Chapter 22:
Halloween essentially set the tone for the next several nights all across the planet; Reapers, ghosts, Death Gods and fae folk from every legendarium imagined turned out, fully visible to mortal eyes. No one quite let the secret slip, but no human could deny there was something ethereal about these nights. Even though a few details may be hazy, they would live in human memory for generations to come.
Jack didn't think he'd ever enjoyed himself more; humans and his supernatural friends alike would joke and dance with him. Children would crowd around him to listen to stories, watched him as he played pranks on the adults and older Reapers and rode with Mei.
Everyone was surprised Death and the other Horsemen got as involved as they did, though Jack expected this was mostly because this was an unusual chance for them. Solriss confirmed it when the younger Reaper took him aside; Death didn't interact with living beings unless their time was up, as a rule. The other Horsemen hung around the living far more than he did, using their aspects to influence biology and behavior to assist in keeping things in balance, but this of course didn't involve social interaction.
It was wonderful seeing the humans so carefree for once, and perhaps the best thing was seeing the utter confusion in the Moon's spirits. Jack would usually make himself scarce when he saw someone he recognized, but sometimes he would just render himself invisible and hang around. The Leprechaun was completely delighted once he got over his shock. The Autumn seasonals didn't know what to do with themselves, and the Spring seasonals in the southern hemisphere were in the same boat. Jack had even seen Primrose and her gang a couple of times, looking absolutely baffled at the sight of all these strange creatures dancing with humans.
Pitch was equally confused. And extremely frustrated at this point, considering his Nightmares refused to get close to these gatherings when they felt the old magic of the fae and the presence of the Reapers and other spirits. It was even worse when a Death God was about. Anubis had given a herd quite the scare just by staring at them; Jack believed a good portion of northern Africa would be Nightmare-free for quite a while.
One unforeseen plus was the demons getting scared out of their wits; once it became obvious what was going on, the denizens of Hell had scattered. According to Death most of them had gone back to their own realm, spooked at seeing so many active Reapers.
As far as said Reapers were concerned, a good time was had by all.
It was the opposite for Pitch. He didn't understand why the humans were so happy all of a sudden, especially the children. They were hopeful and wondering and ugh it was a nightmare!
Well, not literally, but it was driving him insane! How was this happening? He'd defeated the Guardians! The Sandman was gone, Aster had been reduced to a talking ball of fluff, North was now a tired old man, and Toothiana's feathers might as well have been an eccentric set of pajamas. None of them had any powers to speak of, so what the heck was going on?
A clatter and several yells at one of the cavern's entrances alerted him to the arrival of the Summer sprites. Hissing quietly in annoyance, Pitch turned around as the rowdy seasonals landed on the walkway behind him.
"Anything to report?" he asked, voice a little testier than he'd intended.
"It looks like things have quieted down a lot; those… things have pretty much disappeared, at any rate," Primrose said. "The humans are still really chipper, though."
Pitch snarled. The Nightmares, picking up on his agitation, whinnied and pawed at the ground, some prancing in place. The Summer sprites and tooth fairies cowered at the sudden movement.
An idea flashed across Pitch's mind. "Have you seen Frost anywhere?" he asked sharply, gaze fixing on Primrose. His lips twisted again when he sensed the infernal hope blooming in the little fairies above him. In one specific fairy it was very prominent.
Leiron snorted. "Haven't seen a sign of him anywhere. He's probably still lying wherever you left him; he's useless without that staff."
The Bogeyman couldn't restrain his smile when he felt the fairies' hope vanishing as quickly as it had come. Still, he couldn't quite banish the pang of disappointment he felt. Jack just didn't understand; he still believed in those foolish Guardians and their ideals. They didn't care about him; they just wanted to use him as Manny had instructed. When Jack realized that, Pitch was confident in his own ability to sway the Winter sprite to his side.
And then he noticed that there were only four spirits standing in front of him
"Where is your sister?"
Jack was trotting Mei down a quiet wooded trail about three miles north of Burgess when her ears pricked forward. Jack immediately slowed to a sitting trot, turning his attention ahead. Sure enough, he could hear voices.
"…ya damned pixie! Ya think workin' with Pitch'll get you ahead, don't ya!"
"It's not like we have much else to do! Pitch is the strongest out of all of us now!"
