A few hours of snowballs flying later, most of the kids' parents called them in for the night. Jamie, Sophie and the other two teens hung around for a little while longer, but eventually it was just the siblings and us immortals. Sophie was building a snowman with Jamie's help, and occasionally Jack's. I sat and watched. They were way better at it than me, that was for sure. Jamie lifted his sister so she could put on the snowman's face. After it was done, Sophie ran around for a little while longer, while Jack sat next to me on the ground. Jamie came over and sat on the bench near us.

"Where does that girl get the energy?" I watched as the blondie ran around in circles.

"Same place as you." Jack said as-a-matter-of-factly. I just shook my head at him

"Are you gonna stick around for a while, Jack?" Jamie looked over at us.

The immortal in question shrugged. "Depends." He glanced at me. "You planning on hanging out?"

"Why not. This place is infamous in fandoms, I might as well look around while I'm here." Like it hadn't been my plan all along.

It was finally starting to get dark out and Jamie glanced up at the sky, squinting. "Looks like I should be getting Sophie back home now. Sophie! Time to go home!" He got up from the bench and started to chase down the skinny nine-year-old who was doing everything in her power to not go home.

"No! I wanna play with Jack and Story! I don't wanna go home yet!"

"Sophie - " He lunged at her, but she swerved at the last minute and he missed. "We have school tomorrow." He jumped at her again, but landed on the ground as she jumped out of the way and stuck her tongue out at him. "Mom's gonna be mad if we get home after the street lights are on!"

"Don't care!" She was giggling now as she gave her brother a run for his money. Jamie continued to chase the girl around as Jack and I sat laughing as we watched. We both knew exactly how he felt. Older siblings have it hard, but the rewards are pretty great. Jamie finally caught his sister and swung her up over his shoulder. He was barely managing to hold on to her with how much she was struggling. "Jamie! Let me go, I can walk!"

He looked at her skeptically, but put her down anyway... Then his shoulders slumped in defeat as she ran off laughing. Jack got up, chuckling to himself. "I'll get her."

Jamie came over and plopped down next to me. "Thanks, Jack." He smiled up at my roomie gratefully.

As Jack flew over to Sophie to take his turn cornering her I leaned over to Jamie. "I could have told you that would happen when you put her down."

He sighed. "I know, I just got tired of holding her."

I laughed. "Believe me, I know the feeling. I've got a little brother back home. He's about your age, but he used to be a lot like her." I gestured to Sophie with my chin.

"Do you still talk to him?"

I nodded. "Yeah. He was my first believer." I looked over at Jack's first believer in over 300 years of existence. "Listen, from one older sib to another, reverse psychology is a beautiful, beautiful thing." I chuckled as I remembered the countless times I'd used it on Caeden.

"Yeah, it's just..."

"I know." Jack had managed to catch her in the crook of his staff and was straining to pull her towards us. "Hey, thanks for believing in Jack so much. He'd never say it, but the fact that you're still able to see him well into your teens means the world to him."

"How could I ever stop believing in him!" Jamie was outraged at the thought, and I didn't blame him.

"I know it's hard to imagine, but it's actually easier to stop believing than you'd think." I looked down at my hands. "It's hard to keep a hold of your belief, especially when everything tells you otherwise. Really, really hard." I wasn't talking about Jamie now, I was talking about me. "Adults will tell you to grow up and to stop being a kid, but what they're really saying is that you should give up like they did." I looked at him fully. "Don't."

He didn't answer as Jack brought the shrieking child to us, then. "Okay, it's someone else's turn."

"Why don't you let a girl handle this?" I stood up and went over to Sophie who instantly grinned up at me. I smiled at her. "Hey, I will make you a deal."

She pursed her lips, considering. "What kind of a deal?"

"Well, if you promise to go home when Jamie tells you from now on, I will give you a special present each time I stop by."

Her eyes lit up. "A present! What kind of present?"

I tugged my bag off my back and started riffling through it. I pulled out one of my drawings that I'd done while at Berzee - I'd been inspired. "Something like this, maybe?" I held it out to her.

She snatched it up and squealed in delight. "Deal!" She ran over to Jamie, clutching the picture in her fists.

