Seventh chapter
"A believer can't see Tempora?" North said and grunted "not possible!"
"I'm serious, Jamie saw her, but Rose didn't!"
"How can that be? Tempora can be seen, even if the child only believes in one guardian"
"Rose believes in all of you, she still sends you letters, but she can't see Tempora. Could it be maybe it's because she doesn't want to?" Jack asked and North stopped up.
"I have no idea… it never happened before… but why should someone not want to see Tempora? There are no stories about her, so few even know her"
"Rose is Tempora's sister or Temperance Jones' sister"
"Ah! Little Rosalie Jones!" North said and chuckled "ah yes, I know her very well! She writes long letters to me. But not with wishes, but with thanks… she did wish for something I couldn't give two years ago though…"
"I know, she wished to see her sister again, but you can't bring the dead back to life."
"No, no one can, is forbidden you see."
"But Temperance isn't really dead." Jack said and North looked at him.
"Not possible… she drowned, I know this!"
"She is Tempora now, she told me the man in the moon brought her back. Like he did with me!"
"Man in moon? Hmmm…" North said and sat down.
"Do you think it's possible? Can a believer want something so bad from one of the guardians or spirits, that when they don't get it, they simply can't see them?" Jack asked and leaned against his wand.
"Maybe… I think it would be a first though…"
"I think it's wearing Tempe down, she seemed really sad when I saw her a few weeks back"
"Well… I think so too, I mean, look at the weather!"
"The weather?" Jack asked in slight confusion.
"Yes, we're in the beginning of April, but there's still snow everywhere! It even snowed on Easter Sunday!"
"It did? Glad Bunny didn't blame me" Jack said and chuckled.
"Is not good Jack, it means she is not in her Garden, taking care of the weather like she should. It's her only job, to keep track on weather and make sure it changes to right season every three months"
"And she hasn't done that?"
"No… in fact, winter has been quite long for the past three years…"
"That's when she died last time…"
"Last time?" North said and looked at Jack.
"Long story… I think she's more held up in making sure that Rose is still a believer, and she's neglecting her other duties… but her sisters said she hadn't been home for three years… it's weird when you think about it…"
"She can summon her globe at will, but I think you may be right, something must be bothering her a lot. Guess it's time for me to finally visit Seraphina again, it's been quite a while" North got up from his chair and walked out "wanna come too Jack?"
"Sure, why not?" he said and smiled.
"Good, then we'll take the sleigh"
"Just a little question, where exactly is Seraphina's Cave located?"
"Not far from Tooth Palace"
"Figures…" he said and walked with North.
"North! How good it is to see you!" Seraphina said happily and hugged North.
"Seraphina! You look good as ever" North replied and kissed her hand "how's your health?"
"A bit on the bad side, but nothing I can't handle" she replied and smiled "I see Jack is here too"
"Hey Sera" he said and walked inside "I see you've redecorated"
"You been here recently?"
"Yes, Jack has actually been here quite a lot recently. Him and Tempora really get along nicely…" she said and sighed. North looked at her and she gave a weak smile.
"I see…" he said and looked at Jack "anyway, I came to see Tempora. Jack says she's had more than one life, is that right?"
"She has, last one would be her third"
"That is amazing! Manny revive her that many times?"
"He's revived her two times… with my help, since I kinda help with births you know"
"I see… must be hard to be revived"
"It is. She can't remember much from her first life, it's also the reason why the weather has been rather… tedious the last couple of years…"
"I remember that hurricane Katrina, did that just happen or?"
"Well… Night accidently found Tempora's globe and started playing with it… and she may or may not have caused Katrina by accident…"
"And you did nothing to stop her?" Jack asked.
"No… I had no idea how to… Tempora made that globe back when she first became a spirit, so she could make sure that the plains around the world would get the right amount of water. But since there's suddenly so many humans all over the world, tipping the balance of the climate themselves, she's had a bit of trouble. But she still does a good job, considering" she answered with a strict voice. Jack looked ahead and saw the veil.
"Well, we're here…" he said and moved the veil away "Tempora? You here?" he asked and heard someone moan.
"I'm here…" he looked in the direction of the voice and was a bit shocked.
"You look awful…" he told the girl lying in the grass a few feet away.