"But you can see what he's doing to the children! How can you help him, knowing that?"
Jack brought Mei to a stop when they exited the woods. Both Reaper and horse blinked in surprise; standing at the trailhead were Lilac, an apparently flightless Toothiana and…
Jack barked a laugh. Bunny was… he looked like an actual bunny now. And he was so fluffy!
Ah, well. Back to business; he still had to meet up with Mattie and Leo, and Death had assigned him a few more souls.
Jack nudged Mei into a trot again. It was strange, in a way, not being acknowledged by spirits as well now, even when he was only a few feet away from them.
On the other hand, what's the difference?
He'd passed the bickering spirits and was just about to cue Mei to leap into the sky when he heard his name behind him. Startled, he brought Mei to a halt and turned her back around.
"Jack Frost?" Lilac said with a scoff. "He's not working with us; as far as I know the last anyone saw of him was when Pitch broke his staff and tossed him down some canyon at the South Pole."
Mei's ears went back. Jack grimaced at the memory of that day; more specifically of the pain the breaking of his staff had brought with it. His focus returned to the spirits just in time to see Bunny and Tooth's surprised faces.
"B…but Frost was… on Easter he had…,"
Lilac didn't give Bunny time to finish the sentence. "Oh, please," she scoffed. "Don't tell me you fell for that bunk. Pitch had to chase the frost sprite down, and Frost still wouldn't take the box. Pitch had to toss the thing at him and catch him by surprise, then dropped him through a shadow to you guys before Jack had time to blink."
Okay, he'd heard enough. Surprise, surprise, no one waited to hear what I had to say, Jack thought with an eye roll as Bunny again began sputtering protests. He dug his heels into Mei's sides and the mare leaped into the sky with an exuberant whinny.
Jack was surprised to see North that evening when he and Mei touched down in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The-former, Jack supposed- Guardian of Wonder was sitting on a bench at the edge of a small, sad-looking playground, looking more run-down than Jack had ever seen him. His cheeks were sunken and pale, his back and head were bowed, and his right hand rested on the hilt of one of his swords like it was a cane.
His eyes had a bit of a spark, though. Jack followed his gaze and immediately saw why.
There were kids on the playground. Only four, granted, but that was probably the most this place had seen in several months given… things. They were dressed for the weather, bundled up in hats and coats. And they were laughing, giggling and screaming with delight as they tumbled down slides slick with melted snow, splashed about in slush puddles and crawled under a dinosaur-shaped jungle gym.
Jack supposed he shouldn't have been so surprised. It was close to Christmas, after all.
The young Reaper guided Mei over to a small gazebo before dismounting, turning her loose to graze before lying on the picnic table under the roof.
Jack felt he was perfectly justified in being utterly surprised when Anubis suddenly appeared beside him. He actually almost fell off the table with a yell that would have woken a hibernating bear, while the jackal-headed deity grinned, showing off some very sharp teeth.
"Anubis! A bit of a warning would be nice!" Jack yelled, placing a hand over his heart.
"Oh, where is the fun in that?" Anubis said in his usual low cadence as he took a seat, spreading out a papyrus scroll covered in hieroglyphs.
Jack took a few seconds to examine the Egyptian god. He was wearing a casual dark blue suit rather than the robes and loincloth he wore while working. His headdress was also absent; Jack supposed it would get annoying, considering Anubis' ears.
"What the heck brought you all the way across the Atlantic?" Jack asked, taking a seat beside Anubis's paper and resting his feet on the bench.
"Isis and Osiris are arguing again, loudly enough that it's essentially impossible to get any work done," Anubis answered. A horsehair brush materialized in his clawed hand. An inkwell appeared as well, and Anubis dipped the tip of the brush in the ink before drawing a few more hieroglyphs at the bottom of the scroll.
"I thought recording the scale's results was Thoth's job," Jack said, though he couldn't actually read the glyphs.
"With the speed at which humans discover new things, Thoth is often abroad gathering whatever knowledge he can. Recording the results of the trials, among other things, has fallen to me."
"Couldn't Nephthys or Osiris help?"
Anubis snorted, not looking up from his work. "I don't trust Osiris to not mess with the balance; he plays favorites from time to time. Nephthys has become a bit… temperamental in recent centuries. She's liable to tear up a scroll or burn it, along with whatever unfortunate soul happens to be nearby."
