Chapter 13: Frost Manor

Jack finished lunch with his family certifiably exhausted. The Twins talked his ear off, Jacqueline and Blaise chattered about the shenanigans, as Winter called them, that had ensued up North for the past three days, and Winter…well, that was another matter entirely. She just kept staring at him like he wasn't there.

Which made complete sense, he had realized while talking to Jacqueline. He had cut his connection with Winter. For all intents and purposes, it was no wonder she felt like he wasn't there. He sighed, still sitting at the table. Take it slow, Jacqueline had said. He was pretty sure that was the best way to approach things. After all, he didn't have much else to go on, anyway.

The Twins had run back outside the moment they were finished lunch and had the okay to leave the table. Jacqueline had disappeared shortly after. Jack assumed she had gone to her room. He had thought to go up to his room as well, but it seemed the exhaustion of the past few days (not to mention, weeks or even months) had caught up with him, and quite frankly, the oak chair hugged his back in a very nice way, and the table was nice and sturdy for head laying purposes and he was perfectly comfortable right there at this moment, thank you very much.

Over by the sink, Winter and Blaise were cleaning the dishes. It was actually kind of enjoyable to watch. They moved around each other like they were constantly aware of where the other was, even though they weren't looking. It was nice to see that their chemistry had stayed the same in the millennia they had been together. It was kind of hopeful, and was making Jack feel a bit more slushy than usual. He took a deep breath in, and immediately wrinkled his nose.

"Is something burning?"

Both parents stopped at the same time, the dish in Winter's hand going back on the dish pile and Blaise's head shooting up.

"It's your turn," Winter said.

"Yep," Blaise replied, already out the sliding doors.

And now it was just Jack and Winter. Maybe now would be a good time to talk?

Take it slow, Jacqueline's words rang in his mind.

So maybe not the best time; especially if he didn't even know where to begin. He ran his hand through his hair, half frozen, half not. It was just all so confusing. He groaned loudly, laying his head down on the table.

"You sound like you could use a nap," Winter said, the twins screaming and the water hitting the dishes the only sounds around them. "Your room is just as you left it, if you'd like a lay down. Knowing Jacqueline, she'll be on you about that freezer burn in no time at all."

"You don't know the half of it," Jack replied. "These past three days have felt like a week!"

Winter finished up the dishes, shutting off the sink. She turned around, a small smile on her face, her mouth slightly open, searching for something to say. Jack perked up; Winter frowned, looking thoughtful. It would seem she hadn't been able to find the right words. Now was as good a time as ever to take his leave, then. Jack sighed internally, and pushed his chair out.

"I think I'll take you up on that offer," Jack said, heading to the stairs. "It's been a…rough few months."

Winter closed her mouth, touching her forehead and receiving wet towel directly in the face, as a result. "Shout if you need anything," she said, grabbing a dry towel and wiping her forehead, glad he hadn't seen that.

"Will do," Jack replied, trying very hard not to run out of the kitchen as fast as he could.

Frost Manor had three floors. The first floor was your generic household facilities: kitchen, living room, den, dining room, ballroom, office, library, parlours, sunroom—so maybe not generic all around, but absolutely the works. And temperate!

The second story, however, was very, very hot. Jack remembered Fiera mentioning how the upstairs sunroom was warmer than the downstairs one, and briefly recalled Jacqueline referring to the second story as being hot as heck. She definitely had a point, Jack decided, as he made his way up the blue runner on the stairs, wiping the sweat off of his brow.

The second floor was where the bedrooms mostly were. How his mother managed to sleep comfortably on this floor, Jack couldn't even begin to imagine! It wasn't just warm in temperature, but in style as well. The walls were a nice oak colour, floor to ceiling windows letting in warm rays of light. The French doors to his parent's room on the left stood closed. The doors to what he remembered as Jacqueline's room when they were younger were wide open.

Jack couldn't resist. Peeking inside, he saw a mess of toys and clothes, scattered across the floor, covering the dark wooden boards, and came to the conclusion that it definitely wasn't Jacqueline's room anymore. The two beds on opposite sides were testament enough to that. He assumed Fiera's was the one on his right, with the pink canopy above it and matching sheets. Fino's, on the left, was a bit darker. The covers were tangerine orange, the comforter thrown on the ground and the orange striped sheets bunched to the bottom of the frame. Sunlight poured through the open windows, the cold winter breeze sneaking in, much to Jack's relief.

It was strange, how much had changed. It wasn't like Jack had expected everything to stop while he was gone. Of course things would have changed. After all, he had two whole other siblings now! And if they now had Jacqueline's old room, he'd assume that Jacqueline had quite literally moved on up in the world. Unless she was in Jack's old room?

