It was a bright sunny day in the town of Burgess; the ice and snow covered the roofs and sidewalks, and icicles dripped continuously from their perches. The children played and laughed as they did their normal snow-day activities. But only two had detached themselves from the main group and were standing on the top of the tallest snow-covered hill.

"Jamie…are you sure this is safe?" the 13-year-old turned to her friend; Jamie grinned and turned to her, "Sure it's safe! I wouldn't take you here if it wasn't." the girl shifted uneasily in her large winter boots, her huddled frame retreated in her thin, blue, winter coat like a turtle, making her even smaller next to Jamie.

"But last I heard, you slipped down the hill into the street, and lost a tooth after you crashed." She said, raising her dark eyebrows. Jamie bit his lip and turned his eyes away from her, "That…wasn't my fault." He said quickly.

"Then whose fault was it?" she said crossing her arms. Jamie shrugged, "A sliding couch." His friend laughed, and he smiled back.

"That's not what I meant dummy. How can you slip down a hill and not have it be your fault?" "Jack Frost." Jamie said casually, "Um…okay." She said simply, she could see he was serious, but she didn't want to say he was crazy either.

"So are we gonna go, or stand here all day?" he said, she sighed, "Fine. One ride, but that's it." She said, he smirked, "You take the front, Skyler." She tensed slightly, but obeyed by climbing timidly in the front.

Despite being older, she still had that child-like timidity, but then again, she was still new to this town, and the kids. Jamie was the first friend she made here.

"I am so going to get you for this if this goes wrong…" she mumbled, Jamie rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, sure, just hold on tight, and on the count of three we're going down, 'kay?" "Okay…"

Skyler sat timidly in the front of the sled, gripping the handle bars tightly while Jamie stood behind, ready to push off, "Ready?" she nodded determinedly, "One…Two…" he readied himself to push off, "Three—!" "Three, go!" a blue figure flashed by them, and at the same time, Jamie's foot slipped on a patch of ice that wasn't there before, losing his footing, and pushing off before he was ready.

"Eeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiihhhhhhhhhh! I though said this wasn't gonna haaaaaappeeeeeennnn!" Skyler screamed. "This wasn't my idea!" Jamie screamed back as a trail of ice materialized in front of them. I know who's doing this…!

"'Sup Jamie, been a while!" Jamie looked to his right and saw Jack Frost resting on his back in mid air flying next to them. Jamie's eyes widened, "Jack! What are you doing here?" he yelled, "I just came to see my best bro!" he said with his signature smile, showing off all his straight white teeth, which Tooth envied to have.

"Yeah! It's great to see you too! But I don't think now's a good time—!" "Jamie? Who are you talking to?!" Skyler yelled as she was trying to watch the road in front of her as she swerved back and forth. "N-no one! Just pay attention to the road—ack!" "You need help?" Jack yelled over the rushing winds, Jamie's eyes looked desperate, "Do you need to ask?!" he yelled, "This is Skyler's first time riding a sled! And she's kinda freaking out right now!" Jack quickly obliged, and directed the sled towards the park.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh…!" Jack watched the girl curled up in the front, with the look of pure terror in her eyes. He laughed out loud, which sounded like ringing church bells, "Don't worry Skyler; we've got you!" He made his ice path take a sharp turn, and up a ramp; in which the sled became airborne in response.

As if in slow motion, Skyler looked up to see they were flying in mid-air, her eyes widened as she was about to plummet into the snow, "Oh-noooooo!"

FWOOMPH!

CRASH!

"Whoo-hoo! Yeah!" Jack jumped up triumphantly and laughed out loud, perching himself ontop of the town statue. Jamie and Skyler had landed in opposite directions and the sled was lodged in a mound of snow that Jack had created to soften the impact.

Jamie sat up; snow fell off his now pink face, and beamed, "Whoo! That was awesome! Wasn't it Skyler?" he turned to his friend who was sprawled on her back, staring at the sky with a stunned look on her face.

"Sky? Hey, are you okay…?" Jack watched, his grin faltered slightly as he squinted his eyes, trying to see what was going on. "Skyler…?" she bolted forward, her black hair was loose and disheveled from the landing, and snapped her head in Jamie's direction with wide eyes, "Let's do that again!" she said as she excitedly threw her arms up in the air. Jamie stared at her surprised, she turned to him with an excited grin, "That was awesome!" she laughed. Jamie blinked a couple of times and burst out laughing. Jack saw this and laughed too. Suddenly, his staff began to glow on its own, Jack stopped laughing and stared at it, "What the—?" he said out loud, Skyler stopped laughing, "What was that…?" she turned her head in the direction of the statue; Jack saw this and instinctively hid behind the statue. "What?" Jamie said, there was a pause, "Nothing. Nevermind." Jack peered behind the statue, watching them, "Okay then…oh, hey! You want to go ice skating? There's a pond not far from here." Jamie asked, Skyler immediately became uneasy, she shifted in her winter boots, and gave a bashful smile, "I…don't have any skates though.." Jamie helped her to her feet, "That's okay, you can use my skates." Skyler shrugged, "Okay." The two kids turned towards the direction of Jack's home, Jamie looked back at Jack and motioned his head for him to follow them, mouthing 'we'll talk there.' Jack nodded and smiled, giving him a thumbs up. He retreated back behind the statue, and thought for a moment, "Wait. Why am I hiding?" he whispered to himself stupidly. He stepped from behind the statue and flew after them. I've got a weird feeling about that girl…

~X~X~X~X~X~

"…and then we just flew out like, fwoosh!" "Yeah, Skyler, I know I was there!" Jamie laughed.

