Every few days an Eggomotive train would arrive from the pole, sometimes to bring gifts, news, or returning visitors. The three Williams had just come back and told everyone tantalizing stories of how North’s city was growing into the most beautiful place they had ever seen. An enchanted forest now surrounded the city, like the one around Santoff Claussen, but the trees were evergreens—they’d never lose their leaves and all were pointed, like giant cones.
“They are covered with tiny egg-shaped lights, crafted by Bunnymund,” explained the youngest William to the others. The city itself sat atop a mountain of ice and snow and was sculpted from the same materials, at least on the outside. Inside, the palatial towers and pavilions, the floors and walls, were grown from sampled hunks of Big Root itself.
On the night of what was now named “the Great Migration,” half of Big Root had been transported to the North Pole. But in Santoff Claussen this halving was barely noticeable, for the fantastic tree did not split in half; rather, it divided itself into two trees. Every other limb and root had formed over a new trunk. When the new tree flew away, the original Big Root simply shifted its remaining limbs and roots in a way that made it difficult to imagine that any part of it was gone.
The new Big Root at the pole had then grown itself to take the shapes of all the rooms, stairs, and furniture in North’s plans. It was now the only city in history in which every wall, chair, ceiling, and door was alive and able to change upon command.
“If North or Ombric needs a chair, one will come running into place,” explained Tall William.
“And North needs a much bigger chair now,” added William the Almost Youngest. “He’s gotten kinda fat!” They all laughed at the idea.
“The Yetis are great cooks,” said Tall William.
“North loves their chocolate and vanilla Moon cookies,” blurted William the Absolute Youngest. “White on one side, dark on the other.”
“Just like the Moon?” asked Sascha.
“Yep,” replied the youngest William. “And all good.”
“And what of Katherine?” asked Petter.
The Williams glanced at each other. Tall William spoke first. “Ombric received a message just before we left. Sandman found her.”
“Is she all right?” asked Sascha.
“We don’t know for sure,” said Not-as-Old William.
“They are bringing her to the pole,” said Tall William.
“What’s that?” asked Fog, scratching his head under his SC cap.
“The most magicalist place in the city of North,” said William the Absolute Youngest with awe. “Its giant tower in the center of the city—it can do anything. It can even go to the Moon, they say.”
That pronouncement drew a collective “wow” from all who listened, even the bugs and squirrels.
Above them, they then saw what looked like a slowly moving shooting star arc across the twilight sky. They looked at it curiously. It was bigger than a star, they realized. It was more like a small cloud. A familiar, slightly sleepy feeling came over them all. Then they knew.
“It’s not a star, it’s the Sandyman,” said the youngest William.
“Yeah. And Nightlight,” said Sascha. “They must be traveling with our Katherine!” There was a sudden feeling of hope and excitement among the group.
“Then we must wish them well,” said Fog.
So they repeated the words that make all magic possible. The first magic words they had ever learned. The words they hoped would help Katherine.
“I believe, I believe, I believe.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
The Power of the Nightmare Rock
SANDY AND NIGHTLIGHT WERE anxious to get Katherine to safety. Mansnoozie was worried that she had perhaps been trapped inside a nightmare for too long. That she might never recover from such a stream of horror. The black slab of Pitch’s Nightmare Rock seemed to be devouring the Dreamsand cloud beneath it; Sandy was using an alarming amount of sand just to keep them flying.
At last they were nearing North’s new city. The luminous northern lights ebbed and flowed around them in giant graceful waves. Sandy’s fingertips still hurt from his brief attempt to break through the layer of nightmare energy that surrounded Katherine. He paused from spreading Dreamsand to look closely at his aching fingers. The Dreamsand at each tip was scorched with small black bruises that were starting to spread.
He’d never before encountered any nightmare that had had such an effect on his Dreamsand. An odd, sudden urge now compelled him to bring his fingertips to his ear—to listen. And what he heard astounded him. Tiny screaming voices! His Dreamsand was being turned into nightmare sand—each grain of blackening sand now held a nightmare!
As Sandy brought his hand from his ear, staring at the spreading black, thinking of what to do, Nightlight was still watching Katherine. For much of the journey, her sleeping face had been growing ever more peaceful, but now she looked terrified.
The dream cloud beneath them began to lurch and rock unsteadily. Nightlight glanced down. The bright golden sand was churning. Streaks of black began to appear throughout its billowing shape.
Nightlight turned to Sandy, but the little man was already grabbing at him. He jerked the diamond tip of Nightlight’s staff to his blackening fingers and began to furiously scrape them. Each scrape peeled the nightmare sand from his fingers; within seconds, his hand was free of the spreading darkness.
But the scraped-away sand began to form into an entity—a small Nightmare Man. And all the sand beneath Nightlight and Sandy was darkening as the dream cloud grew more volatile. They could barely stand as it twisted and jerked, as if fighting for its soul. From both hands, Sandy shot streams of fresh sand into the cloud, but it blackened faster than he could send forth his sand.
