Tiny feathered fairies fluttered around me. Some carried teeth, others coins. Still others were empty-handed who's jobs were to relay information. Tooth was busy keeping the fairies organized and stowing teeth. I was in the spire for North America, in a room two stories above the one that housed my baby teeth. Many of the boxes in this room were missing faces on them, as there'd been no kid assigned to it yet, but those along the first fifteen or so rows all held the teeth of kids from my home. I walked over to where I knew Elizabeth's was, grinning when I saw her face smiling at me. I slid the box out and opened it, glancing inside to see that it was still empty. Elizabeth was only three, so she'd only just started getting her baby teeth, and hadn't had all of them come in yet. Tooth's fairies wouldn't be visiting her for a few more years, but I was still happy to see that she had a box there.

I slid it back into it's slot in the wall, still smiling. I turned and started down one flight to the room below, glancing in to see a few fairies still stowing teeth in the uppermost rows. I moved one floor lower and stepped into a room that was deserted. Every once in a grand while a fairy would come to one of the completed rooms, those that held all the baby teeth of all the individuals. Not to deposit a new tooth, but to activate the memories held in them. This room still had some people who might need reminding of their childhood every once in a while, but most were past that. I know I was.

But I wasn't here for my container, not this time anyway. This time I was here to see two containers of people close to me. I scaled the wall, finding handholds between the boxes and around the edges of the ones that protruded more. When I got about a third of the way from the top, I started searching. Though they were born a year apart, they were right near each other on the wall. After I'd lost them as believers three years ago, I'd come here, thinking that, maybe, if I could remind them of me and all the time we'd spent together, then they might believe again. But it hadn't helped. All they remembered was that Caeden's older sister had meant a lot to him, and as a game between the two of them, they'd pretended she was there often. They'd remembered me, but thought I was a figment of their imagination, nothing more. Knowing that they at least remembered me, was enough that the loss of their belief had less of a sting. It may not be the way I wanted them to remember, but I'll take what I can get. Plus, Elizabeth was always happy to see me, so that was a bonus.

Even though I knew that their teeth wouldn't help them, I still liked coming here to see their boxes. To see Caeden's younger face smiling at me brought back memories of my own, from times when I was still mortal. And seeing Tanya's reminded me just how much like me she was. Her younger image on the box had no purple streak in her hair, though her glasses were included. Her eyes were just as colorful as they were in real life, and were just as prominent as they were when she chose to wear contacts, which was most of the time now. I never really pulled their boxes out, but just seeing them made me happy. Part of me was always worried that they'd turn up missing for some reason.

I jumped down, landing lightly on the floor. I glanced in the direction of my box, my younger face greeting my current one. As commonplace as it was to see the faces of those three, to see my box was always a little weird. Not only was I much older than I looked - I was almost 40 by now - but I was way older than the version of me on the box. I'd become more or less use to seeing a nineteen year old when I caught my reflection - though I told everyone I'd died at twenty since it'd been so close to my birthday - so it wasn't as weird as it would be. I had no doubts that, the older I got, the weirder it would get. I mean, I felt way older than twenty, I felt my age, sometimes. However, a lot of the time, I still acted like my visage on the box, thirteen years old.

There were two more boxes I wanted to see, this time. One I'd only ever seen on the big screen, and the other I'd never seen before. However, I knew where they'd be, more or less. I counted down the years as the stairs spiraled downwards. I was only five stories above the floor when I found the room I was looking for. It was dusty, dark and there were cobwebs everywhere. Nevertheless, the boxes gleamed in the dim light filtering in from above. The boxes themselves were a bit more clear of dust than the rest of the room, having been disturbed from their places two decades ago. One, however, was as clean as the ones in the uppermost rooms.

I walked over to the shining box, right near the floor. The area near it had been swept clean of dust from someone coming and going constantly. That's my Jack. I smiled at the box, Jack's brown haired, brown eyed face grinning back at me. I'd figured that he'd come by a lot to see the memories that'd been lost to him for so long. He hadn't told me as much, but, from what I'd gathered from the fairies, he came by a lot those first few months. However, in recent years, he'd come by less and less. When you've lived for over three hundred years, eighteen of them don't take a lot of time to memorize.

