First Frost (27 page)

Bianca stopped walking.

“What’s wrong?” Prince Ferdinand asked.

“My mother is in there…somewhere,” Bianca replied.

Terrance held her right hand, and Prince Ferdinand held her left hand. David remained close behind. Bianca took a deep breath. She felt braver now that she had her friends and her father close by. Together they forged ahead.

“What is that?” Bianca asked as a fog formed and quickly covered them from head to toe. She gasped when she felt their hands slip away from hers.

“Daddy? Terrance? Prince Ferdinand?” she cried.

When the fog finally cleared, Bianca stood alone.

“I didn’t think you’d make it this far. I was hoping you would die sooner,” Lenore said as she materialized before Bianca in a swirl of gray smoke.

“Where are my friends?” Bianca asked.

“Out of the way…for now.”

“Where’s my mother?”

“Where’s the book?” Lenore narrowed her eyes.

“Safe.”

“Where?” Lenore snarled.

“When I get my mother back, I’ll tell you where it is,” Bianca said.

“Insolent little brat! I make the demands here. Not you!” Lenore roared.

Before Bianca could react, Lenore attacked her from every direction imaginable. Bianca raised her right hand and, with the left hand, she clutched the leather pouch around her waist, and did her best to remember the shield spells that Old Woman taught her.

Lenore slammed her fists against the shield. Her black eyes filled with anger and rage at the fact that she couldn’t get through Bianca’s shields. Bianca didn’t know how much longer she could keep it up. She needed to be able to cast an attack spell of some sort; otherwise, there was no way she could survive Lenore’s frequent attacks.

“Fine. This is how you want to play? I’ll show you a new trick you’ve never seen before,” Lenore said.

Bianca took a moment to catch her breath; holding that shield up was a tiresome task. “Oh, my God,” Bianca gasped.

She couldn’t believe her eyes. Lenore had given a huge chunk of earth a body. It looked like a mix between a gorilla and a man, and he—or
it
—was running straight toward Bianca. She concentrated all of her power and energy on her shield. The creature looked around. It scratched its dirty head as though it had been woken up from its nap.

Lenore clapped her hands, and the creature turned its attention to her. Lenore needed no words to give her command—all she did was point her finger at Bianca.

Before she could react, it was on top of her, pounding its fists against her shield.

She screamed in horror as she felt the vibrations on her shield. It felt as though her body was trembling from the inside out. She desperately thought of ways she could get this thing off of her. She wondered if an air spell would work, but the most it could do was blow it a few feet away from her, and it would only make it angrier. Then she remembered something Mrs. Lee, Ming’s mother, once said after their house got flooded several years ago. She’d quoted Lao Tzu:

“Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water. Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong, none can withstand it, because they have no way to change it. So the flexible overcome the adamant, the yielding overcome the forceful. Everyone knows this, but no one can do it.”

That was when Bianca realized what she had to do; she had to make it rain. It was the only way to destroy the earth creature dead set on killing her. She had to do the one thing that seemed unthinkable to her. She released her shield and quickly cast a thunderstorm spell. Before the earth creature could pound its heavy, meaty fists upon her, she put her shield up once more. She could only hope that her spell would work.

Several long minutes passed, and nothing happened. Then to her great relief and surprise, she heard the rumble of thunder. She braced herself for the worst when she saw a huge droplet of rainwater bounce off her shield. The earth creature finally stopped attacking her long enough to look up. A downpour fell upon them.

Bianca let out a whoop of delight as she watched as the earth creature was reduced to a puddle of mud within minutes.

Bianca released her shield and stood up. Every bone in her body ached. Using magic was more taxing than she first thought.

“Very impressive,” Lenore said.

“I want my mother back,” Bianca demanded.

“So do I,” Lenore replied.

Lenore waved her hands, and Bianca was enveloped in darkness.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Bianca opened her eyes. It was pitch black. She gave her eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness. She wasn’t sure where she was, but she suspected it was a dungeon.

Oh, good, a dungeon…that’s classy. It’s usually how these things work. At least now I know she’s a villain who goes by the bad guy rule book.

Water dripped from the ceiling, rats scurried in the corner, and she could hear cockroaches skittering under the dirty bed. A bat swooped over her head. She gasped, covered her head and ducked. The last thing she needed was a bat tangled in her hair.

“Well, well, well. You don’t look powerful from where I’m standing,” Lenore said as she emerged out of the shadows.

Her heart almost burst out of her chest. Bianca let out a string of curse words and pressed herself against the cold stone wall.

“Where is my mother?”

“Still alive…barely. If you can call what she’s doing
breathing
, then you have nothing to worry about,” Lenore replied in a nonchalant tone of voice.

