Chapter 26

We continue to sit in the dark together in silence. My mind wanders through everything happening. How did I end up here? I remember making the distinct decision to go ice skating that day. The cold air, the pond. And eventually Jack. The shock of his abrupt appearance was comical. I kept thinking, where did this boy come from? And where are his shoes?! I was disbelief at the sight of him, standing there, smirking down at me. I remember his cold hands and the wind he made for me.

"What are you thinking about?"

I'm brought back to the present by his voice.

"Just... The day I saw you for the first time. Do you remember it?"

"Yes. The day I decided to tease a helpless girl on the ice."

His word choice stood out to me.

"Helpless? How so?"

He narrows his eyes in thought, then recalls the day in more detail.

"Well, I couldn't help but notice you flailing around the ice, and I thought to myself-"

He turns and looks at me pointedly.

"-wow! What a helpless girl! Out there! On the ice! Flailing!"

My eyebrows shoot up in embarrassment and shock. I lean towards him and punch him in the arm, pulling back at the last moment a bit to not cause any pain. He responds by shoving me back, and I stand up from the dusty, cold ground.

"What are you-?"

I kick dust onto his hoodie and run away, feet pounding against the dirt, laughing the entire time. I glance back and find that he isn't where he sat before. I think to myself: as soon as I turn around, he'll be right in front of me. Preparing for the inevitable, I swing my face forward while dropping to the dirt, simultaneously evading a flurry of cold air and snow that rushes over my head. It was definitely meant for my face. Jack is above me as I slide forward, looking down in surprise. I shoot away into the night sky, using the pinpoints of stars as a reference for where ground and sky begin and end. It's so dark though, and I can hear Jack laughing loudly behind me. I have seconds until he catches up, and dive downwards. My injured wing protests the pull of the wind and gravity against my muscles, and I give up on that idea. Gliding in defeat, Jack easily finds me in the starlight, his staff resembling a blue glow stick. He smiles at me, only feet away from my left wing, and I see his eyes shine blue beside his staff.

"You seriously think you can outrun me?"

I correct him happily.

"You mean outFLY?"

"Ya, whatever."

I grin at him, feeling victorious.

"And yes, I think I can outfly you."

His eyebrows raise in doubt as a smile plays across his face in the blue glow. I reconsider what I've said.

"Ok, maybe if my wing wasn't hurt. Then I definitely would have beaten you."

The landscape is dark and plain below, but along the horizon, the stars are interrupted by jagged edges.

"Are those... Mountains?"

Jack nods.

"Looks like it."

"Let's go see."

I dive down to pick up speed, putting the pain aside. I really want to beat Jack this time. The ground rushes nearer, and I pull away from it to head for the black mountains ahead. A quick glance over my shoulder shows no sign of Jack, and when I look forward expecting him to be there, he isn't. I hear his laugh though, and he's speeding above me, his staff darkened. The ragged edges of black draw closer, and we both pull up short of the mountain's face. I can feel a breeze coming from somewhere nearby, and it stands out compared to the night air of Arizona. It even smells different. Jack feels it too, and we share an equal look of curiosity before searching for the source of the air current. Jack hollers out to me in the dark, then his staff lights up.

"Hey _! Over here! I found something."

The air seems to be spilling out of a dark cave when Jack directs the light of his staff over the rocky side of the mountain. I immediately hover back several feet. I have a bad history with caves. I met Pitch in one by my cabin, and drowned in another. Jack notices my hesitation, but peers closer into the dim entrance. I draw up beside him, my wing aching badly. Lowering down to the side of the mountain, I look into the cave like Jack. It's cool and inviting compared to the night air of the desert. I can feel the temperature dropping, and not just from Jack's presence. It will be freezing soon, and the cave looks more fun to explore by the second.

I decide that I'll just stay with Jack, and watch out for puddles, and I'll be fine. It's not like Pitch or any of his nightmares would be out here anyways.

I look up to Jack, and he touches down on the ground beside me.

