Another weekend away, another early update for you. Enjoy!
Ichabod, however, must have been braver than they thought. In the weeks that followed he grew paler and jumpier, but it didn't look as though he cracked yet.
Every time they passed the third-floor corridor, Wendy, Peter and Hiro would press their ears to the door to check that Aladar was still growling inside. Lilith was sweeping about in her usual stern manner, which surely meant that the Sundrop and Moonstone were still safe. Whenever Hiro passed Ichabod these days he gave him an encouraging sort of smile, and Peter started leaving him snacks at his desk.
Wendy, however, had more on her mind than the Moonstone and Sundrop. She started drawing up study schedules and color-coding all her notes. Peter and Hiro wouldn't have minded, but she kept encouraging them to do the same.
"Wendy, the exams are ages away."
"Oh no, they're ten weeks away," Wendy replied in a worried tone. "That's not ages, that's a second to someone like Gothel."
"But we're not six hundred years old," Peter reminded her. "Anyway, you already know everything from memory."
"Yes, but we need to pass these exams to progress to our second year! I should have started studying months ago…"
Unfortunately, the teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Wendy. They piled so much homework on them that spring break wasn't nearly as much fun as Christmas. Hiro once again had to write to Aunt Cass that his workload was so much that he had no time to come home. It was hard to relax with Wendy next to you reciting the twelve principles of spell animation or practicing wand movements. Moaning and yawning, Hiro and Peter spent most of their free time in the library with her, trying to get through all their extra work.
"I'll never remember this!" Peter burst out one afternoon, slamming his book shut and looking longingly out of the library window. It was the first really fine day they'd had in months. The sky was a clear, forget-me-not blue, and there was a feeling in the air of summer coming.
Hiro, who was looking up painted roses in One Thousand and One Magical Flora, didn't look up until he heard Peter say, "Ralph! What are you doing in the library?"
Ralph shuffled into view, hiding something behind his back. He looked very out of place in his worn overalls.
"Just looking," he said, in a shifty voice that got their interest at once. "And what are you three up to?" He looked suddenly suspicious. "You're not still looking for King Edmund, are you?"
"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago," said Peter impressively. "And we know what that dinosaur's guarding, it's the Sundr –"
"Shhhh!" Ralph looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening. "Don't say it out loud! What's the matter with you?"
"There's a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact," said Hiro, "about what's guarding the…things apart from Aladar –"
"SHHHH!" said Ralph again. "Listen – come and see me at my place later. I'm not saying I'm gonna spill the beans, but don't go blabbing about it here. Students aren't supposed to know. They'll think I told you."
"See you later, then," said Hiro.
Ralph shuffled off.
"What was he hiding behind his back?" said Peter thoughtfully.
"Do you think it had anything to do with the Sundrop and Moonstone?"
"I'm going to see what section he was in," said Wendy. Peter, who had enough of working, joined her. They came back a minute later with a pile of books in their arms and slammed them down on the table.
"Ice magic!" Wendy cried. "Ralph is looking up books related to ice and snow!"
"Look at these," said Peter. "Magical Energies of Hot and Cold Climates; Yetis, Snowgies and Abominable Snowmen, Oh My!; The Four Elemental Spirits Vol.1: Ice and Snow; and The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway: The Official Biography of Queen Elsa of Arendelle."
"But Ralph said he's not allowed to really do anything with magic since he got expelled," said Hiro. "Why would he be interested in ice magic all of a sudden?"
He noticed a bookmark sticking out one of the books.
"Hang on…"
He opened it to the pages the mark was stuck between. It was a chapter all about enchanted snowmen.
"Snowmen? What is he up to…"
When they knocked on the door of Ralph's cottage an hour later, they were surprised to see that the curtains were all closed. Ralph called "Who is it?" before he let them in, and then shut the door quickly behind them.
It was freezing inside. Even though it was such a warm day out, the refrigerator was wide open and blocks of ice were piled up along the walls. Ralph poured them some root beer, which froze to Peter's lips as he drunk it.
