Soon, the sky became a combination of blue, orange, and pink, during a sunset. Birds began flying by, appearing as black silhouettes. The peak of the sun's light reflected the snow that revealed its sparkly texture.
Upon this beautiful texture, Jack Frost was flying over Central Park. He took in the lovely snowy landscape before double checking the note given to him from North about a child in need of Winter fun and only Jack can help them. The note also mentioned that it was an emergency.
"This must be the most miserable kid on the planet if it's an emergency," Jack noted. "I mean, who can't have fun on an awesome Winter day like this?" He soared over the bare tree branches until he landed on top of one and inhaled a breath of crisped, cool air.
The Snow Sprite looked down and spotted a teen girl in a hood at the exact location the letter described where the fun-deprived child would be.
"Huh. So that's her?" Jack raised an eyebrow. "Wonder what I should do? Well, obviously, I'm entitled to have some fun with her, first. Hmmm…maybe act like a ghost and scare her? Perhaps take her hood down and play with her hair? That's always fun," Jack grinned, lightly chuckling on those options. "Or..." He scooped up some snow and packed it into the perfect snowball.
"Oh, I hope I arrived in time. Where is he?" Lea muttered quietly to herself, looking around for her favorite myth.
Just then, a voice reached Lea's ears. "HEADS UP!" Lea spun around and,
WHACK!
A snowball hit her from out of nowhere. She could make out disembodied laughter.
"Gotcha!" a male voice said.
After wiping the snow from her face, Lea assumed that it was some random teen from high school pulling some mean trick and she looked around in annoyance.
"Okay, I don't have time for this!" she shouted, taking out her hockey stick to defend herself. "Throw another snowball! I dare ya!" Lea challenged, looking around for the wise guy who hit her.
Jack laughed in his throat. "Oh, you just poked the polar bear!" He made and threw another snowball.
But this time, Lea was ready. Once hearing her opponent, she whacked the snowball right back at him like a baseball and made a direct hit in Jack's face. It hit him so hard that he fell out of the tree backwards and landed back-first on a pile of snow. He even dropped his staff, after that fall. If things weren't interesting enough, the snow that was covering the tree came down; burying him with heavy, white, powdery snow.
Now it was Lea's turn to laugh, walking forward towards the snow-covered boy.
"That'll teach you to mess with a pro-hockey player," she remarked.
Just then, after getting close to her prankster, Lea spotted something that belonged to the boy. Lea recognized it as some weird looking staff with a G-shaped arch. It resembled a shepherd's crook. Curious, she put the hockey stick back in a hook sewed to the back of her bag, slowly picked up the strange looking staff to admire, and then feel its twisted wooden structures.
Her eyes looked down at the snow-covered boy and then the staff, slowly putting two and two together.
"Teenaged boy in a tree. Very mischievous in a fun way. And has a unique staff," Lea's eyes grew wide; too stunned by her discovery. "Either I'm crazy or I just snowballed the Spirit of Winter himself."
Jack rubbed his sore head. "Oh, man! I can't believe it! The joke's on me this time?!" He looked up and saw Lea staring. Staring right at him!
Once pulling back her hood to get a better view and revealing her natural curls, she could not believe her eyes after studying him up close. The sight of him brought goosebumps all over Lea's skin.
The teenaged boy had snow-white spiky hair that nearly showed some shine in the light, striking cold blue eyes, and pale white skin. He wore a blue hooded sweater with frost collecting around the ring of the collar and sleeves, along with tight, old-fashioned brown pants made of light material that went down to almost ankle level and was held by a brown belt–which seemed to be hidden underneath the low part of the frost-hooded sweater. What caught Lea's attention the most was the lack of footwear. He was literally standing on the snow barefooted! No human alive could withstand the cold like that.
"No…Way!" was all Lea could mutter under her breath; still too astounded.
Seeing his appearance right now reminded Lea of the silhouetted painting she once saw at the book store. Not to mention the sketches from the book she read, as well. There was no denying it. She was face to face with the myth she had always wished and dreamed to meet: Jack Frost!
"You can see me?!" Jack gasped.
She nodded her head, unable to speak, at the moment, and kept an awestruck look.
"Huh," Jack stood up and grinned. He seemed to be a few inches taller than Lea. "Well, are you gonna stand there, catching flies or are you gonna tell me your name?"
"Uhhhh…" Lea continued standing like a statue, not realizing that she's still holding onto his own staff. Her heart was beating in a high speed, legs wanting to giveaway balance but couldn't, and breath constantly moving steadily. She was ecstatic to finally meet her favorite myth in person, but, at the same time, was nervous. Lea wanted to make a good first impression and she was already blowing it!
