I skated quickly down the hole. I wasn't sure on exactly how clearly I was thinking, or what I was hoping to achieve. I just wanted to get away.
And the fact the Pitch had made an appearance gave me an excellent excuse. This'll be something that HOG will want to know.
I quickly reached the end of the tunnel, which turned out be a dead end. I skidded to a halt, confused, why would they block off the entrance?
I walked up to where the exit should be and knocked against it, hoping someone would hear me and clear the entrance. To my surprise however the wall in front of me seemed to melt and I could step out into the base.
I seemed to be in some kind of circular chamber off from the main one, the entire moss covered wall was covered in cracks which indicated the use of Tunnels from all over. A path curved its way around the wall, leading to each crack. I craned my neck to try and follow it, but it disappeared way above me, showing how far below ground we were. I wandered over to the only other open tunnel on ground level and began to walk down it.
I'd gotten four steps in and then got pushed back and into the wall by someone coming the other way.
"Sorry, sorry!" cried the other person, not stopping as they pressed their hand against the wall next me and disappeared through the hole that formed.
I kept on walking, keeping to the side I wouldn't get knocked back again. Light trickled from the end of the tunnel, then when I got out my eyes got blasted by the intensity. I blinked and shielded my eyes, trying to get a good look at what was in front of me without being blinded.
This was clearly the main cavern, there were people I recognised running about, focused on their tasks. There also people sleeping in weird positions on the ground or just flat on their backs, each of them were wearing varying colours of armour.
There was a dull roar of chatter and footsteps, from the various other tunnels leading off from this one I could vaguely hear the clanking of metal on metal and raised voices.
So this was a war base.
I stood on the edge of the cavern, uncertain of where to go. I was clearly the youngest here, and everyone knew my face, so it didn't take long for someone to notice me and come running over.
"Miss Davies!" cried the woman, she small and blonde, marking her as a Descendant of Sandman.
"Just Jackie's fine." I said, unsettled by the formality.
"What are you doing here? You haven't been called in have you?"
I shook my head, "No, but I do have worrying news."
"What news?"
"Pitch showed up in my home town."
The woman's eyes widened in shock. "Wait here, I'll go tell the Heads, and see if I can
find someone you know."
With that she ran off and settled myself on the ground to wait.
I winced as my stomach throbbed in pain. Getting winded like that had not been fun, but I doubted it was serious. There were worse things to worry about.
Today's events decided to start running around my head, causing me to lower my head into my hands. I didn't want to think about it, but the scene at the lake kept flashing up in my mind.
To my surprise my phone started to ring, I'd gotten a new one since I lost the other one last time, but I was surprised that I could get a signal down here. I'm guessing that Descendants of North had tinkered with it in some way.
I looked at the caller ID, and seeing it was my mum, reluctantly answered.
"Hey."
"Hey? Is that all you have to say? Hey? What happened to you? The police were at our house, saying something about sudden ice shocks and a frozen lake. Was this you?"
"It was an accident."
"What happened? Nothing's ever got you to use your powers accidentally since, you know."
"It's a pig thing." Pig was our codeword for HOG.
"Of course it is! They're nothing but trouble! Where are you now?"
"At their base, something happened that they have to know about."
I heard my mum sighed, "When are you going to be back?"
"I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know? You've just got to tell them this thing then come back, right?"
"I'm scared, a lot of people saw. I'm too scared." My voice began to break.
"Honey, it's okay, nothing's going to happen."
"Can you promise that? Honestly?"
"Well-"
"People are going to be afraid. They won't outright say it, but I'll see it. I can't live like that. It's one thing being afraid of myself, but I don't want other people to be afraid."
"Jamie's been beside himself with worry. They're worried about you, not what you might do."
"I can't..."
"Jackie, it'll be okay, there are plenty of other explanations people can turn to."
My mind went back to earlier, the expressions on the shoppers faces, they wouldn't be convinced otherwise. I felt my eyes burning as I choked out.
"I'm sorry."
"Jackie please-!"
I hung up and turned off my phone.
I sat there for a while, my head still in my hands as I tried to recover myself.
"Jackie!"
I looked up to see a very familiar and welcome face.
"Nigel!" I stood up to greet him as he pulled me into a hug.
"What are you doing here? The messenger didn't say much before running off again." He asked.
"Pitch was in Burgess."
I felt his body stiffen, but he voice was still calm as he spoke.
"What was he doing there?"
"Provoking me."
Nigel pulled out of the hug and put his hands on my shoulders, looking at me in the eyes.
"Whatever he said, it isn't true. He's just trying to-"
"He didn't say anything." I lied, my hands shaking slightly when I recalled what he had said.
"Then what did he do?"
"Got me to use my powers in the centre of town."
"Jackie..."
I involuntarily tensed up and my mouth just kept going.
"I ran, I just ran and he followed me. I left him pinned to a tree and came here."
"Are you going to go back?"
"I don't know."
He stood still for a minute, then drew himself to his full height.
"Well, since you might be here a while, better give a tour!"
I looked up at him in surprise and more than a little relief.
"Huh? Aren't we going to tell anyone about Pitch?"
"I'm sure the messenger is telling the Heads right now, so how about we go for a wander?"
I looked up at his hopeful face and small smile crossed my face.
"Sure."