CHAPTER EIGHT
"Jack Tells Jamie About Davy Jones"
Jamie was, undoubtedly, happy to be back on dry land. He explained away his wet clothes by having fallen into a fountain in the ship's lobby (considering no one but Monty saw him go overboard, there was no reason not to believe him). He refused to sleep until he was safely at Monty's aunt and uncle's house, which was- thankfully -out in the frostbitten section of the local woodland. By the time he managed to crawl into a bed safely away from the ocean, he had gone without sleep for nearly two days.
Late the second morning after his adventure, Jamie was out in the yard, making a snowman with Monty and his cousins. The cousins, girls aged three and five, tired of the cold soon enough and ran back inside. Monty stayed to talk with Jamie.
"Have you had a chance to talk to Jack?"
"No," Jamie said. "Here, give me a boost." Monty offered his hand for a foothold so Jamie could give the snowman his wardrobe. "Mr. Snowlo needs a mustache...there!" He stepped down and admired the bits of stringy lichen that made up the snowman's facial hair. "I haven't had any dreams lately either, so I'm guessing Sandy's taking a vacation."
Monty stuffed a branch arm into the side of the snowman. "You don't think the Boogeyman's come back, do you?"
"No," Jamie added the other arm, "it doesn't feel like Pitch. There's a...I don't know. It feels like a different type of scary. I'm not sure how to explain it. Kinda like...like this crushing feeling on your chest? Like-"
"Drowning?"
Jamie nodded. "Yeah, but don't mention that to Jack."
"Got'cha."
Monty turned back to the snowman. Jack had told them about his past a little while after Pitch's defeat. Ever since, it had been an unofficial rule to avoid the "D" word to the Guardian of Fun.
After putting the finishing touches on the snowman, Monty asked Jamie, "Do you think he'll show up tonight?"
"Maybe, if North doesn't have him helping out with something."
"I just hope he does before vacation ends," Monty said. "I don't want to end my vacation with the image of my best friend going overboard as the biggest thought in my head."
Jamie chuckled. "Nah, you'll forget all about that. Don't you remember? Christmas Eve is almost here!"
The room Jamie shared with Monty was different, but since there was a window, it didn't matter. He turned away from his book the moment he heard the soft pecking on the glass. Jack waved to him.
"About time," Jamie said, throwing up the window. Jack slipped into the room. "What took you?"
"I was having a talk with North," he told Jamie. Jamie raised an eyebrow.
"Did you find out anything about the whirlpool?"
More than I wanted to. Jack sighed. How was he supposed to explain to Jamie about Davy Jones? After all, the Man in the Moon made him. Made him to lead children to their deaths in a morbid tug-of-war with a demon fish. He swallowed thickly, hoping Jamie wouldn't notice.
"Just do me a favor and stay away from the ocean for a while, alright?"
"Why?"
Jack looked at Jamie. A kid. His kid. The first child to believe in him. If that didn't bring out the papa wolf genes in Jack, nothing could.
I'd rather tell him later than sooner.
Jack smiled deceptively. "Isn't one swan dive off the side of a ship per year enough?"
"Very funny." Jamie hopped back onto his bed. "What's really going on? You told me there was a whirlpool, but we never ran into it. Don't say it was a joke, either. I saw your magic out across the ocean." He crossed his arms over his chest. "What happened out there, Jack?"
Jack looked long and hard at the boy for several moments, wrestling over the idea of what part of the story, if any, he should tell Jamie. The boy still believed in him. He was even talking to the Man in the Moon right before Jack found the ship. If he told him that Manny created a spirit that would lead children to watery deaths, would that squash part of Jamie's childhood innocence? Enough to make him stop believing in anything MiM had to do with?
Including me?
"Just tell me, Jack," Jamie said. "You owe me."
The words stung him. Yes, Jack owed Jamie. Owed him for children's very belief in Jack Frost.
"Alright," Jack sat down at the foot of the bed. Jamie scooted next to him.
Against all logical reasoning- for both his own sake and Jamie's sanity - Jack told the whole story: the whirlpool, the distraction at the ship, and his battle at sea. The talk with North was the hardest and took the longest to tell. Throughout the talk, Jack tried not to look in Jamie's direction, knowing that if he did, he'd cave and try to pass off the whole thing as a joke. Even when he had finished the story, it was several long moments before Jack was willing to look Jamie in the eye.
"Jack?"
"Yeah?" he said, still staring at the wall in front of him.
"Look at me."
The Guardian of Fun took a deep breath and looked beside him. Instead of fear or disbelief, he saw understanding in Jamie's brown eyes. Jack didn't get it but he was a bit relieved.
"You said the Man in the Moon made Davy Jones to keep a demon from getting people at sea, even if it meant they died anyway?"
"That's what North told me."
Jamie looked down at his lap and picked at a loose string on his pajamas. "I can kinda understand." Jack looked at him, bewildered.
"How?"
Jamie took in a deep breath, and then looked over at the wall. "Remember when you said you drowned after saving your sister?"
Jack nodded. It wasn't one of his favorite memories, but losing his life meant his sister had survived.
"Yeah."
"Well, what if you had been on the ocean instead? Instead of Manny turning you into a spirit, what if you had the choice between become some demon's lunch and just, um, going to sleep? What if it had been your sister instead of you?"
Jack was silent for several moments. He hadn't thought of that.
"It's bad that anyone had to die like that. Still...I wonder how Davy Jones feels about it."
"What do you mean?"
"Think about Pitch Black for a minute. He wanted to be believed in, but all he could do was make people afraid. However, he was a spirit like you guys for a reason, too, even if it seems like a bad one." Jamie turned and looked directly at Jack. "How much worse would it be not only being not believed in, but your only reason for existence was to let someone drown so a demon wouldn't eat them?"
Finally, Jack nodded. "I think I see your point."
"Maybe you should go talk to Davy Jones? Maybe he could use a friend."
"Heh, and wind up a pincushion for his harpoons?" Jack stood, grinning. His grin soon morphed into a genuine smile. "Alright, I'll see if I can find this Jones person. But if I wind up a Guardian hedgehog, I am blaming you!"
Jamie grinned. "I thought it was a porcupine?"
"Details, schmetails," Jack shrugged, slipping out of the window. "See you later, kid."
