By the time we caught up with the twins, it was almost time for the trunk or treat to start. We found them about a block away from the throng of people, and I sent a bird to find Daniel and Amber. After a moment, the bird reappeared and relayed their words to me. Sam and I glanced at each other and instinctively moved to the edge of the crowd, the twins following behind. "Everyone here's gonna see you, so if you're talking to us, look like you're talking to each other." I looked over my shoulder at the twins, who started to nod and then caught themselves. "Otherwise, if someone comes up to you guys and not us, try your hardest not to look toward us for anything, 'kay?" Another almost nod, followed by a subtle thumbs up. I rolled my eyes a bit and scanned the cars, looking for the yellow SUV we were told to find.

After about ten minutes of searching, we found the car that was decked out to look like the yellow brick road. Around it were three adults, two of whom were my believers. The one manning the trunk was Amber's older sister, who was dressed as Glinda the Good, Amber was dressed like Dorothy, and Daniel was dressed like the Scarecrow. I grinned at Daniel, who was looking around for us and had given a small wave so as not to draw the eyes of nonbelievers. Our group of four walked up and Amber and her sister - whos name was Ruby, if I remembered correctly - turned to look at us. Ruby cocked her head to the side and looked us up and down. "Who are these two? Friends of yours, Daniel?" She looked towards the Scarecrow, and I realized she couldn't see Sam and me. I shot the twins a look, and they seemed to understand.

I noticed Daniel bristle a bit before he put a grin on his face and waved toward our alien friends. "Yeah, these are some of my friends from the blog." Ruby rolled her eyes and fussed over the decorations. "Amy and Andrew." The twins had been briefed on their fake names, as their real names were weird even for Salem. Daniel was given a heads-up the previous day about the possibility that Sam and I wouldn't be seen.

Under her breath, Ruby's snide comment didn't reach the twins. "You've met them before, right? I don't want internet strangers snatching up my kids." She shot Amber a side eye so venomous, I'm surprised no one was poisoned.

Amber glared at her sister. "Ruby, these are our friends. Can't you at least try to be polite?"

Glinda rolled her eyes, a forced smile appearing on her face as she moved to shake the twins' hands. I was standing between them and hadn't managed to dodge her before her arm went through my torso. I jumped out of the way as Aldebaran's horrified expression was mirrored by Daniel. Luckily, Ruby didn't notice. "It's nice to meet you, Amy. Andrew." As soon as Ruby's attention had left Ain, she shot me a worried look that I waved off. Behind her sister's back, Amber shot me an apologetic look. Ruby gestured to herself. "I'm Ruby, Amber's sister, but when the kids are around, you can call me Glinda." She gestured to her costume again, and I started to remember that Ruby was always mad when she didn't win the costume contest with Sam each year. They were always store-bought instead of handmade.

Aldebaran's diplomatic instincts must have kicked in because he put a polite smile on his face. "It's very nice to meet you, Glinda." His smile got a tad bigger as he called her Glinda.

Ruby blushed a bit at the near flirtatious nature of the alien. "Well then, should I call you Link and Zelda?" The two couldn't hide their momentary confusion from her, and her face fell, probably thinking something different of the situation. "Sorry, I get a little carried away with Halloween." She gestured around us. "Growing up in Salem makes you either think Halloween is overrated or it makes you obsessed with the holiday." She chuckled a little and grinned at her sister, who was watching the exchange with an eyebrow raised.

"Can you stop flirting with our friend?" She gave Aldebaran an apologetic look. "Do I have to remind you that you're married?" Amber narrowed her eyes at her sister, who backed off, clearly embarrassed. After that, Amber and Daniel pulled us aside so we could talk in private. "I am so sorry, Story."

I waved it off, having already recovered from Ruby's arm going through me. "It's alright. Ruby hasn't believed in us in decades at this point." I gave her a smile, trying to make sure she didn't blame herself.

Ain was looking at my abdomen in barely disguised horror. "What was that?"

Sam and I glanced at each other momentarily, Sam deciding to take the reins. "When someone believes in us, we're real, solid. When they don't, we might as well be ghosts."

