She was having a dreamless sleep when she felt a pair of warm lips touch her forehead. She thought she was dreaming at first, because when the lips had touched her forehead, she felt a certain warmth erupt from her forehead and rushing inside her body to fill her up to her toes.
She relished the feeling and didn't want the lips to leave. But they did and her body yearned the loss of the lips that had touched her forehead so intimately.
She had opened her eyes to protest the loss but the words froze in her throat when she saw a boy hovering over her. She thought a burglar had gotten into the house and panicked.
Jamie and Sophie.
She had to protect them.
The burglar rose, and with his rise carrying a warmth that filled her bones so deliciously, she acted. Without thinking, she made her hand into a fist and punched the burglar in his jaw, relishing the feel of his groan as his head reeled back but feeling a slight squeeze in her heart at his pain.
She didn't let him react. Time was everything now. Jumping up from her bed, she yanked the burglar's arm and twisted it behind his back while placing her hand on the back of his shoulder, ignoring his grunt of pain and tingle that seemed to leave his body and into her hands and down her arms and into her body.
She said menacingly, "Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my room?"
"Ow," He said and she felt a tickle of familiarity touch her mind before she banished it away. She pulled him back and slammed him harder into the wall, earning another louder "Ow!"
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't call the cops or break your arm off right this second," She hissed, pressing her body into his back, not expecting her body to react differently. She expected her body to be on full alert but instead, it was softening with a yearning she found almost impossible to understand.
She heard an angry chirping noise before she felt a sharp, painful sting on her arm.
"Ow!" She let go of the burglar instinctively as she tried to swat the chirping thing away. "What the hell?
She kept waving her hands around, trying to fend off the human stinger as it kept jabbing her arms and shoulder.
"Tooth, don't!"
Kailani tripped over something on the ground, probably her slipper, and went tumbling down to the hardwood floor, her bottom shaking with tremors of pain.
"Ow. ow, ow!" She howled as she gritted her teeth, trying not to scream so loud but it hurt.
"'Are you okay?" She heard him ask.
"Am I okay? Do I look okay?" She whipped her head towards the burglar and her words of anger stopped in her throat like a lodged rock.
She knew who he was. Or of him. Or whatever. She suddenly felt very under dressed and shy as she gazed upon the guy with the white hair and blue eyes and brown staff.
"It's you," She breathed quietly, forgetting her pain momentarily.
"You can see me?" He asked, seemingly anxious but with something akin to hope.
She couldn't speak but she did nod.
"I knew it. I knew you'd be able to see me sooner or later."
She frowned with realization as to what this meant. She was hallucinating again.
"You're not real." She murmured and those words seemed to slice into the boy and she immediately felt remorse for what she said but didn't understand why.
He wasn't real. Just a figment of her imagination.
"I've done it. I've finally lost it. I've cracked." She touched her temples as she rocked back and forth, the pain igniting like fire in her bottom.
"You're not real. You're a hallucination. You're just a figment of my imagination."
"No, I'm real. I'm really real." She shook her head in disbelief. He couldn't be real. It would mean she truly had lost her mind.
"Hey, you can see me. If I wasn't real, could I do this?" Before she could react, he had grabbed her upper arms almost desperately and shook her gently. He seemed to suck in a gasp of surprise and relief as she felt her arms erupt in heat from his touch and fly all over her body.
She stopped rocking back and forth and looked up at him, nearly gasping at him. He was beyond handsome. He seemed to have a physique that every boy on the planet would envy if they saw him. His teeth were so white that they looked like freshly fallen snow. His white hair seemed to glitter like ice and his pale skin seemed to camouflage him as if he were a part of the snow.
She frowned, a memory slipping into her mind as she stared at his blue eyes that reminded her of joy and fun.
"I saw Jack Frost, you know." Her father had said once during dinner when her mother and brother were out shopping with a newborn Sophie.
"Who's Jack Frost?" She had asked, frowning in disbelief.
"Jack Frost is the winter spirit. He's in charge of bringing joy and fun to children all over the world. He has white hair, pale skin, blue eyes, has a staff, wears a blue hoodie and he's barefoot."
"Daddy..." She sighed, believing him but not letting him know that.
