Tah dah! Arc two is go!
This is probably the shortest out of all three of the arcs, with a total of thirty chapters. It's also darker, which is why the rating on this is higher than on the last one. So, to all you old fans, and new ones, welcome to the second arc in the Human Order of Guardians saga; Howling Shadows!
A teenager with dark brown tied back hair, glasses and a pale blue hoodie sat on a bench in Burgess, her nose buried in a book. It was autumn and the wind was whipping around her forcefully, throwing bits of loose hair in her pale face as she read.
What you'd never guess was that this nineteen year old was a Descendant of Jack Frost, and officially the most powerful, according to the Human Order of Guardians.
It had been four years since she'd had to fight for their cause, and since then she'd grown from a gangly teen to more muscular young woman, due to her daily training in ice powers.
Her armour had been sitting in her room, gathering dust, not expected to ever be used again.
"Jackie!"
I looked up from my book to see Jamie running towards me, his hair askew. He had had a growth spurt recently, so was catching up to me in height.
"Hey Jamie." I said, marking my place and putting down the book.
"Are you heading to the lake today? The others still want to see you practice."
I chuckled slightly, in four years, I still only let Jamie watch me practice. I hadn't wanted the others to know, but they'd seen my panicked display four years ago and they'd pressured Jamie into telling them the truth.
"Sorry, it's not happening."
"Please?"
I looked straight at him and saw he was doing puppy dog eyes, a face he had mastered and even managed to melt my heart.
"You know what? Sure, although if they don't behave themselves..." the threat hung in the air. Jamie nodded earnestly.
"They will! I'm sure of it."
"I'll hold to you that." I said, but couldn't stop the smile spreading across my face.
Jamie hopped onto the bench next to me and he started talking about his day. I didn't have much to say in reply, I wasn't going to university, much to my parent's horror. Instead I'd managed to get a summer job at Sally and Tina's bookshop, but at the minute I was unemployed. Our meeting place was in fact an area behind her shop.
Jamie was saying about how Cupcake somehow has a boyfriend, when my phone went off.
He stopped in his story as I pulled it out, both of us confused. The only people who used this number were my parents, but they had no reason to call, right?
I didn't recognise the number on screen, but I picked it up anyway.
"Hello?"
"Davies, thank goodness!"
"Jason?" Jason was the Head of the Descendants of North, and he'd never called me
directly, ever.
"How did you get this number?"
"Doesn't matter, I need you to check something."
"What?"
"Remember the cave where you ended the war."
I did my best not to wince, "Yes."
"I need you to check in there. After that contact the rest of your Branch if something's off."
"That's Pitch's base though!"
"I know, but I doubt he'll bother you." From his tone I figured I shouldn't continue
questioning that.
"Why me?"
"I understand your reluctance, but I really need you to do this."
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose, why couldn't he do this?
"Alright, I'll go and look."
"Thank you Davies." With that the line went out.
I moved my phone from my ear, then looked from it to Jamie.
"What is it? What have you to go see?" He asked.
"The cave where the war ended."
"Didn't you almost die there?"
I almost flinched again, Jamie knew what happened down there, but that didn't make it any
less painful.
"Yes, but it's safe now, apparently."
"Can I go with you?"
"Your mom would kill me."
"All the more reason then."
I grinned at him, which he returned.
"Agreed, let's go."
We walked from the centre of town to beyond the lake; once we were out of sight I formed an ice bridge and skates. I didn't even have to move my arms to do it anymore, moving ice with my mind was almost as natural as walking.
By ice it took us half the time it would have taken then by walking, so in about half an hour we were outside the hole.
I stopped the bridge at the edge, suddenly very unwilling to go in. It was a small, innocent looking hole, but looking at it gave me the feeling that I should run like hell away from it. It didn't help that I was thinking about what I'd left down there. I'd never seen it, but I'd heard descriptions and had nightmares; I'd never wanted to come back here.
"You alright?" asked Jamie. Looking at him I could see fear in his eyes.
"Yeah, just don't want to think about what I left down there."
"It'll be okay." He reassured me, even though his own voice was shaking slightly.
I let out a breath, and extended the bridge down, sending the pair of us down with it.
We quickly reached the bottom and what I saw had my mouth fall open in shock.
"There's nothing here." Said Jamie.
The cave was dark. On the walls there were still huge icicles pointing towards a clear area on the floor. The rest was covered with frost. The rest of it looked how I remembered, and seemed to be unoccupied.
Other than that there was nothing, and it scared me.
"Why, why isn't there anything here?" I asked, panic rising. "If there's nothing here, then something's happened."
I took out my phone and used it to light the cavern as I cautiously looked around. Still nothing.
"Let's go." I said, spooked as I backed towards the exit.
Jamie nodded, looking just as spooked as me.
On the way back I tried ringing up the rest of my Branch, first by home phone, then mobile. There was no response.
I dropped Jamie off at his house and went to the other's houses, just in case. I used the ice to make myself move faster, and I didn't care if anyone saw me.
First was Tina and Sally, both of them lived in central Burgess which made things a little easier. Both were empty.
Nigel's was on the edge of the town, and there was no answer from him either.
Finally was Billy, who was in the next town over. No sign of him there either.
Almost immediately I turned around and skated back to Burgess, checking the meeting place as I was out of ideas. No one there.
I went back to Nigel's house, with one last person in mind.
I pushed on Nigel's door, but finding it locked I went over the gate to try the back way.
When I tried the back door I found it unlocked, which was a cause for concern.
I was too worried to really stop and notice what was in his house as I walked in. So all the gadgets and gizmos that Nigel loved building went ignored as I tried to find a phone.
I found his mobile on the side next to a thick leather tome with title I didn't understand. In any other situation I'd love to flick through that book, just to look, but instead I picked the phone up, thumbing through the contacts. I found his brother Alec and tried calling him.
Nothing from him either.
Putting the phone down I decided that there was one more place I could try; the old war base.
As I made to leave my foot came into contact with something solid. I looked down and saw that I'd stepped on a fallen photo frame.
The glass was cracked, but not to the point where I couldn't see the photo.
It was a picture of us, the Burgess Branch.
The knot that had been slowly tying itself in my stomach suddenly tightened. The photo was a few years old and we were on a trip to NYC, we'd gone over a week in early January, the year after the war. I'd just started wearing my hoodie which at that point was still a little too big for me.
Billy, who stood the tallest, had his arms around most of the group, his head in the middle with an enormous grin on his face. Tina was on the right with Sally on her other side. The pair looking calm and smiling serenely, although Tina looked slightly annoyed that Billy's elbow was around her neck.
Nigel was directly on Billy's left, a broad grin on his face as well, not caring that Billy had his arm around his shoulders. I was on Nigel's left, wearing an unsure half smile with Nigel's arm around my shoulders and looking at Billy, a little confused by what he was doing.
We were an odd bunch, but we were the closest set of friends you'd find in Burgess, and the fact that they might be gone...
My throat started to burn and I hurriedly put the picture on the side, breathing in through my nose.
Get it together, you don't know what's happened yet.
I took another deep breath and headed for the door, I had to check that one last place.
That photo, I do have a one shot in mind for that, however I'm having so much trouble writing it, so don't expect it for a while. And those who have read the one shots will know where Jackie got her hoodie from.
That's all for now, Shapeshifter out.