by CS Patra
Fortunately, Ze didn’t seem to be phased by this. “Ah, I see that you two lovebirds have been reunited. We need to get out of here.”
Donnie took a step back and let go of her hand. “You! You’re the one who was threatening me!”
“Threatening you?” Ze asked. “I have never met you in my life. All I know is that the Queen was pretending to be me, and has made you believe that I am the bad guy here.”
“She—she, what? I don’t think I get this.” Donnie sunk back in the snow. “No wonder Olivia is confused. I finally get to this world, and I still have no idea why I’ve been dragged over here.”
“Probably for the reason she claimed—you’re the bait. She really wanted Olivia, so she used you to trap her,” Ze said. “She knows that you are the perfect reason for her to come here.”
“Why does she want Olivia? What power could she have?” Donnie asked. “Truth be told, I’m the one who introduced this whole idea to her.”
“That may be so, but it was destiny that you two met. You had an idea, and she had the power to make it come true,” Ze explained. “Call it fate, call it coincidence, call it whatever you want. The point is that you two were meant to come here, and maybe you will be the ones who can help our world.”
“I want to help you, but I don’t know how,” Olivia said. “I’ll be honest—Donnie’s right. This whole thing was foreign to me until now. All I did was start a new job, and met him on the first day. I wasn’t even supposed to be in that lab, but somehow that’s where our relationship started. I didn’t even believe him at first when he was talking about all of this. Now I know it’s all real.” She looked over at Donnie, who was breathing hard. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you. I should have known right away that you weren’t crazy.”
“It’s okay. I know I sounded crazy that day,” he conceded. “At this moment, all I want is a way to get out of this world.”
“All of that will come in due time,” Ze said. “Right now, we need to get in touch with everyone else and let them know that you’re all right.”
“How do we do that?” Olivia asked, helping Donnie up on his feet. He was still very warm against her body, and the radiating heat was troubling. “We need to get him to a doctor or someone who can make him feel better. He’s in no shape to go anywhere.”
“Unfortunately, you won’t find anyone helpful for miles,” Ze said. “Maybe we can bundle him up, but that’s it. We have to get a move on. The first thing we’ll do—”
“Ze!” someone called out, and they all looked up. “Ze, are you all right? Are they with you? We have some company!”
As the snow cleared, Olivia could see who was yelling. It was Sara, but she wasn’t alone. Right behind her was everyone else. Goran and Mina had shown up with Ms. Howard, Alice, Gemma, Astrid, and Jei beside them. Olivia knew that she had to explain this mess to everyone, but it didn’t seem like they were angry with her now. Ms. Howard embraced both of them, and she was breathing hard. She felt Donnie’s forehead and shook her head in a motherly way. The others looked relieved, but this journey wasn’t over yet.
Olivia took a deep breath and started to talk. “Ms. Howard, I’m so sorry about all this. I just couldn’t—”
“Oh, thank goodness!” the old woman exclaimed, completely ignoring Olivia’s apology. “Thank goodness she didn’t get you! Although, what happened? Donovan, you have a fever! Are you aware of this?”
“I know, but I haven’t had time to worry about that. Madeline, what’s happening?” Donnie asked. “I got out of that prison thinking one thing, and now I’m finding out another. At first I thought I was in the Frostland, then I thought I was in another world, and now I have no idea what I’m doing here.” He coughed loudly. “I know it was stupid to walk out in the cold. I just had to see this place for myself. I had to see Olivia again.”
“Olivia?” Alice piped up, looking at Olivia. “Out of all the things in this world, you wanted to see her?”
Donnie blushed. “I just had to see her. I had to get out for her.” He took Olivia’s hand and she squeezed it back. Alice didn’t look impressed, but she accepted his answer. As for Ms. Howard, she took off her own gloves and handed them to him.
“Put those on. You’re going to get frostbite,” she warned him. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re both safe. We miscalculated.”