"Okay, someone needs a wakeup call," Jack said, clearly seeing the blonde girl was too shocked to even talk. He flicked his wrist and blew icy cold wind in Lea's face.
"YEOW!" Lea's hands flew to her face, causing her to drop the staff with Jack catching it, in the process. "Man! That was c-c-cold!"
"Comes with the job, Toots," Jack replied, happy to have his staff back by twirling it a bit.
"...Okay, I deserved that," Lea admitted, trying to get her thoughts together. "Let's start over. Hi. My name is Lea Carolina Thompson, and it's an honor to finally meet you," she started, gently waving an awkward hand saying 'hello' while circling the snow with her right foot, eyes looking at the ground and then him every five seconds. "I'm a huge fan of you and your work."
Jack smirked, leaning his weight on his staff. "Oh, really? Well, I'm a fan of anyone who's a fan of mine,"
Lea chuckled nervously, rubbing her right arm awkwardly. "S-sorry about that snowball thing. I thought you were some random bully from school trying to pull a fast one on me. I swear, I meant to hit you in the arm. I didn't think my defense hitting would knock you off," she apologized, her tone filled with a hint of guilt.
"Please, I'm not a bully. Bullies are losers with bad parents," Jack told Lea with a smile. "I am the Guardian of Fun."
"Right. I see that now..." Lea shyly answered, blushing a bit. "Oh! I have something for you," she got out her backpack, opened the top zipper, got out the white present, and handed it to Jack. "It's an anniversary gift of when you first became Jack Frost. Hope you like it,"
To say he was surprised would be an understatement. No one has ever given Jack such a gift, or a gift period. Kids always leave milk and cookies for North and teeth for the Tooth Fairy. Some kids even leave carrots for Bunnymund.
"Uh, thanks," Jack took the gift, stabbing the snowy ground with his staff so it could stay in place for him to use both hands, and opened it. His eyes grew in amazement when picking up the Winter-themed strap. "Wow..."
"It's a sash-like holster you wear around your torso," Lea explained, rubbing the back of her neck a little. "You know...for your staff. So you have a place for it and can use both hands on a future event, instead of laying it around where it could get lost or taken. I made it myself using an adjustable guitar strap, some thick yet durable fabric, a few stitches, and belt buckle."
"Wow. Not only did I get a gift, it's practical, too. Nice!" Jack grinned and quickly wore the holster. He then picked up his staff from the snow and tucked it inside the pocket behind. "Fits like a glove."
"Oh, that's good. I wasn't sure of the exact measurements of your staff, so I used my hockey stick to help stitch a perfect pocket hold on it. Even tested the durability myself on its grip when moving fast," Lea admitted.
Jack smiled. "You really think things through, don't you? We don't see enough of that these days."
"We? Who's we?" Lea asked with curiosity.
"My fellow guardians. I'm sure you'll love them,"
Lea gasped in surprise, her eyes growing in delight like a little girl seeing something amazing. "You mean Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, and Sandman?! The Guardians of Childhood?! Am I going to meet them, too?!"
Jack shrugged, putting his hands inside his jacket pocket. "I don't know. Can you handle it? They're pretty crazy..." he challenged.
"I've dealt with snobby kids in High School and live in a loud, rowdy city with louder, rowdier people. I think I can manage," Lea assured confidently, so not backing down on a challenge. "Besides, the Guardians can't be that bad. They're the protectors of children, for crying out loud."
"Well, there's some truth to that," Jack said, already bringing out his staff again with a small swing. "Alright, let's go!"
"But how do we get there? Wherever the Guardians are, I mean," Lea questioned.
Jack gave another one of his mischief smiles. "Simple. Just grab on and we'll go from there...Unless you're too scared," he teased, lending down his left hand towards her.
"You wish," Lea scoffed, whom gave a playful look before reaching toward his hand with her right. When doing so, it felt cold yet warm in hers. "Now what?"
Without warning, Jack took off into the skies, like a rocket.
"EEYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Lea screamed, whom should have seen this coming.
Jack laughed in amusement, enjoying both the ride and Lea's reaction. "Come on, loosen up! It's all part of the fun!"
At first, Lea was terrified out of her mind to find herself going this high and could lose her own life if dropped. But then, less than a minute later, Lea was actually starting to calm down and appreciate this flying experience. She could see her own city completely from where she was and feel her curls moving around through the breeze.
"Whoa..." Lea smiled in awe, not believing she's actually doing this.
"Enjoying the view?" Jack asked with a cool grin, flying above the young teen's home city.
