As promised, Tooth joined Sandy and the others in the lair as soon as Jamie was safe. Bunny and North quickly filled her in on the events that she had missed, and she agreed with the decision that joining forces with Pitch Black to rescue Jack and defeat the Nightmares was the right thing to do.
"So where do we start?" Tooth asked the group. "He doesn't have a pattern or schedule; he could be anywhere."
Pitch hummed thoughtfully and stared at the globe. "If Jack was indeed abducted by a wild Nightmare as Jamie suggested, which is highly likely, then he should be in or around the sight of an anomaly."
Bunny thought for a moment. "Okay, that narrows it down a little. But how many of these things have there been?"
"My count is seventeen." North answered.
"Yes, I contend seventeen as well," Pitch confirmed.
"Jack would go someplace cold, right?" Tooth reasoned. "So he's either above forty five degrees latitude or below negative forty five degrees latitude."
"Above," Pitch pointed to the globe, "populated regions include the Northern continental United States, Alaska, all of Canada, half of Western Europe and almost all of Russia. Below is only the tip of South America, most of which is desert. Eight of the seventeen anomalies have occurred in those regions."
Bunny shook his head. "We need to narrow it down more. North, can you use those weather man doodads you've got at the pole to find out if any ripple sights got snow?"
"Brilliant idea, Bunny!" North congratulated Bunny and took out a snow globe from his inner coat pocket. I will go to pole and check gauges.
. . .
The instant North stepped out of his portal into the Globe Room at the Pole, he was practically bombarded with the grumbling grunts of yetis and the jingling of elf hats.
"Move, move," he ushered away the entourage, "I am in big hurry."
"Hagurgrwahgrrawgahr?" growled Phil, head of security.
"That is what we are trying to find out," North (who spoke fluent Yeti) answered.
The control panel rang and hummed as North pressed buttons and pulled leavers. After a few, the tiny screens across the dashboard told him what he needed to know.
"There he is," he said at first in a whisper, then jumped and shouted, much to the surprise of the elves just inches from his feet. "There he is!"
. . .
The four spirits remaining in the lair never took their eyes off the globe. They brainstormed loose theories about Jack and his possible whereabouts for a few minutes until one of North's portals appeared.
"That was fast," Pitch said, genuinely impressed and not hiding the fact.
North Jumped thru the portal. "Only one sight of ripple had snow! And NOT," he pointed to Tooth, "Above or below the forty fives, though was good theory."
"Out with it then," Pitch prompted impatiently, "Where was it?"
"Yesterday's ripple in South Africa."
Tooth gasped. "Snowfall uncharacteristic for the region in the same location as a ripple!"
"At almost exact time," North added.
"By dinkum, that's gotta be it!" agreed Bunny.
"It's decided then," declared Pitch. "We begin our search on the South African coast."
Sorry guys. This chapter was written in a very unmotivated moment. We'll check on Jamie next chapter.
