Betrothed To Jack Frost Box Set

by Alex Gedgaudas

  Elle grabbed comfortable clothes. Jeans. A sweatshirt. A couple t-shirts along with bras, underwear, and socks. Elle went to the back of her closet and dug out her old coffee can that she kept almost twenty-five hundred dollars. She had only a small amount of money from all her part-time jobs given that a majority of it went to paying for school.

  By the time Elle dressed herself in new pants and a black V-neck shirt, she grabbed her old forest-green jacket to throw on. She didn’t know how much time she had to run, but it probably wasn’t a lot before Winter’s Kingdom realized she was missing. Within fifteen minutes after she woke up, Elle was gone.

  Chapter 19

  Elle stole her grandfather’s truck. There wasn’t another vehicle to take. Elle wasn’t sure if she would ever return home to bring back the truck. She drove for two hours south before she started to panic. The weather was cold. Weather in the Carolinas wasn’t freezing, but it was cold enough that soldiers from Winter’s Kingdom could find her if they wanted. February was always chilly, but it seemed cooler than usual. Elle tried not to focus on the falling snow outside her car window as she drove down the highway. It was hard not to think about anything that happened with Jack yesterday. It was difficult trying to categorize her feelings for him—she couldn’t deny it even to herself—she cared about him. What would happen to him once it was discovered that Elle was gone?

  Elle continued driving, focusing on the large stretch of highway and trying not to speed. She released a deep breath once she got further south. It wasn’t until a few hours later when she reached Georgia that she started to really dislike how much snow was falling. Some people had pulled off the road given how much was coming down. Only a small few kept driving through the flurries that soon developed into a full-blown snowstorm. Elle focused on driving, her mind set on Jack’s specific instructions to go somewhere warm. The massive snowstorm was making things difficult.

  Elle’s destination in mind was Florida. The furthest she could get while there was probably best. The greatest part about driving without any specific destination in mind was not having to worry about following the proper directions. Elle was free to go her own way without worrying that she wasn’t taking the wrong route. All she had to do was drive south.

  Elle had to eventually turn on her radio. Her thoughts were too overwhelmed thinking about just how angry she was about to make the gods for running away. How much trouble was Jack destined to be in?

  “Turns out that groundhog was wrong about spring coming early!” an over-excited radio host exclaimed. Elle thought he sounded incredibly too enthusiastic about his job. “Meteorologists are predicting a ginormous winter weather advisory for the majority of the northern part of the US!”

  His female co-host over the radio laughed. “That’s right, Jeff. Winter-winter-winter! Seventeen inches of the white stuff is currently expected to hit both Wisconsin and Minnesota respectively, while Colorado was slammed the night before with twelve inches. Twenty-eight inches of snow are expected to hit the Big Apple within the next two days! The last record-breaking amount of snow was recorded in 1869—”

  Elle used her right hand to slam the button on the radio off. Without even needing confirmation, she automatically knew that Boreas and the rest of Winter’s throne must have realized she was gone. Boreas and Jack controlled all things frost. Obviously, something was going on for them to be unleashing such a massive snowstorm across different parts of the United States. Why they were doing it, she couldn’t tell. Taking a deep breath to relax herself, Elle turned the radio back on. She needed to stop scaring herself.

  “And in other news today, category three hurricane Bonnie is expected to make landfall on the coast of Charleston while category five—yes, FIVE—Verona is expected to hit the cost of Galveston around noon tomorrow. Buckle up down there, winds of a category five hurricane can reach winds of over one hundred fifty-five miles per hour…”

  Elle stared at the road ahead of her, trying not to panic. It was only two hurricanes. They weren’t random. Hurricanes occurred often enough, there was even an entire season that people expected them. “Poseidon controls the ocean,” said Elle to herself, watching the road as she took the exit she planned on taking five miles back. She shook her dark head. There was really no reason for the god of the seas to be upset she was missing; her engagement didn’t affect him. It was just two random hurricanes, no big deal. It was when the radio announcer had with more news that Elle started to become alarmed.

