Crystal Winters

Chapter Five

The flight to the Tooth Palace was shorter than the one to the North Pole had been, but still enjoyable. The two winter spirits laughed and danced with the wind, Crystal a little unsure and Jack moving with seemingly practiced movements. Once they arrived, Crystal was shocked by the sheer size of the Palace. It glittered in the sunlight with hues of gold, silver, blue, green, and purple. Tooth's helpers-the baby teeth- were flying in and out carrying coins and teeth. Jack dragged her through another open window and set of to find Tooth.

Luckily, she was home and conveniently positioned in the Hall of Memories, where all the memories are stored.

"Tooth!"

Tooth spun around, cutting off her train of rambling instructions to her baby teeth.

"Jack! Is something the matter? Wh-"

"Tooth, everything's fine." He sighed. "We were just wondering if you could get Crystal's memories for her."

"Oh, of course. I didn't realize, oh I'm sorry, I should of thought..."

"Tooth, it's fine." Jack chuckled.

"Right." She gave the directions to one of her baby teeth and they sped off. Only seconds later, the miniature fairy came back, lugging a canister with her. She handed it of to Tooth, who in turn handed it to Crystal.

"I-i just touch it?"

"Yeah, and it will send you back. It will only last a few seconds for us, but there's no telling how long it will be for you. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes." Crystal said, determination filling her.

"Alright. Go ahead."

Crystal tentatively reached out and touched the flat part of the canister.

Diamond shaped patches of light filled her vision, and she was brought back to her past.

A five-year old with blond hair and brown eyes runs up to an older woman, tears running down her face.

"Crystal! What's wrong, honey?" The older woman asks, crouching down.

"I-I had a b-bad dream, mommy! And when I woke up, there was a scary man in the shadows!"

"Oh, my poor Crystallite. The man was Pitch Black, the boogeyman. He's the one who gave you the bad dream. But don't worry, because the Guardians will protect you." She launched into a tale about the plot of the Nightmare King, and how the Guardians defeated him.

"And that, sweet, is why you don't need to worry about him. Because the Guardians will protect you, so long as you believe in them."

"I'll always believe in them, mommy!"

Crystal's mother chuckled. "Okay, honey."

The scene changed, switching to a ten-year-old Crystal holding a basket full of eggs. She laughed as she ran and chased the other children around the park, before they all sat down to share their treats with each other. From the corner of her eye, she sees a large animal in the bushes, but in a flash, it's gone. In it's place is a blue Easter egg with a swirling design on it.

The scene changed once again, switching to a fifteen-year-old Crystal sitting on the park bench.

"Excuse me, miss." A little kid says to her, and she stands up as he ducks under the bench, before he sighs.

"Watcha looking for, kiddo?" she asks. It's Easter, but surely there are more eggs that aren't so... out of the way.

"Easter eggs. There are none this year." The kid bites his lip before continuing. "We're starting to think...maybe the Easter Bunny's not real."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa? Who told you that? Of course he's real, he's as real as you and I." She doesn't believe this, but she would hate to see the light in his eyes go out. "He's just running a little late this year."

"How do you know?"

"I know because...because he told me. I'm a friend of the Easter Bunny, but he was caught up fighting the big bad boogeyman, so he couldn't get the eggs here right away. Here, I'll text him, and tell him that the kids are missing him."

"Really?"

"Of course, really!"

She pulls out her phone, but instead of texting the Easter Bunny, she texts her mom.

'no eggs this year. kids r sad. could u bring some plastic ones and candy.'

'sure. Just give me 20 min.'

'thanks'

"See!" she exclaimed to the little kid. "He said he'll be here soon."

"Thank you miss!"

"No problem, kid. No problem."

The scene changes again. Sixteen-year-old Crystal is running out of a house, a backpack slung on her shoulder. She runs down the sidewalk, before skidding to a stop at a crosswalk. Jamie Bennet runs up next to her, sled in hand. They wait for a minute before the signal to go flashes, and they start to cross the sidewalk. Jamie runs in front of her, rushing out into the street.

A truck is speeding down the highway. Crystal takes notice and runs forward to push Jamie out of the way. In doing so, she falls to the ground. The truck skids on ice and keeps moving forward, colliding with her body. At exactly 8:11 am, Crystal died.

At exactly 9:22 pm, the moon brought her back. The moons rays turned her blond hair white and her brown eyes blue. Her eyes snap open and she finds herself plunging into darkness.

She gasped as she was shoved back into the real world.

"Wow." She managed to choke out. "Wow."

"Yea, it's a lot to take in. C'mon, let's go sit down." Jack guided her over to a couch.

After about two minutes she was able to talk.

"That was...wow."

"I know. Did it help?"

She thought about it. Her main question was 'Why am I here?' and that had been answered. Her life had been good, and she helped with belief. She had saved someone, for Pete's sake. She still didn't know completely why, but that was okay. There was plenty of time to figure out later.

"Yea. Yea, it did."

"Good. Did you find what you were looking for?" Jack met her eyes, asking her more questions with his face.

"You know what? I think I did."

And she had.