Chapter 10

My Presence Is Your Present

Jack made it to the little wooden house just in time. They had finished playing outside and were moving into the house; it was chilly outside but not cold enough to stop the children from playing. Jamie and his parents were visting for the little girl's birthday, and had brought along a decent stack of gifts which were wrapped in brightly coloured paper. Jack's favourite wrapping paper was the white one with little blue stars on it. Jack followed the family into the little house, and let the door shut behind him before he settled into his spot on the windowsill. He was glad to see that the family rabbit Hoppers was still there, and was jumping around the living room floor, obviously excited by so many guests. The Mother smiled at Hoppers and carefully picked up the rabbit, and placed him in a wooden hutch to the side of the room. He settled down after a moment and watched the family from the hutch, enjoying some pieces of carrot from his bowl now and then. Jack smiled at Hoppers then turned to the family and watched as the little girl began to open her birthday gifts. The gifts weren't extravagant by any means but each one was well thought out and perfect for the little girl. A new set of earmuffs, some books about rabbit care, a soft pet bed (so that Hoppers could sleep in her room), some new snow boots that matched her Mum's, then an envelope. It was a plain white envelope, and she looked puzzled when she took it from her Father's hand. Jack watched, also puzzled, as she opened the envelope and pulled out pieces of paper; long rectangles with printing on one side. The little girl read the printing and stared at her Mother, her face breaking into a bright smile.

"Your Father saw the poster when he went out for work the other day, so we got tickets for us three and Iamie to go, it's not for a few weeks yet, so you'll have to be patient." Her Mother said, patting her daughter's head softly. The girl threw her arms around her Mother, then her Dad and thanked them both multiple times. It took a few moments for jack to be able to read the tickets she was holding, with her arms waving around so much, but he was able to read it in the end.

SWAN LAKE

A ballet performance telling the story of Swan Lake; all ages allowed.

Jack looked at the little girl and smiled at how excited she was; she was jumping around, talking excitedly to Jamie. Jack laughed, then saw the little bit of writing that said where the ballet would be held; Burgess Theatre. Burgess! Jack jumped from where he was, and spun around a few times, before settling back against the window. Burgess! She was going to visit his town! Jack was full of energy for the rest of the night, excitedly jumping around the room as the family enjoyed cake and a movie together, before heading off to bed. Jamie and his parents left back to the town, they had booked a room at the hotel for the night. Jamie and his cousin said goodbye, before the young girl was settled into bed by her Mother. Jack heard the mother's voice become soft; she was singing a lullaby to her daughter. Jack looked at the now empty couch, and slowly walked over to it; he laid down over the soft couch and closed his eyes. They wouldn't mind, they wouldn't even know he was there. The woman's singing helped Jack relax, and he felt himself grow limp on the couch as he drifted off to sleep. The sleep didn't last long before Jack was woken up by a knocking at the front door. It was frantic, begging to be let in, and jack wasn't sure why, but he wanted to open the door. He didn't know who, or what, was outside but it sounded desperate. Thoughts passed through Jack's head, and his mind settled on one of Jamie; his parents car overturned in the snow, he had run back to the house for help. Jack jumped to the door, and opened it to find nothing there. Jack slowly stepped outside, staff in hand, and looked around. It was late, and there was nothing outside that could have made the noise. Jack looked at the snow and saw no footprint, human or animal, then raised his head to scan his surroundings. The moon was high and ful in the sky, but it didn't seem to help light up the snowy island much. Jack stood outside in the soft wind, marvelled at just how dark it seemed to be. Jack felt his hair stand on end, and he gripped his staff tighter. Something didn't feel right out here.

"Are you hiding again, Jack?" The voice came from around him, and Jack gasped as he watched the shape of Pitch Black form from the ground in front of him. Pitch stretched his arms, he seemed tired. He ran a hand up his face, through his hair.

"What a boring place to hide." He said, looking at Jack.

"Uhh, then don't stay? I'm not hiding." Jack was unsure what to say.

"Oh, so you aren't hiding anymore? What changed?"

"I-" Jack was interrupted by Pitch laughing.

"You fixed it? How positively marvelous for you!" Pitch grinned, and Jack knew he meant the staff.

"No, it's a new one. North made it."

"Ahh, so they let you back did they? What a lot of fools; you betrayed them!"

"I did not!"

"You left! You went searching for something you don't deserve, and they paid for your stupid mistakes." Pitch was slowly walking towards Jack. His hands were behind his back, which was straight and strong. Jack watched him carefully, waiting for the attack.

"I had such high hopes for you Jack, you could have been so powerful. It makes such perfect sense; the dark, and the cold. You're practically doing it anyway; you caused that car crash."

Jack swallowed, and kept his eyes on Pitch's, locking him in eye contact. Jack let his body relax, and he allowed himself to fall into his usual way of speaking.

"Lovely chat, great to catch up but, you're not invited to the brithday party sadly." Jack smiled, hoping it was as smug as he had meant it to be.

"Ahh, not even after I brought a present?"

"A present? What could you bring as a present?" Jack asked, unbelieving what Pitch was saying.

