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CHAPTER ONE

Frozen Light

"I'm telling you, Rio is overrated. Camping by Lake Huron will be just as fun and twice as exciting." Jamie grinned back at Caleb and Claude as they followed him out of the Student Center and down the snow-packed sidewalk toward the university dormitories. "We can catch the last of the ski season and finally track down Bigfoot."

"Jamie…we talked about this…" Caleb frowned and shot Claude a furtive sidelong glance. "It's time to drop the whole Bigfoot thing…I mean…it was fun for awhile, but…"

"Bikinis, bro…bikinis…" Claude drew up alongside Jamie and clapped him on the shoulder.

Jamie frowned and stuffed his hands in his pockets, raising his shoulders against the subtle rejection. "But he's out there! What about those footprints we found last year—and the photo on the trail cam?"

"Look, man…" Caleb kicked a tar-stained chunk of ice into the road. "Even if he is real, who cares…? Monty just accepted that tech job in Texas, and I'm going to grad school in Montreal. This is the team's last real spring break….I don't want to spend it trekking through the mountains looking for monsters, okay?"

"Just skiing then…?" Jamie's breath puffed over his scarf as he stopped at the turn to his dorm. He felt a deep ache in his chest as the rift in his childhood friendship grew steadily deeper. They would always be friends, but that raw kinship that comes with a passion for something wonderful…that feeling was fading like a candle in the dark. "I know you guys had your heart set on Rio, but there's just no way I can get that much together in time…you know what they pay me at the center."

Caleb gave him a pitying look as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. They were going to leave him behind. He could feel it. "We'll talk it over…See you at lunch tomorrow?"

"Yeah." Jamie forced a smile and turned his back on his friends, his feet crunching on compressed snow as he walked up the steps to his dorm.

It had been years since that fateful Easter…the night his belief in goodness and light had been renewed and strengthened. The fabled Guardians played a solid role in his games and conversations for years after the group's shared adventure, but one by one, his friends stopped believing, setting their childhood faith aside to enter the dark uncertainty of adulthood. Still, every year when the frost crept across his bedroom window, Jamie couldn't help but remember…

He saw Jack Frost in everything: fresh snow in December, branches slick with ice, the laughter of children at the day-care center. No doubt his friends had written the whole adventure off as a game of make-believe, or a shadow of a dream, but in his heart, he knew magic was real.

It was that conviction that drove the wedge between them. Twenty-four-year-old students of anthropology don't believe in Santa or the Easter Bunny. The idea was laughable—almost certifiably absurd. Some unpleasant conversations with his child psychiatrist had long since taught him not to talk about the Guardians with adults, but children, on the other hand…

"Jamie! Jamie!" A small boy screamed and threw himself at the college student as he walked into the center. "It snowed! It really snowed! Look!" The boy dragged Jamie to the window and pointed out into the daycare grounds. "We made a fort and Megan ate yellow snow!" He covered his mouth as he laughed and looked impishly back at a girl with curly red hair.

"I did not! Lee, you're a big fat liar!" The girl pulled on Jamie's hand and looked intently up at his face. "Can we go outside? Pleeease? I want to play in the snow some more!"

"Yeah! Let's play!" Lee said, resting a foot on Jamie's shin and pulling on his other hand, apparently intent on climbing all five-foot-nine-inches of the day care attendant.

"Okay, but coats, gloves, and hats or no deal." The children squealed and ran to collect their things. Jamie loved being at the day-care center. He only had three or four shifts a week, but spending time with the children was always a welcome relief. Truthfully, acting like an adult felt like a lie—like he was walking around in someone else's skin.

He had some pretty bad issues with relationships—he could admit that. Flirting seemed like some undecipherable foreign language. He was moderately attractive, or at least girls seemed to think so, but every relationship he tried ended badly. It wasn't the sex. That was fine—great, in fact. It was that time right after the initial buzz started to fade when girls seemed to sense he was holding a part of himself back…

Pippa had been particularly painful. Pippa…the last of his friends to forget, the last person he could talk to. They had dated on and off since high school, but…it wasn't enough. Everyday she wanted more from him—more time, more money, more of his freedom. He wasn't ready for that level of commitment…so she left, her parting words burning deep scars in his heart.

You're such a selfish child, Jamie Bennett! Why can't you just grow up like everyone else!

"You're like a celebrity around here." Allison, the center's general manager, ruffled his hair affectionately. "Twenty minutes, then it's back inside. If one of them catches a cold, we'll never hear the end of it. Do you need me to keep watch?"

