Page 15 of The Midnight Blizzard
The combined heat from the dogs made the cramped space significantly warmer than the outside, and several blankets hung on the wall. I removed one of them, hung my bag on its hook, and scooped a handful of treats from a sack before turning back to the stalls. The sled dogs sobered only slightly as I fed each of them a treat. Ace in particular looked as though he would start frothing at the mouth if I didn’t let him out to run. Only Cinder sat calmly in her pen, wagging her tail politely as her tongue lolled out.
“I pick you,” I told her, quietly opening her door to let myself in. The floor was covered with clean straw for bedding. I might smell and look odd tomorrow when I showed up with straw stuck in my hair, but at least I would have another day to search, assuming my dancing or whatever else they’d assessed tonight was deemed passable. The library hadn’t yielded any results, so my bestbet would be to find a way into the records room, but how? Even though the women had been told we were free to explore the castle, I was finding that all that meant was free to explore the limited unlocked rooms, which were all filled with other gossiping girls as they did embroidery or drawing. I didn’t need a hobby; I needed answers.
Cinder sniffed at me as I lay down in her stall, then curled up next to me, wagging her tail and giving my face a lick. I draped the blanket over both of us, one arm thrown around Cinder as I thought of Kodiak. It wasn’t long until I would be able to see him again.
Chapter 5
Ababble of voices woke me up in the wee hours of the morning. It took a minute for me to regain awareness of where I was and why my arm was looped around a black-and-brown dog as opposed to Kodiak’s white fur.
“—cleaned by the time I get back,” a familiar voice was saying. A moment later, Jack’s face appeared over the side of Cinder’s stall. We both froze, staring at each other, and my heart stopped beating as Jack’s lungs inflated.
“You know what?” he called over his shoulder. “I changed my mind. Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it today.”
“Sir?”
“You heard me,” he said with a half-smile. “Take a few hours off and get a little extra rest. I’m sure the prince will have plenty of additional tasks for you to prepare for the feast tonight.”
“If…if you’re sure…” the out-of-sight servant stammered, sounding as though he could hardly believe his luck.
“I’ve never been more certain. Go on before I change mymind again.” After a few moments during which a noise like a door banging closed was heard, Jack lowered his voice and looked at me again. “Noelle, what are you doing here?”
“Um, hiding…and sleeping.”
Jack opened the stall door and patted Cinder on the head as she barked joyfully and leapt up on her master. “I see that. Let me rephrase:whyare you here instead of up at the castle?”
“There wasn’t any more available lodging, and since I’m in the process of trying to convict my stepmother of the crimes I’ve accused her of, I think asking to sleep on her couch might be a little odd.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you needed a place to stay? Where did you sleep before?”
My jaw jutted out defiantly. “I’m not a charity case. And I stayed with my friend Trista before, but she’s gone now.”
Jack flitted from stall to stall, letting out each dog, and didn’t say anything for several minutes as he hooked up his dogs to their harnesses and buckled them to the lines.
“There’s a spare servant’s room adjoining this barn,” he told me. “And it’s better heated than in here, I might add. Go rest somewhere that isn’t an animal stall. No one will be back there for hours.”
I bit my lip. The offer was tempting. “You’re certain no one will be in there?”
“Positive. The only servant who ever sleeps there is already up for the day, and he rarely sleeps there anyway. Like I said, it’s a spare room.”
“If you’re sure…”
“Yes. Go get your beaut—go get some rest while I take the dogs on a run. Once Beryl is up, I’ll take you to get Kodiak.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re quite welcome.” Jack finished hitching the dogs up and jerked his head for me to get onto the sled. “Come on, we’ll take you around.”
“No one will bother you here,” he assured me as he let me in. “But the door locks if it makes you feel better.”
The room Jack brought me to was small but cozy. A neatly made bed stood beside a fireplace, and everything appeared perfectly tidy and organized, from the small bookcase to the wardrobe with thick jerkins and furs hanging in straight rows. Judging by the assortment of large fur-lined boots, gloves, and coats, it must have been intended for a groundskeeper needing to warm up and rest if he’d had a particularly long day.
Jack spoke, interrupting my perusal of the orderly room, and I sat my bag down on the bed a little harder than I’d intended. “I’ll be back in a few hours to check on you.”
He went back to his jumping, yelping dogs, but the second he shouted to them, they all went silent so the only sound was the slight whisk of the sled’s runners cutting through the snow. The door’s heavy lock gave a satisfyingthunkas I slid it into place, and my eyes instantly fell on the bed. I’d only gotten a few hours of broken sleep next to Cinder and it was still early morning; the sun hadn’t even risen properly yet. A few more hours of sleep was just what I needed before I continued my quest to save my school.
A rapping at the door woke me. I couldn’t tell how much time had passed other than by the sunshine streaming through the window, doubly bright from how it reflected off the snow.
“Jack?” I called, still groggy.
