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

follow him, my breath catching as I run. “Slide?” I ask, worried. “Like on a sled?”
    “Yes!” he calls back, still running. “Except without the sled.”
    “On what, then?”
    “On our stomachs!”
    “No, no, no! We’ll break our noses!”
    We reach the clearing and hesitate at the edge. It looks steep. Very steep.
    “Can we roll?” Jonah asks.
    “I think it’s safer to go on our backs. Like a waterslide.”
    Jonah nods, a gleam in his eye. “See you at the bottom! Race ya!” He takes three steps back and then runs and does a flying leap down the hill.
    “Oh, boy.” I hope I don’t regret this. I quickly launch myself feetfirst.
    I go fast.
    The ice is hard against my back, and the momentum keeps pushing my head down, even though I want to sit up and see where I’m going. The wind, ice, and snow bite at my cheeks. I have to close my eyes because they start to burn from ice pellets. I wish I had goggles. I wish I had a helmet. I wish I had a toboggan.
    “Don’t hit a tree. Don’t hit a tree,” I repeat to myself over and over like a mantra.
    But I admit it. If I weren’t afraid of slamming into a tree, this would be kind of fun.
    Jonah certainly thinks so. I can hear him yelling, “Wahoo!” far ahead of me.
    “You’re almost there!” he calls out.
    I wrench my eyes open.
    This side of the mountain leads to a frozen lake at the bottom. A frozen lake I’m about to crash into.
    I brace myself for impact.
    “Yowza!” I scream as I slide, slide, slide across the lake, spinning like a top. When I eventually stop spinning, I try to sit up but feel dizzy.
    I can’t see the Snow Queen or her scary breath anymore. Does that mean we lost her? I just hope we haven’t lost Prince, too. I try not to think about how we’re going to get back up that mountain.
    Now where’s Jonah?
    I spot him a few hundred feet away on the other side of the lake.
    “That was amazing,” he says as he glides toward me.
    “If you say so,” I reply.
    All right, I’ll admit it. It was kind of amazing.
    “So what do we do now?” he asks me, looking worried.
    Good question. I look toward the mountain. “We have to get back up there to unfreeze Prince. But we have to wait until the Snow Queen leaves.”
    “But how will we know when she leaves?” my brother persists.
    “Let me think.” I push myself up off the ice. In all the body-sledding excitement, I forgot about the cold, but now that I’m standing still, I feel the chill all over my body. I rub my hands against my fleece sweatshirt. I wish I was wearing two fleece sweatshirts. Or maybe a fleece snowsuit.
    “Maybe we wait a few hours and then climb back up?” Jonah suggests.
    “I guess so,” I say. “Although a heated helicopter would be nice.”
    His eyes widen. “I would be an amazing helicopter pilot.”
    I snort. “I’m sure you would, Jonah. But seriously, I don’t know how long we can stay out here dressed the way we are. If the sun goes down, we’re going to be in trouble. We’ll freeze.”
    Jonah glances at his watch. “My watch says it’s one. How many hours do you think have passed since we got here?”
    The sun is lower now. “It feels like around three, right?”
    He nods. “So an hour at home is about three hours here?”
    “Seems right,” I say. I try to calm my nerves. We’ve been gone for only an hour. My parents are still asleep. We’ll get home before they wake up. They won’t find out we broke our promise.
    I hesitate. “Hey, Jonah? Maybe I should wear the watch. For safekeeping.”
    He clutches his wrist protectively. “No way! It’s my Spider-Man watch, and I want to wear it! I’ll keep it safe. I swear.”
    “As safe as you kept Dad’s iPhone? Or Mom’s laptop? Or your Karate Crocs game?”
    In the last month, Jonah left Dad’s iPhone on the corner of a counter, where it fell off and shattered. Then he somehow and for some unknown reason removed the G and K keys from Mom’s keyboard. And he dropped his Karate