Darian
Jack flew me home almost immediately, scooping me up in his arms since I wasn't sure I could really walk steady just yet. We snuck in from my balcony into my room, where he set me gently on my bed before moving into my closet. "I've got to warn you, this is going to be a long and unpleasant flight," he said. "Do you have anything thicker than your red coat?"
I gave the slightest shake of my head. Winters were generally mild in Georgia, and despite all of the recent snow, I still hadn't thought it worthwhile to buy a heavy coat. Mentally, I added that to the top of my to-do list once all of this was over. It would probably come in handy if I was to continue dating the Spirit of Winter.
"I guess you'll just have to wear a lot of layers," he sighed, grabbing a clean long-sleeved shirt, sweater, and jacket all to wear underneath my standard red coat. When he turned back around to hand them to me, his eyes immediately fell on something on my shelf and widened. "Wait a minute. Is that what I think it is?" He dropped the clothes in the floor and flew over to whatever it was that had captured his attention.
"What is it?" I asked. In answer, Jack plucked the snow globe I had gotten from Christmas off the shelf and held it out to me with a wide grin. "I don't understand."
"Did you get this from North?" Jack inquired.
"It was in my stocking Christmas morning, so probably," I replied. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Do you remember all that time ago when I was first explaining the Guardians to you, and I told you about how North is able to travel all the way around the world?" he prompted.
"Magic snow globes!" I suddenly recalled. "I just didn't think that this could be one of them. I mean, Jamie and Sophie each got one, too."
"North gives them one every year," Jack explained. "When dormant, they just display a favorite location of theirs, so that their parents don't get suspicious. In an emergency, they can be used to travel just like any of his others." Jack took a closer look at the scene in my snow globe, and his expression softened. "That's…that's the pond I took you to."
"I guess you made quite the impression on me then," I said, happy to have found this one bright spot in what seemed to be a hopeless situation.
"I guess so." Jack sat down next to me on the bed and pressed a quick kiss to my cheek. "Anyway, this should get us to the North Pole." As he spoke, he shook the snow globe, and somehow, while the flurries obscured the glass, the image changed from the pond to a bustling workshop. While fascinated by this, I was a little sad to see the pond go, and I briefly wondered if it would be too much to ask North to make me a permanent snow globe. "Ready?"
"I probably should change," I said, slowing drawing to my feet for the first time. I felt gross all over after the events of the day, and without time for a proper shower, changing clothes would be the closest to clean I could get. I grabbed the sweater off the floor and a fresh pair of jeans before wandering into the bathroom for privacy, but I still left the door slightly cracked, just in case anything should happen.
Changing took me a lot longer than usual due to my wrecked hand. It was bruised and swollen from punching Jack and covered with several tiny cuts that stung whenever anything brushed them, and I could only hope that nothing had broken with the show coming up.
Speaking of the show, once I had gotten dressed, I whipped out my phone to text my mom, telling her that I would be spending the night at Miranda's. After that, I texted Miranda, saying that I couldn't make it to rehearsal, but that if anyone asked, I was staying with her for the night. Quickly, I added that I would tell her what was going on as soon as I got back, knowing that she would insist on it either way.
Jack was waiting for me when I emerged, having already gathered my coat, boots, scarf, gloves, and hat in his impatience to leave. "You probably won't need them, since there's no reason you'd go outside, but I thought it better to be safe than sorry," he explained. I nodded, slipping on the coat and boots as fast as I could before stuffing the rest in my pockets. Strangely, it didn't strike me as odd for Jack to suddenly appear so responsible. For all of his recklessness, he was almost always reliable in tough situations.
When I was finished, Jack shook the snow globe once more before throwing it down on the floor. A flurry of snow shot up from where it shattered before clearing away to reveal a shimmering portal that spun in midair with dizzying speed. I took a nervous step back, suddenly reminded of how large and strange the world of Immortals truly was and how little I felt in comparison. I realized again with a start that I really had no idea what I was getting into, and all of my old regrets started to resurface.
As if sensing my anxiety, Jack reached for my hand, only for me to cry out in pain and retract it. "Sorry!" he apologized quickly, his hands still hovering nearby as though trying to figure out how to comfort me. "It slipped my mind for a moment. We'll have to get that fixed at the Pole."
One arm finally settled around my waist and drew me close to him. "It's a bit jarring the first time through," he warned. Doing my best to swallow my fear, I allowed myself to be led into the portal. Still, I couldn't help but give one last backwards glance over my shoulder at my room, hoping that it wouldn't be too long before I saw it again.
