A sharp stake of pain pierced Jack's heart as he desperately willed the cold back out of the tower and permitted the rippling warmth to consume it once more. The snow melted in a matter of seconds, but the pain in his chest didn't ease. Not even when he spied a new, obvious problem pooling at their feet: the floor was now covered in a thin layer of already lukewarm water, and if the woman stepped off of the stairs, she'd be in for a hell of a soaker.

"Mother!" Rapunzel started in a panic.

Her mother's eyes shot to where Jack stood, fire on ice, and he immediately found himself worried that she could see him too. Something dark and eerily familiar emanated from her, though he couldn't pinpoint the source of the feeling. All he knew for certain was she radiated nefariousness in a way Jack couldn't even think to explain. The exchange only lasted mere seconds, and yet it was more than enough time for Jack to scowl and add a defensive bend to his knees.

But just as he felt the lick of burning ice at his fingertips, the woman's hard gaze snapped back to the believer.

"What's with all the ruckus, Rapunzel?" She snapped. "I thought I made it perfectly clear I was heading to bed. Have you no respect for anyone but yourself?" Annoyance plastered her face. She contrasted Rapunzel completely with her pale skin and stormy grey eyes. Where daughter was day incarnate, mother was pure night.

When Rapunzel didn't answer fast enough, her mother took approaching steps down the stairs. "Well?" She pressed.

"Nothing happened," Rapunzel was quick to say. She looked away a moment, eyeing Jack questioningly. "I was just trying to paint, and I used the table as a step ladder again and it—I fell over."

At that, her mother groaned in the heaviest, most demeaning manor Jack had ever heard. She'd reached the second landing already. "You know how wobbly the tables are! You could have gotten yourself seriously injured, Rapunzel. Don't you ever think?" She sighed, rubbing desperately at her temples. "I want you to sleep with me tonight, that way we can both get a peaceful rest."

"Oh, that isn't necessary, Mother, I swear I wont..." Rapunzel trailed off when Jack swiftly took to the air. He landed at the top of the staircase with ease. The girl's mother had to be something like six steps away from her avoidable soaker. And as much as Jack craved to see her angered face as water drenched her dark knit slippers, he was worried about how—or where—she'd direct her line of unmatched irritation, if not at Jack. Jack had witnessed many childhood situations in his long lifetime; he knew very well how to distinguish bad from good.

And he knew from the get go that this wasn't good.

Rapunzel's wide-eyed gaze found him again.

"She can't see me," Jack told her from his spot on the stairs.

"What are you looking at?" Her mother snapped, swinging her gaze over her shoulder, over to where Rapunzel was focused. Her eyes slid right over him. Huffing, she spun and took yet another step down—

Just as Jack leaned on the railing, unapologetically pulling a small pot off kilter.

The girls both startled as clay met stone. Jack took a step back they hurried up the stairs to see the commotion, surprise covering the sound of water swishing around Rapunzel's bare feet.

The woman reached him first.

"Odd," she commented, looking at the shattered pot.

Rapunzel fell to her knees once she reached them, plucking the biggest pieces up between sun-kissed fingertips. "Oh no," she said. Jack could tell she was struggling to think something up. "I... I painted a few more designs on it earlier... I must've set it back down too close to the edge."

Her mother moved closer to the door, her face unreadable. "You're sleeping in my room tonight," she said, a hand on the handle. This time, her left no room for debate. "Come after you've finished cleaning up your mess."

Silence befell the tower after the woman had gone. Jack had to admit she carried a strong presence.

"I loved this pot." Rapunzel's words were barely a whisper as she bent down, tiny broom she'd just fetched in hand.

"I've never seen a nobler sacrifice," Jack took a seat on the railing. There were enough plants in the tower; he doubted she'd miss this one for long. "What a charming mother you have, by the way."

Rapunzel stood up, broken pieces in hand. "She can be, when she wants," she stated, starting down the stairs. Jack stood like a T on the railing, sliding down to follow her descent. "She actually saved me when I was young, you know." Rapunzel dove into story as if she could no longer hold herself back from speaking, but the words blurred from Jack's focus almost as soon as she started, despite how much he fought to catch her words. Seconds later, he stopped moving altogether. It felt as if an invisible wall was suddenly in front of him, pushing hard against his body, the force almost completely preventing him from continuing forward. He only just managed to reach the bottom of the stairs before it all became too much to bear. The air was suffocating—if felt like it wanted flatten him into a single flake, and the only relief he found were the steps he took leading away from the believer. Without a word, Jack snatched Baby Tooth from where she was hiding at the window's ledge and flew straight out, the headache blooming at his brow pulsing with pain. He couldn't remember the last time he felt anything like a headache. He didn't even know he'd remembered what it was until now.

He noticed quite quick how the pain lessened the further and further he got from the tower. In fact, it was completely gone once he was about halfway from Corona. He continued his flight nonetheless.

