At the bookshop, Sage was pacing nervously. Now that they had been there for a long time, strange feelings had begun to arouse, making the young Wolfblood edgy.
"Darkness is rising," Sage growled, as he walked towards the door.
"Coming from you, I'm guessing you're not talking about the night sky," Macy remarked, checking on some of the books for any clues to help them find their missing friend. "Anybody else got a plan?"
The others shook their heads.
"Until we know what's what, we'll be flying blind. Which I don't appreciate," Whampire stated.
Wildmutt growled in agreement.
"Just great," Macy deadpanned, folding her arms. "So, unless something pops up through the door, we're pretty much sitting ducks."
Abruptly, the sound of fast-moving footsteps caught Sage's attention, jumping behind a shelf as the others ducked for cover when seeing him hide.
Soon, Lea and Katherine hurried inside the bookstore and abruptly closed the door behind them. The girls panted in slight exhaustion with Katherine locking the door.
"Kate, when I imagined myself having an adventure with you, I was not expecting you with a dagger and fighting a fake Guardian in the middle of the night," Lea admitted, still feeling the slight pain inside her.
"Easy there, Lea. You took a hard fall back there," Katherine reminded, guiding her friend to one of the chairs for her to sit down. "I'll get you some bandages and warm hot cocoa. You'll need your strength back."
And so, the auburn-teen hurried to the back of her working desk to get the bare essentials, leaving Lea to groan in slight pain. Nightlight, after getting completely out of her backpack, went down on her lap for some comfort.
Sage sniffed the air before peeking out. "Lea?"
Hearing a voice and looking at the source, Lea jumped a bit in surprise. "Sage?"
"Lea," Sage stepped out from where he hid and walked over to the blonde teen.
Although happy to see a friendly face, Lea quickly scooted back and looked at him seriously. "How do I know that you're really you and not some fake pretending to be Sage?"
Nightlight pointed his diamonded-spear at the Wolfblood, protecting his childhood friend.
Sage looked at her questioningly before understanding. "You found out I was a shifter while we were playing Tickle Tag. I caught you as you were falling down the stairs."
Knowing that was all true, Lea eased up with Nightlight doing the same. "It's definitely you. Sorry, Sage, I had to make sure you weren't one of them. How'd you get here?"
Sage smiled, stepping forward and nuzzling her hands. "Better than you. Apparently, I sensed your anxiety and came here with some back up."
"Speaking of backup, can we please come out now?" A certain Brunette's voice spoke up in annoyance.
Lea looked around in startlement, wondering who said that.
"It's cool, guys. Come on out," Sage called calmly. "Lea, I want you to meet someone."
In less than a minute, on cue, Wildmutt got out of his hiding spot, tackled Lea to the ground, and licked her face with happy dog kisses. Nightlight just jumped out of the way in time and sat down on the armrest of the chair.
"Ahahahahaha! Hey! Q-Quit it!" Lea laughed, as she pushed the affectionate alien away. She kept laughing as Blitzwolfer used his tail to tickle her face. Lea returned back to giggling.
"Lighten up, kid," said Blitzwolfer. "We're just happy to see you again!"
Whampire grinned. "Yes, we've been going batty looking everywhere for you."
In truth, Lea was happy to see them again, as well. As the friendly reunion was over, Lea stood up to see Alien X and a new girl she never saw before in the bookstore, too.
The new girl had short brunette hair with a long bang almost covering her left eye. Her eyes were brown, and had healthy tanned skin. Her attire was a black tank top shirt with a long sleeve blue jean jacket worn underneath and dark blue jeans tied with a brown belt, and black sneakers that have white skulls on both sides. She even wore yellow sphered earrings.
"So, you're Lea. Sage and the others have been telling me about you," Macy replied with a smile, placing a hand on her hip. "Nice to finally meet you."
"Um, hello," Lea shyly said, still unsure about trusting her.
Sage chuckled. "It's okay, Lea. This is my mate and girlfriend, Macy. Believe me, if you're safe with anyone, you're safe with her around."
"You're Macy? Sage mentioned about you once before I had to leave," Lea recalled.
"Yep. And what Sage said is a hundred percent true," Macy stated proudly. "So, what's this about making sure Sage or any of us is not a 'one of them' exactly?"
Taking a deep breath, Lea explained, "I was making sure that Sage wasn't another Nightmare creature in disguise. I barely escaped and nearly got fooled by Jackmare, a Nightmare that looks and sounds like Jack Frost, if I hadn't noticed he wasn't wearing the gift I made him nor had a clue about what I was talking about."
Sage gave a growl. "Are you okay? You weren't hurt, right?"
"Well, not too much. I might have fallen down a hill and bruised my stomach and side when crashing into a big boulder during that chase," Lea admitted, rubbing her side in slight pain.
Nightlight just nodded his head on that statement, knowing that he's seen plus been through the action, too.
"How did you escape this Jackmare creep?" Macy asked in concern.
"It's actually very crazy. My best friend, Katherine, swooped in and saved me," Lea replied.
Sage ears perked up at the sound of footsteps, getting in between Lea and Macy as the figure came into view. Snarling, Sage rose his hackles, baring his fangs.
