Chapter 21

Alfida, Luta and Kai sat inside the coach along with other passengers heading to Paris and had been stuck in traffic for a while, which slowly began to fade away. Their bus was only a few kilometers away from the borders between Belgium and France, they were getting closer to the region of Lille.

Kai lied with his head on the window of the vehicle having a nap, while the weasel rested on his lap. Alfida held her head on Kai's shoulder and watched on the small TV screen inside the bus a movie that had been airing, where she saw a fox-themed superheroine and a cat-themed superhero.

"I only love you, Rena Rouge," Said the cat-themed superhero on TV, making Alfida wrinkle her eyebrows.

"Who wrote this trash?" Spoke Alfida, then she looked over the window to see twenty lines leading to the border entrance and she saw several guards standing at the entrance to the country, then one of the guards held his hand on the ear, then nodded and raised his hand up at a cooling truck, which turned on his blinker to turn around into a large space, where a small vehicle stood with a guard listening to the driver explaining something. Alfida rolled her eyes at Kai, which still had them closed and shove her arms around Kai, which opened his eyes slowly, but closed them again.

"In a kilometer, we enter into France and it will only be an hour or two," Mentioned Alfida, then Kai looked at the number of cars waiting to pass the border control and nodded. "As soon as we get out of here, we start looking for Gerda and we'll be all together again,"

"Shouldn't we first look for a place to sleep first?" Questioned Kai sitting up on his seat as Alfida took away her arms to listen to him. "We don't know exactly, where she is and how far away we're from her location. We barely know anything about Paris,"
"Sure. You're right and from looking a the situation here. It will take us a while to get out of here," Commented Alfida looking at the window with Kai, then shook her head. "We're getting closer to the borders,"

"Yes," Commented Kai looking at the vehicles beside him, that were left behind and both noticed slowly the coach move aside under a roof, where the free area was with a few guards waiting, making Kai gulp and noticed a vehicle leave waving at a guard, which waved back and the guard looked at the coach with parked in the middle of the area.

"Why did we stop?" Asked Kai looking at Alfida, which shrugged her shoulders.

Three guards got around the bus to take a look at it and a fourth guard waited at the entrance of the coach, then the driver got out with papers and showed it to the guard. The guard nodded, then walked into the coach along with the driver and the driver picked up the mic to make an announcement.

"Dear passengers, This is a routine control. Please hold out your ID's or passport for the coming guards," Asked the driver, then a second guard entered, and the first one pointed at the end of the vehicle so that the guard would take that spot to start his control.

"What are passports?" Asked Kai. "Or ID's?"

"I think that's what Hendrick mentioned we would need if we would travel by official travel companies,"

"Will we get arrested, if we don't have those?"

"Maybe?" Responded Alfida, then Luta woke up and looked up at the two teens, which were in shock.

"Okay…..we…..we just tell them we can't find them and….pretend to be looking for them,"

"Do you think that will work?" Questioned Alfida unsure about Kai's plan.

"We've got no other chance…..Or we tell them the truth. Maybe they'll help us. They're supposed to be on our side,"

"Alright, you think you can do that?" Asked Alfida making Kai nod.

"Trust me, they will feel sorry for us" Kai commented and looked up at the corridor to see the guard come from behind checking everyone's ID, afterward he took a look at the two teens, then Alfida grinned a little sheepishly wondering how the situation would turn out.

"Good evening Sir. How are you doing?" Questioned the raven-haired boy, making the guard raise up his left eyebrow.

"ID or passport," Asked the guard, making Kai chuckle.

"Yes, of course, we will give you our ID. Right Alfida?" Asked Kai getting a little tense, then looked behind at Alfida, which gazed through the window and shook her head, then grabbed Luta to place her on top of the head of the seat in front of her and looked back at Kai, which was looking at her looking in the need for help.

"I thought you had the ID's," Commented Alfida making Kai drop his mouth.

"I thought we agreed on telling the truth" Kai commented surprised, then Luta facepalmed while Alfida sighed, that Kai didn't understand she was about to lie to the guards.

