That afternoon, Gobber had excused Hiccup for half of combat practice. The dragons had worked together to melt the snow that didn't land on the metal bars, casting the Academy in an ill-painted crisscross pattern. He sat on the sidelines, hugging his knees to his chest as he watched Gobber swing a flail in a demo. Hiccup still convinced Gobber think sit means demolish, instead of demonstration. Despite his desperate itching to get a hand on a weapon, Hiccup knew with his distracted mind, he wouldn't be able to stay engaged long enough.
So instead, he sat along the side, watching the others. But something kept nagging at him to do something. To help him think, and yet he couldn't fight. He couldn't risk it.
Hiccup pushes himself to his feet, trying to think. Suddenly he remembers, his brief, and failed attempt back at the Cove. Looking out across the arena, he had plenty of room along the sides where he was. Heather was watching observantly at the combat practice.
Hiccup took a deep breath and broke forward into a sprint. Hiccup lifted his arms. Bending forward, using his gained momentum, he launched into a dive cartwheel. The world blurred, and Hiccup closed his eyes as he clicked for the next move. He became weightless for a second. When his feet slammed the ground, he pushed off into a back handspring, then automatically swiveling into an Arabian dive roll, extending out his arms. He then held this position, breathing out through his mouth, trying not to focus on the upside down world, and pushed to a neck kip to stand. With his arms still raised, he looks to Heather whose taken notice.
Without thinking, Hiccup then rolls back into a straight arm back extensions roll, and holds into a handstand. Swinging his feet down, he feel the ground and raises to a standing position. These were simple, but he needed something faster to get his mind racing.
He looked ahead and sprinted again, this time, he pushed off his feet into a dive roll, and when his feet hit the ground he catapulted into a fly spring. The world blurred into a kaleidoscope of colors as he flipped once, twice, three times before ending the route with a back handspring, his feet landing firmly on the ground.
Wanting to try to complete the pass from before, Hiccup works up the courage and readies himself for the embarrassment that was bound to come.
He broke forward into a sprint. Hiccup lifted his arms. Bending forward, using his gained momentum, he launched in a round-off. Catapulting into a midair Arabian, knees tucked in, he became weightless. Then, bam, his feet met the bare ground. A millisecond later and he'd completed the second round-off, pulled through the hands-free whip, and finished the back handspring, air whistling in his ears.
His feet slammed the ground and he pushed off for the last time, hard as he could.
The air greeted him, holding him like a stray leaf in its nonexistent grasp as he twisted once, twice. Then, bam, his feet met the bare ground, ankles jarring from the impact on the hand, cushion-free surface. Gasps of astonishment filled the arena, and Hiccup looked to the young Vikings and Gobber as they stare at him with shocked faces, almost mimicking the way they stared at him when he drew a Zippleback back into its cage using an eel. Hiccup laughed. While the pass didn't help in organizing his thoughts, at least it took his mind off it.
"Where did you learn that?" Fishlegs asked.
Hiccup felt his cheeks warm as he scratched his head. "Uh, I've just been practicing."
"Where? How?" Snotlout hammers, obvious jealousy on his face.
"I just, needed something to help me think." Hiccup said.
"Well Hiccup since you seem, rather itchy, would you be up for a little sword fighting?" Gobber asks, a sly smile.
Hiccup returns the smile as Gobber tosses him a Gronckle iron sword. Hiccup, at the last minute, grabs his ornate shield and slings it over his back. He then readied his sword, raising the blade toward Gobber as he struck his own fight stance. Everyone else cleared the arena floor, and Fishlegs stood in the middle of Hiccup and Gobber.
"Begin!" Fishlegs shouted.
Hiccup lunged at Gobber and knocked his sword aside with his own.
Gobber's arm followed the movement of the blade, letting Hiccup know he'd allowed him to make the connection. Hiccup didn't doubt it.
Backing away from Hiccup, crossing one leg behind the other, Gobber let Hiccup swipe at him again, then easily deflected his advance. Hiccup lunged again and again, and each time, Gobber sent his blade aside with his own.
The fuse of fury Gobber had lit within Hiccup grew shorter and shorter with each or his rebounded attacks. He was making fun of Hiccup. He was doing this on purpose to mock him, trying to make him feel weak and stupid.
Well, he wasn't. He had made it this far, hadn't he?
