Author's Note: So in this chapter the POV changes a lot. And there's even a place where Katie is in the story but it's not from her POV. But it's only in this chapter and it's for a good reason. Anyway I hope you can look past the crappy writing to the hopefully good story beneath it!
A light knocking on my door draws my attention from my book to the pregnant girl standing just inside my room. I look at her for a moment then look back at my book in disinterest. I know what she has to say, I've heard it before. Because this is the part where she comes and apologizes for our argument, but I can always tell she doesn't really mean it. Then she'll ask me to drive her somewhere or go get something for her. It's the way Carter does things. She's angry at you most of the time then when she wants something and is too lazy to do it herself she'll come all humble and shit to try and make it up to you. Pitch's words about not forgiving her instantly flash into my head.
"When she comes in asking for a favor or pretending it didn't happen, tell her. Say you don't forgive her."
"Hey Katie I'm sorry for yelling at you yesterday." She almost sounds convincing. But I still don't look at or say anything to her. She seems a little uncomfortable with being ignored. It doesn't happen often for her. But usually I'm not still angry enough to punch her in the face when she tried to "bridge the gap". Let her say whatever she wants, but I really don't want to hear it and I don't think I'll be listening. "I really wanna make it up to you. If you'll go put gas in the car I'll take us to the mall." I quirk an eyebrow, pretending to be interested. There's always a catch. "I...it's just I don't have gas money and I know you have some money kept aside for emergencies." And there it is. I roll my eyes.
"I don't really wanna go to the mall." I say dismissively. She frowns.
"Well we can go where ever you want." She sounds anything but enthusiastic. A sudden red rage burns in my head. This is just ridiculous. Then I do something I have never done before.
"Carter not ten hours ago you were yelling at me so much that I literally cannot think of something I would rather do than jump off a cliff. I do not want to go anywhere with you and I do not want to give you gas money." I snap. She looks surprised that I would snap at her, but always vying to be dominant in every situation, she glares at me.
"Look I'm going through some really emotional times right now Katie, I obviously don't mean to be so mean!"
"I might buy that if you hadn't been this way all your life!" I shout, snapping my book shut. "Just go away!" I add when she looks about to start yelling again.
"No I wont! You're acting like a little spoiled brat!"
"I'm a spoiled brat? Hello Pot, my name is Kettle. You're black." She scoffs.
"I came in here to say I'm sorry and this is how you're acting?!" She demands.
"You know what Carter I don't buy that you're sorry. But hey maybe I'm wrong and for the first time in your life you feel remorse for reducing someone to an emotional pile of shit! In either case...I DON'T FORGIVE YOU!"
OOOOO
Jack let the wind do all the work as he slowly drifted back to the North Pole. His mind was on Katie. She certainly was a rather unusual kid. But inexplicably beautiful and magnetic. At least she was to him. From what she said, he doubted she liked people her own age much. Which was sad for her, but it made her all the more interesting and inviting to Jack. He wanted to get to know her a little more, which would be easy to do if she was the black dot. North would probably insist they all get to know her and protect her. I mean all the stuff she said about Pitch liking to hang around her...that was spooky.
North had gathered the Guardians to talk about he black dot on the globe. They were all present as the teenage spirit of Winter floated dreamily into North's office, settling into one of his plush armchairs with a heavy sigh. North chuckled to himself, putting down his pen to inquire after the kids odd behavior. If North didn't know better, he'd say Jack was in love! Bunny only rolled his eyes at Jack, but both Tooth and Sandy were as curious as North.
"What's up Jack?" Tooth asked excitedly before North could even ask. Jack let out a long sigh before looking at them.
"I think I found the perfect girl guys. No offense Tooth." Jack said, still starstruck. Tooth giggled, so happy to finally see Jack happy to be offended by his statement. Like a gossip girl, Tooth fluttered right up to Jack's face.
"Who is she? Where is she? How old is she? Can she see you?" She asked rapidly. Jack simply smiled patting Tooth on the head.
"What are you guys up to anyway?"Jack thought it best to hold off on Katie until the black dot subject was brought up.
"North saw a black dot on the globe yesterday. Thought we should take a look." Oh, fancy that. Bunny noticed the look of surprise on the young kids face, but ignored it for the moment. "We haven't seen anything like it in a while. We thought maybe never again." They'd seen it before? Jack was really shocked to hear that. Maybe it wasn't Katie after all!
"What is it?"