My room then gave way to blinding lights and flashing colors as I lurched forward and my feet left the ground. I could hear nothing but what seemed to be rushing wind in my ears, and as we twisted and hurtled through the vortex, the only thing I was aware of was Jack's arm, cold and strong, still wrapped around my waist, and if it wasn't for that arm, I would have fallen to the hard stone floor once our feet hit solid ground after what felt like an eternity, though in reality could only have been a second or two, at most. As it was, I had to brace myself against my knees and try very hard not to vomit for the second time that day.
Jack stayed by my side while I recovered. "If it helps, you're handling it a lot better than I did the first time," he assured me.
"Really?" I managed to gasp out.
"I mean, I was tossed through it after being shoved in a sack, but still." He gave a shrug. "It gets easier after a while. Sometimes, it's actually fun."
"I'm sure," I agreed sarcastically, rolling my eyes at him as I straightened up. "I think I prefer flying."
"You and me both," Jack chuckled.
"Jack!" a new voice called out, thunderous and jovial. A mountain of a man stepped out from one of the adjoining hallways. I had expected the long white beard and round belly, but despite hearing the more accurate descriptions from both Jack and Jamie, the "Naughty" and "Nice" tattoos on his muscular arms still managed to surprise me, as did the saber tucked into his belt. This, I knew, was Nicholas St. North, better known to the children of the world of Santa Claus.
Holy fudge, I was in the same room as the real life Santa Claus.
And that room just so happened to be his workshop.
I tore my eyes away from the hulking figure approaching us to finally get a good look at our surroundings and realized that we weren't really in a room. It appeared more like an observation deck to the countless levels below, or possibly something like a meeting space. The floor was decorated with a five-pointed design – one point in particular having been added only recently – that featured each of the Guardians of Childhood. At the railing of the deck was a large console covered in blinking lights and buttons with labels in languages I had never seen before, and this console seemed to operate, among other things, the gigantic globe covered in pinpricks of light that took up the center of the workshop, and surrounding this globe were flying toys that I could never dream up in a thousand years. I could hear clanking and shouting down below and could only wonder at what fantastic creations were being constructed there, and if I hadn't chosen to glue myself to Jack in my nervousness about our present situation, I might have been tempted to take a peek.
"I see you've brought a friend," North noted with a hint of suspicion in his tone. This drew my attention back to our host, and I realized that I had been gaping. I offered a shy smile but found myself a little too intimidated to properly speak.
"This is Darian, Jamie's cousin," Jack introduced.
"Ah, yes!" North exclaimed, nodding his head. "You've mentioned her before."
I glanced over at Jack a bit in confusion, but he didn't offer to elaborate. "Darian, this is North."
"Nice to meet you," I greeted, trying not to let my voice shake and betray my anxiety about this whole mess. I offered up my hand to shake, and North took it warmly, though his hands dwarfed mine.
"And you, as well," he said politely. Turning his attention back to Jack, North scolded, "My door is always open, Jack, and you are most certainly welcome to bring guests, but a little warning might be nice."
"Sorry, but this is a bit of an emergency," Jack explained hastily.
"What kind of emergency?" North asked, but before he could finish, Jack had flown over to the console and had pushed down some kind of lever. My jaw dropped as Northern Lights suddenly sprang to life overhead. "What are you doing?"
"I'll explain when everyone gets here. It's kind of a long story." Jack cast a glance back my way before adding, "Could you have Mrs. Claus bring up a first aid kid or something? Darian's hand is badly hurt."
Both sets of eyes turned to me, and I blushed while self-consciously drawing my hand close to my chest. Much like Jack, I couldn't stand to be fussed over, and I had endured it plenty that day. "It's not that bad," I mumbled, looking at anything but their faces in a sad attempt to hide the fact I was lying. Truthfully, the pain in my hand had only increased to the point where it was almost excruciating, now that we were in a relatively quiet place compared to recent events and there was no adrenaline to mask it.
North raised an eyebrow at me before barking something at an elf that sounded like Russian, though I wasn't too familiar with the language outside of composer's names I had picked up in chorus. He then muttered something about preparing for the other Guardians' arrivals and sauntered off with a few elves tottering around his feet. Once, he nearly stepped on one and let out a shout that I knew was Russian, for it was the name of one of those composers, and I couldn't help but stifle a small giggle.
"I thought you'd get a kick out of that," Jack said, laughing right along with me. He led me over to a massive fireplace, fitting for the large room and the giant who built it, where I gladly shed my coat. We sat down in front of it where the stones were warm and rested in silence for a moment.
For once, I was the one to break it. "They're all coming, huh?" I asked nervously.
"Don't worry. You've already met Tooth, and North's out of the way now. Two down. Two to go."
