Chapter Seven: Retracing Frosted Steps

Jack paced back and forth. He only had two weeks and three days to reverse the spell, and it was already nightfall and he wasn't getting anywhere with who would've done the memory wipe. Jack's original guess had been Pitch, but he wasn't an expert in memories like Tooth was.

Could Tooth be behind everything? She was the only other person with a high knowledge of memories, but Jack shook his head. That was impossible. Tooth was a Guardian and she was way too kind to do such a thing.

"Okay...what do I do now?" Jack asked himself. He turned to Baby Tooth. "I don't suppose you have any ideas?"

Baby Tooth only shrugged. She was just as clueless as Jack was.

Jack flopped onto his bed. "Great." They were running out of time and Jack didn't have a clue on what to do. He looked out his window and saw nothing but large, black clouds staring back at him. He sighed.

"Well, I guess I'll just turn in for the night," said Jack. "You can head back to the Tooth Palace. You have teeth collecting to do."

Baby Tooth nodded and gave him a small smile as she flew off. Jack placed his staff to the side and laid back down and let out a long breath. He needed to find that seal and break it before he lost everything.

And on that last thought, Jack fell into a dreamless sleep.

…

One Week and Four Days Remaining

Jack woke up with a start. He looked outside and saw partially melted snow and that it was light again. Jack only had two weeks and two days left before the memory wipe became permanent. The winter spirit leapt out of bed, grabbed his staff, and flew outside.

"Okay, what do I know," said Jack. He knew that before everyone forgot him, he and the Guardians were getting ready for the anniversary party. The winter spirit didn't label it as an important clue since it was just him and the others arguing over decorations and food, but he smiled at the memory when it came to mind.

Jack also remembered going to Jamie's house afterward. They talked for a bit and then Jack left for his tree. Then he woke up the next morning and found that Jamie and Sophie couldn't see him, the Guardians didn't know him, and he was kicked out of the North Pole.

Jack cringed at the memory. He really did not want to think of that day.

Jack tapped his staff against a tree and frost patterns webbed across it in beautiful swirls. Jack often made frost patterns while he was deep in thought. He leaned against his tree and sighed. What was he missing?

Jack decided to retrace his steps. It was the last thing he could think of doing at this point and it often worked for him when he misplaced something or was trying to look for something important. The winter spirit flew to Santoff Claussen and swiftly entered through an open window. He was extra careful this time since yetis and elves were working in the Workshop, and he walked to the Globe Room and did exactly what he did the day North announced their one year anniversary after defeating Pitch. He flew to every place where he hung up a decoration, looked around in the kitchen where he had made the food choices, and back to the storage room where he put the leftover decorations in, but found nothing anomalous.

Jack then flew back to Burgess and to Jamie's house and looked around. Since he couldn't go inside, Jack was only limited to the outside of the Bennett home but made sure to look around properly but didn't find anything out of sorts there either. Jack then flew back to the last and final place he went to that day: his tree.

Jack slid on his lake and flew into his tree. He remembered having trouble falling asleep that night since he was so excited for the party the next day. He eventually did, only to find that no one remembered him. Jack shook his head and began to look around. He looked on his shelves, looked under his table, he even looked inside of the couch! But still, the winter teen found nothing.

Jack was disappointed. He had gone everywhere he had been to the day before everything changed, but he couldn't find anything that gave a hint to who caused everyone to forget him. Jack frowned, frustrated. He wasn't getting anywhere.

Jack stepped outside and flew up into his tree and sat down on his favorite branch. He leaned against the trunk, closed his eyes, and sighed. He was at a loss of what to do. Was he really going to lose everything?

No...don't think like that, thought Jack. He had to reverse this. He had to.

Jack leapt down from his tree and felt himself step on something grainy and dry. He jumped back, the sudden texture on his foot surprising him, and looked down to see what had poked his foot.

Jack brushed his fingers through the black, grainy substance and felt his face turn into a deep scowl. The dry substance he had found was nightmare sand. And nightmare sand could only mean one thing.

Pitch Black.

But that was impossible. The children weren't fearful at all. He had no power. So what could've caused this?

Jack brushed the black sand off of his hand and flew to Pitch's hideout. He looked down at the hole and saw that the thick layer of ice was completely untouched and was not penetrated anywhere. Jack's brow furrowed in confusion.

If Pitch wasn't behind all of this, yet his nightmare sand laid around Jack's tree, what exactly happened? Jack flew back to his home and looked around his tree and found small grains of the black sand sticking out from the white snow. There wasn't much, meaning that whoever intruded was trying to be subtle, but still left grains of sand behind. Jack was a bit upset that he hadn't realized the nightmare sand sooner.

But Pitch wouldn't work like this. He was more clean with his plans and wouldn't leave something behind if he did something like this. He was very furtive when it came to things like this.

Jack flew back into his tree, frustrated. He had to figure this out soon…

Or else he would lose everything.

Author's Note: Thank you all so much for your constructive criticism! I really appreciate it. It helps me become a better writer, so, thank you. =)

Anyway, I went back and cleaned up a few mistakes mentioned, so…yeah! I hope things are less confusing now that those things are fixed. =) I hope you enjoyed chapter seven!

Until the next chapter!

-BeyondTheMoon1203