43 | TROUBLE ARISING

   WINTER Frost is stubborn when it comes to Harold James Hook. That is a fact. And if Jonah Flynn is being honest with himself, this fact about his best friend truly impressed him. Even Jonah, who was as hardheaded and rough as they came, did not believe that even he could deny the charms of the dark pirate as long as Winter has.

However, despite this stubbornness, there were certain things that Winter simply could not say no to. Most of these things involved Harry Hook or even Jonah Flynn whirling her off into some chaotic situation. While she did not like these little "adventures", she still allowed the boys to force her into them.

Now, "force" was a bit of a stretch. Even though Jonah teased her by often picking her up and simply carrying her somewhere—they all knew that if Winter truly and wholeheartedly did not want to go, then she would not.

Take that Halloween Party that the school put on a few weeks back. Winter said that she did not want to go; however, the thing was that if she truly did not want to go, then she would not have. It did not matter how much Uma or Harry pushed, had she truly not wanted to go then Winterfell would actually put her foot down and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

That is why Jonah became suspicious when he did not spot so much as a hair of Winter during the tournament. The tournament was now halfway over, and Winter was supposed to show up over an hour ago.

Now, this would not be so disquieting if Winter had not wanted to show up. But that was the thing, she had wanted to show up. A few months back maybe she was a bit more hesitant and reserved about it, but now that she and Harry had grown closer, Winter wanted to be here to show her support for the VK turned right.

It was not like these Swords and Shields matches were no big deal either. In actuality, it was kind of history being made. The first time that children of heroes and legends would not fight against the children of villains and criminals but rather alongside them.

Especially considering that this was the first match in which they would compete side-by-side. Yes, it was certainly history in the making.

It was the start of a bright new future for the people of Auradon. One where everyone was capable of writing their own legacies rather than the ones were given to them by their parents.

"And that is another victory for Li Lonnie, this brings Auradon up by a whopping fifty points...!"

Jonah easily ignored the spokesman announcing yet another victory for their school. Auradon was having a far easier time wiping the floor with the competitors than they previously thought. Both the boy's and girls' teams were up by over fifty points.

It was not like the Swords and Shields team had sucked before the new VK's had come, but they were nowhere near this amazing.

Jonah watched as Harry came up to spar once again. He had already gone against three people and won every match within seconds. He was no doubt the best male sword wielder on the floor. Jay came in a close second, but while he excelled at tricky maneuvers and fancy dodges—Harry excelled at the actual sword-wielding part.

It was only as Harry beat his opponent in twenty seconds flat, another new record, (he had been setting a lot of those tonight) and his eyes flashed up to the stands that Jonah had enough. He knew Harry was trying to find Winter, no doubt wanting to impress her with his skills.

But there was no Winter to be found. Only Harry's two sisters cheering with the rest of the female Swords and Shields team and his other friends up in the stands clapping. Evie and Mal whooped while Carlos waved ecstatically.

It made Harry's mouth quirk ever-so-slightly. Sometimes it was weird for him to think that they had ever started off as the worst of enemies.

Jonah suddenly stood up from his seats in the stands with such a ferocity it drew a few eyes. The gym was loud with the sounds of cheering and swords clashing—the smell of hot popcorn from the snack bar and sweat from the athletes at an all-time high.

Sometimes Jonah felt like even more of an outcast than the VK's. Sure, the VK's were the children of villains and such, but at least they had a place in the mythical stories that most held. For Jonah, his parents were not in any books and they did not have that classic happily ever after that the others did.

No, his story was much different and very very complicated. Jonah rarely spoke of his upbringing and where he came from to anyone, it was why barely anyone at Auradon Prep knew who Jonah's father, Sam Flynn, was. That along with the fact that Jonah came from the city, the residents of Auradon rarely ventured to the cities of the country.

Auradon itself, while it was the capital, truly was not a city as much as it was a large and fancy town. Not even the Isle was comparable to a city. Sometimes Jonah snickered at the thought of anyone native to Auradon: villain or not, trying to understand the ways of city living.

It was simply too different from what they were used to. Even the Isle, while it was rough and you had to fight to survive, it was a separate kind of rough that the city is.

While the city is arguably much safer than the Isle, it still had its own dangers and surprises around every corner.

