Alaia Skyhawk: Hehe, I've actually had this one partly pre-written for a fair while. Sufficient to say, I've been looking forward to posting this one :)
(ADDED: Whoops, I spotted a timeline error in this, which is now fixed. I'd had Southern and Northern Summer going on a the SAME time O.o)
Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, the Guardians of Childhood, or any related characters etc. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes.
~(-)~
Chapter 74: Science or Sceptics?
Jack stood atop the flagpole outside the highschool, whooping a cheering along with the students and parents who were here. The crowd calling out their approval and good wishes for the students who were graduating and about to head out into the wider world.
Jamie was among them, and was now a well-built teenager who had regularly trumped his peers at track, and yet he had also turned down a sports scholarship. He'd told everyone he'd been offered a place at a special and small private college, which was run by a family friend. Where that 'college' was, he hadn't specified. After all, it was doubtful how his peers would have reacted if they'd learnt he was off to a magical village in Siberia to study wizardry full-time for three years.
Beside Jamie was another familiar face, that of an 'exchange student' who had attended Burgess High for the past two years. A particular red-headed girl who was purportedly off to the same college as Jamie, but who in fact had only come to Burgess to gain 'paper qualifications' so she could work in the town easily once she and Jamie came back.
Allienne brandished her graduation certificate for the official photograph, with the same apparent enthusiasm as all the others. Although to those who knew where she was actually from, it was clear to see she still couldn't fathom why a piece of paper was so important for proving you'd studied and learnt things. There were no such things as 'exams' at Santoff Claussen.
The photograph taken, the students gathered on the school steps began to scatter towards family and friends. The school-year now over for them, and with many of them now waiting for the time to head off to college. A final sweet summer in Burgess before they'd set out on their own.
Jack left his perch, swooping over to where his fellow Guardians were discreetly stood under the shade of some trees. The rest of the Bennetts were with them, Sophie practically glued to Bunny's side, and Tooth looked like she was about to start gushing tears of pride.
And there was much to be proud of in Jamie, budding wizard that he was. Because just a few months previous he'd mastered the power of his belief to an extent that few ever did, and had joined the ranks of the self-sustained immortals. Only his wish to live at the age of mid-twenties, allowed him to continue ageing at this point. And there was already talk in Santoff Claussen that, once time came he couldn't hang around Burgess anymore without people asking awkward questions about him not ageing, he might set out to start a similar village of learning of his own. But for the time being his plans were;
Go to Santoff Claussen to study for three years.
Marry Allienne.
Return to Burgess to have and raise a family.
Jack continued to whoop and cheer as Jamie and Allienne came over, the former with his arm draped around his fiancée's shoulders. They'd gone from being fellow pranksters to dating three years back, and Sophie had been ecstatic to learn who would become her big sister.
It was now that Sophie, twelve years old now, launched herself at her brother and future sister-in-law and hugged them both.
"Congrats, Jamie! Allienne!" She stepped back, putting on a mock pout. "It's not fair, you two get to go to the village early. I have to wait another three weeks before I can come."
Jamie reached out to ruffle her hair, which she'd long since stopped cutting on her own with blunt scissors as she'd done when little.
"But you get to spend every Sunday at the Warren, helping Bunny design eggs. That's really special."
Sophie puffed up with importance at bit at that.
"Yep, and I'm gonna try hard and get my belief just as strong as yours! That way, when I grow up, I can help Bunny make every Easter from now on, forever and ever, the best Easters that have ever been!"
Off to the side, Jack chuckled and nudged Craig and Laura.
"Katherine had best watch out. 'Mother Goose' has a new girl catching up to her tail-feathers. The two of them may even end up working together."
Laura chuckled at that, beaming with pride, while Craig glanced at Bunny.
"You don't object to her ambitions, do you?"
Bunny twitched his ears, blinking for a moment before quickly shaking his head.
