Guest– I'm very sorry for the short chapter. I can't make the chapters extra long. My limit is up to 6,000 words or so. But thank you very much and here is the chapter.
EmeraldRhino– You'll get your cookie. Oh my god! Thank you veeeeeeeeeeeeery much! (insert hugs and kisses then fangirling and flailing) Here is the chapter. Enjoy!
XxSaphirezxX– Really? Save your tears for the next chapter or so. There are going to be some heartbreaking moments. Thank you very much! Here is the next chapter! I actually loved writing Leo.
"Death Valley, California. 36°14′49″N 116°49′01″W." Was elegantly written on the parchment. The hottest place on Earth and a winter spirit's worst nightmare.
"Crap." Jack cursed under his breath, the grip around his staff tightening. "What's wrong, Jack, my boy?" North turned around to glance at the dreadful winter spirit. "I…," He opened his mouth, closed it and pursed his lips, suddenly contemplating on whether to tell them or not. Jack decided with the latter. "It's nothing." The spirit let out a profound sigh as they exited Mother Nature's calling room. "You can tell us anything, Jack." Tooth fluttered beside him, eyeing him worriedly. Jack suddenly felt guilty and looked away.
Everyone noticed the sudden distance of the spirit so they kept their mouths shut. "It's just that…" The boy started again as they went through the entrance of Mother Nature's hideout and back to the bristlecone pine grove. They waited for Jack to continue while heading their way to the sleigh. "Death Valley is the hottest place on Earth." He finally finished while hopping in North's sleigh. "And so?" Bunny sat beside him, getting comfortable for the bumpy ride. Tooth shot him a warning look.
"I'm a winter spirit, Kangaroo! And winter spirits avoid hot places. I can't go near the equator without feeling woozy." He huffed, crossing his bony arms on his chest and his lower lip jutted into a pout. "Scared, Jackie boy?" Bunny poked Jack's pouted face and barked in laughter. "I am not!" The boy irritatedly exclaimed. "Yeah righ'. At least ya won't disturb me while I'm painting ta, OH SHIT." They all whipped around just as North grabbed the restraints of the reindeers.
"Shit, shit, shit, SHIT!" Aster rapidly cussed under his breath while gripping his ears in annoyance. "What's wrong, Bunny?" Tooth grabbed the Pooka's shoulder but he won't stop grumbling under his breath. Sandy tried getting the rabbit's attention with his sand images, Jack don't know what to do and North seemed annoyed with the vulgar language Bunny is spitting. The shits soon escalated into Australian obscenities.
"Bunny, my friend." North stood in front of the muttering Pooka. It seemed that Bunny went into overdrive and in his own little world. "BUNNY." That made Aster shut up, looked perplexed and stared straight at his Russian friend. "Is something wrong?" North asked, eyeing his old friend worriedly. "Todah is ta day before Easta'." Everyone simultaneously stiffened. "I bloody haven't finish with painting ta eggs because I don't wanna abandon Teddy." Aster placed his curled paw under his chin and grumbled once more.
He is choosing his life's number one priority at the moment. Teddy's life or Easter Sunday slash the belief children have. Easter was ruined last year and lost him almost all of believers. Bunny can't afford to have a repetition. This is not so simple to the Pooka. "Don't worry about Teddy, Bunny. We'll take care of her. You can go back to the Warren and finish painting the eggs." Tooth smiled sweetly at him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder that had managed to seize the grumbling.
Bunnymund looked very skeptical but who can blame him? This is his deceased lover's daughter they are talking about! "Tooth's right, noh. We will handle this and you finish with your eggs. You can join us tomorrow. Easter night, da?" Saying North that he looked confident was an understatement. The rabbit stared at the rest of his fellow protectors. Sandy had a coaxing smile on his face, he noticed the same smug look on Frosbite's, Tooth looks very perky and reassuring and North is just plain sure about this whole damn thing!
"Aw'right, aw'right. Ya take care of Teddy, I'll take care of Easta'. But, let me make this clear, no one, I mean no one, beat the shit of Aelius without me, okay?" Bunny grinned a hesitant grin and all of them chuckled. "I can't make any promises, Bunny. You're old and grumpy. You might arrive late. And besides, he hurt my Teddy." Jack wickedly smirked at the Pooka, adjusting his conduit on his shoulder. "Never race a rabbit, mate." And with that, Aster saluted at all of them, tapped the ground twice and completely disappeared in his tunnel.
