January 11
The dead bolt was easy enough to unlock. The dog that ran up behind him as he opened the door was even easier to get around, a simple treat doing the job. Pitch closed the door quietly, putting a barrier between him and the canine. He had watched the children put in the code to the backdoor and typed it into the security alarm on the wall before it went off. It wouldn't do for anyone to know he had ever been here at all. Being sure to tread carefully, he moved quickly but silently across the kitchen floor to the stairs. Those were more likely to creak than the floor had been, but he walked close to the wall instead of down the center.
There was a boy of eight and a girl of nine who lived here. They had an older sibling who was a freshman in college. That sibling, Nathaniel Hassen, had worked for Pitch years ago. Nathaniel had been one of the first Pitch had ever recruited, and had developed the method for avoiding the police that Pitch used so often now. Jack had worked out an even better method, though, and Pitch needed Nathaniel to tell him how Jack was doing it. He had an opposition, and that wasn't a development that would be tolerated.
Nathaniel was smart. He knew working with Pitch would drag him down and that he would never leave Burgess if he kept up that lifestyle. Nothing would bring him back here unless a threat against his siblings was made. That was something Pitch was not above doing. The parents were oblivious to everything, as usual, but working out the reason about why Nathaniel had to return home was not Pitch's problem.
There were pictures on the wall of the family, all three children and both parents usually smiling widely. On occasion, they were too busy with whatever they were doing to face the camera but the general emotion was still conveyed. Pitch ignored it, finding such senseless display of affection annoying. His family rarely showed affection to each other, preferring to show support for each other by doing something useful. Almost anything he did was done alone, but his parents never knew what he was up to or bothered to help. His two cousins were the exceptions of the general mood. The siblings rarely dealt with the rest of the family at all but were rather affectionate toward each other. It was a shame, considering the two were very bright individuals. Even worse was the younger's awful choice in friends.
He found the bedroom of the children at the end of the hall. The door opened soundlessly and Pitch slipped in. He knew he was going to have to find another way to get into houses after this, since it was pure luck this was a new house and hadn't begun to creak and moan under anyone's weight. The room was colorfully decorated and was large enough to accommodate both children. There weren't many toys in the room, so he guessed there was another part of the house that the children used as a play room.
His attempt to scare a group of children before had backfired horribly, teaching him that he had to do this in a controlled environment. There was nothing that could be made into a fairytale about a scare in the middle of the night. There were no saviors to come for children when it was just their imagination that caused the terrors. Even the storytelling of Jamie Bennett would not be able to turn this around. Maybe he should stop by and see that child next…
It didn't take him very long to get set up. He had been planning these waking nightmares for some time now. It was about time he was finally able to put it into action. The only thing left to do was wake the children and let it all begin.
-.-.-.-
January 15
Ana hated Thursdays and Fridays now. It was her turn to track the children and find out which routes they took home. There weren't many more to work out, thanks to the burglary performed a few days ago, but there was still enough left that it was necessary to make two of them keep watch at a time. Sandy was on shift with her today, like he was every Thursday.
They had just returned from watching the first wave of kids go home. There was now a half hour lull before two of the sports teams ended practice and those children started the commute home. It was boring and uneventful to wait outside the school as inconspicuously as possible, but there were the rare occasions where a child went home early for whatever reason. Just yesterday, Aster had caught one of Pitch's guys trying to attack such a child.
Sandy elbowed her and pointed to the playground at the side of the elementary school. Jamie Bennett was sitting on one of the swings, rocking back and forth with his head down. He looked upset about something. She shrugged and nodded. They went around the back of the high school and crossed the street at a distance far enough from the playground that Jamie wouldn't take notice of them even if he turned around. It was harder to sneak up onto the playground without him looking, but it was made easier by him not paying any attention. They sat down on a level above the swing and behind a barrier, so Jamie wouldn't see them if he looked up.
A few minutes passed while nothing happened. Jamie got up and walked underneath the plastic structure, standing in the area where he had been buried in the snow with his friends. He sighed before starting to speak.
"Hey, I feel kinda crazy here… Look, I know I'm not telling the kids exactly what happened, but they need something to make them happy," he said. Ana and Sandy exchanged smiles. "Some of them are getting scared about stuff. I don't know exactly what's going on, but it seems like something's beginning to happen. It's bad. But you guys made it go away. …Are you even there?"
Sandy shrugged, not sure what they should do. Ana paused before grabbing a handful of snow and rolling it into a ball. Before Sandy could stop her, she hurled it at the side of the elementary school. Jamie jumped as he saw it hit the wall. Sandy face-palmed.
"Oh, I guess you are…" Jamie muttered. "Uh, well, I figure you can't read minds and you can't be everywhere at once, so I guess you probably don't know what's been happening. One of Monty's friends, Carl Hassen, has started suffering from these nightmares. He and his sister both. They're seeing stuff like it's happening in their room, but there's no way it's actually happening. Stuff like floating and glowing stuffed animals or dark shadows moving around the room. They're terrified. Pippa said something similar happened to her yesterday."
Sandy frowned, looking very inclined to climb down and talk to Jamie. Ana gripped his arm, stopping him from doing so. She listened intently as Jamie continued.
"I don't know exactly what you do, but you protected us last time. Is this the Boogeyman again? Can you stop him?"