"Not at all! Not at all! Actually I'm flattered. New self-sustained immortals don't crop up that often, and most fade out and start growing old after a century or so of extra life. Once the tedium starts to set, in if they haven't found a 'purpose' for themselves. You've managed to raise one, with another almost certain at this point, and both are dreaming far ahead. That's actually how all the Constellation Families got started out, way back when."
Laura blinked at that, and Craig actually gaped. It was well that the three nearby youths were far enough away not to notice the conversation.
"You're not suggesting that?"
Bunny raised his paws.
"Hey, I never said it was certain, but I won't deny that your family are something special. Three-hundred-plus years of close association with an immortal, fostering powerful belief in the family for all that time, tends to create talent for it. And we'll all encourage and support those kids as far as they want to take that talent."
A little unnerved by the possibilities, the two adults glanced at Jack. The Guardian of Fun just shrugged, and smiled.
"Tsar Lunar plans to rebuild the Golden Age, and I don't think we're that far from the start of that getting into motion. All the other original Constellation Families were lost, so he's going to have to start finding new ones somewhere. If we're dreaming, we might as well dream big."
Behind Craig, North raised his eyebrows.
"You're wearing one of your sneaky smiles, Jack... What are you up to?"
Jack widened his eyes in innocence.
"Me? I've not been doing anything that Mother Nature and Tsar Lunar don't approve of. I've not been on the Naughty List, have I?" North shook his head. "See? I've been behaving myself." He glanced up at the sky. "And speaking of doing what I should be doing, I've got weather to tend way down south. I'll be back in a few days for a proper graduation party with Jamie and Allienne."
He jumped up into the air, skimming over Jamie and Allienne to ruffle their hair mischievously in passing, before waving as he then flew off. But as soon as he was high enough up to be out of sight, he conjured a mirror and headed through to the frigid wind-whipped expanse of the glaciers above and around the Winter Sanctuary.
And there it became apparent what he'd been 'up to', because for fifteen miles in every direction around the Sanctuary, the surface of the glaciers was purple.
Jack kept up this periodic inspection of the area over the coming months, having created the odd colour just in time for it to be spotted on satellite images and shown at the relevant 2022 annual science conference. The picture being of a 'Large Glacial Anomaly' roughly thirty miles in diameter. When that conference did come around, it resulted in much excited speculation. Some scientists postulated that perhaps a subterranean oil deposit was seeping upwards and showing through the ice. Others cried 'global warming!'. But it just so happened there was an Antarctic research base within reasonable distance of the anomaly, so an expedition to gather samples had since been planned. Of course the Spirit of Winter, who had snuck into the conference to listen, spent much of it quietly laughing.
But now the time was finally nearing, and Southern Summer was in full-swing, as Jack swung eastwards flying in the direction of the last place he'd seen what he'd been watching these past three weeks. That expedition, of three men, was now very close to reaching the edge of that 'anomaly'.
Jack found the trio before too long, easily spotting the kites they were using to tow themselves and their sleds while the winds were blowing the right direction. Ombric, with a little help from Jamie, had managed to create a magical replica of a computer a couple of years back. Jack, of course, had immediately requested one and had used it since to track the sightings of immortals, as those stories began spreading out beyond the conspiracy forums and appear on regular forums as well. No one who came across those stories, was quite sure if it was real, mass hysteria, or people making up tales 'jumping on the band wagon' and causing it to be blown out of proportion to the true numbers of 'sightings'.
Things were near a tipping point, and his fellow immortals didn't seem to be up to the challenge, so he'd altered the glacial ice as a giant 'look at me!' sign. He was now quite excited to see what would happen once his 'visitors' arrived, although obviously no one but his Lieutenants, Tsar Lunar, Nightlight, and Mother Nature knew what he'd done. None of the above saw it as a problem. Mortals were on the verge of discovering the Immortals anyway, so there was no harm in one of the friendliest and best-known immortals making the first 'scientifically recorded contact'.
