Where the curse is

The snowstorm stayed for two days, leaving Jack pretty much locked inside the castle. The difference was that now he knew why some weren't thrilled to have him there. Also, the dragon wasn't horrible company. Not that he said a lot since he was sleeping most of the time. Waking only occasionally to grunt and huff and blink to show Jack he was listening to whatever Jack might happen to say.

"Dragons aren't good with this kind of weather. Makes them slow and sleepy," Gobber explained.

"Good thing," Astrid the candlestick had answered. "He needs to stay still long enough for his wounds to heal. He'll be climbing the walls as soon as the sun comes out."

Jack didn't feel like exploring the castle any more than he already had, so he took care of Philippe, helped clean up in the stable, spent as little time as he could in the kitchen, and the rest of his time either in the sitting room where the dragon slept or in his own room, chatting with Tooth Fairy, who turned out to not carry any teeth. Jack had felt obliged to apologize for thinking so.

"It's fine. Can't help it with my name and when I'm a storage item. But thank you for clearing that up!"

It was his fifth morning as the dragon's hostage. Jack was up early again, getting dressed in soft leather pants, light cream undershirt and a wonderful blue wool sweater with wide quarter arms and a wide neck. Even though Jack was pretty sure it was made for a woman once, he still loved the sweater. He absolutely loved the colour; just a few shades darker than his eyes. It made him feel strangely pretty. The way Tooth was applauding his look though made him embarrassed.

"I'll see you in the evening, Tooth," Jack promised as he left for breakfast.

"And I'll be here, probably" Tooth said in a tone as if she was trying but knowing she failed to crack a joke. Jack didn't quite understand, but he wrote it off as social awkwardness. He and his father were probably more visitors than they had had in ten years.

First he went to the sitting room where the dragon had been sleeping in front of the fireplace for the past two days, only to find the room empty and the fire reduced to hot coal.

The first thing Jack registered was surprise at just how disappointed he got. Why was he disappointed? The dragon had probably not left the castle, he was just… in places where Jack didn't know where to find him.

Then he heard quiet footfalls behind him and turned.

The dragon stopped when he noticed Jack. "Good morning," he said politely, but his green eyes were searching.

"Morning," Jack quickly smiled and tried to hide how relieved he was to see the dragon. "I'm glad you're up. How are you feeling? I mean…" he glanced at the place where he knew the wounds had been inflicted, only to realize the dragon was carrying cleaning materials.

"I've lived through worse," the dragon said and put the bucket of water down. He was still eyeing Jack as if waiting for him to do something, but Jack was still a little struck by the image of the master actually carrying around a broom, a duster, a bucket of water and had a white cloth tucked into his belt.

"I can't decide if that's hilarious or adorable."

The dragon looked startled before he suddenly turned around. That's when Jack settled on funny and started laughing.

Hiccup could for the life of him not understand what Jack was talking about, but he wasn't about to complain. A laughing human was much better than one cowering in fear or coming at him with ill intent.

"Ida and Dagur are preparing your breakfast. If you go there now you could make them happy."

The teen snorted as he got his laugher under control. "How am I showing up going to make them happy? Dagur hates me."

"Yeah, it's finding someone he likes that's the challenge," Hiccup said with a roll of his eyes and picked Bucket back up. "But Ida likes to serve a meal hot, and as far as I can tell she hasn't really made up her mind about you yet."

He turned to leave.

"Where are you going?"

Looking up when Jack suddenly sounded nervous, Hiccup stared at the human boy. There was something about him that Hiccup hadn't seen in any of the other people who had come to this place. Something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"I'll… be around," he said and held up his materials.

The dragon had been alone for too long. Jack realized this when the broom and water was apparently the answer to his whereabouts. Shaking his head, Jack decided to smile instead. "Okay. I'll see you later."

Then he headed for the kitchen with quick strides and tried to clear his head.

What was wrong with him? Sure, the dragon had proven he wasn't a monster, but for the past couple of days Jack had found a familiar loneliness creeping up on him. One that was only subsiding when he was near the dragon. It didn't make sense.