Baby Tooth sneezed in his palm for what must've been the tenth time already, despite how tightly he'd hugged her to his chest.

"Is that better?" Jack asked once they were safely back in Corona. He'd just wrapped a cloth his winds had swiped from a passerby around the bird's small body. She nodded happily, settling into his palm.

Jack glanced over his shoulder as he moved around another corner. This alley was quiet—he must've stumbled upon the residential quarters during his wandering. Perfect. He perked his ears in attempts to catch the sound of boot-scrape against the stone, but his (and Baby Tooth), was still the only presence he could hear.

Ever since his return to the village, he'd felt a pair of watchful eyes set between his shoulder blades. Baby Tooth felt it too, she'd confirmed. They'd tried to take a look at what it was, but every time they sneaked a glance around them, the thing seemed to disappear from sight. It moved quick as a shadow, almost like a certain darkness he'd helped dispose of when the moon chose him as the newest Guardian. But Pitch couldn't be back... Not so soon, at least. It was impossible.

Jack quickened his pace, turning sharply down second, smaller alleyway. It was well-passed night-time; nearly no Coronians wandered about, save for the rare few. Quiet as soft wind, Jack swung himself upward with the help of Twinetender to perch himself on a second-floor windowsill. Thankfully, his patience wasn't tried; only seconds passed before Jack was proved right. The figure tried to sneak around the alleyways' corner, right behind where Jack had gone. Jack snatched the person around the back of the neck with the hook of his staff and leaped right over their body so Twinetender's head trapped them, back pressed against cobblestone.

It took only one glance for him to loosen his grip.

"Katherine?" He whispered in disbelief. The girl pushed the staff away from her neck and pulled herself fast to her feet, open, grey eyes filled to the brim with fear. Her curled, auburn hair was tied in its usual tail, slightly tucked into the neck of her yellow fur-coat. She must've been melting in this heat.

Jack had first met the Guardian a few decades back, and had rarely seen her since. But she'd always held a certain comfort to her Jack had only ever experienced once before in his human years… From what he could remember, at least. They'd become quick friends, though from what he'd both learned and seen, the Guardian of Storytelling was good with most anyone.

"Jackson," she gasped, throwing a panicked glance somewhere over Jack's shoulder. "He's on our tail. Quick, follow me!"

"Who?" Jack urged. But Katherine didn't say another word as she led him deeper into heart of the village. They stopped only when they were hidden in a nearly completely boxed-off corner of a building. A streetlight flickered above them, but that didn't stop Katherine from pulling a flashlight from her coat pocket. She didn't turn it on.

"He's back," she whispered.

"Who's back, Katherine? I can do lots of things, but telepathy doesn't make the list."

"The Nightmare King." Pitch. No, impossible.

But Katherine had no reason to lie.

"What?" Jack hissed.

"I don't know how," she offered, "and I'm not quite sure why, but someone must've brought him back. It's no Guardian, I can assure you of that at the very least—I've been checking. But he is linked to this island. I know that for certain now."

"Do the Big Four know?" Jack thought of Tooth. Of Sandy, and North, and even, at the very back of his mind, Bunny. They can handle themselves, he tried to remind himself. They'll be fine. But what if they weren't? The Guardians were the only family he'd ever known. The thought of leaving them to fight Pitch on their own sickened him. The thought of losing them completely… Jack couldn't bear to think it.

"Yes," Katherine answered, forcing him away from his thoughts. "They were the firsts I went to—it's what lead me here, to you. Toothiana said her fairies had found something of importance, but I was forced into leave before they could reach us." She wrapped her hands around herself. "But from the look of things, I've a warning to tell you; I think you, especially, are in danger, Jackson. And—I…" She hesitated, brushing an escaped strand of hair behind her ear.

"What?" Jack pressed. "What is it, Kath?"

"He took my sketchbook. Well, his fearlings did. I could smell their presence all over the place."

Anger sparked through Jack. "I'll—"

"You'll do nothing," Katherine interrupted. "I can take care of myself, Jackson. Focus on ridding the world of Pitch again first. Make sure it's permanent this time." She took a step back. "Oh, and the golden girl. I've yet to see her from up close, but I feel something strange emanating from her. Nothing evil, of course. Keep her safe until I figure it out, if you would?"

Jack shrugged through the slight unease settling in him. "I was already planning on it."

Katherine nodded. "You felt her plead for a reason. She is strong, and Mim has been scouring the edges of the earth for someone like her for longer than even my existence." She turned to leave, but Jack caught her elbow.

"Wait. That's it?" He knew she couldn't reveal too much of the past or present, but he wished she would break her rules for him just this once. "Where are you going?"

Katherine furrowed her brows, eyes filled with a thousand emotions. "Elsewhere," she said simply, not bothering with his first question. The answer was already clear. "I have other business to attend to. But I will see you again, friend. Sooner than you might think."