Chapter 6

(Jack's POV)

The staff's power burned through my fingers and entered me. I could feel its every heartbeat and rhythm; every glow and ounce of energy. I could hear and feel it calling out to me. I felt something inside me open and my body started humming in time with the staff. At that moment, I felt like I could destroy. I could protect. I felt cold and warm at the same time. The staff's power that gave me was indescribable. All I could see was the staff; it was as if time had stopped. I felt (or rather the staff) fingers touch me or the staff. Suddenly I felt air being ripped out of my throat. Yet I wasn't suffocating. The air got thinner and thinner and I felt like I was being crushed between two giant rocks. Yet the power of the staff held me. Suddenly, I started seeing images; images of an island with people that have hats with horns. Their houses were also decorated with horns and fur. But there was another thing I saw. Some sort of creatures flew everywhere. Dragons, The staff whispered. I couldn't hear the words, yet I could feel it. The staff kept a firm grip on me. Close your eyes, it whispered. We have arrived. Then I was lowered to a soft patch of grass. I could still feel the power of the staff, but it wasn't as strong as it was a few minutes ago. I felt my eyes open and I looked at the staff in my hands. It had stopped glowing and it was just an ordinary looking staff. I heard moans and I whipped my head around, instinctively clutching the staff in my hand as a weapon.

"Where are we?" Rapunzel groaned and I sighed in relief. They were all here, safe.

"Jack," Hiccup sat up, rubbing the back of his head. "I think I wet my pants."

Rapunzel and I laughed. Then we looked over at the red head that was still lying down on the soft grass. Merida's mouth was open and she was snoring. Hiccup quickly ran to her and took out his phone.

"I'm definitely taking a picture of this," he stifled his laughter. He positioned the camera above her head and clicked it.

The moment the camera clicked, Merida jolted upright and punched Hiccup in the face, hard. The smack echoed across the forest while Rapunzel and I looked on with shock. That has got to be the fastest reflex I have ever seen.

"OOOOWW!" Hiccup yelped and lay down on the grass, cupping his bleeding nose. Merida blinked and then she covered her mouth when she saw Hiccup rolling on the grass.

"I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed, moving towards him. "I'm really sorry, I'll make it up to-" She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Hiccup's phone. She picked it up and looked at it. Her eyes widened then she frowned.

"HICCUP!" She yelled, advancing towards him. "HOW DARE YOU TAKE A PICTURE OF ME WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!" She kicked him at his legs and Hiccup sat up, trying to fight back. He struck a fist at the side of Merida's face but that didn't stop her. She struck another one at him and he blocked it. In no time at all they were both rolling on the grass, trying to find an opening to punch each other. Rapunzel and I watched with our mouths wide open.

"I wish I have popcorn with me right now," I said and to my surprise, Rapunzel nodded.

"But don't you think we should break them up first?" She turned towards me.

I agreed.

(Hiccup's POV)

A few hours later, the four of us sat around the fire that crackled. Jack and Rapunzel had both managed to break Merida and I apart. We were both hurt and bruised yet neither of us wanted to admit that. While Merida and I sat down to press the leaves onto our bleeding noses, Jack and Rapunzel had gone off to look for food and firewood. Merida and I sat across at each other and glared. She has got to be the Queen of all evil females. We managed to hold our fists back and I endured long minutes of her blue eyes piercing a hole through me. I glared back. But it didn't last for long because Jack and Rapunzel had walked back; Rapunzel with fruits encased in her shirt, Jack with an arm full of firewood. Jack and I had been to the boy scouts so we both knew how to make fire with just sticks and dry leaves. We had dinner and fire in no time. We ate in silence, wondering where on earth we were. Deep inside I knew we were panicking. But we took it quite calmly. I had no idea what on earth was happening, but whatever it was, it is strange. I was the first to break the silence.

"Jack," I cleared my throat. "What happened back there? How did we end up here? Where are we?"

Jack's eyes were fixed on the staff in his hand.

"I don't know," He said, his voice sounding distant. "I just felt something in this staff that became part of me somehow."

Rapunzel's eyebrows knit together. "You mean the staff brought us here? Wherever this place is."

Merida spoke. "Aren't we supposed to be panicking? I feel strangely calm somehow. It's like I've been expecting for this to happen."

"I feel the same way," I said. "I feel like I've done this before or something."

"Well, whatever it is, we'll figure it out tomorrow." Jack yawned. "I'm beat." Then he frowned. "Before we left, what happened to mom?"

"She told us to go to the Dragon's Keep and stay there a few days until she sends someone to guide us on our next journey." I replied, tugging my jacket around me. It was getting cold.

"I wonder where this Dragon's Keep is," Rapunzel stared at the fire.

"I think I know," Jack said and our heads snapped up to his face. "The staff told me."

"Ooookaay." Merida said, clearly freaked out. "Let's talk about this tomorrow."

We all agreed and went to sleep. The last thing I thought about before I drifted off to sleep was a dragon.

(Merida's POV)

I woke up with my head pounding with pain.

Oh right.

We're in this who-knows-where place and we're supposed to find a whatever.

I slowly sat up, cradling my aching head between my hands and looked around. The others were still asleep and the fire was out. I stood up, brushing the leaves from my messy red hair and jeans. I decided to look around.

I walked through the trees, careful to remember where I turned and where I went so that I could remember how to get back. I walked on, flipping a rock or two every time I made a turn. And the whole time I was walking, I was talking to myself.

"Dragon's Keep," I muttered. "That Mrs. Frost is one crazy lady. Who on earth has seen a Dragon's-"

I had gotten to the end of the forest and beyond me there was a sea of water. The view was breathtaking, but that wasn't what I was looking at.

