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birthday.
    “The thaw will come, Snow Queen,” Bae says, backing away from the door. “And neither you nor your Master Voss can prevent its arrival.”
    I turn on my heel and stalk away . The change of seasons means only one thing—the end of my existence. While others long for green buds to unfurl into fluttering leaves, I tremble, knowing that a terrible fate awaits me, clothed in the deceptive beauty of spring.
    This does not touch me. Such words hold no power. Let them fade. Let it go.
    Back in my chambers I review my calculations. As the numbers fill my mind, I resolve to develop a plan that will halt any thaw, at least in my kingdom. If I complete the mirror I’ll reign as Snow Queen forever and nothing, not even spring, can touch me ever again.

MASTERING THE STORM
     
    Something cool presses against my hand. I roll over in bed, and I’m nose to nose with Luki. I stare into his golden eyes for a moment, then glance about my chamber. Although there aren’t any windows in my rooms, my heightened senses tell me it’s still dark outside.
    “Go out if you must,” I mumble to the wolf. After the first few weeks, when I had to drag Luki outside several times a night, I’d taken to leaving my door ajar, knowing that the possible presence of the wolf would keep the wraiths at bay. Luki soon learned to go out on his own, making his way through the concealed cave opening used by our servant animals. I hesitated at first, certain that once Luki left the palace his instincts would call him away to the wild, but I decided to take that risk. It was unlikely that he could help me lure Kai again, at any rate.
    But Luki never leaves me.
    “Just go,” I say, rolling away from him and pulling the fur coverlet over my head. I’m tired from a late night excursion to the Great Hall. During last evening’s review of my calculations I discovered I’d foolishly overlooked a wrinkle in one equation. Anxious to correct my error, I raced to the Hall to place five more pieces of the mirror. In my haste I forgot to illuminate all the walls and the wraiths trailed me right to the double doors, barring my entry. I sucked in my breath and plowed through them, dashing inside and slamming the door behind me. The wraiths are forbidden to enter any room that holds the mirror, but their eerie cries slipped under the door and filled the stone chamber
    “Be quiet!” I yelled at the door, before focusing my mind on my task. Once I successfully reintegrated the fragments into the mirror I strode out of the Hall, stepping into a cluster of wraiths. I called them idiots and worthless whiners as I beat my way past their clinging vapors.
    “Soon.” A threadbare voice whistled past my ears. “Soon you will be one of us.”
    “Never,” I spat at them. Stalking back to my chambers, I reassured myself. This does not touch me. The words matched the rhythm of my boots. Let it go .
    When I reached my room, I spent two hours reviewing my calculations before I fell asleep.
    This morning I’m traveling back to the village. If I can’t collect Kai Thorsen any other way, I’ll conjure a blizzard that will bury that town. I’ll save only Kai from the tidal drifts of snow. Let the other villagers’ bodies freeze to match their hearts.
    I don’t recall much from my first days in that town—just rough hands and nodding heads and lies. I do remember the stories the villagers told about my family, as well as the beatings I received when I protested the truth of their words. My parents weren’t fleeing from anything. We were leaving the village to begin life in another land. That’s what my father told me. A new beginning, far from frost-blighted fields and summers that wafted in and out in a day.
    But I can’t dwell on such memories today. Dressed in my white furs, I hurry to the stables. Luki outruns me—he’s grown large enough to lope faster than I can walk.
    I harness two pale ponies to my sleigh. “You aren’t quite as adorable a lure as