They watched the single pink flower bloomed from the ground before North whipped the reins, zooming them off into the air. "My Teddy?" Tooth smiled teasingly while Sandy wiggled his eyebrows. Jack turned dark blue and turned away, desperately trying to control his frosty blush. "I… It slipped. I swear!" Tooth and Sandy looked at each other before bursting into a fit of laughter, accompanied with the old Cossack. They are never going to let it down, do they?
The name may be forbidding and gloomy yet you can enjoy the view of colourful badlands, snow-coated peaks, beautiful sand dunes and rugged canyons.
Tooth and Sandy gasped at the picturesque view. Death Valley is located along the California and Nevada border, southeast of the Sierra Nevada mountains. It runs from north to south between the Amargosa Range on the east and the Panamint Range on the west. All in all, the valley is surrounded by vast mountain ranges. "Jack, Jack, Jack! Look!" Tooth violently shook the woozy boy for attention or therefore, lack of.
To say that it was hot was a freaking understatement! For most human beings, they can handle this temperature but Jack is undeniably not a human. He is the epitome of Winter. He controls ice, snow and frost. And what happen to the ice if you let it under the sun? It melts and that's what Jack feels like. Melting, inevitably melting and they haven't even landed yet!
"Tooth, let me peacefully sit here for a moment, will ya?" But the enthusiastic fairy paid him no indication that she heard was he had groggily said. "Jack, Jack, Jack! Look at those! Sand dunes!" Tooth seemed to have sound like a first-timer visitor of Death Valley or in any of the desert areas. True to what Tooth exclaimed, Death Valley is covered with a sea of sand. Prevailing winds would swept the grainy substance thus creating sand dunes. Sand dunes are very occurrent and popular in most desert areas.
"It's so hot!" The winter spirit complained to no one in particular. The frost melted from his hoodie, adding more weight to the clothing. Jack reluctantly removed the said hoodie but he felt so terribly hot after all. Death Valley, of course, is the hottest place on Earth. The hottest air temperature ever recorded in the valley was 134ºF or 57ºC on July 10, 1913. Death Valley has a subtropical desert climate. Long, extremely hot summers, mild winters and little rainfall occur in the valley.
"Wow! Death Valley is so beautiful!" Tooth threw yet another enthusiastic first-timer compliment. Golden Carpet, Napkin Ring Buckwheat, Rock Lady, Death Valley Sticky Ring, Panamint Daisy and Death Valley Sage are in bloom in summer, transforming the desert into a vast garden. "Did you know that the greatest number of consecutive days with a maximum temperature of 100ºF or above was 154 days in the summer of 2001?" Jack only groaned at the unresponsive question, Sandy gave the hummingbird two thumbs up while North stared at the road slash sky ahead.
"Jack, look! The valley floor looks like it's shimmering!" Tooth pointed out a forefinger down below the sleigh but the winter spirit gave no indication to move from his current position. True to what Tooth exclaimed, on any given summer day, the valley floor shimmers silently in the heat.
The Wind gently ruffled the boy's hair, soothing the nauseated friend. With only his old white shirt left, Jack tried to create frost to cool himself down but it easily melted, making the shirt grow heavier again. "North, are we going to land yet?" The winter spirit asked incoherently. The Russian laughed his jolly laughed, turned around and winked at the boy. "Almost there, Jack." The boy's response was another exasperated groan.
"So North," Tooth finally sat down after the ecstatic sightseeing, "where are going to start searching for Aelius' hideout?" The man took a minute to reply. "Mother Nature never gave us ze exact location so what have you read about Death Valley, Tooth?" This made the hummingbird perked up and clasped her hands in merriment. "Oh, oh, oh. I think we could start looking at Death Valley's Devil's Hole." Her wings buzzed even more loudly, annoying Jack to the fullest.
The hyper hummingbird helped North with the directions while Jack feverishly slept through the dizziness and hotness of the valley. They soon descended and hopped out off the sleigh, with the occasional stumbling of Jack. Sandy, the little man he was, tried to help Jack stand up straight but the boy only toppled over his little body. North carried the boy in a piggyback's style and they started their search for Aelius' hideout.
They finally encountered Devil's Hole. Devil's Hole is a water filled cavern cut into the side of the hill. The cavern is over 500 ft. (or 152 m) deep and the bottom has never been mapped. Devil's hole is the habitat of endangered Devil Hole's pupfish or Cyprinodon diabolis. Devil's Hole is a part of the Ash Meadows' complex. It is the discharge point for a groundwater system extending over a hundred miles to the northeast.