"They can walk through us." I gestured at most of the adults we could see leading the littles around. "They don't believe we're real, so we aren't."

"Does it hurt?" Ain was glancing between our believers and us.

I bobbed my head back and forth, trying to find the words to describe it. "It kinda tingles like when parts of your body fall asleep, but it also takes your breath away."

Sam looked sullen as he tore his eyes off Ruby's car. "Enough people walk through you, you start feeling like you have a sugar high on three days of no sleep." The twins shared a glance before looking between us again. "You can feel the absence of their belief like ice water was just poured over you." For another moment, we sat in heavy silence as the twins absorbed our words.

Daniel waved his hands as if to stop the conversation. "Enough, talking about this, it's depressing." He shook his head a little, and when he looked back up, he was grinning like a kid in a candy store. "I've been waiting to meet you two for almost four years!" Aldebaran balked while Ain smiled kindly at Daniel's enthusiasm. "Aldebaran and Ain, right?" He pointed at each of them respectively.

Both of them nodded while Ain spoke up. "Daniel, correct?"

He nodded and pulled Amber closer. "And this is Amber, my wife-"

"Your what now!?" Daniel winced, and Amber shot him a chastising look. "When did this happen!?"

Amber sighed. "He proposed over the summer, so technically I'm still his fiancée." She shot him another look before sighing again. "We haven't told anyone yet, except for Buster and Madelynn."

"I asked Dad for advice so they knew before I asked anything." Daniel smiled sheepishly and glanced at Amber. "We were gonna tell her family on this trip."

"What is a fiancé?" Aldebaran looked confusedly between the four of us.

"It's a word from another language on earth that means people have promised to get married but technically aren't married yet." I elaborated, realizing that as the word was French in origin, they probably had no clue.

Ain seemed to grasp the concept faster than her brother and nodded in understanding. "Oh, like you and Sam!"

"What!?" All four of us terrestrials spoke in unison. Daniel and Amber stared at Sam and me with wide eyes as Sam was immediately beet red. "No, uh, usually you ask someone if they're gonna marry you first." His eyes flickered to me quickly.

Amber giggled and covered her mouth. "Sorry, yeah, there's this whole thing with a ring and getting on one knee that happens first." She glanced at Daniel. "I'm not wearing the ring because I wanted to surprise my family." She pulled out her phone and shifted a little. "Here, I'll show you a picture." As she scrolled through the pictures, Sam looked towards the kids who were by now well into making their rounds. "Here." She turned her phone toward me, and I let out a whistle instinctively. "I know, right?"

Daniel looked a little uncomfortable. "Okay, can we not inspect my choice in rings?"

"It looks like your nephews are getting close to your sister's car." Sam's voice made most of us look toward the parking lot again, and Amber shoved her phone into her pocket before grabbing Daniel's hand and pulling all of us back to the event. When we were almost there, Sam and I stopped between the yellow car and the one parked next to it. He tapped Daniel on the shoulder so he knew to listen. "Story and I are gonna stand to the side." Daniel gave an almost imperceptible nod before going back to the front to help with candy.

After another moment, a squeal appeared from about ten feet away, and a boy about five years old came running towards the car, dressed as the Cowardly Lion. "Auntie Amber!" The boy jumped into Amber's outstretched arms and gave a wide, toothy grin. "Look what I can do!" He proceeded to whistle through his teeth, and one tooth wobbled as the air passed by it.

"Wow! Looks like you're gonna lose that tooth soon!" She shot a glance over her shoulder and winked at her sister. "You gotta remember to put that under your pillow for the Tooth Fai-"

Ruby rushed over, loudly shushing Amber and giving her a stern look. In a hushed voice as she ushered her oldest away, she glared at Amber. "We aren't teaching the boys about the Tooth Fairy." She set her oldest in the trunk of the car and turned back to Amber, who by now was clearly angered by the comment. "Oh, don't look at me like that." She came closer and whispered something I barely heard. "Lying.. hearts broken... can't afford."

