Frosted (Frosted #1 | Jackunzel)

{ Chapter Thirteen }

A harsh wind that hadn't been present before howled as Jack lunged for the shadow—and twisted to face the opposite end of the room at the very last second, sending a blast of ice into a neighing night mare. It whined before him, just as it disintegrated into a sea of blackened dreamsand.

Behind him, the bait that had been but a shadow of the boogeyman was no more.

You know my tricks all too well, Pitch Black's voice dissolved into a whisper that bounced from one wall to the other.

"Come out!" Jack hissed to nowhere in particular. "Face me, you coward!"

Shadows curled in answer, slowly taking the shape of something long, pointed, and lethal. Before the makeshift arrow could pierce Liesa's heart, Jack knocked it away with a sharp gust of wind.

Rapunzel ran toward the couple before Jack could even think to stop her. "Are you okay?" She asked them.

The couple did not answer, though their eyes had shifted into rounded moons of fear. They didn't spare Jack a glance as he approached them.

This being invisible thing was really going to be a hassle right now.

Under the neck of his sweater, Jack felt Baby Tooth's wings flutter. He pressed a gentle hand against her body before she could fly free. "Shh!" He hissed quietly, trying his best to make it look as if he wasn't talking to his sweater. "Give me a second to think..."

But it seemed that Pitch had no leniency for desperate, last minute plannings. From their right, near a heavily curtained window, his form finally materialized out from the darkness, alongside what Jack recognized as his favourite black mare. Another, much lazier arrow sailed toward the group; Jack deflected it with ease.

"Quite a frightful night for a visit, wouldn't you say?" Pitch's voice was like a slick stream of water as he stalked forward, hands loosely clasped behind his back. The glint of having successfully caught them off guard shone brightly in his golden eyes. They scanned the group swiftly before at last landing on Jack.

"My little creatures told me your friend got clumsy the other evening and lost her gift from the moon."

Katherine's voice came ringing in his ears, and a cold rage filled Jack's heart. I could smell their presence all over the place. Without her book, Katherine wouldn't be able to sketch down present history. She wouldn't be able to change the future with her relived pasts. He thought back to the day Twinetender had split in two. He'd felt emptier during those moments than he'd ever felt before.

"This isn't any of her business," Jack hissed, fingers curling. "Give it back."

A sly smirk slid over Pitch's lips. "Oh," he mussed. "You mean this old thing?" And, surely, when he pulled a hand out from behind his back, a familiar, leather-bound sketchbook lay inside of it.

"Jack?" Rapunzel's voice came weakly, only a step behind him.

But Pitch was waving the sketchbook in the air in a taunting sort of way. "If you say so," was all he said before the mare clamped sandy teeth around it.

"Jack." The word was a warning, now. "Don't!"

But before he could even think to decide, the mare reared for the outside. A cold laughter echoed through his bones, met with a yanking ache slowly growing within the depths of his chest. A physical pain pulling and pulling him away from the warm home he'd been standing in. The same pain he'd felt only days prior, forcing him out of the tower that had been Rapunzel's prison.

He hadn't noticed it before now, too distracted by Pitch's incessant presence.

It was only then, as he was forced into taking one of the two options offered up, that Jack knew Pitch had no true intentions of fighting him tonight. No, he'd spared him enough attention three decades ago in his attempts to turn him over to his side. Now his sights were on someone else. Someone new.

Someone with magic, golden hair.

But, unlike Jack, Rapunzel's heart radiated with pure good. It was evident from a mile away, and then some. Pitch couldn't have picked a worse victim.

From the corner of his eyes, Jack could see the shadows curl in anticipation. He pushed against the yanking in his chest, the nausea now roiling deep in the pits of his stomach, the cold sweat beginning to bead at his brow, but it felt like he would be ripped apart. Torn into a thousand useless pieces.

Eventually, he gave in to the release of the pull.

The house was a blur as he tore outside it, as he ignored the girlish voice calling out to him from somewhere behind. His head was pulsing hard and loud as he ran, just about to tear into the air—when he saw a glimpse of velvety red fabric flash across the neighbouring yard, matched with a head of curled black hair. His intentions were fully set on getting as far away as humanoidly possible, but the parlous tugging at his sweater wanted something else entirely.

Jack could have easily overpowered Baby Tooth's yanking, and yet he couldn't bare to do it, even through the dizzying pain building up inside of him again. Still too close. He was still too close, and the only relief seemed to be away. Yet... He had no desire to make the fairy feel as tiny as she was. If she was attempting to get his attention this badly through a moment like this, whatever she had to say was urgent in itself.

Jack let go of the wind milliseconds before it carried him away. Baby Tooth pointed to the yard, right where he'd seen the flash of red and black. She must have seen the indecision in his face, because she shook her colourful head and tugged once more at his sweater. Come, she said silently. Come see.

Can this wait five minutes? He wanted to ask. But given he already knew the answer to that question, he saved his precious breath and did as he was told.

Baby Tooth led him fast through the yard, somewhere alongside the stone wall of the house. Book. Rapunzel. Pitch. The pressure against his chest made it hard to breathe. Hard to do anything, never mind focus.

"Ah!" He groaned, loosing sight of Baby Tooth. When he glanced down, he saw her pulling at the wooden doors of a cellar. Though bushes nearly completely devoured it into non-existence, the branches were bent and broken as if someone had indeed been putting it to some use.

Jack yanked the doors open—

Just as the pressure pulled him hard into the dark abyss beyond.

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Oh, maaaan, was this EVER hard to edit lol. But I finally made it through it, woohoo! Hope you're doing well!

*Edited, (December 28th, 2020).