Author's Note:

I'm incredibly sorry for the lateness in updating. School's been difficult lately, especially with finals this week, but I'll hopefully be posting a lot more since I have a bit more free time than usual!

Again, criticism is welcome and greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

STS

Chapter 3

"So, Sophie, do you remember what happened last week?"

A week had passed since I had the dream. Jamie, Sophie, and I were in their kitchen coloring with a giant box of Crayola crayons. There were papers scattered everywhere, each with their own array of color splotches, squiggle marks, and random scribbles. Jamie looked up from his drawing to look at me questioningly. Sophie kept her head down, determined to finish her drawing of a giant kangaroo.

"Pitch came in an' you came an' saved us." Sophie said. She stuck out her tongue as she continued coloring.

"Who's Pitch?" I asked, looking between the both of them.

Jamie furrowed his eyebrows. "Don't you remember us telling you? He's the Boogeyman."

"I thought the Boogeyman was just 'the Boogeyman'."

"Nope." Jamie shook his head. "His real name's Pitch Black."

I swallowed, trying to figure out how to word what I wanted to say. "Is he big and scary?" They nodded, so I continued. "What does he look like?"

"Really tall an' really pale an' really dark." Sophie stated. "An' he gots these big yellow eyes." She cupped her hands around face and made her eyes as wide as they could be.

Jamie jumped up from his chair, went over to his craft drawer, and pulled out an array of pictures. He quickly sorted through them and pulled out a particularly black drawing. "He looks like this." He stated.

Hesitating, I took the picture out of his hand. I gasped. Even though it was a child's drawing, it still had a great resemblance to the figure I saw in my dream a week earlier; the one figure that had me scared for Jamie and Sophie. Quickly, I put the picture back on the table face down. Jamie looked up at me, confused.

"Are you okay?" Jamie asked. "You're really pale."

"I'm fine." I told him. Of course I was lying, but I needed to make sure they wouldn't be as scared as I was at the moment. I pushed back my chair and stood up. "I'll be back, I have to go to the bathroom."

"You can't see him unless you believe in him." Jamie said.

I froze and turned around. "What'd you say?"

"You can't see any of them unless you believe. That's why you didn't see him when you came in the room."

"But it's impossible, Jamie." I sputtered. "The Boogeyman's a myth—."

"Is Santa a myth? What about the Easter Bunny? Or the Sandman?"

"Jamie, I don't—."

"You can believe in them, Anna." Jamie coaxed. "I know you can. If anyone, try Jack Frost."

"Jack Frost?" I asked.

"Yup!" Sophie exclaimed. "He in here!"

"Jamie…" I pleaded.

"Try!"

I sighed. Why? Damn it, why? Those were stories that I was told as a child. My parents told me in second grade that they weren't real. Of course, I cried for most of that day, but I moved on like all kids do. There was no way that they could be real now. How could they be? I was never given a sign other than what my parents did to make me believe they were real.

But my dream was so real. And the kids saw both the Pitch person and Jack…oh God…that was Jack Frost. Now it made sense. So if Jamie and Sophie saw them…then…

I inhaled deeply and closed my eyes. Okay. Jack Frost is real. He was in Sophie's room when I left.

I opened my eyes. Instead of two kids, there were three: two in the chair and one teenager, my age, in the air. Of course, I screamed. Jack flew above Jamie and Sophie and put his hand over my mouth before I could react. Jamie was laughing hysterically at my reaction and Sophie was cheering while clapping her hands.

"Jeez, I know it's a bit scary, but could you calm down a bit?" Jack Frost asked.

"B-but if I knew you were… then that means…oh God, I'm going to puke." I put my head in my hands as I sat down back in my chair. Everything was spinning. People just don't appear out of thin air. It's impossible. I'm dreaming again. I'm definitely dreaming again.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Are you going to be okay?" I looked up to see Jack looking down at me, genuinely concerned.

"You're…you're all real." I said. I had originally meant to word it as a question, but I knew the answer already. Jack nodded to confirm my fears. "Then that means…that means that the Pitch guy was really here last week."

"Yeah, he was here." Jack stated, frowning. "I'm guessing they told you?" He looked to Jamie and Sophie, who were running to my side.

I nodded. "And I saw you too, but you were in a dream." He opened his mouth to ask a question, but I cut him off. "Don't ask me how, I don't know."

"I knew you knew something." Jamie declared excitedly.

Suddenly, I thought of something. It was definitely something that I didn't want the two kids to hear. "Can you and Sophie go in the living room? I need to talk to Jack about something."

Jamie looked up at Jack questioningly. Jack nodded his head and motioned for him to leave. The small boy took his sister's hand and reluctantly went to play in the living room. I sighed and looked up at the boy, who was only two inches taller than me.

"What would this Pitch dude want with an eight year old and a four year old?" I asked. "There had to be some reason that he specifically attacked them."

"We're not really sure." Jack stated.

"Are you—wait, who's we?!"

"The Guardians. North, Tooth, Sandy, and Aster." When I gave him a confused look, he explained. "Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman, and the Easter Bunny. We protect the children of the world from any threats."

I took a deep breath, letting it sink in. It wasn't so hard now accepting all this…weird stuff. "Like this Pitch guy?"

"Yup. You know, you can just call him Pitch, since that's his name after all." He commented, chuckling.

"For being a frost boy, you certainly are kind of serious." I said.

"Only when I have to be." Jack said with a twinkle in his eye. He then composed himself. "But, seriously, we need to make sure that they stay safe. We want your help."

"My help?" I laughed. "I'm not sure how well I'm going to do against…Pitch."

"You've done fine so far." Jack stated. "I promise, the Guardians are just a shout away. We just need to make sure that they're safe while we're doing our…duties. All you have to do is what you're doing now."

I looked back into the living room. The two kids were sitting on the carpet, laughing as they played a simple board game of Chutes and Ladders. If I could keep Pitch at bay by just walking into a room, then it should be easy to keep them safe. They were my primary concern. Always.

"I can do it." I said, nodding.

"Thank you so much…uh…"

"Anna." I grinned.

"Jack, but you already knew that." He said with a wink. Quickly, he grasped my shoulders and hugged me. "Thank you so much."

As he pulled away, I gasped. His body was cold, but not freezing cold. I shivered and folded my arms to get warm in my sweatshirt. Flying over to the window, he propped open the pane and yelled as he flew away. "Remember, I'm a shout away!"

I sighed and turned back to the living room. This week's going to be interesting.