A shiver courses down my spine as I step out of Mortem's portal, the sensation of water gliding off my skin giving me goosebumps and I grin up at the tall guardian. Mortem shakes their head at me but their amused smile is enough to keep me relax.
Turning, my eyes sweep the sort of conference room that we met in last time Father Time had called a meeting. Not much has changed in the past week outside the type of sea-life that are swimming by the massive windows. My eyes move toward the long table and am surprised to see the Sleep triplets already sitting there. Somnium is dozing against the table while Exterreri and Somnum are quietly chatting amongst one another. Exterreri lifts a hand in greeting and Somnium opens one eye as Mortem steers me toward a seat facing the large windows.
"Hello Mortem. Frost," Somnum says quietly, offering us a slight smile as I sit down next to them and Mortem sits on my other side. "How are the two of you today?"
"I'm all right," I answer, offering the being of sleep a smile before my eyes are drawn back to the massive window. "How are you three?"
Somnum's silver eyes crinkle in the corners as their smile expands. However, before they can answer, the door to the meeting room swings open. Ake breezes into the room, anger radiating from the moon entity as a stormy look rests upon his face as Father Time and Cato rush after him. Father Time is glaring at his sibling's back as the taller being grabs a chair directly across from Somnum and plops down.
"Ake, I really don't see what the problem is," Father Time snaps, stopping next to his fuming sibling. Cato wrings their hands next to the keeper of time, obviously wanting to say something but with the pursed lips the memory-keeper is sporting, they're holding their tongue. "Explain it to me."
"Doesn't matter how many times I explain it," Ake growls, crossing his arms as he glares at the table. "I see it and nobody else does. So, I'm going to continue being angry till you lot understand."
My eyebrows furrow and I shoot the older beings around me a look. What is Ake going on about? He can't still be mad about me going to see Conroy, is he? Or did something happen over the past two days? My lips twitch into a frown when I realize that Ake is glancing at me from the corner of his eyes. Father Time huffs, throwing his hands in the air and marches to the seat at the head of the table with Cato taking the seat to his left, shooting a worried glance toward the Man in the Moon.
Not really liking the sudden tension in the air, I shift in my seat uncomfortably. Cato's eyes flicker over to me and a soft expression appears on their face.
"Oh! Hello, Frost, Darling. Mortem. How are you faring?"
Unnerved, I shrug, not really sure if it would be welcome for me to speak. Not with how Ake is glaring at me. I guess he's still mad about my meeting with Conroy. Mortem shifts, placing their arm behind my chair but just as they open their mouth, Mother Nature's proteas flower portal blooms and in walks Mother Nature and my fellow seasonal beings.
Haru throws me a smile and sits next to Ake, directly across from me. Suki takes his other side and Kaia sits on her other side directly next to Cato. Mother Nature sits on Ake's other side, frowning as she eyes the sulking moon entity but remains silent as she scans the rest of us. When her eyes land on me, Mother Nature's hard expression softens and a ghost of a smile forms, which eases some of the tension forming in my gut.
Silence continues until, finally, a silver, gold, and black portal swirls into existence. I instantly wonder if Vita's portal feels the same way as Mortem or if it has a different feel to it. Maybe dusty like Ake's? Or something else completely? My thoughts are cut short when Vita pats my head as they pass behind me.
"Sorry that I am late, everyone. Multiple sets of twins decided today was the day to come into the world. Hope I did not miss anything."
Father Time waves the life-giver off as they sit next to Mortem.
"Don't worry about it, Vita. We haven't started yet. Ela and the rest of the seasons just arrived as well." Father Time stands, resting his palms on the table as he glances around at us. "Too be honest, I wasn't expecting to call us all together again so soon but after the events of this week, we need to."
Father Time glances at me as he speaks and I drop my gaze to the table.
"Now, I'm sure a few of you already know this story but a few days ago, young Frost here came into contact with an arctic fox, a creature that shouldn't have been in the region that he was in. Fearing that the creature was sick or lost, Frost brought it home where, do to some…unfortunate sequences of events led him to believe that the young creature died. Ake here dropped by and the two noticed something under the fox's skin that shouldn't be there. A small black chip."
