Chapter 10

"Is it permanent?" Bunny asked poking at the glass that was now Sandy. They had been careful about transporting the frozen Guardian to the Warren, but now they didn't know what to do. Tooth was sitting on a rock recess barely looking at the rest of the Guardians; those teeth had meant everything to her, and now so many had been destroyed… because of one girl, one angry spirit.

Jack, himself, was separated from the rest of the team to just stare out over the Warren. He was in a tree with his staff lying across his lap. His thoughts were all over the place- his last connection to his former life was now gone. True, he had seen what his teeth box contained, but now, he couldn't help but fear what would happen in another century. Would he forget his sister's laugh? Her smile? He cringed at the last thought- her face?

It was almost unbelievable that one spirit had caused all this trouble, but Jack knew that they had become lax in the absence of Pitch… and Ember was powerful. Bunny had already mentioned she had the benefit of not needing child believer as it looked to be that her power wasn't drawn from that. Her powers seemed to come from the rage… which was primarily pointed at Jack, but no Guardian mentioned that.

"We cannot simply give up," North called out dragging all the Guardians attention back to him. "We must come together. We are Guardians."

He was met with silence; all the Guardians had just been dragged through the mud, and right now, not even a pep talk could get their spirits up. All Jack wanted to do was to protect his friends and Jamie whom Ember was doing a good job of making sure it was near impossible to do. His grip tightened on his staff with the thought of the ease she had threatened to kill a human child; not even Pitch had gone that far.

"He's right," Bunny said, and finally, Jack adjusted so he could look at the rest of the team. Even Tooth was paying attention. "We can do this. We have the advantage here." Now everyone was looking at Bunny like he was insane. "Kids believe in us. The ankle biters believe we can protect them."

Jack had to smile just because the Bunny was right… somehow. "If we can get Ember into a cold environement, we'll have a chance," he added in, and this time eyes were on him. "That night at the Pole, she was struggling in the cold just as I struggle in the heat. It might not be much of one…"

"But it's an advantage," Bunny finished for him.

"So how do we lure a fire spirit into the cold?" Tooth chipped in.

Her question was met with silence until Jack finally spoke up, "Bait."

…

Ember sat on her back heels staring down at the town of Bugress from a tree. Her head was cocked to the side as she examined the teenagers walking from the bus stop to their houses. It seemed like such a simple act, yet none of them even realized they were being watched. The fire spirit only really cared about one in particular- the boy with the shaggy hair, the one who had been with Jack when they originally found her.

He was having a good laugh with a few of his friends, and Ember could only assume he was enjoying his day. She had the urge to ruin that, so she trailed behind the teens letting them feel the warm draft she was bringing in. This only seemed to excite them as they delved into the topic of a pool party, and she scowled at the mention of water.

She moved slowly with the group as she couldn't do a whole lot with all the teenagers around. She needed to wait and get Jamie alone, and then, she could use the poor kid as bait. It was creative really as originally Pitch had agreed to make the Guardians scramble and suffer until only Jack was left… but Ember pointed out many of the 'won' battles thus far were accidents, due to the Guardians being split up, and the surprise element. Sandy was out of the game sure, but just another accident. He had jumped in front of her blast when she got angry at the fact her memories were about to be used against her…

Ember knew with Sandy being out of commission as somehow she knew it wasn't permanent even if Pitch would like to believe that. His powers were growing with the absence of the Sandman to counter the nightmares. Still, Ember knew the last time fear lost because of cockiness; she wasn't prone to make his mistakes.

And that was why she was out here getting bait. When the Guardians were desperate, they had a tendency to make very stupid mistakes as seen by Sandy jumping blatantly in front of an attack that could have well killed him… however, Ember did counter that in her mind by telling herself that by doing so, he had probably saved Tooth's powers. Which meant if one Guardian is willing throw their life away, so was the others. Divide and conquer, and once that was done, finish destroying each base. Erase them from the children's' minds… which were Pitch's want… Ember really couldn't care about that; she just wanted the one white haired spirit to suffer as she had.

Finally, Jamie split off from his friends waving them off as he ran into the house and up to his room. Ember took her chance and flew to his window and pushed it open just as he stepped in. His eyes widened at the window moving, but he didn't say anything nor move. His backpack hung loosely on his shoulders as he stared expectantly. Ember forgot for a moment Jack probably did this all the time, so Jamie was probably expecting to see him.

