A/N: I meant to post this earlier today but I made a lot of adjustments in one scene, so here it is now! After this, there's only one more chapter to get through before the anniversary!

More and more he was realizing that in his desperate hope that anyone would see him over the years, he had never longed for large numbers.

Chapter Six: Halfway Dead

The streets of Burgess were crawling with activity.

Traffic was heavy on Main Street, something that rarely happened, especially not since the road construction to fix the previous year's damage had nearly been completed. Horns blared, cars with out of state license plates made their way by.

Adults, many of them appearing to be about college age, were walking the streets, many with smart phones never leaving their hands, others with cameras and recording equipment.

Burgess was not the smallest town in the world, but it was not large. It was cozy enough to maintain a mix of mom-and-pop shops and a handful of larger chains. There were a few small hotels and motels, never very busy.

With all this in mind, as Jack passed by overhead, he cocked a brow at the clogged parking lots of each establishment.

What on Earth were all these people doing here?

"Did you see that?"

"What?"

"Something just went flying by."

Jack quickly landed on the roof of the nearby office building, carefully glancing over the edge. A pair of young men, one with a camera, the other with a phone, were looking up in his direction. Jack ducked down as quickly as he had appeared, creeping across the way to the other side of the building.

In all the years he had longed for someone to see him, he hadn't expected that he would miss the days he could fly about unseen and unbothered.

He flew off again, finding the sidewalk on this side of the building less crowded.

Jack set his sights for the cemetery, usually part of Burgess that could be relied upon to be uncrowded.

Landing on a sturdy branch in a tall tree, however, he found that this was not the case.

"What the hell…?" Jack mumbled. More cameras, more phones, microphones, tripods, some were even lugging around lights and laptop computers. A crowd was gathered around one grave in particular, arguing over shots. Jack didn't need to get any closer to know exactly which grave they were gathered around. Landing softly on the ground, he crept through some nearby bushes, near another tree, hoping to stay out of sight as he eavesdropped on a couple, a young man and young woman, standing a ways away from the larger crowd.

"Okay, clap so we can sync the audio," said the young man, holding a camera and microphone pointed the woman's way. The young woman did as she was asked. "Okay, action."

"Slide the planchette to 'hello!' It's Darcy and Joel's Supernatural Show," the young woman, presumably Darcy, said. "We're on-location in Burgess, Pennsylvania. It's an adorable town to be sure, but is it hiding something dark and sinister? Are restless spirits roaming the streets? We—and apparently a lot of other ghost enthusiasts—are here to find out."

Jack cocked a brow, eyes still fixed on the couple, for now unaware of his presence.

"Today is only day one," Darcy continued. "For the next week leading up to the anniversary of Rowan Sawyer's Death, we're going to be here: checking those records that went viral, investigating the odd happenings the night Rowan turned up dead, and seeing if we can't piece together more of Jack Overland's life and death. Be sure to like and subscribe so you don't miss a thing."

"Perfect, this is why you're the on-camera one," said the young man, presumably Joel.

"We should record another take anyway," Darcy said, glancing toward the crowd at the graveyard. "I'm glad we came early and did the library shit and b-roll yesterday, no way we get footage by the grave today."

"Yeah, I give us another half-hour, tops, until someone shows up to kick everyone out," Joel said. "But okay, take two."

"Slide the planchette to 'hello!' It's Darcy and Joel's Supernatural Show."

Jack crept around the tree trunk, only standing upright when he was sure he was out of sight from anyone in the cemetery and took to the skies again. He hoped that if he moved quickly enough, the ghost enthusiasts that could see him might mistake him for a large bird.

"I can't believe we've become Ghost Capital, USA," the mousy-haired, bespectacled Rach groaned, eying the traffic as she waited with Mandy and Caitlyn to cross the street.

"I can't believe it's all because Mandy went viral," Caitlyn said. The purple in her hair was fading, bizarrely to a green color in some places. Her friends had agreed to walk with her to the store to get more dye after school, mostly because the beauty supply store was near the coffee shop and Rach had been hoarding a few full punch cards for a while.

"It's not all because of my Jack Overland post," Mandy insisted, walking with the others when the light changed. "I mean. It can't be, can it? It's almost been a year since Rowan Sawyer died, some of them would have shown up anyway, wouldn't they?"