I lifted my eyes from the box containing Jack's mortal memories and skipped to the next box, and the next, and the next. I looked at each one until I found the one I was looking for. It was three rows above the one Jack's box was in, and on the other side of the room. A face with black hair and a big nose smiled back at me, and my own mouth quirked into a smile. I pulled it out to get a better look at Sam's box. The colors on it were almost identical to those on Jack's. I wiped the dust off of it with my hand and got a small surprise. Sam's eyes were green? I held the box closer to my own eyes to check, and, sure enough, green eyes gleamed back at me instead of the orangey-brown I was used to. I really shouldn't have been surprised, a lot of immortals' coloring had changed once they'd become their legend. I'd just assumed his eyes had been brown, as that was the most common color.

I put Sam's box back where I'd found it before leaving the room. There were a lot more boxes I could look for. My mom's, my grandma's, my dad's, my grandpa's, my other grandparents', my other brothers', and really anyone else who I'd considered family at one time or another - weather we had a blood connection or not. However, I'd let all of them go. The day I'd become Story Tale, I'd left those people behind. The only one I hadn't successfully been able to cut ties with, was Caeden. But now, that was a moot point. He'd always be my brother, but now he was mostly Elizabeth's dad to me. At least, that's what I kept telling myself anyway.

I made it to the center of the Tooth Palace a short while later, to find the Tooth fairy still directing her fairies, often confusing the poor girls. As much of a spaz as Tooth was, she was still incredibly organized. Which was more than I could say for myself. My way of organizing was incomprehensible by most others. Jack included. One look at my studio would be enough proof that chaos was my way of organizing.

A few fairies flew up to me to briefly say hello or chat for a second. Tooth had, by now, taught me most of the basics, what the girls talked about most often. Even though it was still confusing from time to time - the chirps and chitters all sounded similar to the next - I could hold a conversation for the most part. However, the girls did still have to talk slower so I could make out what they were saying. "No, I'm done. I'm about ready to head out." A few of them pouted momentarily, but they all chirped goodbye before engulfing me in tiny hugs. I giggled a little as they all flittered off to go back to work.

I walked towards Tooth, who hadn't noticed my exchange with her fairies, as she'd been too engulfed in her own hoard of feathered ladies. I tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. She turned, and after a moment she registered what she was looking at. "Oh, Story, hey. What's up?"

"I'm heading out, just coming to say goodbye."

"Already? But you just got here two days ago." I knew what she was getting at. I usually stayed a week when I stopped by. During the time, Tooth would teach me more of the fairy-speak and I'd occasionally help out. And, of course, I'd stop in to see Caeden's, Tanya's, and Elizabeth's boxes. And mine. I never left the Palace before revisiting at least one memory of mine. But I'd done that yesterday.

I nodded. "Yeah. Sam and I are going to have a movie marathon, and I forgot what day it was when I stopped by." I half-smiled and shrugged. When I'd discovered Sam's movie collection, I'd had a similar reaction to his candy stash. One of the upstairs rooms, next to the guest room, was as stuffed with movies and music as his costume closet was. He had everything from VHS tapes, to DVDs, to Blue Rays, to the new form of home entertainment, which they were calling VVDs, Video Viewing Device. I didn't know if they were running out of names for things, or running out of creativity. Either way, VVD was a stupid name. And his music selection was just as varied in the form they took, though there was one commonality in all of them. They were all from the Rock and Roll genre.

She looked confused by my mention of my friend. "Sam? Oh, you mean the Halloween spirit." I nodded in confirmation. "Wait, you're friends with him?"

"Yeah, why?"

She winced a little as she grimaced. "Don't bring that up to Bunny. Ever."