"I just wanted to help you," Alfida commented, then Kai swallowed hard as he noticed the guard crossing his arms. Alfida looked back to see the man like that, then Alfida placed her finger in front of Kai's lips to sign him to be still. "Sir we're orphans. We lost contact to our older sister and we figured out she is living in Paris. We just want to get back to her," Alfida said putting on a sad face, while Kai nodded and looked at the guard.

"Her name is Gerda. She's about a head taller than me, has dark-blonde hair and blue eyes," Kai told making the guard nod.

"What's her full name?"

"Gerda,"

"Gerda what?"

"Gerda what?….Gerda. She only has that name," Kai complained making the guard shake his head.

"Every human being has a family name. Your sister must have one too. There could be more Gerdas, that fit your description,"

"I don't think the chance is so high that everyone on this country looks like her," Commented Kai, then heard the weasel squeak and move her head down at the entrance of the coach, where the third guard stood observing the situation.

"Kai, I think you should leave the talking to me," Alfida whispered, then heard the guard fake a cough.

"I would need to talk with both of you anyway. The best thing is for you two to follow me," Asked the guard making the two shake their heads.

"We paid for the ride. We have to go to Paris or we won't see Gerda ever again,"

"Like I said. You two come with me and we all talk. When everything is clear, we let you go," Instructed the guard. "The easier you make it for me, the faster you get out of here,"

Alfida frowned, then looked at Kai, which was annoyed with the man's order, then Alfida grabbed his hand and the boy rolled his eyes at his love interest.

"We better follow him. We'll make it out of her by our own or with help," Alfida commented, facing the weasel afterward, which nodded and ran above the windows beside the seats heading to the exit. The guard led both teens along the corridor, then each of the guards grabbed the teens by their shoulder and escorted them out of here.

"What about the white cat?" Asked the bus driver, then the guard, which was controlling the ID's looked at Luta, which jumped against the guard landing on his face, then jumped at the side mirror of the vehicle, climbing up on the roof and ran over it heading to the end of the vehicle and jumped down landing on the back of a pickup truck which was driving slow, until it left the border zone, then sped up to go with the actual speed regulation of the current highway.

"You have to know, she gets angry when people she doesn't know takes us," Kai commented earning a nod from the guard, who took him.

"Don't worry, we will get you a new one," Answered the man making Kai roll his eyes and Alfida observed the weasel holding herself on the headlights on the roof of the vehicle looking at the two teens.

At the house of the Hemming's, Rollan drank a glass of juice, then took the glass with him into the corridor and spotted the twins on the ground playing domino, then Rollan leaned his back on the arc to observe the two.

"There you go, a four," Commented Jett placing a domino with 7 points, so it would look with the side with the four points against the other domino, which had four points on one side as well and the other one had 5.

"Aren't you two going to bed?" Asked Rollan. "It's 10.15?"

"Will you go too?" Questioned Jett making Rollan nod.

"It's going to be a long day for me. I need to rest," Mentioned Rollan entering the room, then got down. "Come, I help you," Offered Rollan watching Jake hold out the domino box, then Jett along with Rollan picked up the dominoes and stored them into the box and Jake showed Rollan, that they were to be stored into a bookshelf afterward.

"You've got many books here," Commented Rollan. "My friend Gerda likes to read books very much,"

"Can you read books too?" Asked Jake making Rollan nod.

"Of course. My English isn't perfect, but It's manageable,"

"Rollan can you read us the book Frozen Heart?" Asked Jett picking up a book, that lied on the night table between the beds of the two boys. "It's been a week since our mother read it to us,"

"Okay, I can read you that, if you want to," Offered Rollan making Jett happy.

"Yay!" Cheered the twins, then they both got into their beds and tucked themselves into the covers, then Rollan picked up the book and spotted a light-blue strand look out from the middle of the book, and Rollan opened the book there to see it on the 5th chapter.

