“None. Unless you saw Ronnie’s soul before we left or during your searches?”
He shakes his head. “I didn’t see the spirits of the Mad Queen’s guards, either. They just… died.”
“Like Ronnie.” I groan. “Her soul has to be here someplace. I don’t think she’d already be with the Icebound.”
“Do you think they will accept her?” Zarev asks curiously. “I’m not quite sure how it works, but I think the Icebound are pretty particular about who passes on? I remember hearing stories about having to meet certain requirements before a soul could pass.”
I shrug, helpless. “I have no idea. But if Ronnie’s soul is around here, she has much to answer for. At the very least, she should have to face her daughter.”
“Can Neve even see her?”
“She can see the Icebound,” I explain, glancing down at my hand. “Part of my magic is in her now, and it seems to be a permanent fixture keeping her body together. It’s only the ice magic, but maybe it will allow her to see spirits in all forms?”
“Who the hell knows,” Zarev says with a sigh. “It’s not like there’s a rulebook someplace. This all seems to happen without rhyme or reason, and we’re stuck picking up the pieces of whatever the latest disaster is.”
There’s bitterness in his words, so I decide not to push. Until we actually find a spirit, there’s no reason to worry about whether or not Neve can see them. Unless proven otherwise, we have to assume for now that the people frozen throughout the kingdom retained their souls. Neither Zarev nor I felt a soul when we walked through here, but the ice is very unusual.
“That’s why staying in the Frostlands seems inopportune,” Zarev explains, his scythe vanishing again. “This place might have life in it still, but it’s trapped. Between the Mad Queen and the Snow Queen, the place is fucked.”
“I just wish I understoodwhyDavina already seemed set on betrayal,” I grumble, leading us onward toward the library. There are a few guards throughout who we struck down, servants of the Mad Queen. “Neve said Davina called Ronnie an ‘expected sacrifice.’ So they presumed she would die from this meeting.”
“They definitely came with a purpose.” Zarev agrees, “but leaving a young girl alive to rule in her mother’s wake seems careless if they really wanted to bring down the kingdom.”
“I know,” I grumble, peering around the palace. Nothing else sticks out, aside from the frozen people and the new guards. The Mad Queen’s banners hang across the front of the palace, for the eyes of the kingdom and any visitors to see. It seems like a lot of work to arrive via ship through treacherous waters to attend a ball that didn’t happen. We haven’t looked at the docks yet, but I assume another ship in port would draw attention, even ours.
Before we leave the palace, we’ll look into it.
Sighing, I stop walking again. “We should see what Lucius has to say. And Ray.”
“You’resuggesting we contact someone?” Zarev asks, nearly breaking his neck with how quickly he looks back at me. “No more avoidance tactics?”
With a sweep of my arms, I glare at him. “Does it look like that’s an option anymore? Whatever’s happening here in the Frostlands, it’s going to eventually trickle down to the rest of Mystica. This is a power move on Davina’s part. She’s moving against the rest of the continent, and she’s bringing Camelot along for the ride.”
~~~
When we find Neve and Odette a short time later, they are staring down at a map. One look at it tells me it’s all wrong.
For one thing, Thornton doesn’t exist, like Neve said. But Camelot and Wonderland don’t touch, either. In fact, the Court of Cards is only a small section near the coast, and Wonderland doesn’t have borders. The Red Woods aren’t marked, and the Mad Court isn’t indicated at all. There’s no Barrens; Icicle Pass is drawn but not labeled; and the Frostlands have more forests than they presently do. Only Swan Lake and Tressa look relatively the same.
“This is it,” Neve says, rubbing her hands together. “This is the map I’m familiar with. I saw one in my father’s study that looked more up-to-date, someone must have placed it in there in the last century. I didn’t get much time to study it, though, over the last week with everything else going on. Is it that far off?”
“Quite,” Odette tells her, leafing through more papers. “There doesn’t seem to be anything more recent, but I’m sure we can find one. If not here, then somewhere. That’s not a map I’ve ever seen a copy of anywhere. Oh! Zarev, where’s that book?”
Zarev doesn’t say a word as he tugs it out of the shadows. I recognize it as the one Odette’s dog-earned for the past week. She begins flying through the pages as soon as she gets her hands on it.
“I nearly forgot about this. I took it from the tavern. It was in some of the debris after the fire. There’s damage to it, so it’s not the best map, but I was using it as a bookmark. Here, look!”
She sets aside the worn book,Through the Looking Glass,written on the cover, and unfolds an old paper with the corner on one side burned. Laying it out, it’s a much smaller version of the map of Mystica I’ve come to know.
Neve blinks, leaning in closer. “Well, I don’t recognize a lot of this. This is an updated map?”
“I think it was in Dahlia’s office. That’s Ray’s mum. It’s pretty updated.”
She leans away with a frown, rubbing her chin. “So many things don’t make sense. Why did Wonderland expand? That’s not something I ever heard King Jasper discussing.”
“You spoke with the King?” Zarev asks, intrigued.
“Not often. I had to meet him when my parents decided to speak to Davina about offering her hand in marriage. We chatted for a few minutes, as was required, but I was barely twenty at the time and not expecting to take the crown two years later. I was of little interest to him. I barely even spoke to Hans that evening.”