Of course, the timing could be better for the scientists trekking towards the anomaly. They were within a few days of reaching the edge of it, but Jack knew that there was supposed to be fierce winds and wind-whipped snow for the area for the next three weeks. He'd been holding it off, it was meant to have started two days ago, but he'd stalled it.
He was still watching the scientists when Mother Nature approached him a couple of hours later, her tone a little disapproving when she spoke.
"Jack, I know you want to let them get to your sanctuary first, but if you keep stalling then the weather patterns in Argentina and Patagonia are going to be severely affected. Achieng will not thank you for that happening in the middle of Southern Summer."
Jack, who had devoutly hoped she'd not show up, winced.
"But the winds that are due... The shelters those scientists have won't be able to handle them. Even if they managed to dig in behind a ridge."
"You should have thought of that before luring them to the area." She came up beside him, frowning. "Not only that, but those scientists will be aware of the risks of sudden weather changes. They're not uncommon in Antarctica, as you also know well."
Jack sighed, then glanced at her hopefully.
"One more day?"
She regarded him blandly.
"Will one more day really make a difference?"
Jack nodded, pointing towards the hint of purple visible on the horizon.
"They'll at least reach the edge of the 'anomaly', and have time to take their first samples. I need them to see that the ice has been changed to refract light differently."
There was a long pause, before Mother Nature rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Two days... And in return I want you to go, right now, and shape another air-current heading for Southern America as a temporary substitute for the one you're stalling."
Jack broke out into a grin, and gave her a cheery salute.
"I'm on it!"
He was gone in seconds, leaving her floating there alone. She sighed again, her gaze drifting to fix upon the three scientists below.
"Be sure to make a good first impression for us all, Jack."
Jack didn't hear, he was too busy streaking up into the sky before circling southwards towards the pole to grab some of the stalled wind. He then dragged that wind around the side of the anomaly area, opposite from where the scientists were, and then released it towards South America with gleeful anticipation.
It was barely an hour before he arrived back where the scientists were, to watch them from above.
~(-)~
The rising sun, which had dipped towards but not passed beneath the horizon during the 'night' heralded that another day was well under-way. By that light three men packed their tents back onto their sleds, ready to set out on their trek once more. They were close to their destination now, they knew that, and the anticipation gave them the motivation to pack up quickly.
But for one of them, Marcus, he kept glancing over his shoulder. Unable to shake a certain feeling.
"Do you feel like we're being watched?"
Jake glanced at him, snorting.
"We're in the middle of nowhere in Antarctica. Who the heck could be watching us out here?"
The third of the men, Henry, commented with sarcasm.
"Maybe whatever made the ice look purple from space?" He pulled something out of his pocket, reading a set of numbers from the screen. "GPS says we're almost to the edge. We should see something soon."
Marcus frowned at them both, a bit miffed, but said nothing more as they got under-way. It had been a long hike from the science outpost, almost three weeks. They were all tired, and would no doubt feel more optimistic once they'd reached what they'd been sent out to look at.
Four hours later and they stopped in their tracks. Just ahead, beneath a few wispy bits of snow, the ice almost looks as though it had been polished. That being the reason so little wind-blown snow was sticking to it. It was also a vivid indigo-purple, almost as though someone had mixed ink with the water before freezing it.
They hastened to that edge, and just as hastily broke out the sampling drill to take a core. One from the normal teal-green glacial ice, and one from the anomalous area. The first looked, as expected, totally normal. The second made them gasp.
Because as soon as the core was lifted free and tilted, the colour it appeared to be abruptly changed to a rose-pink. Tilting it upright again made it purple, turning it upside-down completely made it look orange.
This was not normal ice.
Henry broke a piece off and held it in his bare hand so it would melt. When it did, it turned clear revealing it was just water as it should be. Marcus then spoke.
"It looks almost as if the crystalline structures in the ice have been distorted, so they refract different wavelengths when light shines on them at different angles. That's why the ice looks purple from the ground and from space."
Jake nodded.
