Loki made his way to All hallows in less than 15 minutes. He had driven so fast that even semi-truck had veered away from him, most of them went to honk in annoyance but then they caught a glimpse of the positively volatile look Loki was giving them, and decided otherwise. Loki was running on pure adrenalin by the time he reached the shop. He had talked himself into a tough mindset on his drive there and now he felt like he could take on a whole army.
He threw the of his car open and stomped out of the car, charging like a PMS-ing bull towards the shops entrance when he saw Pitch's car out front. He was so pumped that he didn't notice that Pitch had left the door open or the dark sand scattered all over the floor. He had made his way to the cash registers when his mind actually processed that something was amiss. The golden sand which had previously been trying to slip under the door to Pitch's office had formed together into a sort of odd human figure. The sand-man looked oddly enough like a knight; It had a large golden shield held at its side and it stood at just about Loki's height. It was just about then that Loki's adrenalin chose to wear off. Him and the sand-man stared at each other blankly for a moment before Loki pushed himself into a fighting stance.
Loki made his face emotionless and beckoned the sand-man forward with two fingers, clearly doing his best to imitate some kind of samurai he had seen on TV earlier that week. When the sand-knight stepped forward and formed a long, golden sword out of itself, Loki took that time to start screaming and running like a baby to the exit. While fleeing Loki didn't take the time to notice that a tendril of sand had sprung in front of him, and pushed the door shut until he slammed face-first into the door itself.
Around this time Pitch had realized that someone else had arrived as the sand had receded back into the main part of the shop. Pitch had manged to keep them back for a little while using his shadows as a make shift shield around him, but once they had broken through that...Pitch shuddered just thinking about it. His right sleeve was singed off and his right arm where he usually took in the nightmare sand from was swelling and covered in burns. Thankfully they had pulled away before any real damage could be wrought. Pitch took a deep breath before forcing his office door open. The sight that met his eyes was most certainly not what he expected.
Loki was still laying on the floor, most likely he thought if he played dead the sand would leave him be, but this was not the case. The sand-knight stood in front of Loki, he was down on one knee with his sword in the ground. Almost like Loki was the sand's commander or something. Pitch mused, much happier to see the sand in a submissive position than trying to kill him. He felt like he should be on some kids show, standing out in front of North's shop yelling:
"And you would of gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for my meddling ex-employee and his tendency to be a giant goof-ball" but Pitch was more mature than that...well OKAY North wasn't in the shop at the moment or else he would be doing that at this very moment dressed in nothing but his singed cloak and pajama bottoms and fluffy slippers.
"Loki get up. If that thing was going to hurt you it would have done it already." Pitch donned a sneer and prowled forward toward Loki. He couldn't afford to show fear in front of someone he was trying to command, it just wasn't logical, and it was a terrible quality in a leader. Loki rolled over onto his stomach and pushed himself off the floor, his eyes darting nervously to the knight.
"What is it?" He asked Pitch, a lump forming in his throat as he swallowed. He kept a watch on the kneeling knight as Pitch began to talk.
"One of North's new concoctions no doubt." His nose twitch as if he smelled something bad before he continued.
"I just don't understand why it's only attacking me, and why in the world its kneeling to you of all people."
"Hn, maybe it just didn't fancy your pretty little slippers." Loki retorted, he had never been more happy to have quit his old job there than now. Now he could insult Pitch and not have to worry about getting fired for it. Pitch's eyes flashed dangerously and Loki could have sworn he saw Pitch's grey skin turn a shade darker on his cheeks, but it was gone before he could point it out. Pitch shook his head.
"I highly doubt it's because of my fashion sense , but maybe..." His golden eyes lightened in comprehension and he stepped towards Loki to see if his conclusion was right. The knight's head snapped up and peered straight at Pitch; it didn't have eyes, or a mouth for that matter, but Pitch knew it could see him.
"Loki, tell it to go back to where it came from."
"What? Are you insane?!" Shrieked Loki jabbing a finger towards the knight.
"I can see your arm, I'm not gonna try and boss this guy around when he can do that!" Despite sounding so adamant in his refusal, Loki wouldn't meet Pitch's eyes.
"Stop whining and do it." Pitch ordered his voice weighted with a cold steel. Loki bowed his head and looked towards the knight who now stared at him unemotionally. He gulped loudly and tugged at his shirt collar.
"Umm well... ...could you, umm would you mind..goingbackwhereyoucamefrom?" the words spilled from Loki's mouth quickly and all jumbled together. The knight quirked his head sideways as if confused before standing up straight and nodding. It turned itself back into sand and flew out of the shop. To Pitch's surprise it didn't head to North's shop, but rather even farther downtown.
"Just as I suspected." Announced Pitch arrogantly as he strutted his way to the door.
"The spell North cast on you three years ago, his magic is still present within it and this sand is recognizing it." He clarified when Loki looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"We should try to chase it's magical signature and figure out who made it." As Pitch suggested that Loki's eyes grew wide as he remembered what he had come there for in the first place.
"No! We have to go get Jack, he totally flipped out back in the dorm, and he's injured!" Pitch's eyebrow raised and he gave Loki a cynical look.
"He got back to your dorm and you let him leave?"
"He just- North hired him the day after you did and now he's in a second magically bound contract that won't allow him to talk about it." Loki knew that it would make Pitch angry but this was his friend's life on the line, North was dangerous.
