Once they'd gone to bed I snuck out of my window and walked to the hospital. Visiting hours had ended, well, hours ago, so I had to get in my way.

I rose up to the windows with ice blocks, checking each room to find Jamie. I found him in what looked like the child's ward.

Finding the window locked I breathed on the sill, allowing frost to form. I then controlled it so it went under the frame and up to where the lock appeared to be. There I made it come together into a piece of ice which found the lock and after some fiddling it clicked open.

I pulled up the window and climbed in, carefully closing it behind me.

On the bed in front of me was Jamie, sleeping peacefully. I let put a sigh of relief, weight from my shoulders seeming to melt away.

Happy to see that he was alright I turned to leave. Behind me I saw the window was open again, which made things slightly easier for me.

Before I could even pull myself up onto the sill I was stopped by a voice.

"Jackie?"

I spun around to see Jamie sitting up in his bed, a surprised look on his face.

"Hey. You okay?" I said, glad that he was feeling well enough to get up and talk.

He nodded, then began to speak quickly.

"It wasn't you! You didn't hit me! It was that other girl, she used black sand, like
Pitch. Please don't run away!"

I looked between him and the window, then turned to the window and carefully closed it, so not to wake everyone up. I then went back to his bed and pulled up a chair, sitting on it.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"So, you're not going to run away?"

I shook my head. "No, and I know that it wasn't me. I was actually on my way back when the police found me."

"That's good."

"Yes, that's certainly a relief."

I spun my head around to the doorway to see Nigel walking towards us. I stood up in shock.

"N-Nigel? H-how-?"

"I never said that I could only do craft stuff." He mysteriously.

Nigel walked to the side of Jamie's bed and pulled up another chair after nodding to the empty space just beside Jamie. I sat back down heavily on my chair as the new exchange began.

"So, you must be the Jamie that's gotten Jackie so worked up." Said Nigel with a grin as
I felt my face go red.

"H-hey!" I weakly protested.

"Huh?" Jamie looked beside him. "No, I've never met him before."

"Ah." Said Nigel, smiling at Jamie. "I see you are familiar with Mr. Frost; that makes things a little easier."

I stifled a sigh, not this again!

Nigel continued to talk to thin air.

"Have you been told about the Human Order of Guardians?"

"What?" Asked Jamie, looking between Nigel and the air.

Nigel nodded, "I see, as you probably know the Guardians were all normal people before
they were Guardians, and naturally their relatives carried on with their lives. The members of the Human Order of Guardians are descended from the Guardians, not directly of course, but close enough to inherit some of your powers. For example I'm a Descendant of North."

Nigel gestured over to me, "And Jackie here is in fact distantly related to you, enough to have similar powers to you."

"So that's how you can do stuff with ice!" Cried Jamie, looking at me with understanding and excitement etched on his face.

My response was to rub my eyes beneath my glasses and shake my head.

"Nigel, can you please lay off? It's been a long day."

Nigel sighed and shook his head at me.

"Jackie..."

"I just came here to check on Jamie, I'm not sitting through another lecture." I
interrupted, standing up to leave.

Nigel also stood up, a serious, steely look in his eyes as he glared at me.

"Sit down. Now."

I sat back down hurriedly, getting the feeling that I was already pushing my luck with Nigel.

"It's about time that you started taking this seriously." He said, his glare still in full force, but still speaking softly enough that he wouldn't wake anyone up.

"Who says that I haven't?"

"Your attitude, that's what. You haven't even tried to take the idea of the Guardian's seriously."

"How can I? The whole thing is-."

"Stupid? Ludicrous? We've been there, and look at us now."

The look on my face didn't change, I didn't believe, as I'd already said, it was ridiculous.

"Even after meeting Jamie and tonight's events, you can't quite believe." Said Nigel, his arms folded.

"You know what happened?" I asked, trying to get onto another subject.

"I heard the alert over the radio that you'd gone missing and Jamie had been injured. There was later a report that you'd been found with another girl who was apparently Penelope."

He let out a sigh and rubbed his eyes, also sitting back down.

"Sadly, I know this girl, and so I can guess what happened."

I tilted my head to the side. "She was just lonely."

"Do you believe that?"