"Don't believe me? Who do you think brings snow days and gets school cancelled and you munchkins go play in the snow all day? It's all him."
Her eyes widened as she stopped pretending. "Really?"
Her father nodded and opened his arms and she ran into them as he placed her on his lap. "Believe it and I know you'll see him too. You just have to believe in him."
"Does everyone believe in him?"
"No, but people will. I know they will. Starting with you." He flicked her nose and she giggled, saying the name Jack Frost over and over again until it became as familiar as the air she breathed.
She blinked rapidly, pulling slightly back to clear the memory. Was this boy Jack Frost? Could it be him?
"I'm Jack. Jack-"
"Frost." They said in unison with her voice holding a note of reverence.
His eyes widened in disbelief but hope and she felt a flutter of warmth taking off in her stomach and into her body. "You-you know who I am?"
"I think so. My father told me about you." She murmured, for the first time, feeling the ache of loss from her father but not as painful as before.
He smiled and pulled back, talking to a flying hummingbird thing. "She sees me. And knows who I am! I can't believe this! I mean, I can but still."
She smiled at his obvious joy and found herself oddly content to see him like this. She couldn't help but look at him as he seemed almost ecstatic with joy as he bounced around her room. She felt something like butterflies flutter in her stomach and her arms seemed to tingle at the memory of his hands around her arms and his blue eyes staring into her green ones.
Her face felt hot as she averted her gaze away from him. Was she blushing? Over a guy? And not just any guy, but the guy who was Jack Frost?
She touched her cheeks to feel them burning and felt her heart give stuttering beats.
She turned to look at him again and saw him staring at her, which caused her to blush again. What was wrong with her?
"Tell me everything."
She frowned, taken back by his request.
"About?" She asked tentatively as she got up and sat down on her bed. Her legs had turned into jell-o and she needed to sit.
"About you, about your life and I'll tell you about mine." Jack said as he flew to her side and sat down, the bed dipping down with his weight.
She felt her face getting hot at the close proximity and averted her gaze, finding the edge of the cover very interesting. "Okay, I guess?" Her answer was phrased more like a question than an answer.
He turned around fully, giving her his full attention with those blue eyes that she wanted to drown in. She closed her eyes and shook her head but felt determination grow in her heart and mind.
"Okay, but it's pretty long and-"
"It's okay."
"I'm Kailani." She said since he didn't ask for her name, seemingly overjoyed at the prospect that she could see him.
"Kailani." And the way he said her name, made her heart race and skin tingle and her stomach fill up with butterflies and she both felt weird but wonderful with this new feeling.
She liked it.
Her eyes were drooping as she fought exhaustion and sleep. She didn't want to go to sleep. She didn't want to miss one second of Jack's presence. She had memorized his face like her own and knew so much about him.
About how he became a guardian and such. She knew him better than she knew herself. She felt like she knew him for her entire life rather than a few hours.
Hours that seemed to fly. She kept stifling a yawn as Jack continued to talk but knew she couldn't hold out for long but she was damn sure going to try.
"Maybe we should get going."
Her eyes flew open as her heart stopped in panic. She didn't want him to leave. She didn't want him to go at all. She wanted him here with her as they got to know each other. She liked him. Really liked him and felt a gaping hole of loss at the thought that he was leaving.
Jack frowned as if debating before shaking his head and standing up, the motion of his arm brushing her shoulder as the skin erupted in flames and electricity.
"I have to go. The others are expecting me." Jack murmured, sounding almost disappointed as she felt.
"Okay," She murmured softly, feeling everything inside her go dead as Jack got ready to leave. She didn't want him to go. At all.
"Maybe I can come back again." Jack said as he turned back to her expectantly. She frowned as she saw him begin to go blurry and flicker.
"Sure. I'd like that." She said, a small warmth spreading out towards her body.
He smiled and the action caused her heart to race and her skin flush. He turned and opened the window gently as he got even more faded the harder she looked at him.
Was she falling asleep? She kept yawning.
"Bye Jack." She said, feeling the sting of disappointment hit her body.
"Bye Lani, I'll see you again." He said and she felt her body warm as his voice wrapped around her name. She had already fallen to her side and was falling asleep, smiling as he disappeared completely before her eyes.
