The Vacant Years(Sequel to Along For The Ride)

Chapter 27

"No. The kids eye's looked almost exactly like Pitch's." I tell Bunny as I glance down at my right arm. I immediately look away from my arm. The fact that Pitch's initials are carved into my arm scares me. It's like I somehow belong to him now. "They came after us when we escaped." Evie says. "North is right. This is way worse than we thought. We never knew Pitch would go this far." Bunny says. "Well, he's Pitch Black. He probably did this to the kids, too." I say, glancing back down at my arm. "Pitch would never go that far. He knows that if he did, he'd be crossing a line." Bunny tells me.

I nod. "So what should we do now?" Evie asks. I shrug. "Bunny, do you have any ideas?" "Nope." Bunny says. Evie sighs and sits back. "I figured that you, of all people, would have at least a few ideas, Evie." Bunny says. "Well, no offense, but because you're so tiny, it's hard to come up with ideas that all of us can be a part of." Evie says. "If you really want to play something, then go ahead. I'll just sit here and you and Jess can play." Bunny says. "But I want all of us to play, because I would feel bad if you were left out." Evie says.

Bunny smiles. "What should we play then?" he asks. Evie sits there for a second. "Hide and seek seems easy enough." she says. "Let's play, and I get to count." I say. Evie and Bunny take off and I close my eyes. I sit there, mentally counting to one hundred. I eventually finish and open my eyes. "Ready or not, here I come!" I shout and stand up. I check the rooms down here first, and I check them thoroughly. By the time I've finished, I haven't found Evie or Bunny. I turn and head towards the hallway.

I enter the hall and walk down it. I immediately head towards the library, because that seems like the best place for both of them to be hiding. I reach the library and walk through the door. I look around and see something run past the aisle ahead of me. I take off and turn left. I see whatever it is turn right down the next aisle. I run after it. At that moment, I realize that it's Bunny. I stop before I turn right. Maybe if I listen carefully, I'll be able to hear him, and maybe he'll give me a clue as to where Evie is.

I stand there for a few seconds when I hear something. I strain to listen. "Let's find a way out of here. Jess is in here." Bunny says. I smirk. They're both in here. I stand there for a second, waiting, when the two of them suddenly come around the corner. "Found ya." I say. They look at me. "Should we play again?" Evie asks. "No, I don't feel like playing again." Bunny says and I pick him up. He jumps onto my shoulder and we head back to the door. "Then what else should we do." Evie asks as we walk out of the library and into the hallway.

Bunny shrugs and I close the door. We head back down the hallway. We walk out of the hallway and a portal suddenly appears beside us. Tooth steps through it and the portal disappears. "Where are the others?" Bunny asks. Tooth looks over at us. That's when I notice that she isn't floating above the ground like she should be. Her feet are actually touching the ground. That's when I realize how bad everything has gotten. "North made me come back, probably because he knew I was getting weaker," Tooth says. "But he's weak, too, so I don't know why he didn't come back with me."

I never knew things would get this bad. I never knew Pitch would come back and kill Sandy, and I never knew he'd get to the point of actually using kids as an army. I glance at the globe as the others walk over to the couch. There's still several lights, which is enough, but how long will it be until Pitch does something to change that? "Jess, are you okay?" I look up. The others are watching me. "Yeah, I'm fine." I say and walk over to them. I sit down in one of the chairs. The three of them sit there, talking for several minutes, while I don't bother to say anything.

A portal suddenly appears across the room. I stand up. North steps through and Jack appears next to him. Then I see a cut on Jack's forehead. For some reason, it freaks me out. I run over to him just as the portal disappears. "Are you okay?" I ask him. He nods. "I'm fine." he says. I smile then pull him into a hug. He wraps his arms around me. "I'm so glad you're back." I say. Jack chuckles at how excited I am to see him. I ignore this and hold onto him tighter. A few seconds later, we finally let go of each other.

"I didn't know you guys would be back this quickly." Tooth says and I look over at her. "We had no choice. Pitch brought in his army of children, and we can't fight against children." North says. "At least we were able to keep him from taking more kids, for now." Jack says. "Well, at least you guys came back." Tooth says and I turn to Jack. "Come on. Let's have Phil take care of that cut." I say. Jack smiles at me and we walk into the hallway. We walk down the hall. "We're going to make sure Phil looks at your arm, too." Jack says.

I want to argue with him about how I'm fine, but I don't. "Okay," I say. "But he's going to take care of you first." "Alright." Jack says. We reach the infirmary a second later. I open the door and we walk inside. I see Phil across the room. "Hey, Phil. Can you take care of Jack's cut?" I say. Phil looks over at us and nods. He pulls a container out of the cabinet behind him and we walk over to him. Phil puts whatever's in the container onto Jack's cut and it starts to disappear a second later. I realize that it's that special medicine stuff.

Phil sets down the container, and Jack doesn't even have to say a thing. Phil grabs my wrist and starts looking at my arm. He stares at it for a second then puts some of that special medicine on it. I watch it as it starts to disappear until it's completely gone. I smile and look at Jack, who's smiling as well. "Thanks, Phil." Jack says and we leave the infirmary. He closes the door and we head down the hallway. I can't believe that it's gone. I figured there would have at least been a scar, but no, there's nothing.

"Look, Jack. See? It's gone. Can you believe it?" I say excitedly. Jack chuckles as I put my arm closer to his face. He nods. "Yeah, I can believe it." he says and pushes my arm out of his face. I giggle and Jack grabs my hand. We get closer to the end of the hall. "North, what's happening to you?" I hear Tooth say. I look at Jack and he takes off, pulling me with him. We run out of the hallway and stop. I look over at North and gasp. He's fading, almost as if he's fading out of existence. North looks down at himself as he becomes more transparent.

I glance at the globe and see a few lights go out. I look back at North. I can barely see him now. It's like he's slowly blending in with the wall. A second later, he disappears completely. I guess we didn't have to wait that long for Pitch to change things.