Betrothed To Jack Frost Box Set Read online

  “Wow, pretty,” said Lucy. It was then that Elle noted how truly quiet it was inside the small restaurant. It was only the two of them eating and a waitress cleaning up a table across the room. Elle strangely developed the feeling she was being watched. As she looked around, she couldn’t find anyone directly looking at her.

  Lucy turned the notch on the globe to make it play once again. “Did you call Aiden and ask what was up with the weird friend?”

  “Hasn’t called me back,” Elle explained, a frown slipping on her face as she couldn’t shake the bizarre feeling someone was watching her. “Seriously, it was all so…” She paused, trying but failing to find the proper wording. “…weird.”

  Lucy leaned forward, gently shaking the snow globe. The beautiful light pellets of white were gently covering the glittering city inside. “And he told you your dad didn’t want you to have it?” she asked, looking puzzled.

  “That and a few other creepy things. He also said I was supposed to have it so my future husband could find me.” Elle nodded seriously, rolling her eyes at that last bit. “He said my dad got rid of it.”

  Lucy was quiet for a moment, watching the snow globe with a curious expression.

  “I won’t lie, Ells, that’s the weirdest exchange I think I’ve ever heard of,” she mused, shaking her head in wonder. “Don’t worry about it. It’s probably just Aiden’s idea of a prank.” That was the moment Elle decided to look out the window of the restaurant. In the dark of the parking lot and far enough from the large lights illuminating the lot, Elle could see the silhouette of someone standing and looking at the restaurant. Snow was falling heavier than before, making it a strange sight to see someone merely staring at the building instead of coming inside for warmth. “Elle?” Lucy snapped her fingers. “You there?”

  Elle looked back at her friend to listen to her theory. As she transferred her gaze back to the parking lot, she found the person was no longer there.

  It didn’t matter how long Elle spent with Lucy; the exchange with the boy didn’t make any sense to either of them. A stranger surprised her with a snow globe she hadn’t seen since she was a small child, and then he disappeared without leaving any footprints on the ground. Lucy didn’t have any words of support, either. Her best idea was that Elle must have told Aiden about the snow globe at some point in her life and he and his friend surprised Elle with that and the bizarre exchange. It was just Aiden’s strange idea of a joke, and the reason he wasn’t calling back was probably because he now felt stupid for it.

  “You sure you’ll be okay here alone?” Lucy asked, her truck idly waiting in the winding driveway of Elle’s grandparents’ country home. The only neighbors the Darrows had were nearly a mile away. It was nice to be secluded. It was only creepy in instances such as this when Elle would be the only one home.

  “Oh, I’ll be fine,” Elle replied, pulling out her bag and backpack that was filled to the brim with books. “After all, I’ve got my snow globe so my hubby can find me,” she snickered, causing Lucy to laugh.

  “Let me know when that wedding is scheduled to take place. We’ll go dress shopping!” She waved as Elle shut the car door. Rolling down her window, Lucy was still chuckling. “I’ll text you in the morning,” she called, heading around the large wrap around driveway to make her way back toward the main road.

  Elle tightened her jacket around her as she made the small journey up the large porch to the front door. Grabbing the lanyard around her neck, she leaned down to unlock the door. She was thankful her grandparents had a variety of farm animals: horses, cows, and donkeys. Hearing the noises of the lively animals in the backyard barn made her feel more confident about walking into a dark house alone. Her grandfather was a stickler for saving money. Every time he left a room, he made sure to shut the light off as he exited. Even though it was a good way to conserve energy, it provided a rather eerie experience when you arrived at home to find not one light was on to greet you. That’s what Elle found in the house, utter darkness. Upon making herself at home by putting her bag away, Elle started to turn some lights on along with relocking the front door. Her grandfather could simply unlock it when he and her grandmother returned home later. Elle shut the living room and kitchen lights off and hurried up the stairs as she turned some dim lights on as she went. The young woman was mentally deciding what type of pajamas she wanted to wear for the evening. Elle frowned as she came across her five-year-old German shepherd growling in the upstairs hallway. That was a rare moment indeed. The dog was usually a lot mellower. The shepherd saved her hatred specifically for Elle’s grandfather’s friend with the fake eye that frequently popped out and the UPS guy.

