drifted off, confused.

The knives rattled on the floor again. Their blades pointed toward me.

“Leave!” Queen Margot ordered.

As I rushed out of the room, I heard a crash of crystal landing on the floor.

A snow tornado was forming outside the window of my room. I had tried the front door of the Claret and found it spelled shut. I had to find another way.

“I can’t stay here. I need to leave,” I said to Jagger. “Will you help me? Or do I have to do it by myself?”

“I can’t help you.”

“Of course, you can’t. Robber Rules, right? Then you might want to get the hell out of my way. It’s not going to be pretty.”

He stood in my way. He knew I wouldn’t send a tornado through him.

“What happened, Snow?”

“Margot tried my blood in that lock of hers, and when it didn’t work she threw a temper tantrum with knives, Jagger,” I said, pacing away from him. “I may have snow, but I am not impervious to sharp, pointy things,” I finished.

He studied me a beat, considering.

“It doesn’t matter if you go. You made a deal. Margot has your blood. She can do a locator spell. There isn’t anywhere that you go that she can’t find you. And if Queen Margot doesn’t give you up, there is a roomful of Robbers out there wondering what you’re worth. There’s an Enforcer scouring all of Algid in the hopes of finding you for the King. Do you know how much the King’s offering to pay for your head?” Jagger said bluntly.

I was in danger again. These girls were not my friends, and neither was Jagger. Convincing anyone to help me get home, to find the mirror and to get my life back, was a long shot.

I suddenly felt tired. Like every muscle in my body that had been holding me up was sagging. For the first time ever in my life, I longed for my cage at Whittaker. For my quiet. For my Bale.

“I thought I was doing you a favor in bringing you here,” Jagger continued.

“Because you thought I’d repay you with my blood.”

He shrugged nonchalantly. “Even so, I promise I will protect you.”

“You’re the reason why things are happening to me.” He wasn’t completely. My father had started this. It just felt better to blame Jagger, because he was there.

“I won’t apologize for giving you a way out of Whittaker. For giving you a way to save Bale.”

“Let me guess. Robber Rules.”

“I know you have no reason to believe me. But I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. I want to honor my promise.”

“I don’t know that. I can’t trust you to save the one person in the world that I do trust. I don’t know who you are. You hide your real faces from one another. How is that living? I don’t want to hide my scars, I wish I didn’t have magic, and I’d rather dance with my feet on the ground! I don’t want to live in a dream—I just want to live. Like a normal person. And I want to feel things for real.”

“Well, you’re not going to like what I have to say next,” Jagger added quietly.

I wasn’t sure if he had really heard me. But his eyes softened with what looked like hurt, as if my each and every word were a body blow.

“There’s more?” I asked, incredulous.

“I know a way to make sure that Margot and the other Robbers will have to keep you safe, too.”

“What could that possibly be?”

“Become one of us. We’re down a Robber.”

“But that’s …” Insane? Ridiculous?

Before I could say anything more, my field of vision went black, and then all I could see was the inside of a house.

It was small, and the walls were white. The furniture was sparse but didn’t look like anything in Algid or Whittaker. I didn’t understand the dream—especially because I felt completely awake. But the house looked familiar.

I’d seen it before. Bale had showed me pictures. This was his house. The one that he burned down.

Dr. Harris had talked about how the mind creates a safe place where you can go when things were too hard in the real world. Bale had taken
himself to his childhood home, the one he’d burned down. And he was setting it on fire again and again.

Little boy Bale pacing the house. Little boy Bale outside watching it burn.

But why was I seeing Bale’s safe place? Then I saw a flash of somewhere else. Another place I’d never been. A triangular room that seemed to have a steeple.

“Snow.” Bale said my name.

Wherever he was, he was thinking about me.