"You ready?" I whispered quietly.

Krishana nodded, but she looked uncertain.

Shauna had told me many times that she wasn't as good as her father when it came to freezing stuff. I assumed that she wouldn't be as powerful; she's only half Fryse Dryet. But she seemed extremely insecure about how inexperienced she thought she was.

"I don't think I can freeze all of it. I can try, but it might not get cold enough to expand." Shauna said.

"It's worth a shot." I said every time, starting to doubt myself every time she said something. "I know you can do it. If your father can create an entire palace from ice. You have half of his magic; I'm sure you can freeze a little bit of water."

But I wasn't sure. From Shana's description, she would need to freeze several liters of water. And she would need to make it cold enough to expand. Even if she could, would it break? Was there enough water in it to break?

Well, it was worth a shot.

"What if it doesn't work? Someone will definitely notice that it's frozen. They'll know we're up to something." Shauna asked.

I sighed and shrugged, searching desperately for the right answer. "W-we'll just . . . Make the best of it." That was a weak answer, but I didn't have anything else. "Alright, so when the glass breaks, you stand over there. I'll hop on your back and out of here. Got it?" I said, reviewing the plan one final time.

Shauna nodded. "Yes. And remember, you turn right into the river room, not straight forward. From there it's up to you and your sense of direction."

I shuddered. I had the entire palace memorized from Shauna's memory even though I had no idea what it looked like. It was sort of like being blind but I knew my way around very well. But I was really nervous about going through the river without air. I really hoped there was an air pocket or something on the way out. I had been practicing holding my breath, but I couldn't get any longer than twenty seven seconds.

"Alright. Ready?" I asked again, bouncing on my paws to shake out my anxiety.

Shauna nodded. She tipped her head up like she was howling, and curled her tail upward. I could see the tendons in her neck flare and the fur along her spine begin to shimmer icy blue.

Krishana whispered something inaudible, then you could hear a snapping sound, like when you drop ice cubes in water, but on a much larger scale. There was a slight ripping sound, like a giant was trying to pull, not break, a piece of ice apart.

Within thirty seconds the fish tank that had been hanging above the prison was frozen and broke through the ceiling like a wrecking ball.

Everything shattered on contact, and for a second it felt like the world stopped right before the ice particles blasted apart. When time came back to a normal speed, an explosive sound resonated and shards of razor-sharp ice flew everywhere.

When everything settled and my ears stopped ringing, I could see through the ragged gap that I once called a ceiling. It was the room Shauna had described; tall and full of light despite the lack of windows.

"Mika!" I heard Shauna yell. "You must hurry!"

I shook my head and got up. Shauna was on the other side of the room, just like I had told her to. I sprinted at her and hopped on her back. She barely flinched when I dug my claws in her spine and jumped off into the room, clearing a ten-foot gap.

When I landed on the ice by the prison, I almost slipped and fell on my butt. Luckily I caught myself just in time. I prayed that the whole palace didn't have ice floors. I would get caught in seconds if it did. (Unless I had ice skates. But now that I think if it, I didn't know how to use ice skates at the time.)

"Go Mika! Hurry! Avenge Gorizont!" Krishana cheered. I barely had time to exchange a slight grin.

I ran out of the fancy room and headed for the servants' chambers. Luckily the floor was made of stone, but it was still deathly cold.

Shauna had been right; the place was like a maze, and I wasn't even in the underground tunnels yet. The servants chambers were lit darkly with dim, blue-green lanterns clinging to the wall. The halls looked more like prehistoric cave man tunnels. I was almost sure it was the secret tunnels till I saw a room from the corner of my eye; the stables. (Why does the Ice Wolf have horses? Why does he keep them in a freezing, underground chamber? I don't know, he just does.)

After two right turns I saw a flash of gray in the corner of my eye. I wasn't sure what it was just by looking at it, but my heart skipped a beat when I realized it was some kind of baddie.

I ran ahead faster, hoping that it hadn't seen me. No such luck. I heard a bunch of demonic yapping, then the swift patter of claws against stone.

I dared to look back. The thing I saw looked kind of like a giant bat, but it had the forelegs of a squirrel, the hind legs of a warthog and the tail of a lion. It screeched for assistance again.

I was easily faster than the stubby, cumbersome little creature, but I didn't want to know how fast its buddies were.

I willed myself to run even faster, knowing the river room was only a few turns away.

"Right, left, right, right, right, left, left . . ." I changed to myself, mentally counting down the turns.

With each turn, some other creature got on my tail. They sounded like a wild, haunted house, creaking in the wind. Screeches and howls bounced off the walls so I had no idea how many baddies were chasing me. Maybe twenty or twenty hundred. (Did the Ice Wolf have twenty hundred minions?)

I should have been terrified, but I'm not sure if I was. All I could feel was the burning sensation of running as hard as possible. It overrides most other feelings. An asteroid could have destroyed all the egg nog factories and I would have kept running, unaware of anything but the air going in and out of my lungs.

I was getting ready to turn into the river room, lost in my daze, but I quickly remembered a mob of angry, demonic creatures was chasing me. (Wow, how brilliant am I?) I couldn't go diving right after sprinting eight-hundred kilometers an hour. I had to lose them all quick. There was no way I could fight them all.

