April 5

The base was only two rooms, as promised, and only had enough space in each for what was absolutely necessary. There was a door in each one leading outside, making it harder for them to be trapped inside if something happened. One room had space for all of them to sleep in and had cabinets overhead to store things in. The kitchen next door was similar, with water and food kept in compartments above and a fire pit in the center to cook over. There was a flap in the roof over the fire that could be raised to let smoke out.

It was very simple, but they moved in enthusiastically. North told them that the kitchen wasn't built as strongly on the sides because when, inevitably, they need to expand, that would be the side added on to. That way, any intruders would trip over the blankets in the bedroom first. Shortly after informing them of this, North went to sleep and hadn't woken up yet. He had gone without resting for a few days to complete the home and was now suffering for it. Sandy, too, was asleep. With a lack of things to do, Jack and Aster were in the bedroom as well while Ana got firewood. She wanted to try cooking a warm meal for once, something they hadn't had since their stay at Manny's house.

"Let's prepare for Easter a few months before next time, hm?" Jack said, tossing a marble across the floor. It hit the boundary between the bedroom and the kitchen and rebounded towards him. He picked it up. "That was a little too close for my taste."

"North should get started on Christmas, too," Aster commented, flipping a page in his book.

Jack glanced at the cover of it. "Where'd you get that from?"

"Manny's college chemistry book. I'm tryin' ta find a way ta throw somethin' ta distract Pitch's guys." He turned back a page, frowning momentarily before moving on. "It's gotta be somethin' I can use around kids wi' out them flippin' out 'cause it's violent."

"You know what you could use?" Jack said, tossing another marble. It bounced off the far kitchen wall but didn't have enough force to roll back to him. He looked annoyed but continued speaking. "Exploding eggs."

Aster scoffed. "That's ridiculous."

"So is running around the town at night pretending to be the Easter Bunny and you've already stopped questioning your sanity on that matter."

"Whatever, Frostbite." He glanced at North. "Still plannin' on usin' the staff?"

Jack nodded as he threw another marble. "I've got to use something and it fits my alter ego well enough. North and I still haven't found a way to make it work, though." His marble rolled to a stop by the other one in the middle of the kitchen. "I think there's a bump in the floor there," he muttered to himself.

"Sandy's getting good use outta the slung-shot."

"It's a little scary." He threw a marble sideways, hard. It bounced off two walls, going around the bump, before rolling to a stop beside Jack's hand.

"Scarin' Pitch's guys, too. Serves 'em right ta mess wi' the little guy." He turned a page. "Hey, do ya know anywhere in town that sells jawbreakers?"

"No, why?"

"Never mind, it's too hard ta time an' causes third degree burns."

Jack gave him a wary look. "Huh?"

"Nothin'."

"This I have to hear."

"Microwave a jawbreaker and the inside turns molten. Problem is, the outer shell becomes fragile and could explode at any moment. Too dangerous."

"Uh, yeah." He paused and then glanced at Aster. "So you are considering throwing something at someone."

"I just came across somethin' similar," Aster snapped in his defense to Jack's amusement. "Besides," he muttered, "there's nothing ta throw."

"Condiments," Jack said.

"I'm not throwin' condoms at people!" Aster said, appalled.

"Condiments," Jack emphasized. "Sugar, salt, pepper… You get that in your eyes or nose? Really painful. Just toss them in someone's face and they'll be out of the fight until they can see and stop sneezing."

Aster made a noncommittal grunt as the door opened and Ana stepped in. Jack made a warning sound as she crossed to the bedroom, and she poked her head out behind the stack of wood in confusion. Jack tossed two marbles, hitting the ones in the middle of the floor and knocking them away as Ana's foot came down right where they had been a moment ago.

Ana gave him a look, seeing the marbles roll away. "Jackson!" she scolded. "Don't throw those things around where someone's going to fall on them!" Jack tried to look less amused and more embarrassed, remembering that he and Aster had been talking about this exact predicament when they had found the marbles. Aster, for his part, slid down a bit and held his book up higher to hide his smirk. It was too late. "Don't encourage him!"

"I didn't!" he tried to protest.

"Oh, I'm sure!" She set her stack of wood down by the fire. "Someone's going to slip on those and not be able to walk for a while!." She dropped onto the blankets. Almost immediately she was back on her feet and in the kitchen, rooting around in the cabinets.