Ana glanced up at Sandy. The two nodded in determination. Jamie sighed below, grabbed his backpack, and left. He had a glow of hope in his heart, but with uncertainty right beside it.
-.-.-.-
They told Jamie's story to the other three as soon as they got back from their shift. The others listened intently, considering how to deal with the problem before they were even done. The lack of information about what exactly Pitch had been doing and why was troublesome but it was something they could work around.
"Let's stake out both houses tonight," Jack suggested. "We'll stop him before he even gets inside."
"Yeah," Aster said. "No problem, we'll just tell their parents some fugitive has been breakin' inta their house ta scare their kids an' that we'll protect 'em. They'll believe that, won't they?"
"Sarcasm not appreciated."
"We can sit outside their house and keep an eye out," Ana said.
"I don't disagree, but how're we goin' ta protect every child in town? He'll go after the others if we protect those two houses." Aster obviously cared about the kids in town, but he was pushing for the skeptical argument to protect as many as he could. "We could put more in danger than we'd protect."
"Aster, we know he's going after those two. We can't just sit by!" Jack said.
"We can try and catch him," Ana pointed out.
"That's not happenin', but it's worth a shot. If he takes off, we need ta follow 'im ta make sure he doesn't go after another house." Aster gestured at their pile of coats. "Better take warm clothes an' food. It's goin' ta be a long night."
"Aster, Ana, Sandy, go watch the Hassen house. Jack and I will watch Pippa's," North said. "We have a few hours until we should go out. We should get sleep. It will be a long night."
"First, let me put this idea out there before I forget. Jamie was right. We're not all-knowing, especially because we're not actually immortal legends. We need a way to know when children are in danger. There has to be some way for us to keep track of everyone. Maybe a system of messengers or something."
"And who are these so-called messengers ya speak of?"
Ana gave Aster a look. "I said I just wanted to put the idea out there. I'm not sure exactly how it would work, I just think we need something like that. We need someone to get us information."
"Yeah, we're working blind until we can get someone to help us. There're only five of us." Jack paused. "Well, seven, but two of us have jobs and Manny's going to be pretty busy at the hospital."
North waved it off. "We will think about it another time. For now, sleep."
-.-.-.-
January 16. 1:13 AM
Pippa opened her eyes when something hit her window late that night. She waited, listening for a repeat of the sound and dreading it at the same time. Something hit the window again. It sounded like a bird was repeatedly running into it. She put her pillow over her head, trying to block out the sound. She was right. Whatever was haunting the Hassen's home was now haunting her. The waking nightmares had begun.
Then something fell off the roof.
She took the pillow off her head and turned around, putting her fears aside to look out the window in confusion. A shadow darted past, but it wasn't ominous like the others had been. This one was just a shadow. It didn't have any menace behind it. She looked around the room quickly. There were no odd creaks or groans like someone was walking right past her. None of the animals around the room were floating or moving closer like they had before. She didn't see a single sign that this was like the nightmares from the night before. If this wasn't that, then was going on?
Something knocked against the side of the house. She jumped but climbed out of bed, edging her way closer to the window. Another shape fell off the roof abruptly and she heard it hit the bushes below. It was dark out and hard to see, but she could just catch a glimpse of two figures standing on the roof. The faint light from the moon was enough to tell that they were there, although it was hard to make out anything apart from their figures. The one on the right was taller and more muscular while the one on the left had a slim build. The latter had something in his hand, like a staff, that he held onto like it was a weapon. Both had their backs to her, watching the ground below. She reached out to tap the window, but a sudden movement from one of them caught her off guard and she jumped back in surprise.
The smaller one whirled around and lunged forward, reaching out with the staff. He grabbed the edge of the roof with it and yanked himself up. A bare foot hit her window for a split second to help push himself over before it disappeared, going over the roof with the rest of him. She could hear a light padding of footsteps above her head as he moved around. His steps were too light and all over the place for him to be doing anything but preparing for someone else to make the first move in a fight. She had watched enough movies to know that. The second shadow remained where it was outside her window, but was shifting impatiently. If she had to guess, he wanted to get involved in the fight too. Wait, did that mean that there was someone else on her roof? Who? And why was someone out there at this time of night?
Something heavy, like a body, hit the roof with a loud sound. Pippa jumped in surprise, looking up at the ceiling in worry. There was a series of smaller thumps, like that of a fistfight up above. She hoped it wasn't between the person who had fallen and someone else. That didn't seem fair to her, even if the person who had fallen had it coming. Whatever the case, the shadow outside her window made a move for the higher roof, grabbing the edge and hauling himself up. He had no trouble at all doing it, climbing up in less than half the time it had taken the first person. She could hear him join the fight a second later, and the struggle moved a few feet away from where the first person had fallen. Well, two against one wasn't exactly fair either, but she was a bit happier with that outcome.
A new shadow came into view by her window while she was watching the ceiling, tracking the thumps and thuds with her eyes as she heard them. It paused outside and started opening the window. Pippa heard it begin to slide up and glanced over in time to make eye contact with the intruder. She had long black hair, that was mane-like in appearance because of how untamed it was, tied and pulled over one shoulder. Her dark clothes, including a black jacket and sweatpants, helped her blend in with the moonless night, but when she was this close, it was hard not to see her because of her stiff appearance. Pippa easily believed that she'd had no trouble getting up here, because even in the dark, she could tell the teenager was strong and sturdy. She could also easily believe that this girl was not here for benevolent reasons.
