Author's Note: Hey, everyone and welcome back to another chapter of "That Time of Year!" =D I'm counting down the days until Christmas break. Could it come any slower...?

I hope you enjoy chapter eight of "That Time of Year!" =D


Chapter Eight: Trapped in Lights

December Eighth

North noticed that Jack had started staying in Santoff Claussen after their last Guardian meeting. The winter spirit seemed to have something on his mind, and the ex-Cossack had a feeling in his belly that it had to do with what happened before Jack arrived at their last meeting. North had tried to ask Jack if there was anything wrong and said that if he wanted to talk about something, that he was there for him, but Jack gave him one of his many smiles—the smile that tried to say that he was fine, but he really wasn't—and said that there was nothing wrong and that he was just tired due to spending a lot of time spreading winter.

North knew that Jack wasn't telling the truth. After months of spending time with the winter spirit, the Guardians knew when Jack wasn't okay and when something was pulling at his mind. North decided to let it slide for now, and he knew that Jack would open up sooner or later.

The excitement for the upcoming Christmas party had all of the Guardians busy. Yes, the party was being hosted by North, but the ex-Cossack had asked all of the Guardians to help him out in preparations. Jack and Tooth did some extra decorating in the party room while Sandy did his best to spice up the room using his dreamsand. Bunny painted on a few of the ornaments to give them a little bit more pizazz (and tried to sneak a few Easter eggs onto the tree, but Jack caught him before he got the chance), so North had plenty of time to work on other things he had to do for the Christmas season. The other Guardians knew that North was extremely busy trying to make sure that this Christmas didn't have any hiccups, especially since they all had just recovered from the damage and destruction Pitch left during the three-day battle three months ago.

Jack stuck his tongue out as he adjusted the tinsel that was hanging on the wall. The winter spirit looked over to Tooth and asked, "Is this good?"

The Tooth Fairy cocked her head. "Hm…maybe move it upward a little." Her small troupe of fairies nodded in agreement with their queen.

Jack compiled and he moved the tinsel so that it was hanging from a higher spot on the wall. "Better?" he asked.

Tooth cocked her head in the other direction. "Move it down a little," she said. And her mini fairies nodded once again.

Jack moved the tinsel downward. "How about now?"

Tooth was about to say yes, but then she shook her head. "Actually, I think the spot you had it earlier was fine." Toothiana paused and then she said, "Wait, maybe move it to the left? Or maybe the right is better…I heard that tinsel shines better on its right side…"

"Tooth, please make up your mind!" said Jack. "My arms are getting tired!"

"Okay, okay, put it back where it was before," Tooth decided finally. Jack sighed in relief and adjusted the tinsel once again. Tooth reminded him of his mother and how she was so indecisive when it came to Christmas decorations. He, Mary, and their father would spend hours moving around every single decoration when their mother said that they weren't in a good spot, or if she changed her mind about wanting the tree in the right corner of the room and wanting it in the left corner.

"There. That looks perfect, right?" asked Tooth as she fluttered away from the wall, examining the silver tinsel.

"It looks great," said Jack. He turned to Tooth. "Please don't tell me that you're going to change your mind again."

Tooth laughed. "Don't worry, we'll keep it this way. North said not to use too much anyway."

Jack and Tooth flew down from the wall and went over to help Bunny with the Christmas lights, which he was currently tangled up in. Jack laughed at the sight.

"Look out world, here comes the Christmas Kangaroo!" said Jack, laughter decorating the edges of his voice.

Bunny frowned. "Ha, ha, very funny, mate."

Tooth yanked a string of lights and was surprised to find that it was indeed stuck. "Bunny, how did you get yourself all wrapped up like this?"

Bunny shrugged. "I don't know. They got stuck themselves."

"How can Christmas lights wrap around you themselves?" asked Jack as he pulled at the lights on the other side.

"They did! I'm not lyin'!" exclaimed Bunny.

The winter spirit cracked a smile. "You know, maybe we should just keep Bunny like this. He looks like a mini Christmas tree."

Tooth giggled. "You're not wrong."

"I bet Sophie would love a picture," said Jack. He brightened as an idea popped into his mind. "Don't take the lights off yet! I have to get a picture!"

Tooth laughed even harder as Bunny's expression turned into a shocked one. "Oi! Yer not gettin' a picture of me like this!" the Pooka yelled as Jack flew out of the party room, out of hearing distance. The winter spirit's laugh echoed through the halls of Santoff Claussen, and Jack realized that he hadn't thought about the threat from Autumn and the other autumn sprites or the upcoming Christmas Eve party in a while. Jack really wanted to go to the party, he really did, but he was still slightly nervous about showing up now that Autumn's threat hung in the air. Jack wouldn't let that stop him, though. He wanted to go, so he was going to go.

Jack crashed into a yeti as he flew through the halls. An entire tray of toy parts crashed to the floor with a loud clang.

