Chapter Three
It was only a quarter to nine and Kat was still awaiting Jack's arrival. He didn't usually show up until midnight, but she always anticipated his appearance even when Jamie and Sophie were still awake. And whenever they were, she always shared a story with them. However, Jamie decided to share his little sledding accident instead.
"You know, Jamie, that was a very dangerous stunt you pulled."
"I didn't do it!" he claimed. "I-I mean I did, but—I don't know! It was like something had dragged me along for the ride! One minute, I'm falling on my sled, then the next I'm riding down the street! I didn't even know I could do that!"
Kat shook her head. If only he knew.
"And then I got hit by a couch and look!" Jamie showed the gap in his mouth. Sophie laughed and pointed at it. "Tonight, I'm finally going to catch her. I'm going to see the Tooth Fairy, and Sophie will help me!" He turned to the little girl on his bed. "How about it, Soph! You and me looking out for the Tooth Fairy! What do you say?" Sophie nodded enthusiastically.
"I don't know about that, Jamie," Kat said. "She's not going to come out when you're still awake, just like the Easter Bunny isn't going to come out during the day to hand over his eggs during the hunt tomorrow."
"You don't know that. I'm telling you, Kat, one day I'm going to catch them. Just like Bigfoot!"
Kat almost rolled her eyes. The Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny were one thing, but Bigfoot?
"All right, Jamie, that's enough excitement for one day," Jamie and Sophie's mom said when she entered the room. "It's time for you two to go to bed." She picked Sophie up from the bed and attacked her with kisses, making the little girl giggle even more. "Kat, you obviously have no curfew, but I wouldn't advise you to stay up too late."
"Don't worry, Aunt Carol. I think I'll head in early, too." Kat ruffled Jamie's head before she got up from his bed and gave Sophie a kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight, Sophie. Goodnight Jamie, and good luck."
"'Night, Kat!"
Once she was in her room, Kat went straight to the window and continued to look out for Jack. She could stay up for hours if she wanted to, mostly because of the show she usually saw from her house. Right on cue, the streams of dream sand began to float through the neighborhood using magic on the children to put them into a blissful sleep. She had never seen the Sandman herself, but Kat always knew whenever he was around, the Guardians weren't that far away, either.
Jack had yet to appear.
She glanced at the clock. It was a quarter to ten. Jack still had time. In the meantime, Kat would allow the sand to work its magic and succumb her own dreams. However, the night didn't seem to bless her with the same peaceful reveries the other children were having.
-X-
She didn't like this dream. It wasn't sweet or fantastical like the others. It felt more real, more like a memory, except she couldn't remember any part of her life being like this.
It was dark, and cold. Not the nice cold that came with snowball fights, snowflakes, and ice skates. No, this cold was lonesome and fearful. She couldn't see a thing. She could only hear voices: utterly terrified voices.
"Mommy!"
"It's so dark!"
"Mommy, where are you!"
"Help!"
She heard children. Hundreds—no, thousands of frightened voices practically reaching out for someone to protect them. The more they cried, the more she felt that they were reaching out to her. She didn't know why. All she wanted to do was help them, to stop their tears, and to alleviate their fears.
"It's okay," she said. Her voice was soothing and reassuring. She had to make sure these children knew they had someone looking out for them. But not even her soothing voice was enough to calm the impalpable children.
"Mommy!"
"It's too dark!"
"Don't let the Boogeyman get me!"
It was no use; nothing she said could stop their agony. It pained her heart knowing she couldn't help them. It made her feel helpless, and to her, that was the worst feeling of all.
The shouts of the children suddenly quieted until she could only hear two distinctive voices. A little boy and a little girl. At first, she thought it was Jamie and Sophie, and so she followed the voices.
Then she saw it. A flicker of light. She saw a family, a mother and two children, sitting by a bonfire. It wasn't her cousins or her aunt; they weren't even from her time. Their attire was very old-fashioned, probably colonial. The children huddled near their mother as a shadow slowly approached them. The shadow looked human, but the being itself seemed monstrous. She saw what it was doing to the family. Even with the protection of their mother, who also seemed scared behind belief, the children were extremely terrified.