She ran forward, grabbing the window and trying to pull it back down. The teenager on the other side fought her for it, pushing it back up slowly against Pippa's will. It was hardly a contest of strength. Pippa put her entire weight into her effort, struggling to even slow down the teenager from just shoving it open quickly. This seemed to be more of an annoyance for the teenager than anything else. She certainly looked irritated, but maybe that was just her normal expression. They could both hear the sounds of a fight coming from the other roof, loud and clear as the three exchanged blows. It made Pippa wonder why two people had come here in the first place, and even more why two people had come to fight them, but there wasn't enough time for her to stop and really think about it. The window was inches from being open far enough for the teenager to climb in now.
The bulkier of the two boys who she had seen outside her window before dropped down beside the girl. She barely had time to turn and look at him before he literally grabbed her and tossed her away with seemingly little effort. Pippa shut the window quickly and locked it. He folded his arms and watched as the other teenager rolled over the side of the roof and dropped out of view. He continued staring at that spot with a hard gaze, leading Pippa to assume she was still there. After a moment, an arm came into view as she tried to climb back up. The male walked forward and, with little sympathy, took both of her arms and forced her to release her grip from the roof. She grabbed onto him, not wanting to drop. Instead, he let her go and shook her off. She fell out of view. Pippa winced although she knew the teenager had only landed on her mother's bushes and wouldn't be too badly hurt.
The shadow stepped back and turned, gaze flickering between the window and the roof above. He was clearly deciding whether to stay here at his post or go help his friend with the fight. Pippa took pity on him although she had no clue what was going on. She could understand the loyalty of a friend. She rechecked that the window was locked and then grabbed her rock collection she'd had to make for school last year. The heaviest rocks were put on top of the part of the window that opened, and it added about ten extra pounds to open it by the time she was done. She took her flashlight and turned it on to make sure it worked. She glanced out the window and smiled, giving the teenager a thumbs up. Although it was dark, she could have sworn he cracked a grin as he returned the gesture. He ran forward and hauled himself up onto the other roof once again. She remained where she was, listening to the fight but watching to make sure that no one came up by her window again.
Less than a minute later, she heard one of the three footsteps run off in the opposite direction from her window. The other two paused, waiting to make sure he really was gone. Then the taller one dropped down beside her window, making sure no one had tried to enter again. He glanced around quickly and then went back up onto the higher roof. She listened carefully but didn't hear either leave. No one came back either. Every once in a while she could hear someone shuffling around like they were trying to get comfortable. The moon came out from behind the clouds, making it much easier to see everything around her. There wasn't anyone in sight. Half an hour passed, and neither of the two guards above her head had left. With a shrug, she turned and left the room.
She returned a few minutes later with two sandwiches and two glasses of water. They were bound to be hungry and thirsty after a fight, right? She set them down so she could remove the rocks from her window and open it up. One of the two teenagers stirred at the sound. She carefully put the two sandwiches on the plates outside, followed by the glasses of water. Now both of the teenagers were stirring, curious about what was going on. She glanced up in time to see a white head dart out of view. She blinked in surprise before pulling back and closing the window. They probably didn't want her to know who they were. A few seconds later, the smaller one dropped down and started handing up some of the sustenance to his friend. His hood was pulled up over his head, but she could just make out a flash of white hair.
She watched him for a few seconds before he paid her any heed. He smiled and waved. She blinked in surprise before laughing and returning the wave. He pointed to the bed and put his hands together by the side of his head, miming sleep. She glanced at the piece of furniture but when she looked back to try and tell him she wasn't sure she could after all this excitement, he was gone. With a sigh, she replaced the rocks on her window sill and then climbed into bed. She could at least give it a try. With those two outside, she doubted anything was going to get into her room tonight.
-.-.-.-
They all finally made it home at around five in the morning, when it was early enough for parents to start leaving for work and too late for Pitch to cause any real harm. The night had been exhausting, and the worst part was that they were probably going to have to do it again the next night. Jack and North made it back first, being the closest to the warehouse. They would have started making up breakfast for everyone else, except they were still living off canned food and there was no real point.
"It feels colder in here," Jack commented.
North nodded, frowning. "Maybe heating was cut?"
"Yeah, it's expensive to heat a building and pointless when you're not using it." He frowned, wrapping the blanket tighter around himself. "I guess that's going to be a problem. Let's mention it to Wind and Manny. One of them's bound to deliver a small heater if we mention it. Can't have us freezing our butts off."
The door opened and the rest of their group came in. They didn't arrive with smiling faces and laughs although they had been just as victorious as the other two. Jack frowned, noticing that Aster was limping and swearing like a sailor. In fact, it was rather hard not to notice. "Hey, what happened to you guys?" he called out after Sandy had closed the door.
"Sandy and I had to run all over the neighborhood three times and Aster got stabbed," Ana said, the closest they had ever heard her to sounding grumpy. "How'd you guys do?"
"Pippa saw us. She gave us food."
"Oh, stuff it," Aster snapped.
