Chapter 9

"Jaq, are you alright?" Anna asked the girl in front of her. It was silly of her, she knew. It was silly of her to ask that. The girl was obviously not alright. There was something on going inside her head. But none of them, not Anna nor Jaq herself, seems to know what it is. Jaq was confused in all this, that was the only thing Anna knew. Other than that, all Anna could see was rage. Well, sadness was there too. But it was still overpowered by the girl's rage. And as of the moment, she knew the girl was about to say something, but she just shook her head and sighed. Jaq sat on the edge of the roof. And Anna sat beside her.

"I'm evil, aren't I?" Jaq suddenly asked. Anna looked at her, absolutely baffled. Why would Jaq ask that?

"Evil? What makes you think that." She asked her. Sure, Jaq was a bit scary at times, with her black silvery sad always having an aura around her. And not to mention her appearance. The girl's pale skin, and long jet black hair surely made an imprint on people's mind. And she didn't want to mention the girl's eyes. Her amber eyes that glowed sometimes. Her startling, amber eyes. But Anna knew there was something more. There was always something more than meets the eye.

Jaq shrugged. "How I look, how I act, and how you guys see me. Admit it, all of you thought I'm evil at least once."

Anna bit the inside of her cheek. She was guilty with this one. The first time she saw Jaq in a dark forest, she immediately took her as evil. And it wasn't just that once. It was every time they saw each other when they weren't Guardians yet.

"I'll take your silence as a yes." Jaq smirked.

"If you really are evil, then why did Manny choose you to be a guardian?" Anna looked at her. Anna guessed that that fact was the one that made her think that there was something more to Jaq. The Man in the Moon had made Jaq a guardian. A Guardian is a protector. Not a destructor.

Jaq shrugged again. "Pity?"

"Pity?"

"I don't know, okay." Jaq snapped. Her eyes were glowing once again. "It's just- I know I'm evil."

"How?"

Jaq opened her palm as her sand formed something that looked like a horse. No, it was a mare. The exact creatures that were terrorizing the village they had gone to. But no, Jaq's looked different. Hers had tendrils of silver sand all around their body. Jaq looked at Anna. "Seemed familiar, doesn't it?"

"No, yours are different." Anna shook her head.

"It's because I didn't make them, dolt." Jaq let the mare loose. It then started galloping in the air, making its way to Anna. It circled Anna, and there was only one thing she could think of. It was really different from the ones in the village. Those in the village radiated fear. The one from Jaq eased it. It eased fear.

Then a thought popped into her head.

"So, why do you consider yourself as evil?" Anna asked the girl again as the mare vanished.

"Don't you ever wonder why I have a power like this?" Jaq looked at her.

Come to think of it, she did. Sand. It seemed so...original. Of course, Sandman has the same power, but Anna had thought he was the only one who held such power. But then, Anna met Rianne, a girl who had the same power as Sandman. And come to think of it, Jaq's power was of sand too. But hers was different from Rianne and Sandman. It was dark.

"Are you saying that..." Anna trailed off. She stood up. "No."

Jaq noticed her immediate action, her eyes travelling from Anna's foot to her eyes. "I told you."

"You're different from him." Anna's voice quivered. It was impossible. The only other person she knew of such power, was the Boogeyman. Pitch Black.

"I'm not very different from him, so it seems." Jaq eyed her, eyes glowing brighter. "In fact, I have his blood."

Anna shook her head. "Even if you're his daught-"

"I'm not his daughter, moron." Jaq said bitterly. She opened her palm again and let loose a butterfly.

Anna understood now.

"Jaq, you can't just judge yourself because of your bloodline." Anna whispered, hoping to get through to the girl's head. "You're you. Don't let anything define you. You're not like him. I know that."

"How? How can you know?" Jaq replied bitterly.

Anna thought back to all the things that had happened before.

"You care." Anna spoke timidly. Jaq whipped her head to the girl.

"What?"

Anna repeated her word, this time louder. "You care. Remember when I followed the Northern Lights? You cared about me having a cold."

"Anyone would do that, Amour." Jaq sneered again.

"No, others won't." Anna shook her head.

Jaq rolled her eyes. It wasn't true. She doesn't care for them. She could've have. She believed that she doesn't even have the proper emotion for caring. She couldn't care less if they rolled on the ground and died. Especially now. With those roots of hers, she was certain about herself. She was evil.

"Jaq, you transported me back to the Pole." Anna took a step forward. "If you really are as evil as you say you are, you would've left me there and die. But no. You chose to help. You chose to help me find my way back. Believe me, you are a good person. Even if you think that evil flows in your veins just because you're his granddaughter, you are more than that."

"I didn't transport you here for a pep talk, you know." Jaq faked yawned. "I wanted to tell you that I'm leaving."

"What?" Anna's eyes widened. Jaq couldn't leave.

"Like you said, I'm his granddaughter." Jaq looked at the sky. "Staying with you all is not the best choice."

"Jaq you can't just leave." Anna furrowed her eyebrows.

"Actually." Jaq smirked. "I can."

And with that, Jaq disappeared into the shadows.

"Jaq!" Anna screamed. She couldn't let the girl leave. She didn't care if the girl was the granddaughter of Pitch Black. No. She should've forced her to stay. They could've helped her. She looked at the sky, hoping for any sign of the moon. But no. He wasn't there. As she sat on the roof, she contemplated. Jaq was utterly something. Then she realized a major thing she just missed. Jaq didn't leave them because of nothing. She didn't want them in trouble. As Pitch Black's granddaughter, she could endanger them all.

She cares.