The cool, December breeze whips around my face as I press my back up against the grooved bark of the tree behind me. A strand of my bubblegum pink hair flickers in front of my nose for a second before the cool wind whips it back behind my ear. I take a deep breath and pull myself closer to the tree as I pull out my bow and a single heart tipped bow. I mount the arrow in the rest notch and pull back the string. A young, brown haired boy with a missing front tooth and his face smiling and good naturedly and a redheaded girl with warm brown eyes and rosy pink cheeks pass my tree, their backpacks thumping the back of their legs as they chatted about childish nonsense, like bikes and schoolwork and Santa Clause. As they passed me, the boy began kicking a lose piece of cement, causing it to make awful scraping sounds against the icy sidewalk. I lessen my grip on my bow, the arrow no longer pulled taunt to avoid a faulty shot. I crouch into a squat as I stalk behind them. Snow begins to whirl around me, getting caught in my thick eyelashes, blurring my vision and causing my mess of violently pink curls to stick to the sides of my neck. Ugh, why must it always snow while I'm working? The twenty minutes of free time I have, I must fight a damn snowstorm just to spark one childhood crush. It almost wasn't worth it…almost. I draw the bow back to the crook of my neck as the two children stop at the crosswalk, waiting for the traffic to slow. I feel my fingers release as the bow slow motion begins to spiral towards the middle of the boys back. I feel a sharp tap on my shoulder, made by strong, almost probing fingers. I twist around, knocking my arrow off course and sent my arrow directly into the bark of a nearby tree. It disappears into the dark brown grooves of the tree with a poof of pink sparkles. I feel my cheeks flush angrily as I whip around to face the offender. It's a young man, maybe all of 15 year old with snowy white hair, a twisted staff in his hand and his mouth twisted up into a mischievous smirk.
"What is your business of making me miss my shot?" I ask heatedly. The boy laughed, I feel my rage bubbling up. I had to be to a maternity unit in seven minutes to bestow parental love, and I had to be at the park to give a father a push to rescue his daughter from the icy depths of the pond. I was in no mood to be interrupted. I tap my foot impatiently as the white hair boy stands there grinning like a Cheshire cat.
"So this is cupid?" He laughs as he exclaims this to no one in particular. I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from attacking him. How dare he? I had a name, Cupid was just an overused gimmick used for commercial use. Last time I checked I wasn't a naked baby.
"My name is Amoretta Love. Cupid is the fat baby." I say sternly, pivoting to resume my shot, my arm pulling the string taunt.
"I'm Jack Frost and I need you to come with me." I turn back around, giving him a glare.
"I'm not going with you anywhere. You made me miss my shot." I say, now standing defensively, hands at my waist, glaring at him from under my dark eyelashes. Jack takes a step closer to me. I take a step back. He reaches towards my hand and grips my wrist tightly.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way." As he says this a huge six foot tall rabbit and two yetis step out of the shadows. I raise my eyebrows.
"Bunny, why are you here?" I ask harshly. The huge Aussie glares back, his chest puffed out proudly. It was drawing dangerously close to Easter, he liked being interrupted from his work as much as I did.
"North wants ya Miss." He explains with his thick Australian accent tiredly as the two yetis grab my arms. I jerk away, struggling against the smelly, walking carpets. Their strength overpowered me easily and I eventually drop my head in submission. Bunny, seeing the situation was under control, stomped twice and disappeared through a rabbit hole in the earth, leaving Jack, the two yetis and I on the sidewalk. Jack maintained his nonchalant demeanor and his self-assured smirk. How desperately I wanted to reach over and slap that stupid smile off his face. He ruffles his hair and one of the yetis releases my arm and opens a canvas sack that reeked of body odor and manure.
"Your carriage awaits your majesty." Jack smirks, gesturing to the sack.
"You want me to get in that?" I scoff, at the ready to run if I felt it necessary. Jack nods, his grin widening. I roll my eyes into my head, exhaling angrily, blowing my bangs out of my face. Jack grabbed my waist and shoved me towards the bag. Already humiliated, I obeyed and tumbled headlong into the itchy, abrasive bag. Almost as soon as I regain my bearings, I feel my stomach drop out as we leap through what I can assume is a snow globe portal. I struggle to keep the contents of my stomach down as the yeti holding my bag lands softly on the solid grown. I am dumped unceremoniously onto the marble floor of a cavernous workshop with five pairs of eyes watching me intently. I straighten my fuchsia skirt and rearrange my pink curls as I wait for someone to speak. I recognize most of the faces, Toothina, the tooth fairy, hovering nervously, Bunnymund the Easter Bunny looking grumpy, North, also known as Santa Clause with his beefy, tattooed arms crossed over his chest, Sandy, the sandman smiling kindly and the smirking Jack Frost. I clear my throat awkwardly, glaring at Jack as I notice him giving me a once over, his eyes lingering on my hips. Bunny notices and bumps the snowy headed teenager angrily.
"Why am I here? Or are we just going to stand around here and stare at me, Jack Frost." I glare pointedly. Jack's smile slips slightly as North steps forward. He wraps his arms around me, my face coming to about his giant stomach, my nose being smashed into his sweater. Okay, this was strange I couldn't help but think as he sets me back down.
"Welcome Amoretta, the Newest Guardian." North proclaims loudly, his Russian accent making the proclamation all the louder. Toothina smiles at me happily and Sandy claps enthusiastically. Bunny crosses his arms and Jack continues to shift his weight from foot to foot.
"Oh…I. Why?" I stutter, confused, "Why did you choose me?"
North laughs, "We didn't choose you, Manny did." North explains, gesturing to the moon. I nod, vaguely following along.
"Well, why do you need me?" I ask quickly, desperate to get back to work.
"There seems to be er… a problem." Jack steps forward, beginning to explain. I raise my eyebrows.
"What kind of problem?" I ask. Toothina and North exchange looks of panic. Sandy begins a series of charades, of which I only caught half of.
"Pitch. Pitch Black." Jack states matter-of-factly, "We think he's back and Manny thought you would be helpful." The rest of the room nods. I tuck one of my curls behind my ear.
"Okay, what do you need me to do?"