"Who are you?" Charlie asked in wonder. I mean, I suppose he had god reason to be. I was a stranger to him, simply standing in his bedroom. For all I know, he could have thought I was a pedophile!

"The name's Jacqueline," I said, pinning my white hair up with a glittery snowflake clip. "You can call me Jackie. But most people call me Jack."

He stared at me with humorous incredulity. "Jack?" he asked.

"Jack," I said. "Jack Frost."

For a moment, his face was blank in shock as he tried to piece together what I was saying. "Ja-Jack Frost? But-but…I thought Jack Frost was a boy!" he stuttered.

"Hm," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "Yeah, I know. Everyone does. But that doesn't stop you from believing in me." I smiled at him and shifted my weight to my other foot. I couldn't help laughing a bit at his expression. It was just so priceless!

"You-you're real?" he asked.

"Of course I am, silly!" I laughed. "We're all real!"

"We?" he asked.

I nodded, still smiling at him. I surely must look crazy to this kid! "You know, Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Sandman, leprechauns," I said with a wave of my hand. "You know, the ones who make you happy all the time? The ones you believe in?"

He just stared at me.

"Oh, come on, Charlie, you know? You don't believe me? Aren't I proof enough?" I asked, beginning to feel worn down and sad. So that's how they all feel, I thought.

"How-how do you know my name?" he asked quietly.

"Because I'm Jack Frost," I replied, less enthusiastic than before. "I know everyone. I know you and you brothers, Emerson, Jason, and Kenneth, and I know your best friend, Levvy, and I know her little sister, Emma. I know all the kids in this town, this state, this country, in the world." I paused, wishing I had some of Sandy's powder with me. "Who do you think makes it snow?" I asked him.

"I don't know, the clouds and the cold air?" he said.

"No, me," I said, saving the explanation. "I make the air cold and I make it snow. Remember last week, that blizzard that got you out of school? That was me." I sighed, suddenly feeling worn and tired. And irritable.

He smiled, making me narrow my eyes. "Jack Frost is really real?" he asked as if still trying to grasp it.

"Yes!" I said, grabbing his warm hand in my own cold hand. "Yes, I'm real! See?" I placed his hand on my cheek.

He stared at me, looking into my eyes and making me feel slightly awkward. "You know, I never thought I'd say this, but you have really pretty eyes," he said.

I smiled embarrassedly and blushed, stepping away from him. "Thank you, but why did you never think you'd get to say that?" I asked.

"'Cause I didn't think you were real," he replied, sitting down on his bed again.

"Well I am," I said. "And now I have to go."

He stared at me. "But-but why?" he asked.

"Because, I have a Boogie Man to take care of," I said, a smile coming onto my lips.

"A what?" he breathed.

"That's right," I said. "And Charlie, I need you to keep believing in them."

"Them? But what about you?" he asked, getting up.

"Don't worry about me," I said, climbing onto the windowsill. "Just worry about the Guardians. Santa, Bunny, Tooth, and Sandy. Believe."

"Jack, wait!" he cried, grabbing my wrist.

"I have to go," I said, pulling my wrist out of his tight grip. "Good night." I reached behind my head and took a small snowflake from my clip, then blew it at him. It landed on his nose, and he blinked sleepily at me.

"Good night," he said, backing into his bed.

I watched him fall back to sleep, sighing to myself as I left. I looked at my ring and frowned a little; the light was definitely fading away. I clenched my fist and started looking for one of the Guardians, any of them, but stopped in midair when I heard my name being called. It was just so helpless…and familiar. "Jackie!" the voice called, small and distant. It sounded so childish and in need; I looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. "Jackie!" I heard again. I spun around and zoomed towards the voice, but Pitch's shadows were everywhere. My fear was not of them, but for the child calling me. But how do they know my name?

I stopped again, listening for the voice once more to guide me. "Jackie!" I turned around towards the voice. It was now a scream that made me want to cry.

"I'm coming!" I cried, racing towards the scream. The cries and whimpers led me to a well, boarded up but with a hole in the middle.

"Jackie!" the small voice cried, and I had a flash of who I was. Who I used to be. I saw a girl, standing on a frozen lake. She screamed my name, Jackie, but before I could remember anything else, it went away. "Jackie, please!" the voice cried. I leapt over the edge headfirst and dove into the well, following the voice. After coming out of a dark passage, the first thing I saw was a cage full of Tooth's Baby fairies. They all started chattering when they saw me, and I shook my head quickly.

"No, no, sh!" I said, "I'll get you out, just keep quiet." They all fell silent, and I heard my name again. "I'll get you out as soon as possible…" I went towards the voice slowly, unsure of what I'd find. What I saw made me gasp.

I saw Pitch, standing on the pile of teeth he'd stolen. After I got over the initial shock, I glared at him and instinctively fingered my ring. "What are you doing?" I asked.