"Well Jack we need to explain something to you. It's about Pitch." Tooth said with a frown. Jack sat pin straight at that. Pitch. He'd had just about enough of the Nightmare King. First the trying to take over the world, then haunting Katie, now this whole black dot deal. Jack wished for nothing more than to be able to punch Pitch in the face and lock him underground for good. The Guardians seemed to take his narrowed eyes as encouragement to go on, because North jumped into the conversation then.
"He has sister Jack." Okay. That was so not what Jack was expecting to hear. "Whenever black dot appears on globe, means brother and sister are nearby. The fact that dot has been sustained for long period of time is worrisome to us. We worry Pitch may be trying to hurt sister." North explained briefly.
"Wait, if Pitch has a sister why haven't I heard about her yet? I mean you'd think someone like the Boogeyman's sibling would be a big deal in our line of work."
"She ain't the problem Jack. She hates her brother. Wants him dead. But she usu'lly dies before she can fight him. Then is born different time, different place." Bunny said gruffly.
"He's never found her so quickly." Tooth said, nervously fretting. "Do you think he has some evil plan this time North?"
"I do not know. But Jack looks nervous about something." North observed. Jack was indeed nervous. Sustained contact with Pitch. And undercover immortal. Maybe the sister forgot who she was every time. What if...what if Katie was Pitch's sister! But...it sounded like Pitch and his sib didn't get along well. Katie said her and Pitch were fine, so unless he did have ulterior motives this time...but he couldn't be sure either way. Unless he asked.
"Guys when North noticed the black dot I took off to investigate, to see if I could help out. And well I found this girl! The most amazing girl I've ever met! She's beautiful and smart and she can see me! But she's been seeing Pitch in dreams and when she's awake for nearly a year now!" He explained, giving the bare minimum.
"Wait, you went to look for some unknown dark force alone? Geez Frostbite I thought after the last time you went solo on a mission you would have learned your lesson." Bunny was seriously more upset about Jack going alone to look for a black dot than the situation he just described?
"Bunny!" Tooth admonished. Jack looked so worried. The fairy could only guess he was wondering if the girl he met was Pitch's sister. "Don't worry Jack, the girl of your dreams is not the one we're talking about. She knows who she is every time. And if she knew Pitch knew her whereabouts, she would have definitely contacted us to help her. But when you were there did you see or hear anything suspicious."
"No...I was talking to Katie and then I thought I should come tell you guys that Pitch was hanging around her. I mean shouldn't we be doing something about that?" He stated angrily. Why wasn't anyone listening to him? Katie was being freakin tormented by the Boogeyman and they were still going on about some stupid sister of Pitch. North quirked an eyebrow.
"You like girl." He said, kinda stating the obvious.
"Well...yeah. She was so different than any other girl I've ever met. I don't even know how to accurately describe her, she's just...special." He said with another heavy sigh. Bunny growled slightly, getting a bit annoyed with Jack's cute little crush.
"Jack your sheila has to wait. This battle between Pitch and his sister has carried on for a thousand years. It wont stop until one of them is released from immortality. But if we don't keep tabs on it they could potentially hurt people. We need to go talk to her, make sure she knows the rules." Bunny proposed. Jack sank into his seat with a dejected and angry face. He didn't care about this. He cared about Katie. And he hated that he had to sit by and let Pitch bother her just because of some immortal sister of his.
"Unfortunately Bunny is right. We should go see her." North admitted, then stood to pull on his coat and take one last gulp of hot chocolate. Tooth took the time where they were getting ready to interrogate Jack again.
"So, Katie huh. What's her last name?" She demanded but in a friendly inquisitive way.
"Uh...Stephans I think." The hot chocolate North had been drinking was projected like a high powered squirt gun when Jack said it. They all looked in surprise at the Guardians of Wonder, as he recovered with a little coughing fit.
"O bozhe moi! Jack why didn't you say she was Katie Stephans!" He demanded, suddenly very interested. Jack still looked alarmed by his sudden frantic stunt.
"I didn't know that was important. What's wrong North?" He asked, fear for Katie creeping into his heart.
"Jack Stephans is Pitch's sister's name this time around. Carter Stephans. Did Katie mention a sister when you were talking?" Tooth asked, suddenly all business. Jack's face paled noticeably, if it was even possible for the kid to get whiter.
"Yeah it's what drew me to her in the first place. Her sister was yelling furiously at her and I saw it through her window. She ran away crying. So I went and talked to her about it, as well as other things." They all looked at each other.
