Identities Unknown

A Month Later

(heyo! what a doozy this has been! Thanks for your continuous support! hope you enjoy this chapter!)

Zane

It has been over a month, and I still cannot get over the bizarre phenomenon that occurred during the fall break.

I had been trapped under the ice, fully unconscious, but the next thing I knew, I was on top of the fully frozen lake. There was not a single scratch on me, nor did I feel any sign of sickness, which is highly unusual, even for someone with such good health as mine. I saw no way that I could have gotten out, and no one was nearby that knew what happened.

Ever since then, I have felt a peculiar connection to the cold, especially ice. Many times I have seen the falcon that led me to the house in the forest, only he frequently led me to a much farther area of the woods that is known as Birchwood Forest. It is well known for always being cold and snowy, no matter the season. I would always stop at the border, however, not sure if I should go farther than that. I felt a strong urge to cross the line and continue following the falcon every time I went there, but I forced myself to ignore it and go back home.

Now, I am school during the second to last day before our long winter break, but I cannot focus on the lessons for the life of me. I keep staring out the window, my mind traveling back to the edge of Birchwood Forest, longing to go beyond the border.

"Perhaps Mr. Hence can tell us," the teacher is saying, causing me to snap back into reality. "Zane, do you know the answer?"

"U-um..." My mind races to remember the question. The teacher's annoyed yet suspicious squint does not help me. "Twenty-seven?"

She hesitates, then smiles. "That is correct. Thank you for paying attention!" She then proceeds to tell us more about factorial operations, a topic that I have already known quite well for a while now.

I glance over to find Cole is not paying attention, as usual, but he is strangely not writing something in his notebook or doodling or even listening to music. He has seemed quite distant since the day he returned from mountain climbing, which happened to be the same day that I was stuck in the ice. At first I had figured he maybe somehow heard about what had happened, but when I asked he gave no indication of knowing what I was talking about, so I let it slide.

Not very long after that incident, I heard about an avalanche that had happened on the same day as his mountain climbing, as well as the same mountain he had said he would be climbing. I confronted him about it, but he refused to talk about it, causing more suspicion to grow in me and wonder if he had even been to the mountain at all.

For the most part, however, Cole has been acting pretty similar. He still eats the cookies that show up at our house every other weekday. He still talks to girls and guys and makes friends of the students and enemies of the teachers. In fact, we have slowly started to form some kind of group. It involves Kai and Nya Smith-the siblings we had met on the first day-along with Lloyd Garmadon, who is actually quite nice despite the prejudices everyone else has against him, and Jay Walker, the not-so-new-anymore transfer student. Sometimes Skylor Chen–Kai's "good friend"–and Princess Harumi–Lloyd's girlfriend–join us too.

The bell rings, signaling lunch time. I stand and head over to Cole, set on asking him about what had happened during the fall break. I grab his arm when I reach him, and he flinches slightly, looking back at me in confusion.

"Zane? You okay, bro?" He wonders, and I shake my head.

"We need to talk," I inform him, pulling him out through the hall into the cafeteria. We get our lunches and sit down. "Something happened on the Wednesday of our fall break...."