Cato turns in their seat. "The two brought the fox and the chip to me in the Hall of Memories and after some further investigating we found that the fox had been dead for much longer than she was in Frost's care and that somehow, humans managed to fill her body with electronics. Even going as far as to replace her eyes with cameras."
Embarrassment eats at my stomach as the two older beings speak. I know that they need to share this with whoever isn't aware of the situation but doesn't mean it's any less embarrassing for me to hear. A hand lands on my knee, startling me. Glancing up, I peek at Mortem, but the being of death isn't looking at me. They do squeeze my knee gently and I understand that they're just trying to provide support. Breathing in deeply, I release the breath quietly as Father Time resumes speaking.
"Now, luckily, the fox wasn't streaming to anything massively important. And all of the footage is in thermal, so no features were seen and from what we saw while watching the footage, there's just no way for the humans to even figure out where Frost brought the little creature."
"Although, I am very surprised that there was no GPS chip inside the fox," Cato adds, rubbing their chin. "But, then again, we also do not believe that Frost was the main target of this experiment, just an unfortunate bystander. So, whoever planted the fox obviously didn't think that the fox would be going anywhere. Considering that the only thing on the fox that could move on its own was its head and ears."
Somnum leans forward, a slight frown on their face.
"If Frost wasn't the target, then why was it placed in an area that he frequents?"
Father Time straightens, crossing his arms as he thinks.
"The region that Frost likes to frequent is a lot of woodlands and there is even a university nearby. So, it's really not out of the realm of possibilities that some professors at the university were using a very…unconventional method of gathering data about the wildlife."
Blood drains from my face and I quickly glance down at my lap. Uh oh. I didn't tell them that Conroy was responsible for the fox, did I?
"I thought the fox was the doing of your human friend, Frost?" Kaia asks, eyes narrowing as she glances at me before turning back to Father Time.
Father Time and Cato tense as the two glance at me. Next to me, Mortem go still.
"'Human friend'?" Mortem asks quietly and a chill not from the cold runs down my spine. Father Time narrows his eyes at me as I swallow thickly.
"What's this about a human friend, Frostbite?"
"Yes, Snowflake," Ake sneers, voice biting. "Please explain to us about this 'human friend' that you've made after we all just agreed to stay away from humans."
Wincing, I bite my bottom lip, heart pounding as everyone's eyes are on me. My fellow seasons, at least, appear to hold a small amount of sympathy for me with Suki and Haru offering me encouraging smiles. Kaia merely lifts an eyebrow at me. I think she's still bitter about winter coming early this year. Sucking in a deep breath, I glance over at Mother Nature, hoping for a little more support from the one older guardian that has my back. Catching my eye, Mother Nature straightens in her chair, grey eyes flashing yellow briefly.
"Before you lot get too angry with him," Mother Nature states tersely. "I will say now that I gave him my blessing to speak with this individual."
Gasps follow Mother Nature's admission, save for Haru, Suki, Kaia, and Ake. Cato's hand flies to their mouth as they glance up at Father Time, who jerks back as if slapped. None of the Sleep triplets are dozing now as they stare at the nurturer of nature. Exterreri leans forward, confusion pinching their face.
"What? Why?"
Mother Nature juts her chin up before glancing at me, smiling.
"Frost, Sweetheart, would you care to explain to everyone what you explained to me and your fellow seasons, please?"
Gulping, I stiffly nod as everyone turns back to face me.
"First, I want to say I didn't mean to meet him," I state, clearing my throat as my voice shakes a little. "He caught me while I was on the side of the road. His name is Conroy Ignosi and is a professor at the university in the town that I live near. He and his sister have these devices that can…"
I pause, searching for the right word.
"I don't want to say track, but that's pretty much what it was that he was doing before we met. He also has these sunglasses that act like the fox's camera that allows him to see at least me. But he can't physically see me," I quickly add as Father Time pales a little. "He asked me these 'yes' or 'no' questions and anything I didn't feel comfortable answering, I didn't and he was okay with that."