Aster sat up, snapping his book closed. Jack was rapidly throwing out marbles, ricocheting them off each other to return all of them to where he was sitting. "Jack, how many marbles d'ya have?"

He shrugged, collecting a few of them back into the pouch. "Fourteen, why?"

Aster frowned. "How far can ya accurately throw 'em out?"

"Never tested it. Again, why?"

"Could ya, say, throw em at someone's feet ta trip 'em up?"

Jack paused, seeing where Aster was going with this. "I've never tried it, but I'm sure I probably could." He bounced the pouch up and down in his hand. "But with only fourteen, I'd run out pretty fast."

Ana looked over from where she was taking food out of a cabinet. "What are you two going on about?"

"Tell ya later!" Aster said as he scrambled to his feet, patting Sandy's shoulder to wake him. Sandy blinked groggily even as Aster hauled him up, Jack already moving out the door. "C'mon, we've got an idea!"

-.-.-.-

North woke up a few hours later to the smell of a corn casserole. He let out a happy moan. "Warm food. Shostakovich, Ana, you have the wonderful talents."

She smiled. "We left a lot for you. The others are outside working on something and have only had a plateful. I had to deliver it to them because they didn't even hear me saying it was ready. They're working really hard on something."

North got up and walked over to the fire. "What is their project?"

"I'm not sure, I just it's turning the grass blue and involves a lot of ice."

-.-.-.-

"It works!" Jack crowed, blue hands raised to the sky.

Ana looked decidedly unimpressed, arms crossed over her chest. North was just confused. "I fail to see the success in this project," he said.

Aster and Sandy, both covered in the same blue concoction that was over Jack, were sprawled across the ground and unable to get up. Aster tried to get up into a sitting position, but his hand slipped out from under him and he crashed to the ground again. He made an annoyed sound. Sandy seemed to have given up on getting to his feet long ago.

"I am not suggestin' anythin' ta ya again," he muttered.

"It was an incredible idea!"

"It's never good when ya say that."

"I am still not sure what the purpose of this was," North said.

"Frostbite developed a useless talent at throwin' marbles around the floor," Aster said without even bothering to try and get up. "He's Jack Frost, so we made somethin' that he can use in place 'a ice."

North frowned. "I do not understand."

Jack reached into his pocket and held out three blue orbs, each about the size of a marble. "They don't hold a lot, but the outside bursts on impact and releases the mixture inside. It's extremely slippery. In fact, it's better than the average ice. As I said, it doesn't contain a lot, but anyone flailing around it tends to spread it around on their own." He beamed down at Sandy and Aster where they were sitting on the ground.

"Huh," North said.

"I hate you," Aster spat.

Jack smirked.

-.-.-.-

The next day, Aster took Jack up on his idea of filling eggs with condiments and throwing it at people. He tested it on Jack shortly afterwards. It took three hours to get all the pepper out of his hair and a little longer before he could see properly again.

-.-.-.-

April 7

Jack sat down on the rock, head resting on one hand. He had one leg curled beneath him. "So…" he said cheerfully, "want some help?"

The Nightmare growled, slipping and falling down again. "Frost, you better watch your back from now."

"But watching yours repeatedly hit the grass is so much more amusing!"

"You think I'm fooling around?"

"Well, you and your friend there are playing in the mud, so, yeah." Jack yawned, stretching his arms above him. "Anyway, I gotta get going. Good luck getting out of there!"

A snort came from beside him. "Nah, don't worry about it. North an' I got the rest 'a 'em." Aster dropped down to sit on the rock overlooking the pair squirming in Jack's improvised ice. "Wow, that's a mess."

Jack nodded in agreement. Then he paused and said, "Wait, you mean their situation. I thought you were just referring to them in general."

"You damn-!" The second Nightmare face planted, getting the blue goo all over their front.

Jack nodded slowly. "Right," he said skeptically. "I'm taking it you guys are going to tell Pitch to rethink his plans on ambushing us in our hideout, right? 'Cause you can't even find it without us getting the upper hand and dealing you guys a smack down." He tilted his head back and away so the Nightmares couldn't hear him or read his lips. "North set the trip wires, right?"

"Yeah, didn't ya know?" Aster muttered back. "Were ya payin' attention at all last night?" Jack shrugged sheepishly and Aster rolled his eyes. "Of course."

