Hello, everyone! Sorry this took me a small eternity to update. It took this long for my muse to come back for this story. Jack reeeeeeeally doesn't like hanging around in the summer. Hope I can get most or all of this story out before he takes off again. That would be nice, haha.
Those of you who are following Lullabies in the Frost will notice a lot of the same headcanons cropping up in this one. I just happen to like those headcanons. A lot. Haha.
Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians. Now get back to reading,you!
I could have sworn that the universe had exploded and reformed several times in between the time when Mrs. Bennett first dropped her tea and my finally breaking out of my paralyzed stance. "Oh, let me take care of that," I said as I jumped to my feet and ran to the kitchen to grab some paper towels. I couldn't help myself. I pretty much figured it was my fault that she had dropped her tea in the first place, and it was my duty to clean it up for her.
Upon reentering the living room, however, my courage waned, and I sheepishly handed the paper towels to Mrs. Bennett for her to clean up the tea herself. I felt like such an idiot. I realized that the tea was too hot for me to touch at the moment, but I didn't have to make her actually clean it up by herself, did I? Granted, I couldn't think of any other way to handle the situation, but I still felt like I'd done something wrong.
"Thank you," she said as she took the paper towels and wiped up the tea. She smiled nervously at me as she threw the dirty towels in the trash. "Now, what was it you were saying before I went all butterfingers?"
I stared blinkingly at her for several moments. She was acting like it was her stupidity that had caused this whole mess, even though I honestly didn't think she'd done anything wrong. Was she giving me a chance to fix my stupidness? I thought she might be.
"Oh, I was... I was..." try as I might, I couldn't think up a good thing to say that would help ease the tension in the room. Telling her I was fae obviously wasn't the best introduction in the world, and I didn't want to make things get bad again. Time for a diversionary tactic.
"Hey, what are your kids doing for Halloween?" I looked around the room as though the mention of said young'uns would just magically make them pop out of the woodwork, though I saw no trace of little wooden Jamies or Sophies anywhere. I guessed I was just going to have to wait until they got home from school, as annoying as that might be.
Mrs. Bennett chuckled at that question, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Apparently that was a good thing to ask. Good Jack. I was doing the right thing. Finally. I wanted Mrs. Bennett to like me, at least a little. It had been a long time since I'd been able to play with her as a child, but I still remembered how cute she'd been, and I didn't want her taking a disliking to me now.
"Well, I don't know what Jamie's planning to do. We haven't had enough money to get him any of the costumes he liked, so I don't know." She shrugged. "He might be skipping out this year." That was terrible. Jamie, skipping out on a holiday? What was the world coming to? I was going to have to do something about this.
"As for Sophie, she's going as a fairy again. She always goes as a fairy-" Her voice trailed off as her eyes caught mine and the realization kicked in that she was looking right at a fairy. Or that was what I'd guessed was going on behind her eyes. I really needed to work on my telepathy.
I smiled and nodded at the thought. Sophie was so cute whenever she dressed up like that. "I can't wait to see her little costume. It sounds adorable."
Mrs. Bennett seemed visibly relieved by my statement, and I could only guess as to why. Maybe she'd been worried that I'd be offended by humans impersonating fairies? Hardly. I find it adorable, and so do many of the fae aside from me. But I supposed it was understandable that she wouldn't know that.
Silence fell again as the two of us waited to have the other one break it. This was quite an awkward encounter. I took a sip of my hot chocolate to test the temperature, and decided that I could bear it now, even though it was still a bit warm. The cooling suit increased my tolerance a bit, which was a nice bonus.
"Delicious," I said, and I turned and thanked her. "You've always been an expert hot chocolate maker."
She batted her eyes several times at this as I realized my mistake in choice of words. Even if I was fae, I didn't have to wave it around in front of her face constantly while she was still coming to terms with it. Mrs. Bennett had grown a little bit skeptic over the years what with all the hardships she had gone through, and breaking a skeptic quickly was someone one should never do. It could make them lose their mind.
"You-How did you know that?" she asked.
I groaned and slapped my palm across my face. Stupid Jack. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't thrust the whole fairy thing in your face when you're obviously uncomfortable with it."
Another moment of awkward silence, and then she said, "But still, how did you know about my making hot chocolate? I've never met you before."
I took a deep breath and sighed as I looked down at my hot chocolate. I guessed I was just going to have to tell her some things. I hoped it wouldn't break her mind too much. "I watch over you guys every winter just to make sure you're safe, so I sometimes notice little things like how Mrs. Bennett's hot chocolate is really popular with the neighborhood kids."