Despite his attempts to reassure me, I couldn't help but worry. I knew it was irrational, that these were all kind beings who devoted their endless lives to protecting the children of the world, but they were also powerful Immortals and Jack's family, and I certainly wasn't meeting them under the best of circumstances. The fact that many of them possibly disapproved of Jack dating a mortal didn't help things, either.
At the sound of footsteps approaching from behind, both of us turned away from the fire to see who it was, and again, I was star-struck and stunned into silence. Although she had never been thoroughly described to me before, I knew at once that I was looking at Mrs. Claus. "I hear you need this," she said, holding up a standard first-aid kit.
"Thanks," Jack said, nodding and flying over to take it from her, but Mrs. Claus held it just out of reach.
"Not so fast," she scolded. "If her hand really is badly hurt, you better let me take a look at it, first."
"Right. Sorry." Jack immediately settled down and awkwardly stuck his hands in his hoodie pocket. It was almost comical seeing the devil-may-care Jack Frost submit so easily to another Immortal's authority, but then I remembered that part of his current reticence came from concern about me and what was happening, and I managed not to laugh.
"Hello there, Darian," Mrs. Claus greeted as she walked over to me, probably having heard my name mentioned to her by North or even Jack before (to the list of things to do when this whole ordeal was finished, I added "ask Jack why he was talking to North about me"). I stood so that she wouldn't have to kneel down on the hard stone floor to examine me and offered up my hand. "Now, let's see here." She took it gently in hers, and while I would normally hesitate in such close proximity to a stranger, I found her presence strangely comforting. She seemed to emanate a sort of motherly warmth that instantly relaxed me, and I wondered if it was simply natural or if there was some magical origin to it.
She turned my hand this way and that, looking over it at every angle. I was asked to stretch my fingers out and then curl them into a fist, and when asked how that had felt, I admitted that it had been very painful to move them. Jack hovered over her shoulder the whole time, oddly silent. Finally, she released my hand and turned to address the two of us with instructions – mainly Jack, since I couldn't do much with only the use of my left hand. "It doesn't appear to be broken, but it might be sprained. Treat the cuts first; there's some peroxide and bandages in the kit. After that, you'll want to put on the elastic wrap for compression and apply ice to bring down the swelling," she told us, casting a wink and a smile towards Jack at the end.
"Thank you," I said timidly, as these were the first words I had spoken to her this entire time.
"You're very welcome," she replied warmly. "Such a polite girl. I bet you've never made the Naughty List in your life."
I felt my face heat up from the compliment. "Oh, I'm not so sure about that," I tried to say, considering recent events and all, but Mrs. Claus wouldn't hear any of it.
"And modest too!" she chuckled. "Alright, you get to work on fixing yourself up, and I'll fetch you two some hot chocolate."
Too flustered to say "thank you" again as she hustled back down the hallway, I simply sank back down to the floor with Jack joining me soon after. "So?" asked Jack, opening up the first-aid kit and scattering the necessary supplies around us. "That wasn't so bad, right?"
"She's very kind," I answered after a moment. Jack wetted a cotton-ball with hydrogen peroxide and started dabbing it on the cuts to clean them. I winced and gave a sharp hiss when I felt the first sting.
"Sorry." He attempted to be gentler, but there really was no helping it. Thankfully, it didn't take long, and before I knew it, he was already applying the bandages. "You know, she's not that way with everyone."
"Really?"
"Really. I've seen her get plenty mad before, sometimes at me if I really screw something up at the Pole, and there are a few Immortals that she's snippy with, at best," Jack told me as he worked. "She really seemed to take to you, though."
"I wonder why that is."
Jack only shrugged, unraveling the roll of elastic wrap before twisting it around my wrist and hand. "Who knows? Whatever the reason, I'm glad."
"Why is that?" I wondered.
"Because I love you," he stated simply before explaining, "and I want you to feel like you belong here just as much as I do. I know that sometimes my world is hectic and even terrifying, and that you haven't exactly had the best experiences with Immortals, especially lately. Still, I want to show you what's great about it."
"Hey, don't worry about it," I tried to assure him, but my voice came out breathy due to my pounding heart. I wondered if I would ever get used to him saying that he loved me or saying it in return. "I love you, and this is a part of you, so if you say it's great, I believe you, no matter what happens."
Jack smiled, and I realized how close we were, kneeling by the fire with our knees touching and our heads bent towards each other to speak without anyone else hearing. At some point, he had finished wrapping my wrist and had placed both of his hands around my injured one, his icy skin providing cool relief by numbing away the pain. I wanted to kiss him, and I could see that he wanted the same, but there was an unspoken agreement between us that this was the wrong place and the wrong time, so we remained still and continued to hold each other.