"No one's seen Rowan Sawyer's ghost," said Caitlyn. "Jack Overland is the one that's supposed to be lurking around."

"He is lurking around, I told you," said Mandy as the girls reached the other side of the street.

"I'm still not convinced that you're not just making this up to mess with me," Rach said.

"Why would I keep it up this long if it was just to mess with you, Rach?" Mandy said with a slight scowl. "I got run off the internet!"

"Excuse me," said a man with a thick beard and glasses they had just been passing. "Are you locals?"

"Er, yeah?" Caitlyn said, brow furrowed.

"And you've seen Jack Overland, did I hear right?"

"Nope," Mandy said, taking each of her friends by the arm and continuing down the sidewalk. "Sorry!"

"I don't get it, you wanted to talk about it so badly before," Rach said, her voice low now that it was clear the tourists were listening.

"And then I became the girl trying to use Rowan Sawyer to get followers and got run off the internet," Mandy said. "Besides, Jack doesn't want any more of this—this whole spectacle."

She released her hold on her friends to gesture out to the crowded downtown area, cameras and smartphones in each direction.

"Well, it's a little late for that," Caitlyn said. "Do you think he'll talk to anyone else with a Ouija board if they try?"

"I don't know, he said he couldn't be the reason people do or don't talk about her," said Mandy.

"But why?" said Rach. "Wouldn't it be good that people are remembering her?"

"I don't know, he said it was too complicated to get into and I mean, it's not like we talked very long," Mandy said. "He did tell me that he was in love with her, though, and when I asked if she loved him back, he said she did."

"How weird, to fall in love with a ghost," Rach said, pressing the button at the crosswalk at the next corner. "Could they touch each other?"

"I asked but he didn't really answer me," Mandy said.

"I think they must have been able to somehow," said Caitlyn. "How are you gonna fall in love with someone you've never kissed? I mean, what if they really suck at it?"

"I don't know," said Rach. "Maybe that was part of it. To have what you want right in front of you and not be able to do anything about it."

Mandy pointed at Rach and nodded. "The yearning."

"Yes! Yearning, longing, that's the good stuff," Rach said.

"Nah, I don't buy it," Caitlyn said, shaking her head. The light changed; they began to cross this street. "He's so hung up on her that he's haunting shit now? They did more than yearning, they definitely banged."

"Wow, we went from ghost kissing to ghost banging very quickly in this conversation," Rach said.

"I bet they went from one to the other very quickly too, they were both hot based on the poster," said Caitlyn. She paused, seeming thoughtful for a moment before saying, "Do you think it was like that weird Grey's Anatomy episode?"

"Which one?" Mandy said.

"Which one!? The one where Izzie bangs a ghost!" said Caitlyn. The three girls began cutting through a packed parking lot toward the beauty supply store, now in sight. "Do you think a ghost could get you pregnant?"

"Do ghosts have DNA? Because if ghosts don't have DNA I don't think they could pass it on," Rach reasoned.

"Okay, wait, if you got pregnant by a ghost… is it a ghost baby?" Mandy said.

"We need to catch up with Jack again, we have too many questions," Caitlyn said.

Mandy shook her head. "Nope, if any of us ever see Jack again, we're not asking him any of this."

"Why not?" Caitlyn said.

"Cause it's weird and personal!" Rach said at once.

"And because Rowan's dead and apparently not a ghost," Mandy added, "I don't think he'd be down with answering weird sex questions about the girl he's still mourning."

"Fine," Caitlyn sighed, pushing open the door to the beauty supply store, one of the only stores in the area not swarmed currently with content creators. "Stifle my academic intrigue."

"That's one way to phrase it," Mandy said with a snort.

The girls entered the shop, making a beeline for the loudest colored dyes on display.

Jack didn't stop flying until he reached the Bennetts' house, landing at Jamie's window.

Jamie was inside, thankfully. Jack barely had any idea what time it was, and even if he did, he had no idea what time school let out. He tapped the window and Jamie looked up from the shoebox he was fiddling with at his desk. Getting up from his chair, Jamie approached the window and opened it for Jack to enter.

"Hi, Jack," Jamie said.

