Chapter 25

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We all burst out laughing. I swear, dinner has never been this much fun. Ever. After a few minutes, we all stop laughing and regain our breath. We stick to talking for the rest of the meal. After we're all finished, we leave the dining hall and head off to our rooms. I climb into bed and lay there for a few minutes, just staring at the ceiling. After awhile of thinking, I feel the urge to sleep come over me. I give into the urge and drift off. I wake up and get ready for whatever today is going to bring. I put on my sweater and leave my room. As I walk up the stairs, I hear the voices of my fellow Guardians.

I walk up to them. "Good morning, Jess." North says. "Morning." I say. "We were waiting for you to wake up before we got breakfast." Bunny says. I nod. "Well, come on. We don't have all day." Jack says. He flies towards the dining hall. We follow after him. We walk inside and take our places at the table. I grab two pancakes and a watermelon slice and set them on my plate.

Do you really care about your brother? A voice says. I look around. From the way everybody's acting, they apparently didn't hear the voice.

Do you care about him enough to sacrifice anything, possibly your life? That same voice says. It sounds eerily familiar. Than an alarm goes off in my head and the name of the person comes to me. Pitch. I immediately try to ignore what happened and eat my breakfast. By the time everyone's done, I've only eaten half a pancake and have taken small bites of my watermelon. I can't stop processing those two sentences over and over in my head. They're too strange to forget. "Jess, are you okay?" Tooth asks, interrupting my thoughts. I glance over at her.

"I'm fine," I say, getting up from the table. "But my brother's not." I walk towards the door, but North stops me. "Jess...?" I don't say anything. I walk past North and towards the door. I walk out of the room. I start forming a dagger as I walk towards the large doors. "Jess." Bunny says. I stop, grab the dagger, and turn around to face him. The others stand around him. "What are you-" I interrupt Bunny's question. "I told you that my brother's in danger." I say. "What do you mean?" Tooth asks. "Pitch has my brother, and I'm going to save him. He's a child, and as a Guradian, I'm supposed to protect the children." "Jess," Bunny says. "We're coming with you." I smile.

"Phil!" North calls. "Get the sleigh ready!" Phil runs past me and the others and down the hall. He walks through those doors. A minute or two later Phil appears. North turns and heads for the doors. We all follow.

Go ahead, try to save him. You'll know where to find us. Pitch says again in my head. I climb into the sleigh with the others, trying to ignore this sentence. We take off through the tunnel. When we come out into the open, I say, "They're in that town. The one where Pitch was in the forest and stuff." North nods and steers in that direction. I spin the dagger in my hands for a few minutes. I glance over the side of the sleigh. I can see the town slowly coming into view. I just stare at it as every shape becomes more clear.

A few minutes later, we're flying above the town. I stand up. "Meet ya down there." I say. I jump off the sleigh. "Jess! Wait!" I hear Jack shout. I ignore him and fly into the town. I land softly on the sidewalk near a candy store. I love candy stores. They're so awesome! I casually walk down the street, avoiding the people, but it's not like they can see me anyway. I look around and see North's sleigh on the top of a building a few blocks down the street. I keep walking down the street in the direction of the forest.

As I near the street that I landed on awhile back when we first came here, I hear a voice call my name from behind me. "Jess! Why did you jump out of the freaking sleigh?!" I turn around and see Jack angrily walking towards me. "I'm trying to find my brother. That's why." I say. I see the others a few feet behind him. I turn back around and take off down the street. A faster way to get to my destination. I reach that clearing in the forest within a minute or two. Pitch stands on the other side, his back facing me. I pull my dagger out of my pocket and grip it tightly in my right hand.

Pitch turns to me, just as I hear Jack calling my name. "Hello, Jess," Pitch says. "We meet again." Then something appears at his side. I glance over to his left and see that it's my brother. Pitch grabs his arm tightly, to ensure that he won't get away. Then something runs into me. I look behind me and see Jack. I turn back to face Pitch. He holds my brother close to him. "Just d-don't hurt him, please." I say. "Why would I not?" Pitch asks me. I glance over at my brother. Fear is written all over his face. Pitch must be enjoying this.

Then Jack shoots an ice bolt at him. It hits him in his left shoulder. "You should stay out of this, Jack." Pitch says. Jack takes a step forward. I put my hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Jess," Pitch says. "Do you remember what I told you about sacrificing your life?" I nod. He turns to me and looks me in the eye. "I believe that something like that is needed at this moment." He says and smiles wickedly. "Look, Pitch," I say. "No one needs to die here tonight. Just let him go and we won't have a problem." It's completely silent for a few seconds.

Pitch looks at me. Then he let's go of my brother and tosses black sand at me. I step out of the way and throw my dagger at him. It slices across his arm. I notice my brother just standing there, watching this. Pitch runs towards me. I step out of the way and he skids to a stop before he hits a tree. I see my dagger lodged into a tree across the clearing. I run for it. I grab it and yank it out. I turn around and am shoved against the tree. Pitch stands in front of me, his arm against my throat, holding me against the tree. "Jess!" Jack says. He takes a step towards us. "Forget about me," I say. "Just get him out of here!" "I'm not leaving-" "Do it, Jack! Get my brother out of here, now!" I shout at him.

He stands there for a second then he runs over to my brother and takes his hand. He runs into the trees and disappears. Pitch looks at me. I look back. Then he takes my dagger from me. He holds it in front of him and studies it. Then it starts to turn black, just from his touch. "How wonderful." He says, smiling. Then he turns to me and smirks. "This will only hurt a lot." He raises the dagger up to my cheek. He traces a line up to the side of my right eye then pauses. Then something suddenly rams into him. The dagger digs into me as he falls to the ground. I scream in pain and I feel a liquid slowly start to stream down my cheek.

I ignore this and look towards where Pitch fell. I see Bunny standing over him. The dagger lays on the ground a few feet away from him. On the blade, I can see a slight trace of blood. My blood, that is. Bunny picks up Pitch and throws him. He hits a tree and falls to the ground. He slowly gets up. "Oh, Bunny," He says then glares at him. "Never interfere with my work." He throws sand at Bunny, who blocks it with his boomerang. I notice Pitch glance over at me for a second, then he turns back to Bunny, who doesn't seem to notice.

Then Pitch tosses sand at me and I block it with my sheild. Pitch looks shocked, but only for a second. He shifts his gaze from me to Bunny and back to me. I just stand here. Then he looks back at Bunny, who looks like he's ready to cut Pitch's head off. Just then, Jack, North, Sandy, Tooth, and my brother run out of the trees. Pitch glances over at them and sighs. "Great, just great," He says, sounding irritated. "Thank you, all of you. I was just trying to have fun, but you ruined it." I form a dagger and throw it at him. before it hits him, he disappears in a cloud of black sand.

I glance over at Bunny, who turns to face me. I avoid his look and stare at the ground. "Jess?" I look up and towards the others. "Is that you? Is that really you?"

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