Jack stood on a tall, rocky cliff overlooking a crashing, black ocean. Behind him was a small, stone cottage with an oval shaped door and a leaf shaped window. Shortly after his encounter with Thana, he had left New York. His original idea was to return to the North Pole and speak with North. But recalling their first meeting on the subject, he decided against it. North would try to reason with him, Bunnymund would argue with him, roll his eyes, and tell him he was wrong, Sandman would jingle, and Tooth would stick her hands in his mouth like she always does. So after flying for hours, debating where to go, he ended up on an Irish peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. The bleat of a sheep made him jump, and he looked over his shoulder. Climbing down the green mountain was a mass of white and black sheep.

Jack shook his head with a laugh and turned back to the foamy sea. "I cannot believe she chose here of all places." He said to himself.

"Jack?"

He jumped, his heart skipping a few beats before turning back around. Ambrose stood behind him, her usual knitted sweater replaced with a blue and green, plaid flannel, that was definitely too big for her, over a grey zip-up hoodie. Her colorful hair loosely tied in a braid over her shoulder trailed out from her floppy, black hat. In her left hand she held a wooden shepherd's crook tied in a figure-eight just below the hook, the entire staff carved with gold X's.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I need to talk to someone." Jack said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"What about your Guardians? Or are they too busy being ready for the call to action or something?"

"Ha Ha. Funny. But no, I don't think they'd listen to what I have to say anyway. They're still hung up about Pitch Black being the cause of all this."

Ambrose stifled a laugh. "Doesn't sound like much of a family." She swung her crook over her shoulder and turned towards the cottage. "Come on inside. I'll make you some tea."

Despite there only being three rooms, the cottage was enormous. Past the oval door, the foyer opened into a huge room, its walls covered in shelves of books. A roaring fireplace stood before a round, wooden table, and at the other side of the room was a massive, stone oven, and cabinets stocked with food. Jack sat, curled up on a bundle in the corner made of a variety of pelts and sheep wool. The fire burning beside him, mixed with various herbs and flowers drying from the ceiling, gave the entire cottage a scent that reminded Jack of a cabin in the middle of winter.

"How do you take your tea?" Ambrose asked over her shoulder.

"Um… I really don't…" Jack wavered off, as Ambrose joined him on the bundles. She handed him a mug with smooth, brown liquid.

"I figured you still had the sweet tooth of a nine year old. I made you hot chocolate."

Jack flashed a toothy grin, resisting the urge to down the entire drink in one gulp. From an open doorway, a large, English sheep dog, wearing a burgundy, leather harness, padded into the room. Jack eyed the dog warily and glanced up at Ambrose.

"Oh come on, this is just Idyss, Guardian of the Sheep! The most he'll do is bark at a butterfly, or play hide and seek with a rabbit."

The dog made his way over to Jack, sniffing and nuzzling him in the chest. Jack, uncomfortable and as frozen as he could be, saw that on the dog's harness was a gold leaf large enough for Jack to see his own reflection in. Idyss curled up between, nudging Ambrose with the top of his head. She scratched behind his ear until his foot started shaking vigorously while Jack carefully patted the dog's back.

"Now," Ambrose said, still running her fingers through Idyss' fur. "What's going on?"

Jack stared into his mug. "I found the Grim Reaper."

"No way…" Ambrose had stopped scratching Idyss. "But that's good! Now we can finally put a stop to this nightmare."

"That's the thing. I don't think it's her."

"Her, huh?" Ambrose muttered. "How do you know? Nymph seemed pretty confident in her answer."

"But it isn't true. I caught her while she was releasing a soul from a dying girl." Jack recapped his encounters with Thana. Ambrose listened to every detail, her eyes growing wide at the details of Masha's death. "The way she talks about the soul suffering without her. How important it is that she prevent their pain and bring them to the afterlife. Heck, she almost put her scythe through me when I accused her of killing innocent people! She cares about protecting children just as much as the Guardians!"

"Well, it certainly doesn't sound like anything she would do. But it is very possible that she's lied to you in order to get you off of her back. Do you know if she knows anything about it?"

Jack shook his head. "I didn't get the chance to bring it up. But I think I can find her."

"Good. Hopefully it'll point you in the right direction."

The two spirits took sips from their mugs. Jack stared into the jumping, orange flames, deep in thought. The next morning he would find Thana again and make sure he left with some information. It gave him a heavy heart to think of the possibility that Thana could be the dream thief. Jack was nearly certain that she wasn't but...

