Charlie and the Frozen Fantasy, Naomi Koontz [smart books to read .txt] 📗

Cold. Bitter, biting cold was all I felt before my consciousness had left me and I collapsed onto the icy ground.
I had been caught up in a blizzard, a harsh and unforgiving storm. Wandering away into the tree-line to find help was what exposed me to it. And it had sprung upon me, quite unsuspectedly! I wasn’t even able to walk halfway into the pines before I fell down under the might of the winds and snow.
Now, I had awakened again. My face was still buried in my coat, as I now was buried in the snow. It was quiet now, so I assumed that the blizzard had ended. Feebly, I made an attempt to free myself from the new icy prison that enclosed me. I was weak and weary. Rolling over to face the sky above, I lie there, motionless in my own frosty imprint. The sky was clear and dark, bright twinkling stars gazing down upon me. So many stars! And the moon seemed larger and brighter than usual… I was at a loss.
How could it be night already? What had happened to the others I was with? What…had happened to me? Seeing as though there was no greater solution, I, with great struggle, forced myself back upright upon my feet. I huddled into my winter coat, expecting the cold air to blast me again. But somehow, I was warm from that moment on. So much so that it felt like a day in early spring. I smiled in spite of my situation and looked once again to the sky. A dazzling flash of green waves swept through the star sprinkled expanse. The Northern Lights? But surely I was too far south for them! Something strange was going on…
In the clear silence of the night, I thought I could make out the muffled sound of crunching footsteps. I searched the snow-covered pines for the source. Then, from in between two tall trees, I spied the glow of a light moving towards me. Was someone coming to find me? It could be one of the people who accompanied me! Yes, it had to be one of them. My friend James, maybe? Or maybe…it was a person with ill intent. What if this person planned on doing me harm? Nevertheless, I was pinned to my spot, unable to move a muscle. I stood, watching the light and listening to the crunching footsteps come ever closer to me.
All of a sudden, as if by some stirring of magic, I saw two figures materialize before me: a girl with a lantern and a large white dog. Or…was it a wolf? They just stood still for a while, my silent gaze meeting hers. Before I had time to react, both the canine and the girl ran to me.
“I’ve found you! I’ve been looking for you!” called out the girl. I could now see what she had been wearing: a long blue scarf and a light minty green dress-like coat. Her lantern appeared to be lit with an aura-like light source that glowed from the inside. The white wolf had bright blue eyes that glinted in the night. Together they darted towards me.
Once the girl reached me, she grabbed me by the mitten and led me from my spot in the snow, her canine companion urging me on. Being reluctant, I tried to free my hand from her grasp. I was just a young boy then, and she was older than me.
“Who are you? What are you doing?” I demanded. She put her hands on her hips, looking at me impatiently.
“Look, I know this seems pretty weird, but you’ve got to come with me!” she said. I stared in confusion.
“Why? Where are you taking me?” The girl grabbed my hand again.
“It’ll make sense later. C’mon! We need you!” I could do nothing but follow. She and the wolf marched me through the snowy forest, following the tracks she had made to come find me. At first, our trip looked like nothing more than a normal walk through the woods — a scattered assortment of trees blanketed in white. But it was not a normal walk through the woods. Not in the slightest. That was the last speck of a “normal” life I would ever have.
All of a sudden, the trees ended in a large clearing. Dark mountains poked above the distant trees and framed the sky. But…there weren’t any mountains where I lived! However, the mountainous horizon was not the strangest thing about this clearing: it was the tower.
Sitting right in the center of the clearing was a small tower. One might look upon it and be reminded of a medieval castle. It was made of gray stone brick and had two layers, much like tiers on a cake. Arched glassless windows spilled warm dim light out onto the snow.
“Wow,” I gasped. The girl looked at me and smiled.
“This isn’t even the impressive one!” she laughed.
“Is this where you’re taking me?” I asked her as she led me towards it.
“No, we’re going somewhere better. But I need to do something first,” she explained. As we drew nearer to the tower, my mind raced with questions. What was going on? What was this building? And what did she need to do before we went to “somewhere better?” The last inquiry was answered moments after we crossed the threshold and stepped into the orange fiery light of the tower.
“I’m going up to the top. You wait down here,” the girl instructed, making her way up the staircase that spiraled upwards. The white wolf followed her.
