Chloe opened her eyes, a smile adorning her face. She looked out the window to see the sun rising. She loved waking up with the sun, it made her feel alive. In her four years of existence, Chloe had not seen something as beautiful as the sun rising, but she knew that was going to change one day.
She sat up and looked to the bed next to hers. Her older sister Aubrey, fast asleep. Chloe looked up to her in so many ways, they were best friends. She got out of her bed and slowly patted over to her sister's. She got onto the bed and jumped on her sister making the older girl groan.
"Aubrey! Wake up! Wake up Wake up!" She kept jumping on top of her sister to disrupt her sleep.
"Chloe, go back to sleep," the blonde said, pushing her younger sister to the floor. The ginger landed with a huff and quickly stood up.
"But I can't, the sky's awake, so I'm awake and I have to go and play!" Chloe threw herself onto her sister again only to get pushed off, again. A mischievous smirk grew on the little girl's pale face as she decided what to tell her sister. "Do you wanna build a snowman?" The older girl smiled and quickly got up.
The two girls ran down the stairs, Aubrey shushing her little sister's giggles along the way. Chloe loved playing with her older sister, it made her feel ultimate joy, especially when her sister used her magic. The magic she was blessed with when she was born, the magic Chloe sometimes wished she had. She wanted to be able to conjure snow out of nowhere, it looked fun.
"Do the magic, do the magic," the four-year-old chanted rather excitedly. She clapped her hands and squealed when the blonde started using her magic. The floor was covered in ice and snow, it was cold on Chloe's arms, but she didn't care because she was having way too much fun. Both girls were giggling as they ran around the ballroom playing. Aubrey created a small snowman, making Chloe giggle even louder.
"Hi, I'm Amy and I like warm hugs," Aubrey voiced the snowman. She was behind it making its arms move about. Chloe shrieked and threw herself on the snowman.
"I love you, Amy." The little ginger crushed the snowman in a big warm hug. She tried her best not to break it. The cold snow was against her exposed skin, making her realize she was colder than she originally thought. Aubrey noticed redness in her sister's arms from the snow being in direct contact to her sister's arms. She then started to get worried, was the snow hurting Chloe?
"Chloe, your arms are red, are you sure you're not cold?" Aubrey took a step closer to the younger girl. Chloe looked down at her arms. She had felt the cold on her body, she didn't know it was having this reaction. She rubbed her arms against her torso and arms, then let out a shiver. She smiled brightly at the older girl.
"I'm fine, Aubrey," she reassured the worried girl. "Come on let's play!" She pulled her sister to the other side of the room. Aubrey started making snow piles around the room, the ginger's blue eyes lit up with excitement. The blonde loved the look on the younger girl's face, she loved making her little sister happy. She made a gesture for her sister to started climbing on the piles.
"Catch me!" Aubrey kept making little snow piles to catch her sister, each one harder than the last. Chloe was going too fast. "Again! Again!" The seven-year old's face contorted into a worried look. She couldn't keep up.
"Slow down!" Aubrey moved to keep up better, but she slipped. She was falling backwards as Chloe had jumped. Magic shot out of her hands to see if she could catch her sister, it didn't. It hit Chloe's head, the girl falling unconscious in one of the snow piles. The blonde felt her heart stop, she had hurt her sister. She ran towards her.
"Chloe!" She took her in her arms; Chloe was growing cold. A white streak then formed in the girl's ginger hair, Aubrey gasped. She needed to tell her parents, they needed to know what had happened. This was all her fault, why hadn't she just stayed in bed. "Mama! Papa!" The room was growing colder by the second as Aubrey's fears were growing. Her parents suddenly burst through the door.
"Aubrey, what have you done," her father, John, asked, worried and angry. "This is getting out of hand!" Her parents kept looking around, too shocked about what was around them. Her mother, Holly, looked down at her older daughter's arms noticing Chloe.
"Chloe!" She took the little girl in her arms. Aubrey felt her blue eyes well up with tears, guilt weighing like boulders on her shoulders. She looked between her parents, both of them terrified and disappointed. She joined her hands, clasping her dress. She felt a tear escape her eye, become ice as it fell.
"It was an accident, I'm sorry." She sniffled. She didn't mean for her sister to get hurt, she just wanted to play. Tears kept falling out of her eyes. The room grew colder and colder. Her parents were shivering slightly as they examined their youngest daughter.
"She's ice cold," Holly pointed out. The king stood up from the ground, helping his wife as he did. He wrapped his daughter up in his cloak and took her into his arms.
