Chapter Text
Jamie sat cross-legged near the cliff, staring gloomily into the forest.
The twins had decided to leave, because they were bored, because Astrid had snatched Jack, because the twins had decided to take matters into their own hands, and then they didn’t even have the decency to go after Astrid. They’d tried, they said, but Stormfly was a lot faster than Barf and Belch. When Jamie accused them of being intimidated by Astrid, Ruffnut had refused, and Tuffnut had started to admit that he was, before Ruffnut had elbowed him into shutting up.
And so, they’d run off.
On the other hand, Jamie couldn’t deny seeing that scene unfold in the sky had been pretty hilarious. It made him feel a little guilty, but he was sure Jack would’ve been losing his mind with laughter, had he been in Jamie’s shoes.
But now it was getting dark, and Jack still hadn’t come back. Jamie was beginning to worry. He doubted Astrid would keep him this long, especially since she’d been with them during the wild boar incident. There was a chance she thought the twins were looking after Jamie, but Jamie quickly shoved that possibility aside; Astrid would never trust the twins with that kind of responsibility.
Looking for Jack was also out of the question. Jamie had no idea where they’d landed, and if he got himself lost in the forest, it wouldn’t help anyone. He better just go back to the village and wait for him there.
He got to his feet and headed back the way they’d come. The trees blocked out what was left of the sunlight, and Jamie had to squint at the ground to look out for roots and rocks. He almost walked right over it when he saw it, looking like a completely ordinary stick lying across the path.
Jamie found himself holding his breath as he picked it up – Jack’s staff. He stood still, listening for anything at all, but the forest was deathly quiet. He set into a sprint.
He found Hiccup in the forge, chatting merrily with Gobber like he didn’t have a worry in the world. Jamie was too panicked to feel sorry for breaking the illusion.
“Hiccup!” he cried.
Hiccup jumped off the table he’d been sitting on, his hand twitching toward Inferno. “Jamie?” he said, his eyes flickering to Jack’s staff. He seemed to realize something was wrong even before Jamie said anything. “Where is he?”
“He wouldn’t have left it,” Jamie said, grabbing onto Hiccup’s sleeve and pulling him out of the forge, without really knowing where he was pulling him to. “I know he wouldn’t have left it. I found it on the path, he—he was in the forest, and he was going to meet me, but—”
“Okay, okay,” Hiccup said, putting his hands on Jamie’s shoulders. “Calm down. We’ll find him. You found it right on the path? He must’ve dropped it on purpose. He knew you’d find it.”
Jamie found it hard to breathe. “But…” he panted. “But he needs it. The staff is—He needs it!”
Hiccup looked grim, but he managed to keep his head. “Then we’ll find him and give it to him,” he said. “Don’t worry. Jack knows what he’s doing. You know that.”
Jamie thought he knew that. But though Hiccup’s words sounded confident, there was a fierce light in his eyes, as if he thought something was about to go very, very wrong.
Jack woke up to biting wind and whip-like snowflakes slashing his face. He moaned in pain, attempting to raise a hand to his head, but found he couldn’t move his arm. It was only then that he realized he was rushing through the air, hanging from the white talons of the Snow Queen’s imitation of Toothless. A black forest rushed by beneath him, coming closer and closer, until Snow Toothless swooped down and dropped Jack unceremoniously into a snowbank.
It took a few seconds before Jack found his balance. He pushed himself up, his body quaking from the cold. The air grew impossibly colder once he realized where he was. The Snow Queen’s throne was empty, but judging by the seething pain along the side of Jack’s face and down his neck and shoulder, it wouldn’t be for long. He struggled to his feet, but he had no idea why. It wasn’t like he had any chance of escaping.
The clearing was eerily silent. Snow Toothless was gone. Jack imagined it had dispersed into snowflakes, now that it had done its job. But he wasn’t alone: the Snow Queen’s statues stood as they had during his last visit. Jack had a sneaking suspicion there might be a new one standing with them soon, suspiciously Jack-shaped.
With nowhere to run and an increasing feeling that his toes and fingers were turning to ice, Jack straightened his back defiantly. “Congratulations,” he called out into the darkness. “You finally caught me. I’ll admit, I didn’t expect you so soon.”
“Neither did I.”
Jack whirled. The Snow Queen had stepped into the clearing, standing close to a tree glittering with frost. She wore a soft, almost thoughtful expression, like she’d forgotten why she’d come here. Guarded, with her hand resting against the tree trunk, like she was ready to flee. Jack knew now not to trust that illusion; the Snow Queen might be paranoid, but her helplessness was a façade. Even now, after everything he’d been through, there was something about her that made him want to trust her. To help her. Maybe there was a part of her that could be reasoned with.
He realized he hadn’t seen her in her true form – if this even was her true form – since he saw her for the first time. Now, she was actually here. No shimmering apparition, no possessed ice puppet. Jack was within the reaches of her power now. And if the Berkians were right in their weather predictions, they would be soon as well.
“I suppose it’s the survival instincts,” the Snow Queen admitted in that airy voice of hers. “Or maybe I’m just stronger than I thought. Stronger than I have needed to be before.”
She slowly stepped further into the clearing, giving Jack a wide berth. She circled him, studied him – Jack realized she was reassessing him, making sure that she still had the upper hand. Jack could’ve told her right there and then that she did, no questions asked, but his best chance was to act confident.
“So, what you’re saying is that I’ve amplified your powers in a way,” Jack said, trying and failing to keep the tremor out of his voice. At least he could blame it on the cold. “Well, you’re welcome.”
Snow gave a small huff. “You might be right,” she mused. “Perhaps your presence has been a blessing for me after all.”
Her tone didn’t change, but Jack could tell she was trying to make him angry. And she was succeeding.
“Snow,” Jack said. The Snow Queen’s eyebrows twitched. “I’ve told you this before, and I’ll tell you again: You don’t have to do this. I’m not a threat to you.”
Maybe she noticed the difference in him. Not just that his powers had grown, but that he now had a reason to oppose her. On the one hand, Jack believed his own words; he couldn’t control his powers, and as of now, he was still (mostly) human. There was no way he’d ever defeat the Snow Queen in this state. But on the other hand, the mermaids hadn’t given him any choice, so he knew he would have to try.
But maybe Snow was just as paranoid as she’d ever been, and it wouldn’t have mattered if nothing was different.
She raised her hand. Jack automatically took a step back, but a strong wind pushed him forward. He had a split second to think traitor at the wind, even though he knew the wind would always be unpredictable, before the ground split before the throne. Or rather, the ice split, revealing a small body of water underneath.
Jack reeled back. He looked up at the Snow Queen, but her expression was impassive. Did she know about his connection to water? There were a million other ways to kill him. Why had she chosen this one?
