Whatever After #6: Cold as Ice Read online

  “You don’t play any instruments, do you?” Sharon asks Nicolette.

  “No,” Nicolette says. “Why?”

  “The robbers I lived with were dying to start a guitar band. Every morning, they’d practice, and they were horrible. They gave me the worst headaches.”

  Jonah’s eyes light up. “The band of robbers was really a band?”

  Sharon nods. “A wannabe band.”

  “Ha!” Jonah strikes his guitar pose. “Did you hear that, Abby? The band was a band! Amazing!”

  I can’t help but laugh. I guess I’m not always right. Usually. But not always.

  I think about Robin, and my cheeks heat up. I guess I was pretty bossy to her….

  “Kai and I should go,” Gerda says. “My grandmother must be missing us. It’s going to take us at least a few days to walk back.”

  “I can fly you,” Ralph says. “It won’t take more than a couple hours.”

  “We have to get home, too,” I tell Jonah. “Do you still have your watch?”

  “Of course I still have my watch!” Jonah says. He lifts his arm proudly to show me. I’m proud of him, too. Maybe he’s not so irresponsible after all.

  “It’s only five thirty A.M. at our home,” he adds. “So we have some time. But I could use a nap before school. And we still have to figure out how to get back.”

  I look up at the mosaic mirror. “I have an idea.”

  Nicolette smiles sheepishly. “Sorry that I told you to break it. I’m glad you didn’t. It’s fun, but not that worth it.”

  “What’s fun?” Sharon asks. “What’s not worth it?”

  “If you choose to break the mirror over your head, you get snow queen powers,” I explain. “Willingly, right? You have to choose to do it?”

  Nicolette nods.

  Sharon’s eyes widen. “Really?”

  Nicolette nods again.

  Sharon jumps up and down in her spot. “I want to! That would be fun! Would my hair turn silver?”

  Nicolette nods. “Yes. But you’re better off without the powers. And anyway, you don’t want people to be scared of you.”

  “I love scaring people!”

  “She really does,” Ralph agrees.

  “Sharon, don’t take the powers if you can only hurt people with them,” I say. Then she’d be just like the Snow Queen.

  “But don’t you see?” Sharon says, her eyes wide and shining. “There’s tons of good stuff I could do with freezing powers. I could freeze wolves before they attack people! And I could help injured people feel better! I could numb their injuries! I could help them think about the things they love. There are lots of helpful things I could do.”

  I feel a wave of warmth. “You are absolutely right.”

  “She is absolutely right,” Nicolette says. She hangs her head. “I’m ashamed for not doing all those nice things with my powers.”

  “Well, we can start together now,” Sharon tells Nicolette. Then she heads for the mirror. “Here I go!”

  “Wait!” I say. “Do you mind if we use it first? To get home? It turned purple and swirled before, so I’m pretty sure it doubles as a portal. And then you guys can have a mirror-breaking party.”

  Sharon pouts. “Fine.”

  Jonah and I start to say our good-byes to everyone.

  “We didn’t really get a chance to talk,” I say to Kai. “But you have a great friend over there.”

  “I know,” he says, putting his arm around Gerda. “She’s the best.”

  “JARGSKNP forever!” Gerda says as I hug her next. “I wish you lived in the Republic of Blizzard,” she says.

  “I wish you lived in Smithville,” I say.

  “We would be best friends,” we say at the same time.

  “I thought I was your best friend,” Kai says.

  “Don’t be silly,” Gerda tells him. “I can have more than one.”

  “Of course she can,” I say. And suddenly, I feel kind of silly about the whole Robin thing. Because of course people can have more than one best friend. After all, up until recently, Robin and Frankie were my two best friends. Maybe it wasn’t very fair of me to say that Robin had to choose between us and Penny.

  Next I hug Sharon, Ralph, and even Nicolette.

  “Don’t worry, I won’t kiss you,” she says, and pats me on the head.

  I stand in front of the mirror, holding Prince under one arm. I take Jonah’s hand. My brother knocks once, twice, three times.

  The mirror starts to swirl, and we step inside.

  We step onto the basement floor. I let Prince go, and he rolls onto his back.