They were directly above North’s amazing city now, its dazzling lights shining up around them, but they were in desperate trouble.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Situational Chocolates
DOWN BELOW, THE OTHER Guardians and all the citizens of the new city watched in awe and alarm.
“Just when things seemed to be going so well,” said Ombric, rolling up his sleeves and thinking through his list of fighting spells. He wondered if he was still up to the task. This is for Katherine’s sake, he thought, and strength came roaring back.
“Time to do a little multiplication,” said Queen Toothiana, fluttering her wings and clutching her ruby relic.
“Get my sleigh,” North said to his elves.
“I believe this situation calls for a particularly potent chocolate,” said Bunnymund. Chocolate had quite an effect on the Pooka. It could transform him in a variety of ways, all of them extraordinary. His ears were already twitching with anticipation.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Guardian Glory and the Peskiness of Gravity
THE CLOUD ITSELF BEGAN twining around Nightlight’s legs and feet, trying to pull him into its blackness. Sandy made long whips of Dreamsand and began to snap them at every coiling tendril, shattering the dark attackers. Nightlight was equally effective with his staff. He stabbed and slashed at the black sand, hacking deep rips and troughs into any shape that threatened.
But the cloud was possessed now. It could change faster than Nightlight and Sandy could manage. It reached out and wrapped itself around that magnificent pole North was building, sending the rock that Katherine lay upon pitching forward.
Sandy and Nightlight grabbed at the marble slab, trying to steady it, but each touch blasted them backward. The blackened sand beneath them began to change before their eyes; creatures by the hundreds began to form from the dark grains—a cloud of Nightmare Men. They clawed and stabbed at Sandy and Nightlight in numbers impossible to vanquish. The two fought on fiercely, cutting away at the tendrils that were twisting around the pole. But they were simply outmatched by the enemy.
Then, as they were beginning to lose hope, the sky around them filled with able helpers. Queen Toothiana and her warrior fairies.
Ten thousand fairies! More! Arrows and swords hitting every mark!
At that point Ombric astrally projected himself into twenty places at once and obliterated the clouds of Nightmare Men in each place!
And Bunnymund, his mighty ears twirling with the speed of a splitting atom, shot through the air like a bolt of lightning. He’d grown a dozen arms, and each held a sword made of meteor metal.
Then came North on his newly crafted sleigh of his own design, flying at the speed of light and pulled by a team of the Giant Reindeer from the forest of Santoff Claussen.
Together they smashed and blasted through the barrage of Nightmare Men with withering force. The power of the Guardians was awesome to behold.
But the moment of triumph vanished quickly.
The rock that held Katherine slipped through the faltering mass of Nightmare Men and fell with sickening speed toward the ground below.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
And So They Fell
THERE WAS NO DOUBT that Nightlight was the fastest boy who’d ever lived, but he was not the strongest. As Katherine, on her stone tomb, plunged, Nightlight speared the dense rock with his diamond dagger. Gripping his staff, he used every ounce of his flying strength to try to slow the fall. But not even a hundred Nightlights could have slowed a stone of its mass.
And so they fell.
Precious seconds passed as Nightlight tried desperately to smash his fist through the murky shield of nightmare energy that encased Katherine. At the same time his mind was racing, finding that place where time seems to slow and fate can sometimes lend a hand.
The shield. How to break through?! Can’t use the diamond dagger. Could hurt Katherine. How to break? How?!
Bits of Sandy’s dream cloud, the grains that had not yet been corrupted, still clung to the Nightmare Rock, stinging Nightlight in the face as they plunged. Several bits peppered his eyes and made him blink. There wasn’t time to brush the grains away. They could not make the spectral boy sleep—Nightlight had never slept—instead they made him remember, just as the Sandman had predicted.
He remembered so much, so fast, all from his long-ago life with the Man on the Moon. Treasured moments flickered by like leaves in the wind. The oath he had taken, the song he sang every night to the young prince, and the Dreamsand. Before the Dreamsand! What? What happened before the Dreamsand? He knew it was important. It could show him how to save Katherine.
It was the most powerful thing of all.
It was stronger than dreams and nightmares, or diamond daggers made of tears, or actions bold and relics ancient.
It was the kiss.
The kiss of the good night. He remembered the Man in the Moon’s parents. Every night they’d say good night and kiss the baby. Then he, Nightlight, would bring the Dreamsand to keep the nightmares away. The kiss! It’s magic. It takes away all the hurt of the day! At least that’s what they’d told him.
Would a kiss from me have any power? he wondered. There was just enough time to try.
Then valiant Nightlight, hero of so many battles, faced the most bewildering moment of his endless boyhood: a kiss.
How is it done?! What do I do? What if I do it wrong?! Something with the lips?! How?!
Just Go! GO!
He closed his eyes and lunged face-first toward Katherine. The nightmare shield gave way like vapor. Its powers only worked against force and fear. And a kiss is neither. It is a hopeful thing. For one eternal instant, Nightlight’s lips touched Katherine’s, and all of Pitch’s dark spells were gone. Her eyes opened. Her tortured sleep was done. The Kiss made everything all right. Katherine was fine. There was no time for even a smile. Nightlight grabbed her hand and flew her away from the plummeting rock. And as it crashed to the ground, he glimpsed a gash in the stone. It was beneath where Katherine had lain. Just under where her heart had been. It was the hole his diamond dagger had left when, so long ago, it had pierced through Pitch and kept them both imprisoned and asleep for ages.