"Hey, Kiddo," Jack said, closing the window behind him. "How are things?"

"Okay, but there's so many tourists in town, it's really weird," Jamie said, walking back to his desk to go back to his project. "Some of them were at school asking questions and security had to make them leave."

"Yeah, they don't really seem to have boundaries, do they?" Jack said, glancing out the window to be sure there were no camera crews nearby. Surely some of them would be getting footage of the lake, which was not far.

"They're all here ghost hunting," Jamie said, making a face. "Why did you and Rowan tell everyone your last name was Overland?"

"Ah, well, no one would believe her if she said she was dating Jack Frost," Jack said with a slight shrug.

"But why 'Overland?'" Jamie said. "Now everyone thinks you're that dead colonist."

Jack was silent for a moment, mirroring Jamie's puzzled expression with his own. So much had happened in just under two years, from regaining his memories and obtaining his first believer, to everything with Rowan, and all the politics and public relations that happened after that.

Jack had forgotten that the kids didn't actually know about his mortal life. Jack Frost was there to spread fun and games and help build snowmen and forts.

Jack Frost was not there to tell tales of his early demise.

So, up until now, he hadn't.

"Well, um," Jack said, brow furrowed. "I actually am the dead colonist."

"Huh?" Jamie said, his diorama forgotten for now. "But, you're not dead. You're not a ghost. And the Jack Overland guy, he died a long time ago."

"Jamie, I'm three hundred and twenty years old," Jack reminded him.

"But how can you be a colonist that died and Jack Frost?" Jamie said. It seemed the boy would keep rejecting this answer until it started making sense, and Jack supposed he understood the impulse.

"I was born Jackson Overland, and when I was eighteen, I drowned," Jack said. "The Man in the Moon interfered, gave me control over wind, frost, and ice, and named me Jack Frost."

"The Man in the Moon can bring people who died back to life?" Jamie said, eyes wide.

Jack sighed, "He only did it the one time, is my understanding."

"But if you're Jack Overland, that means you and Rowan died the same way. In the same place," Jamie said. "If he brought you back, that means he could have brought Rowan back, doesn't it?"

Jack opened his mouth to respond and stopped short. He had been protecting his little sister, and because he died saving a child, the Man in the Moon chose to give Jack a second chance at life.

Rowan, on the other hand, had been luring dark creatures away from Jamie. She was also seeking to protect a child.

So, what was it that made their situations different? It wasn't as though Manny hadn't seen. It was a full moon. The moonbeams were the ones that led Urania straight to the lake where she recovered Rowan's body.

Jamie had not been in danger the way Rowan believed him to be. Was that enough of a nuance to disqualify her?

Was it because she was a Mortal Muse, her fate falling under Apollo's jurisdiction? Jack supposed that had to be it. The sickening thought that Manny had just watched her drown, because she "belonged" to Apollo, was now impossible to ignore.

"I don't know. I've gotta be honest, Jamie, I don't know why Manny does half of what he does at this point," Jack said.

Jackson Overland could not have been the first that Manny had witnessed meeting their demise in the process of saving a child. He most certainly was not the last if Rowan was any indication.

So, what was it about Jack?

Nightlight's face flashed in Jack's mind.

Was he just the best suited to be dressed up as the replacement? The right height, the right build?

Jack shook the thought from his mind, hoping he wouldn't start spiraling into identity crisis again.

Jamie nodded slowly. "I guess I still wish there was some way to fix it," he said. "I know it's dumb."

"It's not," Jack said, knowing the feeling all too well.

There were only seven days now until the anniversary, seven days until Jack would finally, finally know for sure if he would ever see Rowan again.

There was no point in bringing this up to Jamie. It would practically be irresponsible to bring it up to Jamie.

Rowan and Jack had already kept everything about the Muses from her young cousin. It was too much to explain. Jack had only finally mentioned the situation with the Shadow People in the briefest of terms, only when Jamie had figured out that Jack and Rowan had been hiding things from him.

There was no point in telling Jamie that Rowan might come back. It would only get his hopes up and devastate him all over again if she did not.

Sometimes Jack wished that he didn't know it was a possibility, that he could go about his days not obsessing over the countdown.

Seven days.

