One thing was extremely obvious as she stumbled out of the alley, leaning against the wall of the building to her right. She was in a city, a very large city. What wasn't quite as obvious was what city, and who the hell she was.

She made a mental note of everything mentally notable: waist length brown hair with strange green strands visible in her peripheral vision (that didn't seem right), golden tanned skin (closer to the mark), white turtle neck shirt, blue jeans, and calf-length boots that were oddly tattered and torn (hmm…). Looking into a frozen puddle revealed bluish-green eyes the color of the ocean in Tahiti (that was definitely wrong). What was going on? Why didn't she know anything?

Okay… just calm down. She told herself. Think. First I have to figure out where I am and go from there.

Hesitantly stepping out of the alley she spoke to the first person to walk by.

"Excuse me? Where a…" The woman just ignored her without even looking her way. Rude… She tried again.

"Sir? Could you tell me where…" It was as if she hadn't spoken a word. What the hell is going on here?

"Um…ma'am?" She reached out a hand to stop the woman walking by holding the hand of a toddler and jumped back with a screech. Her hand had just…passed right through the woman's shoulder. As if it was a holograph or something. It came with a terrible feeling as though her hand had become incorporeal. Staring at her hand, she didn't notice the little boy staring at her until he turned to his mother and said, "Mama, look. It's a princess."

"That's nice, sweetie." The mother replied, not bothering to turn and look. The entire exchange perplexed the girl. It was obvious the little boy could see her, while his mother could not, but why? She couldn't understand. None of the people walking by could see her. She had the strong feeling she couldn't touch any of them either. What was going on? Terror grabbed at her, digging its claws into her chest, dragging rasping sobs from her throat. Sliding down the wall into a sitting position on the ground, she curled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. Tears poured down her face as it began to snow.

Jack hated New York. No one every appreciated his work. In the middle of the city, there were no happy children building snow forts and staging snowball fights of sledging. But, he had a job and it had to be done. No one else could do it for him. He was the one and only Jack Frost after all. So after a routine sweep across the city, he turned to go back home.

But something caught his attention this time. It was a girl. She was sitting curled against a wall crying alone. He didn't know why it should bother him. In a big city like this, there were sure to be tons of lonely and lost children, but he supposed it came with the territory of being a Guardian. He hovered a few feet above the busy people walking along the sidewalk, unsure of what to do.

Just as he decided to send a small flurry of snowflakes her way, she looked up and wiped her eyes. She was older than he had originally thought; his age, maybe. So she wasn't quite a child anymore, and definitely wouldn't believe in him.

Shrugging, he took off again, stopping when he noticed the girl's eyes dart to him and widen.

She… She can see me?

He was… flying. Or… floating or whatever. She couldn't believe her eyes. Maybe she had gone insane or something. It was really the only explanation that made sense. The moment her wonder started to wear off and she got used to the idea of being insane; she started taking a closer look. His hair was pure white. Not the albino kind of white, more like fresh snow. His eyes were a pale crystal blue and he wore some strange clothes. Some old fashioned brown pants and a dark blue hoodie that had a strange design as though it was covered in frost. Or… maybe it was real frost. She didn't know. He didn't wear any shoes and he held a strangely shaped stick/staff. Like a shepherd's crook. He was actually kind of cute. And he could see her. He stared straight back into her eyes. It was a relief. At least she knew she wasn't dead. Or maybe she was. Maybe they both were.

She stood up slowly. The strange boy alighted on a street lamp and stared back at her. A slow blush crept up her neck to her cheeks and she turned away. When she turned back around to look at him again, he was gone.

Huh… maybe he was some hallucination or something. She turned back around and came face to face with the boy. Startled, she screeched and reeled backwards out into the crowd.

At that moment, she forgot everything else. The feeling of multiple people walking through her body was overwhelming. Trying to escape the crowds, she stumbled her way to the edge of the sidewalk and clutched the lamp post. She was safe. That is, until a man stopped and leaned against the post to fix his sock, his hand pushing straight through her throat. This sent her reeling back into the street. Time slowed down as she looked up to see the boy staring at her with terror and she looked to her right, too late, to see a speeding taxi feet from her.

She closed her eyes.

Then something slammed into her, sending her flying.