He opened his mouth and his lips moved, but it wasn't his voice. It was the child's voice I'd heard before. "Jackie," he moaned. "You came."

I set myself on the floor, my stomach lurching. So it was a trap. "It was you?"

He smiled coldly and leapt down, landing without a sound. "I had to get you here some way or another, right?" he said, stepping closer to me.

"What do you want?" I asked, glaring at him.

"I want you," he said simply.

I just stared at him, unsure of what he wanted from me. "Me? Why me?" I asked nervously.

"We can do great things together, Jack," he said, stepping closer to me again. "Can't you just imagine? Me and you together…we could take down the Guardians."

While his offer was more than tempting, I knew I couldn't let them down. But they didn't even want me…or at least, Bunny didn't. And I was starting to get the horrible feeling I was letting Santa down somehow… "Never," I said.

He just smirked and stepped even closer. We were only inches apart, and it made me feel strange… I mean, I was supposed to hate him. He was our enemy… But I didn't hate him at the moment. "I'll make you a deal, Jacqueline," he said, taking me aback by using my full name. "You come with me, and I'll give you what you yearn for." He waved his hand and, in a puff of black sandy powder, he suddenly had a golden capsule in his hands. I looked at it, and my eyes must have given me away. "I know you want this," he said. "You know what it is."

"My teeth," I answered quietly.

"That's right," he said. "You can have them. But only if you join me. We can do marvelous, terrible things together."

As tempting as his offer was, I stood my ground. "No," I said defiantly.

"What?"

"No," I said again. "I won't join you. I was chosen by The Man in the Moon, and I'm not going to let him down. I'm not going to let the Guardians down."

His face immediately grew angry, and I jumped out of his way as he screamed in fury and swung his scythe. "Jack!" he cried after me, jumping in pursuit of me.

I squealed and ducked out of his way again as he tried to hit me. They want me to be a Guardian and I can't even fight? I thought to myself. I'm not meant for this! I jumped as he roared, and I shot ice his way. He easily blocked it with his cloud of nightmares, and I just threw more. It burst into shards that flew everywhere and my first instinct was to cover the Baby fairies. A sheet of ice flew out of my palm and towards them, just in time to protect them from the ice. But of course, I forgot to shield myself and as a result, got slashed over my exposed stomach. Pitch didn't laugh or attack as I had expected him to; instead, he stopped flinging nightmare dust my way for a moment. His hesitation gave me the opportunity to gain the upper hand and I blew icy air towards him from the center of my palm. Not reacting in time, he was blown back onto the pile of golden capsules. He roared again and I grabbed my teeth that had fallen and rolled my way. He reached up towards the sky and a buzzing cloud of nightmares formed his scythe in his hand, and he threw it at me with a violent shout. Quickly gathering the draft from inside the well together, I pushed his scythe up and away from me. When it was high enough, I blew more cold air from my palm, freezing it in midair. I leapt up and grabbed it, hurling it back at him with surprising accuracy. He cried out in shock and shadowed himself, slipping away and under me. Unsure if I could freeze a shadow, I hovered in midair for a while until he shot himself up at me, tackling me to the ground. I screamed and kicked him off of me, darting out of the chamber room and out of the well, still grasping the capsule with my teeth in it tightly. I rode the cold front up and away, flying without stopping to the park I was supposed to have met the Guardians at.

My heart was pounding as I set myself down. I looked around the park and to my discontent, and even horror, I saw long faced kids and broken eggshells. I swallowed nervously and made my way to Santa and Bunny. "Where have you been?" Santa rumbled.

"Um…I-I was–"

"What is that?" Bunny asked solemnly, nodding towards the capsule in my hands.

Tooth gasped from somewhere behind Santa. "Jackie, that's not…that's not your teeth, is it?" she asked, knowing that it was exactly that.

"You were with him?" Bunny asked.

"I…No, I was-I can explain," I stuttered, but they were all disappointed.

"Easter was ruined…because you were being selfish…" he said. "You're always thinking about yourself… You were supposed to help us and we'd help you… Now kids don't believe in me. Because of you."

"No, if you just let me explain–"

"Stop," Santa said, making me feel small. "I'm not sure what the Man in the Moon saw in you yet, but you need to pull yourself together, Jacqueline."

I felt terrible. It was like I was being scolded. Everyone was so disappointed in me… But I thought I was helping… I stared at the ground, feeling more miserable than when I had started.

"Now they don't believe, Jack!" Bunny cried angrily. "They don't believe in me anymore!"

"They've never believed in me!" I cried, tears in my eyes.

Everyone was silent for a while, then Bunny spoke up again. "Why would they believe in something so useless?" he said rhetorically.

I unintentionally let out a sob and covered my mouth. "Whatever, I always make a mess of things anyway," I said and flew off. I heard vague cries of "Jackie!" after me but didn't stop.