"Wanna look around?"

I nod and watch as he takes the first steps into the cave's mouth. His staff provides enough light to cast abstract shadows from the stalactites and stalagmites that resemble teeth. At the back of my mind, I feel nervous about this cave in particular, but follow Jack through the narrow pathway between the rock walls. We trek along for several minutes, looking for anything interesting. I keep my eyes on his white hair, slightly blue in this lighting, and listen for anything strange. Suddenly, my ears pick up on something behind us. I spin around quickly, eyes wide, but see nothing but darkness and the path we took. When I turn around, my heart leaps into my throat. There are several paths to take in front of me, and none have Jack walking down any of them.

"Jack?"

My echo reaches my ears almost mockingly.

His heartbeat is silent, and I start to worry. I close my eyes, open them and peer down each pathway, searching for the blue glow of his staff. Nothing. But I hear his footsteps fading away quickly, and panic makes my heart flutter.

I need to find him, now.

My feet race across the stone floor of the cave, and down the path with Jack's footsteps. I run, dodging the occasional rock formation, and hear the steps grow louder to my relief. My heart slows down, happy to not be alone in this strange cave. I can see Jack's tall figure ahead, staff in hand and glowing. I quicken my pace to reach him. I'm walking behind him when I notice...

Something is off.

The light isn't the same as before.

But Jack seems to be ok. However, his heartbeat is... different. Slower almost. He could be calm, or relaxed. I push away my uneasy feelings and continue walking behind him. I feel like I should say something.

"So, what are we looking for?"

"Anything interesting, obviously."

His voice is normal enough, but I can feel the trace of annoyance present. It's a little uncharacteristic.

"Oh. Ok. Um, Jack?"

"Yes?"

Again, his voice sounds annoyed, and a little hateful even.

I shift my eyes to his hands. They seem different. Gray even.

"Are you ok?"

"That depends..."

This time, his voice is unsettlingly calm.

He turns around to look at me, and I take a step back from him.

His lips are smirking at me. His stance is intimidating.

His eyes aren't the familiar blue I've known since day one.

They're golden.

I kick down on his knee as hard as I can, hear a crack, and run. I hope it's broken as I tear down the pathway back the way I came. I hope he falls, trips, anything. I can feel terror in my heart, just a trace of it, but fight it away with the thought of open Arizona air. I just need to make it that far. Something yanks on my bad wing, my right one. I know who, but power forward, dragging them along with me, breathing heavily. Seconds later, I sneak a look back and nearly scream.

That is DEFINITELY not Jack.

His mouth is snarled open at me, sharp teeth bared. His hair isn't white, but black, and his skin is all gray. And his eyes motivate me the most to run forward. They are just like Pitch's.

Even more terrifying is the way he pursues me. He doesn't run in rhythm like the real Jack, but limps and jerks awkwardly after me. His knee is dislocated, but he manages to somehow keep pace with me. He reminds me of some kind of monster that should only be existent in movies. His face looks like Jack's though.

I can feel the air change ahead of me, and hope fills my mind. I'm going to make it out. The stars fill my vision as I take the last steps into the air, yanking both wings forward and away from his clutches. The pressure on my wings go away, and I surge forward away from the cave. I turn around cautiously, ready for a fight, but see nothing. My mind is in overdrive, a bad thing, because fear makes my senses overload and the outside world is a loud roar in my ears.

I leap forward when a hand rests on my shoulder. Spinning hysterically, I grip the hand, and prepare to yank the person forward into my fist.

"Hey! What the heck _?!"

I freeze. My eyes widen in the dark, then Jack's blue eyes appear in the glow of his staff. His eyebrows knit together in confusion as he takes in my facial expression. I must look terrified. A sentence manages to form.

"Are you... um... Really you?"

He lightly grasps my wrist and pulls me closer to him in the blue glow.

"Yes. Why wouldn't I be? What's going on? I lost you back there, in the cave."