Hiccup continued his onslaught, but Gobber repelled his blows one after the other, and their swords continued to clank and clack as they wound their way around the arena.
Gobber had yet to attack Hiccup in return, but Hiccup knew better than to think it wasn't coming.
Already losing his breath, Hiccup paused and scampered out of the weapon's reach.
Over his shoulder, he caught sight of Snotlout snickering next to Fishlegs who watched with intent eyes. When Hiccup's eyes returned to Gobber, though, it was too late to sidestep or use his sword to divert the swing of Gobber's own cutlass, the tip of which caught Hiccup's left shoulder, splitting the skin there in a deep gash.
Hiccup hissed, the searing pain of the wound too sharp to elicit a scream.
He raised his free hand to the gash, his fingers coming away scarlet with his blood.
"Hiccup!" He heard Heather cry.
Hiccup looked to Gobber, stunned, but he only flicked his eyebrows, and Hiccup figured this had to be another one of his tough 'Learning on the Job' lessons.
"Your distractions cost you," Gobber said.
Hiccup gritted his teeth and, charging forward, swiped at Gobber again. He skittered back, arms spread wide as he narrowly avoided Hiccup's strike, which slashed across his midsection, slicing a horizontal slit in his tunic.
They paused to look at each other, their eyes meeting in mirrored expressions of shock.
"Again." Gobber said, and moved on Hiccup slashing this way and that, slinging blow after blow, forcing Hiccup back from him and toward the front entrance.
Hiccup met each of his strokes with a block and a parry, his body moving before he could tell it when or where.
Sword fighting. He was actually sword fighting.
The unexplained ability, now seemingly inherent, reminded Hiccup of how he had tried to do the pass back at the Cove. Could this be another dream? He landed the pass, and now he was sword fighting against Gobber, and he was doing it well. Hiccup had always thought it was something Hadrian had possessed, and that the skill was lost once they had separated.
But now it was back, and entirely his own.
Hiccup raised his sword and rushed Gobber, the heat of his own blood searing his free arm as it ran down to his wrist, where he could feel it soaking into his palm. Gobber blocked him, but Hiccup whirled, slashing low and quick to nick Gobber's leg, tearing at the fabric of his pants just over the knee.
Blood pooled under the garments, but it wasn't as deep as Hiccup's. He didn't intend for it to be. What was more rewarding was the look of surprise and momentary confusion that came over his stoic face. For once Hiccup had actually cracked his fortitude and had elicited a response. Flashing a dark smile, Hiccup went after him again. Once more, their swords traded back and forth, clanking loudly, and this time, Hiccup was the one forcing Gobber back, driving him through the center of the arena.
Snotlout had long stopped his snickering, and Astrid, Fishlegs and Heather stared at him in astonishment.
They spared back and forth, and when Gobber tried to go for a slice at Hiccup's calf, Hiccup skipped out of the way, then whipping his blade over Gobber's, pinned the tip with his foot, slapping Gobber's sword to the floor. Gobber tried to writhe it free, and then suddenly he head-butted Hiccup, sending Hiccup stumbling back, losing the grip on his hilt. As Hiccup refocused his vision, he caught Gobber in time launching for a slaughter. Hiccup quickly reached back and brought forth his ornate shield. He heard the metal clang and he immediately pushed off, whipping the shield around his head to whack Gobber in the jaw.
As Gobber sprawled across the concrete, Hiccup didn't waste time to rush over him, placing his foot at Gobber's throat. As Gobber blinked his eyes open, he came face-to-face with Hiccup pointing an arrow at his nose, his shield converged into a crossbow.
Gobber finally breathes a sigh of pleasure, and says. "Well done Hiccup."
Hiccup, breathless, smiles at Gobber before retracting his arrow.
The kids on the side applaud in amazement. Hiccup converged the shield back to normal and slung it over his shoulder. "Hiccup that was amazing!" Astrid says.
"I never knew you could fight like that." Fishlegs said as he approached.
"Thanks." Hiccup said, his cheeks s alight shade of pink, thankfully he blamed it on the cold and the exercise.
