Frost: An Otherworld Tale (The Otherworld Tales Book 1)

by Chelsea Clemmons Moye

  "Run that to Sam for me, please."

  Gabe let out an affirmative bark, and I let him out of my room. He tore down the hall at a full run, and Noah and I both stared after him. I chuckled and shook my head, and Noah did the same.

  "That dog is unnaturally smart," he murmured. "It's kind of scary."

  I rolled my eyes in response. "That dog is magical. Just accept it. It's easier that way."

  Noah looked like he wanted to argue for a moment, but he shrugged it off and nodded. "You want to tell me about my family while we wait for Sam?"

  I nodded. "Yeah. What kinds of things do you want to know?"

  Noah looked thoughtful as he sat down on the edge of my bed. "Tell me about my parents. What are they like?"

  I gave him a genuine smile. "They're good people. Your mom's name is Joyce. She runs the best daycare in town. Your dad, Lamar, manages an asphalt plant."

  He nodded, his expression making it obvious that he was processing the information and trying hard to see if he could remember them. "What else? Do I have any brothers or sisters?"

  I nodded. "Yeah. You have a little sister, Nicole. She was three years old when you disappeared. And, not long before I was sent here, I found out that your mom is pregnant."

  Noah stared at me, dumbfounded. "My mother is pregnant? Eight years is a big gap between children."

  I stifled a soft chuckle. "I think it was a surprise...a pleasant surprise."

  Noah shook his head and laughed. "I'll probably be about 18 years older than this baby when it's born." Something about that realization seemed to hit his funny bone, because he was still doubled over with laughter when Sam knocked on my door.

  I opened the door and Sam stared at him over my shoulder, eyes wide and expression befuddled. "Is he okay? I've never seen him laugh like that."

  "Yeah," I shrugged as Gabriel pushed past Sam's legs and trotted to the corner of the room to lie down. "He's fine. Just found out he's going to be an older brother again, and the fact that he's going to be 18 years older than the kid cracked him up."

  Sam blinked several times, as if he was having trouble processing why that would be so funny. As I was trying to figure out his confusion, it dawned on me that he was an elf, so a gap that big between siblings meant nothing to him. He was still staring at me, nonplussed when I explained. "That's a big age gap between siblings for humans, Sam. Human lifespans are quite short compared to elf lifespans, and thus they tend to have their children when they're fairly young, and they also tend to have their children fairly close together. An eighteen year gap is big to us."

  "That makes so much sense now," Sam grinned, looking both enlightened and relieved. "I was worried he was losing his grip on sanity in light of the truth."

  I shook my head, grinning at Sam's unfounded fear. "No, I think he's handling the truth pretty well, all things considered."

  "Good." A relieved smile lit Sam's features as he pulled my iPhone out of the leather pouch at his side. Before he handed it over, his brow furrowed a little, as if he were frustrated or confused. "Do you mind me asking what you need you phone for, at the moment? I was in the middle of trying to work on that projection spell you mentioned."

  I grimaced. "I hate to interrupt your work, but this is really important to me. Noah asked me to describe our world to him, and I thought my pictures might help jog his memory."

  Sam's expression softened at my explanation, and he handed the phone over with ease. "I hope it helps, but try to make it quick. I'd really like to get back to work. Sigrid's been lurking quietly outside the walls for a couple days now, and it's making me nervous."

  I nodded, understanding where he was coming from. "I think it's making us all nervous. I'll do my best to be quick."

  Sam took the leather pouch off his belt and handed it to me. "I'm going to go try to make myself otherwise useful while you try to jog Kieran's-I mean Noah's-memory. Send the phone back to me via Gabriel when you're finished."

  "Great idea," I nodded with enthusiasm. "Thanks for understanding."

  Sam shrugged, his facial expression suddenly unreadable. "I get the feeling he's the only reason you chose to come to Daraglathia in the first place, and I can understand that drive to keep your connection to your best friend alive."

  I winced a little, realizing that the confirmation of Kieran really being Noah meant the inescapable, cold truth that Sam's best friend had been dead for the past eleven years. Sam saw the look of dawning understanding on my face and cut me off before I could apologize to him for his loss.

  "It's okay. I've always known." And with that, Sam spun on his heel and swept down the hall toward the staircase. I closed the door and turned back to Noah, who was waiting with an eager, childlike expression to see the pictures I had of our world.

  I walked over and perched next to him on the edge of the bed as I unlocked my phone and opened my "Photos" app. "How do you want to do this?"

  He shrugged. "Just show me pictures at random, and I'll see if I recognize or can name anything in them. Does that make sense?"

  I nodded my agreement as I scrolled through, trying to decide what picture to show him first. "Sure!"