"So. What's it like for you, being dead?" Jamie asked after a moment of silence between the pair.

"I'm not dead anymore," Jack clarified, feeling his heart sink as he remembered a terrified Rowan asking him what happened when one died. "And I don't remember being dead."

Jamie nodded.

"What are you working on, anyway?" Jack said, gesturing to the shoebox, desperate for a lighter subject. It was partially painted, shades of white and blue. It looked like Jamie was attempting to construct some trees from green pipe cleaners.

"Oh, a book report," Jamie said. "We have to build one of the scenes. I'm doing the Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe, and I wanted to make the forest with the lamp post. I don't know how I'm going to make the lamp post yet, though."

"Yeah, that's tough," Jack said, sure that Rowan would have had multiple suggestions. Jack only had one. "Do you have the lid to the shoe box?"

"Yeah," Jamie said, picking it up off the floor.

"Maybe you can cut it out of that," Jack said.

"Hm," Jamie said, eying the lid. "Maybe. It would be cool if I could get it to light up—wait!"

Jamie opened one of the drawers of his desk and started sorting through the contents, shoving aside highlighters, crayons, loose change, and gum wrappers with fun facts until he pulled out a small flashlight keychain.

Clicking the switch, Jamie grinned when the flashlight lit up, the batteries still functional. He turned the flashlight off and began to disassemble it.

"You, uh, know what you're doing?" Jack asked, smiling slightly as he thought of Rowan going after her old prom dress with a seam ripper, laser focused and determined.

"I take my toys apart and put them back together all the time," Jamie said, now holding a small light bulb, a bit of wire, a battery, and the flashlight's switch. He laid the wire and light bulb on a piece of paper and began drawing the shape of a lamp post around them.

"I'll let you work on your report," Jack said, pulling himself to his feet. "I hope I get to see it when it's done."

Jamie nodded, getting up again to approach Jack and hug him. Jack liked to think that he was getting better at not stiffening up entirely the moment anyone made this affectionate gesture toward him. He hated that it still took him by surprise.

"Thanks for stopping by, Jack," Jamie said as he released his hold on the winter spirit. "I hope the ghost tourists don't bother you."

"Yeah, me too," Jack said, suddenly very thankful that there were now extra enchantments on his cabin. "See you around."

Jack opened the window and, after a quick glance to check for lurking videographers, flew off.

When he landed at his cabin, he found he was not alone, but thankfully it was not a lurking camera crew that he ran into.

"He's not home yet," Jack called to Euterpe, who had raised her hand to knock on the door and stopped short at his voice. She turned around and smiled, a drink holder with two coffees in one hand.

"Hello, Jack," she said, stepping aside to allow him to push open the door. He gestured for her to follow. "The cabin looks nice!"

"North and the yetis do nice work," Jack said. Euterpe set the drink holder on the small table, taking the coffee that had lipstick on the lid and sitting down. Jack took the other seat and the remaining coffee. "Thank you."

"De nada," she said. "How are you doing? With how close it is for everything?"

"Anxious, but what else is new?" Jack shrugged. "And now there's ghost hunters."

"Oh, is that what all those people were doing?" Euterpe said, brow furrowed.

"Sounds like it. Even the mortals are counting down to her anniversary," Jack said, taking a drink of his coffee. He wondered if any of them would actually find anything, or if there would be camera trickery involved to justify making the trip.

"That's probably good news," Euterpe said thoughtfully. "As far as her chances of coming back go."

"I'm trying not to get my hopes up," Jack said. Euterpe nodded. "Speaking of tourists, though, are there not tourists around those ruins all the time?"

"There are, they always seem to have an unusually slow day when something significant happens," Euterpe shrugged. "And I mean, our natural state is not to be visible to mortals. Even if one was around when one of us was resurrected, I guess they might see the bright light for a second but I don't think they'd see us."

Jack nodded. He wasn't sure how many people in Greece—visiting or otherwise—would be aware of the ghost story about him, and hoped that he would be able to lurk around the ruins unbothered by ghost enthusiasts in one week's time.

It was going to be a stressful day without an additional audience.

"I wish I could tell you something that would make the whole thing feel less looming and ominous," Euterpe said.

