"Pssst!"

The relative quiet of the third grade classroom was disturbed by the whispering of two students sneaking glances at the teacher's desk. It was Reading Time, but one little third grader was neglecting her reading duties to share some very important information.

There was a chance of snow on the horizon, which, okay, wasn't that unusual in the small Pennsylvanian town of Burgess, but still. They had one shot at a snow day, and no third grader could imagine anything better (except for Matthew B. who had just moved there from Kentucky and didn't like snow that much, but he didn't count).

The source of the whispering was Amy Nowak, red-headed master of spreading messages unnoticed. She had an expert system of whispering to the other kids during reading time, because even though it was so quiet you might be heard, there was a book to hide behind, and the teachers would never know who was talking. She used to spread the word at recess, but the teachers made her stay in for gossiping.

Teachers were so ridiculous sometimes. Nobody needed to be told that Alice wasn't invited to Viviana's birthday party, or that Thomas had a pack of gum and would give you a piece if you let him use your markers.

Amy had gone to school practically bursting with excitement that day. The weatherman had said there would be a few inches of snow, and with some planning and a little luck, those inches could turn into a blizzard and cancel school! Amy's older sister, Lillian, was in the fifth grade and promised to spread the word too. Between the two grades, the whole school would know by the end of the day. Maybe even the middle school! The high school! Everyone would know!

"And that'll work?' Matthew W. (the one originally from Burgess) whispered back in amazement.

Raising her book a little higher to aim her words at him, Amy whispered, "Yeah! But we gotta get a ton of people to do it, or else it won't be enough."

Looking a little apprehensive, Matthew W. leaned forwards to pass the message to Alice, who sat in front of him. Amy grinned. This was gonna be awesome.

Fifth-grader Jamie Bennett was almost hit by a basketball in his surprise. "What?" he asked. Lillian wasn't… serious about this, was she?

"Yeah!" She tossed her own basketball towards the net vigorously. It missed and she raced off, leaving Jamie unable to question her further. He watched as she darted up to Monty, the only one of his friends in his class, no doubt telling him the same insane story.

Monty pushed his glasses up his nose and dropped his own basketball in the process. He fumbled for it, and in that instant Lillian left to target someone else. He wandered over, ignoring the ball that bounced and squeaked on the gym floors.

"She tell you too?" Jamie asked.

"…Yeah?" Monty blinked. "Is that… actually a thing?

"I don't think so?"

They stared at each other until the gym teacher hollered at them to play some ball. Reluctantly, Jamie passed his ball to Monty and they took turns trying to shoot hoops. They were… not good at it.

"Well, has Jack said anything about it?"

Jamie shook his head. "I've never heard anything like it. And, I mean," the ball he'd thrown bounced off the backboard right into his hands. "It seems like the kind of thing I would've heard about, you know?"

Monty nodded, pushing his bangs out of his face. "You've got all that supernatural research under your bed."

Jamie's face heated up, but he didn't correct the other. He'd dragged Monty out to search for bigfoot on more than one occasion after all; he could say whatever he wanted. "I guess we ask Jack about it when he stops by tomorrow?"

Monty's grin near split his face. "Jack's coming over tomorrow?"

"It's gonna be a snow day, isn't it?"

Monty pumped his fist. "Alright!" He threw the ball at the basket with all his might, somehow getting it in before he was knocked over by the very ball that had just given him the great victory.

January was, in Jamie's extremely correct opinion, the best month. Sure, the teachers wanted to rush students through their work waaaaaaay faster than they usually did, but that was only because reports were due soon. Pippa's dad was a teacher, and she said he said that report cards made him want to tear the rest of his hair out, which was kinda silly because Jamie had never once seen Pippa's dad with any hair.

Anyways.

There was less sunlight in January, and everyone knows that spooky things happen more often after dark. Even though Jamie now knew for sure that all sorts of things and supernatural creatures existed, it was just so much fun to investigate. The rest of the year he could scour the internet and pull together theories about cornfield ghosts and fairy circles, but January was the time to look.

