I didn't stop until I'd hit the border into New York State, at that point the sun had risen, and I was tired and hungry.

I took my ice down in a small forest by the edge and set up some form of camp. I got as far as taking out my sleeping bag, then tiredness won and I slipped into it. Almost instantly I was out like a light.

I woke up again when the sun was just dipping into the west. I scrambled out of my bag and got some food out, eating it cold, not that it bothered me. As I ate I planned my next step.

It would be easier for me to go straight across the Canadian border after crossing New York, from there I'd have to cross the whole of Canada, while heading slightly east. Once I got to the coast I'd rest, then cross the sea to the Arctic and keep heading north until I hit the Workshop.

I could travel at roughly the speed of a car if both my legs and my mind controlled the skates and if I didn't push myself too hard. Although my advantage to a car was that I wouldn't have to follow the roads. With that speed in mind, I estimated it would take me a week to get to the Arctic. My stomach twisted when my thoughts turned to my Branch, I had no idea where they were, or even if they were okay.

I looked up into the sky to take my mind of it, so that I wouldn't start crying, and stared at the faint thin moon. Jack had told me about the Man in the Moon, how he watches over everyone, and how he's always willing to listen if you talk. Just don't expect much in the way of answer.

I smiled at the moon and said.

"Not trying to sound ungrateful, but I'd really like wind or shadow travel powers right about now."

I chuckled to myself and shook my head.

"Although, at least with my way I don't have to rely on hitchhiking, huh?"

I packed up my stuff and set off again, making a small promise to myself to travel at night, the lower temperature wouldn't bother me, and I was less likely to be seen by any passersby. Above me the Northern Lights appeared, causing me to stop for a moment and look up at them in wonder. You rarely saw them this far south, the atmosphere was taking a beating tonight.

The lights stirred a memory, and suddenly I remembered the last time I was at the North Pole, the Northern Lights were how North called the Guardians, something must be up with them as well if the lights were this far south.

With that in mind I powered on, my journey suddenly more important than before.

As tempting as it was I resisted the urge to take a detour to New York City. I wasn't sure how much time I had, plus if the Descendants of Pitch, Pitch himself or this new force found me there, it would just mean more people caught up in the conflict.

However I did have to stop for supplies. I hadn't packed nearly enough to get me to the Pole, so I stopped behind a 24 hour petrol station and walked around to the front.

The shop was still open, but deserted except for the bored looking cashier. He looked to be roughly middle aged with red hair hanging in his blue eyes that watched me as I crossed the shop.

I went straight to trail stuff and quick eats, since I had no way or desire to cook. As I selected my food within my price range the door chime went.

Now that I had stopped moving I was on edge, so my head darted up to see a normal looking person walk in. He looked to be in his teens, a little younger than me with dark spiky hair. However, no matter how normal this person looked, I needed to be on guard.

I quickly picked up something within my price range and walked up the counter. As I did so the door chime went again and the first one slowly walked in my direction. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the lens of the security camera get covered in a black substance.

This was not good.

"Bit late to be out, isn't it?" asked the cashier and I winced internally. I needed to get out of here and he was striking up conversation.

"Hmmm." I said in a nonchalant manner, but he wasn't deterred.

"You can get some serious weirdos out here."

"I can handle myself." I said as I handed over my money. The security camera on the other side of the counter had also gotten covered in sand, and the curved mirror behind the counter showed that there were three people standing behind me. All three had black hair; the closest one was the person who'd first walked in, the other two were girls roughly my age, one of whom was as tall as Pitch himself.

There was no guarantee that all of them were Descendants of Pitch, but I couldn't take that risk. I wasn't even entirely sure what to do, if I sent ice, or even frost out then
I would be practically screaming that I'm with HOG, but it was clear that they already thought that.

As I took my items from the cashier I saw the person behind me in the mirror holding his hand out towards my head, around eye level. In said hand was a flash of black.

A sheet of ice went up between us, causing the cashier and my attacker to take a step back in shock or surprise respectively.

The other two attacked, one of them I recognised as Purple Hair from five years ago. I turned, dropping my purchases on the counter, blocked a blast from them with another ice wall and shattered it. Without moving I sent the shards towards Purple Hair, pinning her to the far wall.

I got blasted from my side and into a display, knocking it over and landing on my back among the early Halloween treats. The temperature dropped as I sent out ice across the floor, towards the two still standing.

The cashier ducked as Spiky Hair and Skyscraper (not the best nickname, I know) fired blasts of black sand at me from both hands. A defensive wall went up and I struggled to hold back the now unrelenting streams of black sand with my mind.

I held up one hand to steady the wall and got to my feet as Skyscraper sent one of her streams around my wall and into me.

I skidded sideways into another display, making it rock but not fall over. I sent the ice out further, causing them to slip and lose their balance. As they flailed in that split second I sent spikes of ice their way, pinning them to the opposite wall as well.

There was a smashing sound as Purple Hair freed herself and charged towards me, a knife made from black sand in her hand.

She threw it in my direction and I ducked, letting it slam into the wall behind me and disappear. When your teacher is the self proclaimed King of Snowball fights, you get pretty good at dodging projectiles.

I turned to face her and saw that she was still charging at me, her face almost livid. I held my hands out instinctively in a futile attempt to stop her, with her hands turning black from the sand.

