Hey, look! Surprise chapter!

This takes place after Artistic Contemplations.


Jack was upset. After flying all the way back to Australia to visit the Warrens, he was all but kicked out by a grumpy Bunnymund, who insisted he returned to his lake. He's just tired, he told himself. I'm sure he'll be less grouchy next time I go see him. It would soon be time to change hemisphere, too. But he had promised the kids one last snow day and he would deliver. But not tonight. After his many flights across the world, he was quite ready to curl up on a tree branch and take a nap.

It was night when the small lake came into view. He made for his favorite tree, the one he liked to sleep in when he did not have a decent enough snow cover to cushion the ground. He landed on the tip of his toes where the branches were too thin to supports the weight of a normal person and made his way toward the trunk, a layer of ice coating the wood where his feet touched it.

With a sigh, he settled down on a thick branch, his back to the tree's trunk, ready to fall asleep. Just as he started to close his eyes, though, he spotted something from the corner of his eyes on the large rocks nearby. Something that did not belong in the familiar landscape. Curious now, he stood back up and kicked off the branch to fly to the foreign object.

He laughed when he landed on the rocks to see a painted egg lying in a hollow on top of the rock, sticking out just enough to have been noticeable from his earlier perch. But what was an egg doing here? The children came to his lake more often, in recent years, but they stayed on the cleared side of the water. It was highly unlikely that they would come to look on the tall rock, where it would not be visible from the ground.

That was when he noticed the egg's design. He gingerly picked it up for a closer look, admiring the delicate painted snowflakes on the pale blue surface. He understood, now, why it was here. This one wasn't meant for the children. A slightly disbelieving smile stretched his lips as he stood, cradling his precious discovery. Was this why Bunny insisted he came back here? So he would find his little gift? But it was only sheer luck that he happened to sit in just the right place to see it before going to sleep. Had he settle down for his nap elsewhere, he would not have found it until after Easter was over.

His eyes widened again when he spotted a new out of place object, in the bush near the thinly frosted water of his lake. He eagerly jumped down and picked up the next egg, this one painted with tall evergreen trees on a moonlit sky background. Unusual for Easter, but appropriate for him. His smile turned into a full-blown grin. Bunny had given him his own egg hunt this year. His very first.

He remembered mentioning to Bunny, while helping him paint eggs, that he had never actually participated in one. It was not long after that that the Pooka insisted he stay during Easter, this year. To keep him from causing trouble, he said. Now he realized that Bunny had needed him away from here, to set this up.

With a child-like laugh, he started to comb the area for more hidden treasures, his fatigue forgotten. He looked in branches, bushes, in hollows on the ground and in every other nooks and crannies of the place he had spent the last three centuries. He found a whole basketful of eggs scattered across the lake, with designs varying from wind-like swirls, frosted trees, moon shapes and even the symbol of the Guardians.

Later that night, he sat by the water with a content smile, his Easter eggs gathered in front of him in a neat little pile. He supposed that, next time he went to Australia, he would have to stop by and give the Easter Bunny his thanks.


Since I'm not yet too tired of writing, I decided to write that last scene that didn't make it in the previous chapter. Just so you guys don't forget about me, since last time a took a break for a few weeks I lost most of my regular reviewers and a big chunk of my readers. So don't forget me! I'll be back.