Hot and Cold

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"You guys are morons."

Kimiko kept blue eyes pinned accusingly to her three male teammates as she made this declaration, unsympathetic to the pitiful moans and whimpers she got in response.

"Kim, not noooow," Raimundo groaned around the thermometer sticking out of his mouth, sinking further into the medical ward's bed and clutching Ninja Fred close.

"Why not? Now seems like the perfect time to me," Kimiko snipped back, studying the pale faces sheened with sweat. "I still can't believe you idiots decided to have an eating contest with that hazardous waste Dojo left in the back of the fridge. You're lucky it didn't kill you, you know."

"It still might," Clay croaked back, fighting back bile. "Guess three month old shrimp sub gum is the one thing that can beat the iron stomach of a Bailey."

"I repeat: you guys are morons."

"But Kimiko, we had to do it!" Omi protested weakly. "Raimundo gave us the dare of three canines, and if we back down from such a challenge then there was no way we could uphold our honor as proud Xiaolin Warriors!"

"Sometimes I wonder how you sleep at night, Rai," Kimiko told the leader with a pointed look of disapproval after Omi's argument.

"Hey, at least I know how to have fun," Raimundo reminded his teammate with a scowl. Kimiko shot him a scathing look in return.

"Are you suggesting that I don't?" Kimiko asked in a syrupy sweet tone that promised death to the Shoku Warrior if he was foolish enough to answer in the affirmative. Before Raimundo could put his head on the chopping block though, the infirmary doors burst open and Dojo slithered in, followed shortly by Master Fung.

"Yo! How's the food poison thing working out for you kids? Any of you boys up for some fresh Shen Gon Wu action?"

"Shen Gon Wu?" Omi repeated, trying to sit up but paying dearly for the attempt.

"That's right, young monks. The Shou Zhi Trapper has just revealed itself," Master Fun confirmed, unrolling the scroll he was carrying with him to show the four youths the picture of a man's silhouette wielding an object that looked suspiciously like a Chinese Finger Trap. The illustration on the scroll pointed the object at an opponent on the other side of the picture, which resulted in both figures getting sucked into either end of the finger trap. "This is a very powerful Wu, created in one of Dashi's earliest attempts to seal Wuya away before he finally crafted the puzzle box. It traps both the user and the target in a pocket dimension, chaining them together for the entire length of their inprisonment."

"Seriously?" Kimiko said, alarmed. "Dashi was willing to seal himself away forever to get rid of Wuya?"

"Of course! Grand Master Dashi was more than noble enough to sacrifice himself for the good of the world!" Omi said adoringly before another wave of nausea had the small boy doubling over.

"Actually kid, Dashi never even tried to use the Shou Zhi Trapper." Dojo confessed with a sheepish grin. "Kept saying he was saving it for a special occasion at first, but then he made the puzzle box instead. Still, the fact that a wu made especially for trapping her is active again is bound to make Wuya very, VERY worried."

"Which is why Kimiko must leave immediately to retrieve it first," Master Fung said in a tone that stopped all arguments long before they could be made. "The rest of you are far too ill to make the trip, but sitting by and allowing Wuya to gain possession of the Shou Zhi Trapper would be… unwise." Turning to the young Fire Dragon, Fung gave Kimiko a serious frown as she listened to him with rapt attention. "However, I shouldn't need to remind you of how dangerous it is for you to be retrieving this Wu on your own. Your safety comes before anything else, Kimiko. We can afford to lose a wu or two to the Heylin, but we cannot replace you should anything happen. Promise me you'll be careful and use your judgment wisely, young dragon." Kimiko frowned a bit at the older man's words. She knew her master was simply worried, but the way he said that sounded as though he was already sure she'd fail her mission.

"Don't worry, Master Fung. I'll do my absolute best," Kimiko promised, raising from her chair to start for the door so she could change for her trip.

No way was she gonna fail. Not if she could help it.

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Man, it's good to be home. Whistling jauntily to himself as his bare feet touched the earth, Jack made his way languidly through the forest he had first awakened in some three hundred odd years earlier. Though he travelled the globe a million times over and been to almost every place imaginable, the forests of Burgess still felt like the closest thing he had to a true home. This was where he'd been reborn, after all. He knew every rock, every hole and every shrub here backwards and forwards. A little up the way and two steps to the left was where little Emily and her best friend Cynthia had buried a time capsule about fifty or so years ago. Beneath the tree just to his right there was a little gap where a family of rabbits now lived, only coming out to gather food before returning to the warmth of their little burrow.

