Chapter Four: The Princesses Journey

"Snow?" I heard someone say. "It's snow...In July!"

"Are you two alright?" Hans asked us as I had my arm around Anna.

"No..." she answered, which made me sadder.

"Did you two know?" he asked.

"No," she replied.

I didn't say anything. I knew about Elsa's magic but I didn't want to tell him that.

I then looked ahead and saw the duke chattering to his men.

"Look! It's snowing! It's snowing! The queen has cursed this land! She must be stopped!" he said. "You have to go after her!"

Wait. what?

"Wait, no!" Anna said as we both went to confront him

The duke yelped as he saw us and hid behind his thugs.

"YOU! Is there sorcery in you too? Are you monsters too?" he asked.

I lost all trust in him when he called my sister a monster.

"No, we're completely ordinary!" Anna said.

Hans put his arm around Anna.

"That's right, they are!" Anna looked at him, questioning his answer. "In the best way."

I huffed at them.

"And our sister is not a monster!" I said.

"She almost killed me!" The duke shouted.

"You slipped on ice," Hans says.

"Her ice!!" the duke says.

Anna sighed "It was an accident!! She didn't mean this, she didn't mean any of this! Tonight was my fault...I pushed her, so I'm the one that should go after her."

I took Anna's hand. "I'm coming with you. I'm not letting you go alone!"

Anna smiled and nodded.

"Bring us my horse! Please!" she calls out.

"Wait! No, Anna, it's too dangerous!" Hans says, grabbing Anna's arm.

Anna smiles and puts her hand on his. "Our sister isn't dangerous. We'll bring her back and make things right."

"I'll come with you!" he said.

"No," Anna declared. "I need someone here, to take care of Arendelle."

Hans looked at the desperation in her eyes and nodded.

"On my honor," he says.

I grabbed Anna's arm.

"Are you sure we can let this random guy we don't know watch over our kingdom? You might trust him, Anna, but I don't. Why can't we let someone more trustworthy take over? Like Kai or Lieutenant Marshall? You know, he's mainly the reason Elsa ran off in the first place?"

Anna sighed and took my hands in hers.

"Yes, Julie, I'm sure. Plus, He's doing our kingdom a great favor. I'm sure of it."

She then hopped onto her horse and reached for my hand.

I sighed before grabbing her hand and climbing onto the horse behind her.

"We leave Prince Hans in charge," Anna announced to the people.

"Are you sure you wanna do this? I don't want you getting hurt," Hans asked.

Anna smiled. "She's our sister," she said  "She would never hurt us."

After that we were off, going who knows where to find our sister and stop this winter.

...

"Elsa! Elsa!" Anna shouted to probably no one. "It's us, Anna and Julie...your sisters! I didn't mean to make you freeze the summer! I'm sorry! It's all my f-f-f-f-f-f-fault!"

I sighed.

For someone with a summer dress, she surely ran fast.

The voice then came back.

'You could just go my way,' it said. 'Just leave her behind.'

I scoffed.

'You are crazy if you think that I'm just gonna leave my sister out here by herself,' I told the voice.

After that, the voice didn't talk again. Good.

"Of course, none of this would have happened if she just told me her secret," Anna started. "She's such a stinker! Right, Julie?"

I stumbled over my words.

"O-oh, yeah," I said. "Such a stinker!"

I chuckled nervously.

Anna looked at me confused but didn't think much of it.

I sighed a breath of relief.

A moment later, a branch snapped, startling the horse and knocking us both off of it. We both looked behind us as the horse ran away from us.

"Oh no!" I whispered.

"Oh no. no. no no. Come back! No. no. no. no!" Anna said. "Oooo-kay!"

Anna tried to grab a branch and pull her up, but the tree snapped up, causing all of the snow to fall onto her.

She groaned as I tried not to laugh.

...

After probably a few minutes. We were both out of breath as we struggled to get up a steep mountain.

"Snow," Anna mumbled. "It had to be snow. She couldn't have had tr-tr-tr-tr-tropical magic that covered the f-f-f-f-fjords in white sand and warm..."

