“You’re sure she’s okay?”
“Absolutely. She can tell you herself when you get here.”
“Okay. On my way as soon as I call the kids. See you in a few.”
“Great.” We hung up and I dialed the sheriff.
It took him a lot longer to answer, but then I’m sure he was swamped. “Miss Frost?”
I’d had enough dealings with him to know how he liked his information straight up and to the point. “Birdie’s at Balfour Park. Kidnapped by yetis that came through the portal at Myra’s. I’ll answer any questions you have when you get here.”
“Be there in five.” He hung up.
I tucked my phone away and glanced toward Birdie again. “Everyone’s on their way.”
“Good. Thank you.”
Sin came around the corner of the castle, on the opposite side from where he’d started. “This thing is rock solid. And there’s no way in or out that I can see.”
“Because they scale the wall. See the scratches?” I pointed the marks out. “Yetis have talons like bears.”
He stared at the lines in the ice. “Those are claw marks?”
“Yes.” The deep grooves cut through the ice all over the fortress, making the walls seem patterned.
“Yikes. I hope they don’t have teeth like bears too.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think bears’ teeth are that sharp or pointed, but I could be wrong.”
His brows shot up. “These things sound awful.”
“Because they are. Take a deep whiff. What do you smell?”
He inhaled. His nose wrinkled as he grimaced. “Hot garbage and wet dog with a hint of left-in-the-sun seafood. With maybe a hint of overloaded diaper.”
“That’s an accurate description.”
“Of what?” He looked slightly green. Still hot, but definitely green.
“Of a yeti’s natural musk.”
He shoved a hand through his hair. “That is unfortunate. For all of us.”
“You can say that again.”
The sheriff’s car and the fire chief’s truck skidded to a stop on the opposite street we’d come in on. Bridget got out of Titus’s truck just as Jack pulled up in his. The four of them made their way over to us. None of them looked happy.
Birdie waved down like she was welcoming them to a garden party. “Hello, my darlings.”
“Aunt Birdie, what the heck is going on?” Bridget asked. “What are you doing up there? Where did this thing come from?”
Birdie nodded at me. “The princess will explain.”
And so I did, giving them a crash course in yetis, how they’d come through the portal at Myra’s and how I was waiting on news from my dad on how to close up that magical yeti delivery system.
The sheriff crossed his arms. “How do we get rid of the yetis after it’s closed?”
“I’m hoping my dad has some thoughts on that, too, but one way or another, we’ll figure out how to round them up.”
“More importantly,” Jack said. “How do we get Birdie out of there now?”
Titus stepped forward, his gaze on the ice wall. The fire chief looked a lot like his older brother, but without the super seriousness that made the sheriff so intimidating. “I can handle that.”
He shook his arms out at his sides, like he was preparing for something. Then he rolled his shoulders and his eyes lit with a wolfy glow, and I knew exactly what that something was.
“Um, Chief? Titus?” I’d never had much interaction with the man, so calling him by his first name felt a little odd. But considering what I was pretty sure he was about to do, it was the best way to get his attention. “I don’t think that’s such a good—”
He crouched, then leaped into the air, shifting into his wolf form as he went. He made it to the top of the wall, landed, and launched forward. It was a very impressive move.
“Titus!” Birdie’s exclamation was followed by the sounds of snarling, biting, some yowling, scratching, and hissing. And more yelling from Birdie. “Get off him, get off him, you horrible little monsters! No! Stop that. No! No! No!”
Seconds later, a hunk of wolf-shaped ice came hurtling over the wall. It crashed at our feet and broke open to reveal a very angry Titus, still in wolf-form. He shifted back to his human self. His uniform was shredded and he had scratches and bite marks all over him. He got to his feet, glowering like a lit fuse.
He jabbed a finger at the fortress. “Those things are evil.”
Bridget went to him. “Are you okay, Bro? You look like you got used for a chew toy.”
Hank snorted, causing Titus to shoot him an angry look before slanting his eyes at his sister. “Thanks for your concern. I’m fine.”
“Sorry,” I said. “I tried to warn you, but you jumped before I could say anything. Yetis are not like anything you guys would have run into here.”
“Apparently.” He wiped a little yeti saliva off his arm, then glanced up. “What are we going to do about Aunt Birdie?”
“We’ll figure something out.” I yelled up to her. “Birdie, you sure you don’t need anything?”
“Other than to get out of here? Maybe some air fresheners.” She leaned over. “I really am okay. The yetis have brought me all kinds of food, drinks, and odds-n-ends. Including the Millers’s mailbox, a single tennis shoe, a red plastic kid’s shovel and a large assortment of garden gnomes. They’ve also made me a bed out of a random assortment of quilts, pillows and blankets. I assume pilfered from the neighboring houses.”
I thought about that a moment. “So they’re not threatening you at all?”
“As long as I’m not trying to escape, they’ve been very nice. Almost reverent. It’s weird.”
“Weird, but good. Stay safe up there. And warm. We’ll get you down just as soon as we can.” I really needed to talk to my dad.
