The damp woods was enough to turn one in the opposite direction. Leaves flew in the cold air and the owls hooted a strange unsettling sound; more of a death chime. Hallow shivered and she was hoping it was just the frigid November breeze.
Halloween was over, now she just went about in the night gliding by every child's window to bring comfort and to guard. The farther up north she went, the colder it got and all the more warmer the kids looked snuggled beneath their blankets. She arrived at a town just outside of the city, bordering the woods. She felt something quite amiss as she scanned the trees and took notice to the silence settling just further ahead in the middle of the forest. A sickening jolt erupted in the pit of her stomach as she beheld the scene before her.
Pitch Black, the King of Nightmares, the Boogeyman, was hunched over on the ground, with his teeth embedded into the small body of a young child; eating it. The hacked pieces of its limbs and the scratches across its face made its gender unidentifiable. The gruesome scene was forever branded into her memory as she watched the blood reflected by moonlight meander across the ground, slinking around tree branches and drenching the orange leaves of autumn. It surrounded the child and dripped from Pitch's mouth onto his blackened cloak. He did not even care that he was covered in it. Hallow was horrified. Never in her life would she have imagined such an ungodly scene. She knew, yes, that the Boogeyman meant to scare children but to go as far as killing then eating them is unthinkable! She held her stomach, backing up a few steps as the sharp tinge of blood filled her nostrils and the taste of bile overwhelmed her.
Pitch's head jerked up at the sound of gagging behind him. He turned and witnessed Hallow emptying her stomach, filled with Halloween candy, on the dead leaves of the ground. She looked up and met his piercing yellow eyes. The Nightmare King smiled, and when he did, the Halloween cat could see the blood staining his fangs. Wanting to throw up once more, she held it down and jolted out of there.
Arriving at her castle in Transylvania she flew inside and scribbled five notes on separate sheets of pumpkin paper. She climbed her castle from the outside and called to attention every ghoul, ghost and spirit on her grounds. Standing at the top of the tallest tower of her castle brought every transparent eye of her helpers in complete focus. This was urgent, they knew, for the black cat of pumpkins was not usually serious. She was insanely jocular; finding fun and joy to every downside. She was like a twin sister in personality to Jack Frost; spirit of fun and mischief. However, she was not joking around and the hard glint in her eye also revealed the torture of an unspeakable pain. Everyone listened, even the Man in the Moon seemed to be giving his attention up front.
"I need five of you up here, right now!" She demanded to her immense crowd. Five ghouls was at her side in a second without a thought. She handed them each one of the five notes she wrote until they were completely discarded, which took a mere 2 seconds. They could tell by her quick, almost rude thrusts of the papers in their faces that this was crucial; this alone made them mad with curiosity, for this was history that would be remembered forever in her courtyards.
"You!", she yelled, pointed to a startled ghoul to her right. "Send that to the north pole!" she pointed to the next ghost. "You! Send that to the Tooth Palace! You, you and you! To the Sandman, wherever he is, to Jack Frost, find him, and the last to the Warren! Now GO!" The command in her voice reverberated through the shimmering bodies of her helpers. They scattered in an instant, driven by order. Why they were sent to these places they didn't know, but what they did know was that Hallow needed help from the Guardians.
Satisfied that her ghouls flew off without a word or question, she turned to those left on the ground, all frozen in place by surprise.
"All of you! Divide yourselves! Go to the East, to the West, the North to the South! Guard every last child within their homes. Protect those on the streets, those sleeping, those awake! Watch over every child that you come across, for there is a new danger that I have never seen or expected. And it demands protection of every child of this earth! Now GO."
What a sight it was. Spirits practically made up the ground; there were millions, every last one of them charged out of that vast landscape of 'Dracula's Castle' and into the air. They divided to the east, west, north and south. To every village, city, town and bedroom of every child in every continent. Their glowing hues of blues and greens and purples filled the nighttime sky. It was as if the Northern lights have taken up their humble abode in Hallow's gargantuan pumpkin farm. They soared with promise and with duty and some with anger. Of what danger could physically harm a child?
Darkened bedrooms were filled with a soft glow as the boys and girls were offered more comfort as they slept peacefully. These children were safe, for now. They needn't have worried, for nightmares were matched with ghosts, since ghosts can bring nightmares just as easily. The innocence displayed on the children's faces only grew more questions in the ghosts' minds. There has never been danger like this.
A huge man with powerful shoulders and tattoos was sitting in a comfortable chair with a mug of hot cocoa. He was tall, easily making his huge table look tiny in comparison. He was jolly to his core as he was watching one of his newest toys at work. A small windup dog that did flips. He chuckled to himself when suddenly his window burst open and a rush of snowy wind blew the toy onto the floor where it broke into pieces. The man choked on his cocoa and looked to the floor that held the fate of his new design. His big blue eyes shown hurt. He looked up in shock then anger at the ghost that flew around his workshop in a frenzy. The ghost turned around, spotted him and threw the letter in his direction. Confused, the man looked at the letter in his hands as the ghost zoomed out the window. He ran to the heavy-wooded window and put the latch down, locking it firmly in place. Grumbling, he opened the letter and read the handwriting that looked angry and desperate. As the message dawned on him he dropped the letter in shock as time seemed to stop.
