Jack and Sandy continued their little dance until they were over Burgess, having taken the long way around and reached the town as night fell, where Jack paused.
"Hey, I feel the need to go check on Sophie and Jamie," he said, floating closer to the cloud. "I mean, I know Pitch isn't going after anybody, but..."
Sandy nodded. If Pitch had been up to his old tricks, and had still wanted a child to change into a Fearling Prince or Princess, Jamie and Sophie would have been prime targets.
Jack, of course, still didn't know much about the whole Fearling Prince or Princess thing, since it hadn't come up, but he still had a feeling that said to check on his first believers.
Sandy gestured Jack closer, snagging him with a rope of Dreamsand to pull him closer when Jack was too slow, and planted a kiss on Jack's cheek. Jack froze up, a hand drifting to his cheek, as Sandy waved a saucy goodbye and took off.
Nightlight giggled and pushed off the cloud himself as Sandy took off, hovering near Jack. Jack frosted over, blushing harder under the frost as Nightlight giggled, coughing softly.
"Right. Okay. So..." he said, before swooping towards Jamie's house, followed closely by Nightlight.
The two peeked into the bedroom, tapping on the pane gently. Jamie, who was sitting in bed reading to Sophie, jumped. Then he caught sight of who had tapped and broke out into a bright grin, hurrying to open the window.
"Jack! Nightlight!" he said happily, and both spirits beamed. Jack didn't think he would ever get tired of hearing a child say his name, especially not this child, even if technically they were all supposed to keep from being seen. Belief without proof being stronger and all that.
Screw that, Jack hadn't been seen in three hundred years, he wasn't going to turn it down now. And judging by the way Nightlight was glowing, he wasn't either.
Sophie, for her part, was waving wildly from the bed. Sophie was growing up too, but with a big brother who still believed wholeheartedly in the Guardians, she was growing up believing just as solidly.
Jack hugged Jamie tight, silently jubilent that he could and it was accepted, before he floated over to the bed and got a huge hug from Sophie, who practically leapt from the bed to get it. "What's happenin'?" he asked.
"Mom's out for the evening. Me an' Soph are having a slumber party," Jamie said. "Mom figured I was old enough to get us both to bed. I was just doing the reading. Sophie likes to be read to before bed."
"Jack, you read," Sophie demanded, picking up the discarded book and holding it out to Jack.
"What, I'm not good enough anymore?" Jamie teased. "Come on, Jack. Read some?"
Jack took the book, looking it over. Jamie paused and waved his hands as a thought struck him. "I mean, you don't have to, you, uh, you could though, right?"
"I know how to read if that's what you mean," Jack said dryly as he settled onto the end of the bed. "The adults in our village thought it was important we could. The Bible, at least. And I had lots of time to brush up on it. The Hobbit, huh? Good pick."
Nightlight leaned over Jack's shoulder curiously. "Oh, yeah, you guys were gone when this was written. You missed out, lucky you gets to hear it for the first time. Okay, get comfy and let's get to it."