  “The American Red Cross is currently sending assistance to Tokyo, Japan. In the early hours of today, it was rocked with an earthquake with the magnitude of seven point five. More on 92.5 The Wolf after these messages!” the radio host exclaimed brightly.

  Even while thinking that the radio host was far too cheerful given such a dire situation, Elle couldn’t help but wonder if this was what happened when the gods who controlled the elements were upset. Snow. Ocean. Land. Something had to be going on for all this chaos to be ensuing. Elle felt positively certain it had to do with her disappearance from Winter’s Kingdom. There was only a slight chance in her mind that it was all some very large coincidence. Elle knew she didn’t have good luck lately, let alone all of the strange earthly phenomenon happening at once as global warming. Elle tried turning on only music playing stations to hide the silence. After nine hours of driving later, Elle was entering Florida.

  She tried ignoring the strange weather phenomenon on the radio. There was massive flooding in a few southern states. The winter storm of the century was hitting the north while at least three very serious hurricanes were smashing against parts of the south and even the south-west. “It’s just a coincidence,” Elle muttered to herself, contemplating stopping for a snack break. Hunger made the decision for her.

  She eventually pulled off the interstate to a small gas station to fill up. She also went inside to purchase an energy drink and a very large pack of gummi bears. Elle had never been so happy in her life to see candy and coffee. She wasn’t on a diet at the winter palace, but they didn’t exactly allow her any sweets. Why this was, she didn’t know. Elle found herself near laughing as she happily chewed a couple of gummi bears on the way back to her truck. What paused her hurried walk was a loud bark nearby. It sounded like a dog, while at the same time also not sounding like an animal…

  Swiveling her head, Elle found two very big dogs were perched outside the gas station. They were very large animals that looked to be a monstrous type of Rottweiler. The two dogs watched Elle intently, causing her to realize she didn’t necessarily enjoy the two creatures watching her with such hungry expressions. She didn’t know where they had come from given they weren’t outside when she had went into the gas station to pay.

  Elle slowly made her way back to the truck, inwardly wondering why anyone would let two large animals off leash like that. Shadow was a well-trained dog, but Elle never pushed her luck with letting her off leash. You just never knew what could set a dog off.

  Elle was so preoccupied with walking, she barely noticed herself walking right into a little pig-tailed girl who looked no more than nine. “I’m sorry!” said Elle, releasing a breath she wasn’t aware she was holding. “Those dogs had me a little nervous.” She chuckled awkwardly, shaking her head. She wasn’t sure why she spoke. It was just the first human interaction she’d had all day that she felt she needed to say something for walking into the little girl.

  The small dark-haired child smiled up happily at Elle, using a stubby finger to twirl her pigtail. She was dressed rather strangely. She wore an all-black dress that seemed to flow behind her. The child said nothing. She only smiled sweetly. Elle continued walking only for the girl to start laughing in a high-pitched giggle behind her. “Ohh, fire princess…I suppose you have not figured out that no other human in the area can see the hellhounds.”

  Elle slowly spit out the green gummi bear she had only just placed in her mouth a half second earlier. She shivered.

  That comment alone proved the
girl was not merely a small child and those dogs weren’t innocent leash-less animals. Elle shouldn’t have turned around to look back at the girl. One moment she was three feet away; the next, she was right before Elle as her eyes turned a glittering black. The girl lunged forward and grabbed Elle’s forearm roughly. A sinister-looking black mist oozed out of her fingertips. It leaked out slowly, wrapping a black misty bracelet around Elle’s hand. The misty bracelet looked nearly imaginary given it wasn’t solid. Still, Elle couldn’t shake it off.

  “You’ve now been marked,” said the girl, her voice a low cackle. Elle gaped as the little girl started to laugh. “Did you believe you would be allowed to live out your mortal years in seclusion?” the girl asked, softly giggling at Elle’s fear. “Silly child. You have a hefty bounty on your head. There is not an immortal bounty hunter around that hasn’t been promised an overabundance of riches for your return…” THUD.

