Chapter 3

Sandy had been feeling off for about a week and a half. It was about two and a half weeks before Easter and the Guardians were having a meeting with Bunny to check on his progress at the Warren so he could continue to get work done while they were there. They had started checking on each other more often after the battle about a decade previous. As far as they could tell, everything was running smoothly.

North was clearly attempting to not start an argument with Bunny about Christmas vs. Easter and Tooth was watching as a couple of her fairies tried to help paint eggs while telling others where there were teeth to collect. Bunny was herding eggs into the die rivers and Sandy was just sitting quietly on one of the egg golems, watching everything happen. Jack was painting an egg with his tongue sticking out of his mouth.

Sandy watched Jack paint the egg carefully. It had taken him two years to convince Bunny he could help paint. Once Bunny had given him a chance, he proved to be an excellent painter of eggs, always producing very detailed designs, many of which looked distinctly like frost. Jack had laughed when they praised his work, saying that they should have expected it, seeing as he was the artist of winter.

Sandy fell off the golem when he saw the little wolf on the other side of Jack. The others looked over at the sound. They were confused at his clumsiness until they saw the dream sand wolf. It was the size of a fist and was slowly making its way toward Sandy. Its tail and head were low as if it were tired or unhappy. Jack watched it pass him, unwilling to touch the frail-looking creature.

Its ears perked up slightly as it stood in front of Sandy, but soon went down again. As Sandy picked up the little wolf, a voice came from it.

"Help. Please help. We need help." And the little wolf dissolved.

Sandy, already alarmed by a dream he was not the creator of, felt his heart drop through the ground. He knew the weak voice that came from the sand. Two exclamation points formed above his head to illustrate his surprise. Now that he thought of the girl he had known for years, he could feel how weak her-ever present dreams were. This was probably why he hadn't been feeling well. Now he had to explain to the other Guardians.

"What was that!?" Bunny exclaimed. There were queasy looks on the Guardians faces. Sandy tried to be as clear as possible in his pictures. He first pictured a child dreaming. Then he had the dream detach from the child and form a wolf.

"That was one of your dreams?" Tooth asked.

Sandy held out his thumb and pointer finger to say 'close' and pictured the child again, this time the child was making the dream with her hands-it was clearly a she this time.

"The girl made the dream?" Jack asked.

Sandy nodded. He made a picture of the globe and put a dot on it.

"A believer?" North asked.

Again a nod. Sandy scrunched up his face, deciding what to picture next. He settled for an 'SOS'.

"They need help!" Jack said.

Sandy nodded several times this time.

"Where are they?" asked Tooth.

Sandy tried to find her through his connection, an intense concentration showing on his face. When he couldn't find her, he shook his head sadly.

Tooth put her hand on his shoulder, "We'll find her."

Sandy gave a small smile.

"Right!" North took over, as he tended to, "Bunny, you stay here and finish work, we will go to pole and see what we can find."

The Guardians minus Bunny took a portal to the pole. "Let us start where she would normally be!" North declared as they entered the Globe Room. Sandy floated to the globe and pointed to the edge of Wisconsin, where Aisling usually lived.

They took the sleigh. Without Bunny's normal complaints, it was a smooth and silent ride out to the northern state. Once in the area, Sandy led them to the girl's home. The door was open, so they simply walked right in after landing on the front lawn. This was an emergency after all. There were seven people in the living room, none of which could see the Guardians.

Two were police officers, seemingly giving an update to the four sitting closely on the couch and the one on the rocking chair. They were discussing how no traces of entering could be found so it was likely 'the girl' was not in the house when she disappeared. It was also determined that she had likely been around the neighborhood because her vehicle was not missing and they were asking the neighbors if they had seen anything.

"A kidnapping?" North asked as Tooth covered her mouth with her hands in horror. Sandy looked down sadly and beckoned, they would see if they could find anything. He led them down the hallway to the girl's room. They saw nothing off as they searched her room. Sandy found a photograph and showed it to the other Guardians. It pictured a high-schooler in a prom dress.

"She's in high school?" Jack asked.

"That's pretty old to still believe." Tooth commented.

Sandy shook his head and dug a college acceptance letter from a folder that was dated three years prior.

"A college student!" Tooth exclaimed.

"She's in the same year as Jamie," Jack noted.

They made their way back out of her room, not having found anything. As they passed the hallway closet, Jack exclaimed "Wait!" and pointed to a dark patch on the carpet. Sandy bent down and picked up a dusting of nightmare sand, running it through his fingers.

"Pitch!" Tooth said.

"Why would he want her?" Jack asked.

Sandy looked sick as he went back into her room and grabbed a notebook labeled 'Dreams'. It was clearly a dream journal and was one of maybe six placed on the sizable bookshelf along with plenty of other notebooks with various labels and titles.

"She is dreamer?" North asked.

Sandy nodded solemnly. They headed back out to the sleigh after putting the book back.

"Where do we find Pitch?" Tooth asked.

"His old lair is in Burgess." Jack said, "we can start there."

Once headed toward Burgess, Jack asked to go check on Jamie quick. He went to a nearby college. The others readily agreed, thinking it a good idea to check up on another loyal believer while nearby. Jack excused himself to check Jamie's home. He came back clearly distraught.

"He's gone! Sophie is too. Their parents are in pretty much the same state as the other family." Jack sank to his seat in the sleigh as they headed for the woods near his lake.

There's the third chapter. So, Sandy noticed first, but only because Aisling sent for help. Maybe we'll see more the next Chapter:).

Tsalyah