"Yeah, at this point it's just… waiting and feeling anxious," Jack said. The whole year had been a lot of waiting and feeling anxious, but the anxiety seemed to grow rapidly as they finally hit January.

"Apollo hasn't bothered you since the ball?"

"No," Jack said, knocking his knuckles against the table's wooden surface.

"Good," Euterpe said. "We haven't heard from him either. What about Tsar Lunar?"

"Manny's not in the habit of talking to me in general," Jack said, his voice more bitter than he had intended.

"Is he—do—do you Guardians like him, or…? Because I know Cupid doesn't and I know Erato doesn't, but Cupid technically has to answer to Tsar Lunar, and now Erato is with North, so they do what they can to play nice," Euterpe said.

Cupid not liking Manny was not surprising. When Manny wasn't around, Cupid did not exactly make this a secret.

Jack wasn't sure that he had ever considered Erato's feelings about Manny, but it made sense for her not to be much of a fan either. After all, Cupid's devastatingly slow aging rate (and therefore Erato's devastatingly long pregnancy) was the result of a collaboration between Manny and Apollo.

"I don't know how I feel about him anymore," Jack confessed, his stomach turning as he thought again of the idea that Manny may have just watched Rowan drown. There was no way to know for sure, but now that he had thought of it, he wasn't sure he could let it go. "As far as I know, the others are fine with him."

Euterpe nodded.

They each took a drink of their respective coffees, an awkward gesture for an awkward silence.

"So, you're gonna fuck around with the ghost hunters a little, right?" Euterpe said after a beat. "They're all waiting for a show, Jack."

"I mean, I don't want to scare anyone. I mean, I never wanted to be seen as something scary," Jack said with a frown.

He had spooked Mandy and her friends when they had played with the Ouija board on Halloween, but that had felt far more innocent until the whole thing blew up.

More and more he was realizing that in his desperate hope that anyone would see him over the years, he had never longed for large numbers. He didn't want the entire world to be able to see him, he didn't care to be a famous legend that everyone knew.

Jack just wanted to be seen by someone, to know that it was possible at all to be known as something besides a passing expression about the cold or a sinister presence out to cause destruction.

He liked to think that he would have been quite happy if Jamie was the only mortal to ever see him, but he would always quickly amend that thought to include, "well, Rowan, too."

Now he had wound up with more than he had bargained for. Now he was a spooky story to share online.

The other ghost stories had been kind to him thus far, and Jack hadn't spared a lot of thought to the idea that ghosts were meant to be scary. He had been caught up in the fact that more people could see him now, and saw him as Jackson Overland rather than Jack Frost.

The identity crisis tended to demand more attention than the ever-present fear surrounding being a ghost story.

But now and again the fact that his powers were stronger now, his legend more popular now, all due scary stories, would hit him again.

("Haven't you heard, Pitch? I'm a ghost story now. I think you might have been on to something. Being feared seems to agree with me.")

He was the Guardian of Fun. This wasn't how it was supposed to go, was it?

"Has the Horseman ever explained to you why him being the spirit of horror is different than what Pitch does?" Euterpe asked.

"No," Jack said, cocking a brow.

"There's fun in horror," Euterpe said, smiling, and the small statement relieved Jack more than he would care to admit. "The people that believe in ghost stories and are gathered out there to hopefully find one, and maybe they expect to be scared, but they're so excited about it. I mean, that's why people see horror movies and go to haunted houses, isn't it?"

Jack supposed he was always hoping to put distance between "fun" and "fear," to keep from dwelling on any similarities between himself and Pitch.

But Halloween was fun, wasn't it? Horror movies were fun, weren't they? Scary novels were still enjoyable, weren't they?

Was he just trying to come up with more reasons he wasn't good enough (as usual), when he could be leaning into the fun part of being a ghost story?

Had he been too caught up in his mourning, his anxiety, his identity crisis, to really sit with the fact that there was a fun part of being a ghost story?

The Horseman seemed to love every second of Halloween, when the mortals could see him taking his ghoulish ride down the streets, jack-o-lantern in hand.

"C'mon, you're not the cucuy or something," Euterpe said. "You can have some fun with this."

"Okay, but what am I supposed to do?" Jack said. "It's easier to mess with the mortals when they can't see you, and I was trying not to make this a big… spectacle."