He peeked into the room beside the Twin's room. It was as messy as the other room, just with desks instead of beds.

"Looks like you've got a floormate, Jack," he said to himself, glancing to the twirling, spiral staircase opposite the landing. He stopped just before the first step and stared up. He could feel the welcome chill coming down through the see-through stairs. Back in the day, he would have been livid to have to share his space with someone else! That's why he had requested to be in one of the upstairs rooms when he was in his mid-teen-hundreds. The second floor was too close to his parents for his liking.

But now? Seeing the changes around the house, and knowing that his sister was the one sharing his floor with him? He was almost excited. He couldn't wait to see what changes she brought to the third floor.

It had been pretty empty when he moved up, and he had liked it like that. Though he had made a few tweaks when he got upstairs. Admittedly, he had gone through a bit of an ice sculpture phase in his teen-hundreds, and it showed. The windows were his work of art, glass and ice panes mixing with one another, creating a sort of ice nouveau look, as he had liked to call it. The chandelier was completely made of ice, and yet another work of art he was particularly proud of! And he had made these amazing decorative plants, also out of ice. They were stunning, and, as he headed up the stairs and approached the landing, was happy to see that they had stood the test of time. It was all very familiar, except for the gorgeous columns at the top of the stairs.

They flanked the landing on either side, the midday sun that was coming in making them sparkle. Jack took a closer look; the frosty pattern inside the pillars was very swirly, which meant that this had been Jacqueline's handywork. It wasn't half bad work either, Jack thought, the pillar very smooth. It threw even more sunlight throughout the hallway, the floors sparkling in the sun. It was like a crisp, cold, sunny winter day up there, and Jack found himself enjoying it!

He was happy to see his icy plants still by the French doors leading to his rooms, as well as what had once been the gallery on the left but were now, he assumed, Jacqueline's rooms. The rooms themselves were more like a set of lodgings, their own personal L-shaped suite, perhaps. The doors opened up to their very own sitting rooms, then led to the bedrooms through another door. The bedrooms were large and spacious; the bathrooms were at the base of the bedrooms, beside the landing, more or less. Back when her side of the floor had been the gallery, Jack had had the entrance to it mirror the one to his room. He was happy to see that Jacqueline had kept the icy plants, and that they now stood on either side of her room door.

He turned right, passing his sister's room and stopping at the door to his room. He reached for the handle, then hesitated; he wasn't sure why. He turned back to the hallway. His white grand piano was still in the sunny corner nearest the balcony entrance. But it wasn't as…empty and cold as it had been when he had been home.

Small pine shelves were dotted around the landing here and there, stuffed full of novels and movies. One shelf had a record player at the very top, and was crammed with all sorts of records! Everything was still fairly neat, thankfully; the plush chairs that had stood around the hall now had small baskets beside them with all sorts of blankets and quilts stuffed in them.

The upstairs felt so personal; it felt lived in now.

He glanced back at his door, something clicking. Everything in the house had changed so much! There were personal touches everywhere, and it was a lot cozier than it had been in his youth. Even the hallway looked lived in! But his room? Well. He hadn't been in it in fourteen centuries. It was plain, and ordinary, and probably crazy dusty. Thinking about where a spare set of sheets might be, he finally pulled open the door to his room and entered his sitting area.

It was just as he had left it. Plain, ordinary, and (compared to the rest of the house) completely empty.

The thick blue curtains were shut tight, the icy lights on the wall lighting up as he walked in. the bookshelf was still in its spot in the middle of the wall, a sleek blue armchair next to it. Matching couches, black and leather, formed a cold and empty sitting room. He walked through the sitting room as fast as he could, stopping in front of the door to his bedroom, and opened it up.

The icy lights went from dim to bright as he pushed the door open and walked in. it was just as plain and empty as the sitting room before it. There was nothing personal about it. Sure, some icy touches here and there (he was pretty positive no other rooms in the house had his dimming lights, for example), but there wasn't a sign of life. No mementos, no photos, nothing. Jack could only wonder what his sister's room must look like in comparison. With a sigh, he moved to the heavy curtains and pushed them back, sunlight pouring in, the icy lights dimming themselves as the dark room lightened up a tad.

The curtains did not stir up as much dust as he had expected. In fact, they barely stirred any dust at all! Which was unexpected, to be frank. He trailed his finger across the surface of his large vanity—no dust. Huh. The desk was clean, too, almost as though he had never left.

"I kept it clean. Just in case," a voice said.

Startled, Jack turned around, holding his chest in a very over the top manner. It was just Winter, small in the doorframe, dishrag being crushed in her hands.

"Mother! You frightened me!"

