CHILD AT HEART
It all started with a mysterious lake that never thaws. Now, the Summer Twins, Ivy and Zach, must face the same legends they denied for so long; what they don't know it's that they'll take very different roads in belief, that maybe will break their bond forever. Second chapter of the Summer Twins trilogy.
Before starting, please make sure you've read my fanfiction Frozen Summer, that this one follows directly, or else you won't understand a thing!
Chapter 1 – Too Cool For Science
Darkness. It surrounded her along with a sensation of cold. She tried to move but her body didn't seem to answer.
Was she underwater? Again under the icy surface of that damn lake? No: she could see a feeble light coming from a window on her left. She was in a room, not in her room though. But the window was open, and its glass panels were covered in frost, like her window four months before.
That's right: frost on her window in the middle of August.
Who left the window open?
Someone was there, a shadow among the shadows: he was looking at her with eyes like the clear sky in the middle of Winter.
"…vy…"
Her mother's voice echoed in her mind, singing a song about a frozen boy.
A boy that fell in a lake.
"…Ivy…"
"She's waking up…"
Jamie Bennett and his imaginary friend, who hanged around that same lake. An imaginary friend able to freeze windows and water.
"Ivy!" Can you see me?
Ivy Summer opened her eyes all of a sudden, to see her brother by her side, with a worried expression that changed to a relaxed one when she woke up.
"Ivy, are you all right?" beside Zach stood another person: a man with black eyes and hair and a scruffy beard.
"Dad?" she murmured "Zach?"
"I heard you screaming" the boy explained "Me and the kids ran into the woods, we thought you came across a wolf or something similar. We found you unconscious by the lakeside. You're in a room in Burgess' hospital".
Burgess.
Slowly she started to think properly and realized what happened: she sat on the bed and looked at her brother in awe: "I saw him…" she said
"Saw who?" Zach asked, perplexed
"Jack Frost" she answered, incredulous how silly it sounded, especially in front of her father, who raised an eyebrow.
Zach, instead, looked excited and thrilled: "You saw a ghost?!"
Ivy shook her head: "He didn't look like a ghost. He didn't look even properly alive, however…" she corrected herself.
"Please, stop with this nonsense" their father interrupted them. "Ghost? Spirits? Who taught you this kind of stuff?" he sighed "It was a mistake to let you be involved in this 'mystery detective' thing. It's time for you to find a proper job!"
"Dad…" Zach tried to explain, but the man walked away: "I've got to go to an important meeting now. I'll call you tonight" he said leaving the room. The twins knew he wouldn't call.
When he was gone, Zach turned to Ivy: "Please, continue…"
"No…" Ivy murmured "Dad's right…"
"What?" the boy exclaimed with disappointment
"I probably saw an animal, or a shadow…and my mind did the rest…" she told herself more than his brother.
"Ah…" Zach sat back on a chair "What a pity…"
Some seconds passed in silence, then, with a smile, Ivy asked: "Did you have fun?"
"Uh?"
"With the kids…"
Zachariah's face lightened: "Yes! It's been a long time since I had a good snowball fight!" he laughed "And I discovered something else about their imaginary friend"
"It's really imaginary, then"
Zach laughed: "Pretty much, since he goes along with Santa, the Easter Bunny and stuff like that…"
Ivy rolled her eyes: "Oh, dear…"
Their chat was interrupted by a nurse coming in: "Sorry, visitors' time's up" she told them cheerfully.
Zach kissed Ivy on the forehead: "I've left you your iPod and two changes of clothes in that bag. See you tomorrow, sleep well" he said before leaving.
The nurse remained in the room: "If you need anything, feel free to ask" she said.
"Last night I was cold…" Ivy remembered.
"Oh, I'm really sorry about that!" the woman apologized "My colleague probably forgot to close the window, thank God I noticed few minutes later. I promise it won't happen again"
Ivy nodded.
Later, she passed the time playing with the games in her iPod, watching television and reading a book that a previous patient probably left there. Around seven o'clock a nurse brought her dinner, then turned off the lights.
Ivy was finally getting asleep when a creaking sound caught her attention, and a gust of cold wind entered the room. The girl turned around to see that the window creaked open, it was probably broken. With an exasperated sigh she rose on her feet and walked to close it. When she reached the window, though, she stopped: on the sill sat the white-haired boy she saw at the lake.
