Author's Note: I don't know what's wrong with me. I have cliffhanger's disease, I swear. But even though this story is.. erm.. taking forever to be written, you'll know that eventually I will continue on with it. At leas the other half of Chapter Fifty-Two is now done. I hope you like it, and I hope it isn't too predictable. That said, thank you guys for all your reviews and no, dial up did NOT take 40 minutes to load.

Now.. for what you've all been waiting for!

Chapter Fifty-Two and One Half: Winter's Decay

Meanwhile, after Sandy and Pitch had left the throne room at Mother Nature's Palace, Mother Nature decided to investigate the strange weather phenomenon herself. She knew that this wasn't due to shifting weather patterns or El Nino, or whatever else the humans were coming up with.

She could tell that this was due to either the Seasonals themselves, or else their Sprites or Spirits. It had Seasonal magic all over it. Since the worst of it was from the oppressive heat and Summer magic, she made her way to California, since she knew that was the place that August liked best, besides his own home.

Thankfully due to her own powers, she was able to disappear and reappear at will and so it took her no time at all to reappear at a popular beach in California. She looked around at all the sunburned tourists and peered out at the crowded waves, but she could see no sign of August or his Sprites. But what she could see was that this sort of weather was very warm and that it felt more like Florida than anything, since it was very muggy out was well.

She frowned at the unnaturalness of it all, as it was really not quite Summer yet and still the very tail end of Spring. She looked around in disgust, since she knew that August's Sprites were to blame, she was sure of it. She knew that both August and Jasper were having troubles with missing Sprites and Spirits, but she wasn't certain what could cause such a large amount to defect like that. Surely this must be their work.

She swept her gaze around the crowded beach again, but not spotting anything that could be of help, she soon disappeared. After a few more trips to crowded beaches and not spying her Summer Seasonal, she decided that a trip to August's home was in order. It was an unusual experience for even her, as she usually didn't visit the Seasonals at their homes.

If she had, she would have discovered that poor Jack was living at a lake of all places, and had no true home. She also would have discovered that he was living with Pitch quite a few years earlier. But she didn't think of this as she traveled to August's house, since it just wasn't done. When it was time for their meeting or if the Seasonals had any concerns, they would come see her. It was just how it was done.

She looked around with interest as she appeared at August's island home. It was a small island near Greece, but since it was covered in so much Summer Seasonal magic, there was no chance of the humans discovering it by accident. Well, at least for now, Mother Nature mused. She knew that human technology was getting more advanced as the years went on.

She knew if August's island was ever discovered, he'd have a hard time trying to keep any developers away. A small smile formed as she thought of August as he was now, all polished tan and blond curls, looking like every storybook version of a Greek Sun God and then pictured him chasing after humans shouting at them to keep off his land!

She shook her head for a moment and then frowned at August's Summer home. It certainly looked like the home of a Greek Sun God. It was all fancy arches and columns with a lot of marble and fine furnishings and open buildings that were completely inadequate for any kind of weather except for a very hot summer day.

She saw a few Summer Sprites were lounging about, looking rather forlorn and gloomy, but noticed a distinct lack of Summer Spirits. She also didn't see August anywhere, so she assumed he must be out performing duties of some sort.

She placed her hands on her hips in consternation, as not even she could understand the language of Summer, and therefore wouldn't be able to speak to the Summer Sprites herself. She was also a little vexed by the lavishness of August's home. She knew he had long since changed from the Summer Spirit he had started out as, but this was getting ridiculous. She wondered if she would ever see any trace of the simple farmer ever again, and sighed.

It would certainly be more easier to deal with the hardworking August she had known, rather than the playboy August she had to deal with now. For his sake, she hoped that he was off doing some investigating of his own or else she would be very displeased.

The world was falling apart before their eyes and he had better not be off playing.

Deciding to look elsewhere, she vanished before she spotted what looked like a golden bench of some sort and gave a snort.

Honestly.


August was still busy searching for Marin when Mother Nature was looking for him. Having exhausted Marin's favorite places in California though, he began to grow doubtful. What if he never found her? What if something had happened to her and she faded?

Not that he would ever admit it, but Marin was one of his favorite Spirits. She might pass for a typical California beach girl, but she was very smart and hardworking. And unlike most of his Sprites and Spirits, her dress was in different shades of blue and her eyes were the ocean itself - and he did so love the ocean.

He shook his head to clear it of such thoughts. He knew Seasonals weren't supposed to have favorites, but still. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he thought of giving her a surfing lesson. Now that would be fun!

But his smile soon faded as he thought of what he could do next. It was as he was standing on a remote beach in the more southern part of California that he spotted an unnatural blue dashing about. His eyes lit up as he spotted his Spirit.

Marin!

Then his face darkened as he realized she was using her Summer Magic out of Season. Why was she helping this unnatural weather?

With a determined look on his face, August began to make his way toward her.


"We'll see about that," Gethen said as he snapped his fingers at the two Spring Spirits. They leaped at Jack and soon had a hold of his arms.

Gethen walked up to Jack and relieved him of his staff again. He moved away from Jack and twirled the staff.

"I wonder.." he said thoughtfully as he stopped twirling Jack's staff and looked at it. His eyes lit up with dark amusement and he grinned slyly at Jack. "What do you think would happen if I did.. this?"

