Free Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige Page B

forgetting spell on all who knew of what he had done. And everything was fine for a time.
    “But when the young prince came of age, he found an object that amplified his own powers so much that it broke the spell.”
    “An object?” I asked.
    “A mirror. Even our coven believed that it was just a legend. But Lazar found it. Larger than life and more powerful than anything in Algid. Than anything everywhere. And in an instant Lazar’s power was back with a vengeance.”
    A magical mirror sounded ridiculous. But then the memory of Bale going into the mirror that appeared in his room came flooding back to me.
    “The King sought the coven’s help once again. But instead of restraining his son’s powers this time, the King could see only his own greed. He demanded that the coven teach Lazar how to wield his great power so that the King could use it for his own benefit.”
    I snorted at that. Witches training princes who wielded magical snow? That hadn’t made it into any fairy tale I’d ever read. The River Witch ignored me and continued.
    “Then something happened that the King did not expect. Lazar fell madly in love with one of the witches’ nieces, and she loved him as well.”
    “My mother?”
    The Witch blinked hard, interrupting the flow of water down her face, as if remembering. As if the idea of their being together were unnatural to her.
    “Yes. And your father insisted on marrying her despite the law that said royalty can only marry other royalty. When his father refused to bless the marriage, Lazar lost control of his temper, and the King met an icy end. Prince Lazar became King Lazar. When he realized the extent of his powers, he froze over the lands of Algid so all would bend to his will. He took the throne and a wife on the same day, and you were born less than a year later.”
    “So what happened? Why did my mother run away from her icily ever after?” I smiled, proud of my pun.
    The River Witch did not return the smile.
    “She was still a witch. We believe in the Elements. In nature. It could not have been easy to see the whole world frozen in the name of their love. But she loved him deeply in return. And so they were happy for a time. Blissfully so.”
    Nothing says I love you like freezing the world , I thought. But this time I kept the words in.
    “So what happened?”
    “The oracle.”
    “Oracle?” I said, remembering a book of Greek myths I’d read from the Whittaker library. “Please tell me that this story does not involve a fortune-teller.”
    The River Witch ignored my comment and continued. “There was a prophecy spoken on your birth to the three most powerful witches in the land. Remember, you are the daughter of magic on both sides of your lineage. You have magic within you. Powerful magic, probably the strongest that Algid has ever seen. You can control snow. Thus, you were named. The prophecy said:

    When the Lights go out at century’s turn,
    The progeny of the King will rise to power.
    She will either claim the throne herself … or she will give the King more power than he has ever known.
    Only she can choose the path for Algid.
    But not every path is clear, and there are those who have the power to change the course of fate:
    the prince,
    the thief,
    the thinker,
    the secret.
    If they are destroyed, the King will surely fall. And should the sacrifice come exactly when the Lights are extinguished, whoever wears the crown will rule Algid forever.

    “What does that mean?” I asked.
    “One doesn’t know the full meaning of a prophecy until it’s fulfilled, but it likely involves the Eclipse of the North Lights and you.”
    “Do you mean the northern lights? How can they eclipse?”
    The River Witch closed her eyes for a moment, as if my questions tired her. “It happens only once per century, and the next one should occur in just one month.”
    So basically I was supposed to fulfill some kind of major destiny in a month. And I had no idea this place even existed until