Ever After High--Epic Winter--The Junior Novel Page 3

  “Welcome, Your Majesty, to our Career Day spellebration,” Briar greeted him.

  Ashlynn smiled sweetly. “So nice to see you again, Your Highness.”

  The Snow King ignored them, staring instead at the snow-covered hall. “Oh, I get it,” he sneered. “You filled the school with snow to show me you think you can do my job better than I can.”

  “Uh… no… we just thought,” Briar stammered, “that it would make you feel at home?”

  Baba Yaga floated over to the Snow King, her hand held out, welcoming him. Before he could do anything, she was examining his palm for hexes. “Tell me,” she asked him, “have you recently angered or incurred the wrath of some kind of troll or dark sorcerer?”

  Baba Yaga sniffed the Snow King’s palm. She put her ear to his chest to listen to the beating of his heart.

  The king was too surprised to react at first. “Madam, what are you—”

  “Say aaah!” commanded Baba Yaga.

  But the Snow King yanked his hand away from her. “Take those bony, callused hands off me, you witch.”

  He tapped his scepter, and a cold blast of wind encased Baba Yaga in snow. He marched past the girls toward the auditorium.

  “Um, royally rude,” gulped Briar.

  “Crystal’s right,” Ashlynn agreed. “That’s not the Snow King I know.”

  Baba Yaga shook off her covering of snow. “He’d better be cursed, or he will be when I’m done with him. Let’s get to work!”

  Outdoors, two of the polar bears had transformed—back into Jackie and Northwind.

  “Bear with it!” joked Northwind.

  Jackie grimaced. “You say that joke every time you take bear form.”

  “It’s that funny. So, what’s next?”

  “What’s next is we make sure the Snow King freezes out Crystal—his only heiress to the throne.”

  Northwind nodded, following Jackie into the school.

  In the auditorium, the Cheshire Cat was finishing her speech to the audience. “Then you turn invisible, leaving only your grin!”

  “Hooray!” cheered Kitty. “Wow!”

  The Cheshire Cat vanished—save for her mysterious smile. Kitty applauded wildly, but the rest of the audience wasn’t exactly sure how this could help them after they graduated. There were a few polite claps and some muffled laughter.

  Headmaster Grimm took the stage next. “Thank you, Mrs. Cheshire, for that very useful presentation in the etiquette of invisibility.” He took a sip of coffee from the cup in his hand and prepared to introduce the next presenter.

  The Snow King was standing backstage, waiting to go on. Ashlynn and Briar were trying to distract him while Baba Yaga sneaked up from behind and examined his ears. She peered over his shoulder at his beard, and he swatted her hand away as if it were a fly.

  “And now please give a warm welcome to the Snow King!” announced the headmaster.

  The Snow King strutted onto the stage and held up his hand. “No, no applause. There is nothing fun about winter. It’s dark and cold and unforgiving. Like me. And I control it all. Does that chill you to the bone? I could turn you into a waddle of penguins with a flick of my wrist. Haha!” he cackled maliciously.

  Students cowered in their seats. The Snow King waved his scepter. Parents smiled nervously. A few kids looked at Crystal inquisitively. What’s going on? But she could only shrug. If only she knew!

  Baba Yaga crept up behind the Snow King again. Her examination was almost over. “Yep, definitely cursed,” she muttered.

  “You wretched creature,” exclaimed the Snow King, whirling around.

  He fired his scepter. The crowd gasped and murmured. The king was angry now. Really, really angry. What no one knew was that when he looked out at the audience, he saw eyes glowing with rage and heard the evil mutterings of people out to get him.

  “Such insolence!” screamed the Snow King. “You people don’t even deserve to be penguins!”

  He was holding his scepter aloft, and it glowed purple with evil magic. “I’ll put all of you on ice!” he warned.

  But just as he was about to unleash his fury, a bolt of ice magic froze his arm in place. It was Crystal! “That’s enough, Dad,” she said as calmly as she could. “Stop. We are trying to help. Dad, please, you are not seeing things clearly.”

  With his other hand, her father zapped her. Crystal staggered backward, the power in her wand drained.