As Gobber ended the session with some last-minute advice, Hiccup's gaze trailed along the snow coated bars of the dome Academy. He stopped when he saw something unusual. A black shadow move don one of the bars, and Hiccup registered the silhouette of one huge black bird. It made no sound, though it seemed to watch him from its perch. Hiccup did a double take back to the huddle of people, and once he saw their attention was diverted, Hiccup crept his way closer to the bird. It finally broke its silence with a caw, the sound falling harsh on Hiccup's ears, rasping and raw Hiccup was spooked, but he didn't turn away, he gazed at it, and when it cocked its head to the side, Hiccup swallowed.
Its eyes were a concentration of pale jade.
It cawed again and then flew off the bars and in the direction that led to the woods. A surge of panic sparking in Hiccup's chest, he turned and still found everyone oblivious.
"Uh, Gobber," Hiccup interrupted. "I . . . uh, I need to go. So I'll catch up with you guys later."
Before Hiccup waited for a response, he spun on his heels and ran out of the Academy. His breath puffs in mist clouds. Toothless nudges his arm, and Hiccup automatically hops aboard the two take off and follow the black bird to the woods. It hovered above the tree line the suddenly dove downward. Hiccup and Toothless pause, then Hiccup sees the shadow zip through the trees and the two dive and hover a few feet off the ground as they glide through the trees.
Hiccup knew they were going deeper in, but if the bird was who he thought it was, he understood why. Hiccup had dressed in layers, but the stinging air still managed to singe his lungs each time he took a breath. The fur-lined hood he wore, pulled over his ears, protected his head from the cold, though his cheeks burned from the sharp wind that had pressed against him the whole way, almost like an invisible force trying to hold him back.
Hiccup clutched the handles on the saddle as he drew nearer to the solemn gathering of trees. Even though he had not planned to, as soon as an old fountain came into view, Hiccup swung one leg over and pressed a toe to the pavement, stopping Toothless.
The bird had led them to an abandoned neighborhood. Towering homes stood on either side, facing one another like dance partners preparing to waltz. This was just like the dream Hiccup had, where he found the mist, Jolene. The houses themselves were incredible, each practically a castle in its own right, their facades done up in decorative brickwork and tiling, their fronts accented with small porches, porticos, and verandahs, the perimeters of which were set by carved pillars. Some of the homes had balconies, while other had rounded turrets with pointed rooftops. As they passed one grey-toned fortress of a home built completely of stone, Hiccup thought he could make out tiny faces set into the façade, their mouths open in an O shape, their eyebrows angled down in fearsome scowls.
Hiccup focused on one of the stone faces, which struck him as being different from the rest. While this one shared the stern and foreboding expression of his comrades, his eyes, large and almond-shaped, seemed to convey more of a silent dare than award-away glower. And where the other faces had leafy beards, gaping mouths, and distorted features, this face bore a smooth and almost human look.
A heavy wind rushed by, causing then leafy heads of enormous, ancient looking trees to swish back and forth. The sun poked through the clouds, lighting the very center of the court where a huge fountain stood. No water poured from the enormous green basin, and the elevated base was surrounded by graceful swans and solemn-faced shrubs.
At the very top of the fountain, a statue of a voluptuous nude woman looked down on them as they passed. She held a swath of fabric that clung to the lower half of her body and appeared to billow out behind her in a suspended arc.
He stared up at the house. It had three levels, the topmost of which he thought might be an attic. The roof met in the peak there, with a little subroof sticking out from underneath the first framing a rectangular, three-paneled window crosshatched by white Xs.
A small concrete porch led up to the front door, shaded by a simple verandah, which was itself supported by a row of painted white pillars. The front door, done in an opaque gold stained-glass design, shimmered a satiny dim yellow in the late afternoon sunlight.
Hiccup and Toothless walked to the curb that surrounded the fountain and, gently he patted Toothless, then strode across the brief strip of grass all the way up to the ornate grill work railing that separated the dry concrete reservoir from the frozen turf. Wrapping his already numb hands around the painted metal, Hiccup peered up at the fountain. The leaf-and-scroll-flourished underside of the shallow and empty, goblet-shaped basin.
Hiccup glanced to his left and then to his right.
His grip on the railing tightened, and with a winking sensation, as though he were standing in quicksand and not on solid ground, he began to wonder why he'd come. What had he been hoping for? That he would appear before him.
Maybe, he thought, he'd been holding on to the distant hope that he would be able to find his dreamworld counterpart.
There was nothing though.
