When Maple opened her eyes, all she could see was white.
She took a quick mental stock of herself. No broken bones, nothing that felt immediately medically concerning. Her glasses were somehow miraculously still on her face, and the book… oh no, where was LOVELOCK? Panic over took her swift and easy, like an old friend.
She was buried in snow, and something heavy was wrapped around her waist. It wasn't her satchel. Despite the snow, her body grew hot and her breath came in quick and shallow. Which way was up? Weren't you supposed to spit and see which direction it goes? Maple loathed spitting, and her mouth was too dry from panic to try. Her body felt buzzy, and she realized that her feet were going numb. The numbness was spreading, growing steadily up her legs. Worst of all, she still really needed to use the restroom.
What was happening? Was she being crushed to death by the snow? What had even happened to get her here? The last thing she remembered was being on the mountain with Grel, who had been undisguised, a giant snow monster, and a hooded stranger with a sword.
The tightness was spreading across her chest. She wanted to open her mouth to scream, but what if snow fell in? Then she certainly wouldn't be able to spit and see which way was up. Was this a panic attack? What was wrapped around her waist?
Tears dripped from her lashes. At least she now knew which way was up.
Suddenly, and without warning, the thing around her waist shifted, and pulled her back. Pulled her up and out of the snow! With a gasp, she was free, being lifted high by the human version of Grel. He set her down on top the snow. She stumbled, just a little, and quickly attempted to rub the tears off of her face.
Her eyes ached in the bright sunlight, but she realized that they were at the bottom of the ski slope. Just before the finish line. Grel was holding LOVELOCK loosely in his gloved hand. Then a blur rushed past her and applause broke out. Then another, and another. Each time followed by more applause.
"I… lost…" said Grel, in disbelief. He stared dumbly across the finish line where the idiot trio stood hoisting their first, second, and third place trophies.
'Because of me,' Maple thought, brushing off the snow. 'He might have won if he had left me in the snow.'
"Thank you," she said after a long while.
"What?" He asked. His surprise was so genuine it took her off guard.
"Thank you. For saving me. I was panicking too much to save myself."
"You wouldn't have died." He shrugged.
"It felt like I might."
"Maple it was, like, a few feet of snow. You were fine. Were you, uh, having, like, a panic attack or something?"
Maple blushed, hot with shame. Her feet were still numb, and her hands are shaking from more than the cold. "I think so."
"You were hyperventilating, loudly. That's why I yanked you up. I thought you were smart enough to get yourself out of that situation, but I guess not."
Maple winced. She could feel the backhand on that compliment. "What was that? On the mountain? It was mag-"
Her question was cut off by Grel interrupting her, slapping a gloved hand over her mouth. "Not so loud. We can talk about it later, back at the lodge."
Maple smacked his hand away, and used his proximity to snatch her book back.
"We also need to figure out what we're doing next. There's no need to wait around here anyway. They don't give out prizes for last place."
"Not cool," Grel called after her as she started walking away. He caught up with her quickly. "But yeah, let's get out of here. I don't wanna run into the idiot trio."
"Do you think one of them was the hooded person? The one with the sword?" Maple asked.
"Yeah right," he snorted, keeping a jogging pace beside her. He tightened the hood of his snowsuit to hide his own face. "Like those assclowns could could wield a sword. I can barely wield one and I'm a…" his voice trailed off and she let the words hang.
She was fed up with his bragging and lying. They returned to the lodge in silence.
---
Grel had been in a strange kind of mood for the rest of the night. Not that Maple was so intimately familiar with him, but he seemed noticeably down. Did it really mean that much to him that he lost a skiing contest he was inevitably going to lose? It was the most quiet she had ever experienced from him, something she was grateful for. She needed all the peace and quiet and brain power she could muster to figure out how to get them out of this jam.
