Prologue

The first thing she remembered was that everything was dark.

But not cold – she was never cold.

Then, when she sat up, and opened her eyes, she saw that everything in the place she was in sparkled. It glimmered, and was hard, and slippery beneath her hands.

Everything was made of ice.

The room she was in was beautiful, and large, but she could barely see. She sat on the edge of her bed, waiting. There was nothing else to do.

It could have been a minute, it could have been a month, it could have been a millennium.

But then, the moon rose.

It was so big, she remembers, and it was so bright. It took the darkness and her breath away. It was the first light she had ever seen, and it was beautiful.

The moonlight reflected and glanced off of everything in her room, and the light shone through the one window in her room that she had not noticed before. And as she watched, the moon rose higher, and higher. When the moonlight hit her face, a voice, and an image, rang through her head.

This is you, a gentle voice said – and for the first time in forever, she saw herself – all big, pale eyes, and fair, pale hair.

Your name, the voice continued, is the Snow Queen. And you will wait until they come to take you.

So the Snow Queen waited, in that room of ice, and waited for them to come. She didn't know who "they" were, but there was nothing else for her to do. So she waited, and waited…