"What do I . . . do with him?" Jack asked cautiously. He and Mr. Moon were standing in the circus tent, watching monster Pitch chewing up a chunk of wood.

"For starters," Mr. Moon suggested sternly, "why don't you get him to stop chewing on that. It's a piece of a spare wooden bench, and it's distracting him."

"Uh, okay." Jack approached Pitch nervously, unsure where to start. "Um, Pitch?"

Pitch looked at him with his eyes.

"St-stop chewing that!"

Pitch held onto the wood with his paws and tore it in half with his teeth.

Jack looked at Mr. Moon. "He's not listening to me."

Mr. Moon rolled his eyes. "He's not going to listen to one verbal command. You have to make him listen! Like a dog."

Jack sighed despondently. He didn't like the idea of treating Pitch like a dog, monster or not, and anyway – he had never trained a dog before. Under the scrutiny of Mr. Moon's gaze, he tried to remember everything he had learned about dogs and animals and training them, everything he had experienced with them. A television show came to mind, teaching you how to train your dogs, but all Jack could remember in his frazzled brain were impossible things, tips like 'start immediately when their puppies' and 'use an experienced dog as an example'. And all the while his mind kept returning to the problem he was putting off, the issue he was hiding from . . . he was on the run from the police, after all. Practically a criminal.

Finally, Jack huffed and forced himself to focus until he was able to remember one of the most important tips. Use a firm tone, and be confident. According to whoever it was on TV, Jack couldn't recall the name, dogs wouldn't take orders from someone they could tell was nervous. Jack just hoped it would be the same with Pitch.

He cleared his throat and stepped forward. "Pitch!" he said firmly.

Pitch looked up at him again.

"Drop it!"

At first, Jack didn't think he would listen, he just narrowed his eyes and growled at him, but he did eventually drop the mutilated chunk of wood.

Jack gave a short, satisfied nod. "Um. Okay. Good. Thank you."

"Well?" Mr. Moon prompted. "Try to get him to do something. Teach him some tricks."

"But I don't know any tricks!" Jack complained. "I'm not an animal trainer, or a monster trainer, or whatever!"

"Think of something. I have more important things to attend to." Mr. Moon stalked off in a huff, leaving Jack alone with Pitch, who had gotten bored again and was nudging Jack's shoulder impatiently with his snout.

Jack stroked Pitch's chin to calm him down, and was startled to learn that apparently Pitch could purr, but he was too stressed to dwell on the endearing trait for long. He tried to think of what he could make Pitch do. Maybe, if he could teach Pitch just one simple trick, then he could spend the rest of his personal time working on his legal troubles.

The circus had other animals; horses, lions, monkeys, and even a couple of elephants. They did things like run around the ring and jump through hoops, or balancing balls on their heads. Jack cringed sympathetically at the thought of making Pitch go through such demeaning antics, but he didn't know what else to do.

"Uh, okay, let's try taking a lap around the ring," Jack said to Pitch. "That should be simple enough, then later we can add some hoops or whatever."

Jack didn't actually know how to make Pitch run around the ring, so he had to improvise. He guided Pitch to the edge of the ring, glad that he followed. "Okay, Pitch, one lap! Follow me!"

He ran away from Pitch around the perimeter, looking behind him to see if he followed, but . . . he didn't. Pitch stared at him as he ran, and he slowed to a stop, frowning in disappointment. Pitch leapt across the short distance in one bound and landed right next to Jack, nearly knocking him off his feet.

Jack sighed again, groaning in despair. "Come on, Pitch. Work with me! You're smarter than a dog, aren't you? . . . Maybe I should get you some treats or something. Uh, do you even like treats?"

Pitch had told him once that he feeds off of fear, and that he doesn't eat, but he can if he wants to. Jack just had no idea what he might like. Something sweet? Something savory? Maybe he only likes crunchy food. Maybe he only likes soft food.

"This is impossible!" Jack whined, rubbing his face with his hands. He thought about talking to Pitch about this when he was in human form, but his face burned with embarrassment. Hey, Pitch, I was just wondering, could you try to be a little more cooperative when I'm training you to do humiliating tricks? Also, what kind of snack would you want me to bribe you with?

Jack idly dragged his staff aver the ground as he thought, leaving trails of frost ferns. Pitch's eyes widened as he looked down at them, and he bent his head to sniff at them.

"You like the frost?" Jack asked. Pitch pressed a forked tongue to the ground and tasted the pattern. "Gross. But, hey, check this out!"

Jack lifted his staff high and created a burst of snow. As it fell, it landed on Pitch's face. He shook his head to clear it of the icy specks, but he did open his mouth to catch more of them. Jack giggled. He skated backwards on a trail of frost, creating distance between them, and twirled his staff to create a few snow balls.