  “Shadow?” Elle called, making her way toward the angry dog. The shepherd had her fur on end, her pointed ears raised higher than normal. Her growling was being exclusively directed toward Elle’s bedroom. The dog nudged her head against the wood, her growling continuing. Elle opened her door, and Shadow took off inside the room, her nose to the floor before she looked around. Upon seeing no immediate danger as Elle flicked on the light, Shadow made her way sniffing the ground toward Elle’s bedroom window.

  “Nice to see you, too!” Elle laughed as the dog curiously sniffed around the room relentlessly. After a heavy moment of continuous whining, the dog released a low moan as she hurried out of the room while still sniffing. The dog didn’t look back as she made a hurried escape from the bedroom, causing Elle to wonder if Shadow and Mr. Whiskers were at war again. Her grandmother’s aged cat was a beastly thing. It resembled a small dog more than a cat, with a large smushed-in face and copper fur that was so long it made the cat appear much larger than he actually was. The mangy ball of orange hair was always trying to goad Shadow by hissing at her. Their antics usually resulted in ripped curtains with Mr. Whiskers trying to race up them after he finally pushed Shadow too far.

  Elle was about to head into her bathroom when something strange caught her eye. She was paying so much attention to Shadow’s growling, she missed seeing her window completely frozen over. Walking over to examine things, Elle was surprised to find her entire window was glazed over with a strange mixture of ice. Some was frozen over against the pane as one would see on an icicle, and the rest was cold frost that splattered the window while giving it a strange and yet beautiful snowflake effect.

  “That’s something you don’t see every day,” Elle muttered, trailing her finger along the beautiful yet cold patterns. Leaning in to further examine it, she gently traced the chilly frost only to find something even stranger. The ice was inside of her window.

  Frowning, Elle fiddled with her window to see if she left it unlocked last night. She couldn’t remember seeing this frosted glaze the night before. Further examination proved to be useless. Elle couldn’t find any reason the window should be covered in ice. It wasn’t unlocked, let alone open.

  The young woman went ahead with her nightly ritual. She showered, blow dried her hair, and even made sure to thoroughly scan her homework to check for any grammatical errors. There were a few but nothing major that she couldn’t simply fix over spell check. As Elle went about correcting a few grammar errors on her laptop, she strangely felt she was being watched. It was to the point that the little hairs on the back of her neck stood erect. After a moment, the feeling became so strong that Elle glanced at the doorway, but there was no one there.

  Her nerves were on edge. Elle had yet to receive a decent night of sleep since receiving that essay as a project. She rubbed her eyes tiredly. Her mind was playing tricks on her.

  Elle knew she shouldn’t have procrastinated on her project for so long. It wasn’t as though her English class didn’t already have an abundance of homework to focus on. The professor was merciless in handing over essays and reports every other day; the project on top of it all seemed cruel. Elle pulled up a blank document to begin work after she returned from her mundane bathroom tasks.

  It was only after brushing her teeth and then her long dark hair did Elle come back
into the room to find a surprise awaiting her. It was something that proved she was no longer alone.

  The snow globe she had left in her bag downstairs was now on her bed, sitting upright as if waiting for her. Sparkles of fake snow gently fell from the top, as if someone had just given the globe a good shake. Elle quickly deduced her grandparents were home. She left her messenger bag downstairs and only brought her backpack up. Not to mention, someone had to have shaken it just now. Pulling on a grey hoodie to cover her dark tank top, Elle made her way out into the hall as she flicked the lights on along the way. “Grandma, Grandpa?”

  Silence ensued.

