The Elemental's Curse

Gaeaf

"JACK!"

Jack's face instantly lit up at the sound of the Burgess children he loved so much. They giggled as snow landed on their noses and clapped as Jack did a somersault in the air and landed perfectly on his feet.

"Your snow day," he bowed. "For the kings and queens of Burgess!"

"Yay!" they all cheered.

They took to epic snowball fights, snowmen making, sledding, and running around until the children were beginning to be called for dinner. They gave Jack their reluctant goodbyes - Jamie gave him a breath-taking hug - before answering their parents' calls. Jack slowed the snow as he walked along the sidewalks of Burgess, watching as one by one, the bedroom lights went out and dreamsand slipped through the windows to give good dreams.

That was when he heard a child's cry.

He instantly shot into the air, heading towards the direction of the noise. Within a minute, he landed down in an alleyway, only to find it empty.

"Hello?" he called out.

"Hello ... Jack."

Something solid hit Jack in the back of the head, hard. He collapsed to the ground, grunting in pain. The person who had struck him grabbed his staff, and Jack had to close his hand to actually process his most prized possession was now gone. Then the person grabbed the hood of his hoodie and began dragging him from the alleyway.

"Let's visit your lake, shall we?"

'Please notice I escaped,' Jack thought as he lost consciousness. 'And then scold me so that I know I lived.'

XXX

Seraphina, Daisy, Alex, and Chris walked into the Globe Room to see the four original Guardians sitting by the fire, talking about how their different jobs are going.

"Where's Jack?" Seraphina asked.

"I put him to bed hours ago," North replied, snatching up another cookie and earning a glare from Tooth. "Boy exhausted himself helping me with toys."

"You got him to work?" Alex gaped.

"What have you done to our brother!" Chris dramatically gasped, making everyone laugh.

Elves burst in, bringing trays of hot chocolate and cookies for the newly arrived spirits. The gladly took up the offer and found themselves all nestled together on one of the plush couches right next to fireplace. They all conversed for about half an hour before a yeti burst into the room, freaking out and yelling something so fast that even North couldn't understand him.

"Phil, you must calm down," North said, going over to his Head Yeti and placing a hand on his furry shoulder. "Now, tell me what's wrong."

The yeti relayed his message, and the jolly color drained from North's face as Phil continued to panic.

"North?" Tooth asked. "What's wrong?"

"Jack has left workshop!" North panicked, turning to his sword rack and pulling out his two favorite swords. "Room was empty and window was open! We must find him, now!"

"Where could he have gone?" Daisy asked as they all rushed for the sleigh. "He has no other homes but here and the Treehouse."

"Burgess," Bunny answered. "He'd go to Sophie and Jamie. He wouldn't want them to start worrying if he didn't visit every once in awhile."

"Then to Burgess we go," North nodded, grabbing the reigns as everyone climbed in. "Everyone prepare yourselves. We don't know what we'll find."