Jonah himself, by all technicalities, was not even completely human. Again, it was a very long story that only Winter knew the full details of. At Auradon Prep, she was the only person to know his full story.

It was a large part of how they even became best friends in the first place. Way back in their sophomore year, Winter managed to get caught up in Jonah's crap.

Together, they had the adventure of a lifetime, but neither of them ever spoke of it again. Instead, they remained close friends—only talking about it when they were certain no one else was listening in.

But that was a story for another time.

Jonah was snapped back to reality once again by the warm hand of Evie. He looked down, meeting the dark gaze of Evie herself, the girl staring at him with worry. Doug held a similar expression from where he sat next to her as did the rest of the group of friends.

Seeing as almost half of the usual group was currently down on the floor competing, the members present were limited. Not to mention the other member (who was supposed to be here) was currently missing.

"Everything okay, Jonah?" Jane's voice drifted over the loud cheering, Evie still holding onto his hand comfortingly.

Jonah slowly nodded his head, and gently released himself from Evie's grip. He wondered at times like this if Evie had taken on this comforting "motherly" persona that she was so well-known for because of her own upbringing. It was no secret that none of the VKs parents were the kindest, but they all had their own tales and versions of childhood.

For example, the Queen of Hearts may have been horrid, but she always gave her children a Christmas. And while Maleficent was as wicked as they came, she did always stick up for Mal to others and made sure she was treated as the best of the best by all on the Isle.

Evie, in particular, was raised much odder than the others. Her mother, in a way, was warmer than other parents of the Isle, but at the same time, she was harsher in terms of raising Evie to be perfect. It's almost like breeding a show-dog, training them in all of the worst ways.

Evie never realized it until coming to Auradon, but her mother was manipulative to the extreme. It was why Evie tried her best to be nothing like the Evil Queen that is her mother.

Because Evie knew that she could be better—that she is better.

"Yeah, yeah, everything is fine," Jonah waved Jane off, the last thing he wanted to do was set his friends off.

They had all grown rather protective of Winter Frost. And it was not because she could not handle herself; hell, Winter could put the fear of God in people if she really wanted to. Especially when Jonah inevitably came crawling to her for the answers on the homework he always seemed to forget about.

There was just something about the way that her doe eyes would light up in the most innocent of ways that made others want to shield her. It was hard because Winter was pure but she was not innocent. Jonah could see it deep down in her every time he looked into her eyes.

Such warm rings of chocolate that spoke of untold kindness, but he could also see that somewhere along the way she had been through it. Jonah was not exactly sure what it was, nor had any idea of what it could be, but he knew.

It was all in the way she held herself. Small things like when you snuck up on her and not only did she jump, but she braced herself as though preparing for the worst. The way she would sometimes drift off and her eyes glazed over in an anxious manner. Or the way she would sometimes clutch things a bit too tightly, as though terrified that something was bound to jump out and snag her.

Jonah had no clue what could have caused this and he had a feeling some of the other royals knew, but it was like some unspoken rule to never talk about Winter's past or who Winter is in general.

It was like she was nothing more than a simple pretty princess who gets perfect grades. Nothing more, nothing less.

Jonah wondered if anyone else noticed these things about her. Probably not.

The others simply had not known her as long as Jonah. Eventually, they would see these things, and eventually, someone would ask her about it. Perhaps then Winter would be willing to open up, perhaps then she would tell her story.

"I'm just going to go find Winter," Jonah finally said, putting on a small smirk, "she probably fell asleep after pushing herself to the brink of exhaustion with schoolwork. You know how she is. But she'll feel really bad if she misses this..." he explained.

He hoped his own words were the truth. But Jonah had an off-feeling as though something was wrong. Warning bells rang loudly in his head, and he desperately hoped that he'd find Winter curled in a ball under her warm sheets.

Sometimes even the easiest things were too much to ask for though.

"Ooh yeah," Mal nodded, "you're right, probably should go grab her," she was leaned against Ben, but started to sit up.

"I can come with you," she offered, ready to stand, but Jonah shook his head.

"No, it's okay," he denied, "I'll be quick, besides, wouldn't want to miss this oh-so-exciting violence you've been cheering for,"

Ben snickered at the sarcastic words, but Mal only smirked at Jonah. She leaned back casually, nodding her head.