A flicker of a smile played across her face, but it disappeared just as quickly. I wasn't sure whether I had done right or wrong in what I had said, but I certainly hoped I wasn't screwing up too badly. "Really?" she said, "Then why haven't I seen you around?"
I choked on my hot chocolate, but quickly regained my dignity. "I, uh... I'm usually... invisible."
"Oh..." she said, and then we fell into a deep level of silence that I foresaw no return from. This was all my fault. I had moved way too fast with explaining things to her. I just ruined everything I touched. Why had I ever thought it would be a good idea to stay with the Bennetts? They were the one family I was least inclined to mess up, but they were bound to come out of this whole encounter for the worst now that I was here. I just knew it. Why couldn't I ever think of these things before it was too late?
We shared a couple awkward minutes as I finished up my hot chocolate. As soon as my cup was empty, Mrs. Bennett took it and said, "You must be tired. Why don't you go and rest up for a bit? My kids won't be home for a couple hours."
I nodded and left the room without a fuss. It was clearly just a ruse to get me out of her hair for a while since the whole fairy thing was stressing her out, but I chose not to let on that I was aware of this. I could use a little alone time anyway. I felt awkward too, what with this being the first time being properly around humans since my turning fae.
Back in my room, I sat on the bed, kicking my feet back and forth as I wondered what to do to entertain myself. I wasn't actually tired like Mrs. Bennett had assumed. In fact, I don't sleep very much at all compared to humans, so I saw no point to trying to sleep.
But the boredom was killing me, so I occupied myself by opening the windows and closing the windows to see which scenario would make the room cooler. Then I started messing with the vents, trying to lock out the air coming through them. Mrs. Bennett wasn't trying to heat up the house today, but I knew she would very soon, and I didn't want the Bennetts to wake up one morning to find a puddle of Jack on the floor, cooling suit or no cooling suit.
I hadn't figured out how to regulate the temperature yet when I heard little feet run through the house. That must have been Sophie. I had my suspicions confirmed when I heard a longer stride trudge through the house after her, followed by a, "So, how was school today?" by Mrs. Bennett.
"Same ol', boring stuff," said Jamie, as he tossed his things on the dining room table from what it sounded like. "The teacher gave us a lecture on eating too much candy. What does she think we are, six?"
"Now, now, Jamie, I'm sure Mrs. Wallace didn't mean anything by it. She's just trying to watch out for you kids."
"But she's always talking down to us, Mom! Every freaking day!"
Mrs. Bennett was quick to hush Jamie after him saying something like that. I guess she found it offensive for a twelve-year-old to say "freaking", though I don't see what the big deal is. It's a word he's allowed to say at school, so why worry about it? Adults.
"Not so loud," said Mrs. Bennett, "You'll wake up our guest."
"We have a guest?" said Jamie. I could detect a slight sound of betrayal in his voice, possibly from not being notified earlier of who this "guest" was.
"Mmhmm," she said. "He's going to be staying with us for a while because Mommy made a mistake and signed something she didn't understand, and now he has nowhere else to go."
A little bit of time passed without the two saying anything, but I wanted to know what else they were saying about me since they thought I was asleep at the moment. I crept up to my closed bedroom door and pressed my ear to the wood. Now I'd be able to hear them even if they whispered.
"Does this have anything to do with that funny letter, Mommy?" said Sophie.
"Possibly," said Mrs. Bennett, who then dropped her voice to a whisper. "He thinks he's a fairy, so be nice to him. The poor kid's probably been through a lot. And make sure you let Mommy know if he ever does anything... scary."
If I hadn't already been sitting, I might have stumbled over my feet right then. Mrs. Bennett thought I was crazy. Talk about a jab to the ego. I supposed I couldn't blame her for feeling that way, considering the society she was brought up in, but it had still hurt.
I was done listening to this nonsense. It was time to go out and socialize, and hopefully put Mrs. Bennett at ease a little bit in the process. It was a long shot perhaps, but it was worth a try. I needed to at least show her that I meant none of them any harm.
I opened the door and poked my head out of my room. "Do I hear people up and about?" A startled Mrs. Bennett turned to see me standing there, smirking.
She placed her hand on her chest as though I'd knocked the wind out of her. "Oh! I'm sorry, did we wake you?"