"I got some bandages and a tray of hot chocolate cups for all of us," Katherine replied, coming in the room to see four aliens, a dog, and short haired brunette in her bookstore.
"Oh, boy," Lea muttered, not sure how her friend will handle this.
Alien X noticed something. There was a girl Lea came with when arriving to the bookstore. And, for some reason, she didn't freak out. Let alone appear scared when face to face with real aliens. "What's with her?" he whispered to Whampire. "Normally, people freak out when they see us."
"Yeah, I was expecting an audible reaction, at least a look of panic," Whampire agreed, whispering back.
"Maybe she's so scared, she forgot to be scared," Blitzwolfer guessed.
Alien X frowned. "Congratulations, that doesn't make sense."
To Lea and everyone else's surprise, Katherine just smiled and said, "Well, isn't this another interesting crossover. Two of the Galactic Monsters, the Vulpimancer, the Celestialsapien, the Wolfblood Shapeshifter, and the Street Fighting Vigilante that protects her family and friends, just like the others. Glad to meet all of you personally."
"What in Transyl?" Macy muttered, both confused and baffled.
Sage snarled. "Who are you? How do you know about us?"
"Calm down, Sage. I'm not an enemy nor a Nightmare creature," Katherine assured, placing the tray down on her desk. "If I was bad, I would have left my best friend with Jackmare. My name is Katherine. I also go by another name. One that is known for telling stories and recording important people. Like you, your family, but mostly the Guardians of Childhood."
Sage relaxed slightly. "What's your other name, then? Mother Goose?" he asked, sarcastically.
"Actually, yes," Katherine replied, chuckling a bit. "I also go by M.G. Joyce when writing stories about all of you and make the golden snow globes."
That got Lea's attention. "Wait, what?! You're the author who wrote the books!? And created the magic globes?! But that would mean–".
"Yes, Lea. I'm a Guardian, too. The Guardian of Imagination," Katherine finished her friend's sentence.
"Really?!" The aliens gasped together, only to see the yellow-wearing girl grin and nod her head in answering their astounded question.
The room was completely silent for nearly a minute. It was so quiet, that a frame on a wall could be heard creaking when tilting by itself.
Wildmutt, whom decided to break the quiet moment, carefully sniffed Katherine's hand. The auburn-haired girl smiled and petted the alien's furry head. Wildmutt softly growled and let Katherine pet him. He even let her scratch his tummy that made his leg shake and caused Katherine to laugh heartily!
"She must be. Wildmutt doesn't just instantly warm up to just anyone," Whampire said.
Sage backed up, looking dumbfounded. "Um...I'm sorry, but what?"
"Yeah, I'm with Sage on this one. And seriously lost," Macy raised her hand in agreement.
"Same here," Lea muttered, still staring at Katherine in shock.
After finishing a belly rub on Wildmutt, Katherine stood back up and cleared her throat. "Right. Let me start from the beginning. You see, more than a hundred or so years ago, I was an orphan girl who looked up to those in protecting us by writing and drawing about them," she explained, sitting down on another chair. "I also encouraged children in believing in them and not be afraid. Turns out, my talents were discovered by the Man in the Moon, or MiM or Manny for short. As the very first Guardian, MiM watches over every child and listens to their deep wishes from the moon. When discovering me, he, one day, made me his secret Guardian in recording every known history of the Guardians of Childhood. As time passed, with some training from Father Time, I was also assigned to make sure that stories from other worlds had good endings. I use the books to see what the problem is, grab the gold snow globe to take me to the inter-dimensional location I want to travel to, and go from there."
Sage stepped forward. "So, you wrote the story involving me and my family? How?"
"Magic, of course. The books show me a new story of what's going on and I write plus record it. Both by hand and mentally with my mind," Katherine explained with a smile. "Even warn me that something was up."
"Then, I'm guessing you also know about what happened to the Guardians?" Lea elaborated.
"Yes and no. The thing about stories when being assigned to help it, they usually don't always explain everything nor provide the truth until after experiencing the mission personally," Katherine explained, sheepishly. "MiM informed me no later than last night that something bad was about to happen. Once he did, I saw that my own version of the Globe of Belief showing many lights of children believing in the Guardians began to disappear in an alarming rate. I checked my books to find out that the Guardians, along with their helpers, have all been captured and replaced by Nightmares."
"What?! But how?! " Lea exclaimed, seriously shocked.
"That, I'm afraid, I do not know. The reason I was not in the bookstore here all day was because I was busy protecting the children from Nightmares that want to end any remaining believers by tormenting them with fear," Katherine clarified. "I also realized in an instant that the Nightmares would try to target Lea and decided to hurry just in time to see my hunch was correct."
"Didn't you guys mention about some creep called the Boogie Man that does stuff like this?" Macy questioned.
"That would be the case. But Pitch Black is trapped in your world, not ours. He can't enter back here," Katherine explained. "However, at the rate this situation keeps going, all this disbelief and fear will be enough for Pitch to become strong enough to enter back in this dimension."
Sage snarled. His fur grew rigid with anger."How do we stop this?"