“Don’t be afraid,” Snow said. She had the audacity to look sympathetic. “This might not be the end for you, Jack Frost. I can’t risk your death. Who knows what a change like that would do to you? After all, it did something to me.”
The wind pushed Jack forward and he stumbled into the water. His mind went blank for a moment, a gasp racking his lungs. He thrashed, trying to scramble out, but his legs felt like lead. Through his panic, he realized the bottom of the pond had frozen solid around his feet. The water reached his hips, and ice was slowly forming around his ankles and up.
“What—” he started, his voice coming out as a quaking whisper. “What are you doing?”
The Snow Queen kneeled gracefully at the edge of the pond, listlessly dipping her hand into the water. “I thought you knew everything about spirits, considering you used to be one,” she said, in a way that made it obvious she didn’t believe that part of Jack’s story. “Don’t fret. I won’t kill you.”
Her words sounded far away. Jack’s heart felt as if it was about to stop.
Snow looked at him with gentle eyes. “Come, now,” she said, reaching out to him. Jack tried jerking away, but Snow brushed her fingers across his cheek, along the mark she’d made. “Be calm.”
She retracted her arm, and it was as if she took the torturous cold with her. Jack could still feel it, but it was as it used to be when he was Jack Frost: he knew exactly how cold it was, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. It just was. Despite knowing this cold could still kill him, Jack found himself calming down.
The Snow Queen stood and walked up to her throne. She sat and looked down at Jack, silent triumph in her blue eyes.
“I wasn’t always the Snow Queen,” she said. “I was…someone else. Human. It’s such a long time ago, the girl I was feels almost like a different person…though I remember everything she went through.”
This is good, Jack thought to himself. Keep her going. Buy some time.
“What happened to her? To you?” he asked. Though he couldn’t feel the cold, his voice still came out in shudders.
“She died,” Snow replied. She didn’t sound wistful about it. “Quite a grand finale, she got. She never had much to hold on to in life, except for life itself. Had I known death would bring me this much power, I would have ended it earlier. But I only thought Hela would trap me in her realm, and so I feared her clutches like everyone else.” The corners of her lips quirked upwards and she let her gaze drift along the edge of the clearing.
Meanwhile, the water around Jack was rising. It was at his chest. His legs were completely encased in ice. “You died,” he managed to croak. “Winter killed you.”
Snow’s eyes snapped back to him. “Yes,” she said. There was a hint of bitterness to her tone. “On the way back to my village, I got caught in a storm. It was stronger and colder than anything I’d ever experienced. It was…devastating, if you will.” She paused. “The storm wasn’t what killed me, though. An avalanche. It buried me, and I was trapped beneath the snow. Gods know I couldn’t have been under there for long, but…it felt like an eternity. Stuck there in the cold and dark…I was so scared.”
And she did look scared, just then. As if her thoughts had spun so far back, she could remember her exact state of mind. Jack didn’t like it, but they had that in common. If only Snow would understand that as well.
But then her face went back to the same old indifference. “So I won’t kill you,” she continued. “But I will eliminate you as a threat. You will be here, with me, frozen but alive. Pardon the slow process – it’s a delicate thing, preserving you without killing you.” Her eyes twinkled. “Perhaps one day I will disappear, and maybe you’ll thaw. But until that day…” She didn’t finish the sentence, but Jack felt the cold beginning to return to his body.
“Wait! Please,” Jack yelped. His mind was spinning, but he managed to keep his panic at bay. “I—I get it. Okay? You’re angry. This s-season, it took your life away. It killed you in the worst possible way, but I don’t unders-stand why you want to punish everyone else for it.”
At that moment, the closest thing Jack had ever seen to amusement in the Snow Queen crossed over her face. “My dear,” she said. “Are you trying to change my mind? I’m afraid you’re centuries too late for that. If there ever was a part of me that loved this world, it’s long gone. I don’t want to see it thrive. I want to see it quiver.”
Cold spiked through Jack’s body, making him shudder violently. “It took everything from me too,” he still managed to hiss. “But it didn’t turn me into what you’ve b-become.”
Is that why? a voice in the back of Jack’s head pondered. Is that why the Moon made you forget? So that you wouldn’t turn into this?
“We are not the same,” Snow said matter-of-factly. “You’re just a boy.”
“I was never going to hurt you!” Jack yelled. “I just—I just wanted to go home.”
“And now?” Snow inquired.
Jack stared at her. She couldn’t know about the mermaids, could she?
Snow actually smiled. “Don’t pretend you don’t care about them,” she said. “You’ll hurt someone’s feelings. Even when you are gone, their lives are still in my hands.”
“Are you…are you talking about devastating winter?” Jack asked. “Because…no offence, but they seem to be handling it.”
Snow’s smile melted off her face. She stood, and suddenly the pain and cold returned. Jack let out a strangled cry.
“This winter will be their worst one yet,” Snow promised. “And as they watch their children freeze, I’ll let them know Jack Frost thought they could handle it.”
The pain doubled. Jack screamed.
Hiccup didn’t know how many hours had passed. Toothless sped across the skies as fast as he could – and maybe Hiccup was imagining it, but it felt as if the wind itself was catapulting them forward. He hadn’t been surprised when Jack’s scent led Toothless to Jotun Island. He was grateful for how many hours of darkness they had as Toothless sailed across the night sky, virtually invisible. He only wondered if it made a difference, or if the Snow Queen would magically notice their presence anyway.
Jamie sat very still in front of him. He hadn’t said a word the entire journey, only clutching Jack’s staff as if holding it tightly enough would keep him alive. At this point, Hiccup wouldn’t even be surprised if that were true; obviously there was something special about that staff.
As Toothless started descending, Hiccup felt a growing unease. It was like the feeling he’d had the first time he’d been here, but back then he’d only had it for a moment. Still, it had been strong enough to send him running back to their camp in a panic. Now, the feeling seemed to be twice as strong. The only difference was that he knew what they were up against now. How that made him mentally stand his ground and not burst into tears, he didn’t know.
Jamie suddenly reached back and hit Hiccup’s knee, before pointing downwards.
Two figures moved in a clearing, bright compared to the rest of the dark island, and one of them seemed to be sitting in a small pool of water. Hiccup, using his amazing deduction skills, guessed that would be Jack, and the white-haired thing sitting on what seemed to be a throne was the Snow Queen. He wondered if they could simply swoop down, snatch Jack and get out of there…but something told him it would not be that easy.
They landed near the clearing and snuck up on foot, hiding in the shadows. Hiccup kept a hand on Jamie’s shoulder, afraid he would do something rash to get to Jack. But when he saw the state Jack was in, he had to use every ounce of his strength to hold himself back.