I shook my head. "Not at all. I wasn't asleep anyway." She looked a bit uncomfortable at this statement, possibly because she realized that I may have overheard some of what she'd said about me and felt guilty about it. I didn't let on that I knew anything. Trust wouldn't be won by scaring the person into not talking around me.
At that moment, Jamie caught sight of me, and his breath hitched as his eyes grew wide. He glanced back at his mother, no doubt to confirm that she was indeed looking at me, and then he bolted from his seat and into me, knocking me to the floor from the force of his running start. "Jack! What are you doing here?"
"Jack?" said Sophie, her attention finally drawn to the strange new person now that her older brother had gone and knocked me to the ground. She came running over and leapt into the giggling heap to get her share of hugs. As soon as we quieted down a bit, Sophie looked up at me and said, "Why are you here now, Jack? Jamie said you weren't coming for a few weeks."
I gave the little girl a noogie as I sat up and extracted myself from her and Jamie's clutches. "Change of plans. My schedule is a little weird this year." That was quite an understatement if there ever was one.
Mrs. Bennett walked up to the three of us. "You guys know each other?"
At that moment, Jamie and I simultaneously locked glances with each other as we realized the gravity of the situation. Sophie was too young to understand the problems the wrong answers could cause, but one glance at Jamie's face told me that he understood everything.
I was in quite a predicament, as I couldn't quite tell Mrs. Bennett the truth because she would freak out. However, I was trying to gain her trust, so I couldn't exactly lie to her either, now could I? I was hoping to eventually win her trust enough to tell her the full truth about my identity, and I wouldn't be able to do that very easily if I betrayed her trust now with a bunch of falsehoods.
"Yeah, we know each other," I said. The look in her eyes made it very clear that she wanted to know more. I was going to have to wing it. "Remember how I said I protect the people around here in the winter? I ran into Jamie and Sophie on one of my visits, and we've been friends ever since." Phew! That had at least all been true. Hopefully she'd be satisfied with that explanation.
She blinked. "Really?" She then turned to Jamie. "Is that true, Jamie?"
Jamie nodded wholeheartedly. "Yep, yep, it's absolutely true. We've been friends for years."
Mrs. Bennett looked puzzled, which was slightly unexpected to me. I'd have thought she'd feel better after being told that Jamie and Sophie had known me for a long time. "Then how come you've never mentioned him to me?"
Ouch. She had a point. Jamie cringed at that, but I met his gaze, telling him with my eyes that it was alright. I completely understood why he couldn't speak of me in normal conversation, but we were going to have to come up with something to say to his mom that would make enough sense to her to put her at ease, though this would be tricky.
Jamie figured it out before I did. "Don't you remember me talking about Jack, Mom? I always talk about him when he comes around."
His mom looked like she was thinking, and thinking hard at that, but she was clearly drawing a blank. I wasn't sure how Jamie planned to get the both of us out of this situation, but I felt I'd better just reserve judgement until I figured out what he was up to.
"Aw, come on, Mom. All the kids talk about him when he shows up. Are you telling me you've really never heard his name even though every kid in the neighborhood can't stop talking about him?"
After a bit of awkward silence, she finally said, "The only Jack I can remember all you kids going on about is Jack Frost." At that moment, Jamie nudged me with his elbow. Apparently that was my cue.
I laughed awkwardly and got up off the floor to meet her gaze. "Yeah, that's kind of my nickname around here since I'm only ever here in the winter." That wasn't exactly a lie. I do go by a lot of different names all over the world, and the people in America happen to like to call me Jack Frost. My statement was almost true.
"And because your name is Jack, I assume?" she said. I sighed in relief and nodded. She was buying the excuse. A guy who played with kids during the winter who the kids called Jack Frost wasn't that big of a mental stretch. It was no stranger than any other nickname.
"So what's your real name, then?" she said.
I spluttered for a couple seconds, having not anticipated that question at all, and said, "Well, Jack."
She chuckled half-heartedly. "Yes, I realize that, but what's your last name?"
"Oh," I said, and laughed to myself in embarrassment for being a complete idiot. Jamie shot me a worried glance, evidently unsure of how I was going to get out of this one since she was unlikely to accept that my real name was Jack Frost, but I just shrugged and smiled back at him. He may not have thought this through completely, but I was covered. I could handle this the rest of the way.
"Overland," I said, "Jackson Overland."