"Yeah, but we can't be sure until we can get samples back to the science station. Let's make our base-camp here, and collect cores from between here and say, two miles out into that anomaly?"
Henry turned to start unpacking his gear from his sled.
"Agreed. Let's grab ten cores per sled, check the area out a bit, then head back. We should be able to get funding for a larger team after we bring cores like this back."
Marcus went to his sled as well, pulling out the satellite phone to call the science station.
"Anomaly Expedition reporting in. We're at the edge, Marcia, and I think you guys are going to love the cores we bring in. The first one we've taken is crazy. We'll be setting off back in a week."
A woman's voice could be heard through the phone.
"Tease. Thanks for the heads-up, Marcus, and don't keep us in suspense too long."
"We won't." He ended the call and glanced at the others. "Let's make camp then."
~(-)~
Jack watched them, never leaving his vigil, yet his attention was split between them and the distant sense of the weather closing in. The wind storm would hit tomorrow 'evening', with no clouds to warn of its approach. To the scientists it would seem to come out of nowhere.
While they were distracted, off taking cores the next morning, Jack moved in on their tents to strengthen their anchors and reinforce the ice the steel pegs had been embedded into. He couldn't do anything about the strength of the tents themselves, but he did shove some extra snow up against the southward-facing sides to stop the wind being able to get underneath and lift them up. He then flitted anxiously between the camp and the three men, aware of the weather moving northwards and of how long the trio were taking to return to their camp.
In the end Jack whipped up some preliminary gusts around the men, to give them reason to stop what they were doing and head back to their tents a bit sooner than they'd planned. It was just as well, because by the time they reached them the wind was starting to really pick up.
The scientists hastily stowed their gear and got into their tents to hunker down, and Jack stayed with them stood on the ice just a few yards away as the hours ticked by. It was near midnight, the winds howling across the glacier, when he heard the straining fabric of the tents start to rip. One tent practically imploded, Marcus yelping in response as he clung to the interior of the shelter to stop the wind from sucking him out of it. Some of his gear that was less fortunate, flew through the air and hit Henry's tent. The force of the impact ripping a gaping hole in one side of it.
Both men were desperately trying to stay inside their shelters, even as the third tent began to surrender to the wind. Jack knew now that their lives were in his hands, and he dashed to them after quickly letting out an eerie whistle to call the Winter Sprites.
He pulled a small pouch from under his cloak, which contained dreamsand much like the pouch of frostdust that Sandy had used to carry. He then went to the first tent, shouting out.
"Don't worry! I'll get you to shelter! Just hang on!"
He blew some of the dreamsand into the tent, knocking out the occupant, before encasing it in a temporary shield of ice. He then repeated that with the other two tents, even as the sprites began to arrive to ferry away the frozen shelters and sleds.
~(-)~
It was to an eerie quite that Marcus opened his eyes, looking up at the ragged remains of his tent. The silence was unnerving, and the light wasn't right for being outdoors. Had he been buried?
He sat up and peered out of his tent, finding himself close to the tents of his peers and also their sleds, only... They weren't where they were last night. They were in a huge ice-cavern, its roof held up by the merged pillars of stalagmites and stalactites... And it was snowing inside it despite their being a ceiling overhead.
His cautious murmur reverberated off the surrounding ice loud enough to make him wince.
"Henry? Jake?" He crawled unsteadily out of his tent, stumbling over to theirs to rouse them. "Guys, do you have any idea what happened?"
Henry, wincing due to being stiff and sore from the wind's beating, peered around and shook his head.
"I remember my tent giving up the ghost. Apart from that, only thing I remember is that I thought I heard someone say they'd get me to shelter."
Jake nodded, pulling his coat tightly around him.
"I heard it too. Marcus?"
Marcus nodded.
"Yeah, so did I. And as crazy as it sounds, I think they did just that."
All three of them looked around, seeing little but ice and snow. Jack had placed them far enough away from the plaza that they couldn't see the Ice Palace or the Lieutenants' Residence, to give them a few moments to get some sort of bearings. It was now that one of them spotted the folded piece of paper pinned to the adjacent pillar with a shard of ice.
