Miles To Go Before I Sleep

Temper Tantrums

Temper Tantrums

...

He probably should have moved on by now; it was already a few weeks into spring, after all. But Jack couldn't bring himself to head down to Antarctica just yet. It was almost Easter and he wanted to watch the kids get all excited about Bunny's hard work (but making sure to stay out of the Pooka's sight so as not to get shooed away. Bunny may have forgiven him about the '68 incident, but he wasn't going to take any chances in bringing up old wounds).

What was even stranger for him was that he wasn't spending the last few weeks of his time by his lake; in fact he wasn't in Burgess at all. Instead, he was flying over England, taking in the sights and just enjoying the slightly warmer than normal breeze. Just because he was the embodiment of winter didn't mean he didn't like a little bit of warmth every now and then.

"Jack!"

Surprised by the sudden call of his name, Jack paused in midair, searching around him for the source of the familiar voice. A girl in a white dress and a matching sun hat suddenly flew up before him.

"Oh, hey, May," he greeted. "Nice hat."

"You like it? Can you believe it was just lying abandoned in a park?" she seemed a little taken aback by the compliment.

"Really? It's amazing what people just leave lying around, huh? Similar story with my hoodie."

May blinked, her whole demeanour changing from pleasant conversation to a rather flustered panic. "Oh, Jack! I need your help!"

Jack's eyes widened appropriately, easily picking up on her distress. "Me? You need ice and snow in spring?"

"Yes! Please, if we don't stop it everything will be destroyed!"

"Um, okay?" he was about to ask just what 'it' was but at his acquiescence she had heaved a huge sigh of relief and zipped off again in a dance of petals. "Whoa! Wait up!" he called to her, urging his own wind to help him catch up.

"May!" he shouted over the billowing wind speeding them along. "What exactly are we trying to stop?!"

"That!" she replied in a similarly raised tone, pointing down to the earth below.

Jack followed her finger with his eyes, faltering midflight as he took in the scene. May stopped just ahead of him when she realised he was no longer following.

"Please, we have to hurry!" she begged.

"Oh… right, I'm coming!" Jack re-angled himself, letting himself freefall in the direction of the torrent of water forcing its way through the countryside, swallowing everything in its path. The wind caught him just before he could dive head-first into the river and he immediately set to work, freezing large sections of the water at a time.

But in the warm sun and with the torrent unending, each chunk of ice he created was quickly overrun and destroyed, more water surging forward to replace it.

"This isn't going to work," he frowned as May came to a halt beside him, looking uncharacteristically worried.

"Th-There has to be something you can do!"