Instead the entire street felt hollow, drained of the timeless beauty it had possessed centuries ago.
Hiccup looked back at the fountain.
Curly-haired cherubs frolicked beneath the basin in a captured moment of abandon. Though the figures might have seemed playful in the daylight, something about the mix of shadows and stark light cast on their small faces through the trees made them appear more mischievous than free-spirited, more impish than gleeful.
The large swans that reveled with them, rearing back with wings outspread, looked somehow frantic.
Blocked by the wide bowl of the basin, the light could not reach the sultry figure of the nude woman who stood at the very top of the fountain, her veil billowing out behind her. She remained swathed in shadow, a silhouette that belonged to the night.
His gaze locked on the woman's face, featureless in the dark. Behind he could see the faces in stone.
"They're called 'greenmen,'"
Hiccup halted. Toothless snarled. That voice . . .
"They're a type of goblin or gargoyle. Protectors."
Slowly he turned his head, glancing toward the fountain. Hiccup abandoned Toothless and made his way around its circumference in quick strides, stopping when he found him.
He sat with his back pressed to the fountain's base, just below one of the unfurling swans. To his right, one of the bronze cherubs seemed to lean toward him with cautious interest.
The buckles of his tight straightjacket-style coat were open, exposing a portion of his alabaster chest. Right where his heart should have been, Hiccup saw an open crater the size of a softball.
Next to him sat a pile of what at first glance looked like a collection of small rocks. That was when Hiccup realized they weren't rocks at all but shards, broken bits of what he could only assume was as porcelain.
Hiccup did his best to keep his face free of expression as he lifted one of the shards between the claws of his finger and thumb. He held the shard up to the light and studied it like a jeweler would a diamond. He held it against his chest, like he was trying to determine where a puzzle piece might best fit. Then carefully fitting the sliver into the gaping black cavity, Hiccup heard the piece attract with a quiet tink.
With horror, Hiccup realized what he was doing.
He was piecing himself together. Was that even possible?
"They're supposed to ward away evil." Hadrian said, selecting yet another shard without glancing up from his task.
Though it was a gruesome thing to witness Hadrian piecing together the gaping black hole in his chest, Hiccup couldn't seem to bring himself to look away. He also couldn't help but wonder how he'd acquired the damage, but he knew better than to ask.
"If that's true how are you here?" Hiccup, joked. The sides of his mouth twitched, trying to smile, but Hadrian's blank face made him regret it. Hadrian just fixed another chalk-white piece into the shrinking crater in his chest.
"Happy Snoggletog." Hadrian said, the words blank and hollow as himself.
Toothless walked up to the railing and cooed.
"So . . . , why did you bring me here?" Hiccup asked, doubting the demon would give him a straight answer.
"I figured since I as allowed into your home," he said, glancing up for the first time, his jade-green eyes locking with Hiccup's. "I'd invite you to mine."
Hiccup's jaw tightened. He pinched his lips together, not allowing himself to speak until he could trust himself not to say something that might provoke him.
"You mean, this is your home?" Hiccup asked, curiosity tingling his spine.
Hadrian picked up another shard, and held it in front of him toward Hiccup. Blocking out one eye, he smiled a jagged grin. "A piece of it."
Hiccup's mouth twisted with unease and frustration. When it came to dealing with Hadrian, he'd learned that whenever possible, no reaction was the best reaction.
"Answer as best as you can for me," Hiccup suddenly blurted. "Did you aid Jolene in invading my thoughts?"
Hadrian remained silent, rooting through the remaining shards with one claw.
Hiccup swallowed. "Hadrian. Answer me." He demanded.
"The ungodly beauty," Hadrian said. "The hidden one you'll soon leave in search of. She invited herself in, you know. She has the power to take what she wants. And go where she pleases. Power she should not possess."
Hiccup felt his scalp prickle and the hair on his arms and the back of his neck stand at attention. But it wasn't the chill in the air that was making his skin crawl.
His thoughts jumbled in his head like a scribbling charcoal pen as he tried to comprehend how Hadrian knew about his plan to go and confront Jolene. Then, all at once, it dawned on him.
"The birds," Hiccup said. "This morning. You were spying."
"On the contrary, Hiccup" he said, his tone infuriatingly calm as he fit one final fragment into position, wincing as it snapped into place. "I was merely waiting for you to notice me. After all, you called to me."
