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Chapter 19

I smiled at him. We went a little further into the tide of the river, hand in hand. I was glad to feel the coolness of the water, and realized that I was becoming quite warm from the humidity over the river. Jack seemed to pick up on this, and sent a gentle breeze of cold air in my direction.

"Oh, thanks."

He smiled in return, and we headed back towards the dark shore, wading through the black water. For some reason, I started to recall something that Pitch had said to me, back before I had died. He said that he thought that Jack loved me. That it was the reason why he wanted to kill me, to make Jack suffer. But did he succeed? Did Jack suffer when I died? I hadn't even thought about it until now. I felt selfish. He had to feel loss, which means that Pitch won. I wasn't completely sure though, as I looked at his smiling face. He seemed fine. I felt like it was still my responsibility to find out though.

I waited until we were both sitting in the sand by the shore, looking up at the sliver of the moon. I turned my head slightly at Jack, ready to ask the question. But I couldn't. What if he said no? That he didn't suffer? That would mean that I didn't mean much to him. I didn't want to risk facing that. Instead of speaking, I accidentally started to just look at him without really realizing it. He turned to face me, eyes expecting me to say something. Say it, they seemed to urge. I turned forward to look out across the river, and made my hands into fists burried in the sand. I wanted to know so badly, but was afraid of the answer. I realized that I wanted him to like me. I really was afraid of being alone.

"Um, you ok?"

"Huh? Oh, ya. I'm fine."

He was unconvinced.

"How 'bout you tell me the truth?"

I could hear the joking tone in his voice.

"Well..."

He raised his eyebrows, waiting.

I took a breath. Here we go.

"I... I just want to know. I wanna know if when I died..."

His face changed. I couldn't really tell what emotion was there, but it seemed darker.

"... if you were sad that I was gone."

The question sounded stupid out loud.

He dropped his eyes to the ground, then looked out across the river. They were like stones, impossible to read. There was a void of feeling in them, something strange, especially for Jack. They were always happy, or teasing, or on a rare occassion, sad. There was always something there. I became worried.

"What do you mean, did you feel sad?"

The emotion in him was back.

"Of course I did. I felt much more than sad. It was more like... grief, the worst I've ever experienced."

I fell silent. I hadn't expected that.

His eyes finally shifted to stare into mine. They weren't cheerful. They held pain.

"I had to bury you."

His voice nearly cracked.

"I had to put you in the ground, knife and all, and throw dirt onto you. It was the most horrible thing I've ever done."

He kept his head up, looking at me the entire time. I stared back, my emotions jumbled up inside me. My eyes pricked with tears, until a couple slowly slid down my face. I couldn't help it.

"I'm so sorry Jack."

He dropped his eyes to the ground, but brought them up again.

"Don't apologize for your own death. What matters is that you're back. That I got you back."

He leaned over and wiped my tears off of my face.

"And I'm gonna keep the promise I made you."

I smiled faintly at the last words I heard from him as a human. That we were going to be ok.

I stopped crying, and looked up at the stars above us as Jack put his arm around me. I couldn't help but blush. I leaned my head against his shoulder, and tried to rest.

When I woke, the sky was golden above us.

Jack was on his back beside me, appearing to be asleep. I sat up, shook the sand out of my dress, and stood. I opened my wings, and ruffled them until all of the sand fell out. I looked at Jack, and noticed that he was still fast asleep. I went back over, and sat down beside him. I wondered if his temperature dropped when he was asleep. I gingerly reached my hand out towards his face, and touched it. It wasn't cold,to my surprise. Just... Skin temperature. He must use some kind of energy to stay cold... And using less when he sleeps means he thaws out a bit. I raised my eyebrows in amusement. I began to wonder if he knew.

"Hey, Jack... Jack? Wake up."

His blue eyes opened, and he began to float off the ground, stretching out his arms and legs, arching his back. He yawned, came back down to the ground, and walked over to me.

"Mornin. Haven't slept that well in... Forever."

"Hey, did you know that when you're asleep, you're actually like, skin temperature?"

I quickly covered my mouth.

"And how do you know that?"

"Umm... I uh. Well ya see what happened was-"

"_, what'd you do?"

He raised his eyebrows at me, and began laughing.

"Nothing! I just felt your face, 'cause, uh, you looked like you were sick or something."

"Mhmm. I'll buy that."

"Seriously Jack! That's all I did!"

"Alright, ok. I believe you."

We were both glad to be in a lighter mood compared to the night before. Jack picked up his staff after I changed into a white skirt and shirt. I went barefoot, and he took notice.

"Finally, someone who likes going barefoot."

"Bunny, Sandy and Tooth don't wear shoes either."

"Bunny's a bunny. Sandy has sand for feet. And Tooth has like, feathers to wear or something. You're the only one who can choose to go barefoot."

"And why does that matter?"

"I don't know. 'Cause... I'm just finding things we have in common is all."

"Oh. Well... Besides that, we both fly, are Guardians...and..."

"Come on, we both know there's more than that."

"... Like coffee?"

"Hey! I have an idea! You wanna go for a dunk in the river?"

"No!"

"Then never mention coffee to me again. EVER."

We took off above the river, and decided to follow it to the nearest town. Besides, the area hadn't seen a cold spell in awhile.

While gliding through the humid air, we passed over a boat of men that had all kinds of nets and traps filling the entire boat. Needless to say, they saw neither of us. It was the first time I actually saw someone after moving out to the cabin. I tried waving, forgetting what I was to them. Empty space. My face changed to one of embarrassment and disappointment when I remembered. Jack saw, and put his hand on my shoulder as we flew.