"Why? What's so wrong with Sam?" I mean, I was friends with Jack, who was easily the most 'annoying' immortal out there. Though I was a close second to anyone who I struck up a conversation with. Sam was far more... well, normal than Jack and I. He was so normal in fact, that, at times, I wondered how he ever put up with me and my weirdness. I couldn't think of anything that would warrant the warning.

"Well, Bunny and him have never been on good terms. Actually, aside from Jack, Bunny saw him as his biggest problem." She explained, before tilting her head, something having just occurred to her. "Of course, now that Bunny and Jack have worked everything out, Sam's his only problem, really."

"What did Sam do to make Bunny mad?" I understand Jack setting Bunny off, but Sam was, as I'd said, normal. And as far as I could see, he usually avoided conflict. Unless he was feeling protective or felt very strongly about the outcome.

"You know that we never let kids see us before." By we she meant the Guardians. North, Sandy, herself, and Bunny. "Bunny was a hermit for the longest time - of his own choosing, of course. But, since Jack's convinced us to get out into the field more often, we have been. But Bunny's still really reclusive."

"Yeah, I know that." Jack had told me as much. Tooth and North were the most enthusiastic about letting the kids see them - or the fairies in Tooth's case. Sandy was still a little slow to come to the idea, but that was because he was still more preoccupied with keeping the good dreams flowing. "What does this have to do with Sam?"

"The first time that Bunny met him, it didn't go well. Bunny was watching some kids on an egg hunt one Easter when Sam found him hiding in the bushes. Sam started talking to him, but, since Bunny was trying to stay incognito, he asked him to be quiet so the kids wouldn't find him. Sam flipped on him, started yelling at him for no reason." She shrugged. "And, of course, finding out that Jack was friends with him didn't help how Bunny viewed Jack."

"So, let me get this straight. According to Bunny, Sam went off on him for no reason whatsoever?" I knew Bunny enough to know it was probably more than that. Bunny might be a Guardian, but he was still a little bit of a prick from time to time.

"That's what he told all of us." A fairy flew over and got her attention, relaying that the team she'd been with had successfully brought back all their assigned teeth. Tooth nodded to her. "Great. Once they get them put away, you guys should take a break. You've been working for a while now." The fairy fluttered away to relay the news to her sisters. Tooth turned back to me and shrugged again. "None of us have ever dug any deeper into it. We just know to not bring up any mention of him to Bunny."

"Hm. Well, thanks for the warning." I quickly gave her a hug, which she returned. "See you later, girly."

She laughed lightly. "Goodbye, Story."

I waved at her as I called my wings and took off. As I flew around the world - I'd decided to take the route that went over more land masses, as opposed to the Pacific - I tried to figure out what might have happened between Bunny and Sam. Yes, Bunny was a hermit a lot of the time. Yes, he was a stickler for the rules too. No, he was not a bad person. Or, bad Pooka. Yes, Sam had a hair trigger for things that set him off. No, he didn't go berserk when he was set off. Yes, Sam was the Halloween spirit, and so he had a bad rep for having a 'scary' holiday. Maybe that's it. But, Tooth had said that - the way Bunny told it - Sam went off first. Well, I can ask for the other side of the story firsthand, now can't I?

-

When I laid eyes on Sam's street, it was around midday, and so there were people milling about. Especially considering that it was summer vacation now. A good number of the kids who lived in Sam's neighborhood believed in me, which was another incentive for me to stop by his place. The only downside of living where I did, was that no one else lived nearby.

Before I could even land, a handful of kids all clustered together to surround me. When I touched ground, they swarmed me with hellos and hugs. "Hey, guys! Enjoying summer?"

There was a chorus of yeses. One of the girls, Millie, tugged on my arm to get my attention. "Do you have any new stories to tell us?" All the others chorused something along the lines of 'yeah' and 'tell us'.

"Not this time. Sorry." I shrugged, and they turned disappointed faces to me. In the past few years, whenever I visited my believers in Salem or Burgess - or Chicago, as I'd started a fan-base there too - I'd tell them a story. They'd all meet at a park or at someone's house and I'd give them options. They could get a story about an immortal, a piece of history - made to sound fantastical, something that had happened recently in the immortal community, or one of the many preexisting stories that I'd all but memorized. "Sam and I are having a movie marathon today. Maybe tomorrow, okay?"

