I am sosososososososososooooooo sorry! I'm not dead, I swear! And I am so sorry that it's been so long! I feel really really bad, there's just been a lot of things and writers block on top of all that. I really hope you guys haven't given up on me at this point. :'(

Revenge

D-damnit, it's f-freezing! I thought, huddling my blankets closer to my body in a desperate attempt to keep warm. Why the hell is it so freaking co- I slowly creaked open my eyes and then shut them as a large flash of light burned into my retinas. What the hell? I shielded them with my hand, and then opened them again cautiously.

My eyes eventually adjusted, and my jaw dropped to the floor upon seeing my room. The window across the room was wide open and everything, including the bed I was sleeping in and the blankets, shimmered a light blue hue in the sunlight. Every piece of furniture, the floor, walls, ceiling, and even the pencils on my desk were coated with a thick layer of ice.

The far more than frigid North Pole wind gusted viciously around me and even with my teeth tightly clenched together, I still couldn't keep them from chattering uncontrollably. I didn't even need to think about who did this. Oh, that son of a-

"Hey Shiela, it's time to get up," Bunny's voice called through the door. "North sent me to-"

As the large wooden door swung open, Bunny took a step and slipped on the ice, letting out a *Cough* girly *Cough* scream before falling flat on his tail. "Ow...," he moaned, laying motionless on the ice, his eyes squeezed shut. "That bloody punk!"

"Jack!" we both screamed, ready to rip the winter spirit's head clean off his shoulders. "Get your ass in here!"

The smirking, now brunette soon appeared at the door, his arms over his chest as his eyes glimmered in amusement. "Oh hey Cassie," he mocked. "Good morning, did you sleep well?"

"Well enough to kick your ass!" I growled, leaping off of my gleaming sheets and onto the icy ground. My sock-clad feet slid out from under me though and before I knew what had happened, my face was practically one with the ice.

Jack broke out in hysterical laughter, gripping his sides like he was in pain. "Oh my God, this couldn't have worked out better!" he chuckled, wiping a tear from his eye. "Talk about two birds with one stone."

"Why you-"

"That's it!" Bunny yelled, scrambling to his feet and sprinting towards Jack, his boomerang over his head and a menacing scowl on his face. "Yer dead now, ya little bugga!" The two took off down the hallway, the yelling of some very colorful vocabulary being heard in their wake. Who knew that the Easter Bunny could swear like that?

I sighed, slamming my head back onto the hard ice. "Well that's one way to wake up in the morning..."

"Oh goodness, what happened in here?" Tooth's voice sounded from the doorway where Jack just was. Her voice raised to a concerned tone. "Cassie! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I groaned, trying to pry my body off of the frozen ground but slipping every time I did so. "But... I might need a little help."

She was instantly at my side, her pink wings beating faster than a hummingbird's, her voice hysterical. "Oh my God, did something happen to your teeth? Nothing happened to your beautiful teeth, right?"

She tried to pry my mouth open but I quickly blocked her with my hands. "N-No Tooth, nothing happened to my teeth. I just need some help getting off of the ice."

"Oh...," she mused before perking up again almost instantly. "Why didn't you just say so?"

I was suddenly surrounded by a swarm of fairies, like a bunch of tiny rainbows zipping around me. Tooth reached down to grab my arms while her fairies held onto my clothes and they slowly pulled me into the doorway where I could stand up.

"Thanks," I smiled and gestured to the fairies fluttering around me. "To all of you. I didn't know that you have helpers Tooth."

Still hovering right in front of me, the head fairy crossed her arms and grinned. "Well, collecting the baby teeth of all the children in the world is a big job. Originally, I could handle it myself, but after a while I realized that I needed a bit of help." She sadly looked down at the ground. "Though I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss the old days sometimes."

I put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it too much. It's your job after all; you do what you have to."

Tooth looked back up at me, her eyes wide. "Cassie..."

"And if you ever want to take some time out in the field, I'd be more than willing to help."

Tooth stared at me for a few seconds, but then she beamed, throwing her arms around me and laughing. "Thank you Cassie, I'll keep that in mind. It's nice to talk to another girl for a change."

"Tell me about it," I laughed, hugging her back. "Oh wait, speaking of your job, shouldn't you be working right now? Why are you here?"

She pulled away and said, "Because I need to switch surveillance positions with Sandy. He should be back soon, his watch is almost over. Even if we have our normal responsibilities, protecting the children always comes first. So, figuring out what's happening in Greenlake is our top priority right now."

"Yeah...I know," I muttered, my face casting downward. And I couldn't come up with anything that'll help you guys yet. Even searching into the early morning didn't reveal anything useful...

Tooth tilted her head to the side I confusion as she studied my face. "Cassie?"

"I got ya now, ya runt!" Bunny's voice boomed down the hall as a chorus of crashes and bangs followed. "Don't ever race a rabbit mate!"

"Oh boy," I sighed. "Lets go stop them before they kill each other. Besides, I have a few words for Jack too."

Following the sounds of destruction, we both soon entered the globe room. A few of the wooden pillars were completely destroyed, the floor was cracked in at least ten places, and I could've sworn that the globe was spinning at a different angle than the last time I was in this room. Crap, North was going to be pissed. Probably even more-so than yesterday.