His skin is cool, and his eyes shine with worry. His heartbeat fills my ears. It has to be him.

"I... I lost you to. I tried to find you again, I swear I did too... but..."

I can feel him searching my face for the answer.

"...but... I found something else. I don't know what, but it looked like you. Just like you. Until it looked at me."

"What do you mean?"

"I think it was, well... Something related to Pitch."

As the words leave my mouth, Jack's eyes widen, then narrow in anger.

"Why does he always have to mess with you? Every time, I swear!"

"Jack."

He raises his hands to his head in frustration and squeezes his eyes shut.

"I mean, can't he just... Just leave you alone?!"

"Jack."

"You're innocent! You've done nothing wrong!"

"Jack!"

I put my hand on his shoulder to get his attention. His eyes snap open and blue peeks out through white bangs.

"Sorry, I'm just... Frustrated."

"I can see that. Look, we're going to find him, Jack, but... We should go see North. And everyone else. They need to know we saw him. Or whatever that thing was."

Jack considers my proposition, then nods in agreement.

"Ok. Come on."

We soar up high into the night air of the desert, made chilly by the absence of the sun. Jack hesitates, finds north, and we take off that way. I glance back at the cave's mouth as we leave the mountains. Blackness stares back. I visibly shudder, and Jack notices, but he doesn't question me any further. He must think it best if I just explain what I saw once in front of everyone when we arrive at North's workshop. I'm grateful though.

As we fly northwards for the Arctic circle, yellow eyes flash through my mind. I could have sworn I was following the real Jack back in that cave. How can Pitch create something so lifelike from his nightmare sand? It doesn't seem possible. But it has to be. And what if I have to face that Jack again, in a fight even? That would be terrifying, especially if that dark Jack fights like the real one, the one who glides on the wind beside me now.

Jack must pick up on my nervousness, and sets a hand on my shoulder as I pump my wings in concentration. The right one still smarts from the ice-nightmare.

"Want to take a break?"

My face takes on a small smile in reaction to his kindness.

"I'm ok. Wouldn't want to hold up our arrival."

In truth, my right wing is starting to feel numb in the corner where the feathers were ripped out. The cold air isn't exactly helping the blood flow either. I conjure up a white aviator jacket to wear over a white sweater. My legs become covered in white jeans, and my feet sport white boots. Jack smirks in my direction.

"Am I making you cold?"

"You? Never."

We share a sarcastic smile.

The feeling starts to return to my injured wing as my body warms up. I blink hard, and feel my eyelashes stick together, as if I was wearing clumpy mascara. Wiping them in annoyance, I laugh to myself when frost and ice comes off. I pointedly raise my eyebrows at Jack.

"Hey, not me."

He eyes betray him though. They shine bright with mischief. Gold flickers in their place for a split second in my mind's eye. I rub my eyes roughly, trying to erase that particular memory. Luckily, Jack thinks I'm just rubbing more ice out of my eyelashes.

The air grows colder by the mile, and soon, we are over the white landscape that surrounds the well disguised workshop. After circling several times, Jack spots the snowy entrance and glides down to it ahead of me. I try to keep up without giving myself too much pain, but fail. My teeth grind together against my will as the wind tugs at the sore spot. I make it though, and land as smoothly as possible beside Jack in front of the giant oak doors. He knocks hard against the wood with his staff, and seconds later, we hear the faint shouts of frustrated yetis muffled by the solid doors. They must know it's Jack. Finally, with a great groaning of hinges, the doors swing outwards, and Jack backs up out of the way. A wall of aggravated yetis stare out across the snow, their furry brows raised in expectation. I step forward, and they all instantly relax as a few rush forward to see me. Then, the one known as Phil picks me up in a warm hug before setting me down softly on the cold ground. He leads me by my hand through the wall of yetis, seeming to forget about Jack. Behind me, I hear him speak up, sarcasm ever evident.

"Good to see you too, Phil."

