Page 177 - Nuts to You - The Nutcracker Retold

Drosselmeir’s Return
Where am I? was Drosselmeir’s first thought. This place was freezing cold and covered in snow. It bore no resemblance to the Land of Sweets. He scooped up some snow and tasted it – bleh! It was nasty! No spun sugar, this, and no natural snow, either, like back home in Hamelin. It tasted like mouse droppings, he realized – cursed snow, straight from the Mouse Queen herself!
And he, Drosselmeir, had just had a mouthful.
He was in the middle of the very undignified act of spitting and hacking up a gut turned sour by the thought of mouse poop, when he noticed the small group of ragtag Gingerbread Men, frozen stiff with eyes squeezed tight. Drosselmeir gave one last spat into a snowdrift and ran toward the pathetic pack of petrified poppets.
The Gingerbread Men heard him coming. Their hearts pounded, their blood raced, and their breathing sped up, until little puffs of hot mist formed clouds around their heads.
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