It's making me delirious, Sophie thought. This whole blizzard thing is making me delirious. She forgot about the cold for a moment as she watched the falling object land with grace and assumed a human form. Or maybe it already had a human form. She wasn't sure. She blinked several times, wondering if she was hallucinating. She glanced upwards and spotted the flying sleigh. It was still there, but was swooping downwards, pulled by the reindeers. Maybe she wasn't hallucinating. But could it really be...?

"Sophie?" The human figure was calling her, nearing her. She could make out who it was, but didn't want to get her hopes up to have them crushed. It could be a hallucination. But when the sleigh landed with a thud on the snow behind her, she knew she wasn't hallucinating.

Despite her situation, a laughed escaped her half-frozen lips. "What luck," she muttered before her voice rose a few octaves. "If that's really you, Jack, at this time, then I must be the new Guardian of Luck." She knew better than to walk towards him, for he was probably as cold as her surroundings.

She noticed a smirk forming on his pale face. "MiM might consider that," he responded, raising his voice over the wind. "But let's put any event of that sort as far away as possible, okay? Get onto the sleigh."

Sophie didn't need to be told twice. She leapt onto the sleigh into her mother's open arms and embraced the bit of warmth there. "Goodness, Sophie, where did you get all these clothes?" Mrs. Bennett noticed, as she realised her daughter was a little bulkier than usual. "Are these from the school?"

Sophie glanced down at the multiple layers she was wearing and gasped. "Oh, I almost forgot!" She turned to face the front, where the reigns were in North's hands. "Get to the school! There are three kids there! My friends... I guess. But what matters is that they need help." She turned to her mother. "The roof might collapse at any moment and crush them. It already has, in one part."

Mrs. Bennett and Jamie exchanged glances. Sophie couldn't tell what they were thinking. "But, do they believe?" Jamie asked, slowly. "If they don't, there's no point! It will be much better to get to the city and the three of us can alert... whoever we need to alert."

Sophie turned to look over her shoulder in the direction of the school, which was where the sleigh was heading towards, but at a very slow pace, unsure which way it should go. She imagined her three classmates, waiting anxiously for her, watching the roof, wondering if she was ever going to return. They could not go out to seek help, they would freeze immediately without their outer garments. How long would it take for the sleigh to get to the city and back to the school? And in such a storm?

"No," Sophie finally said. "Just... get to the school. Get to them. They'll believe."

The sleigh picked up its pace.

#

The roof had not collapsed yet, but from where the sleigh landed, Sophie could hear the ominous thunder-like sounds. She leaped out of the sleigh and tried to make her way to the window in the snowshoes as fast as possible. The three of them spotted her and pushed open the window, their faces lit up. "Sophie!" her friend called. "You're back! But that was fast!"

"Listen," Sophie said, as she reached the window, Jack landing beside her on the snow. "I didn't get help," she confessed. Her friends' faces fell. She was about to elaborate further when the morbid one suddenly broke into a smile and pointed at the winter spirit.

"It's Jack Frost!" he exclaimed, but was instantly silenced by the rumbling sounds. The other two glared daggers at him.

For a moment, Sophie was struck with disbelief. "You actually believe?" she asked.

The student shrugged. "I believe anything," he said, nonchalantly, with a crooked smile.

The other two were confused and it was written clearly on their faces. "Sophie, what's going on? Who's Jack Frost? What's he talking about?" Her friend jerked a thumb over her shoulder at the male student.

Sophie's pulse raced. "Look, you two, for the first time in your life, you have to trust that friend of yours. I couldn't get help because it would take too long. But a form of help came to me. I know this is crazy and it really isn't the time for stuff like this, but I need you to believe in every fairytale creature you've ever heard of..."

Jack raised his eyebrows.

"... especially Jack Frost. And Santa Claus. With his flying sleigh and all." While she spoke, Sophie took off the outerwear she had borrowed and returned them to their owners, who hurriedly pulled them on and prepared to go out through the window as another rumble echoed overhead, the loudest so far. They tumbled into the snow, hurriedly picked themselves up and looked around, searching for a helicopter or something similar, not quite believing in fairytale creatures yet.

"The sleigh! It's there!" the male student exclaimed, pointing at the sleigh and racing towards it, which was hard as he kept tripping and falling. Jack flew over and held out the crooked end of his staff. "Grab on." The other two watched as their friend held on to air and a moment later, was tossed onto something that wasn't there. Sophie grinned slightly.

"What just happened?" the other female student asked, bewildered. She peered into the semi-darkness, trying to make out something, but all she could see were her friend, and two other bulky human figures seated atop... air. She turned to Sophie. "What's going on?"

Before Sophie could answer, the roof of the classroom came down with an almighty crash, mingled with the shocked screams of the three girls standing near the window. Without a second thought, they raced through the snow with difficulty, trying to put as much distance between them and the classroom as they could. Jack frosted the ice ahead of them, allowing them an easy slide to the sleigh. Upon reaching it, Sophie grabbed the edge and clambered onto it, watching her friends' eyes go wide as they saw her. "I'm on Santa's sleigh! No joke!" she yelled down at them.

Her friend looked sickened, but finally nodded, almost to herself. "Fine, they're all real. I mean, Santa's real. Not the magical creatures, though. Maybe Jack Frost is, because of that ice... I don't know! But Santa and his sleigh is." She took a step back, almost slipping on the ice as it materialised before her, real, and as large as life. With a joyful laugh, she climbed in beside Sophie and held her hand out to the other female student. "It's real! I know it's crazy, but it's real! Come on!"

"We haven't got all day, pal! Santa's sleigh doesn't exactly come with a thermostat!" the male student called down, slightly annoyed. With a groan as she realised she was about to believe in something that defied all laws of science, she finally managed to get on.

"Buckle up!" North called to his new passengers, who were squashed amidst the sack of gifts and the other humans in the sleigh. Jack perched on the back as he always did, as the sleigh took off, and cold air blasted in their faces. Burying their faces in each other's jackets, they endured the flight.

I'm sorry North didn't play much of a role in this, when he should be. So sorry. :-( Thanks for reading, and please review!