Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians or the Guardians of Childhood series

Planning

Before Jackie had a chance to process that her best friend's disembodied head was looking at her through her bedroom window, her two hands came out of nowhere and pulled… something over her head, hiding her face again.

"No, no," Jackie whispered, desperate not to have anyone hear her. "Don't leave, please."

"I'm not," Sarah's disembodied voice said. "I'm hiding. Hoping Krampus can't sense me with the cloak on."

Jackie calmed down and asked again this time with a bit of worried humour. "How's that working out?"

"No Idea. I've only been here for a few minutes."

Jackie nodded and stared at her the place where Sarah disappeared hesitantly, "Please tell me you're not out here, to sacrifice yourself."

"I'm here to get my brother and Will back," Sarah said. "Whatever it takes."

Jackie sighed; this wasn't what either of them would want. "Sarah-"

"I'm not worth two lives," Sarah said. "Let alone 6, better I suffer, than half a dozen children do."

"6?" Jackie said surprised, "I thought he was going to steal one child a night till the Epiphany?"

"He pushed up the deadline," Sarah said. "Gave us till the new year."

Jackie took a moment to process that information before she shook her head. "I still disagree."

"I can't risk their lives for me," Sarah said.

"What about your parents?" Jackie asked, "Surely, you're making them lose. You're making them suffer."

"Better my family suffer losing one child, then 6 families suffer losing 6 children."

"You can't quantify that pain," Jackie said, keeping her voice down.

"Yeah?" Sarah challenged. "What are you planning? I know you're not doing homework on your computer."

Jackie glared at Sarah, "I'm looking for a way to get Jonathan and Will out from Krampus' thumb without bloodshed or losing any more friends."

"Any luck?" Sarah said sounding almost smug.

Jackie huffed before she answered. "A little, there's a cave system near Burgess, I was thinking that he would hide somewhere close to you, as a better chance of taking children you might care for."

"Wouldn't that make you a target?" Sarah asked sounding concerned.

"Hypocrite." Jackie said, "You're allowed to sacrifice yourself, but I'm not?"

For a moment Sarah was quiet when she spoke again her voice sounded concerned; almost scared. "Jackie-"

"I'm going with you." Jackie said already standing and walking toward the window, "And if you dare use your powers on me to keep me here as you did on Jonathan 3 years ago, you can consider our friendship over."

Sarah was silent for a long moment. Then: "What have you learned?"

It wasn't a promise, but Jackie could hear in Sarah's voice an acquiescence to the terms… for now.

Jackie didn't like it, but she also knew that it was the best compromise she would get, if this did escalate to a fight between the two friends, Sarah would win, and it would be a win Jackie didn't want to endure.

Unlike William, who had been caught before he could put up much of a fight, Jonathan had put up a fight – and had paid dearly for it.

Jonathan hadn't had a chance to look in the mirror before Krampus had ripped from his home, but he could feel the blood running down his face. His legs hurt so bad he wouldn't have been surprised if they were broken.

Jonathan still didn't know how his parents hadn't been alerted to the noise, the only conclusion Jonathan could come up with was that Krampus had a bit of magic of his own and had soundproofed Jonathan's room to make sure no one heard him come in.

The fight had only lasted two minutes, but in the two minutes, Krampus had shown him why fighting him was not a good idea. Jonathan was in agony, and yet Krampus didn't even look like Jonathan's attempt to fight him off hadn't even winded him.

(Or at least what little he'd seen of Krampus before they were subjected to total darkness and Jonathan stopped seeing anything.)

He hoped Will was all right, that he'd not fought Krampus and was not too injured to move. Then held him down as he muttered incantations to him, before shoving him away.

Krampus hadn't been gentle dumping him on the floor either, but Jonathan refused to cry out in pain and give this monster the satisfaction of showing weakness.

The place where he and Will were, was so dark he didn't even know if his eyes were open or shut, he tried to use his magic but any spark he set went out immediately.

In what little spark he'd set thought, told him that there was someone else with him and Krampus.

"That was the first thing I tried," Will said. "He did the same thing to me, he did to you, placed a spell on me and then left me to my devices. I think it was something to stop us from using magic.

"Smart boy." Krampus laughed, from some feet away.

Jonathan didn't growl, refused to Krampus any satisfaction that he'd gained any headway on the boys.

"Where are we?" Jonathan asked.

"I don't know." Will said, "America I think, I heard English being spoken in a decidedly American accent, for a few seconds before Krampus put me in here."

Jonathan frowned, "Last time you were in the Denisova caves. Weren't you?"

Will nodded, "I think he wants to be closer to Burgess, to where Sarah lives." He whispered so low so as not to give Krampus any more awful ideas. "He can't enter Santoff, so might as well take children Sarah goes to school with."

Krampus laughed "You've figured me out."

Jonathan didn't bother asking why Will hadn't tried to escape, given their lack of magic, and the lack of light, they likely wouldn't even make out of the tunnel.

"Any plan?" Jonathan asked.

"No." Will whispered, "You?"

Jonathan shook his head unnecessarily, "No." he said, "But, we have to free ourselves somehow, otherwise Sarah…"

"I know," Will said grimacing.

"And how are two boys with no access to magic, going to escape from a cave so dark you can't even see someone sitting right beside you?"

Jonathan glared in Krampus's direction. "We'll figure something out."

Krampus laughed. "The spell I put on you won't wear off until January 6th. So good luck with that."