"Hi…" he said. Ivy opened her mouth in order to call for help, but the boy was faster as he pressed a hand on her mouth. Ivy shivered, his skin was so cold that her lips began to lose sensitivity.
"Keep silent, I won't harm you" he hissed "Promise me you won't scream"
Ivy nodded rapidly: she wanted to get rid of that frozen touch as soon as possible. When he took away his hand, she immediately rubbed her lips to warm them.
"Who the hell are you?" she finally asked, the boy jumped into the room with unearthly grace and looked around with curiosity.
"You're supposed to know, since you can see me…" he told her, then, with the tip of his staff, touched the window's glass, that was soon covered in ice flowers.
"Jack Frost…" Ivy murmured, he smiled. "Wait a second" she exclaimed "The frost in August on my window. That was you?"
"You made a hole in my lake!" the boy replied, as he was the wronged one, "You deserved a good scare"
Ivy sat on her bed, while her mind worked to give a sensible explanation to what was happening: "What do you want from me?"
Jack jumped and huddled on the TV: "Nothing, really. I just wondered why all of a sudden you became able to see me…" he told her "I mean, you're an adult, you're not supposed to"
"What does 'all of a sudden' mean?" she narrowed her eyes.
"Well, I came to your bedroom before, and I was at the lake since the beginning. You're not bad at singing, by the way, but you need to practice" Jack explained.
It took a while to Ivy to realize what he just said: "You…" she started "You came to my room while I was sleeping?! I bet I had nightmares! Who are you, bloody Edward Cullen?!" she exclaimed.
"I don't understand that reference…" Jack replied.
It had to be a dream, her rational mind decided. There was no reason to get angry because of a dream, so she simply layed back on her bed, hoping the strange boy would disappear.
"It's really not nice from you to give me your back"
Shit. Well, it was worth trying.
"You're just a dream, would you please shut up?" she sighed.
The boy looked entertained: "You think I'm a dream?"
"Obviously. There is no such thing as a boy that brings snow and cold all around the world, winter is a natural phenomenon caused by Earth's rotation" she said in a plain voice.
"Oh, I don't really bring winter, let's say I give it a hand…" he stopped "Wait, you say you don't believe in me?"
"That's right…" she answered, Jack looked confused: "But…I don't understand…only people who believe can see me, I almost passed the last 300 years alone because no one did…"
Three hundred years. Barefoot. And he could be around 18 years old. Something clicked in Ivy's mind but she simply decided to ignore it.
"Are you listening to me? Ivy?" he called, but the girl pretended to have fallen asleep. She heard a creaking sound and the air warmed up, the next time she opened her eyes, there was no trace of the boy's presence. With a smile, she finally allowed herself the luxury of sleep.
Jack flew away, he let the wind toss him around like a snowflake, as he always did when he was troubled. Not that it bothered him, anyway.
Suddenly, tendrils of golden sand began to appear below him; Jack smiled as he glided through the air following them to their origin: few miles further he finally found a cloud of that same golden sand, on which stood a very small man that controlled the sand like a conductor.
"Sandman!" Jack called with joy, the man turned around and welcomed him with a warm smile. Jack let the wind drop him on the cloud and he stood there, cross-legged, watching the friend's work.
"Listen, Sandy" he asked after a while "Can a non-believer see us?"
The Sandman looked confused, as he shook his head. A question mark made of sand formed upon his head. Jack begun telling him about what just happened, the Sandman listened to him until the end, then two images formed on his head: a compass pointing North and the moon.
"Yeah, good idea" Jack replied, rising on his feet: "I'll go now. Thank you, Sandy!" he exclaimed as he flew away, the small man waved at him, before moving the cloud to another place.
"A job?" Ivy exclaimed her brother at the phone. He called her on the mobile during breakfast to say a friend of their father called saying he was going to offer them apprenticeship at his workplace.
"And who's this friend?"
"He's called Mr. Mercury, he's pretty famous and really rich…" Zach explained.
"I don't know, Zach…" she started "I'm already busy enough with the exams…"
"He said it won't interfere with our studies, and moreover, when will happen again the opportunity to work in the same place?"
Ivy sighed: "We'll talk about it as soon as they discharge me from the hospital. Apparently, I've got a bit of hypothermia…"
"That would be my fault sorry" a voice coming from behind, made her shriek with surprise.
