Chapter 2.
Every man must do two things alone; he must do his own believing and his own dying.
-Martin Luther
It was so cold in Burgess you'd think it was in Alaska. Catherine took one look outside the window of the room she was splitting with Sophie and stuck her ring right on, willing the uniform to take on what she liked to call I-can-survive-deep-space-but-you-don't-know-that-so-I'll-pretend-I-have-a-parka-on mode.
Once she was settled in a green coat white jeans tucked into black boots she walked out of the room, her temperature control clothes keeping her nice and perfect. Not that she wasn't always, but…
"Are you ready to go?" Jamie asked, practically bouncing over to her. He had two pairs of ice skates in hand, one that was his and one that his mom was letting his cousin use.
The girl nodded, smiling down at him. "Yep. Lead the way, kid."
Jamie was perhaps the only eleven year old she'd even met that didn't object to being called a kid. Instead he just turned around and ran out the door. Catherine waved at her brother before going after him, catching up quickly and falling into an easy lope at his side.
The boy led her out of town, into the woods that bordered Burgess. Shadows danced in the winter sun, light shone off of piles of snow. Catherine breathed in deeply, remembering the last time she'd been in those woods.
The dogs barking was cut off in a sudden whimper. Confusion clouded her face before something primal grabbed hold of her heart. Fear, terror, understanding. Death. The darkness wrapped around her, being she had never seen before loomed closer. Crimson colored the snow.
She screamed.
Her breath fogged in front of her face and the memory fell away.
Catherine warned, "We don't get much ice in Coast. I don't have much practice."
Jamie smiled back at her, taking a seat at the edge of the frozen pond he'd lead her to strap on the skates. Catherine sat next to him, doing the same before she pushed herself up, keeping her balance carefully. Jamie wasted no time flying off onto the ice.
"This better not break," Catherine muttered quietly before pushing forwards.
She hadn't been lying. Coast City hadn't seen real snow in over twelve years. Lucky for her she spent a good amount of time in Central and had learned to ice skate out of simple necessity. The blades cut neatly into the ice under her feet, leaving a trail to show where she'd been.
Even with limited practice the eighteen year old was still graceful on the ice, gliding along behind her little cousin in circles and figure eights. Jamie was good, spinning on the toe of his skate as well as any professional. The ice creaked a few times, prompting Catherine to call a warning to the boy to be careful.
He'd just laughed, carefree, and proclaimed, "Jack Frost won't let us fall through."
Jack Frost.
Jamie seemed to have an obsession with him. Had for the past three years. Catherine shrugged and went with it. Let the kid believe. It wasn't like it was a bad thing. Superman, after all, still believed in Santa Clause.
Sometimes Catherine was jealous of them, of Clark and Jamie and Sophie, of Artemis even and her steadfast belief in the Sandman. They could believe without seeing in things that brought hope and wonder and delight. Could put faith in these myths and trust totally that they were true.
Catherine couldn't do that. She could, if she gave up on years of hard pounded reality, something that would not happen.
Magic was real, there was no denying that. The supernatural too. She'd seen it, she knew. But she still didn't believe in things that were easily explained otherwise. Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny and Jack Frost were all easy enough to explain. Parents for the first to, nature for the last one.
How nice would it be to believe though?