Frozen Fever

by Disney Book Group

  “Nobody!” Elsa laughed, and it tickled her throat. “Achoo!” she sneezed. More little snowmen appeared and ran away.

  “Elsa, I think you’re getting sick,” Anna said. “Maybe we should stop.”

  “I feel fine,” Elsa replied. “Besides, you still need to follow that string!”

  So Anna picked up the portrait, along with the cuckoo clock, the bracelet, and the flowers. Her arms were full and she staggered a bit, but she followed the string.

  The string led the girls around a corner to a bicycle.

  “Ooh!” Anna cried in excitement. “Can we ride it? Indoors?”

  “Why not?” Elsa climbed onto the bike. A moment later, a grinning Anna climbed on behind her, a little clumsily. It was hard to balance while carrying all her gifts.

  Together, the sisters headed down the hallway, pedaling and laughing and trying not to tip over. The string was still leading them forward.

  “Woo, this is fun! Where is the string going now?” called Anna.

  The two sped right past her next gift: a colorful pair of silk stockings, hanging from the ceiling.

  Elsa leaned on the handlebars and spun the bike around. She ducked under the stockings—and they flapped into Anna’s face.

  “Nice!” Anna said. “Woop! Look out—stairs ahead!”

  With a bump, the bike lurched down a spiral staircase. It wobbled and bumped on the steps, but Anna and Elsa held on tightly, laughing the whole time.

  “Achoo!” Elsa sneezed.

  Several more little snowmen appeared, tumbling down the stairs behind Anna and Elsa. Unnoticed, the little snowmen dashed outside and raced into the courtyard.

  Kristoff was getting worried. He and Sven had worked hard to get the courtyard ready for Anna’s big birthday bash. But then the little snowmen had arrived. Every time Kristoff turned around, there were more of them.

  “Where are they coming from?” Kristoff asked. Sven tossed his head and snorted.

  “Does it matter?” Olaf said. “They’re so fun!” He was having a blast with them.

  Kristoff wasn’t sure that “fun” was the right description. The little snowmen were racing around the courtyard. They climbed onto the tables and skidded across the tablecloths, and they had already knocked over several flower arrangements.

  Then some of them started clambering up the ladder. Another group was climbing an ice pillar next to the tables. Kristoff had a sudden feeling of dread.

  “Oh, no! Don’t knock down the banner!” he called.

  But the tiny snowmen were already pulling themselves along the banner, knocking the letters from side to side.

  Kristoff grimaced. “Definitely not fun,” he said. Then he heard Olaf talking to some of the snowmen nearby.

  “Do you want to see the cake?” Olaf said.

  The cake! Kristoff swung around and saw Olaf leading several little snowmen toward the big cake. Their cute little eyes grew wide.

  “No cake!” Kristoff said. Queen Elsa specifically asked me to guard that cake.”

  “Oops, I forgot!” Olaf said. He turned to the snowmen. “Okay, no cake. You’ll have to look later.”

  But the little snowmen had already seen the cake.

  Trying to help, Sven galloped across the courtyard and stopped in front of the cake. He lowered his head and shook his antlers, trying to block the parade of tiny snowmen. But they ran around him.

  Kristoff grabbed three little snowmen who were sliding on a frozen fountain and dropped them to the ground. Then he turned and stretched—and barely caught the punch bowl before it toppled to the ground.

  He ran over to Sven, who was scrambling backward, still trying to push the little snowmen aside. Kristoff and Sven stood together in front of the cake, guarding it.

  “I’ve got your back, buddy,” Kristoff told Sven.

  Anna and Elsa were still giggling as they followed the birthday string down to the docks by the fjord.

  “I can’t wait till you see this present!” Elsa said. “Just a little bit farther.”

  Anna followed the string to a rowboat, which had been pulled up onto the dock. Grinning, she spotted her next present lying next to the boat.

  “A fishing pole!” Anna held it up excitedly. “Elsa, will you go fishing with me?”

  “Achoo!” Elsa sneezed.

  Behind her, a flurry of little snowmen appeared once again. They toppled into the rowboat, which tipped back and slid into the water. Neither Anna nor Elsa saw the gang of little snowmen trying to pick up the oars and row away.