"I think we'll be okay." He smiled at the older woman and smoothed his hair down before pulling on his own hat and gloves.

"You're so good with them…" She sighed and gave him a rather wistful look. "You know, my daughter-"

"Jamie, come on! Hurry! Mark is going to claim the fort!" Lee shouted and pulled him toward the doors to the playground. Jamie gave Allison an apologetic smile and followed the children outside. He must have had a thousand snowball fights since he said goodbye that night. Of course, it was foolish to expect the winter spirit to visit every brawl. No doubt he was busy with his duties as a Guardian, but Jamie often wondered if Jack even remembered him…especially now that he was older. He took comfort in the warm weight of the silver quarter hanging on a chain inside his sweater—his last gift from the Tooth Fairy. No one else would sneak into his dormitory to take his wisdom teeth. It had to be her. They're real. They're real. They're real.

"I'm on snowball duty! Ready the ammo!" Lee ordered and took his place on the snow fort's battlements. The other children scurried to collect snow, forming an arsenal of round projectiles.

Megan grinned as she advanced on the fort, red hair bright as fire against the white snow. "We'll take that fort this time, Lee Aldrich."

"Over my dead body!" He jeered at her, narrowly dodging a snowball and hurling one of his own, catching Megan square in the chest. Intent on revenge, the other girls stormed the fort, bombarding them with snow. Jamie dashed out from behind the fort, dodging missiles and drawing the enemy's fire, sliding like a baseball player through the fluffy snow and sending flakes swirling through the air like a miniature blizzard. The children's laughter was infectious. Jamie quickly lost himself in their enjoyment, all thoughts and worries momentarily forgotten.

Jack Frost smiled as the wind dropped him on the steeple of the town chapel, gazing down at the merriment below. It was nice to see his work appreciated, even if he didn't have a hand in the fun. He swung his staff and flew down from his perch, bringing a fresh storm of flurries with him.

"Come on boys, you can do better than that." He chided, replenishing their stack of snowballs and gliding alongside the fray, tossing a few choice shots to keep the game going. The little red head climbed the back of a tall man with tousled brown hair and hung from his shoulders like a cape, but….no—he stopped dead on the wind, his heart pounding as the man's eyes found his.

"Jack…" The name hung on the air like the falling snow. The little red head dropped off the man's shoulders as all the children stopped to follow his gaze, muttering and whispering as the winter spirit sparkled to life before their eyes.

"Real…he's really real…"

"I told you Jamie wouldn't lie to us."

"Shut up, Lee, nobody asked you."

"Kids, come on!" An older woman shouted from the doorway. "It's snowing again. Come inside."

"Jamie?" Megan glanced at the open door as she tugged on his sleeve.

"Jack…." Jamie took a step toward him, eyes wide.

No, no, NO! Jamie couldn't be here—Jamie wasn't supposed to see him. Jack took off in a gust of wind, desperate to fix what he'd just done. He had to get away—far away, and fast.

"JACK!"

Jamie ran, ignoring the worried calls from behind him as he sprinted after the ghost of his childhood. He jumped the gate and took off down the snow covered walk, trying to keep the white speck of Jack's hair in his sight. He practically skidded down University Drive and onto Main Street, grabbing an iron lamppost to turn the corner, his breath puffing out behind him in misty white clouds.

"JACK!" He shouted as the floating figure turned back to see him following. His foot came down on a patch of ice and slid out from under him. Careening helplessly down the steep hill, he rolled out into the street. There was a blast of sound and blinding light. He raised an arm to shield himself and was immediately yanked off the pavement, his boots scraping the top of the SUV as it blared past. He looked up, relieved to see Jack straining to support him.

"…You're a lot heavier than you used to be…" Jack groaned as he set Jamie down on the sidewalk. "Are you okay…?" He landed softly and crouched down to look at his old friend. "How come you can still—woah!" Jamie threw his arms around the white haired boy, pulling him close, cold frost melting against his cheek. "Jamie…" Jack sighed, resting a pale hand on the man's hair. "Hey, It's alright…I won't go, I promise."

Jamie let out a shaky breath and loosened his grip, looking up at the shockingly familiar face. Jack was exactly the same as he remembered, right down to the chilling bare of his feet. "I knew I wasn't crazy…"

"Jamie…" Jack ignored the statement and stood up, folding his arms over his staff. "You shouldn't be able to see me. You've got to be over twenty…"

"Twenty-four…" He blushed, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "I never stopped believing in you… Why…" He took a deep breath, tears stinging in his eyes, almost afraid to ask the question that had plagued him for so long. "Why didn't you come back…?"