  Elle couldn’t see any lights on or hear any conversation taking place downstairs. Usually after a dinner out on the town, her grandmother was still bursting with excitement by the time she and Thomas arrived home. She would gush about how great it was seeing everyone and what she and Thomas had specifically for dinner. Elle couldn’t see anyone downstairs, but she could see the dim light of the front door having been opened. “Grandma, Grandpa?” Elle called again, the little hairs on the back of her neck standing on end again.

  If Elle hadn’t locked the front door already, she would have sworn this was Lucy’s doing. She was the scary movie fan out of the two of them. Elle couldn’t count the number of cheesy horror movies her friend dragged her to over the years. Gory, stalkers, serial killers. Lucy loved the feeling of being afraid. Elle, on the other hand, was more of a fan of adventure and comedies. As no one answered her, Elle started to grow alarmed. No one besides her and her grandparents had a key to the house.

  Walking slowly down the stairs, Elle craned her neck in a bid to see if her grandparents simply couldn’t hear her. Right as she made her way down the landing, she found a trail of snowy footprints. They had entered the house. The front door was wide open, allowing a sharp breeze to enter. The white of the outside snow illuminated the foyer of the house, showing Elle that the footprints trailed down the hallway. They looked too large to belong to her grandmother. Her grandfather’s, perhaps?

  “Guys?” Elle called, this time in a small voice. Now she could understand why the stupid girls in the cheesy horror movies called out, asking, “Who’s there?” It was impulse. It was desperately hoping that you were going to come across someone you knew. Elle wanted familiarity.

  She tentatively made her way down the hall to follow the footsteps until she stiffened. Elle had an idea to see her grandparents were really here; she just had to look out the door toward the driveway. She quickly but silently made her way to the front door to peer out toward the long driveway that wrapped around the large oak tree up front. What she saw frightened her immediately. The only car in the driveway was Elle’s dilapidated Jeep that was still missing a front tire. This showed most definitely that Elle’s grandparents weren’t home. It wasn’t Lucy, and it wasn’t Aiden. Neither of their cars were in the driveway, either.

  Someone else had broken in. With her face growing pale, Elle decided the best course of action was to call the police. She could silently try to make her way across the house to get to the landline, but then she could wind up meeting the intruder. Elle desperately glanced around for Shadow, only to find the shepherd was nowhere in sight. Had the burglar done something to her?

  Panicking, Elle quickly made her way to the stairs, only for her stomach to drop. The snowy footprints that had traveled down the hallway had looped around the house and made their way through the den and up the stairs. Bright white footprints of snow marked each step, causing Elle’s insides to freeze with fear. The intruder snuck upstairs while she was searching for her grandparents’ car. As a faint sound of music began to play up the stairs, Elle realized that the soft melody was coming from the snow globe left on her bed. The sound was faint, but she could hear it clearly coming from her bedroom. Upon Elle and Lucy’s examination of the strange globe earlier, it was evident music could only play if it was turned on manually. That begged the question: who turned it on?

  Silently panicking, Elle quickly made her way down the hall, making sure her bare feet didn’t slip on the snow laid in the hallway. Seeing the landline that was in the kitchen made Elle’s heart skip a beat. She hurriedly made her way over to rip the phone off its hook.

  Tragedy struck as she heard no dial tone. Had her grandfather unhooked the landline to fiddle around with the mechanics of the phone again? He was trying to restore an old rotary phone in his garage. Thomas Darrow loved tinkering in his garage or basement. He enjoyed toying around with different mechanical devices in the kitchen to help with his various projects. Elle’s grandmother was dismayed to find he had taken pieces from her blender just the other morning.