She didn't know why, but she felt obligated to protect them. She flew over the shadow and approached the two children. When they saw her, they cowered even more. "It's okay, it's okay," she cooed. "The dark doesn't always have to be so scary. Look." When she gestured out towards the shadow, it transformed into a bunny. It shrank until the real rabbit hopped out and approached the children curiously. The children smiled and laughed and released their mother to play with the docile animal.
Seeing the children smile like that made her happy. She never liked seeing kids sad, especially her little cousins. Even though she didn't know who these children were, she felt extremely close to them.
"See. Even in the dark, you can still find light."
A roar erupted, disrupting the scene and spiraling her into darkness once more.
"You stupid, petulant child! How dare you!"
She was now in a dungeon. It was dull and gray. Above her head hung several cages big enough to fit a condor. "W-Where…?"
"After all these years, you still manage to make my job difficult. Very well. I will soon return the favor. Enjoy all the dreams you can for now, my dear, because they may be your very last…"
Tremendous laughter filled up the vapid chamber, echoing into a much more dastardly chortle. The darkness continued to take over until she felt no more.
"ALBA…!"
-X-
Kat woke up in a cold sweat. She never had a nightmare before, as far as she could remember. But that was the most realistic dream she ever had.
She remembered having the same dream on several accounts, specifically during a full moon. She remembered the children and their mother huddled in the dark near a weak bonfire. She remembered showing the rabbit that hid under the shadows, the little ray of sunshine that was merely concealed by the darkness. But the desolate voice had never been a part of that fantasy, and neither was the dungeon she was pulled into. And who was Alba?
Kat glanced at the clock on the nightstand. It was almost midnight. She got out of bed and went to the window. Jack still wasn't here. She was starting to think he would never appear, but then she shook it off. She was just being impatient.
In the hallway, she suddenly heard a clatter and barking coming from the other room. Jamie's room. What on earth was he doing at this hour? Followed by the crashing sounds came the laughter of a little girl. Sophie must've woken up. When Kat went outside, she saw Sophie wandering the halls. "Sophie, why are you up?"
She pointed to Jamie's room excitedly. "Jamie!"
"Did Jamie wake you?" Sophie answered with more giggles. "Let's see what Jamie's up to, huh? But we have to be quiet so your mom doesn't wake up." Kat took Sophie's little hand and signaled her to walk quietly before they went to Jamie's room.
When she opened the door, the light in the hall filled up Jamie's room, revealing the cause of the clatter. Kat's eyes dilated in disbelief. Sprawled all over Jamie's room were the Guardians—Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny (minus Sandman)—snoozing either on the floor or on the bed with Jamie. It was like a dream—albeit a very strange and unlikely dream—come true. The Tooth Fairy was most likely here to exchange Jamie's tooth, but what were the others doing here, why were they all asleep, and where was the Sandman? She had a feeling Jack also had something to do with this. Maybe that was why he hadn't shown up at her window.
Yet he still wasn't here.
Sophie went over to Santa, who was the only one on the bed with Jamie. The toddler tried getting on the bed by tugging on Santa's heavy coat when something slid out of his pocket and fell on the floor. The object rolled down to Sophie's feet. It was a snow globe. Sophie picked it up.
"Sophie!" Kat said in a hushed tone. "Sophie, leave that…"
But Sophie wasn't paying attention to her older cousin. Since she was so young, Sophie had a one track mind. Her only focus was on the pretty snow globe. Then she saw the oversized rabbit curled up on the floor. "Bunny!" She shook the globe and an image appeared inside.
Kat saw a beautiful field with colorful flowers and giant stone statues shaped like eggs. That must've been where the Easter Bunny lived. It looked like spring, majestic and peaceful in nature.
In all her excitement, Sophie carelessly dropped the globe on the floor. Kat expected it to shatter as soon as it made contact with the hard wood, but instead, it transformed into a swirling portal that led to the majestic field. Captivated by the image in front of her, the little girl automatically walked towards it.
"Sophie! Come back!" The toddler continued to ignore her and went into the portal.
Kat quickly went after her before the portal was closed. "Aunt Carol is going to kill me."
The view was more dazzling on the other side. The flowers were fragrant and were the most beautiful sight she had ever seen. The warm climate was a huge relief from the frigid season that temporarily took over Burgess, an occasional balmy breeze passing by. The area was so peaceful it was like looking at a painting. The peaceful image shattered by the scene of her little cousin running through the field of flowers, laughing to her hearts content.
