Pembroke came to in a cavern of darkness. The walls like glass, tinted blue from the sea water, trapped jellyfish glowing low. Ice. Pembroke was back within Frost’s realm.
His thoughts were thick and distracted. He had an ice-cream headache he couldn’t shake. His crown of antlers felt heavier and chilled. Encased in ice.
What had happened?
The elf and him betrayed by a replicant in the belly of a whale? Pembroke traded for parts by a toy brought to life?
Pembroke tried to twitch his antlers to life. They lay dormant beneath their frosty sheathes.
There was no way Pembroke was going to pick up any reindeer’s signals, nor lock onto any coordinates to wink away to, not with his horns encased in ice. Pembroke’s antlers had been rendered nothing more than ornamental.
He chuffed, trying to