She smiled softly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to."

"I'm over exaggerating. It was barely a start! A mere fright, not a full scare. No need to fret, or-or anything."

"You look perturbed. Is everything okay?"

Everything's fine, he wanted to say. I want to make things right between us. I want to be able to use my powers again, and not have to rely on my little sister for help doing my actual paying job, he wanted to add. I want to apologise for all the hurt that I caused, for cutting our connection, for leaving and nearly killing my sister! But what came out instead surprised him.

"Everything has changed so much," Jack said, "And everything in here, in my room, is still the same. It's like I never left—or maybe never even lived here. Was I really this cold and distant?"

"It's an opportunity for a fresh start," Winter said, stepping into the room. "A clean slate, if you will. You can fill your room to the brim with new memories now."

Jack was a little speechless. She had a point. Maybe he could use this as a segue into other fresh starts? He tried to speak, but felt the words die in his throat and frowned, instead, rubbing the frozen bits of his hair.

Winter cleared her throat. "I should. Go finish up. Dishes. I just wanted to say—" she thought about what she wanted to say, everything she really wanted to say. I want to make things right with you, Jack. I want to fix our connection, and apologise for breaking it in the first place because I'm your mother, and maybe some support would have gone a long way for you? Oh gosh, now I sound like Blaise. He has a point, of course, anyway, I'm not even sure we can fix this, but would you like to try?

But what she said instead was, "It's good to have you home, Jack."

And Winter was mortified. She froze a bit, nearly getting another fistful of wet dishcloth on her face but remembering to keep her composure.

"Oh. Ah, thanks," Jack replied quietly, trying his best to not grimace while his mother was staring at him.

She nodded. "Of course. Good talk," she said, abruptly turning on her heel and nearly flying out of the room and down the stairs, mentally shouting profanities the entire time.

Jack watched her leave, letting out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding in. He shifted his weight, leaning on the vanity, unsure if that had been good or bad.

"What have you gotten yourself into," he asked his reflection, shaking his head.

"Good talk?! Good talk?! What the FROST was THAT, Winter?" she said out loud, halfway down the stairs to the first floor.

Why was this so hard?!

That had been the perfect opportunity to just. Break the ice, and get going on the whole healing and forgiveness thing! And all she had said, was GOOD FROSTBITTEN TALK? Winter was absolutely, positively, mortified and wondered where the heck Blaise was so she could perhaps bury her entire face into his chest and not emerge for the rest of the day. "Good frostbitten talk indeed," she said, facepalming. Thankfully, the dishcloth was not as wet as she had expected.

She had watched him leave the kitchen, wanting to say more but being unable to parse the words. One furious dish wash later, and she had found a burst of confidence and went right up the stairs, and then up the stairs again, fully intending to say everything then and there.

But by the time she had made it, the confidence had left her, and even though the opportunity arose she had, once again, completely bombed it.

"Good talk. Honestly Winter, why would you—is that the crystal ball?" she stopped short as she passed the blue parlour, a faint ringing tickling her ears.

She backtracked and pushed the door open fully. It was indeed the crystal ball, and it was glowing a lovely shade of right-after-the-rain green. She blinked, keeping her eyes shut for an extra few seconds. Did she really have the patience to talk to Spring now?

She opened her eyes, and the green turned to sunshine-glistening-off-the-water yellow. And then fresh-maple-leaf red.

Why on earth were all three sisters calling at once? Surely, the news of Jack's homecoming hadn't travelled that fast. Well, unless Mother Nature had talked to Santa and found out about their departure. It wouldn't be out of character for Jacqueline to forget to tell her something, and it was very in character for Jack to do that on purpose, if she recalled correctly.

Winter groaned. Mother Nature had totally found out and talked to Spring who had then proceeded to talk to the other seasons.

She could just close the door and ignore it…but she knew without a doubt all three sisters would appear at the doorstep, and quite frankly, Winter just did not have that kind of patience right now.

So, throwing the dish towel on one of the couches, she faced the crystal ball, eyes closed, and placed her hands gently above it. With a deep breath, she opened her eyes and threw her hands away from the crystal ball, landing at her sides. Green, yellow, and red sparks flew after her fingers, pausing above the ball until all three sisters appeared in the magical call clouds.

"Spring. Summer. Autumn. The next seasonal council isn't for another two months. To what do I owe the pleasure, of all three of you calling at once?"

"Hey Winter! How's it hanging?" Summer asked, eyes glistening, hair piled way high above her head in a ponytail.

"I have a sneaking suspicion that the three of you already know how it's going, and Spring put you up to this. Am I right, Spring?" Winter said, turning to Spring's call cloud with a raised eyebrow.

