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The kids had been sitting on the beanstalk for hours by the time they finally saw land, off on the horizon. Ever since they'd gone past the cliffs surrounding Unum, all they'd been able to see below them was leagues and leagues of ocean. Sophie was pretty disappointed. This was her first trip to the magical world, so she'd hoped she'd be able to see some of the magical landscape from the beanstalk. Instead, she'd had nothing to do but to look through her own backpack. Her mom had filled it up with Sophie's winter clothes and a thermos full of hot cocoa.
"Won't be long till we make landfall," Nimum said. "Just another 2 minutes and 37 seconds!"
Sophie could finally make out the coast of Northfire, which was covered by a thick layer of snow. Was it going to be a rough landing? Did they need to jump? Or would the bubble protect them? She looked around at her classmates, who all looked like they were having similar thoughts.
To their relief, the beanstalk started to move downwards and slow down, until the leaf the students were standing on delicately touched down on the snow.
Nimum stepped over to the edge of the giant bubble that surrounded them and, with two intakes of breath, shrank it down to its original size, which was no bigger than a bouncy ball. She put it back in her backpack.
With the bubble no longer protecting the students from the elements, they were suddenly hit by the cold like a smack to the face. It was as cold as the inside of a freezer – which Sophie knew from experience, having once decided to play polar explorer in one. She'd soon concluded that freezers didn't leave much room for moving around, though, so she'd postponed her polar exploring till the winter.
"Mother of trolls, it's cold!" Trom complained, his whole body shaking.
"Oh, c-calm down, it's n-not that b-b-bad," Elva said, trying to seem unaffected by the cold even though her teeth were chattering.
Sophie wanted to open up her bag and put on all the winter clothes her mom had packed, but it didn't quite feel right when the rest of the class would still be freezing. Perhaps they could all take turns wearing Sophie's winter clothes? That way at least they'd all be warmer some of the time.
Luckily, Nimum slammed her massive backpack down on the ground and started pulling out winter clothes for all the students.
"Sophie, I'll bet your mom's got you covered, right?" Nimum asked.
Sophie nodded and didn't hesitate another moment to put on her warm clothes. The rest of the class leapt at the winter clothes like they were life jackets in the middle of a stormy sea.
Before long they were walking away from the beanstalk at a brisk pace, heading into the unknown snowy landscape of Northfire [https://img.wattpad.com/8f5ea12c08b4cfcd9242ae318f9166f14e923189/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f4e79484a6c4d52587744333272673d3d2d313332363432393236302e313734653334663966643962396665333236363336303230363933362e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
Before long they were walking away from the beanstalk at a brisk pace, heading into the unknown snowy landscape of Northfire.
The class had been walking through the heavy snow for two hours, and Sophie was having an amazing time. She admired the tall rock pillars that poked at least 150 feet into the air, looking almost like skyscrapers. There were huge rocks placed into circular formations, too, and vibrant trees in the middle of the snow with the thickest trunks she'd ever seen and purple and orange leaves in their crowns.
She felt just like the first time she'd ever visited a candy store. Her head darted from side to side, as she thrilled at every new thing she saw. A few times she ran off to look at the giant rocks, but Nimum called her back. On the occasions where she managed to walk alongside the class without getting distracted by something, she listened to Beto, who was eagerly telling the others about the country's history.
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The country of Northfire had been discovered less than half a millennium ago. Now it was home to both yetis, giants, Jotuns and all kinds of ice-based beings whose bodies were well suited to the cold. They'd all been drawn there by the area's unusual flora. Even in the magical world, trees that could grow fruit in below-freezing temperatures were very rare, found only in a few places around the world.
Sophie looked around, trying to spot this amazing plant life that Beto was talking about, but there wasn't much to see. Sure, the purple-and-orange trees looked nice, but they were few and scattered. Even if you put them all together, there weren't enough to make up even a small forest.
Fiff flew over to Sophie's side. Her small fairy body was glowing a worried blue color.
"Is something wrong?" Sophie asked.
"I'm worried about Trom."
Sophie looked back at Trom, who was plodding along behind everyone else, kicking at the snow in irritation. Fiff was the one who spent the most time with Trom, and she probably knew him the best.
"What do you think is bothering him?" Sophie asked.
"I don't know! He won't tell me! Normally I just have to pester him for a bit to get an answer, but now he refuses to tell me anything."
"You know, he started being like this the day after you joined our class, Sophie," Elva interjected.
Both Fiff and Sophie stared at Elva in surprise. Their reaction flustered her for a second.
"What? Am I the only one who's noticed that he's been extra annoying ever since that day?"
Fiff had noticed the change in Trom, of course, but she hadn't registered that it had started the day after Sophie joined.
Sophie had to admit that she hadn't noticed much herself. Throughout the week she'd been at the school, there'd been so many new things to see and experience, there was barely room for anything else inside her head. The Northfire landscape was no exception – as they walked, her eyes kept curiously darting from one thing to the next. Behind them, she could hear Trom complaining to Nimum.
"Why couldn't we just get the beanstalk to deliver us straight to the Dimension Door? That woulda been way faster and easier!"
"That's 'cause travelling over land on the beanstalk can be dangerous – and besides, I gotta do the whole teacher thing and show you some of the magical world!"
"We'd be able to see more of Northfire from up on the beanstalk, though," Trom countered.
"Sure, you'd see it, but you wouldn't experience it! And an adventure without experiences sounds pretty Snoresville to me," Nimum replied. "Sophie! Don't get too close to those flowers!"
Sophie had wandered over to a thorny bush with roses that were completely see-through, like they were made of glass. She was leaning all the way forward towards one of the blooming flowers to admire its beauty, when suddenly it shot out a crystal blue powdery substance at her face. She pulled back quickly, but not quickly enough. The powdery substance hit the tip of her nose, which instantly started to freeze. Sophie felt a burning cold spreading out from her nose to the rest of her face.
A long branch grew out from Nimum's arm and shot out like a whip, wrapping around Sophie and pulling her away from the rosebush.
A long branch grew out from Nimum's arm and shot out like a whip, wrapping around Sophie and pulling her away from the rosebush [https://img.wattpad.com/760d8867e98d7466b6c8bb012f67ac3ec8f943ef/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f67757132434d536b4f55675369773d3d2d313332363432393236302e313734653334663339643466326530663830353235333632383037332e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
"Mek! We need your eyes! Sophie, close your eyes so Mek doesn't turn you to stone, and Mek, concentrate on just the ice. Nothing else."
"What's happening?" Sophie asked nervously.
"You've been hit by something called a Kiss of Frost. It's gonna turn your whole body to ice if we don't do something," Nimum explained calmly but with urgency in her voice.
Mek stepped forward, looking uncertainly at Sophie. "Nimum, are you sure? I still can't really control my eyes..."
Nimum put a reassuring hand on Mek's shoulder. "Even if you end up petrifying her, that's still way better than being frozen. Sophie, please close your eyes."
Sophie did as she was told. She could still feel the cold spreading outwards from her nose. It felt like a thousand needles prickling at her – and then suddenly it stopped.
She felt her whole body grow rigid and stiff. She couldn't move a muscle.
- Next chapter will be out on Monday the 27th of March [https://img.wattpad.com/a599dcfff7943f707d1ba8e28bf3925769fae38b/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f56316d485446356e4334657642413d3d2d313332363432393236302e313734653334666664306362316165613530343333343933383931372e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]