"Onyx and Pitch were there. North dropped her off a roof and we whupped Pitch's butt, so they've had an ego pounding tonight from us. Pippa learned to lock her window, so unless they break through one of the doors, they'll have a more difficult time giving her trouble now. She's smart. She'll figure out that she just needs to make sure the doors are locked if she has any more trouble. I think we just need to watch her house for a few more nights to be sure she'll be fine." Jack watched as they sat down, Aster more gingerly than the other two. "Okay, so I'm assuming whoever was with you got sick and tired of Aster's mouth and decided to shut him up? He's not bleeding all over the place so I'm assuming it wasn't too- HOLY SHIT!"
Ana had made Aster lay down on his stomach so she could deal with the injury. He had several inches of knife sticking out of his back but the most worrying part was that there was a fair amount still stuck in the back of his shoulder. While there was a decent amount of blood, it seemed like the knife was blocking most of it from getting out. He couldn't have received the wound more than an hour ago.
"We got ambushed just as we were about to leave," Ana explained. "Aster was beating up too many people in their ambush and one of them pulled that on him. Looks like a kitchen knife."
"Uh, I don't think kitchen knives look like that."
North nodded in his head, contradicting Jack. "Some do. Think of kind you would use to cut roast."
"Thanks for that analogy," Aster muttered. "Can someone, y'know, get that thing outta me?"
Ana nodded although he couldn't see her. "Okay, we're going to have to cut your shirt off."
"Great, now I'm down to three shirts."
"Stop complaining." With help from a pair of scissors, the shirt came off easily and quickly enough. "Alright, now we're going to have to pull that out. How deep do you think it is?"
"Do I look like a doctor ta ya?"
"Well, the thing's stuck in your back, so it's a safe bet you can feel how far in it is," Jack pointed out, flopping down on the ground facing Aster. His friend leveled a glare at him. Jack folded his hands under his chin and grinned back. "Oh, this is going to suck for you. This means you're going to be out of commission for a while if you want that to heal right."
"Like I hadn't already figured that out for myself. It's probably two or three inches in." Aster said the last part towards Ana. She nodded, frowning and debating on how best to get it out. "Don't try an' just yank it out. If North's right – I can't see it so I can't say for sure – that'll cut open a bunch 'a tissue if ya do."
"Uh, how else would we get it out?" Jack said, raising an eyebrow. "Show me this laser neutralizer you have tucked in your back pocket to shrink the knife with."
"Sorry, Aster, but Jack's right. We're going to have to just pull it out."
Aster groaned. "Great. Just do it now."
"We were going to wait for infection to set in, but if you insist…" Jack said with a smirk.
"I would hit ya if I could move right now."
Ana settled down beside Aster and gripped the knife with both hands. He winced slightly, feeling the metal shift. Ana pulled up gently, testing how far in it was and how stuck. He grimaced further but didn't complain. The knife was rather stuck, as Ana tried pulling again and it hardly moved. "Okay, this is going to hurt," she said. "A lot." She then stood up and yanked on it as hard as she could. Aster cringed, and the tenseness of his muscles only increased the pain. A flash of worry crossed Jack's face and he reached out to take Aster's hand. Aster gripped it tightly in return, face planted in the ground as he fought against making a sound.
North gently pushed Ana aside and took his place beside Aster. He gripped the knife and yanked upward. It hardly budged. Aster's hand gave a spasm, tightening around Jack's. Sandy had an expression on his face, clearly wondering if they were all idiots. Jack caught the look and voiced Sandy's point. "Um, has anyone considered the fact that we have a doctor who's all too willing to help us? And who, y'know, probably has a little more experience with this?"
"He will still have to pull knife out," North said, grunting as he yanked on the knife again. "He will not be able to if I cannot."
Sandy sighed and moved into North's way. The Russian stepped back in surprise. Sandy gripped the knife handle with one hand and wiggled it a bit. Aster's nails were drawing blood from Jack's hand at this point. Sandy pulled it upward slowly, jiggling it back and forth to cut anything blocking the knife's way. After a few moments he had pulled out an inch of the blade. He then yanked it upward in a swift motion. The knife came out.
Ana face-palmed.
"Hey, Aster, how you feeling?" North asked.
Aster groaned.
-.-.-.-
January 18
Manny stopped by a few days later to check up on them. He found an extremely irritable Aster on his own in the warehouse with a bandaged shoulder. After reprimanding him for not going straight to the doctor's house, he set about checking the injury and making sure they had done everything possible to make sure it would heal. He approved the stitches and wrapped it back up with several words of advice on how to care for it.
As he had been putting the bandages back on, Aster had filled him in on everything that had happened. They had finally finished their assessment on everyone's routes home, to the relief of the entire group. They were now evaluating the best ways to make sure they could protect as many as they could while the kids went home. Since Pitch's latest move had been discovered by them because of Jamie, they had taken to having someone watch as he left school to make sure he didn't stay behind and try to get into contact with them again. They knew he had learned that they had been listening, probably from Pippa, and had left a thank you note by the playground. He hadn't told them about anything else yet.