  No matter the reason, the landline wasn’t working. Elle shuddered, realizing her cell phone was upstairs in her bedroom. She had it in her pocket instead of her purse, where she usually kept it. Elle kept silent, trying to formulate a new plan. She could make a run for it out in the darkness. The only problem with that plan was that it was incredibly cold outside and she was only dressed in pajama shorts and a hoodie. All her shoes were upstairs, too. The cold didn’t bother her too much, but it was a long distance to her nearest neighbor. Elle grew afraid of the thought that the intruder could find her footprints outside and chase her down before she made it to a neighbor’s house. Deciding her best option was to run for it, she crept along the length of the kitchen while she undid a frying pan off the hook that hung over the stove top. All Elle realized was that it didn’t matter how big the person was; no one could take a frying pan to the face without falling. Silently making her way down the hall to get to the front door, Elle stopped short upon realizing the snowy tracks had stopped mid-way in the hall. Even though she saw them trail around the house, the footprints suddenly no longer had any snow attached. It looked as though the person who was walking had just stopped altogether. They didn’t retreat the way they came from; they simply stopped.

  Elle’s teeth chattered as she held the frying pan like she would a baseball bat. She was going to swing first and ask questions later. It was only when she heard the upstairs creak did she realize the intruder was coming down. With a shaky hand, Elle back-stepped and threw herself into the first closet that led under the stairs. She silently closed the door and locked it. Elle was now in a decent-sized area that was capable of holding four or five full grown adults. She didn’t dare pull the cord that flicked the light bulb hanging over her head to life. The last thing she needed was for the intruder to find her hiding spot.

  A burglar had probably chosen this home because it seemed perfect given there was nothing but an old Jeep in the driveway. The farm was well secluded from neighbors. The house was also kept so incredibly dark, someone probably assumed no one was home.

  Little did the person know, Elle’s grandparents were only just getting back on their feet. They didn’t have a lot of money. When Matthew Darrow passed away, most of the money he saved up working as a professor was spent affording his and Elle’s constant moves across the country. Matthew was flighty. He never settled in one place for very long. Leftover money went to paying his pricey cancer treatments. No one breaking into the house would really find anything of value except for a computer, an ancient laptop, the two small TVs, and Elle’s iPod she left in her room.

  Elle stood completely still inside the closet, trying hard to listen to anyone on the outside. Maybe there was only the person who broke in. She could probably take one person if they found her hiding spot. It would be one versus one. She would only be in trouble if someone had a better weapon than a frying pan. A soft, musical chuckle sounded from nearby. It caused her face to pale instantly in the dark.

  “Really,” a male’s voice mused, “how tragic is it that I automatically knew this would be the first door you would try to hide behind?” The velvety voice laughed in amusement.

  Elle’s stomach dropped. All sense of the small bravery she had was now long gone. The stranger’s voice came from beside her inside the closet.

  C
hapter 5

  Elle released a noise that was a cross between a yelp and a garbled scream. It was a strange sound that she remembered hearing on the old Three Stooges shows her grandfather watched. It was very unattractive, but it was the first noise to leave her throat as fear overwhelmed her.

  Fiddling with the lock and pushing open the door, Elle bolted from the closet, only to go sprawling to the floor as her bare foot caught the slick ice the footprints left. Her elbow hit the ground as her forehead nearly struck the hardwood floor as well. Grabbing her frying pan tightly, Elle scrambled to get up before launching herself down the hall.

  “I called the police!” she shouted, quickly making her way to the front door. She whipped a couple lights on as her intruder lazily walked out of the closet and down the hallway.

  Shaking, Elle felt her teeth chattering as she tightened her grip on her trusty frying pan. “I haven’t seen your face! Get out and then you don’t have to kill me!” she shouted crazily, launching herself up the stairs two at a time to make it to her bedroom. As soon as she got to her cell phone, she could call the police.

  To her fear, a low laugh from the intruder came next. “We both know you didn’t call the authorities, Evangeline…” a voice called up the stairs, a soft laugh finishing the man’s words.

  Elle slammed her bedroom door and locked it behind her. Her brain was reacting quite slowly. The man’s words were processing even slower. How would he know her name? Elle didn’t recognize the voice. Turning, she hurried and made her way to her backpack. Phone—phone—phone—phone—phone!