"You!" she exclaimed as she recognized Jack again. "What do you want, again?" she hissed.
"Ivy?" Zach's voice asked, worried "What happened, who's there?!"
The girl wasn't able to reply as the boy snatched her phone and closed the call: "I'm sorry, but you've got to come with me" he told her "Apparently, you're some sort of anomaly the Guardians need to discuss"
"The Guardians" she repeated. Geez, this dream was far too much long.
"Bunch of guys who protect the children all over the world" he explained "Me, Santa, the Tooth Fairy, Sandman and the Easter Kangaroo"
Millions of questions were buzzing through her mind, but only one surfaced: "Wasn't that supposed to be a bunny?"
Jack grinned: "Yeah, six-feet-tall, boomerang thrower bunny with Australian accent equals kangaroo" he laughed, then he offered her his hand: "Come?"
Ivy didn't even want to touch him again: "Where?" she asked instead.
"North Pole, that's where we gather!" he exclaimed.
Ivy looked startled, but then she shook her head, crossed her arms and looked at the boy with a more determined face. Ok, it probably was a dream, but she wouldn't be the weak, stupid girl in the story. "Well, listen here, Popsicle" she started "First, I'm in a hospital gown, and this is the third time you enter a my room without my permission, so get. Out." She ordered him. "At least let me get dressed! Second: how the hell am I supposed to go the North Pole? Santa's got an airline? Is a magic jet trained by reindeers coming to get me?"
"I can fly…" Jack started, stunned by the girl's sudden change.
"Oh, really?" she exclaimed with fake amazement "That's great! Who needs the force of the rotation of the Earth, anyway? Not me, I'm too cool to obey the rules of the Universe!" she went back to her usual self "Well, I can't fly, Tinker Bell, so, unless you have some fairy-dust to spread onto me, the problem remains!"
"Geez, you really talk a lot" Jack exclaimed "But you're right, I can't bring you with me, you'll probably freeze to death up there…"
Ivy rolled her eyes: "Thank you for thinking about it before"
Jack went back to the window (the door simply wasn't an option, uh?): "Get prepared, I'll send you backup" he launched himself into the wind. Ivy looked out but he was already gone.
The girl passed few seconds considering if trying to wake up again or continue to go along with the dream; she decided for the last option, since the other one didn't work the last time.
Ivy got dressed, then she grabbed a handbag and stuffed in her change of clothes, iPod and mobile (would there be signal on the Pole?), along with a bottle of water that remained from the breakfast, then sat by the window, like Wendy waiting for Peter Pan.
No, she told herself, awful comparison.
Few minutes later the last thing she expected happened: in the middle of the hospital room the air warped and a big hairy creature jumped out of what looked like a wormhole.
"Oh, Donnie Darko all over again?" she wondered.
Without many ceremonies, the creature grabbed her and threw her into a portal. It happened so fast she didn't even think about leaving a message for Zach.
But in the end, what the hell, it was all a dream.
Aaaand I'M BACK! Happy 2013!
I came back today and I saw your reviews! Too many! Too wonderful! Yue, you overdid a bit but that's fine! XD So I decided to make you a gift and post this a day earlier than I said.
This is the first chapter of Child at Heart, I already finished the manuscript of the whole story, so, even if it'll take a while for me to copy the chapters on computer be sure it has been completed already.
I raised the rating, because this story is pretty much darker than the first one, but there will be no physical violence or "hard" scenes. I repeat, this is NOT a JackXOC story, I've got a ship but it's not IvyXJack, although you're free to support it.
The chapters will be longer. The last chapter resulted even longer than this one, I hope it's all right.
One more thing: I've started reading the books! Unfortunately, in Italy only North's one has been published already, I'm waiting for Bunnymund's one (and they called it The Easter Bunny and the Warrior Eggs, really guys? *facepalm* What's wrong with E. Aster Bunnymund?!). By the way, I fell in love with a certain character from the books, that maybe will appear in the third story. By falling in love I mean he even surpassed Jack in my "favourite characters" list, so I'm serious.
Last thing, then I'll let you go: I'm a nerd, so I decided to have fun and put some references to book, movies and tv shows all around. Try to spot them all! XD
Coming next: Weird Dream, in which Ivy meets the Guardians and is not amused.