Winterfrost (16 page)

“All right, then,” Bettina agreed. “I will go to Gammel, and I will do what I can to help you return to your family, Ulf.”

The corner of Ulf’s mouth turned upward in the smallest of smiles, and Bettina noticed for the first time a bit of the family resemblance. “Thank you, Bettina Larsen. Thank you!”

“I guess we’ll be off, then,” Bettina said, inching closer to the door. “Say good-bye, Pia!”

“Wait!” Ulf cried.

Bettina frowned.
What now?

“You may go. But Pia must stay here.”

“What?” Bettina couldn’t believe her ears.

“Once you have your sister back home, what’s to compel you to keep your word and speak to Gammel on my behalf ?”

Bettina promised she would, but Ulf remained unconvinced.

“No,” he said. “The child stays.”

Bettina looked at the door and back to Ulf. She already had Pia in her arms. She could just go, make a run for it. But then what? There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to when or how she would return to her proper size. And if she left the house and remained small, transportation seemed to be another unknown. She simply could not take the baby out into that awful freezing rain until she was sure they could safely return to Lolland.

Then Bettina had an idea. “Pia may stay,” she said, “only if Klakke stays, too.”

Klakke’s eyes widened. “B-but —” he sputtered.

“Klakke,” she said, her tone pleading, “I know you best and trust you most. Please stay and be certain that Pia is well taken care of.”

Klakke twisted his mouth from one side to another as if he was considering his options. Just then baby Pia stretched out a chubby hand toward the familiar nisse and smiled widely.

“OK,” Klakke answered, smiling back at Pia.

Ulf frowned. Once again, Klakke had been chosen over him. Bettina waited for the nisse to accept her compromise.

“If that’s how you want it . . .” he began.

“It’s settled, then,” Bettina interrupted. “I’ll go alone and be back as soon as I can.”

This seemed to amuse Klakke.

“Alone!” He laughed. “Haven’t you learned that in the forests and fields, one is seldom alone?”

To say that Bettina was unhappy to be leaving Askø without Pia would have been an understatement. As she trekked from the forest to the tall, grassy fields, she wondered if she had done the right thing. But what choice had she had? Ulf was holding Pia as collateral. He’d trade Pia for his father’s forgiveness, and it was up to Bettina to get it. At least Klakke was there. That single thought offered some comfort as she marched toward Askø’s small harbor.

Bettina’s problems only seemed to multiply as she walked. She had no idea how she would get back to Lolland. Stowing away on the old green Askø ferry would have been an option, but at this size, the only way to get aboard would be to skim the ropes, which would mean dangling far above the icy waters. Bettina’s small hands were already red and raw with cold. Could she trust them to hold on?

She knew that just before the ferry departed, the ferryman would let down the ramp for cars and people — if there were any of either this time of year — to enter. But scurrying across that ramp between giant wheels and heavy feet seemed just as dangerous as trying to board by rope.

Bettina was deep in thought when, behind her, something rustled in the dry leaves alongside the stone road. Bettina stopped. She listened. Nothing. She moved on only to hear the patter of small boots on the stones a moment later. Quickly she spun around, but behind her was just an empty lane.

Bettina decided to pick up her pace, nearly running. But the patter of feet was more evident than ever, and whoever was following her seemed to have no problems keeping up.

And then she heard a small voice.

“You’d make a good nisse — for honest,” it said.

Bettina slowed to a walk again. “Hello?”

She looked left and then right, and when she turned to face forward once more, she saw before her a young female nisse.

“I know you’re not actually a nisse, despite your size just now,” the nisse said. “But you can move nearly as quickly as we move, so you’d make a good nisse.”

“Thank you,” Bettina said.

“You’re welcome.”

Bettina tried to look this nisse girl over without staring or seeming impolite. She was the size of most nisse, not so plump as Pernilla, and dressed more like the men. She wore red leggings, brown boots, and a long brown coat with thistledown lining. On her head, a pointed red cap sat neatly over two long blond braids that did resemble Pernilla’s.

Bettina stuck out her hand and introduced herself.

“I know who you are,” the young nisse said with a twinkle in her eye. “You’ve become quite famous among the Lolland nisse, Bettina Larsen.”

“Are you from Lolland as well?” Bettina asked.

“I’m not, but I have family there,” she said, without introducing herself. “And I’d love to travel with you back to Lolland, if you don’t mind the company.”

“I’d be delighted!” Bettina said. There was something wonderfully familiar about this new nisse, and Bettina felt as if they’d been friends for years.

Their short legs fell into stride with one another as they marched on.

“What are you doing on Askø?” Bettina asked after a time.

“Oh, a bit of this, a bit of that.”

Bettina was more curious than ever, for what was there to do on a frozen island in the dead of winter? But it was clear that her companion didn’t feel like sharing. “If you have family on Lolland, then perhaps you know Gammel,” Bettina wondered aloud.

The little nisse giggled.

“Is that a silly question? Do you know a nisse woman named Pernilla? She has two young twins, Tika and Erik.”

Again, the girl laughed but said nothing.

“What about Klakke? Have you met Klakke? I think you’d remember him if you had!”

At this, the nisse stopped walking, sat down on a large pebble, and laughed until she had to wipe the tears from her eyes.

“Of course, I’ve met Klakke!” she said, when she could speak at last.

