Disclaimer: DreamWorks owns RotG, not me.
Jack had been feeling chills sneak up his spine for almost an hour, and it was starting to worry him. Well, a lot of things were worrying him. That nice (though a bit crude) shop owner had been a leprechaun? Had the bottle been cursed? Leprechauns were said to do things like that…
A shiver raced up his back and crackled through his limbs for a moment like lightning, making him stumble on the dirt path.
Then there was the fact that they had been in Grusiri. Looking for him, obviously. If they knew he was going back to Burgess, maybe he should take a detour. He winced internally; that would mean leaving Emma alone for a longer period of time than he had promised. But he had heard stories of what fey hunters did. Almost as vicious and cruel as fey themselves, burning anywhere the fey had frequented to 'purify' the area. Even though none of the travelers, not even Aster, had seemed like the sort to do something like that, there was no way he would allow anything like that to happen to Mrs. Overland, who had taken him in when he was little, or Emma, who he loved dearly (if they really were fey hunters, his mind whispered, they would have killed you already. Those sorts of people don't need much proof. He tried to quiet his mind, but the voice persisted. They would go back to Burgess anyway, and probably burn the whole town to rid it of your taint, and it'd be all your fau- Jack did not particularly like his head at the moment).
So lost in thought was Jack that he didn't notice when the fingers on his right hand, the one holding his shepherds staff, twitched.
But where to go? If he wasn't going back to Burgess, not right away anyway, then where should he go? Where could he go? It wasn't as though he had any -Jack snorted- family, and Mrs. Overland had only given him so much money for the journey. He might be able to stay mostly in the woods, and occasionally stay in small towns, where the prices would be cheapest. But he would run out of money eventually, and then what?
Jack was pulled from his musings when his whole right arm spasmed, an odd pressure building in his fingers. He frowned, a thought was just out of reach, trying to remind him of something important-
He dropped the staff when frost raced up and down its length from his fingertips. Inhaling sharply, the thought came to the front of his mind and he abruptly remembered he hadn't taken any of the praesidium solution since yesterday. Jack dropped quickly to the ground and practically ripped the bag of his back and rummaged through it, finding his empty flask and the full wooden bottle. He shook the flask in frustration; there was no water in it! He looked around frantically, wasn't this the part where there's miraculously a river nearby or something?
More frost leaked from his fingers and onto the dirt path.
Jack strained his ears for the sound of rushing water –anything! - but there was nothing. Swallowing thickly, he unscrewed the cap of the praesidium and poured only two drops into the flask. He'd have to find a water source later, but he had to fix this (if 'this' was what he thought it was) now. He caught a drop of praesidium on a finger of his left hand, hoping desperately that it wouldn't freeze. It didn't, thank heavens, and he placed it on his tongue. Even though it was only a drop, it burned going down.
Satisfied that he was safe (for now), he put both praesidium and flask back into the bag, then hoisted the bag on his back. He picked up his staff and examined it. The frost was melting away, though the wood was absorbing the water left behind. Jack's brow creased, but then he shrugged. Probably not important.
As he began walking again, he looked curiously at his fingers. The pressure hadn't been removed when he'd drank the praesidium, but it had at least ceased building up, and the chills had stopped accosting his body, for now anyway.
Now, where should he try to hide from those pesky foreigners that were chasing him?
Sandy frowned when he saw Jack drop to the ground, shaking violently, and pull something out of his bag. The shaking had stopped shortly after, and Sandy wondered what the boy had done.
He hoped Jack would keep up his steady pace. Sandy would never admit it, not aloud at least (as if!), but he liked traveling on his own. Well, that was a lie. He liked shadowing someone on his own, as the others could be a bit… Much? Bright? Not stealthy at all? All of those applied, Sandy thought with a firm nod. It appeared Jack didn't even realize he was being followed, and okay, Sandy was cheating a bit, he wasn't exactly shadowing Jack in a normal way.
Sandy's snapped out of his thoughts as Jack stood, putting a… wooden bottle? into his bag. The brunet began walking again, shepherds staff slung over his shoulder. Sandy stealthily followed, a feat that was hard to achieve, considering that the well-traveled dirt path was surrounded by approximately no cover; no thick tree trunks, bushes, rocks, tall grass, or even large snow piles to hide behind.
Sandy followed from the air.
The fluffy clouds that were heavy with snow created the perfect cover, and he could settle on his own golden cloud of sand, ducking through the cloud cover every now and then. Sandy was sure that at some point Jack would look up and notice the golden glow coming from the clouds, or catch sight of him peering out. The boy did have a habit of checking every direction, even up (especially up, which was strange. It was almost like he automatically expected people to be in the air, Sandy mused), when he thought he was being stalked.
The next time Sandy poked his head out of the clouds, Jack wasn't there. Jack was going back to Burgess… right? Sandy risked coming completely down from the clouds, risky not only if Jack saw, but also if any other person who might be walking the path noticed.
There he was, in the distance! But why had Jack turned away from the path that would take him back to Burgess? Perhaps he was going to visit relatives. After all, none of them knew the reason Jack had gone to Grusiri in the first place. Sandy caught up to Jack quickly, though the brunet didn't know that.
A small, jewel-bright bird fluttered around Sandy, who'd concealed himself in the clouds once more. The bird was pretty, in shades of turquoise and green, chirping madly… wait. That wasn't a bird! Sandy offered his hand for the small creature to rest, recognizing it as one of Tooth's fairies. It squeaked a thanks (probably. Sandy had no idea what any of the fairies said ever) and sat on his hand for a minute before zipping off again. Sandy frowned; there was seemingly no reason for Tooth to send a fairy, unless it was to-
Of course! The others were close, and he would have to join them on the ground so they wouldn't completely blow their stalk-Jack-and-convince-him-to-come-to-Santoff-Claussen-without-using-a-sack plan. Sandy huffed in irritation and, checking to be sure that nobody would see, floated down to the dirt path and dissolved his sand cloud.
The only consolation was that Jack was coming upon some woods, so there was some hope that they wouldn't be discovered.
A/N: So it's really short but it's been ages since I've updated and you guys kind of deserve something. Feedback on this chapter would be appreciated; I'm not overly fond of it. In other news, there are now chapter titles (that are terrible because titles are hard)!
WinterCrystal1009: Looking forwards to seeing what you do, and thanks!
One Wing In The Fire: they were *this* close...
Melancholy's Sunshine: *laughs nervously and pulls sack out of Aster's reach* Haha what sack? *sweats*
I'm the lonely life: Hey thanks! And whats your hunch? Well if you're a sadist for enjoying it, what does that make me for writing it?
IReviewThings: There'll be a chase scene as soon as I figure out how to write one... Shh, Jack's not allowed to watch spy movies until after the Guardians have caught him.
KorrieChan: Thanks, and... maybe? I don't really watch a lot of movies (I say and hope no one notices my main fandom is a movie).
Serami Nefera: Trust me on this, Katherine will definitely show up at some point, and Ombric as well. I'll be honest, I really haven't decided if Jack and Nightlight should be the same person, but as of now I'm leaning towards them being separate. Sandy is sneaky, but he's also a cheater;)
The purple hippocampus: They probably won't be on good terms for a while, but here's a new chapter!
Yellowmiki98: Schedules are terrible, aren't they?
Blah: You'll have to wait and see!
So for some reason there's like 100 people following this and like 100 reviews? Wow, didn't think that would happen! Thank you so much for reviewing, following, and favoriting. I can not express how much that means to me, especially the reviews that give constructive criticism.
Until next time!