The Haunting Tale

Chapter 15: The Awkward Story

The guests were speechless, staring warily at Noah lying motionless on a couch near a fireplace. Lilly babbled about what happened, and the guests couldn't do anything but letting their hearts sink. Then they blamed themselves for arguing without noticing that Noah left the dining room. They felt sinful. Everyone loved him. Especially Diana.

For Diana, Noah was her everything. He gave her joy and love, he had the warmth she had never felt. She was cold, all she needed was love.

Noah's breath was short and quiet, his skin turned deadly pale. He was still alive, but he looked dead.

Noah shuddered again, this time he coughed and gasped, a drop of blood came out of his mouth. The servants panicked and tried to find the warmest sheets they could find. Meanwhile, the guests helped Diana push the sofa nearer to the fireplace, keeping him warm.

"Diana... look..." Allie pointed at Noah's fingers. His fingers were icy blue with white snowflakes on his skin. Noah could not feel them. They were frozen.

"What is happening?" Diana sobbed.

"It must be The Snow Queen!" exclaimed Gerda.

"The Snow Queen?" Diana repeated what Gerda said. "I thought Forest Protector had banished her... I'll go find her."

"Who?" asked Ward, who was worried.

"Forest! I will find her and I'll ask her what's wrong with Noah. I hope she knows the answer," Diana trotted out of the room, getting her cloak from a hanger nearby and got out of the castle. Allie, Snowy, Ward, Figar, and Lilly ran after her.

Diana said before going out, "You guys must stay and take care of Noah. I don't want anything hurt him." The group nodded as she was out of sight.

Diana actually regretted for not taking a look at the weather before going outside. It was cold and windy. The green sky turned dark grey, and it was snowing. The ground was covered with slippery ice and there was no sight of any souls wandering, not even animals. All the flowers were frozen and the trees were white. Diana tried to be quick but careful to walk on the icy ground, going to the middle of the forest in front of her.

"Forest! Forest! I need your help!" Diana hollered for help.

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"He has had enough!" Forest pushed Elizabeth and held Noah's body tight.

"Yeah you're right," The Snow Queen looked at her fingernails with admire. "I shouldn't waste my energy to kill a weak fragile little guy."

"What you think of him is wrong!" Forest shouted. "He's brave and strong."

"Bet 50 golds that he would survive..." Elizabeth smirked.

"No... NO BET!"

"Goodbye," Elizabeth waved and a storm of ice carried her to her icy palace. Forest wanted to go after her but first she had to take Noah to somewhere warmer. She looked at his fingers, they were frozen.

Forest stormed out of the place and ran back to where they had met. It was the only place that wasn't covered with snow.

"I'm sorry..." Forest kissed Noah's forehead and slowly pinned him on a tree. The vines wrapped around him, securing him on the tree.

"Forest!" she heard a shout. Diana ran and found who she wanted to see. Forest quickly pushed her away from Noah. "Forest, what's going on?" Diana was confused.

"There's something I need to tell you..." Forest said sadly.

"No, hear me first. Something wrong is going on with Noah. He was cold and shivering, and his fingers were frozen. Gerda and Kay said it was The Snow Queen. Is it true?"

Forest said nothing.

"IS IT?!"

"Yes it is!" Forest shouted. "And Noah is having a frozen heart!"

"So he will die and be trapped here forever?"

"Okay, is it good or bad for you?"

"Well... middle. But the important is what Noah wants! He still has dreams and adventures, and I don't want to take them away from him..."

"Very nice of you, dear, but the main thing is that... Ugh, where should I start... Remember Alice?" Forest put her hand on Diana's shoulder.

"Yes, she escaped Unholy Forest and went to Heaven. Good for her! You helped her?"

"What? How can I do that? It's impossible! Why do you think she went to Heaven?"

Diana shrugged.

Forest sighed, "That's a very ridiculous rumor. The truth is: The Snow Queen took her. She froze her heart and apparently she had some splinters from the evil troll's mirror, so she became evil and be the Queen's slave."

Diana was shocked but confused at the same time. "I don't get it."

"She is THE GIANT GUARDING HER PALACE!"

"WHAT?! How did you know all of those things from The Snow Queen. She is cold, dangerous and quite anonymous. Nobody even knows her real name!"

Forest began to walked in a tight circle, mumbling, "God, I have to tell her..."

"Tell me what?" Diana noticed.

"Okay... Back in the day before I died, my whole family were fairies and we protected forests and people as well. That was our duty. But one day, my sister, Elizabeth, had an accident and she was burned harshly. She cried and made an oath that she would never go outside with her ugliness and scars. She was very dramatic and she took seriously about small things. So I decided to help her by making a potion. The ingredients were: the liquid from a willow tree, a voice from a beauty, and blood from an aristocrat. So..." Forest paused and bit her lips. "I cut Cinderella's tree, took Ginnifer's tough, and made Jane to kill Jack."

"You were behind all of this? You put Cinder, Ginnifer, and Jack in misery?"

"I didn't mean it! And I'm not done yet," Forest sighed. "So after I finished making the potion, I gave it to her, and she became beautiful like she wanted... but she became evil as well. She somehow learned how to control the snows and storms, and she became The Snow Queen. She loved being beautiful, and when she found Snowy, she was jealous. She had me kill her by making me disguise as her stepmom. I lured her into the forest and she got the apple from the evil fairies. Then one time Elizabeth broke up with a prince and had me turn him into a frog. I did, but I never thought that Tina would kiss him and die. Still not satisfied enough, she wanted to get rid of Allie because she was so beautiful. So I cursed her to fall asleep at sixteen and I said true love's kiss would break the spell. Don't get me wrong, I loved Allie. I saw her from when she was an infant to a teenager. She loved me too. I eventually took her to my secret place. But it was too late for me because she had pricked the spindle wheel and fell asleep. I put her in that casket! Then I realized: true love's kiss. I could kiss her - just of her forehead! But she died. And I knew why: someone raped her and killed her. You know who that is? Oh that's right: your slutty Prince named Alex! And you fell in love with him! Then you two got married and you were pregnant."

"So you cursed my castle?"

"No! I scared Alex that it was cursed so that he could leave. But apparently... I didn't know that he could... set the castle... on fire... while you... were... sleeping..." Forest said awkwardly. Diana wanted to do nothing but punching her face.