A moment later, I was glad that nothing else had happened. Someone cleared their throat nearby, startling us out of a mutual daze. I tore my hand away as a last measure, only to once again lift it to my mouth to politely cover the fact that my jaw had dropped at the sight of our new visitor. Like before, descriptions never did justice to the real thing, and never in my wildest dreams could I imagine that a six-foot Easter Bunny could be intimidating. "Who's she?" he asked tersely without any word of greeting beforehand. I wondered how long he had been standing there.
Mentally urging myself to do better than before, I scrambled to my feet and brushed off my knees. I offered up my right hand, only to remember last minute that it was injured and switched it out for my left. Warily, the Easter Bunny shook it with an unsettlingly firm grip while looking me up and down with sharp green eyes. "I'm Darian Bennett," I said, wincing slightly at the quiver in my voice that betrayed my nervousness.
"Jamie's cousin," Jack added a little too hastily. "Darian, this is Bunny."
Bunny glanced between the two of us briefly, and his scowl only seemed to deepen. "Uh-huh," he grumbled skeptically before turning his full attention to Jack. "Can you tell me why we were summoned here? It's getting a little too close to Easter for comfort, mate."
"Like I told North, it's kind of a long story, so I'd rather wait until everyone gets here," Jack replied.
"Fine," Bunny sighed. "Where is the big oaf, anyway? I better go find him before he delays the meeting again." With that, Bunny hopped off, grumbling to himself the entire way.
"I don't think he likes me," I concluded, releasing a breath I didn't know I was holding.
"I don't think he likes anyone," Jack joked, and neither of us could refrain from bursting out into laughter.
As our laughter died down, two new figures flew in from a hatch in the ceiling. One I recognized easily as Tooth, and the other I could only assume was the Sandman, a round little being seemingly made up of his eponymous Dream Sand. "Darian!" Tooth exclaimed in surprise upon fluttering down to the deck. A question mark formed above the Sandman's head as he looked up at her curiously, but she pretended not to notice as she ordered around an entourage of tinier fairies, one of which flew over to Jack to rest on his shoulder. The little fairy squeaked something unintelligible in his ear while pointing at me, and Jack laughed.
"Darian, you know Tooth," he said, gesturing to her before moving on to the Sandman. "This is Sandy."
"Hello," I greeted with a small wave. Sandy conjured up a bowler hat out of thin air and tipped it my direction with a slight bow. I had to admit, while I didn't always appreciate his magic, I found the man himself rather charming.
"And this," Jack continued, allowing the little fairy to perch on his finger as he held her out to me, "is Baby Tooth."
"It's nice to meet you," I said, marveling at the tiny creature. She squeaked something in response that drew soft chuckles from everyone else except Sandy, who didn't appear to be able to make any noise at all, and I wondered if I was missing something. "What? What did she say?"
"Something along the lines of, 'And you as well, as long as you don't go disappearing down any dark corners again.' Jack actually tried to introduce you two before, but it, uh, didn't work out," Tooth explained. "Come to think of it, that probably wasn't in the best taste."
"No worries," I told her, waving off her concern. Even so, the comment reminded me of why Jack and I had come in the first place, and I felt my heart race and my stomach tie itself in knots all over again. Trying to cover up my discomfort, I inquired, "How have you been, Tooth?"
"Busy, as usual," she answered. Sandy tugged on her arm and flashed a more insistent question mark. "Oh, um…" Tooth looked nervously between him and me. "Sandy wants to know how we know each other."
I froze up, casting an uncertain glance at Jack. Explaining that I met Tooth when she saved me from falling would require explaining why it was necessary in the first place – that Jack had been drawn to me after being hit by Cupid's arrow and burnt out mid-flight. We still hadn't discussed how exactly we planned on telling the Guardians that we really were dating, but if Sandy's curiosity was any indication, it wasn't going to stay a secret for very much longer.
Thankfully, I was saved from answering by North's and Bunny's reappearances, along with some unfortunately familiar faces. "Darian!" exclaimed Jamie, rushing forward to wrap me in a hug. Sophie, who had previously been glued to Bunny's side, followed soon after, and proceeded to dance around and chant my name. "I'm so glad you're al—what happened to your hand?"
"I –"
"Darian! I lost a tooth! See?" Sophie quickly pushed Jamie out of the way to occupy my full attention, pulling back her mouth to reveal a gap in her teeth.
"It certainly was a beautiful one," Tooth added, beaming at the little girl.