"So, you wanted to ask me something?"
"Yes," said Hiro. There was no point in beating around the bush. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Sundrop and Moonstone apart from Aladar."
Ralph frowned at him.
"Oh no you don't," he said. "Not again. Sorry. For one thing, I don't know myself. And second, you know too much already, so I wouldn't if I could. They're down there for a good reason. They were almost stolen from the bank – or do you already know about that too? Beats me how you even found out about Aladar."
"Oh, but Ralph, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on round here," said Wendy in a warm, flattering voice. Ralph's mouth twitched into a smile. "We only wondered who had done the guarding, really," she went on. "We wondered who Merlin had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."
Ralph's chest swelled at these last words. Hiro and Peter beamed at Wendy.
"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt, as long as you don't do anything stupid…let's see…Me and Professor Owl worked on Aladar together, then the rest of the teachers paired together for their enchantments…there was Professor Flora and Eda…" he ticked them off on his fingers, "…McGucket and Timothy, Plantar and Lilith…don't remember who Yzma got paired with, though…Oh, and Merlin did one too, of course."
"Hang on – Lilith did one?" said Hiro.
"Yeah – look, you're still not on about that, are you? Lilith's one of the teachers protecting the stones, she's not about to steal 'em."
Hiro knew Peter and Wendy were thinking the same as he was. If Lilith was in on protecting the Moonstone and Sundrop, it must have been easy to find out how the other teachers had guarded it. She probably knew everything – except, it seemed, how to get past Aladar.
"You're the only one who knows how to get past Aladar, aren't you, Ralph?" said Hiro anxiously. "And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?"
"Not a soul knows except me and Merlin," said Ralph proudly. He paused. "…I shouldn't have told you that."
"Well that's something," Hiro muttered. He shivered and rubbed his arms. "Hey Ralph, can we open a window? I'm freezing."
"Can't, Hiro, sorry," said Ralph. Hiro noticed him glance at the fridge. He looked in it too.
"Ralph – what's that?"
But he had an idea of what it was. Situated between a carton of milk and some ice cream was a mound of snow with a few sticks, some coal, and a carrot sticking out.
"Ah," said Ralph, fiddling his hands nervously, "that's, uh…"
"You're trying to build a snowman in the middle of spring, Ralph?" said Peter, lightly hovering over the table to get a better look. "Where'd you get all that snow?"
"Won it," said Ralph. "Last night. I was at one of the villages having a drink and got into a game of Hexes Hold 'Em with a stranger. I think they were glad to be rid of it, as a matter of fact."
"But why, Ralph? What are you going to do with it when it's built?" said Wendy.
"Well, I…I get kinda lonely this time of year," Ralph said, his eyes turned to the floor. "So I reckoned it's about time I build myself a friend, one that won't ever go away or get hurt." He pulled a large book from under his pillow. "Got this out of the library. It says that magic snow is made of cold and memory – keep it in the coldest place you can and over time it'll rebuild itself to its original form."
He looked pleased with himself, but Wendy didn't.
"Ralph, you can't expect to keep the cold up like this forever," she said.
But Ralph wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he made more room in the fridge.
So now they had something else to worry about: what might happen to Ralph if anyone found out he was hiding an illegal magic snowman in his hut. "Wonder what it's like to have a ordinary life," Peter sighed, as evening after evening they struggled through all the extra homework they were getting.
Then the news broke.
ARENDELLE ROYAL SNOWMAN MISSING
Olaf, royal snowman, mascot and friend to all of Arendelle, was reported missing last night. The magical snowman was brought to life by Queen Elsa shortly after the reveal of her ice powers, and has been a loyal companion to her and her sister, Princess Anna, ever since.
While there was no sign of any struggle in the royal palace, authorities have not ruled out the possibility of kidnapping.
Should you have any information regarding Olaf's whereabouts…
While word quickly spread over the breakfast tables and students began wondering where Olaf could vanished, Peter, Wendy and Hiro turned to each other nervously.
