1.

The First Connection

Sanderson Mansnoozie looks at me through the semi-circle window. I am asleep, but I know he's there. I saw this in my vision.

Yes, I had a vision. I am a fire spirit, and this year I will be 414 years old. I am older than Jack. I can see bits of the future, but I can't control what I see or when. It just happens. I have to talk to people telepathically, because, like Sandy, I am mute.

I'm not a guardian, but I want to be with all of my heart. I love children, especially the ones with "problems". To me they aren't problems, they are powers waiting to be found and used.

Sandy stays there and watches as I sleep. Normally I would think that's a little weird, but Sandy and I are close. Plus, weird things have been happening and I'm having the worst of nightmares, so Sandy stays after he is done with dream giving and comes to my place.

I am running around with my little sister. Sea creatures made of sand roam freely and mermaids swim and jump in the ocean. We make sand castles and find beautiful seashells. We feel the dry, soft sand between our toes.

Everything is perfect, and then Sandy appears. This is the best dream I've ever had. We all play around. We splash water on each other and find baby sand turtles to help them to the ocean.

But then darkness falls.

I look around in confusion. As my little sister screams I turn around to look. My little sister is being pulled up by some force. I watch in terror as she is swallowed whole by the darkness surrounding. When she is gone, something falls out of the dark cloud. It is her half of the "sister" necklace.

I see Sandy make his whips of sand, and start whipping the dark limbs that come for him. I try to burn them with my fire but they grab my arms and legs and restrain me. They make me watch as Sandy is consumed by the same darkness that ate my sister.

The tendrils let me go. I fall down and begin to cry. I lost my most important things.

Then I hear screeching and look up. There is a light deep inside the darkness. It gets brighter and brighter until I can look no more. I hear something that sounds like an explosion. When I look up, I see Sandy. In his arms is my little sister. My little Hope. There is a bright golden light illuminating around them.

It makes me wonder if this is what Heaven looks like, with bright light illuminating through the darkness, splitting it in two until there is none left.

I wake up only to see Sandy sitting beside me, concern evident on his face. I sit up and hug him as tight as I can without hurting him. He hugs me back.

When we let go of each other, I can see his face is a brighter shade of gold, almost yellow.

He lifts his hand and rests it on my cheek. He rubs his thumb back and forth to wipe the tears from my cheek. I didn't even know I was crying.

Suddenly he moves his hand as the concern creeps back onto his beautiful face. He puts his hand on my forehead and looks at me. Sand began to flow into the air to sign, 'You are hotter than usual.'

Figuring this is a good time to connect with him I grab his hand and move it from my forehead. I put his hand in mine and motion for us to go outside.

He summons his sand cloud and we step onto it. He takes us to our special spot. It is on the top of a mountain and it is beautiful. Many trees grow here but don't ever lose their leaves or the beautiful flowers they produce. The lake is a crystal blue, and the plants that are in it glow when moved or touched. The lake gets its water from a small waterfall that never seems to stop flowing.

We step off the cloud and the sand disperses. I still hold his hand as I take him to the side of the lake.

I sit us down. I look him in his amazing gold eyes with my baby blue ones. He knew what I wanted to do. We are so close we just know things without even saying.

I have connected to all of them except Sandy, but this will be different. Much more amazing and beautiful.

I put his other hand in mine. As we look each other in the eye, I notice he looks nervous, so I kiss his nose as reassurance that its okay.

He saw me connect with the others. On normal circumstances it would look like I did a Spock mind-meld thing. Then it would be over. I could talk to him, he could talk to me. We could look at anything in the other's mind, but only if the other allowed.

What was about to happen with me and Sandy was much more special. This would make it to where we can see anything, feel each other's emotions, see what they see. It is an amazing process, but very tiring and possibly fatal to the host. I need to be careful.

As I start, my eyes turn from blue to navy. Navy to black. Black to maroon. And lastly maroon to ruby.

I close my eyes. My body heats up, but not too much as not to burn the other being. As I let go of his hands, fire appears as if from nowhere and begins flowing around us. It wraps around us in a protective barrier.

We lift up from the green grass and go up as the fire completely surrounds us in a big sphere. The grass below us whips around and around as the wind from the fire.

I see inside his memories. I see him giving dreams to the children, and seeing Jack for the first time as an ice spirit . I see him die from the horrible battle with Pitch, and then be brought back to life from the children's beliefs. I see him meet me for the first time, and the first time we held hands, hugged, kissed.

I can feel his nervousness and fear of burning. I can hear his thoughts which means I can talk to him now. I say to him, 'Do not to be afraid, I would never hurt you or let you get hurt.'

I feel his shock from hearing me. He tries to respond, but I only hear bits like, Ma- I- ou. He feels aggravated and embarrassed that he can't do it right. I tell him, 'It's okay, it takes a few tries to get it right.'

My strength and energy were quickly depleting from using so much power at once.I tell him, 'It's over now'.

The fire disperses into thin air. We lower back down to the ground. I feel woozy from using so much energy. Just before I faint, I hear him say 'Marzia, I love you.'