Miles away, Jack falls to the ground, nausea finally overcoming him. He still feels like he's too close to the lake—the other side of the globe would still be too close—but dry heaves shake his body and he has to land. It seems like the painful contractions go on forever, but eventually Jack is able to sit up.

He uses a handful of snow to wash out his mouth, and another to scrub at his lips until they feel raw. The roiling sick feeling doesn't leave his stomach.

He'd found her, Emma, his little sister. How had everything gone so wrong?

It had seemed an unlooked-for miracle. After having forgotten his sister for so long—for which he would always feel guilty—to have her there suddenly, visible and tangible and reactionary…but then he began to notice certain things.

She looked barely sixteen.

Her hair was tangled and water dripped from the ends, despite the cold.

Her thick wool dress was soaked.

Her skin was pale and dark bruises rimmed her eyes.

But he ignored the warning signs at first, too blindsided by his sister. He could make up for all those years he'd forgotten her! They could go skating, and he could take her flying, and they could build snowmen and start snowball fights, and they could make icicles and frost patterns together. He could share the joy of winter with his little sister, like he had done three hundred years ago. It seemed too good to be true.

It was.

"A lot of boys have tried to trick me. Make me think they were you. But they weren't, they lied to me, so I punished them."

"Don't leave me! I love you."

The worst part is, despite the violence and the obsession, she's still his sister. Or she had been, at one time, in the same way that he had been Jackson Overland. This is Emma, twisted by grief and madness.

Jack presses his face into a snowdrift, hiding his tears as he grieves for a sister that has lingered too long. He grieves, for the first time, the loss of his own life, and for the pain he put his family through. And he grieves all the might-have-beens.

Then he squares his shoulders and launches himself into the air, heading toward the North Pole. Whatever else she is, the spirit in his lake is dangerous and she needs to be stopped before she drowns another innocent boy.

But Jack is not alone, now. The other Guardians can help him with this, and maybe mourn with him when it's over.