Jack sat halfway submerged in water, his body twitching and trembling. His skin looked like it was turning blue, and his posture was sluggish, like he was struggling to stay awake. Why wasn’t he trying to get out of the water? It was killing him! But he just stared up at the Snow Queen. Hiccup followed his gaze.
Despite everything, he was blown away. She was beautiful, but unnervingly so. It said I am not human in a way that rendered even the stark white hair, glittering skin and piercing blue eyes unnecessary; Hiccup felt as if he was looking at a goddess. Out of all the beings they’d encountered, it was clear why this entity was called the Snow Queen. Power billowed off her, and Hiccup felt so, so small.
She was talking. At least her voice was familiar. It was a little less uncomfortable hearing it from her own mouth than from the Jack-puppet. Her eyes drifted peacefully as she spoke, even going past their hiding space. Hiccup held his breath, heart in his throat. But the Snow Queen just kept monologuing.
“The storm wasn’t what killed me, though,” she was saying, her voice soft and dreamy. “An avalanche. It buried me, and I was trapped beneath the snow. Gods know I couldn’t have been under there for long, but…it felt like an eternity. Stuck there in the cold and dark…I was so scared.”
Hiccup felt sick. So she really had been alive once. But why was she telling Jack this? He couldn’t imagine she was trying to gain his sympathy. The mere idea of it made Hiccup’s chest flare with anger.
“So I won’t kill you,” she continued. “But I will eliminate you as a threat. You will be here, with me, frozen but alive. Pardon the slow process – it’s a delicate thing, preserving you without killing you. Perhaps one day I will disappear, and maybe you’ll thaw. But until that day…”
“Wait! Please,” Jack said. He sounded so weak – smaller and more desperate than Hiccup had ever heard him. “I—I get it. Okay? You’re angry. This s-season, it took your life away. It killed you in the worst possible way, but I don’t unders-stand why you want to punish everyone else for it.”
“My dear,” the Snow Queen said, the barest hint of a laugh in her voice. “Are you trying to change my mind? I’m afraid you’re centuries too late for that. If there ever was a part of me that loved this world, it’s long gone. I don’t want to see it thrive. I want to see it quiver.”
Jack gave a choked noise, his body lurching forward. Beside Hiccup, Jamie pressed a hand over his mouth and grabbed onto Hiccup’s sleeve, hiding his face against his arm. Hiccup stroked his back absently, his heart hammering in his chest. They had to do something, but they needed a plan. They couldn’t just burst in there.
“It took everything from me too,” Jack hissed. “But it didn’t turn me into what you’ve b-become.”
Jamie shifted. In the corner of Hiccup’s eye, he could see him look up at him. Hiccup just shook his head. He didn’t know what Jack was talking about either. Maybe he was just biding his time.
“We are not the same,” Snow said. “You’re just a boy.”
“I was never going to hurt you! I just—I just wanted to go home.”
“And now?” There was a long pause. Then the Snow Queen smiled. It sent shivers down Hiccup’s spine. “Don’t pretend you don’t care about them. You’ll hurt someone’s feelings. Even when you are gone, their lives are still in my hands.”
Hiccup’s blood boiled, both with fear and rage. He hoped he was imagining the feeling that she was talking about him specifically. She knew about his feelings for Jack. She was mocking him, without even knowing he was listening. Unless…unless she did know he was listening.
Then Jack said something that made Hiccup want to both laugh and scream – which, when he thought about it, was not at all unusual with him.
“Are you…are you talking about devastating winter? Because…no offence, but they seem to be handling it.”
The Snow Queen stood abruptly. “This winter will be their worst one yet,” she said, and though her voice remained soft, there was a deadly sharpness to it. “And as they watch their children freeze, I’ll let them know Jack Frost thought they could handle it.”
Jack let out a guttural cry, and Hiccup couldn’t take it anymore. He burst into the clearing, igniting Inferno, but before he’d even gotten close, Toothless shot past him. The air seemed to hiss, and the blast from Toothless’ attack shattered the throne to pieces – but the Snow Queen was gone.
“Hiccup!” Jack gasped, still not getting out of the water. “Behind you!”
Hiccup turned around, only to feel the Snow Queen’s cold hand around his throat. Her face was impassive, but there was a glint in her eyes.
“I thought you’d never work up to the courage, little warrior,” she cooed.
“Jack!” came Jamie’s voice, and the Snow Queen’s eyes moved away from Hiccup’s. Her hand dissolved with the rest of her, and Hiccup clutched his throat, his windpipes making a rasping sound as he coughed. He whirled around to see the Snow Queen materialize in front of the pond, just in time to catch the staff which Jamie had attempted to throw to Jack. Jamie cried: “No!”
Jack’s eyes were wide with shock. He shook his head but couldn’t seem to get a word out.
The Snow Queen sent the staff a blank look. Hiccup didn’t know why he expected something to happen, but nothing did. She looked at him and Jamie, tilting her head thoughtfully to the side. “I hoped you’d come,” she said. “Let’s end this game now.”
Toothless charged her, but the Snow Queen merely lifted a hand, and a shudder went through him, making him writhe the same way he had when he tried crossing the sea to the fairies’ island.
“No!” Hiccup ran at her even if he knew he stood no chance.
“Hiccup, don’t—!” Jack started.
The clearing exploded.
Hiccup was flung backwards, landing hard on the ice. He looked up, struggling to focus. Everything was white and fuzzy. Some kind of wall of snow was suddenly in front of him. No, not a wall, and not snow – it was white and scaly, and moving. Hiccup scrambled to his feet, unable to believe his eyes.
Fortunately, the Snow Queen seemed to be in the same state of disbelief. She staggered backwards, her eyes wide as she stared up at the Snow Wraith that had barged in on their showdown. The Snow Wraith opened its mouth and roared. Hiccup felt it in the air, along with something else – something magical, though he couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from.
Whatever it was, it made the Snow Queen turn into a cloud of snowflakes and disappear, taking Jack’s staff with her.
There was the sound of ice breaking, and Jack fell forward. Hiccup forgot about the Snow Wraith for a moment, rushing to him. He grabbed his arms and pulled him out of the water. Jack seemed barely conscious, but he managed to drag his feet onto the ice, collapsing against Hiccup.
“Thank you,” he rasped. “You found me.”
Hiccup tilted his face up, forcing Jack to look at him. “Jamie—Jamie found the staff,” he said. “You dropped it on purpose, right?”
The corners of Jack’s lips quirked upwards. “Jack made a plan,” he murmured triumphantly.
“He’s referring to himself in the third person,” Jamie said fearfully. “What do we do?”