  Anna turned to her sister. “Elsa, I’m starting to worry about you.”

  “Come on,” Elsa said. “The next surprise is even better!” She clapped her hands and started off toward the center of town.

  They walked along the sunbaked cobblestones. Flowers cascaded from a few window boxes, and butterflies danced in the breeze.

  “I love summer,” Anna said.

  “I love winter,” Elsa said.

  Then they looked at each other and said at the same time, “Me too!” Giggling, they gave each other a squeeze.

  “Look!” Anna said. “The string is leading us into the marketplace! Elsa, how did you ever manage this?”

  It was true; the string led right through the marketplace, which was bustling with activity. There were vendors everywhere, selling colorful kites and cold drinks, saddles and hayrides, fresh cheeses, and warm pies.

  Anna was so busy trying to follow her birthday string that she nearly tripped over the candle maker and his wagon.

  “Whoops! Sorry,” Anna said. “I didn’t see you. I’m following this string, and—”

  “Princess Anna!” the candle maker exclaimed. “It’s your birthday today, yes? May I present you with a candle to celebrate?”

  “Wow, thank you,” Anna replied. She plucked a bright yellow candle from his basket. “How did you know it was my birthday?”

  “We all know—”

  “How nice!” Elsa interrupted. The candle maker had created special candles for Anna’s party. But Anna wasn’t supposed to know that—at least, not yet. “Everyone knows when it’s the princess’s birthday,” Elsa added hastily.

  “Oh, right!” Anna said. “I mean, they do? They know it’s my birthday?”

  Elsa pushed Anna toward the glassmaker. He politely showed the sisters some new vases he had made.

  But there was one special item in his display, and the string led right to it.

  “Oh, look!” the queen said. “Achoo!”

  Behind Elsa, several more little snowmen appeared and ran away. Neither Anna nor Elsa saw them.

  Elsa stepped behind the counter and picked up the special gift. Gently, she presented it to Anna: a snow globe.

  Anna hugged her sister. The snow globe was perfect, and so beautiful—just like Elsa.

  The little snowmen scampered through the marketplace.

  “But that’s not all!” Elsa said. She pulled Anna along by the hand until they reached a little kiosk not far away. Wandering Oaken had brought his goods—and his sauna—down to the marketplace!

  Elsa ran to the kiosk and pulled an item from his display. “One of Oaken’s ‘cloakens’ for you!” she told Anna.

  Anna twirled the beautiful heavy cloak around and hugged it tight. “I love it…but your cold is getting worse, Elsa,” she said.

  “I don’t get colds,” Elsa protested. But she didn’t sound certain. She looked at Oaken’s steamy sauna and impulsively opened the door. She took a deep breath of steamy air to help unclog her nose. “Ahhhh…”

  “Are you sick?” Oaken asked from the doorway, surprising the sisters. The big man was barely visible in all the steam. “Perhaps you would like to try a remedy of my own invention?” Oaken held up a bottle of homemade medicine.

  “No, thanks,” Elsa said, and she left the sauna, eager for Anna to continue discovering her surprises.

  “We’ll take it,” Anna told Oaken. She grabbed the cold remedy and raced after her sister.

/>   As she followed Elsa, Anna nearly stumbled over a small child. It was the same girl Elsa had encountered the day before.

  “I’m sorry!” she said. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes,” the little girl replied. “My name is Kirsten, and I’m about to sing for Princess Anna. It’s her birthday today!”

  “You are? It is?” Anna said. By this time, Anna was overloaded with presents, and Kirsten clearly didn’t recognize the princess behind all the packages.

  “Yes,” the little girl said. “My mama put my hair in braids because today is special. Princess Anna is my favorite. Which one do you like better, Princess Anna or Princess Elsa?”

  “Well, hmm. I think I like Elsa best.” Anna turned her face away to hide her smile.

  “I have to go now,” Kirsten told her. “Will you be at our concert?”

  “I’m pretty sure I will!” Anna said.

  Kirsten ran off to catch up with several other schoolchildren gathering on a platform in the middle of the square. Anna saw that Elsa was standing in front of them with her hands in the air.

