This is a sequel to The Sandman and Monsters Under the Bed.


Sandy felt the disruption through the Dreamsand. Some dreams hadn't found their targets. Fear was keeping them out of their bed. The Sandman frowned. He recognized this area. He knew Pitch was lurking around here. He skulked in the woods, scaring any who ventured there. This wasn't the first time he had to personally make sure the children of this village fell asleep. But Pitch usually left those who believed in the Guardians alone, lest Sandy decided he was the one who needed a good scare. Sadly, there was little he could do for the others. He was not aware of them like he was of the ones he was sworn to protect.

Not all fear was due to the Boogeyman, of course, but when three kids in a happy, loving family were all terrified at the same time, he was the prime suspect. But Sandy may have been too quick to come to that conclusion this time. Another spirit sat on the roof of the children's home. The young winter spirit averted his eyes when he saw Sandy arrive on his cloud of sand, guilt obvious on his face. He hugged his knees to his chest, holding his leather cape wrapped around himself. Sandy felt his heart clench. He wished it had been Pitch instead.

It wasn't uncommon for winter sprites to grow bitter. Some, the colder, more solitary ones, didn't care about the humans who shared their world without seeing them, or about anyone else, really. They spread their ice and snow indiscriminately, harsh and uncaring. Those were not the dangerous ones. It was the more social ones, the ones who cared, then got hurt, who risked lashing out against humans out of resentment. The winter child on the roof had certainly been the more caring kind.

Sandy remembered his beaming smile the last time they met, when the young spirit, had realized he could see him. It was hard to imagine that same smiling child scaring anyone, but if he still lived here, surrounded by people who could not see him, it was bound to hurt. Few spirits willingly chose to remain in close proximity to humans. His smile, last time, had a hint of desperation. It was painful to see how happy he had been that someone could see him.

Sandy sighed and shook his head. He had some other children to take care of first. He gestured at the boy to stay here, waving a finger in warning to make sure he didn't decide to run off. The boy, Jack Frost, he remembered his name was, nodded, still not looking at him. He looked so ashamed of whatever he did that Sandy thought maybe he wasn't a lost cause yet. Or maybe it just made it all the more unlikely that he would last very long without his heart freezing. He cared too much.

The three children huddled under a table, each facing a different direction, keeping watch for the return of some scary monster. The youngest gasped when she saw him, elbowing her brothers in the ribs. Sandy didn't wait for them to turn. He called back the dreams he had prepared for them, directing the golden streams at the children. They blinked and slumped together, their eyes closing, their fear fading. Sandy picked them up one by one and placed them back in their beds. His task here done, he returned to the other child waiting for him.

He floated his cloud up to the edge of the roof, standing right in front of the sitting spirit. Jack Frost brought his legs closer to his chest. Sandy crossed his arms and scowled, waiting for an explanation.

"I-I didn't mean to scare them," the kid started, burying his head in his knees. "I just... I just wanted them to know I existed. I tried picking up some wooden toys, but they started to scream. They thought I was a ghost. I never meant for them to be afraid. I don't want to scare children. I won't do it again, I swear."

Sandy's scowl disappeared long before the boy was done talking. He patted the spirit's white hair and he raised his head, his eyes as full of fear as those of the children inside the house had been. Not fear of what Sandy would do to him, but of what he himself had done. The Sandman gave him a comforting smile. Tentatively, Jack Frost smiled back.

He had met him before, Sandy realized suddenly. Before that time a few years ago when the young spirit had chased his cloud. No, that hadn't been their first meeting. He should have realized it then, when he saw that brilliant smile and those inquisitive eyes. But he remembered, now. He had seen him in a situation much like this one, when he came to this village because a child was missing from his bed and he had found him in the nearby wood, scared and holding his knees against his chest like he was now.

How had that child become a winter spirit? It was rare for humans to become spirit. And a seasonal spirit, at that? That was unusual. As far as he knew, the boy he had met that time had died. That gave him a chill. And here he sat in front of him now, an embodiment of winter, yet still very much a frightened child.

Sandy might not know how to deal with lonely spirits, but frightened children were something he was familiar with. He blew a pinch of Dreamsand into the spirits blue eyes and watched the fear fade away. Jack Frost blinked, tried to stay awake. Sandy stroked his hair reassuringly, pulling him on his cloud when he tumbled off the edge of the roof.

He flew to the small lake where he knew the winter spirit stayed. He landed by the frozen water and picked up the sleeping child from the cloud, placing him gently in the snow. He didn't know what would happen to him next, how he would cope with his new life as a spirit, or why this had happened in the first place, but tonight, he could have sweet dreams like any other child in Sandy's care.


Sorry for making sequels to really old chapters. There are some things that I always meant to revisit, but never got around to (and then forgot about).