The Snow Wraith chose that time to remind them of its presence, letting out a deep, slow growl. Hiccup brought Jack close, desperate to keep him warm, his hand tight around Inferno. He didn’t like the idea of fighting the Snow Wraith, but he would if they had no choice. Jack was in no shape to move.
But the Snow Wraith stood still, its slit, blue eyes boring into them – specifically Jack. Jack’s breathing was shallow, and it looked like he was struggling to keep his eyes open, but he looked back at the Snow Wraith without any fear. Whether that was because he wasn’t scared or just too frozen to realize how dangerous the Snow Wraith was – or usually was – Hiccup didn’t know, but he still tried protesting when Jack started getting to his feet.
“He wants to take us somewhere,” Jack breathed. “It’s okay.”
Hiccup made to stand as well, but the Snow Wraith growled when he moved. Jack faltered, then took a tentative step towards it. The dragon let him come closer. Hiccup couldn’t believe his eyes. They’d risked their lives trying to get a tooth from a Snow Wraith, and here was Jack, approaching it like it was any trainable dragon.
Jamie sat completely still, only his hands hovering in the air as if preparing to drag Jack back if something went wrong.
Jack staggered up to the dragon and gently put a hand against his snout, as if they already knew each other. Then he glanced back at Hiccup and Jamie. “We have to follow it,” he said.
“What?” Hiccup said. “Jack, you’re—We have to get you somewhere warm. You’ll—”
“He’ll take me somewhere safe,” Jack said absently, walking around the Snow Wraith. The Snow Wraith lowered himself down, inviting Jack to climb onto his back. “I can feel it.”
Hiccup slowly got to his feet, inching towards Toothless. “You can…feel it?” he repeated. “You said yourself you can’t feel magic. Jack, wait, please!”
Jack stopped just before he made to hoist himself onto the dragon’s back. He looked back at Hiccup, and when he met his eyes, he seemed to sober up, just a little bit. “But you feel it too, don’t you?” he asked.
He did. The tingling he’d felt when the Snow Wraith roared still hung in the air, but he was sure it wasn’t coming from the dragon. It was just around them, like dust settling after a fire. But if they didn’t get Jack somewhere warm soon, the cold would kill him. It was a miracle he was still on his feet.
“Trust me,” Jack said, looking between Hiccup and Jamie. “We have to go. We don’t have much time.” And with those cryptic words, he shakily climbed onto the Snow Wraith’s back.
The Snow Wraith spread his wings, and Hiccup and Jamie quickly mounted Toothless. Wherever they were going, Hiccup hoped it wouldn’t be as far as when the Changewing wanted to show them something. As they rose up into the cold, cold skies, he dreaded the state they’d find Jack in once they landed. In the faint moonlight, Hiccup could see Jack against the Snow Wraith’s white scales, holding onto the spikes along his neck. He lay very still.
“This is bad,” he muttered. “We should’ve gone back, or to the Edge, or just anything. He’s not strong enough to…”
Jamie had turned around to look at him, his gaze solemn. “The Snow Queen is coming into her power,” he said. “We don’t have time to turn back now.”
He suddenly sounded like all the world’s secrets were lain out in front of him. Hiccup almost wrote it off as an eleven-year-old’s bold conviction of his own immortality, but he wasn’t about to argue. After all, there was a part of him as well that felt like something big was about to happen.
Jack felt as if someone nudged him awake.
He blinked his eyes open, and the painful cold overwhelmed him immediately. He tried curling into a ball, but the Snow Wraith’s scales scraped against his knees, reminding him of what was going on.
Well, that was a bit generous. He didn’t know what was going on. He didn’t know where he was either. When he managed to push himself up and look around, he was met by a stark white scenery, glowing silver in the moonlight.
Toothless landed beside them and he looked down at Hiccup and Jamie. He nodded to tell them that he was alright, but judging by their expressions, he probably looked closer to dead than alive.
“Where is th-this?” Jack croaked through his shuddering.
“Glacier Island,” Hiccup replied, glancing nervously at the Snow Wraith. “I’ve been here before, but…I didn’t feel anything magical back then.”
A small mountain of ice and snow towered over them – a glacier. In the darkness it looked a bit like a castle. Between the snowbanks, something like a path was winding in the direction of the glacier.
“There’s something in there,” Jack said. He was sure of it. And he was sure it wasn’t just because everything else seemed very, very far away, like he was on the brink of drowning again. He slid off the Snow Wraith’s back and landed inelegantly in the snow. He felt vulnerable without his staff, but he started trudging his way towards the castle anyway.
Behind him, the Snow Wraith suddenly growled. He turned around to see that Hiccup had attempted to follow, but the dragon blocked his path. He sent Jack a panicked look.
“You can’t go there alone,” he said.
Jack had to admit he didn’t want to go alone either. He didn’t know why he suddenly felt like he understood the Snow Wraith’s intentions, but looking at the dragon, and looking up at the glacier, he knew he didn’t have a choice. Whatever was waiting for him up there…it didn’t feel like anything he’d ever felt before. And it wasn’t like it felt entirely benevolent either. He just knew that it had, at this moment, no reason to harm him. But it wanted to meet him; Jack could feel the pull of it, insisting he ignore his survival instincts and trust it.
It had saved them from the Snow Queen. If not a friend, it had to be an ally.
“I’ll be back soon,” Jack said, and ignored Hiccup’s distress as he took a few steps backwards up the path. “Just stay here. Keep each other warm.”
“No!” Hiccup protested, but the Snow Wraith growled again. Beside him, Jamie’s eyes were bright with a mix of fear and hope.
Jack could only send Hiccup an apologetic look, before turning around and dragging his feet towards the castle-like glacier. For some reason – a reason he hoped wasn’t some kind of ominous mind-control – he wasn’t too worried about why this entity wanted to meet with him in private. He had a feeling it was for the best.
The natural path turned a corner, blocking him from the others. The hill sloped downwards, and Jack had to walk slowly to keep himself on his feet. He tried not to worry about how the snowbanks got taller around him, and how the moonlight slowly faded away. The path led him to an opening in the glacier. The tunnel emitted a strange blue glow. Jack steeled himself and walked into it.
He trailed his hand along the slippery wall as he limped through the tunnel. It sloped sideways in a way that refused to tell Jack when it would end, but after a minute or so, the tunnel expanded and opened out into a cave. Icicles hung from the ceiling. A creek trailed across the frozen floor. A small fire burned in the center of the room.
But most alarmingly, a figure stood by it. It was a tall woman with long honey-colored hair, wearing a white sleeveless dress and a cloak made of brown feathers. She was warming her hands over the fire, and the shadows cast across her arms revealed she was more than just a pretty lady: muscles shifted under her pale, slightly freckled skin. She acted as if she hadn’t noticed Jack stumbling into the cavern.
