Whatever After #6: Cold as Ice Read Online Free PDF Page A

inserts them into the snowman that was missing arms. “Did he just appear, too?” I ask.
    “No, they both came up a staircase in the middle of the roof. It’s behind Prince.”
    Aha.
    Ruff, ruff, ruff, ruff! Prince calls to us. He’s jumping up and down. Exactly like he does when we get home from school. His whole body is trembling with excitement.
    “Stop that yapping immediately,” the Snow Queen tells him, “or you’ll regret it.”
    “Oh, no,” I murmur. It feels like the moment before a storm. The air gets heavy and dark. Something awful is about to happen, I know it.
    Jonah is trying to motion with his hands for Prince to be quiet, but instead of listening, our puppy just wags his tail harder and barks even louder.
    The Snow Queen steps closer to Prince. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she says. Then she leans toward him and puckers her lips. What is she doing?
    “Prince!” I yell. “Run, Prince, run!”
    With her lips all rounded, the Snow Queen looks like she’s blowing Prince a kiss. But it’s not a kiss. I can actually see the air that comes out of her mouth. It’s like steam from a kettle. A tiny white tornado.
    Prince lifts his paws and starts to run.
    The kiss hits him, and he slows down, looking dazed. The Snow Queen puckers up again and another tornado shoots out of her mouth.
    “I’m scared,” Jonah says, his voice trembling.
    “Prince!” I yell again.
    A sad sound escapes Prince’s doggie mouth and then he freezes in mid-motion. He solidifies in place. One paw up about to take a step, his tail still on high alert. His fur gets a white glaze all over. He looks like a dog who’s been locked in a freezer for too long. He looks like he has freezer burn. He looks —
    I gasp. I feel a stab in my heart.
    He looks frozen.
    The Snow Queen just froze my dog.

N o!” Jonah and I both scream. “No, no, no!”
    I’m too shocked to move.
    But Jonah starts running toward the igloo castle. Then he slips and falls.
    My heart pounds as I try to help him up.
    “She hurt our dog!” Jonah calls out. “She turned him into a Popsicle! No, a dogsicle !”
    “Is he —” I can’t say it. He can’t be dead. He just can’t be. I feel a lump in my throat.
    “His eyes are blinking. Look! He’s still alive. He’s just frozen! You froze our dog, you evil person, you!” Jonah waves his fist at the roof.
    “Shhh! Jonah!” I hiss, squeezing his arm.
    The Snow Queen takes a step toward the railing. “Come here, children. Come closer. Come play with Kai. Have you ever made a snow angel?”
    Kai looks like he’s in a trance. He’s now lying on his back on the roof, flapping his arms, making, I’m guessing, a snow angel.
    “She’s creepy,” Jonah whispers. “Do we have to go to her?”
    “I don’t know,” I whisper back. “We need to save Prince, but I don’t want the Snow Queen to put us under her spell. Then we’re all in trouble.”
    “Which spell? The zombie spell or the dogsicle one?”
    “Either!”
    “Come on, children,” the Snow Queen says. “Come closer.” She puckers up her lips. “MM-WAH!” The white tornado steam shoots from her lips. It’s heading right toward us.
    I take Jonah’s hand and yank him back, away from the yard. “Run! She’s blowing us a magical kiss!”
    Jonah pulls his hand away. “We can’t leave Prince!”
    “We have to,” I say, feeling awful but knowing we don’t have a choice. “We’ll come back and get him when the Snow Queen isn’t here! In the original story, she’s always traveling! We’ll come back when she’s out of town.”
    “But how will we know when she’s out of town?” Jonah demands.
    More tornado steam is headed our way.
    “I don’t know. But we’ve got to get out of here NOW. We have to run back down the mountain!” I yank Jonah’s arm, and we take off.
    “Follow me!” Jonah shouts. “There’s a section with no trees! We’ll slide down. It’s a straight shot to the bottom! It’ll be faster.”
    I