A/N: I am so terribly sorry for the long wait and short chapter. My laptop's charger broke so I had to order a new one. Don't worry I'm going to try to update extra frequently from now on, especially once winter break starts. Also, thank you guys so much for all the support on the story. I love all the feedback it's gotten.
"You're sure you're ok with this?" I looked from Eric to Autumn, it was finally time to say goodbye.
"We'll miss you darling, but we have our own plans." Autumn gave Eric a shy look from under her lashes. I smiled at each of them. "I love you guys." I hugged them both and stepped back to let Jack say his goodbyes.
"Thank you both so much. Without you guys I would still be with Pitch. Thanks for everything."
"No problem darling. You watch out for Ava now. Don't be getting into too much trouble." Autumn shot me a smile and gave me one last hug. Twix, who was standing next to Autumn, ran up to me and licked my hand. "Goodbye boy. Take care of these guys for me." I pat his head and stood up next to Jack. "You ready?" he nodded
"Lets do this."
I walked toward the door and waved to Eric and Autumn one last time. I would see them again someday.
I watched as the last of Autumn's house disappeared behind the trees. Jack and I were officially headed to the Guardians. Well, our first stop was a nearby spirit, Lauren. The spirit of lost souls, she had a busy job of escorting souls to Death or wherever they needed to go. She was the quickest way I could think of to get to the North Pole besides flying, which I was not going to do.
"Tell me a story." I said, needing to hear something other than forest.
"A story? What kind?" Jack asked
"Anything."
"Alright. There used to be this girl named Kat. She was a freshman in college. I was flying by and stopped to watch this flustered looking girl trip and land right in this guy's arms. I started laughing and she looks up and kind of stares at me. She asks me what I'm laughing at and the guy is trying to see who she's talking to. When he couldn't see anything he gave her this weird look and walked away. She started talking to me and I explained who I was. She had her doubts but eventually came around. We became really good friends, but when I came back after the summer to see how she was doing, she couldn't see me anymore." He paused and ran a hand through his hair, "I followed her for a bit, but it got kind of depressing. Sorry, probably not what you were thinking. Let me try again-"
"It's fine." I laughed, "I kind of grew up on depressing. It's nice to hear stories from the heart. I feel like I owe you a from-the-heart story now. You want it now or later?"
"Let's hear it fireball."
I raised my eyebrow at this. "Fireball? Interesting."
"I think I found a nickname for you. Yep. It's growing on me." Jack smiled playfully
"Alright then, Frosty. I met Lauren once. She was in the process of creating a new fearling for my father. To create a fearling you must catch a lost soul and consume it with fear. She allowed a spirit to wander into my father's fear spectrum. She came up to me and told me that she didn't like helping him with the job. He had just lost to the Guardians a few months before so he was weak. I assume that she only helped him to keep good and evil in balance. Anyway, we walked around a bit. She lives in a cave but collects human items. She found a device that played music. I was mystified. She let me listen and she showed me how to dance a little. She is probably one of the kindest spirits I've ever met."
Jack smiled a little, "I'm really excited to meet her. She sounds amazing." his smile faded, "Can I ask you question?"
"Sure."
"Why don't you like flying?"
"Oh. I used to dream about it. One day I was on this really tall cliff practicing controlling my powers. It got out of control and I created this living blaze. I still don't know how it happened. I got scared and backed away from it. Before I realized what was happening I stepped off the side of the cliff and fell. I've been scared of heights and anything to do with falling and not being on solid ground."
"Wow. Sounds bad. The reason I asked was, I mean if you want...would you want to try to fly? Not for long, I mean just in case something happens?" I thought about it. Telling the story of my fear made me realize the whole thing was kind of irrational. Could I give it a chance? I could try.
"Alright. But lets keep the air time to a minimum for now."
"Really? Great! Should we start now?"
"I guess?" I gave Jack an uneasy look
With a laugh Jack launched into the air. Before I could even look up he had grabbed me and lifted me into the air. I let out a small scream. "We're flying!" I tightened my grip on Jack and closed my eyes.
"Hey, open your eyes." Jack's breath smelled like mint and winter. It was so soothing I opened my eyes to find a beautiful sight laid out before me. The autumn leaves just turning colors, the woods bathed in sun. Autumn's house lay in the distance, a large body of water beyond the woods.
"It's so beautiful." I gasped
