Page 2 of A Snowed in Valentine's

Without really thinking, Daphne shrugged and said, “It’s going to get very cold soon.”

The redhead looked at her like she’d lost her marbles. Which Daphne supposed wasn’t far from the truth. What she was attempting to do was something no one in the long line of Emersons before her had ever done. It was insane.

Do you really think you can fix the Frost Mountain problem, Daphne? Do you think you can end the problem that’s been going on for centuries?

She’d known about Frost Mountain ever since she was a little girl, nearly four decades ago. Daphne remembered sitting at her mother Diana’s feet, staring with wide eyes into the flickering fireplace as the older witch narrated the story that had traveled down the generations from one witch’s lips to another’s ears.

We Emersons,her mother had begun,we come from a long line of powerful witches. But with great power comes the possibility of absolute chaos.

It happened sometime in the latter part of the 1700s, around the time of the American Revolution. A war broke out between shifters and witches. Many of the actual details had been mixed up over the years, but the war had occurred due to a land dispute.

Why couldn’t they just share the land?Daphne had asked her mother.

Because, little one,Diana had replied,the shifters and the coven of witches didn’t trust each other. They refused to live together. But neither wanted to leave the land for the other and soon, a war began.

The shifters hadn’t stood a chance. Years later, Daphne would learn that the coven had fought dirty, using dark magic to defeat the shifters in a swift attack. As if that weren’t enough, they’d decided to exile the shifters to a faraway location, someplace from which they could never return.

So they’d created Frost Mountain, an infinite dimension blanketed in snow. Not bad for a Christmas vacation or a hiking trip. It would be terrible if you happened to be stuck there forever.

And that was exactly what happened. Only it got worse.

Frost Mountain was intended to be a sort of prison for the shifters who’d gone against the coven, but shortly after its creation, Frost Mountain spiraled out of the control of the very witches who’d created it. What had begun as a dimension with a sealed entry portal and no way to escape soon became an independent entity with portals reaching into Earth and other worlds, other dimensions, claiming lives, people, and whatever else happened to get too close.

For centuries, the descendants of the witches of the coven, including the Emersons, had struggled to undo what their ancestors had created, but to no avail. Frost Mountain simply could not cease to be. The ball had been set in motion, and it was never going to stop rolling.

At least, that was what other witches seemed to think.

But from a young age, Daphne had thought otherwise.

You cannot fix something so powerful and ancient,Diana had sternly warned her when Daphne shared her thoughts with her mother.Frost Mountain’s not up to anyone to fix. Do not ever attempt it, you hear me?

As a young girl, Daphne had nodded in response.

That had been decades ago. But now, as the last Emerson alive, there was no one to stop her except herself. Frost Mountain couldn’t be allowed to continue to exist. Not as it was, anyway. If a place so vast could have so many entry points and no exit, she could begin by trying to create one. But first, she had to get to the mountain.

However, as she sat perusing the grimoire, she couldn’t help wondering,What if I fail? What if this is a suicide mission?

No one who had been to Frost Mountain had ever returned. At least, not that she knew of. It was hard to tell who’d simply gone missing and who had accidentally walked through a portal that had appeared in their backyard, not so much with planes or ships. Greater disappearances were harder to miss. The Bermuda Triangle alone was home to portals responsible for missing craft.

And then there’s that ghost ship from the 19th century,she thought.Mary Celeste or something.

The way she saw it, she was more likely to find a portal in midair or at sea. It was why she’d boarded this flight. She could have been sitting in her apartment back in Vegas, trying to conjure up a portal to Frost Mountain. Butrevealing onethat was already there should be easier. All she had to do was find the perfect location, a likely spot for a portal leading to Frost Mountain.

Like forty thousand feet off the ground.

The plane shuddered again. As long as her protection spell held up, everyone else on Flight 18 should be safe from whatever happened after she performed her spell.

Svassissimo nepo diovina.

She repeated the words in her head, a chill settling over her.

“What’s with the book?” It was the red-haired passenger. She was frowning at the grimoire.

“It is power,” Daphne replied automatically.

“Power…” The woman tapped her chin for a moment. “Right. You mean knowledge. As in, knowledge is power. You don’t look like a nerd.”

Daphne blinked back at her. She didn’t look like much of anything. She didn’t even look her age.

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