I wet my lips as I fiddle with my trembling fingers.
"He gave me his business card before leaving, stating that he'd love to talk some more with me. He and his sister have spent their lives trying to prove that beings like us are real and he was curious about somethings. In return, I had asked him about the fox and he admitted that it was his and his sister's idea to use the little fox. He didn't actually think it would work and he stressed that the fox was already dead when they found her," I state, feeling anger seeping from the older entities next to me.
Father Time's lips purse but Cato rests their hand on his forearm. The Memory Keeper glances at me over their glasses.
"And did you meet with this Conroy?" Cato asks softly. I nod, flinching at the harsh inhales that resound around me.
"But Mother Nature made the rules very clear," I say quickly. "I have to let someone know that I'm meeting with him. What time and where. And I need to let someone know when I return home."
"The moment he breaks one of those, he will never see Conroy again," Mother Nature adds, jumping in when it seems that Father Time might have a heart attack.
Somnium leans around their siblings, frowning.
"And have you met with him yet?"
Uh oh. Here we go.
"Yes," I state. "Yesterday. But I have a very good reason for agreeing to meet with him!"
My shoulders tense as Mortem slips an arm around me.
"Then I suggest you share it with us, little one, because humans are not beings to take lightly."
Okay, Jack, you've got this. Just nice and steady and don't let them steam roll over you. Have them hear you out, just like Mother Nature and the other seasons have.
Lifting my head, I glance at the other guardians.
"I wanted to see if I could gain us anymore information," I say honestly. "We only have what the internet tells us, but through Conroy, I could have a direct source. He literally has a degree in a field that tries to study us." My hands clutch together and I swiftly hide a patch of frost growing on the table. "He never asked about the Aster and from what he's told me, his main goal is to just prove we exist, that's it. But other humans have been writing on it." My lips twitch. "He was quite irritated with most of the articles, stating that a lot of the things those articles were claiming as 'facts' were just people taking what he and his sister have already written about us out of context."
Cato fixes their bow tie, frowning as they think over my words.
"Frost has a point, Darling," the memory keeper states slowly, earning a sharp look from their counterpart. "We do not have any other access to the human world outside of the internet and there are just so many articles for us to shift through that it would be impossible for us to figure out just how the humans learned about the Aster. And it sounds like Frost has found a direct source. An educated man who just wants to learn more about us."
Father Time pinches the bridge of his nose.
"Educated or not, he's still a human, Cato. How do we know that we can trust this human? How do YOU know, Frostbite? What you're doing? Is dangerous. Not only for you, but for all of us." Father Time grumbles. "This should have been a decision that ALL of us were a part of, not just between you and Ela."
"And the other seasons," Ake suddenly adds. Father Time's eyebrow shoots toward his ever changing hair before leveling the other seasons with a stare. Haru and Suki squirm under the harsh stare while Kaia stares back.
"Frost came to us because he knew that we wouldn't freak out like the rest of you," Kaia states, her orange eyes flashing. "We've been in contact with humans a little more recently than some of you have been and he wanted a more unbiased opinion on meeting with this human."
I remain silent as Kaia speaks, a ping of surprise hitting me. First, she rats me out for meeting with a human and now she's defending me?
"We have every right to be freaked out," Ake snaps, glaring at the Fall sprite. "Humans have become more and more violent as the years have gone by. And they now have technology that allows them to see us!What next? Huh? Tech that can hurt us? Advanced guns that can kill us? These are serious concerns we need to be worrying about."
My eyes widen at Ake's outburst.
"Kill us? Why would they want to kill us? I mean, yeah, Conroy has those glasses and cameras, but he's been nothing but friendly toward me. Backing off when he noticed I was getting uncomfortable even."
Ake's silver eyes flash to me.
"For now. But for how long? You do know that humans do this all the time to one another, right? This is how humans lure in poor unsuspecting individuals," Ake growls. "They lure them in and—"
SLAM!
The entire table jumps and I glance over to see Vita on their feet, hand on the surface of the table. A heavy aura radiates from the ancient being and their eyes are closed.