Toothiana fluttered near the opening and went inside. She came out afterwards, looking claustrophobic. "I don't think Aelius would build a hideout here. There is, after all, water and the cavern is very deep." So they put an X on Devil's Hole on their invisible list. The Guardians went back to the sleigh and travelled by air, occasionally looking down while on the look out for any possible place where Aelius would build his hideout.
Sandy alerted the Guardians and pointed at Badwater Basin. In 2005, a big pool of greenish water can be seen all the way across the valley and was named Lake Badwater since it resided on Badwater Basin. Lake Badwater, unfortunately, was long gone by February 2007. Badwater Basin is one example of Death Valley's salt pans. Death Valley contains salt pans. As the area turned to a desert, the water evaporated, leaving behind the abundance of evaporitic salts such as common sodium salts and borax. Badwater Basin is one example of Death Valley's salt pans.
They thoroughly skimmed through the area but found none. They went back to sleigh, looking hopeful as always and fly all over Death Valley. "We have one last place on our list." Tooth mumbled while gazing below. "What is the last one?" Jack coherently asked. The boy finally have some focus after he was constantly breezed by the summer breeze. "Death Valley is the home of thousands of abandoned mines."
Mining is also known in Death Valley. Since the 1848 discovery of gold in California, Death Valley experienced over 140 years of boom and bust mining. One of the earliest successful mining operations was the Harmony Borax Works which was active from 1883 to 1888. Twenty Mule Team Wagons were used to transport the partially refined borax.
"No! Thousands, literally? We're not gonna make it in time!" The Guardians were astonished by the sudden outburst of the boy. They have to admit that the heat drained the spirit's energy to the last drop. "We're going to find Teddy, Sweet Tooth. We just need Bunny, that's all." The fairy put a reassuring hand that Jack stared at. He mutely nodded and went back to his incoherent state.
After all, some mines are quite dangerous and there can be poison cyanide inside, unstable rafters and floors. If one get hurts inside a mine, it can be days or never before someone finds you. "We go back to ze Pole." North announced to no one in particular and whipped his reindeers' resistants, speeding them up. "We can't go back. What about Teddy?! Every minute we wasted, she slowly slips through our fingers!" Jack angrily exclaimed. "We know but we need rest, Jack. You also. We can't just fight Aelius tired and incoherent." North had an annoyingly good point and that made Jack shut up.
Tooth started the conversation about Death Valley's history. There are four Native American cultures that are known to have lived in Death Valley during the last 10,000 years or so. The first known group are the Nevares Spring People who arrived in the area 9,000 years ago. By 5,000 years ago, the Mesquite Flat People arrived. Around 2,000 years ago, the Saratoga Spring People moved into the area. They left mysterious stone patterns in the valley. The last known group is the nomadic Timbisha. They arrived 1,000 years ago.
They never knew that Sandy loves legends as he suddenly brought them up. There had been legends going around Death Valley. For example, in 1969, serial killer Charles Manson somehow believed that Devil's Hole was the portal to an underground portal. In 1920, Tom Wilson, a Cahroc Indian who was a Death Valley guide said that his grandfather told him that he had found a tunnel that extended miles beneath the valley. Wilson's grandfather ended up in an underground chamber where a race of fair-skinned people dwelt. He was welcomed by these subterranean humanoids and live with them for a while.
In 1931, a Ohio physician also discovered a series of complex tunnels deep below Death Valley. He said that the caves contained the skeletons of several gigantic men, around nine feet in height. Lastly, years ago, someone was driving through this range in his Jeep when he came to a group of boulders blocking the road. He parked the vehicle and found a narrow pass and walked down into a valley where he saw 300 wooden buildings half covered by sand dues. There were no human remains and no signs of violence or natural disaster.
There are a lot of legends going around Death Valley. Death Valley is one of the mysterious places on Earth.
And so, they went home. The two Guardians slept anxiously through the night while the other two returned to their duties, awoken by the rising sun and eat breakfast. Jack barely touched his food. "Jack, you need to eat. You need your strength." Tooth implied while munching her fruits and sipping her nectar. "Tooth's right, you know." North added while ravenously eating his chocolate chip cookies. Sandy nodded and sipped his second eggnog and devoured his third set of heavily syrupy waffles.
