“What took
you so long?” Kuma’s voice dragged her from the painless black, back to discomforting
levels of consciousness. Her chest hurt, two bands of burning lacerations
crossed her sore throat, her head throbbed and her stomach felt like she had
been stabbed.
“Jakul
wouldn’t let me leave.” Twilight recognised the second voice. The young male
speaker sounded bitter and angry, his tone had a sharp edge to it that normally
came with the storms of Winter, rather than the first snowfall. “I headed
straight here the moment I could get away from his watchdogs.”
He would be
in trouble for that, but the slowly waking mortal did not care. He was here and
that was all that mattered. Silence fell when she let out a soft whimper, then
someone grasped her hand. She knew who it was instantly. There was only one
person in the room who was naturally as cold as ice.
“J...Jack.”
Twilight opened her eyes slowly, trying not to be disconcerted at the way her
voice cracked. She had to blink twice before her vision really cleared, but she
smiled as she saw the teen next to her bed.
“It’s okay
Twi, I’m here.” The sixteen, possibly eighteen year old male, with his spikey
white hair, icy blue eyes, looked worried as he squeezed her hand. She was not
really paying attention, her mind drifting slightly. Instead she was taking in
sight of her friend, with his deep blue ornamental tunic and white shorts, both
of which had silver snowflakes stitched in.
“You lost
your cloak.” Twilight mumbled, closing her eyes against the glare of the
hospital lights against the plain white walls.
Jack Frost chuckled,
his voice losing some of its edge in his relief, “Yeah, it was slowing me down.
How are you feeling?”
“Hurts.” She
admitted, opening her eyes again and grasping his arm, trying to make him
understand the importance of her next statement, “Jack...he has a kid.”
“Three.” Kuma
corrected with a low rumbling growl, limping slightly as she moved towards the
bed, “Including my girl.”
Jack’s eyes
widened as he glanced over at the feline. Twilight’s neighbours, the Jacksons,
weren’t a completely English family. The wife, Nariko Jackson, had moved here
from Japan to be with her husband and had brought her cat, Kuma, with her. The
nekomata had not enjoyed the six months of quarantine but she had taken to her
new home swiftly and was fiercely protective of her family.
For this
creature to be able to snatch little Hikaru spoke of something cunning and
powerful.
“It’s
strong, Frost.” Kuma snarled out, pacing the room as Jack helped his friend sit
up. Twilight could not help but lean into his touch when his ice cold hands
seemed to soothe the aches and pains. “Stupidly strong and like no bogeyman
I’ve ever seen and I’ve helped her with more than a few.”
“Wasn’t just
a bogeyman.” The student mumbled out as Jack let her lean against him, the cool
air surrounding him helping, “Accused him of being a bogeyman, earned this.”
Her hand went to her throat and brushed the bandages wrapped carefully around
it. “Said his name was Bloody Bones.” Both Jack and Kuma went still, so still
in fact that they could have been statues. “You both know him.”
“Know of
him.” Jack replied uneasily, “One of the former Kings of the Dark Compass, the
ex-Lord of Fear. Got toppled by Choronzon long before I came to be.” He trailed
off, “Everyone thought he had Faded. Passed on out of shame and embarrassment.
Are you sure that it’s him?”
Twilight’s
description caused her friend to move back and start pacing. “Sounds like him.”
Jack admitted, “Though I can’t know for sure. If it is him, I don’t want you
anywhere near him.” Jack stared at his friend, a determined look on his
features, “Not when he wants you dead.”
“Trust me,
Jack.” The librarian reassured him, “I have no intention of going up against
him again.” At least not unarmed. As long as he had the children, she had every
intention of trying to help her friend, but right now there was nothing she
could do except rest up and recover her strength. “Is there anything else that
you can tell me? Or should I dig out grandma’s old journals? Bones said that he
was here before, he might have taken over his old grotto.”
“Or there
might be a pattern she noticed that we haven’t yet.” Kuma grumbled. Twilight
had the odd thought that if she had been in her feline form, either of them,
Kuma’s tail would have been twitching like mad. “Those journals could be life
or death for those kids.”