And there, just through the trees in the clearing ahead, was his pond.

It didn't matter what mortals or anyone else said, the pond where he rose as the spirit of winter would always and forever be his. His womb, his home, and the one place on earth that no one else could ever take away from him. It had been that way for over three hundred years now, and it wasn't about to change any time soon.

Breaking through the trees and into the clearing, Jack breathed deeply, the winds kicking up happily around him to welcome him back, making little flurries of snow dance and swirl in the skies as winter settled in comfortably around him.

Oh yeah, it was definitely good to be back. Not that he didn't love harassing- ah-EM, that is, accompanying the other Guardians as they completed their various jobs and tasks in between bringing winter to the few places he was allowed to visit in the spring and summer months, but after a few months of driving Bunnymund insane, flying around North's workshop (occasionally freezing the floors to make the busy Yeti's slip around comically as they tried to keep from breaking any toys), playing with all the mini-fairies as Baby Tooth and Toothiana fought good-naturedly for his attention and hanging out with the ever-busy Sandy as he provided the world's sleeping children with dreams, Jack was ready to return to Burkess and get back to what he loved to do most; provide fun and joy to children with his magic.

Aaaaand maybe pull a prank or two (or ten) while he was at it.

Satisfied with his plans, the winter spirit whistled cheerfully to himself as he stepped into the pond, which froze solid instantly underneath his feet. Sweeping his staff, Jack kicked up another flurry of snow as the made his way unhurriedly towards Burkess. Just as he was about to step off the pond though, a shadow passed overhead, making the youngest Guardian turn his eyes skyward again to see what had caused it.

His cheerful tune fell away into a long, low whistle at the sight of the long, serpentine shape flying through the sky, its belly just barely missing the tops of the tallest trees of the forest that surrounded his pond.

"Well that's not normal now, is it?" Jack wondered out loud, an eyebrow kicking up as he followed the descent of the creature with his eyes. What was an oriental dragon doing landing in the middle of his forest? He'd only ever rarely seen the creatures himself, and was pretty sure they took to avoiding him after an absolutely fantastic prank he'd pulled on a water dragon about two hundred years back. Besides, they tended to prefer tropical weather anyways, and rarely ventured into any of his territories. To say nothing of the fact that relations between Oriental Spirits and Western ones were always touch-and-go.

Even the Guardians weren't exempt from the chilly reception Western spirits got in the East. Tooth and Sandy were more welcome (Tooth had grown up in Asia as a human, and set up her palace there after becoming a Guardian so she was technically considered both an Eastern and Western Spirit. As for Sandy, well… the little guy was just plain hard to hate), but North and Bunymund were both… well, unwelcome was probably a harsh word, but it came fairly close to describing the way Asian Spirits felt about the two. Jack himself wasn't exactly greeted with hugs and kisses whenever he snuck his way into the orient, either. Not that that ever stopped him, of course.

Grinning widely, Jack decided that there was no harm in saying hello to a cold-blooded reptile that had come nosing around his home. Snickering quietly to himself, Jack surrendered himself to the wind, which happily carried him off in the direction he wanted.

This was gonna be fun…

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"You're sure this is where you hid the Shou Zhi Trapper, Dojo?" Kimiko asked, eyes raking around her nervously as Dojo shrunk down to his carry-on size. Though there was no sign yet of Wuya (or any other Heylin for that matter), Kimiko couldn't shake off the feeling that there was something strange in the forest. The bone-chilling wind that blew past her every now and then didn't help ease her tension, either. Wasn't it a little early in the year for it to already be snowing like this? It was still early November after all…

"Pretty sure," Dojo confirmed as he hopped a ride on Kimiko's shoulders, burrowing as close to the ever-warm Fire Dragon as he could. Dojo never much liked the cold… "My rash started oozing pus something bad when we flew overhead, so it's gotta be around here somewhere."

