I flipped the folded letter over in my hands, having already memorised the words, as I thought about what was written inside.

It had been a rare direct communication from the Descendants of Ombric in Santoff Claussen to, well, anyone. I could tell because it was in English, while the official language of Descendants is Atlantian. That meant that general communication between Descendants was written in Atlantian, much to my joy.

It was interesting look at, it was written on parchment of all things, with a wax seal in the shape of an hourglass to complete the look. There was another interesting thing about this, it was written directly to me. None of the other Heads, just me. It wasn't just specifically for HOG, it was specifically for me. The former was rare, the latter almost unheard of.

'Head Davies' It read.

'It has come to our attention that something about the Descendants of Jack Frost's powers remain unknown to you. To rectify this, we are inviting you and your familiar to Santoff Claussen at on .XX, you may bring another Head if you wish, but we would like to limit the number of outsiders. We hope you understand. Please bring this letter as proof.

Sincerely.'

There was an illegible scribble at the bottom which I guessed was a signature.

I knew about these guys. They and the Descendants of Katherine saw themselves as Santoff Claussen's final line of defence, which, since Santoff Claussen hasn't been attacked in centuries, seemed a little pointless. I probably wouldn't say this to their face though.

Also, everything about this was telling me to take back up. An unknown place, with an unknown amount of people for a vague reason. Even Taboo might not be enough, especially as supposedly the Descendants of Ombric were inherently more powerful than the Descendants of North.

After weighing my options, I decided Samson was the best choice. He was wheelchair bound, and doesn't like fighting, but he's still not someone to be messed around with. Not to mention that he's the most diplomatic out of all of us, he would be the one to break up an argument if one broke out.

I leaned back in my chair in the base, tipping it back and wondering with a small smirk if Alexander's teacher senses could reach here. I was in my quarters because I hadn't wanted to read this with Jamie around. He'd probably be really excited, but, this felt personal, in a way. The only reason I was considering Samson was because Taboo and I might need backup.

"So, we're going?" Taboo asked sleepily. She'd been dozing while I had gone through the reports that were also here. She raised her head up and looked through the letter. "It's in a week. Better ask Samson now."

I let out a long breath and brought my chair back down, then reached for my SPARK. I flicked to Samson on the hologram and quickly checked the time. If I had remembered his schedule correctly, he should be out of work by now, so I called him.

He picked up very quickly.

"Hello Jackie. What can I do for you?" he asked. I could only see him from the shoulders up, but I could see what looked like his lounge in the background.

I quickly explained the letter and his face creased into a thoughtful frown.

"Hmmm. It is intriguing. I believe I do not have work that day, so I can join you. Shall I meet you in the base an hour before hand?"

"Thanks. Samson, that'll be great."

He smiled. "See you then my friend." with that the call cut.

"Well, that's that." Taboo got up and stretched, yawning and flexing her claws. "Can we do something else now?"

"I can find you a box if you want." I suggested innocently, and grinned when Taboo growled. She wacked her tail against my shoulder, but I was grinning too much to care.

"Never mind, if you need me I'll-"

"Be sleeping somewhere?"

"In the Ice Training Hall." Taboo glared, but it didn't have much venom to it.

"Alright, have fun." I went back to my reports as Taboo left.

"Sometimes I think you wouldn't know fun if it bit you in the ass." Taboo muttered.

"I can still hear you."

"I know."

A week later Samson and I were standing in Siberia, in front of a wall of forest and thorns.

Samson craned his head back as far as he could, almost tipping his wheelchair back to try and see the top of it. "I had read about this. I did not think it would be this big."

"No kidding." was all I could say in response. I didn't have to worry about Samson falling over, he had his sand, he'd be fine.

Both of us were in our cloaks, mine was snapping a bit in the wind while Samson's was pressed against the back of his chair. He was also dressed warmly, but still with impeccable taste despite the yellow, while I was in my usual hoodie and jeans. Snow covered the ground and coated the tree canopy, with lumps of snow on the thorny vines. However looking in there didn't appear to much snow, as if the canopy was so thick it barely let any in.

"We could go over it." suggested Taboo, which I passed on.

"True." Samson mused. "However, there is a story on how we're supposed to go through."

"Go through the forest of thorns, meet the Spirit of the Forest and ignore her jewels. Then get past the bear, preferably by showing him the letter instead of trying to fight. Yeah, I know." I also leaned my head back, I could only just see the top of it myself. "Surely it would be easier to just go over it?"

"There could be magical barriers."

"We won't know unless we try."

"I am in no mood to be electrocuted." naturally he was wary about that.

"We don't know if it's going to be like that." I shrugged. "Could be a benign repellent, like making you forget what you doing, or the infinite loop thing. You think you're going in straight line, but you end up back where you started."

"Plus." I added, looking at his wheelchair. "It would be easier to navigate than a dense forest."

He sighed. "You have a point. After you."

I smirked at him, then after Taboo jumped into my hood I went up on a path of ice, not trusting my wings for this yet.

I could see Samson summon his sand from the corner of my eye, lifting him up onto a floating platform, which quickly morphed into a large wakeboard. The line appeared to be attached to me, but I couldn't feel it, I guess it was just to add to the show.

I skated forward at a moderate pace, just in case there was a magical barrier that wasn't benign, however there appeared to be no resistance.

A concerning lack of resistance. Despite what I had said, this was Santoff Claussen, one of the, if not the, safest place on the planet. There had to be more than this, right?

"Maybe it's a double bluff." Taboo mused.

So that people think it can't be this easy and give up?

"Pretty much."

That might be it. Can't be certain though.

"Yeah, last thing we want to do is let our guard down."