Unfortunately, he was confined to Burgess, so mostly he just wandered around Jackson Pond and tried to catch the ghost that was supposed to live there.

And so the second reason that January was the best appeared: Jack Frost. He came around all the time in the colder months, dumping snow over the town and giving everyone a much-needed excuse to stay off the roads and inside with mugs of hot chocolate.

That particular evening, Claude had called a meeting. After last year's… adventure, the six of them formed a secret club, which Jamie was allowed to name the "Burgess Believer's Club." The club was really just a reason to hang out, but they all agreed it felt important that it exist. It was a strange combination of never wanting to forget while simultaneously blocking out certain aspects of the night.

Claude didn't usually call meetings, though.

The air was solemn in the clubhouse (which was actually Cupcake's room) by the time Jamie got there, sort of still in a way that felt kinda… adult. He settled in place next to Monty, waiting for Claude (and Caleb, by extension) to show up. When they came, Claude's face was a perfect picture of smug joy—not too unusual, but interesting nonetheless.

"I," he announced, "am a genius."

Jamie blinked. "Okay," he agreed without hesitation. "Why?"

Claude made them all lean in, like they weren't already in a private space. In a stage whisper, he asked them if they'd heard about the rumor going around school today.

Monty and Jamie had, and so had Cupcake and Pippa.

"What rumor?"

Claude whipped around to face Caleb. "You didn't hear?"

Caleb pulled his hat down a little further over his forehead. "It's not my fault I'm not in your guys' classes," he complained. "What's the rumor?"

"You know how tomorrow's gonna be a snow day?" Monty asked. They'd all gotten pretty good at figuring out when it would be a Snow Day, as opposed to a day that was snowy. Call it a gift. Call it a friendship with a winter… spirit, person. Whatever. They all knew, one way or another. Monty nervously pushed his glasses up his nose with one finger. "…I don't wanna say it. It sounds silly."

"Someone's been going around saying that if you want a snow day, you have to wear your pajamas inside-out, put a spoon under your pillow, put a crayon in the freezer, and flush three ice cubes down the toilet."

Everyone looked at Pippa. "What?" she demanded. "That's what I heard. What… what did you guys hear?"

Faintly, Monty said "Just the spoon thing."

Claude nodded. "Yeah, just the spoon thing. All that other stuff is from Ariana, and she's from Wisconsin, so you can't really trust that."

"But you can trust a spoon under your pillow to bring a snow day? How does that make more sense?"

The lot of them descended into good-natured bickering for all of thirty-seven seconds before Cupcake cut them all off. "We are believers," she said seriously. "Maybe it does work. We can just ask Jack, anyways."

Had anyone else said that, it might have sounded scolding; perhaps even joking. But Cupcake was, in general, a pretty serious person—being openly herself had toughened her up when other kids tried to poke at her for it—so it was a little closer to threatening. Settling back down, Monty turned to Claude.

"You didn't just want us to hear about it, did you?"

Claude's grin was back. "No, duh," he said. "I'm a total genius. Listen. Whether the spoon thing is true or not doesn't matter—though I'm totally doing it. We can use this to tell people about Jack!"

Monty, Pippa, Claude, Cupcake, and even Jamie exchanged worried looks. Though Jamie had been all for sharing the truth of the Guardians' existence, everyone else—mostly Cupcake—had talked him out if it. It was normal for him to tell stories about urban legends and myths; it was normal for Jamie to believe the way he did, because Jamie had always been that way. The other kids… not so much. Caleb, Claude, and Pippa had already been "over" believing in things like Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy. If they started talking like it was real… even ignoring some of the nastier kids at school, they were all a little afraid of what their parents might think. Monty was a nerd, so he was allowed to talk about ghosts, but fairytales? Kid's stories? No way. And Cupcake had already been ridiculed enough.

The day immediately after the boogeyman's attack she'd told the five of them that they could never tell anyone what they'd seen. Jamie, of course, was outraged—"he's never been seen by anyone before, c'mon, we can help them!"—but he came around.