While Grel had been out 'borrowing' thing, she had been pouring over pamphlets, studying train routes, and carriage path maps and more, but every route of had some kind of problem. They could take the train, which had been her plan originally, but she realized with growing dread that they might get there too late. Probably would get there too late. I
f they could get to a major city they could charter an airship, but they would need serious money. Grel had a lot of money, way more than her, but neither of them had enough for an airship. Too bad it seemed to be the only thing that would be fast enough. If they could travel in a straight line they could get there more quickly, but the only direct path between here and there went through the Fallen Isles.
She was in front of those books once more, sat at the table in their room. Maple ran her finger wistfully across an image of the Fallen Isles. They didn't always look like that. Long ago, before the Drough, they used to float. She couldn't imagine it, but had read countless stories about it.
Nowadays there was a series of gondolas and rocky cliff cottages built right into the rock face, but that was an exclusive destination. They might be able to afford the gondola ride, if there was even room for them given how sparse tickets were, but they'd never afford one one of the cottages. Staying outside of them was a recipe for disaster with no shortage of monsters creeping around the canyons.
Sighing she took her eyes off the mess and looked over to Grel. He was in his natural form sitting with his feet literally in the fire and watching the snow outside. His head rested on his fist, and despite the fact he was a dragon, in that moment, he reminded Maple very much of a little boy.
"Can we talk about it yet?" Maple asked, for what felt like the hundredth time. "The magic I mean."
"No," he said flatly, not bothering to look at her.
Grel had done magic. That was the only conclusion Maple could come to. There was no other way to explain what happened, nor how it ended. Whoever the hooded figure was, they had bought Maple enough time to recognize something. The snow creature. She had read about it in LOVELOCK before.
Well, not exactly just like it. In one letter Ruby had described facing off against a whole creature made of living mud, with sharp rocks for teeth. There had been an incantation, one hastily penned down as though it had been during the middle of that fight. Maple just changed a few words to be snow related.
She read it aloud, but nothing happened.
That's when monster had picked her up, with Grel in its other hand.
She wasn't sure what made her do so, but she yelled for Grel to say it instead, saying the words first for him to follow. mercifully, he had listened to her.
As soon as he did, there was an explosion and the two of them were hurled down the slope and into the snow. At some point, while airborne, Grel had grabbed her and wrapped himself around her. That was the only reason she had survived, and why they were buried so deeply in the snow. His body hit the earth like a meteor, but the deep snow absorbed the shock. That and there must've been some magic for them to survive a fall like that.
His story, that he heard her hyperventilating and then helped her begrudgingly, didn't add up perfectly for her. He could have easily torn himself free of her, and rushed across the finish line. But he stayed with her, and saved her. That was a different problem to worry about.
"We have to talk about it," she tried again.
"Fine!" He snapped. The loudness of his voice surprised her. He continued, calmer but with clear tension in his voice. "Then tell me what you were doing following me? Did you trust me so little?"
Maple was floored, like a slap to the face. "I've already told you. I got turned around when I was looking for the bathroom. It's completely by coincidence that I stumbled upon you." She considered stopping, leaving the matter there. But she didn't like what he was insinuating, and she was tired of his bad attitude so she pressed it. "Regardless, you clearly had no plan that could be trusted. What the hell did you do?"
"You swore." he flicked his glance over to her. Her frustration was kindling into a hot anger. Could he take anything seriously?
"I did. Because I am frustrated with you, Grel. Just tell me what happened. That way, next time, I can help you."
"Next time?" He made a face of disgust. "Alright, you caught me. I tried to use magic to win the contest. I did magic, and before you ask, no I'm not very good at it. There's still plenty of magic in Salt, an over abundance if you ask me. It's just all in dragon country. It all has to do with that book." He gestured limply, half heatedly to LOVELOCK which sat on the table. "It really is my family's book. Yeah I know that some of those letters are from a guy in your family, but Ruby, the majority author? That's my great-great-great-whatever grandma. On my dad's side. I don't know the full details, but Grandma Ruby left the book in Spice Rack City as a trap. She meant for it to go off a long time ago. Clearly, I wasn't the only part of her plan she couldn't predict going wrong."
