Mysterious Sherlock-I'm sure you'll do just fine, and thank you. Hope your exams are going well, if I remember correctly this is the final stretch.

I got marched back to the main room with my head tilted back and fingers pinching my nose. My glasses were balanced on my nose, held in place by the same hand as my other hand was limp by my side. I doubted that it was badly injured, but it still hurt.

I had decided that there wasn't much point in trying to get away, the insect wing woman had my bag, and I didn't have the money for a second set of presents.

As we walked through the doors, the last thing I expected was applause.

The Australian man was jumping out of his seat and whooping, whilst Nigel and Sneezey were more reserved, with broad grins and enthusiastic clapping.

"Wha da 'eck?" I asked through my pinched nose.

The woman behind me seemed just as confused.

"What the hell? We caught someone spying on our meeting and we applaud them!"

"Tina!" cried the Australian man excitedly, "did you not see what power she was using?"

There was a sharp intake of breath from behind me.

"Ice... of course."

I judged that ten minutes had passed, so I let my head go back down while still holding my glasses in place.

I looked around at everyone in the room in shock, completely confused.

"Wait what's going on?"

They didn't seem to react as the Australian practically leapt over to me from his chair and thumped me on the back. His body temperature causing me to flinch from the heat.

"H-hey!"

They still didn't stop celebrating.

"WILL YOU STOP!" I yelled, my sudden temper flaring enough to send ice out from under my feet and about a foot in all directions.

All the noise stopped at once and every stared at me.

The Australian was first to speak.

"Well, we've definitely got the right guy."

"Who are you people?" I asked trying to keep the panic out of my voice.

Nigel walked up to me with his hands in front of him in an appeasing way.

"Please calm down. We will explain."

There was a scraping noise to the side. I looked around Nigel to see Sneezy pushing an extra chair to add to the group between the dark haired woman and the Australian.

"Come, sit."

I tried to swallow my nervousness as I walked over to the chair and sat down. Sneezy reached over and tapped my glasses, there was a burst of yellow and my glasses were fixed. I pulled them forward to have a look, other than a new, thin band of yellow on the nose rim, they were fine.

The dark haired woman dropped my bag in front of me as she walked to her own seat on my right.

My hands gripped the seat and I could feel the wood frosting up beneath them from my nervousness. Being in this unusual situation made it difficult to keep my rigid control in place.

Nigel went back to the front of the group and clapped his hands for absolute silence.
"Alright, to start, let's introduce ourselves. I'm Nigel." Nigel motioned with his hand to the Australian.

"I'm Billy."

My turn.

"Jackie."

The dark haired woman was Tina and Sneezy's actual name was Sally.

"So." Said Nigel, "Now I have a question for you, Jackie. Do you believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, the Sandman or Jack Frost?"

There was silence as they waited for my answer.

"Well, no. I haven't for some time."

There was a sudden change in the atmosphere in the room. It went from friendly to upset and some cases hostile.

"What? What did I say?" I asked as the frost on the chair grew.

"Oh great." Groaned Billy. "This is going to be harder than we thought."

Nigel sighed and sat down in his chair, which groaned under his weight.

"Okay, this may make what I'm going to say next a lot less credible, but I promise you this is true."

"The five of us in this room have powers. You've seen yours and Tina's. Sally has the ability to use something called Dream Sand, sleepy dust if you will.
Bill has agility, speed and hearing greater than a normal man. People related to him can also have plant like powers or can control the earth the same way you control ice. I, well, I have some excellent craftsmanship skills, which may not seem like much of a power, but it's still important.
To explain the belief question. We believe, no, we know that they exist."

I opened my mouth to interject but Nigel put up a hand.

"Let me finish. They were people, like you and I, although some aren't so sure when it comes to the Easter Bunny, but they all had friends, family. So when they became who they are today, part of their genes were passed on. Enough to pass on their powers.
Those five I mentioned are known as the Guardians, because for every figure for good, there is a figure for darkness, and they defend children from them.
Those of us who are, in essence, descended from them, have come together in groups that are called the Human Order of Guardians-Burgess Branch, which sounds grander than it actually is. We mostly just meet up to discuss our lives, it's more of a social gathering then anything exciting. Sometimes we have training sessions to hone our abilities, but other than that, not much."

Nigel leaned back in his chair, waiting for my response.

"This...sounds like some kind of cult."

Nigel practically deflated, Tina tutted behind me while Billy facepalmed.