"Haven't slept the last few weeks since… you know…" she said and rolled onto her back at looked at him.
"I see…"
"Is that really Tempora?" North asked and looked at her "you look dreadful!"
"Santa!" Tempora suddenly lightened up and smiled "I haven't seen you in like… two centuries!" she got up from the ground and ran to him "why are you here?"
"I heard that your sister can't see you? Is that true?" he asked and her smile fainted a bit.
"Yeah… but, I can't understand why that would be… I mean, all her friends, they can see me just fine! So why can't she?!"
"Jamie said it might be because she doesn't want to" Jack said and looked around. The Garden looked different somehow, like it was slowly dying or drying out.
"What? Why not?!"
"Maybe because you haven't heard her prayers. I received a letter not long ago, and I'm sure I sent it here. Rose misses you greatly, she keeps writing, asking me to contact you. At least she did"
"She wrote to you, so that you could tell me I should show myself… why?" Tempora said and walked away "why not just ask me… whisper in the wind like I told her she should do…"
"Well… Rose is a weak child, health wise. Her mother probably held her home most of the time, so she wouldn't get sick"
"She doesn't have a weak health! She ran around with Jamie and the others when you defeated gra- I mean Pitch! And she didn't get sick in the slightest!"
"Then maybe your mom is afraid something might happen to your sister!" Seraphina yelled and thunder sounded in the room. Tempora looked at her and then away.
"I'd make sure nothing would… nothing is going to hurt my sister… not as long as I'm here… it doesn't matter if she can't see me…"
"Sweetheart, I get that you love your sister. But you have to accept, that at one point, every child stops believing. Maybe Rose is one of the early ones. And Jack, I'm not indicating that Jamie is going to stop believing, what I meant was that a lot of children stop believing when they grow… but I have a feeling that Jamie and his friends might have a hard time doing that" she looked at Jack while talking to him.
"You read my mind or something?"
"Something like that, yeah. Now sweetheart" she turned back to Tempora "you just have to show Rose you're there… like that letter you sent her when your parents got separated, remember?" She asked and Tempora looked at her.
"I guess so… I mean… they always argued… mostly about the fact I kept believing in the tooth fairy, long after I'd lost all my teeth… I sent her a letter, every week, telling a story about Tempora… but that won't do now…" she said and crossed her arms "mom… can you leave me alone? I just need to be by myself for the time being…" she said and walked away.
"Sweetheart…" Seraphina said and looked at Jack "could you please go and talk to her?"
"She just said she wanted to be alone"
"I know, but she often does. Please, it doesn't really have to be about anything… just talk to her, please?"
"I think you should do it Jack" North said and Jack looked at them.
"Well… okay I guess" he said and walked after her. North looked at Seraphina with worrying looks.
"The garden's in pretty bad shape, what happen?"
"Dad came and visited last time Jack was here…" she said and walked away "Night and Day said he made her some kind of offer… I have no idea what he would want with her"
"Pitch was here? Why you not say anything?!" North said and she sighed.
"I thought it to be nothing. But given that she hasn't quite made it spring yet… I think she might be considering his offer…"
"What kind of offer?"
"I have no idea. I mean, the globe got a protective charm after the incident with Japan last year… only Tempe would be able to cause such incidents, but she would never do something like that!" Seraphina yelled and looked at North "I'm really worried about her North… her first life is starting to haunt her a lot more than it used to!"
"Haunt her? What you mean?"
"You remember how she would paint pictures of scenes? That was her memories, but all those pictures are worn out and fainted, so she can't use them to remember"
"I do remember those paintings… beautiful" North said and looked at Seraphina "so how much does she remember from her first life?"
"She remembers two things: the day of her death"
"And that boy's face" North said and looked back at the room "and you think the boy is Jack?"
"I can feel it North. I can feel how happy the whole atmosphere in this place changes when she sees him. Plus I saw a picture she drew of him, and I saw her trying to reach him, a mere six months after she died"
"But he couldn't see her?" he asked and she shook her head.
"He couldn't… it was devastating for her. It didn't help that she couldn't save him two months later, when he broke through the ice… if only…" she sighed and sat down on a bunch of branches that appeared beneath her.
"If only what?" North asked and sat down in front of her.
"If only she could remember her real death…"
End of chapter