Maple took a long time to drink in what he was saying. This was life changing information. "Why didn't you tell me before now?" She asked.
"I didn't know that I could trust you."
"You trust me?"
"Yeah. Humans are too dumb to lie." She was ready to protest, but he continued. "BUT you're probably the smartest human I've ever met. Not that I've met that many humans. To be fair you're smarter than a lot of dragons I've met too. Now, before you get going, I have a couple of my own questions. Number one, how did you do that back there? The snow monster thing, I mean? How did you know to say that incantation?"
"I read it in LOVELOCK. Though, it wasn't exactly the same. I had to change some words, but I didn't feel like I did anything. I just said some silly words and felt ridiculous while doing it. It took you to say it, and you were able to control that beast."
Grel laughed, but it sounded bitter. "Back home we have have alchemists, dragons who have studied the raw magic and attempted to bottle them. Like my sunglasses. They're an old recipe from before the Drought. We still have lots of magic, but nobody knows what they're doing anymore. The alchemist are the closest thing we've got, and with one silly phrase, we did more than any alchemist has been capable of doing for hundreds of years."
"We need to try it again. We need to run tests to see if- oh, I'm sorry, you said you had another question?"
"You don't need to apologize so much, Mape."
"Don't call me Mape."
"How about 'cupcake?' Because humans are so disgustingly sweet?"
Maple furrowed her eyebrows. "You know, Mister, I've had just about enough of you and your hatred of sweetness. What if I could guarantee that I could find a sweet treat you would enjoy? Right here in this lodge?"
"I'd say bring it on because that's impossible."
"Then give me all of 15 minutes to change your mind. I could use a break from all this anyway. When I come back, we'll relax, and see if there are any spells on LOVELOCK that might be able to help us."
"Fine but I'm going in the hot tub."
"You'd better spend that time thinking of how we're going to get out of this mess," she grumbled, tugging on her boots and preparing to go to the cafe.
There was a knock at the door. Grel quickly flew to the table and tugged his glasses on, his feet leaving soot patches on the floor.
"Who is that?" He hissed, flickering into his human form. "Look through the peephole."
Maple crept up to the door and made to look through the spyhole but the door shuddered. She took a step back, uncertain. Then the door shutter once, twice, then snapped and flew open with a bang.
On the other side was a very angry Ivy, holding the door by its handle now, completely unburdened by the hinges or the wall. Lettuce stood behind her, looking embarrassed and nervous.
"Company," he said with a weak laugh.
"Where is he?" Asked Ivy roughly as she pushed past Maple and into their room. Maple stumbled into the wall as she was shoved.
Lettuce rushed to her side to steady her. "I'm so sorry. For the record, I did try to stop her."
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Asked Grel, quickly getting up in her face.
"I knew it," Ivy said. "It's you. You're the lizard man!"
"I don't know what you're talking about," said Grel coolly.
Ivy glared at him, her eyes burning with indignation and fury. "Don't lie to me, lizard man. I saw you with Maple. You weren't wearing those glasses then, but every time I've seen you, you're always wearing them. It's weird to wear sunglasses inside, at night! Is that where you keep your power?"
"Ive you sound insane," Lettuce, said through gritted teeth.
Maple caught site of the sword at Ivy's side again. "Wait," she said slowly, her brain piecing things together. "You the hooded figure, weren't you?"
"The hooded what?" Asked lettuce, stepping between Ivy and Grel. "You weren't playing vigilante justice again were you?"
"That is beside the point! Besides, I promised I would use my strength for good," Ivy said hotly. "These two are up to something and I'm not going to leave it alone. This guy was trying to rig the skiing contest, I just know it."
"I lost," Grel growled.
"Only because I stopped you!" Said Ivy, but some of the wind had clearly been taken out of her sails.