It's not that Jack doesn't want to eat but the fact that his breakfast is bothering him. He stared blankly at his platter and in return, the pancakes stared at him. It was the same meal he and Teddy shared. The same type of pancakes, same type of syrup and butter and the same time of orange juice. Jack picked up his fork and glumly ate his breakfast. The rest of the Guardians cheered and suddenly paying each other play money.
They betted over how many times they need to prod Jack to eat breakfast. (What? They needed some fun in this distressful task. Mission. Thing.) The three of them would coax Jack and that's sums up to one prod. Tooth betted one, North betted five while Sandy betted that they need to get Bunny in order for Jack to eat. Tooth won, much to the two male Guardians' dismay. "Don't underestimate a woman's intuition." She playfully winked.
They waited for night to befall and Jack distractedly gave the last snow day all over the Southern Hemisphere. He came back the same time Bunny arrived. The dear Pooka looked ghastly but determined. They wasted no time and headed to the sleigh, flying back to Death Valley. Jack sighed in utter relief. It may be hot in the day but it was cold in the night. Bunny burred at the slightest of cold while Jack teased him by making it extra cold.
The Guardians descended to the nearest abandoned mine they found and Bunny started sniffing. It took them 30 sleigh rides, 40 sniffing and, 65 guessing but they finally found the right mine. "This place reeks of magic." Bunny plainly commented, his nose twitching ever so slightly. Jack Frost was about to enter the mine but Aster stopped him with his furry arm. "Careful, mate. This mine reeks of cyanide as well."
*Cyanide are highly toxic. If cyanide is inhaled, it causes a coma with seizures, apnea and cardiac arrest, with death following in a matter of minutes. At lower doses, loss of consciousness preceded by general weakness, giddiness, headaches, vertigo, confusion and perceived difficulty in breathing. At the first stages of unconsciousness, breathing is often sufficient or even rapid, although the state of the victim progresses towards a deep coma, sometimes accompanied by pulmonary edema and finally cardiac arrest. Skin colour goes blue as well.
"You're underestimating me Cottontail." Jack mischievously grinned causing Bunny to cock an eyebrow. "Yer underestimating the mine, Frosty." They entered the mine, covering their mouths. Bunny can't use his nose so they blinded navigated through the mine. They easily spotted an illusion that only immortals can go through. They went in and yet nothing happened. Bunny found it very odd. Someone or an animal was supposed to sound an alarm that there was an intrusion. The Pooka inwardly gulped but nonetheless sniffed, the cyanide only faintly smelled through the illusion.
They basically tore the place upside down before finding a hallway with a lot of is it. There's no turning back. They are going to find both Aelius and Teddy, no matter what it takes. Aster opened the first door with a loud bang.
Dear readers, whether anonymous or not,
Status: Unedited. Dang cliffhanger! And I am deeply sorry for the somewhat unnecessary geography and history lesson. I just want to you all tell a little bit about Death Valley, hihi. I am sorry for the late update because 1. I had my eyes check because I need to get glasses; 2. I need to do research; 3. I had writer's block.
My references:
1. ehow dot com/facts_5292477_death-valley-located-california dot html
2. www dot nps dot gov/deva/naturescience/sand-dunes dot htm
3. gocalifornia dot about dot com/od/cadeathvalley/qt/where-is-death-valley dot htm
4. www dot nps dot gov/deva/naturescience/devils-hole dot htm
5. www dot nps dot gov/deva/naturescience/mining-in-death-valley dot htm
6. michaelleggero dot wordpress dot com/2010/12/04/death-valley-photography-trave/
7. www dot nps dot gov/deva/naturescience/weather-and-climate dot htm
8. *en dot wikipedia dot org/wiki/Cyanide_poisoning (I cannot revise the whole paragraph so it's from this website entirely)
9. en dot wikipedia dot org/wiki/Death_Valley_National_Park
10. www dot nps dot gov/deva/naturescience/geology dot htm
11. www dot nps dot gov/deva/naturescience/index dot htm
12. weirdus dot com/states/california/fabled_people_and_places/dea th_valley/index dot php
13. mysteriousuniverse dot org/2012/03/the-death-valley-giants/
References are important after all. For some clarifications, leave a review. We're almost to 100 reviews so review my dear readers, followers, those who favorite-d and those who are lurking in the shadows.
Yours truly, Star.