Another chapter Horaaaay!
I really enjoyed writing this chapter and hope you guys like it!
North sat at his desk, transfixed on the ice doll he had worked on earlier on that day. In hopes of distracting himself from the problem at hand as it made his head throb with great pain. If the message had been about anyone else, North wouldn't be so worried.
The guardians could all take care of themselves with ease and knew when to accept help when they needed it. But of course, the message had to refer to Jack, the youngest and most stubborn spirit North had ever met.
He said he could take care of himself when the boy didn't even know the creature he was up against let alone how to fight such a thing. Jack may be strong, but the guardians couldn't take their chances with this one, they had to keep Jack safe, even if that meant keeping him locked up at the Pole.
Carving each intricate detail into the small knit hat that was now atop the doll's head, North contemplated how the guardians supposed they would find the dragon. None of the Guardians took tabs of any non-human children and therefore, didn't know how to locate one since it wouldn't appear on the globe.
North moved on from the head of the doll to the clothing he had been mulling over in his mind. He gave the ice doll a long puffy coat that reached the lower part of her waist, the skirt of her dress flowing from there. Below her knees, the feet were covered in thick boots with what North planned to have fur on the inside.
He honestly couldn't tell if it was because of the anxiety over Jack's safety or not, but this was the most intricate design he had ever put into one of his toys, including having already chosen the colors and textures of each piece of clothing the girl wore.
North placed the doll back to the corner of the desk, which had become its accustomed spot to sit while the large man worked on it, and leaned back in his chair, rubbing at his eyes with his large meaty hands before dragging them down his face. Grumbling softly to himself about the boy who lay silent in his ice cold room, North stood up and unlocked the door, making his way to the large kitchen.
The kitchen was always busy as Yetis prepared goodies and feasts for the white bearded man and his guests while the pointy-headed elves crawled as silently as they possibly could with their jingling bells, trying their hardest to sneak past the Yeti forces and steal some of the baked goods that were stacked on large platters.
North made his way through the large room, weaving through the large furry creatures as they ran by with random ingredients, still trying to find that perfect cookie recipe. The weary guardian reached over one of their shoulders and plucked one of the cookies from a silver platter. The Yeti had to stop himself from slapping the man's hand away out of instinct for what was usually one of the hyperactive elves trying to acquire even the smallest bit of the sugar coated sweets.
North didn't even notice as he strode to the next Yeti and grabbed one of the steamy cups of cocoa from his outstretched hands. The furry giant grumbled in protest but moved on through the kitchen.
Finding himself a large red chair, North sat down with a loud thud, he could hear the legs of the chair creaking in protest, but if it could hold the many Yetis who had sat it before, it would surely hold North.
"What am I going to do with the boy?" North groaned.
One of the beasts looked up expectantly, searching over his shoulders for who else the old man may be addressing to before looking back at the grumbling guardian and plopping down in the next chair across from him, waiting for the conversation to continue.
"He thinks he can take care of self, but he is just boy! So young and restless, I doubt he will last entire week. I'm surprised Jack is not gone already." He said, staring into his hands as if they held the answer.
The Yeti across from him nodded solemnly. Jack could certainly be a trouble maker, but he was a good kid who simply couldn't keep his feet on the ground even though he tried. The large creature kept his eyes glued to the old man, his perplexed gaze burning a hole into the Yeti's heart. A furry hand shot out, grabbing a startled Elf, caught off guard while carrying a stolen plate of cookies off to who-knows-where, who now hung by his pointy hat.
North looked up as a large arm thrust itself into view. In the burly hand sat a quivering elf, a tray of cookies. The guardian took the plate, setting it onto his lap and staring at the many morsels as if they would show him what to do next, and theoretically, they did just that.
"Maybe the boy would like cookie." The man contemplated before standing up and gazing towards the door. "I should talk to Jack, he must be so confused. Yes, I will go talk." Nodding at his decision North turned from the smiling Yeti, who waved as the man left their ever so engaged conversation, and a shaky elf who slumped low in his red suit.
"Jack!" The jolly guardian shouted enthusiastically, knocking hard on the winter spirit's door. "I have cookies!" He added, knocking on the door again before reaching for the handle and opening the wooden door ever so slowly.
A cold wind hit North and he shivered upon entering the icy room. Nearly everything was covered in frost, from the ceiling to the floor, covering every wall and even spreading like icy veins out the open window.
North's eyes widened. "Jack?" The plate of cookies hit the floor with a clatter and was almost instantly bombarded with the greedy elves as they rushed in at the sound of the dropped platter, but the guardian of wonder did nothing to stop them. "He is gone."
"Odar!" North shouted at the nearby Yeti, his hand sailing out in front of the beast's face. "Call the guardians, we have trouble."
…
"Honestly, how hard can it be to find one of these?" Jack asked himself as he floated through the countless trees. "It's huge!" He held the book Jamie had given him in front of his face, staring at the drawing of the snarling monster that made the castle it guarded look like a doll house.
"Ugh!" He groaned, letting his head flop back so he faced the sky. "Wind, you brought me here for a reason right? If the dragon is really in Burgess, why can't I find it?"
The wind circled around Jack, clearly agitated as if reminding the boy that it didn't even want to bring him this far. "Fine, Jack smiled, I'll find it myself."
"Snowball fight!"
