My new lookalike stands before me. If looks could kill, surely these blue eyes would have terminated me ten times over.
Hemmin's laugh thuds from her lips to the wood floor of the Gerda. It is probably the most malicious thud I have ever heard. I suppose I never imagined a thud could ever be characterized by anything even remotely malicious.
"You're never going to see the Kingdom On The Top Of The World, I can promise you that." She sneers. "Of course, if it makes you feel any better, it never even existed anyway."
"How did you know..." I gasp. I am completely at a loss for words from all these new developments that this is the only thing I can say.
The only one on this ship that knew the true destination of our voyage was Ember... how could Hemmin possibly know this?
"Don't be daft, Elsa." She responds with a bored expression. "You told me."
"I didn't..."
No wait... something clicks inside my exhausted brain.
That day in Inuitia.
I spoke briefly with Ember that day and he left in a hurry.
It was the same day that he left me feeling cold. I know why now... it was because that wasn't Ember at all! It was Hemmin!
"Ah, have you figured it out?" Hemmin laughs. "It took you long enough."
"What are you going to do with me then?" I inquire. "There can't be two Elsa's in Arendelle."
"There can't?" She feigns shock. "How unfortunate."
"Well?"
"I might have to dispose of you myself." Something dark flashes in her eyes... my eyes. "It will have to be a secret affair, however. I wouldn't want anyone knowing that poor, poor Elsa was in a tragic accident, being that I intend to convince everyone that I'm the real Elsa."
She takes a step toward me. I fling myself away from her, knocking into my bedpost and falling to the ground. My sleeve catches on the post, exposing my frostbitten flesh.
"Oh my." Hemmin thuds; her blue eyes widening at the sight of my frozen skin. "Well, well my dear Elsa, have you been hiding secrets from me?" She clicks her tongue, disapprovingly.
I yank the cloth of my sleeve back down to cover my wrist. I curl my legs up to my stomach and wrap my arms around them.
"This is why you were seeking out that myth of yours, wasn't it?"
I nod.
"You're so foolish." She laughs. "So what is it? Your body is going to keep freezing itself until you're nothing but an ice sculpture?"
I nod again.
"Isn't that quite ironic?" Hemmin remarks. "That the Snow Queen's undoing is her own power."
"I do believe I can use this to my advantage." She goes on. "I'd rather like to have a sculpture of myself for my new palace; it would be the perfect decor."
"You can't do this!" This is a pointless statement, of course. I am incapable of stopping her.
"Can I not, Elsa?" Hemmin challenges me. "I think I can."
I believe I have officially reached a low point in my life as I am tied up by myself... or at least by a shapeshifter in my form.
She stuffs me away in my closet (a rather original hiding spot, I know).
To prove how much in control she actually is, she takes her authority to a new level by dumping piles and piles of ice around me. This is courtesy of the ship's galley... which she stole from to get the ice.
Hemmin looks down upon me with a pleased look. She seems to approve of her handiwork.
"Now back to Arendelle." She says, more to herself than to me.
She turns on her heel and heads out of my room in her newly acquired form.
"Captain Roald!" I can hear her shouting. "Turn the Gerda back South! I wish to return to Arendelle immediately!"
I feel despair.
I also feel rather cold.
I stay this way for quite some time; trapped in the closet of my little suite on the great ship Gerda.
I can feel the remaining healthy cells of my body being chewed into frozen particles.
After a while, although I have no further knowledge of how long exactly "a while" is, I hear two people enter into my room. I am able to distinguish that it is the other "Elsa" and Ember.
"I don't understand, Elsa." Ember's voice resonates to my ears. "We have come all this way! Why are we turning back now?"
"I want to go home." I hear my own voice come out in thuds.
"We were so close!" He cries.
I can imagine the look on his face, the shadows in his eyes. He doesn't understand. I want so much to make him understand.
My mouth will not allow me to utter a single word.
I am so very, very cold.
"Go away from me." I hear harshness in the other Elsa's voice. "And don't you dare set my ship on fire."
He is speechless. No sound is made for several moments. I can practically see Ember's eyes searing into me.
At last, footsteps thunk out the door, which slams shut.
Ember, you must understand! That wasn't me! I'm trapped in here... please, help me.
Time ticks on. Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.
With each passing second, I can feel myself slipping away more and more, farther and farther into a land where time stands still.
"Just get to the water." A voice reaches out to me from out of nowhere. It is a masculine voice, yet soft and almost a touch too high in pitch.
What? Who's there?
"The water." The voice echoes. "I can't save you unless you get to the water."
The water.
I black out.
The sparkling waters of the sea
Wraps it's chill arms tight around me
'Come dance, come play
Come follow this way
Come here, come please
To the land of the seas
Never returning
Never regretting
Cool waters churning
Sun never setting
Come dance, come play
Come follow this way'
The sparkling waters of the sea
Wraps it's chill arms tight around me
I give in to temptation
To the water's negotiation
I dive on under
To the land of the sea
Sometimes I wonder
If I would have been free
If I hadn't gone to the land of the sea.