"TMI Dojo," Kimiko scrunched up her nose in disgust at the dragon's comment. Sighing through her nose, Kimiko began to trek fearlessly across the unfamiliar landscape, eyes sharp as she scanned the foliage for any sign of her quarry. The Fire Dragon frowned a bit as she noticed the way the temperature dropped dramatically the closer they got to the center of the forest, until Dojo's teeth began chattering loudly right next to her ear.

"Th-th-th-think you can t-t-turn up the heat a little, K-K-Kimiko?" the dragon moaned as he wound himself even more tightly around the young warrior.

"Sorry, Dojo. I don't wanna risk drawing any attention to ourselves," Kimiko told the little reptile apologetically. "We'll just try and be quick about finding the Wu and get right out of he-EEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" The young warrior shrieked in surprise when her foot hit a patch of ice she would have sworn hadn't been there two seconds earlier. Kimiko fought desperately to stay upright on the slippery surface, but ultimately lost the battle and landed painfully and ungracefully on her rear. Wincing, the girl rubbed her sore behind gently to try and ward off the pain, an embarrassed flush making its way to her cheeks. To make the situation even more humiliating, a laugh rang out freely among the trees from somewhere nearby, making the Fire Dragon long for a hole to hide in.

Perfect. Juuuust perfect.

Huffing as she got back to her feet, Kimiko cast glaring eyes on the trees for any sign of human life. Given that it was one in the afternoon on a Wednesday, the chances of the person spying on her being a resident of the nearby town was pretty slim, which meant that it was probably a Heylin. And given that the voice was young and male, if didn't take Kimiko long to guess who it belonged to.

"Okay Jack, the shows over. Now are you gonna get your butt out here in the open or what?" Kimiko snapped, still glaring around for any signs of red hair or an overly dramatic black coat. The laugher died instantly at the blue eyed girl's question, and Kimiko privately hoped that the so-called evil genius had passed out or something. It wasn't likely, but she could still dream. "Well, Jack? I'm waiting!"

"You… know who I am?" Kimiko faltered at the unfamiliar male voice that originated from her right as a pale, white-haired teen made his way into her line of sight, wide blue eyes focused entirely on her as if he'd never seen another person before in his life.

Crap. Not Spicer, then. As if this whole experience couldn't get any more embarrassing…

"You, um… oops?" Kimiko grinned sheepishly at the boy as he approached her warily, a look of disbelief still clear on his face. "Sorry, I thought you were someone else. My bad." The boy's disbelief faded into confusion at Kimiko's meek reply, though he didn't stop drawing closer to her.

"You don't know who I am," the white haired youth clarified slowly, studying her as if she was a bizarre new animal species, "but you can see me? You can hear me? What are you?"

Well, that was a new one.

"Huh?" Kimiko's oh-so-intelligent response escaped before she had time to think about it. Before the Fire Dragon could ask him to elaborate though, the boy drew even closer, and Kimiko tensed at the realization that this weird kid was well within her personal bubble. Taking a few steps back, Kimiko narrowed her blue eyes at the taller boy threateningly. "Hey, how about some breathing space here, buddy?" Sure Omi could get away with being a little too up close and personal, but he was small, cute and lived isolated from other kids for his entire life. Some weirdo teen with white hair was NOT allowed to take that kind of liberty with her.

The boy didn't seem to hear though, bringing up the long, crooked stick he was carrying (how did she MISS that thing?) to poke Kimiko's right shoulder, right underneath Dojo's perch. Instantly a biting cold began branching out from the point of impact, making Kimiko jump back in surprise before bringing her leg up to roundhouse kick the weapon away, sending it flying into a nearby tree.

"Hey! Watch it, pal!" Kimiko snarled, her left hand flying up to her now frozen right shoulder as Dojo took refuge on the top of her head to get away from the ice. Calling on her inner flame, Kimiko melted the frost away, sighing in relief as the cold pain faded and her shoulder returned to normal. Turning back to the boy, she met his look of surprise with a scowl. "What the heck was that for, anyways? If that's how you say hello to strangers, I'm not surprised you don't get that many people coming out here to see you."

"How'd you do that?" The boy asked curiously, ignoring Kimiko's scathing remark. "You're human, right? But… you have powers?"

"Yeah look, as much as I'd ilove/i to sit around telling you my life's story, I sort of have other places to be, so…" Seeing that she was about to turn to leave, the white haired boy leapt forward fluidly to block her path, his hands held out in front of him in a placating gesture.