  The little girl dropped Elle’s wrist and went flying at least a couple feet. That caused the child to smack against the rough wall of the metal gas station. The very strange thing about the girl whizzing through the air before roughly denting the wall was that no one else seemed to notice this strange moment. The few people exiting the gas station looked when the wall dented but seemed rather oblivious to the child that had been launched into it. They made comments about the impact, but no one seemed to be able to see the girl.

  “Fore!” a familiar voice shouted gleefully. A teenage boy with a mop of blond hair smiled at Elle as she gaped at him.

  Hermes the messenger god had now arrived. He was dressed in a cream and golden tunic with a golden halo wreath around his head. Hermes spared Elle a wave, looking his regular jubilant self. Elle had no chance to question him on his sudden arrival before the little girl with the now-dented skull stood up. A rather ugly cave-in showed that the hit against the wall should have killed her. No normal person could take such a hit and walked away so easily. Elle gaped at the child, finding she now wielded a rather large scythe in her small hands.

  “HERMES!” the child hissed, sounding horribly demonic.

  “HEL!” Hermes shouted with strange enthusiasm. It was bizarre to Elle how he was able to hold his golf club defensively to strike the girl while at the same time sounding upbeat and happy. “Elle, meet Hel. This is the viper-witch goddess of the underworld for the Norse.”

  “Spare the introduction, son of Zeus!” hissed Hel angrily. “The girl is mine!”

  Hermes nodded casually, twirling around an insanely large golf club he had in his hand. “You want her, come and get her. We both know even I hold the ability to wipe the floor with you any day of the week.” He smiled.

  This did nothing to deter Hel from wanting to come after Elle. “Be thankful my brother Fenrir is not here to gut you!” she snarled.

  “For your information, I am,” sniffed Hermes triumphantly.

  “You foul imbecile! The mother of the prophesied child shall come with me; my father’s kingdom shall claim her bounty!”

  “Father’s kingdom, my bottom!” Hermes shot back, ushering Elle behind him. “Who the Styx are you fooling? King Thor has ruled since Odin’s demise. Loki is simply a whiny brat with a daddy complex!”

  Elle’s mind immediately went dancing to the Marvel comics before she remembered Norse mythology was far older than comic books.

  “My father will one day rule all,” said Hel coldly. “Until that time, we shall do what was requested. The girl is ours!”

  THUD.

  Hel had apparently approached too close for Hermes’ liking. One moment she was slowly creeping forward; the next, she was swung backwards with a strong force thanks to the messenger god’s wrath. The hellhounds attacked next. They fought harder than the small child-like goddess. Both came running in a bid to grab Elle’s feet. Hermes had to work to keep them at bay by doing a very excellent display of running and jumping to slam the beastly animals to the ground.

  Similar to Fight Night, Hermes and the dogs blurred at amazing speeds, showing this wasn’t any ordinary situation where a young man dressed in Greek clothing attacked two monster-sized dogs with a golf club. This was an immortal being putting quite a bit of force and speed to fend off two hellhounds. “Get in the truck and drive!” Hermes yelled to Elle, kicking a dog a good ten feet away.

  “HA! Suck on that, death breath!” he said before a third hellhound started bounding toward him. The hound was too quick. Its razor sharp fangs sunk into Hermes’ calf similar to a knife slipping into butter. “Three against one?” Hermes shouted angrily.

  Elle ran to her truck as fast as she could, pulling herself in before slamming the door. She didn’t even fiddle around with her seat buckle. Against her better judgment, she started the truck and pulled onto the road as Hermes had instructed. Elle felt horrible exiting the gas station and leaving him behind. She felt traitorous for leaving her lovable young godfather alone with those beasts. It was only as Hermes popped up in the seat next to her as she drove that she released a satisfied breath. To her dismay, he was now injured. Hermes’ hand was now bleeding, and he had a rough scratch on his face that looked bad enough to need a serious amount of stitches.

  Elle watched the road while also sneaking horrified glances in Hermes’ direction. “Not that I’m not extremely grateful you showed up, but what the hell is going on, and why didn’t you just pop us out of there?” Elle howled as she sped down the interstate.