  “Oh, I am seeing you clearly,” bellowed her father. “Betrayer, daughter, you will never sit on my throne. No ice powers forever after! You are disempowered!”

  The Snow King snatched Crystal’s wand from her trembling hand. Tears filled her eyes, but her father only laughed. He slammed his scepter down, unleashing a blizzard of ice magic. The wind blew. The auditorium darkened. Swirling snow filled the air.

  “I expect you home by curfew!” the Snow King commanded Crystal before storming out of the castle.

  He swept past Jackie Frost and Northwind, unable to see them through the whiteness of the blizzard.

  Jackie was delighted. “And that, dear brother, is what we call ‘the Frost twins one step closer to ruling winter.’”

  Daring, arriving late to the auditorium, couldn’t figure out what was going on. “Man, who invited that guy?” he wondered. He scratched his itchy hand and noticed a tiny patch of white fur growing near his wrist.

  Blondie Lockes staggered through the wind to the front of the auditorium. She was determined to report on the blizzard. Now, this was a weather report. “The snowstorm of the century is one massive Snow King tantrum! I think I just found my big story. Better make some notes.”

  But Crystal was despondent. How could her father be so cruel? “I had chosen to follow my destiny to be the next Snow Queen, but my future just got blown away.”

  CHAPTER 12

  Whiteout

  The blizzard gusted outside the castle, but Blondie braved the whirling whiteness to make her MirrorCast. With one gloved hand, she gripped the balcony railing so she wouldn’t be blown away, and with the other, she clutched her microphone.

  “Blondie Lockes reporting live outside Ever After High, where the weather is just so not right!”

  Students and their parents leaving the auditorium were swept this way and that way by the wild winter winds. Professor Rumpelstiltskin slammed into an ice-covered window just below the balcony.

  “And if the storm outside isn’t bad enough,” said Blondie, “it’s twice as bad inside!”

  Kids staggered down the hallways, trying not to get lost in the whiteout. The wind extinguished their lanterns. They could barely make out the gray shadows of their friends. Humphrey Dumpty and Jillian Beanstalk clutched each other, shivering. They bumped into Hopper Croakington II, son of the Frog Prince, whose tongue was glued to his locker by the cold! They tried to pull him free and fell over backward into a snowbank.

  The staircase had become a steep ski slope. Apple was carefully scaling it with the help of the Billy Goats—and ice-climbing gear. “Got… to get… to class,” she panted.

  “If the Snow King wanted to blast us away with his blizzard powers,” Blondie reported, “mission accomplished!”

  Jackie Frost and Northwind watched Blondie’s MirrorCast with delight.

  “Wow! Your whole curse-the-king plan is really working!” Northwind praised his sister. “He’s on an evil roll!”

  “I know! He’s made his queen into an ice sculpture, changed half his servants into penguins, and taken away his daughter’s wand of power! He’s close to a snow blowout!” Jackie surveyed the frozen picture before her, smirking. “Then we will rule all of winter. We just have to keep an eye on the lazy princess, and then winter will be ours!”

  After the freezing fiasco in the auditorium, Crystal fled to her friends’ dorm room in despair. They tried to comfort her—but it was no use.

  “What-ever-after are we going to do about this weather?” Ashlynn wondered aloud.

  “I’m sorry,” Crystal
said, weeping. “But without my wand there’s nothing I can do.”

  Briar nodded. “Her powers are totally in the deep freeze.”

  Raven and her pet dragon, Nevermore, joined them. “Here comes the fire department,” she announced. She pointed Nevermore toward the hearth, where she breathed out a ball of flames. The poor dragon looked exhausted. She’d been working overtime to keep the castle’s fireplaces lit. The girls warmed their hands and thanked Raven and Nevermore, who wearily headed out to continue trying to beat back the cold.

  Blondie wanted to interview Crystal to get the scoop on the snow story. “Question: Your dad breezed out so fast on Career Day. Has he always been so stormy?”

  “No!” protested Crystal. “He used to be the polar opposite!” She pulled out her phone and began showing Blondie photos from sunnier times. “We know he’s been cursed,” she continued. “I wish Baba Yaga had gotten more time to examine him.”