"We need to find the source of what's cancelling the Guardians' beliefs in this dimension," Katherine answered. "If we take out the source, then there's a chance that we'll find the Guardians and restore children's beliefs from all over the world."
Sage looked to Macy. "From experience, darkness only comes when the light has been taken away. If belief for the Guardians has stopped, then their either gone or something is keeping them from doing their duties."
"And if the Guardians are a huge deal in this world, then it's possible that someone or something is helping Pitch to do just that," Macy theorized, rubbing her chin in thought. "Question is, where and how do we find this source?"
"I might have an idea," Katherine replied, standing up and going to the back. "Everyone, follow me."
Sage stood with Macy and his family following Katherine. Just then, he turned to Lea.
"Lea, you okay?" Sage asked, noticing the worry in her face.
"With all this talk about these Nightmares sniffing out any remaining believers to capture or make them lose hope, I'm concerned about the safety of my cousins," Lea admitted, grabbing her bag and Nightlight hopping back inside before following. "What if they go after them? I'll never forgive myself if anything bad happened to my family. Even those I haven't seen in a long time."
Sage stopped and looked at the blonde teen. "Lea, your cousins should be fine. From what I understand, people who have that strong belief are forever protected from those things. My family was fine when we left, so I'm betting your family will be, too."
"Maybe you're right. And Katherine mentioned earlier that she was busy protecting any remaining believers. She must have also protected them along the way," Lea replied, still feeling the small pain in her stomach and side.
Sage stopped, noticing the pain. "Macy, mind helping Lea out with our gift?"
"Not at all, Wolf Boy, I'm already on it," Macy went to Lea and held out her necklace.
"My fur has the power to heal when bathed in moonlight," Sage explained, noticing Lea's confused face.
"But aren't we inside the store?" Lea asked.
"Sage, Macy, I happen to know someone who can heal people, too," Katherine replied, stepping out of the back room to see the hold up. "She lives in my home and been with me for as long as I can remember."
Sage still looked skeptically at Katherine. "No offense, lady, but I don't trust any farther than I can throw you."
"Fair enough. We did just meet. Besides, you, Macy, Lea, and your family will meet Kailash by the time we arrive at my place," Katherine said gently, nodding her head in understanding.
"Kailash? Who's that?" Macy asked in curiosity.
Katherine smiled sympathetically. "A feathered friend of mine. You'll know more about her soon. For now, you may help Lea with the bond necklaces to heal the pain,"
Sage nodded. "Alright then. However, ...I want to talk to you in private later. Macy, with me," Sage went to Lea's side with a smile. "Start stroking my fur, and tell Macy where the pain is."
Understanding, Lea stroke Sage's soft fur and turned to Macy. "It's on my stomach and left side,"
"Got it," Macy replied, already working on her bond magic to heal the blonde teen.
Sage smiled, as Lea stroked his fur. But his eyes remained on Katherine, deep distrust in his eyes.
"Lea, do you trust her?" Sage whispered.
"I do, yes," Lea muttered quietly.
Sage stared at Lea. "All right, but stay close, okay?"
"I will. What is it that's got you on edge?" Lea asked, acting natural while giving a quick glance on Katherine. "Does it involve Kate?"
Sage nodded slightly. "Something just...just has me on edge about her."
"Well, I guess that's understandable. I've never heard of a Guardian of Imagination," Lea said honestly. "Even I'm not sure if I know her completely anymore. But it does sound like she wants to save the Guardians and needs our help. And I almost became captured by Jackmare if Kate hadn't shown up. Least we could do is keep an eye on her."
"It's not just that. It may be selfishness, but...there's something I want to know. That's why I asked to speak to her later," Sage replied.
Seeing that whatever Sage was talking about seemed personal, Lea decided not to ask.
"Okay, I believe I'm done," Macy said, already moving back. "How do you feel now, Lea?"
Lea felt her body and smiled. "A lot better than before. I don't feel that pain on my stomach and side. Thanks, Macy."
"No problem. But it was more of a team effort with Sage and me," Macy assured.
Sage chuckled. "You give me too much credit. You did it yourself."
"It's also your fur," Macy pointed out.
"Come on. We need to find the Guardians and save them," Lea said, not sure how much time they have left in stopping this threat.
Sage nodded, following Lea and Katherine beside his father and uncles.
"So, where exactly are we going?" Lea asked, walking further down the back room that was full of locked books. "And what's with all the books with locks in here?"
"These are stories that are not yet to be revealed, finished, nor told," Katherine explained. "Some considered forbidden. They will only be accessed when the time is right. As for where we're heading, the answer is right in the end of this door."
Whampire looked at the door before looking at the blonde teen. "Your friend...is trustworthy?"
"Uh...For the most part," Lea laughed nervously while shrugging her shoulders, kind of unsure.
"Is something scary gonna pop out of that door? Because I have been through one too many pranks involving that with my little brother," Macy remarked.
"I can assure you that it's not anything like that," Katherine reasoned, taking out a golden key from her pocket and used it to open the door.
When she did, Lea and the others were surprised on what they saw while slowly entering.