The Snow Queen

Dancing in the Sky

Mary had just fallen asleep when she was jolted awake by her mother's cry of fright. She called her brother's name in anguish until her father got her to calm down. She heard the following conversation.

"Em, it's all right. He's too self-reliant a young man for anything to happen to him."

"I just want to know he's all right!" She sobbed. "Where he could've gone and why!" Emily was quiet a moment, then, "What if it was the marriage? What if we finally pushed him too far?"

"He wouldn't run off over something so minor."

"It's not just that; he's always wanted to leave... he's always been so lonely. We weren't there enough for him."

"That's not true and you know it... he's always been loyal to us. He wouldn't leave us, especially Mary."

"I don't understand it." Emily was weeping now, barely muffled as she hid her face in Nicholas' chest. "Where is he?"

The girl of ten was now sitting upright in her bed—she knew she should go back to sleep, but none of it made clear sense to her either. Something wouldn't take Jack. He was strong enough to fight back and smart enough to find his way home. The only logical conclusion would be he did leave on his own, but he just wouldn't without telling her goodbye. It wasn't Jack's way. He didn't even go an evening without telling her good night. She looked out her window, which was coated in a layer of frost.

"Jack," she whispered so quietly that she barely heard herself, "I hope you're okay... please come home. Mom misses you, Dad misses you, I miss you. I know that you're a grown-up, but we're scared." She felt a sob, the first one she would release since his disappearance, but she took a deep breath and let it go. She would be brave for her parents, and Jack too. She hadn't had any dreams to warn her of this... in fact, she hadn't been dreaming much at all lately. If only she'd asked Jack what kinds of dreams he'd been having so she'd know just where he might be.

By morning, they still had no answers. Not a single person dared to enter the street unless they were helping aid those who had nothing to shield them from the weather. Powerful winds still blocked the town edges to keep anyone from leaving and finding more supplies. People were getting desperate now and ripping up pieces of their furniture or front porch to have something to burn.

The only people who went outside were those singing desperate prayers. It had come to this, that they relied on the mercy of whatever Gods might exist to spare them. The days were darker and colder as it was, this curse placed upon them was no help.

But while there was turbulence and panic, elsewhere was delight and wonder.

Jack hadn't been able to wipe the grin from his face since the night before. He felt like he was making the snowflakes in the air dance as he watched from the chamber window. He traced his finger along the glass, imagining he was leaving little frost trails and patterns behind, that he could control the specks of white in the air as she could, and most of all, that his hands weren't tingling and numb. It took him all his might not to abandon his fantasy and tuck his hands into his sleeves. He'd noticed that, twice now, he woke up with a bristling pain in his chest that shook him to his core. His entire body went into some kind of shock but then return to normal as quickly as it started. He felt colder than usual that day, which made no sense because the weather wasn't any worse than the day before. Perhaps it had been the loss of his gloves... and that he'd spent the night naked in her arms.

He was merely readjusting, the body did strange things to protect itself.