"Yeah, that's true," Mal spoke just as Uma accidentally hit some girl too hard and her arm started bleeding.

"HAHA!" Mal barked with laughter while others gasped and a few looked at her with wide eyes.

Ben's eyes widened and he whispered a harsh, "Mal!"

Jonah only shook his head, he was really glad the VKs came. They were so much more fun than most of the other native Auradonians. He walked off soon after, making his way through the stands. He vaguely heard the announcer giving another point to Auradon, but he paid no mind as he finally got to the gym ground and made his way to the double doors.

As he passed by the sidelines to the match, he briefly made eye contact with Harry Hook. The pirate's stormy gaze spoke volumes, and his dark hair stuck to his forehead in a matted mess. That sharp handsome face of his seemed right at home in the match.

Seriously, Jonah did not know how Winter had held out for so long.

He delivered a quick smile to Harry, the pirate returning it with a mischievous one of his own. However, Jonah ducked out of the gym right after and started his way across campus.

He whistled a random tune as he walked, the moonlight twinkling and bouncing off his sandy locks. It was so interesting. Jonah was a streak of red in a group of black and whites. He did not belong in the slightest, how could he with his denim addiction and hard rock appeal?

This boy belonged right in the heart of the city and yet here he was, in a school of princes and princesses and people from fairytales. What a sight indeed.

As he wandered, a much smaller frame suddenly ran into his own from the side. Jonah let out an "oof" but barely moved an inch. He turned his head, meeting the familiar dark gaze of Freddie Facilier.

The light-skinned African American girl was as pretty as ever. Her ever curly hair is teaming with grey streaks that seemed to shine under the moonlight, and it was pulled down into two pigtails.

The older sibling to Celia was not very tall, but she was as tricky as anyone would expect the "Shadow Man's" daughter to be. Jonah would be lying if he said that Freddie had not hypnotized him with her bewitching looks and mysterious nature as well.

In fact, he has been so hypnotized by her that Freddie may or may not be on the list of the many people he had screwed silly in this school. It was a wonder that the Fairy Godmother still had not caught him in the act.

"Freddie?" Jonah finally questioned, wondering why she was wandering about by herself.

Freddie stared at Jonah quietly for a few seconds before her eyes lit up in a panic. When Winter had come to her asking about that ouija board earlier, Freddie had been very clear about the rules.

One: never play in a graveyard.

Freddie was not worried about that rule, Auradon Prep was located very far from the nearest graveyard. Of course they were, there would be no silly things such as a boneyard tainting the pristine nature of this school.

But they still put the school so close to the barrier for the purpose of having a beach.

Rule number two: always say goodbye.

Freddie was also not worried about that one. Winterfell was no bimbo, nor was she daft. She would remember to say goodbye, that Freddie was sure of.

It was the last rule she had been slightly suspicious of.

Rule number three: never play alone.

Freddie was suspicious of this because she knew that none of the VKs would play this game with her, nor would they even allow her to play if they knew what she was up to. They had been around freaky and bad stuff like this all their lives, there was no way they would go near it or even allow anyone else to go near that hoodoo stuff.

Especially, Harry Hook—there was no way he would approve of Winter doing this. Now, it was not like he controlled anything Winter did, but something like this was different. It was dangerous.

No real friend should allow someone they love to play with an ouija board.

It was because of this that she demanded Winter to tell her who she was planning to play with before lending it to her. Winter was smart, and she realized the same thing about the VKs.

It was why the answer slipped past her lips like honey.

Jonah would play with her. And it was believable because he was no VK, but he was also no royal prissy, and he liked this kind of stuff. He was always trying to do something that would get him in trouble.

Freddie believed her, and so she lent Winter that ouija board.

But seeing Jonah Flynn standing before her now... oh, how could Freddie be so gullible?!

She cursed.

Winter did play alone.

"Damn it! Jonah, where is Winter?" Freddie exclaimed, and the bright fear in her eyes had Jonah pausing.

"What do you mean? I was just about to go find her, I haven't seen her for a few hours now," he said slowly, beginning to panic at Freddie cursing and shifting nervously.

"Why? Freddie, what's going on?" Jonah demanded.

The moonlight bounced off of them both, casting shadows on the ground below their feet.