"That is enough."
"Vita…?" Cato asks softly, as if afraid to set their older sibling off.
"I said," Vita says lowly. "That is ENOUGH. What is done is done." Vita turns to face me. "Frost, were you going out of your way to find humans?" I shake my head. "Good. Now, you and Ela have gotten a system down?" I nod. "You trust this human to not harm you?" I nod again. "Have you told him about the rest of us?" I shake my head. "He backs off when you do not want to answer a question?" I nod once more. Vita studies me closely, their face blank. I keep my gaze steady until the older entity's face relaxes and they nod. "All right. Then I think you have this under control."
"WHAT?!" Ake shouts while everyone else shoots the bringer of life various looks of surprise. Vita brushes off their robe and sits back down.
"You heard me, Ake," Vita says slowly. "Frost and Ela seem to have a system in place to keep him safe. And Frost has a point, much like Cato was saying. We need inside information and I believe Frost is the best option we have for gaining such information. He's kind, appears young, and also wants to learn, so he can benefit from the human as well. Frost is also cautious. He has shown what he will not answer and what he will. The human knows that." Vita steeples their hands together. "And all of the information that Frost gathers may benefit us in what Zaman has to tell us today."
Father Time jerks when the attention turns toward him. Clearing his throat, Father Time smooths down his shirt.
"Yes, actually. But I do warn you, Frostbite," Father Time states, leaning against the table. "I want you to be very, VERY careful about all of this because what Cato and I experienced while walking through Italy is not something I want any of you to experience."
Heavy silence falls over the room. Ake and Mother Nature are pale as they stare at their fellow sibling and Vita and Mortem are staring Cato down, causing the keeper to squirm.
"Explain," Mortem states, voice a near whisper. I wince, the air growing heavy with the anger of the four older beings. Father Time pauses, his crimson eye widening slightly before clearing his throat.
"Of course, Mortem," Father Time says, coughing into his fist. "Nothing bad happened. We were merely there following a possible lead on the little fox." I lift an eyebrow at that information but Father Time continues. "It didn't lead too much, unfortunately, but we were about to leave, Cato noticed something strange following us."
Cato nods and pulls out a small disc-like device. They toss it onto the table and a hologram screen appears above it. Gasps ring out around the room as a photo of a large, metallic animal glares at the screen. An animal that none of us have seen in many, many centuries.
"Is that a saber tooth tiger?!" Suvi asks, her voice high as she pulls her sun hat down by the flaps.
Cato nods slowly, a frown tugging on the memory-keeper's face.
"Yes, but not a living one. It was completely made of metal."
My mouth falls open as my stomach falls to my feet. An animal fully made of metal? Why would someone make something like that?
"Did…Did it attack you?" I ask, clutching at my sweatshirt sleeves. Cato shakes their head and the knot in my stomach loosens a little.
Father Time glares at the hologram.
"No, we didn't give it enough time to reach us, but it was definitely tracking us."
Bail raises in my throat. Tracking them? Why would that thing be tracking them?
Mother Nature reaches out for the hologram and expands it. Her eyes flash between yellow to red then back to yellow as she studies the image.
"How do you know it was tracking you? And did you happen to see any markers that might tell us who created this thing?"
I sense more than see Father Time and Cato glance at me but I keep my focus on the scary looking image. The time keeper drums his fingers on the table but when he inhales to speak, Cato cuts him off.
"We did an experiment to see if it was truly after us. Zaman and I decided to take a detour through a few cities. Rome, Pompeii, you name it, we went to it. The robot feline was there. Watching us."
Father Time growls.
"And due to the energy we felt radiating from it, we didn't want to get too close to it, unsure what it might do, so we never saw if there were any identity markers on it. But, then again, the fox didn't have any markings on her or her equipment either." I glance at the red-eyed being when he glances at me again. "We did think that it was the human who put the electronics inside that poor fox. But hearing that he was in the Americas yesterday puts a little wrinkle in that."
Ake snorts.
"Oh, does it? Because it sounds like your little stalker can move very quickly. Why should it matter if its human creator is nearby or not? He could have sent it away, having it run around the Earth, searching for any invisible beings."