"Keep." I breathed the last word as I looked at the impossible view in front of me. Before me was an island with houses and such. But those weren't ordinary houses. The houses had fur on them and each house had a gigantic perch on top for some sort of giant bird. The island had a dock and ships with dragon heads in front sat along the dock.

I've seen this place before. I think it was in history class. I felt my eyes widen as my brain struggled to think of the possibilities. But that's impossible. Vikings were supposed to be extinct, right?

But lately, things have gotten so weird I don't think anything here is impossible.

So I ran.

After minutes of zigzagging through the forest, I finally found the others back at our camp. I groaned in frustration; they were still asleep. But I was too shocked and too tired to wake them up so I sat down on a log to catch my breath, watching them sleep. After a few seconds my breathing had returned to normal and I stood to wake them up. I walked over to Rapunzel and gently shook her awake. Her green eyes fluttered open and she yawned. I moved over to Jack next and shook him. He awoke with a start and quickly clutched the staff to him protectively. But when his eyes met mine, he relaxed.

I then moved over to the next which happened to be Hiccup. What I saw made me take out my iPhone to snap a few pictures. Hiccup lay on his side, curled up in a ball, clutching his jacket and, believe it or not, sucking his thumb. His lips were parted and half of his thumb was out of his lips, glistening with his saliva. The other half stayed put and I saw his tongue involuntarily flick against it lazily. I stopped taking pictures and just stared. It was as if I noticed him for the first time. His long lashes that I knew girls would kill for fluttered as he dreamed. His strong jaw flexed as he inserted the rest of his thumb in his mouth. His brown hair was spiked out everywhere and stubble of hair shadowed the skin on his jaws and around his full lips.

He was drop-dead gorgeous.

I broke my gaze and clicked one more picture. Suddenly his eyes opened and he detached his thumb from his mouth while sitting up quickly. His gaze drifted to me then to his thumb that now looked like a prune from an all-night sucking.

Probably.

His gaze shifted to me slowly.

He was as red as a tomato. "I, uh, am different from other teenagers," he said, wiping his thumb across his jeans.

When I gave him an exasperated look, he continued. "I've been doing this for as long as I can remember." He was blushing so hard now.

"Well, you're certainly different," I giggled. Then my face was solemn. "I'm sorry for punching you yesterday. What I did was out of line." I apologized.

To my surprise, he smiled and said, "That's fine. We were both too shocked by all this happenings anyway. I should also be sorry."

We shook hands and his touch was like electricity. I got butterflies in my stomach but I decided to ignore it.

"Why did you wake us up, Mer?" Rapunzel asked, pulling her jacket around her. I got up and walked towards her and Jack.

"I found this weird looking place and I thought we should take a look at it." I said.

Jack nodded. "Alright Merida, lead the way." He gestured towards the forest.

"Um, huh, Jack?" I raised an eyebrow at him. "That's not the way."

"Well how was I supposed to know that?" Jack frowned.

"Come one, guys," Rapunzel laughed, heading towards the forest. "Let's go."

Hiccup and Jack both followed her to a different direction and I sighed.

"Hey walking maps," I said. "You're going the wrong way again."

(Rapunzel's POV)

We walked through the forest and after a while we came to a stop. The view was magnificent. The water was so blue, the island was beautiful, and I was struck by the wonder of the sky.

We walked towards the clearing of grass towards the water.

"How are we supposed to get across?" I asked Jack, who was walking in front of me.

"Well, the island isn't that far away so I figured we could swim." His deep voice replied.

Swim? No problem. Both Merida and I took swimming classes for two years.

Merida and Hiccup walked in front. Both kept their distances with Merida in the very front.

I quickened my pace to catch up with them.

Then I heard a screech.

Before I knew what was going on, large claws had engulfed Merida and she flew of the ground, kicking and screaming. I couldn't see what the creature exactly was, but it was huge. Another blue one picked up Hiccup before he could run away. Seeing what was happening, Jack quickly took my hand and held the staff above his head. Three of those creatures flew down towards us. Their long sharp teeth glistened in the morning sun. Their sharp spikes on the colorful wings flexed as they charged. I felt Jack's muscles bunch up beneath my trembling fingers as the staff turned bright blue. In the speed of light, large crystals of lightning struck the creatures and they quickly turned into ice. As the creatures stumbled, something hopped off their backs. Their big buffy figures gave me no doubt they were human males. Both of them were big and muscular, but the one of them was about ten inches taller than the other. Their helmets shone in the bright light of the sun. Their big axes and spears were the size of my arm.

Vikings.

They charged against us and again Jack held up the staff again, ready to strike another one of those cool stuff. The moment they saw the action, they stopped dead in their tracks. They paled and looked at me.

The bigger one held down his axe and turned to his companion, all blood drained from his face while Jack and I stood there with shock at what they did. Why on earth did they stop when they saw the staff?

"Could it be?" He asked his companion.

Oh good. They speak English.

The smaller man nodded and turned toward us again. His voice trembled.

"Are you Jack Frost?" He asked Jack.

"Yes," Jack replied cautiously. "Why do you want-"

"And you are Rapunzel?" The man paid no heed to Jack and had turned towards me.

"Y-yes." I stammered.

Both men looked at us with awe and fear now.

"And the other two we took?" The big man spoke.

"Merida and Hiccup." I replied.

The moment they heard that, they fell to their knees.

Okay. Wow. I couldn't get my dog to sit and now I'm having two large guys kneel in front of me and Jack.

"Uh, why are you guys kneeling?" I couldn't help asking them after a few seconds of them keeling there with their head bowed.

"Because," the small man spoke without looking up. "You are the Chosen Ones."