“I’ll tell you where the book is if I can get my mother back…alive. And we get to leave safely back to our world,” Bianca demanded.

“So many
demands
from someone so young. How do I know you’re not lying to me?”

“Um, you’re the evil one that kidnapped my mother and turned my dad into a bear. If anyone has any reason to lie…it’s
you
,” Bianca said.

Lenore laughed. “I was just like you when I was your age. Naïve, stubborn, and ultimately…foolish.”

Bianca narrowed her eyes. “I highly doubt that. I’m nothing like you.”

“In time you’ll see that we have more in common than you think. You’re going to end up all alone, just like me,” Lenore said.

Bianca’s face contorted in anger and shouted, “That’s not true!”

“Do you see anyone else in this dungeon with you?”

“Someone will come find me.” Bianca spoke those words as though they were a prayer. She kept repeating it over and over in the back of her mind.

“Your mother said the same thing last week. She’s still waiting.” Lenore patted Bianca on the head and smiled. Then she stopped and inhaled the air around Bianca. She bared her yellowed teeth into a wicked smirk.

That look sent a chill down Bianca’s spine.

“She’s marked you,” Lenore whispered.

Bianca shook her head in denial. She didn’t want to admit the truth, least of all to Lenore.

“You see, little one? You really are just like me.” Lenore then lifted her hand. She had the same apple-shaped bruise on the palm of her right hand.

“No.” Bianca shook her head, trying with all of her might to erase the image of that black and blue apple out of her mind. “You’re wrong.”

“We shall see who is right and who is wrong at the end of the day.”

Bianca threw her head back and spat on Lenore’s face. The witch slapped her on the cheek so hard she fell on the floor. Her head connected with the corner of the tiny bed. Her vision swam as she struggled to sit up. She gingerly touched the side of her head. Her trembling hand came back slick with blood.

Lenore squatted and looked into Bianca’s eyes. She tried to look away; she didn’t want to know what horrors lay within those black orbs. Lenore snarled and grabbed Bianca’s chin and forced her to look at her.

“I’m going to let you stay here and think about things for a while. When I come back…we’ll have a little chat,” Lenore said.

“You’ll get the book…when I get my mother back.”

“We’ll see about that.”

Then without warning, Lenore vanished.

Bianca wasn’t sure if she’d used the door or not, because she fainted before she could figure out whether she was hallucinating.

Bianca fell into a strange dream. She was falling through a dark hole. She half expected to see the white rabbit appear, but no such luck. She would’ve chosen a Wonderland filled with a Mad Hatter, March Hare, and the Queen of Hearts any time of the day. Anything would’ve been better than the hellish dungeon she found herself in at that moment. She thought she was going to fall straight on through to the other side of the world, when a hand with skin as white as her own reached out and grabbed her. It was that ethereal hand that pulled her out of the darkness and into the light. She closed her eyes and waited until her sight adjusted to the sudden burst of light.

When she opened her eyes, she stood in the middle of a beautiful apple orchard. She could see tiny red apples growing on each branch. They would be ready to be picked in the fall.

“Hello,” a sweet voice said.

“Hello? Where are you?” Bianca asked.

A woman wearing a robin’s-egg blue empire dress stepped out from behind one of the apple trees. She had long black hair that cascaded past her shoulders, electric blue eyes, and perfect rose red lips.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“I’m Bianca Frost.”

“Lovely name,” she replied.

“Thank you.”

Bianca frowned and whispered, “Snow White?”

She gave her the warmest of smiles and nodded. “That was
one
of my many names.”

“What other names do you have?”

“Daughter…wife…mother…witch,” Snow White replied.

“I never thought of them as names.”

“Ah, they are the most powerful names. They mean more than you think.”

“Names don’t matter anymore. We’re all going to die here,” Bianca muttered.

“Now, now, that sort of talk isn’t allowed here.” Snow White wagged her index finger and gently scolded her.

“What are you doing here?” Bianca asked.

Snow White’s smile vanished. Her eyes became distant and somber. “I’ve been trapped here for years. I…don’t even know how long it’s been. All I know is that you are the first person I have seen since Mirabel put me here.”

“Me?” Bianca asked as she pointed to herself.

“You,” Snow White confirmed.

“That’s…insane.”

“Now the question is…who exactly are you?” Snow White asked.

“I don’t know if you’ll believe me.” Bianca chewed on her thumbnail.

“Please…who are you?”

“I have reason to believe that I’m your great-great-great granddaughter.”

Snow White’s eyes grew wide with disbelief. Her face crumbled. She fell to her knees and rested her hands on an apple tree.

“Snow White, are you okay?” Bianca rushed to her youthful-looking ancestor and sat down beside her.

“So many years lost,” Snow White whispered as she shook her head.