  “Wish,” repeated Ashlynn. “That gives me an idea!”

  Maybe it was the fire, or maybe Ashlynn’s bright idea, but the girls suddenly weren’t feeling so cold anymore!

  CHAPTER 13

  Unbearably Selfish

  The blizzard was not making it any easier for Faybelle to finish up her castle-cleaning project. “Headmaster Grimm set me up for a royal fairy-fail,” she grumbled. The wind blew her back and forth, her hands were icy, and the water in her bucket kept freezing. “It’ll take forever after to clean this castle myself. There has to be a way to get it done without actually working.”

  She pulled out her MirrorPhone and began scrolling through online ads. Spells? Potions? Enchantments? What was she looking for? Then she saw it. Her eyes sparkled. “‘Call 1-900-Fairy-Mob. The Fairy Mobfather makes problems disappear!’” Maybe she could get this done after all—without turning into an arctic animal.

  On the grounds of the castle, Daring barely noticed the wild weather. He was too busy creating another snow sculpture of himself. Rosabella shook her head sadly.

  “How’re you doing, Daring?” she asked him. “Thought any more about our chat? You know, things you need to work on?”

  “Oh yes!” he answered eagerly. “And as soon as my new mirror arrives, I am going to take a good, hard look at myself.”

  Rosabella shook her head. That wasn’t what she’d had in mind. But before she could say anything else, a snow goose arrived—with a delivery for Daring.

  “Here it comes now,” he said, pleased.

  “Incoming!” honked the goose. He crash-landed in a snowbank.

  “Disaster!” shouted Daring. “What do I do? Ah! Of course! Daring Charming to the rescue!”

  Rosabella was stunned. Maybe Daring was learning how to really be a prince after all. “My hero,” she whispered to herself hopefully. She watched him race over to the half-buried goose and begin digging. But he wasn’t helping the exhausted bird—he was concerned only with his package.

  “The mirror is safe! Everyone can relax.” Daring sighed happily.

  The goose tried to honk but merely spluttered out a beakful of snow. Rosabella pulled him to his feet and helped him out of the snowbank. “Are you all right?” she asked the bird. When he had recovered, she turned on the prince. “Daring, this is exactly what I’m talking about. You’re supposed to be a hero. Helping. Not just looking down your nose at…”

  A purple miasma was swirling around Daring’s head. Something was happening to him. It wasn’t part of the blizzard; it was some other kind of magic. The cloud clustered and settled on Daring’s nose, and when it cleared, the prince had been transformed. Where his nose had been was now a polar bear’s giant black snout! Rosabella was speechless.

  But Daring seemed to have no idea what had happened to him. He tucked the mirror under his arm and marched back into the high school, as sure of his good looks as ever.

  Students stared and whispered to one another.

  Raven gawked. “I can’t believe it!”

  “It’s ginormous!” Cedar Wood exclaimed.

  “I know!” Daring grinned, overhearing her. “It’s the biggest mirror I could order.”

  CHAPTER 14

  A Speck of Evil

  Ashlynn told her friends her idea to stop the Snow King, and they rushed to Baba Yaga to see if she had any advice for them. Along the way, they grabbed some of their friends who might be helpful. They found the witch brewing up another potion in the auditorium, tossing bundles of herbs and gooey bits of this and that into her cauldron.

  “So,” Ashlynn explained, “Crystal was wishing that we could turn back the clock to when the Snow King stood right here on the stage. And I realized that there is a way. But we need everyone here to help, especially Farrah.”

  Farrah Goodfairy was the daughter of the Fairy Godmother and one of the most caring students at Ever After High. Her blue eyes sparkled with eagerness to lend a hand to her friends.

  Baba Yaga considered Ashlynn’s plan. It made sense to her. “Yes, yes, a magical reenactment.” She directed Hopper Croakington to stand where the Snow King had been. She asked Farrah if she had brought her wand.

  Farrah smiled proudly. “A good fairy-godmother-in-training always comes prepared.” She waved her wand, wafting glittering trails of magic around the auditorium. Wherever her enchanted glimmer dust landed, the memory of Career Day reappeared—the posters on the wall, the decorations, the sparkling winter wonderland before the snarling blizzard. At last Farrah spun her wand around Hopper—turning him into an exact replica of the Snow King!