Freddie grabbed the ends of her long pigtails, tugging and biting her lip. "I lent Winter an ouija board earlier..." she finally ground out after a few moments, closing her eyes right after.

Jonah stood in shock: he almost could not believe what he was hearing. What?

"You did what?" Jonah asked in confusion, but panic was beginning to seep into his tone. "Why would you do something like that—?"

"Because she asked for it, genius!" Freddie snapped earning a huff from the male in front of her. "She came to me a few hours ago and asked for an ouija board, said she was trying to be adventurous for once! I told her the rules with it, I was very clear with them too! And I warned her of the potential dangers! But she assured me that she would be following all the rules, was not scared of dangers, and she said she was playing with you!"

"WHAT?!" Jonah exploded at the last part.

Because seeing as he and Winter had most definitely not played with an ouija board in the last few hours or EVER, you could say he was the tiniest bit panicked.

"I can tell by that reaction that's probably not true..." Freddie sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head.

Wow, just wow. These Auradon royals really were as stupid as she was raised to believe.

"No, I did not play with her, and no one I know did either! We've all been at the Swords and Shields tournament!"

"Shit," Freddie stared at Jonah, "if she played alone..."

"What?" Jonah asked frantically, "what happens if you play alone?"

Freddie did not answer for a few moments, instead, she reached up and grabbed Jonah's shoulders.

"We need to find Winter now! Where the hell is she, Jonah?" Freddie breathed, her pupils blown wide.

Jonah did not say anything more, simply turning tail and racing toward Winter's dorm room. Freddie was right behind him, both of them running as fast as they could. Jonah did not know exactly what was going on, but he knew if a VK was this frightened over someone playing alone, then it must lead to bad a outcome.

Seeing as it was the first Swords and Shields match of the season, there were not too many students out and about the campus. Since it was still the middle of the match, many were still inside the gym cheering on their school.

The only students Freddie and Jonah passed as they ran were the smarter students who studied or the ones who were uninterested in athletics. Funnily enough, that was the type of student that Winter was, so it really should not be too odd of her to not turn up.

But after hearing everything Freddie said, it was obvious that something was wrong.

All of them had noticed something very off with Winter the entire day. She did not show up for breakfast, and while that was not something totally weird for her to do when each of them inevitably did run into her it looked as though she had been hit by a train.

Winter was always very put together, but today not-so-much. Along with the heavy eye bags (as though she got no sleep), her hair was haphazardly thrown in a half-done low bun, and her outfit was not pressed—hell her buttons were only somewhat done.

When it came to Winter Frost, something like that was weird. Not only was it weird, but it was a red flag. Everyone, especially Harry, had tried prying on what was wrong with her, but she would only give the same answer.

She did not sleep much last night.

And when they tried asking why, then she evaded the question. Because everyone was getting ready for the match, they were not fretting over her as much as they normally would. However, Jonah had already told himself (and he was sure the others had too) that if by tomorrow Winter was still acting the same, then he would step in.

He wished he had fretted more.

Jonah cursed, he should have pushed for the truth harder.

The doors to the common room at the bottom of the dorm building were practically ripped off as Jonah stormed in with Freddie at his heels. Thankfully, no one was around to witness this. They ran through the hallways, flying up the staircases until they reached the third floor to the Morton Hall dormitory building.

The lights cast an almost eery glow to the hallways, the darkness of the night traveling through the window. Without all the normal students whizzing through the hallways, it looked dead and the silence was deafening.

Freddie swallowed, she could sense a whole lot of dark magic. And when she said dark magic—she meant it. This was some serious shit, even worse than the stuff she had been around on the Isle. In fact, this sort of evil was something that Freddie had not yet come across.

It made her body quake and caused her nerves to buzz. She could not identify exactly what evil this was, but it already terrified her. There was the lingerings of a very very dark presence: something on the scale of Hades dark.

Freddie suddenly stopped, she grabbed the ends of Jonah's jacket stopping him as well.

"What the hell? What're you doing?" Jonah snarked, turning to look at the shorter girl.

Freddie gave him a serious look in return, "there is a really dark presence here. We need to careful..." she trailed off at the end.

Jonah only looked at her for a second, but slowly he nodded his head and turned back around. The two were more cautious, their footsteps quiet as they made their way to Winter's room. Jonah was leading the way.

