Chapter 3: The Girl in the Fog

Jack screamed in fear. In desperation, he jumped up and used his staff to freeze the creature in front of him. The fog swooped in on him, and a blow hit him hard in the chest. Everything went black.

"Wha-what?" Jack looked around, the fog was almost gone, now only about 4 feet high. Jack tried to move, then looked down at himself. He was frozen up to his shoulders in ice, his ice. Slightly confused and embarrassed, he grunted, wriggling around. No luck. An idea came to him, and he felt with his free hand for his staff. It was gone. He was powerless.

At that moment he heard laughter, a girl's laughter. Jack struggled to see into the fog, looking for the young girl. He saw a shadow standing a ways away, looking to be only a few feet tall. "Ok, yes, this is funny, but if you're controlling this, stop it, NOW!" Jack was now irritated, because the girl kept laughing. "I'm serious! At least get rid of this fog!"

At this remark, the girl's shadow stopped laughing, and moved her hands past her sides. The fog immediately disappeared. "It's not fog, it's mist!" she said. Jack glared down at her, realizing that he was about 10 feet off of the ground. She returned the glare, her dark green eyes flashing.

"Well," she said, grinning, "nice to meet you, Jack Frost." Her Scottish descent was betrayed by her accent and her long, flaming red hair. Jack looked her over. She was about his height, wearing jeans, brown hiking boots, and a black T-shirt. A green sweatshirt the color of her eyes was tied around her waist. In the moonlight, her pale skin looked white.

"Sorry it was like this, but I had to have a little fun with ya, ya know?" She snorted, "You were screaming like a wee baby girl!" She laughed again, and Jack tried to ignore her laughter. But he did have to admit, despite her rudeness, she was beautiful. "Yeah, I wish it was different, too." he said, now irritated and even more embarrassed. He looked down, noticing his staff on the ground below him.

"Hey, can you hand me that?" He wanted to get down from his icy trap. The girl stepped forward, spinning the staff as she picked it up. She wasn't tall enough to reach him, so she made a cloud beneath her feet. She floated up to him, laughing at his shocked face. "What? You didn't know I could make clouds?" she asked him. "Honestly, I didn't know a person was controlling mist, either," he said, "I didn't know you even existed."

She frowned at that remark, putting his staff into Jack's one free hand. "Nobody believes in me. Not even Santa or the Easter Bunny." Sadness swept over her eyes, which were not only a deep, dark green, Jack noticed, they had gold flecks in them. Jack unfroze himself, falling onto the ground again. "Oof!" he grunted, rubbing his head.

She laughed, made the cloud disappear, and dropped just in front of him. Unlike him, she landed on her feet. She reached out her hand to help him up. After she helped him, he said, "Wait, North and Bunny don't see you?" "No," she said, then laughed. "It's probably better if they don't. Especially Bunny."

Jack smirked, "Let me guess, you like to mess with him and his egg hunts?" "Yep, and you do, too, I know." Her quick retort made Jack laugh. "So, wait," he looked her over again, saying, "how old are you?" "I'm 18 years old. Or, at least I was when I died." Her response surprised Jack. "Wait. You, you died and now you're here?" "Yeah," she pointed at the moon, "Man in Moon told me."

Jack stared at her, then glanced at the Moon. "The, the Man in the Moon talks to you?" he said, turning to her. "Yeah." she said it suspiciously. "And, are you immortal?" "Yeah." the suspicion in her voice grew. Jack laughed, jumping up. "This is great! I've never met anyone that's my age before!" The excitement in his voice was obvious.

He noticed her confusion, so he said, "None of the other Guardians are even close to my age. I mean, I'm a 388-year-old stuck in an 18-year-old's body. I'm essentially a teenager. And so are you!" He smiled at her, laughing. She smiled back at him, and began to laugh, too.

"Your laugh is infectious." she said. "Yeah, I get that a lot," he said glancing at her, his hand behind his neck, "it makes sense, I mean, I'm the Guardian of Fun." He looked past her, noticing a little blue flame. "Do you see those flames?" he asked her. She turned around. "Yes," she said, "I control them."

Now it was Jack's turn to look confused. "They're called 'willow the wisps,' I use them to lead people away from danger, or to something good. Some say they help people change their fate," she shrugged, "I let them believe what they want." Jack jumped as a wisp showed up in his face. She laughed. "They like you." He turned to her, trying to save his pride, saying "So, what else do you control, other than the wisps and fog?"

"Rain, clouds, small snowstorms, nothing compared to yours, hail, sleet, and mist." Jack had to admit that he was impressed. "Wow. Wait, aren't mist and fog the same thing?" "No," she shook her head, "you can see farther into mist than fog. It's less dense." "Oh," Jack said, not quite understanding. He didn't bother to go into detail.

The two of them looked into the sky, noticing the Moon. "So, what made you come here?" the girl asked, crossing her arms. "Oh, I had just frosted the nearby town and was talking to the Moon when I saw the fog. My curiosity brought me here."

She smiled. "Ah, I see. Hey, look!" She grabbed his sweatshirt and pointed into the night sky. "the lights!" Jack looked up to see the Northern Lights shining above him, "Oh no." he said. "What?" she looked at him curiously. He looked from her, to the sky, and back to her, "Uh, I have to go." "Why?" Her curiosity showed in her eyes.

"Uh, I can't explain," he said, "I just have to go." He jumped up, flying into the air. As he got above the tree tops, heard her goodbye.

"Goodbye, Jack! Let's hang out again, sometime!"

In response, Jack flipped over, making it snow in the clearing. He heard her laughter fill the air as he got further away. He smiled and laughed in response, throwing his head back. Despite wanting to stay, Jack continued to fly north, wondering why the Guardian of Wonder had called them all together.

As he neared the pole, Jack realized he had forgotten to ask the girl what her name was. He glanced at the Moon, wondering what her name could be. It had to be something Scottish, that was obvious. He smiled, wondering when he would be able to see her again. That's when he saw North's workshop, and went to fly through the open window, a snowball for Bunny's head in his hand.

The Man in the Moon stared down as Bunny's irritated yell echoed out of the building. He knew full well that Jack would see the girl in the fog again, and it would be very, very soon.

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