Her brother raised his eyebrows at me. "I told you, reverse psychology... and rewards." I smirked at him as he started laughing.

He pushed himself up and reached out to take Sophie's hand. "C'mon sis, time to head home."

She was staring at the picture I'd given her, humming absently. "M'kay." Jamie looked back at me, eyebrows up again, but I just laughed and gave him a thumbs up. Jamie turned and lead his sister down the sidewalk towards their house.

Chuckling, I turned back to Jack who was leaning on his staff "Big sibling 101, it's less painful for all parties if you trick them into working with you."

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" I reached out and tugged at his staff, making him loose his balance and almost fall. "Hey! Alright, that's it, no more Mr. Nice guy!"

He started to chase me around the park. I called my wings and took off, him racing after me. "That was you being nice! I'd hate to see you pissed off then!" Mid-air he tackled me and we both went crashing to the ground. Twigs and branches whacked me in the face, but we'd fallen from a low altitude, so there wasn't any bad damage. I broke into a run. I had no idea where I was going, but I was gonna do my damnedest to make it that more difficult for Jack to find me on his home turf. Our play argument had essentially evolved into a game of tag. Might as well have as much fun as I could. We'd landed at the edge of the woods, so I ran deeper in, thinking the trees might give me a little cover. Besides, I do believe we've already established that the woods are my homeland.

From behind me I heard Jack crashing through the trees. Figures he'd try and give me an advantage. Screw it. I started really running. I've never been good for long distance running, but a sprint? Oh, I can do that. I took off. Jack must have seen me because he called out. "Story! Not that way!"

Well, if he didn't want me going this way, then I was definitely going this way. I shoved my way past a few bushes. I still had no idea where I was going. I noticed a clearing up ahead and poured on the speed. I was nearing the end of my abilities though, so I figured I'd get to the other side and then hide somewhere. However, that didn't happen because the minute the trees cleared, I was waist deep in water and before I knew it, I was under. I blinked in surprise. I swam until my head broke the water and looked around. It wasn't a clearing, it was a pond. On the other side from where I was, a parking lot stood empty and I could just barely see the town from my vantage point.

I floated in place as I enjoyed bobbing in the water. I'd always been a fish, even when I didn't know how to swim, I still loved the water. I even used to pretend I was Ariel from the Little Mermaid when I was little, flipping my hair around in the bathtub. Jack came crashing out of the trees, stopping abruptly at the edge of the pond. "Story, I said not to go this way."

I shrugged. "It's not that bad. I think I might have been a fish in another life..." I trailed off as I noticed the look on his face. He wasn't staring at me, but at the water. More specifically, a spot near the middle of the pond, right about where it was the deepest. Oh my god... I looked back at Jack to see his expression hadn't changed, and that his gaze hadn't moved. I swam to the edge of the pond and climbed out, soaked. "Sorry. I didn't realize it was this pond..." I turned to see where he was looking, imagining a layer of ice on top and being stuck underneath. I shivered, and not just from the cold air.

"It's... okay." He finally broke his gaze away from the pond to look at me. "I don't like coming here until I've iced it over..." His gaze strayed back towards the water.

"Hey, do you mind if we head somewhere so that I can change clothes? The ones I'm wearing are kind of soaked."

"Oh, right. Yeah, sure, uh there's a gas station up the road a little." He showed me the way and I let myself into the women's bathroom there. I used the hand-dryer to dry my hair as much as possible before changing into the spare set of clothes I still had packed from before Halloween. Part of the reason I'd wanted somewhere to change was for the exact reason I'd said, but it was also to get Jack away from there. I felt like an idiot for leading him there. I knew how he died, how could I have been that stupid?

I glanced at myself in the mirror. "Idiot." I shook my head and tied my hair back in a ponytail. I grabbed up my wet clothes and walked out of the bathroom. Jack was waiting, leaning against the side of the building. "Hey, do you think you could sneak inside and grab me a plastic bag?"

He pushed himself from the wall. "Yeah. I'll be back."

