#rotgss

Jack hid his soft snickers behind his hand before glancing around the corner again. Jamie and his friends had gathered around Mother Goose, or Katherine, to listen to the tales of the Guardians she had gathered over the years. But those snickers finally faded away as he glanced at Katherine’s face. She was looking so much better. She hadn’t looked good some time ago as children seemed to stop believing in her. Everyone figured it had to have been some devious plan put together by Pitch, but they hadn’t seen him for some time. But right now, that concern fell away from Jack like a snowflake from a cloud, he was filled with joy. After telling Jamie and his friends of Katherine’s plight, they insisted upon visiting her as soon as possible, and tonight was their chance. The mischievous twinkle in Jack’s eyes sparkled merrily, he had promised to leave and let the children listen to Katherin’s stories without interruption, as he often did, but that only allowed him more time to come up with another plan to get everyone to have some fun. 

“So, what stories would you like to hear?” asked Katherine as she opened a large book and laid it flat across her lap. 

“All of them!” shouted the children in unison. 

Katherine chuckled. “Oh my, I can’t read all of them, there isn’t much time! Santa will be back soon to take you home.” 

“Aw!” the kids moaned. 

Jack sighed and shook his head before walking into their midst. “What kind of an attitude is that? You can come back and hear more stories.” He nodded at Katherine. “Why don’t you start at the beginning? I’ll keep an eye out for North.” 

Katherine smiled. “Thanks Jack.” 

He grinned at her. “No problem.” He flew off and Katherine began telling the children about how it all began, how the Man in the Moon brought them all together, how she met Nicholas St. North, Ombric, and the others, how they fought Pitch, how they nearly lost Jack, and how, together, they saved the world. The children listened with rapt attention and kept mostly quiet, besides a few questions from Jamie. But as the story continued and Katherine neared the end, she became increasingly worried. Where was North? The children really should have gotten back by now. Had Pitch made another attack and they were fighting him off, thinking the children were safest with Katherine at that moment? But how could that be? Pitch needed some years to recuperate from his most recent defeat. So, where was he? Katherine finished the story and closed the book. The children moaned. 

“Wait a minute?” said Jamie. “Jack told me he was a human before being turned into Jack Frost. How could this Nightlight fellow have turned into him too?” 

Katherine smiled sadly. “That is a story for another time. Right now, I think we had best find out exactly what’s taking North so long.” 

“D-do you think i-it’s Pitch?” asked Monty nervously. 

“No, Pitch needs a little more time than that to get his strength back and come up with a new plan.” 

“M-maybe the Monkey King?’ asked Pippa, referring to one of Pitch’s henchmen that they just found out about and apparently hated the Tooth Fairy with a passion. 

Katherine’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe, I don’t know.” She turned to the children. “Wait here with Kailash.” The children nodded before huddling near the large goose. Katherine gave a slight nod before walking towards the doorway. When she cleared the corner and was out of sight of the children, she pulled out a long, thin blade that had been hidden in her yellow coat. Cautious but determined, she peeked around the corner. Jack was nowhere in sight. Pursing her lips, she ventured forward stealthily. A noise seemed to come from the balcony. Heart pounding, she turned and ventured in that direction. Was it the Monkey King, or had North finally arrived? Not wanting to get caught unawares, Katherine kept her sword out, but she walked more quickly now. She placed her hand on the handle and paused, there was that noise again. Was that yelling too? She opened the door and . . . whoosh!! 

“Jack! Bunny!” 

“Oh knock it off you bloody show pony! Stay still so I can hit you!” 

“But where’s the fun in that?” Jack laughed as a snowball whizzed by him. 

“Ack! Bunny! You are not aiming right!” North threw a snowball, and it passed Jack right up. Bunny shot North a look before going back to throwing snowballs. 

“Hey!” shouted Katherine. Everyone stopped and looked at her. Jack came down and stood in front of her. 

“Oh, uh, hi! Care to join us? Oof!” 

“Ha-ha, finally got you,” said Bunny with a huge grin on his face. 

Katherine placed her hands on her hips. “Is this what you’ve been doing this whole time? Had me and the kids worried that something bad was happening!” She glared at them. 

“Don’t look at us, it was all his doing!” said Bunny, pointing at Jack. 

She did look at him. Jack threw up his hands. “What? I just wanted to give the kids a little more time to hear your stories.” 

Katherine crossed her arms. “Well I think they’ve had plenty of time. They need to go home.” 

“Oh, alright,” said Jack. 

“Where are the kids?’ asked Bunny as they followed Katherine inside. 

“I left them in Ombric’s library with Kailash.” She paused when they entered the library. “Oh my, and we have a problem.” 

“What?” exclaimed everyone. Katherine merely pointed with a grin. The children were snuggled up to Kailash and all were sound asleep. Kailash rose her head when the Guardians entered the room, but went back to sleep when she saw who it was. Gently, carefully, the Guardians picked up the children one by one and carried them to North’s sleigh. They quickly brought each one home and put them to bed. Bunny, Tooth, and Sandy left from Burgess while Jack and Katherine opted to return with North. 

Jack scooted closer to Katherine. “So, feeling better?” 

She smiled. “Much better, thank you Jack.” She shot him a look. “Though, I would have felt even better had I known what you were planning.” 

Jack grinned. “And ruin all the fun?” 

“Fun?” said Katherine. “You seriously think letting us sit there and worry about you all is fun?” 

“OK, you’re right, sorry, that wasn’t fun.” He shot her an apologetic smile. “But, it did work. I do promise to have a better plan next time.” 

“Sure you will.” 

“So, if there’s nothing else for you two to do, would you care to join me for some hot cocoa at the North Pole?” North was watching them with an amused raised eyebrow. 

Jack grinned at North before glancing at Katherine. “That actually sounds like fun. What do you say?” 

Katherine sighed, but she was smiling brightly. “Oh alright. Let’s stop by Ombric’s first to let Kailash know, and then we’ll head over.”