Henry went over and pulled it free, tentatively unfolding it before starting to read out loud. The handwriting within was of a rather old-fashioned, yet readable style.
"'Sorry about leaving you guys as long as I did. I was kinda hoping your tents would hold up until the storm was over. As it was, 'dramatic rescue' wasn't what I'd had planned when I lured you to this area with that ice. And now I ask you to do something; keep a completely open mind. I don't want you to think of anything as being impossible right now. You're scientists, and scientists aren't supposed to say something is impossible, or not real, if they don't have conclusive weighing evidence to prove that it isn't. That said, if you're actually succeeding in keeping an open mind, you should see a little white furry fellow watching you from somewhere around your feet. Follow him'."
Henry looked down at that point and yelped in surprise, because there was a furry fellow down by his ankles. He didn't see it completely clearly at first, but after a moment he was able to focus on it.
"Do you two see this?"
Marcus nodded dumbly.
"If you mean a twelve inch tall cotton-ball with arms, legs, and a grinning face... Yeah, I do."
The sprite giggled, jumped up and down a few times, and scampered a few yards in the direction of the plaza. It then turned and waved at them to follow.
Jake, after pinching himself, got to his feet.
"I guess we do what the letter said, and keep an open mind. Because short of all three of us having gone utterly insane in the space of a few hours, I can't think of any 'weighing evidence' to say this isn't happening."
They followed the sprite, and soon came into view of the plaza and the palace. All three gasped, as Henry let out a whistle.
"Whoa. Guess we can start to get an idea of why the ice turned weird up there. Whoever lives here wanted us, or at least someone, to visit."
They were tense as the sprite led them into the palace, down two hallways, and to a door which it then pushed open. At which point a wonderful savoury smell drifted out into the hallway, followed by the voice of a young man a moment later.
"Don't just stand out there. I don't bite."
The three men inched into the room, which they were startled to discover was a kitchen. And there was a white-haired fellow, in tattered brown leggings and a white shirt, stood barefoot at the other side of it. And he was stirring something over a pot on a brick-built stove.
Marcus unconsciously huddled towards his peers in uncertainty.
"W-who are you? Where are we?"
Jack glanced over his shoulder, blue eyes glittering with mirth, and gave them a wry smile.
"In that order... I'm Jack Frost, the Spirit of Winter, and this is my home, the Winter Sanctuary. I'm the one that made the 'rainbow ice' upstairs." He picked up the iron cauldron by its handle and headed for the table, while pointing to the chairs. "Go on, sit. You three have got to be hungry after that storm... Which actually is still going on, you just can't hear it down here."
He placed the cauldron on the wooden table, and started ladling the hearty stew into the waiting bowls. Three heaped and steaming bowlfuls were pushed to the scientists, who had now tentatively sat down, and one modestly heaped bowlful was kept in front of their host. Jack then touched a fingertip to the rim of his, at which point most of the steam from it stopped. It was fairly obvious he'd just cooled his down.
He then started to tuck into his food, seemingly oblivious to the mental state of his three guests, who each tentatively picked up their spoons to sample the stew. After the first mouthful hesitation vanished, and all three men shovelled down the hot meal as though it were their last. They didn't even seem to notice when the sprite that had guided them, jumped up onto the table and topped up their bowls for them from the pot.
By now Jack has finished his share, and was tipping a piece of 'rainbow ice' back and forth between his hands. When they finally finished their food and looked at him, he smiled once more.
"And now, I guess I should tell you what's going on."
~(-)~
Half-an-hour later found the four of them no longer in the kitchen, but rather strolling in the direction of where the tents had been left. The three scientists looked utterly stunned, yet there was a sort of resigned acceptance in their manner.
Marcus ran a hand through his hair, still somewhat at a loss.