Nightlight felt Katherine’s hand in his. He had saved her. And he had saved a part of himself, too—a part that had been forgotten. He had never felt more awake or alive.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Growing Up Is an Awfully Big Adventure
WHEN IT LANDED, THE Nightmare Rock had blasted a crater of impressive size at the base of North’s city, sending the Nightmare Men retreating. Then Mother Nature swirled up a tempest so strong, it sent them spiraling away and past the horizon. She gave a nod to them all from where she hovered and then flew away before anyone could say a word.
“Mysterious creature,” remarked North. Sandy just smiled. He knew that better than anyone.
“One can seldom predict the weather,” said Bunnymund. Then they turned their attention to the fallen stone. Though the crater was twenty feet deep and twice as big around, the damaged ground beneath it was made of Big Root wood, so it instantly began to restore itself. As the other Guardians gathered around the disappearing crater’s edge, the floor began to level, the slab of black stone rising with it. Since the Nightmare Men had retreated the moment the rock hit the ground, the battle was, for now, over.
“And no sign of Pitch,” said North, stroking his beard.
“Not like him at all,” Bunnymund added, sheathing his dozen swords.
Toothiana flared her wings. “My human side says ‘beware.’ My other side says the same, but louder.”
“We’ll meet whatever comes,” said Ombric philosophically. As he gazed up at Katherine and Nightlight, the weariness that had plagued him seemed to pass. Having Katherine back was a tonic to him. To all of them. “For now, let’s bask in the victory of friends reunited!”
Hand in hand, Katherine and Nightlight floated down and landed gently beside the rock. The entire city rushed to the site, and there were cheers and instant jubilation. Katherine was safe! North immediately picked her up and hugged her tightly, his laugh now as deep as his waistline was thick.
“You’ve grown!” bellowed the Cossack.
“So have you.” Katherine giggled as she poked her old friend in his now-ample belly.
“The hazards of Yeti cooking,” explained Ombric, who joined in the hugging.
The Yetis were clustered nearby. Strangely enough, they were weeping like babies.
“They always do that when they’re happy,” chirped Mr. Qwerty, who paused from frantically writing everything down in himself so Katherine could read all about it later.
“That is exceedingly odd,” muttered Bunnymund. “I mean, it’s peculiar enough when humans cry, but Abominable Snowmen? That’s a bit much.”
“Oh, and twelve arms isn’t?” countered North.
“I’d have grown one hundred and twenty arms to save Katherine,” the rabbit replied curtly, then gave her a dozen simultaneous salutes.
“Is that all, Bunnymund?” asked Toothiana, smiling. “I made thousands of fairies.”
The rabbit sniffed and wiggled his whiskers. “Hmm. I hate to say it, but you have a point, Your Highness.” His ears twitched like mad. “I’ll have to start working on a stronger chocolate. Now, if the ratio of cacao beans to each arm is four to one, then I’d need—”
Bunnymund’s calculations were interrupted by Kailash, who waddled up between North and Katherine, honking like mad. Katherine was ecstatic to see her beloved Snow Goose. She hugged the massive bird’s neck till Kailash pecked her.
The bustle of conversation was joyous and loud and went on till dusk. Katherine was in awe of North’s city glittering around her. She gazed up at the turrets, admiring the exacting carvings and sculptural work, delighting over the colors—red and white stripes—North had chosen. And though Katherine was very happy to see it all—and them all—there was one to whom she very much wanted to speak. She looked through the crowd. Where was he?
But Nightlight knew.
As he brought Sandy through the excited group, Katherine motioned for the little man to come closer. He bowed as he neared her. She smiled at him, and he smiled back
. His magnificent, peaceful smile. Though they had never actually met, they knew each other well. They were comrades from the land of sleep and dreams.
The other Guardians began to all talk at once.
“Ah!” said North. “Mansnoozie! At last we actually meet.”
“Such remarkable sand,” commented Ombric. “I am ashamed I didn’t recognize it at once.”
“I don’t often dream, you know,” Bunnymund told him. “Pookas dream only one night in every thousand years. I do hope you haven’t damaged my sleep cycle.”
Toothiana smacked one of her wings across Bunnymund’s left ear. “You don’t have to say everything that comes into your head!” she whispered.
“Oh no, not you too,” the rabbit said, groaning. “I have to have human lessons from you and North?”
But one by one, they all grew quiet. They once again knew what Katherine was thinking. The great link of their friendship had finally been restored. In the silence that surrounded them, Katherine looked at Sandy. He didn’t say a word. He’s like Nightlight and me, she thought. He doesn’t need to say much to be heard. His greatness was in his doing. He risked his life to save mine! Is there any greater gift? She’d not heard his story, but from the other Guardians, she knew: He was one of them. And she knew exactly what was required.