Chapter 1

Bad First Impressions

She had only stepped out for a moment, to check on the nois that felt too close to be safe. The small creature was yelping, it's leg trapped in a set of metal teeth half buried in the snow. She set herself to setting the creature free from the metal contraption.
The sounds of movement in the snow caught her attention, and she turned as she stood to face whatever was making the sound in the dense blanket of snow on the forest floor. The bow was already strung, and the arrow flew as straight as it could given the shooter's shaking arms. It was not straight enough; it missed it's target by what seemed to be miles.

Winter had recently begun in the little town, and the children were outside enjoying the first real snow day of the year. The snow had fallen thick over night but was now a soft, consistent fall that ensured the snow day wouldn't end too early. Jack Frost sat on the roof a top Jamie's house.
The young brown haired boy gave Jack a quick wave of 'hello' and 'thanks for the snow see you later' before running off with his friends; they all seemed to be carrying a wooden sled. Jack returned the wave with a smile, before asking for the wind to pick him up.

It was always fun when winter begins each year; perhaps not for everyone, but he always enjoyed it. Freshly fallen snow makes everything look better, he thought.

'Let's go check on him, huh?' He asked the wind, who happily carried him to where the young guardian wanted to go. Jack dropped from the air a few minutes later, floating to a soft landing on the frozen lake. He walked for a bit, enjoying the cold air with a smile plastered across his young face.

Jack eventally walked into the small clearing in the woods, where the old bed still stood. The bed was dirty, made of old wood and cloth that threatened to turn to dust, but never would. Jack knelt beside the bed and ran a hand along the snow beneath it. Solid, just a covering of snow over the dirt that usually lay there. An explosion of gold light on the ground startled him; knocking his head as he stood up from where he had knelt. Jack spun quickly, kicking his staff up to his hand as he did, ready for whatever was there.

Another small explosion came from the staff as it leant in front of his face. It would have been a direct shot had his staff not been there. Jack looked up and saw the figure across the clearing. A young girl stood in the snow, clad in a pair of brown pants and dark green hunters cloak that seemed to almost swallow her body. Jack let out a sigh and laughed to himself.

'Oh god, it's a hunter or something. Must be practicing her shot. Hello! Over here, hah!' Jack waved his arms, laughing at the girl with a smile on his face. The girls arms rose, arrow notched against the string of her bow. Eyes narrowed, the girl aimed and fired. Jack stared at the arrow, as it came towards him. He jumped to the side at the last second, and rolled along the ground until he could stand again. 'Careful there, you nearly hit me!' Jack was still smiling, he'd dodged out of reflex.

'That was the point.' The words came from the girls mouth, covered by the cloak. Jack stood fixed to the spot, looking at the figure that stood before him. He looked at the spots the arrows had struck. Small piles of golden sand were swirling on the ground, waiting for the wind to carry them away.

'You can't have that, that sand doesn't belong to you.' Jack said, looking back at the girl, who had reloaded her bow with a fresh arrow. The tip of it sparkling gold in the light of the day. Rustling in the trees to their side caught both of their attention and both spun to see what it was.

A young Jamie burst through the trees, and waved madly to Jack. 'Jack! Jack! Can we have a snow day tomorrow too? It's my friend's birthday and we wanna go- what's wrong?' Jamie was looking at Jack's confused face. Jamie knew that Pitch was done, otherwise Jack wouldn't be making snow days for him.

Jack held a hand out, making sure Jamie stayed where was standing and looked once again to the girl. Her bow was still raised, arrow ready to fire. It was staring straight between him and Jamie, but Jack had a feeling that the shot wouldn't be a miss if she picked a target. Jack was torn between getting Jamie home, and confronting the person who had been shooting at him.

'What are you looking at?' Jamie asked, following Jack's line of sight. 'Is there someone I can't see?' The young boy's voice was almost trembling, which made Jack's decision. He grabbed the boy, and called out to the wind. 'To Jamie's house, please!' and the two flew off, to drop Jamie off home where Jack told him, maybe, to the snow day request. Jack kept his eyes on the figure as the two disappeared over the trees; she had lowered her bow and was now looking at the bed, the sand glittering amongst the snow.