"So, nothing to do until tonight?"

"Not really."

"We're just going to watch them try getting out of this?"

"Really nothin' better occupyin' my attention."

"One of those days."

"Yeah."

They stared at the two Nightmares slipping around and cursing.

"This is actually pretty funny."

"Why do you think I'm still here?"

"Wow," Ana said dryly. They looked over at her where she was staring at the scene without amusement. "You guys really need to get a life." They both shrugged. She gestured with her hand. "Come on, North's got something interesting for us."

The Nightmares yelled after them as they slid off the rocks and walked away. The pair was ignored. They waited until they were out of sight and out of hearing before speaking. "Okay, so North has nothing for us. I wanted to say that Nightlight's back in town. He wanted to talk to us about the ravens."

"How much money does that guy have to be going back and forth between here and New York?" Jack grumbled.

"I said Nightlight's back in town, not Ombric."

"But Ombric owns the store Nightlight," Aster said in confusion.

"Yeah, but he isn't the only employee. I meant a representative was here. Her name's Katherine. She's his apprentice and is going to be in the area until things have settled down. Manny's housing her for now."

"She's already here?"

"Yeah, talking to North and Sandy. They got back from resetting the trip wires a half hour ago and she and Manny were waiting for them."

Aster glanced over at Jack. "Right, so how is it that ya didn't know 'bout the trip wires bein' alerted but knew about the Nightmares anyway?"

Jack shrugged. "One of the ravens started making a racket and I was on alert. How many others were trying to break through the barrier? Were they just all in one attack or just going through the forest for no reason?"

"Coordinated attack. Seems like Pitch got the impression our camp was in the forest since that's where Sandy lost the Nightmares while he was protecting Alice," Ana said swiftly. "North got the trip wires set up a few days ago and tested them, so we moved out immediately when the alarms went off."

"Ya shoulda been there. Worked like a charm," Aster said. "What were ya doin'?"

"Finding the best routes for us to lead kids through from the town," Jack replied. "Jamie wanted to know."

"I can't believe you thought it would be a good idea to use him." Ana scowled at Aster, who was well used to this argument by now and just sighed. Replying wasn't even worth it anymore.

"Well, because of Jamie, three of Pippa's friends did get to safety last week…" Jack said. Ana shot him a look and he held up his hands in surrender, falling silent despite his knowing smirk. She did, however, discontinue the conversation and they walked in silence the rest of the way to the place they had begun to call home.

Katherine was in her early twenties with mousy brown hair pulled over one hair in a ponytail. She was only slightly taller than Ana and just as lithe. At the moment, she was laughing with North and Sandy while the three waited for the rest to get back. The Russian got to his feet as soon as the door opened and gestured broadly behind him.

"We will be getting along well with Katherine!" he announced.

"Alright then," Jack said in a rather dismissive tone and flopped down on the blankets. "Okay, so you're our new bird whisperer?"

"I suppose," she replied. "You're Jack?"

"Yeah. That's Ana and Aster, but he goes by Cottontail."

"Shut up!" Aster glanced at Katherine. "I don't."

"He does."

"I don't."

"Really, call him that. He enjoys it."

"I really don't."

"He's just shy."

"Jack's just saying that because he secretly enjoys being called Frostbite because of his habit of getting dunked in freezing waters by annoyed associates."

"Ouch, that hurts."

"It certainly will in a few moments."

"I'll just call him by his name," Katherine said, bemused. She got to her feet. "Alright, I heard all the pigeons are gone but you found replacements? Untrained or…?"

"Trained by themselves, you could say," Ana said, leading everyone outside. "When the pigeons started dying off, Aster and I began leaving leftover food outside. A pair of ravens hadn't migrated for whatever reason and began eating the crumbs. They've taken it upon themselves to keep an eye out for us, considering we're their food source."

"Ravens? Smart breed."

"Evidently. They've warned us twice now when we were about to be attacked."

"You'll have to be careful using them," Katherine said as they started walking across the clearing to the edge of the trees. "They aren't nocturnal and most of your work happens during the night. At least, that's what I've been told."

"An' it's usually what happens, but really, we don't 'ave time ta stop in the middle of a fight ta write a note ta someone an' grab a bird to send it," Aster said. "If there's a problem right in front 'a us, we either 'ave ta deal wi' it ourselves or it doesn't get solved."

