Of the Northmost Winds and Skies

Chapter 33: Alva connects the dots

Jack dreamed he walked on ice.

He dreamed he was sitting in the hull of a rowing boat, cold water up to his hips. Only the water outside the boat – the whole sea around him – was frozen. He dreamed he stood and looked down at his boots, watching himself take a step forward. He dreamed his hands shook.

He woke up with a silent jolt.

He was in the hut on Alva's island. The room was dark and all he could hear was his own frantic heartbeat and, eventually, the soft sound of breathing. He turned around to see Jamie and Hiccup, each curled up on their bearskins. Toothless lay on his stomach, the green of his eyes barely visible through the crack between his eyelids. He watched Jack without making any noise. Baby Tooth was nowhere to be seen.

His body moved on its own, as if it knew where it was going before Jack did. He held back a groan as he stood, his body aching all over. His staff lay beside him, and he grabbed it, then had to lean heavily on it when his vision blackened for a moment. He felt so weak.

His trek to the front door was a slow one, carefully trying each floorboard before stepping on it, as to avoid any creaking. He was afraid Toothless would follow, but the dragon remained by Hiccup's side, as if he was guarding him. A part of Jack wanted to check on him first, check on both him and Jamie, but he couldn't. Not yet.

He closed the front door as softly as he could, then slowly faced the ocean.

It glinted back at him in the moonlight, calm and almost unmoving. Almost, but still definitely moving.

He started walking towards the docks, but Baby Tooth's chirping nearly made his soul leave his body.

"Gods! Baby Tooth, you..." He sighed, bringing a hand to his chest. Baby Tooth tweeted apologetically, and Jack shook his head. "It's okay, you just scared me. Hey..." He looked at her. Looked at the way she moved, if her wings still beat in the same, invisible rhythm, and if all her feathers were in place. She seemed... normal. If not a bit worried, but that was also normal. "How long have I been asleep?"

Baby Tooth held up one tiny finger.

"A day?"

She nodded.

Jack tried swallowing, but his mouth was too dry. He nodded, then headed for the shore.

If Jack remembered correctly, there was a rowing boat missing from the pier. And then there was the matter of how weak he felt, almost weaker than when Pitch had thrown him down that crevice in Antarctica. But as he walked to the edge of the pier and looked out at the sea, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. That, and Alva's island was devoid of snow; the thought that there had been a blizzard seemed impossible.

Not impossible – just improbable.

"Could it have been a dream?" Jack asked hopefully.

He expected a chirp for answer, but what he got instead made his heart skip a beat a second time:

"It wasn't a dream."

Jack let out a heavy sigh. "Jamie," he said, turning around. He stood just a few meters away. His skin was deathly pale in the moonlight, but what scared Jack more was the dotting of tiny scratches all across his face. Jack felt the boards move sickeningly beneath him. He nearly stumbled in his hurry to get to him.

"I'm okay, Jack," Jamie quickly said, his dry lips pulling up into a reassuring smile. "Just a bit scratched up. Nothing worse than you."

Jack found it hard to speak. He hadn't really believed it, but he had hoped that maybe, just this time, luck was on his side, and the nightmare on the fairies' island hadn't really happened. And if that hadn't really happened, then Jack's dream of ice would have been just that as well – a dream.