They paused outside a door labeled 𝟸𝟹𝟽 in bright gold lettering. Jonah swallowed heavily as the light above them in the hallways began flickering. He and Freddie gave each other looks, both turning their heads to face the door once again.

It was then that Jonah noticed the door had been cracked just a tad, it made his heart pound. Winter never left her dorm door open.

Finally, his eyes turned hard with determination. Reaching forward, he grasped the handle and the door let out a small shriek as he opened it. Freddie stood behind, peaking over his shoulder and mentally going over every incantation she knew in case something was waiting for them inside.

And as the door opened, revealing the interior to Winterfell Frost's room—Jonah's heart sank. He had never seen Winter's room messy, and yet at this very moment it appeared as though a tornado had hit it.

Her small couch was flipped backward, her bedsheets torn apart, every mirror was shattered and some had the remnants of blankets covering them. Half of the dorm room lights had gone out, the ones still intact were flickering heavily.

Clothes and shoes—some ripped were strewn everywhere. Notes, books, papers scattered all across the floor. Freddie gasped and Jonah brought a hand up to cover his mouth in horror.

The buzzing of the flickering lights was the only thing they were greeted with.

Freddie closed her eyes momentarily, and she nearly stumbled at the dark energy oozing from near every corner. This was worse than Maleficient, it made her stomach churn and she wanted to do nothing more than run away.

Anyone who was adept in the art of magic would feel this pulsing darkness, and it was enough to make Freddie want to curl up into a ball and cry. She knew immediately that this was the work of some sort of evil spirit.

"WINTER!" Jonah finally burst out, stumbling into the room and looking around.

The television was static, glitching every other second. Her curtains were also drawn closed.

Jonah already knew that Winter was not in the room, but he hoped desperately that there was still a chance. He ripped open her closet doors, seeing nothing but what her closet normally looked like. Surprsingly, it appeared as though whatever had destroyed the room had not touched the closet.

The bathroom door was open, and as Jonah approached it, he found the mirror in here shattered as well. Glass sprawled over the floor, the shards cracking under the heaviness of his boots. Her shower curtain was torn and Jonah nearly gagged when he saw the bathtub.

He did not even know how, but some sort of black murky stuff filled the tub slightly. It was dark and anything beneath it was unseeable. Jonah had no clue what it was, but he truly did not think he wanted to know.

His breathing turned heavy and he whirled around and walked out of the bathroom. Freddie still stood in the doorway, her eyes turning foggy and her face pale. Jonah suddenly screamed in frustration, pulling at his hair roots.

Freddie's breathing was picking up, and she wished more than anything that she had not lent that poor princess the ouija board. What the hell had she been thinking? She had heard enough stories of the dangers involving hoodoo from her father, but seeing something like this in person was an entirely different story.

"What the hell is this, Freddie?" Jonah's voice was harsh and teetering. "What happened to Winter? What is this?!"

Freddie slowly shook her head, trying to find it in herself to explain. Based on the evidence and the dark energy trail, there was only one explanation.

"Think of a ouija board as..." Freddie's voice was heavy, "...a gateway of sorts... you play and it opens the gateway just enough to communicate to the otherside..." she paused again, "normally,"

"Normally!?" Jonah repeated, for once in his life actually on the verge of having a panic attack.

Even he, who was not adept in magic at all, could just barely feel the darkness of the room creeping into his bones.

God, there was so much dark energy a person could drown in it.

"Yeah, it's safe enough when you follow the rules, most of the time you come upon random spirits that are just as curious as you." Freddie explained. "The rules are in place for a reason. A graveyard you don't play in because it's heavy ground for the dead. And if you wake something up there that does not want to be awake... well, let's just say it's not the best outcome..."

"You always need to say goodbye, because that's how you close that gateway. If you don't say goodbye, the gateway is left open and anything is free to haunt you that way. And you do not play alone because when you play alone, your soul is..." Freddie had to think about how to say it correctly, "...your soul is vulnerable—you're much stronger surrounded by others."

"These rules are in place for a reason. If you do not follow those rules then the outcome can be different for each one. In this case, I think Winter played alone and that is the worst because then the gateway becomes strong enough that something can get out, and if it gets out..." Freddie trailed off, her eyes glazed over and she stopped.