"Sure, terminator." He shook his head at me as he walked past. After he went inside I sat down on the curb. Well, I'd seen Burgess. I'd seen what I wanted to see - or fell in it. I'd never been stupid enough to ask Jack about it, even though my curious side was dying to know what it was like. Maybe it was my morbid side? Death had never scared me, not even my own. To be honest, I'd always been fascinated by it. That's why scary things, were never scary to me. Most of them prey on the fear of death in one way or another. I was staring across the park towards the pond when I heard the front door open behind me. I turned to see Jack sneak out behind a trucker with a bag in hand. When he got to me he handed it over. "Thanks."

"No problem." I threw my wet clothes in and then tied the bag shut, stuffing it in my bag.

I snuck a glance at Jack. He looked at ease. I don't know if he'd managed to push the thoughts from his mind, if he was a really good actor, or what. "Hey."

He glanced over at me, a subconscious smile on his face. "Hm?"

"Nothing." I smiled. "So what're we gonna do now?" I swung my bag up onto my shoulder.

He shrugged. "I don't know, what do you wanna do?"

I mimicked his shrug. "I don't know. What do you wanna do?"

It had been a month since my trip to Burgess. I'd spent the time sending notes back and fourth to Seraphina about my house. Before she'd start building I had to have all the wards in place and the necessary other things for an immortal's home. It was like getting building permits. We planned on building over the summer if all went well.

Christmas was around the corner and Jack had relayed to all of us that we'd been invited to spend the holiday with the other Guardians at the Pole. Of course it'd be the night of the 25th, so that North would have had time to rest after his busiest night of the year. Sel and I were planning on going. Korri was going to spend the holiday with her boyfriend, and Del didn't celebrate. However, I was going to spend the night previous with Tanya and Caeden, who'd invited the older girl to our family's Christmas.

I was at Legends, hanging out and talking to Scathach in between her orders. I was going over who I still needed to get gifts for. I still had my pieces for North and Bunny, so I was good for them, but I needed to get something for the other three Guardians as well as for all of my roommates - I didn't care if Del didn't celebrate, he got a gift anyway - and of course for Caeden and Tanya... and everyone else I'd befriended this year. I sighed. Things were getting tedious.

Scathach plopped down next to me in the chair she'd chosen for the night. "What're you doin'?" She glanced over my list.

"I'm trying to figure out gifts for Christmas."

"Well, who do you still need fer?" I relayed my list and she let out a low whistle. "Well, I can tell you this much, we don't need big ticket items. Actually, it's better if immortals get something minimal, if anything."

"I kind of figured that out." I stared at my list, making a note in it. "I just don't want to do the same thing over and over. You know?"

"Well, what're you thinkin' of?"

"Well, I have portraits for North and Bunny. For Sel and Del I was thinking of making them a nice dinner - you don't know how much those two love food." I stared at the list again. "And then I'm lost."

"So you still need Sandman, Toothania, Frost, the Korrigan, and your believers?"

"And the Muse. I don't know if I should get anything for Annie or not."

"Oh, no. She wouldn't want anythin'. She's good with her club, trust me."

"Alright, thanks." I crossed out Annie's name. "Then there's Seraphina... no she's more like a business partner." I scribbled out her name as well.

"Wait, Seraphina? As in Mother Nature?" I nodded. Her eyebrows rose and her mouth dropped open. "You've actually met her!"

"Sel's one of her good friends, so I got a little bit of an edge there. But, yeah."

She whistled. "Listen, as far as the Muse goes, I'd just have a good time with 'er. She's so territorial that no one ever get's close to her for long. And give the Korrigan a mirror."

I burst out laughing. "Oh, you don't know how appropriate that is!" I made a few more notes in my book. "Hmm... I could give Tooth the necklace I made..."

"What necklace?"

"Huh? Oh, I was talking out loud." I shook my head a little. "When she first gave me directions to the Tooth Palace, she gave me a coin to show to her fairies so they knew I was legit. I turned it into a necklace."

"That might work."

"Hmm, now that I'm thinking about it, I can give Musie and Tanya jewelry too... What the hell am I gonna get for Sandy!" The bartender who was Scathach's usual signal, waved at her, then.