“Wait!” I cried out. But it was too late. She had already disappeared up the staircase. I bolted up the steps after them, around the interior of the first layer of the tower. At the end of the staircase was the entry to the second floor, exposed to the outside air.
Funny, I thought. There’s no snow up here.
Just as I had come to the first layer’s stony roof, a brilliant blue light burst from the top of the tower. Its brightness sliced through the clouds as well as made me squint painfully. Normally, I would have been frightened by a spectacle such as this. Not this time, however. I was intrigued by it: what was this light? Curious, I decided to head for the entry to the second staircase to the top, where the light shone from. 
As I neared the domed empty doorway, I was met by the white canine with the blue eyes. It ran halfway down the stairs and stood in the middle, gazing at me as if it were trying to hypnotize me. Each time it blinked, the glow from its eyes grew brighter, and brighter, and brighter until…
The girl with the mint coat came down the stairs.
“That light,” I began, “was that you?”
“Yeah, yeah it was.”
“How did you do that?” I asked, amazed.
“Magic,” she replied. I giggled a bit at her answer. But her face showed no signs of lightheartedness towards it. Seeing she was not even smiling, I stopped laughing. Then I realized that she wasn’t joking. How else could a light like that appear from the top of a castle-looking tower? I didn’t see any cords lying around…
“Come with me to the top,” she instructed me. She and the wolf trotted back up the stairs, leaving me on the second floor. I followed them not too long afterward.
The night air was crisp and clean around me; it seemed to be amplified through the elevation of the tower’s top. From up here, the forest of trees seemed soft and small. One mountain in particular stood out the most against the horizon. Just what made it stand out, I couldn’t be sure of. My eyes always travelled back to the mountain. As if to answer the mystery of why I was so drawn to it, waves of green light blasted out from its top. This display appeared to be the Northern Lights, but I was almost certain that it wasn’t. I gazed into the stream of green. I stared so focused on it that I did not even noticed the scenery around me change. I snapped out of it when I realized I could no longer see the green waves in the sky.
Now, I stood at the base of a wide, tall set of stairs that seemed to lead up into the sky. Cold breezes swept past me, making me huddle into my coat again. The girl and her dog were here in this new location as well. When I turned around to look at her, I noticed something else. Trees were scattered about the downward slopes of a steep hill. These trees gave way to a forest below, and poking up from a clear area in the forest was a small tower… Wait a second, was I on the mountain I had been staring at?
“Yep, we’re on the mountain that had the Northern Lights,” said the girl, answering my internal question before I had a chance to ask it aloud. “Come with us up the stairs,” she beckoned me, beginning to climb them. Once again, I followed her as she went to a new unknown location. But this time, the mystery grew when I spied the “location.” To put it simply, it was a giant fantasy castle. I was euphoric and anxious all at once.
Its white, carved towers and walls made it look like it came straight out of a movie. Each tower was topped by a pointed, shiny blue roof. Banners and flags blew in the wind. I spoke not a word as we grew ever near.
When we approached the heavy metal gate that led inside the walls, the girl bent over and whispered something into the white wolf’s ear. Having seemed to have understood whatever it was she had said, the wolf jogged up closer to the gate. It gave a fierce, growling bark. Within moments, the gate began to recede upward into the wall. Once the gate had been opened, we entered into the castle.
We walked past several aligned columns to the keep. Later, I found out that there had been twenty-four on each side. What were they for?
The keep was a grand palace with architecture that looked like a strange cross between ancient Greek and Gothic castle. On the outside, at least. As we came closer to it, blue hovering lights appeared along the path we strode. I gasped in alarm as they lit up. The girl explained to me that they were the “path lights” and urged me along.
She, the wolf, and I came to the mammoth wooden door inside the keep. I thought she would tell the wolf to bark again, but she didn’t; the door opened up almost instantly. One after another, we stepped through the threshold.
Inside was a spacious room full of decorative doors. Two levels of them, even. Everything within the room was touched by the dim glow of bluish light. The floor gleamed with a reflective sheen. Matching sets of stairs, one at either side of the room, curled around and led to the second level of fancy doors. The doors were outlined with either silver or gold around the edges and were each made with a certain depiction on them. Some had trees, some had flowers, but one door stood out above all the others. The largest door faced opposite from where I stood. The silver around its edges was more of an elegant design than the others, and the door was a royal purple. On it