The story continues. I hope you enjoy!
"Were you just not going to tell me you had this?!"
Jack was scowling, poking at all the apps on the slightly outdated smartphone. Julius put his arm on Jack's shoulder and watched him with a smirk.
"Night market."
"Where are you getting night market money? Do you need money for that?" Jack looked up from the Settings.
"Night market runs on trade, mostly," North said, getting up with the orange-wrapped present. "Trade of goods or services. Here, Julius, this is for you." he held the package out with a grin.
"Really?" Julius took the package with both hands. It was large, but wasn't as big as the previous guitar and surfboard North had thought to bring, so Jack quietly tried to puzzle out what was inside. Julius looked up and, after seeing North's encouraging nod, carefully pulled off the paper and opened the box.
"Oh-!"
A teal-blue digital camera peeked out of white tissue paper wrapping. It had grips on its sides and a silver finish to the lens. The better half of the box was taken up by what looked like a book. Moving aside the paper, Julius looked over its cover.
"A scrapbook…"
"The camera is waterproof! And it has a touch of enchantment. You do not need a printer or computer to place the photos in the book." North winked and smiled.
"Thank you!" was all Julius could say. Seeing his eyes all lit up and the joyful grin on his face, Jack couldn't help but smile too. He sat the phone down on the coffee table.
"So where is it we're goin' to meet Li'l Lady Spring?" Bunny asked. Jack raised an eyebrow at the slightly mocking tone, but didn't say anything about it. Instead, he smirked and opened the door, stepping onto the porch. The sun was still out, but it was ducking below the horizon and lengthening the shadows of the trees.
"Oh, you're gonna love it, Cottontail." Jack said. "We're probably gonna run into someone else there, too. It's gonna be great."
"I don't like the tone o' your voice there, mate," Bunny replied. "What are you-"
CLICK.
Neither of them had noticed that Julius had also walked onto the porch until they heard him take a picture of the horizon. He continued down the stairs, ignoring the fond stares from the others, and took a close picture of the foliage lining the beach.
"I knew I picked the right one," North laughed from inside the house. Toothiana looked happily between both of them as she fluttered into the open. She landed next to Jack, placing her hands on the porch railing to watch the waves. It had been a while since she'd looked so peaceful, Jack thought. In the past two years after getting back into collecting teeth herself, Baby Tooth and some of the other tiny fairies had adjusted to instructing themselves around even better than before. Their Queen could often stand to take a break, even though she seemed so much more content to do her own collections again.
"So what were you sayin' about where we were goin'?" Bunny snapped Jack out of his thoughts. Jack chuckled to himself.
"I told you, you're gonna love it."
North and Bunny shared a skeptical Look, but of course they didn't think Jack would put them into any danger. And he wouldn't! Even though they knew this, it was with a little hesitation that North handed him another snowglobe.
"Jay, you wanna try this?" Jack called to Julius, who was taking a picture of a large tortoise that had come onto the sand to investigate all the ruckus. He slipped the camera into his pocket and jogged back up to the porch.
"Try what?"
"Magic portal. Wanna make it appear?" Jack held out the snowglobe for Julius to take. The summer spirit held it up, looking through the glass at the sun.
"Whoah."
"That a yes?"
"Yeah…"
Just say the name of where you want to go, give a shake, and throw it out!" North advised. Julius nodded, glancing at Jack with a lopsided smile.
"Okay. Uh...if y'all are ready. Shinigami Apartment C-block."
"Wait, what?!"
Bunny's indignant cry couldn't stop Julius from tossing the globe. Another swirling circle of magic appeared in the air, and Julius yelped in happy surprise.
"Okay, let's go!" Jack said, taking advantage of Bunny's shock and roughly grabbing his wrist. The Pooka struggled, but momentum was against him.
"What the bloody-!"
They disappeared into the portal. Julius looked at the remaining Guardians, seeming almost apologetic.
"I promise we're going somewhere safe. I don't know why that just happened, but...well."
With a beckoning motion to the others, Julius jumped in himself. North looked between Tooth and Sandy, all very hesitant, but unwilling to let the portal close before they got in. They followed suit just before the magic collapsed, leaving a silent sunset beach.
On the other side, they landed in a clean, gray stairwell, just in front of a balcony railing and a door with kanji lettering on its nameplate. There, they found Bunny in the middle of a shouting match with Jack - though it was strangely one-sided, with Jack actually trying to hush the other for a change.
"You're gonna get us caught, Cottontail!" Jack hissed. Bunny was having none of it.
"Why the hell did you open a portal into the domain of reapers?!" he shot back. "Are you trying to start fights now?"
"They're not gonna fight us for no reason," Julius insisted, looking around nervously. "But security ain't gonna be kind to us if you keep yelling! I didn't know we'd get dropped right in the stairwell…"
"You brought us to...a shinigami apartment?" Tooth recalled what Julius had said before shaking the globe. She was less upset than Bunny, but she was still frowning sternly. "Was that supposed to be a prank?"
"It's not a prank!" Julius balled his hands into fists. "Clover lives here!"
"WHY would the Keeper of Spring be livin' here?" Bunny touched a hand...paw? He touched his boomerang holster with a scowl.
"Is someone talking about me?"
Bunny would never admit it, but Jack saw him jump at the sudden muffled, unfamiliar voice. The knob on the door jostled and turned, before slowly creaking open.
Does this count as a twist? Tune in tomorrow and we'll see who's behind the door!