Jack Frost crouched beneath a blooming apple tree, contemplating the day's events. As always, he had traveled the world creating snow days for the children to enjoy. Being the Guardian of Fun is a lot of work with little pay off in the end. Hardly anyone believed in him. The kids he spent so much time entertaining passed straight through him, ripping away a piece of his hope with them. Sure, he had the other Guardians to keep him company, but something was missing…
"You alone today, too?" Jack jumped at the sudden voice and hugged his knees closer. In his dazed state he had not noticed the girl that had taken a seat in the grass directly in front of him. She was obviously older than usual believers, eighteen at least, and was staring expectantly at him with a crooked grin.
"Uhm, me?" Jack gazed directly back into her eyes, sure that he could see her, but afraid of letting that hope destroy him if she didn't.
"I don't see anyone else out here." Jack scanned the park, finding that they were, in fact, alone.
"Do you believe in me?" The girl turned her head curiously to the side, still sporting that crooked grin.
"Yeah, sure, you can do anything you set your mind to." Jack was at a loss for words. It was obvious this girl had no idea who he was, yet she could see him. She brushed a strand of chocolate hair behind one ear nervously, trying to decide what to say next to the boy openly gawking at her. "I'm Wren Sutherland. Who are you?"
Jack hesitated, unsure of whether or not he should give his actual name. "Uhm, Jack F-"
"Stop!" Manny bellowed down at Jack, cutting off his sentence. "Do not tell this girl who you are."
"Forrester," he finished uncertainly. "Jack Forrester." He breathed a sigh of relief when she smiled sweetly at him.
"Well, Jack Forrester, I seem to find myself without a date to share this picnic with. Would you like to join me?" For the first time he noticed the backpack threatening to burst beside her in the grass. His every instinct told him to decline and move on, but no one his age had seen him in centuries. He couldn't pass up his chance just because Manny was acting strangely. He could play normal boy for a while.
"Sure." Without missing a beat, Wren began unpacking containers of food. She had neatly made finger sandwiches, mashed potatoes kept in sealed glass jars to keep them warm, a bowl of chopped fruit, and what looked like homemade chocolate truffles.
"Good 'cause I spent way too much time putting this together for no one to eat it. Especially those damn truffles." Jack laughed at her apparent annoyance at whomever hadn't showed.
"Who was supposed to meet you here?" he asked curiously.
"My brother." She shrugged and handed him a plastic spoon for his potatoes.
"Why are you here all alone? Contemplating life or trying to meet lonely girls?" The wink she sent his way made him want to be sick. Girls hadn't hit on him in centuries, other than Tooth who really needed to find someone more her age and feathery.
"The first one."
"Careful. If you think too hard life becomes a whole lot sadder." He found himself nodding at her advice. The more he thought about his loneliness the worse it seemed to get, even with North always breathing down his neck.
"That's true, but it's hard to think at home. Everything's so hectic." Images of the mayhem he found himself in back at the workshop bloomed in his mind's eye, followed by a harsh scolding from North.
"I can definitely understand that. People are always running in and out of my house. There's no privacy." Wren made a disgusted face at her own imaginings, then resumed unashamedly scarfing down a sandwich. "That's why I love spring! I can spend as much time outside as I please despite the temperature."
"Spring?" Jack arched an eyebrow at her. "That's your favorite season? I thought you'd like winter. You know, with Christmas and all that." He tried to shrug off the comment, not wanting her to see how badly he wished she preferred winter.
"Why would I like Christmas?" She seemed appalled at the very idea.
"Uhm, because of presents? Santa?" he said whilst stuffing a strawberry into his mouth.
"I've never gotten a present from Santa." That made Jack choke on the strawberry. She watched him, amused at being able to get such a reaction. The only person that ever gave Wren anything was her best friend Allie. No one else really seemed to give a shit what happened to her.
"Never?!" Jack couldn't believe it was possible. Of course naughty kids didn't get any presents, but never? Not even when she was a toddler?
"Nope." She popped the word out of her mouth with extra emphasis, worried she was about to receive some unwanted pity.
"Do you at least like the snow?" he ushered her forward.
She shrugged her shoulders as if to say more or less. "Sometimes. It depends on the snow." Before Jack could ask her to elaborate on that, her phone erupted with some terrible ringtone involving loud instruments and a lot of profuse screaming. Without warning, she stood up and chucked the device at a tree standing behind her. The phone broke into a couple of pieces before disappearing in the grass.
"You're a strange girl…" He stared at her incredulously.
"Strange is what I aim for." She smiled back at him before placing their empty food containers back in her backpack. "I want you to have these." She plopped the baggy of chocolate truffles into his lap. "For being nice to me today."
Once again, Jack was at a loss for words. Wren found them for him. "I'd like to see you again sometime. Is that okay?"
Was that okay? Manny was staying dauntingly silent. "Yeah, I'd like that." He resisted the urge to scoot away when she crawled closer to him and snatched his wrist. Her tiny fingers held him captive while she scribbled numbers down onto his alabaster skin.
"Call me, then." Wren winked and strolled away, choosing not to point out how freezing his wrist had been.
"Manny?" No answer. "Why can she see me? Why can't I tell her who I am?" He decided to wait a moment. Sometimes Manny took irritatingly long to answer.
"That girl is destined to die this week," was the only answer Manny was willing to give.