"Lotty! Lotty!"

I watched as Jamie Bennett ran down the sidewalk towards me, his face red from the cold and excitement clear on his face. "Whoa there, Jamie! What's the scoop?" I watched with amusement on my face as Jamie stumbled over word after word, trying to speak. I only caught a few words.

"Frost... Bunny... Then whoosh!" Jamie swung his arms in a wide arc, "And Santa had these swords... Then I believed and he was there... Sophie met him... And the Easter Kangaroo... Then BOOM and Pitch was gone!"

I stares at Jamie like he's lost his mind, "Uh... What?" I put my hand on his shoulder, "Listen Jamie, I've noticed a lot of the kids around here have been acting very odd lately. I mean, you've always been a little odd but I think this is going a bit far."

Jamie looks at me like I'm the one who lost their mind, "You always told me you believed in Santa and the Easter Bunny."

"I did, Jamie, when I was little. And I only told you that while I was babysitting you so I didn't ruin your childhood by accident."

"But, Lotty," Jamie frowns and gives me the pouty lips, "You're the one who made me keep believing even when other kids made fun of me for doing so."

"Jamie," I can't help it, those big brown eyes just melt my soul, "I guess I'm just pretending to be a stupid big kid. But you saw right through me, of coarse I still believe in the Santa and the Tooth fairy and all of them."

Jamie gave me a suspicious glare, "Okay... Then why don't you come over to my house later? I think my mom needs someone to watch Sophie."

I give the kid a wink, "Sure thing kiddo, I'll be there around five o'clock, alright." I walk back down the street feeling a little bad, in all the years I had babysat the Bennett kids I had always told them Santa and the Sandman and all of them were real which was a fib. So why is it when I tell Jamie that I don't believe in them, that's the only thing that sounds like a lie?


"You have to prove to Charlotte Summers that you're real." Jamie looks up at me from the ground, seeing as I'm in a tree.

I'm Jack Frost in case you haven't picked up on it yet. "A. Who is Charlotte Summers and B. Why?" I ask swinging my staff back and forth.

Jamie sighs, "Only the love of my life!" And flops down at the bottom of the tree.

"The love of your life?" I raise my eyebrow at the strange child.

"Well, I don't think she knows it yet." He fidgets with his hands, his face red with embarrassment, "She's my babysitter. But that's not the reason I need you to make her believe in the guardians again."

"And what is your reason for that?"

Jamie looks up at me, "Jack, she's the one who encouraged me to keep believing in the guardians, even after everyone started making fun of me. With out her, I wouldn't believe and none of you would be around."

I mull the thought over then sigh, "Jamie, if she doesn't believe in me she won't be able to see me. Or any of us for that matter. Kids grow up Jamie, they stop believing, it's just the way life goes."

"Please Jack! Just come with me and I'll do all the talking. I'll warm her up to the idea then you do that thing you did with the bunny for me."

"I don't know, Jamie..."

Jamie gives me a true poker face, "I'll go out sledding with you five times this week instead of the usual two."

I give him one of my wicked grins, "Deal."


I walk up to the Bennetts door and knock, almost immediately I'm greeted by a little blonde girl in a tutu, "Hey Sophie!" I say as she screams, "LOTTY!" She jumps up and down, "Are we gonna play dollies, Lotty?"

"I don't see why not." I say with a smile, "But first, where's Jamie?"

"Oh, he's out back." She says simply, clearly preoccupied by the plastic wand she was waving around.

"I'm going to go check on him and then I'll be right in to play dollies with you." I walk past her as she points at their pet Greyhound with the wand, who then grabs it and runs off. Sophie shrieks, "Give back, doggie!"

I roll my eyes at her silliness then head on out to the back yard, "Jamie?"

"Charlotte!" He jumps up from under a tree, surprise written across his face, "You're here early!"

"Yeah, I called your mom, she said it would be easier if I came around three o'clock instead." I say slowly, watching him with suspicious eyes, "Why do you look so guilty, Jamie Bennett?"

"I- I, well, um-" I break eye contact with him when a snow ball whack me in the face.

I wipe the freezing snow off my face, "Oh... No... You... Didn't!" Jamie looks terrified until I break out laughing and run towards him. I grab some snow and throw it at him, "I'm so going to get you back!"

"Nuh uh!" He yells as he runs away laughing, throwing snow over his back.

