“We already know the Snow Giant’s got a staff with carvings on the hilt, which is used for mesmerizing enemies. Samuel and I had the idea that we could steal—”
“Hold on. A staff with carvings?” Felicia’s eyes widened and were now as round as coins. “What did it look like?”
Sharon closed her eyes, trying to visualize the staff. “I remember…a silver hexagram carved on the hilt.”
Felicia unfastened her necklace, ran her fingers over the emerald pendant, then did the same with her bracelet. She scrutinized the two pieces of jewelry with great interest. “Could this one, by any chance, be the mark?” She pointed to a delicate hexagram carved on the pendant. The same mark was also engraved on one of the crystalline beads on Felicia’s bracelet as well.
Sharon and Samuel exchanged a look of amazement. “How come you’ve got that symbol? How are you connected to that oaf?”
Felicia gaped at them. “I was about to ask the same question. This is the mark of fairies. Why would the Snow Giant have this mark? Carved on his staff?”
“He must’ve stolen it from a fairy,” answered Samuel. “That’s exactly what a rascal like him would do. Definitely his style.”
“Perhaps...he’s got a fairy apprentice.” Sharon endeavored to convince herself to believe this lame explanation. But for some reason, she had an odd feeling things were a lot more complicated, and her sixth sense had never failed her.
“It’s got to be,” asserted Felicia. “Only fairies can activate an artifact with the hexagram mark.”
“But the Snow Giant’s attacked us with his staff before,” Sharon contradicted her as Samuel nodded in the affirmative.
A flicker of fear manifested itself in Felicia’s gaze. “I hope what I’m thinking isn’t true, but.… You don’t think—?”
“Good morning!” A jolly voice hollered, and in marched Stephen the giant.
Sharon and Samuel grimaced and covered their ears as his voice hit them like a concussion.
“I’ve got your breakfast ready!”
Sharon’s mouth dropped open as Stephen loomed into sight. He was dressed in his winter garb, a furry floor-length robe.
“Is that some sort of period costume?” Samuel tilted his head, amused. “Why are you wearing that? It was pretty hot outside yesterday.”
“Quite the contrary. It’s snowing cats and dogs outside,” Stephen boomed.
Felicia jumped as if she had just noticed his presence.
“You don’t mean it literally, do you?” Sharon, who had witnessed a candy-rain yesterday, was starting to believe in the impossible more than the possible.
“Figurative language, girl,” Stephen replied, lowering his volume and trying not to startle anyone this time. “Here, I made you some hot chocolate and these cookies.”
***
Fifteen minutes later, Sharon stepped out of the large cave. The needling coldness hit her like a wave, invading every inch of her skin. Snowflakes powdered her like tiny intricate petals raining from the heavens. Shivering, she wrapped her cloak around her body tighter.
Felicia, she noticed, had remained silent ever since the sudden advent of Stephen. Perhaps she’s still pondering over the inexplicable facts about the Snow Giant, thought Sharon.
Changing into her parrot form, Felicia turned towards Sharon and Samuel, who were bidding goodbye to Stephen.
“It’s quite snowy out here. Are you sure you don’t want to wait in my cave until it’s over?”
“Oh, no, thank you,” squawked Felicia. “I appreciate everything you’ve done for us, but we’ve got to go now. My sister’s in trouble. We can’t afford to waste even a minute.”
Sharon and Samuel both shinnied onto her back and were splattered with sleet when Felicia tossed her head.
“Excuse me. Takeoff in three, two—”
“Wait a second.” Stephen cut in. “Felicia, don’t you think it’s time we leave the past alone? You know, the rivalry between fairies and giants.”
Felicia stared at him, her expression incredulous and curious in equal measure. “Are you suggesting that we...make peace?”
“We all make mistakes, don’t we? I admit we giants…. Well, we shouldn’t have been so greedy and ambitious. We launched another invasion on your tribe only because we wanted more. Come to think of it, how stupid we’d been.” When Felicia remained silent, Stephen added, “The past is in the past. Let it go.”
“Your head must be full of candy,” quipped Felicia. “I thought you’d never see sense. What’s gotten into you?”
Stephen smiled. “Either you charmed those confections, or you moved me with your generosity.”
Felicia devoted her attention to examining her claws. “I suppose so.” She glanced at the jumbo watch on Stephen’s wrist, “Oh, look at the time. Really, we’ve got to go.”
Even when Felicia was a parrot, Sharon could see subtle red patches form on her face.
“All right, then. Well, I just want you all to know you’ve got a friend here.” Stephen jerked his enormous head at his cave. “I’ll help you in any way I can manage in the future.”