"You said you'd handle the greeting!" Spring snapped.

"Yeah, and I did, and Autumn and I both told you she'd know immediately something was up."

Autumn nodded and hummed in agreement.

Spring sighed, her annoyance dropping. "Surprise, Winter! You caught us!" her red bob bounced, a few petals flying out of her hair (of which there was no shortage of flowers).

"Caught us? Girl, we pleaded guilty the moment you insisted we all call at the same time," Summer said, crossing her dark arms.

Spring laughed through clenched teeth. "That's neither here nor there, dearest Summer."

"Oh snap, I got a dearest," Summer teased.

"Let's be nice, yeah?" Autumn said.

"I'm being very nice," Summer added.

"I agree," Winter pipped up. "She's direct and to the point, Spring."

"Alright! Chill out, Winter." Spring sighed, a serious look on her face now. "I heard from Mother earlier today. She was late for our lunch today, told me she had gone down to the North Pole to check on Jack and Jacqueline, much to my surprise, and found that much to her surprise, they had left the North Pole to come back home to Crystal Springs!"

"We one hundred percent need deets, Winter," Summer began. "What the heck is going on? Jack? In the same room as Jacqueline?! And now home?! It sounds wild!"

"Care to elaborate?" Spring asked, a weird mix of curiosity and protectiveness? Anger? In her green eyes.

"It's a little long."

"How about a synopsis?" Autumn said gently, smiling softly. Her hair was pulled into thick, loose braids, a heavy fringe covering her eyebrows. Her brown eyes were warm with understanding, something that Winter loved about her sister Autumn—she was able to ground the other two back to this planet when they went a little overboard, which Winter was sure was going to happen very, very soon.

"If it's easier, we can go over tonight for dinner and you can fill us in," Spring said.

Oh, there it was! The boat had flipped! Seasons overboard! Winter thought, with a heavy sigh.

"Or we could do tea, or a snack, if that's easier?" Spring said.

"How is going earlier easier?" Summer asked.

"The sooner the better!"

"For whom, exactly?" Autumn asked. "Maybe we should wait a moment before we make any rash decisions, Spring."

"I gave options! Dinner, or teatime!"

"NO!" Winter said loudly, startling all three seasons. "No. Not today. It's been a little crazy today. A lot crazy. Good talks. Ugh." She closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I'm a little all over the place, you see. Today most assuredly is not the best time to come by, seeing as how the snowy kids just got back from the Pole, not even two hours ago, and are exhausted! It's been absolutely crazy—"

"So he's thawed?!" Summer blurted.

Winter sighed. "Yes."

"But the curse said it couldn't be done!"

"Summer! Please, keep it down," Winter said, popping her head outside the parlour door and looking down the hall and up the stairs. She closed them gently before turning back to her sisters, wearing her best snow queen look. "You know how Blaise feels about the curse, and the circumstances surrounding it."

"He can't ignore the facts," Autumn said.

"He still wants to think the best of his brother," Winter defended.

"Even after all these centuries? Damn. That's impressive. If any of you cursed my kids, I'd have your heads," Summer said.

Winter sighed. "I know, you're all making very good points and I know. I almost had his head, too, if you'll recall. Curse or no, something we thought couldn't be done, has been done. He's here, and he's thawed, and I'm having a very hard time adjusting, to be quite honest."

Autumn's bright brown eyes sparkled as she silently observed Winter. It was sometimes nerve racking how piercing her gaze could be. "That's completely understandable," Autumn said. "We should most definitely postpone our dinner plans, ladies. Definitely not today."

"How about tomorrow?" Spring said.

"I can clear my schedule," Summer said.

"Can't we wait until the end of the week, perhaps?" Winter said, though she knew what the answer would be before she even asked.

"Winter, this is a serious thing we need to address! The sooner, the better," Spring said, all serious now.

"All the same, she needs some time, Spring."

Spring sighed. "Alright, fine. Tomorrow evening it is, then," Spring said, frowning in Autumn's general direction.

"It'll give me time to make some pie," Autumn said. "We wouldn't want to make Winter prep everything, would we, seasons?"

"Of course not!" Spring said. "I can bring some sides!"

"Which pies?" Summer asked.

"I was thinking the apple pie? And maybe the pumpkin one, if I have time."

"That sounds DELICIOUS!" Summer said, excited. "I'll see what I can whip up over here. See you ladies tomorrow!" And with a wave, the yellow call cloud poofed out of existence.

"She didn't even wait for a time!" Spring huffed.

"Dinner time is a time," Autumn replied.

"I guess," said Spring. "Does six o'clock work, Winter?"

"Well it's not like I have a choice," Winter mumbled.