He and I run around outside, chasing each other with snow for a while until he accidentally pegs me with an ice ball and my nose starts bleeding. "Oh my gosh, Charlotte, I'm so sorry!"

I laugh as I hold a ball of ice against me bleeding nose, "Don't worry about it Jamie, it doesn't hurt, honest." I put my arm around his shoulders moving him towards the house, "Tell you what, why don't I take you and your sister out to the Hot Cocoa Cafe. My nose is already bleeding, I really don't need Jack Frost nipping at it."

Jamie freezes, "So you do believe in Jack Frost?"

I laugh, "It's just an expression Jamie."

"But you believe in Santa, why not Jack?"

I scrunch my eyebrows in confusion, "Jamie, why are you so bent on me believing in these myths."

"Because they aren't myth's, Charlotte! They're real! Santa, the Tooth Fairy, all of them!"

I press the back of my hand to his forehead, "Are you feeling alright, Jamie. You don't feel like you have a fever."

He smacks my hand off, "I'm not sick. You're just stubborn! Why don't you believe anymore?!" He screams at me.

I'm finally ticked off and scream back at him, "It gets a little hard to believe in fairy tale's when you search every Christmas, every Easter, every time you loose a tooth for one tiny little sign that never comes! And it gets even harder when your mom dies on Christmas day, Jamie!" I throw my bloody snow ball at him, which hits him in the shoulder and I storm inside.

Before I play dolls with Sophie I glance out the window and see Jamie speaking to someone but no one's there.


"Well that worked fabulously." I say with an exasperated sigh.

"Tell me about it." Jamie groans, wiping the bloody snow off of his jacket.

"I can certainly see why you like her." The girl had hair the color of chocolate but the bottoms had been dip dyed snow white. She had stormy grey eyes that seems wide with wonder and an elfish nose sprinkled with freckles. Her skin was a little on the pale side, sort of like a porcelain doll. Something about her was so... Breakable.

Jamie gives me a stink eye, "Don't even,"

I throw my hands up in surrender, "Hey, don't worry. I'm not moving in on your woman. But uh, she looks a bit old for you."

"So what if she's 17? I'll catch up to her one day!"

"Okay." I say trying to hold back my laughter. "Smooth move back there with easing her into the idea of us being real."

He face palms, "I should have remembered about her mom."

I look at him curiously, "What happened to her?"

Jamie shakes his head sadly, "It was cancer, on Christmas eve about ten years ago. Charlotte's never really been the same after it happened."

"I'm sure." I whisper, remembering how I had felt about my mother when I was human.

Jamie looks at the ground sadly, "Now she'll never believe in you... or any of you." He goes inside and disappears.

Poor Jamie, he must really like her. It's so sad what happened to her mother. And it seemed like she really knew how to have some fun.

I fly up to the second floor and look inside Sophie's window. Inside Charlotte is playing with Sophie. Sophie hands her a tooth fairy doll, "Tooth!" I hear her say excitedly.

"Yeah, this is the tooth fairy!" Charlotte says with a smile, but as soon as Sophie runs off to find the next toy to play with the smile fades. She holds the doll in her hands, examining it with eager eyes. As if waiting for it to start speaking to her.

I purse my lips in thought and grab a snow ball. I throw it at the window, her head snaps up and looks at the window and for a second surprise fills her face but she rubs her eyes and shakes her head, clearly dismissing it. But she saw something! For a moment, I could tell, she saw something.

"Maybe there's hope for her yet, Jamie."


I don't think I've ever booked it out of there faster when came home. Jamie had looked at me like he wanted to apologize but I didn't really want to talk to him.

By the time came home to was close to six o'clock and already getting dark, I thought Easter signaled spring time, you know, when the day start getting longer? I guess around here it just doesn't work like that.

I walk home, rubbing my nose, which by now was pretty red. Sophie had called me Rudolph for most of the night. I keep looking over my shoulder, getting an odd feeling that someone was watching me. Finally I swing around and say, "Jamie Bennett, if that's you, you better go home right now!" After I get no reply I walk a little faster until I reach my home.

My house is pretty simple, a two story development house, a white picket fence and everything. The American dream... I guess. I walk in the door and start shedding my coat and gloves and such.

"You missed dinner."

I look over at the dining room table, my dad watches me closely, "Yeah dad, I know, I'm not that hungry."

My dads wife appears holding one of the twins, wearing the usual stink face she gets when I'm around, "Charlotte, we don't care if your hungry, you need to come home and eat at this table as a family."

