Alexander held out his hand and two chunks of earth floated out of the ground, being moulded into a pair of boomerangs, Alistair's hands sparked with electricity, and I, remembering Alistair's warning, drew the dagger. Unsurprisingly I felt under defended with just a stick of metal about twenty centimetres long and made of a metal that is known to be malleable. I don't care what they did to it to make it into a weapon, I couldn't get that fact out of my head.

"Are you sure I can't use ice?" I asked Alistair.

"No. The other Descendants of Mother Nature will notice the lowered temperature, and I know you've at least guessed your reputation."

"I've known the reputation for seven years. I had hoped everyone had gotten over. Obviously not."

"Will you two shut up?" Hissed Alexander, his ears as pricked as they could be in a restrictive human form.

I put my back to the others and scanned the forest, feeling once again how dependant I was on my powers. Normally I would spread my ice or frost in some way to scan the area, now I was really relying on my eyes and Alexander's and Alistair's senses.

"Heads up!" Called Alexander, flinging his newly formed boomerang in front of him.

There was a sudden crash and I got a feeling of nausea from my right.

I ducked underneath a shard of grey ice and held out my dagger in the direction, feeling incredibly foolish.

Several corpses shambled out of the trees, and I was overwhelmed by the smell of roadkill. I struggled not to gag as I ducked underneath another blast of ice.

"Stop using ice!" Alistair called out to me.

"Not me!" I yelled back, ducking under an arm that was sparking with electricity. Was lead a good conductor of electricity? I couldn't remember, so now was going to be the time to find out.

I stabbed the deceased Descendant in the arm as I sprang back up, and it let out a scream of pain. I reeled back in shock, I wasn't even aware these guys could feel pain. This light enhanced lead was really something.

I pulled the dagger out of the arm with a spray of dark goo. If I wasn't already going to throw up from the smell then that would have made me.

I push kicked the nearest enemy away to give myself some space, and slashed at another that coming up beside me. I ducked under another blast of ice from my right and parried a swinging arm from the lightning wielder. I threw a side kick to its knee, causing it to crumple and switched dagger hands so I could shove the dagger hilt deep into the lightning wielder's head. It crumpled to the ground without a sound.

I crouched down and pulled out the dagger in another shower of the goo, trying to keep a hold of my nausea with a groan. I instead focused on the fact that for someone who didn't know how to use a dagger, I wasn't doing too badly.

The thought immediately left my head as a block of ice hit my dagger arm.

My arm erupted in pain and I let out a small scream, dropping the dagger. It wasn't quite as bad as it was in either of the graveyards, but it still felt as though I'd just stuck my arm in a fire place. The grey ice started wrapping itself around my forearm, making the pain spread.

I crouched and fumbled around for my dagger on the forest floor with my left hand, keeping an eye out for the approaching un-dead. Well, trying, my eyes were blurring from tears of pain.

Through the sudden tears of pain I saw grey sand heading straight for me. I ducked underneath the stream and fully knelt on the ground, my hand still rummaging for the dagger.

The surrounded grass began to frost over from my sudden panic and pain. My frost reached the ice being spread from the un dead Descendant of Frost and I felt so incredibly sick.

I managed to draw it back, and rolled out of the way in time to avoid the lowered stream of grey sand.

My frost allowed me to map out the immediate area mentally, so I found the dagger and scrabbled for it, still trying to avoid the sand. Finally my left hand found the hilt.

I practically threw it up with my weaker hand, slashing straight through the sand stream. I accidentally froze some of it from the panic of suddenly only having one arm, but with all of the grey ice flying around, I didn't care.

I sprung up and stabbed at the head of sand one while it was distracted by the sudden loss of its sand. It crumpled to the ground without a fuss, surrounded by frozen chunks of grey sand.

Which left the ice one.

It was almost eerie, because this one looked a bit like me. It makes sense, being related, but it really did look like me. Same angled face, same hair colour, even though it was dead, so the hairstyle was more than a bit off. Heck, we even looked the same age, it was just the fact it was, you know, dead.

It brought up its arms to blast ice and skipped forward to cover the ground, then did an inner crescent kick to take down the arms. As my foot landed I spun, giving it another inner crescent to the head. It staggered to the side from the force as I landed, and I was now close enough to slam my forearm into its nose. Normally that would break someone's nose, but this time I just felt my arm sink into its face.

The force was enough to send it staggering back, giving me the space to bring the dagger up and down into the centre of the skull.

The last one I was fighting went down without a sound.