“Miscalculated?” Olivia asked. “What went wrong?”
“You’re not alone in being confused about this world,” Ms. Howard said. “We’ve all fallen into that trap. We were wrong about the Queen. We thought she was being threatened, when in reality—she attacked us. As soon as you left, her forces came down on us. She launched an attack on Kojan and Thymasa. We could not protect both at the same time. We had to leave and find you first.”
“What?” Olivia whispered. “You told me that Thymasa was under protection.”
“Well, the Queen took the protection away and launched the assault against her own people. We were looking for you when the snowstorm picked up again. It was Jei that confronted one of the soldiers and found out the truth. The Queen is angry at the Brotherhood, and wants Olivia for herself. She wants her power, and is willing to sacrifice anything to get it.”
“So is everyone in those villages—” Olivia started.
“I don’t know.” Ms. Howard lowered her head. “Right now, we need to protect you. The Queen has made her message clear. We need you and the Hearts Under Ice to be safe. I’m not sure what the Queen wants at this point, but we’re all in danger here.”
“Actually, things might be worse.” Astrid said, coming out of the castle. “I saw that open room in the dungeon, and it’s completely cold.”
“It’s cold?” Donnie asked. “It was hot when I was passing by it. Why would someone want to shut down the boiler room?”
“That’s just it—I don’t think it was a boiler room. I think that’s where she kept the Hearts Under Ice. All that was left in the room was an empty box. That might explain why you thought it was so warm. They were keeping the castle warm, and I think that they generate power throughout the city as well. Without them, everything will be plunged into darkness.” Sure enough, the lights in the castles went out, and the snow began falling faster. “Okay, this is not good. We have to move quickly and find her!”
“How are we going to find the Queen? We have no idea where she is!” Olivia exclaimed.
“Well, if I were her, where do you think I would go? I’m not hanging around my castles!” Mina exclaimed. “Knowing her, she’s not sticking around here anymore.” The ground shook below the surface, and Olivia began looking for a place to hide. When the shaking stopped, Mina turned to her. “Did you feel that?!”
“Now we’re getting earthquakes here?”
“No, this is the result of the gems being taken.” Ze said. Unlike the others, he was relatively calm. There was fear in voice, but he wasn’t panicking. “The earthquakes are just the beginning. The power will go out, and before we know it, everything will split apart. It will basically descend into chaos here.”
“Chaos?” Donnie whispered. “So you’re sure they’re gone?”
Sara nodded. “I think that the Queen got rid of them herself. If that is the case, do you know what that means?”
Olivia gulped. “We’re screwed.”
Chapter Twenty-eight
Olivia still could not believe what she had heard. It turned out that everyone here was good, and their mutual enemy had escaped. Even though she hadn’t seen the destruction, Olivia couldn’t think of a reason to distrust Ms. Howard or the others. Still, something in everyone’s story was not gelling well with her. They had managed to escape Kojan, but how did anyone know that Thymasa was also attacked? Could they get a message fast enough for that? The Brotherhood of Iced Blood didn’t hurt her, but she couldn’t understand their goals, either. Attaining peace and freedom in their world was a huge thing to aim for. It couldn’t be just about that. Then there was the Frost Queen, the one person she had yet to
see or truly understand. One minute, she thought she was a loving, caring ruler. The next minute, she seemed to be destructive and angry. There was something fishy going on in this world, and someone else had the answers.
“I can’t believe she would do that,” Astrid murmured.
They were now sitting around a fire that Sara had made, thinking about their next move. Olivia had told everyone about why she made the decision to leave them behind. She knew it wasn’t the smartest decision, but Donnie needed her. As she spoke, Donnie kept giving her a look that she couldn’t decipher. It was a mix of pride and confusion. Gemma and Alice had concocted something that was supposed to bring down his fever. They had found some herbs and leaves, and mashed them into a medicine for him. He didn’t like the taste, but took it anyway. It was better than nothing.