"No one will believe us," Cupcake had said. "We can't just… say stuff like that. Not without proof."

Though the conversation continued, that was the gist of it. Of course, that left out the part where Jamie furiously pointed to damaged streetlamps, cars, and strange icy sculptures as proof; and the part where Pippa, ever-practical, said that they'd get blamed for the damage, probably. It also left out the part where Monty said that they could get pegged as crazy and sent off to a government facility, and how were they meant to help from there?

Understandably, they were all a little confused by Claude's statement. He'd been a supporter of the whole not-telling-anyone-what-happened-to-us thing.

"Guys, guys, listen. I got a plan. Jamie, you're our resident legend guy. You can say you did research into the spoon thing and traced it back to Jack Frost. We all know there'll be a snow day, so within a few days? BOOM, more people know about Jack." He leaned back against Cupcake's wall, satisfied.

There was a long pause. "Yeah, okay," Cupcake said eventually, and that was that.

None of the Burgess Believers were surprised to wake up to a good extra foot of snow. Jack must have gone all in, because the roads were iced up unpredictably—just to keep those who braved the roads on their toes. Jamie's mom complained about it, but the power was still on and she got the day off work so she was mostly just annoyed by the change in routine. Jamie knew she enjoyed it anyways; she made hot chocolate with aaaaaaall the fixings.

It was gonna be a great day.

As soon as he was able (two layers of gloves, puffy snowpants and thick ski socks), Jamie hit the town—and by town, he meant the yard. Sled propped up against the fence, he set about building a magnificent fortress. He was maybe ten minutes in, cheeks flushed and eyes beginning to sting, when the others began to show up.

"Jamie Bennett, we were supposed to start together!" Pippa hollered, hopping through the snow. As long as he'd known her, Pippa liked to call people by their full names when she was upset. Her dad did the same thing.

"You should've been faster," he laughed back.

She huffed. "Just for that, you can't be on my team!" She began laying out the groundwork for her own fort—away from his.

Jamie sped up—Pippa had the best, most impenetrable forts. It was a tactical loss, but one he was willing to lose for the head start he got.

Caleb came careening over, thumping him solidly on the back. "I'm with Jamie!"

"Be prepared to lose," Claude jeered. Claude liked to be on Pippa's team because he always neglected to wear a hat, which made him a prime target for headshots of snow that would explode all over him and get down the back of his coat. This arrangement was fine by Pippa, because he was a speedy snowball maker.

"That's what you think!" Caleb hollered.

Monty wisely decided he didn't want to be without Pippa's castle fortress and chose to shore up the foundations. He was bundled up snugly—Jamie counted three scarves, and he was bound to have heat packs and another pair of gloves under his mittens.

Cupcake, who had an incredible tolerance for the cold, wore only one coat and chose to work with Caleb and Jamie. With the teams set, the kids were off.

That was how Jack found them half an hour later—frantically reinforcing forts and trying to steal snow from the other team's side. Cupcake was carefully placing icicles around their fort like stakes, and Jack whistled in appreciation.

"Jack!" they all yelled over one another.

"How are-"

"Did you-"

"Look what I-"

"START GAME!" Caleb hollered and chucked a snowball at a lamp post— someone else might have considered it a waste of ammunition, but Jamie thought it was just right for the spirit of the day. And so the fight went:

Cupcake, chucking massive snowballs over the wall of their fort; Caleb, running around like a maniac as a distraction; and Jamie (who found himself quite clever) with his sled in hand as a makeshift shield sneaking up on enemy lines.

Claude, scrambling around the snow to make more ammunition; Pippa and her ever-present hat making a good attempt at a snowball slingshot; and Monty (who had very little coordination but lots of enthusiasm) throwing snowballs blindly because his mom told him to take his glasses off when playing in the snow.

The thing about Jack is that he was worryingly good at fading into the background. Oh sure, they all noticed him, but he had a way of participating by encouraging—whipping up a few extra snowballs, stealing gloves and putting them in the other team's fort like some kind of capture the flag game, and blowing the snow around to obscure everyone's vision for a second or two. It would've been so easy for them to all team up against him, but he liked it best when they played with each other.