"Sorry, I've gotta get back to work. Good luck with all that." I watched as she walked away, wracking my brain to figure out what to get for three boys with completely different personalities. Hell, while I was at it I might as well get something for Sophie and Jamie. The redhead walked past a few tables over and shot me a sympathetic glance. Scatty, too. She could get jewelry too. Maybe an armband?

I pulled over another blank piece of paper and started doodling ideas for jewelry as I thought of what to get the boys. Well, Jack and I can have a race... maybe? But what was I gonna get for Caeden? I was thinking about my little bro, and about how Jamie and Sophie played so often. Caeden and I didn't really do that. But we had fun, and we were siblings. I pulled out my iPod and started listening to music, thinking it'd give me an idea. A few songs later I got my inspiration. I jotted down my ideas and plans for his present and went back to work on figuring out for Sandy.

He was always on his Dreamsand cloud, so a thing wouldn't work. And his whole home was made of the stuff, so... What do you give to the giver of dreams? Wait a minute... Dreams... That's it! I knew what I was gonna get almost everybody. I was still on the fence about Jack, but everybody else was covered. The next time Scathach walked by I caught her attention. "Scathach! Can you come here a sec?"

She walked over and leaned against the table. "What's up?"

"Okay, first of all, I've got to have a nickname for you. Your name's too long."

She laughed and hung her head for a minute, causing her hair to cover her face. She pushed herself up and brushed the offending curls out of her face. "Well, my name translates to 'shadowing'. A lot of people call me Shady."

"Shady... I like it." I grinned up at her.

"So what was it you wanted me fer?"

"Is there a computer here?" She stared at me with an expression that read 'are you joking?' I wasn't surprised by the response, I was by far the most tech savvy immortal out there. I don't think most of them knew what a computer was. "I need to find an old story of mine."

She turned and surveyed the club. "I think that we have one over by the jukebox, but I'm not sure." She shrugged. "That's the best I can do."

"Thanks." I started packing up as she walked away. After I'd gotten all my stuff, I walked over towards where she'd indicated, but it was pretty obvious that there was no computer. I made my way back to the front of the club and out onto the sidewalk. Back up plan, the library.

Almost two weeks later it was Christmas Eve. I'd flown in that morning to spend the day with Caeden. Everyone was home, even Nick had come home. That was a weird sight. I mean, he had a beard now. He'd brought his girlfriend home to 'meet the family'. She was alright, but she didn't seem like any... fun. I guess living with Jack for so long has me biased, but boring people are... boring... there's really no other word for it.

My mom's personal tradition of the mad dash of wrapping all the presents while Chris and Caeden went and bought theirs hadn't changed. When he went to get his presents, I went to Tanya's and hung out there for a while. Her family's traditions were as vastly different from mine, as the Tooth Palace was from Niles. They had family dinner and everyone opened one present the night before. And they didn't put the star on until that night. As they were heading off to bed, she went into the kitchen first and brought out a platter of cookies and placed it near the fireplace. "What are you doing honey?" Her mom had noticed and watched the placement with a crease between her eyebrows.

"Setting cookies out for Santa."

"Oh, honey, you haven't done that for years! I mean... you do know that Santa... isn't real."

She shrugged. "He was based off a real person wasn't he?"

"Well... yes, but..."

"Mom, I just want to, okay? Even if they sit out all night and go stale by morning, it's a tradition I'm starting to miss."

"Well, alright then. Have a good night."

"Night, mom." She sat in the living room for a while after that talking to me, quietly so she didn't wake her parents. Eventually our conversation turned to my plans for the next day. "So, the Guardians' Christmas Party. I am so jealous of you."

I chuckled. "I would be too, except that I've met them all already... and I've been to the Pole, so it's not really anything new. Besides, Sel's gonna be there too, so..."

"Still, that's something to brag about. I bet most immortals can't say they've done it."

"Well, you got that one right." My mind drifted to every time I'd mentioned the people I'd met so far. It didn't matter if it was to mortals or immortals. Everyone was impressed. "It helps to have connections. Speaking of, I met someone very important in the world of us immortals."

"Who?" She was genuinely interested, leaning forward in her chair even.

"Mother Nature."

Her jaw went slack as her hand flew to her mouth to stifle her squeal. When she pulled her hand away her eyes were saucers. "Are you serious?" I nodded. "Oh my god... Now I'm really jealous." She whined the last line.