Hiccup felt his cheeks warm as he flashed back to the night when he practically begged Hadrian to help him. Hiccup mentally slapped himself in the face for looking so pathetic. No doubt it gave the demon a laugh.
Grabbing one of the loose straps on his coat, Hadrian threaded it through the corresponding buckle with practiced ease and pulled, cinching the thin black material back over his chest. He did so again with the topmost buckle, once more concealing the spiderweb patch of hairline cracks. Then he stood, unfurling himself limb by spindly limb from the base of the fountain.
Hiccup stumbled backward, away from the railing, nearly tripping over his feet.
He hated feeling this defenseless against him. It was true Hiccup could wound him if he got lucky. And he had Toothless, who was unusually calm around Hadrian. But what could Hiccup possibly to do him, when clearly they both knew he was the one with all the answers?
"You didn't answer my question." Hiccup stuttered. "Did I invite Jolene, or did you help her?"
Hiccup watched Hadrian as he stepped toward him slowly, gracefully, and it occurred to him that he was moving that way on purpose, as though making a conscious effort not to alarm him. The hilarity of that thought might have caused Hiccup to laugh if he hadn't been so close to tears.
Hadrian stopped at the railing. "We all had a hand in things, Hiccup." Hadrian said. "She picks her prey carefully."
Suddenly approaching the railing with flared determination, Hiccup measured up to Hadrian. Up this close, he was about Dagur's height.
"Please," Hiccup said pleading. "I want a direct answer. I don't want this to be my fault. I never meant to start any of this."
Hiccup wanted to turn and run as suddenly as he approached when he felt a tear stream down his face. But he looked at Hadrian directly, wanting so badly to have that answer. Hiccup barely had time to react when he felt Hadrian's hand grasp the back of his head. The next thing Hiccup knew, his left cheek was on the shoulder of the demon and the hollow feel of his hand cradled his head. Heartbeat hammering, Hiccup felt his cheeks flush red.
This was, beyond strange.
"No." Hadrian breathed.
For the first time since he'd met Hadrian, Hiccup found himself fearing that any second he would evaporate and be gone. Hiccup didn't pull away, and what bewildered him the most was how the cold of Hadrian's porcelain skin actually sent a trail of warmth through him.
What is happening?
Suddenly, Hadrian pushed Hiccup off and stepped back. The motion briefly scared Hiccup into thinking he was going to disappear. Hiccup opened his mouth to say something, but was cut short when Hadrian extended his arm out to Hiccup, his hand opening like a bear trap.
"Come," he said, "there's something you need to see."
Hiccup took a few steps back, shaking his head. "I don't know Hadrian."
Hadrian didn't lower his hand. He didn't come any closer, either, but stayed behind the railing as if to say, This is as far as I go. Hiccup looked to Toothless who only cooed. He was completely calm, and this was beyond the explanation that Hadrian was simply another part of Hiccup. It was as if Toothless, accepted him.
"No tricks this time." he said. "No false realities. Just a memory caught in passing. Something that might interest you. You said yourself that I can't hurt you."
Hiccup's eyes darted from the serrated edge of the hole in his cheek, to the needle-point tips of those claws. Despite his macabre exterior, everything about him in that moment, from the unusual comfort, to the planted way he stood to his grave, ascetic expression, resonated through Hiccup like an echo.
"You're . . . different," Hiccup said, the urge to turn and run dissipating like the white fog of his own breath. "Why? What happened to you?"
"Change of heart?" he said through a thin smile that was as bitter as it was brittle.
Though his body screamed against doing so, Hiccup took a tentative step toward him. He told himself it was a test step, just to see how he would react.
His smile faded his expression becoming suddenly sober and serious- more human than Hiccup had ever seen it. Almost . . . recognizable.
Hiccup turned to Toothless. "Toothless, keep watch. And stay safe." Toothless cooed and took a step toward him. "No, no, no. You need to stay here. I'll come back."
Hadrian's claws clicked together as he beckoned. Hiccup too another cautious step toward him then another. Hiccup cleared the distance between them, finally fitting his hand into Hadrian's porcelain grip.
Hadrian's hand closed tightly around Hiccup's, the claws of his fingers and thumb crisscrossing one anther like some kind of wicked locking mechanism.