Amber's eyebrows flew up. "I'm sorry?"

Ruby rolled her eyes before placing a smile and handing out some candy to the kids who passed by. "Can we not argue in front of children?"

As the two of them glared at each other, the twins, Sam, and I, were all shooting looks at one another, the twins looking aghast more than anything else. "Ruby, 'lying' to your kids aside, what happens when they're the kids telling their friends that the Tooth Fairy isn't real? Are you prepared for the number of angry parents and crying kids you'll be dealing with?"

Ruby seemed to ignore her for a second. "Sammy, can you make sure people only take one piece of candy each? I need to speak to Autie Amber. Daddy should be here in a second." Her oldest grinned and started gnawing on a popcorn ball. She raised her eyebrows at Daniel, as if telling him to keep an eye on her kid.

The two of them walked closer to where we were, and Sam and I backed up a bit, with the twins standing awkwardly with Daniel, who was keeping an eye on his soon-to-be nephew as instructed. "Ruby, if you are that low on funds, I will give you thirty bucks right now for you to save and split up for each tooth he loses."

Ruby sighed and looked towards someone dressed as the Tin Man, that I assumed was her husband. "Tony and I have decided that we'd rather tell the boys the truth." Amber was still in the middle of pulling out her wallet when Ruby pushed her hand away. "It's not about the money. I don't want to lie to them at all." She gestured to her car. "Sammy's old enough to understand not to talk about it with his friends."

"And why would that be lying? What makes you so certain the Tooth Fairy isn't real?" Amber crossed her arms indignantly.

Ruby shot a look toward Daniel, who had by now noticed Ruby's husband and was talking to him. "You know, ever since you started dating him, you've been obsessed with these fairytales." I shot a look at Sam. He had turned away and was looking sick to his stomach. I rubbed his arm to try and cheer him up. "You're both adults, you should really grow up, honestly."

"Excuse me? I seem to remember you being 'obsessed' with these 'fairytales' right up until I moved away five years ago!" Amber took a step closer to her sister, anger radiating off of her. "What happened that you're so cynical now?"

Ruby bristled. "I'm a mother now. That's what happened." She poked Amber in the chest. "And having to raise two kids makes you grow the hell up! I don't care if my kids believe in fairytales or not, what I do care about is them growing up into good human beings!"

"And you don't think teaching them the morals in those stories would help with that?" Amber was seething and got right up in Ruby's face. "Like how Easter is about hope and new life, and how Christmas is about family and caring for the people around you!?" Ruby rolled her eyes, and Amber backed away in shock. "Are you not teaching them about Santa or the Easter bunny either?" Sam whirled around in shock at the horror in Amber's voice.

I'd known there were people who didn't believe in teaching their kids about the Guardians, but I'd never had someone say so in my presence before. In the world I'd grown up in, people might not have believed in all of the Guardians, but we believed in most of them. The Sandman might not have been a figure of my childhood, but everything he stood for certainly was. But the rest of them? Absolutely. To hear someone two feet from me who was once one of Sam's believers choose not to share that magic with her kids was heartbreaking.

"No, Amber, I'm not." Ruby sighed. "And you have no right to criticize my parenting choices when you're not a parent yourself." Ruby turned back to where her younger kid, dressed as Toto, was peeking around the side of the car, looking for her. She picked him up, gave Amber a hard look as if to end the conversation, and turned back to her Tin Man husband.

Daniel noticed the conversation ending and rushed over to check on Amber. As he asked if she was okay and what had happened, I turned to Sam. He looked shellshocked. "Sam?" My voice came out shaky and strained. Amber was angrily crying, and Daniel was fussing over her, but all Sam and I could do was stare at the two kids in shock.

As the twins started heading over, throwing confused looks from Ruby and her family, to Daniel and Amber, and finally to Sam and me as they did, Sam's dejected voice caught all our attention. "I failed them... I shouldn't be a Guardian."

"Sam, that is not true!" I tried to get him to break his eyes away from the kids that couldn't see us, but no matter what I did, they were all he could see.