I remembered Krishana's descriptions of the palace and took a right. That hallway led to a storage room with chasers' stolen orbs in it. If I could grab the right one in time and break it . . . Wait, which one knocks baddies out? Purple or pink?

Pink sounded like it made sense to me; purple sounded more like a scented explosion of lilacs or something. Yellow might work too; it lets out a swarm of bees. I thought. I started wishing that I had a scarf to keep all sorts of orbs in to use for later. Or would the portal one work? Kota didn't really teach me about portal orbs, but I could figure it out. But it's not snowing down in the caves . . . Would it work anyways?

The room was large, but it only had one entrance and exit. It had a small wooden door, unlike most other rooms that were open to the tunnel. It pushed open with a bit of force. As soon as I got inside, I slammed the door shut and pushed my weight against it. Within seconds baddies were screaming and banging at the door with all their might. I searched the room desperately for something to barricade the door while I made my selections.

A random plank of wood sat two meters away from the door. I stretched for it awkwardly with my long tail and hind legs, holding the door shut with my forelegs and shoulders. Two big heaves almost made me topple over.

"Open! Open! Stop with hiding!" One of the baddies squawked.

I was able to reach the board with my tail just barely, but it fell over. I cursed myself. "Son of a nutcracker," I muttered.

I stretched my legs out more and placed my paws on the door. This time I was able to pick up the board with my tail, monkey style.

"LETS MES INSES!" One yelled sadly.

"Please!" Another one said, mimicking my own voice. That was creepy.

"HgggaAAAAAGHHHHH!" Another one screamed right next to the door, like it knew exactly where my ear was. I felt like my ear drums would shrivel up and die in my head.

It pounded on the door with more strength than I expected. The door shifted open under my weight and popped open just enough for a baddie to shove half of its ugly body through. I shoved it closed just in time to crush its hip in the door.

It screamed like some sort of bird, then whimpered like a dog. I'm not even sure what it was supposed to be. It looked kind of like a Celtic lion, a chicken and some kind of butt-ugly dog had decided to sew themselves together into the strangest combination of face, feet, legs and limbs.

I curled my tail around the board and smacked it hard on the head of the ugly creature. It crumpled to the floor, but it made a good attempt to stand up.

I grabbed the board with my forepaws, digging my claws in the wood and bracing my hind legs against the door. I smashed the board right on its beak hard enough for the tip to break off.

The bird-dog thing wailed with pain and crawled out of the doorframe. Without a second to spare I propped the board against the door handle. Not terribly secure, but good enough.

It felt good to have ten seconds of a breather. I used those ten seconds wisely, looking over my options. Wooden shelves filled with a wide variety of orbs took up the right and left walls. Directly before me on the other wall was a wooden trunk. Seeing the familiar objects made me feel a bit more at peace, but I glanced to the right and saw a fox with a green scarf frozen in a cube of ice, screaming in horror. Well, that officially ruined my day. I thought.

Most of the orbs were white or red, but I could see all of the colors. I ran to the trunk to see what was in it. Mostly scarves, but a few worn-down and broken claws or knives. Score! They were probably taken as trophies from dead chasers, but they would help me get out of there.

I randomly picked a gold and green scarf and the lightest set of claws I could find. I added two yellow orbs, two pink and two red. I wrapped it all up around my neck, surprised by how much could fit in it. I grabbed another pink for the way out.

Finally, I took a deep breath and removed the plank of wood from the door. The ugly dog-bird toppled in first, followed by a centaur-looking thing and a tall alien covered in bristly white hair. With a strong whip of my head I cracked the pink orb on the ground. To my astonishment, greenish-brown gas floated up from it.

The room smelled of rotten eggs, dying pigs and juicy diarrhea in seconds. I almost vomited from the smell. The baddies started choking, but they still looked pretty keen on getting me. They were still awake, and I had been affected as much as them. I had grabbed the wrong orb!

Before I could think I grabbed a purple orb from the shelf and smashed it on the face of a monkey creature jumping towards me. The glass shattered, cutting the creature's face all over. Purple smoke filled the room along with the fart stench.

The monkey inhaled some of the fresh smoke and collapsed immediately. The baddies from farther away took a few seconds before they dropped to the floor.

Within half a minute it was silent; the baddies who wanted to wring my neck before were sleeping peacefully. I would call them almost cute, but even the prettiest one was still uglier than a reindeer's butt.

Changing my mind on what orbs were useful, I grabbed three more purple orbs and shoved them into the scarf. It was amazing how much it could fit. You can't shove nine orbs the size of softballs by your neck and have it still be comfortable with a regular scarf.

I carefully navigated my way out of the room, trying my best to not step on any baddies. There had been about twenty baddies following me, but I didn't make a special effort to count them all.

Hope nobody expects anything . . . I thought. Stealthy Mika travels silently and without evidence; like a ninja. (Okay, so maybe I thought I was more stealthy than I actually was. I left the place pretty much with no trace.)

I ran into the hallway, looking for the river room.