"You're so fast, though," Euterpe said. "Imagine just walking by, freezing everything, and then dashing off before they can do anything? Especially if not all of them can see you. Actually, I can make sure no one sees me."

"Oh, you want to collaborate?" Jack said, raising a brow, not expecting that.

Euterpe grinned again. "We should! Knock stuff over, mess with their equipment, give them something to believe in."

"Didn't realize you wanted to be a ghost story so badly," Jack said. It did sound fun to just cause a bit of chaos, as long as they didn't stick around long enough to be questioned, or worse, attacked.

He had been trying to avoid being seen by those that had gathered, just hoping to be left alone. Maybe it didn't have to be a bad thing if he was seen for just a short moment.

He had been a bit too responsible for a bit too long.

"The Muses are ghost stories depending on who you ask," Euterpe shrugged. "So, do you want to go haunt the tourists?"

"Mm… okay, a little haunting can't hurt," Jack said, getting to his feet, finishing off his coffee.

He was a ghost story now, whether he wanted to be or not.

He might as well start being good at it.

It was getting dark, and it was still a weeknight, which meant that Rach, Caitlyn, and Mandy really should have gone home by now. But instead, they were sitting at a bus stop near the cemetery, pretending to be waiting for a bus as they watched the ghost enthusiasts wander about with their cameras and odd devices.

An officer had been by earlier to try and disperse the crowd, but hadn't been very effective, most of the tourists returning once it was clear that the officer had left.

"I mean, there's orbs everywhere, but it's a cemetery, of course there's orbs everywhere."

"Maybe there's too many spirits here, how can we be sure that we'll get the one specific spirit we're looking for?"

"I'm hoping to get any spirit, honestly, this town's got an energy and we'll get footage either way."

The girls could only barely hear scattered conversation from their vantage point, but had a decent enough view of everything.

"I don't think he'll show up, he didn't want the spectacle," Mandy said, taking a drink of her coffee that was really more of a milkshake pretending to be coffee.

"Maybe they'll find someone else," Caitlyn shrugged. "He's just the one ghost we know is here."

"We should go home," Rach sighed. "I have to finish my essay for Cheng's class."

"Come on, it's not that late, it's just winter so the sun goes down too early," Caitlyn pointed out.

"I still—" Rach started before there was a crash nearby and people with cameras began rushing about. Someone's light had been knocked over, and in quick succession someone else's camera bag was pulled off their shoulder, and a few folding camping chairs that had been set up were violently blown several yards away by sudden, strong winds.

Ice coated every surface, frost crawling across camera lenses and icicles clinging to microphones. Snow was starting to fall heavily.

And there a figure went, seeming to cause it all with a flick of the wrist, riding the wind as he cackled.

"TELL ME YOU'RE GETTING THIS!"

"GETTING WHAT?"

"THE FLYING BOY!"

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN AND THE CAMERA IS COVERED IN ICE!"

"HE'S RIGHT THERE."

Still, further away from the ghostly figure, equipment was being knocked over, someone's laptop was forced closed, several lights that had been set up turned off one by one as an unseen entity passed. Footprints were quickly appearing in the snow.

Ice was suddenly growing on the bench that the three girls had been sitting on and they each jumped up in surprise, in time for a boy with dark, messy hair and a wildly out-of-date ensemble to flit through the air past them, casting them a smirk and salute in greeting as he passed.

"Tell me you guys saw him too," Mandy said. Caitlyn and Rach's jaws were still dangling, watching as the boy quickly turned the corner up ahead, out of sight.

Footprints appeared quickly in the snow nearby, with no body to be seen forming them, heading off in the same direction.

Many of the ghost enthusiasts were fumbling to defrost their equipment or checking for damage. A handful were sprinting with cameras strapped to their foreheads or phones in shaking hands, off in the direction the figure had gone.

Cars screeched to a halt, blaring their horns as these tourists ran into the street, focused entirely on their task. A few unfortunate individuals slipped on ice and crashed into each other.

"ALL OUR FOOTAGE IS BLOCKED BY ICE ON THE LENS, TELL ME SOMEONE GOT SOMETHING."

"Guys," Rach said finally, weakly. "Burgess… really is haunted."