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I used the surrounding ice to slide away from the pair and pull up a barrier to stop them from getting to me. I formed a ball of snow and flung it up into the clouds.
From there I closed my eyes and concentrated on the clouds. I wasn't entirely sure what was I doing, so I just had to make it up and hope for the best.
I could almost see the snow in the clouds. Seeing it sitting in the clouds as water vapour, all I needed to do was lower the temperature in the clouds.
I did so and almost smiled. What had Jack been on about? This wasn't nearly as bad as he said it was.
I could sense the snowflakes falling and I hardened a few of them, turning them into hailstones and making them land on Samuel and Pete.
I heard the yelps coming from Pete and the clops of sandy hooves as Samuel and his steed panicked.
In the corner of my 'eye' I could see that the snow clouds were spreading, heading out towards main Burgess.
I started to call it back, but I found that I was struggling, the snow in the clouds didn't seem to want to respond. I withdrew back to the clouds above the lake, which I could control more easily, but I could tell that the other clouds were dispersing, each carrying heavy snow.
I tried to rein them back in, but quickly found that when I did manage to get hold of one, it was incredibly tiring to keep hold of it. It was like trying to keep hold of a wet bar of soap, only more slippery and it was trying to go in multiple directions at once.
Now I saw the problem. Unlike ice and snow, which more or less bent to my will, the clouds didn't want to be controlled.
I began to feel light headed and a little nauseous as I tried to control the new snowstorm, sweat formed and froze in sheets and chunks. I stopped turning the snowflakes to ice above the lake just in an effort to keep the storm in check.
It didn't work.
The storm strengthened and the clouds tugged themselves from my mental grip. Nature started to take control and a wind whipped up, making it even harder to keep control of the clouds directly above my head.
I could hear Pete laughing and I felt angry. He knew this would happen, and I'd fallen for it, hook, line, and sinker.
I had to let go completely and I opened my eyes, staggering as my eyesight blurred. I felt so, so tired.
I leaned heavily on the cane as I tried to stay standing, sudden nausea racking my stomach. There was a soft thud as Samuel vaulted off his sand horse and walked calmly towards me.
I started to move back, just to get away, but my bad leg almost collapsed beneath me and I fell on the cane. I shook my head to try and clear the blurriness as something black got blown into my face.
The last thing I noticed was my legs collapsing beneath me.
Taboo sniffed the air as snow began to fall, frowning in a human like manner. Over the past week she'd gotten to know what Jackie's powers were like. They seemed to have a different feel to Jack's, although they were similar in some ways.
This was clearly Jackie's snow, but why would she be making it snow?
Taboo's icy forehead furrowed further as she began to run through the trees. She'd gotten a message from Jackie not too long ago, and had brushed it off as Jackie having one of her many nightmares. This didn't seem to be the case anymore.
Taboo reached the lake and let a growl. She could smell wolves. The same kind of wolves she'd helped Jackie fight only last week.
There was also another scent, she had never come across it before, but Jackie had. Taboo got the image of a blonde man and a horse made of black sand and she growled. Even without ever meeting them, she knew they were bad news.
Strongest of all, was Jackie. Jackie had been here with a wolf and black horse. Taboo let out another growl to herself, the incident becoming partially clear to her.
The horse and the wolf had found Jackie here, she'd tried to fight them off and failed.
Taboo circled the lake in frustration, unable to find a scent that could tell her where they went. She snarled to let her frustration and began running back to the house. Maybe there was something there she could use to find Jackie.
Taboo scrambled up the brickwork and jumped back into the room through the open bathroom window and ran to Jackie's bedroom. Something had happened here as well, it may even have started here. There were ice blasts on the walls and Jackie's bed was empty, the covers strewn across the bed. The book shelf had toppled over and the door was swinging open.
Taboo prowled around, sniffing the air. In here were the same scents as at the lake. She nodded to herself, so Jackie had been attacked here and gotten to the lake, where she'd started the snowstorm.
She grabbed Jackie's hiking bag and dragged it out from under the bed, knowing that she'd never properly emptied it in the past week. Maybe there was something in here she could use. After dragging out some clothes and food, she found something
A snow globe rolled out of Jackie's bag from where it had been caught in the bottom and
Taboo sniffed it. Taboo herself had never seen this before, but she knew Jackie had.
There was a sudden flash in her mind of Jackie muttering a name and throwing an identical ball, smashing it. A portal formed and she walked through it.
Taboo shook herself out of the vision. That had been happening all week, she'd come across something or someone Jackie knew and she'd get a memory flash. Neither of them could explain it and just hoped for Taboo's sake that it wouldn't interfere too much. However, for the first time, Taboo considered these 'visions' useful.
She picked up the globe with her mouth and thought hard about Jackie. She threw it against the wall and the portal appeared, which she bounded through.
On the other side were the two humans standing in a large cavern, which had black rocks and ridges all over the floor. It was surprisingly warm down here, an uncomfortable sensation for Taboo, but she wasn't melting. In front of them she could see Jackie hanging upside down from the ceiling, her ankles wrapped in black sand.
Her eyes were shut and she appeared to be breathing calmly as they raised an arrow to her chest.
In an instant Taboo had bounded over, knocking the arrow away. She leapt up towards the bonds, snapping through them and twisted her body to catch Jackie on her back. She deposited Jackie at the back of the cave and stood between Jackie and the other humans, snarling. Those two had done enough, now they had face Taboo now.
The human with the dark hair shifted into a wolf, while the other formed weapons from black sand. Taboo smiled and lowered her head, a snarl building in her throat; this was going to be fun.
