The Ties of Family (RotG Fanfic)

Chapter 67

Maybe it was some weird law of nature; the Bennett siblings had supernatural beings playing a role in their lives, and may be... supernaturally altering their path. So maybe it was decreed that one of them was to have a hard life. Jamie guessed he wouldn't ever know.

"This is the best," Sophie commented, before jamming another forkful of Tuscan salad into her mouth.

Jamie's eyes travelled over the other patrons of the restaurant, and out of the frosted window, which offered a view of a part of Central Park. He was secretly glad Jack wasn't around; New York city snow, in his opinion, wasn't the type of stuff he wanted someone to wad up and throw at him.

Mrs. Bennett sat across the table, also in a salad-induced coma. Ethan ran around their table, clutching an Empire State Building doorman bear with a Statue of Liberty foam crown perched on his head. (Taking him to the ESB had almost been a mistake, he wouldn't stop asking the personnel if the lift went up to the 600th floor.) He stopped occasionally for a mouthful of potatoes from his mother. Jamie sat back in his chair, resembling a chewing statue.

"So, what's next on the itinerary? The Metropolitan Museum of Art? Will he even like that?" Jamie asked, jerking his head in Ethan's direction, as the boy clambered onto his seat and began to pretend he was driving a race car.

"Well, wherever you young people wanna go, I'm heading back to the hotel for some rest."

Just as Mrs. Bennett finished, there was a loud beep that made all of them jump. Sophie grabbed her bag off the seat next to her and began rummaging through it before pulling out her phone. As she scanned whatever text she had received, her eyes lit up.

"I believe I know where our next destination is," she said.

#

"... and that's the end of it!" Jamie ended the story for what seemed to be the hundredth time. "Now don't tell me you want to hear it again."

"No, it's starting to get boring," Ethan remarked, swinging on Jamie's arm as the pair strolled through Central Park.

"I shan't ever tell it to you again, then. Can't risk making you bored with it," Jamie smirked. "I mean, 'Rise of the Guardians' is the last thing you should be bored with. Even if Pitch tries to force you."

"Why is his name 'Pitch', anyway?" asked Ethan.

"Here we go again."

"Is it because he 'pitch'ed' a fight with you and mama and your friends and the guardians?" the boy giggled slightly. "I read in the thuh-zo-rus..."

"Thesaurus?"

"Yes. Uncle Jamie, why do they call it a 'thuh-zo-rus'? It's a big book but it sounds like a type of dinosaur. Maybe they were calling it 'The Saurus'? Maybe they wanted to give it a dinosaur name because the thuh-zo-rus is so big, but tyrannosaurus is too long so they just call it 'The Saurus'..."

"Mhm-hm."

"... why do dinosaurs have 'saurus' at the back anyway? It sounds funny and not dinosaur-like at all. Zor-us? Soar-us? Maybe they meant us-soar? We soar? Maybe they were talking about the flying dinosaurs, but in the end they gave it to the land dinosaurs..."

Jamie massaged his temple. "Easterboy..."

"Easter? Uncle Jamie, why do they call it 'Easter'? Why do they call Bunny the 'Easter Bunny'? Is it because he came from the East? Wait, you told me he lives in Australia? Is that in the East? It's very east on the map mama showed me... so Bunny does come from the East! So maybe dinosaurs came from a place called 'Saurus'!"

"Great work, Easterboy, great work." Jamie grimaced. He would love to have a chat with the Guardian of Special Kids.

The boy didn't seem to hear. He released his grip on Jamie's arm and dashed around, climbing up some of the park benches and jumping off, making weird gusty sounds as he did. Despite the mini heart attacks he was getting, Jamie didn't bother to stop the boy. The kid probably had every reason to be happy; he and his mom had moved in with his uncle and grandmother. It had been hard, with Jamie facing charges as well for the little face-off.