Sophie took a step back and viewed the painting, instantly feeling a great sense of satisfaction. The colours blended beautifully and her subjects seemed so lifelike. Her eyes darted to a spot where a blob of black paint had tarnished earlier due to her clumsiness. There was just a shade of sea-green in its place, with a slightly darker hue. Sophie grinned.

"Thanks, Bunny."

"Anything for ya, little ankle-biter."

Sophie turned back to the empty easel and sighed. "One down, twenty or so more to go." She turned to the Pooka who stood beside her. It was so strange to see such a creature in her bedroom, but Sophie was getting used to his frequent visits. She couldn't help but wonder, at times, how she could've stopped believing. Something like that... it was not something you see every day, yet, her belief still slipped.

The door swung open and Pippa came bounding in, not noticing the six-foot rabbit, in fact, passing right through him, before flopping down on Sophie's bed. She squinted at the newly-finished painting, propped up against the foot of the bed. "Not bad," she commented. "Where did you find the time for this, anyway? I thought you and your brother were too busy putting together a book." Sophie didn't give an immediate reply, but continued to stare at the easel, trying to get some inspiration, but at that moment, an empty easel wasn't the best source of inspiration. Bunnymund stayed silent, watching her and Pippa, slightly disappointed that the latter no longer believed in him, but it was pretty normal. Well, at least she still celebrated Easter and had even hid the eggs once. Well, everyone her age believed the adults hid the eggs every year.

"An art showcase is something big, Sophie. Do you think you have the time?" asked Pippa.

"Sure I do," replied Sophie, nonchalantly. "It's not like Jamie and I spend all our hours on the book anyway. Even if it does seem like it, it's him, not me, who harps on it every day. He's actually trying to persuade mom to let him take writing classes, because he isn't actually the writer type."

"Do you think he'll let me read the manuscript?"

"Sure... in your dreams. He says he's too embarrassed to show anything he wrote to anyone else save for a few 'selected' ones." Sophie rolled her eyes before crossing over to her desk and carefully lifting a digital camera. She had recently found a new passion for photography, though she didn't enjoy it as much as she enjoyed painting. She had signed herself up for an art showcase despite Jamie's protests, as it would secure her a place in a good art school in future, which was where she was planning to head to. Turning round to face Bunny, she raised the camera to take a picture, but saw only her bed and the easel in the background on the screen. Cameras simply do not believe in the Guardians.

"You know... you should take a snapshot of Jamie poring over that tome he's writing. Get the expression on his face when he's working, and call it... whatever expression's on his face. That's what they're looking for in your works."

Sophie sank onto her chair, just as the door swung open and Jamie marched in, looking all hot and flustered. His sister raised her eyebrows before remarking, "I didn't hear a knock."

"Well, you don't knock before entering my room anyway," Jamie said, dumping a tin rectangular cookie box on Sophie's desk, in which he kept the manuscript. He was about to greet Bunny, but the sight of Pippa on Sophie's bed stopped him. "But there's something you should know. I think Emily has short-term memory loss."

Sophie's eyebrows shot up higher. "What do you mean? She forgot everything about algebra? Come on, Jamie, that's pretty normal."

"No, she couldn't recognise me. Though she did mention I was 'strikingly familiar'. Her words, not mine."

"Who's this Emily you're talking about?" Bunny and Pippa asked at the same time, though of course, the latter could not hear the former.

"The new girl," Jamie responded. "You know, the one who always looks like she has a thousand things on her mind?"

Pippa frowned slightly, thinking. "Oh... her. Yeah, she does seem pretty weird. Well, I'm not really surprised. Our school seems to be swarming with weird people. Have you seen what the Robotic Club created? A living nightmare which won't stop repeating words! I mean, who creates stuff like that anyway?"

"Well, I think it was pretty good," Jamie said, defending the members of the Robotic Club. "Anyway, it's for a convention, and I wouldn't be surprised if they won something. Except for the constant repetition of words, I think that contraption was genius." He turned back to Sophie. "What do you think?"

Sophie shrugged nonchalantly. "I have no idea if you're talking about Emily or the nerds. The former... well, it could be her doppelgänger. The latter... I don't care."

Jamie prised open the lid of the tin box before withdrawing one of Sophie's illustrations and holding it up. "Pippa, what do you think of yourself?"

Pippa raised her eyebrows in surprise. "I didn't know I was in your story," she said, smiling slightly, clearly amused. "What sort of role do I play?"

"A most unimportant role," Sophie replied, browsing photos on her camera. "All you do is have snowball fights and believe in the Guardians."

"Well, we did have plenty of snowball fights but what Guardians?"

"Long story," Sophie replied, shortly.

However, Jamie was not ready to give up that easily. Despite the fact that his friends were all in their late teens, definitely older than Sophie and much more practical than him, he couldn't shake off the feeling that he may be able to convince them to believe again, just like with Sophie.

"Pippa, what if, one Easter, all the adults stopped hiding the eggs? Stopped painting them?" He noticed Bunny look up in surprise out of the corner of his eye, but avoided looking at the Pooka.

"Nothing of that sort will happen, Jamie Bennett," she responded. "Everyone knows Easter represents new life. Hope. Won't the adults want every child to have hope?"

"Ooh, sometimes I forget how grown up you are, Pippa," Sophie mocked, crossing over to her easel. "Should I paint a portrait of you at your mental age, which is like, 60, 70, maybe?" She grinned.

Pippa rolled her eyes. "And I forget how annoying you can get, Sophie Bennett." She redirected her attention to Jamie. "What was your point?"

"If adults stopped or maybe forgot to hide the eggs one Easter, do you think the kids will find eggs?"

The girl's brow creased into a frown. "Obviously not."

"Well, how about you try it next Easter? Get everyone in Burgess to not hide eggs and see if any pop up. Or you could paint your eggs a dull colour and see of there are any brightly-coloured ones."

Pippa sighed. "I know where you're going, Jamie. You have to wake up, okay? This is the real world, such things only exist in our imagination." She got up and prepared to leave. "And right now, the imagination does not really matter any more."

"You sound like Monty," Sophie remarked.

"I certainly do not," Pippa responded, indignantly, hand on the doorknob. "Anyway, I have to go. See ya."

As soon as Pippa left the room, Sophie turned to stare at Jamie. Her eyes flickered between her brother and the Pooka, who had been watching everything with great interest. "Epic fail, Jamie Bennett," she spoke, before bursting into peals of laughter.

Jamie felt a soft paw on his shoulder and turned to come face to face with the six-foot rabbit. However, Jamie was also growing fast and was almost level with the Pooka. "Don't ya worry, mate," the latter said. "It is pretty normal for teenagers and adults to stop believing. And look, it's so different, the way you communicate. So different from many years ago."

"Well, since we were involved in the battle with Pitch, I think they shouldn't stop believing," Jamie responded. "I mean, it isn't impossible to bring back their beliefs, right? Like Sophie..."

"Perhaps you might want to do some reorganising lest this thing turns into a box of garbage," Sophie interrupted loudly, shoving the tin box in her brother's face. Bunny stared at it as Jamie sank onto the floor and sorted through the papers, with the Pooka watching intently, and viewing as well as reading several of what Sophie drew and he wrote. About half-an hour passed before Jamie looked up.

"Soph?"

"What?"

"It's finished."

Yay! It's exam week! -.- Sorry for the late update, was busy studying and my grandmother had recently passed away, so I haven't... been all there. Thanks for reading, favouriting, following and reviewing!

Please review. :-)