Pure Dead Frozen by Debi Gliori Page A

from it, and thrown both herself and the stone into Lochnagargoyle in the hope of putting it beyond the reach of the Dark Side.
    Poor Ffup had been devastated—losing both nanny
and
engagement ring had been hard for the dragon to bear—and she had turned to the contents of the pantry for comfort. Now, with Flora safely returned to StregaSchloss and no longer so frail after her near-drowning in the loch, Ffup had been waiting for a suitable moment to find out if her ring had also survived its immersion. Since Mrs. McLachlan had been the last person to lay hands on it, asking her appeared to be the logical first step toward its recovery. Hence Ffup’s presence in her bedroom, an event whose significance was not lost on the nanny.
    â€œFfup, dear—you’ll have come about your engagement ring? Och, I’m terribly sorry, pet, but I must confess that, yes, I do know where it is, but alas, I cannot find it for you.”
    Ffup frowned mightily. This was
not
the response she’d expected from the perpetually organized Mrs. McLachlan. Ffup had confidently assumed that the nanny would immediately turn to her wardrobe and, from a drawer labeled
R,
tucked in amongst an assortment of rose petals, rickrack, recorders, ropes, razors, reels, revolvers, reticules, retorts, and remedies, would retrieve Ffup’s ring, wrapped in tissue paper for safekeeping.
    â€œHuhnnn?” The dragon’s jaw dropped.
    â€œFfup, pet lamb, that stone, the enormous diamond in your engagement ring…it’s not what you think it is—”
    â€œWHATTTT?” Ffup couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Don’t tell me it’s not even a
real
diamond? Like, he was faking that as
well
?” A bolt of flame shot out of her mouth before she could clamp her lips together.
    â€œTry to calm down, dear.” Mrs. McLachlan reached out to pat the dragon’s wildly flapping paws. “You’re setting my lampshade on fire.”
    Ffup looked up to the ceiling, where the silk shade was blazing merrily. “Sorry. But…but…my
ring
. What d’you mean, it’s not what I think? What
is
it, then? And, for that matter,
where
is it? If you know where it is, why can’t you find it?”
    â€œOch, pet…so many questions. It’s on an island. I hid it there amongst other stones just like it, and—”
    â€œYou
lost
it?” Ffup shook her massive head from side to side, trying to make sense of this, trying to reconcile her image of Mrs. McLachlan, the perfectly organized nanny, with her new picture of Mrs. McLachlan, the totally disorganized space cadet who’d effectively flung a needle into a haystack. Deliberately. Dazed and confused, Ffup could only repeatedly bleat, “You
lost
it?”
    â€œSort of, dear, but not
exactly
. I was trying to protect you from it. You see, Ffup, dear, it’s not really a diamond engagement ring, your ring. It’s a…” The nanny faltered. She wanted to say it was a liability, a poisoned chalice, a magical artifact so powerful that it destroyed everything and anyone with whom it came into contact…but that would have only been part of the truth. Whatever she said, she had to discourage Ffup from trying to find it. Ever. Wrongly assuming that the dragon wanted her engagement ring back in order to wear it, Mrs. McLachlan unknowingly said the one thing guaranteed to whet Ffup’s revenge-fueled appetite.
    â€œYou see, pet, the stone in your ring acts like a magnet, attracting only unhappiness to itself and to whoever might seek to possess it.” So intent was she on alerting Ffup to the dangers of the ring that she failed to notice the odd smile playing around the dragon’s mouth. “You’re far better off without it, dear,” Mrs. McLachlan continued, thinking to herself that this truism could have been applied to everyone who had ever been in contact with the stone.
    Before Ffup had