A single post at the corner sported an electric lamp a few feet above the sign proclaiming the name of the cul-de-sac to passers-by, though the street itself was so small it hardly seemed worth the trouble of naming. The lamplight shed a warm glow over the crusted, snow-covered lawns of the two houses that flanked the street. Here and there an ice crystal, rounded by the heat of the previous day, caught the light and gleamed like the earthly answer to the stars that peeked out from behind the clouds in the moonless sky above Burgess.

A faint hissing noise, a sound like wind in tall grass or sand falling in an hourglass, began from the townward end of the street, growing louder as it approached the house nearer the lamppost. The earthbound stars began to twinkle, then winked out altogether as something large and dark overtook the lamp and extinguished the light. The swirling black sand coalesced into an equine shape with a ragged, streaming mane and unblinking eyes that glowed like sinister fireflies. Once the irritating light was gone, the Nightmare took to the air, heading for a casement window on the second story of the nearest house. The window was closed against the chill March night, but the Nightmare seeped through the cracks with practiced ease. It paused long enough to deal a contemptuous kick that cracked the bulb of the brand-new nightlight below the nightstand before turning its attention to a small red-haired figure huddled under a patchwork quilt. Golden sand moved gracefully above the head of the sleeping child, but the bright grains had begun to darken as soon as the sleeper sensed the arrival of the familiar intruder.

Snorting softly, the Nightmare stalked closer to the child, who whimpered at the approach. As if in response, a large, furry shape rose from under the bed and leveled a pair of boomerangs at the Nightmare's throat and chest. At the same time, the closet door popped open to release a slim, blue and brown-clad figure who smiled as he menaced the Nightmare's flank with a crooked wooden staff.

"You really ought to know better than to visit the same house every night for a week straight," the second figure commented, advancing.

The Nightmare wheeled in place and kicked out with its hind legs before dashing through the window, forcing the hinges to turn outward in its desperation to escape. The slender young man slid easily through the screenless opening and took to the air to give chase.

The Nightmare dove downward from the window, weaving among trees and houses and sifting through shrubbery and fences to try to shake off its pursuer. The youngster just laughed, copying nearly every move the Nightmare made as though the pursuit were nothing more than a grand game of follow-the-leader. He kept his staff trained on the beast, though, using it to send repeated bursts of energy at his quarry. Each time the Nightmare managed to dodge, leaving some hapless bush or automobile to bear the brunt of a blast that left it coated in ice. Finally, though, the chase took the pair to the outskirts of the grade-school playground, where a well-aimed shot through the jungle gym sent the Nightmare clattering to the ground in a heap of frost-glazed sand.

"I got it!" the young man crowed, perching on top of the jungle gym. A tiny, blue-feathered head poked out of the pocket of his hoodie and chirped in reply. The little fairy emerged to fly in excited circles around the youth's head, chirping praise while he beamed proudly.

"All right, Baby Tooth," he said, after reveling in the adulation for just a moment. "We've got the Nightmare trapped for now. You'd better go get Sandy so he can turn it back into dream sand."

Baby Tooth "stood" to attention in mid-air and saluted, then buzzed off to alert the Sandman to her friend's catch. The youth crouched in place to examine the frozen Nightmare while he waited. The granular body was spread out flat on the ground like a mosaic of a very chubby horse. Here and there, a few tendrils of unfrozen sand still waved about. The young man aimed his staff at them and froze them one at a time. The tendrils were too small to give the Nightmare any leverage to break free, but after so many misses during the chase, the youth figured he could use the target practice.

He was so intent on his task that he didn't notice the flash of movement to his right until it was too late to dodge. The blow knocked the air out of his lungs and sent him falling headlong onto the asphalt below. At the last moment, he recovered enough to summon the wind to cushion his landing, but he still bit his tongue painfully. Gasping, he rolled over in time to see another Nightmare looming over him for just a split second before a boomerang sliced through its torso. Black sand fell around him like sleet as the Nightmare crumbled.

"You want to watch your back, mate, if you're gonna run ahead like that." A gray-furred hand rose to pluck the returning boomerang out of the air as its owner, a huge rabbit-like creature, strolled across the playground with studied casualness.

"You saying I'm too fast for you, Peter Cottontail?" the young man quipped, scanning the area where his head had landed.

"Not on your best day, Frosty," his companion retorted. He paused then, looking at the young man with a little concern. "You all right, Jack?"

