The following morning Demon-Jack was gone and I immediately panicked. I ran from my room, downstairs... To find him sitting in the living room watching... Spongebob. Okay, this was definitely the strangest thing I've ever come across. Demon-Jack was smiling at the tv, his dark eyes glued to it. I peered into the kitchen. My mother and father sat at the table eating their breakfast. My father was dressed for work.

Hesitantly, I walked over to Demon-Jack. When he realised I was there he blushed and turned off the tv. I grinned and sat down next to him. He wasn't so bad. I thought I would hate him, but in the last twenty four hours he has proven himself to be actually not a bad person. Demon. Whatever. The fact was that I didn't mind his company and was glad that he accepted my offer to join with Bribry.

"I've been thinking, okay?" My stomach twisted. Was he thinking about the change he was going to make? Was he having second thoughts? I hoped not. He quirked a brow up at my expression. "Not about changing, or anything. I will change over to your fox. But, I've been thinking about what you guys are going up against. Even if you know who it is, there's little chance you could ever beat him." He really did sound like he meant it, and he also sounded concerned for us.

I frowned at him. "But they've beaten Pitch, and then we've beaten Evil. What's so different about this guy that we wouldn't be able to beat him?"

DJ (cool nickname, am I right?) sighed. "Look, this guy is ancient. He died. He's back. Whatever. But only one person has ever beaten him, and that was his son. He's long gone now." He had Jack's jumper on again and played with the bottom of the jumper nervously. Why was he so afraid? "For one thing, he's an ancient king. Or, well, he was a King. People use to worship– no. Not worship. They feared him. People who know of him still fear him." I knew what he wasn't saying: I fear him.

"Who is it?" I gave him a pleading look. "Please tell me. We have to know what we're up against if we're to have any chance, right?" He nodded slowly. "Then tell me. Please?" I held my breath as I waited for an answer. Could it be so bad? Would I even know who this guy is? I felt scared, and my hands trembled. I balled them into fists, trying hard to control them.

Finally, DJ swallowed. He took a nervous, shaky breath. "Fine. Fine. I'll tell you. But only because I'm actually a nice guy.. For a demon, that is." He smirked– close to an actual smile. "And I want full credit if you actually do end up beating him. Oh! And a monument..."

"Point! Please get to the point!" I intervened before he could go on. I mean, honestly, a monument!? We don't even know what he truly looks like. Ugh. Demons and their cockiness!

He gave me an apologetic look. "Okay. Sorry. I always seem to get sidetracked. Um... Okay." He really did sound nervous. "His name is Balor." He looked at me expectantly. I think he expected me to gasp in fear, or something. But I didn't. I didn't know who this Balor guy was. But I had a feeling I should have been afraid. I knew deep down I was nervous, terrified even. But I couldn't even picture what a guy named Balor would look like. What a... Unique name.

"What was he the king of, might I ask?" I had a feeling that the answer to this question was why I should fear him.

"Fomorians," he replied. "Or what you might call them: giants." I sighed. Of course this guy was the king of giants. Just our bloody luck. "Okay, so the myth goes that they could have been to oppose the gods of ancient Ireland— like those Greek ones. When Balor died, they were slain. They still haven't come back, thankfully." I felt a rush of hope. "But it wasn't even that he was the king of he fomorians that people feared him. It was his eye. Balor of the Evil Eye, they use to call him."

"Um... Why were they afraid of his eye?"

All hope gone. Seriously, I didn't think things could get possibly worse! But from the urgency and fear in DJ's voice, I knew it was as bad as I could imagine, times a million. If the Demon was afraid, I knew I should be terrified. Even though I didn't know who Balor was, I was already scared. A king of ancient Ireland. Someone everyone feared. He made Pitch sound like a butterfly... And I was definitely not deathly terrified of butterflies. But the more DJ talked, the more my stomach felt sick.

"He could kill people just by looking at them." He shrugged his shoulder. It was all fine for him; he was dead anyway. But I wasn't. And I didn't want to die.

"So, we stab him in... Is he some sort of cyclops?" Eye. DJ kept on saying just eye as if he only had one.

"No. He has two." He frowned. "One at the front, and one at the back so no one can sneak up on him."

I threw myself back on the couch. Okay, this was not good. How the hell did his son beat him? I suddenly felt as though there was no luck in the world to get us through this. We were doomed to die to this guy. At least we wouldn't have to deal with the Fomorians. We already had the worst luck in the world without having to deal with them. The odds were like one to a million. Scratch that– a billion.

How do you even beat a guy who can see both ways? Too bad he doesn't have a bad eye, I guess. And even if there was a way, how could we even get to him? One look at us and we drop dead. This was a whole load of... Baloney. I wish I could just talk to Jack, but I didn't want to make the demon feel unwanted... Even if he was, just a little bit. He really didn't seem so bad. I was still a little annoyed that he followed this guys orders and took over Jack. That didn't exactly seem fair. But I guess you can't always get rid of the darkness in you, even if you tried your hardest.

Bribry ran out from the kitchen and jumped up onto my lap. DJ stared at it for a few seconds. He looked deep in thought. I knew what he was thinking about: the transition. It wouldn't be so bad. Sure, I'd be the only one he could talk to besides other foxes. But I wasn't that bad... I hope. Jack's eyes began to flicker a little. I knew he was really thinking about the change now.

"I guess I'm becoming a fox," he mumbled. "Thanks... For not hating me completely, anyway." He smiled at me. A genuine smile. "And when you go to face Balor, know that I'll be on your side, Sophie."

