Sorry if this chapter gets long and a bit boring toward the end. These things need to happen to make room for awesome things to come :) Hopefully the Frostbite will keep you interested ;)
Oh, and don't worry, we'll learn more about our villains next chapter - which is almost ready, it will come really soon ;)
Jack flew straight to the Tooth Palace. He had a feeling of urgency, as if Tooth needed him somehow. After the creepy feelings last night, he was scared for her.
Baby Tooth greeted him at the Palace's entrance.
"Hey, Baby Tooth! How are you?" he said smiling.
Baby Tooth, as always, rubbed her little body against the guardians face, but this time, she stood on his finger instead of his neck.
"Where is Tooth?"
Baby Tooth made a worried face, and Jack's heart started racing.
"Is she ok?! Where is she?!"
Baby Tooth pointed towards the gardens.
Jack flew at top speed, his heart almost as fast as Tooth's hummingbird one. He breathed a sight of relief when he found Tooth. She was crying, but she looked otherwise unharmed.
"Tooth?" he asked timidly.
"Go away! I don't want you to see me like this!" she squeaked.
"Tooth don't be silly!" he smiled one of his dazzling crooked smiles "please tell me what's wrong. I... I don't like to see you like this..."
"I'm a freak! No one will ever love me because I'm a monster! she cried. "You won't ever love me because I'm a monster" she whispered, but he still heard her.
He kneeled in front of her and kissed her eyes one by one. She looked at him and his heart skipped a beat. He held her face in his hands.
"You are the most beautiful being I have ever seen in my life. You are the epiphany of beauty. You are... sublime, perfect. I'm the one with the old man's hair and the big ears" he said.
Tooth giggled and Jack felt warm inside. She should always giggle, she should never cry again.
"Jack" she whispered "do you... love me?"
Jack stared into her magenta eyes, still red from crying. He opened his eyes and found himself laying on his bed at the North Pole.
These dreams were confusing Jack even more. Really he couldn't even say he loved her in a dream, yet the fact that he couldn't stop dreaming about her, thinking about her, had to mean something.
The Guardian of Fun spent most of the day with North trying to figure out what happened at Burgess the previous night. They asked MiM, but he had nothing to say. North checked all his books about spirits and magical creatures, but they had so little to go on that almost each and every one of them fitted the profile.
After hours of work they were back to square one and Jack was growing anxious. He knew there was no real danger last night, but he didn't like the feeling in his stomach when he thought something could attack Sophie, or Jamie, or Cupcake, or the twins or any kid in his town.
"I'm going back to Burgess to check on the kids." Jack said.
"Take these with you" the Guardian of Wonder handed Jack eight small glass spheres that looked like Christmas tree ornaments. "They work like cellphones. Here, this blue one is yours" said Santa handing one to the boy while he took out his own red sphere and said: "Jack".
The Guardian of fun was amazed to see North's face talking to him from inside his sphere.
"Wow! These are cool! So, you just say the person's name and that's it?" he said.
"Yes. Just give one to each of the children. They can be our eyes and ears out there and they can call us if they get in trouble." North replied. "I even made one for little Sophie. I know she is too young to understand, but I hope she calls for Bunny if she is scared."
"Has anyone ever told you that you're brilliant?" said Jack, smiling.
"Once or twice" said the Russian man, laughing.
Jack waited for the kids outside the school. It was warmer now, but there was still something very wrong going on in this town. The atmosphere was heavy, somewhat sad, and Jack found himself lingering on bad memories, thinking about his sister and wondering if she even survived that day, alone in the cold, far away from the town.
The bell rang and the kids stormed out of the school. Jack was besides himself to see kids pointing at him and saying his name. Then he saw Jamie and his friends. They did not look as happy as they always were.
"We'll go to the library, Jamie!" said Pippa.
"We agreed to go my house. If Jack shows up we can ask him questions!"
"Jack, Jack, Jack! Are you in love with him or something?" said Caleb
"He's the coolest friend I've ever had. Unlike you, Caleb! We're going to my house." said Jaime firmly.
"You're not our boss, Bennett!" said Cupcake.
Jack thought it was very odd to see the kids fighting like that.
"Hey guys and gals! What's going on?" The winter spirit asked, approaching the kids.
"Jamie thinks that he's our boss, as always!" said Claude.
"I just wanted to do this homework at my place, in case you showed up." said Jamie.
"Well, I'm here now. We can go anywhere you want to go."
The kids settled for the library. They had to write an essay about Colonial times at Burgess.
"Jack, how was life 300 years ago?" asked Monty.
"Oh, life was tough. You guys have it quite easy now. At 34 you were already an elder, and you would have been very lucky to live until 40. Something must have been wrong with me because I wasn't married when I... became Jack Frost" said Jack.
"You mean, you were human before?" asked Jamie.
Jack regretted the words right after he said them. "Me and my big mouth" he thought to himself.
"Well, I, yes. But I can't really remember being human. A tooth fairy showed me my memories. That's why they collect them." Jack was really hoping that bringing up the tooth fairies would divert the kids attention, but no such luck.
"Wow! That's awesome! So we could become Guardians too!" said Claude.
Jack winced at that idea, considering that he had to die to become a Guardian. He definitely preferred these kids alive.
The kids kept flickering book pages and arguing about what they should write on their essays when Jack saw them, those unmistakable eyes... Abigail Burgess, read the inscription in the book.
"Jamie, this woman here... Do you know who she is?" asked Jack.
"She married one of the founder's son. I think she started the first school in Burgess." said Jamie.
"Yeah, but it sucked. It was only for boys." said Pippa.
"Can we find out more about her?" asked the Guardian.
"What do you want to know?" asked Cupcake.
"How long did she live? Did she have kids? Did she have a brother named Jack?" The winter spirit asked, excited. He wanted to know everything he could about Abigail Burgess.
"Jack... was this your sister?" asked Jamie.
"I think so" said Jack.
"We'll ask the librarian to help!" said Claude.
"My mom works at the registry. They may have her family tree there. I'll ask her to look it up." said Jamie, smiling.
"Thanks guys!" said Jack, hopeful to finally get some closure. At least he knew she lived long enough to get married and to open a school. She hadn't die that day along with him.