  “We did it!” Jonah says.

  “We did.” I let out a breath.

  “And it’s only five thirty in the morning! We have over an hour of sleep left! Let’s get some shut-eye.”

  We’re heading up the basement steps when I hear a creak.

  And then the basement door opens.

  “Jonah? Abby? Get upstairs this minute!” yells my dad.

  My stomach plummets.

  Crumbs. My dad is up. Which means my mom is up, too. They know we were in the basement. They know we broke our promise.

  Jonah squeezes my arm. “Uh-oh,” he says.

  “Now!” my mom adds.

  I slowly climb up the rest of the stairs. I turn back and glare at Prince. “This is your fault,” I say.

  He hangs his head. He totally knows it.

  My parents are both standing in the kitchen, glowering.

  “Again?” my dad yells. “You did this again? Why?”

  “We were worried sick!” my mom barks.

  “I’m sorry,” I say.

  “Me too,” Jonah adds.

  Prince whimpers.

  “Where were you?” my mom asks, crossing her arms. “Are you wearing Halloween costumes? Why do you have on white face paint, Abby? And one boot? Whose boot is that? Jonah, there’s snow all over you. Were you outside? It’s not even snowing…. Is that a mustache?”

  “I …”

  I am about to lie and say we were playing in the basement.

  But no.

  I am not lying anymore. I’m just not. I don’t care if the fairy in Snow White told me not to tell. What do I owe her? Nothing! Why am I listening to her, anyway? She’s just a random person — a random fairy — who told me to lie to my parents. You’re never supposed to listen to someone who tells you to lie to your parents! Everyone knows that! People who tell you to lie to your parents are always the ones who are up to no good. And anyway, Maryrose never told me to lie. She never said anything about who I should tell and who I shouldn’t.

  I take a big, snow-queen breath and force myself to say it. “Mom, Dad, we need to tell you the truth.”

  Jonah’s eyes widen.

  I nod. We have to tell them. I know we’ll probably have to give up going on our adventures, but I don’t have a choice.

  “Really?” Jonah asks.

  “Really.” I clear my throat. “We have a magic mirror in our basement.”

  My dad blinks. “Excuse me?”

  I square my shoulders. “We have a magic mirror in our basement. When you knock on it three times, it takes you into a fairy tale.”

  My mother rolls her eyes. “Come on, guys.”

  Jonah jumps on his toes. “We’re serious! She’s not kidding!”

  “We didn’t know it was magic at first,” I say. “Jonah accidentally bumped into it, and Maryrose pulled us right inside.”

  “Who’s Maryrose?” Dad asks, furrowing his brow.

  “She’s the fairy that lives in the mirror,” Jonah explains.

  “Right,” I add. “And first, we went into the story Snow White!”

  “And then Cinderella. And The Little Mermaid!” Jonah jumps on his toes. “I keep waiting to go into Jack and the Beanstalk, but so far —”

  “Enough!” my mother shouts. “We don’t like being lied to.”

  “We’re not lying,” I say. I always assumed if we told our parents, they wou
ld believe us. I never considered the possibility that they might not.

  “We can show you,” Jonah pipes up.

  “Oh yeah?” my dad asks. “Okay, then. Show us.”

  “We probably need to wait until midnight, though,” I explain.

  “Oh, no,” my mom says with a laugh. “I’d like to see right now.”

  They’re mocking us. They don’t think it’s for real. “But you don’t understand,” I tell them. “It slurps people up.”

  “Then it will slurp us up,” my dad says.

  “I don’t think they believe us,” Jonah says to me.

  I shrug. “They’re about to.”

  I lead the way downstairs. Jonah, my dad, my mom, and a guilty-looking Prince all follow.

  “Ready?” I ask.

  “Go ahead,” my mom says.

  I knock. Once. Twice. Three times.

  This is it.

  I wait. There is no hissing or purple light. There is no swirling mirror. No Maryrose voice. There is nothing.

  My mom clears her throat.

  “Yeah, it needs to be midnight,” I say.

