After Ash fell asleep, Jack wasn't feeling too peppy. Actually, he felt a little depressed. He decided to try and cheer himself up. After all, it's not like this orphanage was the only place in the world with sad stories. This thought had the opposite affect on Jack.
It was late in the fall, so he decided to frost some windows up before he left. As he left through the window in Ash's room that led directly out to the roof, he got an idea.
'I wonder if I can get someone as old as that girl to see me?' He thought, as he left a pile of snow right outside of her window- only hers, though. After he finished, he glided through the rest of the little town in Washington, covering everything in a layer of ice. By the time he got done, it was beautiful.
It then came to Jack's attention that he only got the isolated section of what appeared to be a forest around the town, so he went on and made his way through the forest, frosting everything as he went. Just before dawn, Jack ran into an old man - a really old man. Old Man Winter, to be exact.
"'Sup?" Jack asked, sliding to a stop.
"What's up? What's up?!" Exclaimed Old Man winter, as he paced anxiously. His hand stroked a beard that tapered from his waist to the cold ground. "Something's wrong. My house exploded earlier today!"
"What." Jack responded flatly, not comprehending Winter's words, and half -wondering if senility was catching up with him.
"My house... Exploded," The old man spoke more slowly, "you know, the volcanoe that blew today? The very, very DEAD volcanoe? I lived in it, and there was not a drop of magma left! Otherwise, I wouldn't live in it."
Jack stared at him. "So it really was just a mountain. A mountain in which... Lava materialized... Without warning... Or scientific reasoning..." The idea that a spirit would do that sort of thing shocked Jack. "Who would do that!?" He asked, even a bit angered that someone would put so many lives in danger.
"Apparently someone with an explosive personality," the old man replied. Jack was not amused. The old man shook his head, causing his beard to sway.
"I don't know." Winter replied more seriously this time. "I guess someone long forgotten. Someone who wants to be remembered again. Remember the Mayan spirits? They placed that calendar for some archeologists to find. It got them many people who at least believe in their prophesies again."
"Yes, but a calendar that supposedly predicts the apocalypse is just a big practical joke. Blowing up an extinct volcanoe that has thousands living around it? That's a little bigger." Jack said.
"Well some spirits are more wrathful than others. The Mayan spirits used to be, but after the violent culture quit believing in them, they calmed down quite a bit." Old Man Winter had this almost remineciant look as he remembered some of the ancient cultures that had long been extinct. "There are many volcanic spirits around... Most of them used to be worshipped as gods, but are no longer. That makes all of them reasonable suspects, no?"
"We have to figure out who it is, because they can't be allowed to keep doing this. Killing people with obviously active volcanoes is one thing- it's nature- but reviving long dead ones?" Jack was furious with whoever had done this. The spirit had shown no respect for precious human life.
"Well it's not any of the Romans or Greeks." Winter observed, "They still get plenty if recognition. The Norse are getting their fair share lately too... Hmm..." He paused, stroking his long beared thoughtfully. "Well, there is one who is particularly spiteful. But even without believers, she was still a volcanic spirit before she was a goddess and could still be quite a powerful enemy, even for the Guardians." This made Jack's stomach lurch in a way. Taking down a weak enemy was one thing, but a spirit who could take plain old mountains and turn them into volcanoes? He didn't like that thought at all. He needed to tell the others.
"Who is she?" Jack asked, suddenly feeling a familiar old blaze of emotion rising in his chest. He would risk his life to protect kids... That was why the moon had revived him.
"It is Pele." Old Man Winter told him gravely. "She is the Hawaiian lava bringer."
A/N: So, I feel like I should stop and apologize for all spelling and formatting errors. I've been writing this entire story on my phone using notepad and google docs. My iPhone is really weird and keeps capitalizing words in the middle of a sentence and not taking punctuation. It also keeps trying to autocorrect stuff that makes no sense and missing other spelling errors.
Also, I don't have any time to do homework and breath, much less write during the school week. This means that the majority of my writing and uploading will be done over the weekend! Please recommend to friends and keep letting my know what you think! Pm me if you have any ideas, we might just use them. Your encouragement inspires me and makes me feel like I should keep writing this story!