Maleya exhaled loudly as she dropped the final cardboard box onto the floor. It gave a loud thump when it hit the ground, and she flinched as she thought of her dear books.

"Sorry…" she mumbled quietly, before falling back on her unmade bed. She sighed out loud, stretching her aching arms and rolling her shoulders backwards. It had been a long day, but finally all the boxes were in place. She could hear the moving truck outside reversing and her father yelling out 'thank yous' to the two kind men who'd helped them with the heavier furniture.

She puffed out a quick breath that blew away stray strands from her eyes. Her family had just moved to the small town of Burgess. A lovely town with nice people, but Maleya could already tell it was going to be boring as hell.

Just then, a cold breeze flew in from her open window that her mother had left to air the room. Maleya shivered as she got up to close and lock it. Not only was it going to be boring, it was going to be freezing.

Ruffling the underside of her frizzy ginger hair, she sighed as she took in the sight of her room. It was actually quite big, but looked crowded with all the boxes and un-mantled furniture. The walls had been painted a light pastel green, and the floor was carpeted. Maleya's toes curled happily against the feeling. It had always been a dream of hers to have a carpeted room.

"Mallie, it's lunch!" a mop of dark hair popped out from behind the half-closed door. It was David, Maleya's eight-year old brother. "Mom got us pizza!" he yelled enthusiastically before disappearing downstairs. She could hear loud thumps as he made his way down the stairs.

"David, what did we say about running down the stairs?" Maleya's father's voice boomed. She laughed as she imagined the abashed look on her brother's face. Trying to tame her wild locks again, Maleya went into her en suite bathroom to wash up before heading down at a decidedly calmer pace than David.

"Yay. Pizza. Again…," she muttered weakly when she was a couple of meters away from the kitchen. This was going to be a long week.

The weekend had finally arrived and the O'Connor house was more or less "descent". They had spent hours of work unpacking the boxes and fixing up all the shelves and tables, and now only a few stray boxes were left, but those weren't urgent.

It was already the end of summer and school would begin next week, so David vowed to make the most of what was left of the holiday. He was out in the garden trying to catch butterflies with a fish net. Maleya sat on the balcony of her room in a cozy swing seat. She was burritoed in two blankets, with tea and a new book on her lap. The hose of the shisha that was on the side table was practically glued to her mouth as she took a few puffs while reading. This was the ideal way for her to spend a nice sunny day, though she would have much preferred if it had been a few degrees warmer. She dreaded the temperatures that winter would bring.

Putting the pipe momentarily aside and looking out at the yard, she saw her brother try to catch a particularly pretty butterfly that had been resting on some lavender plants. When that failed, he turned his attention towards a different one, and Maleya frowned.

"Don't touch that one, David! It's red-listed!" She yelled to him, and he looked up to her in disappointment, his shoulders dropping.

"Aw! But it's so pretty!" he objected, and she shrugged.

"So are all the other ones!" She argued, and he went back to chasing the previous butterfly.

Maleya sighed contently and leaned back into the comfy seat. She looked over the railings to the house nearby and saw two children looking at her and her brother from their window. One was a boy, about David's age, with brown hair, while the other one seemed to be a young girl with badly chopped blonde hair.

Maleya lifted a hand tentatively and waved at the boy who caught her gaze. He grinned back sheepishly and waved back with such enthusiasm she thought his hand would fly off his wrist.

She smiled and pointed down to the yard, motioning for them to come over. The boy got the hint and grabbed the girl by the arm before disappearing deeper inside his house.

Making sure the shisha wouldn't tip over, she de-bundled herself from her blankets and made her way inside. She grabbed her autumn coat before heading downstairs. Her brother greeted her outside with a butterfly in his hands.

"Look, Mallie! I caught one!" he shouted enthusiastically, almost jumping from excitement.

Before Maleya could reply, the neighbours arrived and were waiting shyly at the edge of the lawn.

"Hello," Maleya greeted. "Do you want to see the butterfly, too?" she asked uncertainly, not really good around other children. But new friends for David would be great, especially ones that lived next door. Said David whirled around suddenly, a look of shock on his face that quickly changed into a wide grin.

"Look!" he encouraged.

"Butterfly!" the little girl with blonde hair said, before hopping over to them. The boy, whom Maleya guessed was her brother, also came over to them, and they all huddled around the brown creature in David's palm.