She frowned. "Then what's the point of employing birds at all?"

"Sometimes there's a more detailed problem we stumble across," Ana explained. "It doesn't happen often, maybe once every two weeks or so, but it happens. For instance, Sandy recently realized that kids of another town besides Burgess were under attack. He couldn't stop and tell the rest of us because he had to protect the kids and didn't know exactly where the rest of us were. Once in a while, we do need a way to contact each other."

They came to a stop right outside the trees. One of the ravens was sitting in an overhead branch. It tilted its head at them and clacked it beak, curious. Katherine put her hands on her hips and peered at it. "Female. A few years old. You're right, it definitely should have migrated. You think its mate is the other one?"

"Yes," North said. "We are not sure, however."

"Alright. They mate for life, so if there was a problem with either of them, they wouldn't have left."

"Is it possible to train them?" Ana asked.

"Build a nest better than their own and they'll all too happily adopt it as their own. Give them food and they'll remember to come here. Training them is possible, especially if they really like you. Have they picked favorites?"

Sandy pointed at Ana.

"You should all work with them, but keep in mind who they are most likely to work with the best. They look old enough to mate, so expect eggs to show up. It's usually between three and seven."

"How long should training take?" Aster asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know. Depends on them and depends on you."

-.-.-.-

April 10

Pitch sighed, lounging back with on the chair with one arm slumped over the back. He rolled his head to look around at Manny as he prepared leftovers from yesterday's dinner. "What's this about, doctor?"

"About the guns one of your allies was carrying," Manny said briskly, pushing a button the microwave. Katherine was staying at the cabin right now with the Guardians while the meeting was going on. Manny had taken the day off, knowing Pitch would stop by today. He always did on Friday nights, and Manny had decided he was going to be there where Pitch arrived.

The dark-haired man groaned. "Of course it's about that," he muttered. "I told you I was going to bring down your Guardians, didn't I? I wasn't lying or exaggerating." His gaze slid over to meet Manny's. "It's not too late to recall them, you know."

"Haven't you met them?" Manny said, leaning against the countertop. "There's no way I could get any of them to stop now, especially since you've begun flat-out attacking children and driving them from their homes. Don't think an escalation in violence is going to dissuade them. If anything, you're going to make them push back harder."

Pitch rolled his eyes at the ceiling. "Yes, I heard Sandy dropped in on Corta. Slowed a few attacks, but my…people won't be halted for long."

"Sandy's calling them Nightmares," Manny said helpfully.

Pitch looked thoughtful. "You know, I don't mind that term."

"Pitch, why can't you ask them to back off with weapons?" Manny said. "I know they might feel safer, but I promise, none of the Guardians are going to endanger the life of any of your Nightmares. They wouldn't do that."

"I know," the man said bluntly. "So do my Nightmares."

Manny gave him a look, already well aware he was not going to like where this conversation was going to go. "Then I see no problem in removing weapons from this conflict."

Pitch gave him a crooked smile and rested his forearms on the table. "We are teaching everyone that their nightmares are still something to be feared and to be taken seriously. Your reaction now just goes to prove that weapons are the best way to go about teaching you."

"Teaching us?"

"That's what fears are. Long ago, fear taught children that going outside after dark was dangerous. Now, kids disregard that fear and get lost. Fear of death made communities work together. Fear of predators lead to their hunt and kept them from attacking the villages."

"Disregarding fear is why Athens and Sparta rejected Darius the First's offer before his invasion and is why the Macedonians invaded Balkan peninsula even after the Persians had failed to take the Greek city-states."

"As you just stated, their disregard of fear of superior powers led to them falling under Macedon."

"But they didn't fall to Persia. Anyway, please give more modern day examples. We don't fear smallpox or possession from spirits anymore."

"No, we don't, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't still fear."

"Pitch," Manny said with an exasperated sigh, "there are so few things left for us to fear, I hardly see the point in going into this much effort to do something about how little people fear. I understand where you're coming from with this, but I don't think it's the right way to do it. For this age to prosper, people need to be more hopeful for the future and cower less when it comes to moving forward."

Pitch let out his own sigh. "You don't understand."

