Woo! Long time, no update. Here it, hope you enjoy!
Chapter 2: The Waterfall
Yesterday went better than expected. Jack had executed more pranks on a fresh group of people than he ever had on one person before. Frozen bread, shoes sticking to the ground (while they were still on someone's feet), the good old snowball, and just a few people slipping onto their bums and racing down a crowded street. It just so happened that they took out a few others on their way down the icy slope, but that made it all the more enjoyable. Jack laughed and laughed, perched atop a building's roof or gliding above the scene as it moved forward. However, when the day was over and all the fun to be had was milked dry, he flew to the nearest forest and found himself a comfortable tree to hide in.
Beneath the gentle flurry of snowflakes and the ever watchful rays of the moon, Jack fell into a light slumber. These days, he normally napped and it was never for long. In fact, since his awakening from the ice, he never really felt tired anymore. The more the days dragged on, the more his desire for sleep diminished. Immortality has a funny way of changing the body. He had all the energy in the world, but so little companions to occupy his time. The bitterness of it all made it hard to doze off, so he settled on the easy type of dreaming. The kind that he could control.
When morning came, Jack was a little unprepared for the situation at hand. A melodious voice, almost entrancing, drew him from the confines of his tree to investigate the grounds. It consumed him and brought him nearer and nearer to the source the more he followed. Could this be the sound of a siren? The ocean was so far off and yet, here he was, a slave to the call of a song. The tongue in which it was sung felt native to the land, but he could not recall the language. Since he had been travelling every now and then, Jack had a better understanding of foreign languages without any effort on his part. He supposed that was a beneficial ability to have on his side.
"What is that?" He said aloud, kicking his feet up off the ground and gliding through the trees. His staff dragged through the newly fallen snow until he came upon a river. The rushing sounds of this stream, untouched by the winter winds, harmonized with the voice of the girl singing alongside it. A dim, red kerchief covered her face and she wore nothing more than a peasants dress and a shawl to keep her warm. He knew that this girl was no siren. In fact, she was more real than he expected. Among the cold presence of the snow, Jack could almost feel the warmth radiating from her body. It was reminiscent of a fire, and like a moth, he was drawn to her.
There is a place that I know
Within a valley, snow upon snow,
There sits a village, not well known
A king like iron, an army like steel,
With strength that is ungodly and real,
His greed is vast, it's what he feels,
No greater enemy than himself.
The people suffer, the children starve,
The old are poorer, and the village ill.
The King, the king, our iron king;
the worst, the avaricious, the seedy.
As cold as the snow, his actions,
his heart, and as course as the bark,
the stone, and the hearth.
Her voice was so sweet that Jack could hardly believe the song she was singing. The words were so bitter and angry, but from her, it did not sound so bad.
"If only I could see her face." Jack moved towards the girl, careful not to touch or breathe to loudly. She may not be able to see him, but he could stir up the wind if he wasn't cautious. Or maybe, he could kick it up just a bit in hopes that she would lose the hood. A mischievous grin played along his lips as he flew to the other side of her, walking backwards as she advanced forwards. With a deep breath, he drew in air and blew it gently back at her. She was caught off guard, but it was more than enough to lose the hood. Jack was genuinely shocked to find that he was now face to face with the same green eyed girl from yesterday.
"What in the world?" She murmured, drawing the shawl tighter around her shoulders and rubbing her red nose. If the girl could see him, he knew exactly what she would do and that was laugh, because he felt like the biggest fool. He could not utter one comprehensible word. In fact, any logical reasoning he had was out the door the second he laid his eyes on her. She had the milkiest skin, pinkest cheeks, rosiest lips, and the most golden shade of blonde he had ever seen. It was like the sun existed in every strand of her long, wavy hair. He longed to reach out and touch it, but he feared that his chilling touch would send her home in search of warmth. Call it selfish, but this was the closest to human contact he had with anyone in the past 10 years and he wasn't going to give that up.
The girl pick up her song again, but he could not hear the words. His mind called to him, warnings going off like alarms in his head and he continuously ignored them. It was only when the girl's facial expression reflected fear did he finally snap out of it. He watched her plummit into the rushing riptide of the river. Beneath their feet, the log they had walked across, was frozen over. He wasn't careful, he was too busy admiring her and forgot all about the fact that he was Jack Frost. The unseen force of winter. His touch caused the log to freeze over and because of that, the girl slipped off and into the water. For a minute or two, Jack stood there in his disbelief, ears filled with the howls and panicked screams of the young girl.
"Help, anyone! Help!" Jack heard her voice above the water and made haste, allowing basic instinct to take over since his thoughts were useless now. He flew alongside the river, contemplating his options and weighing the best decision. Ahead, he could see the curve of the water and how it dropped all of a sudden. She was headed for a waterfall. "Anyone! Please, help me! Someone! Mama, Papa!"
Jack, with the mighty will of a speeding animal, zoomed forward to the end of the river where it dropped down. If he froze it over, she would be sucked down below the ice and would surely drown. The rapid was too much and he was losing valuable time to think. She was much closer now.
I have no other choice. I'm just going to have to snatch her out of the water. He thought desperately. Jack knew that no one could see him and as such, could not physically touch him. He only hoped that as he put his arms out, that this young girl would come crashing into his solid form. Hopefully.
"Please! Anyone!" Her voice was hoarse and the chatter in her frozen bones was unnerving. He could feel the cold creeping up on her like Death.
"Hold on!" Jack cried out, closing his own eyes shut as the girl's body hurtled towards him. He only opened them when he was sure that he had caught her. There was an instant of doubt, but when he felt her soaking wet clothes make contact with him, he opened his eyes again. The girl with her pale face, blue lips, and bright green eyes gawked at Jack.
He could not mistake her chattering for what came next: "Who are you?"
Author's note: Hey there! Hopefully there are people still reading this, so I apologize for the late update. Don't be afraid to leave a review. I know how terribly awful that sounds, but I've got to know what you think. As long as I know you're enjoying it, I'll keep writing it. Thanks so much!