"Do you know what it is?" David asked Maleya, and she smiled, nodding once.

"That's a Frosted Elfin. They're quite rare up here, you know. You're lucky I didn't see you chasing it or I would have yelled at you," Maleya said, though there was nothing but amusement in her voice. "Make sure you set it free after you're done, yeah?"

"Of course!" David replied, rolling his eyes. He looked at the boy next to him. "My sister is such a know-it-all when it comes to plants and animals. It can be really annoying sometimes."

"Thanks," Maleya said sarcastically. "This is my brother David, and I'm his 'annoying sister' Maleya," she continued, looking at the two children. The little girl laughed as the Elfin took off, nearly hitting her in the face in the progress.

"Nice to meet you!" the brown-haired boy said politely. "I'm Jamie, and this is my sister Sophie."

"Do you want to check out my new room?" David asked expectantly, nearly bouncing with energy. The butterfly leaving had no effect on him whatsoever.

"Sure!" Jamie said, and Sophie nodded so vigorously that her blonde hair was bobbing all over the place. David looked at his sister, and Maleya smiled.

"Have fun," she said, giving them permission. Their parents were in town, doing some grocery shopping, so she'd been in charge of watching over David.

She followed them inside, listening as David ranted on about what he'd been doing today and what toys they could play with. Maleya decided to get some snacks ready for them, just for fun, and began making lemonade and placing cookies on a small plate. It was after lunch-time, so she hoped it would be okay with Jamie and Sophie's parents.

A few minutes passed before she made her way up the steps and to her brother's room, tray in hand. The room was surprisingly calm, and when she stepped in, she saw the three children sitting close together on David's bed, made up with his beloved rocket-ship themed comforter. Jamie was sitting in the middle, a large, worn book in his hand. She saw his backpack in the corner of the room and wondered if he carried that book with him everywhere. It looked pretty used.

"No way," David's extremely solemn gasp escaped his lips before Maleya could offer them something to eat.

"Yes way," came Jamie's equally serious reply. "And if you go on their website, you can even see videos of them!" He continued, pointing at something in the book. Suddenly curious, Maleya put down the tray and made her way to the bed, seating herself beside Sophie.

"Butterfly!" was Sophie's acknowledgement of Maleya. She seemed happy to see Maleya, and the older teen couldn't help but smile.

"What are we looking at?" Maleya asked, and Jamie tilted the book in her direction.

"Giant Sloth-like Men in the Amazon!" Jamie exclaimed, pointing to an entry in the book about said creature. Large red letters on the side declared that the reader should visit a certain webpage to see 'REAL LIFE VIDEOS'. A small smile tugged on her mouth.

Yeah. The Fiji mermaid all over again…

"They're sending a team of experts to check it out soon!" Jamie continued, before flipping over to the next page. This one was simply titled 'Yeti'.

"Phil!" Sophie exclaimed, pointing one chubby finger at one of the black and white drawings that someone seemed to have taped into the book. "Big, big, big!" She cried out, spreading her hands out and upwards animatedly.

David furrowed his brows as he tried to read. "Yeti?"

"Yeah, like Big Foot. But they live in the North Pole," Jamie explained. Maleya's eyebrows rose up in surprise. North Pole? That was rich.

"What are they doing there?" David asked with honest curiosity. Maleya had to stop herself from giggling at how serious the two boys looked.

"They help North with making Christmas presents," Jamie exclaimed, and then, with an almost know-it-all look, he added: "That's Santa's real name, by the way. North."

"Huh," was David's reply as he looked at the drawing. "I thought the elves did that."

"There would be no Christmas if they did! They can't do much, but North lets them think they do!"

Shaking her head, Maleya stood up again and cleared her throat. "I got you kids some lemonade and cookies. I'll be sitting in my bedroom with the door open, so holler if you need anything." And with that, she watched the kids scramble for said cookies and lemonade before she dashed to her room across the hall, laughing at their reactions.

"Thank you, Maleya!" Jamie's voice shouted after her.

Well, at least someone appreciated her effort, she thought, hearing loud chewing and gulping from all the way in her room.


A/N: Welcome to my new fanfic! I am completely in love with the Guardians of Childhood universe and am infatuated with Jack Frost, so I decided on finally publishing a story after watching the movie four times!

I am quite slow when it comes to updating. Please do leave reviews though! They really help motivate me! Thanks for reading and let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is most welcome!