"Hey have you read 'Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel'?"

"You're not gonna tell me he's still around are you?" She sounded way too excited for her own good.

"Sadly, no, but someone else, yes." I paused for effect. With each passing millisecond, she leaned farther and farther forward. "I met Scatty."

She fell to the floor. Looking up at me, she gaped. "Scatty!"

"Well, she told me to call her Shady, but yes."

"Holy sh..." She climbed back up into her seat, staring like she'd just been told that she was really a princess or something. "You know, I really hate you sometimes." My response was to stick my tongue out at her. "But you're too cool of a friend to stay mad at for long."

"Thanks. You know... Jack's the same way."

"Oh, speaking of, have you guys done anything interesting lately?"

I grinned slyly at her. "Speaking of, I've met another interesting pair of people. Do the names Jamie and Sophie ring a bell?"

"Oh, now I know you're messing with me."

"Nope. To be completely honest, Jamie's kind of cute now." I smiled at the memory of my first impression before I'd figured out who he was.

"No! Oh my god! Tell me everything, now!"

"Well, after leaving Berzee - that's the name of Seraphina's home - I went looking for Jack. Oh, that's another thing. I made friends with the wind... or winds. I'm still a little fuzzy about that."

"Wait, the wind?"

"Well, it - they were my escort to Berzee and when I left they told me that Jack was in Burgess. Then they gave me a push, so I got there in a fraction of the time. A very minute fraction at that."

"Okay, so; Burgess."

"Right, well, when I got there, Jack was having a snowball fight with a bunch of kids there, he introduced me so I could join in and Jamie and Sophie were in the group."

"Introduced you?" She was staring at the Christmas tree in thought. "You have more believers?"

I smiled. "Yeah." I used to think that I was fine with ambient belief only... but, having believers was amazing. I felt like I could do anything, and the fact that I could tell people about how amazing stories were, to people it would really matter to, was probably the best part about it. "Anyway, Jack and I ended up playing with them for a few hours. After everyone went home, Jack and I sort of ended up playing tag. Don't look at me like that." She'd thrown me the 'wtf' face. "Guardian of Fun and his roommate, remember? I was messing with him and he chased after me, so it turned into tag."

"Well, who won?"

I was about to answer when I hesitated. "Well, we ended up in the woods outside town and the chase ended when I fell into a pond."

"Oh, so he won. You don't have to be shy to admit you lost, you know." I breathed a silent sigh of relief. She hadn't realized what pond I was referring to.

"A girl's gotta have her dignity, you know?" The conversation then turned to less dangerous waters until the grandfather clock in their living room struck twelve. "Hey, you should get to sleep."

"Why? It's just midnight."

"Midnight on Christmas Eve."

"And?"

I stared pointedly at the cookie platter she'd set out. "You didn't set those out for shits and giggles. If you don't get to sleep he'll pass your house by. At least go to your room so he feels less inclined to leave you out of his rounds."

"Alright. Will I see you tomorrow?"

"Probably not. I've got some last minute wrapping to do, so I'll be doing that tomorrow. Plus, not all of my gifts are going to be in a nice neat room together, I've got a little traveling to do."

"Oh. Well, Merry Christmas, then."

"Merry Christmas." I said it to her back as she'd started up the stairs to her room. As soon as she was out of sight, I ran to my bag and pulled out her gift and hid it near the back of the tree. I really hoped that her parents weren't the Christmas morning elves. As I was standing up I heard a noise behind me and turned around expecting to see one of her parents getting a glass of water or something. Nope, it was North inspecting the cookie plate. "I was wondering if you'd actually stop by."

He turned to glance at me. "Oh, Story. What are you doing here?"

"Tanya's that girl I told you guys about. The one I cheated to get."

"Oh, this is girl. Now it makes sense."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I crossed my arms.

He picked a cookie up before answering. "For many years she asked for art supplies and books. Not normal gifts." He held a finger up for emphasis as he bit into the cookie. "Hmm, is good." He grabbed the rest of them up, popping them into his mouth one by one as he reached into his bag, pulling out a rectangular package. "Book." He explained. After he set it under the tree, right near mine too, he turned back towards the fireplace.