Felicia nodded and shot him a meaningful look as if wanting to say more but then thought better of it. At last, with Sharon and Samuel waving at Stephen and managing to keep their balance, she flapped her wings and left the ground, soaring higher and higher until the three of them were obscured by the fluffy white carpets hovering below.
“Are you sure you’re not going to fly lower?” said Samuel, who kept looking over his shoulder. “We got ambushed yesterday.”
Felicia did, and as she soared a little above land, Sharon got a good view of the scenery below them.
Mounds of snow hills rose and fell like white waves. What looked like a mirror reflected the pale blue sky on its surface. As Felicia drew nearer, Sharon realized it was a lake with water as clear as crystal. Sprawled ahead of them was an endless ocean rippled by the frayed waves. At the threshold of the snowfield and the sea, there was erected a bare tree with snow-coated branches. It was a poetic and rather poignant scene, a lone tree standing all by itself at the edge of land and water.
In a mere matter of moments, Felicia was gliding across the ocean. Was it a mermaid or a merman splashing water and frolicking about in the distance? Sharon had heard of them before. The merfolk always kept to themselves and seldom intervened with humans.
“Did you see that?” whispered Samuel.
“The mermaid or merman down there?”
“I think it was a mermaid.”
“Falling in love with her, are you?” joked Sharon.
“I couldn’t fall in love with anyone but you, Sharon, even if I forced myself to.”
“That’s reassuring. You scared the wits out of me yesterday when that arrow struck you.”
Samuel let out an embarrassed chuckle. “What did I do or say?”
“You mistook the Snow Giant as a ‘she’ and screamed about her leaving you.”
Samuel laughed. “I must’ve been ridiculous.”
“No more than usual, Sam,” Sharon answered with a grin. The two of them leaned in for a kiss.
“Now that we’re getting close to our destination, I’m worried about what we’ll find,” said Samuel. “I can only second your hopes Eva will be okay.”
“Well, we can just play it by—”
A torrent of screams and shouts split the air. “Hey, wait for us!”
Sharon and Samuel froze, almost falling off Felicia’s back. Cursing, the parrot-fairy accelerated.
“Who? What?” Samuel asked. “We’re being tailed?”
Sharon’s heart skipped a beat.
“It’s the acro-beings, those fools who live in the sky,” Felicia answered, zooming like a jet plane. “They’re the definition of the word ‘trouble.’ We’ve got to avoid them.”
“Stop, you old hag!”
To Sharon’s astonishment, Felicia stopped all of a sudden and metamorphosed back into her original form. Then, she sat on one of the fluffy clouds below her feet and crossed her arms. Sharon and Samuel followed her, wondering what would happen next.
The two acro-beings, a cupid and an angel, had caught up with them. Both were panting and sweating, as if they had finished a marathon moments ago.
Felicia glowered at the two pursuers. “What did you just call me?”
“Oh, I meant that old hag.” The angel gestured at Sharon, who smirked.
“Yeah, right. Can’t you tell I’m only fifteen?”
Samuel frowned at them and laced an arm around Sharon protectively. “You look like you’re up to no good,” he remarked, giving the angel and his partner an appraising look. “Who are you, by the way?”
“Us?” The angel grinned and exchanged a gleeful look with the cupid. “I’m Sidney, and this is Marcus.” The cupid bowed as his name was mentioned. “My cupid friend.”
“Cupids?” Samuel, who had gotten his insatiable curiosity back, repeated.
“Right you are!” Marcus replied in a singsong voice. “The hallowed acro-beings who bring bliss to lovers.”
Felicia snorted. “Enough of this nonsense. I’m a hundred percent sure you’re the two rascals who shot Samuel yesterday. Do enlighten us why.” She pronounced the last few words with enough menace it was enough to intimidate anyone.
The two troublemakers, however, seemed unfazed by her fury. “Well, my good lady, ‘rascal’ is quite an inappropriate word,” started Sidney in a hearty, unnatural tone. “After all, that unfortunate incident was nothing but a misunderstanding. Please give us a chance to clarify—”
“Are you being annoying on purpose?” Sharon said.
“Hang on.…” Felicia narrowed her eyes. “You’re on the Snow Giant’s side, aren’t you? That’s why you keep causing us trouble and delaying our progress, isn’t it?”
“No, we—” Marcus took a deep breath. Prepared to face further interrogation, he decided to come clean. “Listen, Sidney and I know your boyfriend. Why, we were best friends and grew up together. The two of us thought you and Clover should get married soon. But I missed the target—you—when shooting a love arrow and hurt Samuel by accident.”