The sheriff approached. “This escalates things. We need to get rid of these yetis immediately.” He looked at his brother and shook his head. “Why don’t we just get Van in here to fire-breathe these things out of existence?”
Bridget planted her hands on her hips. “With Aunt Birdie in there? Are you nuts?”
Sheriff Merrow’s expression didn’t change. “We’ll have Nick swoop in and pick her up, then Van can come in behind him and melt this fortress into vapor. Taking the yetis with it.”
Bridget frowned. “It’s not like you to be so blood-thirsty.”
His eyes narrowed. “Look what they did to Titus. And they’re holding Birdie hostage. Who knows what they plan on doing to her? They might be getting ready to make her into their dinner, for all we know.”
I shook my head. “Yetis don’t eat people.”
He snorted. “As far as you know.”
“I do know. And if they so much as see the shadow of Nick or Van come close to them, I can guarantee they’ll retreat with Birdie so deep into that fortress that no one will be able to get to them. At least this way, we can communicate with Birdie.”
The sheriff crossed his arms. “How are you so sure?”
I stood my ground. “They’re from the North Pole, same as I am. And I have a pretty good idea of why they took Birdie.”
“Oh?” He rocked back on his heels slightly. “Would you care to share that with the rest of us?”
I took a breath. “They’re going to make her their queen.”
Bridget’s mouth fell open. “For real?”
“For real,” I said.
“Their queen?” Sin asked. “What makes you think that?”
“There’s a story all winter elf children know, about how a little girl ran away from home because she didn’t want to obey her parents, and the yetis found her and made her their queen and her parents never saw her again.” I shrugged. “We were always taught that it was a real thing that happened. I suppose it was to keep kids from running away from home.”
Bridget frowned. “It doesn’t sound like that big of a deterrent to me. Being queen? That might make some little girls want to run away.�
��
“Well, the yetis smell awful, make you eat raw fish, and were generally considered scary creatures. It wasn’t a fate any child wanted.”
“Oh,” Bridget said.
Jack glanced at the fortress. “You sure they’re going to treat her all right?”
I shrugged. “If they plan on making her their queen, I can’t imagine they wouldn’t. From what Birdie’s told me, they’re feeding her, bringing her gifts, and have even made a bed for her.”
“But why Aunt Birdie?” Titus asked. “She’s not a winter elf.”
“I know that, but she’s still rocking that blue hair and…” I chewed on my lip. “She’s also wearing a necklace of winter elf crystal. A snowflake pendant that’s actually the house seal of the Winter Court.”
“Where did she get that?” the sheriff barked.
I tried not to cringe when I answered. “I, uh, gave it to her. As a thank-you gift for watching my cat. I guess the yetis are taking it to mean she’s their chosen one.”
He sighed. “You need to talk to your father and get a solution to this immediately.”
“Agreed. I’m going to my apartment now to do just that.” I looked at Sin. “You’ll take me back, right?”
“Of course. Just say the word.”
“I’m ready.” I looked at Birdie’s family, and Jack, and wished I had more to offer them. “Sorry to leave you all with this situation.”
“Are y’all making the princess feel bad?” Birdie shouted down. “You’d better not be.”
I waved at her and smiled. “It’s all good.”
Bridget leaned back to talk to her. “Now Aunt Birdie—”
She scowled at her niece and nephews. “I’m stuck in an ice fortress, I’m not deaf. Be nice.”
Jack snorted while Hank, Titus and Bridget shifted around awkwardly.
I pretended not to notice while I finished my conversation with her. I hitched my thumb toward Sin’s SUV. “All right, I’m off to talk to my dad and figure this whole thing out. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Take your time, Princess. I’m fine up here. Just found a large box of chocolates these wretched fiends were hoarding in one of their piles of food. Seems they love sweets as much as I do.”
“They do.” I gave her a wave and a smile, then nudged Sinclair. “Let’s go.”
We turned, and he put his arm around me as we trudged through the snow to his SUV. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not. You feel responsible for this, don’t you?”
I shrugged. “Yes, but how could I not?”
“Babe, this isn’t your fault.”
“That’s kind of you to say, but I’m the one who gave her that pendant. And if you really want to dig down, none of this would have happened if winter elves weren’t a thing.”
“Whoa.” He stopped me in front of the car, putting his hands on my shoulders and turning me toward him. “Hang on a second. I’m not going to listen to that kind of talk.”
“I’m not wishing I’d never been born or anything like that, but you heard the tone in the sheriff’s voice. Saw the look in his eyes. He’s unhappy with me. With my kind. They all are. And who can blame any of them?”
“I get that. But the sheriff is unhappy because his aunt is being held hostage and his brother just got the snot knocked out of him by a bunch of yetis. Not to mention that the town he’s in charge of protecting and serving is currently experiencing a new ice age. However, none of this is your fault.”
I appreciated his efforts to make me feel better, but the best I could do was shrug, unconvinced.
He shook his head, his hands firm on my shoulders. “Not an acceptable response, missy.”
A little half-smile crept onto my face and I was powerless to stop it. “What do you want me to say?”
“That this isn’t your fault.”
“I don’t think I can do that.”