Their eyes lit up as they excepted my promise. "See you tomorrow, Story!" The majority of them ran back to whatever they'd been doing before I got there.

I smiled, giggling a little at my Salem believers. The three groups were vastly different from one another. The ones in Burgess didn't take no for an answer and to them, it was always play time. I chalked that up to the fact that Jack was their main contact with the magical world. The Salem group were way less impressed with magic as others were, but they were incredibly inventive. Magic might seem commonplace with them, but they sure as hell weren't taking it for granted. And my Chicago guys were... well, they were definitely urban kids. There were only about ten of them right now, and they were less inclined to gather in groups for a book reading, then they were to video chat with each other to listen in. It was a good thing I was flexible, otherwise I'd never be able to keep up with all of them.

I finally made it to Sam's door, where he was waiting with it open. He was leaning against the frame, chuckling at the response I'd gotten from the kids. "I guess you're gonna be busy tomorrow."

"I guess so." I went in and sat on his couch, pulling up my feet to sit cross-legged. "So, what's on the agenda for movies?"

He came over to his coffee table where there was a horde of movies spread out. "I figured we'd stick to one movie player, if only for convenience. We've got a selection of Don Bluth films, and Studio Ghibli films. Plus a few lesser known Disney films."

"In a mood for cartoons, are we?" I smirked down at him before taking a look at the movies that were spread out. I spied one in particular that I was excited to watch.

"Hey, you're never too old for cartoons, and these guys are legends in their own right."

"I heartily agree. However, let's watch The Black Cauldron first." He raised an eyebrow at me. "The Horned King is, and always has been my favorite Disney villain. I take great pride in that."

"Okay, but Titan A.E. is next then."

As he moved to load up the disc into the DVD player, I grinned at him. "And would that be for the soundtrack?"

"You know me." He shot me a grin as he grabbed the remote and came back to sit on the other end of the couch. Now, I'd always been a movie talker. Sam wasn't. However, he wasn't quite as annoyed as other people were by my talking. So I didn't hold back. Well, that and, I couldn't stop myself anyway.

"So, I had an interesting conversation with Tooth before I got here."

"Oh?" His eyes were on the movie, no big surprise.

"What's the deal with you and Bunny?" At the beginning of my question, Sam's face didn't change. Once I'd said Bunny, however... well he had a similar moment to how Gaia reacted to the spirit of summer.

His eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched. "What the hell did he tell her?"

I jerked back in surprise. "Whoa... I've never heard you cuss before. Not sure if I like it or not." He glanced at me, then turned and paused the movie. "Apparently the first time the two of you met you tore into him without warning. What's your side of the story?"

He sighed angrily. "I don't like Bunny, he doesn't like me. End of story."

"No, not end of story. Have you met me?" Normally, I'd let things go when it was obvious he didn't want to talk about him. That's called being a friend. Everyone's allowed to have their secrets, but, in this case, I was friends with both parties. Though Sam was a closer friend that Bunny was, that was for sure. I wanted to know the real deal. I trusted Sam to tell me the truth about what happened and not blow it out of proportion. Bunny, not so much.

He gave me one of those looks, before conceding. He knew me, I wasn't about to drop this one. He sighed more in a resigned way this time. "I'd been an immortal for a little over a hundred years when I met him for the first time. I'd just started to get a good number of believers constantly and I was spending as much time with them as possible." I could tell he was telling the real version, but that he wasn't quite happy about it. I assumed that was because of the mutual dislike. "Well, that Easter, there was a village wide egg-hung, and I tagged along. I was having a great time with the kids, but, after a while, I noticed a group of bushed rustling. I went over to investigate and there he was.

