Chapter 9 Hole in the Ice

I climbed down from the boat by a rope ladder; right behind Henry. I was wearing a big winter coat, on top of all three of my Christmas sweaters. They were warm, and besides, we'd need all the Christmas spirit we could get. I was wearing gloves, warm socks and a hat, but the cold was still shocking. The wind blew across my face sharply, stinging my eyes and drying out my lips. It found its way inside my clothes, making me shiver. I'd never felt cold like this; and I wondered how I would survive this kind of weather all day.

I hoped we'd be back at the boat by nightfall. One way or another, we'd have to be. If we found the Grinch and fought him, we'd still have to return to the boat afterwards. And if we didn't, well, we'd have to go looking again the next day. There was no point in walking around in the dark. So we'd be warm again in a couple of hours, hopefully. Unless, of course, we were dead. I tried not to think about that possibility too much, but reality was literally blowing me in the face.

I went to walk next to Henry, hoping for a little distraction. "Cold, isn't it?" I said, shouting to make myself heard over the loud blowing of the wind. Henry just nodded, his hands stuffed deeply inside his coat pockets. "So, what do you think will happen once we find the Grinch?" I asked him. He shrugged. He didn't seem in a very talkative mood. I tried to study his face, to see if his expression gave anything away, but a scarf covered most of his face.

"Is something wrong?" I said, reaching out a gloved hand towards him. My hand was left hanging in the air for a solid minute, until finally Henry took it. He mumbled something, but I couldn't make out the words. "Sorry, what did you say? It's really hard to hear you." I yelled. Henry seemed to look around before he spoke again. We were walking a good distance from the others, who were walking in their separate twos and threes.

"My moms." He said, and I was glad he was finally telling me what was bothering him. "They almost didn't let me come along. We had a huge fight about it." "I'm sorry." I said honestly. I knew how Henry felt about being left out when it came to possibly dangerous quests. I understood that his parents wanted to protect him, though. As much as I was worried about myself, I was also worried about Henry. At least he had a bit more experience.

"I wish they'd realise that I'm not a little kid anymore. They don't have to protect me all the time. I can take care of myself. And besides, I want to help them. I want to be a hero, too." That, I was familiar with. Almost anyone would want that. To be a hero; to do something to make the world a better place. I myself had sometimes struggled with that; that helpless feeling of wanting to do something good, but not knowing how or what.

I squeezed his hand. "They let you eventually, didn't they? You're here now. There's your chance." He nodded, and I could tell that he was at least a bit cheered up. "And besides, there's no point in leaving you behind on the boat." I told him. "The Grinch could notice it and come over, and then you'd be all by yourself. You wouldn't be safer back at the boat." "I know." Henry said.

"Race you!" I yelled, as I took off towards where the others were starting to gather. We blasted through the snow, white clouds forming behind us. The snow made for heavy running, and I almost tripped a couple of times, but luckily, I managed to recover my balance. When we arrived, I bent over, leaning my hands on my knees. Henry and I laughed silently, next to each other. Luckily, we couldn't be heard over the wind; I didn't want Regina to think that we were too childish to go on a quest like this.

Pretty soon, though, our laughter was over, as things started to get serious again. "Here's the plan." Annabeth said frankly. She stood in front of the group, a natural leader and strategic. I marvelled over the fact that it was me the plans were meant for; that she was actually here in the flesh. I knew that with Annabeth, we'd be in good hands. She was one of the best, smartest children of Athena, and that meant a lot.

"We've arrived at our first square. I'm going to be holding the map, and crossing off the squares we pass. In order to cover as much ground as we possibly can, we'll fan out across the width of the square. If you encounter anything suspicious, please wave your hands, and I'll be there as quickly as possible." She told us. "Oh, and everyone will get one set of fireworks. If you run into anything dangerous, or if something happens, set them off. They'll send up red sparks and alert everyone to your position, and we'll come over immediately. Please, be careful. Don't take any unnecessary risks; we're just scouting the area."