"Sorry, what was that?" Spring asked.

"Yes, Spring, that should be fine."

"Excellent! I'll see you tomorrow, then. This is exciting!" Spring was all sunshine and daisies, now. Any trace of anger or annoyance had vanished. "We haven't had a sisterly dinner in a while!"

And with that, Winter was left with just Autumn. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sorry about that, Winter. Believe it or not, Summer and I actually calmed her down considerably."

"Oh, I believe it. Thank you, Autumn. I imagine that could have been worse," Winter said, perching on the armrest of the nearest sofa.

"Oh, it was nothing. Anything you'd like to talk about before I pop off?" Autumn asked.

"Oh, no. I'm just going to process what just happened and then perhaps crawl into bed and bury myself in blankets for a bit."

Autumn laughed. "Well alright. But if you need anything, I'm a call away, sis. I don't have any plans to leave the chalet today, especially now that I have pies to make."

Winter laughed. "I suppose I'll have to go do a little shop as well."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Winter," Autumn said, with a cheery wave. The red sparks dissipated, leaving Winter in silence as she slowly tipped over and landed on the sofa. Not only was she unable to talk to Jack about anything, she had no time to try and figure that out seeing as she now had to prep a feast for her overbearing sisters! Sister, really-it was mainly Spring's doing, not all three of them (and Winter was more than happy to blame Spring for things! She made the tail end of winter such a hassle!)

"Okay Winter. Deep breaths." Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Good. Time to focus, she thought, pushing herself up and over the armrest.

"Blaise dear," she called out gently, closing the parlour doors behind her, relieved when she heard him reply from the den. "We have a bit of a... predicament," she decided, heading to the den.

Bernard stood outside with Quintin, surveying the Dome. The two of them had spent the day trying to see if there were any cracks, crevices, or general evidence of melting, but had found none. The North Pole was cold, the rushing water sounds gone…it was almost as if the winter sprites had fixed the Dome when they did…whatever that thing had been.

"It's all almost as good as new, Bernard." Quintin said once again.

But Jack had said that it wasn't permanent. And while Bernard wasn't the Dome expert and couldn't tell for sure if it was leaking magic at all, it still felt like some magic, a very tiny, small minuscule amount, was ebbing away. Since it was the Christmas season now, Bernard wasn't sure if this was a leak, or the Christmas magic beginning to coat the world as it usually did around this time of year.

"Almost being the key word. Jack said it wasn't permanent."

"But there's not a single dent, scratch, crack, leak, or any aberration we can find."

"And it's impossible to tell if it's leaking for sure because of the usual spread of Christmas spirit."

"Quite the conundrum," Quintin agreed, standing beside Bernard in similar arms crossed stance, staring at the Dome before them.

"I don't really think so," said a voice. Quintin jumped; Bernard didn't take his eyes off the Dome.

"Hey Elle."

She brushed silver sparks off of her shoulders, staring out at the Dome with them.

"I didn't hear you appear at all!" Quintin said, still a little shaken.

"I'm sneaky," Elle winked.

"When she wants to be," Bernard added. Elle gently smacked his arm, smiling nonetheless.

"So why, if I may ask, is this not as much of a conundrum as we think?"

"Because the Dome is fixed. Sure it's only temporary, but everything is more or less back to normal around here."

"That's what makes it so confusing," Bernard said, frown deepening. "For all intents and purposes, it looks like the Deliquesce has been stopped…but it hasn't been, according to Jack."

"The Dome Expert," Quintin said.

"I guess so," Bernard said. "It's like we've just brushed it under the rug, you know?"

"Well yeah, it could maybe start again at any time, you're right. But if you sit here and stare at it thinking of how it could start up again at any time, you'll end up brushing everything else under the rug."

"Elle makes a very good point, as usual," Quintin said. "Bernard, we've done all we can to figure out what they did. Perhaps it's best we step back and get back to work. I know if anything does happen, Jack will be back asap to fix it, as he always does."

"The one thing he's always done right." Bernard sighed. "Alright. Might as well head back down, then."

"If you don't mind, I myself am going to go ahead. I'm feeling a mite bit peckish," Quintin said, heading down. "See you both back at the Shop!"

"Yup, see you there," Bernard said, finally tearing his eyes away from the Dome. He glanced at Elle, who was rubbing the back of her neck.

"Everything okay Elle?"

"Yeah. Mostly. Just a little worried is all."

"About the Dome?"

"No, about Jacqueline."

"No word from her?"

"No. But she isn't that great at keeping in touch in general. She forgets she has a phone and frequently forgets she has a direct line to me," Elle said, tapping her head.