The yetis take us inside the warm workshop, and lead us to the Globe of Believers. We wait for North there, and the yetis go back to their work after I assure them that I'll keep Jack out of trouble. They wave to me and I wave back. I've always liked them. Then, a herd of elves scurry out to see us. They balance trays of cookies and hot cocoa, and jingle as they dash about. In the distance, I hear North's voice boom out orders to the yetis.

"I already told you, no purple! This isn't Easter, is Christmas!"

Several frustrated groans erupt from the yetis, and some slam their heads into the work tables.

North walks up to Jack and I, his face breaking into a smile upon seeing us. He reaches down to grab the platter of cookies from an elf, unknowingly picking up the elf along with the platter, and offers it to us. The elf jingles as the tray sways.

"Oh, thank you."

I'm never one to turn down free food, especially cookies. Jack hesitates, but takes one also. North grabs three, and puts the tray back down.

"Walk with me."

He leads us around the globe, and through several workstations full of yetis concentrating on their work. I glance around, and see the high vaulted ceiling of the workshop. The memories collide in my mind. The training with weapons, and especially that game of tag with Jack that resulted in a kiss on the cheek. I never gave it much thought until now. How had he taken it?

Before fretting any longer, North opens the doors to his office. We follow him in, and close the doors. Their are ice creations everywhere, and North navigates around them to get to his enormous desk. It matches his personality well. After taking a seat in his equally large chair, he gestures for us to take a seat. My attention is caught by the window behind him that offers a view of the icy landscape. Jack gets my attention by blasting my face with his icy breath. I blink in annoyance, then turn to North. He is smiling to himself, watching Jack and I. I straighten up, and elbow Jack.

"So, what brings you two to my workshop?"

I speak up first.

"Well, last night, Jack and I were out flying after some fighting practice. I got hurt, and we rested in Arizona, in a desert."

North's bushy eyebrows rose at this news.

"You got hurt? How?"

Jack looked sheepishly at me, then explained after looking at North.

"I made some ice versions of the nightmares, and she fought them. One of them got her though, bit her in the wing."

North still looked concerned.

"I'm fine though."

At that moment, I subconsciously twitch my injured wing to get some feeling back into it. It draws the attention of both North and Jack, and they raise their eyebrows at me in question.

"Well, mostly fine. It's a little sore, but I'll be ok."

North seems satisfied with my answer, and Jack seems a little worried still. He was under the impression that it had already healed.

"Um, anyways, we found a cave, and explored it. I- uh, lost Jack somehow. I thought I heard something and turned around, and then I couldn't find him again. Well, I thought I did. I heard him-"

North broke in.

"You heard him? How?"

My face flushed.

"I- I can hear his uh, you know... His heartbeat."

My eyes lower to the floor in embarrassment. North has an all knowing smile on display when I finally look up. I cough and continue.

"So, I thought I found him. I followed him for a minute or so, I think. And then... I asked what we were looking for, and he sounded annoyed when he answered. I thought it was unusual, and then I noticed his hands."

At this point, both Jack and North are looking at me with serious expressions.

"They weren't like Jack's. They were gray. A lot like... well, Pitch's. So I asked if he was ok, and he turned around and said 'That depends...' and I saw his eyes. They were golden, and I kicked down on his knee and ran out."

I left out the eerie part of the chase, where the dark version of Jack stumbled after me, his teeth snarling back and a murderous look in his eyes. Maybe I would tell Jack later, but not right now.

Both of them sat in silence, looking at me, considering what I'd said. North came to a conclusion.

"This was definitely Pitch's doing."

I nod solemnly.

"I will gather the others, and we will all talk. _, will you tell them what you've told me?"

"Of course."

I'm dreading it though. To distract myself, I start fiddling with my hands. North stands up from his chair, walks around the desk, and straight out of the office. Jack stands next, and I follow him as we walk out to the globe together. North has already activated the Northern Lights, and waits patiently in an area similar to a living room. The fireplace is lit, like last time, and there are several chairs and couches in a semicircle facing the fire. I walk over and take a seat on a large red couch, and Jack sits down beside me seconds later to my surprise. He leans towards me and whispers so that North doesn't hear.