"Really kid?" Chided Tina. "How do you explain the wings then, or your own powers?"

"I don't know! But any explanation would be more plausible than this!"

The frost spread further along the chair, now covering most of the seat and going down
the legs.

"Jackie, please..."

"No!"

I stood back up and grabbed my bag.

"I've never heard anything more stupid in my life."

I began to walk out when I heard.

"Wait."

Sally had finally spoken up.

Despite myself I stopped in my tracks and turned around.

Sally stood on her chair and held out her hands. A golden glow surrounded them, then fountains of golden sand burst from them.

Moving her hands in a circular motion she gathered up the sand and it tightly packed together to form a human a figure.

I took a step back when I realised it was me.

The same skinny frame with a round face, hair in a ponytail draped over one shoulder. A raincoat with jeans and trainers, with a backpack straps over the shoulders and rectangular glasses perched on the nose.

"Wha-?"

Sally wasn't done, more sand formed into the shape of giant, intricately carved snowflake.

My eyes widened. This wasn't possible, the only person I'd seen do something like this was, me.

In response I held up my hands and furrowed my brow in concentration. I began moving them in a slow circular pattern as the ice formed. A snowflake of my own formed in front of my own hands, growing larger and larger until it was the same size as Sally's.

Sally gave a small grin formed another human figure, this time her own.

Catching on to her game I also smiled and began sweep my arms, stirring up a small ice storm. I brought them together and another figure was formed from my ice.

I carefully manipulated into Tina's shape. I expected the woman herself to scoff at it, but she was too busy staring open mouthed at our little contest.

We finished off with Billy and Nigel, who laughed wholeheartedly at our efforts.

"So." Said Nigel once we'd finished. "Have we convinced you about the powers thing?"
That wiped the smile off my face and I sighed.

"I believe that you have powers, but I'm still doubtful about the whole Guardians thing."

"I suppose that's the best we can hope for right now."

I glanced at my watch and my eyes widened.

"Oh no! I need to meet my mum soon."

"Okay, we'll see you out Jackie." Said Nigel.

As we walked out they told me when to try and get here the next day about the same time. With a promise that I'd try to come back.

That night I went back to the lake. The results of my training from yesterday were still there, although a bit melted.

I let ice gather in a ball in my hand, then flung it with pinpoint accuracy at the centre of one of the snowman's heads.

What happened today confused me. I was happy at the fact there were others with powers, but they were all adults, they all had full control no doubt and may not even remember what it was like to not be in control. Then there was the whole Guardians thing.

I hadn't believed in seven years, just meeting a few people who did wouldn't convince me otherwise.

I cleared a path in the snow with a sweep of my hand and climbed up onto a nearby tree. I settled on a branch and leaned against the trunk, debating whether or not I should actually go back tomorrow.

I idly hovered a ball of ice over my hand as I thought, to the point that I didn't hear footsteps until it was too late.

"Wow, that's cool!"

I panicked and let the ball drop as I stood up to look around for the voice. Only to get hit in the back with a snowball.

"Hey!" I cried, only to get a giggle in response.

I stood up on the branch and looked directly down to see a young boy, maybe about eight or nine, standing below me holding my ice ball.

He had messy brown hair which hung over his slightly too big ears, and a gap toothed smile which spread proudly across his face. His hair was slightly over one eye, and said eyes were shiny brown which peeked out from the ski hat he was wearing.

"Here, you dropped this."

He threw back my ice ball, which I easily caught.

"Who are you?" I asked, crouching on the branch.

"Jamie, you?"

"Jackie." I answered cautiously.

"Were you making the ice hover? It would have been so cool if you were!"

"Whoa, slow down." I sat back down on the branch. "How much did you see?"

I wasn't being nearly as careful as I should have been, but I've only been confronted about this once, which was earlier today. I should have just told him that he was seeing things, but I'd said too much now.

"I saw you sitting in the tree with a snowball hovering above your hand. The way you were moving your fingers made it look like you controlling it."

"And you're not, scared, about it?"

"Why should I? It's cool! You're the second person I've seen do this."

"Wait, second?" I was so surprised I almost fell out of the tree. "Who was this other person?"

"Jack Frost."

He said it so matter of factly that it almost didn't register for a second.

"Jack Frost!?"

I couldn't work it out and my mind spun as I was trying to figure out his train of thought.

"Ho- When?"

"Around Easter this year."

