Alexandra and the Gods of Earth: Book One

Great Expectations

"That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day" – Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

The red-bricked house in the west end of Burgess was empty that morning. It was only 7:30 in the morning so the occupants of the house could not have been too far into their daily routines. Alex left the Watts' residence and headed north. If she were lucky, Ben would still be walking towards the school. She pulled herself higher into the air for a better bird's eye view. She had not seen Ben in two days and was excited to talk to the boy. Sure, she could have waited until after the school day was over, but she absolutely missed the kid. They had hung out almost every day for the last year. It was weird not seeing him on a daily basis and she had a lot to tell him.

A glaring, neon green backpack caught her eye as it bobbed up and down with the movement of its owner. Ben was only five minutes into his commute. She had just enough time to catch up before he made it to the school.

"Ben!" she shouted as she dropped next to him.

"Alex?" he asked aloud. He quickly looked around to make sure no one had heard him. The last thing he needed was for everyone to think the new kid talked to himself.

"What's up, kid? I haven't seen you in-"

"Two days! Where have you been? It's so boring here."

"Boring?" she chuckled. "You just had your first snow day a few days ago, and this is a whole new town to explore! How could you possibly be bored?"

Ben started to walk again. He needed to keep moving if he wanted to make it to school on time. Alex completely landed on the sidewalk and followed beside him.

"Well, you know what I mean. I haven't had anyone around to hang out with. I've just been lonely."

"If I remember correctly, I believe you recently gained a group of friends with a very convincing snowball. Besides, I'm here now, aren't I?"

"Yeah, on my way to school. We've got like five more minutes until I'm supposed to meet up with the others and they're waiting for me out front of the main doors." Ben explained. "Why didn't you just come by this afternoon?"

"Well, I slept most of the day yesterday and it threw my sleep schedule off. I ended up awake at like 2:00am. Figured I could just swing by and see what's up." Alex shrugged.

"Why'd you sleep for so long? You're always on my case about meeting my bedtime."

"Okay, first of all, I'm an adult. I don't have a bedtime." She pointed out. "Secondly, I was up the night before soaring back and forth from coast to coast with Jack Frost."

"Who?"

"Jack Frost? You know, bringer of snow and ice? Probable nose-nipper?"

Ben stopped in his tracks and held out his arm for Alex to do the same. He huffed and looked up at the girl with an exasperated expression.

"Listen, I'm twelve, not eight. If you don't want to tell me what you were doing, fine. I just thought we were best friends-"

"Dude, we are best friends, and I'm not lying! We were spreading some wintery goodness for a while, then we headed into Canada to look for Nanuk and ran into some Wargs." she explained.

Ben dropped his hand and looked at her hard. He narrowed his eyes and scanned her for any signs of deception. Alex put her hands on her hips and waited. This was not unusual for him. Whenever she brought him a tale of her adventures he tended to take them as false until she proved otherwise.

"Wargs?" he questioned. "Like in Lord of the Rings?"

"Uh, they're a little less Tolkien and a little more Crichton. They had raptor tails."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously! I drew them in my journal, you want to see?" she asked and began to pull her bag off.

"Yeah, but," he looked ahead where the top of the school building could be seen about a block away. "I don't have enough time. You can show it to me after school. You're still coming by this afternoon, right?"

"Yes, I promise." Alex said as she pushed him forward. "I'm going to be hanging around town anyway. I did come all this way to see my best friend."

Ben gave her a toothy smile and quickened his pace as he crossed the street. He jumped over a left over snow puddle at the edge of the sidewalk. The town was still covered in a layer of snow, but most of it had been pushed out of the roads and into dirty piles along side them.

"What does Jack Frost look like?" Ben asked suddenly.

"Not like any of the movies, I can tell you that. He's got a tall wooden staff and doesn't wear any shoes for some reason. Guess he doesn't get all that cold." Alex mused.

"So Jamie was telling the truth? Jack Frost really exists?"

"Yep." she confirmed.

