"Okay, I'll admit it. That movie was amazing!" Tooth said on the way back home. They had all enjoyed the movie.
"My favorite part was when Thor was describing Bunny to Agent Coulson" Jack said.
"Yeah…HEY!" Bunny started to say until he realized what Jack meant.
"Ahhh, come on Kangaroo. I'm just messing with you" he said.
"I can see that. And mate, for the last time in 3 years, I'm a Bunny" Bunny said.
"Beg to differ" North said while trying not laugh. Bunny growled while the rest laughed.
"Jack and Bunny remind me of Tony Stark and Captain America" Sandy said to Tooth.
"Maybe a little too much" she added while laughing. She was giggling so much that she didn't pay attention to what Jack had just said.
"Tooth?" he asked calling for her attention.
"Hum?"
"I was asking you if you agreed that if instead of being the Guardians, we could be the Avengers and North here could perfectly be the Hulk" he said.
"And I'm telling him that Sandy could be the green one. Since he is a force to reckon vith if you mess vith his jov" North said while looking at Sandy, who tilted his head. The five continued chatting about the movie. No one suspected that two pair of eyes were watching them in the distance.
"Pitch wasn't kidding" Amelia muttered to the Nightmare that was accompanying her. The Nightmare King had insisted that she needed an escort in case she was discovered. Like she didn't know how to care of herself after 900 years…
"Do you have a name?" Amelia asked the minion. He looked at her in confusion.
"You know, if we come to a situation and I miraculously need your help, how I am going to call you?" she said to the sand minion, who blinked a few times before whining softly. The Summer spirit sighted.
"I´ll guess I'll call you… Nico. How does that sound?" Amelia asked. The Nightmare whined again, something that she took as a yes. She turned to see that the Guardians had already gone inside a house.
"So Nico… what do you say if we give them a little Nightmare?" she asked to the sand horse, who shook his hooves in excitement.
"Jamie, it is 8:30 p.m. you need to get ready for bed" Ms. Bennett said for the eleventh time to her son.
"Mom, I'm 11 years old. I think I can stay awake for more than a little while. Besides, I'm doing something important" Jamie responded while he looked for his school's history book.
"Looking between your bookshelves and under your bed is more important than going to bed at 9:00?" Ms. Bennett asked while raising an eyebrow.
"Yes" was all that Jamie said as he looked under his bed for the fourth time to check if he had miss the book there.
"And why would that be?" his mom asked.
"I, uh… have uh… some homework to do. You know how school is" he said looking at her.
"Homework? I thought you already made your summer homework?" Ms. Bennett said.
"Uh, yeah, I did. But something came up and I thought –Hey! Maybe the teachers will give me a higher grade if I bring extra work!" Jamie lied with the brightest smile he could come up with.
"Oh, my baby boy is getting more responsible!" Ms. Bennett squealed in delight. Jamie thanked the Moon that Jack wasn't here to hear that.
"Well then, if you need any help, I'll be with Sophie. All right?" she said. Jamie smiled and nodded.
"Okay history book. Where on earth did you go?" Jamie muttered once his mom closed the door. He sighted: it wasn't it his bookshelf and under his bed; so, where did he put the stupid object?
"Think Jamie, you just finished fourth grade, you are excited because the summer vacations have started and your eleventh birthday is next week. What did you do with your school supplies? You didn't burn them… mom would have killed you if you did that… and you didn't give them away in case Sophie needed them in the future-" he thought when all of suddenly he realized what he just thought.
"MOM!" he yelled as he exited his room, running directly to Sophie's.
"What is it Jamie? What's wrong?" Ms. Bennett asked worried, watching her son going directly to his sisters books as if he was looking for the Holy Grail.
"My history book. You made me give it to Sophie after school was over just in case she needed it when she reached fourth grade so you didn't have to buy another one" he said rapidly as he looked through Sophie's fairytale books.
"Ahem" Sophie said behind him. He turned to look at her and his mouth fell open.
"Next time you should look inside my closet" Sophie said while waving the history book under Jamie's nose.
"Oh… thanks Sophie" Jamie said awkwardly. He gave her and Ms. Bennett a kiss and went back to his room.
"All right Jack. No more secrets" he said while looking for any information about colonial Burgess between the pages of the book.
"Aja!" he yelled triumphantly. The section about the town's history was long, but Jamie went on to it searching for the surname "Overland". If there was one thing that he was 100% sure of, it was that before becoming Jack Frost, his friend was Jack Overland.
After what seem to be ages, Jamie finally found the name he had been looking for. It was under a section of the Burgess first families. He started to read carefully.
The Overlands:
Originally landing in Virginia from London, the family moved to Michigan in the year 1694. The couple, Thomas and Martha Overland, settled down in a little town along with nine other families. The next year, Martha had a child on December 21. His name was Jackson Overland. Records indicate that the family was one of the most important in the town, since Thomas, along with some other men, were in charge of the hunting. It is also known that Martha became pregnant again when Jackson was 9 years old. The family soon welcomed a girl, Clare. The Overland's were very happy with their children, however, tragedy soon struck them…
"Tragedy… I guess this were the lake comes in" Jamie said as he grabbed the book of legends and looked for the one that sent Jack on edge. He returned to his lecture in the history book.
… While winter had just begun, it wasn't too cold yet in the town. Jackson and Clare went ice skating to a near lake in which the children used to play. The ice was not thick enough, however, and the two siblings were stuck in a deadly situation. Jackson managed to bring Clare to safety, but at the cost of his own life. His body was never recovered from the lake, which honored the eldest sibling with the name…
"Overland lake" Jamie read the two last words out loud. He took a deep breath. Jack died and became Jack Frost after saving his sister. Now everything made sense. Why Jack always had the lake frozen solid, why he acted like a Chihuahua when the beach was mentioned… he was afraid of drowning again.
"I understand now Jack" he muttered. He would apologize tomorrow for bringing the story up.
"Good night guys" Tooth said to the four Guardians sitting on the couch.
"Night, Tooth" Jack and North said waving. She went upstairs to her room and took a bath. Her hair had tiny bits of icing from the food fight that Jack had started in the afternoon activity. She found herself smiling like an idiot as the memory played in her head for the rest of the shower. She got out, brushed her teeth and put on her pajamas; she was about to go to bed when she saw a shadow pacing though her window. On alert, she looked outside, but there was nothing.
"Maybe it was a bird" Tooth said. She got to bed and soon fell asleep.
She did not notice the black sand hiding in the dark corner, nor did she feel it crawling like a spider to her head.