Whatever After #6: Cold as Ice by Sarah Mlynowski Read Free Book Online Page B

down to the basement a couple of hours later, she is no longer wearing her tree costume. She’s wearing black leggings and a long gray sweatshirt. She has blond hair that is stick straight and down to her waist. She’s carrying a tray of food and drinks.
    “Who’s hungry?” she asks.
    Gerda jumps off the floor, where she’s been resting after her workout. Jonah is sitting beside me. Ralph is napping.
    “I’m not hungry,” Gerda announces. “I’m just ready to go, go, go! Ralph, wake up! We’re going!”
    Ralph awakens with a yawn and looks around.
    “Go where?” Sharon asks with a sneer.
    Gerda keeps her chin up. “You said I could leave. Remember? You felt bad about my friend Kai and said I could go get him tonight.”
    “Oh yeah,” Sharon says lazily. She twists a strand of her blond hair around her finger. “I did say that, didn’t I?”
    Jonah and I exchange a worried glance.
    Gerda puts her hands on her hips. “Yes. You did.”
    “Maybe. But that was before.”
    “Before what?” Gerda asks.
    I get another bad feeling in my stomach.
    Sharon puts the tray of food down on the floor and smiles. “Before I brought friends for you to play with!”
    “But they want to come, too,” Gerda says, glancing at me and Jonah.
    Sharon laughs as though this is the funniest thing she’s ever heard. “You think I can let all of you escape? Are you crazy? I can’t let all of you go!”
    “Why not?” I ask.
    “Mother would be furious. I can’t disobey her like that. The band would never forgive me.”
    Jonah makes the air-guitar motion. I give him the evil eye.
    “I’m sorry,” Sharon goes on, “but with the three of you, Mother can rob all kinds of new places. Like schools! She’s making plans. And anyway, Gerda, now you have friends to hang out with down here, so you won’t get lonely.”
    “Hello?” Ralph barks. “Am I invisible? I’m right here! No one was lonely!”
    “I don’t care about being lonely,” Gerda says. “I’m on a mission. I need to save Kai!”
    “Why do you care so much about this Kai guy?” Sharon asks. “Is he your boyfriend or something? Do you looooooove him? Are you going to maaaaarry him?”
    “For your information, I’m only twelve,” Gerda says, glaring at Sharon. “I’m not getting married anytime soon. But Kai is my best friend and I do love him. And I need to find him.” A tear drips down her cheek.
    I stand up and put my arm around Gerda’s shoulders.
    “Jonah and I really need to go, too,” I tell Sharon. “We have to get our dog and get back home.”
    “Yeah!” Jonah exclaims. “According to my watch, it’s almost three in the morning at home! We have to move.”
    Sharon scowls at my brother. “I thought your watch was broken.”
    Jonah flushes and hides his watch hand behind his back. “Oh! Right. It is. Never mind! What watch? I don’t have a watch.”
    “You’re a little liar,” Sharon snaps. “And you two should be grateful. You almost drowned. We saved you. Mother is giving you a place to live.”
    “She’s making you lock us in a basement,” I say. “And she wants to use us to rob people!”
    Sharon shrugs. “We have to earn our keep.”
    Gerda covers her face with her hands. “Your mother is horrible.”
    “She’s not technically my mother,” Sharon admits. “I just call her ‘Mother.’ All the ladies in the band of robbers do.”
    Jonah makes another guitar pose. I give him another evil eye.
    “What happened to your parents?” Jonah asks Sharon.
    “My parents died when I was four,” she says, her voice cracking. “They were attacked by wolves.”
    I gasp. “That’s horrible.”
    Her eyes tear up. “If there’d been a hospital nearby, maybe my parents could have been saved. But the Republic of Blizzard is short on hospitals. It’s a problem.”
    “So you were left all alone?” I ask her. I suddenly feel really bad for Sharon.
    She nods. “Mother found me wandering the woods. She took me in. She gave me