"My presence." Pitch said, and smiled. He jumped forwards, his arms stretching out from behind him, and the darkness seemed to billow out from behind him. Jack threw his staff up, but nothing happened. He looked at his hands to see his staff broken in half, and felt the wave of black sand crash over him. It threw him back against the wall of the house, and held him there as it pushed at the door and windows, wanting to get in. Jack heard glass break and knew that the windows had given in. The black sand began to flood the house, and Jack heard the quiet shrieks of a young girl. Jack began to cough as the sand forced at his mouth, and he felt himself sit up, still coughing. Jack looked around to see the fireplace flickering away in the night, and Hoppers happiy asleep next to it. He found his staff leaning against the couch; it was a solid piece still. It was strong, Jack knew it was, North had made it specially for him. Jack climbed up from the couch and made his way outside, staff in hand. He shut the door behind him and looked out at the area that surrounded the house; it was well lit, the full moon overhead was brilliantly bright that evening. Jack sat in the snow, resting his back against the outside wall of the house. Jack looked at the sky, and noticed the thin treams of glde sandoverhead. They weren't as thick as the other nights he had seem them over the house. He wondered if someone was wrong; Sandy might need help. Jack shot off from the ground and followed the thin ropes of sand across the sky. Jack followed and followed until he came across Sandy floating above a small building in the middle of a field, Jack could see a forested area nearby. Sandy was pouring the majority of his sand at the house, helping it creep through the windows of the small wooden building. Jack dropped next to the building and looked through one of the windows, he could see an adult woman sitting with a group of seven young children. She was telling stories to the children who were edging on falling asleep. The woman looked exhausted, she was holding a small brown dog on her lap and was rubbing it's neck. That's when Jack noticed the smell; it was a smell that choked his nostrils, and it was hot. How could a smell be hot? Jack thought to himself, and and he turned to look behind him, and found his answer. It wasn't the smell, it was the air. The air was dry and hot, and Jack saw the source of the smell itself.

He could see the tips of flames flicking in the wooded area; the flames were eating the dry brush, moving closer and closer to the small building. Jack felt the grass under his feet; dry. He looked at Sandy, then back to the woods. Sandy was trying to calm the children, they were obviously aware of the flames, and were frightened. Jack flewup above the house and saw that the flames had eaten into a circle around the house; there was no safe way out. Movement caught his attention, someone was walking towards the house. Jack recongised them as the young who he had met at the North Pole. She gave a quick wave to Sandy before climbing through a window and making her way into the house. Jack heard crying from the house, and that's when he decided he would have to try to do something.He saw a crowd of people on another side of a stretch of bush; they were dressed in heavy yellow outfits. Jack realised he had found a crew of firefighters, and decided that's how he would help. Jack flew over and dropped to the ground amongst the adults; men and women, some older than others, but all working hard to fight the blaze. They were trying to force a break in the flames so they could reach the building.

Jack hoped he could help; he didn't want to make things worse. He swallowed, and closed his eyes for a second before holding his staff out towards the blaze. The air over the flames cooled, and he saw the small flakes of snow form within the flames, carefully keeping them out of the sight of the firefighters. He focused on keping the air steady but cool, rushing winds would only fan the flames. He saw the small areas of snow melt as they got closer to the flames, and he continued. Jack heard the shouting of the adults around him grow louder, and more hopeful.

"We've got a break!" Someone shouted; an older man.

They moved as a solid team; everyone having a place and a job. A number of them moved forward through the path Jack had helped them to form, while some stayed back to keep water focused on the flames, to prevent them from growing back. Jack waited and smiled with relief as he saw the children being carried back through the pathway. Jack's smile faded as he saw the flame spring back into life as a wall behind the group, and he heard a shout. Jack listened to the rushed conversation; they were missing a child. They had paniced and run from the group, and were likely stuck in the flames. Jack threw himself into the air above the trees, and scanned the bush until he found the tiny child in the flames. He floated down towards the child, and saw there was an adult next to them. The flames seemed to be held back from the child and adult, not daring break a narrow circle around the two. The adult looked up and gave a soft wave; it was the young lady. She was rubbing the child's back; who was laying curled up in the dry grass and sticks. He saw the flames licking at the circle, and a few managed to break the invisible barrier. He dropped from the sky, landing next to the two, and faced the trees. He was looking dead at the direction the firefighters were, and knew he would have to help.

The flames were hot, the water the truck could give wasn't cooling enough on the blaze to create a safe enough pathway. Jack did what he had done previously, and let the air around him cool, before spreading the snow into the flames. Jack watched the of the flames shrink back, and stepped forward. He stepped into the blazing bush and felt the snow under his feet form as he walked. He wanted as much snow to melt into the earth as possible, to drown out the flames. Heheard the running, and shouting, as the firefighters broke through the still burning trees. The fire had died down enough for them to attempt a rescue, and he heard the shouts as they saw the child. A young man picked the child up gently, then the crew turned, and made their way back to their truck, and the rest of the children.

'Frosty!" He heard the shout behind him, and felt a hand tighten around his forearm. Jack felt an odd tugging feeling in his chest, and saw everything around him blur into a whirl of red, orange and black. Jack opened his eyes as he coughed, and saw that the ground had changed; it was made up of wooden planks. Jack felt the solid ground against his hands, and rolled himself onto his back. He took a deep breath of the cold air, and looked up at the ceiling. Glittering gold and red baubles looked back at him, and he blinked. The North Pole.