Bernard laughed, falling into step beside Elle as they walked down the hill, both deciding to take the long way.

"So what's worrying you specifically? Her not letting you know if everything went smoothly? The meltdowns? Something else?"

"All of the above. Currently, the meltdowns though. She…didn't really want to talk about them and I'm concerned because of that voice I heard. I was thinking, since it seemed like I was the only one who heard it, maybe it was a telepathy thing?"

"Like a voice in Jacqueline's head you were hearing?"

"Something like that, yeah."

"Did you ever bring it up with her?"

"No. Not really. Well I mean, when we first both heard it, I told her I was hearing it, but since she forgot about everything after those storms, I don't know if she even remembers. I was thinking of bothering her about it now, but I'm not sure if all's well back at her place. With her family. It would be really great if she just shot a message over saying hey! I'm A-Okay buddy! But does she? Nope."

"I think you should be good to bother her. It's been a couple of hours and if they're not back here, then things most likely went well."

"Hmm. Maybe I'll drop a line, then. Mother Nature's already left, by the way."

"She came by?"

"Yeah! She came by to check in on Jack and Jacqueline and was very surprised when she heard they had headed home."

"I don't blame her. She was livid about the Day of Darkness and even more upset with the fallout Jack caused. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she headed straight to the Frost's house after that to check in on everyone."

Elle laughed, the mental image of Mother Nature bursting through Jacqueline's front door very funny for some unfathomable reason. "I'll check in on her once we get back to the Workshop."

"Why not now?"

"Because I like spending time with you," she said, grabbing his hand and squeezing it. Bernard grinned, the two elves making the very long way back to the Workshop, happy just being with each other.

Jacqueline sat at home in Jack's not-so-secret "secret" library, doing some of her own research. Determined to not think about the meltdowns, she decided to throw her efforts into trying to figure out two things: why Jack's core wasn't working properly, and what had happened back at the Pole.

Jack had collected a lot of books, handwritten by people Jacqueline had only heard about in stories. Some of the people who had written these journal-like books were the Winter Warlock, the Snow Queen…winter sprites who Jacqueline had thought were just stories before Blaise gave her the Rosehaven talk when she was sixteen-hundred and two. She hoped that perhaps one of these specialized volumes would have some mention of what could be causing Jack's freezer burn, since they were specifically about winter sprites. If not, then perhaps it was a more basic problem, and Jacqueline was thinking a little too outside the box.

Hey Jacquie, you there?

Jacqueline jumped in her chair a bit, the book in her hand nearly slipping from her grip. Yes! I'm here. You gave me a bit of a start, Elle.

Sorry not sorry. I would've texted you but you forget you have a phone.

I actually haven't seen it in like four days, Jacqueline realized, frowning. The direct approach was probably best. Anyway, what's up? Do you already miss little old me?

Elle laughed. Whatever helps you sleep at night, pal. I actually just wanted to know how things went at home. I was getting a bit worried.

Jacqueline sighed, closing her book and stretching, trying to think of the quickest way to summarize it to Elle.

It went fairly well, I think. Fiera slapped Jack.

She did what?! Elle asked, loud enough to give Jacqueline the impression that she had also said it out loud. The sprite laughed.

She slapped Jack. Someone was bound to do it eventually!

I'm honestly a bit mad it wasn't me. Had I known slapping him was an option, I would've done it for you ages ago!

Now it was Jacqueline's turn to laugh out loud. You're my favourite person, just so you know. And besides, if I recall correctly, you did lobe a vase at his head at one point!

I know, and I did, Elle replied. And, I'd do it again if you needed me to! I will slap a brother out.

Jacqueline laughed. I think Fiera covered that. Seeing as how that was the worst physical thing that happened, I'd say things went fairly well, all things considered.

Physical?

Jacqueline put down her book, thoughtful. Well, he talked to Blaise and that went surprisingly well. Introduced himself to the Twins, got slapped, and then answered all of their questions. But when it came to Mom...she seems to be having a hard time like, seeing him, if that makes sense.

Would glasses help? Or is it a more metaphysical kind of thing.

The second one, Jacqueline thought back with a brief chuckle, tucking her feet under her legs, resting her chin on her hand. She can see him just fine, but she's acting like she can barely believe he's there, even though she sees him. Which is weird, my mom isn't usually this...awkward. It's awkward. I don't really understand what's up. I think Jack does, though.

And he hasn't told you yet?

No. He said he would once he straightens things out with Mom. Oh! I should've told him to look on the bright side! At least she let him into the house, Jacqueline thought with another chuckle.

He made it past the gate then? Elle teased.

Jacqueline laughed out loud. Yeah! It was pretty funny, actually, the gate literally shoved him into the yard. It's been a crazy day, Jacqueline finished, yawning.