"Definitely! This is awesome!" Lea screamed loud enough for him to hear through the wind.
Chuckling, Jack had a playful grin on his face while looking at Lea on his left. "Good. That means I'm doing my job."
This caused Lea to laugh even more. It wasn't until a few questions and concerns popped through her mind that changed her happy mood. "Hey, Jack! What are each of the Guardians like?"
"Well, North-or Santa, as you know him- is fearless, occasionally intimidating but caring, mysterious, and downright jolly. Tooth is sweet, motherly, protective, passionate, hardworking, and very enthusiastic. Sandy's creative, fierce, peaceful, and talkative with his sand. And as for Bunny, he's impulsive, grumpy, distrustful, self-confident, and competitive…But he's also very sensitive, so, he'll probably warm up to you in no time," Jack answered, numbering his Guardian friends with his staffed-hand fingers. "Why you ask?"
"Do you think…they'll like me? Even if I'm all grown-up?" Lea asked, while not making eye contact with him by looking down to see so many snow-covered trees underneath her.
"Of course, Lea. I can already tell you that they'll be thrilled to meet someone who still believes in them for so long, just like I first met you. Promise," Jack assured.
Although he noticed the slight doubt in her eyes, Jack conjured up a few snowflakes to move around Lea's face to catch her attention. She gently tried catching one with her left hand with a light chuckle, letting her fears flow away and joy takeover, instead.
When that occurred, Lea finally looked at Jack to see a devoted smile on him.
A wave of relief flowed through Lea on everything Jack did. It was like his chilling magic froze her worries. His friendly smirk calmed her unnerved heart. His icy-blue eyes easing her stressful mind. She managed to notice how his eyes looked like large snowflakes under his pupils. They were considered very divine to Lea.
Her train of thought was interrupted when she noticed that they were no longer in any familiar territories and the temperature began to drop lower than usual.
"Um, Jack? Where exactly are we going?" Lea asked, starting to feel a little cold.
"You'll see. You're gonna love it!" Jack promised, already flying into high gear.
Lea shivered from the bitter cold. "Are we t-t-there yet?!" she hollered through her chattering teeth.
"Almost there!" said Jack. But he stopped when a hulking, hairy figure jumped out and kicked Jack out of the sky, taking Lea with him. Luckily, the snow cushioned the blow and iced the pain.
Lea pulled herself from the snow and screamed when she saw their attacker. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHH! YETI!"
Her eyes grew wide with terror and amazement to spot an ape-like creature. It had long dark gray-white hair covering its entire body, bright green eyes, a long white bushy mustache that was the length of a beard plus covering his mouth, and a poofy ponytail sticking straight out from the back of his head.
Jack just grinned, as he got up and directed his staff on his right shoulder in a cool manner. "Hey, Phil."
Lea looked at Jack in disbelief and then the yeti named 'Phil'. "You know this yeti?!"
"Yep. He and I go way back. Right, pal?" Jack winked.
Phil just growled and pounded his fist.
"Hold the rough stuff, big guy. I just want my new friend her meet the other Guardians,"
Phil said something unintelligible to the Snow Sprite.
"Come on. It's important for people to believe in us," Jack replied. "She believes in me. So why not have her meet the rest of the family?"
Lea couldn't help but smile a bit when Jack called the Guardians his family.
"Please, Mister Yeti? This is my first ever adventure that I get to meet famous myths, fables, legends, and fairytales. Even meet new friends, like you," Lea politely reasoned.
Her words made Phil's heart melt. He said something in his native tongue and stepped aside, gesturing them to pass.
"Thank you, Phil," Lea spoke, happily marching forward.
"Whoa...Phil actually listened to you?!" Jack said in utter disbelief. He looked at Lea, as they ventured onward. "You have a gift."
Lea blushed a bit. "Not really. I was just being honest and kind."
"Huh. You really are a rarity among people," Jack replied. "A true diamond in the rough."
Now Lea felt her cheeks burn from that comment and her mouth turn into a pleased grin. "Well, I think you're a diamond in the rough yourself, too. Especially when you make those incredible frost designs you leave wherever you go," she bashfully replied. "Everyone is unique and special in their own way. Same goes for family."
Jack didn't think it was possible, but he was feeling his face turn red from her kind words. "Um, yeah. Oh, hey! There's North's place!" He took Lea by the hand and began zooming forward. "Come on!"
"Whoa!" Lea exclaimed, laughing a bit while moving to what looked like a Russian Palace. She stared at it in amazement!
Lea truly was living the adventure of her dreams.