"I'm afraid I don't when it comes to your methods." He reached into a plastic bag and tossed a roll at Pitch. The teenager caught it and bit off the end. "I don't believe in evil versus good. I don't think you're doing this because you want to be a bad guy, and I'm proud you're so determined to do something. It's just the source of your focus that I'm disturbed by."

"I get that, yeah," Pitch said. "You're surprisingly undisturbed by the fact that your kids are going to get hurt if they don't get the hell out of my way, though."

"I'm trying to tell you that there's no way they're going to back off. Ana can't even get the boys to agree on what to eat for dinner, they're so stuck in their own plans sometimes." The microwave beeped, and Manny removed his food.

"I would use that against them except I already guessed that." Pitch leaned back again, laying one arm across his stomach as he thoughtfully chewed on another piece. "You're right in that we're all trying to do the right thing. Besides, chances are that one of my Nightmares is going to misuse a gun and it's going to hit someone they know. Statistics say so, anyway. I won't tell them to use no weapons, but they're not allowed to carry guns unless they're specifically going after your Guardians." He glanced at Manny over his roll. "Frankly, your people are good at what they do and I'm not sure my people can hold them off without good defense. And it scared your people off last time."

Manny's jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed at the last remark. Pitch tilted his head at him, face blank. He wasn't lying about what he was saying, not yet. Manny knew him well enough to be able to tell that. But he could also see the man slowly slipping, losing his grip on who he used to be as he was corrupted into something else, something darker. His decline was rapidly increasing.

"I wouldn't say it scared them off. In fact, if I recall correctly, Aster stormed your building last time on his own."

Pitch scoffed. "While North snuck around the back. It was North, wasn't it?"

"Don't use guns on them unless it's necessary."

"I'll decide when it is and when it isn't." Pitch finished off the roll. Manny pulled out silverware to eat his meal with. "Your Guardians need to start watching out."

"They've been watching out. It's their job."

"Watching out for themselves, not the kids. It's only heroic if they do it right. It's stupid if they die."

"They're not doing it for the heroics. They're doing it because they don't want the children to grow up in lives based off fear."

Pitch shrugged. "To be honest, that's not my problem. It's theirs. Now, is this all you wanted to talk about?"

"No. Why are you expanding into other towns?"

"Because other people agree with me," Pitch said easily. "They want to help. I'm not going to deny them that. I'll admit, the ones from out of town are a little more violent, but there's nothing I can do about that. I've told them not to hurt the kids, before you say anything. That's not the point. It's all about the mind, not about manhandling them into living the smart way."

"Don't expand farther than you already have," Manny said firmly.

"Oh? Or what?" Pitch looked at him rather dryly, as if amused Manny was trying to press this point.

The doctor was surprised they had gotten this far before Pitch had brought that look out. "Or the Guardians are not going to be as lenient as they have been. They're getting twitchy about how far your reach is extending and I'm not sure what they're going to do to stop you. It won't be pretty when it happens."

"Are you threatening me?"

"Yes," Manny said firmly before Pitch finished his sentence. The latter raised an eyebrow. "And I'll ask the Guardians to go through with it if you keep pushing your boundary. I don't want to get involved anymore than I have to, because I know I'm going to be patching up whoever gets hurt in this fight and that I'll be the one trying to keep you all from serving life sentences in jail if you're caught, but don't push this any farther than you can."

"What do you mean, 'farther than I can'?"

"You're not invincible and you don't have the full respect of everyone underneath you right now. You said for yourself that you couldn't vouch for how other kids were acting more violent than the local Nightmares are. They don't believe in your power enough to follow your every word. If you expand farther, you're going to begin to deal with people taking things farther than you want to take them, and there are going to be power struggles. It's what happens when gangs get larger. Someone will undoubtedly get hurt if it comes down to that, and that's not what I want to happen. You don't want people to get hurt either. You want to be a teacher."

Pitch frowned, pondering the statement. "…Alright," he said eventually. Manny tried not to make his relief obvious. "We won't expand, at least not for a long while. I'll admit, you're right in that I'm not sure how many I can control at my current power." He gave him a warning look. "However, I'm also not sure how long it will take for my power to get to a level where I can control another town."

Manny sighed. "But for now, you're not expanding."

"For now."

"I suppose that's going to have to be good enough."

"Is this lecture finally over with?" Pitch said with a groan, leaning his head back against the chair.

"Two more suggestions, and they're equally mutually beneficial."

Pitch looked doubtful. "Really?"