"That's great, Soph, but what are you two doing here?" Jack asked, seeing how quickly I was being overwhelmed.
"I figured that if the problem had anything to do with Darian, her family had a right to know," North explained.
"That, uh…" Jack began, but he couldn't seem to find much fault in the logic, and neither could I. It was a fair assumption, but after attacking Jack, I wasn't sure if it was the safest idea to have my youngest cousins around.
"There's a problem with Darian?" Jamie asked, looking between me and Jack with concern. My first instinct was to assure both him and Sophie that no, everything was alright, but that would be a blatant lie, and I knew Jamie wouldn't stand that for a second.
"Yes," Jack answered after a beat of hesitation. "Sort of. It's a long story."
"You've been saying that a lot, lately," Bunny remarked, rolling his eyes. "Go on. We're all here now and listening."
Jack began to recount the events that led up to this moment, leaving certain specific details out, of course. He started at the beginning, explaining how we met through Jamie and how he discovered through his interactions with me that certain people could be more susceptible or more resistant to certain types of magic, my weakness in particular being Pitch's fear that he creates, which tended to cause me to reject Jack's magic on occasion. Jack then went on to tell that his suspicions were confirmed when he caught Pitch hanging around me, and after discovering that Jack and I were friends, he began to target me specifically, leading up to the more recent confrontation where I had nearly been killed by an arrow of Nightmare sand. He told the Guardians that he had been sticking closer to me since then, but despite his efforts, it seemed that Pitch had one last trick up his sleeve: the ability to control my actions whenever I fell asleep.
When Jack finished, I looked around the room to gauge everyone's reactions but immediately wished I hadn't, for all their eyes were trained on me, except for Tooth's, who knew a bit more about the situation and was nervously trying to look everywhere but at me. Sandy looked intensely uncomfortable, especially after hearing about my near-death experience that paralleled his in what I figured must have been a deliberate attempt to disturb Jack at the time. Bunny was incredulous, as if he hadn't quite figured out if he believed what he just heard, and North appeared to be studying me, a serious expression over his face as he stroked his beard in thought. Jamie stared up at me in absolute horror, unaware that the situation had got this bad, while Sophie clung to him, not quite understanding what all was going on but knowing through her child intuition that it wasn't good.
It was a long time before anyone said anything, and when the silence was broken, it wasn't by anyone in the room. "Hot chocolate, anyone?" asked Mrs. Claus, striding in from one of the adjacent hallways and carrying one tray of mugs while flanked by two Yetis doing the same. The Yetis attended to the Guardians while Mrs. Claus served me, Jack, and Jamie and Sophie. As I thanked her for the refreshment, she gave me a pitying look that seemed to indicate that she had been listening from the hallway this entire time, waiting for a better opportunity to diffuse the tension. "Well, I'll leave you Guardians to your business," she said with a nod as she exited the room, leaving us again in a stunned silence.
"I swear I'm gonna kill Pitch!" Bunny exclaimed suddenly with such fervor that I jumped back in surprise. "This is low, even for him!"
Jamie raised his hand to call attention to himself. "You have to remember that this is the same guy who tried to kill me three years ago. 'There's more than one way to snuff out a light,' anyone?"
Jack patted Jamie's shoulder, frowning at the memory. "We remember, Jamie. I think we're all just a little shaken by this new power," he said.
"Yes, it is most unsettling," North concurred, still seeming deep in thought.
"How is this even possible?" Tooth wondered. She turned to Sandy. "Can you do that?"
Sandy only shrugged.
"North, what are we going to do?" Tooth asked, sounding like she was on the verge of panicking.
"I'm not sure we can do anything," North said, still staring at me intently. "We do not yet know how he is doing this. It seems to me that there are only two solutions right now. The most ideal one would be to capture Pitch and force him to stop, but we do not know how to track him, and that could take a very long time, longer than maybe he is willing to let Darian live." I swallowed hard at that. "The other option we have is to try and understand how he is doing this on our own and try to defend against it the best we can."
"Excuse me," I interjected nervously, turning red when all eyes turned on me again as I spoke officially for the first time in this meeting. "Are you suggesting that I allow Pitch do that to me again?"
"Only if you're comfortable with it," Tooth added, realizing quickly after that she had said the wrong thing.
"Obviously, I'm not!" I cried.
"You'd be in the best hands," Bunny assured me, showing tenderness that I had not witnessed in him before. "We'll all be right here in case anything happens."
"Besides," said Jack, "you're going to have to go to sleep eventually. This way, we'll be able to make sure nobody gets hurt."