"Then maybe he was telling the truth about the other things." Ben mumbled. He looked up at Alex so fast she was surprised she could not hear his neck pop. "You have to tell me right now. Does Santa Claus exist?"

Alex smiled at the seriousness in the boy's tone.

"Actually I found out about that the other day too. Santa totally exists and it is imperative that I see his toyshop. Apparently the North Pole is run by yetis instead of elves."

"What about the Sandman or the Tooth Fairy? Is the Easter Bunny really tall with an Australian accent?" Ben implored.

"All real, but I didn't know that thing about the accent."

Ben stopped once more. This time, the school building was in full view of the pair. Other kids were making their way through the double doors in the front. Alex could see Ben's friend, Jamie, as he waited for him on the stairs leading into the school.

"Does that mean you're like them?" he wondered.

"Like who?" Alex asked when she looked back at the boy.

"Like Jack Frost and Santa Claus. You know, real, but only to some people."

"Yeah, what did you think I was, a ghost?" she laughed.

"No, I just thought you were a really vivid imaginary friend." Ben admitted. "This changes everything. I mean, think about what else could exist!"

"Story of my life, kid. Now you should probably get moving. Your friends are coming over." Alex said and she pushed him towards the school.

"Wait! Does that mean that the next time Jack Frost comes I can see him? And Santa Claus too?"

"Yes, yes. As long as anyone believes, they can be seen. It works that way for all spirits, apparently. Now go!"

Ben made his way up the sidewalk to meet Jamie halfway. He turned around to wave at Alex once Jamie had his back to him. She waved back and watched them run through the double doors.

The school was nice. There were three floors and it was made up of mostly red brick and concrete. Large windows dominate most of the upper floors and the flowerbeds along the sidewalks were well kept. Alex pushed her self into the air and made her way back toward the center of town. Now that she had seen Ben, she was not sure how to waste time. She had promised to stay in town until he got out of school, but now she did not know what to do. Alex floated high above the streets but continued to follow the path of the roads. She supposed she could explore Burgess a little more.

From her perch just below the low hanging clouds, Alex could see that the town borders did not extend very far. Burgess was a small town, made up of mostly residential suburbs that surrounded a couple retail and commercial streets. People always stopped to talk to one another or waved as they passed each other on the sidewalk. There was a wooded area just outside of town that she could explore. Alex pushed her self towards the east end and started to descend out of the sky. A beat up, dark green Honda caught her eye as it made its way farther out of town. The small patch of maroon and gold on the back signified that the car belonged to Lindsey Watts, Ben's mother. The Arizona State bumper sticker was older than Ben and the car was older than that. Mrs. Watts was headed to work for a local newspaper. It was not as great as the job she had back in Phoenix, but the price of living was a lot cheaper in Burgess. Alex figured that was more important to Ben's mother, now that she was the only one that provided for the family.

Mrs. Watts was a nice woman with the same dark brown hair as Ben, cut into a short, professional style. She wore glasses like her son and worked very hard to be a good mother. It just seemed that lately she had less time to spend with Ben while she adjusted to life as a single parent. Alex supposed that might be the reason Ben was so adamant about her staying around regardless of the new friends he has made. Maybe she brought a sense of normality to his life because she was there before everything went pear shaped for him. Well, as normal as she could possibly be. At least Ben had made mortal, visible, non-flight enabled friends.

Alex hovered over the woods, her feet dangled just over the brambled branches of the barren trees. She narrowed her eyes and gazed off into the distance. The area extended for a while before the tree coverage became sparse and turned into rolling hills of snow and spotted farmlands. Alex looked down and could see through the naked tree limbs to the snow covered ground. She started to think that maybe the place had nothing to be explored. It kind of looked empty.

Just as she had made up her mind to check out the other parts of town, a figure drifted down from the ever-lingering clouds and into the woods a ways ahead of her. It was the splash of a blue hoodie against the grey sky that had her hunkered down and out of sight. This time, she was going to be the one who appeared out of nowhere. A little stealth mode from her would be a satisfying way to give Jack a taste of his own medicine. Alex moved through the air towards a clearing in the treetops. She descended towards the ground and landed in the snow without a sound. She crouched down as she moved forward so she would not give her self away. Once reached the edge of woods, all thoughts of stealth were completely forgotten.