I looked toward the others to see if anyone could think of anything, and Amber pivoted to her sister with barely any hesitation. She caught up to her in two fast and angry steps, quickly followed by Daniel. In a voice loud enough to be carried across the entire parking lot, even over the cacophony of voices, Amber screamed at her sister. "Ruby!"

Ruby turned in shock, her youngest still in her arms. "Amber, what is wrong with you?" She quickly handed her son to her husband half a second before Amber hauled off and punched her square in the jaw.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Aldebaran wince. "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you!" Amber pointed towards Daniel. "You love Halloween more than life itself. You idolized Sam so much that you named your son after him!" She threw her arm toward her nephew, and the Sam next to me stiffened. "He was the most important person in your world, but you don't even remember him!" Daniel grabbed her shoulder and tried to get her to back off, but the entire parking lot was glued to the unfolding scene, me included. "No, Danny!" Amber shrugged off his hand and glared at her sister again. "Ruby, if you're not gonna teach Sammy and Benny about Santa, or the Tooth Fairy, or the Easter Bunny, and especially if you're not teaching them about Sam, then I'm never coming home again!"

Amber turned to Daniel, who tried to usher her away from the hundreds of eyes on her, when Ruby grabbed her shoulder. "So help me, Amber, if you make it my fault you never come home again, Mom and Dad will never forgive me!" She tried to turn Amber around, but Daniel glared at Ruby, and Amber's tear-streaked face stared at Sam and me. Ruby shifted her anger to Daniel. "This is all your fault."

Without warning, Amber punched Ruby again, almost hard enough to knock her off her feet. "Danny is the best thing that ever happened to me! And I'll criticize I want because I'm pregnant!" Almost all of us flinched in surprise, including Daniel.

Ruby stared in shock at her sister while holding her face where Amber punched her. "You're...? Then why are you fighting me!?" She scrambled up, eyes shifting between Amber's face and stomach. "Why do you give a shit if I don't teach my kids about fake people!?" As her words fell upon the silent crowd, a murmur of kids asking what the fairy was talking about, followed by parents' frantic explanations of how they gave the kids the money and how they wrapped the presents, caused the festival to unravel into chaos.

As the chaos grew with each kid's childhood shattering, I felt a wave of believers forget I had ever existed. In horror, I looked to Sam, who ran into the crowd in a desperate attempt to make sure the kids knew he was there. I followed him, wanting to make sure he was okay beyond anything else. The kids would recover, Sandy and Tooth would make sure of that. I wasn't sure if Sam would ever forgive himself for Ruby's choices. "Sam!" The few kids who still believed were flocking to Sam. I caught up with him and heard their little voices asking for reassurance that the other Guardians were, in fact, real and alive. Sam's eyes were wild, darting from the kids gathered around him to those who were crying by their parents.

I went to push past one of the kids surrounding Sam and hissed in shock as I passed through them. Sam's eyes whipped around to me and stared with dread at where they were passing through me. "Sam, I'm fine!" I turned back to the island of believers in a swarm of chaos, only a scant few who could see me. "Make sure your friends know that Mr. Sam and I are okay! Glinda didn't mean what she said! Santa, the Easter bunny, and the Tooth Fairy are all okay!"

I could see the twins trying to fight their way through the crowd to where Sam and I were standing. The precious few kids who still believed were unintentionally forming a human wall between us and those who would walk through us. "It's gonna be okay! I- I promise!" I looked over my shoulder at Sam, who was digging through his pockets for the candy he had saved for the contest winners and was tossing it to any kid who passed in tears. I've seen that look before. Just not on Sam... on the faces of the Guardians when Easter was ruined over a century ago. I caught his hands, stopping him from his desperate attempts to salvage the trunk or treat.

"Sam, that's not gonna help!" He was hyperventilating, and his eyes darted in panic at every cry that floated our way. "Their parents are gonna calm them down, that's not your job!" He still couldn't stop his eyes, so I grabbed his face and forced him to look at me. "Your job is to salvage what you can of your holiday." He took a shuddering breath, and I saw despair flood his face. "The other Guardians will do their jobs and make the kids remember. You just have to make those around us enjoy their day." As I nodded with my words, he did so as well. As he did, I saw the desolation lift off of him a bit at a time. "Breathe."

