Disclaimer: I don't own rise of the Guardians

Tense

Sarah knew something was wrong. In the middle of her story, there was a change in the air, the tension in the air increased, as outside she heard more and more Reapers coming back home.

"Something happened," Sarah said turning towards the door.

Ella, Thomas, and Gretchen tilted their head at her confused. "What?" Thomas asked.

"Don't you feel it?" Sarah asked not removing her eyes from the door. "That… tenseness?"

She gestured behind her, where she could hear the reapers coming home. The whispers between them sounded anxious, as they whispered to each other things Sarah could barely make out.

Sarah stood and made her way to the door and pressed her ear against it. But it didn't do anything, Grims were experts at not being heard let alone noticed when they didn't want to be.

She looked at the Trio, and then back at the door.

"It might be nothing." Ella said standing up and crossing the room over to Sarah, "A few of those people could be feeling bad about the souls they had to reap." She said.

"Yeah," Thomas nodded looking relieved that Ella had given him a jumping-off point, "This house always has someone feeling horrid about one death or another," He said "not every death, can be like Travis and Dylan's. Where the reaper who reaped them was laughing about it for weeks."

"Or ours." Gretchen cut in rolling her eyes her arms crossed in front of her. "Can't believe you dragged me into it."

"There was no dragging." Thomas said exasperated like he'd had this conversation hundreds of times before, "There was only, an ask. You're the one who agreed to it."

"Yes. Begrudgingly."

Sarah stared at them; half of her curious to find out what happened; the other reminding her that there were more important things to deal with. "But there's quite a few. What if someone was because of Krampus?" Sarah said. "Like he ate a child… or sent someone into hell."

"Didn't he promise he would wait until the Epiphany?" Thomas asked softly.

"He also said he would steal a child every night till then." Sarah said, "And just because he's not sending them to hell doesn't mean he isn't torturing them."

"He wouldn't want to risk killing them, would he?" Ella asked.

Sarah thought back to her imprisonment with Pitch and remembered the constant bombardment of darkness and negativity. The nightmare's that Pitch flooded her with so not even her dreams spared her from her pain.

Sarah shook her head to de-spell those thoughts, it wouldn't help to ruminate on what had happened. "There's more than one way to torture someone, than just through physical pain." She said hugging herself.

Ella, Gretchen, and Thomas all looked at each other worriedly at her knowing tone. She's just finished talking about being kidnapped by Pitch when the reapers had started coming home.

"They'll find them." Thomas insisted. "If your friend is suffering it won't be suffering for long."

"But…" Sarah said,

"Whatever happens we'll deal with it when the time comes," Thomas said putting a hand on her shoulder. He gave her a soft smile and lead her back to the bed. "Come on, want to know how I died? I could see you becoming curious."

"Umm…" Sarah looked at the door again, "I really think…"

"It's funny," Thomas said.

"It boring is what it is," Gretchen said sounding annoyed. "We suffocated in a mineshaft after part of it collapsed on us."

Almost against her will, Sarah laughed.

She didn't laugh for long, however, because 30 minutes later Jane appeared looking grim.

Sarah would have laughed at her own pun had it not been for the stakes involved.

A/N From now on, the plan is to upload a chapter twice a day so hopefully I can finish this story by the 8th.