  Just as someone guided Anna to her seat of honor, Elsa began to conduct the choir! The children were singing a special song that had been written just for Anna’s birthday.

  In the third row of the choir, Kirsten stood with her jaw dropped. She was staring right at Anna, who now sat in her appointed chair. Clearly Kirsten had just realized that she was Princess Anna!

  Anna waved at Kirsten and smiled. The little girl waved back shyly.

  Anna shifted her mound of gifts, which had been steadily growing. She was still carrying the cuckoo clock, the portrait, the fishing rod, the cloak, the snow globe, and—whoops! She almost dropped everything!

  “Achoo!” Elsa sneezed again and blew her nose. Several little snowmen appeared, landing right on the stage with the choir. The sisters didn’t see them, but the children did. The little snowmen ran around the stage, causing great excitement.

  “Please, Elsa,” Anna said, a note of concern in her voice. “You need to rest. You’re getting sick!”

  But once again, Elsa refused. When the song was over, she pushed Anna along toward her next birthday surprise.

  Behind them, the choir children happily chased the little snowmen.

  Kristoff was still doing his best to keep Anna’s birthday surprise safe from the little snowmen. But every time he turned around, more of them were piling into the courtyard! They raced around and nearly knocked Kristoff over. They were even climbing into the shape of a small pyramid in their attempts to reach Anna’s cake.

  “No!” Kristoff shouted. “STAY AWAY FROM THAT CAKE!”

  Seeing Olaf nearby and desperate for an idea, Kristoff grabbed the snowman’s head off his body. “Thanks in advance, buddy,” Kristoff whispered.

  “Uh-oh,” Olaf said.

  Kristoff wound up his arm and rolled Olaf’s head like a bowling ball. It tumbled across the courtyard and knocked down the pyramid with a thud.

  “Yes!” Kristoff pumped his fist.

  Next to him, Olaf’s headless body jumped into the air, and one of his little twig arms gave Kristoff a fist-bump.

  “Nice!” Olaf’s head shouted from across the courtyard. The cake was saved again.

  Kristoff was careful to put Olaf’s head back onto his body.

  “Thanks,” Olaf said.

  Then Kristoff turned to see several little snowmen knocking down the birthday banner. All the letters fluttered to the ground.

  “I can fix it!” Olaf exclaimed.

  Kristoff didn’t have a choice. He had to protect the cake, so he left Olaf with the banner letters.

  Kristoff turned to face several little snowmen who were charging at the cake.

  “No!” Kristoff scolded.

  The little snowmen stopped charging, but they still ignored Kristoff. They piled onto a table and started pelting him with snowballs. Kristoff grabbed an empty punch bowl and placed it upside down on his head as a helmet.

  “Now stand back!” Kristoff said triumphantly.

  But the snowmen refused. The little guys ran straight at Kristoff and knocked him to the ground. “Oof!” Kristoff grunted.

  Behind him, Olaf proudly announced that the birthday banner was ready. “All fixed!” he called out.

  Kristoff stared at the newly rearranged letters of the banner and read it aloud. “DRY BANANA HIPPY HAT?” he said, confused.

  Olaf grinned. “See? We just need to clean up a little, and everything will be okay.” He hugged one of the little snowmen. “Aren’t you cute?”

  “They are not cute!” Kristoff yelled.

  Elsa’s nose was stuffy, her eyes were watering, and she couldn’t stop sneezing. But she was too excited to end the treasure hunt now. She led Anna to the bottom of Arendelle’s clock tower. When she looked up to the top, she felt exhausted. But after taking a big breath, she waved her little sister over.

  “Come on,” she told Anna. “Now we climb.”

  Anna peered up at Elsa from under her latest birthday present: a big hat with birthday candles burning all around its rim. She was completely loaded down with presents, but that wasn’t what worried her the most.

  “You want to climb all the way to the top?” She blew out a candle on the edge of the hat and shifted her load of birthday presents. “Elsa, that’s too much. You need to rest.”

  Elsa shivered. Was it excitement, or—

  “I think you have a fever!” Anna said.

  “I’m fine, Anna, really,” Elsa said as she began climbing the steps. “Absolutely…fine.” Her feet felt very heavy. But she was anxious to show Anna the next gift. “I’m going to make sure that this time you don’t miss out on any birthday chills—I mean, thrills.”