Meanwhile, the heating problem was becoming severe as it became extremely obvious that it had, indeed, been cut. They had actually robbed a store for blankets – "Don't look at me like that, of course we left money for it!" - , as they had already stripped everything they could from Manny's and Wind's houses. Jack's house had been entirely cleaned out by now, courtesy of the realtors who were trying to sell the house (or maybe it had been done by the town who was trying to get rid of the sorry sight). It had been getting rather difficult to keep warm as the last remaining scraps of heat faded away into the cold air. It was getting colder and colder every night they fell asleep. Manny suggested they light a fire and use that to keep warm. Aster said they'd think about it.
Lastly, and certainly not least, Aster reported the full events of their first loss. He explained how they had come to learn about what Pitch had started doing and how they had done their best to combat it. Pippa's case had been a win, as Pitch had been unable to break into her house since his first attack. Her knowledge that there was someone there to protect her had kept her from being scared and she had made sure everything door and window in her house was locked. Enough time hadn't passed for them to yet know how much they would be affected by a child knowing that there were, for sure, real people running around town helping others. She had obviously told Jamie what had happened, but Sandy, who had hidden nearby while he retold the story, had heard nothing that gave them away. It sounded the same as the first story that had been told.
The loss had been the Hassen family. Even after Pitch had stopped visiting them, he had left an impression. The children suffered from nightmares every night. Their attitudes had begun to change entirely, being molded by fear. It was tragic, watching their old, cheerful, excited selves begin slipping away as the days went by. The guardians of the children had learned from eavesdropping that the older brother, Nathaniel Hassen, was returning to Burgess to try and figure out what was wrong. Jack had told them all he knew about Nathaniel's affiliation with Pitch and how it was not good news that he was coming home. This had been a decisive loss, the first one that they would face.
There would be more to come. But that all came with the job.
January 25
Ombric was a patient teacher. They had learned that back in New York when they had covered the basics of working with messenger pigeons. He loved teaching anything, as he would tell them random and relatively unimportant facts that he knew off the top of his head, but loved even more so having a good audience on which to impart it. His students, rambunctious young teenagers that they were, turned out to be surprisingly ambitious and intelligent kids. Wind, who came by the warehouse every day after work to learn her share because she knew she would be stuck dealing with this at some point, was less of an excellent student. She always seemed to be scowling and sulking behind everyone else, clearly not wanting to be here. Manny never stopped by for a lesson because he had worked with Ombric before and knew how to work with the pigeons.
The old man had finally managed to make it down from New York six days ago. He had moved in rather quickly but with much grumbling about the cold. The pigeons were just as flustered about the cold and the heaters that Wind and Manny had both brought were quickly positioned right next to the bird cages. The cat Baby Tooth, owned by Ana but adopted by the rest, had been rather disappointed that she couldn't eat any of the birds. She had caused the humans almost as much worry as the cold had in terms of the pigeons' safety, but luckily she had not yet taken a swipe at them.
Aster spent the most time with Ombric, having been banned from the field work for another few weeks while his shoulder healed. He also hated the birds the most, finding them annoying and so very picky. North learned the best and fastest, absorbing everything as quickly as Ombric could spat it out. It was hard to know whether or not Sandy understood what he was supposed to do immediately, but every time he was asked to do something, he always did it right. It was assumed he did. Jack didn't learn everything as fast as had been expected of him, but he understood it rather quickly and could pick up on the tricks of the trade easily. Ana did the worst at it, simply because half her time was spent dragging Baby Tooth away from where they were working. Wind tried to get out of even having to touch the birds.
North and Ombric had gone out into the woods and found a spot they thought was suitable for building the base. As they had begun planning out a design, Ana had pointed out that the birds couldn't be kept close to the ground because of wild animals and couldn't be kept inside because they weren't going to have enough space. They were barely going to have room to sleep as it was. The decision to make something in the trees was quickly made and Ana and Sandy began working on that. Meanwhile, Jack would disappear for hours on end to map the forest so they could better decide how to use the pigeons to communicate.
It was decided that there would be multiple roosts around the forest. Different pigeons would be assigned to different roosts, and each day in the morning the pigeons would be moved to that particular roost. If there were an incident requiring someone to send a message, they would tie it on and then send the bird on its way. The bird would fly to the home base (yet to be built, which was causing a slight problem with teaching the pigeons where to go because they weren't entirely sure of the exact spot in the clearing they wanted the birds to fly to) and deliver the message. The message would be received and sent on its way to another source using a different bird.
Messenger pigeons usually only flew one route. More often than not, that route was to their home. Other times they would fly from one place to another to get from one place with food to another place with food. While it would have been simpler to have enough pigeons to be able to send one to each roost from each roost, there was no way they would be able to handle that many. As it was, they were only working with twelve at the moment. The roosts had already been designed and were being built by North and Ombric. Ana and Sandy had decided on where they should go.
The idea was a splendid one and the test trials worked excellently. The pigeons did exactly as they were told. And then Baby Tooth finally scored and ate one. And then a group of teenage boys playing around with one of their father's guns shot another while it was in flight. That left them with ten pigeons, much to Ombric's severe annoyance. Aster was ready to strangle the other ten from the mess they left all over the floor, the mess that he was forced to clean up because he had the most "free time", but efforts from the rest proved sufficient enough to prevent him from doing so.