Our hands met and it turned into a more subdued version of sumo wrestling, with the two of us trying to push the other into a wall by hands alone, our powers sparking randomly from our hands. The two opposing powers were under so much pressure that they began to spread. Frost crept across my knuckles and black sand crawled across the knuckles of Purple Hair.

One random blast of power and the row of chocolate bars was frozen. Another random spark and a row of drinks was knocked over by black sand.

I had the advantage of four years training since I'd last fought, so I was stronger than before. In fact I was now as strong physically as Purple Hair, whereas before she appeared to be stronger than me.

We pushed against each other, struggling to obtain the upper hand as our hands glowed blue and black.

Purple Hair glared at me under her hanging hair and almost hissed.

"Murderer."

I felt a thud so hard in my stomach I thought I'd been stabbed. Except no one was in any position to stab me.

"You killed them." Purple Hair hissed again, louder. I felt my resolve weaken in shock and Purple pushed harder, sending me into the wall.

Before I could move forward Purple Hair came in close, her forearm up against my throat.
I could feel my trachea struggling as she put pressure on it, and I suddenly found it a lot harder to draw in air. Frost began to spread on the wall behind me, but it didn't seem to deter Purple Hair.

A sick, almost demented grin appeared on Purple Hair's face, as though she couldn't wait to do this.

"Say hello to those you killed."

"Accident." I gasped, and Purple Hair scowled, pushing her forearm harder into my throat.

"Some accident. Six people died!"

"I'm... sorry."

She almost seemed to consider my apology, before putting even more pressure on my throat. Black dots danced in front of my eyes as Purple Hair gritted her teeth.

"Too late."

My vision was starting to go black, all I could of doing was breathing out whatever air I had left and freezing it.

A moderate chunk of ice landed on Purple Hair's forearm and stuck there, causing her to withdraw to try and get rid of it.

I fell down from the wall, gasping as I got air back into my lungs. Frost spread from my position and went about a five feet, causing Purple Hair to stumble away in panic.

The lowered temperature helped me recover, so very quickly I was back on my feet, and sending an ice blast at Purple Hair.

The blast was more powerful than I intended and Purple Hair's head hit the wall hard, her eyes rolling back into her head as she collapsed.

I winced and turned around to look at the other two Pitch Descendants, trying to work out to do with them as I breathed heavily.

To find that Spiky Hair was missing.

I looked around wildly as he dropped from the ceiling, landing feet first on my back and knocking me to the ground.

The breath left my lungs in a big whoosh and I lay there, gasping. I couldn't let him get an attack off when I was like this, so I reached my hand up, scrabbling for his foot so I could freeze it.

I felt his foot connect with my hand as he attempted to kick it away, but that brief contact allowed frost to spread along his foot.

The pressure was gone from my back as he moved away, trying to scrape off the frost. I stood up and sent a blast of ice from my hand, slamming him into the fridge cabinets. He slid down them and didn't get up.

Lastly was Skyscraper, who hadn't moved. Her thin face looked at me impassively, the usual absence of fear on her face.

I couldn't leave her here as she was, she'd get free and tell other Descendants of Pitch, if they didn't already know where I was.

"W-who the hell are you people?"

Darn it, I'd forgotten about the cashier.

Skyscraper and I looked at the cashier, who was peeking over the counter, then at each other, becoming temporarily united by a common desire. It was an unwritten rule among Descendants, almost instinct; you don't get non-Descendants involved.

Skyscraper formed symbols from black sand, similar to how Sandman communicates. A waving hand and some Z's, like those that appear in pictures to signify that the character was asleep.

I frowned at Skyscraper who shrugged as best she could when she was pinned to the wall. I saw her point, putting him to sleep would be the most reliable way of covering our
tracks. I just wish it wasn't Nightmare sand.

I twitched my fingers and released the hand closest to the cashier. In a swift movement she blew Nightmare sand into the cashier's face and he collapsed face first on the counter. Snores quickly filled the shop.

Skyscraper and I looked at each other, relieved that the situation was over, then we remembered that we were supposed to be fighting.

She sent sand in the form of knives towards me and I took a step back to form a barrier, which caught the knives.

I kept the wall up as I walked towards her, still trying to work out what to do. Ideally I'd like to conveniently knock her out, but unless I rammed something into her head, that wasn't going to happen.

Her free hand surrounded itself in black sand and she threw it at my ice wall, successfully shattering it. I let the shards fall in surprise and her fist drew back again, probably to punch me in the face.

I ducked underneath the punch and popped up again like a jack-in-a-box, my own fist heading for Skyscraper's head, covered in a layer of frost from earlier.

My knuckles landed with a not too effective punch, but it somehow seemed to work. Frost appeared on her forehead and her eyes rolled into her head. The frost then disappeared from her forehead and I could feel the temperature of her head had gone down.

I'd given her brain freeze. Quite literally. I'd never done that before.

I quickly realised that the security cameras would no longer be obscured so I threw up the hood of my hoodie, not wanting the police on my tail as well.

I was fully aware that the cameras were probably recording me as I moved the displays back as best as I could, given the fact I was in a rush. I didn't want to hang around here any longer then I had to and if I removed the ice then it would make things more obvious that something weird had happened. Best for them to think it was some kind of fridge malfunction.

I leaned over to the counter to collect my purchases, stuffing them in my pockets while double checking that the cashier was alright.

With all of that sorted I decided to leave the Descendants of Pitch where they were and left, taking to the sky on rails of ice. My hands were shaking from left over adrenaline, but it quickly faded as I got back into the rhythm of skating.