"Pitch! Catch this!"

With a burst of chilling wind, he sent the snowballs high into the air. Pitch leapt up and caught one in his mouth, crushing it between his teeth. Jack flew up and batted one of the snowballs toward Pitch, and he caught that one, too. They continued like that, playing with the snowballs, for several minutes, and Jack was too distracted to notice Mr. Moon return to the tent.

"Excellent!" his voice echoed through the tent, startling Jack.

"Huh? Oh, Mr. Moon! Sorry, I was just—"

"It's simple, but better than nothing," Mr. Moon continued, ignoring Jack.

Jack cocked his head to the side. "What?" he wondered aloud.

"Perhaps with some more time, you can perfect a more detailed routine. But for now, the acrobats are eager to begin their dress rehearsal, so you are free to retire for the day, until the performance tonight."

"Oh!" Jack said, surprised. "Well, thank you!"

His face reddened slightly, not wanting to admit that he was actually just playing. Mr. Moon shooed him out, with Pitch following close behind. Once they exited the tent, in the shadows behind it, Pitch returned to his human form.

"Snowballs?" he grumbled. "Seriously?"

Jack shrugged. "You got a better idea? I have no idea how to train you. And you're not exactly helpful."

"When I'm a monster," Pitch explained, "my intellectual abilities drastically decrease. I react almost solely on instinct. Basically, I won't do anything without a reason to."

"What reason did you have to eat my snow?" Jack asked teasingly as they made their way back to the train.

Pitch shrugged. "I'd never seen snow like that before. I was studying it."

Jack rolled his eyes affectionately. At least Pitch wasn't acting awkward about it.

". . . Hey, Pitch? You've been around since, well, ever, right?"

"I guess so."

"Then you must know a lot. Do you . . . I mean, do you know anything about me? How did I get like this? What does it mean?"

Pitch considered that for a moment. "I'm not sure. It's been my experience that everything happens for a reason, we just won't find out what reason until much later. You might have been blessed by a supernatural being . . . or cursed. Of course, there's a possibility that you are a supernatural being that has been reincarnated for some purpose."

Jack looked down despondently. "So, basically, you have no idea."

Pitch stopped walking and looked at him thoughtfully. "I might be able to do some research. I don't have a lot of freedom, but I still have a few resources. I'll ask Sandy for help."

"Really?" Jack asked, genuinely surprised. "I mean, you don't have to do that! That's . . . that's so nice . . ."

Pitch looked a little uncomfortable, and his cheeks darkened, which Jack guessed was a blush. "It's no trouble. I'm not sure what I can find out, anyway."

The thought of finding out where he came from, what his purpose was, anything about his strange powers, was something he had never hoped for. He resisted the urge to wrap his arms tightly around Pitch, not wanting to make him more uncomfortable, but he did smile gratefully at him.

On the train, everyone had a quick lunch before lounging around, enjoying their free time. Emily was playing with the fairies, Tooth and Sandy were reading, Bunny and North were playing a video game, and Phil was washing the dishes. Pitch had gone to the bed car, and Jack was curious as to what he was doing, but he didn't want to disturb him in case he was researching Jack's abilities and needed to concentrate. His laptop was in the living car and he opened it up, checking his e-mail.

His heart sank when he saw an e-mail from the Burgess Police Department, but he had somewhat expected it. He glanced around to make sure no one was watching, especially his sister, but she was busy setting up a doll house on the table. With a sigh, he clicked the e-mail open and read through it.

The beginning of the e-mail reprimanded him for being difficult to communicate with. They urged him to respond and insisted they could come to a reasonable agreement for the safety of his sister. They offered to work something out as far as criminal charges if he brought his sister back safely. It seemed they assumed the two of them were starving and freezing under a bridge somewhere. Jack felt offended by this. He wasn't helpless. He didn't freak out and drag his sister off to be homeless. Still, he liked the opportunity to send an e-mail rather than deal with a live phone call. He knew he would have to contact them eventually, if he wanted to get custody of his sister, and this seemed like as good a time as any. He clicked on the reply box and started typing.

My sister and I are safe. I have a job and a home. She's safer with me than with our dad. I didn't kidnap her, I rescued her.

Jack sighed and sat back. He didn't know what else to say. He wasn't a criminal, he was just trying to help his sister. Jack looked around the train and tried to think, when he remembered something. Mr. Moon had told him he could help him with his legal problems. From what Sandy had told him, he didn't doubt that Mr. Moon was powerful, but he wasn't sure what exactly he could do. After a moment of consideration, Jack sent his short reply. Mr. Moon said he was busy today, but he would ask him about it the next chance he got.