"I knew who he was right away. I mean, a giant rabbit, on Easter, could only be one person. He didn't realize I was an immortal at first. He didn't know I could see him. I said hi to him, hoping to avoid what'd happened when I met Jack." I winced a little, imagining how Bunny might have reacted if Sam had asked who he was. "I asked him what he was doing, hiding in the bushes and he said, I quote. 'Quiet, I'm hidin' from the kids. Shut up or they'll see me.'" I couldn't help the snort that escaped me at his impression of the Pooka. A tiny smile appeared on his otherwise grumpy face.

"That's how Bunny is though. He's a hermit who hides."

"I know that. That's the problem. Look, you and Jack are like me. You spend time with your believers."

"Yeah, but that's because I know how to act like a child occasionally."

He laughed a little, against his will. "No, what I'm getting at is why I don't like how he hides. Once someone believes in us, they gain the ability to see us, hear us, touch us." I nodded. I knew all this, I'd just had this a few minutes ago when I'd landed. "What's the point in believing in someone who won't ever allow you to see them." I was starting to see his point. "Every kid who believes in me, I make sure they know I'm real and around. Most of the Guardians hide. Kids only have their own belief and the word of friends to tell them that these people are real. Why do you think learning that 'Santa isn't real' is so heartbreaking to them. They have all this evidence to back it up, and only what they believe telling them otherwise."

Now, Sam had hit a chord. My entire mortal life had been like that. I'd believed so much and so hard that it hurt sometimes, and what sucked was that I never got magic. Not until Jack showed up out of the blue. I'd made a house for fairies, I'd tried to teach myself to astral project, I'd stuck my teeth under my pillow, I'd done everything I could think of to draw magic to me. Even going so far as to say the taboos from scary movies. I was willing to take the darker side of magic, if only I could have a glimpse to prove I was right. Because, even though I believed, the word was so anti-magic by then that truly believing, was frowned upon. Everyone told me to grow up.

I hadn't wanted to, not ever. I'd taken solace in the quote 'growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional'. I'd lived by that quote. For the last five years of my mortal like, I'd walked a fine line between mature and childish. A line I still walk to this day. However, since becoming immortal, I've learned how to step off to either side of the line and jump right back on again. Which was a good thing, believe you me.

"So to see an immortal who is believed in by so many kids, hiding from them just - It pissed me off." Wow, I thought I was the only one who flared up when talking about old grudges. "And it still does. If a kid believes in us, the least we can do is reward them by showing our faces."

"I agree, but why are you and Bunny still at each other's throats?"

"Well, that first time, I yelled at him until he ran off to stay out of sight of the kids that were running over to us. As the years wore on and Bunny's behavior proved to be consistent with our meeting, I realized that I hated him." He crossed his arms and leaned back. "And I'm perfectly fine with that." He turned the movie back on and I took that as the cue that the conversation was over. I settled in to watch the movie wondering what else Sam was willing to get that fired up for.

-

The next day at lunchtime, I met my gaggle of believers in the square near Sam's house. Well, it was after lunchtime, as most of them had eaten before they came. The adults in the area were used to their kids all meeting up for no reason. Sam had been around for far longer than me and he'd hung out with all of them in similar ways. So no one was weirded out by twenty or so kids all sat around a statue staring at it. However, they weren't staring at the statue, they were staring at me. "Okay guys, what kind of story do you want today?"

A little boy named Aaron piped up before the others. "Tell us about the Guardians!"

"Yeah!"

"Well, which one?" And something new or their origin story? I'd think of something.

There was a moment of silence while they all tried to think of who they wanted to hear about. Rarely did they want to know about Jack - he came up often enough in conversation to not merit a story. One of the boys in the back, Mikey, called out, "Sandy!"

"Yeah! Sandy!"

I noticed a few of the girls looking a bit disappointed - they probably wanted to know about Tooth. I smiled at all of them, deciding on which story to tell. "All right, Sandy. Hmm..." I tapped my chin, waiting for an idea. Sam was waiting near the edge of the group of kids. He'd decided to listen in. Even if he knew the stories I told, he still liked listening to them. Partially because I was his friend and he was showing his support, and partially because he genuinely enjoyed it. Just one more reason I was glad we were friends.

