Disclaimer; I don't own Rise of the Guardians or Guardians of Childhood.

Burgess Caves

"How do you know they're here?" Sarah asked, she was, still, hidden underneath her cloak meaning that Jackie couldn't see her. So, it was always a relief when Sarah spoke, reminding Jackie that she was still there.

Sarah and Jackie were standing in front of a huge opening into a cave, a few feet past the woods where the ice palace was hidden. The inside looked dark and foreboding, and Jackie and Sarah hated the idea of going inside the cave alone.

But this might have been the place where Jonathan and Will were being kept so they had to keep going.

"It just makes the most sense to me." Jackie said, "I mean on the one hand staying in the same town you just kidnapped a child, especially when you can teleport anywhere, makes no sense. And on the other hand, Krampus probably knows that everyone would be expecting you to leave the country… if not the continent. On top of that, he would likely want to stay close to Burgess and kidnap children from the town. Since this place is your home, you would be more affected by children being taken from here than anywhere else."

"He could try Santoff." Sarah mused, "But…"

"Santoff has that barrier preventing dark creatures from getting through," Jackie said. "So long as the children don't venture past the woods, they should be fine.

"So, Burgess makes more sense," Sarah said. "Well, at least the children of Santoff will still be able to play the 'avoid bedtime for as long as possible' game."

Jackie chuckled then her expression became a bit distant as she thought about the magical town., "I'd have loved to participate in that once."

"Maybe when this whole thing is over." Sarah started, "We can vacation in Santoff."

Jackie's heart rose when Sarah said, 'When this whole thing is over' it gave Jackie hope that Sarah would still be around when this was over. More importantly that she was planning to still be around.

"Yeah." Jackie said with a grin, "Yeah maybe, it would be nice to do that once before we started high school."

Sarah laughed and Jackie felt Sarah's arm wrap around her bringing part of the cloak around her. For a moment Jackie saw Sarah's face, happy and warm with only just a twinge of fear. Despite the hurt and anger, she'd felt toward Sarah before, it was nice to see Sarah looking so happy.

"That would be nice. Come on. Let's go, before the fear get's the better of us." Jackie said.

"It's going to be dark." Sarah said, "Do you have a way to see?"

Jackie grinned and pulled out Nightlight's dagger from the pocket of her hoody.

"Ahh." Sarah teased, "I've taught you well."

Before they could enter the cave however, they heard a loud 'Caw!' from above. Both Sarah and Jackie looked up and Sarah reached up with her hand, which Nyx gently landed on.

"What do you think you're doing?" Sarah asked, it was a little odd to see Nyx perched on thin air, but Jackie had also seen much weirder.

Nyx started cawing at Sarah, Jackie didn't understand the words, but she knew Nyx and Sarah long enough to know what Nyx was likely saying, and how Sarah would take it.

Sarah replied, in Nyx's language, given the context, Jackie was quite sure Sarah was trying to tell Nyx to go back home.

But Nyx was refusing. Probably reminding Sarah of the help the Raven provided in the past, (or at least that's what Jackie would have done).

The argument lasted a few minutes, with Sarah being worn down. Jackie half expected Sarah to take the easy way out but instead, she cawed out something in a stern tone, likely something to do with staying put until needed another hiding the bird underneath the invisibility cloak.

"Ready?" Sarah said, sounding exasperated. Jackie was tempted to ask what exactly she and Nyx had said, then decided that they really didn't have time. Jackie nodded, "I'm ready" and with that, they both entered the caves together.