I looked over at the other two to see if they needed any help, but they seemed to be okay. Alexander seemed to be taking down his last one, while Alistair was holding his own quite impressively, sending bolts of lightning down from a suddenly cloudy sky. Very quickly the ones they were fighting were down.

"Any more?" I asked, my eyes pricking with pain again as the adrenaline faded and the pain in my arm came back to the fore of my mind.

Alexander sniffed the air. "Don't think so. It's not easy to tell, that smell is strong."

"I think I'm going to be sick." Groaned Alistair, and a few seconds I heard the sound of someone losing their breakfast.

"I'm never looking at zombie movies in the same way again." I commented, my voice an octave higher than usual from the pain.

Alexander looked over and noticed the chunk of grey ice on my arm. He swore and ran over, using his earth boomerangs to pry it off.

Once it was off I almost cried with relief. Only when it was gone did I realise exactly how much it hurt. The nausea didn't go away, and looking down I realised why; my hoodie was splattered with black goo, and I could feel some of it slipping down my face.

"I really need a shower." I groaned, looking at my dagger. The blade was also dripping with the stuff.

"Wipe it on this." Said Alexander, handing me a handful of grass. I took it and wiped the blade with a grimace, this was disgusting.

I sheathed the now clean blade and looked over at Alistair, who looked about as green as his suit.

"Are you okay Alistair?"

"W-will be in a bit." He gasped, trying not to be sick again.

"I think we can stand to rest for a minute." Said Alexander. "Although Jackie could use a shower."

"I-I can make it rain." Offered Alistair.

"No thanks, it'll freeze the minute it touches me."

"Seriously?" Asked Alexander.

"Seriously. It's annoying."

"Can't you turn it off?"

"I can, but it won't stay off unless I really concentrate, and if I have to walk through the woods as well, it isn't going to work."

"It was worth a shot."

"I'll just wait until we get to the Pole."

Alistair stood up straight, having recovered. "This way."

After about another half an hour the forest changed.

It was still a forest, but, it seemed to be more organised, the trees became more widely spaced. It got to the point where we were walking along a path several metres across with ancient trees hanging over us, forming a canopy of orange, red and yellow leaves. Unlike the graveyard at home, the trees weren't so thick that they blocked out the light, here the light came through the leaves in a pleasant dappled effect.

We walked along, Alexander and I staring at the enormous tree that we were heading towards.

The trunk was as wide as a mansion, and it went up to above the already building tall canopy. Round windows were dotted all the way up the trunk and a pair of double doors stood at the base, decorated with an acorn. Beside the double doors I could see two people standing guard on either side. One was a girl who looked similar to Alistair, with black hair in a bob and the same green suit, and looked a few years older than him, about sixteen.

The other person, a guy, looked to be about eighteen, and had dark blonde hair that hung a little too long into his eyes. He also wore the green suit and shared the bright green eyes. His suit was a little different though, instead of leaves he had saplings by the look of it.

All the way up the trunk you could see different aspects of weather, almost in layers. Down near the bottom it was clear, then several metres up there was a thunderstorm, then hail, then rain, then mist, then a thunderstorm again, extending past the canopy. However, the weather wasn't so thick that you couldn't see the tree.

"Welcome to main settlement of the Descendants of Mother Nature." Said Alistair, his voice swelling with pride. "The Great Oak."

"Wow." I went, I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn't this.

As we approached the girl on duty seemed to be resisting running forward. It was only when we were within respectable earshot did she yell.

"Where have you been Alistair? What happened to that Descendant of Sandman? Who are they?"

"My sister Lisa." Said Alistair whispered. "Basically my mother while I'm here."

Before I could ask him what that meant he called out to his sister.

"You won't believe it if I told you. These two need to see the High Overseer."

Alexander and I looked at each other. I wasn't sure either of us expected this.

"Even the, Descendant of Frost?" Asked Lisa, giving me a look like I'd just kicked a puppy.

"She's not so bad Lisa, can you pass on word, please?"

"Fine."

Lisa opened up the doors and disappeared inside them. Alistair stood with us, shifting from foot to foot as though he wasn't sure what to do.

Alexander wrinkled his nose as we waited. "Wow, you really do stink Jackie."

I blinked in surprise. "Thanks for that." I responded sarcastically.

"Just an observation."

"An observation I could have done without. I know this stuff stinks." It's a miracle I hadn't lost my breakfast.

We stood in silence until the door opened. Any nerves I already had seemed to triple as the High Overseer stepped out.

