Winter Moon (Jelsa)

Chapter 8: Jack

After Ella and Rapunzel departed, I blew out a long breath. 

"You think she's cute," Hiccup guessed, scrutinizing my expression.

"What? No way," I glared at him even though he was right. Ella was pretty. She reminded me of jagged mountains, capped with snow. Of thousands dazzling snowflakes obscuring the horizon. She was as beautiful as winter itself. I hadn't gotten much of her personality other than formal though.

"She's cute, but not quite my type," Flynn announced.

Merida rolled her eyes. "I don't think she even noticed you, Flynn."

Astrid let out a laugh. "I promised to meet up with a friend in a few minutes. I'll see you morons later." 

I heaved a sigh. Why was everyone calling me a moron?

"Are you coming, Jack?" Hiccup asked.

Looking up, I realized that Flynn, Merida, and Hiccup were all watching me expectantly, waiting for me to start walking.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Out," Merida answered vaguely. 

"To have fun," Flynn added. 

I smirked. I could definitely work with that.

"Wait," Hiccup said nervously. "What exactly are we doing?"

"As of now? We're walking," Flynn answered.

"Where?"

"We're going to test a shortcut to the Night Sector," Merida said in a low voice. "Supposedly, it leads right into the hideout of a secret organization of assassins."

"What's the organization?" I probed. Merida joked around a lot, but she had connections to the shadier parts of Skyara. On more than one occasion, Merida, Rapunzel, Hiccup, and I had banded together to check out some place or the other she dug up. As far as royal behavior went, Merida was the queen of breaking school rules to find suspicious restaurants for us to visit. This however was different. The only way to move from sector to sector was by public transportation, so the Elites could monitor everyone's movements and whereabouts. This was blatantly breaking the city's rules, not just the schools. The consequences would be great if we were caught. However, I knew I wouldn't get in trouble.

"That's what we're going to find out," Merida's accent was always more pronounced when her emotions ran high. She was probably excited. 

We wove stealthily through the streets of Skyara, until we came to an abandoned alleyway. Merida identified a door and pulled a key from her pocket. Confidently, she unlocked the large wooden door and stepped inside.

We entered a small dusty room with only a metal table. There was a lantern set a top it, which Merida lit before walking further inside. Flynn shut the outside door behind us. 

"I'll just, uh, stand guard outside," Hiccup stammered, unnerved by the amount of cobwebs in the room. Hiccup was deathly afraid of spiders.

"Ah ha!" Merida said triumphantly as she eased open another door in the back of the chamber. It was pitch black, with a set of stone steps trailing downward into the ominous darkness. 

"Night Sector, here we come," I took the lantern from Merida and hung it on my staff. I took it with me everywhere and let people assume that I was just weird. The truth was much more dangerous than that. 

Before I could regret my decision, I plunged into the darkness.

Author's Note: I apologize for the short chapters. I haven't had a lot of time to write, but I'll try to write longer chapters in the future.