Ombric was eager to see how well they would fare for doing what the group had in mind. Unfortunately, it was pointed out to him multiple times that they couldn't just go pick a fight because they needed to test the pigeons' abilities to work in a stressed environment. One of the best things about using the pigeons was that Pitch would never suspect it, but one of the worst things was that they would be easily picked off once he figured it out. The pigeons didn't exactly blend in during the winter time. For that reason, they were mostly just being used for training purposes at the moment.
The group had decided within the last few days to try to take any fights into the forest. They could make that home territory for them rather easily and it would prevent any random strangers from getting involved. The area was large enough that it would not be hard to get everyone from both sides in there and not have people running into each other left and right. It was a twenty-five by seventeen mile area. Mapping it was going to take a long time, but at least they would have a head start on Pitch. It was also an ideal location because it was right smack in the middle of everything that Pitch was doing.
Shortly after saving Pippa but losing the Hassens, Pitch had begun branching out. He was now haunting as many children as he could across Burgess, but also moving into Harrisville and Corta. If they had been able to find where Pitch's base was, they could have kept a closer eye on him and tried to follow his people to see where they would strike next. But then, if they knew where Pitch's base was, they could have just handed him over to Wind, who could have taken him straight to the police station. As it was, they had compiled a list using school records of how many students at the school had older siblings or relatives who had worked for Pitch before. So far, by using that list, they had actually caught Pitch or someone who worked for him in the act several times. That had been the most convenient method so far to get to him.
Jamie's story telling had been incredibly helpful towards motivating the kids about locking their doors. It had also pushed them into believing that the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, Sandman, and Jack Frost were all helping to keep them safe from the Boogeyman. Pippa had confirmed a sighting of the last one, saying she had seen his white hair when he and Santa Claus had been fighting Pitch over her house.
Keeping a close eye on Jamie and Pippa had been a crucial part of keeping their cover. They were going to be the closest to ever learning that their saviors were not actually the legends that they thought they were. In fact, the seeds of doubt were probably already planted in their minds. The storytelling was just for the kids. Jamie had a good imagination, but he wouldn't have ever taken it to that extent. It seemed like the rest of the kids who had been trapped under the snow that first time had already moved on, though. They remembered but weren't lingering on it as much. Something was definitely up with Jamie.
Ombric had been kept updated on everything that had happened since. He commented on the last bit. "What's the problem about a few kids knowing?" he asked.
Aster gave him a look. "The problem is that they're going to spread the word and this won't work anymore. It has to work."
"Why?"
"The alternate isn't something we're going to accept," Jack said firmly. Ombric smiled, satisfied with that answer.
-.-.-.-.-
February 4
Dr. Moon opened his door. It was late at night, almost to twelve. He had stopped by the warehouse to check up on the kids. Ombric was staying with them, simply because he was afraid of Baby Tooth eating anymore of pigeons. He had concluded that Aster's injury was entirely healed, which just meant they were switching one injury out for another. Jack had gotten a concussion when one Onyx had smacked him particularly hard over the head with a branch. The lack of coordination he had displayed lead him to being forced out of the field by everyone, since there was considerable worry he would fall off a roof.
Because he had gone straight to the warehouse after work, he had missed eating dinner. He dropped his backpack off in the hallway since he took it with him every day now. It had emergency medical supplies in it, now used almost weekly because of the injuries the kids would sustain. Usually it wasn't bad enough to take them out of the field, but there had been some infections and scrapes already. Ana had two cracked ribs from a solid hit Pitch had gotten in, but she had said it wasn't too bad and that she wouldn't do anything too strenuous in the field. Of course, the next day she had jumped from Wind's moving car to tackle two of Pitch's workers before they got to a child's house.
He flicked the light on, and then paused. Pitch was sitting at the kitchen table, a cup of tea in one hand. "You know, I scoured the list of employees at the hospital and found no 'Dr. Moon' listed in their records," Pitch mused, his tone surprisingly casual.
"Yet you found me."
"Thanks to a bit of stalking."
The doctor chuckled. " 'Dr. Moon' is a nickname my co-workers gave me in medical school."
"And it became so popular that your place of employment uses it in place of your actual name…which is what, anyway?"
"Yes, to be honest I'm not sure why they use it the way they do. My full name is Tsar Manfred Lunanoff."
Pitch quirked an eyebrow, incredulous. "Seriously?"
"Unfortunately."
"No wonder you go by a variety of nicknames. One of them is Manny, is it not? Given to you by your friends. You were 'the man' to go to for medical treatment."
"Is there something you want, Pitch?" He walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out leftovers from the night before, ignoring that he had a drug lord in his kitchen for the moment. It wasn't something to freak out over. "I'd like to go to sleep sometime soon, after I eat."
"You know it's not healthy to eat right before sleep," Pitch chided the doctor.
"It's also not healthy to skip meals." After removing the plastic covering, he put the plate in the microwave and turned it on. "I noticed you didn't break in through the front door, but do I have to replace a lock in the back? Or a window?"
"No, I got in through the garage door. It hadn't entirely closed." He gestured to another mug of coffee sitting across the table from him. "Have a seat. No need to make this conversation awkward."
"You broke into my home. It's plenty awkward already." He sat down anyway, accepting the mug. He glanced down, noticing that the warm temperature of a fresh cup had not yet faded. "I assume you had the kettle on and just poured the cups for dramatic effect right as I was walking in."
"Of course."