I took a deep breath to try and calm down, knowing in my head that they were all making logical sense. It was just very hard to accept what I had to do. Eventually, I hung my head in resignation. "I don't know if I even could fall asleep knowing what's waiting for me," I admitted in one last-ditch attempt to avoid my fate.
"That's what he's for," Bunny said matter-of-factly, pointing over at Sandy, who gave a friendly wave.
"I guess," I said slowly, "if it's the only way…"
Before I could even finish my sentence, North had called over a Yeti and a handful of elves. "Bring up a mattress, a blanket, and some pillows, and set them near the fireplace."
"W-wait, what?" I stammered.
"Would you rather sleep on the stone floor?" North chuckled.
"No, I just…right now?"
"There is no better time than the present. Is there anything else you might like? A stuffed animal? A glass of milk?" North offered.
"No, thanks," I replied quietly. "Actually, I don't use pillows all that often."
North nodded and barked the new instructions at the elves who had just come scurrying in with a stack of pillows, causing them to groan and shuffle back out the door. A Yeti, whom both Jamie and Jack enthusiastically introduced as the famous Phil, set a plush mattress down in front of the fire while the rest of the elves covered it with an intricately decorated quilt. Awkwardly, I sat down on the mattress and tucked my legs under the blanket, trying to shrug off how weird it was that everyone would be watching me sleep for who knows how long. Jamie and Sophie each walked up to give me a reassuring hug, and Jack, noticing my discomfort in such an odd situation, briefly leaned in close so he could speak without the other Guardians overhearing.
"It's going to be alright," Jack promised. "They know what they're doing."
I rolled my eyes. "Probably better than you did, at least. I just wonder how many times Immortals are going to insist on watching me sleep."
"That was one time!" The both of us laughed at for a moment before the seriousness of the situation seemed to set in once again.
"I love you," I whispered, hardly daring to move my lips in case the others noticed.
"I love you, too," Jack replied, just as quietly, "and I won't let anything happen to you."
Jack flew back then before our conversation had the chance to go on suspiciously long. I curled up further under the quilt and tucked my arm under my head. "Okay. I'm ready," I announced.
With a wave of his hand, Sandy conjured up a thick stream of Dream Sand that swirled and arced over the room before collecting in a cloud just above my head, raining golden flecks into my eyes until they were too heavy to keep open, and peacefully, I drifted off into a quiet sleep.
Jack
"So, now what?" Jamie asked as soon as Darian was fast asleep and the room had gone quiet.
"I suppose we should take shifts watching her to see if anything happens. The rest can discuss what course of action we must take next," North suggested.
I was about to offer to take the first watch, but I caught Jamie's eye as I opened my mouth, and he gave a shake of his head to remind me of how my eagerness might look to the others. "I think Sandy should go first," I said instead. "This is his area of expertise, after all." The others nodded in agreement to this and left Sandy to silently watch over Darian while the rest of us shuffled off to North's private office.
"Jamie, how is it that you've never talked about your cousin before?" Bunny asked skeptically on the way there. Tooth and I exchanged a nervous glance. Obviously, Bunny suspected Darian to be the girl that Cupid had mentioned, but he was still searching for more evidence to back it up.
Fortunately, he wouldn't be getting too much juicy information out of Jamie. "I hadn't seen her in a long time before she came to visit for Christmas, so there wasn't much to talk about," he explained. "She ended up being pretty cool, though, and it didn't take too long to get her to believe in the Guardians."
"Yes, I was wondering about that," said North. "How strange for someone her age."
Jamie only shrugged. "She's related to me, guys. I don't think it's too farfetched." Everyone nodded in agreement with this, even Bunny, albeit reluctantly.
The party entered North's personal workshop, but instead of immediately latching the door for privacy, we thought it best to leave it open, just in case there was any emergency. Jamie, Sophie, and I took a seat on the bench while Tooth chose to remain hovering and Bunny anxiously paced back and forth. "What now?" I asked as North took a seat in the large chair behind his desk.
"I suppose the only thing we can do is try and track down Pitch while we try to figure out his new power," North replied.
"I'm all for hunting the sick jerk down," Bunny said eagerly, cracking his knuckles.
"But how?" wondered Tooth. "We haven't been able to find him in nearly three years."
North turned to me. "Jack, you were the last to see him. Was there anything that he did or said that might have given away his hiding place?"
I shook my head. "Like I said, he broke my staff so that I couldn't go after him last time. I mean, the entrance to his labyrinth has opened up twice by the pond in Burgess, but it never stays. He only ever seems to pop up when he wants to be found, usually when he has a message for us."
"What if," Tooth began slowly, "we had a message for him?"