"Whoa! Whoa! Hold up! Look, if you're cranky about the shoulder thing, I didn't mean anything by that. It's just… Not many people can see me, and most of the ones who can are spirits or young kids. Considering that you're not either, that kinda makes a guy wonder what you are."

"You want to know what I am?" Kimiko asked, hands on her hip. "Cold and in a hurry. Now if you'll excuse me-!"

"You're looking for something, right?" The boy broke in knowingly. Apparently, he'd been listening to her and Dojo talking or something, which only annoyed Kimiko more. "I know everything about every last rock in this forest. If you want to find something here, then I'm your best shot of doing it fast."

"Yeah well, thanks for the offer, kid, but the position of Wu detector is already filled," Dojo said as he slid back down to Kimiko's shoulder, bristling at the unfamiliar teen. "I'll have you know I know exactly where what we're looking for is! It's… erm… it's…"

"Dojo!" Kimiko hissed, narrowing her eyes as the strange boy gave them a very cat-like grin.

"Look cut me some slack here! I'm cold!" Dojo whined, looking a little sheepish.

"So, considering that your talking lizard is effectively useless, I guess that means you'll be accepting my help after all," the white haired youth said, a little smugly. Kimiko scowled, wondering for a moment if it would be such a bad idea to hit this jerk. Sure, she promised to stay out of trouble if she could help it, but this guy was seriously asking for it.

Before Kimiko could give into the temptation though, the boy swept past her, silently making his way over to the stick Kimiko had kicked out of his hands earlier, the one he nearly froze her shoulder with. Kimiko's eyes narrowed slightly as she studied the boy a little more carefully when he kicked the stick up into his hand, bringing it to a rest against his shoulder. Now that she was looking a little more carefully, he was even stranger then she first realized. The white hair and pale skin had caught her attention almost immediately, but that was hardly the weirdest thing about his appearance.

For one thing, he was bare foot. Walking around on rocks and sticks and freshly fallen snow like it was absolutely nothing. The hoodie he wore was covered with slivers of white and silver, which Kimiko had originally thought was just part of the shirt's design but was slowly realizing was actually frostbite. In contrast to the modern style of his top, his pants were old fashion and tattered. Breeches, Kimiko realized after studying him for a while, which were held together with a length of leather cord wrapped around each of his lower calves starting a couple inches below his knees. It was a very strange getup for someone who only looked a couple of years older than her. To say nothing of the apparent control he had over ice.

"Who are you?" Kimiko wondered out loud, settling one hand against her hip as she watched the boy turn back to face her, surprise flitting across his face for a moment before he smirked back at her, bringing his staff back to the ground to lean on it as he gave her a pointed look.

"I asked you first," he reminded her playfully, making Kimiko roll her eyes before sighing in a defeated sort of way.

"Kimiko Tohomiko. Xiaolin Dragon of Fire," the white haired boy's eyebrow rose minutely at the girl's curt introduction.

"A Xiaolin Dragon, huh?" he mused, leaping up lithely to perch in a crouched position on the crook of his staff. Kimiko made sure to give him a deeply unimpressed look at the acrobatic trick. Show off. "That explains it, then. You guys are supposed to have some kinda supernatural abilities yourself, right? It must let you see spirits like me. I figured you were too old to believe, and being alive you can't exactly be a spirit yourself."

"Spirit? You're a ghost?" Kimiko frowned. He didn't look anything like Wuya's ghost form, but…

"Not exactly," the boy scoffed, straightening up to stand on his staff. Grinning down at the young warrior, the strange youth posed dramatically as a cold burst of wind played with Kimiko's hair, making Dojo shiver and draw closer to his human furnace as the teen jabbed his thumb at himself, clearly enjoying the moment. "Jack Frost, at your service. No autographs, please."

…What?

Jack Frost seemed to expect something from her in the awkward lapse of silence that followed his dramatic introduction, but whatever it was, Kimiko's flat look certainly wasn't it. Deflating a bit, the teen grumbled to himself as he jumped off of his staff and to the ground below.

"You're Jack Frost?" Kimiko clarified as the boy sulked a bit. "As in, the Jack Frost?" Dojo was making funny noises on her shoulder now, but she ignored that in favor of watching Jack as he arched an eyebrow at her question.

