Of Giants and Ice (Ever Afters, The) Read Free Page A

Maybe it was the dim light, but they all looked identical to me—except that maybe one was a little taller and one had darker hair.
    Triplets were tough. I had been friends with identical twins a couple schools back. Erna and Erma were always nice to me, but every once in a while, they would completely forget I was there and start talking like they had a secret language. If these guys were fraternal, they might not be like that, but I would have to wait until I could tell them apart to be sure.
    Lena pointed to the girl in the green silk dress, who was walking ahead of us and hadn’t once looked back. “And that’s Adelaide.”
    “Charlotte Adelaide Eleanora Radcliffe,” Adelaide corrected.
    “What’s her problem?” I whispered to Lena.
    “Her grandmother is a grand duchess or something, so she thinks she can act like a princess.” Then Lena rolled her eyes so hugely that I saw it even in the dark, and we both grinned.
    I liked Lena.
    That hallway seemed longer than hallways in a building should be, but maybe it only felt that way when it was crowded with students shuffling along in the dark.
    My elbow brushed the wall, which was cold, like wet stone, and it smelled a little like rotten eggs. I wasn’t the only one who noticed.
    “All right, own up,” said an older boy. “Who farted?”
    “That’s sulfur, dummy,” replied one of his classmates, and several people laughed, including Chase.
    Lena shivered and started counting on her fingers. “Besides fire, weapons include teeth, claws, tail—”
    She seemed way more into the role-play deal than I was. I sighed, but another step in making friends was developing shared interests. “So, where are we going again?”
    “Yellowstone National Park,” said Chase.
    “Oh. I’ve never been there.” Yellowstone was thousands of miles across the continent, not just a short walk down a creepy corridor, but I played along anyway. “Are there other rules I should know before we start the game?”
    “Uh-oh.” Lena stared at me. “You didn’t have your orientation yet, did you?”
    “There was an orientation?”
    Lena gasped. “Oh, my gumdrops.”
    “This should be fun,” said Adelaide.
    The triplets behind us laughed.
    I ignored them. Lena looked like she might have a panic attack any second. “What problem are we supposed to be looking for?” I asked.
    “Nobody tell her,” said Chase quickly. “It’ll ruin the surprise. Who wants to bet we have a screamer?” Someone patted my head in the dark.
    “Hey!” I swatted at the hand. The other kids were really laughing now. My hands curled into fists, but I didn’t lose my temper. I just told myself that this was better than the usual gossip, even if I wasn’t totally sure that was true.
    “I don’t think I’ll tell you either,” Lena said, more worried than teasing. “You’ll either freak out or not believe me.” There was a light up ahead. We were almost outside. The air felt cooler than it had in the courtyard. “I just hope that we don’t see anything bigger than a buffalo.”
    We stepped out into a forest. I blinked in surprise. It lookednothing like the woods outside my school. No oaks, no maples, no roads, either—just hills covered in pines as far as I could see.
    “None of them waited?” Lena said, horrified. “The Director specifically said that someone would be stationed outside in case we had any problems.”
    “I’m sure it’ll be okay,” I said, a little distracted by the exit. It looked a lot like the mouth of a cave.
    Lena pulled me to the side. “We’ll just wait here.”
    “Do what you want,” Chase said, leading Adelaide and the triplets over a small stream. Part of me wanted to ask who put him in charge, but I bit my tongue.
    “Wait!” Lena called after them, but none of the sixth graders looked back.
    Apparently, it was also against the rules to stay there alone.
    Tagging along behind the others, Lena comforted herself by repeating all the rules that the Director