"Entirely. It seems to me that every once in a while, one side is going to take serious blows and need to recover. Obviously, the opposing side will be well within their rights to step in and try and take them out. However, there will be a few occasions where both sides are unable to continue for a short time and need to recover. It will be tempting for one side to step in and do something. In nuclear warfare, this is called MAD – mutually assured destruction. Both sides are going to need a way to be positive that the opposing side is not going to strike while both are down."

Pitch tapped his fingers against the table and hummed. "I agree that there is some truth to that. It might not be the case later on – if neither group is taken out, and both get significantly stronger – but your Guardians are just as unstable as my force is right now. What's your compromise?"

Manny shrugged. "It's just an idea. I was curious as to what you would think of it."

Pitch nodded easily, which was as enthusiastic as he ever got. "I think there are two options, and we can decide on which one to go with depending on the situation. The first option is that someone critical from each side is placed in your care, in your house, until the danger to both sides has passed. The other is that someone critical to each side is placed in the other's care. Hostages."

"I think the Guardians might be the slightest bit reluctant for the last one," Manny said dryly.

"I don't doubt it. Have you spoken to them about this?"

"No, and I won't until the situation arises. You may not have noticed, but they kind of hate you after you kidnapped Jack and almost got Sandy killed."

"Ah, sarcasm. It doesn't suit you very well. Now, are we agreed?"

"We can put either options into play should something devastate both sides." Pitch nodded. "I'll admit that it's nice to have that back up. Okay, you had another compromise about something?"

"Yes. Obviously, Easter was a big day for the Guardians. Christmas will be, too. On the other hand, Halloween used to have an entirely different meaning from what it now has. My second compromise is that you go easy on their holidays if they go easy on yours."

"You only gave me one."

"You could choose another. It was just the first one that came to mind."

Pitch shook his head. "No. Good in theory, but we're both going to fudge the border lines between going easy and not. Besides, that's one thing your Guardians are never going to agree to simply because it gives me a short advantage."

Manny smiled wryly. "I can already hear Aster yelling at me for suggesting it."

"Alright, I'm late to a conference." Pitch got to his feet and stretched. "I won't forget the first compromise option. I hope you don't either."

Manny nodded and watched as Pitch left the room. The back door closed behind him a few seconds later. The doctor sighed, sitting down across from the seat Pitch had just vacated. Sometimes, he wondered how he had gotten himself into this enormous mess. Other times, he was glad he had decided to.

-.-.-.-

May 7

North dropped down, scribbling a note out on his knee. He gave a sharp whistle, waved the note in the air even as he tied it to a branch, and dropped it on the ground. Behind him, he could hear several Nightmares rapidly approaching. There were three kids in the area and he was doing his best to lead the Nightmares astray. The trip wire had been snapped early in the morning, right as the Guardians had been leaving to make sure no child was sidetracked during the commute to school. It appeared that not only had one child been chased off, an entire bus stop full of kids had been driven away. The twins Claude and Caleb had been among the group and had run straight for the woods. The rest of the kids had followed them.

He heard a curse behind him as someone tripped. Not wanting to waste anymore time, North got to his feet and started running in a new direction. A straight path would be too easy to follow and the Guardians all knew the nearby forest well enough to confidently move in random paths through it and not get lost. A caw pierced the air and North shot a glance over his shoulder as one of the ravens dropped through the air. It beat its wings a few times and grabbed the branch before taking off again. He smiled slightly before picking up the pace. His message would get through.

About a hundred meters away, Aster was quickly diving between bushes, trees, and large rocks to avoid someone getting a good glimpse of him. He was leading the kids away from the Nightmares. The only problem was he had no idea where the Nightmares were. North was diverting them and Jack was supposedly following Aster, keeping an eye out for anyone who was getting too close to Aster's group of tagalongs. Right now, he just had to put his faith in those two. Sandy and Ana were both still on patrol, making sure no other bus stops were being attacked. Katherine was at the cabin.

One of the ravens flew through the air above him. Aster grinned, knowing it was a letter from North. It didn't have much on it besides saying where he was, but they had agreed to only send letters if they weren't in trouble. The Nightmares couldn't be close if North had dared to send a raven.

A loud bang cut through the air and the raven dropped.