"Ooh," Jack winced in sympathy. "Yeah, I remember Hades complaining about Zeus mucking things up. Have you asked Xibalba if he could help? Things are a bit quieter in Latin America, as far as I've heard."
"He and La Muerte are visiting China currently. I had considered joining them, but the Emperors of Youdu and Ten Masters say they have been having some trouble with the Monkey King. That and Xibalba's written ancient Egyptian is atrocious, though he speaks it well enough."
Jack laughed. "Oh, I am so telling him you said that! But why is the Monkey King bothering the death deities? I thought he preferred harassing the Jade Emperor."
"No one is certain yet; likely somebody made a bet with him."
It was Jack's turn to grin. "Xibalba or La Muerte, maybe?"
Anubis huffed a laugh. "They can't stand him long enough; both of them find his arrogance and constant pranks intolerable. I don't believe he even knows they're visiting."
"Oh, no! He'd better not tick off La Muerte!" Jack laughed. The Monkey King had a tendency to underestimate the Death Gods, especially the females. "I wonder why he hasn't bothered you yet."
"He knows what I did to Seth."
Jack felt a shudder go down his spine at the reminder. "Oh, yeah."
It was at that moment Pitch appeared at the opposite side of the park, barely twenty feet from North. The old Russian attempted to rise, shouting angrily, but Amaryllis popped up out of nowhere and shoved him back onto the bench.
The rest of the summer sprites arrived within seconds, laughing at North's furious expression. Alarmed, Jack's gaze turned to the playground. No children.
Jack located them quickly enough, huddled together under a copse of trees, surrounded by whinnying Nightmares.
Firming his jaw, Jack hopped off the table as he reduced his aspect.
"Oh, really, now. This is just pathetic," he said, ambling toward the spirits with his hands in his pockets and his head held high. Invisible to everyone but Anubis, Mei trotted over to his side.
The spirits' heads all snapped toward him, eyes wide, either curious or startled. Or both.
"Six of you, against one old man who can barely stand? What are you spirits coming to?" Jack went on, stopping a few yards from North and Amaryllis. "And ganging up on a bunch of six-year-olds? Come on. You can do better than that."
"Who the hell are you?" Freesia snarled, she and Leiron stepping forward in a manner they apparently thought threatening.
Jack laughed; he couldn't help it. For crying out loud, their stance, their expressions, their unsteady gazes, everything was horrid! Even standing this far off, he could knock them flat in about five seconds. War would rip them to shreds without even blinking.
"Oh, no one special," Jack said with a smile. Mei nosed his shoulder, snorting loudly in disapproval. Behind them they heard Anubis give a bark-literally a bark- of laughter.
Everyone except Anubis jumped in alarm when they heard the Nightmares screaming. Several jaws dropped when the black steeds broke away from the children, galloping full-tilt for the closest shadows and disappearing without a trace.
"Useless. Utterly useless," Anubis muttered. Judging by his tone, the Egyptian deity was quite annoyed at the commotion. Jack was laughing so hard his eyes were tearing up.
"Oh, you just can't catch a break these days," he said, wiping a tear from his eyelashes as the children sprinted out of the park. Anubis made a noise that sounded like agreement before trailing off into a string of ancient Egyptian, something that sounded like a combination of curses and complaints.
Jack returned his attention to the spirits to find them all staring at him; he wasn't going to lie, it was slightly gratifying to see the summer seasonals looking so worried. Poor North just looked exhausted and confused, but Pitch…
"I know you," the Bogeyman said, eyes narrowed. His voice was steady and his manner betrayed nothing, but the shadows twitching at his feet gave away his agitation.
"Not well, but yes," Jack agreed brightly.
"What the heck is wrong with your eyes?" Primrose snapped. Jack examined her for a second; she was shifting from foot to foot, fingers twitching.
"Nothing. They're just heterochromatic." Does she even know what that means?
Pitch's attention had immediately moved to his eyes at Primrose's comment. Jack just smiled as he met the Nightmare King's golden gaze, tilting his head just slightly.
They stayed that way for nearly a minute. Almost out of nowhere Pitch's eyes moved suddenly to his hair, and barely a second later they went wide.
"It can't be…," he said, mostly to himself. Pitch's eyes met the Reaper's once more, incredulous. "Jack Frost?"