Rise of the Winter

Chapter 9

"We will find Jack, Elsa. You just need to be patient. We all do. The boys are interrogating his doppelganger now. Hopefully, they can get some answers to the whereabouts of Pitch!" Tooth said.

"What if we don't realise that he's lying and we walk into a trap?" Elsa asked.

"North and the yetis can pick out lies. Now that North knows that he exists, he will be on a list. If he lies, he will move to the naughty list. If he keeps on lying, his name will move up a place. If he gets to the top of the list and keeps lying, the name will change colour. After that, I do not know!" Tooth answered.

"I just hope he is okay. Jack, the real Jack. He needs a break. We all do. Him especially!" Elsa said sadly.

Tooth sighed so loudly Elsa's eyes widened in annoyance. She heard the fluttering of wings and turned to look behind her. Tooth was flying away slowly. Elsa looked back to the window, the expression on her face was one of sadness. She stood like that for a coupe of seconds before running to catch up to the Tooth Fairy. They walked in silence as Tooth led Elsa around the workshop. Elsa grew nervous as her surroundings changed. She hadn't been to this part of the workshop before. They stopped outside of a room, it's blue door shut.

"Where are we?" Elsa asked.

Tooth said nothing. Instead, she opened the blue door. Elsa walked in and realised that this was Jack's room. The first thing her eyes drifted to was the double bed. The doona cover was a dark blue, the same colour as Jack's hoodie. It even had the frost pattern on it. The sheets on the mattress were white. The walls were a light blue, the colour of his eyes, and was decorated with snowflakes. Elsa put her hand on one and she was surprised. The snowflakes were frost. Which meant that Jack had made them by himself. The carpet was a dark shade of midnight blue and it was soft. Beside the bed stood a dark mahogany bed side table. Besides that, there was nothing in the room. Elsa turned to face Tooth.

"Why did you bring me here?" Elsa asked.

Tooth sighed and said, "This is Jack's room. He decorated it himself. We asked him why it was like this, why it was empty."

"What did he say?"

"He said that it was what he was used to, a big space with nothing in it besides where he slept, hence the bed. As for the table, he only uses it for a lamp, which we have never seen, if he even has one. Jack wasn't, isn't, one for telling the truth. If he is trying to hide something, he'll lie but have some truth behind his actions. North believes that Jack decorated his room according to his life as an immortal. He was always alone, thus the emptiness in the room but he said it was what he is used to. The truth that hides a lie. That's how North described it. Every time that I have been here since Jack became a guardian, I never once saw him use this room and it drives me crazy!" Tooth said.

"But why bring me here?" Elsa asked, confused.

"I brought you here because Jack doesn't get extremely happy around us. He only gets that happy when he's with Jamie. The first kid that ever believed in him. Since he met you, he has been as happy as he always is when he's around Jamie," Tooth explained.

"Years ago, when I was a kid, I had a sister. Her name was Anna. She believed in Jack Frost. She thought that he was the reason behind me having powers. Before the trolls took her memory of my powers away, she used to say that Jack Frost blessed me with them. I didn't believe though. My parents always said that they were a curse. I believed them."

The two girls stood in silence for a couple of minutes. Then Elsa had a thought.

"Tooth, what if Pitch took Jack out of the country?"

"Why would Pitch do that?" Tooth questioned.

"Pitch already used the lair here, in Burgess, America. Wouldn't he have a lair in a different country, being the boogieman?" Elsa continued.

Tooth thought for a couple of seconds.

"I guess. But he usually uses the one in Burgess. I don't see why not!" Tooth answered.

"If Pitch were to leave the country, where would he go?" Elsa inquired.

"Probably some in Australia or New Zealand, after all, they get really hot in the summer, which it is now, and it hardly ever snows in Australia. So they would be the most logical choices," Tooth summed up.

Light bulbs flashed in Elsa's mind. She sprinted back to where the boys were interrogating Dark Jack. She burst right in.

"How many times have I told you to... Elsa! What are you doing here?" North exclaimed.

Elsa ignored this but walked deliberately towards the impostor. She picked him up and slammed him against the wall. She concentrated and ice held him there. He looked stunned and Elsa slapped him.

"Are they in Australia?" she demanded, her voice harsh.

He gulped and looked down. He smirked, the same smirk Jack had on his face when he was up to no good, and he looked up at her through his eyelashes.

"What makes you think that?" he asked.

Elsa slapped him again, harder this time, and repeated the question.

His nose started bleeding and he looked at her, unblinkingly.

"I'm waiting," Elsa stated, condescendingly.

He lowered his head and answered so low that only the Easter Bunny heard it.

Elsa turned around and tilted her head, looking straight into Bunny's eyes.

"He said yes. They are in Australia," Bunny confirmed.

"To the sleigh!" North yelled.

"Oh no, mate. My country, my rules. Buckle up!" Bunny said.

"Shostakovich!" North yelled he as fell down the rabbit hole.

Bunny grabbed Elsa and carried her down the hole to the other side, in Australia. Elsa looked at the Easter Bunny, confused as to why he did that.

"Jack would have killed me if you got hurt," Bunny explained.

"Where are we?" Tooth asked.

"In Australia. We're in one of the territories, Northern Territory. This is one of the hottest areas. The other one is the next state over, Queensland. If they're not here, that's where we'll check next," Bunny answered.