The Vacant Years(Sequel to Along For The Ride)

Chapter 20

I sit with Bunny and Tooth on the couch. "So, what now?" I ask, looking at Tooth then Bunny. Tooth shrugs. "What about tag?" I ask, recalling the game I played with Jamie and his friends. "Jess, I'm small, real small. We can't play tag." Bunny says. "Oh, uh, yeah, sorry." I say. We sit there for a few minutes in silence. Phil walks out of the hall and over to us. He makes me take my medicine, which tastes disgusting. Then he walks into the kitchen and comes back with cookies. Tooth takes the plate. "Thanks, Phil." she says and he nods and walks off.

I grab a cookie and take a bite. At that moment, an idea comes to me. I jump up and turn to face Tooth and Bunny. "Why don't we go to the Pole? We'd have so much more fun." I say. "We're not going." Tooth says. "But-" "Jess, you almost died, so did I, and Bunny, just look at him." "Thanks, Tooth. Really appreciate it." Bunny says. Tooth looks at him. "Sorry." she says. "It's okay." Bunny says. I sigh and sit back down on the couch. I finish my cookie and grab another one. "What are we supposed to do then?" I ask.

Tooth shrugs again. I roll my eyes and take a bite of my cookie. The three of us just sit there for a few hours, talking every once in a while. "I don't think that I have a favorite animal." I say. Tooth and Bunny nod. At that moment, a portal opens across the room next to the globe. I get up. Sandy floats through and I smile because I'm glad that he's back and he's okay. North steps through the portal and he's followed by Jack. My smile grows. Jack takes a step forward and someone else steps through the portal. It's Pitch's daughter, Evie. "What is she doing here?" Bunny asks as the portal closes.

My smile disappears and I take a step back. I look over at Jack, who walks up to me. Tooth and Bunny walk over to North and Sandy who stand near the stairs. "Jack, why is she here?" I ask. "She's different." he tells me. "How? What do you mean by 'different'?" I ask. "She saved me." he says. Now I'm just confused. Evie walks up to us. "Jack, I'm not sure if this is a good idea." she says. I look at her. "So, you saved Jack?" I ask her. She looks at me and nods. Then I hug her. I don't know why, but I do. "Thank you, so much." I say and let her go. She smiles at me and I glance at Jack, who's smiling as well.

"Jess, Jack. Meeting. Kitchen, now." North says. I look back at him. Tooth picks up Bunny and they walk off into the kitchen. Sandy follows them. Jack grabs my hand and looks at Evie. "Just stay here." he says. Evie nods and we both walk into the kitchen. "We need to get something straight," Bunny says. "She's Pitch Black's daughter. She can't stay." "Why not? She isn't bad." Jack says, letting go of my hand. "She could be faking. She could be trying to gain our trust and then when we least expect it, she could kill us." Tooth says. "I really don't think she'd do that." I say.

"Just be quiet for one minute!" North shouts. We all stop. We all stand in silence for a few minutes. North finally speaks up. "She can stay." he says. "What?!" Tooth and Bunny say in unison. Sandy starts signing things. I look at Jack. He smiles and we walk out of the kitchen, leaving the others to fight with North. Evie sits on the couch. "Evie, you can stay." I tell her. She looks over at me. "Really?" she asks. I nod and she smiles. We walk over to her. "I can really stay?" she asks. "Yep." Jack says. Her smile grows. Then the others walk out of the kitchen.

I can tell that Tooth and Bunny are definitely not happy about the situation. Everyone walks over to the fireplace and stops there. They turn to face Evie, Jack, and I. "Evie, we know nothing about you-" "And I'd prefer if it stayed that way." Bunny interrupts. North looks over at him and Bunny immediately dives behind Sandy. North looks back at Evie. "Do you have any powers?" he asks. "Uh, I can fly. I'm not necessarily sure what else I can do. My dad had Alice do a lot of the work." Evie says. North nods.

"I'm going to have Jack and Jess take you to my work shop, where you can train in the practice room there. I'm sending Sandy with you." he says. I smile. I actually get to leave this place again. "Jess, Phil has clothes for you in the infirmary." North says. I smile. I turn and run towards the hallway. Surprisingly, my stomach doesn't hurt. I head down the hallway to the infirmary. I reach the infirmary and walk into the room. I see my clothes sitting on the end of the bed I was laying in. I walk over to the bed and look at the clothes.

My pants are clean, so is my sweater and blue t-shirt. My converse and a pair of socks sit next to my clothes. I notice my cloak isn't here, but I don't necessarily care about it right now. I change into my clothes, making sure to be as careful as possible because of my wound. I put on my socks and shoes and leave the infirmary. I head down the hallway. I walk out of the hallway and over to the others. North hands Jack and I each a snow globe. Jack uses his to make a portal. The four of us walk through the portal. We stand near the stairs in the work shop. We turn and head downstairs. As we walk downstairs, we pass a bunch of yetis and elves, and I smile and wave at all of them. They wave back.

We reach the practice room and Evie walks in first. We follow her into the room. "North's work shop is amazing." Evie says, walking to the middle of the room. I close the door and join the others. Evie turns to us. "So, how do we begin?" she asks. "The only way to figure out if you have any other powers is for each of us to fight you, except for you, Jess." Jack says, glancing at me. I actually don't disagree with him. I don't want to do anything to hurt myself. Evie nods. "Who's going first?" I ask. Sandy smiles and raises his hand. He looks happy and excited.

"I guess you can go first then, Sandy." Jack says and he and I walk a few yards away from Sandy and Evie. We turn to watch them. "Now, Evie, you just need to act like this is a normal fight, okay?" Jack says. Evie nods. "Sandy, go ahead." I say, giving them the cue to begin. Sandy throws sand at Evie and she flies out of the way. Sandy forms his dreamsand whips. He aims for Evie. One of them wraps around her ankle and Sandy yanks on the whip. It pulls Evie down and she hits the ground. I can see the pain clearly written on her face.

I take a step forward and Jack grabs my arm to stop me. I look back at him. "Don't worry, Jess. Evie's fine." he says and lets go of me. "Well, she won't be after I'm finished with her." I look up and see Pitch standing across the room. Evie gets up and takes a few steps back. "Hello, Evie. Oh, and I see that your still alive, Jess." Pitch says, looking over at his daughter then glancing at me. "Jess, you and Evie need to get out of here." Jack whispers to me. Pitch looks back at Evie. Then he throws sand at her. I fly forward and grab Evie, getting her out of the way just in time. The sand heads straight for Jack and he forms a shield around himself.

The sand hits the shield and disappears. Jack makes the shield disappear and I fly over to him. I let go of Evie. I pull out the extra snow globe and Jack takes it from me. "Jess, Evie is my own daughter. Just let me take her back. She doesn't belong here." Pitch says. I don't say anything. "Jess." Jack whispers. I look back at him and see the portal next to him. Then Jack looks past me. I turn around and see a Nightmare charging towards me. Then Evie steps in front of me and I see her arm form into a blade, like a sword. She slices through the Nightmare and it disappears. I'm completely shocked. I glance at Pitch and see that he's shocked, too.

If he didn't know that Evie could do that, then she probably didn't know ethier. Evie's arm forms back to normal. I grab her and run to the portal. "Be careful." I say to Jack right before I step through it.