The woods opened up into a small area. The ground was uneven and rocky, and the trees made a lopsided ring around the area's borders. At the center of the clearing was a small, frozen pond. Jack Frost flew across the pond while he swung his staff around him. Alex had seen him produce ice when they first met on Ben's roof a few days ago and he had started plenty of snowfall during their winter flight. She had thought it was cool, but this was something else entirely. His face was an expression of pure concentration. The curved top of the staff swirled and skidded against the frozen water, and added layer after layer of fern-patterned crystals. He ran over his work twice, then three times, before she realized that he was very intent on the ice being made thick. With a wave, Jack topped off the pond with a final layer of frost and spun around to check his work. The dark color of her jeans against the snow caught his eye and looked up to see her as she watched him from the edge of the pond.

"You're already here. Makes it easier on me, I guess." he said as he leaned against his staff.

His voice broke her from her reverie. He waited for her to respond and she simply groaned. It occurred to Alex that she had just lost her chance to sneak up on him for once.

"What, not happy to see me?" Jack asked as he walked across the ice.

"No, I …nevermind." she sighed before she realized what he had first said. "Wait, were you looking for me?"

"Well, I was going to once I finished up." he said as he gestured to the pond behind him. "Luckily for me, you've taken care of that."

"Surely you've seen enough of me over the past few days. I would've figured you'd want a break after our last furry adventure."

"The dinosaur dogs were a little bit different for me, but I know how new you are to the whole spirit thing." he explained nonchalantly.

"It's been 22 years-" she started.

"So, I have taken it upon myself to make sure you are thoroughly educated on the subject." he interrupted quickly. "I've decided that we'll start with my specialty."

Alex crossed her arms and let the smallest of smiles onto her face. She had to admit that she did enjoy having someone along on her expedition. In fact, she just generally liked the company. It suddenly occurred to her that Jack probably liked the company as well. Alex was willing to bet that the other Guardians, from what she had been told, tended to stay busy with the schedules they had to keep. 300 years was an awful long time for someone to be keeping to themselves.

"That would be fun, right? What you're saying is that I need to be educated in fun." she guessed.

"Wow, first day of school and you're already on the path of becoming a star pupil."

Alex hummed and put a finger to her chin. She decided to play along and pretended to think for a moment.

"Well, if anyone has the means to teach me the ways of fun, I guess it'd have to be you."

Jack chuckled and flipped his staff a few times in his hand. The swift, well-practiced movement reminded Alex of the flag twirlers in marching bands. They stood there for a few more moments before she realized he was not going to fly off and lead her somewhere.

"So," she drew out. "What exactly did you have in mind?"

"Oh, uh…have you ever been ice skating?" he asked.

Alex opened her mouth to reply with a 'who hasn't?' but snapped her jaw shut. She slowly dropped her arms and blinked in a sudden realization. In all of the 42 years that she had been on earth, she had not, in fact, ever been ice-skating.

"For this to work, you're going to have to actually get on the ice." Jack pointed out.

When Alex mentioned the fact that she had no skates, she was not trying to get out of skating. She had simply forgotten that she was in the presence of a mythical ice creating spirit. Jack had asked her to lift her foot up and flipped his staff so the curve of it just barely tapped her soles. Ice quickly formed across the bottom of her shoes and raised to a thin line down the middle. When Alex then mentioned that ice against ice probably did not make for the best skating device and that they should just wait until she could get real equipment, Jack laughed at her. Well, he did not so much as laugh at her as he laughed at the lengths she went to avoid any actual skating.