“How about it’s not all your fault?”
I stared at him for a moment, seeing his belief in me shining bright in his eyes. He was such a good man. “It’s not all my fault,” I mumbled.
“That’s my girl.” He pulled me into a hug, then with his arm back around my shoulders, started us walking toward the passenger’s side. “Now let’s get you to your apartment so you can talk to your dad.”
“What about your shop?” We were steps from the SUV. “You still haven’t checked on it.”
He opened my door. “I’ll drop you off, then do that, then come right back. The snowplows are running. I saw one go by earlier. So it shouldn’t take me as long. Plan?”
“Plan.” More than ever, I wanted Sinclair around. Because, despite what he’d made me say, I did feel like most of this was my fault. Not just mine, but all of the winter elves. And that bothered me. A lot. I didn’t want any of this to reflect poorly on my family or my people.
I didn’t think that was my royal side talking either. I thought it was just that I loved being a winter elf. I was proud of who I was and where I came from. Proud of my family and my hometown and all the hardworking people who lived there. We were basically responsible for Christmas! How could I not be proud of that? And how could I not be bothered by anyone or anything that casted the North Pole in a bad light?
My dad and I had to figure this out.
Soon.
I decided on the ride to the warehouse to call him from my office, which I did the second I went inside. Fortunately, he answered the snow globe almost instantly. “How’s it going there?”
“Not great. Things have escalated.” I brought him up to speed on Birdie, the ice castle, and my theory on the yetis making her their queen.
He went a little ashen. “That sounds like exactly what they’re doing.”
“So why do you look like you just found out Christmas has been canceled?”
“Jay, the yetis chose a queen for one reason only. They believe the queen brings them protection from the wendigo.”
“Makes sense. The wendigo is their one natural enemy.” I still didn’t see what my dad was getting at. “What’s wrong with wanting protection?”
He scrubbed a hand across his mouth. “Because they get that protection by sacrificing the queen.”
I stared at him. “When you say sacrificing…” I stared at him a little harder. “Say it in plain English.”
“They’re going to trade Birdie’s life for the protection of the tribe.”
That sent a brand-new kind of cold through me. “That cannot happen. We have to get her out of there more than ever.”
He nodded.
Then I got a little mad. “Why was the whole sacrificing thing never part of the children’s story? Seems to me that’s a pretty important part.”
He sighed. “It was deemed too frightening by polite society, and most people stopped telling that part. Eventually, a lot of people forgot it was the queen’s fate.”
“You know about it.”
“I’m the king.”
“And I’m next in line. Why am I just finding this out now?”
“I don’t know. Look, we’re going to get Birdie out of there. We’re going to close that portal, round up those yetis and make all of this unnatural winter go away.”
“Great. How?”
His mouth thinned to a hard line. “I don’t know yet. But I’m calling an emergency meeting of my council immediately. We will work on this until we have an answer. In the meantime, don’t attempt anything until I get back to you. Yetis are unpredictable.”
“That much I do know.”
“Good, because you don’t want to do something that could make things worse.”
“That’s for sure.” I tapped my fingers on my desk, thinking. “I guess I’ll start carrying this snow globe with me so you can get ahold of me as soon as you have an answer.”
“I’m all for that.” Then his brows pulled together. “Do you plan on being out much?”
I shrugged. “I can’t predict anything at this po
int. But I’d hate for you to come up with something and me not be around to get the call.”
“Right.”
“Hey, what do you think about putting out sweets and such for the yetis? You know how they love sugar. I’m thinking we could keep them in a happy mood that way.”
He thought a moment. “I guess that would be all right. I’ll check with the council about that first thing and let you know if it’s not a good idea for some reason.”
“Thank you. I’ll talk to you soon. Tell everyone I said hi.”
“Will do. Love you, Jay.”
“Love you, too, Dad.”
We hung up, and I sat there for a moment, listening to the drone of the big generator. I was used to the sounds that filtered in from the shop. The subtle hum of background music, the highs and lows of conversations, the occasional laugh or squeal of a happy child, the bells of the door and register. It was odd not to hear all that. And it made me melancholy.
I got up and walked into the store.
Light filtered in through the windows, making it bright enough to see without using electricity, but it was a bleak, watery light that perfectly mirrored how I felt inside. I needed to snap out of it, I knew that, but my mood was getting worse, not better.
I took a few breaths and tried to shift my spirits in an upward direction. It wasn’t often that I saw the shop like this. It almost felt like I was seeing it through new eyes. But the toys and games looked trivial. Who needed any of that when a woman I cared deeply for was in such peril?
I wrapped my arms around myself and stared out the windows. The snow was still coming down. The streets were empty, and rightly so. No one would be out in this weather unless they had to be, but that would change if the weather didn’t break.
People would get cabin fever cooped up in their houses. They’d get bored. Tired of their kids being underfoot. The streets and sidewalks would get busy again.
Then what? People would figure out what had happened to Birdie, and word would spread that some horrible little monsters from the North Pole had taken her hostage. If that news wasn’t already traveling through town.
Miss Frost Braves the Blizzard Page 10