Secrets of the Frostbound Cottage (Witchlight Magical Mysteries)

11. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

As I wasn’t sure what we were about to face, walking up to the door and introducing myself didn’t seem like the best idea. Instead, I walked to the windows which, unlike the ones at the warehouse, were at normal height. Unfortunately their height was about the only thing that was normal.

‘What the hell?’ I whispered in disbelief.

If the orchids had seemed out of place for the climate, the inside of the cottage was equally unusual – but in the opposite way. As far as I could see, the place was completely filled with ice. Frost patterns covered the glass, while the floor appeared to be slick and glossy like a frozen pond. Long icicles were hanging from the ceiling.

There were several windows offering different views onto the ground floor. Hoping to gain a little more information, I moved as quietly as I could to the next one. The pup stayed at my heels, not making a sound; if I hadn’t known better, I would have assumed she’d made perimeter checks before. Or maybe she was just quiet because of the thunderous noise she’d been born and raised in, like a person from a family with ten kids who grew into a quiet adult.

The second window gave us a different aspect of the same room, but as I peered through a third window at the back of the house I stifled a gasp. There, bound at the wrists and ankles, their skin so pale it was almost translucent, weren’t just the two elves I was seeking but eight of them.

Their eyes were closed; had it not been for the shallow plumes of breath rising into the air as they exhaled, I wouldn’t have believed that they were even alive. Still, I couldn’t imagine they had long left in temperatures like that, and I had no idea how I was going to get them out. They were frozen, locked in an icy hold.

I was a good fighter, but only when I had my feet on solid ground. Like any person who kicks and punches, I used friction; I needed it to harness the force to overpower my opponents, not to mention change direction and move fast. But a place covered in ice would have no friction, no stability and no advantage. I’d be no better than Bambi on the frozen pond.

As far as I could tell, the only positive was that the culprit responsible for all this didn’t appear to be downstairs. I’d already spotted a staircase through the second window, so there was a good chance the kidnapper was asleep upstairs. If that was the case, I needed to act fast. But how? I couldn’t carry Orla’s parents with ice like that on the floor; I needed to melt it either by destroying whatever spell had caused it, or in some other way.

As I stepped back from the house, I thought through my options. If this had been a human issue, I would have called Dean or Gazza, or any number of my police contacts because they’d know someone local who could help. But this situation was as magical as they came, and the nearest magical community was hours away. I could have called Yanni, but she was also hours away. I kept visualising those slow puffs of breath; some of those elves didn’t have hours left.

Maybe a little of Maddie’s ink would have helped, but I’d used it all in the warehouse on that friggin’ demon. However, I had picked up something else while I was there…

I reached into my pocket, suddenly grateful that I’d forgotten to give Gazza his contraband back. My fingers found the small metal lighter; it wasn’t much, but it could start a fire, right? And fire could melt ice. The only problem was that I needed something to accelerate it. I had something that could work – but it could potentially burn down the whole damned cottage around the frozen elves’ ears.

I weighed the risks and made a decision; it was possibly a hasty one, but my parents hadn’t raised a quitter.

Never give up. I didn’t intend to.