We all turned to look at Tooth in confusion. "Interesting," North said with a slow nod of his head. "What would you have us do?"
"Well, I was just thinking that Pitch never seems to be completely cruel unless he wants something, which means that he's using Darian as leverage. What if we agreed to listen to his demands? Maybe even find some way to make a deal with him?" Tooth explained.
"No," I said immediately. "No deals. Not with him. Besides, we already know what he wants: revenge."
"That may be true, but at the very least it could buy us some time to get a real plan together," North countered.
I was about to object again, but before I could, Bunny added, "I don't like it either, but it's the best plan we've got. We only need to figure out how to get it done. If you've got a better plan, go ahead and tell us."
I opened my mouth again but closed it almost immediately after, knowing that they were right.
"Well, I suppose we should let Sandy know." North turned to me again. "Jack, go take the next watch and send him down here so we can brief him on what is going on. Maybe he can help us come up with a way to contact Pitch."
I wanted to protest, to kick and scream and force everyone to come up with some other plan, but I didn't. I quick look at Jamie reminded me of what was at stake here, and as I stood to exit the room as calmly as I could manage, he and Sophie stood, as well. "We'll go with you," Jamie announced, and together, the three of us strode through the open doorway.
I managed to make it all the way to the elevator before losing my composure. "I hate this plan!" I snapped. "I'm sick of everyone making deals with Pitch! Can't anyone else see that it never ends well?"
"What other choice do we have?" Jamie asked. "We can't really launch an attack with Darian's life on the line. It's like they said, it'll at least buy us some time to figure out something else."
I couldn't find it in me to respond. I was too frustrated to be confronted with clear logic at the moment, and I stubbornly refused to listen.
We reached the deck, where nothing seemed to have really changed. A golden halo of sand still hovered above Darian's sleeping form by the fireplace while Sandy waited nearby, her silent, watchful guardian. He held up a finger to his lips as we approached, reminding us to be quiet so as not to wake her. In a whisper, I explained to him what was going on, and we traded places. Once Sandy rounded the corner and was out of sight, Jamie and I knelt down on either side of Darian's mattress while Sophie ran off to torment an unsuspecting elf.
"This is all so strange," Jamie muttered after a short period of silence. Seeking some distraction, he busied himself with stoking the fire with one of the fireplace pokers from a nearby rack.
"Tell me something I don't know," I chuckled quietly, watching Darian's dreams twirl and tumble from one to the other, never really lingering on one for too long.
"What I mean is that I'm used to strangeness with you, and most of the time, it's fun, but something like this, something evil targeting someone you love…I guess it's just hard to process." Jamie finally turned away from the fire and set the poker on the floor beside him. "I don't know. Maybe it's just easier to believe in all of the good stuff in the world because we really want it to be real, but when the bad stuff happens, we don't want to believe it? Does that make any sense?"
I only shrugged. "I don't know, Jamie. Honestly, Darian's much better at overthinking everything than I am, so that might actually be a better question for her."
"Heh. Yeah." Jamie cast a fond look down at his cousin.
"In all seriousness, though, I'm going to do everything I can to make Darian safe again," I promised.
Jamie smiled at me. "I know you will, and when this is all over, I really hope you two can stay together. It'd be really cool to actually have you in the family."
"Whoah! Getting a little ahead of ourselves there!" I exclaimed, holding up my hands defensively. We both laughed at this until Jamie abruptly stopped, eyes widening in horror.
"Jack," he said weakly. "Jack, look."
I followed his gaze to Darian's dream, and I felt my heart drop. Little by little, the golden glow of her halo began to fade away, overcome by black sand that appeared to have no origin. There was nothing we could do but watch as the tiny golden figure of Darian, once happy and laughing, was overcome by the darkness and crumbled into nothing with a silent scream. Throughout all of this, Darian tossed and turned on the mattress, only falling still when at last, the Nightmare fell apart and dissolved into nothingness above her head.
Silent seconds ticked by, during which I held my breath, and all I could hear was my heart pounding in my ears. "What just happened?" Jamie finally asked.
I didn't answer, unable to shake the feeling that this was only the calm before the storm. I stared down at Darian, and her position immediately seemed wrong. If it was truly over, Darian would have either woken up or returned to her normal sleeping position, and she had done neither. I knew that she preferred to sleep curled up on her side, but now, she was stretched out on her stomach, one armed bent beneath her head, the other hanging off the mattress, her hand resting on the fireplace poker.