Not that she was afraid of skating; she was not. She just liked to avoid potential slipping hazards. When Alex was a regular mortal, she and gravity did not get along well. She was not a thin and lithe girl, she was thick and was mostly all hips and shoulders. So when she fell, she fell hard. Once she became a spirit and learned she could fly, Alex decided she was a bit more graceful in the air. Now that she had the choice, she liked to avoid slippery surfaces and embarrassing falls. Which was why she currently hovered over the ice of the pond, her magically formed skates a mere two inches from frozen contact.

"Yep." she finally returned.

Jack huffed and pushed himself forward over the ice until he was in front of her.

"There's no reason to be scared-" he started.

"I'm not scared."

"I didn't say you were." he quickly amended. "I was just trying to say that there's nothing to be worried about. The ice is really thick; I made sure of that. You're not going to fall through."

"Yeah, I caught your ballet a few minutes ago. You're performance was great, but I think you could work on your pirouettes. They're lacking in pizazz." she snarked and then looked down to her shoes. "Besides, that's not really what I'm worried about."

Jack followed her gaze before he looked back up at her face. She did not look like she was scared, but she did look frustrated. It was as if she wanted to drop those last few inches but could not make her body respond. She glared down at her shoes but Jack quickly caught her attention when he held out his hand.

"Here, it's not hard. Let me show you."

Alex glanced up at him, down to his hand and back up. The glare was gone but the raised eyebrow was back. It was the same look she gave him last time he held his hand out to her.

"I'm not going to let you fall. Even though the ballet comment was unnecessary, because my pirouettes are all sorts of pizazz, I promise I will not enact any forms of revenge." he said with a sincere voice, despite the smile on his face.

Alex did not respond. He motioned for her to grab his hand but she crossed her arms instead. Jack dramatically rolled his eyes and put on a fake pout.

"What, you don't trust me?"

She huffed as he motioned for her to grab his hand once more. The face he gave her was insufferable at best and begrudgingly adorable at worst. He had not said anything about the almost chomp to her ankle with the Wargs. So, there was a possible chance he would not laugh too hard at her misery if she ended up rear-to-ice. Alex dropped her arms with a mighty sigh and surrendered her left hand to his right.

"I guess you did have my back with Fido the other day." she admitted.

"I knew you'd see it my way." Jack said as she finally lowered her shoes to the ice. "Seeing you face-plant would be hilarious, though."

Alex attempted to jerk her hand back, but his firm grip kept her in place.

"Kidding! Completely kidding." he assured as he began to slowly move backwards.

Jack pulled at her hand. Alex quickly latched her right hand to his wrist and leaned forward until her skates were forced to move forward. She wobbled, and would have flailed if her hands were not currently in a death grip around Jack's wrist, until she tightened her body into a statue-like state. Jack chuckled under his breath but did not move any faster than the snail's pace he started at.

"How is it that you, a dedicated world traveller who loves discovering new things, has never been ice skating before?"

Her eyes darted up for just a second, and gave him such an unamused look he was sure she practiced it every night in a mirror, before they shot back down again. She watched her shoes like they would suddenly combust if she were to look away for too long.

"Despite my amazing aerial skills and ninja-esque stealth moves," she started as he began to pick up his pace. "I was very clumsy as a child. I'm pretty sure there's a picture of me, in the dictionary, under the word 'clutz'."

"So, no roller blading, then?" he asked.

"Nope."

"What about bicycling?" he tried.

"I was never really a fan of anything with wheels." she summarized.

Jack laughed, out loud this time, and moved faster. Alex wobbled, less erratically this time, and did not move a muscle as he pulled them around the curve of the pond. Her lips were pursed in determination and her brow wrinkled in concentration as she continued to watch her shoes glide across the ice. She had yet to loosen the iron bar-like grip she had on Jack's wrist, not that he minded. Her hands were warm and they radiated that warmth deep beneath his own skin.

"You know, it might be easier if you straightened up a bit." Jack offered.

Alex glanced up at him again before she returned her stare back to her shoes. She seemed to mull over his words for a minute. She was already determined not to wimp out on this and decided she might as well try to enjoy it. Alex took a breath in and slowly unfolded from her position until she stood with her back straight. Her knees were still locked in a bent position and the rest of her movements were as stiff as a board, but to Jack it was an improvement.

