Chapter Nineteen

Trying New Tricks

Jack Frost was someone who liked to help whenever he could, which meant that around holidays he got very busy. Bunnymund needed help colouring then decorating the eggs before delivering them while Tooth needed help collecting teeth and leaving coins in the weeks following Easter. Part of Jack's role was also to help guard the fairies, as well as the eggs and warren, which he was more than happy to do. Of course North needed help too once the other holidays were over for the year so Jack got to work helping the Christmas Guardian sort through naughty and nice lists – there were lots of them, and all needed to be cross referenced.

When Jack wasn't needed he would do his own work; checking that cold areas stayed cold, while stopping the cold from creeping into warmer areas of the world, though still providing them with a cooler day every now and then if he could, just for some relief. Of course he always went to check on Jamie and Jamie's cousin, keeping an eye on both of the families. It was a few weeks after Easter when Jack had stopped for a rest, sitting on a branch hanging over his pond when he had a thought.

He hadn't seen the blonde haired girl for awhile, nor Eros. He'd gotten so caught up in helping the others that he'd totally forgotten about having to speak to the other spirit. He hadn't seen them since waking up again in his bedroom, leaning to the side, clutching his bedframe for support after coming back to reality from the vision. Were they visions? Jack had always thought of visions as seeing the future but these were showing him the past, so were they still visions, or something else?

It was most likely too late now to find Eros and ask him anything, it had been weeks since Jack had seen the...vision. Eros likely wouldn't want to discuss it; which was more than fair. It was late anyway, just after midnight, so Eros would probably be asleep; Jack didn't want to disturb anyone, he just wanted answers. He decided it was time to move again; the wind pulled him from the branch and flew him across the sky, with no real destination in mind. Jack just wanted to move; it would keep him distracted.

If only he knew where to find either of them; Eros had a place of his own, he'd heard Bunny mention taking eggs to it but as for her...did she even have a house? Jack let himself down and landed softly on the ground below him, so he could think without worrying about where he was going. Did she have somewhere to stay? She must do.

She had to.

Then again...he'd been around for a long time with only a pond to call home, it was possible she didn't have somewhere of her own. The thought...bothered Jack, it felt too possible, too close to home.

Voices off to the side pulled Jack from his thoughts; two people, he thought, shouting off to the side. One of them was laughing. Where had the wind carried him this time? Jack shrugged and decided to invesigate the noise; he wouldn't be seen, so there was no harm in seeing what was happening. The voices were coming from an area of forest.

"-you can't say that! What if Santa finds out? You're definitely off the nice list." A male voice said, teasing someone Jack couldn't yet see.

"I'm not even on the lists! This shouldn't be so fu- candycane licking hard, it's a stick!"

"Yeah but your stick is you know...ordinary."

"What?! It's a stick! I should be able to spin a stick! Dammit!"

The male voice broke into loud laughter as Jack moved past a tree and found himself stepping into a clearing, just in time to see a man duck as a stick flew just over his head, narrowly avoiding being hit.

"I think the stick has to be magic kid, sorry bout that." He said, straightenig himself a she stood up again.

"So if he had a normal stick he couldn't spin it?" The girl with pale blonde hair asked, arms folded in front of her chest, glaring at the man who Jack realised was Eros. "Is that right?"

"Careful! You nearly took my head off."

"Shame."

Jack was leaning against his staff, arms crossed over, leaning against the top of the staff's main piece of wood, smiling at the two as they bickered.

"Uh, sorry but-" Jack said, smiling still when they both turned to look at him. "I can do it with normal sticks as well. It being the spinning thing, I think."

"Dammit!" She shouted, throwing her arms up in the air, which made Eros grin. "It shouldn't be so hard!"

"...Do you want me teach you how?"

"No- yes, just..." She looked at the ground, frowning. "I don't know, kid. I was hoping to just...do it."

"You gotta practice kid, Jack probably had to." Eros said, smiling at her then at Jack. "How'd you learn to do it kid?"

Jack looked at his staff then back to them both, feeling a little guilty.

"I just sort of...did it? I never realised it was difficult for people to do until it was mentioned to me. I just knew how, I guess. Sorry." He said, pulling himself back a little. Eros glanced at her briefly, before looking back at Jack and grinning. She was looking at Jack but she was frowning rather than grinning. Eros rolled his eyes and walked over to the stick that had landed on the ground after being thrown, and prompty threw it back at her.

"You!-" She was cut off by the stick hitting her in the side; she glowered at Eros she bent to pick up the stick from beside her and turned to look at Jack, who was trying to look serious.

"Well, I'll leave you kids to it. Have fun kiddo, be good." Eros said, smiling at her before giving Jack a wave goodbye and walking off into the woods, disappearing from view amongst the trees.

"Fine, let's give it a go." She said, sighing.