  I settled on a recent photo of the fire engine red 1967 Camaro that Noah's dad constantly worked on in the hope that Noah would return and he'd be able to pass the car along to his son someday. I turned the screen so Noah could see it, and his lips parted on a shaky gasp.

  "I know this," he murmured, his brow furrowed in concentration. "I've seen it before."

  I gave an encouraging nod. "It belongs to your father. Do you remember what it's called?"

  "I know I know it," he muttered. His brow furrowed with utter and complete concentration. I sat, holding my breath as I waited to see if he could remember. I grew lightheaded, took a deep breath, and watched him expectantly. I watched his unguarded expressions as he filtered through his mind, and my heart skipped a beat when I saw the glimmer of recognition brighten his dark eyes. "Car?"

  I had to strain to hear his uncertain whisper, but I made it out and beamed at him like a proud parent. "Yes," I exclaimed. "Yeah, it's a car."

  A faraway look clouded his eyes, accompanied by a dreamy smile. "I liked cars, didn't I?"

  "Yes!" I clapped my hands like an excited schoolgirl. "You sure did like cars."

  Noah's eyes were alight with the fire of discovery as he looked up from the picture to my face. "Show me more," he begged, his voice quiet and desperate. "I want to see what else I can remember."

  I spent hours showing him pictures, jogging small bits and pieces of his memory as I did. I showed him pictures of places I thought he might recognize, like the courthouse in Bay Minette, or the public library. I showed him pictures of my friends from school, wondering if any of their faces might bring back more memories for him. I went through my entire photo library, showing him everything I thought might help. I showed him pictures of his parents and little sister, and tears sprang up in both our eyes as he stared down at their faces.

  "My family," his voice cracked, and a tear slid down his cheek. He wiped at the tear with the back of his hand and looked over at me. "How long did it take them to stop looking for me?"

  I shook my head, wiping away my own tears. "They never stopped," I reassured him. "People called us crazy for never giving up on finding you, but we just couldn't let it go. You were their firstborn son, and you were my best friend."

  Noah stared at me, openmouthed, as if he was having trouble understanding why we never gave up. "Are they still looking for me, even now?"

  "Yes," I reassured him. "I helped your mom build a website about you, with pictures and speculative sketches and all the information about the day when you disappeared. Your parents even saved up enough money to offer a reward for any information leading to your recovery. Lots of crackpots submitted false information through the website, just trying to make a quick buck off our hope, but we were careful." I shrugged, suddenly embarrassed at my somewhat unwarranted involvement with his family. I
stared down at my hands, afraid to look him in the eye, for some reason.

  Suddenly, his arms were around me in a crushingly desperate hug, and his voice wavered with emotion when he spoke next to my ear. "Thank you," he gasped on a shaking breath. "Thank you for being there for my family after I disappeared, and thank you for not giving up hope over the last eleven years."

  Noah held me tight, and I returned his hug with a desperate fierceness that shook me to my core. "You were my best friend," I whispered. "How could I do anything else?"

  His only response was to kiss the top of my head as he continued to hold me. I don't know how long we sat there, waves of unspoken emotions wracking us both. After what could have been hours, he let me go and I sighed.

  "I should probably send my phone back to Sam now," I croaked around the lump of emotions in my throat.

  Noah nodded. "And I probably need to check with Rolf as to whether or not we've received any kind of communications from Sigrid."

  I gave his hand a slight squeeze as I stood, stretching to release the tension that had built up in knots between my shoulder blades. "I'm glad I could help you remember some," I murmured.

  "Me, too," came his quiet, thoughtful response.

  "See you later?" My voice sounded fearful and desperate, even to me.

  Noah nodded and gave me a reassuring smile. "Yeah, for sure. I don't know how much later it'll be, but I'll see you."

  I let out a sigh of relief and tucked my phone in the leather pouch Sam had left before whistling for Gabriel. He sprang up from where he'd been sleeping in the corner and was instantly at attention, tail wagging expectantly as he trotted over to me. Noah slipped out without another word and quietly shut the door. I petted the dog before tying the pouch to his collar. "Can you take that back to Sam for me?"

  Gabriel gave an affirmative bark, I hugged him, and he trotted over to scratch at my door. I let him out and watched him run down the hall with a satisfied smile. I almost jumped out of my skin when a dreamy voice murmured in my ear.

  "I know what you really want." Adele's smile was placid, her eyes calm and cunning at once.

  The fine hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stood up as I found myself face-to-face with Adele. "Yeah? What is it that you think I want?" I snapped, as on edge as I'd been since I was one-on-one with Sigrid during the extractions.

  "Simple," Adele gave me what I guessed was supposed to be a benign smile. "You just want everyone to realize this isn't your fight, and you want to take your best friend and go home."