As Sam took a breath and tried to gather himself, the twins caught up to us. Ain made sure I was fine, and Aldebaran let Sam know we were there for him. A few of our believers shot us worried glances before going back to their parents or their friends to help them believe again. With the trunk or treat basically ruined, many of the parents ushered their kids to their cars or houses, and as the crowd thinned, I caught sight of Daniel, consoling a sobbing Amber with a black eye growing on his face. Ruby's car was long gone. My eyes strayed to Sam again, who looked like a shell of himself. I couldn't imagine the last time his holiday had descended into such disrepair with him standing in the middle of it.

I gave him a smile. "Hey, Halloween's not over yet. You've still got the teens later." A tiny spark flickered into his eyes that I could almost call hope. My heart just about shattered at how listless he was. I could feel my smile falter a little, and I saw worry enter his eyes that seemed to fill some of his emptiness. He looked away and his eyes roved the now nearly empty parking lot, strewn with bits of decorations and crushed candy. A stray candy bucket sat discarded near the edge of the lot. The only sounds were the retreating cars, muffled voices from inside the surrounding houses, and Amber's soft sobbing.

Sam slowly began walking around, looking at all the candy that had been stepped on or rolled over by tires. As Sam eyed the destruction one person's voice had caused, the twins shot me a look that barely hid their own dying panic. "Story..." Ain's voice was hushed, as if anything above a whisper would shatter whatever remained of the holiday. "How...?" She looked around helplessly, eyes following Sam. "This is horrible." Her voice broke as her words left her.

Aldebaran put a hand on his sister's shoulder to comfort her. "I thought the Guardians were immune to this sort of fragility." I'm unsure what expression was on his face, but when I looked at him, he flinched away for a second. "To think so many mortals could cease believing in a Guardian with such simple words..." He shook his head.

I sighed as I followed Sam with my eyes. He'd started to gather up whatever candy was salvageable. "Words have more power than any immortal could ever hope to have." I swallowed around the lump in my throat. "We have this saying on earth, 'the pen is mightier than the sword'. It means that a sword might be able to take you from the planet, but your words will carry over eons to every eye or ear that comes near." I looked back at the twins, who wore matching expressions that I couldn't name. "Words might be the only magic humans have, but it's more powerful than any of them realize."The three of us watched Sam and the last two - make that three - mortals go about their business for a moment or two.

I turned away from the twins, who had then decided to turn in for the night, and slowly headed for Sam. Between him reliving the Blackout and this, I was sure he'd need someone to help keep his mind off things. Under my breath, I whispered to the winds, asking them to bring Jack as soon as possible, and if more elaboration was necessary, to relay the words that had caused the trouble in the first place. As I crossed the parking lot, I caught something in my peripheral vision. I paused and looked out of the corner of my eye to see a few fearlings shifting in the shadows between the houses. Once more, under my breath, I spoke to a being none of the others would notice. "Doofus? Make sure they stay away, would you?" After a second, a smaller shadow broke from my own and headed toward the others.

I'd almost caught up with Sam when I overheard Daniel and Amber's voices. "... won't risk seeing her again." I paused to listen more. "...get a hotel?" Oh.

I looked between Sam and my believers, who were now without a place to stay because they tried to defend us. I chose to tackle Sam first. He was holding a handful of mostly fine candy bars that were only slightly squished, and was looking around like he was hoping a kid would come and ask him for some. I lightly touched his arm, causing him to jump in surprise. When his eyes had focused on me, I held my hands out and offered to take some of the candy. He pulled them close for a second, as if they were precious and not the trampled things they were. "Let me help." He stared at me for a second before giving me around half of the pile, and I pushed them into our pockets for later. After that was done, I gently took his hand. "Do you wanna take a break before it gets dark?" He let out a sigh so deep, it sounded like it came straight from his soul. He couldn't form the words but nodded a yes. I gave him a small smile and turned back toward my believers, who were looking around at the aftermath of the chaos they had unintentionally started. "Are you guys okay? What happened to your face?"

