Pixie Says: OKAY! Hello! I'm itching to post this since it's written and kind of edited (sorry if I missed any typoes...). I know I said I would introduce the antagonist soon like... 7 chapters ago or something, but they're making an appearance in the next chapter (have that one typed up already!). I know I said I would alternate between this one and my Kurapika fic, but maaaaaybe if I get some nice reviews I'll post the next Frost chapter sooner! *shot*
Thanks for the two reviews I got last time, and the faves and follows! Critique is always welcome!
The next morning, Jack was pleasantly surprised to see that Maleya had gotten out of bed a lot earlier than usual. He watched her as she sat up and stretched, her red locks an even bigger mess than they had been before she'd hit the hay.
She popped her medications in her mouth, and Jack furrowed his brows at that. Apart from the fact that she seemed to be constantly tired, there didn't seem to be anything abnormal about her and he still didn't understand what those pills were for.
She got out of bed and grabbed a coat, before stepping outside into her balcony. She was still in her nightdress and shivered constantly, but was too stubborn to put on some pants.
Jack watched her as she lit her morning cigarette, taking deep puffs and exhaling as she looked out and admired the little town of Burgess.
"You really should stop smoking, you know. And on an empty stomach, jeez!" Jack complained, standing beside her and leaning his arms against the railing. He kept quiet for a while, just listening to her smoke and sigh.
"…so much for snow," he thought he heard her mutter, and Jack's head snapped in her direction.
"What was that?" he asked, a grin spreading on his face. "Did someone ask for snow?!"
It felt very out of character for her. She hated the cold, so why would she want snow?
When she was done, he flitted through the door and back into her room before she managed to shut him out. He gave out a sigh of relief when she took her clothes into the bathroom to change. He realized that it was probably because her room was several degrees colder than the en suite due to his presence. He couldn't help a chuckle at that.
Waiting for her to get ready, he decided to go check out the rest of the household. To his surprise, they were all awake and having breakfast together. David waved like a maniac when he spotted the guardian, only to get strange looks from his parents.
"What are you doing, Dave?" his mother asked and David immediately shrunk back.
"Um, saying hello to Jack Frost?" he answered sheepishly, and his dad leaned forward to look out the window.
"But it's too early for snow?" came his father's reply, but when David shrugged, the breakfast continued without another mention of Jack's name.
Ten minutes later, Jack heard Maleya's door shut up above and he moved away from the staircase to give her free access to the kitchen. When she walked past, he felt his eyes bulge in surprise. She was really dressed up for the hike, and her outfit reminded him of some kind of uniform- like a park ranger or something. It kind of suited her.
She called out a very unenthusiastic good morning to her parents, gave David a smile, and then made her way to the living room to get a small red can from one of the drawers.
That had her father laughing. "Really, sweetheart? Bear spray?" Maleya whirled around in response, surprised that her father had seen her.
"Yeah… there aren't too many bears around here," Jack told her, but the only one who heard was David, who chuckled lightly.
"Better safe than sorry," she told him, a small smile on her lips as she stuffed the can into a strap on the backpack she was carrying.
"Are you excited, Dave?" their father asked, and David nodded his head so vigorously that Jack was afraid his spine would snap.
"Mallie said she'd tell us all about tracking!" David explained. "I hope we find bear tracks!"
"I really hope you don't," came a sour reply from Mrs. O'Connor.
"David, is Jamie allergic to anything? Like, peanut butter?" Maleya asked, and Jack followed her with his eyes. She was eating a banana muffin while making sandwiches, probably to pack away for the trip.
"I don't think so. We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at his place, and he ate them," David responded, and Maleya nodded, continuing to slather peanut butter onto the toast. When she was done making her own variant of PB&J sandwiches, she made sure to pack away some baby carrots and three bananas, before storing them all away in a lunch box and stuffing that in her bag.
"Hey Dave, can you ask her why wanted there to be snow, today?" Jack suddenly asked the child, who perked up at the mention of his name.
"Mal, Jack Frost wants to know why you wanted it to snow today," David relayed the message, and both the child and Guardian had to suppress a giggle as they heard the knife clatter against the sink. She turned to stare at David in shock. She hadn't really mentioned that aloud or?
"B-because fresh snow would make tracking easier," she relented, trying not to let that question shake her. "You can't see too many foot prints right now, unless we get to a sandy or muddy area," she explained, and David looked at Jack, silently asking him if that answer was satisfying.
"Well, I'm all about making life easier…" Jack began, a glint in his eyes.
"No way!" David suddenly exclaimed. His parents had begun to clean up the table and paid his crazy imagination little heed.