The look on Jamie's face conveyed a feeling of what I could only assume was pure horror, or at least something similar. He was definitely unsure of where I picked up such a name and was going to need an explanation later.
Thankfully, Jamie's face went unnoticed by Mrs. Bennett. "Jackson Overland. Huh. Interesting. Never met an Overland before. Is your family English?"
Now that was a question that I don't think Jamie could have prepared me for if he'd tried, and I found myself laughing out loud at the absurd idea of Jack Frost's lineage coming from England. There was no way the Man in the Moon would have picked me to be the spirit of winter unless I had already been used to very cold temperatures.
"No," I said, "it's Norwegian."
"Norwegian, wow!" said Mrs. Bennett with a hint of awe in her voice. "So, was it your grandparents who first moved to America?" Then, almost as though realizing that she might be getting a little too personal, said, "I'm sorry, I'm just curious."
I shook my head. "No problem at all. I don't mind." I went and leaned on the door jam to get a little more comfortable as I explained things to her. "It was actually me and my parents who moved here from Norway when I was a little squirt."
"Wait, so you were actually born in Norway?" she said. I smiled and nodded happily. If there was one thing I was proud of and always happy to talk about, it was my heritage. "Well, that explains some things..." Her voice trailed off as she looked away from me in thought, then she turned back to face me. "We're just a boring, old Dutch family. Nothing fancy like Norwegian. We may not completely understand your ways, but I'm open to learning some of your customs."
I nodded my understanding at her, a little bit confused at her sudden change of tone, but happy to be given the opportunity to brag about my homeland all I wanted. Most people just wanted to punch me after five minutes. I insist to this day that they're all just jealous.
I turned to look at at Jamie, only to see that he was now looking more confused than ever. Somehow I suspected that I was due for a very long explanation later for all this stuff I'd just revealed that I'd never thought to tell him. In all honesty, I'd never thought it was relevant, but apparently he thought it was from the hurt look he was giving me.
Sophie ended up being the one to save the day. "Can we go out and play now, Mom? I'm bored."
Mrs. Bennett smiled and made shooing motions with her hands. "Oh, why not? You guys all go and play while I make supper." Both kids got up and went to the door, and upon seeing me hesitate, she gave me a light shove and said, "You all have fun. I'll call you when dinner's ready."
I stumbled to the door in a blur, trying to figure out what had changed her attitude toward me. Before, she thought I was crazy, and now she was treating me nicely while Jamie was upset with me for some reason. I knew I would have to explain to him that I was once human in order for him to understand everything that I'd said since I'd never thought to reveal that before. Maybe Jamie didn't like thinking that I was once an ordinary kid like him.
And just like that, it hit me why Mrs. Bennett had changed so suddenly like she did. She now knew I was Norwegian, and she must've thought that Norwegians were weird judging by her reaction to that. Perhaps she thought it explained why I talked like I wasn't even human, though I don't know of any other Norwegians who talk like that outside of fellow characters of myth like myself.
Somehow, through her skewed logic, finding out I was Norwegian had allowed her to forgive me for saying I was fae.
"So, what was all that about, Jack?" said Jamie. I smiled gently and sat beside him on the porch steps. He picked up a blade of grass and began peeling it.
"Did I sound a little too human for your liking in there?" Mischief laced my voice as I observed Jamie give an uncomfortable shrug in response to my question. He probably didn't want to admit I was right, since it sounds bad if you're mad at your friend for not being the race you thought they were, but I understood where he was coming from. I usually told everything to Jamie, and yet I'd just revealed some things to his mother that I had never told him: things about my former humanity. I could understand Jamie feeling a little betrayed over that.
I placed my hand on his shoulder. "Jamie, don't worry. I told you the truth about who I am. I just never got around to telling you who I used to be."
"Who you used to be?" He looked up from his blade of grass to get a better reading on my face. "What the heck does that mean?"
I rubbed my eyes and sighed. How was I going to make this long story into a short one so I could keep his interest? Not to mention his trust. Mrs. Bennett's trust was flaky enough as it was without Jamie's trust disappearing on me too.
"Well," I said, "I was born a long, long time ago. My parents were already planning on moving to America when they had me, so they picked a name for me that would help me to blend in better once I got here. I guess they were worried a Norwegian-sounding name would cause discrimination or something."
"Why would they discriminate against you for that?"
I shrugged. "I don't know, but it was a common problem at the time, and we ended up moving to a place that had been mostly settled by Dutch people. We kind of stuck out, which was a bad thing back in those days."
