Frost at Birth (RotG)

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

*Brandon's POV*

Exactly two hours after Abby left, I stepped foot in the Workshop.

"Abby?" I called. A frantic yeti ran up to me and started shouting gibberish. "Yeah, I don't understand you."

He grabbed my wrist and towed me over toward the globe controls. Seeing a bunch of glass, fake snow, and water covering the ground, I asked what happened. He pointed at a corner. "And?"

"Whrata!" He cried exasperated.

"The shadows?" I asked, my question being met with a quick, sharp nod. "Is this Abigail's snow globe?"

"Blata!" He shouted, nodding.

"I knew it!" I knocked something off one of the tables angrily. "Dang it! They grabbed her!"

He shook his head. "Then what happened?"

He pointed out the window. "How am I supposed to translate this?" Trying to understand him was like trying to understand Sandy. Impossible. Groaning, I remembered that North could understand them. "You're coming with me. Let's go."

*Abigail's POV*

"Mom, I need your help." I sighed. "You, I know, were one of the most patient and calm people in the world. You would have to be to deal with Dad twenty-four seven. I need your help now. You can't just be gone. Manny wouldn't be so cruel, would he?"

Nothing. Of course, I didn't expect an answer from the cold ground in front of me, but I'd hoped. It was the middle of the day here, the moon nowhere in sight. "Mom, I need you. Brandon needs you. Your son Charlie needs you. Please come back." I found myself crying as I sat beside her headstone.

Marisa Frost
Loved daughter, wife, and mother
2028-2046

I'd never been here before. I'd always wondered if I'd end up feeling something, or if I'd just not feel anything because I hardly knew the woman, but the second I saw the elaborate, yet small, headstone that was covered in ice and frost, I knew better than that.

Dad had been here often, I could tell by the layers of frost covering it and the ground near it, but nothing past that.

"Abigail?" A woman's voice startled me and I jumped.

"Who are you?" I asked out of shock, seeing who I knew to be my mother.

"Marisa Frost. You are Abigail, aren't you?"

"I--yeah."

Her eyes filled with tears. "You're such a beautiful girl. My bracelet." She recognized the beaded string around my wrist.

"Yeah." My voice sounded breathy and airy in disbelief.

"That headband suits you perfectly well, dear." I fingered the piece of lavender cloth on my head. To keep my hair out of my eyes, I always worse it.

"Thank you. How are you here? Why haven't you come back?"

"I couldn't. I didn't know where you were."

"Oh well. Mom, I've met Brandon. And Charlie and Dylan." She gasped when I mentioned the two.

"Charlie? How...does Jack know?"

"I don't know. I think he does. Dylan's five now."

"What do you mean you met Brandon? Didn't you grow up with him?"

Shaking my head, I smiled and started the story. I had all the time in the world, why couldn't I take this chance to just sit here with her? My mom was back. She was back, and I couldn't tell Brandon or Dad. Dad is gone, Abigail, I reminded myself.