Sandy

It had all been a set up. My nightmares... they had been to draw me to Pitch's lair. The picture of Aila on Pitch's globe… it had all been a trap to trick me into finding her… under the falsehood that I was protecting her.

For a few seconds, I swam in a barely conscious stupor. I felt nothing. It just didn't seem… possible. I had been a Guardian for centuries.

I just laid sprawled on the floor for a long time. My brain had gone silent. Then, a name screamed in my head: Aila.

I leaped upright, frantically searching for her. The hanging cage I was in swung and bounced wildly, and I lost balance.

I lifted my hand to my head, only to find I was still holding my memory cylinder.

There was a shaky breath beside me.

Aila was sitting in the next cage, curled up against the corner with her back facing me. Her empty memory cylinder was lying on the ground in pieces beside her.

Before I could approach, she spoke.

"Did you have my memories erased?"

I froze. The words were like a shot straight through my chest. I tried to shake my head, but I couldn't.

Aila drew in a hollow breath and cleared her throat. Her words came out cold, "Decades of my life just... disappeared. So much was gone, there was almost nothing left. They said it was a rare case. I was just unfortunate. Of course, I didn't know what they meant by that… until now."

I drew up to the bars separating us and pressed as close as I could.

"I didn't even know who I was… and I was completely alone. Do you know what it's like to be abandoned?" her voice suddenly turned hard, and her face twisted with anger for a moment. "To be so unwanted and insignificant you're stranded alone on an island for lifetimes?"

Icey shock overcame me. I teetered backwards, shaking my head.

I wanted to melt the bars. I wanted to run to her, to hold her, to tell her I'm sorry. I didn't know. To make it up to her. To fix this.

"I tried to escape that island for years!" her voice began to rise. "And I could never get off. And do you know why?"

Finally, she turned to face me. She paused. We searched each other's eyes for a moment.

Her face contorted. Her mouth opened in a silent scream, and she doubled over, clutching her stomach. At first, I thought I was seeing things. It looked like her body was… bubbling. Little sections faded and wavered before reappearing. My chest heaved. I pushed into the bars, reaching for her.

She collapsed to the side, landing hard on one hand. Just like that, the attack was over. She remained hunched for several seconds, her hair covering her face. Finally, she drew in a deep breath and straightened up. She raked her shaking fingers through her hair and pushed it from her face.

"That's what happens," she replied in a trembling voice. "I begin to fade. Because I am nothing off of the island."

A shadow appeared beside her cell. Pitch emerged from the darkness, and he threw the door open. "Come, Miss Galloway. It's time I took you home."

Aila sent a frightened glance at me. Pitch grabbed her roughly by the arm. He dragged her from the cell as she snarled, "Let go of me!"

I leaped to the edge of my cell, fists clenched fiercely.

"Are you kidding me? You're going to protect her?" Pitch threw back his head and chortled. "You've done anything but protect her!"

I took a step back, refusing to let my expression waver.

"Face it, Sandy. You left your own wife to rot on the Isle of Stranded Souls because you're afraid. You're afraid you can't protect her. And apparently…" he chuckled, "you can't"

I finally met Aila's eyes. She immediately turned cold and snapped her face away.

"I'm washing my hands free of this and taking her back to the Isle," Pitch growled. "She'll be safer there anyway."

Pitch hauled her away. The entire time, she refused to return my gaze. She just slumped over as the Nightmare King yanked her around the corner, out of my sight.

I staggered backwards and slapped my hand over my head. How could I let it happen? It was my fault…

My legs suddenly felt weak. I crumbled to my knees, burying my face in my hands.

I fell forward, and just managed to catch myself. My fingers bumped something, and I heard it roll a few inches away. I opened my eyes.

My memories were laying there. The face of my old life was staring at me from the side of the cylinder.

I reached out and lifted the memories closer. My memories.

I turned my eyes up to Aila's cage, where the broken pieces of her cylinder lay strewn about.

Our memories.

I clenched my teeth. A new conviction filled my veins.