Bettina studied the young nisse girl closely, wondering what was so funny. Suddenly, something struck her. “You know, you look a bit like Klakke. Are you Klara?”

“It took you long enough to figure it out.”

Klara stood and hugged Bettina. “Forgive me, won’t you? I should have introduced myself right off, I suppose, but I couldn’t resist a bit of fun.”

If Bettina had had any doubts that Klara was Klakke’s sister, this bit of mischief would have dispelled them!

As the two moved closer to the Askø shoreline, Klara explained her real reasons for being on the island. Her parents had sent her from Falster to deliver to Klakke some clothing and treats their mother had made. But when she’d arrived at the Larsen farm, she didn’t find her brother. Instead, she’d found a note about a stolen child and a journey to see Ulf. What crazy mess had Klakke gotten himself into now, she’d wondered.

“When I entered the forest, I spotted him just as he was about to go into the big clearing. I nearly shouted out to him when I saw he was being followed,” Klara explained.

“I was following him!” said Bettina.

“Yes, it was you. And it looked like you might be gaining on Klakke, so I summoned a seagull as quickly as I could. I told the gull where Klakke wanted to go, and away he went!”

“
You
did that to your brother?” Bettina asked.

“I was only helping him out. It worked, didn’t it?” Klara shrugged. “He’ll thank me later.”

“Then what?” Bettina asked.

“Then I followed you while you visited Gammel, and I arranged for the Pedersens’ goose to pick you up, and then I came straight here on the next gull going north.”

Bettina was amazed! It seemed Klara had all of Klakke’s spunk and maybe a bit more common sense.

“I’ve been wondering something,” Bettina confessed. “How do you suppose I’m — we’re — going to get across the sea back to Lolland?”

Klara giggled. “Humans fuss over the silliest things!”

Sure enough, when they reached the shoreline, Klara turned away from the ferry and waved one arm high in the air, in a sweeping arch overhead.

“You, too,” Klara instructed, and Bettina obeyed, swinging her own arm in a similar manner.

Very soon two seagulls swooped low. “You’ve got to be kidding,” Bettina said.

She screamed and ducked, placing her hands over her head, fully expecting to be snatched up in a sharp, crooked beak. But one of the birds landed in front of Bettina, squawked once, and motioned toward his back with his large white head.

The bird squawked again and repeated the gesture.

Klara had already climbed atop her gray-and-white gull, which was running along the frozen-sand runway.

“Hurry up!” Klara called over her shoulder. “He’ll leave without you!”

Bettina hoisted herself up, and the gull wasted no time launching into flight. This bird lacked the soft padded seat that the Pedersens’ fat goose had provided, and Bettina found the flight to be overall jerky and uncomfortable. Between that and the wind and rain, it was impossible for the girls to converse with each other while in flight.

Bettina closed her eyes and held on tight.

To his credit, the seagull was faster than the goose had been, and soon enough they were inland over the frosted Lolland forest, landing in the very clearing where Klakke had been snatched. If this was the same seagull that had taken Klakke, Bettina was grateful that she’d been transported in a gentler manner! Of course, she had no way of knowing, as one crooked-beaked seabird looked exactly like the next.

The girls waved good-bye to their waterfowl taxis and walked through the tall grasses toward the forest. Bettina was thrilled to see that the winterfrost lingered. Askø had been so dull and bare, but Lolland still sparkled with millions of iridescent flakes of frozen fog.

As Bettina walked, something strange began to happen. The tall brown grasses on either side of her grew shorter. With each step, Bettina’s head rose higher above the ground, and she watched in amazement as her tiny booted feet grew larger. She was returning to her normal size. At last, when she could look across the horizon and see the fields of Lolland, she looked down at her companion.

Klara stood below, tinier than even Bettina guessed she would be. It was hard to believe Bettina herself had ever been so small.

Bettina frowned. She’d hoped to remain small until she’d had a chance to speak with Gammel and get back to Askø. One thing was certain. Her size was something over which she seemed to have no control these days. She could only hope that once she got to the door of the house beneath the oak, the old shrinking trick would work one more time.

“Don’t look so disappointed,” Klara called up to her. “We can still travel together.”

So Bettina moved on and Klara dashed in a blur of red, sometimes staying with Bettina and sometimes passing her by.

At the forest’s edge, Bettina became very aware that evening was setting in. Thoughts of all that had occurred since she’d set out that morning after Klakke were dizzying. Could so much have really happened in one short day?

It felt good to be back in familiar territory, and, she had to admit, it felt good to be back to her usual size. She marveled at the enormous tracks her boots left on the snowy forest path, and though she didn’t have the speed of Klara, she could cover a lot of ground in a single step.

Perhaps it was because she was looking down that she didn’t see him coming. Perhaps it was because she had so much on her mind that it didn’t occur to her that her neighbor Rasmus Pedersen might be out walking on the same forest path.

It didn’t occur to her, that is, until she rounded a fat fir tree and ran smack-dab into him, her face smashed up against his scratchy wool coat.

“Well, look who’s here!”

Mr. Pedersen grinned, looking genuinely happy to see his young neighbor. He extended his right hand to Bettina, who shook it politely, her mind racing as she anticipated his next question.

“You alone?” Sure enough, there it was.

“Yes,” Bettina answered, knowing it was Pia her neighbor was referring to, but she was wondering if Klara would stay out of sight. “I left Pia napping at home while I . . .”