"Yes way!" came Jack's response. "If it's snow she wants, I don't think anyone else can help her out in that department," he said, giving him a wink.
"But it's only September," David argued. He was excited, but he didn't want his anticipation to cause trouble for anyone.
"I won't do anything too crazy. Just a sprinkle," Jack replied, making sprinkling motions with his fingers.
Maleya was suddenly beside her brother, grabbing a glass of milk from the carton still on the table. "Who're you talking to?"
"Jack Frost," came the reply, as though it was the most obvious thing ever. To Jack's surprise, a small smile was on Maleya's lips at his response.
"Quick, go wash up and get ready. We're leaving in twenty minutes," she told him, and he nodded. He was about to put in his dishes, but she shook her head and assured him she'd take care of it. David gave her a quick peck on the cheek, which she had to bend down to get, and then sprinted up the stairs to his room.
"David, what have I said about running on the stairs!" came Mr. O'Connor's voice. Jack flinched at the scary, booming voice that accompanied this man. But he could already tell that the father was kind and gentle, despite how frightening he sounded.
No, the real question was what was up with Maleya's mother, who acted like her daughter was contaminated with something. She never touched her, she always took three steps away if Maleya came too close, and the one time they made eye contact, a look of disgust was evidently on the older woman's face. Maleya seemed nonchalant to it, and kept going about her morning, ignoring her mother like she was just as invisible as Jack to her.
Jack leaned against his staff and watched the scene with concern on his face. The only time he'd heard the two really socialize, Maleya's mother had been practically yelling at her. Her father seemed a bit more supportive when they were alone, but Jack knew he didn't want to get in between whatever issues mother and daughter were having, and for that, Jack thought he was very wrong.
It didn't escape his notice that the family had, on more occasions than one, eaten meals without the redheaded girl. He sighed in frustration. He wished he could ask someone what had happened, but the only one who could see him was David. The topic felt too harsh to ask a little boy about.
When David came bounding down the steps, wearing warm clothes and holding his waterproof jacket in his arms, Maleya had been lounging in the living room, prepared and waiting. They said their goodbyes after the siblings had put on their shoes, and David showed some consideration to the Winter Spirit by holding the door open long enough for him to slip past.
Maleya held onto her brother's hand, who was skipping happily as they walked to the Bennett household. Jamie was standing on the porch, his mother gushing over him, trying to fix his hat on properly.
"Morning!" David greeted warmly, and Jamie flashed his friend a big grin.
"Good morning, David. Hello, Maleya. Thank you so much again for taking the boys out," Joanna, Jamie's mother, told the girl appreciatively. "Sophie's been a bit under the weather, so she'll be staying home."
"Aw, I hope she gets better soon," Maleya responded as Jamie bounded down the steps towards them. She thought she heard him greet the same Jack Frost that David had claimed to be speaking to earlier, but she didn't dwell on it. "I'll bring Jamie back in time for lunch," Maleya promised, and the woman smiled. She asked Joanna about any allergies Jamie had, just to be sure, and then they were off, walking towards the forest behind their houses.
"I'll go get the sprinklers going," Jack said, giving David and Jamie a wink as they jumped excitedly. Without another word, Jack allowed the wind to lift him higher up to the sky, and he used his shepherd's crook to lightly dust the town with a thin blanket of snow.
It took a few minutes of walking before Maleya stopped, arms spread out and fingers splayed as the snow fell down to the ground.
"Jack Frost is apparently at your service," Jamie laughed, obviously not in the least surprised about the snow. David, on the other hand, was running in wild circles. It was his first time seeing snow, after all, even if it wasn't much.
"SNOW!" He yelled, trying to pick some of it up. The weather was still above zero degrees, so the white in his hands melted away quickly, but that didn't faze him one bit.
"This is nothing! Just wait till he gives us our first snow day!" Jamie boasted cheerily and Maleya shook her head. Should she be worried? They really have a proactive imagination.
"Right. So where do you kids want to go? I was thinking of going over to a lake a few kilometers in, but I'm up for other suggestions," Maleya spoke idly, rubbing her hands together to get rid of the snow. Jack had returned and was a bit disappointed that she wasn't freaking out as much as he'd hoped she would.
"Lake sounds good. We want to look for flying frogs. Right, David?" Jamie asked and David nodded happily, trailing behind his sister.
"Okay, then…" Maleya paused, trying to remember the map she'd looked at before. "This path," she pointed to the right, following one of the forest trails.
The next two hours consisted of a lot of chatter and Jack taking every opportunity to shake trees, causing the light snow to fall on Maleya's exposed head and neck. The first time, she shrieked when the snow fell down her coat, and Jack was impressed to see her keep her swearing under control in front of the kids. Not to mention, she hadn't pulled out a cigarette once.
