~Chapter 6~
Almost a week had passed since Ember had ran into Jack. She was trying to stay far away from the Guardians for a while so she didn't arouse any suspicion, and it was working. Pitch suspected nothing, he thought Ember was just making her usual rounds without any problems. For a while it was true, Ember had no problems making her rounds and spreading fear.
But today Ember did run into a problem. She was making her usual rounds, trying to stay away from the village of Burgess so she didn't run into Jack. She was just finishing up spreading fear to a tiny village and was growing a bit tired. So she shadow traveled to the roof of a building overlooking the village and played with her dragons, sending them to do her bidding for her.
Ember didn't really notice the streams of dream sand start to float down to the village until she felt a presence behind her. Ember jumped to her feet and was about to disappear into the shadows when she remembered her plan. She had to learn how to control Sandy's dream sand so that he couldn't fight back, so she put on a bright smile and made her move.
Ember smiled gleefully at Sandy and waved at him. Sandy returned the bright smile and bowed to Ember, his fluffy hair scraping the ground as he did. Sandy didn't need words to exchange greetings with Ember, his facial expressions were enough to make anyone feel welcome around him.
Streams of dream sand started to swirl past them, heading down to the building below to give the sleeping children pleasant dreams. They illuminated the building with golden light, making the shadows dance around them. One danced and swirled past Ember, illuminating her figure making her look more solid than shadowy. Ember had always loved the dream sand, she loved the how it contained the most magical properties and how it danced across the sky's at night. She had always wanted to learn how to wield such magic, even before her plan.
Ember laughed and reached out to touch the golden stream that danced around her. But when she touched it the stream became tainted black. Ember gasped and moved back a little, she had forgotten that she could taint the sand by touching it. Sorrow filled her and doubt flooded her mind, she would probably never be able to wield a pure magic.
Sandy looked confused, 'Why would she be sad about tainting the sand?' Sandy thought to himself as he approached Ember, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. Ember had dropped to her knees, staring blankly at her hands. Sandy suddenly realized that maybe Ember didn't want to be evil, that she wanted to be pure of heart and bring gleeful dreams. Sandy shuddered, if that was the case then Pitch had forced her to be with him.
"Sandy... Do you think I will ever be able to conjure a pure dream?" Ember asked looking up at Sandy. It took Sandy a moment to reply, he didn't know if it was truly possible for Ember to make something pure since she had been tainted. But Sandy just smiled and nodded. If Ember had even the slightest bit of light left in her, then she would most likely be able to make something pure.
Ember's eyes light up, hope flooding back to her. "Really? But how?" Ember asked excitedly, she was eager to learn how to create a pure dream. Sandy pondered the question for a minute, but light up when he came up with an idea that might work.
"Find the light inside your soul. Dig deep down past the darkness, and just like with the nightmare sand push it out of your fingertips and create a dream. It might not work at first, but keep trying!" Sandy said writing the letters out in his dream sand.
It took a moment for Ember to read the letters, but light up once she did. She knew exactly what to do. She stood back up and brushed off her dress, trying to dig deep inside her. Darkness seemed to be all Ember could find, she pushed through layers and layers of darkness till she finally found a glimmer of light in her. It was tiny, but glowed strong. The fearlings had not completely tainted her soul!
Ember let the light fill her, and just like the darkness she let it flow out of her. She tried conjuring the light into a dream, pushing it out of her like Sandy had instructed her to do. A small stream of sand appeared out of Ember's hands, but to her disappointment it was not wholly pure. Faint streams of gold mixed with the nightmare sand as it flew into a stream dancing around Ember.
Sandy clapped, ecstatic that Ember had not been fully tainted. "Try again!" Sandy wrote, his eyes glowing with excitement. Ember smiled and nodded.
Ember dug deep down again to where the light shown and let it fill her. She let it flow out of her into a stream of sand. This time the stream of sand was mostly gold with tiny streams of black coursing through it. Sandy jumped up and down clapping, impressed at how fast Ember had advanced on her second try. Ember smiled, letting her teeth show. She was able to conjure a slightly pure dream, it was a step forward.
Ember was so excited that she picked up Sandy and hugged him. "Thank you Sandy! Oh my gosh, thank you soo much!" Ember kissed Sandy on the cheek and set him down. Sandy blushed and bowed again to Ember, happy that he could help Ember.
The rest of that night Ember practiced with Sandy, getting better each time she tried. Sandy was proud of Ember's efforts and had hope for her, maybe her soul was able to become pure again. Sandy gave Ember some pointers on her technique, and how to give a dream. They bonded as the night went on, Ember's plan was going smoothly.
When the sun began to rise Ember and Sandy parted. Sandy had to go distribute dreams to the rest of the world who were still asleep and ember had to return to the cave so Pitch didn't become suspicious again. They waved goodbye and departed. Ember disappeared into the shadows and traveled back to the cave.
Pitch was not there when Ember got there, so she decided to go lie down and sleep for a moment. As soon as she laid her head down she drifted off to the dream world.