  “And even then, the mirror doesn’t always let us in,” Jonah adds. “Sometimes we have to try again another day. Like if we’re not wearing the right clothes, or if we don’t have a bathing suit …”

  “Sure, kids,” my dad says. “Whatever you say. Look, we love that you have big imaginations, but we do not appreciate being lied to. Especially after we told you not to play down here at night. You promised. And you broke that promise. There will need to be serious consequences.”

  “But it really works!” Jonah cries. “It does! I’ll try again!”

  I have a sinking feeling in my stomach. If Maryrose wants to keep my parents in the dark, then she will.

  “Don’t bother, Jonah,” I tell him.

  He knocks once. Twice.

  “Jonah, stop,” I say.

  He knocks a third time.

  Whoosh!

  We hear a loud hiss and a purple light washes over the room.

  It worked! It really did! Thank you, Maryrose, for not hanging us out to dry!

  “What is that?” my mom asks, glancing around the room.

  The mirror begins to swirl. My heart starts to pound.

  “Hello,” Maryrose says from within the mirror. “Bonnie and Dave, please look right here. Jonah, Abby, and Prince, please look away.”

  Oh, wow.

  My mom and dad do as they’re told.

  “You are getting very sleepy,” Maryrose tells them as the mirror twists and swirls.

  She is going to hypnotize them! I tear my eyes away from the mirror and look down at Prince, who’s burying his head in his furry front legs.

  “When you wake up, you will not remember any of this,” Maryrose says. Her voice sounds like a lullaby. “You will not remember Abby and Jonah being in the basement. You will not remember telling them not to visit the basement in the middle of the night. From now on, you will sleep very, very deeply at night. You will not punish Abby and Jonah.”

  “Ever?” I ask, still looking away.

  “You will not punish Abby and Jonah for anything related to being in the basement at night. You will forget that they woke you up. Now please go back upstairs and get into your bed. When you wake up, all will be forgotten.”

  My parents are staring at the mirror with glazed expressions on their faces.

  “When the mirror turns yellow, you will both go upstairs.”

  They nod.

  The mirror turns yellow.

  My parents both turn around and silently go upstairs.

  “Oh my goodness,” I cry. “That was the wildest thing I’ve ever seen! They’re not going to remember any of this! Can you believe it, Jonah?”

  I turn to Jonah and realize that he has an equally glazed expression on his face.

  “Jonah?” I ask, panicked. “Jonah, did you not look away?”

  Does that mean he was hypnotized, too?

  I tug on his arm. I knock on the mirror. “Can you hear me? Maryrose, you hypnotized Jonah by mistake! What do I do?”

  But Maryrose is gone. The mirror has returned to its pre-yellow, glassy color.

  The basement is silent.

  Jonah is following my parents up the stairs, frombie-style.

  I head upstairs, too, and turn off the lights.

  My parents go into their bedroom. Jonah goes into his, with Prince trailing behind him. Jonah crawls into bed, still in his penguin costume, and closes his eyes.

  What just happened?

  I mean, I know what just happened, my whole family got hypnotized. But what does this mean for me? What does this mean for the mirror?

  I go into my bedroom and close the door behind me. How am I ever going to be able to fall asleep? What do I do?

  I glance at the jewelry box to see what happened to the Snow Queen. Before our trip, she’d stood alone in the snow, looking scary. Now, she’s standing in front of the igloo castle with her arm around Sharon. Sharon’s hair is still stick straight, but now it’s silver instead of blond. I guess Sharon broke the mirror and got her powers, just like she wanted.

  On the igloo castle is a sign that says, THE SNOW PALACE HOSPITAL.

  They opened a hospital! The Republic of Blizzard really needed one. Now they can help people who are sick or injured. My heart swells. I’m so proud of them.

  I glance down at the two loose R beads in my jewelry box.

  Proud of them, and ashamed of me.

  Robin. Did I really make her take off her necklace? Did I really remove my own R bead — and make Frankie take off hers — just because Robin tried to make new friends?

  Was I being no better than the Snow Queen?

  I untie my necklace and slip the bead back into its proper spot. I take Frankie’s R bead and slip it into the front pocket of my knapsack.

