Thalia Muse

Chapter 5- The Rescue

Jack's POV

A Few Hours Later…

I wake up to a quiet room. I look out my window, and see that it's night time. I get up and grab my staff; which the others had leaning against the opposite wall. Then I went to North's office to find a snow globe. Luckily he wasn't anywhere to be found; I got the snow globe and flew off for Burgess.

Thalia's POV

I sat in my cage and cried, I don't know for how long; I just know that it was long enough for my eyes to dry out, even though I wasn't done crying. I don't blame the Guardians for leaving me behind, I know it was the smartest thing to do; I would have left me too. That's not why I'm crying; I'm crying because I don't know if Jack will be alright, and I'm crying for myself. I felt so useless during the battle; if only I wasn't trapped in this prison, maybe I could have helped Jack.

I sit in my cage, and look around the room again. I stare at the archway Pitch had just left through. I get bored of watching the shadows, so I examine the room for, what feels like, the billionth time. Suddenly, I see Jack in the doorway from earlier. I blink then look again; yup, I'm not seeing things. He notices that I've seen him and puts his finger to him lips. I nod and firmly close my mouth, to show that I understand. I smile at him and he smiles back.

He flies up to my cage, and freezes the lock then breaks it. I jump into his arms, and he floats us back down to the floor. I stay in his safe arms for a few extra minutes; until he clears his throat, bringing me back to reality. I hop back a step and blush. He notices the cuffs on my hands and takes a closer look. Then he tries to freeze them, and I let out a small gasp at the sudden cold; he stops and whispers, "Guess only Pitch or Sandy can get them off."

I him a confused look, "Who's Sandy?"

"The Sandman; you know, the little guy who was here with me last night."

"Oh… Wait, that was the Sandman? Who were the others?" I ask, my voice getting louder with every word.

Jack puts his finger to my lips, and grins, "Well, there was Tooth, the Tooth Fairy, North, Santa Clause, and Bunny, the Easter Bunny," he tells me in a whisper.

Suddenly, a couple of the black horses show up. They stop and look from me to Jack to the empty cage. Then they rear up and charge at us. Jack grabs my hand and pulls me into the doorway, he had come through.

"Run! I'm right behind you!" He yells to me as he starts to shot shoot frost as the horses. He finishes and runs after me; I turn to see him pull a snow globe out of his sweater pouch. He puts it to his lips and whispers something to it, then throws it over my head. It smashes onto the floor, and creates some sort of portal. I look back at Jack, and notice a swarm of those horses running down the hall; there was no way Jack was going to make it.

"Hurry, Jack!" I yell at him.

"Just go! I'll be fine! Jump through, that will take you to the North Pole!" He yells back shooting more frost at the horses.

I get to portal, and look back at Jack; I watch, in horror, as Jack gets over taken by the black horses. I yell out his name, and hear something that sounds like "Go!" I turn around, facing the portal, and jump through.

Jack's POV

I get to Pitch's lair and find Thalia without being seen. I get to the cage room, see Thalia looking around the room then notice me. I put my finger to my lips, when I see she is about toast my name. She nods and waits for me to open her cage. When I do, she launches herself at me; I smile a little and lower us to the floor. I let her hug me for a few minutes, then clear my throat to say that she can let go. She takes a step back and blushes.

I finally notice the handcuffs on her wrists; I take a closer look and find that they are made from the black sand. I try to freeze them off but she gasps a little and I stop.

"Guess only Pitch or Sandy can get them off," I whisper under my breath.

She starts asking questions about who was there earlier; and I explain who everyone was as fast as I can, and as quietly as I can. But while she was asking questions, her voice kept getting louder; which must have been what brought the Nightmares.

They come in the room and look at Thalia, then me, then to the empty cage. Finally figuring it out, they chase us down the hallway I had come.

I tell Thalia to go, and that I was right behind her. I turn and start shooting the Nightmares with my frost. Then start running again. While I'm running, I reach into my pouch and pull out the snow globe; I borrowed from North, and threw it over Thalia's head. I watch it smash; and tell Thalia to jump through it; saying it would take her to the North Pole, and that I was right behind her. I turn around again and start shooting the Nightmares again. I notice my frost was getting slower and I was getting weaker. All of a sudden, my frost stops working and I'm taken over by the Nightmares. I hear Thalia scream my name, and I yell one last time for her to go.

I hear the sound of the portal closing, and close my eyes to the swarm of Nightmares around me. I feel a few hands grab me and carry me back into Pitch's lair; then I know nothing more.

Thalia's POV

I tumble out of the portal and find myself lying on a carpeted floor; in front of the four people from the night before. They look at me in shock. Then, the girl with wings, who I'm guessing is the Tooth Fairy, helps me up asking if I'm alright. I tell her I' fine, then I remember about Jack.

"Jack!" I yell, spinning around back to look at the place where the portal had just disappeared, leaving a snow globe in its place.

"Jack is fine, Thalia," the tooth Fairy tells me. "He's in his room sleeping right now."

"No, he's not! He just saved me from Pitch!" I tell them. They all look a bit shocked by this news, and I go on to tell them how jack saved me and how he was swarmed by all the black horses; which I find out are called Nightmares. After I finish telling them my story, they look at each other. Then the Tooth Fairy must have thought it was a good time for them to introduce themselves; even though I was sure I knew who everyone was.

"I'm Tooth, the Tooth Fairy," she says and flutters around the others, and introduces them. "This is North, Santa Claus," she says putting a hand on the shoulder of the larger man. "This is Bunny, the Easter Bunny," placing her other hand on the giant bunny's shoulder. "And this is Sandy, the Sandman." She finishes pointing to the small golden man.

I try to wave, then remember the 'sand cuffs' on my wrists. Sandy looks over at me, and floats over to get a better look at the handcuffs. He seems to brighten when he sees that they are made from sand. He smiles at me, and sprinkles some gold sand over them, and they turn gold and dissipate into the air.

"Thanks, Sandy," I say to him and smile brightly back at him. He makes a small gold hat, with sand, and tips it to me. I laugh at him and he smiles brighter then before.

"Sandy doesn't talk, Thalia. He uses shapes, images and sign language to talk; but normally he will use shapes and images," Tooth explains to me.

"Oh, well then," I say out loud, then start using sign language to Sandy. "It's very nice to met you, Sandy. I hope we become good friends." He smiles at me and nods, then starts to silently laugh. I look at the others to find curious looks on their faces. "I've had to babysit some kids who were deaf; I picked it up along the way." I shrug at them like it was no big deal; which it wasn't.

We talk to a few more minutes, then we start talking about how to save Jack from Pitch. We come up with a plan; we hope will work. North takes me home, and leaves a magic snow globe for me to use; so I can get back to the Pole. He explains how to use it; then wishes me a goodnight.

I get into my pyjamas, a tank top and shorts; and fall asleep. For some reason I don't have any dreams that night.