"What's this?! Here already? The porridge isn't even done yet!"

"Perfect. Sit down and wait for a minute. I can finally serve you the bread hot."

"No! You're not supposed to be here before the food is ready."

"Oh, shush! You know how impossible it is to keep anything warm in this building!"

Jack walked around the table carefully, picking up Tuffnut from the counter as he went, and stared at the oven and teapot arguing about whether it was a good or bad thing he had arrived early.

"Are you two married?"

The question was out before he could stop it, and the two turned on him.

Dagur for some reason looked crushed. But Ida blew up.

"Do I look like a child to you?!"

Jack stared with wide eyes, making some noise of unsuccessful thinking.

"Actually, don't answer that. I can see the 'no, you look like a teapot' comment coming all the way from here."

The teen sat quiet for a moment, but Tuffnut was cackling so hard he looked like he was about to burst.

"My wife…"

Jack turned to the oven who sighed smoke before straightening up and started stirring the porridge. It was sort of interesting to see him work. He had these metal appendages that sort of curled which he used to grab ladles and lids and from which wet pots hung after being washed.

Actually, every single one of the objects in the castle were fascinating in their own way. They functioned by moving what parts of them were able to move at all. Ida and Astrid jumped around in a fashion that, by a long stretch, reminded Jack of a larva. The rakes and shovels in the stable seemed like they could levitate for a limited amount of time, otherwise Jack couldn't imagine how they managed to keep upright when they swung around to get leaves and snow out of the way.

Also, the more he watched them all, the more uneasy he felt. It was in the way some wouldn't look at him and instead they'd politely bow or step aside. It was in the way their airy friendliness felt forced or shallow. It was in the whispers he could hear at the edges of his periphery that always stopped when he came too close.

"Here you go!" Ida happily presented two flat breads that came flying from the insides of the oven.

Jack jumped up to catch the bread, only to burn his hand. He hastily put the bread on the table and stepped away, waving his hands as if he could just bat the burning sensation away.

Ida ignored him and instead jumped upon her cart to roll over the floor along with the plate of porridge.

"Thanks," Jack said, still rubbing his burnt fingers.

"I'm glad I don't have to hunt you down to get some food into you. There is certainly no warmth in here, not even during the height of summer, you know. It's not good for anyone. Sometimes I wonder if Hiccup is simply putting on a brave front."

Jack picked his bowl of breakfast from the cart. He broke the bread, which was so fresh it steamed. Ida was right; the castle was quite cold. Enough that he could already touch bread that had come from the oven barely a minute ago.

"Why would the dragon put on a brave front?"

"Cold makes dragons slow and vulnerable. It's really boring."

It was Tuffnut who said it, and nobody appreciated the comment. Dagur's fires seemed to chough, like when you light a match, and Ida promptly filled the mug with scalding tea, earning a cry of surprise.

Jack didn't understand any of it.

"Well, this country isn't exactly known for its tropic climate," the teen said hesitatingly. "I mean, the first thing I was told when my dad and I moved to Berk was that it snowed nine months of the year and hailed the other three."

The room was suddenly very, very quiet. Ida, Tuffnut, Dagur and even Gobber who had just walked inside the door stood stock still, pendulum frozen in mid-swing.

"You're from Berk?"

Ida's voice was a broken whisper and her eyes had turned glassy.

"Don't tell Hiccup," Dagur hissed. "Whatever you do; never speak of Berk ever again."

"Why? How do you know about Berk?"

Gobber started ticking again. "We have some idea of the geography around here," he said airily. "But you tell us why you think we don't want Hiccup, or anyone for that matter, to know you're from that village."

The first thing that connected in Jack's brain was Snotlout's dragon hunting escapades. The second was that there used to be dragons in Berk, but they had disappeared with…

"You're from Berk!"

"Don't yell!" Ida hissed.

Jack slapped a hand over his mouth, unable to fully understand. He'd suspected these objects had been people once. But if they were in fact the missing half of Berk's population… Jack didn't know what was worse.