She was younger than me, in her early twenties or late teens. She had long, thick black hair that tumbled down her back and the same piercing green eyes as all of the Descendants of Mother Nature I'd met have. She wore a pale green, flowing dress with the collar around her shoulders and that was decorated with gold and dark green thread. Like most Descendant leaders (excluding nomads like the Descendants of Lupine) she wore a cloak, which in her case was plain pale green. This struck me as a little odd, I thought the cloaks were supposed to be more decorated than this.

She looked a bit like Mother Nature, but there was enough of difference to make it clear that she wasn't.

She almost seemed to completely ignore Alistair as he dipped his head respectfully and turned her gaze to me and Alexander. Her nose wrinkled like we smelt bad. I know I did, but Alexander had managed to keep his distance from the un-dead Descendants.

"The High Overseer is away at the moment, so you will answer to me, I am Samantha, Overseer in Training." She had a soft Irish lilt to her voice, but it didn't sound warm in the slightest. If anything she sounded colder than my element. And this was the Overseer in Training!

This did explain why her cloak was so plain though, she was merely in training, not an actual leader.

"I assume you two are from HOG."

"Yes." Answered Alexander. "I am Alexander, Head of the Descendants of Bunnymund, and this is Jacqueline, Head of the Descendants of Jack Frost."

Samantha looked less than pleased at this introduction.

"What do we owe the... pleasure?"

Despite the fact this woman was younger than us I got the sudden feeling of being back in school, specifically the principal's office. It was an unusual feeling, since that hadn't happened since I was in elementary school.

Thankfully, Alexander decided to do the talking.

"Have ya heard about the un-dead situation?"

"I have heard rumours."

"So, ya know how far it's gone?"

"Yes, we know that our own Descendants are being reanimated."

For someone who knows that her ancestors are being turned into zombies, she seemed oddly calm.

"And before you ask." Said Samantha, "No, we will not be helping. We will remain neutral. The High Overseer would agree."

I saw Alistair turn his head sharply towards Samantha, clearly this wasn't what he was expecting.

"Even though Pitch is reanimating and using your Descendants to fight us?" I asked, not quite able to believe it.

Samantha barely even spared me a glance as I spoke, instead focusing on Alexander.

"We will not help you. Especially if you have the gall to bring a Descendant of Frost to our domain."

Alexander glanced at me, clearly expecting me to become angry. I was angry, but I instead put on my calm mask. Showing my anger here will not help.

Alexander seemed relieved and looked back to the leader. "Are you sure that there is nothing-?"

"The Descendants of Mother Nature will remain impartial, as they always have with matters concerning Pitch Black and his Descendants. You will find no allies here Descendant of Bunnymund."

Alistair decided to speak. "Ma'am, please." He said 'ma'am' in the posher, British way. "Surely if our ancestors are being used to fight, then it is our problem too?"

Samantha turned her cold gaze to Alistair. "Alistair Green. You are enough trouble as it is for leaving the Great Oak without permission, as well as the damage in the Storm Practice Room. I suggest you either keep quiet, or return to your lessons. Am I clear?"

Alistair's fists clenched, electricity sparking from them, but kept himself under control. "As crystal ma'am."

Samantha turned back to us and drew herself to her full height, which was about the same height as Alexander, and folded her arms across her chest. "And now I suggest you leave."

She actually looked at me and her gaze, if it were possible, hardened. "And you do not return."

I kept my mask on, but rage boiled beneath the surface. We had brought Alistair back, walked for miles and could have been killed on the way here, and she was sending us back without so much of a 'goodbye'.

My power was also twitching, and it was so tempting to at least freeze her feet to ground and make her agree to help us. However, that would just be proving the rumours were true, and the reason I came along was to prove that they weren't.

Alexander also seemed to accept this, but from the way his fists were clenched, it was clear that he was as happy about it as I was.

When he spoke though, his voice was surprisingly calm.

"Very well. We will be on our way. Let's go Jackie."

We turned and left, nodding goodbye to Alistair as we left. Once we were out of the Great Oak's line of sight Alexander smashed the Snow Globe and we went through the portal.

Hey guys, just a couple of quick notes. First, the Descendants of Mother Nature info will be up in the HOG Files tomorrow.

Second, a bit more personal. I'm now a black belt! I took my grading yesterday, and passed!

If anyone's wondering, the martial art I'm now a black belt in is WTF TaeKwonDo. (As opposed to ITF or any other variant that's practiced in countries outside of the UK)