Orders, orders, orders, that's all that was heard along with the buzzing of a million and one tiny wings. Clinks of dimes rang through a small section of this particular palace as many small bodies were bringing in teeth of all sizes and types. The Queen was sending messages via telepathy and by word to her eager fairies who came to her when she summoned them. She analyzed teeth as she commanded and directed and instructed.
"East Fork, Alaska! West Bunker, Missouri! Panaca, Nevada!" Towns in states flew from her mouth as she felt calls coming from every which way. She pointed in their directions so her fairies could reach the sleeping children to obtain their teeth by sunrise. She never took breaks longer than 10 seconds and unless she was summoned she wasn't stopping her work. Children everywhere were losing their teeth due to accidents, the dentist, or naturally and there was just no time to have to herself. She expected teeth to arrive every second from the hands of her fairies. What she did not expect was a letter. She looked to one of her helpers who nodded her head to a ghost who chased the distance away from her palace. With surprise plastered upon her face she handed the bicuspid to a nearby fairy and unfolded the careless crinkles of the paper. She read carefully and when she was done the life seemed to drain from her mauve eyes as terror took over. Her mini fairies frantically darted around her, wondering what was said that could shock someone so bad. When they found out, they too felt drained and afraid.
Snow was everywhere. Multitudes of silvery snow frosted the window panes of the town that was currently getting a greeting from the one and only Jack Frost. Ice covered park benches and playground sets as he flew, bringing wind, through the trees. Laughing in joy as the nighttime blizzard caused some kids to look out their windows in pure happiness. They were anxious to discover if they had a snow day tomorrow and were disappointed when they discovered that they couldn't go out into the snow right then. They were giddy with anticipation to play and it made the job of putting them to bed that much harder. As Jack glided through the air something came out of nowhere from the sky with the force of a cannon. A too eager spirit couldn't control his speed through the urge to deliver a certain message. Jack struggled out of the pile of snow that covered him. He was blasted from mid-air into his own delight. He looked at the ghoul annoyingly as the ghost looked shyly away and then darted off, leaving one sheet of paper behind. He wondered what it could be. Heh, North's holiday of Christmas bringing the wonder of the air to his own eyes. Picking up the note, smiling in thought of his good friend, he read it as silently as the snow that settled around him. But slowly the smile wore off and sadness accompanied with unbelief took its place.
Golden sand filled the small man's vision as the structures of giant dinosaurs covered the streets of the city. He noticed that Hallow's ghosts were occupying the spaces outside of every child's window. They were everywhere and for a second he thought that they were new and not controlled by the Halloween figure. He was about to shoo one away, for it invaded his personal space, when one of them came up to him. This one traveled vast distances and was nervous, not like the others. He accepted the message and watched as the few that surrounded him drifted away. He rolled his eyes at their hovering so close by. They were like pests. He regarded the note without a sound. Ghosts forgotten, his eyes dilated and he formed his sand into a plane and took flight as fast as he could to the north pole, in fear.
A ghoul was chased lighting fast out of the birth place of spring. A beautiful and bright place like this simply didn't accept dark creatures within its realms. The tall Australian rabbit with a rugged appearance and tribal marks on his arms stomped away.
"I thought I told Hallow never to let her hideous creatures into my Warren! That woman never listens!" He shook his fist at the open air with an evil glint in his eye. He roamed through the valleys and the hills, wherever he sensed the thing had traveled to check if anything was out of place or disturbed. Everything seemed to be in order. Wait. What's that? A crumpled piece of paper lay by his tie-dye paint river. 'Mischief night has already passed!' he yelled to himself. Flabbergasted at the idea that Hallow would send one of her ghosts to trash his warren. It was unthinkable! Yet of all the people Hallow would do it. He almost expected it from her. But it still made him angry!
He picked up the paper and was going to dispose of it before he noticed lettering on it. He yanked it open to reveal its words. The information from the letter he took in was ten times more unthinkable and completely unexpected. He didn't believe the words at first but knew that he had to see North immediately.
Every Guardian arrived at the pole around the same time and so did a final ghoul; sent just moments before by Hallow herself. The ghoul dropped a small package on the cherry wood table of North's living room. The firelight from the chimney lit the edges of the box and gave everyone a feeling of dread, no one wanted to open it. The ghost faded out of the room and North, with a shake of his head to clear his thoughts, strode over to the package and opened it slowly; his eyes darting to each of his fellow guardians. Inside was a single tooth; a sharp canine undoubtedly from the cat herself. He looked to Tooth who fluttered over to the box and held the canine in her small hands. She hesitated and then closed her eyes, letting the memories stored within reach her mind. She saw exactly what Hallow had seen and with a gasp she flew back, dropping the tooth to the floor. Clutching a hand to her chest in sorrow, she stared straight ahead. She corroborated their fear, she destroyed their doubts, she shot their hopes through the heart. Hallow was right, she wasn't kidding as they had prayed was a downright terrible prank. Pitch Black had killed and eaten a child.