There's Ice in His Veins (A Jack Frost Fanfic)

Chapter 2: New Moon

"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." -Anton Chekhov

***

The whole time I talked, Jagalan stared at me with the widest, shiniest eyes I'd ever seen someone have. She never interrupted or put in a comment until I was completely finished.

"Do you think I'm crazy now?" I ask.

She gazes at the sky and squints, thinking. "If you're saying that only me and another man can see you, then I guess that makes us crazy too."

"I killed that man," I say shakily, my voice cracking.

"I don't think you did," she says. "You said you had no control, and you didn't remember anything until the next morning, right?" I nod. "Did you happen to get a look at yourself at all?"

"Well, no. I passed out." I furrow my eyebrows, thinking she must have a point.

"Maybe your hair turns black, and that's why there's that one streak," she insinuates. "Did you get angry before that? Were you irritated?"

I reluctantly think back to that night. "I guess so, yeah. The guy kept talking and got on my nerves, and the next thing I knew I was waking up in the woods."

Jagalan suddenly picks up a handful of snow and throws it right in my face.

"Whoa! What the hell Jagalan?" I wipe the snow off my face and block another throw from her. "What're you doing?"

"Trying to make you mad," she says. "Then we can see what's happening, well, I'll see, and I can tell you."

"Jagalan, if I get angry around you, I'll most likely kill you and then I'll have no chance at figuring this out," I say. "So let's keep you alive, yeah?"

"I have to know exactly what happens, Jack. I've never heard something like your case before, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth looking in to."

"How about this: we figure out what's wrong with me and how to calm me down, and then we make me angry and test it out."

She bites her lip. "Fine."

I nod slowly. I've accepted the fact that I have a companion now, and I think she'll be a massive help. She knows everything about the moon; she has to know how to fix this.

"Do you have any theories?" I ask, expecting a shake of her head and a sigh.

Instead, she lights up. "I do!"

"Hold on, let's walk and talk. There's a library in a big village nearby, if we're where I think we are, and we should start there if we want research," I say.

"Okay." She jumps up and offers me a hand, but I reject it, using my staff. "So I think that since you said you feel this connection with the moon, it obviously has something to do with her." her fingers poke out of fingerless gloves, "I can't see the moon doing anything evil," her eyes dart here and there around the forest, the snowflakes in her eyelashes shining, "but that's not a guarantee." Her mouth is light pink and her tongue reflects silver in the light, "I'm wondering if something went wrong in the transformation process." I suddenly want to kiss her, someone I've known for as little as three hours.

Snap out of it, Jack.

"Yeah, those sound legitimate," I say truthfully. "Hopefully some books can give us insight."

"That's all I have for now," she adds.

We walk in silence, me leading the way. She steps in my bare footprints with her boots and hums, seemingly jittery and eager.

"You're restless, aren't you?" I ask with an amused laugh.

She grins and stops jumping to knock snow off branches to fall into step beside me.

"My dad always says that. He tells me I need to be moving, and that I have too much energy for my own good. I guess he's right."

I shrug. "Being around people like you makes me remember that living is a one time thing, so you should go as far as you can before it's over and just..." I shrug again. "Just be yourself and have fun while you can."

"That's a good way to live," she says softly. "My dad's a selenologist too. That's how I got started."

"He taught you everything you needed to know?"

"No." She laughs. "He gave me a stack of books and a roll of maps and said: "start reading"."

"Then you must be an independent thinker."

"I like to think of it that way. How far is this place?"

"Ahh, about a few miles. We could take a shortcut if you want."

"Depends what the shortcut is."

I smirk and grab her gloved hand, shooting ice out of my staff and jumping on top of it. We slide down the hill, and I keep the ice track up to date, pulling Jagalan along. She laughs and tries to get ahead of me, but I pull her back, threatening to let go.

We make a sharp turn and pick up speed as we go down a steeper hill. There are more trees down here, and avoiding them becomes more challenging.

I manage though, and soon enough the town comes into view, but we can't just skate in. All the citizens would see is a strange girl sliding on ice appearing from nowhere.

I skid to a stop too fast, and Jagalan bumps into me, making us both fall into the snow.

We lie on our backs and laugh enough that my lungs start to feel warm again.

"That was fun," she says.

"I agree!" What feels like a mini shock goes through me, and I cough for a minute, feeling my head go fuzzy.

"Are you okay?" I hear her ask.

I nod and stop coughing. The fuzziness disappears and my lungs go cold again as soon as I breathe in. "Just choked on the air," I lie. "C'mon, the library is only open for so long."

I help her up, breathing in her sweet scent of candles and warm elements.