Jack's eyes softened for a moment with a gentle sadness, almost—guilt? "I wanted to…more than anything, you have to know that." His gaze shifted to a man on the corner who stood whispering to his wife with a dubious look on his face as they both stared across the street. "Let's not talk about it here. People are staring."

Jamie's cheeks flushed as he realized how this conversation must look to an outsider. "Yeah, okay…"

Pulling the damp scarf from around his neck, Jamie tossed it onto a pile of laundry in the corner of the cramped room he called home. Jack sat in the windowsill, a wavering breeze playing in his hair as his eyes scanned the Rainbow Quest posters tacked to his friend's walls. A few drawings from the day-care center were pinned above a cluttered desk, and Jack smiled as he recognized himself in the scribbles.

"You ran away from me…" It was freezing with the window open, but Jamie wasn't about to complain. He turned away from the chill, setting a pot of coffee on to brew.

"I'm not supposed to let you see me."

"Says who?" Jamie opened a cupboard, searching for a spare mug.

"North…" Jack sighed and swung his legs down onto the carpet. "I felt so stupid when he told me…all that time I spent wishing people could see me…" He paused and drew a long, unsteady breath. "There's a reason most of the Guardians come at night—while the kids are safely tucked in their dreams."

Jamie set two steaming mugs on a small fold-out table, wrapping himself in his comforter as he settled into his desk chair. Jack sank into the opposing chair, his expression softening ever so slightly as he ran his fingers through the rising steam. "Belief is a powerful magic. It burns deep in the hearts of children and grows tall and bright when they hear sleigh bells or find their windows ringed in white on the morning of a snow day." A small crease appeared between his eyebrows. "But, eventually children become strong enough to stand without us. Their light fades and…they grow up."

"Your belief saved us all from the darkness once, but all magic has a price. If sleigh bells make a light glow brighter, can you imagine what seeing a Guardian does to a child? Sandy did his best to douse those fires with dreams, but your light was so bright…I'm…not sure you'll ever be able to let us go…" Jack raised his gaze, the ice blue of his irises seeming to melt with a complex mixture of sadness, longing, and regret.

"North was right. We've done you great harm…We all promised to stay away until you and the others were safely grown, but as usual, I've made a mess of everything." He ran his fingertips across the surface of the mug, drinking in the warmth until the hot liquid was frozen solid. "I'm sorry…"

Jamie's mouth pressed into a narrow line. "Why didn't I get a say in this? Who said I wanted to forget—to grow up?!" His fingers trembled as they gripped his own half-empty mug. "I want so much more than that—adventure, magic, excitement! I don't want to settle for—for a fucking mortgage!"

The mug flew across the room and smashed against the wall. Jack flew up out of the chair, his eyes wide with shock and hurt.

Betrayal stung like the bite of a dagger. All of them—working behind his back to pound him into the cogs of the human machine. He could see the vast void of his life looming before him like a hungry maw. Empty. Pointless. Mundane. All the things he had been taught to expect from life: marriage, a house in the suburbs, 2.5 kids, working a dead-end job until he dropped like a fly, meaningless and forgotten. There was nothing good about growing up—nothing at all. Jack was the one person he though he could count on to understand that.

"We protect children, Jamie…It's—it's what we do, I…"

"Get out." Jamie stood up, his voice cold with anger.

"Jamie!"

"GET OUT." He shouted and pushed the frozen boy as hard as he could.

Jack drifted toward the window, a despondent look on his handsome face. Then, like a fleeting dream, he was gone… leaving Jamie feeling more alone than he'd ever felt in his life.

Author's Note:

Hello, and thank you for reading! As always, I appreciate any thoughts or comments you might have! This is the first time I've delved this deep into a fandom since I was eleven years old writing horrible Ocarina of Time fiction, so I'm anxious to hear what you all think.

Watching the final bits of the movie, I wondered how Jamie's future life would be impacted by his experience with the Guardians. As William Joyce constantly says in his books, belief is a powerful thing. Perhaps too powerful for the civilized world. In this story I hope to fill a few holes left between the book series and the film—at least, for my own satisfaction. I don't currently have plans to ship anyone, though I can't make any promises.

If you are ready, please read on to Chapter Two: Breaking and Entering.