"Seems to me like you do just fine on your own." I mutter.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" My dad asks raising his voice.

"You know what it means. You don't need me. The wife, the kids, even the house, it's all you trying to replace your old life with mom." I accuse, "I'm just a bad reminder that you can never truly forget."

"THAT IS NOT TRUE!" My dad stands up and yells.

"Really? How come there isn't a single picture of mom in this house? Not... One." I hiss and run upstairs to my room. I slam the door behind me and run my hands through my hair. Why did I pick a fight like that? I should've known better.

I tiny knocking comes from the door, too quiet to be my dad or step mom. I walk over to the door and slide to the floor, pressing my ear against the cool wood, "Markus?" I whisper.

"Lotty." He whispers back, "You don't like our family?"

I put my hand against the door gently, "Of coarse I do, I love our family... I just feel so... Trapped here, sweety."

I hear Markus sigh, "I hope you're free one day, Lotty." There's a rustle and I know that he's left.

"Me too." I whisper to myself.

I get up and sit down on my bed. I hold a little raggedy doll in my hands. She looks a lot like me and wears a little Russian style dress. I had gotten her for Christmas when I was around 6 years old. I flip her over so I can see her back. There's stitching on the back in black thread, "Merry Christmas, Lotty. -SC"

I hold it tight and think back to Jamie, 'They're not myths!' I bite my lip, "Not myths huh? Prove it." Could it really be true? What if Santa really did exist? And the Sandman, and all of them?! "Please." I beg quietly.

"OUCH!"

I yelp as my nose is suddenly in excruciating pain. I stand up and look in my mirror and can't believe my eyes. "Bite marks?" I frown, "What?" Then the words pop into my brain, 'Jack Frost nipping at your nose.'

"Your real?" I whisper and suddenly in the mirror there's a rush of snow which as it clears is replaced by a boy, maybe a year older then me. He has snow white hair and eyes that are ice blue. He was wearing a blue hoodie and brown capris. "Jack Frost?"

"You're real! And you bit me!" I stare at him in shock and drop the doll.

"Hey, it wasn't the most pleasant experience for me either."


I had followed Lotty to her house, which I realize sounds creepy and watched her storm up to her room. I listened in when her half brother talked to her through the door. I could tell that she cared an awful lot for this Markus kid. And I watched as she spoke to herself. How could I give her the sign she was looking for?

I thought back to what she said about Jack Frost nipping at her nose. I really hated that line but it seemed like the best way to get her attention... So yeah, I bit her. Not my proudest moment.

And now I was watching as she gawked at me in the mirror. Her face which had seconds before been that of complete surprise now turned to a look of annoyance.

"You bit me! What is wrong with you?!"

"Wait a second, you just found out that Jack Frost is real and all you have to ask me is what's wrong with me?"

She opens her mouth to say something but closes it and starts pacing, "So-So if you're real then that means Jamie was right..." she growns and slides to the ground. "I'm such a jerk."

Charlotte looks like a wreck and I feel pretty bad for her so I sit down beside her and nudge her shoulder, "Hey, Jamie will forgive you. Trust me, that kid's got it bad for you."

Lotty laughs slightly, "Yeah, poor kid. He's like a little brother to me." She sighs, "I don't know why but knowing this... It makes things a little harder..."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm stuck Jack. I'm stuck in this town, in this house. There's so much in the world, and if my father gets what he wants I'll never see any of it. I want my own life, my own adventures! I want to be free!"

I frown until a thought comes to my mind, then a mischievous smile creeps onto my face, "Freedom huh?" I stand up and hold out my hand, "How about a tiny adventure right now?"

She seems hesitant at first then stands up and timidly takes my hand. The moment she does I swing her around so that I'm giving her a piggy back ride. "Jack? What are you doing?" As I run towards the windows she gasps, "Jack, no! Wait Jack please!" I jump out her window and fly in to the night sky.

Her fingers clench into my shoulders as I fly higher and higher, getting a good 200 feet in the air, I laugh out loud. Her body is shaking with laughter but then I realize it's not laughter. She's terrified, "Jack! I'm afraid of heights!"

By the time I realize my mistake I'm too late, I feel Charlotte's grip let go as she faints and I drop her.

I dive down after her and reach my hand out towards her hand.

The ground is getting closer and closer and I stretch my arm out as far as possible.

"CHARLOTTE!"


A/N Tune in next chapter to find out what happened :)