Hey look, it's a new chapter! Sorry it took so long, I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians, the movie and characters in it are the property of Dreamworks Animation. I do, however, own the characters of Eve hollow, Taylor (Death), Natty, and Summer, at least in the context of this story.

"Hey, what's up?" I jumped as Jack alighted on the log next to me. I hadn't moved much in the hour or so since Taylor had left. The feeling of wrongness hadn't left with Taylor. In fact, it felt like it might have grown a little since he had gone. I had stayed, trying to see if I could pin point the source with my magic.

I glanced over at Jack. "Nothing, I'm just thinking." I shook my head, more confused than ever.

"Thinking about what?" He asked, looking at me sidelong.

"Nothing…" But I wasn't paying attention to what he had said, I had realized something. Something was off with Jack. Something in his voice sounded strange, but he looked weird too. His skin had some sort of dark underlay that shifted and moved like smoke, and his voice didn't sound like his own, but there was something else…

I jumped up. "Jack…" I looked him up and down, alarmed.

"What? Eve what's wrong?" He stood up, empty hands spread apart. Empty.

"Where's you're staff?" I looked him straight in the face so I didn't miss anything. He faltered, hesitated, not sure what to say. I could feel it more clearly now. A lot of the wrongness was coming from him.

"I- I left it-" He looked me in the eyes. A mistake, as it turned out. I could see that they were not his blue eyes. They were gray and shifted like his skin seemed to. This was not Jack Frost.

I turned and ran, and a thought came to me. What created that? Where is the real Jack? I had to find out what was going on. If this thing, whatever it was, had affected Jack then it might have gotten to the other spirits as well. I shuddered to think what would happen if the other guardians had vanished as well, replaced by these fake versions of themselves.

I stopped dead. I wasn't sure how this fake Jack had come to be, or how many more of the spirits were like him. I wasn't even sure what the thing was capable of. How could I find out more? Well, I had a fake Jack flying towards me, I could hear the trees rustling as he came closer. The best thing to do would be to see if I could get him to say anything.

I turned to face him as he emerged from the trees and lighted on the ground. "Eve, what is wrong with you? Is everything okay?"

He started taking a step, but I held my hand out, stopping him. "Where is Jack?"

He blinked, seemingly surprised. "Eve? Are you okay?" He took a slow step towards me. "I am Jack." I flicked my hand, sending a flurry of orange sparks towards him. When they hit him, they exploded, forming an orange web over him, preventing movement. He tried to struggle, before looking up at me with a fire in his eyes. "What the Hell, Eve!"

My eyes narrowed at him. "Cut the crap. I am the spirit of Halloween, and guess what Halloween is all about. It's about trickery, and disguises and making yourself look like something your not." I could see the moment of realization, because that was when he froze. "So, I'm going to ask you again. Where. Is. Jack?"

The look in the fake Jack's eyes had changed now. The gig was up, I knew what he was, and he knew he couldn't pretend anymore. His eyes dulled, and I could see that strange shifting darkness under his skin again. "Sorry, but I can't tell you that."

"Can't or won't?"

"Can't. Unfortunately that information hasn't been shared with me."

"But you wouldn't tell me, even if you could." I crossed my arms, scrutinizing him carefully, looking for… what? I didn't know. But then again I didn't know most of the time anyway. I just trusted my instincts.

A smiled curled around his mouth that definitely did not belong to Jack, and it looked startling on Jack's face. "You're right there." He shifted a little, as much as the web would allow. "Tell me, how did you know?"

"Oh a little of this and a little of that." I said, whimsically. "Nothing that I'd share with you though."

He sighed. "How unfortunate. It would have been interesting to know." And then, he lunged at me. The web holding him in place shattered as he flew straight at my face. I threw myself sideways. I looked up at him as he turned to face me, stunned. The smile on his face was vicious, and I didn't wait to see what would happen if I stayed. As I started running, I felt something of his brush against my back and a tug on my shirt. Again, I threw all my body weight to the side, this time careening into the relative safety of the shadow of a tree, using my shadow travel to escape.

I tumbled out onto the ground in a daze, ending on my back, staring through the trees into the sky. Since I hadn't had a destination in mind when I left, I had no idea where I was, but I was too dazed to care, the only thing I could think was that he had shattered the web. It should have broken slowly, if it was going to at all, but he had just shattered it. That should have been nearly impossible.

Whatever this was, it was very, very powerful. But, what was it doing? What did it want? And why now? The prospects were frightening and many.

Where was Taylor when you needed him?

I feel very, very guilty right now. It has been almost a year and a half since the last time I updated this stupid story. I am so sorry you guys. I wish I could promise that it won't happen again, but sadly it might, and I really am sorry about that.

Part of why it has taken so long is because I have so not wanted to write this chapter, because i wasn't sure if this is where I wanted to go with it. But it has been the plan since day one, so I figured why not, right?

Anyway, tell me what you think, review and PM with suggestions and all that. Tell me if you've given up on me or not. Haha! No, but really.

I am hoping for the next chapter to come out soon, but you guys know how that works by now, right?

-pjesmile