Jack didn’t care if she was hostile or not; he needed to get closer to the fire. He staggered towards it, his legs giving out as he reached it. Then he looked up at the lady, and saw she was looking back at him. She wore a kindly expression, but Jack was hesitant to trust it.
“There’s no need to kneel,” was what she said.
Jack didn’t know if she was joking or not. “It wasn’t my intention,” he replied unthinkingly.
The woman’s smile was amused. She eyed Jack, before taking off her cloak and walking around the fire. “Here, don’t be scared,” she said. “You should be dead.”
“Uh…” Jack started, beginning to move away from her, but quickly found he didn’t have the strength left for it. But the woman only draped her rich cloak over Jack’s shoulders, and he instantly felt warmer. He followed her with his eyes as she walked back to her spot on the other side of the fire, kneeling. He was afraid to ask, but did anyway: “What makes you say that? And what part of that sentence doesn’t scream ‘be very scared’ anyway?”
“‘Should be dead’ can’t be too unfamiliar to you. Can it, Jack Frost?”
Jack didn’t move. Under her gaze, he felt a bit like an animal standing completely still in hopes of not being noticed by a predator. There was something about her that told Jack she was powerful, but not like the Snow Queen. This entity felt different in a way that was hard to describe. She felt like a chasm – a dark deep with no discernable end. She felt like looking up at the clear night sky. She felt…ancient.
“What do you want?” Jack asked.
The lady lowered her gaze into the flames, tilting her head to the side as if she was listening for something. “I’ve been waiting to meet you for a long time,” she said. “It’s not easy to come here anymore, but…it’s time now.”
“Are you going to hurt me?” Jack asked, because he didn’t have the energy to figure out the clues. Besides, if she were going to hurt him, Jack didn’t stand a chance. However, the feeling from before was still in the air around him, telling him this woman meant no harm.
She smiled, and there was something sad about it. “No,” she replied. “I’m here to help, in any way that I can.”
Jack peered at her, and huffed weakly. “That’s a first.”
“I must say, you have a peculiar aura around you,” the lady continued. “Part human, part spirit.”
“You feel peculiar as well,” Jack retorted, not liking the way she was studying him. The fact that she knew about Jack Frost made him feel uneasy, but he couldn’t say he was surprised. Maybe the mermaids had snitched on him. “You don’t feel like anything I’ve ever met. Not that I’ve been able to feel anything magic at all lately, but even before this…” He trailed off, an impossible thought coming to mind. In the same second, he noticed how much better he was feeling – as if the cloak was healing him. When he exhaled, it came out as mist. He hesitated, before deciding to just go for it; Hiccup and Jamie were waiting outside, and he didn’t have time to be anything but direct.
“Are you…Eir?”
He remembered what Astrid had told him, back when his injured wrist had healed abnormally fast: Eir must be looking out for you.
The lady laughed. It was a wonderful sound – it reminded Jack of wind chimes – but it made heat rise to his cheeks. He decided he didn’t want to make a fool out of himself in front her, which was a strange feeling, since he usually didn’t mind doing that in any other situation.
“No,” she said again. “But you’re getting closer.”
“But you’re a—” It was hard getting the word out. Jack’s whole body felt tense, a fire coming alight in his chest. Horrible, horrible hope. “You’re a…You’re a goddess. Aren’t you?”
A big part of him expected her to laugh again. There was no way he could be that lucky, was it? But the lady smiled, almost mischievously, and nodded once.
Jack had gotten to his feet without even realizing. He stared down at the woman – the goddess – wondering if this was a dream, or a trick. “You—you said you wanted to help me,” he said. He felt breathless, his heartbeat painful against his ribs. “You’re a god, you must—You’re more powerful that she is. The Snow Queen. You can stop her! And…”
He trailed off when the goddess got to her feet as well, and realized it might not be a good idea to demand anything from a deity. But she didn’t seem angry. The sadness from before remained. Jack folded his hands nervously, wishing he had his staff.
“My friend, he’s…he’s very sick,” Jack said. “The fairies cursed him, and I was told it was lethal. But you’re a goddess. You’re more powerful than them, right? You healed me, just now. You can heal him too.”
The goddess averted her eyes, looking into the fire again. “I’m afraid it’s not so simple, my friend,” she said.
Jack shook his head. He couldn’t give up now – now that he’d found an actual god, despite thinking it was impossible. This had to be it – it had to be the solution to everything.
“Why not?” he asked, and almost took a step into the fire in his desperation to get to her. “I—I don’t know what to do. I can’t defeat her, and I can’t let him die, and I—I don’t want to abandon my duties back home, but…” The goddess met his eyes again, and his words got stuck in his throat. He took another shaky breath. He knew he must sound like a child to her. “You were supposed to be my other way,” he managed. “I don’t want to leave.”
“I know,” the goddess said. Jack hated her mournful expression. He hated how she managed to smile through it. “I want to help you. I do. But us gods…our powers aren’t what they used to be. Even now, most of us are fading.”
“But people still believe in you,” Jack argued. He gestured towards the tunnel entrance. “Hiccup is right outside. He believes in you…whoever you are.”
It was an invitation for the goddess to introduce herself, but she just kept smiling in that melancholy way of hers. “I am not a spirit,” she said. “That is not the nature of gods. We have our lives. Long lives, but even they come to an end. In my prime years, you’re correct – I was more powerful than the Snow Queen is now, and every other spirit residing in this world. But our era is coming to an end. I know there will be a time when we disappear completely. I’ve seen it.”
Jack felt hollow. “You…You’ve seen the future?”
The goddess nodded. “The Vanir were the ones who pulled you out of time, Jackson Overland,” she said. “The entity you fought – it didn’t mean to put you here. But when such a powerful winter spirit happened to appear within our reaches…well. We needed help.”
“We?” Jack repeated. “My help? I don’t even have my powers. Not properly, at least.”
The goddess narrowed her eyes doubtfully, as if Jack had told her a playful lie. “As the gods fall, the spirits rise to power,” she said. “In the future, they’ll be the primary force of magic in the world. It might be a wonderful world, or it might be a terrible one. It all depends on which spirit assumes the throne.”
“The Snow Queen,” Jack said. “Are you saying you purposefully put me here in order to fix this for you?”
“Not me, specifically,” the goddess said. “For the future of magic’s sake, we needed someone powerful enough to rival the Snow Queen. It was the Vanir who got the idea, when they saw you in the space in between time. But, after getting to know you, I took a liking to you. You have something very special inside, Jack. You doubt yourself, I know. But what you have is enough. It is extraordinary.”
