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Hook, Elsa, and I go to the woods, following the snowflakes Rumpelstiltskin sent out with his magic. They fly through the air briskly, us following behind them. Hook pauses to scratch an "X" into a tree with his hook.
"What are you doing?" Elsa asks, confused.
"Leaving a trail," Hook replies. "I'm more accustomed to outrunning bad weather than following it."
"Snow isn't bad," Elsa defends her powers. "And we're following magic."
"Try to outrun that, too,  when given the chance," he says.
I absentmindedly grab the crystal between my fingers. Hook notices, and I stop. He ignores it as Elsa chuckles.
"What's so funny?" Hook asks her.
"It's just Emma has magic, and you clearly don't want to outrun her," Elsa says.
"More like the other way around," says Hook.
"Maybe she feels the same about pirates as you do about magic," Elsa comments.
"I've worked to change," Hook says. "Though, in fairness, being a pirate is not necessarily a bad thing. Particularly a charming one like meself."
I roll my eyes.
"I think your self-appreciation is blinding you to a simple fact--this isn't about you," Elsa says. "It's about her."
"Is that right?" Hook says snarkily. "A few short days and you know Emma so well?"
"We're a lot alike," Elsa tells him. "When you have the weight of the world on your shoulders, it can be hard to let people in, to trust them. Even when they want what's best for you."
Hook doesn't reply. Eventually,  the snowflakes stop flying, and land on top of a broken log that already has other snowflakes on it.
"There she is," Elsa says. "Look." A whirl of what looks like a light colored dress similar to Elsa's is seen through the foliage.
"Get down," Hook says, and we crouch behind a log. The mysterious lady is using her powers to build a mini replica of an ice castle inside the log where the snowflakes had landed. Elsa smiles at the magic. Hook pulls out his phone.
"What is that thing?" Elsa asks.
"I don't know," Hook sighs. "It's a device for...talking. I don't bloody know. I press the "Emma" button and she answers usually."
"Remind me to teach you how to use a cell phone next time we aren't hiding from a snow queen," I remark. The phone beeps, and I hear Emma's faint voice saying:
"Hey, this is Emma. Leave a message."
"Why should I carry around this stupid thing if you're never there when I use it?!" Hook whispers, annoyed, to the phone. "We found the person who froze Marian. Get to the west edge of the woods right away."
"What the bloody hell are you doing?" I whisper to Elsa sharply as she sits up higher to be able to see over the log we are hiding behind.
"Sorry," she apologizes. "I've never seen someone like me before. She doesn't look evil."
"Yeah, well, looks can be deceiving, love," Hook says. "So let's just stay out of sight. I haven't a fondness of icebergs and I'd rather avoid being turned into one."
We wait a few minutes, but the lady does not move, and she may see us soon.
"We've waited long enough," Hook says. "We have to find Emma."
Just as we stand up and start running away from the scene, ice comes up from the dirt and traps both mine and Hook's feet so we can not move.
"I'm sorry," a soft voice says. "I'm afraid I can't let you leave."
The voice is familiar, and so is the face. The lady is the same that I had bought ice cream for Henry from for so many years. She had seemed gentle, kind. Not an ice cold person.
"Let go of them now," Elsa says firmly, her feet free from any ice.
"Not when you and I have so much catching up to do," ice cream lady says. "My sweet Elsa."
"Catching up?" Hook asks. "What? You know her?"
"I've never seen her before," Elsa replies.
"You've simply forgotten," the lady says.
"I wouldn't forget someone like you," says Elsa. "Like me."
"The magic of the rock trolls," ice cream lady explains. "They pull memories. They did quite a number on you, I'm afraid."
"The rock trolls?" Elsa says. "Why would they do that to me?"
"For the same reason they did it to your sister, Anna," she says. "Some memories are too painful."
"You know Anna?" Elsa exclaims. "What happened to her?"
"The same thing that happens to every ordinary person," ice cream lady sighs. "Eventually...they grow to fear us. You wonder...how you ended up trapped in that urn...it was your sister. Anna put you there."
"You're lying," Elsa snaps.
"Am I?" ice cream lady asks. "Look at the people in this town. They're ready to burn you at the stake."
"Because of what you did!" Elsa defends the town. "You hurt one of them."
"You mean that woman--Marian," ice cream lady says. "Well, that was an accident."
"No, it wasn't," Elsa's tone gets cold. "You wanted them to think it was me. To blame me. Why?"
"I was trying to teach you a lesson," ice cream lady sighs. "Eventually, everyone turns on people like us. Even friends. Even family. They're just waiting for a reason." The ice cream lady waves her hand and causes deadly, sharp icicles to appear above Hook and I's heads.
"What are you doing?!" Elsa screams.
"Don't bother," the ice cream lady says calmly as Elsa tries to melt the ice and Hook and I struggle to break free of our cold bonds. "I've neutralized your magic. When your friends are found, you'll look responsible. Then they'll turn on you and they'll treat you as the monster that they truly see you as, and you'll know that I'm right.
The icicles inch a little farther down, but not far enough, as Emma shouts,
"Hey, Dairy Queen!" Her and David both rush to the scene.
The ice cream lady is thrown off enough to not cause the icicles to fall. She looks shocked as she says,
"Emma?"
"Do we know each other?" Emma asks.
"Of course not," she replies quickly. "Your reputation precedes you. You really think that your magic is a match for mine?"
"There's only one way to find out," Emma says, and launches a gust of air that knocks ice cream lady back twenty feet. David rushes over and chips at the ice around our feet with a pocket knife, while the ice cream lady gets back up, and causes the icicles to begin to fall. One comes within an inch of impaling all three of us, but Emma uses her magic to quickly launch us all out of the way of the falling icicles, and onto the ground.
"You guys okay?" Emma asks worriedly.
"Yeah, we're fine," David says. He looks around for ice cream lady. "Where is she?"
"She's gone," Emma says, panting from exhaustion.

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