  Then I sit down at my desk, take out a piece of orange stationery I got for my last birthday, and write,

  Dear Robin,

  I’m so sorry. I guess I was just jealous about you and Penny. But of course you can be friends with other people. Even best friends. I hope you’ll still be mine, too.

  Please forgive me?

  FRA forever.

  Love,

  Abby

  I fold the paper, place Robin’s necklace inside, and put them in a matching envelope. I’ll give it to her as soon as I see her at school.

  Then, feeling lighter, I put on an extra pair of socks and crawl into bed.

  * * *

  “Good morning, Abby!” my mother says, throwing open my door. Sunlight streams in through my blinds. “How did you sleep?”

  How did I sleep? HOW DID I SLEEP? Does she really not remember anything?

  I hesitate and then ask, “How did you sleep?”

  “Really well,” she says. “I haven’t slept that soundly in a long time. I feel terrific. Come have breakfast,” Mom adds. “Your father is making pancakes. Jonah is already eating.”

  Jonah. Oh my goodness, Jonah.

  “Jonah!” I yell, jumping out of bed and running down the stairs two at a time.

  Jonah is sitting at the kitchen table. “Dad made pancakes!”

  “I see that,” I say. “Um … how are you feeling?”

  “Hungry,” he says, and shoves a forkful of pancake into his mouth.

  “Yes. I can see that. Did you sleep well?”

  He looks at me like I’m crazy. “Yeah. Why? Did you do something to my pillow or something?”

  “No.” I give him a meaningful look. “Did you have any good dreams? Or scary dreams? Or chilly ones?”

  “Chilly dreams?”

  I step closer to him. “Do you not remember anything?” I whisper.

  “What are you talking about? You’re being really weird.” He downs a glass of milk.

  He doesn’t remember. He really doesn’t remember last night. Does he not remember any of our trips? “Can I talk to you in private, please?”

  “No
w? In the middle of breakfast?”

  “Yes.” I grab him by the wrist and pull him away from the table and into the hallway.

  “Do you remember Maryrose?”

  He blinks. “Who?”

  Who? WHO?! “The fairy in our magic mirror!”

  “We have a magic mirror? Cool! Is it the bathroom mirror?”

  “No, it’s not the bathroom mirror! You really don’t know what I’m talking about?”

  He shakes his head. “I can pretend, though. Is this a new game?”

  I don’t believe this. I sigh. “No.”

  “Can I go finish my breakfast now?” he asks hopefully.

  What can I do? I nod and let him go back into the kitchen. I follow him, my head spinning.

  “It’s a cold day,” Mom says, looking at the weather forecast on her phone. “But sorry, kids. Still no snow.”

  “That’s okay,” I say, shivering. “I don’t really need snow this winter.”

  “Snow?” Jonah echoes. Slowly, he turns his head to me. “Wait. I think I had a dream about snow! I can’t remember what happened, though. Just that there was snow.”

  “You were probably thinking of our Naperville winters,” Dad says with a chuckle.

  I feel a huge surge of hope. Maybe Jonah does remember something of our time in the Republic of Blizzard. Maybe his memory of the magic mirror will start to come back!

  I just need to wait and see.

  Don’t miss Abby and Jonah’s next adventure, when they fall into the tale of Beauty and the Beast!

  Look for:

  Whatever After #7: BEAUTY QUEEN

  Thank you to …

  Aimee Friedman, my amazing editor!

  Laura Dail, my incredible agent!

  Tamar Rydzinski, my terrific foreign agent!

  Deb Shapiro and Becky Amsel, my superb publicists!

  To the Scholastic team: This time I will try not to cry as I thank you, but I am truly overwhelmed by your awesomeness. Thank you for everything. Aimee Friedman (so great I’ll list her twice), Becky Amsel (same!), Abby McAden, David Levithan, Tracy van Straaten, Jennifer Ung, Elizabeth Parisi, Emily Cullings, Elizabeth Krych, Joy Simpkins, Bess Braswell, Whitney Steller, Sue Flynn, Ryan Lemme, Lizette Serrano, Antonio Gonzalez, and Emily Heddleson.

  Emily Jenkins, thank you for reading this book and for once again telling me how to make it better. I am honestly not sure how I wrote and published anything before I knew you.