"Well, we don't know for sure that it's the same one as Ralph's," said Hiro, not quite believing it himself. "He could have an entirely different snowman growing in his fridge…"
Moments later, Pedro dropped off a note from Ralph. He had written only two words:
He's here!
They were ready to skip Venebotany and go straight to Ralph's, but Anne noticed them heading in the other direction.
"Woah, dudes, where you goin'? Venebotany's this way! You don't want Professor Plantar to think you're cutting class, do you?"
"She's right, you know," sighed Wendy. "We'll get in trouble if we're caught, not to mention what kind of trouble poor Ralph will get into once someone learns what he's doing –"
"Shhh!" Peter whispered.
Kay, Sasha and Boscha were walking by and paused only for a moment to listen. How much had they heard? The way Kay was staring was making Hiro's heart pound.
They said nothing more on the way to Venebotany. In the end, they agreed to dash over to Ralph's during morning break. When the bell sounded from the castle at the end of their lesson, the three dropped their trowels at once and hurried across the grounds. Ralph greeted them, dressed in his winter gear.
"He's just about formed!" He ushered them inside.
Snow and ice had piled up in the corners of the cottage. In the center of the room stood the snowman on two round little legs. Two pieces of coal stood in for buttons on its body. The head was an oblong shape with a buck-toothed overbite, and it had twigs for arms and hair. They all drew up their chairs to him and watched with bated breath.
At once, the snowman straightened up. A wave of snow covered the coal-eyes and settled. After several seconds, a pair of fully formed large eyes fluttered open. The snowman blinked and looked around, smiling.
"Hi! I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs!"
Hiro, Peter and Wendy's grins tightened.
"Aww, isn't he adorable?" Ralph gushed. He ruffled the top of the snowman's head, sending snowflakes flying every which way. "Hi, Olaf, I'm your new friend, Ralph!"
"Hi, Ralph!" said Olaf cheerfully. "Is this your family?" He motioned to the kids and whispered rather loudly to Ralph, "Don't tell them I said this, but they don't look so good."
"Oh, they're all right. This is Hiro, Peter and Wendy, and they'll be your friends too."
"And who's that looking outside the window? Is he a friend?"
All the color drained from Ralph's face. He leapt up and ran to the window.
"Oh barf…"
"Ohbarf? That's a funny name. It sounds kinda like Olaf – my name is Olaf, by the way, not Ohbarf, heheheh."
Hiro looked out the door. Even at a distance there was no mistaking him.
"I think someone saw Olaf," said Ralph. "There's a kid runnin' back to the school –"
"It's Kay," said Hiro. "He's seen us."
Something about the smile on Kay's face during the week made Hiro, Peter and Wendy incredibly nervous. They spent most of their time in Ralph's icebox cottage trying to reason with him.
"Let him go," Hiro urged, "just set him free."
"I can't," said Ralph. "He'd melt the moment he steps out the door."
They looked at Olaf. A couple times he did try to wander out the door and Ralph had to pull him back in before he was spotted. The snowman kept obliviously playing with anything he could find and making up random little songs about being out in summertime. The snow and ice was warping the wood floor. Ralph hadn't been doing his groundskeeping duties because Olaf had been keeping him so busy.
"I've gotten started on showing him how to carve from bricks, I think maybe I'll build him a little go-kart next. He can ride it in here until winter returns and then he can go out and play…"
"He's ca-raaaaaazyyyy…" Peter whispered in Hiro's ear.
"Ralph," said Hiro loudly, "Kay could rat on you any day now. Then you'd lose Olaf AND your job."
Ralph bit his lip.
"I know, I know I can't keep him forever…but I can't just give him up now."
Wendy suddenly turned to Hiro. "Elsa!" she said.
"Great, now you're losing it too," said Hiro. "I'm Hiro, remember?"
"No, Queen Elsa of Arendelle! She must be looking for Olaf everywhere. If we told her we found him, maybe she could take him back."
"Yeah, if we just tell her it was all a misunderstanding or Ralph rescued him or something, then there's no way he could get in trouble," agreed Peter.