"So you're saying that, all those stories that are going around on the internet right now, about strange sightings... Those stories are all true, and the sightings are of other 'immortals' like you?"
Jack nodded, staff across his shoulders with his arms idly hooked over the ends.
"That would sum it up. Among the Nature Immortals who work for my fellow Spirits of the Seasons, who have therefore all been briefed on the side-effects of my frostdust, everything is fine and dandy. Among the Legends and the remaining Nature Immortals who know nothing about those side-effects, with the exception of the Guardians who do know, they're all throwing varying levels of hissy fits in panic and confusion." He shrugged, twirling his staff back into position on his back. "I'd suggest to Mother Nature to call another conference, but then all that would achieve is all those Legends etc screaming their heads off at me for something which really isn't all my fault. It was bound to happen sooner or later anyway."
Arriving back at the tents, of which there wasn't really much left that was usable, Jake glanced at him.
"So why then lure us here?"
Jack shrugged again.
"Seeing as my fellow Immortals, for the most part, seem incapable of dealing with this calmly... I thought I'd see how a group of mortal scientists would. It's not like you mortals don't have the technology already, to be able to confirm we exist once you know what to look for."
Henry blinked, startled.
"What technology?"
Jack grinned.
"The first and most basic, that any 'Average Joe' can buy? You have a digital camera with you, that automatically focuses on any people in the field-of-view? Turn it on and point it at me."
Henry darted to his sled and rummaged in one of his bags. When he found his camera, turned it on, and pointed it at Jack, the screen on it immediately showed a little square around Jack's face. Indicating it had detected a person there, and had adjusted the focus accordingly.
Marcus raised his eyebrows as he looked at it over Henry's shoulder.
"That works with any immortal?"
Jack tilted his head, still utterly unfazed by this whole situation.
"The ones that have faces like look like regular people. I doubt it would work for someone like Dig, or Bunny, unless your camera has a 'rodent recognition mode'. One of those is the Groundhog, and the other is the Easter Bunny."
Marcus almost choked at that, as did the others.
"The Easter Bunny is real?"
Jack laughed, nodded. "And Santa, and the Sandman, and the Tooth Fairy. Those four and me are 'The Guardians of Childhood'. To list us all, we are the Guardians of Hope, Wonder, Dreams, Memories, and lastly myself, Fun."
Jake turned off his camera.
"I thought you were the Spirit of Winter?"
Jack hopped up onto the top of one of the ragged tents, which by this point should never have been able to support his weight.
"I am! I just happen to have two jobs instead of one like every other immortal."
Henry, noting their host's carelessly casual manner, started to frown.
"I'm starting to think you find this whole situation to be amusing, despite how serious it actually is."
Jack folded his arms across his chest.
"And I'm starting to think you've already forgotten, that I've told you I'm the Guardian of Fun. I take amusement wherever I see an opportunity for it, instead of stressing myself out over ridiculous little things."
"You call this 'little'?"
Jack regarded them slyly.
"Now when did I say that? I'm as psyched up about it as you, probably more, because I understand fully what the implications are for the future. And trust me, they're good implications. In the 'world peace and prosperity' kind of way. All I need you guys and your peers to come up with, is a suitable range of tests done by machines that aren't fooled by the 'can't see an immortal if you don't at least moderately believe in them' thing. Something where an immortal could sit down in front of a camera and a couple of other things, smile into the lens, push a few buttons to confirm something sentient is present, and then a screen where they can type words in order to hold a conversation even if they can't be seen."
Henry was now starting to get just a bit irritated, although that was understandable considering the shock they'd all just had.
"And how are we supposed to convince our fellow team members to help us with that, instead of declaring us delusional?"
Jack jumped down off the tent, and grinned as he conjured a large ice-mirror. One whose surface immediately shimmered and cleared to show an image of the science station the men had set out from.
"Oh, I dunno... Appear out of thin air, back at base, four weeks early?"
~(-)~
Alaia Skyhawk: MUAHAHAHAHAHA! IT BEGINS!