"Is this where you stopped last time?" Asked Rollan making the boys nod. "Cool," Commented Rollan sitting down on Jake's bed, then Rollan looked at the page and felt Jake put his hand on Rollan's lap, then gazed up at the boy with his dark-blue eyes. "Don't worry. I'm just analyzing the chapters. I was thinking about giving each character a voice,"

"Mom does that too!" Announced Jett making Rollan smile.

"Oh cool. Well, then looks like I just took my decision," Rollan commented, then faked his cough before he began to read. "Farmer Han and the Siberian Husky arrived together at the abandoned palace of the Ice Queen. Abandoned in the middle of nowhere with no hints of any living being. A frozen bridge stood between them and the palace leading over a steep canyon, that led to a river, which was frozen as well. Din the husky glanced down at the river and whined, nervous about the sight.

"I'm not sure if it is a good idea to cross this bridge. There's no railing nor anything to hold on," Mentioned the duo-colored canine looking at the farmer, which continued to look at the castle.

"We're still going in there. That's what we have agreed on with Lord Smallpants," Said farmer Han. "I don't like to break promises. Mostly this is important for me. If we don't come back with the princess, we won't get our farm back,"

"This quest will not end well for us. It's guarded by a giant polar bear. You've heard the Lord by himself. It's a suicide mission!"

"Look Din, if you want to stay here, stay. I'm going in, "Han announced, then slowly walked over the bridge trying to not slip over the ice. Din sat down, looking around the place, and heard the chirping of a white bird, that got down and landed in front of the dog. Din wagged his tail, then looked down at the animal.

"Hey little guy," Greeted Din the bird, which opened his beak and Din heard a growl, making him jump back and head towards the bridge tripping over the edge of the bridge and slid the bridge all over it, taking Han down.

"Din!" Complained farmer Han, then the two reached the palace and noticed, that the interior was arranged like a castle, but made of ice.

Rollan glanced away shortly from the book to see both boys were almost falling asleep, then he placed his hand over Jake's head to caress it gently making him yawn.

"Continue…," Mumbled the boy making Rollan nod and look down at the book.

"Both walked around the castle, spotting nothing, but left back swords and arcs, which used to belong to previous knights and warriors, but as it seemed no one had survived to pass through the ice palace.

"I'm starting to think this was a bad idea," Confessed farmer Han noticing the number of weapons left on the ground, then picked up two swords he found on the ground, but continued his way, with Din back picking up the scent of an arrow.

"You know us dogs are all blessed with an incredible sense of smell and I'm telling you, I can smell honey from somewhere," Commented Din. "This is weird, cause we're locked up inside a castle made of ice and I smell something biological. That's a little strange,"

"Yeah it is," Commented farmer Han. "Don't polar bears eat honey? I assumed they eat meat,"

"Why you're asking that me? I'm a dog, not a veterinarian,"

"We'll see, where this scent comes from. I'm coming with you," Offered Han, which began to pursue the husky, which had picked the scent and went all over the floor to look for the origin of it. After the walk, both expected to encounter its origin, but they encountered in the middle of the next hall a princess in a dark-blue dress with snowflakes on it holding a large jar filled with honey against her stomach and used a spoon to scoop into her mouth a bit of honey while enjoying the sweet flavor of it.

"Oh this is so good," Commented the princess, then the farmer and the husky exchanged confused looks with each other and returned their eyes on the princess.

"Uhm…..hello," Mumbled the princess while trying to finish the bit of honey she had inside her mouth. Din and Han looked at each other, then back at the woman, which looked behind her and back at the males. "The bears aren't around, right? They don't like to share any of this and this is so delicious!" Commented the princess and shove another spoon into her mouth,"
Rollan looked down to see Jake having his eyes closed and breathing softly, making Rollan smile and he looked at Jett, which had fallen asleep as well. Rollan placed the book down, then turned off the light and returned to his room, to exchange his clothing and began to pull on his shirt, then he gasped as he ripped off his shirt by pulling it off his arms.

"Ay," Complained Rollan, then placed it on the bureau table, where he had his smartphone, then he pressed the home button to see a missed call from Gerda. Rollan saw, that the call was 10 minutes ago and he grabbed the phone to leave his bedroom to walk out into the balcony, where he set his phone on call, waiting for the friend to attend it.