He squeezed hard, and Hiccup opened his mouth in a silent gasp of pain.
Just when he thought he'd made a terrible mistake, his hand yielded and Hadrian's fingers passed through his, as if Hiccup had suddenly become as intangible as a mirage. Almost as if preparing to waltz, Hadrian stepped backward, drawing Hiccup forward. But his body remained paralyzed, rooted in place while some separate part of him began to slide forward, drawn by his pull.
It felt as if he were being peeled away from himself.
And that, it seemed, was exactly what was happening.
Hiccup's vision went double while the open-air sounds of the evening, wind, and rustling leaves became muted in his ears. Then, in a flash, everything disappeared, winking to crystal white. He floated in a world of nothing, weightless, alone, and strangely unconcerned about what had just happened or where he was or if he would come back. It was like teetering between waking and falling asleep, and it made him wonder if this was what dying felt like.
Something pulled at him, and his senses returned.
Looking down at his side, he saw his hand still clutched in Hadrian's grip.
Disoriented, Hiccup glanced up to find himself no longer standing in front of the fountain. Gove were the houses and the trees. In their place stretched a long and dark corridor, lined on either side by plain utilitarian doors all of them were closed.
Hiccup looked up at Hadrian, who pressed a single charcoal black claw to his lips, calling for silence. Then he loosened into smoke and, with a rustle and flit of feathers, reformed as an ebony bird, perching on Hiccup's left shoulder.
The weight of the bird's body felt almost nonexistent, as if even in this form, the Doppelganger was still only hollow within. Aiming his beak forward, he gave a hoarse and urging croak.
Hiccup faced the dimly lit hall, which seemed to stretched on forever into far-reaching pit of blackness. He wondered where Hadrian had brought him and why, but the bird only bobbed his head and snapped his beak with several impatient clicks. Clearly he wanted Hiccup to proceed.
Hiccup did so with cautious steps, his footfall making no sound on the worn floorboards. Between each of the doors, antique oil lamps burned with steady yellow flames, their glass holders warping the light into square shapes along the barren walls. The scent of kerosene and the antiseptic smell of iodine mixed with alcohol permeated the air. Beneath that, though, Hiccup could detect another order, a hint of putridity like the stale reek of a sickroom.
A quiet squeaking drew Hiccup's attention to the right, and soon saw someone gliding toward them – a woman dressed in white. Hiccup stopped cold. Fear pierced his gut like a spear, holding him in place. But as the woman drew closer, however, her figure became more discernible, and Hiccup aw that instead of white veils, she wore what appeared to be an old fashioned nurse's uniform. With a starched white cap sitting atop her pouf of dark brown hair, a matching apron cinched her narrow, corseted waist while long, heavy skirts wished around her feet.
The woman, her gaze intent on the path before her, took no notice of Hiccup as she bustled by, even as her skirts nearly brushed Hiccup's legs. Behind the woman, a teenage girl, dressed in the same uniform wheeled a gurney, the source of the high-pitched squeaking. On it, an old man with skin like raw dough lay prone and listless.
Hiccup turned his head to watch their grim procession as they passed.
A hospital, Hiccup thought. He was in some sort of old hospital. But why would Hadrian have brought him to such a place?
He'd called this a memory, and clearly hiccup was viewing something from the past, but when? With the lamps and the way the nurses were dressed, Hiccup could only guess that it was far before he was born. But if they'd gone this far, then whose memory could this possibly be? Certainly not even his father's.
A low wailing drew Hiccup's attention forward once again.
There, at the very end of the passageway, a door that he knew had not been there a moment before swung open by itself.
Hadrian cawed softly in Hiccup's ear and, with a loud flutter and flick of feathers, took flight from Hiccup's shoulder he watched the bird soar ahead of him, flapping his wings, then shooting straight through the open door and out of sight.
Hiccup hurried down that corridor after him, preferring to have the company of a monster than to be left alone in this place. As he drew closer to the door, the wailing emanating from within grew louder and more distinct. The sound began to build toward shouting, and soon – screaming.
"RYAN!"
The cry, ragged and frayed, caused Hiccup to stop in his tracks. Standing frozen in place within the frame of the door, he took in the scene before him.
In the center of the room sat a narrow bed. A blonde-haired man lay on the white sheets, his face gaunt and sickly pale. He writhed amid the tangled linens, howling and moaning while, above him, a thick smear of rippling black clouds spread wider against the ceiling.