  Hermes wiped his forehead gently, releasing a breath. “I can’t teleport after using a powerful way to track someone down. I’m lucky I was able to move myself to your truck. It took me all day to summon the ability to find you when you were cloaked. As for what the hell is going on, it’s relatively simple. War has broken out.”

  “What? War? How?”

  “Utter chaos has ensued,” explained Hermes briskly. “Bounty hunters galore have been trying to find you to collect the prize for you brought back dead or alive.”

  Elle’s expression morphed to sheer horror. This was surprising to hear. “Wait, what? What are you talking about? Why am I wanted back dead?”

  Hermes looked deeply surprised as he ripped off part of his lovely tunic from his shoulder to cover his bloody scratches. “No one’s told you? I thought for sure that’s why you were back in your realm of Earth,” he exclaimed in surprise. “I thought you were running!”

  “I thought I was betrothed to Jack and expected to marry him. Why do people want me dead?”

  Hermes’ hazel eyes went wide with surprise as he staunched his blood flow. “You really are out of the loop of things, aren’t you?”

  “What are you talking about? What’s happened?”

  Hermes shot Elle a surprised look as his hand magically started to heal by itself. “No one’s told you what’s happened?”

  “No!”

  Hermes looked rather guilty. “Boreas is dead. It is suspected you and Jack are his murderers.”

  Chapter 20

  Hermes first worked to remove the cuff Hel bestowed onto Elle before anything else was said. According to the god, if he didn’t remove it and ditch it fast, the angry Norse goddess would be able to track Elle’s every movement. Hermes removed it after a small struggle. When he did, Hermes closed his eyes and caused the object to disappear.

  “Where did you send it?” asked Elle as she drove.

  “Somewhere off in the Pacific Ocean,” answered Hermes with a sly grin. “The bracelet is enchanted to lock onto a living creature. By the time Hel finds it, the bracelet should have attached itself to a passing shark or sting ray.”

  “Great for us. Now what happened to Boreas and why are Jack and I the prime suspects?”

  “First, don’t slow down,” warned Hermes as he raised a brow at her. He didn’t seem satisfied with speaking until Elle returned to driving seventy down the interstate. “The hounds found you because your mistake was getting out of your truck.”

  “I had to stop for gas!”

  “Hellhounds can find a mortal
anywhere in any realm. What shielded your scent to begin with was this foul-smelling vehicle.”

  “My grandpa uses the truck to transport garbage,” explained Elle hastily, shaking her head. “You’re not answering me!”

  “Oh, right. Boreas was found dead this morning, apparently after having been poisoned with flecks of steel from the dagger of Delphi.”

  “Well that proves Oritya did it!” exclaimed Elle. “Someone tried to kill me with poison last night!”

  Hermes shrugged as if he had already been briefed on these developments. “Oritya claims you and Jack must have attempted cover stories by faking your own poisoning.”

  “That’s ridiculous!” Elle exploded. “If Calais hadn’t saved me, I’d be dead by now!” she snarled as she angrily tapped her steering wheel.

  “You’re not stating something Zeus and Hera don’t already feel,” said Hermes sourly. “The problem is Oritya has made you and Jack public enemies to many immortals. She claims both of you conspired to murder Boreas to take his throne.”

  “Jack doesn’t even want his throne!” shouted Elle. “If he did, he could’ve just married me and taken it!”

  “Unfortunately, my tale takes a darker turn,” Hermes warned. “Oritya now holds full possession of the throne. If she can prove that Jack murdered his father, she shall hold control until she feels like giving it to one of her sons, if she ever does.”

  “And if she can’t prove it? Doesn’t Jack still become king?”

  “No dice. Until you and Jack were to marry, he can’t take control of the kingdom even if it’s his birthright. The law King Boreas passed centuries go forbade Jack from taking the throne unless he were married to his betrothed. Which is you.”

  “Well, this sucks,” said Elle, shaking her head as she continued to drive. She winced as more snow began to pile down on the roads. “And why is there so much snow if Jack controls winter?”