A grin sprang to Jack's face. "That's what I like to hear. Let's go!"
This caused Jamie to smile uncontrollably. "Really? Just like that?"
"Yeah, just like that!" The spirit became animated. He hovered into the air as he talked. "You're really gonna love my new place! I kinda lived in Burgess for like 300 years, but y'know since I had to stay away from you the Guardians said I should build my own place. It's so cool it's like this giant castle thing—not as impressive as the Tooth Palace. But—oh! You haven't even seen the Tooth Palace, have you? Or the Warren. Oh my god you haven't been to the North Pole yet! Jamie, North's got these awesome yetis and there's like egg tiki things at Bunnymund's place and oh my god! I've got to show you everything!"
Jamie admitted to himself with a laugh that he missed Jack's excitement. But he appreciated it more now only because he thought Jack looked cute when he got worked up over something.
"Show me your place first." Jamie said up to Jack, who was hovering a few inches above his head.
"Oh yeah!" The spirit reached into his front pocket and pulled out a snow globe.
"Has that been in there the whole time?"
"My pockets are bigger on the inside." Jack chuckled as if laughing at an inside joke he shared with himself. He leaned close to the globe, whispering into the glass. "Ice Palace." With that, he dropped the globe and upon impact, it created a vortex of snow. Jamie saw a bright light in the center, but couldn't quite make out what it was.
"Ready?" Jack grabbed Jamie's hand. And with a nod in response, Jack pulled Jamie as he jumped into the void. "Hold on tight!" He yelled over the howling dimensional wind. Jamie felt the sensation of constant falling and floating over and over again. He tried not to scream, because Jack looked to be enjoying himself. So he only held his hand tighter. He felt like his stomach was twisting inside his skin. He only had a moment to endure the disturbing sensation, because he soon came tumbling out of the vortex. This caused Jamie relief for the half a second before he realized the drop-off zone was about a thousand feet above an ocean.
"Oh, shit!" Jack exclaimed when he heard Jamie scream, remembering at an inconvenient time that the brunette couldn't fly. The Guardian dove down as Jamie fell. He quickly caught Jamie with both arms, one hand clutching his wooden staff behind Jamie's back and the other supporting his legs.
"T-Thanks." Jamie shook in Jack's arms. His hands found their way around the Guardian's neck again.
A cold wind hit their faces as Jack kept them afloat. "No problem. Sorry for the scare. I forgot about the height."
A glint of sunlight caught Jamie's eye and he looked down at the structure below him glowing in the setting sun. "Oh my god…"
A gigantic castle stood on a single island in the middle of a navy blue ocean. It was made of pure ice and each tower stood at least three hundred feet in the air. The tower points were sharp enough to pierce diamonds, which is what the ice appeared to be made of. As Jack zoomed closer to the palace, the intricate details of the ice became clearer. As they landed, Jamie looked down and admired the swirling patterns imbedded in the icy bricks. The design was everywhere. They stepped inside the gigantic double doors made completely out of ice and even the windows and walls were covered in the beautiful frost pattern.
"And this is… All ice?" Jamie asked the obvious question as he ran his hand across an icy tapestry, the design glowing softly against the clear substance.
"Yup. Made it all myself."
"Wow." Jamie whispered, wide-eyed. "Is… is this real fire?!"
"Yeah." Jack sauntered along with Jamie as the brunette stared at a torch suspended on the wall.
"But—it should be melting the ice oh my god how did you do that?!"
"Magic?" Jack snapped his fingers, producing a snowflake out of thin air as demonstration.
"Yeah, but… wow! And—I can't see through the walls or floor! And I'm not slipping! It's like… It's ice, but, like, not really… And it's not even cold!" Jamie hadn't felt this excited in years.
Jack didn't resist the smile that Jamie caused on his lips. "Oh, I told the Ice Imps to start the Furnace up, since I knew you'd be coming."
"Ice Imps?" Jamie turned to the Guardian.
"Yup! Wait here." Jack flew around the corner, returning a second later holding what appeared to be a snowball in his right palm. He extended his hand to show Jamie the cylindrical lump of snow. Jamie's smile widened when he saw the small limbs sticking from the ball. The snow was round and appeared to look up at Jamie despite not having a face. It wore a tiny blue hat etched with more white frost designs.
"Ice Imp." Jack handed the creature to Jamie, who held it in awe. It squirmed in his hand and Jamie nearly dropped it. It was freezing cold and its surface felt like it was emitting a sort of static electricity. "Made them myself." The Guardian announced. "There's a little more than two hundred of them here. I figured, since Tooth has all the fairies and North has the elves, I should have some little slaves around, too."
Jamie giggled as the Ice Imp managed to squirm out of his hand and land on the floor. It scurried off into another room, its little feet scraping along the iced surface. "The Tooth Fairy has slaves?" He asked.