I nodded and kept going. Turns out I was right to be wary.

Without warning thorns appeared in front of us, pointing straight up and blocking our path.

I let out a cry of surprise and skidded to a halt, then took a step to the side as Samson also stopped behind me.

The three of us looked left and right. The thorns were huge, and bare, the only points were on the tips above us. They extended 2 metres left and right, but when we moved either way, another thorn would sprout, with another one on the other end disappearing back down.

"Interesting." said Samson.

"A maze?" I tilted my head to one side. I recognised it from watching Billy play Legend of Zelda.

"Or a labyrinth."

I decided I didn't want to consider that. You weren't supposed to find your way out of a labyrinth.

"I would hope so." Samson seemed to have similar thoughts. "Stay here."

I turned to see that he was slowly going up. I watched the thorns as well, to see that they were growing up with him.

So we couldn't go over them.

He landed back beside me on the ice and shrugged. "It appears we must still play by their rules."

"I guess." I had a few ideas. "Hang on."

To test them first I lowered myself closer to the canopy and carefully put one foot onto the treetops. After testing my weight with that foot, I put other one down as well, and the trees took my weight. Next I went to the right and left a large patch of frost on one of the thorns, then turned and walked left until it disappeared. Once it had disappeared I turned back to get it to pop back up again.

I let out a sound of irritation when the thorn appeared without frost on it.

"There goes that idea."

"Not necessarily." Samson countered. "I can leave a trail on the canopy rather than the thorns."

"Surely the sentient animals will knock it down." I wasn't sure on the sentient animal part. I knew that they did defend Santoff Claussen, and that if you could speak their language they were sentient. I guess that came from the fact I grew up not being able to talk to animals.

"I could leave it in the air behind us then, however, the more I leave..."

"The harder you'll have to concentrate. Taboo and I will keep you on the right track."

"Good to hear my friend. Let us go."

We set off, moving a slow pace so not to bump into any thorns that popped up. It became more maze like as multiple paths popped up, and all we could do was follow an old maze rule; keep to the left.

It seemed to work, however all I could see in any direction was the sky and tree tops. If I looked back past Samson I could see where we had come from, but in every other direction it was leaves, bark and air with some cloud. No sign of a village, which is the point, I guess.

Despite the 'keep left' rule, we did have to backtrack and we even managed to go a circle at one point. It was a magical maze after all.

We still kept going, the only conversation occurring between myself and Taboo, and even that wasn't much.

Finally, finally, we reached Santoff Claussen. We fell into it, literally.

"Ahhh!"

My foot had missed the thick canopy and I tipped forward. Taboo also yelled in panic as she fell and I quickly grabbed her in mid air. I managed to flip back so I was going feet first, but didn't have enough time to form a platform, so I braced myself for broken legs.

Which didn't happen.

I landed, feeling like I'd just jumped off a low wall, there was slight pain in my ankles, and that was it. I put Taboo down from holding her awkwardly around the middle and she started sniffing around.

"Jackie!" Samson floated down on a simple sand platform, not bothering to be fancy with it. "Are you alright?"

"Fine." I said as he drew level with me and landed.

"Never mind that. Take a look at this place!"

I followed Taboo's gaze and felt my jaw drop.

It looked like a mix between a mad scientists lab and a quaint village. Each house was both normal, and weird. One had a giant spiralling slide down one side, stopping off at each floor with gates on the actual slide. Another had a glass observatory on top of the house, but was also on stilts with no obvious way to access it.

Yet another house had brightly coloured windows that seemed to billow smoke that were the window's opposite on the colour wheel. Further in I could see a house with multiple chimneys, each one different sizes and colours, and the smoke coming out of each one was of a different shape. Next to it seemed to a house designed around scientific apparatus, I could see various giant beakers, Florence and volumetric flasks, test tubes and connecting pipes going in and out of the house.

Just behind us, deeper into the trees seemed to be where the Descendants of Ombric and Katherine had their combat unit. I could see a multi-storey barrack like building, which looked normal in comparison to everything else, except there didn't appear to be a door. Instead there were cargo nets, ziplines and ropes (knotted and un knotted) leading into windows on various levels, and there was a rock climbing wall that appeared to go underground.

Looking to my left I could see a giant tree that was also a house, with a goose bigger than Taboo sitting outside. That had to be Big Root, home of Ombric Shalazar (if he was still alive, I wasn't sure) and Katherine, aka Mother Goose.

The houses were weird, but the people, the people were interesting. They appeared normal, but they were doing magic in the open. Right there in the street, no disguises, people were setting off illusions, sparks, levitation and transformations in broad daylight. Not to mention crazy inventions, someone had rocket powered shoes and was moving in an odd staccato pattern through the air, while someone else appeared to be tinkering with some kind of steampunk robot. Finally, there was someone who appeared to be speaking with various insects, while an old man was conversing with the birds.

A part of me, and gathering from Samson's posture, a part of Samson, wanted to go over and demand that they stop before they attracted attention, except, it wasn't necessary. Santoff Claussen was the only place on earth where normal humans mixed with Descendants and magic was widely accepted and practiced, without fear of retaliation. I was surprised to find that I was jealous; this would be an amazing place to grow up.

So, I've finally gotten around to this! Obviously this will be some spoilers showing up in the next part for those who don't know the relationship between Jack Frost and Nightlight, so when it goes up, reader discretion it advised.

I should also thank Puella Pulchra, because she was the one who (admittedly inadvertently) got me thinking about how Santoff Claussen would look. I'm also a bit iffy about whether Ombric is alive or not by this point, it's been hinted in the books that he does die at some point, but for this he's in Schrodinger's cat status, both alive and dead.