Jonah gripped her shoulders and shook her, his eyes filling with tears of pure fright.

"Then WHAT, Freddie? What can happen?!"

Freddie looked at him despondently. "Horrible things," she finally bit out, her voice hoarse and tense, "terrible ungodly things, hellish things. Things like hauntings... and... possessions..."

"Oh my God!" Jonah whipped away from her. "She's possessed! Is that what you're telling me?!"

"I don't know!" Freddie threw her hands up, the stress getting to both teenagers. "I wasn't here when whatever the hell this was happened! Anything could have happened, Jonah! I'm making a guess, and if she was possessed I have no clue what it could have been—!"

"A mirror demon," Jonah suddenly interrupted, his voice a mere whisper.

"What?" Freddie turned to him, but she noticed his gaze was resting else where.

She followed his gaze only to see a large leatherbound book left open. It was obviously from the library. It's pages were thick and yellowish, black markings of both English and Latin languages written over the pages.

But it was then that Freddie saw the page it was stuck on, and in bold at the very top were the words "ʍɨʀʀօʀ ɖɛʍօռ" written in harsh and grotesque font. Freddie's face paled, because never in a million years did she think that lending someone her ouija board would lead to this.

She tripped backwards and Jonah was staring at her.

"We need to get the others..." she rasped, "we need to get Mal and Uma..." she whispered.

They were both witches, well in Mal's case a fairy/demi-god, and it was going to take the help of them all to even start trying to fix this situation.

Because not only was Winterfell Frost most likely possessed and missing, but even if they were to find her, they needed to try and fix her. The sad thing was that in terms of something like this, possessions, then Freddie would be the best person to go to. But even she was at a loss for what to do, she was going to need to consult with her grimoires.

However, if this was a mirror demon than that was going to be exceptionally more difficult. Because mirror demons as far as Freddie was concerned were some of the worse type of spirits, they were some of the most horrid creatures to plague reality.

Jonah took his phone out and checked the time, running his other hand through his hair. He was biting his lip, his heart racing—he could not believe something like this could happen.

It was a catastrophe. It was hard to think that a place a safe and sugary as Auradon Prep that such an evil could get in. Staring at his phone screen, Jonah could see that the match ended in less than fifteen minutes.

He sent a text in the group chat, saying for everyone to meet on the first level of Morton Hall as soon as the match was over ASAP. Thankfully, almost everyone who was at the match would be going out to eat after, so they did not need to worry about the crowds.

Immediately Jonah's phone pinged: Mal, Evie, Jane, Ben, and Carlos—the five not currently on the floor sparring. Question marks and things such as "are you okay?" "what's wrong?" and "what's going on?" were what he was blown up with.

Jonah only responded that it was "very important" and to come together as soon as possible. He also texted for Mal to bring her spellbook which set off alarm bells and the others started blowing up the chat even more.

Jonah put his phone away and simply leaned back on the wall. He allowed himself to slide down, his gaze faraway. The broken glass of the mirror crunched under his feet and Freddie watched him with a sad expression, she could see the guilt in his gaze.

And Jonah knew he had no reason to be guilty at all, there was no way he could have forseen something like this happening. Hell, he could not have even imagined something like this!

But at the same time, he knew there was something off about Winter throughout the day. And he could not stop his thoughts, if he had just pushed harder, if he had just kept her around him. They could have had a movie day after class, like they used to do—damn, they had not done that in a while.

It was hilarious really. Winter always wanted to watch romantic comedies and he wanted to watch action/thriller. So they went back and forth, and they always critiqued the others movie choice. After Winter forced Jonah to watch the entire Twilight Saga, she still to this day had to deal with Jonah's smart comments and sassy mockings of Edward Cullen and Bella Swan.

However, Winter clapped back by doing her amazing impression of Vin Diesel.

It made Jonah's heart clench even more, and so he and Freddie sat in silence in the room buzzing with dark energy. They wondered what could have happened to Winter and where she could have went. Jonah and Freddie both prayed harder than they ever had that she was okay.

Jonah wouldn't know what he would do if she was dead in a ditch somewhere. Or God forbid he never see her again, not knowing what her fate would be. He let out a tired breath, allowing his head to fall in between his knees.

Oh, what were they going to do...?