Aliesha's shoulder healed in one week, two days, six hours, thirty-seven minutes and twelve seconds. That was how bored she had been, even with her and Fairy's 'good book' smuggling routine. Father Knowledge had given her books to learn from. She just wanted a story. They would wait until Father Knowledge left for food and then Fairy would zip and change into a hippogriff and come back ten minutes later with a selection of stories. They would swap the dustcovers around and Father Knowledge- the smartest man on the planet- had no idea.

The seasonal spirits, Eve and her parents dropped in from time to time, to keep her updated. Jack point-blank refused to let her help, even when her shoulder was fully healed and she could move her arm and throw ice balls at him. He only relented when she agreed to take someone with her in case she got into trouble. Eve volunteered before April did, much to the spring spirit's disapproval and Aliesha's relief. She didn't mind April; she was just very energetic and loud.

"We've double-checked everywhere," Eve informed her on one of their patrols, "and triple- and quadruple-checked. I'm not sure what five, six and seven are though, so…" She shrugged.

"I'm going to slap Pitch into next week for this!" Aliesha raged. Eve just nodded. She hated her brother, but he was still her brother. "Why would he take Cal? Cal wouldn't hurt a fly!" They landed atop the Eiffel Tower. Aliesha flexed her wings and saw a croissant stall not from the base of Paris's iconic tower. Her stomach growled in response.

"Oh, this isn't good." Eve sunk back against the railings, massaging her temples irritably. "Pitch wouldn't hide Cal somewhere like this."

"How'd you know that?"

"It's busy and obvious and we'd have found him by now."

"Unless he was underground."

"Mother Nature is checking all that, remember? Even if Pitch was hiding Cal, any surge in his power would show where Cal was being kept."

"So… where would he be then?" Eve scanned their surroundings, surveying the French-ians (Elmlea) below.

"Somewhere where we wouldn't think to look. Away from civilisation, somewhere that's not nice for Cal…" She trailed off, her eyes narrowing in thought. "We should be checking the warmer countries."

"Warmer countries? I can't go there!"

"I know you can't." Eve raised her hand and a shadows coiled against her palm, taking the form of a raven. "Find Sky and tell her to check her countries." Aliesha expected the bird to caw or nod in agreement. She did not expect it to say 'OK!' and take flight.

"Talking crow."

"Raven." Eve corrected. "Crows are for Sundays." Aliesha must have given her a funny look as she laughed. "Come on, we should tell the others." And, as casual as anything, she somersaulted forward and free fell, whooping in delight. Aliesha dived after her.

Upon hearing the talking raven's message, Sky went straight to Hawaii. Cal had always wanted to go there, but couldn't because of the heat; Pitch may have granted that wish in his own cruel fashion.

She checked all over the island and all the extra, smaller islands about it, but nothing. She checked through the night as well, as most of them were doing- Pitch was stronger at night and the theory was they may be able to sense his dark power easier when the stars were out.

Two days she spent checking those islands. Mother Nature confirmed there was nothing underground and Sky proceeded to circle out, checking all her other places. Not in Egypt, not in Australia, not in Cuba.

She got a ping flying over the ocean though, between Spain and England. It wasn't a ping exactly, more of a cold feeling.

Looking down, she saw a single island, the sand yellow and the thick greens of a forest or jungle filling the centre. It was like looking at a very rough circular eye. A huge eye. It would take a weeks to search that island, a month at the most. She needed back-up; an island like this could hold all sorts of hiding places. With Amber and April- and possibly Eve too- the search time would drop to a week, two at the most.

Sky watched her hand, concentrating until it burst into flame. Aiming at the beach, she carved a giant X into the sand, burning the ground beneath. Water leaked up and stayed in the shape, like a moat around a sandcastle. It would be bloody difficult to hide that.

Pitch waited until the summer spirit had made her mark and left. That was far too close. He would have to move the brat. Unless…

Looking at Cal, Pitch could see the result of his work so far. He had had to pin Cal in an underarm headlock to keep him still and placed a firm hand over his mouth to keep him quiet. Not that he would have enough sense to shout out to his friend; over the past two weeks, Pitch had dug through the boy's mind, pulling up all his fears and worries. The obvious fear of clowns, the worry of someone hurting his parents, his friends and- most importantly- his little sister. Pitch liked making nightmares for that one, he got the best reaction.

Cal's eyes flicked to him, his pupils dilated in sheer, indescribable terror. There was only a thin ring of that intriguing purple left, but Pitch didn't care about that. The boy's eyes were unfocused and petrified out of his wits; so far out of his wits he had next to nothing left.

"Just wait until your little friends find you," Pitch teased, digging his fingers into the sides of Cal's head. The brat's eyes swam with desperate tears and he pulled unavailingly at Pitch's hands, "although, why would they? You've been nothing but a burden." A sob choked from Cal and he closed his eyes, tears flooding down his cheeks. Pitch let him go and he fell to the floor, curling up and sobbing quietly. "Nothing but a nuisance." The nightmare king kicked him onto his back and placed his foot on his chest. Cal's eyes shot open and Pitch grinned to himself.

Almost there…