"Now, your point is…?"
Pitch sighed, shaking his head back and forth. "This is a bad business we've all gotten into. I didn't mean for you to be dragged into this. You saved my life, back when I had that lung infection. There are not many who could have done something, considering the state I was in. That's why I want you to stop helping them. This isn't a fairy tale like the kids are making it out to be. Jack and his friends are not going to survive if they keep this up."
The doctor shook his head. "You were in a tough spot then. These kids are in a tough spot now. I won't stop helping them. They need my help as much as you did. I'm sorry I couldn't do enough for you back then, but maybe I can do everything possible for these kids now."
Pitch frowned in confusion. "No, you've got it wrong, you did everything you could for me. That's why I'm still alive!"
The doctor sighed. "If I had, you wouldn't be doing what you're doing now. You'd be on your way to college in a few months, not hiding in town, selling drugs, and scaring kids. I regret not doing something sooner, but I didn't think it would get this bad."
Pitch snarled angrily. "This is what I was meant to do. Don't you see the potential? Guiding kids by fear instead of hopes and dreams? It's all the more painful when something goes wrong because they were expecting it to right. If they know what can go wrong and expect it to go wrong, they won't be upset if it fails. Imagine how happy they would be if it succeeded." He didn't look like he cared whether they were happy or not. "It's not right, the way they're teaching kids now. I mean to change that."
"Pitch…"
"No, don't give me that voice," he snapped. "I know it too well. I should give it up, I should do something different. I heard it from my teachers all the time. Well, you can guess whose kids are going to get scared as soon as I'm done bringing my team of associates back together."
"Why are you bringing your old friends back? Why not just use new ones?"
Pitch was shaking his head before he even finished. "The old ones are smart and I know they can do it. Why risk new ones? The old ones worked perfectly fine. They just need some new guidance. They listen to their teachers too much. They should learn to think for themselves."
"Or they should just let you think for them."
Pitch glared at him. "I'm warning you. Stop working with the kids. Better yet, get them to back off. There's no point in continuing to help them now. Get them to stop. You know they'll just be injured if they continue working like this. They've already suffered several injuries. I promise you, I will tell every man and woman who works for me that if they see any of them, they are to stop what they are doing and go out of the way to harm those five. I want them off the streets now."
Dr. Moon set his jaw. He ignored the microwave as it beeped at him. "Those kids are stronger than you give them credit for. They're going to give you a run for your money, and even if you ruin them, I think they'll still have something left to throw at you. They won't ever give up. You can't stop them. Maybe it's you who should think about an early retirement instead of them."
"I won't give in to someone such as them," he snapped. "Young and immature. Sandy's creative and headstrong. He can push them to get anything done that they need to do. But he can't get every idea across to them and he can't make them cooperate nearly as well as he wants to. Ana works to keep her family safe and will do anything to make sure they're alright. But she's just now settling in to the idea of who her new family is and she still has doubts. North is strong and a leader, but the plans don't come from him. He just implements them. Jack is practically a genius, but he's way too arrogant and brash to be anything more than unstable. Aster would be the perfect one to bond everybody together, but he's suffering from an emotional overload right now."
"They're just learning," Manny said. "It's only been a few months and they've matched you blow for blow."
"They're counterattacking," Pitch sneered. "They're never going to win if they're on the defense all the time. Haven't they learned that yet?"
Manny kept quiet about them laying out plans for an offense later, what with the intricate use of the forest. "If they're so good at the defense without even trying all that hard, it looks like they are going to have no trouble with offense once they set their minds to it."
Pitch slammed his cup down on the table. The tea sloshed over the edge and onto the table and his hand, but he paid it no heed. "It doesn't matter if they're going to get good at it in a few months," he seethed. "I'll make sure they can't do anything more within the next month. Let's see how that works out for them, huh?" He stood up abruptly, shoving his chair back. Without looking back, he stalked out of the room. The back door slammed shut a few seconds later.
Manny sighed and cleaned up the mess. He put both mugs in the sink, each nearly full. The food in the microwave turned out to be less than decent, not being a meal that one wanted to reheat. It tasted like how he felt, running a temperature to high to keep all of the tastes just the way they should be. It would take a while before it was at a temperature where it would be a good meal, but by then, he would have already eaten it.
-.-.-.-
Aster had the night off for once. There weren't many of Pitch's people out on the streets. It seemed like they were regrouping and coming up with new plans now on how to operate. Their methods had begun changing slightly over the last few days. If something happened, someone would come get him so he could help.
Jack was already asleep, wrapped in blankets and curled on one side. Aster settled down, all too happy to be able to go to sleep at a decent time for once. Their sleep schedules were non-existent at this point. It was a good thing they no longer had school to worry about because there was no way they would ever have been able to pay attention in class. At this rate, they were never going to be able to finish their schooling, but then, they were also going to be in jail or dead by thirty if things kept going the way they were headed.
The cold was still a problem, Aster noted as he wrapped himself up tighter in the blanket. The stupid pigeons got most of the heat, but he wasn't about to go lay anywhere near those blasted birds and their poop splatter. At least he didn't have to clean it up anymore. Jack was going to have to do that now. They were fluttering every few minutes, trying to keep warm and get in closer to each other.
