Chapter Six: In the Shadows
Jack and Luna were stirred from their Christmas Eve slumber by the sound of rapid footsteps coming down the stairs. They both sat up with a start, once again forgetting that neither Angie nor the girls' mother would have any idea that he was there.
"Wakey, wakey!" Angie's voice called as she reached the living room. "It's Christmas, and you are going to absolutely love what I got you so let's get this party started!" The older of the Nightingale sisters was wearing soft-looking white pajamas decorated with little penguins wearing earmuffs and scarves. On her feet, Jack spotted fuzzy white slippers that looked like polar bear paws. He laughed a bit to see the glimmer of childishness in Angie. Up until that moment, he had only seen her in a shorter and more serious mood. Jack watched as Angie went straight into the kitchen and began to whip up three mugs of hot chocolate, humming "Jingle Bells" all the while. He looked at Luna and raised his eyebrows with a hushed smile on his face. Luna laughed and rolled her eyes.
"Hey, I'm gonna let Phoebe out before Mom comes down," she called to Angie. She gestured for Jack to come with her, then enthusiastically called for Phoebe to go outside. The beast of a dog hopped off of the couch and bounded out the door with them, ripping down the back steps and tearing through the snow-covered yard, her pink tongue hanging out of the side of her mouth and bouncing with each step.
"Your sister seemed very… festive… this morning," Jack said with a chuckle. Luna giggled.
"I told you – she way more of a dork than she wants anyone to know. And she loves Christmas."
"Well, then, I'll leave you to it. You'll have to let me know what she got for you and if you did, in fact, 'absolutely love it,'" Jack said, making finger quotes as he did so. "Thank you again for this," he said as he pulled the necklace out from under his hoodie. "I don't think I'll ever take it off, honestly."
"Well, I'm very glad you liked it. And thank you for my gift, as well." She held up her wrist with the charm bracelet. "This was a really sweet surprise." Phoebe had come over and begun to nuzzle her snout under her owner's hand. Luna stroked her softly with the backs of her fingers. "Merry Christmas, Jack."
"Merry Christmas, Luna."
With that, Jack hopped onto the wind and flew off to enjoy the rest of his Christmas Day. He felt that he was bursting with energy, rejuvenated by the night's restful sleep. His mind whirled as he anticipated visiting the Bennetts once more, and his excitement doubled as he remembered that he was going to spend the night at the Pole with North and the other Guardians in order to celebrate another successful holiday together. As he flew over the town square, he let out a loud, joyful call that rang out all around him.
Below, in the town, things seemed as merry as ever; people were walking to visit their family and friends, children were outside playing with their just-opened sleds and ice skates, and there were even a few Christmas carolers out and about, their voices ringing out clear and bright.
However, all was not well in Burgess.
The disturbance was small and subtle; not a single townsperson could have suspected that anything was wrong. But that didn't change the fact that, in a completely normal alley between two completely normal buildings, a very strange shadow moved of its own accord. It started out on the ground, a dark and shapeless mass. It then erected itself to appear on the old brick wall of the building, though no one was there to cast it. It took the shape of a person wearing a long cloak, then began to glide along the wall like a ghost, smoothly and silently. The shadow rounded the corner, passing over a display window as it did so. If there had been a single person on the street to see what happened next, they surely would have fainted at the sight of it. For, as the shadow glided over the window, a clear image of a person appeared in the frosty glass, wearing a gray hooded cloak which covered their whole frame. The most horrifying thing about the figure, however, was the mask made of cracked and splintered glass which covered the figure's entire face, save for two holes broken through the mask right where the eyes should have been.
The figure paused here to look up and down the street, searching for some unknown something. Evidently, it did not find what it was looking for, because it continued to move across the buildings, returning to the form of a shadow as it slid over the walls. At the end of the quiet block, the figure bent down and touched a hand to a crack in the sidewalk. As it did so, a stream of inky blackness seemed to be summoned toward it, the black substance traveling through the cracks and being absorbed by the figure as they came into contact with it. With every passing second, the figure grew larger and larger as it sucked up more of the strange substance.
When it had had its fill, the shadow (now ten times larger than it had been before) swooped down and slithered its way across the ground, moving toward the outskirts of town. When it reached the edges of the forest, it automatically began to weave throughout the trees and brush until it reached that strange little burrow at the base of a twisted tree. It crept into the burrow, merging seamlessly with the murky shadows below.
Deep, deep down in the underground cave, the figure transformed into a physical being, the mirrored mask still covering its face. As it emerged from the shadows, thousands of inky little creatures with cloudy white eyes scampered out of the shadows with it, pittering and pattering all over the cave. The figure raised its masked face to look to the cave ceiling, which was absolutely crawling with the little creatures, their odd, chittering voices echoing all throughout the cavern.
"Yes, yes… you're doing wonderfully," whispered the voice inside the figure's head. The figure listened intently, as it always did exactly as the voice asked. "Just remember… find the white-haired boy with the wooden staff. If you bring him here, I can give you everything you require. Your questions will be answered. Just bring me the boy with the wooden staff."
As the figure listened, a golden light began to shine through the broken eyes in the mirror mask. As the eyes glowed brighter, all of the little creatures began to hiss and gather toward the figure, following it movements and drawing closer to it like moths to a flame.
"I will."