"We're leaving." His tone had grown low and he looked terrifying enough to make a small child cry.
"Wait don't be mad at him, he didn't know!" Loki argued as his old bosses eyes began to hold more black in them than gold.
"I said 'We. Are. Leaving'" With his bad arm he gripped Loki's shoulder tight. The last thing he heard was Loki screaming out as the shadows enveloped them.
Jack drove and drove not really paying attention to where he was going. He just needed to get away so when he ended up at the very same lake he had almost died at a few years before he felt it was the perfect irony. The place that had haunted his nightmares for years was where he had ended up when he needed a break from all the emotional havoc he felt. He had parked his car up near the road and walked on down to the water when he realized where he had driven. Jack wasn't really sure why they called it a lake when it was just a little bigger than a large pond, but he supposed it didn't matter anyway; Most of the parents in the area wouldn't let their kids go anywhere near the lake now, especially during winter. He was sixteen and supposed he should have known by then that even if the water was frozen in the shallow edges it would always be thinner in the middle, he was just thankful that his sister hadn't moved far from the shore. They had both gotten a pair of ice skates only a few days before on Christmas and had decided to try them out at the lake since it had frozen over. Logically speaking Jack shouldn't have even survived. His sister was in no shape to help him and everytime he tried to grab onto the icy surface another hunk of ice would break off into the ice and push him back in...When they had both gotten away from the Lake even his sister, who had watched the whole time had no idea how he had gotten out of the water.
That was the first time something odd had happened in his life, something that was out of his usual schedule of school and family. Then his hair had gone prematurely white and his life hadn't been the same since. Now was no exception. In the course of three days his life had gone from 'getting back on schedule' to 'What's a schedule?'. He had gotten in a car accident which he clearly remembered getting injured in only to wake up fine, and his car in mint condition again. Jack had met crazy cafe employees, been attacked by horses made of sand, he was always freezing cold and now, now he was going to lose his jobs and his best friend because of his inability to say 'No'.
He was surprisingly close to the edge of the water, but he didn't feel any fear. It wasn't like he was actually on the water, he was safe on land. Snow was falling all around him and forming up all around him but Jack didn't mind; In fact the snow actually felt kinda warm to his cold skin. Jack reached up to catch a handful of snowflakes with a dopey smile on his face when behind him the air seemed to move. Jack spun around at the odd sensation, and suddenly Loki and to Jack's great horror, Pitch, appeared in front of him. Before he could even question how it was possible, Loki stumbled forwards and unintentionally knocked Jack back onto the ice.
Jack's eyes went wide as he fell backwards. Time seemed to pass slowly and he saw Loki's expression turn from confusion to horror as he realized what he had done. Pitch looked on indifferently, they were in the shallow waters after all, what did it matter if Jack fell in there? Jack felt the ice crunch against his back and his slid down the slick ice a little ways before coming to a complete stop. The situation seemed to familiar to him now, his memories of that night on the ice flashing back in his mind. He remembered trying to breathe but his clothes kept pulling him further into the water the water vibrated from his sister yelling. She couldn't hear what she was yelling and neither could he so he supposed it didn't matter.
Now Jack was on the ice again, but this time he wouldn't fall in. He pushed himself up with a sudden surge of strength and ran as fast as he could towards the shore line, the ice under him repaired itself after cracking but Jack couldn't find it in himself to notice at the moment. The cracking sound just fueled his terror.
Loki grabbed Jack as soon as he reached shore and pulled him into a bone crushing hug, over the months Loki had started to see Jack as a kind of little brother. He definitely fit the little part. As Jack's initial fear began to wear off he became aware of the pain from his hands where he had pushed up harshly from the ice and the pain in his heart as he realized he had survived. He hadn't fallen in again; he would be fine. It was nothing like before and yet in a way it was just like before. Someone still watched from the shore as Jack tried to get off the ice and that terrible cracking noise still rang in his ears.
A soft cry announced to Pitch that there was more to this than just falling back onto the water. Jack's level of fear was something he rarely felt, if ever. And now Pitch knew why. It was a basic fear he supposed; the fear of drowning. Although Jack's was more deeply rooted than the children at beaches or pools, he had come to recognize that fear. Jack was shaking and shivering and a sob got caught in his throat as he cried. Pitch pushed Loki away from Jack and picked the man in question up. Jack curled up against Pitch in search of warmth and Pitch shivered at the coldness of Jack's skin. Without warning Pitch gripped Loki's arm again and the shadows once again took them. This time they appeared by Jack's car.
"Loki, drive his car up to the shop, we're only about thirty minutes away from it so it shouldn't take you that long." Pitch explained as Jack's face burrowed into the crook of his neck. He could feel cold tears trailing down his shoulder.
"Wait, what are we going to do about Jack's...situation?" Loki inquired, as he opened the driver side door (He was happy to find that the keys were in the ignition.). Pitch sighed and looked at the distraught man in his arms. He would have much more to deal with when North became aware that Jack worked for Pitch. Pitch knew Jack wasn't a spy for North, if only because North would never allow anyone who worked for him to even fake work for Pitch and Nicholas North had the most infamous temper in town.
"He will stay with me. It's the only way I can ensure his safety." Loki nodded in acceptance. Pitch was practiced enough in magic to protect Jack from the North family, he only hoped Pitch knew what he was getting himself into.