"Where are the dragons?" he asked, but he hadn't even finished the question before he realized that he knew.

The dragon hadn't made the dragon statues. All the dragons had turned to stone. All but one. So it wasn't just a curse that had turned people into objects.

"Your food is getting cold," Ida said quietly.

The teen nodded and sat down, wondering when he'd gotten off the chair. He started eating while he watched Ida stare emptily at his bowl and Tuffnut fidget beside her.

Tuffnut.

The name suddenly sounded familiar. Or similar to another name he'd learnt recently.

"Are you…?"

"Don't!" Ida snapped sharply. "Don't ask. Don't tell us anything, it will just make it hurt more." She glared at him with a soul that knew more about loneliness and pain than Jack could stand. "We can't leave the castle anyway."

After that, Jack stubbornly stared at his food until he'd finished it and then left on a mission to find the dragon.

The Enchantress sneezed awake. Shaking her head groggily she realized she must have fallen asleep and the dust had awoken her.

How attractive, she thought and rolled her eyes at herself.

Standing up she stretched, feeling and hearing her body pop loudly. She was exhausted. She was still dreaming, still feeling that sense of creeping evil but was unable to grasp anything other than that from her dreamscapes. All she could ever recall was Mother Gothel's cruel laugher as she fell to her death.

Frustrated the young woman closed a book and hauled it across the room.

Days of search and she had found nothing. Hours upon hours of reading and asking all the wrong questions in pursuit of the right ones and all she had to show for it was strained eyes, an aching back and so much unnecessary knowledge about flowers and potions and grass and rocks that she wanted to cry.

Lilacs were apparently the perfect timers when brewing fertilizer. You started when it budded and it was finished when the last flower fell.

How long did it take to know a spell was permanent? Watch a rose wilt. Or if you cast a spell and didn't know if you actually wanted it to be permanent; connect it to a time spell on a rose so that it wilted more slowly.

Rapunzel banged her head against a bookcase, regretting it when she hit a hard edge.

"I don't need this!" she cried at the room. "I need diaries. Logs. Anything other than how to make rocks from flowers or flowers from rocks! Why is Mother Gothel laughing?!"

There was also a wholly different problem Rapunzel for the life of her couldn't see the old Enchantress suspect anyone of overpowering her. Why would she? Mother Gothel had lived for three hundred years. Why would she have thought she needed a safety net?

There were no news from Eugene either, meaning he too suffered from the constant lack of answers. Of proof.

"Maybe I'm paranoid? Is this all in my head? But if thought I sensed it. I could feel Mother Gothel's magic right here!" She slapped her hand on the map on the wall, regretting that too when pain stung her palm.

Staring at the mess she had made in the library, the young enchantress tore at the hair in her neck.

"I need to sleep. Properly. Without dreaming." She turned to leave the room, only for her foot to hit the edge of a table, leaving her screaming profanities where she jumped around holding her sore toes.

"L-lady Goldbloom?"

Miriam stood in the doorway, hiding behind the door.

The Enchantress groaned unhappily. "Miriam, could you please ask the king's healer to brew me something that'll knock me out could for the night?"

When Astrid had said the dragon would be climbing the walls as soon as he woke up, she had meant it literally. Jack found the target of his search way up a wall, duster flying over the surface of yet another stone dragon.

"How can I help you break the curse?"

The dragon startled, slipping with his foot before regaining his balance and stared down at Jack with wide eyes with a lot of green around thinned pupils. Jack watched as they grew when the eyes recognized him.

"I beg your pardon?"

Jack tried not to let his embarrassment show. He hadn't meant to frighten Hiccup. But the look on Ida's face haunted him. The more direct he was, the sooner he could hopefully help these people.

"There's a curse on this castle and all of you are suffering because if it."

Hanging the duster on his arm the dragon carefully made it down to the floor. "What gave you the idea?" he asked.

"Killing Hiccup won't break the curse."

