Chapter Twenty-Two

A Helping Hand

The truck had come screeching down the road, the driver put to sleep by the heavy cloud of black dream sand swirling around in the cabin where he was sitting. The chain blocking the gateway broke from the sheer speed and weight as the truck crashed through it, flipping and landing on its side, narrowly missing a family asleep in one of the tents.

"That's a lot of horses down there." Eros told her, looking down from the rooftop they had been sitting on, watching the sky for shooting stars. He had been watching everything unfold from the his seat on the edge of the roof.

"Horses?" She asked him, looking down at the park where Eros was staring; the nightmares had moved from the vehicle and were now swarming the park, slowly becoming a part of the shadows beneath the trees. The two of them watched for awhile, unsure what to do. The Guardians had arrived, so they shrugged their shoulders and got ready to leave. The sudden swarm had been...nasty to watch, and they both saw Jack get swallowed up by the nightmares. The other Guardians tried to approach, to break through, but the creatures fought back angrily. They couldn't get close to Jack. His staff was lying on the grass, behind the cloud of nightmares where the others couldn't see it.

"Shi-" Eros had grabbed her and pulled her close, cutting her words off. "Oi-"

She hadn't even noticed him stand up.

"You'll freeze getting near the kid, you're not wearing your jacket, idiot." Eros told her off, pulling his own hoodie off and holding it out. "And, watch your language."

"Who said I was-"

Eros simply stared at her, eyebrow raised until she took the hoodie and pulled it on; it smelt of campfire smoke and cigarettes. It was made of green wool with grey patches on the elbows. She had always loved when Eros wore it; she had never asked to wear it herself.

"I'll check on you later."

"You sound very confident I'll still be around later." She said, looking at the still ongoing swarm of black sand. It was hard to imagine anyone could be alive inside of it. She was going to put herself inside of that.

Why?

"You know me, unfailingly confident in you." Eros said, grinning at her, even if she was facing away and couldn't see it. He knew she'd know he was smiling at her like that. She always seemed to.

"I know." She said, taking in a breath. "You're an idiot."

He blinked and she was gone from the rooftop; she was down on the grass, already in the park. She stayed low to the ground and reached out for the staff, which moved along the ground, escaping her grasp.

"Oh I forgot about North's...stupid gift to Frost." She grumbled to herself, trying to grab hold of the wooden staff which continued to evade her. "You know what, no. That kid's in there without a weapon, so you are going with me whether you like it not."

She stood close to the staff and held the palm of her hand out, not knowing if this would work or not. Much like how she would use her ability to knock people away, she used it to press against the staff, maintaining a constant pressure, pushing it into the grass so could she bend down quickly and grab it with her hand before it could move away again.

She stood up and smiled; she had the staff.

It was after the first step towards the swarm of sand that the cold shot through her arm, spreading from where the wood was touching the skin of her palm. It was a cold, dry pain; she could feel where it was almost burning her skin.

Need to be quick then, she thought to herself, and moved.

She was lucky, in that she landed next to Jack in the sand mass; she was almost on top of the kid. She could feel his arm and was able to fight against the sand enough to push the staff into his open hand. Thankfully, she didn't need to open her eyes to hold the palm of her hand out and send the bubble of force outwards from her, making a small dome of empty space around the two of them.

She opened her eyes when she felt Jack stand suddenly; then the air around them went cold.

It was...impressive, watching the sickly black sand turn to a mass of frozen, blue sand that looked like glass. The shattering of the sand, which was blown away on the wind, was also impressive. The whole thing was very impressive and a little confusing. How could this kid not know how strong he is?

She blamed Dawn.

"See? Knew you'd be back." Eros said, smiling at her from where he was lounging on her armchair, in her lounge room. "How'd it go?"

"How do I look?" She asked him, settling into the nearby couch.

"Tired." He told her. "How ya feeling?"

"Tired." She said, smiling weakly at him. Her hair had returned to its usual pale blonde, and her eyes were back to normal; she could feel it, like always. She felt clean again, she always felt...gritty when she changed.

"The kid was...certainly impressive. I'm guessing that was him, with the freaky blue sand, yeah?"

"Yeah it was. You know, looking at the kid...you don't imagine that." She said, leaning back into the chair and looking at Eros on the other chair; the one he was sitting in was made of some sort of ugly green velvet. He'd put it into the living room one day when she was gone from the house, saying it was for him to sleep on when he stayed over, and it had stayed in the lounge room since.

"So, how'd you manage to pick up the kids stick?" Eros asked.

"Painfully."

"...I thought you were meant to be able to?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "I wonder how the kid feels about that.

She shrugged and leant back into the chair, closing her eyes so she could pretend to be asleep. She didn't want to talk about it. Not to Eros, not to Jack, not even to herself in her own head. She decided she'd fall asleep, and ignore the thoughts that were floating around her head.