I glanced at him and he shot me a thumbs up. Does he think I'm nervous or something? As if. He knew me, he knew I wasn't the type to get stage fright. However, I did have an idea now. Not because of anything Sam did, but I'd decided on what to tell them. I grinned out at the kids. "Long ago, during what was known as the Golden Age, there were star pilots, who rode shooting stars across the night sky. These pilots listened to the wishes of the children who lived on the planets they passed, and, with the help of their stars, they granted as many as they could." I'd learned more about the Golden Age from Sel since I'd become immortal. She'd lived through the tail end of it, so she had firsthand knowledge. Man, what I wouldn't give to have seen it. "These Wishing Star Pilots, were some of the most skilled pilots of the Golden Age. Not all stars are cooperative and willing to do as they're told. Actually, a lot of them were super independent and stubborn. Like me."

The kids giggled, which was what I'd intended. Sam even cracked a smile from where he was leaning against a light-post. "One of these Star Pilots was named Sanderson Mansnoozie. Sandy to his friends." Eyes lit up as I introduced the main character of the story. "One day, Sandy saw a star rocketing around on it's own. He climbed aboard and tried to slow it down, if not control it."

"Did he?" Millie, who was sitting right near the base of the statue where I was sitting, asked.

"Yes he did. But it wasn't easy. This star was the most stubborn and reckless star he'd ever met."

I heard one of the older kids in the back mumble something. "Sounds like Jack Frost."

Sam cracked a smile at almost the same time I did. "It wasn't Jack. Actually the star wasn't really a star. It was a little girl, who was an immortal. She was a different kind of immortal, though. The Man in the Moon hadn't turned her into an immortal. No, she'd figured out how to become immortal all on her own. And she wasn't a little girl either. She was a grown up. And her name was Emily Jane." I thought about how Seraphina was now, and how she'd been in the William Joyce novel. She'd definitely cooled down since. "Now, Sandy didn't know the star's name at first. When he first met the star, he was just trying to gain it's trust, so that he could be it's pilot. But Emily Jane didn't trust people for her own reasons. Eventually, Sandy proved to her that he was her friend and that he really did care about her. When she accepted his friendship, she told him her name."

"What does that have to do with the Sandman?" A five year old named Kelly asked me with half her teeth missing.

"Well, Sandy and Emily Jane the Star soared across the galaxy, granting wishes for a long time. However, one day, they met the Nightmare King, Pitch Black." Sam shot me a look. Silently, he was warning me not to scare the kids, or bring up Pitch. He, like most immortals, believed that telling people about Pitch would give him power. That just wasn't true. Not only was he the same level of weak that I'd seen when I'd first met him, but the more people knew about him, the more prepared they were for if he ever tried something. So I ignored the look.

"Pitch Black was the leader of the Dream Pirates, and commander of the Fearlings. He'd been destroying the Golden Age for years now, taking the light of whole planets. Suffice to say, he wasn't very nice. Now, Dream Pirates can hear the dreams of children, and so can Wishing Star Pilots. Star Pilots use what they hear to make dreams come true. Dream Pirates use what they hear to steal dreams." There were many worried faces around me. I didn't worry about it too much, my story had a happy ending.

"They'd heard the dreams of Emily Jane one might when she'd gone to sleep. They came after her and Sandy and chased them through the stars. Finally Sandy and Emily Jane crash-landed on a little blue and green planet." Eyes lit up and smiles returned as the kids realized that they'd landed on Earth. "When they landed, the star broke apart, and Emily Jane was free. She'd been stuck in the star, you see. Now, she knew how to control the weather, she'd been taught how by a Constellation. So when she took in her new home, and saw that there was no one to control it's wild weather, she took the job. She became Mother Nature." Jaws were hanging at that tidbit. "Now, while Emily Jane - or Mother Nature - was busy working with Earth's weather, Sandy had fallen asleep. And he slept, and slept, and slept for thousands of years!

