“Be quick about it,” Keirran said, and the eye slit snapped shut.
Puck glared at the prince. “You didn’t have to do that, princeling,” he said in an annoyed voice. “I had it under control.”
“You probably did.” Keirran’s soft, cold tone hadn’t changed. The icy stranger stared unwaveringly at the door, frost continuing to spread over the pavement around him. “But he was in our way. I don’t have time to play with trod keepers, not with Annwyl’s life on the line.”
“Maybe,” I agreed, frowning at the prince over Kenzie’s head. “But that was kind of a dick move, Keirran.”
Keirran didn’t answer, and a moment later the slat opened again, the eyes peering out sullenly. “The trod is prepared,” the raspy voice announced. “And the door is unlocked. When you are ready, just open it, and the way to Winter will be revealed.”
“Not so fast,” Puck said, rapping the door as the eyes started to pull away. “We’re going into the Frozen Wood, and we have two humans in the party. Aren’t you forgetting something?”
The gatekeeper glared at the Summer fey, but a second later, the flap at the bottom swung up, and a bowl of strange orange fruits was shoved out. They were the shape of a pear but the size of a strawberry, and the air around them shimmered with heat. Then the eye slit slammed shut once more, and I knew it wouldn’t open again.
Puck sighed. “Well, better grab a few of those things,” he said, nodding to the fruit in front of the door. “You’ll need it where we’re going.”
Kenzie immediately stepped forward and snatched one, lifting it up curiously. The skin had an odd rippling effect, like the air around a fire. “What is it?”
“Flamefruit,” Keirran answered, sounding back to his normal self, though his voice was slightly weary. “It’ll keep you from freezing to death in Tir Na Nog. Don’t eat too many, though. It’s pretty potent for humans. Not as bad as summerpod, but still...be careful.”
“Ah, summerpod.” Puck sighed, sounding wistful. “Lots of fun with that little fruit. Good times, good times. Well...” He glanced at me and Kenzie with a grin. “Are you two ready for this party?”
Kenzie handed me a trio of the small orange fruit, and I took them reluctantly. “Ready as we’ll ever be, I suppose.”
“One more thing,” Keirran warned as Puck marched up to the door. “The Cold in the Frozen Wood is a living thing. The flamefruit will protect you from freezing, but if you get sleepy or want to close your eyes for a moment, don’t give in to the compulsion. Creatures that fall asleep in the wood never wake up again.”
A chill not related to temperature skittered up my back. With a grand gesture, Puck flung back the door, and a blast of icy cold whooshed into the alley, making me shiver. Kenzie stepped forward, her eyes bright as she gazed through the opening. Beyond the frame, a pristine, snowy forest stretched out before us, sparkling in the afternoon sun. Leafless trees grew close together, the sunlight peeking through their branches to dapple the snow, and every tree, trunk, twig and branch was coated in ice. Not just a little ice, either. Entire trees were encased in crystal, though you could still see every detail through the frozen shell. Huge icicles hung from everything, and the air swirling through the open door was so cold it hurt to breathe.
“Brr.” Kenzie shivered and quickly popped a fruit into her mouth before I could stop her. Instantly, a flush darkened her cheeks, her skin losing its paleness and regaining some color. “Oh, wow. That little thing works fast.” She looked at Puck and grinned. “You’ll have to get me some seeds one day. Think of the money we could make if we bottle that stuff.”
Puck laughed. “Oh, believe me, I’ve thought about it,” he said as we went through the door. My feet sank into about a foot of snow, and the air burned my nose and lungs when I inhaled, it was so cold. Shivering, I gritted my teeth and marched doggedly forward as Puck and Kenzie continued talking like they were on a forest stroll. “Sadly, there are two reasons that could put a damper on that plan,” Puck went on, holding up a finger. “One—flamefruit only grows beside pools of molten lava, so unless you want to move next to a volcano, it might be difficult to harvest. Second—eat too many, too fast, and you might...uh...spontaneously combust. Though that might make for some interesting conversations.”
“Can we please stay on target?” Keirran asked in an exasperated voice. “We have to find the creature that lives beneath the woods, and I haven’t any idea how to do that, do you?”
An icy wind cut through the forest, rattling icicles and making my skin shrink with cold. I’d wanted to hold off eating the faery fruit for as long as I could, but my willpower was rapidly disintegrating with all my body warmth, and I shoved a fruit into my mouth, swallowing quickly.
Instantly, I felt warmer, like I’d just taken a huge swallow of hot tea or coffee, except the sensation didn’t fade, and it spread to all parts of my body. Now that I could actually feel my face again, I concentrated on what Puck was telling Keirran.
“There’s a series of caves several miles north of here,” Puck said, nodding to where the snowcapped tops of a mountain range peeked over the forest of ice. “Stumbled onto them a few times with ice-boy, but we never went all the way to the bottom. Dunno what could be living down there, but that’s probably where you’ll find your beastie.”