"Ivy, Lettuce it's not like that," Maple tried desperately. "Ok, he did try to rig the contest, but it's much more than that."
"Then what is it about, little human?" Ivy asked, turning her frustration to maple. Maple felt herself back down, trying to shrink like when Peppermint would reprimand her. "And what about being human statue contest judges, or whatever that obvious farce was?"
"We're on a quest," said Grel.
Ivy let out a bitter bark of a laugh. "Try again."
"Admittedly our quest got sidetracked," said Maple with a pointed look to Grel, "but we really are on a quest of sorts."
"A quest for what?" Ask Ivy. She crossed her arms, not backing down.
"To save two cities and probably the entire world," said Grel angrily. "We don't owe you two any answers."
"Oh ,you think so?" Asked Ivy. "What makes you think I won't take this to the authorities?"
Now, it was Grel's turn to pale.
"My hometown, the capital, Spice Rack City is in danger, and so it his home," said Maple. Grel attempted to stop her, but she ignored him. "It's long and complicated."
"We've got time," said Ivy.
There was no reason not to tell the truth now. So, Maple explained the situation, and Grel corrected the parts that he didn't like. He even removed his glasses and showed them the truth of his identity. Ivy and Lettuce listened patiently, though she did have one question when it was done.
"With all of this on the line you still thought a good way to spend your time, and limited magical resources, was to try to cheat at a skiing contest?"
Maple felt vindicated. Grel scowled. The bard and his bodyguard took a few minutes to talk privately. But in the end, Ivy and Lettuce felt different about the situation.
"We're coming with you," said Ivy, matter-of-factly.
"No! Way!" Yelled Grel.
"Thank you for offering," said Maple, trying to be more reasonable, "but it's already a logistical nightmare to figure out how to get two people there."
"What if you had access to a celebrity and his money?" Asked Lettuce. "You wouldn't believe the strings I can pull."
Maple was stunned. "Why would you want to do this? Either of you?"
"Well I like my capital city alive, and functioning," said Lettuce. "Besides, we have our reasons. Maybe we'll talk about them someday and maybe we won't, but until then I'll bankroll whatever we need to get to the dragon kingdom as soon as possible. Trust that we're getting what we need out of this."
"How can we possibly trust you?" Asked Grel.
"Because I had the opportunity to kill you once and I didn't take it?" Questioned Ivy. "I'm strong. You saw that for yourself. I'll take care of mine and you take care of yours, how about that?"
Mabel could tell that Grel was fighting his baser desires, and frankly, she was impressed that he didn't even swear. Ultimately, he even agreed.
The rest of the night was spent packing and planning. Maple's plan proved to be the best one after all. Lettuce actually had the kind of money you would need to stay in the cottages. Maple almost wanted to send a postcard home, Salt was known for its excellent postal system after all, and tell her family about the wild journey she was on. Clarry would die of jealousy, and Peppermint would tell he how he would have planned it better.
If only her family would be there to get any letter. She tried not to dwell on that, on how much she missed her mom and dad, and to focus on the task at hand.
When the newly established group had decided on a plan, and made any and all arrange arrangements they could, they parted for the evening.
But Maple did one more thing before she turned in for the night. She went down to the cafe and got something for Grel. She hadn't forgotten her promise.
"What's this?" He asked, more accusingly than she thought was necessary.
"Spicy hot chocolate," she said, setting the mug down next to him.
"I'm not drinking this."
"Oh yes, you are! If it wasn't for me, we would've never gotten Lettuce's help. Not to mention, you still owe me for rescuing you from the snow golem."
"All right, all right fine. Has anyone ever told you that you're a nag?" He made a big show of not wanting to drink, but finally took a sip. His eye ridges shot up with surprise. "Oh no."
"You like it don't you?" She allowed herself a little smirk.
"Shut up."
But he did like it. Score one, Maple.