  Anna was really starting to worry. Elsa had been sneezing so much, and now she looked unsteady on her feet. Her face was flushed. Elsa was usually so composed and calm. Something was not right. Anna had never seen Elsa get sick, but did that mean she couldn’t get sick?

  Still, there didn’t seem to be any way to stop Elsa’s excitement. Anna took a deep breath, hoisted her presents onto her shoulder, and followed Elsa up the steps into the clock tower.

  Inside the castle courtyard, Kristoff was still battling the little snowmen. They seemed intent on getting to Anna’s birthday cake. Plus, more and more kept arriving! Were they multiplying? What was going on?

  Sven chased several of them away from the cake. He ran after them as they scampered back and forth among all the statues and pillars in the courtyard. Sven couldn’t move quite as fast as the little snowmen, but he did his best to block them with his antlers.

  Scooting happily away, the little snowmen slid along icy patches and careened around the frozen fountains. But when they rounded an icicle post, Sven couldn’t make the sharp turn after them. Panting, the big reindeer crashed right into the post. His tongue stuck to the icy pole.

  “Hi, Sven!” Olaf said. “Do you need some help?”

  Sven looked at Olaf helplessly.

  “Mfff,” Sven snorted.

  “Oh, what?” Olaf said. “I can’t understand you. Maybe you should take your mouth away from that pole—”

  Just then three little snowmen rammed into Olaf. He spun around in a circle and his head almost flew off.

  “Ahhh!” he cried.

  The little snowmen ran past him.

  Then four more little snowmen sped around Olaf. He held on to his head and then lifted it into the air as his body spun in circles. When the spinning stopped, he dropped his head back into place.

  Olaf paused and looked around, turning his head and testing his view. “I think I’m good,” he noted.

  Over by the cake table, Kristoff was having his own problems. “Please!” he shouted. “Just—no! Stay away from the cake!”

  But seven little snowmen had finally clambered up onto the cake table. Desperate, Kristoff dove toward the table, then picked up the cake and held it as high in the air as he could. The cake’s four layers tipp
ed from one side to the other as he tried to balance it.

  “Stop!” Kristoff shouted. The little snowmen surrounded him and tried to climb up his body. “Whoa! Oh, hey! Ticklish! Hee, hee.”

  Kristoff broke free of the little snowmen, but only for a second. He began to run and tripped over other little snowmen.

  As Kristoff fell, he managed to hold the cake up high. He tossed it toward Olaf before he hit the ground.

  “Hey-oh!” Olaf called out cheerfully. He had lost his head again, and he watched the cake fly through the air. His body was about three feet away, and he lifted his little twig arms to catch the cake.

  Nearby, Sven’s tongue was still stuck to the ice pole. He looked up with a worried expression.

  The cake spiraled toward Olaf, but…

  “Nooooo!” Kristoff said.

  The cake flew over the heads of several little snowmen. It flew over Olaf. Then it headed toward Sven—and miraculously, the reindeer caught the cake in his antlers.

  “What a catch, Sven! Good boy!” Kristoff said. Then he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw a bunch of little snowmen swinging from the birthday banner!

  “Now hold on!” Kristoff said. Then he stopped short. The banner panels had been rearranged again. It now read: HAPPY HAIRY ANT BAND.

  Kristoff groaned. How would they ever keep things in good shape until Anna’s surprise party?

  “Phew! There sure are a lot of steps in here,” Anna said as she lugged the cuckoo clock, portrait, fishing rod, cloak, and snow globe up the stairwell of the clock tower.

  Clang! Clang! The clock tower’s bell was ringing in the hour.

  “Wow, it’s really loud in here,” said Anna. “I have never been here when it’s ringing!”

  Elsa’s face was flushed. Her head was pounding, her fever was rising, and her nose was getting stuffier. “You’re going to love your next present!” she told Anna.

  “I know I will,” Anna said. “But, Elsa? Are you okay?”

  “What?” Elsa’s head was spinning. She really, really wanted this day to be perfect. Anna deserved it, and Elsa refused to give up on her plan, not now.