A streak of white, blue, and brown rushed by us, winding blowing the snow around in a frenzy. Nicholas, Lizzy, and I all looked up, and what I saw brought tears of joy to my eyes.
Up above us floated none other than Jack Frost, and wrapped tightly in his arms was Jackson, whose eyes were clenched shut and shaking, but safe. Jack smiled down at me shyly.
"Sorry for cutting that so close!" Jack joked. I couldn't help but laugh, shaking the shock from my system.
"Hey, you made it in time didn't you?"
Jackson opened his eyes and looked up at who was holding him in awe.
"Jack Frost?" I could hear my son whisper.
Jack smiled in his usual manner. "The one and only." He replied before lowering down the ground and landing next to me. Jackson was still clinging to him, no longer shaking but smiling up at Jack. Lizzy looked up at Jack.
"Wow! You are real! I never doubted it, but wow! This is so cool!"
Jack grinned and opened his mouth to respond when darkness began to surround us once again. The shadows reached out towards us, and we looked up at the swirling mass of nightmare sand that had gathered around Pitch. The shadow man was frowning coldly. Jack quickly pried Jackson off him and handed him to Lizzy. He lifted off the ground and glared angrily at Pitch.
The Nightmare King looked at him. "Hello again, Jack. I see you've recovered since our last encounter." I thought I saw Jack flinch and back away slightly.
"Do you still have those lovely scars?"
It began to snow lightly, the temperature dropping. I watched from the ground curiously, trying to figure out what that meant. Jack had been attacked by Pitch? When? My gaze dropped, feeling guilt for not knowing.
Pitch chuckled. "No need to answer, boy. I know they're there."
Jack shook his head, trying to calm himself. "What do you want, Pitch?"
The Nightmare King chuckled again. "Isn't it obvious? I thought you were smarter than that, Jack. You haven't put the pieces together yet? Tsk tsk, not very Guardian-like."
Jack simply looked at Pitch, confused. But things were coming together in my head. I started to think aloud.
"The blizzard two years ago, the fight between Jack and I, Nicholas and Jackson almost drowning..." And that new rumor of the "spirit or the lake or whatever that was going throughout the neighborhood. I added in my head. Everything was starting to make sense now. Thinking back, during all of those events, something felt off; unnatural.
Pitch must have been behind it. All of it. He... I looked up at the two immortals, having figured it out. Both were watching me, the Nightmare King keenly listening.
"You've... you've been trying to get me, my family, this whole town to stop believing in Jack Frost. This place, this is his home. And my family, we're like his own...You want him to have no believers like before, to have him be weakened... vulnerable. You want to try and manipulate him."
Jack looked down at me, coming to the same realization himself, it dawning on him what the nightmare king really wished to do to him. I looked back to him; Pitch was smiling.
"Ah, you are smart. But, that is not my end game."
I gulped, hesitating to continue. "You... you either want him to join your side, or you...," I couldn't bring myself to say it. "You want him to disappear, for good."
The Nightmare King grinned and looked at Jack. The immortal spirit was looking down at us, eyebrows clenched together angrily as he looked back at Pitch. He seemed furious, and he still didn't know about what happened back in the blizzard.
"Your old friend here is smart, Jack."
The winter spirit simply lifted his staff into a fighting position, pointing the curve towards the shadow man. Setting Nicholas down, I took Jackson from Lizzy's arms and slowly pushed my children back, putting distance between us and the spirits. Tension filled the air, and I could tell it was about to snap. Pitch looked down at us, smiling evilly.
"Oh look, your friends are afraid of us, Jack. Afraid of you."
Jack's head snapped over to us, and I saw his anger flicker as he started to feel guilty. I held eye contact with him.
"We're not afraid of you, Jack. Don't listen to him; he's just trying to get you to lose focus!"
The immortal teen stared at me, and I could see his expression turn from anger to confusion. I noticed the dark sand swirling around the two spirits, most centering around Jack. Pitch had to be influencing, or trying to influence Jack's thoughts. Worry crept up inside of me. Why wasn't Jack attacking Pitch?
The dark figure was simply standing in the swirling mass of sand, watching Jack as he struggled to believe in what I said. I heard Pitch talking quietly in a seductive tone.
"He's lying, Jack. They don't trust you anymore."
I saw Jack cover his ears, his head lowered as he tried to block out with the nightmare king was saying.
"You're lying… why wouldn't they trust me?"
Pitch grinned. "Because you killed one of them merely two years ago."
Jack's head shot up; shocked. I saw his shoulders sag, and he started to tremble.
The look on Pitch's face was one of satisfaction. "Oh, did you not know that? You do remember that blizzard you caused two years ago, hmm?"
I noticed Jack tighten his grip on his staff and look away from the shadow man. His eyes met with mine, and I couldn't look away.
"Is… is that true?" I nearly missed his whisper; his voice was barely audible.
Sighing, I nodded. He deserved to know the truth. Pain, anger, and guilt all flashed across Jack's face, and temperature dropped at least five degrees.
"How… how old were they?"
I lowered my head, no longer able to hold eye contact as I felt tears start to form. "She… she was two years old."
It started snowing. I saw Jack starting to fade out, the dark sand swirling around him and Pitch chuckled.
"See, Jack? All you do is cause harm to those you care about. They don't want you around. Look at you, you killed a child. A child you were supposed to protect."
The sand was now absorbing into Jack, and I started to panic. The sky around us seemed to get even darker, and Pitch's eyes glowed menacingly as the snow slowly stopped with the wind calming down. I realized what was happening instantly; I straightened up and yelled to Jack.
"Jack! Don't listen to him! It wasn't your fault! You couldn't have known!"
Jack's head turned towards me, but his gaze seemed distant. I clenched my firsts, glaring at Pitch for a moment before refocusing on my friend.
"It was not your fault! It was Pitch! He knew about her, and he made you cause that blizzard! It wasn't your fault, Jack!"
Pitch now had his attention turned towards me, and the shadows were creeping towards the kids and I.
Looking up again, I saw that Jack was clutching his head, eyes shut tight as the wind picked up again. Pitch was trying to get control of him, and he was winning.
I became aware of Lizzy and Nicholas trembling behind me, Jackson shivering in my arms. The shadows were only mere feet away now; I needed to get them home, but I couldn't just leave Jack, not in this state.
I looked up at Pitch in hatred. This is all his doing, and for what? Revenge for us beating him? I thought he had already attempted that, or that's what it sounded like.
"Pitch! What can you possibly gain out of this?" I shouted, "Just making Jack disappear won't make you suddenly more powerful! Why are you doing this?!"
I could literally feel the Nightmare King's eyes glaring into my skull. "Why, you ask?" his voice rang out, calm but powerful. "Why, it's because you and him were the only two things standing in between my success. If hadn't been for you, holding on to belief, and for him, for making you believe, well, the world would be a very different place now, wouldn't it?
"I had a simple, dream, you can say, Jamie Bennett. One that was grand and it was so close, ever so close."
Suddenly, Pitch had appeared next to me, and he leaned down to my ear, and whispered just loud enough for me to hear,
"Why, wouldn't you go after what kept you from your dreams? Everyone who told you that you couldn't do it, that you'd never succeed; they eventually winning?
"Tell me Jamie, wouldn't you do just as I am now?"