Jack turned around to see a group of children a little younger than Jamie throwing snowballs at each other. A smirk appeared of his pale face. "Right after a little break." He murmured to himself, darting across the street.
The winter spirit brushed his staff across the cold snow and perfect white balls of snow popped out. "Ammo anyone?" He asked. Since he was still a new guardian, most of the children playing couldn't see him and were able to run straight through the scrawny boy's body, but a few laughed and threw snowballs at the floating boy with the white hair known as Jack Frost.
A few teenagers passed by, staring long fully at the snowball fight as if they were using all of their willpower not to join. Jack laughed and materialized his own snowball into his right hand, smirking wildly as he threw it towards the brunette girl with spindly hair.
She froze in her tracks, her friends laughing uncontrollably at her. The shock was replaced with a tricky smile and Jack snickered as she threw a ball of snow at one of her unsuspecting friends. The boy wiped the snow off of his face before shouting. "SNOWBALL FIGHT!" And grabbing his own ammo, chucking it at one of the other groupies.
Jack floated back, looking contently down at his masterpiece. "Cold cold cold cold…" The boy whirled around to see another teenager, two brown bags weighing her arms down as she tromped through the snow.
She had curly red hair with a grey hat sitting precariously atop her head. Her piercing green eyes squinted as she tried to make haste through the snow. "Hmm…" Jack mumbled inwardly before another snowball appeared in his hand. If he could get five teenagers to join the snowball fight, he was sure to get this spoilsport.
The white ball of ice left his hand, but instead of making contact with the back of the girl's head, it disappeared, water spattering where snow should be sprinkling in her red hair. The girl froze, gasping slightly before turning as if to look for who had thrown the snow at her.
Jack just stared at her quizzically, floating down a bit to get a better look at the strange girl. Her eyes trailed by him before widening. Jack winced, she was looking straight at him. She began to back away. "Wait!" Jack called, but the girl had already taken off down the road before turning abruptly into a large brown house.
Jack didn't follow at first. A teenager saw him. Jack had enough trouble trying to get children to see him that he never expected a teenager to actually notice him. Most people grew out of seeing the magic at a young age, some as young as Jamie.
The winter spirit unknowingly floated to the brown house in which the teenager had disappeared into, stopping at one of the windows.
…
"Eden, you're a hero, thank you for picking those up for me." A brown haired woman with grey eyes shielded by thin rimmed glasses walked into the kitchen, taking the two brown bags from her adoptive daughter.
When the usual chatty teenager didn't respond, Videre turned to see her still standing in the doorway, shivering from the cold, a perplexed scowl glued to her face, her piercing eyes deep in thought. "Eden?"
The girl suddenly snapped out of her daze. "Hi." She said plainly, her eyes lighting up and her red curls bouncing at her shoulders.
Videre studied the girl. "Honey, your hair's all wet."
Eden reached a tentative hand to her soaked locks, a look of realization hitting her. "Uh, yeah, I accidentally caught myself in the middle of a snowball fight and one of the strays hit me. But no one saw!" She finished the last line quickly.
"Oh dear, you need to be more careful." The women said, her stray hairs that had fallen from her bun swaying as the worried lady shook her head.
Eden smiled. "I will Vid." She laughed, rolling her eyes at her overprotective nature.
"I'm in your house!"
The two women turned towards the door as Daniel opened it and waltzed in as if it were his own home, which technically it was seeing how much time he spent at the house as opposed to his internet-dating addicted mother's.
Daniel looked up, his black hair falling in front of his dark brown eyes. "What'd I miss?" He asked, clasping his hands together as if awaiting the best gossip story at a girl's slumber party.
Eden opened her mouth to answer, but Videre got to it first. "Eden got hit by a snowball."
Daniel scrunched up his nose. "Ooh, risky."
"No one saw!" Eden retorted, flinching with guilt at the lie. But what was she supposed to say. 'No one except for the winter spirit himself?'
Videre rolled her eyes and turned to the kitchen to start her new culinary dish.
As soon as she had left the room, Daniel turned to his best friend, one eyebrow raised and a skeptical look plastered on his face. "So, what really happened?"
Eden acted as if she was caught off guard, but knew she had failed miserably. Daniel had always been able to see straight through her since she was adopted into his next-door neighbor's family. He was well over a year older than her, putting him in his senior year of high school, although Eden's grades were superior to his by far.
Daniel crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, waiting for her to tell the truth. Eden wasn't sure how to answer, her family was always so overprotective of her, knowing she was the last of her kind made them especially cautious of any government associated beings or anything supernatural occurring due to her presence alone.
Winter was not a safe time for a flame holder. She melted ice on contact and, during the snowy seasons was huddled in layers of clothing, still unable to keep warm since her body heat needed to be maintained at a higher temperature than anyone else. Her family was especially worried of Eden's ability to lose her focus and walk right over the frozen lake that sat in the forest behind her house that she loved to sketch her drawings at.
Daniel rolled his eyes. "Would it have anything to do with that boy floating in the window over there?" He asked, pointing behind Eden.
She whirled around, her wet hair slapping her face as she turned. The spirit from the park was frozen (no pun intended) in shock. Blue eyes met green. Jack Frost had found her.
Cliff-hanger, hanging from a cliff, and that's why he's called cliff-hanger!
Don't worry, I'll post again tomorrow since I am on a roll with this story.
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