"Hey, have you gone to my brother's house yet? His name's Caeden Garrett."

"No, is coming up, why?"

"I have a present for him too. Think you could give me a ride?" When the thought had first entered my mind, I'd just wanted a ride. After the words had left my mouth, I realized exactly what I'd asked. Now I really wanted him to say yes.

He nodded. "Yes. There is room."

"Sweetness. I'll meet you up there, then." I went to the back door and flew up to the roof, as opposed to following North up the chimney. When I landed I saw Jack lounging in the sleigh. "Oh, I forgot you were riding along."

"What are you doing here?"

"Dude, this is, like, my hometown." I dropped my bag into the sleigh and hopped in after it, sitting down by Jack.

"I know that, I meant this house."

"Tanya lives here." He nodded as North erupted out of the chimney and bounded into the sleigh.

"Here we go!" He grabbed the reins and thwacked them.

Jack chuckled next to me. "You might wanna hold on." He sat forward a little as the sleigh took off at breakneck speed. Literally. If I hadn't been an immortal, I might have broken my neck.

"Holy -" I didn't have time to finish before we were touching down at another house. North grabbed his sack and leapt down the chimney. "Crap." I finished breathlessly. I looked at Jack who was wearing an amused smile. "And you've been doing this all night?"

"For a few hours now for us. He's got this spell that freezes time temporarily. When anywhere reaches midnight the spell starts working. Immortals are immune."

"Ah." I glanced around at the interior of the sleigh, taking it in. "Well, now I've got something else to brag to Tanya about."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "You brag? I never would have guessed." I punched him on the shoulder. I swear if both of us were guys, we'd be calling each other 'bro'. North came out again and we repeated the previous short but oh, so sweet ride to the next house. It didn't take me long to realize that he landed at one house each block and popped from chimney to chimney until he was done.

In no time we were landing on a roof I knew well. As North jumped down our chimney - no doubt coming out in the basement through the furnace knowing this house - I grabbed my bag and swung down to the window that had once lead to my room. After letting myself in, I went down the stairs to the living room where I sat in the nearest chair as I dug for Caeden's gift. North walked in as I was pulling it out of my bag. "What did you get him?"

"Something that only he'd get the significance of." I put it in the corner behind all of the other presents. I'd put a note inside the outer layer of paper telling him to open the rest of it in private. North set down his present next to mine again and we walked back together, parting at the stairs. I went back up to the roof, but not into the sleigh. "I'll see you guys tomorrow." I waved as I gathered my wings and took off. I had some presents of my own to deliver.

I'd dropped off most of my gifts that needed dropping off, but now I had Korri's to deliver. Now, I would have left it in her room for her, but her door was always locked, so I couldn't I couldn't have put it in there either way. No, so instead I had to fly to Norway and find a lake covered with water lilies. Korri and I did have one thing in common, neither of us had any clue as to her boyfriend's obsession with the flowers that he insisted were his garden. When I finally found the lake I'd been to only once before, I dropped down to the bank and waited for the welcoming committee.

It didn't take long. Soon a head poked itself up from the water and a violin started playing the most beautiful music I'd ever heard. I was lucky I was an immortal, because otherwise I'd be dead already. I hated to interrupt the music, but I was here for a reason. "Hey, Ken, can you send Korri up for a minute?"

The music stopped abruptly and the head glared at me with glowing yellow eyes before disappearing back under the water. A few minutes later Korri drifted out, looking like she hadn't just spent the past week or so underwater. "What?" Her tone was a little rude, but that was normal for her.

"I'm bringing you your Christmas present." I held out the box to her. It was wrapped with red paper that was almost the shade of her eyes when she was pissed off. Namely a very bright red.

She snatched it out of my hand. "Give me that." She inspected it a minute before tearing the paper off. When she lifted the lid off the box and saw the earrings inside she paused. "What is this?" She looked at me like she expected me to say 'April fools' or something.

"It's your Christmas present, like I said." Ken poked his head out of the water again, soon followed by the upper half of his torso as he straddled the water.

"What's going on?" Ken wasn't much different from Korri, personality wise. They were both assholes to pretty much everyone, but, as I admit to being a bitch myself sometimes, I took it in stride.

