Guardians Rising

22: Discovery

It was all dark around him, but he didn't stop; he knew where he was going. As his fingers slid along the cold rock wall, he couldn't help but wonder what his friends were doing. 'Will they come looking for me?' he thought vaguely as he made his way down the hallway. It didn't matter if they did or not, though. He was pretty sure he'd been down this way before; he was going in circles, and if they came after him, they'd be going in circles too. 'Maybe this would be more fun if Pitch wouldn't be so preoccupied.' And that was the problem. Pitch Black was a spirit, devoted to spreading fear and chaos. What in the world was he preoccupied with? What could he be preoccupied with?!

He broke out of his mental rant just in time to see an opening in the wall that he hadn't noticed before. 'Finally,' he thought. After sneaking around this place for such a while, he wondered that he hadn't been caught. But, luck was luck, and he wouldn't turn it down. He tip-toed through - and there it was! The huge globe right in the center of the room. Of course, there were no windows, but the light from the globe was so bright that it didn't matter. The walls were unlike those in the hallway; instead of raw stone, they were made of a smooth, shiny substance that was very disorienting when Jack looked at it, so he quickly fixed his gaze on the globe.

Thousands of tiny points of light shone from it, illuminating the room like daylight. Jack grinned. "Well," he chuckled quietly to himself, "at least there are still a lot of believers."

Comforted with that thought, Jack made his way again into the blackness of the outer hallway.

He groped along the cold stone, wondering of he would ever find a way out. 'Oh, this would be so much easier if I could fly,' he thought wistfully as he shuffled along.

He wasn't sure what it was, but there was something he had heard, and now, suddenly, he could hear it again. He froze. A soft, almost inaudible sound reached his ears. It was sort of a buzzing sound, sort of a talking sound, but whatever it really was, it was coming toward him. Jack's mind was racing. There was only one person in this place who would be talking, and if Pitch was coming this way, Jack really needed to find a hiding place.

Normally, he would have liked to take Pitch on himself, but after finding out about the Nightmares' new shape-shifting ability, he wasn't sure he could.

There it was again! This time, he could definitely make out voices, but not just Pitch's. There was someone else.

"No, I disagree," said the first, a deep voice with a slight accent, "the nightmares won't be able to finish for another few weeks, at least."

"They can speed up," said Pitch's voice, with surprising calmness.

"Weren't you listening?" said the first again, "We need this done effectively. If we speed it up now, they'll find out." 'What's that supposed to mean?' wondered Jack. But now Pitch was talking again.

"Not if we play it right. We still have the Other Way, if we need." Their words seemed to grow more ominous by the moment. What was this "Other Way"? And just what were they trying to do anyway? Jack's mind raced through the possibilities. Pitch wanted to be believed in, and that was all the motive Jack knew of. But then there was this other person, who Jack knew nothing about. The voices suddenly began to drift away, and Jack hurried to keep up; whatever this was, it had to be important.

They walked on, Jack trailing behind them, hoping to hear more of their plans, but to no avail.

Finally, after several agonizing minutes of walking in silence, they reached a grander part of the place, one Jack had not seen before. It was lit dimly with pale red light and was very big, the walls seeming to stretch up into the very darkness that draped them. Carved pillars depicting black horses and fearsome gargoyles supported the ceiling. And now Jack could see that Pitch and his unknown companion were not the only ones in this cavernous chamber; there was also a tall slender figure in a red robe and some other shape which, to Jack's confusion and horror, did not look to be human.

Trying to stay hidden and yet keep up with them, Jack crept along the wall, which was made of the same disorienting material as in the globe room. Jack quickly looked away.

"I know," said Pitch, and Jack strained his ears to listen, "that we've all been dying to take our revenge on these four, and I'm sure you would agree that we've waited long enough."

The three others nodded silently.

One of them, a large man cloaked in black leather.

One, a woman in a dark red dress.

And one, a huge, black, bear.

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