Not a moment too soon, Sophie quickly became exhausted and fall back into the flowery meadow. She became captivated by a pink tulip next to her head and rolled over to touch it. When she reached out to it, its petal bloomed open, revealing a small egg in the center. And just when Kat thought this place couldn't get any more magical, the egg popped up, revealing its small, skinny legs, and began to walk down the flower's petals like a staircase.
There was only so much Kat could take in one night. She had to draw the line somewhere; seeing a walking egg was enough to make her hyperventilate. She needed to lie down, splash some water in her face, something to cool her down so she wouldn't faint. If only Jack were here; a simple touch from his frigid fingers would do the trick. But even the water in the stream looked too enchanting and she was afraid of what might happen if she were to touch it.
It wasn't that this place was too unbelievable. Kat had so many dreams about where the Guardians could've lived. This hidden meadow wasn't even close to the burrow she thought the Easter Bunny inhabited in her mind; it was even better. Her dreams couldn't compare to this.
"Okay Kat, calm down," she said to herself. "You're in a meadow—a magic meadow—with magic flowers that bloom eggs with legs. You dream about this stuff all the time! Well, obviously not this, but… Your best friend can fly for Pete's sake! If you can handle that, then this should be a piece of cake." Several more flowers bloomed, and more eggs walked around the meadow. "Although, it might take some getting used. Like ten or twenty years of getting used to."
Kat felt something bump against her ankle. Below her, several more eggs passed under her legs and around her feet. One of them accidentally bumped into her leg and fell over. She laughed a little, feeling pity for the poor thing. It had to be hard to walk when you had no eyes or arms. "Hey, little guy," she said. She picked up the toppling egg. It shook violently in her hand. The little thing must've been scared. The creatures in this world probably weren't accustomed to having anyone but the Easter Bunny handle them. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you."
"Kat!" Kat turned and saw Sophie carrying two eggs. Their legs kicked uselessly as they tried to get out of the little girl's hold. "Look! Look! Look!"
Kat couldn't help but laugh. "I think Sophie's the only one you have to worry about."
The little girl giggled and ran about looking for more eggs. "Sophie, where are you going?" The little girl continued to ignore her as she gathered more eggs. But Kat could never find herself getting frustrated with Sophie. She was still young, naïve to most things that were hidden in this world, especially the dark things like the ones in her dream. She wanted to protect both of her cousins from those things for as long as she could, so she gladly welcomed their childish antics.
"Sophie!" she called out. The egg she was holding jumped out of her hand and circled her feet. "Hey, what are you doing?" It bumped into her a few times and ran forward before stopping short. "You want me to follow you?" It ran again, and this time it didn't wait for her. Kat quickly followed it until she found a tunnel. Sophie was chasing after more of the eggs on the other side. "Sophie, leave those poor eggs alone!" She picked up her egg friend and started after her cousin again. "Slow down, Sophie!" The darkness of the tunnel made it hard to see, but Sophie's laughter helped her find her way.
It wasn't long until Kat caught up the little girl, who was catching her breath. "Thank goodness! I thought I'd never catch up to you…" Kat stopped in her tracks at the sight before her. Standing not too far away were the Guardians (minus Sandman), along with her friend, Jack Frost.
"Kat? Sophie?"
"Jack?"
"Elf!" Sophie dropped all of her eggs and began to chase the little elf that had also accompanied the Guardians. "Elf! Elf! Elf!"
"боже мой," said Santa (since when was he Russian?) "By MiM's beard, it's Kat Bennett."
"I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a beard, mate," said the Easter Bunny (since when was he Australian?).
"Is it really her?" The woman covered in dazzling feathers flew over to her. Her feathers were iridescent green with speckles of gold, pink, and blue. She reminded Kat of a hummingbird. "Oh! It is her! I recognize those bicuspids anywhere!" She probed through the young lady's mouth vivaciously. "They're so beautiful!"
"Um, Tooth," Jack said. "You might want to get out of her mouth and fly a few paces back."
"Why?"
THUMP.
Reaching the peak of her fervent excitement, Kat Bennett had finally crashed under the pressure and fainted in the Warren of the Easter Bunny.
"Oh boy."