Sunshine and Frost

8. The Spirit Girl

"What do you mean? Who did he help?" I ask shocked.

"His name is—" Jamie's voice falters again, "He's gone so it doesn't matter. Let's just say he was the opposite of the Guardians, he was the one who knows everyone's deepest fears. He's always been their enemy, but they've beat him every time. He was able to figure out how to make Sandman's dream sand into his own twisted version of it. He could take an innocent dream and turn it into an emotionally scarring nightmare that haunts you even when you're awake." He explains with a menacing tone.

A noticeable shiver runs through me, "This guy doesn't sound like the friendliest of people. So why would Jack work with him?"

Jamie lets out a sigh, "Well that's the thing, Jack has always said that he didn't help him. That he was wrongly accused and the whole thing was some sort of misunderstanding."

"So what's the problem? If Jack didn't do anything then why are the Guardians punishing him?"

"Because he hasn't done anything to deserve to be a Guardian!" Jamie shouts, "Ever since that day he just gets more and more reckless with his powers. He has gotten stupidly careless, and that needs to change before it can even be considered for him to get his offer back."

"Man, these Guardians sure have a bunch of rules huh?" I laugh jokingly.

Jamie doesn't say anything to my poor joke, creating a long pause of awkward silence as we continue to walk. "So what happened to the bad guy?" I ask after a while.

"No idea, as far as I can tell he's gone for good. The Guardians say that he'll always be around, so I guess their opinion counts more than mine. I just hope if he does shows up again, he won't come anywhere near here."

"Jamie! Jamie!" A voice calls from behind us.

We turn to see Sophie running towards us, "She's here again!" She shouts.

"Really where?" Jamie asks. Sophie points in the direction and the teenage boy takes off running without another word.

Sophie gives me a look, "So uh, how have you been?" I ask awkwardly.

She starts to run after her brother, not giving me an answer. "Sophie wait!" I call, "I'm sorry about before, I shouldn't have been so rude. But it's better now, I was even able to meet Jack!"

She stops and turns to me, "You can see Jack now?" There is a skeptical look in her eyes that is understandable given how I acted to the topic last time.

"Yeah I can, I swear. He followed me home and started to draw on my window, his drawing came to life and then I could see him." I rapidly explain.

Her eyes narrow, "What does he look like?"

"He has white hair, a blue jacket, brown pants, and blue eyes." I list off quickly.

Her suspicious expression falls, "You really did meet him. What changed your mind?"

I adjust my hat awkwardly, "It was actually because of you and a book my Grandma gave me when I was younger. I just decided that it might be better for me to have a more opened mind."

She leaps at me suddenly engulfing me in a tight hug, "I'm so glad you can see him! It'll be good for Jack to have someone else around his age that he can talk to besides Jamie. They've been getting more irritated with each other for a while."

I feel the urge to ask her more about that, but I hold my tongue. It's probably better if I find out Jack's side of the story first.

"This is great, now you can meet her too!" She releases me for a second before taking my hand and dragging me in the direction that Jamie ran towards.