Speaking of! Oh, wait, that wasn't very delicate, was it? Oof. Can I ask you something?

Shoot.

The last little storm you had...how much do you remember?

Jacqueline frowned, sitting up a bit. We were getting food...I thought I saw something. I went after it, and then woke up on the floor. Again.

So you don't remember the moments before it?

Not in detail, no. it's kind of…foggy. Sorry, Elle. Why?

As we were walking back to the Workshop, you were hearing someone say something. The thing is, I heard it too. I was hearing someone, too.

You were?!

Yes. But nobody outside from us heard it, so I think it was a telepathy thing.

"Hold on a sec," Jacqueline said, both out loud and in her thoughts. She fully straightened on the armchair now, nearly leaning off of the seat. "You're telling me, you heard a voice only I was hearing? Coming from my head?!"

That's the theory, yeah.

Jacqueline blinked, fully absorbing what Elle had said. A voice that only she could hear, as well as her telepathic bestie. Nobody else could hear it. That meant that something…or someone…was able to get into Jacqueline's head, prey on her innermost thoughts, trick her into doing a lot of things she wouldn't normally do, not even on a bad day, and then, they wiped it from her memory!

And she didn't know how.

Jacqueline quite literally froze at the thought. Frost coated the chair she was on, spiralling onto the book she had just put down on the side table, her hand having barely left the surface.

She didn't know how it was happening, or if being home would stop it. And if she didn't know how it was happening, then how in the world would anyone be able to help her? She couldn't even help herself!

And that was the most terrifying thing of all.

On the other side of the wall, Jack was having a similar crisis. He lay on his back on his bed, frowning up at the ceiling.

The whole thing with Winter was…weird. And he couldn't even figure out what was up with his mother because he had, of course, gone and cut his connection with her the day after he had left the family home for good (or so he thought, at the time).

Severing connections wasn't unheard of amongst magibeans. Even magibeans have to go no contact for their own health and wellness. And it wasn't taboo, it just wasn't a topic of conversation that came up very often. When it did, it was usually from the child's perspective—generational divides and such could make it hard to get along with old fashioned parents, especially when you lived as long as magibeans did.

And when he was frozen, this seemed like exactly what he needed to do. And though both parents had connections with their kids, maternal connections were a lot more tangible than paternal ones (which is why Jack hadn't actively sought out ways to cut paternal ties—just block). And when he had woken up the day after leaving, a little calmer (though not by a lot), he had noticed that the tangible connection was weak. Unsure why, Jack thought it'd be best to just. Slice that thread right off! It became a dead end.

A dead end that, as he lay and reflected, he could still find. It was worn and terribly frayed, cut and torn badly in comparison to the light blue connection that linked him with his legate. But it was there. And maybe, just maybe, he could fix it, and it'd be as bright as strong as the counterpart beside it!

Speaking of, Jack wondered what Jacqueline was up to. She had all but disappeared after lunch, which was really quite rude, leaving him to the mercy of their parents. Of course, if he were in her shoes, he'd have run off as soon as possible, too. Between those odd blackouts she had been having, not to mention, that weird power…thing the two of them had discovered while fixing the dome, he'd want to find answers asap!

Which was probably a better use of his time than laying about, even though the idea of sleep was very tempting. His mind was running way too fast for him to even attempt some shut eye!

So, with a spring in his step he hopped off of the bed, and strode over to the bookshelves lining the wall in his sitting room, pulling out an unmarked book. There was a creek, and the grating of gears (he'd have to do something about the noise, this shelf used to glide!), and the shelf started spinning, bringing Jack into a whole other room that only he really knew about.

The shelf clicked into place; Jack turned around and nearly jumped.

"Excuse me, what the frost is this?"

"Look, sometimes, I get a little frosty, okay? Geez, it's not like you were a master of your craft at nineteen hundred."

"No no no, not this," Jack said, gesturing to the ice all over his favourite arm chair. "This," he said, pointing at Jacqueline.

"You just. Pointed to all of me."

"Yes! What are you doing in here? This room's a secret!"

"And I was a very curious kid! I don't know what you expected!"

"For a secret room to remain a secret. I'm sorry, is that a door?"

Jacqueline turned in her armchair. "Yeah, the door to my sitting room."

"You put a door in? Well that completely defeats the purpose! It's supposed to be a secret room, Jacqueline. You know, with a cool secret entrance?"

"It's very Scooby-Doo," she replied, smirking.

"Oh live a little, sister dear. You know," Jack continued, sitting on the armchair opposite hers, "fun is a very big part of this job and I think if you're going to be taking it over one day, you could do with a bit of it."