"RYAN!" the man on the bed shrieked.
Beside him, a young doctor dressed in a black tunic, the collar of it rumpled and sweat-stained, stooped over his patient,
"Haymitch" the doctor said as he wrung the struggling man's pallid hand, oblivious to the otherworldly storm that churned above them. "Haymitch, you are safe!"
Haymitch . . . the second. Hiccup thought with dull shock. This man twisting in agony before him . . . it was Haymitch the Second.
Hiccup's eyes grew wide as they swept upward, toward the fog roiling directly over the man's head. Sharp faces and snatching claws swam through the haze, surfacing to snap at their tormented victim like frenzied sharks.
Terrified, Haymitch whipped his head from side to side on his pillow as though the rest of him were bound by unseen fetters. His chest rose and fell in quick breathes. He moaned and ground his teeth, the veins on his broad forehead bulging, standing out like blue cords
That was when Hiccup saw it – the thin silver string that stretched between the vapors whirling above the bed and the center of Haymitch's heaving chest. The quivering strand seemed to be made of a luminous and ethereal light, as wispy as gossamer.
Haymitch the Second arched against the bed, shouting, while streams of shadows began to pour out of the tempest. Swirling tendrils of black smoke invaded the room, shooting out in every direction. The streams floated through the air like coils of ink in water and glided across the floor, skimming the walls before forming into the wraithlike figures of demons.
But these were not the demons he knew.
Though they had hollow, shell-like bodies, they did not possess the black tint to their quill-coarse hair and claws like Hadrian. Instead, their claws were a deep blue, their hair and teeth indigo.
Then Hiccup realized that he did recognize one of them. It was the demon from the night Hiccup needed to speak to Hadrian, that same creature who had sung that terrible lullaby. Here he appeared complete. Intricate carvings lined the salt-white skin of his naked chest. Etchings of ships tossing amid the tumultuous waters sailed across his porcelain torso, while the detailed image of a diamond-scaled sea serpent wound its way down the length of one arm.
Scrimshaw, Hiccup thought, remembering his name in a flash.
The demon moved to hover over Haymitch. Leaning down, he grabbed for Haymitch's other hand, his claws digging into his wrist, threatening to puncture the skin. The creature grinned. Mocking the doctor, he began to whisper in Haymitch's ear.
"You made the mistake of trying to outsmart yourself again, didn't you?" he hissed. "Now look where it's got us." He pointed a claw toward the ceiling. "Trapped. Right in the eye of the storm."
"Haymitch," spoke a voice from within the fog.
The first sign of white came in the form of veils, the gauzy, silken material fluttering amid the eddying maelstrom.
Dropping Haymitch's hand and shrinking back, Scrimshaw dissolved into wisps with the clipped cry of "Teka-lili!"
The other demons followed suit with the same strange outburst. They shot away in different directions, slithering into the walls and between the floorboards like snakes. Haymitch's screaming intensified when Lilith's face surfaced through the murk.
The clouds of darkness rolled back from her flawless features. Her white arms, encircled in twining veils, stretched out form the abyss.
Her hands fastened around the silver cord as though grabbing hold of a rope, and she began to use the swaying ethereal strand too pull herself from the vapors.
"Haymitch," she whispered again, her dark hair flying back into the tumult that raged behind her. "You are bound to me. You must return."
"RYAN!" Haymitch screamed again.
The utter despair in his voice shook Hiccup from his shock-induced trance. He looked around, searching for something – anything he could do to stop the torment.
He spotted Hadrian, still in bird form, perched in the sill of the rain-spattered window. With a flap of his wings, he took flight, soaring across the room, circling to light on Hiccup's shoulder. His movements from one corner of the room to the other, unnoticed by Haymitch, Lilith, or the doctor, reminded Hiccup that there was nothing he could do. Nothing at all. Because the events unfolding before him had already transpired.
Hiccup felt his knees grow weaker with every inch Lilith managed to draw herself from the chasm. He could feel Hadrian switching restlessly from foot to foot, rankled as well by Lilith's presence, even if her visage was only a shadow from the past. Hiccup knew he wanted to leave and hide just as the other demons had done. But he remained with Hiccup. And in spite of everything he had ever done to him, Hiccup was grateful.