"That I do believe. She seemed to be honestly worried about me and when I pushed her way she got upset. It was a natural reaction."

Nigel opened his mouth but I continued.

"And you didn't help either. She tried to get into HOG, but when you found out her powers you turned her back on her, so she has a grudge against you."

Nigel sighed. "I had to, she's a Descendant of Pitch, or the Bogeyman as you probably know him. I couldn't trust her."

I suppressed another sigh, Bogeyman? Seriously? Who else would Nigel insist existed?!

"Your ancestors don't define you." I said, choosing to ignore the Bogeyman comment. "She was just as scared as I was, you should have helped her."

"We didn't, and I stand by that decision, and it's too late anyway."

He shook himself from his reverie.

"Anyway, we have a more pressing issue, and with a Guardian in the room, there's never been a better time."

I sighed, annoyed that we were back on this subject, "Look, I have tried, I just-"

"Can't bring yourself to do it?"

My eyebrows scrunched together in confusion.

"I can see it in your eyes. Something happened that made you stop believing, something so terrible that you've been terrified ever since. With most it's just a case of growing up, but you grew up so suddenly, too suddenly."

I licked my lips nervously. I knew what he was talking about, but I didn't want to remember it. Not now.

"Was it to do with Daniel?"

I looked over at Jamie, who'd been quiet throughout the whole conversation.

"I mean, you freaked out when me and Granny mentioned him, and she said something about an accident. Was that it?"

I bit my lip and looked at my feet, then I nodded.

"Maybe you should talk about it." Said Nigel.

I shook my head furiously. "Please, no." I begged, frost forming on the chair.

"The fact you're so against it proves that you need to talk about it. You can't keep it locked up forever."

I still looked down at my feet, not wanting to talk.

"Have you ever talked about it?"

I shook my head and my hands gripped the sides of the seat, forming more frost.

"Surely you know that's not healthy."

"I-I can't. You, he..."

"I won't let it leave this room and we won't think of you any differently."

"...Promise?" I asked, looking at Nigel.

"Promise."

I looked up at Jamie, who nodded encouragingly.

I looked down at my feet again; I could see ice forming on the floor by them. Looking at it I could see my reflection, and I saw utter fear and sadness in my dark brown eyes. I had held it in for years, not even talking about it to my parents, could I really talk about it now?

My shoulders squared when I realised the answer to that question. The answer was yes; enough was enough. Nigel was right; I had to let it out. Maybe then they'd get off my case.

I took a deep breath and began, trying to keep my breathing under control.

"I had a brother, called Daniel. He was a couple of years younger than me. He knew about my powers and loved them, often begging me to make it snow, in the middle of summer sometimes. I couldn't quite control them at that point, so I was told not to socialise at school just in case they showed, so Daniel was my only friend.
My parents didn't mind us going to the lake to practice. One night when I was seven and he was five, we were just messing around, I'd frozen the lake as always so we could skate."

My voice began to crack and I had take a couple of deep breaths so I could continue.

"What happened then, was an accident, I didn't mean for it t-to happen. W-we were just messing around, I'd made some ramps for him to skate and sled off. H-he slipped and started falling, I d-didn't think and flung my hand out. Some i-icicles behind me detached and f-flew towards him a-a-and."

I to stop again, my breath getting caught in my throat.

"And hit him i-in the chest."

Tears started flowing down my face as I relived that night.

"Neither of us had phones and I was too scared to leave him alone. I just screamed for someone, anyone, to help, but no one did."

"He died in my arms."

I was full on sobbing now and had pulled my knees into my chest. I lowered my face into them and hugged them, my tears freezing the material as my glasses were forced onto my forehead.

"I-it was an a-accident, I-I n-never meant t-to."

"Of course you didn't, it was a terrible accident."

I sniffed and didn't look up, staring at the ice forming on the chair. My voice carried on without any conscious decision.

"At that point, everything looked dark. I had believed in Santa and the like, but at that point everything just lost its magic. I just couldn't see the world in that kind of light anymore. I retreated inwards and tried to suppress my emotions, because I'd been afraid when it happened, so I thought that if I held it in and practiced, it wouldn't happen again."

There was silence as the others tried to take it in.

"Jackie." I looked up at Jamie, who had an unusually serious expression on his face. "If
it helps, I'm not afraid of you."

