The Royals and The Cool Kids

The Culprit

Jack's POV

The next few days were a whirl of pain, suspicion, and fear.  The pain was when my heart twisted whenever I looked at Elsa and remembered her glassy eyes and the blood clotting her hair.  The suspicion was because Elsa had lied to me about who attacked her.  Somehow she knew who they were and she knew why they were there.  And the fear?

I was afraid they'd do it again.  And there was nothing I could do to protect her.

Well, almost nothing.  Kristoff was certainly making it difficult to help her.  He always seemed to be at her side, watching and listening.  He was like some sour parent.  He never let Elsa go anywhere. He never let us see her.  It was absurd.  Elsa was her own master.  Who made him the boss of her?

What I really needed to do was get Elsa alone. If I had her on her own then I was sure that she would tell the truth. She wanted to tell someone. Probably. Maybe. But I could get her to tell me. I knew I could.

As I pondered the problem my mind slipped back to her gloves. When I had taken her to the hospital I'd caught a glimpse of her hands as they removed the gloves she always wore. And the weird part? Her hands were completely fine.

Or at least they looked that way, but it didn't make any sense. Her gloves had been frozen. I'd seen them. Yet her hands said otherwise. They looked completely untouched, which only served to make me more confused. Either I hadn't seen what I thought I saw, or Elsa was crazy lucky that her hands hadn't frozen along with the gloves. Maybe her gloves protected her skin from ice. If that was the case, she probably knew who her attacker was and that they were coming for her.

All the pieces of the puzzle were there. I just needed to put them together.

I glanced up at the clock. Class wasn't going to end for another forty minutes. Once it did, I would be able to corner Elsa. But for now I could work out the mystery of the frost. I ripped out a piece of notebook paper and scribbled down a quick list.

What I know
Two times: one in school and one at theater.
Leaves frost.
Elsa wears gloves now.
Her hands undamaged.
Kristoff now babysitter.

After staring at the list for a moment I added another line at the bottom.

Elsa knows.

There. That was it. I was starting to see how it all added together, and I didn't like where it pointed. Someone in our school was the attacker. And I knew who.

—————

I had abandoned trying to get close to Elsa in favor of planning how to confront her attacker.  I eventually settled for trying after school.  The courtyard would be a madhouse anyway.  Nobody would notice me beating up one kid.

Everything was planned out.  I'd corner him on his way out the door and make something up to get him to come with me behind the school.  Then I'd teach him a lesson he wouldn't forget in a hurry.  After that he wouldn't bother Elsa anytime soon.  The only thing I was still debating was bringing my powers into this.  On the one hand I now knew he had powers (although how he hid it for so long, I have no idea) but on the other hand I didn't want to get dragged down if things went south.

My eyes wandered to the school doors as kids continued to stream out.  Mister Frozen Fingers sure was taking a long time to come out.  I hoped he hadn't gotten to Elsa without me noticing.

My eyes narrowed as my target walked through the door.  He was alone, which was a miracle, and walking fast.  I pushed my way through the crowd towards him.  As I approached my blood began to boil.  This was the person who framed me.  This was the person who had been attacking Elsa.  Maybe I didn't want to wait until we were out of the way before punching him.

He was about to pay for every bit of hurt he inflicted on Elsa.  He might have thought he was completely undercover, but in a moment he'd know I was onto him.

"Let's have a chat, Kristoff."