I suppose it suffices to say that when I woke up I was in a crappy mood. After having a crazy dream about dying, coming back to life, and meeting a bunch of... strange characters, I was almost grateful that I had school to take my mind off of it. Six and a half straight hours of nothing but studying, taking tests, and talking about the history of Halloween. I sat up from my bed and stretched out my arms, not really wanting to open my eyes but not wanting to dwell on the dream any longer.

"Well look who's awake!" a deep Russian voice chuckled, and I groaned. Not a dream? Come on!

"Yeah, I'm up," I growled at him, "Now where the hell am I?"

"The North Pole," he smiled, leaning back and stroking his beard.

I felt my eyes widen against their will. "Where?"

"The. North. Pole!" the man said a bit louder.

I collapsed in the bed I was lying in, letting my brain absorb what he'd just said. "So you're Santa Claus?"

"My real name is Nicholas St. North, but yes."

"Holy hell!" I muttered, jumping from the bed. "So that rabbit? That was the Easter Bunny? And that boy-"

"Jack Frost," Santa explained, standing along with me. I opened my mouth to say that I'd never heard of him, but a familiar laugh cut me off. Candy!

I raced from the room, following the sound of my sister's voice. "But I thought-" she began, but another voice cut her off, one that froze me in my tracks.

"That the elves made the toys? I said the same thing," Jack Frost was laughing with her now.

Well, time to break that up, I thought, mentally glaring at the boy I couldn't see. "Hey, Candy!" I called out, my voice echoing throughout the halls. "Where are you?"

"Oh!" her voice shouted, "Trixsy's awake! Come on Jack!"

Two shadows slowly made their way towards me. "Hey you guys! I'm over-" But the figures weren't who I thought they were. The figures were my mom and dad.

"Ma!" I cried out, rushing towards her to give her a hug, but she disintegrated into dark colored dust as we touched. "What? Dad, what's going on?" Dad gave me a kind of sadistic smile. "Dad?" I asked more hesitantly.

"You miss them already, don't you?" Dad asked, but it wasn't Dad. Dad's voice could never sound this cold, this dark, could never make me feel like every last sap of goodness was being sucked from the earth.

"You aren't my dad," I whispered, backing up into a pile of blue toy robots.

The thing smiled. "No, I am not. I had to take the guise of someone close to you in order to get in. I advise you don't touch it though; rather fragile, if you know what I mean." It gestured over to Mom's dust. "I could return you to them," it said suddenly, staring straight at me with it's beady, emotionless black eyes. "If you help me, you can go back. It'll be as if nothing had happened, as if you never left. As if you never died."

My breath hitched. "What do you mean?"

"Just do as I tell you, when I tell you, and I'll send you home. To your family. To your friends." Its face began to change, slowly at first, then more rapid. Dad. Mom. My friends. Cousins. Uncles. Aunts. Grandparents. Ex's. Everyone that I'd ever spoken to, looked at, or even brushed passed during school. "Think about it," their voices said, all of them in one synchronized group. "Think about it. Think about it. Think about it." The words echoed through my head long after the figure collapsed into dust.

Candy found me on my knees in front of the dust, drawing random faces into it. "What's wrong?" she asked me, visibly worried. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"I-" my tongue curled up in my mouth and the voice whispered, Now, now, mustn't let the guardians know, otherwise I may revoke my offer... "Nothing. Nevermind. I'm fine."

"Are you-"

"I said I'm fine!" I shouted.

She replied quietly, "Okay,"

Jack Frost chose that great moment to show up. "Hey Trick!"

All my hatred towards him hurled forth in those two words. Or rather, the voice's hatred. How dare he have talked to you and your sister that way? How could he not know that you were in pain, suffering, knowing that your parents would never see you again? How dare he-

"Shut up!" I screamed. Both Candy and Jack looked at me like I was crazy. "Sorry," I muttered, glaring down at the dust, "just... annoying thoughts."

I could tell neither of them believed me, but they were nice enough to let the matter drop. Nice is the one thing you never were wasn't it? the voice asked, but was silent after that.

"Anyways..." Jack smiled at me, "I was giving Treat a tour of the workshop. You wanna join?"

I felt my eyebrow shoot up. "Treat? That's my sister you're talking about hot shot."

Both looked confused for a moment, then Candy turned red. She turned to Jack. "She thinks that you like me." If possible, Jack turned even redder than my sister, who was a world renowned blusher.

"Treat- Trick- I didn't- Manny- I- Not me!" he stuttered, trying to gather his thoughts. "Those are your names now. Trick and Treat. Guardians of Halloween. It's your job to balance it."

I placed a hand on my hip. "And if I don't want to be called 'Trick'? What then?"

He regained his demeanor and smirked. "Well, It's not that different than 'Trix', so honestly I don't see what there is to complain about."

My fists clenched. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in- How dare he insult you like that? the voice whispered.

"Are you going to comment on every moment of my life?" I asked it in my head.

Get used to it.

I sighed, unclenching my hands and just slapping Jack across the face. I didn't have enough energy for a real fight, with all my willpower keeping the voice out of my head. "I'd love to go on a tour," I smiled. "Where do we begin?"

Jack glared at me. "You just slapped me. What makes you think I'll take you on a tour now?"

I matched his gaze, only making my expression calmer, like I could argue all day and never get tired. "Because you will." He laughed at that, and agreed to take me along for the rest of the tour.

"And now to meet the guardians," Jack groaned as we neared the end of our tour. "You guys already know Nick, the Kangaroo, and me, so all that's left is Sandy and-"

"Hiya Jack! Sorry I'm late; there was a hold up now that I'm back in the field. Oh! You have the new guardians! Candy and Trixy O. You both always had such corroded teeth! I suppose it was from all the candy, but... dreadful! Nothing like Jack's..." a strange pixie like thing said with a sigh. It- or she, I think; the voice was a bit high- was green and blue, with a human face. Also, it never seemed to shut up. It went on and on forever about how perfect Jack's teeth were.

"Tooth Fairy," he whispered to me.

"I think she likes you," I whispered back.

He turned to face me, a strange glint in his eye. "My teeth, maybe. Why? Jealous?"

"What?! No! Absolutely-"

"Sorry, I just don't feel that way about you. Forgive me?"

Blood rushed to my cheeks and I stormed off, infuriated with Jack Frost. The little brat-

"He's pretty annoying, isn't 'e?" an Australian voice said, cutting into my thoughts. I turned to see a six- foot tall blue rabbit. And that is... the Easter bunny.

All I could think to say was, "Since when is the Easter Bunny Australian?"

He humphed and stormed off. I think I'll like you, the voice laughed in my head, you're impulsive, hate Jack Frost, and have managed to insult nearly every guardian. We'll get along perfectly. I just ignored it this time, instead focusing on the hairy creatures now in front of me.

They were relatively large with brownish- tan fur and beady little eyes. A few were staring at me, probably thinking, Who the hell is that and why did she interrupt our toy making?

"Um... sorry!" I shouted, then ran in a different direction. I ended up spending my first day in Santa's workshop hidden behind a bunch of toys and hoping none of the guardians would find me, my only company being the voice in my head. I have to get home...