"Come on Bunny, let me go! Learn how to take a freaking joke!" I looked over to one of the few still standing pillars and Jack was tightly tied to it, flopping around like a fish out of water. "It was purely boredom mixed with pay back, completely harmless, so let me go!"

"You know what?" I asked, turning my attention to Tooth next to me. "I've changed my mind. This is way better than anything I could've done, and actually, I'm surprised no one did it sooner."

Bunny walked out from behind a pillar toward us. "Thank you Sheila," he beamed, pleased with himself. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"As you should," I laughed, giving him a high five.

"Oh yeah," Jack pouted. "Lets pick on the powerless winter spirit."

"Powerless?" I scoffed. "You call what you did in my room powerless?"

"All I managed was opening the window and a simple push," he grinned. "The natural artic wind took care of the rest."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Yeah, sure. Oh and by the way, I consider us even now."

"What's so even about me getting tied to one of the North Pole's support pillars?"

"I wasn't the one who did it," I shrugged.

"Oh? then are you going to untie me?"

"Nope, not on your life." He groaned in defeat and I laughed, "I'll leave you there for a bit, I need to go talk to North anyway."

Jack began struggling against the ropes as I turned and walked away. I smiled at Bunny and chuckled, "Watch him."

"Count on it," he answered back proudly.

I made my way to North's office and shockingly enough, I didn't get lost. You could kind of see the top of his office door from the floor of the globe room, so I knew that if I went up a level I could probably find it.

With the elves hastily scurrying around my feet, I stepped into the platform elevator and pressed the button with an up facing arrow. Not too complicated, I smiled to myself. When the elevator stopped, I stepped out and ducked, almost getting my head taken off by an airborne model plane. S-scratch that.

Looking around me, I saw that all the yetis were playing with the toys, probably to see if they worked. The elves rushed around them, taking the toys that seemed to work and rushing off to have them wrapped I guessed. It was the most amazing sight I've ever seen, two species that I didn't think existed working together to create toys for good children. I couldn't help but smile.

I weaved in between the yetis, careful not to get in their way, and had to jump over a few elves with their toys. They were all functioning as one unit, totally in their own world. "So cool," I chuckled under my breath, dodging another model plane.

Coming to a large, circular doorway, I pried my eyes away from the production and quietly knocked. "North?" I called. "You in there?"

"Yes," his husky voice boomed through the door. "You may enter."

I peeked my head in, my eyes widening at the sight of an ice covered ceiling. A large window all the way in the back of the room let in the sight of almost the entire mountain side. It was breath taking. On the wooden work bench, a large cube of ice sat with a... chainsaw next to it. Um, did I want to know?

"What is it Cassie," North beamed from his seat at his desk, brushing what I assumed was ice shavings off of his hands.

I smiled back. "I was wondering if you had anything that could get rid of ice-" I saw his eyes flash to his chainsaw and my eyes widened. Oh, no way was he taking that thing to my room, even if it technically wasn't mine. "Um, actually, never mind."

He tilted his head, confusion written all over his face. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," I laughed. Very.

"Oh alright," he said. "So have you discovered anything yet?"

My smile instantly faded and I looked to the floor. "Um, no...not really." How could I not have found anything? Here they were, trying everything in their power to help me, and I could do nothing to help them back. Ugh, I felt so useless.

"Cassie." I looked up at him, his face hard and serious. "You do not need to worry. We will figure this out."

"I know that," I said lowly. "But I just want to help you guys do it..."

He stood up and placed a large hand on my shoulder. "I know you do. However, all we need you to do, is believe in us. We will fix this."

I smiled a small smile up at him. "Yeah."

"But there is just one thing I do not understand," he said, taking his hand from my shoulder and cupping his chin. "Why is it taking Jack's powers? What could it be using them for?"

I nodded. "Yeah, especially if Jack's ice is it's weakness." I placed a hand on my forehead and started pacing. "It has to be using his power for something then, maybe...to do something to Greenlake?"

"Most likely," he agreed. "It had to have chosen your home for some purpose as well."

"Yeah..." Something didn't feel right though; why attack Greenlake? Even if that's its real target, it's only been going after Jack. Well, Jack and me.

I thought back to when it had attacked me in the forest. How it just seemed to close in on me; my fear, my sense of panic, how cold I felt. Wait, cold! I felt cold, ice cold, almost like...

My eyes shot open wide and I blurted out, "It's a stretch, but I think I might know what it is!"

Before North could answer me, I spun and sprinted out of his office, heading straight to my room. I was only vaguely aware of North, Bunny and Tooth following behind me, my focus was on finding that book I had nabbed from the library.

"Hey!" Jack shouted behind us. "Are you guys seriously just going to leave me here!" I ignored him.

I slid into my room and nabbed the book off of the desk, almost completely killing myself on the still frozen floor but I hardly cared right then. My fingers flew through the pages until I landed on one that I had read the night before and I pointed to the name at the top of the page, everyone huddled around me.

"I think... that it might be a doppelganger."