"Sorry, sorry!" said Jack. The yeti grumbled in yetish that it was fine, and Jack helped pick up all of the fallen pieces before returning to his hunt for a camera. The winter spirit searched high and low, and even looked in his bedroom, but he couldn't seem to find a camera anywhere in Santoff Claussen. Jack decided to go and ask North. The ex-Cossack always seemed to have whatever he needed at any time. Jack flew to North's study, knowing that he had been spending a lot of time inside lately, and knocked on the door. North's voice said "Come in" from inside. Jack entered and tripped over a long piece of paper. He would have crashed into a table if North hadn't caught him in time.

"Thanks," said Jack as straightened himself out and adjusted his hat. Jack looked at the long paper that went over his feet and asked, "What is this?"

"Iz Naughty List," replied North. Jack's eyes widened. The Naughty List was that long? Jack wondered if he was on it like he usually was. The winter spirit held the record for being on the top of the list, but ever since Jack became a Guardian, he had been trying his best to avoid getting on the Naughty List that year. The winter spirit stayed clear of trouble and helped the Guardians out in any way he could, and he felt quite confident that he had gotten on the Nice List that year, but he wasn't so sure. There were a few accidents that happened. Jack didn't listen to Mother Nature when she said not to create a snowstorm in Alaska, and the winter spirit gave the children two weeks of snow days because he felt that they deserved a break from school for a while. Jack soon came to realize that he couldn't give so many snow days and he needed to know when to listen to others sometimes, which he had grown better at after a couple of months. There were still several other things that Jack had to get used to, like having a family and being seen, but the winter spirit thought that he was doing a pretty good job adjusting.

Still, Jack felt slightly nervous as North wrapped up the long list of naughty kids and placed it on his desk. Jack really wanted to take a peek at the list to see if he was on it, but he knew that North needed the list at the moment, so he watched as North pulled out the Nice List, which was considerably longer than the Naughty List.

"Do you really go through all of this in one sitting?" asked Jack as he watched North unroll the Nice List.

North nodded. "Sure, it takes a vhile, but I have to know vho vas good and vho vas naughty this year."

Jack wanted to ask North if he was on the Naughty List, but the winter spirit decided to wait until Christmas arrived to see for himself.

Jack shoved his hand in his pocket and slung his staff on his shoulder. "I was wondering if you have a camera lying around somewhere. I can't find one and I need to get a picture of Bunny—"

"Vhy do you need picture of Bunny?" asked North, although he had a feeling in his belly on where this was going.

Jack snickered. "He got himself tangled up in Christmas lights! He looks ridiculous!"

North laughed heartily and ran a hand through his beard. "I think camera iz in library. Elves vere messing vith it earlier."

Jack nodded and began to walk out of the room when North called. "Show me picture vhen you take it!"

"I will!" said Jack with a smile, and he flew out of the study and toward the library. Sure enough, the camera was there, and Jack picked it up and hurried back to the party room where the other Guardians were trying in vain to get Bunny untangled from the lights.

"Bunny, just stand still!" said Tooth. She grasped part of the string of lights. "We won't be able to get these off of you if you don't stop squirming!"

"I'm not squirmin'!" Bunny said. The Pooka cried out as Sandy tugged a little too hard on the colorful lights. "Ow! Sandy, yer gonna choke me!"

The Sandman gave Bunny an apologetic look but continued to tug on the lights anyway. Bunny looked over to the doors where Jack was standing, holding up a camera.

"I found it!" Jack said happily. Tooth and Sandy smiled at the winter spirit and Bunny stared at Tooth and Sandy.

"Ya two aren't actually gonna let 'im take a photo, are ya?" asked Bunny.

Tooth rubbed her arm. "Wellll…"

Sandy pointed to the camera and his dreamsand created the word "Yes!" over his head. Bunny shook his head in disbelief.

"I can't believe ya…" the Pooka muttered. Tooth, Sandy, and Jack laughed. The winter spirit held up the camera and snapped a photo. Sandy put up bunny ears behind Bunny's head and Tooth laid a hand on Bunny's shoulder.

"Okay, now one of all of us. Man, Sophie is going to laugh like crazy when she sees this," Jack said in between laughs. The winter spirit squeezed in and snapped a photo when suddenly, the lights wrapped around Jack, Tooth, and Sandy. The three yelped when they were tied together, and Bunny smirked in amusement.

"I told ya they wrap around ya themselves!" Bunny said in an "I-told-you-so" manner.

Jack shifted uncomfortably. "Uh…how do we get ourselves untangled?"

Bunny shrugged, which squished one of Tooth's wings. "Ouch!" the Tooth Fairy exclaimed.

"Sorry, Sheila," said Bunny. "We should probably go ta North. He might know how to get these bloody lights off of us."