“Skaði,” Jack said. “The mermaids told me to go up north to Skaði’s realm. You’re her.”
“I understand why you might think that,” the goddess said, her eyes twinkling in the firelight. “Winter is close to your heart. But no, I am not Skaði either.”
Jack was frustrated she didn’t just tell him, but he could sense she enjoyed this guessing game. He racked his brain for any more goddesses Hiccup or anyone else had mentioned, but he couldn’t figure out why anyone but the goddess of winter would take interest in him. He was a winter spirit! Or used to be, but still. It was the only thing that made sense.
“Well, my friends are waiting outside, so I don’t really have time for this,” he said, hating the way his voice came out sounding so angry and disappointed. But that’s what he felt. For once, he’d thought the impossible had happened and luck was finally on his side. He’d gotten his stupid hopes up, only to have them broken again. He tried not letting those emotions get to him, but he could feel tears stinging behind his eyes, threatening to emerge. “If you really have something to help me with, then please, go ahead.”
“Yes,” the goddess said. “I might. Some magic for your crystal pieces. I need something from you first, though. A small sacrifice, if possible.” She gestured at the fire.
Jack took a step back. “A…sacrifice?”
The goddess let out a very ungodly giggle. She had such a pretty face, Jack found it hard to stay angry at her.
“Nothing like that,” she said. “A valuable object will suffice. Something that’s valuable to you. The first gift from a loved one, perhaps.”
“The first…” Jack started, his brows knitting together. He thought about Jamie’s drawing, but he knew it was still somewhere back on Berk. Besides, he’d never want to throw that into a fire. Then he thought about the other gift he’d received – the satchel hanging from his waist. But he needed the satchel. And anyway, that wasn’t the first gift he’d received from Hiccup, was it?
He thought about that first day. The image of Hiccup – just a stranger at that point – was clear in his mind, along with the thrill of meeting his eyes, being seen by him. It was as if he had already understood back then that that memory was something he had to hold on to, something to treasure. Like he already knew how important Hiccup was going to become.
A third name popped into Jack’s head. It made something simmer deep in his chest, like fear, or something very similar to it. Different, but just as intense. He looked up at the goddess, and the way she met his eyes made him feel like she knew exactly what he was thinking. Jack felt as if he’d been dropped from a dragon’s talons again.
“That’s why,” the goddess said gently. “Why I’ve grown so fond of you, Jack. You’ll do anything for them. And you do know how. You just have to be honest with yourself first.”
Jack found himself slowly sinking to his knees again. The fire seemed to burn brighter, blinding him, but he kept staring at it. He started shaking his head. “It just makes it worse,” he whispered. “It just makes it worse.”
“Do you really think so?”
Jack looked up at her. Her aura was more powerful than ever.
“You’re Freya,” he said. “Goddess of…”
He couldn’t say it.
Freya’s eyes twinkled. “Do you understand now?” she asked. “What you have to do?”
Jack laughed incredulously, bringing his hands to his face. “Why didn’t you just tell me? Time is running out, and I’m—I’m—” He almost wheezed. “I’m an idiot, aren’t I?”
“Well,” Freya said. “One doesn’t need to be bright to have heart. These things are just something you need to figure out on your own, you see.”
“Now you’re just being rude.”
The corners of Freya’s eyes crinkled with mirth. “I’m a goddess. I’m allowed,” she said. “Now. Do you have anything to sacrifice?”
He did. While the world was still spinning, Jack did as Freya instructed, until she was standing in front of him, handing the satchel back to him.
“One more thing,” she said. She held out her hand, and the air shimmered, like heat waves billowing off stone in the sun. In the next moment, she was holding Jack’s staff. “I thought you might want this back.”
Jack’s hands were shaking as he took the staff. “But the Snow Queen…”
“Yes,” Freya said. “She knows your whereabouts now. She won’t be happy.”
“Oh…good.”
Freya put a hand on Jack’s upper arm, her touch like a breath of wind. She looked him in the eye. Her irises were green – the exact same as Hiccup’s. “Time has already run out,” was all she said.
Jack looked down at his staff, closing his fingers tightly around it. He took a deep breath.
“It’s okay,” he said. “I know what to do now.”
The Snow Wraith hadn’t waited long before taking to the skies, leaving Jamie, Hiccup and Toothless behind. And thus, it didn’t take long before Hiccup got up and attempted to follow Jack up the path now that there wasn’t a dragon guarding it. But before Jamie could stop him, and before he’d even walked ten feet, a figure walked around the corner.
Jamie spotted the speck of white hair, seeming even brighter against the brown in the moonlight. Hiccup came to a stop, while Jamie got to his feet, staring incredulously as Jack approached them.
“It took a bit longer than I expected,” Jack said apologetically. He came closer, and Jamie’s brows furrowed even further.
“You weren’t gone long at all,” Hiccup said.
“What are you wearing?” Jamie asked.
Jack stopped and looked over his shoulder, as if he hadn’t noticed the weird feathered cloak covering his own – which, somehow, was completely dry. In fact, Jack didn’t look at all like he’d been nearly completely submerged in a magic frozen pond just a few hours ago, but more like he’d been to a spa. Even in the dim light, Jamie saw that his eyes were alert, his posture was straight, and his cheeks were flushed.
Jack cursed under his breath. “Did she mean to give me that?”
“She?” Hiccup repeated, then looked down. His eyes widened with horror. “Jack! What—Where are your shoes?”
Jack glanced down at his feet, which indeed were completely bare. Jamie hadn’t even noticed, because they were mostly buried in snow. The fact that Jack didn’t react to it at all made his heart speed up.
“Oh, um. I threw them into a fire,” Jack explained.
Hiccup and Jamie both stared at him.
Toothless made a confused noise, but came over to Jack, offering for him to climb onto his back to give his toes at least some mercy. Jack was obviously about to politely decline, but Hiccup wouldn’t have it, ushering him onto the dragon’s back.
“What happened?” he demanded, studying Jack’s feet for a moment as if he expected serious frostbite. When he didn’t see it, he shook his head incredulously and instead went to inspect the feathered cloak. From above, Jack watched him with a strangely wary expression, as if Hiccup were some kind of undiscovered animal. Hiccup trailed a hand over the cloak. “Falcon feathers…?” he muttered.
“I’m okay,” Jack told him.
Hiccup’s eyes snapped up at him. “Well, that’s obvious,” he said, gesturing at all of Jack. “But how? You were…I thought…” He trailed off, spotting something else. When he spoke again, his voice took on a guarded tone: “Your staff…Where did you get it?”
“Not the Snow Queen, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Jack said. He met Hiccup’s eyes for only a second, before suddenly turning his gaze to Jamie. “I’ll explain later, but we don’t have much time left. Jamie, the crystal is energized. We have to do this now.”