  “Hey, look!” Hopper laughed, strutting across the stage and glowering.

  “Nice fairy glamour,” complimented Crystal.

  “Wow, it looks like we’re right back at Career Day,” Ashlynn agreed. This was even better than she’d imagined.

  “Why, thank you!” Farrah blushed. “I’ve been practicing.”

  Now their job was to look for clues to the curse. Where could the evil be hiding?

  “What does evil even look like?” Briar wondered.

  The girls searched backstage and under the seats and behind the curtain. They peered under the podium and they studied the rafters. Farrah kept her wand raised, concentrating on the enchantment.

  “How long can you maintain this illusion?” asked Blondie.

  “My transformations last until twelve. Midnight or noon. Whichever comes first.”

  Crystal examined Hopper-turned-into-the-Snow-King. He looked just like her father; still, something told her he was different, just a little bit different from the sweet father she had always known. What was it? Not his hair or his clothes or his face. Wait a minute! She peered into his eyes. A tiny speck of purple glinted in one of his pupils.

  “Baba Yaga!” she called. “Quick! Here!”

  Baba Yaga pulled out an enormous jeweler’s magnifying glass from her pocket. She held it up to Hopper’s face. A tiny shard from a mirror was embedded in the Snow King’s eye—and in that mirror was reflected the face of the Evil Queen.

  Baba Yaga shuddered. “That’s the tiniest granule of pure evil I have ever seen. It’s made from a shard of the Evil Queen’s magic mirror.”

  How could this have happened? That was the question.

  The girls clustered around Baba Yaga as she brought out her crystal ball. It glowed brightly—and an image formed within it. The crystal ball showed Crystal on the balcony with her parents.

  “Someone close to the Snow King is behind this,” noted Baba Yaga.

  Unfortunately, the picture was vague and shifting, and it was hard to see exactly what was happening. But they could all see the purple flickers of evil falling through the snow—and landing in the Snow King’s eye. They watched as the king’s contented smile turned into a hateful scowl.

  “The evil speck cursed him to only see bad in the world,” Baba Yaga explained. “It seems your mother was also infected.”

  Baba Yaga wrapped an arm around Crystal. She knew this news was hard. She gave her a reassuring squeeze.

&nb
sp; Farrah dropped her wand, and the illusion of Career Day vanished. The room grew dark and cold again. “Phew!” exhaled Farrah, exhausted.

  Hopper was happy to be himself again.

  But Crystal was more upset than ever, thinking of what was happening to her family. “My poor parents. We have to help them—or this wicked winter will last forever after.”

  CHAPTER 15

  Arctic Blast

  The Snow King returned to his kingdom and his castle in a foul mood. The ice sculpture of the queen still sparkled in the throne room. The king brooded on his throne. Trembling, a frightened frost elf polished the king’s boots.

  “Hurry up, servant,” ordered the king. “I want my boots to shine as much as my queen does.”

  “Yes, Your Majesty! All done!”

  But that wasn’t what the king heard. Instead, he heard the frost elf insult him, saying, “You’re a big dumb icicle with a snow cone for a brain.”

  “The insubordination around here!” bellowed the king, more furious than ever. He zapped the elf with his scepter and turned him into a baby harp seal. The poor elf-turned-seal flopped and barked across the ice-covered room.

  “Everyone is plotting against me!” fumed the cursed Snow King to his frozen wife. “Even our own daughter! Well, let them try!”

  At Ever After High, the blizzard blew harder than before. Snow drifted. Students shivered. Would it ever be warm again? Only Jackie and Northwind were happy.

  Northwind happily sledded down a huge snowbank. “Wow, the king really went full arctic blast on this school.”

  “That’s what we want,” Jackie emphasized. “The king is out of control and driving away everyone who used to adore him. Soon he’ll be ice-olated, and we can take him down, just us two.”

  Northwind was barely listening to Jackie. He was wiggling through the snow. “Look, I’m a snow worm!” he laughed.