The raven recovered, beating its wings quickly. It appeared to have just been stunned by the loud sound and not injured. Another loud sound erupted from the direction the raven had come from and the bird picked up its pace. A Nightmare had evidently found out what the raven's purpose was. A third shot hit the branch and it tumbled from the raven's grip.

Aster crouched in a bush, waiting as the seven kids ran past, all excitedly pointing in different directions as they debated on where he had gone. Jack followed a discrete distance behind, only keeping an eye out and keeping out of sight. When he was closer than the kids, Aster stuck an arm out of the bush and waved him over.

Jack dropped down beside him. "You saw it?"

"Yeah." Aster climbed out of the bush. "Keep the kids distracted an' try an' get 'em ta school. I'll go take care of whoever's tryin' ta take out our bird."

"Got it. Don't end up shot. Really bad way to start off the week." Jack ran off after the kids, skirting around them to overtake the front. Aster turned away, heading back towards the bird. The time had long since passed when he would have been worried about leaving seven kids in the safety of anyone's sole hands. Luckily, all five of the renegade teenagers could work on their own now with some level of confidence.

Aster used glimpses of the raven he caught through the trees to follow its path. It had slowed drastically, practically skimming the treetops as it tried to avoid the gunshots. Aster stayed behind it, keeping an eye out for whoever was firing at it. They hadn't taken another shot in the last few minutes, probably trying to figure out how to reload on the run or something. Aster didn't really care, he just knew that it was making it harder to find the Nightmare.

A shriek pierced the air as a new figure flew out of the trees, claws raking for the raven. Aster stared in surprise for a moment as the large owl tried to make another grab for the raven. Where had that come from?

He whistled, getting the raven's attention. It flipped over onto its back and pulled its wings in tight, dodging one of the owl's attacks and dropping through the trees. The owl followed as the raven frantically hurried towards Aster. Man, that owl looked like it was having a rough day.

Well, it was about to get worse.

The raven flew behind him, wisely putting the Australian between it and the owl. Aster grabbed a branch off the ground and proceeded to swing it at the owl. Birds of prey are not used to being threatened with large objects. The owl shrieked at him, trying to dive forward and claw his face. Aster brought his hands up in front of his face and felt the talons pierce his arms. He grunted and struck out, getting a solid punch in. The owl recoiled in surprise. Aster eyed it as it went higher into the air, into a position that looked suspiciously like the beginnings of a dive.

He guessed at his chances for being able to hold and get coordination with the branch again after having his arms raked up. They weren't too good.

Running was always a good option.

Aster turned and bolted, wondering when the obscure idea of doing things like sprinting away from mad owls had become a regular thing for him. The raven ahead of him had caught on and was keeping pace, staying a few yards in front but close enough to keep an eye on him. He wasn't sure if it thought he was protecting it or if it was interested in his well being. Either way, it made his job easier. He followed the black winged bird as it moved through the trees, twisting through the air whenever the owl picked up its pace and made an attack at it.

They broke through the trees, stumbling out into someone's back yard. Aster hadn't exactly wanted to leave the forest, but there were more small alcoves in the neighborhood for the raven to hide in. He would make sure the bird was alright before getting back into the safety of the trees. The owl didn't feel the same way, diving towards the raven immediately. The raven twisted in the air, avoiding the larger avian creature.

Aster tried to follow, but his foot kicked something and he stumbled. With a scowl, he glanced back at what it was. He'd hit a Frisbee, left outside by careless kids. A shriek from the owl caught his attention as it nearly caught the raven. They were too high up for him to do much of anything. Aster looked back at the Frisbee. Coincidences were so convenient.

The Frisbee struck the owl as it made another dive for the raven. It beat its wings heavily a few times, stunned. Aster picked up the plastic disc and hurled it into the air again. The owl shrieked at him even as the raven disappeared from view. Aster smirked, backing up towards the trees. He threw the Frisbee again, hitting the owl solidly in its wing. The bird dropped out of the sky, landing in the middle of the lawn. Aster left it and the Frisbee there. The raven could find its way back on its own and the owl wasn't going to be a problem for a while.

He would have invested in a Frisbee later, except it was pretty inconvenient. He'd have to run and get it every time he wanted to use it again. No, what he needed was something that would come back to him, like…

Like a boomerang.

Nah, that was ridiculous.

-.-.-.-

a/n: Katherine is from the original book series. She lived with Ombric.