"Oh, well. Kinda...Actually, no not really..." Jack realized what he had said and his pale face offered a hint of color in his cheeks. "But my Ice Imps do all the cooking and cleaning and stuff for me, so I guess I'm really the only one who...has...slaves..." Jack rubbed the back of his neck. "But they don't have a consciousness. They're literally just walking balls of snow and ice that I magically programmed to do work. So they're kinda just like... robot servants." The Guardian nodded to himself, satisfied with his conclusion.
"Robot servants made of ice and adorable as hell." Jamie grinned, glancing in the direction the Imp had dashed off to. A faint glow reflected off the icy floor and Jamie suspected there might be a fireplace in the next room.
"Yeah, I'm pretty proud of them." Jack wore an adorably humble expression that Jamie noticed immediately. "So... are you hungry, or?"
"Oh," Jamie was suddenly reminded of the empty feeling in his stomach. "Yeah, kinda. What time even is it?" The dark sky outside surprised him.
"I dunno." Jack shrugged. "We went through a portal and time gets a little warped coming through there... I'd say it's just about eight."Jack smiled and flew over to the entrance to the other room. He placed his feet on the ground and dramatically gestured to the door. "Join me for dinner?"
"Of course." Jamie responded. He stepped through the door and was amazed by what he saw.
The dining room contained a long, elegant ice table with a blue tablecloth covered in swirling frost designs. A chandelier made of cut ice hung above them, supporting wax candles that burned but didn't melt. Elegant navy blue curtains hung along the windows that stretched from ceiling to floor and displayed the constellations appearing in the darkening sky. A stained-glass window perched above an ice hearth outlined the images of the five Guardians. The simplistic figures of Jack Frost, the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, the Sandman, and the Easter Bunny stood proudly above the mantle. Jamie admired the glass, noting the colors that defined the outlines of each spirit. Green and pink shards of glass made up the image of Tooth. The red and white outlined North. A bluish gray and white defined Bunnymund. Yellow and gold were there for Sandy. And Jack's colors matched the rest of the room; crisp white and a cold blue.
Jamie stared at the colored glass for a while, taking in the images of the creatures he hadn't seen for years. If a stranger were to see the window, they might be completely sure that spirits so beautiful couldn't possibly exist. That their glory could only be displayed through art and glasswork. Jamie knew otherwise, of course, and was certain each of the Guardians was even more magnificent in real life.
They sat together. Jack at the head of the table and Jamie to his right. Jack went on about the magnificence of the North Pole, Tooth Palace, and Warren. Jamie listened and felt more excitement with every detail the Guardian mentioned. They ate the food brought to them by the Imps on ice platters.
"Aren't you immortal? I thought you didn't need to eat." Jamie mentioned as he took a bite of the pheasant on his plate. He'd never tasted meat so delectable.
"Just because I don't need to doesn't mean I don't want to." Jack replied, pouring more gravy over his bird. "Food is delicious. As soon as I built this place, I knew the first thing I wanted was a well-stocked kitchen and to eat the most amazing food forever. And since I don't gain weight or feel full anymore, I can eat as much as I want."
"Anymore?" Jamie picked up.
"Oh," Jack's face fell for a millisecond. "Yeah. I used to, like, need to eat... when I was human."
The news shocked Jamie. "You were a human? When?" Jamie hadn't really thought of Jack being anything besides a Guardian.
"Like, three hundred years. Give or take a few decades." Jack replied with a small laugh.
"Did you have a family?"
Jamie's question stung Jack. "Yeah… Yeah I had a mom and a sister…" As the years went by after Jack had regained his memories, he began over thinking the life that continued after he drowned. His sister thought he was dead. She'd seen him fall into the unstable ice and screamed his name. After that, Jack suspected she must have cried when she realized that her big brother had died and it was because of her. Jack wished he could believe that she never blamed herself, but he knew she must have felt guilt for a long time afterwards.
Jack thought of how often he had wandered around Burgess three hundred years ago. How he must have seen his sister, passed by her on the streets, and not known who she was. Year after year she grew without her brother until she eventually passed on as well. It pained him but a part of him was glad he'd lost his memories back then. Because if he'd known who she was, Jack would never have left her side. He'd become an invisible observer of her life, and he wouldn't be able to aid her in any of her struggles. He'd be there, watching and hurting as she died in front of his eyes. As she withered and aged, he'd remain the same. Such is the terrible truth of immortality; everyone you've ever loved must, in the end, die without you. Jack hadn't stopped thinking about his sister for seven years, and each day he'd become frustrated at his helplessness. He could do nothing but look back and regret ever taking his sister out ice skating.
whoops not really where i wanted to leave this off but if i finished the chapter where i wanted to, it'd be like 15 pages long oops. anyway chapter 5 might be up sooner rather than later *fingers crossed*
again; love you all. good night.