Guardian with claws (A RotG fan-fic)

Chapter 4

*POV Anna*

‘I’m not Jamie,’ Jamie said chuckling. Wait? Not Jamie? But then…? I quickly opened my eyes and sat up. I blinked a few times, because what I saw couldn’t be reality. There were several people looking down on me. Well, people…
‘No way,’ I mumbled. The broad guy in the red suit, looking the most normal amongst them, must be Santa Claus. Next to him stood the large bunny, a curious, but doubtful expression on his face. There was a woman floating on the other side of Santa. I didn’t have a clue who she could be, but she looked like a faerie with feathers. Green and blue and yellow feathers. And then there was a less humanlike person standing next to them. I regarded the small golden man open mouthed, causing him to smile and wave at me. Speechless, I waved back.
‘You need to get away from there, Anna,’ the last person said. I looked up. And then I mean up up. The guy, whom I now recognised as Jack Frost, was flying above me.
‘Don’t tell me what to do!’ I exclaimed indignantly. But I got to my feet nonetheless, giving one of the reindeers next to me a stroke on his head in the process.
        The strange group in front of me flinched.
‘Don’t do that!’ Santa whispered, startled, his hands folded over his mouth.
‘What? This?’ I asked, stroking the reindeer again. He woke up, sniffed my hand and gave it a lick. Then he went back to sleeping. The five people around me just looked at me, an awestruck expression on their faces.
‘Uhm, is everything alright?’ I asked slowly. The reindeer moved his head, probably trying to get in a more comfortable position. Jack gasped, still above and then grabbed hold of me, flying away with me.
‘Put me down! Now!’ I yelled.
‘Shhhh!’ everyone hissed, but I didn’t want to ‘shhhh!’.
‘No! You put me down, ríght now, mister, or you’ll regret it!’ I scolded Jack. My feet were finally able to touch the ground and I immediately turned around to face Jack again. ‘First you keep Jamie from his sleep, then you call that poor bunny over there names, and now you keep me from doing my work! Who do you think you are?!’ I called out, poking the startled white haired boy in the chest.
‘Uhh…’ was all he could say. I rolled my eyes and turned away from him.
‘Ugh, what did I do to get in a situation like this?’ I muttered angrily. Then I took my mobile phone out and dialled Jamie’s mom’s number. Something nudged at my mind, making me hesitate. That small delay gave the bird woman the chance to snitch my phone away.
‘Hey! Give that back!’ I demanded. But my anger left me, leaving me feeling alone, and small, and scared.
        I took a deep breath, trying to fight back a sob. I walked around Santa and the golden man and sat down, hugging one of the reindeers. He sniffed my head, before laying his on my shoulder.
‘How’d you… How’d you do that?!’ Santa exclaimed, his eyes wide open. But I didn’t answer. Being afraid I could burst to tears any minute now, all I wanted was to be home. Or at least at Jamie’s and Sophie’s home.
        Sadly, I didn’t magically transport back. Instead, a blue light shone from the entrance. The others started to talk excitedly amongst each other, and then rushed of in the direction of the source of the light.

*POV Jack*

I had only heard rumours about this light. It was said to have shone when I became a guardian. That it shone again now, probably meant that a new guardian was about to get chosen. I still didn’t know why, since North hadn’t got the chance yet to explain why he called us all to the Pole. I was sure it had something to do with this.
        I didn’t feel like leaving Anna alone, though. The other guardians seemed to have forgotten she was even here. I flew over to her.
‘Hey…’ I said, trying to put my hand on her shoulder. She swept it away like it was some sort of mosquito.
‘Don’t even think about it,’ she snarled.
‘Okay, okay, don’t worry!’ I said reassuringly. ‘If you search us, just follow the light, or ask one of the yetis, okay?’ She nodded, not looking up from the reindeer’s back. I hesitantly flew to the doors, wherefrom I looked back at her. She looked fragile, like she was keeping a lot back. Sighing, I decided to give her some time, and left the reindeers’ stable. A new guardian would be pretty awesome, too. But why would we need one? That question kept bugging me on my way to the globe room.

*POV Anna*

The first tears escaped my eyes as soon as Jack’s shadow disappeared from the doorway. Great. Now I didn’t just feel bad about having to leave Jamie and Sophie alone, but I also felt sorry for being mean to the one who tried to help me. Even if that one was Jack Frost. I quietly muffled my sobs against the reindeer’s back.
        When I finally calmed down – I had no idea how much time had passed – the light started to fade. I quickly wiped my tears away, hoping this didn’t mean Santa and his friends would come back. I mean, they’re probably nice and all, but I had absolutely no desire to be pictured as a cry-baby in front of them. And I also needed some more time alone. I wanted to figure out where I was, and who were here with me. The yetis, elves and reindeer, and not to forget Santa himself, seemed to point at the North Pole. But then again: this couldn’t be real, right? Wait, if I’m here at the Pole, with Santa Claus – would that mean those other people were the Easter Bunny and Sandman and… the Tooth Faery?!
        The realisation dawned onto me and my head started to buzz. How was this possible? And why was I even here?