"Perfect!" Hiro said. "How about it, Ralph?"
Ralph told them to give him a few days to think about it. Wendy penned a letter to Elsa in the meantime, one that tried to paint Ralph in as positive a light as possible.
The following week dragged by. Wednesday night found Hiro and Wendy sitting alone in the common room, long after everyone else had gone to bed. The clock on the wall chimed midnight when the portrait hole burst open. Peter appeared out of nowhere as he pulled off the kabuto. He had been down at Ralph's, trying to help Olaf find a new favorite food to eat.
"I-it's too darn cold down there!" he said in a stuffy voice. He sneezed, and wiped his nose with his arm. "I think being stuck in that freezing house for hours has made me sick. I'm telling you, that snowman gets so up in your face all the time that he's driving me crazy, but the way Ralph goes on about him, you'd think he won an Oscar or something!"
There was a tap on the dark window.
"What on earth…"
An envelope carried by a breeze full of fluttering leaves hovered just outside. Hiro hurried to let it in. The three of them put their heads together to read the note:
Dear Wendy,
Thank you for your letter. I'm relieved that Olaf is safe and sound, and in very good hands. I would be happy to bring him back home myself, though I understand the need for secrecy in order to keep your friend out of trouble.
Can you meet me with Olaf by the castle portcullis at midnight on Saturday? I can take him from there while it's still dark.
Please send an answer with Gale as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Elsa
They looked at one another.
"We've got the kabuto to cover us," said Hiro. "It shouldn't be too hard – it can make us and Olaf invisible."
It was a mark of how bad the last week had been that the other two agreed with him. Anything to get rid of Olaf – and Kay and his friends.
There was a hitch. By the next morning, Peter's sneezes blew him halfway across the room. That afternoon, said sneezes also began spawning a bunch of tiny living snowmen exactly the same as the ones that burst from Hiro's Christmas cracker. Though he feared Professor Flora or her assistants would recognize the source of his cold, he had no choice but to go to the infirmary.
Hiro and Wendy rushed to see him at the end of the day only to find Peter in a terrible state in bed.
"It's not just being sick," he wheezed, "even though my nose feels like it's about to fall off." He blew his red nose loudly. "Kay told Flora that he wanted to borrow a book from me so he could come and laugh at me. He kept threatening to tell her how I really got sick. I told her it's just a cold, but I don't think she believes me. I shouldn't have trounced him at the Questing match, that's why he's doing this."
"Don't worry, it'll all be over midnight on Saturday," said Hiro, but this didn't soothe Peter at all. On the contrary, he sat bolt upright and broke into a sweat.
"Midnight on Saturday?! Oh no no no…"
"What is it?" Wendy begged.
"I just remembered, Elsa's letter was in one of the books I borrowed from you Wendy, the book Kay took. He's going to know where we'll be with Olaf."
His friends didn't have a chance to answer. Flora fluttered over to them at that moment and made them leave, saying Peter needed his rest.
"It's too late to change the plan now," Hiro told Wendy. "We don't have time to send Elsa another note, and this could be our only chance to send back Olaf. We'll have to risk it. And hey, Kay doesn't know about the kabuto."
They found Lambert, the sheepish lion, basking out in the warmth of the sun when they went to tell Ralph, who opened the door to a crack to talk to them.
"Okay, I'm not gonna lie, Olaf was cute and funny at first. But then when you're stuck with him for hours and hours having to listen to him prattle on about summer and water and love, all of a sudden he starts to get reeeeeaaally annoying. I think it's time for him to go home."
"Iiiiiiiiiiiin SUMMEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRR!" Olaf belted from inside, rattling the windows. Hiro and Wendy walked back to the castle feeling Saturday couldn't come quickly enough.
They would have felt sorry for Ralph when the time came for him to say good-bye to Olaf if they hadn't been so worried about what they had to do. It was a dark, cloudy night, and they were late arriving at Ralph's cottage because they had to wait for the Cheshire Cat to get out of their way in one of the halls; he'd been playing tennis with his own head against the wall. Ralph had Olaf packed and ready in a crate full of ice cubes.