"Pitch has been haunting her dreams for a year you said. He must know about Carter, but why hasn't he done anything?" Bunny's question was put to the general public, but no one, not even Sandy, knew what to say. Until,
"She told me about Pitch trying to convince her not to forgive her sister. She said he was trying to make her hate Carter more than she already did for some reason." They all looked worried, but no one really knew why Pitch was making that a goal. Still it couldn't be good if it was Pitch. North hurried the rest of his preparations.
"We must hurry. And let us hope we are not to late." He said loudly to snap them out of it. Jack's heart skipped a beat.
"To late for what?!" He screeched. North wouldn't give him answer so he turned to Tooth, who seemed to understand now what North had already grasped.
"Jack...Pitch may be trying to claim Katie. By making Carter revoke her claim on her sister."
OOOOO
Carter's eyes went wide with a mix of shock and fury. What the hell was wrong with Katie?! Where was all this coming from? She may not be the best sister to Katie, but Katie had never acted this way back before! She was about to reply to the shouted statement, but Katie shuddered and nearly dropped. She broke her fall by steadying herself on her bookshelf, but the younger girl was still dangerously close to falling over. Her eyes were shut tight and she was gripping her throbbing forehead with her free hand. Carter would have rushed forward to see what was wrong but she was still mad as hell at her sister, who was probably faking to avoid her yelling at her even more.
"I know that's not real Katie." She snapped. Katie didn't reply. Her head was still in her hands, her eyes squeezed shut. Something actually genuinely seemed wrong with her. But just before her sympathy would have won her over, Katie straightened back up, still not opening her eyes. Carter put her hands on her hips impatiently, but nearly screamed when her little sister opened her eyes. Golden iris' glowed at her in the place of Katie's normally blue ones. Gold just like...oh no.
"Oh yes, I'm afraid so Carter." Pitch's cold laughter cut the awkward air like a hot knife in butter. Completely destroying any semblance of hope Carter had left that it was a trick. Her brother materialized from black sand, just behind Katie. He lovingly ran his fingers through her brown hair, clutching the girl closer than Carter was comfortable with. But Carter had hoped Katie would never be anywhere near Pitch at all.
"Let her go!" She hissed. Pitch laughed at his naïve little sister. He tilted Katie's face towards his, admiring the new gold of her eyes. It would fade off back to blue soon enough, but for the moment he could enjoy the sight. It was captivating. "I said get your rotten hands off her!"
"For someone so...puffy...you sound awfully fierce. But I don't think I will let her go. Not after I waited so long for her to grow a spine and stand up to you. It was well worth the wait though." He taunted, stroking the girls cheek as Katie simply stared ahead at Carter. She was seeing things differently now. And though the headache that had nearly made her pass out was gone, she still felt dizzy. She didn't even process Pitch standing behind her until she noticed Carter shouting at someone that wasn't her. Which was surprising.
"Katie please listen to me! I know I seem pretty bad right now, but you cant listen to Pitch! Please Katie, come here!" Carter begged, unsuccessfully. Her sister merely quirked an eyebrow and leaned back against the warm body behind her. Pitch smirked, feeling rather accomplished.
"I have to thank you sister. If it weren't for your current placement, I never would have found poor little Katie. And now when I kill you again this time, I'll have someone to celebrate your demise with." Pitch taunted, still holding Katie close. Carter growled through her teeth.
"If you kill me, I'll come back again. You know I will. And I will make you pay for this." She was surprised when Pitch blatantly laughed at her threat.
"Come back? You think you're coming back again?"
"I've come back every other time you've killed me. Brother."
"Ah, but this time is different than the others. And I'll even give you a hint." His gray hand spread out over Katie's stomach, making the girl shiver and Carter look at her own stomach. He was right. She'd never been pregnant in any of her other lives. Her face paled. Oh no.
Pitch summoned a long dagger, gently leaving Katie's side to threateningly approach Carter, who actually looked scared. Just before he was in range to swipe at her, the sound of jingling filled the room. Carter looked relieved, Pitch looked annoyed, and Katie was still pretty oblivious. But Pitch took the girl into his arms before being swallowed up by Nightmare Sand and both disappeared. Carter screamed out a pain filled NO and sank to her knees. Almost exactly a minute later the door to Katie's room burst open and the Guardians rushed in, taking in the sobbing girl and the residue of darkness that lingered from Pitch's visit. North looked at Carter and she looked back, tears in her eyes.
"He's gone." Jack's heart raced in his throat as he looked around, realizing the absence of someone very important. "He took Katie. He took my sister."