Protecting Genie

Chapter 17

Jack's POV

"11 bottles of beer on the wall, 11 bottles of beer.....why am I evening singing this song? I don't even like beer. Now where was I?...Shit, I forgot. I don't want to start all over." I mumbled to myself as I looked at one of the walls in my own private cell. About a fourth of it is covered in bloody single line scratches, made by my fingernails.

A quick peek at my hands showed all my fingertips covered in dry blood and peeling dead skin. Some of my fingernails had cracks in them. Good thing I'm already dead, or else I probably would have died from an infection.

The only reason I've been doing it to keep track of my days since going into captivity.

Taking a quick count, I was reminded that I have been here for 123 days. It was late December when I was taken, so that would put us around the ending of March and the beginning of April. More or less.

If my calculations are correct, the next holiday coming up is April fool's Day. A day that should be filled with inflatable fart balloons, plastic snakes stuffed into cans of fake peanut brittle, and corny prank phone calls to various fast food restaurant and old people.

Unfortunately, just like New Years, Valentine's, and Saint Patrick's, it won't be celebrated.

And if this trend continues on any further, no holidays will be celebrated ever again.

One night while dreaming, I had gotten word from Man in Moon about the state of emergency the Immortal realm was under. Immortals were being captured left and right, children were beginning to lose faith in them and the Guardians.

Because of this, he had to make a very difficult decision that none of us knew he had the power to do.

Using the remainder of his strength and power, Man in Moon was able to put the entire word- adults, children, and animals- into a deep sleep. Kind of like the main character in Sophie's favorite book, Sleeping Beauty. Except a kiss from a true love will not wake any of them up.

None of them will wake up until the world is declared safe and in balance once again.

And because Man in Moon used up his strength, he also fell into a deep sleep. None of us have heard from him in months.

Since there were no kids to fear Pitch, he wasn't getting any stronger. Unfortunately, he's been able to retain his power and remains stronger than all of the Immortals and Guardians combined.

This whole situation makes my blood boil every time I think of it, and that says a lot since I am a spirit of Winter. Ice practically runs through my veins. Pitch Black and his new found powers were able to overthrow the balance of good and bad in a matter of months.

Every day, a new batch of Immortals were brought before the new 'King' and given two choices: they can pledge their eternal loyalty and service to Pitch Black or they can be locked away for life.

It doesn't take a genius to know that a majority of them choose the latter. Mother Nature even spit at Pitch's feet, saying that she would never lower herself to serving a madman.

Only 3 spirits have sworn loyalty: Hal, the Spirit of Halloween; Liam, the Spirit of St. Patrick's Day; and Abril, the Spirit of April Fool's Day.

Hal and Liam are actually old time friends with Pitch, so it wasn't a hard choice for them. They were thrilled to be right handed men to Pitch.

Abril, on the other hand, was just an innocent spirit who going to say no at first.

She was brought at the same time as Mother Nature, Groundhog, and Cupid. Pitch had been 'busy' at the time of their arrival, so they were thrown into a cell across from me to wait until the King was available.