My lips purse as I glare at Ake. Why is he so sure that Conroy is the cause of all of this? Mother Nature, however, beats me to the punch.
"Will you knock it off?" She snaps, turning blazing eyes on Ake. "We have no evidence of that. For all we know, this machine could be from a whole separate group! I mean, look at it! This seems like a major step above putting a camera inside of a dead fox! Why in the cosmos would they use such primitive technology only to then send that monstrosity out? That doesn't make any sense. Now, stop pointing fingers until you have all the facts." Mother Nature gestures to the image. "If it turns out that we're wrong and that the human was responsible, then you can say 'I told ya so'. But until then, stop pointing fingers just because you don't like humans!"
Whoa.
My eyes flicker over to my fellow seasons. Haru, Suvi, and Kaia appear just as uneasy as I feel, meeting my gaze. Suvi pulls her hat down further and Kaia swiftly looks away, tucking her chin into her jacket's fur. Haru merely shrugs, lips in a tight line, troubled eyes leaving mine to watch Mother Nature.
Ake's pale face colors at Mother Nature's scolding. After a second, Ake scuffs and crosses his arms.
"Fine, I'll lay off. But don't come crying to me when Frost's little human turns out to be like all the rest."
My fingers ache from clutching my sweatshirts' sleeves too tightly. I don't plan to go crying to him at all. Not when he's been so bitter about this entire situation. The sound of a chair scraping on the floor quickly brings everyone's attention back to the rest of the table.
"All right," Vita states, moving to get a better look at the image. "I think we need to come up with a plan. We do not know if this creature was only sent to observe you. Seems a little elaborate for just an observation mission." Vita twists the image while staring at the creature. "And I feel like more humans would have been terrified about seeing a creature that should be extinct. So, can this creation cloak itself? Can it teleport? What else can it do?" Vita rubs their chin, a deep thoughtful look on their face. "I feel like we need do more research on this thing."
Observe the thing? How in the snow-globe are we supposed to do that? By going and finding it?
I wince.
If that thing can teleport, how do we know that it won't harm us? What if it's goal IS to harm us? Nausea rolls in my gut as I glance at Father Time and Cato. Was that thing doing more than just stalking them? Was it waiting for a moment to harm them?
"And how do we expect to do that?" Somnum asks, pinching the bridge of their nose before they glance at the life bringer. "Wander around the earth until that thing appears? 'Cause I know you know this, Vita, but most of us can't just drop everything to do that. And those of us who might have the time could be in major danger. Frost and Suki are currently busy with winter in the Northern Hemisphere and summer in the Southern Hemisphere. Kaia and Haru need rest. Kaia just finished fall and Haru needs time to prepare for spring after winter. So, that just leaves Ela, Ake, Zaman, and Cato."
Mother Nature straightens and crosses her arms, a troubled look on her face.
"I don't have enough time right now to do some sort of goose-chase scouting mission. I need to have items ready for Haru for spring and am too far behind after the extended heat in my garden. Now that it's cooler, I have the time to work and every second counts."
The room goes silent for a moment before Exterreri clears their throat.
"Well, the three of us can keep an eye out when we go out across the world," Exterreri states, leaning back in their chair. "We cover more ground a day than either you or Mortem, Vita."
Father Time nods slowly, eyes narrowing in thought, the shifting of his hair growing faster for a moment as he thinks. He slowly nods and his hair resumes its normal speed for shifting.
"All right. So, Ake, Cato, and I will start scoping out and figuring out just what that thing wants and who created it."
"Am I allowed to crush it?" Ake asks, a twinge of hope in his voice before pouting when Cato shakes their head.
"If it does end up attacking us, we need most of it still intact so that we can study it closer." Cato offers the other being a placating smile. "But if it does end up attacking us, Zaman and I will let you get the first hit in, okay?"
Ake grumbles but nods as he runs a frustrated hand through his hair, not moving a single strand. His silver eyes flicker to me before he glances at his sibling.
"So, then when do we leave?"