Emily sits by her daughter's bed, watching as her breaths shallow and even out with sleep. She's about to get up and head to her own bed when a glint of gold catches in her peripheral vision. She turns her head to get a better look.
Ribbons of gold dance past the window—and that's the best she can liken it to, ribbons dancing in the air—tendrils breaking off from the main stream to twine and curl around it before shooting out in a different direction. One tendril goes through the glass window pane and rings Sophie's head. After a moment, it turns into a little egg with legs that runs in circles.
Strange.
Up close, the stream looks more like sand than water or ribbon. Curious, Emily reaches out to touch the golden sand—and her world goes dark.
The next thing she's aware of is an annoying poking sensation on her nose. She swats at it sleepily, and gets a giggle for her efforts. The sound brings her closer to awareness: it sounds like Sophie, but what is Sophie doing in her bed? Emily doesn't remember the girl waking her up with a nightmare. (When was the last time Sophie had a nightmare?)
The poking returns, so Emily moves her head to get rid of it. Bad idea, the shooting pain in her neck informs her. Emily grits her teeth and finally opens her eyes. The glow-in-the-dark butterfly stickers on Sophie's ceiling greet her.
What?
Then she remembers: Sophie sleeping, golden sand—and nothing. Then she puts sleeping, dreaming, and sand together and gets: Sandman, and the dreamsand Jamie talks about that puts people to sleep.
Well, that'll teach her to indiscriminately touch magical sand.