"You ok?"

"Yeah."

"I think we're almost close to a town. I smell something cooking."

I sniffed the air, and smelled something fried. Maybe fried catfish? I had no idea what people ate down this far south. Jack saw banners up ahead, and we both heard music playing. There was a fall fair going on. Jack and I landed just outside the festivities, and spied the source of the smell from earlier. There was a food stand set up, with women running the whole thing. They were handing out trays of fried fish, fries, and other stuff I didn't recognize. I nearly had withdrawal symptoms when I saw the cups of iced sweet tea. I hadn't had that in forever it seemed. Jack and I looked at eachother once, and had a plan.

"Ok, Jack. You distract them-"

"By freezing the register, and blowing the cash everywhere?"

"..."

"What?"

"That's brilliant. Just don't make the old ladies chase after it. And fall. I'm a guardian angel."

"Fine. And you-"

"Grab the goods and hope no one's watching them float away? If they see, we'll accuse little Susie over there of witchcraft."

Jack glanced over to the girl I was pointing to. She waved.

We laughed quietly at ourselves and waved back.

"Alright. Let's do this."

We both nodded, and took off. I went to stand beside the little trays of food, and Jack flew around the opposite side of the booth to freeze the register. Within seconds, I heard the telltale "RING" of the register as the drawer opened, and the shrieks of several women as the cash blew away in the wind, catching everyone's attention. I grabbed the little trays, a cup of sweet tea, and fly away to the top of the ferris wheel, Jack right behind me, both of us laughing hysterically.

The wheel was shut down for now. The operator was on a break apparently, because we watched him hurry to go and watch the concert happening below us. There were a couple guitar players. One acoustic, and another electric. There was even a banjo player. And a bass, a drummer, and a singer. All of the members were guys except for the tambourine player. They started up right away and began playing a song I didn't recognize, probably because it was country. I had never really listened to it up north, but I liked what I was hearing. I looked closer at the singer. He seemed about my age, maybe 18, and had dirty blonde hair framing a handsome face. Very, very nice looking. Without realizing it, I spoke out loud.

"He sure is cute."

"What? Who?"

I turned to face Jack, my face red.

"Uh, no one."

Jack raised one of his eyebrows.

I sighed, then pointed him out.

"That guy, the singer."

Jack peered down at him, then laughed.

"What?"

"He's not your type."

"How do you know what my type is?"

"I don't know. I just know it's not him. He's too... Southern for you. And besides, he can't see you."

"Way to be sensitive."

"Thanks. I really try."

After a moment of silence between us, we laughed. A new song started, and a bunch of people started to dance in a circle, forming a chain of arms all moving and weaving to the music. No one was in the middle though, and Jack grabbed my arm before dragging me down to the dance. We landed in the middle of everything, and no one, except the little kids, noticed us.

Jack grabbed my right hand, held it up to his left, and put his own right hand on my waist. I put my left on his shoulder, and he showed me how to dance. We hopped around the circle, switching our feet to the rhythm, twirling in circles inside the bigger one. It was incredibly fun. The band kept playing for several minutes, and when they finished, it was past noon. Jack and I left the ring of people, and I asked Jack where he had learned to dance like that.

"Back when I was a human, my village would have this annual thing. We would all bring something to eat, and a couple gifts for the kids, usually made out of wood or flowers or weaved grass from what I remember. It was always held in spring, when everything was growing and blooming, just after evergthing had thawed out. We all danced and partied the whole day. It was celebrating the start of the new year."

Another fragment of his human life fell into place in my mind. So far I knew he had a sister, parents, how he died, and that his village held an annual festival. I still wanted to know more though.

"Do you remember where your town was?"

Jack thought for awhile, then answered.

"Well, it was right against the Appalacians. It's called Burgess."

"Oh. What state?"

"Pennsylvania."

"Did you like it?"

"The town? Sure, I guess. There were a lot of good memories made there."

He looked at me as we flew away from the festival, heading to where Sandy told us to meet him.

"Why are you so curious all of a sudden?"

"I'm not sure. It's just that you've never really talked much about it. I guess I'm just curious."

While we were flying, I felt a raindrop hit me right in the eye. I blinked hard, and wiped it away. I looked up, and noticed that the clouds were turning dark gray.

"Let's fly above them."

I followed Jack up through the clouds, holding onto his hand so I wouldn't lose him in the fog. We shot through easily, and emerged above the storm below. Up here, the sun was shining, and the clouds looked white and fluffy. You could never guess what was going on hundreds of feet through the peaceful clouds below.

"What was your best memory?"

Jack grinned a bit as he remembered something.

"I remember, I had this girlfriend. She was so beautiful, and kind. And she loved my little sister too. She would do anything for either of us."

I became interested.

"What was her name?"

"Melody. Melody Harvardson."

Jack looked over at me for a couple seconds, then turned away.

"What?"

"You remind me of her. Same hair color. Same eyes, almost. Yours are a bit darker in my opinion. Your personalities are different though. She was... Loud. Eccentric. You're more subtle. Precise in everything you do. But you have your Melody moments."

I smiled at that. I started to wonder what happened to her when Jack died. Surely he went looking for her.

Jack could guess what I was thinking.

"After I changed, I landed in the first village I saw. No one saw me though. Not a single person. So I was discouraged and surprised, and I left."

He seemed a little saddened when he finished telling me.

He continued on though.

"Back then, I didn't know who I was, or who my family was either. I didn't even remember Melody. When I got my memories back, I realized that the girl who walked right through me as I left... was Melody."

I decided to stay quiet for the rest of the trip.

A/N : What do you think so far? Tell me! :D