Her mumbles fainted as both saw smoke rising in the distance.

"...fire!" she said, sighing in relief. "WOAH!"

We both scream as we fall and slide into an icy stream.

I gasp as she ice shocks me.

Anna and I climbed out of the water and made our way to the house we saw.

We made our way to the house and Anna tried to knock the snow off of the banner.

"Wandering Oaken's Trading Post?" I said.

Some snow fell off of another banner.

"Oh, and Sauna!" Anna says happily.

We both open the door and go inside as the door quickly slams behind us.

I sighed as the warm air hit me.

"Yoo Hoo!" someone calls out.

We both look over to see a chubby bright-faced man sitting at a counter, fingers tapping cherrily.

"Big summer blowout! Half-off swimming suits, clogs, and sun balm of my own invention, yah?" he asked.

I chuckled.

"Oh, great!" Anna says. "But for now, how about two boots, winter boots, and dresses?"

The man looked disappointed but pointed over to two pairs of boots, two outfits, and a pick axe.

"That would be in our winter department!" he said.

Anna went over to grab the clothes and boots as I went over to the counter.

"Oh. I was wondering, has another young woman, the Queen, perhaps, I don't know, passed through here?" she asked as she brought the clothes to the counter.

"The only ones crazy enough to be out in this storm is you two, dears," he said.

Then just as he said that, a man came inside covered in snow.

"And this fellow, Yoo Hoo. Big summer blowout!" the man, Oaken, I finally guessed, said.

The man walked up to Anna, getting really close to her face.

"Carrots," he said.

"huh?" Anna asked.

"Behind you!" he said.

Anna looked behind her to see some carrots.

"Oh, right. Excuse me!" she said awkwardly.

The man throws a bunch of carrots on the counter and goes to gather other things.

"A real howler in July, yah?" Oaken says to the man. "Where ever could it be coming from?"

"The Northern Mountain," he replied.

Anna and I look at each other.

"The Northern Mountain," Anna repeated to herself.

The man puts the supplies on the counter and Oaken counts them on his fingers.

"That'll be forty," Oaken said.

"What?" the man said. "Forty? No, ten!"

Oaken tried to be as sweet as he could.

"Oh dear, that's no good. See these are from our winter stock, where supply and demand have a big problem," he told the man.

"You wanna talk supply and demand problem? I sell Ice for a living." the man motions to the window where I see a sled with large blocks of Ice with snow on them.

"Ooh, that's an unfortunate business to be in right now, that's really..." Anna started but trailed off when the man gave her a look and I hit her in the stomach. "Ahem. that's unfortunate."

"Still forty," Oaken says. "But I will throw in a visit to Oaken's sauna! Yoo hoo! Hi family!"

We all look over to see a naked man with a few kids waving to us from inside a sauna.

"Yoo hoo!" they call out.

I wave back, smiling.

"Tens all I got. Help me out!" the man pleads.

I look up at him. "If you want, I can-"

I start talking, but Anna stops me.

Oaken isolates the carrots.

"Ten will get you this, no more," he says.

Kristoff sighs.

"I got a few on me if you want-!" I start, but Anna interrupts me.

"Okay, Just tell me one thing; what was happening on the Northern Mountain? Did it seem magical?" Anna asks.

The man pulls down his scarf.

"Yes! Now back up! I gotta deal with this crook here!" he tells her.

After hearing that, Oaken stands up, revealing himself to be tall, really tall.

A second later, Oaken picked up the man, carrying him out of the door. It only took him a few minutes to throw him out of the door.

Anna and I just stood there concerned as Oaken squeezed his way back behind the counter.

"I'm sorry about the violence. I will add a quart of lutefish, so we'll have good feelings. Just the outfits and boots, yah?" he asked us.

I looked at Anna as she looks from the carrots to the window.

When I found out what she was thinking about I scoffed at her.

"Maybe if we help him get his things, he'll help us get to Elsa," she told me.

"And why do you think that?" i asked her.