"Don't believe me?" Jack asked, a slight bittersweet look flashing across his face for a second before it was gone. To his surprise, Kimiko shrugged her shoulders.

"Nah, I can buy that. Weirder stuff has happened, after all," she said casually before turning her attention to the dragon on her shoulder, who was beginning to look faint. "Dojo? Do you know anything about him?"

"Juh-Juh-Juh-Juh-Jack F-F-F-Frost?!" Dojo stammered out, clearly terrified. "THE Jack Frost?!"

"I'll take that as a yes," Kimiko said under her breath as the Temple Guardian jumped off her shoulder and began pulling at her boot to get her away.

"I don't think your talking lizard likes me very much," Jack noted, looking bemused at the notion.

"I'm a dragon, you walking icicle!" Dojo snapped back (though his voice was a little more high pitched then usual), scowling at Jack from around Kimiko's boot before resuming his efforts to get the girl away. "And I've heard enough about you to fill a book! Come on Kimiko, let's get outta here! No way can you trust this guy to help anyone, except maybe over a cliff!"

"Aww come on, I'm not that bad," Jack sang out with a grin that completely contradicted his words.

"Stop helping," Kimiko snapped at the winter spirit before sighing and scooping Dojo up in her hands. "Dojo, we can't leave until we've found the Shou Zhi Trapper, remember?"

"Or we can hightail it out of here and let Snowball over there turn Wuya into an ice sculpture when she starts poking around looking for it," Dojo suggested helpfully. Rolling her eyes, Kimiko opted to ignore the Dragon's input and turned to face Jack Frost yet again, frowning a bit at the amusement that was clear on his face.

"Okay look, Jack Frost-!"

"You don't have to address me by my full name you know, Kimiko Tohomiko," Jack said pointedly as he began to walk around Kimiko, casually freezing things with his staff as he went. Kimiko suspected that the action was an intimidation tactic. And judging by the way Dojo wound himself so tightly around her arm that it was cutting off circulation, it was obviously working on one of them. "Just calling me Jack is fine."

"Fine. Jack," Kimiko spat out through grit teeth. "Do you really think you could help us find the Shou Zhi Trapper faster? It's very important that we get it back to the temple before the forces of evil come looking for it, you know. Life-or-Death important."

"Give it up Kimiko!" Dojo groaned. "Jack Frosts exists just to mess with people and make everyone else's lives miserable! I'll betcha a million dollars he doesn't have a clue what the Shou Zhi Trapper even is!"

"Is that the weird Chinese Finger Trap I found 'bout a hundred years ago?" Jack asked, leaning against his staff to grin at the looks of astonishment on Kimiko and Dojo's faces. "Black and Gold weaving, with the character Huò woven into the middle in white? Seriously old, but still in surprisingly good condition which probably has something to do with the traces of sleeping magic in it?"

"That's it!" Kimiko grinned, her face lighting up like a Christmas tree. "Except, you know, the magic isn't exactly sleeping anymore. Which is why we have to get it to our temple as soon as we can."

"Oh yeah, it sounds serious," Jack agreed cheerfully. "And now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I've heard about these Wu things before. Shen Gong Wu, right? Dangerous stuff, from what I've heard. Hey, is it true that one of those things lets you make copies of yourself?"

"Oh no you don't, buster!" Dojo snapped, glowering at Jack. "You aren't going anywhere NEAR any of our Wu! Besides, one of you is already too many, if ya ask me!"

"Dojo!" Kimiko hissed out warningly.

"Tough talk for a glorified worm with scales." Jack rolled his eyes at Dojo's insult. "Down, boy. I'm not interested in your toys. Well, not enough to risk throwing the world into chaos or something, anyways. North would kill me if I started screwing stuff up now that I'm a Guardian." Dojo looked incredulous at Jack's words as Kimiko tried to figure out who on earth this North guy could be and why Jack Frost would be so afraid of making him mad.

"A Guardian? YOU?!" Dojo sputtered before breaking down into hysterical laugher. "Oh, THAT'S rich, kid. You almost had me going for a second there."

"It's true!" Jack said, looking annoyed at the dragon's mirth.