"I've heard people call that Easter Dis-easter." I recalled, there had been an issue with the eggs or something.

Jamie giggled. "Yeah, but it was cool in the end."

I tried to keep a diplomatic approach about my next question. I didn't believe that he'd met Jack Frost, but he seemed to believe so strongly that I didn't want to upset him.

"So, what was he like, Jack Frost?"

"He helped me believe in the Easter Bunny again, along with Santa, the Tooth Fairy and Sandman."

The same five that Nigel had mentioned; a coincidence?

"He was surprised as well, he acted like no one had ever seen him before. Oh and he loves snowball fights!"

"Well, what did he look like?" I tried.

"He's tall, not as tall as Bunny or Santa, a bit taller than you, his hair's white and he carries around this huge stick. He's also got a blue hoodie with bits of frost on it."

"Okay."

I tried to think of another line of questions, although he done a good job of providing a description of Jack Frost. So either he had seen him or had a very vivid imagination.

"You said that he wasn't as tall as Santa, have you seen him as well?"

"Yeah, all of them, my dog actually chased the Easter Bunny." He seemed to laugh at the memory.

I had not expected that answer. I pondered the credibility for a second, he seemed to believe strongly, but he was a kid, it could have been some kind of lucid dream.

"Hey did you build these?"

Jamie had run around the lake and over to my creations yesterday.

"Yes, I made them last night."

"Cool."

Something occurred to me.

"Hey Jamie, you never said why you were here?"

"Oh!"

He looked away from my work and back at me to explain.

"Well, I live in the area, and I was feeling a bit bored, so I came here. Sometimes I come here with my friends, but not this late. What about you?"

"I come here to practice. Not a lot of people come here at this time so I don't get found out."

"Why don't people come here at night?"

"You don't know the story?"

Jamie shook his head.

"Well, many centuries ago, a young boy and his sister came here one winters morn for ice skating. The ice turned out to be too thin for skating, so once on the lake, the ice began to crack and splinter. In an act of selflessness, the older brother got his sister to safety, but at the cost of his own.
He plummeted through the ice and sank like a stone. Never to come up again.
The next day however, the ice was whole and new, as though no one had even stepped on it. Once the ice melted in spring the lake was searched for a body, so a modest funeral could be held, but no body was found. It was as if the lifeless corpse had crawled its why out of the lake.
It's said that on nights when the moon is round and full, the corpse awakes and searches the land for its sister to ensure her safety."

Jamie stared at me wide eyed. "Really?"

"Well, if it is, it's afraid of girls with ice powers. I've come here every night for seven years and I've never seen a walking, water logged corpse."

"Oh." Jamie actually looked a little disappointed.

"It's convenient for me though, the story still holds enough weight that people avoid
this place at night, so I can practice in peace."

"Although." I mock looked over my shoulder and leaned in to him slightly. "Don't let your family know I told you. I expect they didn't want to spook you just yet. Don't let me
spoil their fun when they do tell you."

He giggled again, "I won't."

His eyes drifted over to my snow forts.

"Hey, wanna snowball fight?"

The sudden change of subject caught me by surprise.

"Uh, okay."

"Alright!"

He darted away and began grabbing at snow and packing them together. I'd never had a snowball fight, but I figured I could use my powers here.

I lowered myself from the tree, raised my hand and pulled snow off the ground. With a clench of my hand it went into a perfect orb.

By the time Jamie had an armful of snowballs, I had twenty hovering behind me. My arms were held out to the sides, maintaining the hover.

"Hey! That's cheating!" Cried Jamie.

"No one said anything about not using ice powers." I said a grin spreading across my face.

I sent one towards him with a flick of my hand and he flung one at me.

This began a snow battle spanning the whole clearing, since I didn't even have a range.
Jamie was whooping with joy as he dodged my snowballs by diving behind trees and snow people.

I was also laughing, not having had this much fun in years. Seven years to be exact.

I shook that sobering thought out my mind, it was only snowballs, nothing was going to happen.

Finally we collapsed on the ground from tiredness, laughing still.

"I haven't had this much fun in ages." I panted.

"It was a lot of fun. Can we do this again tomorrow?"

"Sure, same time?"

"Yeah!"

I decided to put this up today since I'm going to be disappearing until about Friday evening. Normally the schedule would be a new chapter every Monday and Thursday.

Chapters are not always going to be this long, in fact in the future some are going to be about half the size, but that's mainly to keep things somewhat suspenseful.