Jack didn't know that the Believers had also pinky promised not to team up against Jack because he'd totally cream them.

Like all good snowball fights, it ended with most everyone sprawled out in pillowy mounds of snow too light for packing. The fortresses were in ruins (though Pippa's slightly more intact), and no one could say for sure who won. Monty put his glasses back on and observed the carnage.

"Wow," he said. "It still looks like a mess."

Pippa giggled. "And we never ever have to clean it! That's what's so great about snow," she flopped back, spread eagle on the ground. "You can put it wherever you want and it doesn't even matter."

Jack joined her in the snow and immediately began making a snow angel. "Glad someone appreciate all my hard work."

"You said it's all fun, though," Jamie said. "You don't work."

Caleb moved to stretch out on the ground too. "Work can be fun," he disagreed. "Otherwise, like, what's even the point at all?"

"Bingo!"

Within seconds they were all on the ground, admiring the pale gray clouds. Jamie's cheeks stung in the best way and he knew his nose was gonna run when he went inside, but it was so worth it to just stay outside a little longer. Besides, there'd be hot chocolate later, and he liked to sip it by the spoonful to really make it last.

Hey, wait. Spoons!

He shot up. "Jack! What do you know about spoons?"

"Nooooo."

"C'mon, man."

"You're actually asking?"

"Ask me what?" Jack asked, frowning a little.

Jamie puffed up. "Someone at school said if you put a spoon under your pillow, you'll get a snow day." At Jack's offended stare, he quickly amended "We know it's you, but um… we just wondered if it was true at all?"

"Like the Tooth Fairy," Cupcake helpfully added. "She always knows where there's teeth."

"I do what I want, when I want," Jack said. It was starting to snow again, but the flakes were tiny and sparse so he was probably more confused than upset.

"Yeah, but can you tell? When people want a snow day, can you tell?"

Jack reached out and poked Caleb's nose without looking. "I do what I want, when I want," he repeated. Absentmindedly, he drew snowflake patterns in the air. "I guess some places seem more right than others, but I figured they were just due for some snow."

Jamie yawned. Playing in the snow was great, but man was it exhausting. All the layers he had on were weighing him down, and the drop in energy was accompanied by the desire to just lay out here forever. "I'm gonna tell the kids at school the spoons call on you," he said. "Like… like when you leave cakes out to get fairies to come to your yard."

"I've never heard that."

"S'true. Fairies like cake."

"But why would you want fairies in your yard-"

"Hey kids! Come on inside before you freeze."

At the call from Jamie's mom, all the kids groaned and started to get up, brushing snow off their hats and flexing their fingers to try and get some warmth in them. Jack was quiet as they said goodbye, though he grinned and waved. Jamie hung back. "Do you not want me to say that?"

Jack blinked, and his face relaxed. "You can say whatever you want. Just know," he said, fake-serious (or maybe real-serious. They both looked kind of the same), "if enough kids believe it, it might just become true."

Behind a copy of Magic Treehouse: Lions at Lunchtime, redheaded Amy Nowak was grinning. She had new information to share, and it was great. Lillian said that someone in her class said that putting a spoon under your pillow told Jack Frost they needed a snow day, and whoever Lillian heard it from was an expert in these kinds of things, so it was definitely true. You needed a lot of people to do it though, because Jack Frost got distracted sometimes, and was bad at listening.

"Matthew," she whispered, artfully turning a page to mask the sound. "Guess what I heard…"

Matthew W. sighed, but obediently passed the message on. Amy snuck a glance outside, where the remains of last week's snow day were being covered by a new layer of fluff. Awesome.

"Amy, reading?"

At the reprimand from her teacher, Amy turned her eyes back to her book. Weird. She thought she'd seen one of the high schoolers balancing, barefoot, on the stair rail outside.

Something about them asking Jack how he decides where to snow day etc and them telling others abt it. end with little kid from first scene catching a glimpse of him.