Jack nodded. "I'm fine, Bunny," he said, still searching the ground. Ah, there it was. Jack knew he had felt a tear squeeze from his eye when he bit his tongue. It gleamed dully against the dark asphalt, an unremarkable blob of crystal with a long, spindly tail. The last thing anyone needed was to step on that thing. He picked it up by the bulbous end and tucked it into his hoodie pocket, then rose to join Bunny.

Bunny gestured toward Jack's staff. "You might wanna…" he said, nodding at the scattered remains of the second Nightmare.

"Oh! Right." Jack quickly sealed the disorganized black sand under a layer of frost.

A twittering sound alerted the pair to the return of Baby Tooth, followed by the glowing golden Sandman.

"Sandy!" Jack greeted, stroking Baby Tooth's head affectionately. "Jamie was right about that Nightmare bothering Erik. Oh, don't worry," he went on when Sandy's brow creased in concern," we got it before it could bother him again, and Bunny picked up the spare we didn't know about."

"Not before Frostbite here ran ahead and got himself a face full of tarmac for his troubles," Bunny put in.

"Hey, if you can't keep up…"

Sandy let the two friends bicker, turning his attention to the task at hand. He brushed a hand over the disabled Nightmares and smiled to see the menacing black sand take its proper golden sheen. Under Sandy's guidance, the softly glowing grains worked themselves free of their icy prisons and rose to join the cloud on which the Sandman traveled the world.

An indignant squeal from Baby Tooth drew Sandy's attention back to his companions. Jack and Bunny were standing a few feet apart, as though they had been on the brink of a true argument, but now both were staring, nonplussed, at Baby Tooth, who hovered between them facing Bunny and scolding him furiously in apparent defense of Jack. Shaking his head and smiling fondly, Sandy sent a bit of his sand between the combatants. Baby Tooth withdrew to settle on Jack's hood, still glaring daggers at Bunny. The sand formed first the shape of North, then of Tooth, followed by a question mark.

"Yeah, I'll catch up to you guys in a while," Jack replied. "I just want to touch base with Jamie, you know, let him know his friend won't be having any more unwanted visitors."

"You sure spend a lot of time with that kid," Bunny commented. "You know, Guardians aren't really supposed to play favorites, Frostbite."

"Right, and you taking time away from your Easter prep tonight had nothing to do with the fact that a Nightmare was hanging around half a block away from Sophie."

Bunny spluttered indignantly. "I just happen to take my job seriously," he insisted, though Sandy noted that his nose shifted to a darker red as though the Pooka were blushing under his fur. "Anyway, you might have time to go making house calls on the kids, but I've only got a week left till my holiday. See you after Easter." With no further fanfare, Bunny opened a tunnel and dropped through. A sprig of myrtle marked the place where the tunnel mouth closed.

Jack turned to face Sandy. "I really will catch up to you guys in a little while," he said. "I just really want to keep Jamie in the loop. You know? Winter's almost over, and I want to make the most of the time I've got left."

Sandy nodded, understanding the unspoken "before he stops believing in me." He reached out to give Jack's shoulder a friendly squeeze, then rose on his sand cloud and headed west to check on Tooth and North's Nightmare hunt. Jack unconsciously raised his hand to clasp the spot Sandy squeezed as he watched the glow of his friend's luminous body fade into the overcast sky. After a moment, Baby Tooth cheeped an inquiry. Jack started, then laughed.

"You ready to go, Baby Tooth?" At her chirped affirmative, Jack took to the skies again, heading for the house where he knew his first believer was lying awake, waiting for his promised visit. What a concept—someone waiting eagerly to see Jack Frost.

For a while, nothing stirred in the empty playground. Then, just before dawn, a tiny scratching sound like the scraping of insect legs began as grains of black sand rose one at a time from crevices scattered all over the pavement. The grains bounced and rolled clumsily to congregate at a single spot in the shadow of the swing set. There wasn't much, little more than a double handful for a grown man, but there was enough of the overlooked sand to form a tiny Nightmare the size of a child's toy. The miniature horse kept to the shadows as it made its way through the empty streets. It skirted Burgess' frozen pond and climbed the bank into the woods until it found the crude hole through which it recalled having emerged to seek sustenance. The herd's purpose had gone horribly wrong, and the tiny Nightmare was alone, but maybe not forever. There was still someone to whom it could turn, someone who could bring its herdmates back to it.


Myrtle = duty