He was nearly asleep when Jack started stirring. At first, he thought the other teenager was just trying to get comfortable. After five minutes of it, though, he began to suspect differently. "Jack, if ya don't shaddup, I'm goin' ta come over there an' it won't be pleasant."
Jack didn't respond, shifting once again.
Aster groaned and threw some of his blankets off, although he took one with him. He dropped down beside Jack and poked him in the arm. Jack probably didn't even feel it through the blankets so he shoved him lightly in the same place. Jack didn't react and Aster realized he was asleep. He sat down, realizing this was going to take a while. Jack slept like the dead. It was starting to get easier to wake him because they had all been getting up so often, but he had a concussion right now and was back to sleeping like normal. That was fine for him, but the person trying to wake him.
Jack jerked in his sleep, curling up slightly. Aster paused and frowned. He jerked again, folding in on himself further. After a few seconds, he straightened and kicked out. He made a soft sound, going perfectly still for a few moments. Then he threw off multiple blankets, trying to remove the weight. Aster half-heartedly batted some of the fabric away to help, still confused about what his friend was doing in his sleep.
He shook his arm again, but Jack jerked away and started curling up once more. With the blankets out of the way, he was in a tight ball within seconds. He didn't talk or whimper, just lay there in the cold. Aster grabbed some of the blankets, pulling them back over him. Jack tried to throw them off again, but Aster pushed his hands away and started tucking the corners around his friend to keep him warm.
Jack started to get his arms out from underneath the blankets, but Aster played the parental role and covered them back up. He waited until Jack had relaxed enough before trying to tuck the blankets in on that side. It would be much easier if Jack didn't go into a coma when he slept. He couldn't even wake him up in situations like this. Jack had only talked in his sleep once, but it had been a soft murmur and Aster had had no clue what had been said. This time, Jack was moving and talking.
He thrashed suddenly, throwing all the blankets in disarray and knocking Aster off balance. Aster scowled and sat up straight, reaching forward a second later and enveloping Jack in a hug. He had learned before that that was the fastest way to calm him down. Sure enough, the white headed teenager calmed almost immediately, breathing returning to normal and body relaxing.
Aster tried again, tapping his fist lightly against Jack's head. "Wake up," he said. Jack grunted. Aster did it again, just a little harder. "Now, or I'm giving you a second concussion."
Jack's eyes opened after the fifth try, looking up at him. "What?" he muttered. "Go to sleep."
"I can't 'cause you're tossin' an' turnin' all over the place. It's distractin'."
Jack groaned, closing his eyes in irritation. "I can't control what I do in my sleep!"
"Are ya havin' nightmares?"
Jack opened his eyes, staring at him seriously. "Why?"
Aster paused. "I am, too. An' Ana's not been sleepin' well either. North randomly shouts things in Russian all the time, but I'm not sure if that's 'cause he's at a party or what."
Jack stayed quiet for a moment before nodding. "Yeah. Yeah, I've having them almost every night now. I don't wake up unless someone dumps water over my head-" a reference to a gesture by Aster three days ago "-so I'm stuck. Why is my head on your lap?"
"I had to find some way ta wake ya up. Hugging still works."
Jack sighed, sitting up and rubbing his face with his hands. "We're a real mess, you know that? The two of us. Everyone else is, too, but we're…we're something else."
"Why does hugging work? I mean, when I did that before all this started, it was 'cause yer dad had just beaten the shit outta ya."
Jack blinked, the only sign that Aster's statement affected him. "I don't know."
"Really?" he said doubtfully.
Jack stared at him for a moment and then sighed. "No one but Emma ever hugged me before."
Aster paused. Not wanting to make a big deal about a piece of information Jack clearly hadn't even wanted to part with, he moved past it quickly. "I guess that makes sense. So I guess yer nightmares are about 'im, then?" he asked, referring to Jack's father.
Jack gave him a look. "I'm not scared of him, Aster. If you recall, I could beat him up in return pretty badly, too." Aster stared at him levelly. "Fine. I don't like not having any degree of control, and that's what it felt like. And I wonder if it's my fault that my family's messed up, 'cause we only had serious problems after I yelled at my father for alcoholism."
Aster frowned. "Hey, ya know that's not true."
"Is it?" Jack folded his arms. "You didn't really know us before. We hardly ever spoke to each other, but at least no one yelled at each other and there were never any blood stains on the walls and carpet." He started to stand up, but Aster grabbed his arm and forced him back down. Jack glanced at him but got a face full of blanket as it was thrown at him. He tugged it around himself and scowled at the ground.
Aster didn't say anything, content to simply sit with him.
-.-.-.-
LIST OF SYMBOLISM (Aster): Boomerang – erratic mood swings.
Fur patterns – burn scars.
No family – parents killed in car accident, brother in coma.
(Sandy): Corrupted Dreamsand – parents help Pitch.
(North): Swords – more likely to act first and ask questions later.
Elves – had ferrets at home.
Foster child.
(Ana): Guardian of Memories – creates family ties between them all.
Fairy army – rarely gets into fights, but if so, has others to help and never has to do it alone./Fairy army – aunt always cooked enough "for an army".
(Wind): Jack's guardian – made him get his act together when he was younger.
Transportation - gets them from place to place.
(Pitch): Possessed by fearlings – started acting creepy after he had infection in the lungs.