Haymitch, his teeth gritted, turned his head away from the demon clawing her way toward him. He clamped his eyes shut to block it out, his face transforming into a tight knot of resigned anguish.
Ryan, Hiccup thought. Haymitch had been calling for a Ryan. Where was he? Why wouldn't he come? Why hadn't he stopped this?
"There is nothing here that can harm you," Hiccup heard the doctor insist. "Haymitch, listen to me! It's over. Do you hear me? Whatever has happened, it is over!"
For one instant, the world turned black. Hiccup blinked, trying to regain his vision. He felt Hadrian's talons clamp his shoulder more tightly. Then the blackness lifted and that was when he realized someone else had entered the room, walking through him.
A tall, cloaked figure now stood before him.
His eyes traveled up his broad back, stopping at the metal horned helmet atop his head. He saw a studded armored pads adorning both shoulders, and a brown tunic with a thick ceremonial belt braced across his stomach.
No doubt it was Ryan.
What Hiccup found the most curious was the resemblance of Haymitch and Ryan. Similar clothes, hair, facial features. The only difference was that Ryan had dirty blonde hair. Like he had smothered it in dry mud or sand.
Then Hiccup suddenly stiffened as he felt Hadrian ruffle his feathers.
This was Haymitch's Doppelganger. But how? It was beyond strange and astonishing to see two generations of hiccups both having doppelgangers.
Lilith's attention broke from Haymitch, and she blinked in surprised as Ryan drew forth one of his twin cutlasses. Her lips peeled back from sharpened teeth in a snarl. "Stop, you fool!" she hissed. "You'll kill him!"
Haymitch grew suddenly still on the bed. Hiccup watched as he rolled his head to face the doctor, uttering something indiscernible while Ryan coiled his arm, preparing to strike.
"No!" Hiccup shouted his cry rising in exact unison with Lilith's.
In the next instant, Ryan slashed his sword forward in one clean swipe, severing the silver cord that stretched between Haymitch's body and Lilith's clutching hands.
The demoness howled as the cord snapped in two. Her face contorted with fury as the silver light vanished from her grip. She flew up, sucked into the ceiling, while the fog transformed into a whirlpool. Then, in a rush, the miasma dissipated, swept into the rugged wood until no trace of its presence remained.
Hiccup gaped, watching as Ryan stepped aside and sheathed his sword.
Hiccup's gaze fell to Haymitch, who now lay lifeless, his eyes glazed and unseeing.
"Haymitch," the doctor called.
The figure on the bed made no response.
Ryan turned, and as he began to stride toward Hiccup, a wave of hatred washed over him. with a scream of rage, he threw himself at him, fists swinging.
Hadrian fluttered up and away from Hiccup, feathers flying his rasping squawks filling the silent room. Hiccup's fists passed through Ryan's ever-calm visage. He walked through Hiccup without so much as a ripple, and Hiccup's efforts sent him stumbling forward.
He stopped and, looking up, froze to find himself standing at the foot of Haymitch's bed. He watched as the doctor reached out a trembling hand to close the two sightless eyes, which seemed to have been fixed directly on Hiccup. As he did, the surrounding walls, floor, and ceiling feel away like laying cards, throwing Hiccup into a bottomless vat of darkness.
He fell backward through the dark, and as he did, a glimmer stole his attention. A silver cord glowed in the expansive nothingness, terminating in the center of his body. It wavered like a ribbon caught in the wind as he flew back and back, falling faster and faster.
Then, suddenly, the cord snapped taut. It began to pull him forward, like a kite being reeled from the night sky. Light broke through his consciousness, and from a place high above, Hiccup saw himself – his body – standing in front of the fountain on the street his arm still extended as though to take Hadrian's hand, even though he was gone.
Toothless laid curled up at his side, eyes shut in peaceful sleep. Hiccup watched as his ears twitched and his eyes blinked open. He head slowly drew up and he searched around.
A jab of urgency sent Hiccup rushing toward himself. The world whirred into a blur as his two selves snapped into one.
Hiccup blinked dry and stinging eyes. He dropped his arm, his bicep screaming as if he'd been standing that way for hours. Toothless immediately got up and nuzzled Hiccup's hand. Hiccup blankly looked down and then around. As his senses reactivated, he looked into the trees for a black bird.
He found no one.