Jack watched in horror as Gethen's hands began to glow, and his staff, which once was frosty with his winter magic, began to decay and look very fragile. It looked like the very strength was being sapped right out of it.

Jack made an awful, strangled noise as his staff started to slowly disintegrate. This was even worse then when his staff had been broken. He had been able to fix that. But now his staff was disintegrating and it felt like a very piece of his soul was fading away with it.

It was awful.

"Stop..!" Jack exclaimed, his voice filled with pain.

"Will you join me?" Gethen asked as bit by bit, the staff began to crumble away into dust.

"..N..no.." Jack said, as he closed his eyes. He couldn't stand to see his poor staff suffer like that.

Gethen gave Jack a look that he didn't see.

"Then why should I stop?" he said condescendingly to Jack as he channeled more of his destructive power into the staff.

"..Urgh..!" Jack replied, squeezing his eyes shut more in pain.

This was not going well.

He knew he could use his powers without his staff, but it took a lot of concentration. And right now, it felt like a part of him was dying.

Gethen watched Jack struggle for a few more moments before he rolled his eyes, tiring of tormenting the Winter Spirit.

"Pathetic!" he said as now more than half the staff was gone. "If you won't save your precious staff, or the use of your powers, then what about your Spirits and Sprites?"

"..What..?" Jack said faintly as his eyes snapped open. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, either you join me or I will make certain that every last Winter Spirit and Sprite fades off the face of the Earth."

The Winter Spirit who had been rescued by Jack edged away from Gethen nervously at that.

"You wouldn't," Jack said as he gritted his teeth.

"Try me," Gethen hissed dangerously at the Winter Spirit.

"Well the joke's on you," Jack said to Gethen with a hint of dark amusement. It was a little funny, but not really. "I can't use my powers without my staff, so I couldn't help you even if I wanted to."

Gethen however, didn't seem the least bit worried by this.

"Oh, I have my ways," he said to Jack. "So, Frost. Are you in or do I destroy the last bit of Winter?"

Jack looked over at his frightened Spirits and Sprites.

What should he do?


"Ok, I'm kinda freaking out," Lillian said as she looked over at the kids.

"You're freaking out?" Jamie asked incredulously. "I don't even know what this means! What kind of adventure am I going on? And who is Gethen?!"

Gethen..

Lillian thought hard about the letter.

The letter writer had warned them that they would soon meet this 'Gethen' person, whoever he was. It also warned Lillian that she should be careful in how she fried his butt, but why would she do that?

Jack was missing.. and she would soon meet this Gethen person and fry his pants off.

She blinked as the pieces clicked together.

What if this Gethen person was evil and had Jack? But why would he take Jack? And how would she find him anyway?

It wasn't like she could just say 'Gethen's lair' and magically teleport there or any -

Wait a minute.

The snowglobe!

"You know what?" Lillian said to Jamie as she plucked the letter from his hands, folded it up and stashed it away in her pocket. "I think I should get going. Even if I shouldn't warn the Guardians about uh.. whatever the letter person was talking about, I can still tell them about this Gethen guy, right?"

Jamie looked disappointed at that.

"You're leaving?"

Lillian nodded.

"Well, yeah. I still have to find Jack!"

"But.. I wanted to help," Jamie said, looking crushed. Jack was his friend too!

Lillian felt bad about leaving Jamie out, but there was absolutely no way she was taking him with her.

"You can help us next time," she promised as she edged her way out the door.

Before Jamie could reply to that, she had dashed out of the room and was halfway downstairs before Jamie leaped up and followed after her.

Lillian didn't hear Jamie's footsteps following her as she made her way out the front door. Once she was outside, she pulled out the snowglobe and hoped she was right.

After all, the snowglobes didn't need the exact coordinates or anything.

She took a deep breath and whispered to the snowglobe.

"Take me to Gethen's lair," she said softly to it.

A very dark and gloomy place appeared in the snowglobe and she tossed it and it turned into a magical portal.

"I really hope that Jack is there," she said nervously to herself as she ran towards the portal.

As she leaped inside, she was startled to hear Jamie's voice right behind her.

"Wait for me!" he cried.

"Omigosh JAMIE!" Pippa cried out, as she and the other kids had followed after him. "What are you doing?!"

Pippa had started running towards the portal too, but it was too late.

She watched in horror as Jamie vanished right behind Lillian in the portal.

"Good thing Lillian's only going to the North Pole," Cupcake pointed out.

"..Right," Pippa agreed. But why did she have such an uneasy feeling about it?


Author's Note: If you're wondering why Lillian didn't go to the Guardians with this, it's because Pitch would toss her in her room so fast she wouldn't have even had time to explain anything, or so she thought. So her reasoning is that she can quick pop in to Gethen's lair and look for Jack. If he's there, great! If he's not.. run! She can always just use her Flower of Doom to -

Yeah, she didn't think that one out, did she? :P If you guys have any plot suggestions, just let me know. Sorry for yet another cliffhanger, but it will get continued. Do you guys have any suggestions as to what the area surrounding Gethen's lair should look like? I'm kinda envisioning something like Murky and Lurky's place in Rainbow Brite, all dark and gloomy but way more sinister. Hm!

So what do you think Jack will do? Do you think he'll give in Gethen, if not for his own sake, then to protect his poor Spirits and Sprites? And will Lillian and Jamie reach him in time?!

Dun dun duuun.