"Well, he's the only choice we have here, Julie."

I sighed. She's gonna get us stuck in something one day.

I finally nodded as I followed her to the barn where the man was staying.

While she was asking the man for help, the voice came back.

'Are you ever gonna take my advice?' the voice said.

'Are you ever gonna have good advice?' I asked the voice.

The voice was quiet but I knew that it was still there.

'I realized that you haven't used your magic yet,' the voice told me. 'Why is that?'

I scoffed. 'I already am a monster to myself, do you want me to be a monster to my own family as well?'

Just as the voice was about to talk again, Anna came out smiling.

"He agreed! Let's go find Elsa!!" she said as she dragged me to the man's sled.

The voice came back.

'You will soon enough.' it said before it disappeared again.

...

Then off we were up to the Northern Mountain. The man, whom we now know as Kristoff, was going rather fast.

"Hang on! We like to go fast!" he said, probably trying to scare us.

Anna put her feet up on the dashboard.

"I like fast!" she said, fearlessly.

Kristoff saw her and pushed her feet off.

"Woah, woah! Get your feet off!" he orders. "This is fresh lacquer, seriously, were you raised in a barn?"

Kristoff spit on the dashboard, which flew onto Anna's face.

She quickly wiped the spit off of her face.

"No!" she said, grossed out. "We were raised in a castle."

"Obviously, for your sister over here," Kristoff muttered, talking about me.

He then got back to directing the sled.

"So," he asked us. "Tell me. What made the Queen go all ice-crazy?"

I laughed. "Oh, you are going to love this, let me tell you. Tell him, Anna."

"Well," Anna started. "It was kinda my fault. I got engaged but then she freaked out because I'd just met him, you know, that day. And she said she wouldn't bless the marriage-"

"Wait," Kristoff said, interrupting her. "You got engaged to someone you just met that day?"

"Told you you'd love this," I said, laughing as Anna shot me an angry look.

"Yeah. Anyway, I got mad, so she got mad and then she tried to walk away, and I grabbed her glove-" Kristoff interrupted her again.

"Hang on. You mean to tell me you got engaged to someone you just met that day?" Kristoff repeated.

Anna scoffed.

"Yes. Pay attention. But the thing is she wore the gloves all the time, so I just thought, maybe she has a thing about dirt."

"Did your parents ever warn you two about strangers?" Kristoff said, looking from Anna to me.

Anna looked him up and down before moving away from him.

"Yes they did..." she said. "But Hans is not a stranger."

"Oh, really?" I asked my sister.

"What's his last name?" Kristoff asked.

Anna thought for a moment.

"...Of-the-Sothern-Isles?" she replied.

"That's not a last name," I said. "Okay. what's his favorite food?"

"Sandwiches," she said.

"Best friend's name?" Kristoff asked.

"Probably John?" she said.

"Eye color?" I asked.

"Dreamy," she said.

"Foot size?" Kristoff asked.

"Foot size doesn't matter!" Anna said.

"Not if you're trying to buy him shoes one day," I said.

"Have you had dinner with him, yet?" Kristoff asked. "What if you hate the way he eats?"

I then thought of something vile.

"What if you hate the way he picks his nose?" I asked her.

"What?" she said, grossed out.

Kristoff gasped.

"And eats it?" he asked.

"Excuse me, you two, he is a Prince!" she said.

We both looked at each other.

"All men do it!" we both told her.

We high-fived each other and laughed.

"Ew! Look it doesn't matter; it's true love," Anna told us.

"It doesn't sound like true love," Kristoff said.

"What are you some kind of love expert?" Anna asked him.

Kristoff was quiet for a moment.

"No," he said. "But I have some friends who are,"

"You have friends who are love experts?" Anna asked. "Not buying it."

I looked ahead of them and saw the reindeer's ears perk up.

"Anna..." I whispered to her when I heard a noise. A growling noise.

"Stop talking!" Kristoff told her.

"Oh! No, no, no. I'd like to meet these-"

Kristoff put a hand on her mouth to shut her up.