I have to fix this.

I set my memories on the ground and turned to the bars over the cell door. My breath began to rattle between my teeth. I lifted my hands, and piles of dreamsand collected around the bars, wrapping all the way up to the top of the cage.

I took a deep breath and straightened my back. I pushed my hands away from each other. The dreamsand pulled. The bars began to bend. I held my breath and leaned in.

The steel gave out with a snap. It crumbled to pieces and dropped, hitting the ground below with an echoing clatter.

I released and stumbled forward for a second to catch my breath. My memory cylinder was waiting there.

I heaved myself upright, lifted my chin, and felt the hardened determination course through me. I scooped up my and Aila's cylinders. I waved my hands to conjure a dreamsand cloud, and flew through the tunnel.


Aila

"I won't let you take me back!" I screamed. I struggled against Pitch's grip on my shoulder, but he continued to direct his cloud of nightmare sand higher into the sky.

We burst through the treeline, and the cityscape at the bottom of the mountain came into view. Pitch halted abruptly, and I fell to my knees in confusion. I followed his eyes to the twinkling lights in the distance.

In the lull of silence, I could hear car horns and traffic, all muffled by the falling snow and the sound of the nearly frozen river. Pitch just stared for a while, his ashen face blazing in the last rays of sunlight.

That was when I saw them… nightmares. His black horses were running rampant throughout the city. They tore across rooftops, occupied every shadow, and invaded homes.

"Do you see that?" Pitch whispered, half to himself. "All those sleeping children?" he chuckled. "They're all mine now."

I felt my stomach churn as a smug grin peeled across his thin lips. His piercing yellow eyes smoldered in the dying light.

I took my chance. I sunk my teeth into his arm.

He released me with a stunned cry. I stumbled backwards, and the nightmare sand cloud disappeared under my foot. I plunged toward the ground with a scream.

Something caught me with a jerk that knocked the wind out of me. I opened my eyes to find my body entwined in ropes of black sand.

Pitch's sand was nothing like Sandman's. It was gritty like sandpaper, and it had an odd, liquid effect to it, so it dripped and oozed like globs of sludge. I squirmed, but the coils only squeezed harder, rubbing my skin raw.

Pitch floated down beside me, massaging the bite mark on his arm.

"I won't go back," I wheezed. "You can't make me."

He snatched me by the collar of my dress and yanked me towards his scowling face.

"You witch!" he spat. "Of course I'm not taking you to the Isle of Stranded Souls!"

I struggled to pull my arms from the nightmare sand. I felt a thick rope entwine around my neck.

"I'm going to kill you."

"Why?" I croaked. "Because I know what really happened? You tried to kidnap me. That's why Sandy came to find me, and that's why he is in trouble."

The anger on Pitch's face melted into fear for a split second.

"I…" I gasped as the ropes clenched tighter. "Could… ruin you."

Pitch grabbed my face. "You foolish wretch! I thought you would have learned by now not to encroach upon another's affairs."

Pain racked my body. I doubled over. For a moment, every cell felt like it was on fire. Then, I couldn't feel my legs, my arms, my chest. I couldn't breathe.

I dropped from Pitch's nightmare sand and smashed against the ground. My body began to come back together, and I sucked in a huge breath. I curled up, hacking.

"Perhaps I won't have to kill you," Pitch's calm voice spoke behind me.

I glanced over my shoulder to see him standing there, glaring down his nose. "How long have you been off the Isle now?"

"You... can't kill me… I'm a… spirit," I gunted.

Pitch leaned down. "No, but I can make sure you fade away forever." I felt the gritty nightmare sand encasing my body yet again. He lifted me off the ground. "Do you still think you could ruin me?"

He tumbled sideways.

I dropped yet again, but landed on a puff of softness. I twisted around to find I was laying on a cloud of familiar golden sand.

I gasped and pushed myself upright. My vision spun for a moment, then things slowly came into focus.

Sandman was standing overtop of Pitch.