All four Guardians turned to the door, and they knew that getting to it was going to be strenuous. Bunny sighed.

"This is goin' ta be a doozy," said Bunny. He turned to his fiends the best he could. "Okay, we all have ta move at the same time."

"How are we supposed to do that?" asked Jack. The tip of his hat was flopped over his face and the winter spirit blew it out.

"We just move in sync," said Bunny. "Just follow me"

Tooth, Sandy, and Jack nodded, by the plan did not go as smoothly as hoped. When Bunny took a step forward, Jack took a step in the other direction. Tooth tried fluttering her wings and Sandy couldn't walk at all since he was being held off the ground. The Sandman kicked his feet, accidentally hitting Jack's thigh. Hard.

"Ow, Sandy!" cried Jack. He rubbed his leg. "Watch out!"

"Tooth, year gonna chop me ta pieces with yer wings!" Bunny yelled as he moved his head to dodge a razor-sharp wing. Tooth's wing still managed to slice off a few of Bunny's whiskers.

"Sorry!" said Tooth. She stopped fluttering her wings, but everyone was moving at once. Bunny shook his head and put an end to the chaos.

"Stop, stop!" said Bunny. Everyone stopped moving. "We're headed toward the door, Frostbite, Tooth, we're not flyin', and Sandy, stop kicking like maniac!"

Tooth smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. I forgot."

"I can't really see anything from where I'm standing," said Jack.

Sandy conjured up the image of an arrow pointed downward at his feet, which didn't touch the ground. "I can't even walk."

Bunny huffed. How were they supposed to get to North's study? It was getting extremely uncomfortable being tied up to each other.

"How about we just shout for help?" suggested Jack. "It'll be faster than trying to walk all the way to North's office."

So, all four of them shouted for North, the yetis, and even the elves if they were nearby. They shouted until their throats ran dry. The party room was far away from the Workshop, meaning that it would probably take a while for help to arrive. Luckily, North burst through the doors with worry on his face, but his expression turned into that of pure confusion as he stared at the tied-up group before him.

"Hey, North," said Jack from behind. The winter spirit was squirming. "Think you can get us out of here?"

"Vhat happened?" asked North as he looked at the lights that wrapped around the winter spirit, the Sandman, the Sister of Flight, and Pooka.

"Bunny got stuck first," Tooth explained as North began to untangle the lights. "He said that the lights just warped around him themselves—"

"We didn't believe him," said Jack. The winter spirit fidgeted as the lights' grip began to loosen as North untangled them. "But it turns out he was right."

Bunny shook his head. "What is with these lights? Ya didn't put some kind of magic spell on them, did ya, North?"

The Christmas lights fell off of the four trapped Guardians and they all sighed with relief, taking a moment to stretch.

"Bunny iz right," said North. "Lights vere spelled."

Jack blinked. "Wait, really? By whom?"

"By me," said North blatantly. The other four Guardians stared at him in shock.

"Yer tellin' us that ya placed some kind of magical spell on these lights ta trap people?" asked Bunny in disbelief. The Pooka crossed his arms and frowned at the ex-Cossack. "I can't believe ya, North."

North chuckled, which confused the other Guardians even more. "It vas long time ago. Vhen I vas first learning how to use spell books. I accidentally placed trapping spell on these lights that would spring out and wrap around people vho got too close. Took me forever to get out of them first try," he explained.

Jack picked up his staff and shook his head, a small smile crawled onto his face. "Wow. Christmas lights that trap people. What were you thinking North?"

The ex-Cosack shrugged. "It vas supposed to be light brightening spell."

"How do ya get a trappin' spell and a brightenin' spell mixed up?" asked Bunny.

Tooth laughed. "Well, at least we're out of the lights," she said. "I guess we should put these down in storage so none of us or the yetis and elves get trapped in them."

Sandy nodded and created a picture of the lights and an x over them, agreeing to put them in storage.

"But how are we supposed ta move them without gettin' trapped?" asked Bunny.

Jack smiled and then blasted ice at the pile of lights, encasing them in a block of ice.

"That's how we'll move them," said Jack.

North patted Jack on the back and picked the frozen lights. He then looked around the party room and admired the added decorations that the other Guardians had placed. "You all did great job on decorating. I really like vhat you did with tinsel."

"Thanks, North!" said Tooth with a smile and Jack couldn't help but laugh lightly.

North smiled. "Now, let us take these to storage now, da?"

And the Guardians headed to the storage room, making sure to stuff the lights all the way in the back.


Author's Note: In the Guardians of Childhood books, it took North quite a while to get the hang of creating magical potions, spell books, and other stuff like that, and he had a lot of failures as he was practicing. X) So, I decided to make up an old fail in the form of Christmas lights that trap whatever gets too close. =)

I hope you enjoyed chapter eight of "That Time of Year!" =D

Until the next chapter!

-BeyondTheMoon1203