"Her wings…" He whispered out loud. Ambrose glanced back over at him.

"What wings?"

"The night of the gathering, when the vulture attacked. It had massive black wings."

"I remember. You said it was the same type of black feathers as the one you woke up with."

Jack nodded, his glassy, blue eyes staring back into Ambrose's, who's were such a strong shade of coral they almost appeared red. "She had black wings too."

Ambrose broke the eye contact and stared into her tea. It looked black from the leaves that settled at the bottom. "Do you think it's a coincidence?"

"I hope so. Thana said she was responsible for severing the ties that souls have with their bodies, and bringing them into the afterlife."

"That's it? There isn't a Hades type character? An overseer of the underworld or whatever?"

"Back when I found her the first time, Thana mentioned that she doesn't decide where the soul goes after she guides them there. She said something about a king."

Ambrose chewed on her bottom lip before looking back up at Jack. There was a certain glint in her eye that for a moment, made Jack believe there was gold in her pupils. "You said you know how to find her, right?"

Jack answered her with a nod. "Stake-out at a hospital. Wouldn't take too long for her to show up eventually."

"When you find her again, you need to find out everything you can about the system of death after life. Anyone who is involved."

"I guess… But this could just be a dead end. Why do you think it's connected to Thana?"

Ambrose sighed and put her mug on the floor. "Nymph is the eldest of all of us. Even older than some of the guardians. She knows everything. It may not be the Grim Reaper, but there has to be some kind of connection!"

At that moment, Idyss' head perked up, a soft growl sitting in his throat. Ambrose followed his gaze to the door. She and Idyss stared only at the door, her hand positioned squarely between Idyss' shoulders. The growl kept steady, and it was only when the light in the room began to flicker that Jack understood why Ambrose had her hand on Idyss' back. The exact second that Idyss' growl grew stronger Ambrose was across the room, her crook in hand. Jack jumped to his feet, taking up his own crook. The door of the cottage began to shake. Idyss was on his feet now, his teeth baring.

'God, I hate dogs," Jack thought to himself, the hair standing on his arms. Idyss suddenly barked twice and then froze, staring at Ambrose.

"Idyss what-" she began before her eyes went wide. Idyss and Ambrose both took off for the door, bursting out of the cottage. All of Ambrose's sheep, bleating and grazing, were now lying flat in the grass, completely still. Idyss ran around the field, barking in distress at each one.

"MY SHEEP!"

"SCREEEEEEEEEE!"

From beyond the cliff came the flapping of billowing wings. The vulture rose high above the cottage, a high-pitched screech ringing out from beneath its cloak. Ambrose's eyes glinted with anger, beginning to glow a fiery red.

"You've made a horrible mistake, vulture." With two running steps, she leaped onto a gust of wind. "Jack! Find Thana and put an end to this! I'm not letting this thing get away from me again!" She spun her crook expertly in her hand and slashed it at the vulture. With it came an army of fallen pine needles, clouding the sky like locusts. They attacked the vulture like archer's arrows raining from the sky. The vulture screeched, diving over the cliff. Ambrose followed him closely. Swinging her crook like a baseball bat, she sent a blast of air that slammed it in an arch into the sea.

Ambrose rose again, standing on the wind like solid ground. Just as she figured, the vulture burst from the waves, slamming straight into Ambrose. The breath knocked out of her lungs. The vulture curved its flight path and hurled straight into the ground, still clutching on to her.

"IDYSS!" Ambrose screamed out the small breath she managed to take. The dog, from seemingly nowhere, clamped its jaws tight around the vulture's shoulder. He could have been hallucinating, but to Jack, Idyss suddenly appeared three times larger than he was a few minutes ago. "Jack, go! Get out of here!"

"But-"

"Find her!" Ambrose was back on her feet, a nasty cut across her left eye. She had taken off her flannel and hoodie, showing off the black t-shirt with the sleeves chopped off. "It's my turn, Frost. Just figure out who's behind this, and put it to an end!"

Startled by her sudden outburst, Jack nodded and jumped into the wind. Just before his view became blocked by clouds, he caught a glimpse of a second vulture swooping over the cottage. Jack bit his lip and sped away. At the same time, from behind the cottage, the entrance to an underground tunnel closed back into solid ground, leaving behind a small, white, daisy.