"While he slept, he dreamt. And every dream he had, soaked into a gran of stardust. When the star broke, it made an island of stardust that floated in the ocean for all the time that Sandy slept. And then, a little less than five hundred years ago, he woke up. And when he woke up, he discovered that, while he was sleeping, he became Dreamsand, for that was also what the stardust had become. He now had an island of dreams that he could use to make every child on earth sleep soundly. And so he did, and has ever since. Every night, Sandy sends out streams of Dreamsand to every kid on Earth to make sure they have sweet dreams and so they never have to have a nightmare. Sandy's always working, because no matter what time of day it is here, it's always night somewhere else, and kids are sleeping there. Or at least, they're supposed to be." A few of the kids giggled. "Now, Sandy works with his fellow Guardians to protect the kids of this world from Pitch Black."

A few minutes passed where everyone was winding down from the story, but then, as always, question time began. "Have you met the Guardians?!"

"Yep, all of them."

"Really?!"

"Yep, Jack's my best friend. Tooth and I hang out all the time. I've been to the Pole a few times to see North. I've been to the Warren to visit Bunny once or twice." Sam's eyes darkened momentarily at my mention of his least favorite immortal. "And Sandy and I are good friends too. I've actually had a chance to float on his Dreamsand cloud once or twice."

"What's Sandy like?"

"He's really nice. He doesn't talk, but he's a really good listener."

"Why doesn't he talk?" Millie asked me, tapping my foot as she did.

"Well, he doesn't ever want to wake up a sleeping child. He's worried that if he spoke, he'd wake a kid who was dreaming. He doesn't want to interrupt a dream - especially one he's created. But he doesn't talk ever, just because he doesn't want to forget and talk around a kid. But he does have another way to talk. He uses his Dreamsand to make pictured above his head to help him communicate. It's kind of like sign language, but the magical kind."

"Wow..."

I giggled. I'd never get over the looks on their faces when they truly believed that magic was real. "Okay guys, why don't you go and play. Or at least check in with your parents." A few of them grumbled at being told what to do, but most of them ran off in groups to play.

After all of the kids were out of earshot, Sam came over to me. I could tell by his expression what he was about to bring up. However, I knew I could win the argument to come, so I let him start it. "Why did you tell them about Pitch?" Though he was trying to keep his voice low, he was basically quietly yelling.

"Because, believing in him isn't gonna initiate his comeback or anything. Fearing him will."

"And you don't think telling them that the Boogeyman is real is gonna scare them?" He flung his arm towards the kids.

"No, I don't." I folded my arms, my stubbornness flaring up. "I look at it like an immunization."

"What?"

I'd lost him. "Listen, immunizations work by introducing a harmless, minute version of a virus or infection. The body reacts and builds up antibodies to the germ so that if the person ever does get sick, their bodies know how to fight it off with little to no collateral damage."

"So? Pitch isn't a virus, or a cold. He's the Nightmare King."

"But it's the same basic idea. By telling them about him in a nonthreatening way, a way that makes him seem like he's insignificant, if he ever tries to pull something again, they won't be nearly as scared as they would if some unknown, shadowy figure appeared out of nowhere bringing the apocalypse." I could tell that he wanted to fire a comeback, but was coming up blank. "If we emphasize all the times he's been beaten, then they're gonna know he's always lost. In their minds, that's gonna build up a wall to keep his influence out."

"You don't even know if that'll work. Not everyone's like you."

"I know that. Unique doesn't even begin to cover what I am. But a spark is all it takes to light a fire. We start the idea that he's harmless, then he's never gonna be able to get a hold of them." Not to mention the fact that I'd be able to give a heads up if he ever did try something. Hey, look, another upside to my pestering him.

Sam still looked like he wanted to argue, but I could see that my points were sinking in. Finally, he sighed and crossed his arms in defeat. "Okay, maybe you have a point."

I grinned. "I always do."

"This doesn't mean you're always gonna get your way."

"Yes it does."