Nick: A Winter's Tale

Chapter Nine: Dancer's Lake

The sun had risen quite high by the time Alice left the church. The cold, dry air raked against her throat as she drew sharp, difficult breaths. Tears were still streaming down her face. Of everything she was feeling, the worst part of loosing Nick was knowing he had been out in the storm in the first place because of her.

"Alice?" her mother's voice broke her stupor, "Are you coming home?"

Alice hesitated for a moment. As much as she craved to return home, something about acting as though everything was normal felt... strange. She needed longer.

"I think I'm going to stay out a while," she said weakly. Her mother didn't press on, and nodded gently before turning away, beginning the slow walk back to their house. Alice stood for a while longer, before she finally thought of a place that would bring her peace.

She walked for a while until her feet left stone and found the fresh powdered snow of the forest floor. She left the path behind and walked through the undergrowth. The gentle greens of the pine trees did offer some comfort to her with their beauty, but the deep sadness within her could not easily be quelled. She walked on for a long time, ignoring her surroundings, but moving with a clear direction down a path she had walked many times in the past.

Meanwhile, not too far away, the sound of Donner's hooves pounding against packed snow rang out through the trees. Nick's mind was still racing, but his sadness had been replaced with anger and frustration. Nothing he thought or said seemed to convince his mind that what he had seen was real.

After a while, Nick managed to settle his mind enough to stop running. Donner dug his hooves into the snow and came to a halt. Silence filled the air, broken only by Nick's heavy breath, which was steaming before him. Now he had stopped, he became suddenly aware of the goosebumps that covered his whole body, which itself was shaking.

He dropped from Donner's back into the snow, slowly wandering with no clear purpose away from him. It was at this time he became starkly aware that he hadn't been leaving footprints. Such a small thing he hadn't even noticed before now, which only added to his sense of dread.

Nick felt a presence behind him, and slowly turned. Even in his state of sorrow, he couldn't help but feel awe as he turned to look, for the second time, into the face of Klaus.

They stood tall, dwarfing Nick, looking down upon him with an apologetic face. Perhaps it had been because he had only seem them in a dream, but Nick had not noticed their size before.

"Why?" said Nick weakly, "Why did you choose me?"

Klaus said nothing, but at the very least they were looking deep into his eyes with concern, which comforted Nick, despite their silence. Klaus looked down at him for a moment or two, before they turned and began to gracefully walk away.

"Where are you going?" Nick asked. Klaus turned back, and beckoned for Nick to follow. Nick obliged, keeping back slightly at the hem of Klaus' skirts as they led him deeper into the forest. They walked for a while, and now that he was walking slowly, Nick could finally appreciate the beauty of the forest in the daytime; the deep greens and sparkling white of the snow.

Soon, after thirty minutes or so of walking, Klaus led Nick to the bank of a huge lake. It was entirely frozen over; the ice reflecting a gentle blue in the afternoon sun. Nick knew finally where he was.

Locally, this place was known as the Dancer's Lake. Alice had always told him that it was because it was said that when someone died in Hilldale, people had seen their spirits dancing across the water through the town's history. Nick wouldn't have believed it before now, but after everything that had happened, he wasn't sure he could definitively say anything.