Jack startled and stared at the dragon, but it wasn't him who had spoken. Damn this castle and its invisible inhabitants that could crawl up on him from anywhere!

The dragon held up his arm where the duster looked at Jack in a way that Jack supposed was meant to be hostile. It wasn't all that frightening though, what with the thin handle and soft feathers pointing every which way like a skirt. But the voice was clearly male.

"Hey. My name is Eret, son of Eret. Nice to make you acquaintance."

It even confirmed it was male. Now Jack didn't know if he was supposed to laugh or cower.

"Eh, nice to… meet you too?" He greeted the duster back, only to suddenly register what it had said first. "Why would you say that? I'm not going to hurt anyone."

"Heard that before, son. Didn't believe her either. Hey, what? Wait!"

But the dragon had already hung the duster on a lantern and was hurrying down the corridor, motioning for Jack to follow.

Surprised, Jack did as the cogs in his brain slowly progressed what the duster had said. "Wait, you mean there's been people here before?"

"Yes," the dragon said stiffly. "They didn't linger. Why would you want to break the curse?"

Jack blinked at that. Obviously the dragon didn't want to talk about any earlier visitors. What if they had been like his dad; too afraid to talk to. The dragon's back was stiff and his tail shook from side to side as if agitated. He remembered Ida's comment that the dragon was putting on a brave front.

"It's not fair."

Pausing, the dragon tilted his head, urging Jack to elaborate.

"I don't know why this happened to you, or who thought it was a good idea to do this, but I know that so many people can't be all so bad that they deserve… whatever fate this is supposed to be."

The dragon nodded slowly, eyes clear and gentle. "You're kind," he said softly and turned into the sitting room. "Easter would have liked you."

Jack bit his lip and worriedly glanced around. Easter was the name of the person his father had happened to… break. He wondered if she was in the west wing now, glued together but without the person inside.

"Why would you say so?"

The dragon lit the fireplace by spitting at the logs. Warm light spread around the room and the dragon lay down on the mat in front of it, glancing at Jack. "She was kind too."

Jack fidgeted, but walked into the room and sat on the armchair. "The vase with the bunny on it…"

"Bunny," the dragon said and motioned with his head at a footstool to come over.

"His name is Bunny?"

"Bunnymund," the dragon said with a hint of amusement and put his head comfortably on the footstool.

Jack couldn't help it; he let out a giggle. "I see your names dictated some of the shapes."

The dragon just blinked. Big eyes like emeralds and onyx that reflected the firelight.

"So what's your plan?"

"Huh?"

"You said you wanted to break the curse."

"Really?!"

Jack jumped around to find Fishlegs on the table beside him. He really had to stop dismissing things as lifeless. One of these days he was going to have a heart-attack!

"How are you going to do that?" the book asked, looking excited and hopeful.

"Um, by you telling me what to do?" Jack said, but found he sounded like he was asking instead.

The book's face fell. "Oh."

The dragon sighed too. "If I could actually do that, don't you think I would have tried to ask the first person who stopped long enough to listen?"

"You mean you can't?" Jack sputtered.

"We tried," the dragon confirmed, and that stiffness in his body was back even though Jack couldn't detect it in his voice. "And we failed. So anything you suggest; we're all ears."

From the doorway they heard coughing and Jack turned to find Astrid and Eret the duster coming inside.

"News are spreading like wildfire. Everyone already knows what you're up to," Astrid said.

"Great," the dragon sighed and swayed his tail towards the candlestick. "Remind me to lock the attic."

"I sent the coat hanger to do that." Astrid grabbed the tail and dropped on another small table that came forward, placing her comfortably between Fishlegs and the dragon to form something of a half circle around Jack.

"What's in the attic?" Jack asked nervously, because it definitely sounded bad.

"Ignorance is a bliss, you know," the dragon said solemnly. "And you were about to tell us of your ideas."

The teen bit his lip, thinking. "Have you heard those stories of people who stumble upon a curse and the only way to break it in all those stories is the kiss of…"

Jack stopped and stared at a rather unimpressed dragon and a weirded out candlestick looking between them.

