To Ally with the Guardians

Chapter 11: Haven

"Matt?"

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Mallory clutched his children against him as Fearlings and Nightmares filled the air, Jamie for once not protesting at being held so closely. Children around them were screaming, especially the ones that were falling from the sky near the middle. Sophie was crying in her dad's arms, and the Guardians were shouting at various people and creatures. North ordered the Yetis around while Bunny argued with him about something indistinguishable above all the other noise and yelled at the egg statues. Jack was near the Bennetts trying to tell them something Mallory couldn't hear (it probably was just about the danger), and Sandy spoke to Tooth using golden symbols above his head before she flew off toward the main assortment of tunnels.

Nightmares were shrieking, adding to the constant high drone of sound, but there were two things Mallory could hear in spite of it all as he tried to tell Jack he didn't know what the winter spirit was saying. The first was Mallory's heartbeat pounding in his ears as the Warren became plagued with danger. The second was Whisper's voice.

"Have you seen Matt?" Mallory heard this as clear as if he and she had been alone in a quiet room.

Sophie held on to him more tightly, and he failed to find Whisper in the commotion of people sprinting and wailing and creatures running. He knew she would be unable to hear him anyway, so he shook his head so hard it made him a little dizzy and mouthed a "no," hoping Whisper would see and that Jack wouldn't take the response as something for him. The last Mallory had seen of Matt had been right before the former had deemed it safest to rush his children to the Guardians. The L.E.R. had probably been about to perform another curing stunt anyway, something he would greatly prefer not to take part in until a cure that didn't curse was discovered, especially because of the whole "doomed soul" thing.

But what if his kids were turned into Fearlings? This question spun around in Mallory's head as he tried to fold himself over Jamie and Sophie as much as possible. Some of the Yetis formed a semicircle around the children against a grassy hill, others intermingling with the kids.

Bunny's daughter had become a Fearling. Wasn't it possible that Pitch might decide to take vengeance by turning Mallory's children into those shadows? Would the father end up having to use the same cure he feared? If he and his kids became Fearlings, they could all die. Bunny and the L.E.R. may try to defend their lives, but how successful would they be? How successful had they been in defending Haven and Vivian thus far?

Perhaps this was why Mallory felt a sudden concern for the teens as he watched the Fearlings swoop and swerve around the children in the Warren. The L.E.R. had been all right with so many threats until now, but how much longer would it be until its members were in too much danger? That had to be why Whisper was looking for Matt, to make sure he was safe. But why him in specific? Why not Angelia and Duran?

The Yetis bringing two struggling figures into the protected semicircle answered Mallory's question. The teens fought with sharp blades in the rapidly dimming light to get back out, but it wasn't working. The Yetis were clearly much more skilled at wielding their own weapons.

Angelia then pulled out a bag of something and began throwing the things at the Fearlings above them, and Duran did the same.

But Matt was missing.

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At first, Matt only stared at the short-haired figure in front of him, making sure that his eyes weren't deceiving him as he also secretly searched for his curing orbs.

"Won't you answer me?" The voice was familiar in two different ways. It from his dreams and his nightmares, something to love and something to fear. It was Haven's voice, but yet it was also a Fearling's. The innate quality of it was still there, but it was also twisted, corrupted, distorted. It belonged to her, and yet it didn't.