Jack was following close by; he didn't want Jamie's new friend to see him…that is…if she could. His staff had been acting weird ever since the sled ride and he didn't know why. Whenever he came too close to the two of them, it would glow brighter. He stopped for a moment. He pointed his staff in their direction; it got brighter, he pulled it away and it dimmed. He did this again and again for about two minutes until he realized they were about half-way to his pond. He stopped and flew after them to catch up.

~X~X~X~X~

"Whoa…this is so cool!" Skyler looked over the frozen pond, the intricate frost designs covering the flat cold surface, and fresh blankets of snow buried the surrounding area. Jamie looked over at her, "You've never seen a pond frozen over before?" Skyler shook her head, "Nope." She said, Jamie looked at her surprised, "Well…okay then…um…here," she handed her his brown leather ice skates, "We can take turns; you go first." He said. She smiled at him and took the skates into her arms and sat on a nearby log and began to lace them up.

"Pssst! Jamie!" Jamie turned his head towards the trees and saw Jack hiding behind one of them, motioning him to come over. Jamie nodded and motioned him to stay there, he turned back to Skyler, "Uh, hey, Skyler!" she looked up, "Yeah?" "I need to do something really quick, I'll be back in a sec. you can go skate without me." She stood up on the skates with a wobble, "Okay." She called back. Jamie turned and ran over to Jack behind the trees.

"So…made a new friend?" Jack asked leaning on his staff, "Yeah, she moved here about a month ago. She's kind of quiet," he looked over at Skyler who was skating around with mediocre grace, "She's living in a foster home right now." Jack looked up at her, and back at Jamie, who was looking sadly at his skating friend.

Jack sighed and kneeled down to Jamie's height; he had gotten taller over the last two years, but he still had to bend down to meet his eye level. I guess now's the time to break the news…

"Jamie…there's something really important I need to tell you. But, you've got to stay calm, okay buddy?" Jamie looked at him, his brown eyes meeting Jack's icy blue ones, which held deep seriousness, "Alright." Jack took a deep breath, "I need your help…"

~X~X~X~

After about five minutes, Skyler started to get the hang of skating on the slick ice. She did some figure skating when she was younger, she wasn't very good, and the only thing she learned to do was an Axel jump, which took her about a year to perfect. She thought for a moment, "Maybe I'll try it…just this once." She felt daring enough to do it.

She started with a basic cross-over around the pond, just to warm up, and glided over to the center, bending her knees, and jumped.

Everything seemed to in slow motion for her; her body turned in a 180 degree spin. When she made the extra half rotation she landed backwards on her feet perfectly. She wobbled slightly, but she regained her balance and skidded to a stop, "Yesss!" she said triumphantly. She sighed, "I wish someone saw that…" she thought aloud. "Maybe I'll try that again…"She brushed herself off and continued to skate some more. But then she heard a loud CRAACK! She stopped. "What was that…?" she looked down around her, but didn't see anything, "Strange…" she murmured as she continued gliding across the ice.

'Yes…strange indeed…Ha ha ha ha ha…'

Snap…Crack!

~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~

"…So that's why I need your help finding her." Jack finished explaining the situation to Jamie, who was now looking down trying to process what he had just been told. Jack could see the fear in the boy's eyes. Jack couldn't blame him, he was just a 12-year-old kid who had problems of his own…but soon enough; he would have bigger problems. Much bigger.

"I knew he'd come back…I just knew it…" Jack put his hand on Jamie's shoulder, "Hey, hey, don't worry. We have a way to stop him, and we'll always be here to help you guys. Okay?" Jamie looked down at the snowy ground and sighed, "Okay." Jack smiled and patted the side of his shoulder, "That's the spirit!" he said.

"But, how can we find the Dream—?"

"Aaaaaaaaaah!"

Both of the boys' head snapped up in the direction of the scream; Jamie gasped, "Skyler!" he ran from behind the trees to the bank of the pond and made an abrupt stop.

"Jamie!" Skyler screamed out to him. She was standing in the middle of the pond, her knees buckling, her back hunched over and her arms were out in front of her as if she were trying to keep balance. He looked down at her feet and saw that the ice was beginning to shatter underneath her. Her dark brown orbs were glazed over with sheer terror. She was never easily scared. He knew that; but this caught him off guard, never had he seen her like this.

"Skyler, hold on, I get you out of there…!" "Jamie, don't—!" He stepped onto the ice and it began to shatter under his boot, he backed up. "Don't come near me! Or you'll fall in, too!"

Crack!

Skyler yelped again as she sank a little deep into the breaking ice. She looked near the brink of tears.

What do I do, what do I do…!

Jamie knew the only thing he could do. But he didn't know if it would work.

But he didn't have any other choice.

"Jack…!" he turned to the trees where the winter spirit was running from. Jack stopped and looked over the situation.

He looked over at the terrified girl in the middle of the breaking pond. He froze.

'What are you going to do now Jack Frost? Come and watch the girl die…'

A chuckling voice echoed in his head.

Pitch…

He thought.