  "I guess I'm an easy read," I muttered as I narrowed my eyes at her. "What's it to you if that is what I want?"

  "If?" Adele chuckled and shook her head, letting me know my bravado wasn't fooling her. "Please." Her sarcasm was tangible, and it made me grit my teeth. "What if I told you that you can have exactly what you want without the ordeal of having to choose sides in a war that doesn't even concern you?"

  My heart stuttered and skipped a few beats because her assessment of what I wanted was all too accurate. "That sounds too good to be true, and my Granny always said if something sounds too good to be true, it's probably because it is." I crossed my arms and studied her with blatant distrust.

  Adele chuckled, as if my distrust was amusing. "How charmingly colloquial of her, but that's beside the point dear. I know what you want, and I can give it to you."

  Every moment I was alone with her in the hallway made my skin tighten and prickle with apprehension, but the easy out she was dangling in front of me held my attention and kept me from retreating into my room and closing the door in her face.

  "How?" I demanded, arms still defensively crossed.

  "I know how Sigrid brought Noah here, and I'm a powerful enough sorceress to send the two of you back the same way he came." Her wide blue eyes sparkled knowingly, and a victorious smirk teased the corners of her lips up. "All the havoc and responsibility of this world could disappear in the blink of an eye, and you could finally return your best friend to the life Sigrid deprived him of eleven years ago."

  I wrung my hands, torn between what I wanted and what I felt was right. "What about the rest of these people? What happens to everyone in Tiernan if Noah and I go home?"

  Adele gave me a sharp, searching look. "Does it actually matter, or is it just unnecessary moralistic posturing on your part?"

  I opened my mouth to reply, but she held up a finger and cut me off. "Just think about my offer, okay? I have to get back to Rolf. I'm sure you'll find a way to let me know your choice, once you make it."

  Before I could open my mouth to argue, she was gone, and all that was left was the perfumed scent of cut flowers that nauseated me and brought funeral homes to mind. "Tempting," I muttered to myself. Way too tempting.

  Something about the way Adele said she had to get back to Rolf bothered me, and I made a mental note to check into it after I caught up with Mack. As I slipped into my room and locked the door behind me, I was at war with myself. "What the hell am I supposed to do in this situation?" I let myself into the secret passage that would take me to the caverns as I talked to myself. I realized that muttering aloud to myself as I walked was probably weird, but I felt like I needed to verbalize my choices to get a better feel for the circumstances.

  "On the one hand, my selfish side wants to leap at the chance Adele offered me," I murmured. "It'd be so great to just take Noah and go home to our families." I frowned at myself and my stomach squirmed. I found myself shaking my head no before I even finished voicing my thoughts. "There's so much more at stake here than my wants, though. There are lives at stake, many more than just mine and Noah’s. There are human beings whose right to exist is being threatened, and the Messengers sent me here to stop this civil war. What I want for myself, for Noah, and for his family doesn’t matter more than the lives of these people who’ve been driven into hiding here in Tiernan.”

  Having reasoned the situation out aloud to myself, I felt confident in my resolve to reject Adele’s tempting proposal the next time I had a moment alone with the wily she-elf. I know that I’ve spent my whole life looking for Noah, and it seems crazy to put it all at risk for a bunch of people that I don’t owe anything to, but I can’t leave them in the lurch. I’ll find a way to be okay with whatever happens here, as long as I serve these people to the best of my ability. I let myself out of the secret passage in the first cavern I came to, and was lucky enough to catch Mack in the right place at the right time. I was pleased to see Gabriel pacing dutifully at Mack’s side, awaiting his next assignment.

  “Have we received any demands from Sigrid yet?” Part of me was hoping we had, and part of me felt like no news was probably the best news we could hope for at that point.

  Mack shook his head with a sigh. “Nothing yet, lass. It’s all a waiting game, now.”

  “I was afraid of that,” I muttered.

  Mack nodded his agreement. “We all were.”

  I shifted anxiously from one foot to the other. “Any way I can be of use here?”

  “Not really,” Mack shrugged. “Between Mr. Lindsey and me, we’ve got everything in the caverns under control. Why don’t you go check with Rolf or Sam while we wait for Sigrid to make some sort of move?”

  “Sounds good,” I agreed, whistling for Gabe. The spaniel darted to my side and wagged his tail expectantly. I activated the pressure switch beside me and let myself back into the secret passage network, waving for Gabe to follow me. “Can you sniff Rolf out for me, boy?”

  Gabriel gave an affirmative bark and put his nose to the ground, sniffing with intense focus for a few moments before trotting out ahead of me. I followed with a satisfied, proud smile.