(Content/trigger warnings for this chapter: depression-like thing)
-Ranya-
When the shooting stars faded to clear day, the air heated, flooding down over us. But my soaked clothes made me cooler, and Isabelle and I spun onto the soft grass beneath our feet. Birds chirped in the surrounding thick leafy trees, and the sweet scent of the small clusters of flowers hovered in the air. The sun had also risen completely here, its light touching all of the corners of the forest.
Isabelle blinked. She took a shaking breath. Another. She picked herself to her feet, trembling. "Where are we?"
"Burgess." I slid my teleporter into my coat pocket, wrapped my hand around a long stick from the forest floor, and used it to find the balance to stand. "Home of Jack Frost." Now that I was out of immediate danger, my weight became a bit more pressing, trying to drag me down, and I fought against it.
"I thought Burgess had buildings?"
"Yeah, we're just in the forest part." Being one of the locations the movie showed, and one I'd stared at images of until my eyes burned for one of my fanfictions, I'd been able to picture it well enough.
"Hey."
The deep voice came from behind. Isabelle and I spun, and I nearly tripped.
"Do you guys know what's happening with the Guardians?"
A boy who looked my age and a girl Isabelle's stood next to each other frowning. The boy bobbed his head. He was tall with large eyes, a plump nose, and short brown hair the Watcher's effects hadn't messed up. Stubble grew on his chin. The girl was my sister's height, and had long locks and bangs. The boy wore shorts and a graphic t-shirt referencing some video game I didn't recognize, and the girl wore a casual dress dotted with flowers that flashed every color of the rainbow. Both of their bodies were rectangular in shape.
Even with my hallucinating, since they believed in the Guardians at their ages…
"You're Jamie and Sophie Bennett," I said. The Guardians had needed the former and his friends' assistance fighting Nightmares in the movie. Sophie's hair was blond, and both had warm ivory faces flushed in the heat—at least it looked like they were through my hallucinating—though Jamie's was a tad tanner.
"Yeah, we are." He bobbed his head again. "And who are you? We saw you teleport. Do you have anything to do with the Guardians?"
Part of me questioned if Jamie and Sophie, though friends with and not official helpers of Jack, had been replaced with fakes, too. So I stepped forward—using my stick for support but teetering on my legs—and sniffed Jamie's slightly outstretched arm.
He jumped back. "What the heck?"
He stank slightly of BO—not like the Watcher. "Making sure you're not fake." Nearly falling, I bent over and sniffed Sophie, too. She held still but narrowed her eyes at me slightly. She smelled of a vague mixture of scents, but again, nothing like blood.
"Sorry," I said. "You're both clear, though. So…" I gave a rushed summary of what had happened these past few days, including Isabelle's Guardianship, my quest to replace her (omitting her first Guardian Angel telling me I had to—I didn't want to scare Isabelle anymore), and the replacement of the real Guardians.
"Oh." Jamie had taken a step back, multiple worried expressions shifting across his face. Sophie stared at the ground. "We hadn't seen Bunny or Jack since the Terror Storm. Wondered what was happening."
"Could you please help me win?" I asked.
"Fear Angels and Terror Storms, from your experiences and mine, aren't the same as Nightmares. We can't destroy these new things with our touch. But we could think of something."
"I have a teleporter; I could go anywhere and get anything. But we have to be quick. We don't know when the fake Guardians will be able to come after us."
Sophie looked up from the ground and said in a soft voice, "Maybe you could hide where they can't reach you? So you have more time to make a plan?"
"Sorry, but we tried hiding," Isabelle said. "It didn't work."
"And you don't think going to North's workshop for help would be a good idea?" Jamie said.
"Right," I said. "Pitch might've replaced the people there, too."
"Huh." Jamie rubbed his cheek. "Well, there is something I could give you, since you're planning to take your sister's place as a Guardian. I have a weapon that can hurt Pitch."
My heart raced. "You have something like that?"
"Yeah. Jack gave me a special dagger a few years ago in case Pitch ever came back for vengeance. Some Snow Globes, too. But the problem would be getting a good hit on Pitch. He's quick."
"Where are the weapons?"
"Back at the house."
I tried picturing the Bennetts' front lawn and pressing the button on my teleporter, but nothing happened. The movie hadn't shown that area for very long. I couldn't recall much of the rest of the house, either. It was probably different-looking since so many years had passed.
But I knew it wasn't far. Getting Jamie and Sophie to describe it to me might take longer.
"Let's hurry," I said. "We don't know when the Terror Storm's gonna stop."
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