Once Upon A Time Frozen Over: Shards of Secrets (Book One) [COMPLETE]

CHAPTER THIRTEEN - ANSWERS

Present Day

East Village

"The Blood Gang, what is that?" Elsa questioned.

"A group of merciless killers you don't want to cross paths with," Evie said fearfully.

"And I'm guessing you have?" Anna inquired.

"Yeah, it was about three years ago....It wasn't pretty," Evie explained. "They were down in this part of the kingdom to assassinate a rich lord that refused to pay the debt he owed them, when they ran into me while..." her voice trailed off then she cleared her throat, "while I was robbing him."

Kristoff put his hands over his eyes and shook his head. "Oh brother," he thought.

"This one has judgmental issues," Alavander commented, waving his hand toward Kristoff as he read his thoughts.

Kristoff, not wanting Alavander to read further into his mind, quickly changed his thoughts to Anna and the moment they had shared in the village. As his thoughts began to race, he realized that might not be too good either, so he began thinking of Sven.

Alavander, amused now, said, "Not only is he judgmental, but also somewhat dense. But no, no, no, no, go back to your thoughts on Anna, that was much more entertaining."

Anna, full of innocence, looked at Kristoff with adoration and said, "Aw, how sweet."

Kristoff, red as an apple and frozen with embarrassment and fear, tried to hide from Elsa's murderous glare.

"Really? We're in front of a mind reading sorcerer and that's where your mind goes to?" Evie said, giving Kristoff an incredulous look.

"What? My mind races when I'm nervous, okay!" Kristoff defended himself.

Elsa clenched her fists, trying to control her building anger and frustration. As frost began to form over her fists, a fine mist of condensation swirled around her hands. She took in a deep breath to calm herself, "Evie, please continue."

"Long story short," Evie continued, "I got into a fight with one of the men, knocked him unconscious and fled. Luckily, they never came looking for me. Not long after the incident, I received word that the gang left this part of the kingdom. The only reason they would be back is if —"

"They have another job here," Alavander interrupted. "Right, right, right, Evangeline."

"Really?" Evie said with a disappointed look.

"Do you want the information or not?" Alavander asked.

"Yes, we do. Who are they after?" Elsa quickly answered.

"Well, you see, not too long before Evangeline's incident with the Blood Gang, they welcomed a new recruit — he was the best they had. He was a well-known thief before he met them. Yes, his heart had darkness, but he still had some goodness left in him...until they drug him into the depths of their evil doings and took that last bit of goodness away, making the darkness in his heart grow. But recently, realizing the monster he had became, a little bit of light returned to his darkened heart and he left the gang. But, you can't just leave a ruthless group of men like that without expecting retaliation. And on top of that, he took a fine amount of their treasures — so now they're out for his head. And to make this even more interesting, the man they're after is the very same thief you are looking for." Alavander wiggled his fingers and let out a wicked laugh.

"Wait, what?" Elsa said flabbergasted.

"Did I stutter?" Alavander jeered.

Everyone had a look of shock — except Kristoff. He hung his head low, wishing there was something he could do to protect them.