Chapter 1: Outside

I've been around for many, many years. More centuries than I could on my hands. Having my body frozen at the young age of seventeen and to remain that way forever more. I'm not a chosen one, as my father calls them, but an immortal by birth. My father's name is Pitch Black and supposedly he is a very important figure in the world. I don't know exactly what it is that he does but I'm told that it is crucial and that is the reason I'm not allowed outside.

I've only ever been outside twice and those were the greatest days of my very boring life. Father says that if I do go outside people will do one of two things. They will either walk through me, as these people are humans or they will see me and take me very, very far away. Father says that they will go to some extensive measures in order to get information from me about him or they will hold me for ransom. Father calls these people by many names. The most common include the chosen ones, the guardians and the big four.

My father has always watched out for me, even when my mother died several centuries ago. Father still mourns for her sometimes but that is beside the point. My father's lessons have been crucial in keeping me safe. I didn't have any special abilities like father because I had a mortal mother. Therefore I can't control Father's guards while he can, but being centuries old, in this time father has taught me to wield many if not almost all of the weapons from the outside world and he has taught me about the art of resourcefulness in battle. My skills with most of these weapons are greatly lacking, as I am physically no good at using them. My most prefered weapon came from what the humans call the medieval ages and it's a throwing axe.

Above all of these lessons, Father has taught me four very important things; if I see a large man with a white beard and white hair who can see me as well, run. Run and never look back. If I see a woman who looks like a bird, no matter the size, kill on sight. If I see a small man made of golden sand, make no noise, run away and what ever I do, never touch the golden sand. Finally, if I see a large rabbit who can talk, kill on sight. No exceptions. Father says that these people are the chosen ones by the man in the moon and that they are the ones who will hurt me. Never once have I met them and I certainly never plan to. Father is only trying to look out for me and loyally, I listen to his every order.

Except today. I was dressed in a white and red dress with a black cloak over top. I double checked that my red lase up boots were tied correctly before straightening up my posture and resting a hand on my throwing axe, which was attached to my hip by a belt. I looked myself over once more in the mirror. My steel-yellow eyes glowed back at me in the darkness and my auburn hair was pulled back into a neat french braid. The black cloak helped my body disappear into the darkness of the shadows and I threw the hood over my head, covering myself in it's shadows. I breathed in deeply, giving myself one last chance to back out. But I wanted this. Smirking, I reached for the door handle to exit my room and as quietly as I could, I left the housing wing. Father was still weak and resting from his battle with the chosen ones, so I was extra careful as I passed his room.

I stuck close to the walls to blend in with the shadows as I moved around the lair. Carefully, I snook past Fathers guards, horses made of black sand. As I entered what Father calls the command room, I turned to look around. I had only ever been in here on my last expeditions to the outside world and the room, I noticed, had not changed since the last time I had been in here. For whatever reason, cages still lined the ceiling and the globe with lights on it was still in the center of the room. I never questioned father and his methods. All I know was that he was fighting to keep the two of us safe and earn us the right to gaining freedom. I carefully stuck to the walls and shadows as I moved to the exit. I climbed up and out of the hole in the dirt and came face to face with the outside world for the first time in three hundred years.

It was just as I remembered it. The lush green in the pine trees and the deep brown of the exposed bark. Leaves were beginning to grow on the trees, for it was early spring. I smiled happily and began walking away from our home. All thought left my mind as I took in every detail that surrounded me, from the small amount of snow on the ground, left over from winter to the half moon in the sky. I felt as though the moon was smiling down on me and I took a moment to smile up at the stellar object. It was still night time with dawn fast approaching and yet I felt myself growing attached to this wilderness. For the longest time, centuries now, I've only had my books that father has given me to tell me about the outside world. Even then, I feel as though the authors never really captured the full beauty of nature. It is two very different things to read about how bark feels under a person's skin than to actually reach a hand out a touch the rough surface. It was very surreal.

Feelings of guilt bubbled inside of me as my mind wandered to father but I pushed past the guilt of betraying his orders of staying inside as I watched the sun rise while I came upon a frozen lake. It was beautiful and gave an ora of calmness as I came to a stop in front of it. I watched as the sun turned the sky first red, then orange, then blue as it rose. I took in a deep breath, absorbing the smells of the forest and smiled to myself. I felt a sense of child like wonder fill me at the phenomenon I had just seen and it caused me to vaguely wonder what a sunset looked like. I had only ever read about them but never had I actually seen one in person. My thoughts wondered as I took in the feeling of the sun's warm rays on my pale skin. The sun was warmer then I expected it to be, even if it was early morning and it left a tingling sensation on the pale skin I had exposed.

In the next few moments, I felt the temperature drop and the wind pick up, playing with the fabric of my cloak and accidentally tossing my hood off. I pulled the cloak closer around me to better conceal myself from the cold as I turned to leave. That's when I noticed him. He was striking, with hair as white as snow and eyes as blue as the water from the lake. He also wore a blue hoody and brown pants. The boy stood calmly in the tree line of the forest, blocking my exit. The most notable thing about him though, were three things; first, that he wore no shoes. Second, that he held some sort of curved stick in his hand and third, that he could see me. I knew that he could see me because he took a cautious step towards me and his eyes were looking me over.

