Chapter 5

Yellowed Plant Skeletons

Two days later, at the Pole

Jack looked up at the clock; 12:22.

"North, I know you said he's never late, but it's been ten minutes already," he complained. His gaze returned to the stick-figure drawing he had been working on for the last twenty-two minutes. "I'm thinking maybe he meant for us to meet him in the Warren. He's probably down there right now, chapped and waiting for us with steam blowing out of his ears."

Jack couldn't help smirking a little as he imagined said scene, then he turned to look back at the man who's cast he was doodling on. North looked up from the tiny ice sculpture that he was chipping away at, accidentally jostling the dinner tray that he had balanced over the armrests of his newly improved tank-chair.

"I am beginning to think you may be right," said the Russian.

Sandy stopped sending dream sand from his post at the window and floated over to his friends. The dream giver had arrived at the pole at exactly noon, for some unknown reason, and had seemed content to wait with the other two until the doctor showed up.

Once he got their attention, he made a sand bunny holding a stop sign, and then a door shutting, then he looked at North.

"But Bunny never lets anyone go to Warren, unless is emergency" translated North with a sigh. "Yes my friend, is true."

"He never specified to meet here at the Pole, though. He only said ' tha dayy afta tamorra at noon'" countered Jack in his best Australian accent, looking back at the clock.

North followed his gaze, his expression morphing from indifferent acceptance to worry as he saw the time. "And is not like him to be so late without telling us."

Sandy just shrugged in response and Jack looked down, deciding which new color to draw with. North placed the tiny carving tools on his makeshift "desk" tray and began stroking his beard in thought.

"I told you that last week was first time Bunny ever invited all us Guardians to Warren, yes?" he asked. Jack looked up from the sharpie marker collection and nodded as a carefree look entered North's eyes. "I think maybe we can talk our way out of mess if we need to, since he did invite us recently, and he is late," said North to Sandy.

The Sandman looked doubtful.

"We can always tell him we were worried!" emphasized North.

Jack looked hopefully at the sandman with puppy eyes and added, "Besides, it´s polite to drop in on a friend once in a while, right?"

Sandy considered this for a moment, then shrugged slowly in defeat. Jack jumped up and flipped his staff into his hand with his toes, causing the other two to smile.

"Come on, let's go!"

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12:30 PM, at the Warren

The strangest sensation of dizziness overcame all three of them and made Jack fall over as they exited the snow globe portal. Predictably, it had dropped them off at the same place where they had exited Bunny´s tunnel a few days earlier; only this time, there were no eggs in sight.

But, their absence didn't take away from the stunning beauty before them. The rolling grassy hills were just as vibrant as before, speckled with bright, brilliant hues of all colors that sashayed gently with the wind.

The only thing distracting from the iconic image were the few withered, yellowed plant skeletons that staggered through the earth here and there. The color had been leeched from them, leaving only wiry stalks with their dead leaves curled inward like crushed ribs.

Upon closer inspection of his fairly-familiar surroundings, North noticed that along with the little eggs, there were no stone egg golems in sight either. It took him a second, though, due to the fact that his head that couldn´t seem to stop spinning.

Jack was accustomed to feeling dizzy, due to his frequent flying, as were North and Sandy. But this wasn´t regular dizziness. It was as if they had just stepped onto solid ground after being in a boat for hours, or had just gotten off of an intense roller coaster. What made this even more odd was that the ground wasn´t moving. In fact, everything in the Warren looked peaceful, from the carved stone archways to the graceful flower blooms.

Despite the stillness, all three guardians still felt as if they were standing on an enormous spinning lazy susan.

It was rather unsettling.

Literally.

"Is this normal?" asked Jack as he pulled himself to his feet and looked at the other two; blinking his eyes rapidly.

"I have been here only few times, but has never felt like this" answered North, his hands gripping the chair armrests a little tighter than before.

Sandy just shrugged as stars whirled in circles over his head. He was floating gently above the ground, but his body unconsciously was turning slowly in mid-air, going clockwise. When he finally focused his eyes, he had to re-position himself every few seconds in order to keep facing his friends.

"Do you guys think he´s in trouble?" asked Jack as he leaned on his staff to keep from falling over again, a worried look on his face.

North and Sandy glanced at each other, brows furrowed.

Sandy turned himself in mid-air again, a few degrees counter-clockwise, and made a sand egg with legs and the word help written on it, followed by an x above his head.

"He sent us no messenger egg for help. . . All the same, I think we were right to have come. Let´s look for him, yes?" said North.

The other two agreed and they communally decided to take the most well-worn path, and the one that North and Jack vaguely remembered using a few days earlier during the Easter Prep. Once they chose said path, they set off wobbily, their eyes peeled for any sign of their missing friend.

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I'm sorry, but I won't be updating this for a little while. But hey, when I do it will have a new picture to go with it.

Till then, leave a review on your favorite chapter so far!

In response to these three marvelous people:

Shellycat: Thank you for your review! I´m so glad that you are liking the story so far. I really enjoyed thinking about your comment because of how clever your response was, especially your thoughts about Tooth knowing why Bunny avoids parties. It is a great inference, and is accurate in showing how Tooth and Bunny are fairly close. As to the rest, we´ll have to wait and see.

Guest: Ok, I´m pretty sure you´re the same guest who´s left the other two reviews. If not, then I´m sorry! Anyway, I think your assessment is pretty accurate, with regards to Tooth and North. As to Bunnymund, I´d say you´re spot on, but who knows? There may be more to his hesitance than meets the eye. . . Also, I hear you. Proms are grossly overrated, at least in my book. Thanks for your review!

Go Outside: I feel bad for putting this story on pause, but it must be done. I'll be back soon though, I promise. Aside from that, I enjoyed reading your review! I think you're right; Bunny has a tragic past (according to the original stories), and I'm sure there are many things that may bring back memories of his that he would rather forget.

Reviews are the best. They´re so much fun to read, and they make my day!

Moving on.

Here´s my list of questions for this chapter:

Why do you think Sandy showed up at the Pole at exactly 12:00?

How do you think Jack is getting along with his new friends? Are you surprised?

Have you ever fallen over from being too dizzy before? What happened?

Why do you think the guardians got so dizzy after entering the Warren?