"See ya, Olaf," Ralph said with just a hint of a sniffle. Olaf waved goodbye through a peephole in the crate. Wendy took Hiro's hand and Olaf touched his knee as Hiro slipped the kabuto back on. He warned Olaf to stay quiet no matter what happened, and they set off.
How they managed to get the crate to their destination, they never knew. Between the weight and Olaf constantly whispering questions about their surroundings, Hiro's fortitude was stretched to its limit. Midnight ticked nearer as they heaved the crate along the dark corridors, up one staircase and down another – even one of the Blight twins' shortcuts didn't make the work much easier.
"Nearly there!" Hiro panted as they neared the Great Hall.
Then a sudden movement ahead of them made them almost drop the crate. Forgetting that they were already invisible, they shrank into the shadows, staring at the dark outlines of two people grappling with each other ten feet away. A lamp flared.
Eda, in an oversized pink sweater thrown over her nightgown and fuzzy old bunny slippers, was dragging Kay by the ear.
"That's it, I've had enough of you, mister!" she shouted. "Detention and twenty points from Felinus!"
"But Professor – ow! – Hiro Hamada's comin' with his friends, honest – he's got that snowman that was kidnapped from Arendelle!"
"Where do you come up with these stories? I haven't heard this much bull since Master Wortlop's "alternative medicine" seminar. I'm taking you to Lily, she'll know how to deal with you."
The steep spiral staircase down to the ground level seemed the easiest thing in the world after that. Not until they'd stepped out into the cold night air did they throw off the kabuto and drop the crate. Wendy did a sort of jig.
"Kay's been stopped and he's getting detention! Oh, I could sing!"
Music swelled out of nowhere -
"Don't," Hiro advised her.
The music came to a sudden halt.
Chuckling about Kay, they waited. About ten minutes later, something came galloping out of the darkness.
It looked like a horse running atop the river leading to the castle. Riding it was an elegant woman with white-blonde hair flowing behind her. As they came closer, Hiro could see that the horse was made entirely of water. Wendy dipped into a deep curtsy as the lady approached.
"Y-your Majesty, Queen Elsa, it's an honor to meet you."
Hiro quickly bowed as well. Elsa smiled.
"You must be Hiro and Wendy. Is Olaf all right?"
"Yes," said Hiro, opening the crate. "We had to bring him in this. It was the only way we could do it so he wouldn't melt."
"I can help with that," Elsa replied.
With a wave of her hand, Olaf flew out of the box. A light layer of translucent blue snowflakes settled onto him.
"Oooh, I missed having my own layer of permafrost!" Olaf said, hugging himself.
"Queen Elsa, are you sure Ralph won't get in trouble for this? He wasn't the one who kidnapped Olaf, he just stumbled upon him," said Hiro.
"Yeah, Ralph is one of my new best friends," said Olaf warmly. "He's got a nice little house, and a pet lion, and he made sure I was nice and cold all the time…"
Elsa laughed lightly.
"Don't worry, you won't hear a peep from me. Oh, and you don't have to call me Queen either. It's more of an honorary title now. My sister Anna has assumed the throne in my place."
Elsa scooped him Olaf and placed him in front of her on the Nokk.
"I ought to repay you for reuniting us…perhaps this will do."
Ice crystals swirled around her fingertips, fusing together until they formed a whistle on a thin chain. It floated into Wendy's open palms.
"If you ever need me for anything, blow on this near some water and you'll summon me and the Nokk. It'll only work once, though, so use it wisely."
And at last, Olaf and Elsa were going…going…gone.
They headed back up the spiral staircase, their hearts as light as a feather, now that Olaf was out of their hands. No more singing snowmen, Kay in detention, what could spoil their happiness?
The answer was waiting for them at the foot of the stairs. As they stepped up into the main hall, Lilith's face loomed suddenly out of the darkness.
"Oh dear," she said. "We are in trouble."
They'd left the kabuto out on the castle's shores.
Next Chapter: The Forest of No Return