Daniel winced. "Yeah, Tony punched me in the face for bitching at Ruby." He looked to Amber, who was leaning against him despondently. "Then they packed up the kids and drove off before anyone else tried to come after them."

"About that..." He looked at me expectantly. "Do you guys not have a place to stay now?"

I felt Sam stiffen up a bit as Daniel grimaced. "Yes and no. We're still welcome at Amber's parents, but..." He looked at Amber again before dropping his voice. "Neither of us wanna have another run-in with Ruby. So I think we'll get a hotel or something instead."

"If you're interested..." Sam's voice made mine and my believers' eyes shoot to him. "I have a spare room at my house." I opened my mouth to tell him he didn't need to do that, but the determination in his eyes made me stop. Helping someone else had brought him back to himself. "You guys are in this situation because you were defending us; we should be the ones helping you."

Damiel and Amber blinked in surprise before sharing a look that involved eyebrows raising and subtle changes in their expressions that let me know they were having a silent conversation. After a moment or two, Amber cleared her throat, though her voice was still hoarse when she spoke. "We'd love that, Sam." She reached out and took his hand. "Thank you... And I'm so sorry for all of this."

Something passed over Sam's face. Regret, maybe? But he gave her a small smile anyway. "It's not either of your faults that any of this happened."

"But-"

Sam shook his head firmly. "No, neither of you should feel guilty for this."

Both stared at Sam for a moment before resigning themselves. "Okay, but we have to get our things first." Daniel looked at Amber again. "Do you wanna go ahead with them, and I'll go get our things from your parents and explain what happened?" She nodded hesitantly before shifting her weight off him. Without any of them having to ask, I pulled a blank page to me.

Daniel raised an eyebrow as I asked Sam what the address was. Without hesitation, he rattled it off to me, and I scribbled it down for Daniel. As I handed it to him, another dropped into my hand from seemingly nowhere. I quickly scrawled out a note to the twins that they'd have to portal home and couldn't stay the night unless they were willing to sleep on the floor. Sam read over my shoulder and nodded approvingly as it became a bird and flapped off toward Sam's house.

Daniel walked with us until he needed to split off. When he was gone, I let Amber lean on me as much as she needed, but we made it back to Sam's house in a little over twenty minutes. I'd hung back for a second so Doofus could sneak back into my shadow before I slipped past the wards. When we got there, Amber squinted in confusion at the 'museum' until Sam held her hand and led her past the wards. Her eyes widened a tad, and she shyly walked through the door and stared around the living room that was much cleaner than it had been when I'd arrived the day before, but had become messy again with the last-minute adjustments to the twins' costumes. I ran upstairs to see if the twins were still there. The two of them were exiting the spare room as I hit the landing. Aldebaran waved my note at me. "We will head home." He gave me a smile and I peeked over his shoulder to see Ain smoothing the bed she'd taken the night before. "How is Sam doing?"

I looked back at Aldebaran, who had tactically dropped his voice. "I don't know yet. Helping those two seemed to lift his spirits, but otherwise...?"

He nodded as Ain left the room, noticing me as she did. "Our costumes are already folded neatly in the chair; otherwise, we have cleaned up after ourselves."

"Make sure you guys say goodbye to Sam as you go." They both nodded as they passed me to go down the stairs. I heard them start talking to Amber as I scooped the costumes up off the chair. I was almost down the stairs when the front door closed. "Sam, where do you want me to put their costumes?"

He looked up from the living room where he was cleaning. After a second, he said his workroom. I rolled my eyes to myself and tossed them in quickly before the mess escaped. After I shoved the door closed, I moved to lean on the dining room chair Amber was sitting in. "You want the tour?"

She blinked in surprise, having been zoned out, staring around the mostly open main room. "Uh... yeah." She pushed herself up, and I showed her the bathroom on the first floor.