“I’ll get
them out the moment they let me out of here.” Twilight promised, crossing her
heart, “Is Nowell coming?” she turned to Jack, hoping that Nicholas Nowell, the
Protector of Winter, was coming to help and becoming concerned when the Winter
sprite shook his head. “But...”
“Nowell
doesn’t know how bad it is and he trusted me to be able to deal. He can’t leave
Handover right now. We’re about two days from the main event, once that’s over
he’ll be here as soon as he can.” Jack huffed, still stalking up and down the
room, running the risk of wearing a groove in the floor.
“Technically
you’re both out of your jurisdiction.” Kuma pointed out, “This is Queen April
and Elena’s Season.”
“They don’t
care.” Twilight commented bitterly, hands balling into fists, scrunching up the
bed linen as they went, “They can’t and neither can any other Spring
Courtiers.”
“What do you
mean?” Kuma frowned, “It’s their job...”
“Twlight’s
right.” Jack shook his head, “Even during Handover the Wrath still happens. The
nearest Crystal immortal, and it would have been a Spring considering
Handover’s in less than forty-eight hours, no matter how far away they are,
should have been hit with the power of the Spring floods and the knowledge of
what happened here. April should have been made aware too. For them to ignore
this completely...” He had no words. At least no words he was willing to repeat
around his mortal friend.
“So we’re on
our own.” Kuma hissed, irritated, “Against a former King of the Dark Compass?”
There was
silence for a few moments then Twilight spoke up. “We have to act though. We
can’t just let Bones get away with this. He’s hurting children. Innocents. Just
because the Compass refuses to act, doesn’t mean I will.”
“And what
are you going to do, exactly?” Kuma demanded, stalking towards the bed and
snarling in her face, “Bones nearly gutted you like a fish. If I hadn’t been
around, you would be dead and Jack wouldn’t have the slightest clue what’s been
happening around here.”
“I’ll do
whatever I have to.” Twilight glowered back, well aware Kuma would not harm her
and that the nekomata respected determination and bloody mindedness above
almost everything else. “Just like you will to get Hikaru back.”
Kuma hissed,
irritated but backed off, taking the form of a fat domestic house cat, the form
she had lived in before her change, and leaping up onto the windowsill.
“Kuma wait,”
Twilight called, going to get out of bed only to hiss in pain and pull back,
clutching her stomach, “The fae said there’s something that gives off an aura
of fear in their woods.”
“I’ll check
it out and be back by nightfall.” She spat out and leapt out of the window.
Twilight would have been more concerned, but she had no idea what storey room
she was in and she had seen the cat demon fall several floors without injury
before.
“You really
think those journals will help?” Jack asked, watching her with a worried and
contemplative look.
“Well...yes
and no.” Twilight sighed, “I’m almost certain he’s hiding out in the woods. I’m
pretty sure he’s evicted some of the fae from their... don’t look like that...”
She sighed when Jack grimaced. “Not all of them are trouble makers.”
“Are they
still getting people lost?” Jack pointed out.
“That
doesn’t mean they should get kicked out of their home.” Twilight huffed at him,
“They won’t let me through to find out though.” She paused, considered herself
and let out a self depreciating chuckle, “Guess I know why now.”
Jack started
to say something, only to cut off when the nurse entered the room, looking
shocked when she saw Twilight had woken up. Jack stayed silent as the nurse
bustled about, then warned her that the police had been asking about her and
that she would be sending the Doctor in shortly and left.
“I’m going
to try and catch up with Kuma and check out the forest.” Jack told her, “Are
you going to be alright on your own?”
“Don’t worry
about me.” The librarian nodded, “Just be careful. I know you’re impossible to
kill but...”
“I’ll be fine,
just focus on getting better.” Jack replied with a careless shrug, “The fae in
the forest might not even let me through.”
“If you’re
polite to them they should, bring a gift maybe.” Twilight offered, thinking
about what she knew of the forest dwellers. “The dryads respect those that
respect their forest and their trees, and the Fairies are mischief makers, like
you. They give as good as they get, so if you don’t treat them badly, they’ll
probably leave you alone.”
“Tha...”
Jack huffed as the door opened again and the Doctor entered the room, followed
by the Detective.
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