As for Olivia, she was now wrapped in an extra coat that Ms. Howard had brought along. It wasn’t as heavy as the one she gave Donnie, but it would do. She also had a new scarf and gloves to match it. The new clothes were nice, but they were doing nothing to ease her confusion. She found herself staring at Donnie as he tried to take his medicine again. It smelled rancid, and she could only imagine what it tasted like. He swallowed it down without any complaints, and she was relieved. He was starting to look better, thanks to it, and his coughing had slowed down. Whatever Alice and Gemma had made, it was working. She reached over and touched his hand.
“I can’t believe it.” Jei looked around the group and lowered his head. “This was not what I was expecting to happen. I just don’t understand why the Queen would do something like this! Why would she go after Thymasa and Kojan like that?”
“That’s what we’ve been trying to tell the world,” Mina said. “Your Queen is not who you think she is. Maybe she might have been benevolent in the past, but something has changed. That’s why we’ve been tracking her moves. We think that she’s not the main enemy here. Someone else is behind this.”
“Someone else?” Olivia repeated. “If she’s not the enemy, and you’re not the enemy, then who are we looking for?”
“That we still don’t know. I can only hope that the—” Mina stopped speaking as the storm began to pick up again around them. “Oh no. I think it’s getting worse. We have to take action now! Those gems are necessary for more than just this world. Their disappearance is going to change the other worlds, eventually. It may even disturb the one where you come from.”
“So you think that my home might get destroyed?” Olivia asked. “I guess we don’t have any choice but to follow her. I just wish we had some idea of where she went.”
“We don’t know yet, but we can start looking for clues. Some of us can look around here, while the others can go into the other worlds on Earth. You do need those gems. Your world will fall apart without them,” Ze declared. “Depending on where she went, we may have a hard time jumping from world to world all at once. Not to mention, some of you probably aren’t used to it. I think we should let Olivia do this. She’s a natural.”
“Not really,” Olivia shook her head. “I just got lucky somehow. I will help you, but I have no idea where to start looking in another world. What if I end up in the wrong place? I would have no idea how to navigate around it, or even what to look for!”
“You don’t worry about that part. One of us will be there with you,” Jei said. “What you need to think about is yourself and how your body and mind will handle these changes. Understand that you will be moving around different times and universes. It will affect you in more than one way. With those gems gone, it will eventually mess up all of the worlds. If they’re put in a different place, that world will be altered most. We cannot let that happen. We need to get them back where they belong.”
“I still don’t understand why the Queen would turn on you like that. You said there’s another enemy, but I don’t know who else could be after us,” Olivia said. “I keep hearing she’s caring, but then she does this. How does that make her caring?”
“I don’t know what happened to the Queen, but the explanations will come later,” Mina reasoned. “Her thoughts are not our concern. We have a bigger situation to deal with, and we need your decision. I need to know if you are willing to go through this again. You can’t go home now. Your home won’t be the same. The family you know may not be the one waiting for you there.”
Upon hearing that, Olivia felt something lodge in her throat. She did not want to imagine going home and not finding her parents there. She didn’t want to enter that house and not see her room or her things laying around. She still wanted the same family that she had. She wanted them to complain about her absentminded behavior and find her things in random places. She wanted them to lecture her about spending too much on nail products. More than anything, she wanted return to the same old world where she had the same job and the same friends. She kept looking over at Donnie, who was also waiting for her answer. If the world became a different place, then he would likely be different as well. Maybe they would not have met. If the world changed, then she would never know what it was like to talk to him, touch him, or wonder about what his lips tasted like when she kissed him. That hadn’t happened yet, and it was killing her. She was aching to kiss those lips now and see just what it felt like.
Realization suddenly struck her, and she knew her answer. I don’t want to imagine a world without Donnie. Turning to Ze, she asked. “How can one get into another world from here?”