"Now move your feet a little. Just like mine but backwards. Or -uh,… forwards."

He turned himself until he was skating forwards with his back to her and her hands still gripped around his wrist. Alex grimaced and looked back down at her shoes. With herculean effort, she began to mimic his steps until she was able to propel herself. Her movements were shaky and unsure but, eventually, Jack no longer towed her along. He twisted his arm in her grip, only after he reassured her he would not let go, and pulled her next to him rather than behind him.

"Now if you could just drop one hand-"

"I got it!"

"Sure, sure."

Slowly but surely, Alex released the death grip she had on his wrist. Her right hand snapped to grip the strap of her bag across her chest instead. Her left hand remained in his own and tightened ever so slightly as they curved around another edge of the pond. As their path straightened, her eyes jumped down less and less until she was finally confident enough that her shoes would not embarrass her without supervision. She was able to focus more on her surroundings, like how the far side of the pond was actually bordered by rocky terrain or how the wind seemed to ever so slightly push at their backs like it had when they flew a few nights ago. Her focus eventually made its way back over to Jack, who watched her with rapt attention. His face held a light smile. One she allowed onto her own once she decided that, despite her aversion to frictionless surfaces and their courtship to gravity, she was, in fact, having fun.

"Now was that so hard?" Jack asked.

"Immensely so." she supplied. "I was almost afraid I wouldn't make it out of this alive."

"I guess that means I'm a pretty good teacher. Day one in mythical spirit education and you've already gotten over your fears. I knew this was a good idea." he boasted.

Alex chose to ignore the fear comment. Partly, because she was not afraid of skating, but mostly, because he had yet to let go of her hand despite the fact she had kept up with him for the last few minutes. She eyed where their hands were still linked and could not help but to say, "I think you just wanted to hold my hand."

Jack's eyes shot down to their connected hands before his head snapped up to face forward.

"You were the one who was worried about falling. I was just making sure you didn't end up face planted on top of all my hard work." he stated.

She was originally going to let go, really she was…until she noticed how immediately flustered she had made him. Alex had never seen any form of color on the pale boy's skin and she cherished the fact that she had actually been able to bring heat to a winter spirit's face. The smallest patches of pink, much paler than they should be, began to appear on the tips of his ears and down the side of his neck. She could not actually see his cheeks but she knew Jack was keeping his face forward for a reason. Alex's eyes lit up with the sudden realization that she could have a lot more fun if she chose her words carefully.

"I don't know," she said with a voice that had seen an opportunity and decided to take it. "We're in a very secluded and aesthetically decorated area so that we can simply enjoy one another's presence. You know, I've read somewhere that people, usually in pairs, do this sort of thing from time to time."

"It's not a date." Jack said, casually like he had realized she was trying to get a rise out of him.

"I was going to call it friends hanging out, but now that you mention it, I guess it could be seen that way." she pointed out.

He did not respond verbally but she could picture the slight eye roll. The barest spots of pink began to fade and she felt her personal enjoyment had just about ran out. Alex remembered their conversation a few days ago, right before they had left to start the winter tour in the northern states.

"First a pick up line and now this," she teased. "Mr. Frost, are you trying to seduce me?"

A layer of frost shot up the sleeve of her hoodie as Jack halted their movement across the ice. He spun around to face her and opened his mouth to respond, but was quickly cut off by the sounds of ice and earth as they crumbled away into a hole that appeared just at the edge of the pond.

"Um," Alex started but immediately stopped when a tall, grey form burst into the air and landed right next to the opening. The figure stood to its full, furry height and the hole closed up. The ground was snow covered and undisturbed as if the larger than life rabbit, who shook out its fur next to it, had not just exploded out from beneath it.

"..wow." she finished lamely.

Her voice, while quiet, carried over the ice and grabbed the rabbit's attention. His ears twitched and he turned to catch sight of them as they stood near the center of the pond. He took a breath and dropped his shoulders in relief.