As she handed out the fireworks, my worry set in properly. There wasn't much I could do to defend myself. All I had was the knife in my backpack, and I wasn't very good with it. My aim was rubbish, and I doubted I was strong enough to wrestle any opponent. I sighed. I would just have to rely on everyone else. I would be fine, I told myself. "Good luck!" Henry mouthed to me as Annabeth positioned us all along the width of the square. I wished I could've kissed him; it might have been my last chance to do so.

I scolded myself mentally for my pessimism. Worrying wouldn't do me any good, I'd just be out of my mind by the time we actually found the Grinch. I wouldn't be of use to anyone if I was paralysed with fear.

But there was a lot of time to think about all of the possible disastrous outcomes, as I ploughed through the snow, trying my best to walk in a straight line and stay on course. We covered what must've been several squares on the map, without any disturbances. I was beginning to be slightly bored. My feet hurt, my face was cold, and there wasn't anything interesting to look at for miles.

I watched the others, but they weren't more than dots from where I stood. The distance between us wasn't that great, but the sky was darkening quickly. I hoped that soon, someone would suggest we turned around and headed back to the boat. I'd had more than enough adventure for one day, that was for sure.

I was contemplating suggesting a turn-around myself, when suddenly, to my right, red sparks flew up into the sky. The fireworks! Someone was in trouble. I gasped, but I didn't hesitate as I took off running in that direction. I went as fast as the heavy snow would allow, actually stumbling once. I fell into the snow, face forward, but I got up again quickly. I could barely feel my face anymore; the icy wind combined with the wetness of the snow had made it freeze over.

But I didn't run any slower because of it. I was too worried for that. What if something had happened to Annabeth? Or worse, Henry? I didn't allow myself to dwell on that possibility, but I ran faster anyway. I could see where the others were gathered, in a small circle. I couldn't see what they were doing. They appeared to be fighting something on the ground, some running around frantically.

As I ran closer, I could finally start to make out what was happening. Regina was walking up and down frantically, and it seemed everyone was steering clear of her. I could see that Henry was standing at her side, obviously trying to calm her down. I felt relief wash over me. It wasn't him. Nothing had happened to Henry. I was so glad, that when I arrived where the others were standing, I crashed into him and crushed him in a hug. For the moment, I didn't care that Regina was standing right next to us, and that everyone could see us. "You're fine." I breathed. I felt him nod into my hair. He let me hug him for a little while, then gently pried my arms off of him.

"It's mom." He said gravely, as we turned around to look at whatever it was the others were looking at. And that was when I saw it. I had assumed the thing on the ground was what they'd been fighting, but it was something else entirely. I sucked in a sharp breath.

It was Emma. She was clawing frantically at the edges of a hole in the ice, as she struggled to keep her head above the water. Everyone was steering clear of the hole, clearly afraid the edges would crumble if it had to bear any more weight. A wave of hope went through our little group, as she got her forearms onto the ice securely and started to hoist herself up onto the snow. But then, the ice crumbled again. I could practically feel Regina's despair. She was pacing up and down, a safe distance from the water. She was at her wit's end, I could tell.

"What do we do?" I asked, hoping that someone would have a suggestion. "If we knew, we'd be doing it already, wouldn't we?" Regina snapped at me, and I could tell from her expression that she was struggling to keep it together. As much as she pretended to be a stone-hearted, uncaring woman, I knew she really cared about Emma. And losing Emma, after having lost everyone else, would be too much for her to bear, I knew. So we had to do something, I decided. "Henry?" I called, and he came over to me. "Could you please distract Regina? I'm going to try and save Emma, but I don't want your mom to get in the way." A spark of hope lit up Henry's face, and he nodded. "Can be done." He told me, and walked over to Regina.

As they walked off, Regina clearly not convinced, I clapped my hands. "Time to get Emma out." I said. "Does anyone have any rope?" Luckily, Sirius turned out to be wearing a belt. It wasn't long, but it was sturdy. I tied a loop at the end of the belt, so Emma could hook her arms through it and hold on. I realised that from where we were standing, we had no hope of the belt reaching her. Someone would have to go out on the ice and get closer.