There's Ice in His Veins (A Jack Frost Fanfic)

Chapter 3: Neomenia

"Shoot for the moon; if you miss you will still be among the stars." -Les Brown

***

"Wait." I stop Jagalan before we can enter town, a sudden, bubbling anxiety rising inside me.

"What's wrong?" she asks.

"The night I...y'know..." She nods, knowing what I wanted to say. "The man said that I look funny because of my hair and clothes."

Jagalan considers this. "I guess it is a little bizarre, but who cares if people stare?"

"What if they think I'm a witch?" I ask, dropping my voice.

"Witches are usually females, Jack," she says with a slight giggle. "And no one can see you."

"That man could. I think we should wait until nightfall, just to be safe."

Jagalan shrugs. "Whatever makes you feel better."

***

The librarian locks the door agonizingly slow, her arthritic hands causing the delay. Jagalan and I crouch behind a wagon of hay, impatiently waiting until she's hobbled out of sight.

"Finally," Jagalan says as we quietly approach the door. "Can we pick the lock or should we go through a window?"

The library is on the smaller size, a circular brick building with double oak doors and windows. The roof is pointed and slightly curved inwards, reminding me of a run-down circus building. It's taller than most of the other structures though, which means high windows.

"The windows are too high," I say. "Unless I lift you into one, then you can unlock the door from the other side. Let's do that."

"I dunno, Jack, I'm not as light as I-" To prove her wrong, I pick her up behind her knees and swing her over my shoulder with ease. "Okay, okay," she says, trying to silence her exasperated laughs so no one would hear us. "Put me down!"

I do so, and she pushes me playfully. I blow on my empty hands and cast mist towards her, the cold making it freeze in her hair.

"C'mon, Jack, icicles are so last winter." I laugh, and for a moment I'm back to normal. I never fell through the ice and never had this curse inflicted upon me, and I'm being flirty with a girl I like, but then I regain seriousness too rapidly. All of that did happen. Jagalan isn't just some girl I can play with; she's my only hope to figuring this out. We have a job to do and only so many hours of night.

I make a step for her by interlocking my fingers and hoist her up. She flies like a snow angel and catches the window ledge, pushing herself up and slipping inside, quiet as a snowflake.

I stand by the door and hear the soft unclicking and the eerie creaking of the door as it opens. Jagalan is already ahead of me, scouring shelves.

I close the door behind me a little too loud. "We'll have to take the books; we don't have time to read them here."

Jagalan nods. "I agree. We definitely need this one." She hands me a skinny fabric-covered book, and then a heavy leather-bound, a pocket-sized one with a clasp, and finally a sheet with the moon cycles on it.

"I thought you had the moon cycles on your papers?" I say, noticing her lack of rolls.

"I left my parchment in a tree nearby before we left. I didn't think they'd be useful for our situation," she explains.

I look around the inside as she searches for more. The shelves reach almost to the top, each crammed with too many books. A long, polished wooden desk stretches almost the whole length of the place, and papers overwhelm it. On the small space between the ceiling and the top of the shelf are statuettes of bats, some hanging upside down and others right side up.

"That's creepy," I mutter.

"I think that's all we can carry," Jagalan says. "These others are rubbish anyways." She puts the books in her shoulder bag and folds the sheet into four to fit it. "Let's go."

We head for the door. A screech sounds, and we freeze.

"Probably from outside," I say, not entirely confident. Jagalan nods, but I see the hesitation in her face, too.

The screech sounds again. I feel my face whiten and see that Jagalan's has as well.

"Those aren't statues," I whisper. She shakes her head. "Just be quiet and continue."

As invisibly as we can we go for the door again. Jagalan's boots makes the smallest clicking sound, and I worry, but it's not until she knocks over a small stack of books that everything goes downhill.

She curses, at the pain in her foot or the fact that she screwed us over I don't know, but it was probably both. The bats swoop down from their shelves in a frenzy, shrieking and flying fast towards us.

We run for the door, and the bats are so close, I can feel the air they emanate from beating their wings. Jagalan screams as they tangle in her hair, and I feel their claws on my neck and head, digging deep.

My eyes go out of focus and I stop running to hold onto the wall for support. My legs have gone weak and my arms feel like jelly. The bats persist, and soon I can't hear Jagalan at all, only my own blood pounding in my head.

Suddenly I'm fine and I freeze the bats where they float or stand, paralyzing them with a single point of my finger. I feel powerful; nothing can stop me. Soon, all the bats around me are on the ground, their little hearts covered in ice.

"Jack!" I hear, and whirl around to see Jagalan run out the door. I follow her and shut it quickly behind me, enclosing the creatures for good.

I slide down the door and feel lightheaded and out of breath. I see black dots and a hurricane of pain makes me groan. Someone shakes my shoulder, and I jerk up, no longer feeling deadly or dangerous.

"Are you okay?" Jagalan asks softly, her eyes shining. Her breath comes out in clouds from the cold and she's so close...

"I'm fine." I stand and I really do feel fine besides the burning in my eyes.

"Jack..." I wait for an explanation as to why she said my name so warily, and to provide she shows me another black strand of hair.

I move her hand away and run my own hands through my hair, frustrated. "Maybe you shouldn't be on this adventure with me."

"I'm not going anywhere." The set in stoniness of her tone makes me nod and question why I even said that.

"I just don't want to hurt you."

"Don't worry about that. Let's find a place to stay tonight."

We settle for a local inn, promising to be gone by morning.

"Are you cold?" I ask as I try to fall asleep.

"Not really."

"Good," I answer. "I wouldn't be able to help if you were."