"He'll die soon," she assures me.
"Sophie?" I say urgently, but her eyes close and then open again. They're completely normal. Sophie stares right through me. "Sophie, who's hurting? Who needs me?" On an impulse, I reach out my hands as if to shake her, and pass right through. Sophie shudders.
"Mom!" she yells. "Turn down the heat!" She can feel me, feel my energy, but not hear me or see me.
"Sophie," I say, pleading now. "I need to know!" I need to know where to go. "He" can't be just anyone, but the only two people who mean a damn thing to me are on opposite sides of the world, right where they should be and where I've made sure that they stay. "Sophie!" But there's nothing. She's human again. The creepy glowing eyes are gone. I swear violently and the room grows hotter. Sophie shifts uncomfortably and I take that as my cue to leave. As soon as I'm clear of the house, my hair busts into flame and my hands spark with electricity. God dammit. I don't know where to go, I don't know who to go to. I inhale deeply, trying to calm down, trying to keep my head clear. But one of them is going to die, that's what Sophie said. It occurs to me that she could be wrong, but the ache in my gut tells me otherwise. I knew all along that something was wrong, I just didn't know what.
I close my eyes and open the connecting to one of the only diamonds that remains from my capture. The one I left with Sifa. My eyes don't open exactly, but I see through the crystal. Sifa still has it with her. Thank God.
"Sifa," I say, my voice nothing more than a hiss between my teeth. Even so, the naiad jumps at my voice.
"S…sparks?" she whispers.
"It's me, kid," I reply. "Thanks for keeping the diamond."
"No…no problem…"
"Where's Jack?" I ask, cutting to the chase.
"Jack?"
"Yes, Jack!" I snap. Sifa jumps, but I don't have time right now. "Your leader, the one in the iceberg, Jack Frost!" Come on kid, I think anxiously. Don't fail me now.
"Jack hasn't been here in days. He left to do some recon four days ago and hasn't been back since. He never checked in, and we can't find him."
"He's your leader, how can you not find him?" I demand. It's Jack, Jack's gone, Jack's hurting – he's dying. "Sifa, you need to tell me where he was going. What was he going to do?"
"We don't know. He was going north, that's all he told us. I think…I think he was going after you." She knows that he's my brother, I realize after a moment. I knew that she was good, but I didn't know that Sifa was good enough to pick up on that. And the fact that he's gone north isn't a lot to go on, but it's enough.
"Keep the diamond on you. I'll be in touch." I say, and then sever the connection. North. If he was coming to get me, why the hell would Jack go north? He knows better than anyone what happens to me if I can't get warm enough. But I don't have any other leads; it's my only choice. I make sure that I'm burning hot enough and shoot through the air. North. If that's not unhelpfully vague, I don't know what is. Dammit, Jack, where are you?
I know Jack's hiding places, I know where he would go, but not when he's looking for me. If he even is at all. Snow and ice melt as I fly overhead, searching, but Jack is nowhere to be found. I look everywhere, even the islands out in the middle of the halfway frozen sea. He's not there. He's not anywhere and the feeling of dread won't go away. I am about to give up when I feel Pitch's energy near. What is he doing way out here? I suppose that he could ask me the same question. He sees me before I see him. Then again, there are shadows everywhere, and burning as hot as I am, I'm not exactly being discreet.
"Sparks?" he says. There's something flickering in his black-gold eyes that I can't place, but then he blinks and it's gone. He's all smiles, like always. "What are you doing here? Is everything alright?"
"I was looking for you," I lie quickly. "There's not much going on at home." I smile, making sure that it reaches my eyes. Being so close to Pitch for so long has made me into one hell of a liar. "I was bored." Pitch wraps his arms around my stomach and leans his head on my shoulder. My human standards, I've always been tall, but Pitch still dwarfs me. But, considering that he can change his shape, I have a feeling that he does it on purpose.
"Are you sure?" he says. I nod, through the panic in my chest seems to get worse. If I talk, I'm afraid my voice will break. Pitch isn't the problem or the priority right now. I have to find my brother. "I'll meet you at home then, yes?" Again, I nod, and Pitch kisses me on the cheek before vanishing. I start to go, to continue my search, before I realize that the air is thick with Pitch's magic. He may be gone, but he was here for a long time, and he was doing something big.
"What are you hiding from me?" I mutter to myself. I should keep looking for Jack, but something keeps me here. The same thing that told me that something was wrong in the first place. I extinguish the fire in my hair and douse the flames on my skin as much as I can and fly low over the snow, following Pitch's trail. The most potent concentration of magic isn't far away.
I fly over a hill and stop short. Everything goes quiet and still, and for a moment, I see the scene below me as if through someone else's eyes. Pitch isn't gone, like I thought. He is still here. He stands over a figure in the snow, one encased in darkness from the neck down. Pitch is holding something in his hand. I see the figure he is lording over, but I don't see his face. I can hear Pitch snarling something at him, but the figure doesn't answer. The darkness creeps up to his throat and I know that whoever Pitch has caught is drowning. Sound begins to filter in and I can hear Pitch's voice.
"Tell me where they are, and this will all go away," he says silkily, sounding perfectly reasonable. "You do want this to stop, don't you?" Pitch's voice darkens and I wince. "Or do you want it to get worse." The sunlight, the sky, even the snow dims in brightness, the whole world draining at the anger of the Nightmare King. And then there's a scream and my detached state shatters. I know that face, trapped in darkness, drowning in nightmares. I know the curved staff that Pitch is holding in his hand. And I know that scream. All at once I am burning again, subtlety be damned, shooting over the snow so hot and fast that the earth underneath is visible.
I don't see any of that. I see Jack. And I see Pitch. And I see red.
Hey guys. I hope you enjoyed this update, cliff-hanger-y as it may be. I spent a long time writing this one, so please leave a review, tell me what you think! Longest, most thoughtful review gets a shoutout in the next chapter.
I really do love hearing from you all, so please do give me your opinions!
Stay golden, lovelies,
~Fae