Ze nodded towards the open path in the woods and pointed to it. “All you have to do is walk that way. You will know when you are nearing another world. You will feel a change in temperature, and that’s when you will close your eyes. Do not open them until you hit the ground, or you hear something noticeable. That’s when you know you’ve successfully moved someplace else. From there, you will have to get on the move and find the Queen, as well as the gems.”
Olivia shuddered and looked at that path. “You want me to go right now?”
“You have to go now. You’ll have only five minutes to get out of this world,” he said. “You need to get to the next one and find those gems before everything collapses!”
“I’m going with you.” Ms. Howard said, taking her hand and nodding towards Gemma and Alice. “You two try to get to the next world and find something. The rest of you stay here and see if you can find the Hearts Under Ice. For all we know, they could very well still be here.”
“Wait, you want me to stay here?” Donnie asked. “This world is collapsing! How am I going to be okay here?”
“That’s right! He’ll die if he stays here!” Olivia pointed.
“Actually, I know of a place where we can all be safe,” Jei said. “Alice and I went there years ago. It’s off in a town called Kaindor, and it’s not far from here. They have their own power plant, so they can keep things warm for a while. People there will be better off than they are in this area.”
“I’ve heard of that place, too!” Astrid added. “I had a friend who moved there and they never came back to the woods again. If Kaindor is really a paradise like people claim, I can’t blame them.”
Alice wrinkled her nose and nodded. “I hate to agree with him, but he’s right. Donovan, you can come with us to Kaindor. They also have better medical services than you will find in any of these villages. I don’t know if the medicines in this world will help you, but we can give it a try.”
Donnie still wasn’t convinced. “I don’t know if I should go with you. I’m worried about Olivia. Is this a good idea? I don’t want to leave without her.” He turned bright red and looked down at the ground. Olivia thought that he might have said too much, and he realized it. She was starting to feel colder now, and knew she had to make a decision. She was going into the other world. The question remained whether or not he’d follow her.
“Yes, Donovan. You will be safer if you stay in one place. And you’re sick. You need to rest and recover,” she said. “Astrid and Jei can take care of you over here. You have to keep drinking that
medicine as well. You need to get stronger.”
“No!” Donnie wiped his nose and crossed his arms. “I’m sorry, Madeline. I have worked too hard to prove my theory here, and now you want me to stay behind? It is my fault that everything has happened! I should make it up to everyone. I feel like I should have a say in this!”
“Well, make your mind up fast! You’re running out of time!” Sara yelled at him. “Whether or not you like it, your girlfriend has to go!”
Olivia looked at the others and held up her hand. “Give me a second here. I swear I’ll go with you, but I need Donnie to know one thing first.” She pulled him to the side and really looked at him. His face was bright red and he had a runny nose, but he was still the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. “Okay, I don’t have much time. I know you want to come with me, but it might be safer if you stayed in the background. Do it for me.”
“Why?” he asked. “You wouldn’t have cared about this if I had never brought it up. You came because you believed in me. You were the first person in my life to believe me, and not write me off like I was nuts! You can’t expect me to stay in the background now, Olivia. I’ve come too far to stay in one world.”
“I know.” She said, handing him a small cloth handkerchief. It was in her coat pocket, for some reason. “Wipe your nose. You’re leaking like a broken faucet.”
“Thanks.” He sniffled. “You don’t agree with them, do you? You really want me to come along and help you.” He started to take off the coat but she motioned him to keep it on. “Aren’t you cold? You need this.”
“Well, yes, but there’s also—” Olivia stopped. They all needed her to make up her mind, right now. “Donnie, I don’t have much time to convince you of anything. You can make that decision on your own.”
He seemed to get the message, and took a step back. “You’re right. I’m not well enough for traveling, and you can jump through worlds easily. You go with Madeline and find them. When you’re through, you can come back for me.” He nodded towards Ms. Howard. “She’s ready now. Take care of her.”