"I know you're not telling me something."

I whisper back harshly.

"Not right now. Maybe later. I have some things to sort through, ok?"

"Fine. It's just that... You seem all edgy and it's making me nervous. You never act like this."

"You actually noticed?"

"How could I not? You've been all twitchy about every sound since we got here."

I huff out a breath of air.

"And I can see right through your 'I'm fine' act."

Before I can respond, a hole opens up in front of the fireplace, and Bunny leaps out and lands deftly on the floor. He smiles when he sees me.

"Aye, Sheila!"

I stand from the couch, and he picks me up in a warm, furry hug. He sets me down, and looks over to Jack who remains seated, arms crossed, glaring.

"Aye, Frostbite."

"Hey, Kangaroo."

The boys glare at each other before I turn and see a blur of teal rushing at me. Tooth, probably. I'm embraced and lifted off the ground once again, and hear the hum of wings beside my ears.

"Oh, _! How are you?! I've missed you!"

"Haha, really Tooth? I wouldn't have guessed."

I smile at her, and she let's me out of the tight hug. I shrug my right wing to make the numbness go away.

"So, how's your flying going?"

"Great, actually, thanks to you and Jack."

"Aww, you're too sweet!"

We both turn when jingling fills the room. Sandy stands several feet away, holding an elf by his hat. I run over to him and pick him up in a hug. He pats my back in greeting, and I put him down again.

North walks into the room and greets everyone.

"Hello everyone! I called you all here for important reason. Please, sit."

Everyone takes a seat on a couch or chair, and North stays in front of the fireplace.

"_ needs to tell you all something very important."

His voice sounds more serious, and I can feel everyone's attention directed towards me as I stand and move to the fireplace.

"Hi everybody."

I recount everything that happened in the past night, and got through the description of what I saw in the cave. Everyone seems shocked at the news, except for North and Jack who've already heard it.

Tooth can't sit still any longer and floats up into the air above her seat, Sandy does the same, and Bunny rises to join in the conversation.

"What we need to do is find bloody Pitch before he attacks us, like last time! Right Sandy?"

Sandy nods in agreement with Bunny, and the two look over to Tooth. She considers their plan, then also agrees.

"We should at least know where he is."

Then, North speaks up.

"Yes, yes. We should use all resources on locating Pitch. The sooner we know where he is, the better."

I look over to Jack to see what he thinks. He meets my eyes, and we seem to be thinking the same thing. What happens if this is all part of Pitch's plan? Disperse everyone far and wide, then strike where no one's looking. The Pole.

"Ah-hem."

No one notices me.

Jack slams his staff down onto the floor, sending frost climbing outwards and cold wind biting for everyone's attention.

"Thanks."

I step up to the four guardians in front of me.

"What if this is what Pitch wants? To distract everyone away from the workshop, so it's easier to take over?"

Realization crosses over the faces looking down at me.

"Little one has a point."

North scratches his beard in thought. His blue eyes light up when he comes across a solution.

"What if you and Jack stayed behind here, while Bunny, Tooth and I search for Pitch? I trust you to keep Jack from mischief, yes?"

I consider this option. Together, Jack and I would be fine, as long as Pitch didn't show up himself. Which was a possibility. But, I've been training hard for... Days? Or was it weeks? Either way, my abilities combined with Jack's would at least cause the nightmare king a severe annoyance. There was even the tiny chance that we could beat him without outside help. I decide that watching over things here would be best, especially if the other Guardians could possibly find Pitch. And if anything ever went wrong-

In the corner of my eye, I see the switch that signals the Northern Lights.

"Ok. We'll stay here and watch over things."

I give them my best confident smile, and North seems satisfied with my answer. Jack is mildly annoyed that North wants me to keep him out of "mischief", but agrees to stay behind.