Jamie hesitated, but walked forward. There was something different about Jack, but he was afraid of bringing it up in front of Hiccup, in case he’d accidentally reveal something he shouldn’t. “Right here?” he asked. “Shouldn’t we find a cave or something?”
Jack hopped down from Toothless, much to Hiccup’s dismay. “The cloak will keep us warm,” he said, lifting it up. “Just sit under it and we’ll be okay. You too, Hiccup.” He didn’t quite look at Hiccup when he said the last part.
Hiccup’s expression was hard, like he was containing his anger. Jamie knew he was beyond tired of being left in the dark, but he was also aware that the situation they were in didn’t have space for any emotional outbursts. Just like Jamie, he was worried about Jack, but he didn’t have all the information; he didn’t know that Jack walking barefoot in several minus degrees weather without batting an eye might be a good thing.
Jamie sat down beside Jack and let him wrap the cloak around them both. He gasped when he felt warmth immediately seep into his body.
Meanwhile, Hiccup remained standing. When he didn’t move, Jack looked up at him. A silent conversation passed between them. Then Hiccup sighed and walked over, sitting on Jack’s other side. How the cloak managed to cover all of them was a mystery; Jamie was pretty sure it hadn’t been this big only seconds ago.
“What is this thing?” Hiccup asked quietly. Despite his skepticism, he still quickly huddled into the cloak, taking in its magical warmth.
“I, uh…met someone,” Jack said, pouring the crystals into his lap. “She helped me figure out a couple of things. I’ll tell you later.” He looked at Hiccup. Jamie couldn’t see his expression from this angle, but judging by Hiccup’s, it was a strange one. “I promise.”
Hiccup barely nodded. “We should hurry,” he said, a bit absentmindedly.
Jack turned back to Jamie. “Ready?” he asked.
Jamie answered by running his hand over the crystals, until he brushed over the right one. As always, the world around him abruptly blinked away.
Jamie woke up leaning against the wall of a familiar room.
Along the walls, framed pictures hung – some in colors, some in black and white. There were paintings as well, and underneath them were small placards, providing the paintings’ titles, artists and history. On shelves and commodes and tables stood several curious objects and trinkets, some sculptures, some of them even encased in glass. If Jamie didn’t know better, he’d think they’d appeared in some sort of museum.
A young boy suddenly burst through a door and into the room, ran past them towards a living room that screamed ‘old people’, complete with embroidered tablecloths and flower-patterned pillows.
The young boy was Jamie himself, except he was four years old.
“Gods,” Jack’s voice came from beside Jamie, and he turned to see him follow little Jamie with his eyes, wearing a wobbling smile like he was barely containing a laugh. “Is that you? Where are we?”
Jamie’s cheeks felt warm. “My grandparents house,” he replied, ignoring Jack’s grin when little Jamie jumped onto the couch and stared out the window, bouncing up and down like an excited puppy. “I feel like…I remember this. This is the day Sophie—”
He was interrupted by himself.
“I can see them!” little Jamie yelled, slamming his palm against the window.
An old woman walked into the room from another door – the kitchen door. The smell of her cooking almost made Jamie tear up. What he wouldn’t have given for a tasty meal right now. Jamie’s grandma wobbled across the room.
“Jamie, don’t touch the glass,” she said in a patient, yet stern tone. “Remember what I told you?”
Little Jamie plopped down into a sitting position, grinning at his grandma. “Sorry. This house is as old as you are.”
Grandma huffed a laugh, ruffling Jamie’s hair. “Cheeky. Just like your mother,” she chuckled, and peered out the window as well. She folded her hands anxiously. “Gosh. You’re right. That’s them.”
“Huh,” Jack murmured. “I wasn’t aware she was your grandma.”
Jamie looked up at him in surprise. “You know her?”
“I’ve lived here for 300 years, Jamie. I know just about everyone.” Jack looked around the room. “I often saw her around the library. Doesn’t surprise me her house looks like this.”
“My grandparents were big history nerds,” Jamie explained. “They kept telling me stories about Burgess’ history. Grandma still does. I don’t understand how she remembers all of it.”
Jack sent him an amused smile. “I’m sure she’ll say the same about you and your aliens and bigfoots,” he told him.
Just then, the front door opened, and a hush fell over the room. Jamie’s mom and his grandpa came in, Grandpa holding a pink bundle. Little Jamie got to his feet, walking over to them with his eyes wide and his mouth agape.
Joyce smiled at him. She had heavy bags under her eyes, and she leaned on her father for support as they made their way over to the couch. Grandma quietly leaned over, peering into the bundle.
“Oh,” she said, her voice choked up. “Look at her.”
“Come on,” Joyce said to Jamie, patting the spot beside her. “Quietly. She’s sleeping.”
Little Jamie tiptoed across the floor and sat down as Grandpa carefully lowered the newborn Sophie into her mother’s arms. Jamie walked around the table, looking over his own shoulder.
Resting on Sophie’s tiny chest was the crystal.
“Jack,” Jamie whispered, forgetting that he didn’t need to be quiet. He kept staring at his mother and sister, but when Jack didn’t answer, he turned around.
Jack stood at the other end of the room with his back to Jamie. He was looking at one of the objects encased in glass, completely unmoving. Jamie glanced one last time at little Sophie, before he walked across the room to Jack.
Jack wore a strange expression – Jamie recognized it as the one he always got when he remembered something from his past: eyes wide and glassy, lips parted in soft wonder. He was looking at an old wooden miniature castle. Jamie had always thought it was some kind of dollhouse, but he’d never understood why his grandparents were so intent on keeping it. It looked like it was falling apart.
“Grandma told me it’s a miracle it’s still standing,” Jamie found himself saying. “Not much is known about it, though, but it’s a few…a few hundred years old apparently.” He looked up at Jack, trying to read his expression. He looked far, far away. “She said it was crafted by her great-great-great-something-grandmother, or something…”
Jack’s laugh wavered. There was a gleam in his eyes. “That’s incredible,” he breathed, trailing a trembling hand across the glass.
Jamie put a hand on his arm. “Is something wrong?” he asked.
Jack didn’t immediately answer. He closed his eyes for a moment, before kneeling so he was closer to Jamie’s height. His gaze was intense, but his voice was calm.
“Her great-great-great-something-grandmother didn’t make this,” he said. “But her great-great-great-something-grandmother had a brother. He made that castle for her.”
It felt like a whole minute passed before the information fell into place in Jamie’s head. It just seemed so impossible, but Jack’s eyes gleamed with confidence. He’d been there, 300 years ago, when the castle was built. Jack built it.