"Cool your jets, I'm just giving Korri her Christmas Present." I turned back to her. "You don't have to like them, hell I don't expect you to wear them either. But Merry Christmas, I'll see you when I see you." I saluted Ken who was still more in the water than out and took off. When I was almost out of earshot, Korri called me back. I turned around, suspicious.

"Hey... Thanks. Uh, do you wanna come in for a while?" She gestured towards the lake that was Ken's home.

I raised an eyebrow skeptically. "You sure Ken's okay with that?"

She waved her hand dismissively. "Who cares what he thinks." Yep, assholes to everybody. Including each other. They did have their endearing moments though.

"Sure, I don't have anything to do for a few hours. Is there somewhere I can put my bag so it wont get soaked?"

"I'll take care of it." he voice came from the water where Ken had swam to the shallows and was now standing in waist deep water. "I assume you don't want to get wet either." He gestured to us to follow him in. As I stepped in what would have been water, it pushed away from me. I took another step and, sure enough, the water was repelled from me.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it. Now move your ass, I don't want anyone seeing me being nice." Well, he's back. I followed the two water-related immortals under the water. Korri's hair looked amazing under the water, buoyed by the water and catching the light like it did. Narcissistic bitch. Ken looked more like water than anything else. Part of that was because he was transparent, but hey, when you're the Norwegian Boogeyman, you gotta look weird. Ken's real name was Noekken, and he was known as the Norwegian Boogeyman, but he wasn't anything like Pitch. Not even close. Yeah, he was an ass, but he wasn't evil by any means. It wasn't his fault that when he played his violin people tended to drown in his lake...

When we reached the bottom of the lake the couple stopped and sat on furniture made of seaweed and shellfish... and a few bones here and there. It's a good thing I'm as morbid as I am or I would have ran screaming. Or swam. Ken's interior decorating skills were worthy of Hades. I sat in the chair that had the least amount of bones in it and surveyed the place. Around his 'house' was a thick wall of seaweed that had parted to let us in, and there were areas in the 'ceiling' where you could see all the way up to the water's surface. Everything was tinged a greenish color by the light reflecting off the seaweed... and because this was a lake, and it wasn't quite crystal clear water if you know what I mean.

I stared at Korri and Ken for a few minutes, not knowing what to say - which was a rarity with me. Ken was staring at me, the glow from his eyes making the water around his face look more green than anything else. Korri didn't have her sunglasses on and her eyes were faintly glowing, making the water around her face faintly purple. I felt too normal around these two. "Your house is pretty cool." The thin air bubble surrounding me amplified the sounds that would have otherwise been muffled by the water. That is to say, everything sounded normal to me.

"Thanks. What'd you think of my garden?" He glanced upwards to where his 'garden' grew.

"The flowers were beautiful." And distinctive. Korri rolled her eyes at his mention of his obsession. "However, your music was amazing."

He shrugged, less impressed with compliments of that skill than those about his flowers. A frog swam past and Ken's focus drifted to the little creature. Korri looked at me from where she sat, about four feet away. "Thank you, really." She looked down at the earrings again. "They're beautiful. You made them right?"

"Yeah. At first I was planning on getting you a mirror, but I figured that'd only add to your narcissism."

She snorted at my jokingly said insult, no small feat underwater. Without looking up from her present she spoke to Ken. "Ken, be a better host."

"You're the one who invited her in."

"You could have refused."

"You would have dragged her in regardless of what my answer was. You'd have brought her in to spite me even if she didn't want to come in."

"Yeah, yeah."

I ended up sitting there, while they bickered in between mildly pleasant comments for about an hour or so. "Hey, I'd better be going." I stood up.

"Oh, yeah, you have Christmas with the Guardians, don't you?" I nodded. "See ya." Neither of them moved to get up.

"So... I'll just see myself out, then..." I turned and swam for the wall of seaweed that opened as I neared it. As soon as I was out it snapped back in place. "Well, then." I swam for the surface and called my wings taking off from the water. My feet weren't even out before Ken stopped repelling the water. Assbutt. I flew towards the pole with cold and wet feet.