“What about her infatuation with the Snow Giant?” Sharon demanded. “If you don’t give me a sensible explanation.…” She let a plethora of sparks dance on her palms. Only powerful enough enchanters and enchantresses could summon magic at will. She had to let those acro-beings know who they were dealing with.
“We-we didn’t mean to!” Marcus defended himself. “Somebody swapped our potion. You see, we had some arrows stored in a cauldron of love potion. Felicia, we know you and Clover are far away from each other, and long-distance relationships don’t work out well. We wanted to strengthen your relationship—”
Felicia cut him off with a sharp look. “Since you know Clover so well, tell me where he is.”
“He’s on a world tour with his bandmates, isn’t he?”
Sharon and Samuel looked back and forth between the boys and an infuriated Felicia as if watching an exciting game of badminton.
“I’m so sorry for messing up. How can we right this wrong?”
Felicia threw the two of them a look of disgust. “I’m sorry? ‘I’m sorry’ cannot set things right! Sharon, Samuel, and I are on our way to kill the Snow Giant and rescue my half-sister, who’s been held captive for who knows how many months. Have you any idea she could be dying anytime? You care about nothing but your stupid matchmaker game. Stop badgering me and get lost, okay? I’m better off without you two fools messing around.”
“Fine, we just wanted to help,” Sidney snapped in indignation before turning to leave. “I’m glad I don’t have to put up with you anymore.”
The perfect idea crossed Sharon’s mind at that moment. “Wait, Marcus, Sidney. In fact, we could use some help. Like Felicia said, we’re on a mission to fight the Snow Giant. Would you be interested in—?”
“You want us to join forces with you?” Sidney’s eyes shone with mischief.
“No, dude, not now. We really screwed up yesterday,” Marcus whispered in his ear. “Sure, we’re definitely interested.” He said aloud to Sharon and the others.
Sharon shot an inquiring look at Felicia, who made no objection.
“Come along, then, if you insist,” Felicia answered, pursing her lips.
Sharon and Samuel clambered onto Felicia’s back, and with a nimble flap of her wings, the three of them left with Marcus and Sidney flying beside them.
“Well, I only know the Snow Giant by name,” said Sidney in an attempt to strike up a conversation. “Give me some details about him.”
“Wow, I’d really love to see how much power a six-hundred-carbohydrate marshmallow monster can hold,” Marcus added in sarcasm. The two boys dissolved into peals of laughter.
The Snow Giant is a beast that will have you crying for mommy after you’ve caught a glimpse of him,” replied Sharon, silencing them with a stern look.
“We’re not getting anywhere,” Samuel pointed out. “Sharon, why don’t you tell them your plan? You’ll have to tweak it to include Marcus and Sidney, though.”
“Right, let’s get down to business. We’ve got two goals on this mission: one, kill the Snow Giant, and two, save Eva. That’s Felicia’s half-sister. I want everyone to split into two teams— Marcus and Felicia are Team A; Samuel, Sidney, and I are Team B. We already know the Snow Giant has a staff that’s used for mesmerizing enemies. Team A will be in charge of stealing it, while Team B is going to save Eva. Then, the two teams will rendezvous at the entrance and fight the Snow Giant together. However, if one of the teams runs into him before reaching their goal, they’ll have to hold him off until another fighter on our side gets ahold of the staff. Then, as soon as we do, we’ll mesmerize him with the staff and give him a good taste of his own medicine.”
“Sharon, how many times have I told you, the staff can be only activated by a fairy?” Felicia cut in. “Not every one of us can make it work. You must put me in charge of the attacks.”
“Are you sure this plan’s practical enough?” questioned Sidney. “It looks great on paper, but I noticed some flaws.”
“Then why don’t you pitch in instead of criticizing my plan?” Sharon opened fire on him.
Sidney was about to retaliate when—
“We’re here.” Felicia made a smooth touchdown in front of a cave at the bottom of a cliff.
A curtain of silence fell on the now solemn party. The moments became hours, every palpable second lingering in the air. Sharon felt the tension and uneasiness her companions shared with her, as evidenced by the anxiety written across their faces. Her eyes focused on the cave yawning before them as her ears tuned out all the ambient sounds of the screaming wind and hushed whispers. It all seemed too quiet to her. Not the soothing, relaxing silence that calmed even the most turbulent souls, but the kind that seemed to foretell the arrival of something dark and ominous, the kind that spoke volumes. A serene prelude before a brutal storm.
Sharon managed to preserve her composure after taking a few deep breaths. As she opened her mouth to speak—
“Welcome, my next victims.” A gloating voice greeted them before letting out a bloodthirsty cackle that made the hair on Sharon’s neck rise.