"I mean it, SHH!" he said.

Anna tried to speak again but was shut up again by both of us.

When we looked behind us, Kristoff and I looked closer and saw eyes...

Several eyes.

I backed away slowly when I realized what it was.

When the eyes came closer, that's when Kristoff yelled.

"Sven Go, Go!" he yelled.

And as soon as Sven started running, so did the wolves.

"What are they?" Anna asked.

"Wolves," Kristoff answers.

Kristoff lights a torch.

"Wolves?" Anna said. "What are we gonna do?"

I screamed when a wolf got close to me and almost bit me.

"Julie?" Anna said, worriedly. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, but as soon as I turned around, a wolf bit me in the leg.

I screamed in fear and Kristoff quickly pulled me up and laid me on the seat at the front.

"Stay here and keep your sister safe," he says to Anna. "Just...don't fall off and don't get eaten." 

"I wanna help!" Anna says.

"No!" he yells.

"Why not!" Anna shouts back.

"Cause I don't trust your judgment!" He tells her.

"Excuse me?" Anna shouts.

A wolf jumped on him, but Kristoff kicked it off.

"Who marries a man they just met?" Kristoff grunts.

Anna grabs a Lute.

"It's true love!!" she says as she hits a wolf with the Lute.

"Woah," Kristoff said, shocked.

Then Kristoff is pulled off the sled by a wolf and his torch went flying. Anna caught it, completely shocked.

"Kristopher!" Anna shouts to him.

"It's Kristoff! Ow, Ow!" he says as he got bitten by the wolves.

Anna thought quick and lit a blanket on fire.

She then picked it up, ready to throw it.

"Duck!" she screamed as she threw the blanket at the wolves.

After that Kristoff was pulling himself onto the sled with Anna helping him.

"You almost put me on fire!" he shouted.

"But I didn't!" she said.

But then Sven cried out. We all saw that there was a gorge ahead of us.

"Get ready to jump, Sven!" Anna shouted.

Kristoff grabbed her and threw her onto Sven.

"You don't tell him what to do!" he shouted. "I do"

He then unhooked Sven's harness.

"Jump Sven!" he yelled.

Then Sven jumped him and Anna to the other side.

I didn't know what came over me, but my eyes turned black, and then a huge shield appeared around the sled.

My hand burned as the shield appeared, which told me that I was using my powers. But then my hand cooled down and the shield disappeared, but it wasn't at the right time.

Kristoff scooped me up bridal style and threw me to the other side. After that, he tried jumping to the other side but failed and clung onto the edge of the side that the rest of us were on.

He looked over the edge and saw his sled that burst into flames.

He groaned.

"But I just paid it off," he said, sadly.

But then, he started slipping off the edge.

And then, when he was close to falling,  Anna threw an Axe that was really close to his face.

"Grab on!" Anna says while she and Sven are holding the other end of the rope-axe.

Kristoff grabbed onto the axe as Anna and Sven pulled him up onto the top.

I looked over to see Kristoff lying on the ground beside me. He put his hand in his pocket and handed me a scarf.

It was then that I remembered that my leg was bleeding.

I took the scarf and wrapped my leg with it to stop the bleeding.

Anna was right beside me.

She helped me up and walked to Kristoff.

She then told Kristoff something and walked away, but after she did, she just looked at me.

I was confused until I remembered that I had shown my magic to her.

"You have magic?" she asked me.

I looked at her and nodded.

"You have magic and you hid it from me?" she said again.

I looked at her and didn't say anything for a moment.

"I had to hide it to protect you," I said.

That's when she got angry at me.

"Why do you have to protect me? Why do you and Elsa have to hide everything to protect me!" she shouted. "What did I ever do to you guys to make you guys do this to me?!"

I tried to talk to her again, but she just shoved me out of the way and walked away from me.

"Just find her yourself, Julia!" she shouted.

That's when the voice came back.

'Are you ready to follow me now?' the voice.

I was sad. I was angry. I felt like crying.

I took a deep breath.

'I'm ready.'