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Chapter 8

Sleepless in the North Pole

Jack didn't sleep often, and when he did, it usually a calm sleep. He was still a child, so the dream sand that Sandy let loose every night worked wonders on him. This night was different to the others where Jack had slept. He tossed and turned in the bed, unable to properly fall asleep. Jack gave a groan and threw his covers away, climbing out of the bed. It was late, jack guessed close to midnight but he simply couldn't sleep. He wasn't sure if he was simply too worked up, or if the room had just overwhelmed him. Jack left the room, deciding against taking his staff with him. It was the North Pole; he didn't imagine he'd really need it for anything. He had never explored the building so late and wasn't sure who would even be awake. Jack headed out of the hallway of bedrooms, and made his way to the main area of the building. He looked up at the large glass dome that made up the marjority of the roof; it was breathtaking. The sky was clear, allowing the stars to shine down onto the building. The moon was there as well, helping the stars to light up the night sky. Jack stared at the sky, smiling at it, he knewexactly what it felt like to be up in the air. Not quite as high as the stars and the moon, but he had flown through dozens of clouds, and flown alongside hundreds of birds as they made their way across the sky, not noticing the white haired boy floating alongside them.

A noise caught his attention, pulling him away from the glass dome and the night sky, and he turned to the globe. The globe was spinning slowly; it was making an odd noise. The large globe was groaning as it turned, as if the structure was suddenly too heavy for it's metal holdings. The globe stopped with a louder groan, and Jack stared as the lights began to flicker. The globe flickered madly, lighting and turning off the lights of the children. Jack shouted out for North but the man didn't shout back, nobody seemed to hear Jack. He shouted again; North, Phil, Bunny, Tooth, anyone. Jack was frightened; what was happening? Would they think he had done it?

The globe gave another loud groan, then shook, sending a shudder through the ground. Jack watched as the globe seemed to crack, and split open. Black sand spilled out from the globe, beginning to fill the room, and spreading towards Jack. He felt the sand pool around his feet, climbing higher and higher up his legs. He cursed himself for not bringing his staff, he couldn't pull his way out.

"What did you do!?" North shouted from behind Jack; Jack couldn't respond. As he opened his mouth to defend himself, he felt his sand flood into his mouth, and he felt his air stop, and soon his eyes were drooping shut. He fought against the sand but eventually he lost his strength and soon fell limp amongst the pool of sand.

Jack coughed and fought against what was holding hom down, frightened of the sand getting to his mouth again. The blankets flew off the bed and landed onto the floor beside the bed. The light from the moon and stars lit the room up, casting a soft light against the floor and wall. The stars apinted on the ceiling and wallsglittered in the soft light. Jack was breathing rapidly, and looked around the room as he ran a hand through his hair, attempting to calm himself.

"North Pole, in North Pole." Jack whispered to himself, remding himself of where he was. He had a moment of panic at the bedroom before remembering where he was. Jack opened the window above his bed to let some of the colder air into the room; it was an instant effect on his mood. The cold calmed him, and he felt the wind brush against him, sensing something was wrong. It was earlier in the morning, and while the moon and stars were still out, it wouldn't be long before they disappeared as the sun took over for the day. He slowly climbed off the bed, and placed his blankets back onto the bed, carefully laying them flat and neat as he had seen before. A shout came from outside the room, from close by. Jack left the room and followed the noise to the study, where he found North and Bunny playing a game of chess.

"No good, too cold, old cheater!" Bunny shouted as north chuckled, seeing Jack come into the room.

"Ahh good morning Jack!" North said, waving at the boy, then began to help Bunny pack up the game pieces. Bunny was grumbling at the pieces, until they were neatly packed away. He turned to jack, to properly greet him, but stopped.

"You right frosty?"Bunny asked.

Jack had draped himself over one of the couches in the study.

"Right as snow, kangaroo, why do you ask?" Jack replied, smiling.

"You look… well, I didn't know spirits could look tired but, you do."

Jack's smile fell, and he rubbed his face with his hands, shaking his head.

"No I- I just had a bad dream is all." Jack admitted, it felt weird to say. He rarely had normal dreams as it was. A side effect of not sleeping very often. It had been some time since Jack had slept; back in the little house on the island.

"Anything in particular about the dream that's bothering you?" Bunny sat on one of North's large armchairs; it was one of the few chairs that wasn't comically small when Bunny sat on it. Jack thought, staring at the ceiling. His ceiling was much nicer, he thought to himself.

"I thought the dream sand worked on me." Jack said outloud.

"Ah mate, Sandy had a tough night last night, it's possible there wasn't sand to spare." Bunny said, taking a cup of tea from North, who also sat down in a chair of his own.

"What happened?" Jack asked, nervous.

"It's summer in Australia at the moment, bloody damn hot and dry in some places. Got too much; bushfire started. Nobody was hurt but it almost cut off one of the smaller towns. Lotsa kids panicing so Sandy went down to do damage control for the little blighters." Bunny explained, sipping the warm tea.

"A bushfire?" Jack asked; he had heard the word before, but couldn't picture it.

"Imagine the forest near Jamie's, right?" Jack nodded, picturing the large expanse of woods. "Now imagine it, without any snow, in summer. Now picture the entire thing just going up in fire, bordering just too close to town to be safe." Jack swallowed, forcing himself not to worry. There was no fire near Burgess, nor near Jamie. Jack shook his head.

"They aren't all bad, it's when they get out of control you gottabe careful. The humans'll do controlled burns sometimes, there's certain plants that only grow after bushfire, and if they burn off some of the drier stuff before it's too hot, there's less chance of a huge fire."

Jack sat up on the couch, rubbing his eyes. He was thankful Bunny had explained the last part; he was glad that they tried to prevent the fires from happening. He wasn't a fan of fire, much too hot for his taste. He thanked North and Bunny, then headed back to his room, he would try and sleep again.

"You did not tell everything." North pointed out to Bunny once Jack had left.

"Blight doesn't need to know a kid started the fire; it was an accident." Bunny said, continuing to sip his tea.