The Ice Princess

Chapter 11

Why, hello. It's been a while, hasn't it? *waves guiltily*

Okay. Explanation for my prolonged absence at the author's note at the end. :)

RIP Cory Monteith, July 13, 2013

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We started on the puzzle. It was extremely difficult since almost all the pieces were blue and green with only about a fifth of them with varying colors.

We started on the blue part, which I assumed was the sky, and we were almost a third of being halfway there.

Basically, we worked on the near-impossible puzzle for about an hour until we finally got too tired and decided to stop. I glanced at the puzzle.

"On the bright side," I piped up. "We finished a fourth of it!"

Carter and Alex sent me "are you kidding me" glares.

"I wanna go!" Alex whined.

Carter agreed. "I really think we should. Look, the sun's almost up."

"Geez, you two are such drama queens. Look, it's only..." I checked my watch. "Three in the morning."

"We've been doing this for six hours?!" Alex groaned.

"No, genius," I rolled my eyes. "We've been doing this for only two hours."

"Let's go!" she stomped her feet. God, she could be so annoying sometimes! That's why I love her.

"Fine, fine, let's get some sleep."

We walked out of the room, and I tucked the key into my pocket. When we crept to our own bedrooms, we practically crashed on the beds.

*

I woke up to birds chirping. First thing on my mind was: Six more days before the mysterious "he" comes.

Second thing: Carter. Third: Our adventure last night.

I felt for the key to the second tower room in my pocket, then I realized I hadn't changed yet. I bathed, dressed up in a floral dress and flats, and put my hair into a French twist. I placed the key in a hidden "compartment"/flap in my right shoe.

I went down to the dining room to see the king and queen eating breakfast which consisted of pancakes, waffles, and bread.

I sat down.

"Good morning," I grinned. King Dartley sent me a discreet wink.

The queen nodded her head once. She was still cold to me. I noticed her hands and face were more wrinkly than yesterday. She picked up her fork and noticed it too. She paled, and excused herself. I felt a cold presence near me, and I was sure it was Queen Cassandra. I saw King Dartley look at me with a pointed look and jerked his head to the direction Queen Marie-Hale went.

I followed her quietly and heard her talking. I hid behind the wall that turned into a corner.

"...need to get it fast." she finished hotly.

"How wrinkly are you now?" a man's deep, smooth voice, someone who I knew was a stranger, since I've never heard his voice in the castle.

"Look." She showed her hands.

"Not so bad. You can hold on until I get there."

Where was "there" exactly? Is it maybe the place where her elixir came from?

"Good. Get there quickly. I think Dartley suspects something." she whispered.

Oh how little she knows.