"Sam doesn't have a lot of hot water, so keep showers short if you're planning to use any to cook." As we ducked out of the bathroom, I pointed down the hallway. "Candy stash, Workroom - don't go in there until Sam's managed to clean up." I shook my head at the question she was about to ask. "All the mess is contained, but just barely. This is the linen closet, and the other closet on this floor is the Costume Closet." I looked down the hall to the door that bulged. "It's been overflowing since I met Sam."

She nodded to herself. "Noted." She looked behind us at the stairs. "Guest room upstairs?"

I moved around her while she followed me up the stairs as I opened the door to the guest room that had been recently cleaned. "Ain cleaned up before they left. There's a small closet on the left side; otherwise, this is it." She looked behind me at the door to Sam's bedroom. "That is Sam's room."

"After tonight, will he need much rest?" She grimaced for a second and rubbed her stomach.

I nodded, and my eyes drifted towards her stomach. "How far along are you?"

She took a breath and looked up, trying to remember. "Doctor said a little over two months... Ten weeks, I think?"

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Did you guys happen to get engaged ten weeks ago?" A swift punch to my arm answered it for me as she turned beet red for a second. I laughed at her reaction and rubbed at where she'd punched me. "Daniel didn't know?"

"No." She sighed and leaned against the wall. "I found out a few days before we left and thought I'd tell everyone double the good news..." She looked toward the stairs. "I know Sam said he doesn't blame us for this, but if I never tried to get my sister to tell Sammy and Benny about the Guardians... none of this would have happened."

I reached out and laid my hand on her shoulder, getting her attention again as I did. "Ruby made her own decisions, and nothing you say or do will change the fact that she did what she did." I gave her a small smile, trying to cheer her up. "It's not Ruby's fault that she stopped believing. And it's not yours either."

"But-!"

"You and Daniel are in a privileged position to be surrounded by those who will always believe." I made sure my voice didn't come across as chastizing, but gentle. "Because of Madelynn, Daniel will believe as long as he's alive, and you'll probably be the same because of your proximity to him." I pulled my hand away and gestured to her as I did. "Your kids will probably be in the same boat."

"You say that, but your family lost belief in you." As her words left her, she slapped her hand over her mouth and looked at me, eyes wide with alarm. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it like that!"

I'd frozen for a second, unintentionally. "They did. My brother stopped believing in me the same way Ruby stopped believing in Sam." I crossed my arms over my chest and took a breath. "They became parents."

Amber's arms had fallen from her face and now hung in the air. "What about Lizzie?" As I eyed her, she plowed ahead. "I know that she was the one who started the blog. She grew up with you being there for her... How do you just forget someone who's always been there for you?"

"You'd be surprised what you forget when everyone around you is telling you to grow up, telling you how stupid it is for believing in magic and Jack Frost..." Too late, I realized she'd realized what had happened to me before becoming Story Tale.

She gasped, and I winced. "You...?"

I took a breath, realizing that no one alive aside from Jack and I knew what I was about to share. "I had lost belief a long time before I met Jack." Her eyebrows stitched together in confusion. "Being a sick kid makes you grow up faster than your peers." I was staring at a weird shape in the plaster wall across from me, trying not to think too hard about how I was back then. "By the time I was in high school, magic and everything that came with it was a wonderful dream I couldn't hope to grasp in my lifetime. When I met Jack, I couldn't see or hear him." I shifted a little, uncomfortably. "My brother could, and I trusted him not to lie about Jack being there. But nothing Jack did helped me see him, not even the snowballs appearing out of thin air."

As I spoke, I heard the panes of the single window in the hall rattle. "Eventually, the Winds carried his voice to my ears when I normally wouldn't have been able to hear him. Even when I didn't believe I could have magic, I still believed the wind was sentient." I noticed Amber's eyes flicker to the window. "To be clear, I believed in the Guardians and... many of my current peers, but what I'd lost belief in was myself." Her eyes shot to mine. "Apparently, not believing in yourself makes believing in anything else impossible."