Jack, not Jackson

Chapter 59: Wolf In the Woods

Jack Frost's POV:
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I was in a ravine. I had fled  there from who-knows-how many miles away. It shouldn't matter. After all, those I had been fighting against were dead. Right alongside those I'd been fighting for.

It was the dead of winter and both sides of this war were half starved. Everyone had long forgotten what the fighting had started for, they fought over food now. Fought for survival. I couldn't die of starvation so I wasn't going as insane with hunger as the others. I was just weary.

Weary of fighting. Weary of living and weary of dying. But, I didn't want to be roasted over the pit for lunch either. Which was definitely a possibility when they realized i had more muscle on my bones then the rest of them. 

I was about to leave, but the night before my escape we ran into another unit from the other side of the war.
They'd all killed each other over an elk they couldn't catch anyway. I buried them. And left.

That had been some weeks ago. Now. I was trekking through the dense forest and humming camp half blood campfire songs to myself to distract from the eternity I'd never quite gotten used to.

It always seemed more obvious when I was alone but I shook off my internal thoughts. I couldn't afford to lose track of time out here. I might never come back out. A little voice bagged me. "Would that be so bad." But o shook that off too.
I needed to focus.

Something had been tracking me for the last six days. I was always aware of it, like a wisp of smoke or ghost in the corner of my consciousness. I'd stopped trying to use logic on my senses long ago. At this point, I just trusted them.

Today felt different through, like a breath being held or a heart skipping a beat. So I sat in a clearing and waited. Either my ghost would approach or it would leave for good.

She approached.
A massive white wolf standing taller then a horse, her eyes swirling like a snow storm. When she spoke, She spoke in my head.

I heard the low rasp of warning in her wolffish tone. One false move or word and I would probably be leaving this conversation with one less hand.

"Who. Are.You."
I blinked, but said nothing. Half truths wouldn't fool this wolf, but I wasn't sure how much of the truth I could tell.

"I am called Jack Frost"
She blinked and lowered her head to my level. In seconds she had crossed the clearing and was only inches from my face.
"But that is not your name."

I kept my eyes locked with hers and my head lowered as I answered in the only truth I knew.
"Names do not encompass what, or who I am. What would my name mean to you if I gave it?"

The White Wolf raised her head, a tilt of her head told me she was reconsidering me.
"True. But I sense the truth in you boy. You call yourself Frost, and I can smell it on your skin. You are as wild as I am..aren't you?"

It was my turn to size her up. Not literally mind you, she's at least nine feet tall and I am 5'11. but I did take her in again, the way the snow floats around her, the way her breath doesn't create a cloud, the way her massive paws leave no prints in the snow.

My mind told me what I was seeing, even if I didn't know it's truth yet. "She's not walking on the snow, crushing it down like normal animals. She's being supported by it."

"Yes. " I considered her question.
"I think I am."
As I say the words, I realize just how much hope they hold and mentally scold myself. "You are alone Jackson, when are you going to learn that?"
But I can't help it.

This creature had seemed to be part of the snow as she had tracked me, there but not, always in the corner of my mind. Was it possible there were others like me?

She stepped sideways and glanced at me as she turned.
"Will you come then? I think we have secrets for each other."

I rise from my place on the rock.
"Yes. I think we do."
She looked at me as I came to stand beside her and I could almost swear she was smiling.

The look of pure mischief was one I'd seen in reflections so often I nearly laughed at seeing it on another creature for the first time.

"Well, let's see if you can keep up then."
And with that, she disappeared in a giant cloud of whirling snow, blasting into the trees. Before I could blink away the stray snowflakes I was after her, silently asking the wind to take me.

———
Time passing.

We became each other's allies quickly. She took me to her pack and they explained what they were, The Unbound, an animal born of an element, There were Unbound of each element but her kind, Snow Elements, had the shortest lifespans. She was only three seasons old, but she was the oldest of her pack. The only one to have made it through three summers.

Unbound creatures could live as long as they always kept some form of contact with their element. I was Frost, and I became her element.

The rest of her pack tried to convince her it wouldn't work. That I was just a trick. They tried to get to the mountain before summer, but they wouldn't let me near, wouldn't let me help. They didn't make it.

Soon I came to trust White Wolf. She was alone like me and she trusted me with her life.
I trusted her with everything, even the secret of my curse. She became my outlet. The only one I set the mask down for. I became her home. The one thing that would ensure she would never have to fear summer.

Together we watched the world change. Seasons passed quickly but they never touched us. She lived longer then any others from her element, who usually faded with the spring if they didn't move to a place with snow.

We'd fought for each other. Earning each other's loyalty time and time again. We would have died for each other. I just never though we would have to.

And now, I had to say goodbye to my one constant. To the Frost Wolf that had made her home in my soul. In more ways then one.