The pieces suddenly clicked together in my mind. "Jamie, move!" I cried, and Darian immediately sprang into action afterward. Her hand closed around the poker, and she pushed herself off of the mattress to swing it at me. Having been preoccupied with ensuring Jamie's safety, I was too slow to move out of the way, myself, and I saw stars as the metal rod collided with my head. Darian stumbled to her feet and raised her weapon to strike again, but I managed to reorient myself enough to roll away in the nick of time.
As the sound of metal striking stone rang through the air, I called out to Jamie, "Take Sophie and go get the others!" He obeyed, but not without casting one last terrified look at Darian before he and his sister disappeared down the hallway. With the two of them out of harm's way, I took up my staff and prepared to face Darian, or rather, Pitch. I saw the golden glint of his eyes, so wrong in Darian's skull, and enraged at what he had done, I lunged forward.
My staff collided with the poker countless times, and while she may have had the element of surprise before, she was still no match for an Immortal's strength. Eventually, I managed to push her back enough to conjure up a snowball, and as she rushed towards me again, I threw it directly into her face. She faltered, one hand reaching up to her head as she swayed where she stood. I relaxed my stance and held my staff out to the side, so I wouldn't alarm her when she came to. "Darian?" I said gently.
Finally, she shook the snow out of her eyes, only to snap them open to reveal still-golden irises, now flaming with anger. Caught off guard once again, I had no time to raise my staff to defend myself, so I braced myself to take another painful blow.
It never came. Just as the rod was about to come down once again on my head, a golden whip sailed through the air and snatched it from her grip. It clattered off to the side, useless. I turned my head to see that the rest of the Guardians had arrived. Despite the distraction, Darian wasted no time in rushing forward again, her hands closing around my throat. I saw North begin to instinctively draw a sword, but I managed to choke out a firm "no." I grabbed Darian's wrists and pried her hands off of me without too much trouble and pushed her a few feet away, giving me time to leap into the air just as she lunged at me again.
"Pitch is controlling her, but Darian's still in there," I reminded them, and North reluctantly tucked the sword back in its sheath. "We can't hurt her, but if we don't fight…" I never got to finish that sentence. I looked down and saw that without any options left, Darian was making a beeline for the fireplace, hand outstretched towards the flames. "Stop her!"
Sandy's whip shot out again and caught Darian by the wrist just in time, but she continued to strain against it and reach for the fire, all while glaring the five of us down. "What did you do to snap her out of it last time?" Tooth asked hurriedly as Darian yanked hard on the whip, gaining an inch. She was pulling with all of her might, but Sandy was unable to do the same for fear of breaking her arm or dislocating her shoulder. A few tooth fairies flew over and started tugging on her clothes and trying to pull back her hand.
"I threw a snowball at her, but it didn't work this time!" I explained.
"Well, hurry up and think of something else!" Bunny urged, not that he was being much help at the moment.
I fumbled around for ideas for a few critical seconds, looking back and forth between the Guardians and Darian before I realized that there was really only one option left. I landed a safe distance away from Darian, and stared down Pitch's blazing eyes. "Pitch," I called out to him, hoping that this would work. "If you can hear me, can we please just talk about this? No one needs to get hurt. We're willing…" I had to take a moment to swallow my pride and the bile that rose in my throat at these words. "We're willing to make a deal."
Pitch's eyes seemed to gaze at me curiously for a few endless moments before rolling back into Darian's head. Her eyes fluttered shut, and her body suddenly went limp and crashed to the floor thanks to the pull of Sandman's whip. Abandoning all caution, I threw my staff to the side and ran to her to make sure she was okay. She seemed too still, and for too long I wasn't even sure she was breathing, but hardly a second later, her eyes snapped wide open, and she inhaled a long painful gasp.
I was about to breathe a sigh of relief, but before I could, she suddenly grabbed the front of my shirt and stared up at me with tears in her blessedly blue eyes. "Meetmeinthelabyrinthsameplacecomealoneorelseyourgirlfrienddies!" she spat out all in one breath.
"What?" was all I could say as she struggled to catch her breath, one hand releasing me to clutch at her heart.
"Meet me in the labyrinth. Same place. Come alone or else your girlfriend dies," she repeated in between gasps. "That's what he said to tell you." That was all she managed to say before she burst out in sobs, and I drew her closer to me so she could hide her tears from the others.
The other Guardians approached, now that it was safe, and from the looks on their faces, I knew immediately that I was in trouble.
"I think," Bunny said, somewhat smugly, "that there's something you forgot to tell us, Jack."
(Still here and still determined to finish this story! I enjoyed finally getting to write this chapter, and I can't wait to hear what you guys think of it. Be sure to favorite, follow, and review, and tune in next month for some answers about what's going on with Darian and what Tooth mentioned to Darian a few chapters ago.)