"Eh, let's sweep that idea under the rug and pretend it's raining?" Jack suggested with a smile he hoped conveyed that he certainly hadn't meant it like that.

"Where'd you hear such stories anyway?" Astrid asked, still not quite over the suggestion.

"I read. Almost every fairy tale that includes curses also includes… opposite genders. I even read every book in the library, all twelve, before the new bookstore opened."

The dragon was now decidedly amused, his eyes glinting in the firelight. "And you read fairy tales? I thought those were mainly for young girls."

"I had a little sister," Jack muttered.

The amusement died instantly, leaving the teen to long for that light in the dragon's eyes to return. Without it he looked too much like he was dead inside.

"She's still alive!" he hurried to say. "Just… my mother left and took my sister with her."

"That's worse!" Fishlegs cried.

It was. In a way, knowing his little sister lived with a woman who was definitely doing everything she could to put North in a bad light, was worse than if she was dead. And somehow Jack was relieved to hear someone say that to his face.

"Didn't the bookstore offer more interesting books than fairy tales?" Astrid asked.

"Of course. But there were no curses in those, and if there was…"

"It was fixed by tongue-action," Eret finished and gagged.

"We should probably take a look at the library. See if we can find anything more valuable," the dragon sighed and stood.

"You have a library?!"

Jack tried to reign in his excitement to hear that there were actually books here, but from the pleased look the dragon sent him after the surprise wore off, Jack probably failed, and wasn't even upset about it.

North sat on the steps outside his door when Ruffnut arrived that morning. Still no Jack then. Kid was probably dead and North had simply gone insane by denial.

People in the village had started to take notice too. Whispers of Jack's absence was slowly creeping around.

"Overland! Thorston's daughter! Good morning, dear friends."

Both looked up, but seeing only Flynn Rider they both returned to what they were doing; Ruffnut milking the goat and North staring at the road.

"I can't help but notice the absence of a certain son. Overland, won't you please tell me where the boy is?"

"…he stayed there," North mumbled.

Flynn glanced around. Thorston's daughter was ignoring him like always. It was such a shame because she was rather pretty, her long, slim legs being her selling point. He would have loved to have those legs wrapped around him and see her gasp and moan and write beneath him just once, but if his charms didn't work they didn't and he had to accept that with grace.

Being ignored still hurt though.

"Are you saying Jack followed you to Burgess and now is staying with his mother?"

Ruffnut looked up. That did sound like logic, but it wouldn't explain the incident with the burning wagon or the fear that shadowed the toymaker's face every now and then. His house was brightly lit through the nights too.

North however looked up with wide, glassy eyes. "I never reached Burgess!" he said. "The sign had too many arrows and I couldn't read any of them!" he stood over Flynn who warily backed away. "Philippe threw me off and ran away. I just escaped a black bear and sought shelter in that… In that…"

"Cave?" Flynn suggested.

"CASTLE!" North roared, furious now.

"Okay. Take it easy," Flynn tried to placate the now pacing man. He had believed the toymaker until that point. "You're upset, Overland, I can see that. Why don't I take you to the inn where you can enjoy some good company for a while, rather than wallow in your loneliness here; it's not good for you."

"He locked me away," North continued his tale, appearing to not have heard Flynn at all. "Jack… he shouldn't have come! He shouldn't have done that! Why would he trade his life for mine?! I'm old; I've lived my life! That monster…"

North suddenly stared at Flynn, petrified by fear.

"Overland…"

"No," the man whispered. "No. He will kill Jack. You can't go there; Jack will die."

Flynn was still holding his hands up and backing away. "Of course. I won't go anywhere. But you should truly try to get out more, Overland. You sound like you are going mad."

And with that Flynn bowed slightly in goodbye and left in a hurry. Ruffnut finished milking Mary, Overland's goat, and patted her on the neck before bringing the milk over to the steps of the house where the eggs already sat in a casket. North had said nothing about her doing Jack's chores, so she supposed her deal with the white-haired teen was still in place.