I felt a sense of panic over whelming me and suddenly the idea of being outside of the Lair was terrifying. I wanted to do nothing more than to run back home and never look back. Instead, I calmly reached my hand to rest it on my throwing axe, ready to pull it out at a moments notice. I studied the boy carefully, waiting for him to threaten me so I could throw the axe to disable or stun him so that I could run. I vaguely noticed that my heartbeat had quickened and my palms had become sweaty.

The strangest thing about this encounter was that Father had never mentioned this boy to me and Father always saw it fit that he told me of the people he encountered and whom it was I could trust. Father also knew a lot of immortals and this boy didn't fit any of the descriptions that Father had given me about them. The boy's hair was white yes, but he didn't have a beard so I knew that he wasn't the chosen one whom Father told me to run away from. Who was this boy?

"I've never seen you around here before," said the boy. His voice was silky smooth and for a moment I forgot myself. How do you socialize again? I was unsure of how to respond to such a statement, so I stayed quiet. The boy took another cautious step towards me as he ask, "Are you new around here?"

I shook my head 'no', as I didn't trust my voice and I didn't want him knowing anything about me. This boy could be dangerous and I didn't trust him. I fought the will to run away as he took another step towards me so that there was only a couple of yards between us. The boy looked me over again before seeming to remember something and his face scrunched up in confusion. He seemed to be tentative as he asked, "Can you see me?"

I nodded 'yes', still not talking but some how found myself wondering the exact same question but geared towards him. The boy seemed over joyed by my answer and took a couple more steps towards me. He laughed a little as he did so and I felt myself begin to relax. Maybe he wasnt so bad after all. He seemed friendly enough and his laugh was pleasant to the ear, allowing me to relax further. He stood in front of me now with a smile on his face. He held his hand out to me and I winced at the action, uncertain of what his intentions were and the speed at which he presented his hand caught me off guard even if it wasn't very fast.

"I'm Jack Frost," said the boy, or Jack. I looked down at his pale hand for a moment, uncertain of what to do. I supposed that this would be the part in which I was suppose to shake his hand and tell him my name, but there's one problem; I've never done a hand shake before. I'd read about hand shakes in the books that Father got me but never had I actually participated in one. I looked up at him uncertainly then back down at his hand. The boy laughed saying, "It's a hand shake."

I looked up at him irritated at how he thought that my knowledge was limited. My eyes narrowed as I said, "I know what it is. I don't know how it works."

Jack face fell into that of surprise, which turned into a smile. Excitedly he said, "You do talk!"

"Of course I talk," I stated as if it was obvious. I looked down at his still outstretched hand and Jack chuckled again.

"Here," he said his smile growing by the second, "let me show you. Hold out your right hand."

I looked at him unsurely and checked his features for any sign of anything other than friendly body language. I uncertainly removed my hand from where it rested on my axe and held it out, through the cloak. I trusting in this Jack to not deceive me and teach me how to give a hand shake. His smile seemed to widen even more, if that were posible, as he took my hand which was facing palm down and changed it so that it was facing the proper direction.

"So you start by holding your hand out like this," he said as he finished fixing my hand and then held his out the way he had before, "then you reach out and take hold of the other person's hand."

He demonstrated what he meant as he explained and took hold of my small hand in his. His grasp on me wasn't too strong and at the same time it wasn't lose either and I grasped his hand with the same amount of force. Jack chuckled happily, "See! You've got the hang of it already!"

I smiled at our linked hands, feeling very accomplished. Not only was I outside but I finally met someone other than my family and Father's guards. It was strange because Jack was rather nice but Father made it seem as if people would do anything to hurt me. Perhaps he was just trying to make sure that I stayed safe and make me aware that there are bad people in the world. Regardless, I looked up at Jack, the smile still on my face and he smiled back at me saying, "Now there's just one last thing left to do."

Then he started lifting my hand up and down. Shaking it. It made sense now why they call it a hand shake! I laughed and looked up at Jack before looking back down at our hands. That's when I heard it.

"Hunter!" someone called. The voice was distinctively male and I turned to face where the voice had come from. He found out already! But it was still so early! I turned to see the sun still hanging low in the sky and released Jack's hand.

"Hunter!" the voice called again. I gave Jack a look saying sorry and ran past him into the tree line.

"Wait!" I heard Jack call. I turned back briefly as he asked, "Is your name Hunter?"

"Yes!" I answered back.

As I turned to run back to find the voice Jack called out again, "Will I ever see you again?"

As I was about to answer I heard the voice yell my name out again, "Hunter!"

Without even thinking or so much as answering Jack's question, I turned on my heel and ran towards the voice. After a minute or so of running I came upon a clearing, my Father walking through the middle of it looking really angry. I came out from behind the treeline, biting my lip.

"Hey there Dad. Um, fancy seeing you here," I said awkwardly as I tried to make myself seem as innocent as possible. Father was not impressed.