The Sandman and the War of Dreams (15 page)

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Guardian Glory and the Peskiness of Gravity

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HE CLOUD ITSELF BEGAN
twining around Nightlight’s legs and feet, trying to pull him into its blackness. Sandy made long whips of Dreamsand and began to snap them at every coiling tendril, shattering the dark attackers. Nightlight was equally effective with his staff. He stabbed and slashed at the black sand, hacking deep rips and troughs into any shape that threatened.

But the cloud was possessed now. It could change faster than Nightlight and Sandy could manage. It reached out and wrapped itself around that magnificent pole North was building, sending the rock that Katherine lay upon pitching forward.

Sandy and Nightlight grabbed at the marble slab, trying to steady it, but each touch blasted them backward. The blackened sand beneath them began to change before their eyes; creatures by the hundreds began to form from the dark grains—a cloud of Nightmare Men. They clawed and stabbed at Sandy and Nightlight in numbers impossible to vanquish. The two fought on fiercely, cutting away at the tendrils that were twisting around the pole. But they were simply outmatched by the enemy.

Then, as they were beginning to lose hope, the sky around them filled with able helpers. Queen Toothiana and her warrior fairies. Ten thousand fairies! More! Arrows and swords hitting every mark!

At that point Ombric astrally projected himself
into twenty places at once and obliterated the clouds of Nightmare Men in each place!

And Bunnymund, his mighty ears twirling with the speed of a splitting atom, shot through the air like a bolt of lightning. He’d grown a dozen arms, and each held a sword made of meteor metal.

Then came North on his newly crafted sleigh of his own design, flying at the speed of light and pulled by a team of the Giant Reindeer from the forest of Santoff Claussen.

Together they smashed and blasted through the barrage of Nightmare Men with withering force. The power of the Guardians was awesome to behold.

But the moment of triumph vanished quickly.

The rock that held Katherine slipped through the faltering mass of Nightmare Men and fell with sickening speed toward the ground below.

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And So They Fell

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HERE WAS NO DOUBT
that Nightlight was the fastest boy who’d ever lived, but he was not the strongest. As Katherine, on her stone tomb, plunged, Nightlight speared the dense rock with his diamond dagger. Gripping his staff, he used every ounce of his flying strength to try to slow the fall. But not even a hundred Nightlights could have slowed a stone of its mass.

And so they fell.

Precious seconds passed as Nightlight tried desperately to smash his fist through the murky shield
of nightmare energy that encased Katherine. At the same time his mind was racing, finding that place where time seems to slow and fate can sometimes lend a hand.

The shield. How to break through?! Can’t use the diamond dagger. Could hurt Katherine. How to break? How?!

Bits of Sandy’s dream cloud, the grains that had not yet been corrupted, still clung to the Nightmare Rock, stinging Nightlight in the face as they plunged. Several bits peppered his eyes and made him blink. There wasn’t time to brush the grains away. They could not make the spectral boy sleep—Nightlight had never slept—instead they made him
remember
, just as the Sandman had predicted.

He remembered so much, so fast, all from his long-ago life with the Man on the Moon. Treasured
moments flickered by like leaves in the wind. The oath he had taken, the song he sang every night to the young prince, and the Dreamsand.
Before the Dreamsand! What? What happened before the Dreamsand?
He knew it was important. It could show him how to save Katherine.

It was the most powerful thing of all.

It was stronger than dreams and nightmares, or diamond daggers made of tears, or actions bold and relics ancient.

It was the kiss.

The kiss of the good night. He remembered the Man in the Moon’s parents. Every night they’d say good night and kiss the baby. Then he, Nightlight, would bring the Dreamsand to keep the nightmares away. The kiss! It’s magic. It takes away all the hurt of the day! At least that’s what they’d told him.

Would a kiss from me have any power?
he wondered. There was just enough time to try.

Then valiant Nightlight, hero of so many battles, faced the most bewildering moment of his endless boyhood: a kiss.

How is it done?! What do I do? What if I do it wrong?! Something with the lips?! How?!

Just Go! GO!

He closed his eyes and lunged face-first toward Katherine. The nightmare shield gave way like vapor. Its powers only worked against force and fear. And a kiss is neither. It is a hopeful thing. For one eternal instant, Nightlight’s lips touched Katherine’s, and all of Pitch’s dark spells were gone. Her eyes opened. Her tortured sleep was done. The Kiss made everything all right. Katherine was fine. There was no time for even a smile. Nightlight grabbed her hand and flew
her away from the plummeting rock. And as it crashed to the ground, he glimpsed a gash in the stone. It was beneath where Katherine had lain. Just under where her heart had been. It was the hole his diamond dagger had left when, so long ago, it had pierced through Pitch and kept them both imprisoned and asleep for ages.

Nightlight felt Katherine’s hand in his. He had saved her. And he had saved a part of himself, too—a part that had been forgotten. He had never felt more awake or alive.

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Growing Up Is an Awfully Big Adventure

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HEN IT LANDED, THE
Nightmare Rock had blasted a crater of impressive size at the base of North’s city, sending the Nightmare Men retreating. Then Mother Nature swirled up a tempest so strong, it sent them spiraling away and past the horizon. She gave a nod to them all from where she hovered and then flew away before anyone could say a word.

“Mysterious creature,” remarked North. Sandy just smiled. He knew that better than anyone.

“One can seldom predict the weather,” said Bunnymund. Then they turned their attention to
the fallen stone. Though the crater was twenty feet deep and twice as big around, the damaged ground beneath it was made of Big Root wood, so it instantly began to restore itself. As the other Guardians gathered around the disappearing crater’s edge, the floor began to level, the slab of black stone rising with it. Since the Nightmare Men had retreated the moment the rock hit the ground, the battle was, for now, over.

“And no sign of Pitch,” said North, stroking his beard.

“Not like him at all,” Bunnymund added, sheathing his dozen swords.

Toothiana flared her wings. “My human side says ‘beware.’ My other side says the same, but louder.”

“We’ll meet whatever comes,” said Ombric philosophically. As he gazed up at Katherine and Nightlight, the weariness that had plagued him seemed to pass. Having Katherine back was a tonic to him. To all of them. “For now, let’s bask in the victory of friends reunited!”

Hand in hand, Katherine and Nightlight floated down and landed gently beside the rock. The entire city rushed to the site, and there were cheers and instant jubilation. Katherine was safe! North immediately picked her up and hugged her tightly, his laugh now as deep as his waistline was thick.

“You’ve grown!” bellowed the Cossack.

“So have you.” Katherine giggled as she poked her old friend in his now-ample belly.

“The hazards of Yeti cooking,” explained Ombric, who joined in the hugging.

The Yetis were clustered nearby. Strangely enough, they were weeping like babies.

“They always do that when they’re happy,” chirped Mr. Qwerty, who paused from frantically writing everything down in himself so Katherine could read all about it later.

“That is
exceedingly
odd,” muttered Bunnymund. “I mean, it’s peculiar enough when humans cry, but Abominable Snowmen? That’s a bit much.”