"It's a bad thing these days..." Jamie muttered. I barely heard him and asked him to repeat himself, but instead he chose to change the subject.
"Why would it be bad to be around Dutch people?" Jamie's voice rose up a notch. He was getting anxious. It was likely that he thought I was judging his family for their heritage, though I wasn't. He just didn't understand how the social dynamics had evolved over the years.
"There's nothing wrong with Dutch people, Jamie." I gave him a noogie to drive in my point. "You have to understand a bit of history to get what my family went through though. The Dutch were shrewd and zealously protected every penny they came across, though they also made sure to take care of their own, and no one else. This meant that if you moved into a Dutch settlement and weren't Dutch yourself, you were screwed."
"Ouch," said Jamie.
"Yeah," I said, "My father became very racist against the Dutch for that reason. But my sister and I never agreed with him. We decided she was going to marry a Dutchman just to spite him."
Jamie half-chuckled at the thought, but I could tell that he didn't quite know what to think. Different time, different social dynamics. It was a lot to throw on a young mind at once, but he had to know about my human side if he were to continue trusting me. Not to mention, him knowing about this stuff would make it easier for him to back me up when his mother decided to ask questions again.
"So," he said, "did she actually marry a Dutch guy?"
I shook my head and shrugged. "I have no idea. I died before she could convince the guy to propose."
A few leaves silently fell from the nearby tree before Jamie regained his bearings. "Wait, what? You died? Holy..." He placed his hand on his forehead like his head was about to explode.
Sophie bounded up to us after hearing Jamie's outburst. "Are you a ghost, Jack?"
That thought sounded so ridiculous to me that I lost control right then and rolled off the porch steps, clutching my sides in laughter. Ghost indeed. That was a good one. It sounded fun though. Maybe I should find someone to haunt.
As soon as I calmed down enough to breathe, I wiped out the tears that were starting to form in my eyes before they could turn into ice crystals, and I turned to face the two kids. I was still giggling every few seconds, but I was managing to mostly keep a hold on it.
"Not a ghost, no." I took a deep breath to calm myself down the rest of the way, and then said, "I fell through the ice trying to save my sister from an ice skating accident, and then the Man in the Moon brought me back as the spirit of winter."
"So... are you alive or dead?"
I rolled my eyes. Was Jamie just being abnormally slow today? "Alive. Goodness, Jamie, just because I'm not human anymore doesn't mean I'm dead." I grabbed his hand and put it on my chest. "See? I even have a pulse."
"Huh," said Jamie, "It's a really slow pulse."
"That's just because I'm so cold. Everything moves a bit slower."
"Can I feel it?" said Sophie, who snuck a little closer and held out her hand to feel my heart. I grabbed her little hand and guided it to where she could feel my heart, and she chuckled in glee as soon as she felt it. It was strangely comforting to have your loved ones get excited over a mundane thing like you still being alive.
"So, what are you doing here, Jack?" said Jamie after Sophie's excitement had faded a bit. "Why can Mom see you all of a sudden?"
I sighed. "Long story short, I have to have a year of Guardian training by living with a human family for a year. I want to stay with you guys, but I'm not sure how your mom feels about that." I cast a wary eye back toward the house, but there was no trace of any Susan Bennetts lingering around. Seemed I was safe for now.
"But why can she see you?"
"Because I came through the veil," I said. "Today is the day when the veil between the two worlds is thinnest, so anything can come through." I then gestured to myself. "So, here I am. I'm stuck in your world for a year, so everyone can see me."
"Aw, sweet!" said Jamie, and he started laughing. "I'm going to have so much fun this year."
I flicked his forehead. "Absolutely. If you're hanging out with me, I'd say that's a requirement."
Sophie nuzzled closer at this point. "Does, does that mean that you can come to my birthday?"
I gave the little girl a big hug. "I'll come to your birthday, Sophie."
"And mine too?" Jamie piped up.
I nodded. "Yours too."
Jamie cheered just as Mrs. Bennett came out to tell us that dinner was ready. We hadn't gotten much playing done, but we had at least cleared the air between us. This looked like it was going to be an interesting year.
Hope you liked that. Feel free to leave me some reviews and tell me what you think about whatever stuff, haha.
I also have a story I've uploaded to Fictionpress about an imaginary friend gradually becoming real. I'll put the link on my profile shortly so anyone interested can go and read it.
Thanks for reading, everybody. Hope to see you again soon!