"Yeah right! No way would the Easter Bunny sit by and let something like that happen!" Dojo said dismissively.

"Knock it off, Dojo!" Kimiko snapped grabbing the reptile's jaw before he could continue annoying the winter spirit, who was starting to look seriously aggravated at Dojo's heckling. Turning back to Jack, Kimiko sighed. "Look, it really doesn't matter to me if you're a Guardian or a God or whatever at this point. All I know is that any minute now an evil immortal witch could show up and things could get very, VERY ugly. So if you don't mind pointing me in the direction of the Wu…"

"Sure, I'll give you a hand," Jack agreed amiably, making Kimiko sigh in relief. Clearly, Dojo had been overreacting. As usual. Sure, Jack Frost was a little arrogant and devious, but all in all he didn't seem like a bad guy to her. "That is, on one condition."

"Condition?" Kimiko repeated with narrowed eyes.

"Yep. Tag." Jack said, grinning at Kimiko's flabbergasted expression.

"Tag?!" Kimiko was starting to feel VERY confused now.

"Sure. You've played before, right?" Jack asked mockingly, making Kimiko scowl. Scratch what she said before. Clearly, Jack Frost was a jerk who got his kicks by messing with unfortunate people like her.

"Yes I've played tag before. But I don't have time-!"

"Relax. After I found your Shih tzu Trapper thing a few hundred years ago, I made sure to hide it someplace safer so that no kids got into it or something. No way anyone but me could ever find it, including your witchy lady."

"It's Shou Zhi Trapper!" Dojo snapped back, looking irritated at the spirit's mistake.

"Same difference." Jack shrugged. Kimiko coughed into her hand to hide the smile that overtook her face at that as Dojo ground his teeth audibly. Jack must have caught it anyways though, since a triumphant looked flashed in his eyes for a moment before he grinned cheerfully at the small Asian girl. "Look, one game of tag is all I'm asking for. You beat me, and I'll give you your Wu and let you go on your way. Simple, right?"

Kimiko hesitated for a moment, considering her options. Not that there were many here. Either she agreed to humor the clearly crazy winter spirit and play a children's game, or she spent the rest of the day aimlessly tearing the forest apart trying to find the Wu and looking over her shoulder for Wuya. Besides, it wasn't like she wasn't used to bizarre games and challenges when hunting Wu. Sure, they usually came in Showdowns and not when trying to find the stupid things, but it was still the same general idea, really.

"What, don't tell me you're scared you can't beat me or something?" Jack asked mockingly when Kimiko was weighing her options.

Aaaand there went all of Kimiko's common sense and rationality.

"You're on." The Fire Dragon said, narrowing her eyes when Jack grinned in delight at his success in getting Kimiko to play his game. "Just no powers or anything, okay?" Kimiko did NOT want to worry about cracking her head on ice chasing a winter spirit around a forest.

"I won't if you don't." Jack said agreeably. Kimiko raised an eyebrow. She hadn't even thought about using her fire on the white haired teen, honestly. Smiling, Jack held out his right hand to shake with the Fire Dragon in a show of good faith. "The game ends if you catch me. Sound fair?"

"When I catch you." Kimiko corrected, taking his hand in her smaller one to give a firm handshake, a determined glint in her eyes as she took in his laughing blue ones.

"If." Jack insisted, grin widening when Kimiko glared at him. "Oh, and one more thing!" Before Kimiko could figure out what he was doing, Jack tugged her forward by their entwined hands, bending down to make up for the foot or so that separated their heights so they were eye level.

The young warrior's eyes went wide when she realized that only a few inches separated her face from the spirits. Before Kimiko could put some distance between them though, Jack blew out a gush of breath, directly at her nose. Immediately, the Fire Dragon's nose went freezing numb, turning Rudolph red in the sudden, unexpected cold. Shrieking in surprise, Kimiko jumped back, her foot once more landing on the ice she's so informally met earlier, which again sent the warrior flying to land on her bottom.

"Tag! You're it!" Jack laughed before sprinting away before Kimiko could recover from her spill. Kimiko gaped after him for a moment before a flush of red overtook her cheeks, matching perfectly with her cherry nose.

"YEW DERK!" Kimiko shouted around her now stuffed up nose, scrambling to her feet to take off after the spirit.

Jack Frost was going DOWN.