"You're not so bad."

"Ditto. But seriously, if you ever get tired of this guy–" he pointed to himself, meaning Jack "— you should consider your choices." He winked at me and I laughed.

"Can't date my fox," I reminded him. "But... Uh, thanks." Should have I felt flattered to be hit on by a demon? Probably not. "Talk to you... Soon."

Demon Jack grinned at me. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. I saw this haze appear between Jack and Bribry. Bribry pricked his ears up, his eyes closing too. Jack fell back on the couch, and Bribry fell limp on my lap. The haze disappeared and together, both Bribry and Jack opened their eyes. Bribry's were all black. And Jack's were the beautiful shade of icy blue I loved so much.

I reckon black suits him better, Bribry said– demon. It was demon talking to me.

Jack looked disorientated. He rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times. "What am I doing back here? Wasn't I in Ireland?" He smiled at me. "Not that I'm not happy to see you. But seriously, I don't remember flying here– whoa."

I flung my arms around him. This was my Jack. Blue eyed. Not black eyed. "You've been on quite the adventure, Mr Frost." I kissed his cheek and he grinned. He took my hand and gave me a confused look. I then began to explain everything– the demon, Balor, Scathach, Ireland. Why he didn't remember anything. He glanced nervously at Bribry when I told him what had just happened. "He's okay, though. Just a little cocky and sassy. But he's not so bad." I rubbed Bribry's head.

You know, that actually doesn't feel so bad. I think I might enjoy this life.

"I was possessed. By a demon. In Ireland." Jack looked like this was all bothering him so much— I wouldn't be surprised if it was. "I... I can kind of remember. Like, it's on the tip of my tongue but I just can't... Get it out. You know?" I nodded. Of course I knew how he felt. When I first changed into an immortal, I couldn't remember anything about my past life. It was all there in the back of my mind, somewhere, but it was all blurry. Most of it had all come back to me, which was great. But sometimes it made my head hurt, trying to remember.

"Balor." Jack shrugged his shoulders. "Honestly, I have no idea who he is. He sounds powerful though."

Trust me, ice-boy. He is.

"He is," I agreed. I shot Bribry a look and he just cocked his head to the side. "But we have no way of getting to Balor anyway. And we need to return to Ireland. I promised Scathach once we got you fixed that we would go back–"

There was a knock on the door. I sighed and answered it. At the door was Alvern.

"Hey! Is everything okay?" Alvern stepped into my house and rubbed his hands together. It was cold outside. And it felt colder inside here with the look Jack was shooting Alvern. I smiled. He was so jealous. I had no clue of what, though, because Alvern was my friend who now had a thing for Scathach. But it made me feel warm that Jack was jealous because I knew he cared. It was so good to have him back.

"Everything's perfect!" I pointed over to Jack. His face changed to expressionless, and he gave a small wave to Alvern. "Jack's back to normal now!"

Alvern looked to Bribry. "Aw. Gonna miss talking to that guy." Was that sarcasm? "Good to have you back, Jack. It has not been a fun couple of days, I can tell you that much."

"So I've heard." Jack sounded as though he didn't want to talk to Alvern. Either Alvern didn't care, or he didn't notice. "And for the record, of course it wasn't fun. I wasn't really around so, being the guardian of fun, there was a definite lack of fun." Jack looked smugly at Alvern who looked like he wanted to burst out laughing. I did too.

"Okay, Jack." Alvern gave me a look and I shrugged.

"So, any news from that crush of yours, Scathach?" I looked over at Jack when I said the word crush. He looked a little shocked, and then his cheeks turned a little pink.

"No. But since Jack's back to normal, why don't we go over to her now?"

"We might as well try and get this over with."

I'm all for getting it out of the way. I heard that Balor's death ray thing isn't even that sore... I hope.

"I have a lot to tell you all," I told him.

"Well, then, let's not waste any time. Let's go."

Jack stretched and stood up. "I do need a good fly, anyway. It feels like I've been lying down for days!" He sighed. "I'm not in a giant-king mood anyway. So, I don't mind kicking his butt."

"Giant king? Yeah. I reckon you definitely have a lot to tell us."

With that, the three of us, plus Bribry, walked out into the cold morning. I was glad that my parents no longer questioned where I was going, or that I no longer had a curfew– "as long as you stay out of trouble you can do what you want." I liked that new motto of theirs to me.

All I could think about was Balor. What was he truly like? He couldn't be as horrific as I was picturing him, I hope.

And we would have to find the others. They were sure to be close around. They told me they wouldn't go far away in case I needed their help to keep DJ under control. So, I thought of one place I knew their company would be loved: Jamie's house. I'm sure with BenBen and all, they might be a handful, but Jamie always loved having them around. If they were there, I hope to god that they didn't make Pippa's life hectic.

But then again, this was a group of guardians... Who knows what could go wrong with them all? Maybe BenBen might have been entertaining enough to keep them distracted. I had a feeling Mund had a new person to call Anklebiter now.

Jamie. God did I miss him. It's been a while since I've seen him. The last time I saw him I had explained to him about my nightmares. I hadn't had them in days, but they still made me nervous. I wondered what they meant.

Would I find out when I returned to Ireland? Would I find out when we faced Balor?

Things didn't look so bright in my future at the moment.

Hmm... Yeah. :3

I'm tired! :( Please review for more, as always! Every comment and follow is appreciated as always. :D