Sandy

Pitch opened his mouth, probably ready to say something sarcastic, but I didn't even give him the chance. I snapped my whip around both his wrists, then yanked him right off the ground. I pulled him directly through the trees, smacking him off of branches and leaving him to hit the ground with a brutal thump. He didn't get back up.

My whips faded. I raced over to Aila, gently lowering the dreamsand cloud she sat upon. I forced myself to stop a few feet away.

"I'm ok," she panted.

She didn't look ok. She was pale, and her entire body was shivering.

A black rope lashed around my stomach. I barely had the chance to react before I was yanked backward. Pitch lifted his scythe, ready to stab me as I flew towards him.

I grit my teeth, then hurled one whip from my hand. The whip coiled up a tree trunk, and I swung myself in a full circle, all the way around and back towards Pitch. I slammed into his side, kicking him across the clearing.

Pitch staggered to his feet, his yellow eyes flashing in rage. He gathered his scythe and charged me.

I blocked the blow. He swung again, and I blocked again.

I snapped a whip around the handle of his scythe, but just as I was about to yank, he heaved the scythe towards him. I stumbled forward, and he kicked me onto my back.

The scythe came down, and I just managed to duck to the side. It skewered the ground inches away from my head. I rolled again as the blade plunged into the snow on my other side.

I caught a glance at Aila. Time seemed to pause. She was still crouched on the ground at the other end of the clearing, her hands over her mouth. She looked terrified. Even from here, I could see her form wavering, just as it had back in the cages.

Pitch lurched for me again.

Pain exploded in the side of my head, and I was sent reeling. With a stinging slap, I collided against the icy surface of the river. The bitter water sucked me under.

For a moment, I tumbled blindly, tossed back and forth by the force of the waves. My back slammed against the stones. Ice sliced my skin.

Then, everything seemed to slow down. Time lingered. I felt a new, unhindered power flowing through every bone in my body, from the crown of my head to the very tips of my fingers.

I burst out of the river. Sheets of frigid water sprayed around me.

Pitch, who had already been approaching Aila, whirled around, face crestfallen. He scowled, then wasted no time heaving his scythe at me.

I rolled over, shut my eyes, and reached out. My hand connected with the blade.

Just like that, it exploded into dreamsand.

I heard Pitch gasp. He staggered backwards and just gawked between me and his hands for a minute. Then, he straightened himself up and brushed the gold sand off his robe.

"No matter," he replied curtly . "You won't be able to pull off that little trick much longer when your power is g—"

He abruptly stopped. His eyes widened.

I crossed my arms and lifted my chin. The two of us locked eyes, and I knew we were thinking the same thing. I wasn't a Guardian anymore. My powers were no longer limited depending on whether or not children believed in me.

Pitch growled. He let out a cry of rage and reformed his scythe. He swung, and I again turned the black sand gold with one touch.

Pitch staggered backwards, his face suddenly filled with fear. His eyes shot desperately back and forth until his attention landed on something behind me. A grin crawled up the sides of his mouth.

I followed his gaze. Behind me, stamping their hooves and snorting, was a massive group of nightmares. Half of them trotted to their master, leaving me completely surrounded.

My brain was sent spiraling backwards. For a moment, I was isolated and enveloped in nightmares. Before I could feel the pain in my back, I shook myself awake.

The flashback did not go unnoticed, though. Pitch grinned down at me as he stroked the nose of one of his nightmares. He chuckled, then nodded to the horses. "Get him."

Immediately, massive piles of black sand erupted around me.

Time lagged yet again. I grit my teeth and lifted both hands on either side of me.

The instant the black sand touched my palm, a warm shock released from my fingertips, and the nightmares burst into dazzling gold. The glow was contagious, taking over the entire mass of obscurity. I swirled my hands, and the wave followed. It bunched up behind me, growing larger and larger. I thrust my palms forward.

Pitch barely had time to react before the surge overtook him. With a scream, he was washed down the side of the mountain.

The gold slowly dispersed, and he had disappeared.