"Good, ya are here. I did not want to go lookin for ya in Antartica."

The strong accent struck her and she quickly realized this was the Easter Bunny. Apparently Ben was right about the Australian thing. Alex took a second to appreciate the fact that there was, indeed, an actual Easter Bunny before she began to concentrate on the details. She noted the strange marking that patterned his fur, the band of leather slung across his chest that acted as a holster for…something, and then she noted that he eyed her just as critically as she was eyeing him.

"Bunny! I'm always touched that you go out of your way to see me. I knew you liked me." Jack said with a cheeky grin.

Bunny crossed his arms at the same time that Alex nudged the boy beside her with an elbow.

"Dude, introduce me to the Easter Bunny!" she whispered in a quick breath.

Jack glanced over at her and huffed a breath in fake annoyance. Their previous conversation was forgotten, or ignored, momentarily.

"Roo, this is Alex. Alex, this is the Easter Kangaroo." he said, gesturing to both of them.

"Kangaroo?" she asked.

"There is no way you missed that accent."

"The name is E. Aster Bunnymund," Bunny said, his voice easily overpowering Jack's. "But Bunny is a bit less of a mouthful."

"Well, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am a big fan of your work." Alex said with as much professionalism as possible.

"Why weren't you this nice when you met me?" Jack mumbled.

"It's always nice to have your work appreciated." Bunny smiled. "It's nice to meet ya too, but, I have to admit, I didn't know Jack had any friends besides the ankle biters he likes to keep outta school."

Alex's eyes widened a bit and she quickly turned to Jack.

"Are you keeping me to yourself?" she smirked.

"Bunny! You travelled all this way and I know you have a busy schedule to maintain." Jack said quickly changing the subject. "Did you need something?"

"Yeah, actually." Bunny said. He took a few steps forward but made a point not to touch the ice of the pond. "There's been a development with the information that pigeon brought us a week ago."

"More Golems?" Jack guessed.

"It's a bit bigger than that."

Alex looked between the two Guardians. Bunny was clearly trying to inform Jack about the situation without giving up any discretion. She was aware this was a business matter and took no offense that she was meant to be kept in the dark.

"Listen, I came here to get ya. North wants us all at the Pole since it's 'Official Business'. So let's get goin'." Bunny explained. His eyes lowered slightly and he gave the pair a slight smirk. "Unless, of course, I'm interruptin' something."

The two on the ice both looked down to where their hands were still linked. They quickly dropped their hands and took efforts to look as casual as possible. Bunny rolled his eyes and thumped his foot twice. The ground sunk in on itself and the hole reappeared.

"Come on if your comin'." He said and dropped into the hole after he gave Alex a quick salute.

Jack pushed himself into the air and landed outside of the pond. He paused right before he jumped in and turned back to Alex.

"Sorry I have to run off like this. There's very important business things going on that I have to see to." he explained.

"Uh, huh." Alex chuckled.

"You know, Guardian stuff. They'd be lost with out me."

"Obviously."

Jack looked down at the opening and back up at her before he began moving backwards.

"So,…I'll catch up with you later." he said, more as a question than as a statement.

"Sure." she replied.

Jack gave her a smile and raised his hand in good-bye. She waved back just and he jumped down after Bunny. The hole closed up behind him and a single, purple tulip popped into existence. Alex wrapped her hands around the bag strap across her chest and watched the flower as it moved in the light wind. She stood like that for a moment and reviewed the last few minutes.

What's a Golem? she thought to herself.

The term seemed familiar but she could not bring up any visuals to match the word. There might be something in her books back home, but she would have to wait until after Ben went to bed. She did promise she would stay in town while he was in school. She could wait. She only had a few hours left anyway.

Alex sighed and moved forward to get off the ice. She immediately regretted her decision as her feet slipped out from beneath her. Her butt smacked hard against the ice and she was painfully reminded that she was not a fan of slippery surfaces.