"I know where we have to go." He disappeared, coming back two minutes later with a map. The family got on their horses, going to their destination. Aubrey's nervousness kept growing, making a trail of snow and ice as they galloped though the woods. She hoped that wherever they were going they were going to help her sister.
As they passed leaving the trail of snow, they didn't notice a sleepy little girl named Beca with her reindeer friend. They passed quickly, leaving the little girl with her reindeer grew wondered. Her steel blue eyes grew large as she saw her favorite thing in the world, ice. She looked at her reindeer then back at the ice.
"Ice," she asked her friend. Both young lings moved excitedly. The little brunette got on the small reindeer to follow the ice path. They started running after the horses. "Faster, Jesse!"
The horses stopped in a valley. Beca tilted her head in confusion, what were they looking for? She ducked behind a rock pulling Jesse with her. She looked as the adults moved towards a bunch of other rocks, a small girl in the man's arms. There was a frightened blonde next to the woman, the girl left an ice path as she walked.
"Did you see that, Jess?" She nudged her best bud, pointing at the ice at the girl's feet. The reindeer nodded excitedly. They laughed.
"Please somebody help my daughter," the man shouted. The rocks started to move and tumble all around. Some had started to fall down the valley heading directly towards Jesse and Beca. The two let out little yelps as they tried to avoid them. The rocks stopped at the man and woman's feet opening to reveal happy faces.
"Trolls...?" Beca was confused. The rock in front of Beca opened, revealing a friendly troll. The troll smiles at the two and holds them close.
"Shush, I'm trying to listen." She holds them close as they watch the people talk in front of them. Jesse likes the troll's face. The troll looks at them both. "Cuties, I'm gonna keep you."
Where the King and Queen were standing, the tension was high, Aubrey was still very terrified. An old troll rolled down, they called him Gran Pabbie. He knew all there was to know about magic. He was as old as the Earth, after all. He gives the king and queen a respectful nod. He approached them, peaking to see their youngest daughter.
"Your majesty," he spoke. He looked towards Aubrey and asked, "Born with the powers or cursed?" The blonde girl stood closely to her mother, still afraid of what was going on.
"Born, and they're getting stronger," the king replied. Aubrey looked at her father and then at her hands, she didn't want these powers anymore. They hurt her sister and they were growing stronger. She didn't want to deal with potentially hurting whoever she was with be it her parents, her sister or a new friend.
The troll motioned for them to bring Chloe towards him. He looked at her, examining her deeply. He put his hand to her forehead, feeling the coldness on her forehead. "You're lucky it wasn't her heart. The heart is not easily changed, but the head can be persuaded."
"Do what you must," John said, worry was written all over his body.
"I recommend we remove all magic, even memories of magic to be safe." Aubrey's widened, her sister won't remember her powers. Everything was going to change because of it, she couldn't be herself around her sister. "Don't worry, I'll leave the fun." The troll said, sensing the little girl's sadness. At least Chloe's memories of them having fun where still going to be there.
Grand Pabbie pulled out a blue energy from Chloe's head. He changed all the memories that included magic to normal memories, all the indoor snow activities changed to them playing outside in the winter. He takes the memories and puts them back in the ginger's head.
"She will be okay," he assured them. Aubrey let out a small sigh a relief, her sister was fine. Then she remembered, one thing was going to change.
"But she won't remember my powers," the blonde asked, a pout on her lips. She felt a hand on her shoulder, it was her father.
"It's for the best," he told her. Aubrey silently nodded. She understood, they needed to keep them safe.
"Listen to me, Aubrey," Grand Pabbie spoke, "your power will only grow." The northern lights showed up in the sky, they showed an adult Aubrey making snowflakes. "There is beauty in your magic, but also great danger." the blue in the lights changed to red, and fear quickly grew over the princess. "Fear will be your enemy."
"No. We'll protect her," the king interjected. "She can learn to control it. I'm sure. Until then, we'll lock the gates. We'll reduce the staff. We will limit her contact with people and keep her powers hidden from everyone... including Chloe." The two adults looked at each other, silently agreeing with each other. Aubrey frowned, everything was going to change and be worse for her. She was going to be secluded and concealed from everyone, including her best friend.
The next day the changes started to happen. She packed her stuff up and moved to the room across the hall from her old one. As she walked away she looked back to find her sister, sadness in her baby blue eyes. The blonde felt a pang of sadness in her gut, but she couldn't do anything, it was all decided. She waved at her sister, sadly, then closed the door. She slid against it and sat on the floor. Tears escaped her eyes as she thought about how her life was going to be.