Chapter 1

The girl strolled beneath the trees, the snow crunching softly beneath her feet. Her fabric designer shoes weren't really made for weather like this, and soon the snow had soaked into the girl's socks and chilled her toes. She didn't mind. She liked the cold.

The girl's name was Sophie. She had just left college for the day, and her mind was spinning with worried thoughts. Ever since leaving school, Sophie had felt like she had been shoved out of the warm comfort of childhood and into real life. While everyone else grew up around her, she stayed still, left behind. All her friends had adapted easily to the change. Their talk now was about their girlfriends or boyfriends, or the tattoos and piercings they wanted, or getting a job, whereas Sophie just wanted to watch childish movies and have snowball fights and read books. And as time went on, she was getting more and more drawn into herself, fitting in less and less with other people.

She sighed, and smiled as her breath misted in front of her face. It's nearly Christmas, she told herself. Just forget about everything for a while and enjoy yourself.

At last, Sophie emerged from the woodland trail she'd been following, coming out alongside the main road. She stopped and waited to cross, not really concentrating. Her head was full of Christmas lights and childish fantasies. She walked forward.

Sophie's heart jumped in her throat when she realised her mistake. The screech of tyres shattered her daydream. She squealed as the car's headlights bore down on her, blindingly bright, and shut her eyes. She hadn't looked where she was going.

Sophie braced herself for an impact which never came. Suddenly she felt arms wrap round her waist, hurling her to safety, and she collided painfully with the fence of someone's back garden. Her eyes still tightly shut, she heard the car's driver yell something before the engine roared away.

Slowly, Sophie opened her eyes. She was lying on the roadside, against the fence. Trembling violently with shock, she sat up. Her head spun and she felt weak from the fading adrenaline rush.

"Are you alright?" came a voice from behind her. Whirling around, her brown hair swinging, Sophie was faced with a very unusual boy. He looked about her age, but his hair was white. His eyes were an incredible blue. He wore a blue hoodie, decorated with an intricate silver pattern that shimmered like frost. In fact, it looked like real frost... Could it be? No, that was stupid. Of course it couldn't.

"I think so..." Sophie let out a shaky breath. "Did you... Were you the one that saved me?"

The boy nodded. "What were you thinking?" he asked, blue eyes wide with concern. "You just walked straight out!"

"I wasn't thinking." Sophie reached up to brush her hair out of her face, and gasped with pain. Burning agony clenched her shoulder. "Ow."

"Sorry," the boy apologised. "I threw you pretty hard. What's your name?"

"Sophie," she told him. "And, it's fine. You saved me. That's the main thing." She smiled, and the boy grinned back.

"I'm Jack. Jack Frost," he told her, raising his eyebrows as he awaited her reaction.

Sophie's eyes widened. "Jack Frost," she breathed. She'd always believed in Jack Frost, long after her friends had given up on the childhood myths. But she'd never actually expected to see him. She laughed suddenly. "Seriously? Jack Frost?"

"The one and only," he replied cheerfully, but then his expression turned to concern once more. "We should get you home. You'd better make sure your shoulder's ok."

"I think it's fine," Sophie insisted, but before she could say anything else, Jack gathered her into his arms.

"How do you like flying?" he asked. With that, he lifted into the air with all the ease of a bird. Sophie gave a small squeal of delight as she felt the cold air rush around her, tugging at her hair and stinging her eyes. Was she dreaming? Surely she couldn't have a dream this vivid, or this... wonderful.

It wasn't long before they caught sight of Sophie's house, and her heart dropped sadly. She didn't want it to end. But all things had to end, and eventually Jack landed softly in her front garden, setting Sophie on the ground.

"There you go," he said with a grin. "How was that?" At that moment something seemed to catch his eye, and he looked up. Sophie followed his gaze, and gasped. The evening was turning the sky inky, and against the backdrop of stars, colourful light flickered and danced like ribbons. The Northern Lights.

"I've gotta go," Jack announced suddenly. "I hope I'll see you again soon, Sophie." And with that he leapt into the air, silvery hair flying, gone as suddenly as he had arrived, leaving Sophie watching him with her gaze full of confusion and longing.