"Hi Gerda. Sorry, I didn't see your call, I was in the room putting the boys to sleep. Am I bothering you?"

"It's alright, I just remembered, that after the firefighters helped us all down of the Ferris wheel you had disappeared and I wasn't sure if I should talk to you or not. This is why I called you before,"
"I'm sorry, I made you worried. I wanted to see if…..the Hemmings were alright and so they would know I was alright too,"

"Good. So you're okay, you're not hurt or anything?"

"No, I'm good. And how are you doing?" Questioned Rollan, then heard Gerda yawn and chuckled. "Maybe the call wasn't a good idea,

"It's alright Rollan. I like talking to you," Stated Gerda, making Rollan chuckle.

"Gracias….It's good to know people do appreciate it when I'm around,"

"Why shouldn't we?" Questioned Gerda. "I don't see any reason to not,"

"I think you're right, I'm sorry,"

"Wait…..you did tell once, that your school comrades weren't quite nice with you, right?"

"Certo, I did. Back in my hometown, I wanted to be a hero, when I grew up. Help and protect citizens from criminals and become a legend like the ones from the books I've read…..like you too, but about your story, I only heard, when I came to the troll kingdom. Before I had heard about Raposo and Lucas Fortuna in my books,"

"I think the reason why they were mean to you, was because you knew what to do with your life or were good at, what you did back then," Mentioned Gerda. "Jealousy is usually one of the main reasons people are mean to others or simply because they were stronger than you and could have a great power against you to make you….weak,"

"I don't know. Perhaps. One or two alone I could ignore it most of the time, more made me feel weaker and sometimes angry. I had no one standing up for me. I had to do it on my own, but it wasn't as easy as it sounds,"

"Too bad we weren't in the same school. I would have stayed by your side and helped,"

"After everything, that happened to you. I'm amazed at how much of a kind woman you have turned into," Commented Rollan hearing the girl giggle. Rollan chuckled at hearing the cute noise she made.

"I gotta finish the call. I should have been in bed for 20 minutes. If you want we can continue the talk tomorrow,"

"Sure, we might see us at some point at the school. It's going to be busy for me, but I think we still get a little time,"

"Okay. Rest well, Rollan. Good night,"

"Buenas noches, Gerda," Wished Rollan with a chuckle, then heard the girl giggle.

"Buenas noches. Dulce…..dulce…..dreams," Answered Gerda making Rollan laugh.

"Not bad, dulces sueños," Corrected Rollan.

"Dulce sueños," Wished Gerda and finished the call and Rollan took the phone down with a smile and looked at the edge of the bed to see Coal smile at the boy.

"She's a sweet girl," Commented Coal watching Rollan sit down to take off his pants.

"She's a really strong girl, Coal. I'm fascinated about how she matured like this dealing years without parents, not knowing where her brother was, and being used as a slave mostly in the orphanage to make stupid baking gloves,"

"Baking gloves?" Asked Coal confused.

"I don't know the name. They look like gloves, but you use them to take out hot baking sheet from the oven,"

"Oh the mittens…..I get it," Responded the stone-like creature and watched Rollan lie on top of the blanket. "Have you thought about the fact this girl seems interested in you in a way?"

"We both stood back together in the hospital, when that one man saved us from the frozen lake," Mentioned Rollan. "I was getting tired of the exams there, but Gerda begged me to stay back with her and convinced the social worker, that came for her and suggested me this chance to stay with the Hemming and repeat the 12th grade. This is why I'm living with them. I take care of their house and I'm allowed to live and eat here,"

"The boys there do really have a soft spot for you," Stated Coal watching Rollan adjust his pillow and lie his face on it.

"I think so. I'm sorry, I have to sleep. Tomorrow is a long day," Commented Rollan while yawning. "Good night,"

"Good night," Wished Coal jumping down on the ground, then he lied down on the front of Rollan's shoe and closed his eyes.