The kids were always asking questions, and she tried to answer them as best as she could.
"That's a fox," she replied when David had pointed to canid tracks in the already melting snow. "It looks really fresh. We must've just missed it," she continued, and was then bombarded by another question, this time from Jaime, who was pointing at a yellow flower.
"That's a Cow-wheat," she told him, before walking up to the plant and plucking off a seed pod. She opened it up, revealing a clear, white-ish seed in the middle. "See this, here? This is the seed, but it looks like ant eggs. So it's fooling the ants to disperse it," she tried to explain.
"Disperse?" David asked, and Maleya nodded. "Yeah, spread. The ants spread the seeds so they can germinate in new places away from the mother plant," she tried to keep it simple, even though there was so much more to it than that.
"Jack thinks you're a know-it-all," Jamie told her, a playful smirk on his face.
"Well, Jack's probably jealous," was Maleya's reply back, her expression just as playful.
This continued for a while until they got to a clearing and Maleya suggested they have something to eat and drink some hot chocolate she'd packed. She placed her backpack down and the boys made their way to a conveniently placed log that wasn't rotting too much. Jamie was excitedly telling the wide-eyed David what exactly they were looking for. He had brought his magazine along so they could see drawings and supposed photographs of the flying frogs.
She handed them the lunchbox and gave them each a warm cup of hot chocolate from the thermos.
"You guys sit tight for a minute. I'll be right back," she told them, and started making her way to the forest.
"Where're ya going, Mallie?" David asked.
"Bathroom," came Maleya's quick reply, but Jack shot a knowing look in her direction.
"I'll scout ahead for you guys," Jack said, pretending to fly in the opposite direction before circling back to where Maleya was. He didn't want the boys to think he was a pervert.
Prepared to head back immediately if his guess was wrong, he got closer to where Mallie was standing, and chuckled when he saw her pull out her second cigarette for the day.
"How do you even hold up at school?" he asked, tilting his head in wonder at the girl. She had her head bent down, cautiously looking at the snow-dusted ground for something. She looked a bit worried, but he wasn't sure why. There was nothing there. Apparently relieved, she smiled softly.
"Stop thinking about it," she told herself, and Jack cocked his head to the other side.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked curiously, but he didn't get a response. Just as she put the no longer burning cigarette in her trademark ziplock bag, he mischievously dumped a handful of snow down her coat.
She froze up, trying not to yelp and alarm the kids. Looking up, she gave the nearest tree her biggest death glare. Jack was laughing loudly. Shaking her clothes free of the snow, she made her way back to the boys and Jack circled back.
"We're pretty close to the lake," Jack commented. He had seen it while hovering over the trees. That got the boys excited. Maleya smiled uncertainly at their behaviour and took a banana for herself, peeling and eating it slowly.
"Maleya, do you believe in North?" Jamie's question came out of nowhere.
"North?" she asked, taking another bite from her banana.
"Santa," was David's curt explanation. Maleya laughed. Jamie's been rubbing off on him, alright.
"Hmm… I'm not so sure," she replied. "I think I did when I was little," she told them. "Why do you ask?"
"What about Jack Frost?" Jamie asked cautiously and Jack shook his head. "Do you think he's real?"
"Of course, she doesn't. If she did, she would see him," David said out loud, and Maleya tipped her head to the side, her messy bun sliding on her head slightly. Their behaviour was starting to freak her out.
"He wants to meet you, you know," Jamie told her, looking very serious for a little boy.
"I'd like to meet him, too," she said, but her voice sounded unsure.
"Really? Did you hear that, Jack?" Jamie said, and to Maleya, it looked like he was staring pointedly into a particular place in the air. She shivered.
"I think she's just humouring you guys," Jack replied in earnest.
"So, what does he look like?" Maleya asked, trying to make conversation as they continued to finish their food and warm drinks. The rest of the break passed by with the boys describing the Winter Spirit in detail. They were so in sync, that it scared her a bit, but she tried not to think about it too much. Jamie had probably told David the story before. But still, the thought of a spirit, in the shape of a teenage boy no less, following them around constantly was not a comforting one.
When they finished, Maleya cleaned up after them as the boys tried to have an impromptu snowball fight. They ended up simply throwing slush around, narrowly missing the redhead a few times. She laughed with them, before ushering for them to continue.
"I promised your mom we'd be home by lunch, Jamie. If you want to spend some time at the lake looking for flying frogs, we should get going," she told them, and they obliged happily.