But that meant…
“We’re…related?” Jamie croaked.
Jack’s lips split into a grin.
“But—Are you sure?” Jamie asked, an unsteady laugh escaping him.
Jack laughed as well, pushing some hair out his face. “To be honest, I—I’ve thought about it before,” he said. “But I didn’t have any proof. All I had was her memory – Emily’s memory, and…a feeling that always pulled me back to Burgess. To your family. To…” His voice broke off.
“To our family,” Jamie finished. Another laugh bubbled out of him, and in the next second, he’d thrown his arms around Jack. Jack barely had time to get over his shock and hug him back before Jamie pulled away again and stared at him. “I’m related to Jack Frost,” he gasped. “That’s so cool!”
Jack’s eyes were rimmed with tears, their corners crinkled with joy. Jamie thought his own eyes might be shimmering as well. “Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” he agreed.
They stared at each other with mutual astonishment for a few seconds, before the cry of a baby split the air. They turned to the living room. Joyce gently rocked the bundle in her arms, hushing Sophie with a smile on her lips.
“It’s with Sophie,” Jamie said. “The crystal.”
Jack got up, and together they walked over to the little family. Jamie found himself glancing up at Jack, and then at his mother, and even his grandparents, searching for resemblances. He didn’t know if it was his imagination that he saw them: the same shade of brown hair, the same hazel eyes. Jack even shared Jamie’s grandpa’s gangly shape – just like the boy they’d seen at the 1920’s party.
Tentatively, Jamie put the pieces together.
Jack and his sister Emily found the crystal first. Emily – who Jack had implied several times had similarities to Jamie – had even been sick at the time, just like Jamie when he saw the crystal for the first time. Before Emily and Jack had the chance to touch the crystal back then, the cave collapsed – but the time fragment remembered.
300 years later, Jack and what the time fragment must’ve thought was Emily, came back. As they were thrown back in time along with the broken pieces of the crystal, its shards landed at different points in their lives. Except all that Emily and Jamie had in common was he was her descendant.
All the scenes they’d found themselves in that they couldn’t recognize…They were key moments in the lives of Jamie’s ancestors.
Time was confusing. Magical time fragments maybe even more so. Maybe being tossed around by it would give one a sense of what was going on inside the mind of a creature like that. Whatever the case, Jamie was positive he was right.
In the midst of this revelation, Jack had reached over and trailed a ghostly hand across little Sophie’s round cheek. She abruptly stopped crying, and instead opened her eyes. It looked as if she was staring right at Jack.
“Hi, there,” Jack cooed. “See you in seven years, Sophie.”
And he picked up the crystal.
Jamie blinked his eyes open. Half his face was pressed against Toothless’ side. The other was covered by the feathered cloak. He sat up, first meeting Hiccup’s eyes – who looked back at him with a silent question on his face – and then at Jack, who was staring blankly ahead. Then he turned his head and looked back at Jamie.
They both burst into incredulous laughter. Jamie hooked his arms around Jack’s shoulders again. It felt as if electricity was charging through his blood – as if he could feel a change in himself, just by knowing who Jack was to him. They’d gone so long pretending to be brothers, Jamie had gotten awfully comfortable with that role, and that alone had taught him it wasn’t that important to share blood in order to be family. But still, knowing that there was another connection there – knowing that Jack’s sister, who he’d loved so much, had gone on and lived a good life, started her own family, gotten grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and…
Jamie pulled back, a wave of guilt suddenly crashing over him. For a moment, he forgot that Hiccup was there as well, and he switched over to English:
“I—I’m sorry,” he said, the words spilling out uncontrollably. “I told them. I’ve been telling them so much – Brant, Undis and Hildur, they know about you. They know about Jack Frost. It’s my fault you’re changing, isn’t it?”
“Jamie,” Jack laughed. There wasn’t a single trace of anger in his expression. Not even disappointment. He shook his head before hugging him again. “Don’t be sorry. You’ve done the right thing. You always do.” He pulled back, and when he did, his face had turned determined. “I need all the help I can get. In fact…”
He turned to Hiccup, who had just been watching them patiently, as he always did whenever they came back from these visions. Jack got to his feet, which, since they were all wrapped in his new cloak, forced them all to get to their feet. Again, when Jamie looked at the cloak, he was sure there just wasn’t enough space to wrap more than a single person and maybe a small child in it.
“Hiccup,” he said. “Jamie needs Toothless. He has to go back to Berk.”
Hiccup stared at him. Then he looked at Toothless, as if asking him for backup. “Sorry, what?”
“I need you here,” Jack said. “But Berk needs to be warned. If we can’t stop the Snow Queen in time, this devastating winter will be the worst one yet.”
Jamie’s stomach churned nervously. Jack seemed to notice, because he kneeled in front of him again, putting his hands on his shoulders. “Your power of belief is the strongest the Guardians and I have ever felt, Jamie,” he said. “I know you can do this. Talk to your friends. Ruff and Tuff. Nothing will bother you on your way back. Here.” He took off the feathered cloak and handed it to him. “This will protect you.”
Jamie carefully took the cloak. Seamlessly, it seemed to shrink to Jamie’s size. “Whose cloak even is this?” he asked.
Jack opened his mouth, hesitated, and closed it again. “Someone we can trust, for once,” he said. For some reason, there was a pink tint in his cheeks.
“Is someone gonna bring me up to speed soon?” Hiccup asked.
Jack gave a weird laugh. He cleared his throat and straightened up, turning to Hiccup. “Very soon,” he told him. “But first, Jamie needs Toothless. Are you okay with that, bud?” The last question was directed at the dragon.
Toothless seemed to be okay with that.
“What about us?” Hiccup asked. “We need to get back somehow too.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Jack said. “We don’t have time for anymore planning. The Snow Queen is coming.”
Hiccup looked like he wanted to argue, but he met Jack’s eyes and groaned. “Fine. You mysterious piece of—” He stopped himself for Jamie’s sake. He closed his eyes for a moment, then sent Jamie a weary smile. “You know you’re a natural at riding dragons. Off you go – it’s time to save the day, I think.”
With both Jack and Hiccup’s encouragement, Jamie felt pride swell in his chest. He grinned and jumped at Hiccup, hugging him tightly. Hiccup hugged him back, his smile more genuine when Jamie pulled away to look at him.
“Also,” Jamie said. “Keep your eyes open, Hiccup.”
Hiccup blinked, but Jamie wrapped himself in the feathered cloak and climbed onto Toothless before he could ask.
Jack looked up at him. His gaze felt like a spotlight, shining with pride. Jamie couldn’t stop grinning.
“Good luck,” they said at the same time.
Jamie patted Toothless’ neck, and they shot up towards the Moon.