The Crystal Rose by Astrid Foss

Author:Astrid Foss [Astrid Foss]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788000161
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Published: 2018-08-01T16:00:00+00:00

Hanna’s mouth tightened. She could feel the magic sapping her energy … but there was no way she was going to give up!

Every second felt like an hour but eventually the avalanche passed on, thundering over the glacier, sweeping up the deep snow on the surface and carrying it away. As the noise gradually faded, Hanna lowered the sheet of ice to the ground beside them and collapsed. She was breathing as hard as if she’d just run a marathon and her face was pale.

Ida and Magda hugged her.

“Oh, Hanna, you were amazing!” said Ida.

“You saved us all!” said Magda.

Hanna smiled weakly. “I thought I wasn’t going to be able to hold it.”

“I can’t believe Veronika did that,” said Ida. “She really is evil!”

“She’d do anything to capture the Everchanging Lights,” said Magda with a shudder.

Oskar wuffled in agreement and nudged Magda with his nose. She gave him a small smile and stroked his head.

“You look exhausted too. Here, have something to eat,” said Magda, hurriedly unpacking her bag. She pulled out the bread and cheese they had brought and gave some to her sister, then gave Oskar the strips of dried meat they had brought for him.

As Hanna ate, the colour slowly returned to her cheeks. She sighed in relief. “That’s better,” she said. “You should have some too.”

The sisters tucked into the bread and cheese. Food had never tasted so good. As they ate, the world settled around them and a peaceful silence fell once again.

Ida started to pack away and Hanna tightened the laces on her snow boots. “We’d better get going,” she said.

Her heart sinking at the thought of all the walking they still had to do, Magda stood up. She frowned in surprise. The avalanche had changed the glacier. Most of the snow had been swept away, revealing cracks and crevasses in the frozen river beneath it. More surprising was that near to the boulder they were sheltering behind there was now a dark opening – a cave.

Going over, Magda saw that the cave led into a tunnel that ran down through the ice. Her heart beat faster. It seemed to head in the direction of the ice field. Maybe it led through the ice of the glacier all the way to the other side. If they could go through it, it would be much quicker than walking across the treacherous surface.

“Ida! Hanna! Look at this!”

Her sisters came out from behind the boulder. Magda showed them what she had found. “Do you think we could walk through it?”

“We should try!” said Hanna instantly.

“But we don’t know where it goes,” Ida pointed out. “We could end up wandering around under the glacier not going in the right direction – or we could be trapped by an ice fall. It’s too dangerous.”

“I don’t mind it being dangerous. I’ll go and explore,” said Hanna, heading eagerly towards the entrance.

“No, wait!” said Magda, an idea springing into her head as she saw the same bird they had seen earlier flitting through the sky.

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