"You, you're not?"

He shook his head. "It was an accident; you never meant to hurt him. If you had meant to, then I would be afraid, but you didn't, so I'm not."

I sniffed and gave a small smile, leave it to Jamie to say the right thing.

"Thank you."

Nigel was looking at me with an unreadable expression.

"So, I can guess that something similar happened tonight; you lost control and panicked?"

I nodded, unable to look at Jamie. "I thought that I'd... I'd..."

"But you didn't." Said Jamie.

"Doesn't change that I could have." I said bitterly. I looked at my hands, the seemingly innocent vessels of disaster.

"I'm dangerous, I can't control it like I thought I could. Maybe I should have taken Penelope's offer."

"No!" cried Jamie, causing a few kids around us stir in their sleep.

"No." He repeated more quietly, "I heard what she was offering you; you're my friend Jackie, and I don't want you to go."

That simple phrase suddenly seemed to take my heart and hug it, but this hug wasn't uncomfortable, it was nice.

Nigel seemed to be having a hushed conversation with the air; once he was done he walked over and squatted in front of me.

"Jackie, things make a lot of sense now, and even now I can see that you're scared of your power. There is someone in this room that can help you, if you want him to. I know this is asking a lot, but in order for him to help you, you need to believe."

"I told you, I've can't."

"No such thing as 'can't'. Just try, right now. Just try."

"What about the rules, you gave me hell when Jamie and I..." I was fumbling for an excuse.

"I think we can make an exception this time." Replied Nigel, a hopeful smile on his face.

I caved in. I looked down at the floor again and closed my eyes. I tried to picture Jack Frost in my mind, based on Jamie's description, focusing on the white hair, the blue hoodie and the stick. I thought so hard, trying to believe, but when I opened my eyes, it hadn't worked.

My shoulders slumped and I sighed, shoving my hands underneath my glasses.

"Come on Jackie, try again." Urged Nigel, his voice still sounding hopeful.

I took a deep breath, folded my arms, closed my eyes and tried a different approach.

I remembered the wonder I felt on Christmas day, when I saw what was under the tree.

I remembered the hope I felt when I was searching for Easter eggs.

I remembered when I first lost a tooth, the feeling of nostalgia when I looked at the
tiny tooth in my hand, and the feeling of joy when I discovered the money under my pillow the next morning.

I remembered when it snowed, and the good times I had with my brother. I remembered the snowball fight I had with Jamie and showing him my powers.

I remembered how Jamie acted just before I had an argument with Penelope, and how he and Nigel reacted to the empty space by Jamie's bed. There had to be a reason, and the only reason could be...

I opened my eyes to see a boy, say mid to late teens, with white hair, blue eyes, a blue hoodie and brown trousers with patches of frost. He seemed to be floating in the air, leaning on his staff with a G shaped curve in one end and swinging his bare feet.

I looked at Jamie and said "You never said that he wasn't wearing any shoes."

Jamie looked slightly confused for a second, then grinned. Nigel began to laugh as Jack looked a little embarrassed and slightly annoyed.

"Spirit of Winter and Guardian of Fun floating in the air right next to you, and that's what you notice?" He asked.

I shrugged as I began to laugh, something inside me felt lighter. Things could only get better from here.

Several weeks later I stood in a large forest, quite a ways from home. In front of me hovered Jack Frost. He'd been mentoring me since that night, to help get my powers under control. It was slow progress, but it was progress.

I planted my feet firmly on the ground, letting ice spread outwards from my feet. I let my hands almost grip the air and pulled upwards, an image fixed in my mind.

The ice grew higher and became more defined. Based on descriptions from Jamie and Jack, a large ice sculpture of the Guardians began to form, towering over me by several feet.

After the initial shape had been formed I lowered my arms and began moving them in patterns to get the distinctions.

I ran around the ice, my arms moving around while Jack flew around the top of the ice sculpture, inspecting it.

Once I was done I stepped back, panting. Jack did another lap to check and I made the adjustments he suggested. Finally we were both satisfied.

"Good job kid."

"Thanks" I panted as I looked at the figures of the Guardians, probably the only time I'd see them, given my age, but I still felt warm from it.