Kenzie drifted closer and took my hand, holding it tightly as we made our way through the forest, the only sounds being the crunch of our feet in the snow. “I’m worried about Keirran,” she told me in a whisper, watching the Iron Prince stride purposefully through the snow ahead. “He’s been acting really weird lately, not himself. I think whatever the amulet is doing has started to affect him.”
“I know,” I muttered. I was worried about him, too. “But there’s nothing we can do right now except get this stupid task done as quickly as possible. Then Annwyl can go back to Summer, and we can destroy that amulet.”
As we passed a clump of trees, a large shape between the trunks caught my eye and made me jump, hand going to my sword. It was an elk, shaggy and massive, with huge antlers branching out from its skull. It knelt in the snow between two trees with its head up and its eyes closed.
And it was completely encased in ice.
Kenzie blinked and stepped toward it, even as I hastily backed up. “Kenzie,” I warned as she put out a hand to touch its frozen muzzle. The stag was perfectly still, a motionless statue, but I had visions of it surging up with a roar and lunging at us. It was just too still, like the “corpses” in horror movies that you know will leap up and take a swat at the hero the second he gets close. “Don’t mess with it,” I told her. “We don’t know what it will do.”
Kenzie, of course, ignored me. Her eyes were wide as she ran a finger along its snout, shivering. “It’s so cold,” she whispered. “How long has it been like this, I wonder?”
“Kenzie...”
A shout boomed from behind me, and something grabbed my arms. I yelped and spun, drawing my swords and slashing wildly at whatever had sneaked up on me from behind.
Puck—of course it was Puck—staggered away, gasping with laughter, having already dodged my swords. I relaxed, lowering my weapons as annoyance swiftly replaced alarm.
“Hilarious.” I sheathed my blades and glared at him. He cackled, and I stifled the urge to march up and punch him in his grinning mouth. “I could’ve cut your head off, you know.”
“You’re way too uptight, kid,” Puck said, giving me a friendly wink. “Man, you’re just like your sister when she first came to the Nevernever, jumping at everything like a startled rabbit. And no, you couldn’t have. I spent decades tormenting ice-boy, who has far better reflexes than you. I’m afraid you’re no touch-me-and-I’ll-kill-you Unseelie prince, human.”
A few yards away, Razor cackled with glee on Keirran’s shoulder, bouncing up and down and shouting “Funny, funny!” in a high-pitched voice, but the prince looked far less amused. “We should keep moving,” he said, sounding like he was trying to hide his impatience. “Kenzie, Ethan, you’ll probably see several more frozen animals, or even people, before we reach the caves. It’s best to leave them in peace.”
Kenzie stroked the elk’s furry neck. “Will it ever wake up?”
“It’s dead,” Keirran told her gently, and she pulled her arm back in horror. “The Cold took it when it lay down to sleep. And if we stand in one place for too long, it will try to take us, too. Come on, let’s keep going.”
We kept marching, our steps muffled by snow, barely making any sound as we forged ahead. The forest around us remained eerily silent and still, except for brief flashes of color from once-living creatures trapped in ice. A fox sleeping in a hollow log, its bushy tail curled around itself. Another stag, its antlers entangled in the branches of a low tree, now immobilized for all time. Countless birds frozen to the twigs they perched on, feathers puffed out against the cold, looking like fuzzy golf balls. Even a gray wolf, its fur bristling with icicles, lay curled in a ball at the base of a tree. Solemn and beautiful, in a morbid kind of way. Kenzie and I ate another flamefruit as evening approached and the effects slowly wore off. But our supply was dwindling, and I hoped we could do whatever we had to do here quickly and return to Arcadia before we ran out and froze to death.
As darkness began to fall and the sky overhead turned navy blue, the temperature dropped sharply. Even through the warm haze of the flamefruit, I could feel the chill prickling my skin. Puck glanced nervously at the sky and made a comment about picking up the pace.
“Why?” Kenzie asked, briskly rubbing her arms. “Does something happen at night?”
“Oh, nothing serious,” Puck said cheerfully. “It’s just the frost wraiths come out at night, and we probably want to avoid running into any. Nasty buggers, no sense of humor at all. Will suck the warmth right out of you, and all the flamefruit in the world won’t save you from them.”
I felt a weird sensation along my own forearms and looked down to see frost creeping over my skin. Shivering, I followed Kenzie’s example and quickly scrubbed it away.
“The caves aren’t far,” Keirran said, looking up at the mountain peaks. Razor peeked out of his collar, his huge ears and eyes the only things visible. “If we hurry, we should be there in a few...”
An unearthly wailing rose from the trees around us, making Puck wince and everyone else jump. Razor buzzed with alarm and hid down Keirran’s shirt.
“Well, I told you so,” Puck said and drew his daggers. “Better get ready. Here they come!”
Figures floated through the trees, blurred and indistinguishable. As they drifted closer, I saw they looked like gray wisps of tattered cloth, fluttering over the ground. Glowing blue eyes stared out at us as bony hands slipped from within the layers of rags and reached out, clawing and grasping.