Trying to avoid setting the house on fire, Ember focused her powers into her hand until she was able to make a fireball that hovered above her palm. She smiled at her handiwork then looked at Jamie to see him gaping and his backpack slamming into the ground. Knowing she had the teen's attention, she placed both hands in front of her and turned the fire ball into letters. It took a bit of focus to control such a chaotic element, but soon it spelled out Ember.

"Ember?" Jamie said looking around in excitement. "The other spirit Jack was with yesterday?"

She focused again to spell out Yes. It was difficult to be patient, but Ember knew that it was only a matter of time before Jamie could see and speak with her without the firework show. She cocked her head when the teen started babbling about how awesome it was to meet another spirit, and he barely got 'what spirit are you' coherently with the speed he was going on at.

Summer. Jamie smacked his forehead. "Duh of course you are. You're controlling fire in my room." It was then he decided to stare at where the fire was floating, and Ember came into view. "Woah," he said once he could see the fire spirit. "You're not what I was expecting."

"Can you hear and see me now?" Ember asked, and Jamie shook his head quickly. "Good, that was getting exhausting." She shook her hands and the fire disappeared.

"That was cool!" Jamie said pointing to the now empty space.

Ember wandered around the room now content she could have a civilized conversation with the human. Her eyes came across some of the art on the wall; it was beautifully drawn. There was one of Jack, and she was tempted to catch it on fire… but she thought better of it.

"You're very good," she said looking over at the human; she was bent over looking at all the pictures on his wall which gave him a very good view of her ass. He was obviously enjoying it. "Your pictures," she reiterated standing and glaring. No wonder she had ignore humanity for the past thirty years.

"Um thanks," Jamie said as a large blush overtook his cheeks. "It's more of a hobby…"

"It shouldn't just be a hobby," Ember said walking over to the human and placing a hand on his shoulder. "That looks like passion for what you want to do. Don't let it disappear like most hobbies do."

Jamie blushed deeper, and Ember kept smiling. This was too easy to get the human to trust her; she had barely done anything. Yet he was basically drooling over her; this wasn't going to take long then. Afterward, she'd return to Pitch who was supposed to be searching out the Guardians, and she'd go after them.

"So why are you here?" Jamie finally asked fidgeting. Ember cocked an eyebrow at the sight of a teenage boy unable to stand still.

"Jack sent me to get you to a safe place," she said getting to the point. "Pitch is back, and he is going to be heading right at you."

"Why me?" His voice seemingly went up an octave.

"Well you are Jack's first believer," she explained glancing around the room. "It would be a hard blow against the Guardians to hurt you."

"How do I know I can trust you?" he asked.

"Love," she said stepping closer to him and touching his cheek. She watched his eyes travel across her burn, and it took all her self control to not let her fingers come alive with flames. "If I wanted to hurt you, don't you think I could have easily already? I mean…" She held her hand far from them and let the fire engulf it. "Just grab some homework or whatever you need to keep yourself busy for a few hours. The Guardians and Jack just want you safe." She looked right into his eyes and gave him a pleasant smile while trying not to throw up from the obnoxious amount of nice she was pouring out.

"So where am I going?" he asked as he picked his backpack up.

"Someplace safe," she said. "I promise… how's Hawaii sound this time of year?" she was smiling and soon Jamie was too.

Once Ember was sure the teen wasn't going to walk into a volcano, she headed back to Pitch. He was sitting in one of the many 'thrones' scattered around his lair, and she gave him a tilt of her head in respect.

"All set on my end," she grinned. "Did you get me a location where I can go rein some fire down on them?" It was an exciting concept to her to go right back into the field; it had been so many years since she had a good fight. The idea was making her giddy.

"I did," Pitch said looking over his fire spirit before chuckling. "You won't like it."

"How bad can it be?"

"Antarctica," Pitch said with a shrug.

"Oh yeah… that is bad."

Chapter 11: Jack and Ember get another chance to swing at each other not knowing they have set a trap for each other. So whose trap will close first?

OOC: I realized in a previous chapter I said the North pole was in Antarctica- my fault. I'm going to go back and fix that. Jack's spot in the movie where he gets away is Antarctica. R&R