"Hey! I have fun all the time! Oodles of fun! More fun than you, probably." She leant forwards in her chair. "I even have fun in the snow, which I know is a concept you can't seem to fully grasp," she said with a smirk.

"Ou, that is a low blow, Jacqueline! A low blow!"

She laughed, waving the frost off of the armchair and onto her skirt. ""Have you ever looked at the plans for the house?"

"No. Why would I?"

"I have, after a teleport mishap landed me in here. I asked Dad about it, and he said it was a storage room that you had decided to use for something or other. Of course I explored it. I mean, it was a secret library you were using, and I thought—well, what I thought is beside the point. The gist of it is there's a lot of cool stuff in here! I didn't know winter sprites could do half of the things in these books, let alone that some of these sprites actually existed. I added some notes to some, I hope you don't mind."

Jack blinked, taken aback. "But did you have to put in a door?"

"It's not easy getting a secret bookshelf door when you're twelve hundred, Jack. Not a lot of people take you seriously, and I didn't want anyone to like, take the stuff in here, you know? Especially since I started keeping a couple of important keepsakes and crap in here, too. Where did you get all this stuff?"

Jack shrugged, glancing around the room. The few bookshelves were crammed with bound journals, scrap pieces of paper hanging off some of the shelves. It was brightly lit, for an average sized room. Between glowing magical artifacts and a decent sized window, a fair amount of light came in as sunset drew closer. A long, curved stick was against the window, covered in its own layer of frost. On the high up shelves, a paintbrush, a few old wands, and some scepters sat, once used and now forgotten by magical figures long, long ago.

He had expected the room to smell stale and bookish, but it didn't. It smelled of paper and ink, of course, but not old. Jack figured his sister had made use of the specialized library, especially when he noticed a few other items on the shelves that he didn't recall placing there.

"That is a teddy bear," Jack said, pointing to a white bear desperately in need of a wash.

"His name is Bearnard and he's important to me and very magical, before you ask. You didn't answer my question."

"Hmm?"

"Where'd you get all the stuff?"

Jack smiled. He was getting all mushy. He couldn't help but be reminded of when she was very little and he was about Jacqueline's age, maybe a hundred or two years older than her, and trying his best to teach her what he could between all of the questions (some of them that had no business being as good as they were, considering she had been four hundred or so at the time!)

"I was always an over achiever. Mother taught me everything she knew, but I wanted to know more. So naturally, I snuck into Rosehaven to talk to the old myths and legends that used to roam about, before the call."

"You broke into Rosehaven?! You're concerned about a couple of close calls with the stake that I had, meanwhile you're sitting here telling me you broke into the actual afterlife, totally not dead, risking potentially being trapped there for numerous reasons including but not limited to forfeiting your life because you jumped into the afterlife, without meeting the criteria, and potentially incurring the goddess's rage by going into Rosehaven without being called or retiring, and you're mad at me for accidental witch trials?!"

"Execution and research are two very different things, ma sœur."

"But being dumb of ass is not, seeing as how your "research" could very well have ended in an execution."

"Hey! Be nice! I think my pride has taken enough hits for today."

Jacqueline cackled. "That slap, eh? Fiera dunked you, dude."

Jack rubbed his cheek. "I was somehow both surprised and not surprised. Now, I answered your question, stop avoiding mine."

Jacqueline looked puzzled. "What question?"

"What are you doing in here?"

"Same thing I expect you came in here to do. Research!" She said, picking up the book on the side table and giving it a little flourish. "I was looking into core stuff, because I had no idea where to even start with magic-splosion stuff."

"I'll look into that, but we're not calling it that. How about blackout stuff?"

Jacqueline coloured. Her armchair looked a little bit frosty again. "I uh, hadn't thought about that," she lied.

Jack could take a hint (surprisingly). "Right," he said, jumping up. "Well then, let's see what we can dig up on cores and power surges? Sudden overpowerness?"

"Those names also suck."

"So does magic-splosion," Jack said, trailing his fingers across a shelf labelled as "power amplifiers", a raspberry Jacqueline's only response.

A/N: Edited as of July 8th, 2021. This one took a little longer originally, there was a LOT to sift through though the opening didn't need much editing, just some refining-though there was a lot ADDED to the chapter. A good chapter overall, I think. lots of thoughts, feelings, and everyone beginning to get down to business. And of course, nosy sisters. Poor Winter, they do cause a lot of sighing for the coldest season. I have once again shuffled events in these two chapters, but I think they flow a lot better now! Writing the last scene was a lot of fun. I love me some good old sibling banter! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and the rewrite/edit so far! Do drop a line and let me know how it's going!