The Guardians: Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King

by William Joyce

  The two of them stopped a moment and watched the children’s game unfold. “So how exactly does the chocolate transform you, Bunnymund?” Ombric asked his new friend.

  “My dear fellow,” the rabbit replied, “I’m not entirely sure. Some mysteries need no solution. Does it help to understand why rainbows happen?”

  “I think it does,” replied Ombric.

  The rabbit almost laughed. “You humans.”

  And from the trees above, a brave and gentle spirit watched them all. Nightlight, the one who said the least but perhaps knew the most, thought only of the comfort he felt. He was among true friends. The moonbeam, back inside the diamond dagger, was happy as well. The dagger was bigger now. It contained the tears that Nightlight had taken from the children when they’d been kidnapped; he’d used them to bind the broken dagger back together again. Nightlight had always known that taking the sorrows of those you love makes you stronger in the end.

  Remembering this now made him glow a bit brighter. Katherine could sense his gaze. She turned and looked up. She could not see him—he was hiding—but she knew he was there. The power of friendship was magical indeed. The happiness Nightlight felt spread to all of them. They had done what good friends should do: They had all saved one another. Whatever trials or troubles might come, from now on, their bond would be unbreakable. They were of one mind and heart.

  And that heart would beat forever. Past time and tide and stories yet told.

  THE NEXT CHAPTER IN OUR ONGOING SAGA WILL FEATURE THE DISCOVERY OF

  TOOTHIANA

  QUEEN OF THE TOOTH FAIRY ARMIES

  Acknowledgments

  Huzzahs all around to Elizabeth Blake-Linn, Caitlyn Dlouhy, Trish Farnsworth-Smith, Jeannie Ng, and Lauren Rille, and with special appreciation to Laurie Calkhoven—Guardians of the Book, all.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  The Changes That Come with Peace

  Chapter Two

  The Guardians Gather

  Chapter Three

  Nightlight Must Lie

  Chapter Four

  A Celebration, an Insect Symphony, and a Troublesome Feeling

  Chapter Five

  An Amazing Journey to the Top of the World

  Chapter Six

  The Chicken or the Egg: A Puzzle

  Chapter Seven

  In Which the Man in the Moon Greets the Guardians with a Fair Amount of Fanfare

  Chapter Eight

  The Future Unfolds

  Chapter Nine

  A Tear of Mystery

  Chapter Ten

  The Tooth of Destiny

  Chapter Eleven

  A Teasing Tale of Teeth and Terror

  Chapter Twelve

  The Story of Queen Toothiana Continues: A Mystery of Wing and Madness

  Chapter Thirteen

  Lost Teeth and a Purpose Found

  Chapter Fourteen

  Nightlight Faces the Unknown

  Chapter Fifteen

  Plots, Plans, and Pillows

  Chapter Sixteen

  In Which We See the Extremely Secret Process by Which a Tooth Is Gathered

  Chapter Seventeen

  Monkey See, Monkey Don’t

  Chapter Eighteen

  A Journey Most Confounding, with Flying Monkeys Who Smell Very Badly Indeed

  Chapter Nineteen

  Panic in the Himalayas

  Chapter Twenty

  In Which Toothiana Makes a Startling Discovery

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Nightlight Sees a Woman of Mystery

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  To Be Brave . . .

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  In Which the Guardians Fly to Punjam Hy Loo

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Anger, Despair, and a Wisp of Hope

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  A Brief Exchange as the Watchful Are Watched

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  The Reckoning

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Can a Pooka Grow Six Arms?

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  A Monkey Battle Royale

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The Dark Surprise Or All Is Given for the Sake of Pity

  Chapter Thirty

  The Winds of Change

  To Trish,

  she IS a Guardian

  FOR US ALL.

  CHAPTER ONE

  The Changes That Come with Peace

  WILLIAM THE ABSOLUTE YOUNGEST galloped through the enchanted village of Santoff Claussen on the back of a large Warrior Egg, a gift from E. Aster Bunnymund. “I can’t stop or I’ll be scrambled!” he shouted over his shoulder to his friend Fog. In this new game of Warrior Egg tag, to be scrambled meant you had been caught by the opposing egg team and therefore, had lost a point.

  Sascha and her brother, Petter, were in hot pursuit, riding Warrior Eggs of their own. The matchstick-thin legs of the mechanical eggs moved so fast, they were a blur.

  “Comin’ in for the scramble shot!” Petter warned. His long tag pole, with the egg-shaped tip, was inches away from Sascha.

  “Eat my yolk,” Sascha said with a triumphant laugh. She pushed a button, and suddenly, her Warrior Egg sprouted wings. She flew over the others, reaching the finish line first.

  William the Absolute Youngest slowed to a trot. “Wings!” he grumbled. “They aren’t even in the rules!”

  “I invented them yesterday,” said Sascha. “There’s nothing in the rules that says you can’t use ’em.”

  Soon Sascha was helping the youngest William construct his own set of eggbot wings. She liked the youngest William. He always tried to act older, and she appreciated his determination and spirit. Petter and Fog, feeling wild and industrious, catapulted themselves to the hollow of a tall tree where they had erected a hideout devoted to solving ancient mysteries, such as: why was there such a thing as bedtime, and what could they do to eliminate it forever?

  Across the clearing, in a tree house perched high in the branches of Big Root—the tree at the center of the village—their friend Katherine contently watched the children play.

  The air shimmered with their happy laughter. Many months had passed since the battle at the Earth’s core during which Pitch, the Nightmare King, had been soundly defeated by Katherine and the other Guardians: Ombric, the wizard; his apprentice, Nicholas St. North; their friend Nightlight; and their newest ally, the Pookan rabbit known as E. Aster Bunnymund. Pitch, who had hungered for the dreams of innocent children and longed to replace them with nightmares, had vowed with his Fearlings to make all the children of Earth live in terror. But since the great battle, he had not been seen or heard from, and Katherine was beginning to hope that Pitch had been vanquished forever.

  As for Katherine and her battle mates, their lives were forever changed. The Man in the Moon himself had given them the title of “Guardians.” They were heroes now, sworn to protect the children of not just Santoff Claussen, but the entire planet. They had defeated Pitch, and their greatest challenge at present was how to manage the peace. The “nightmare” of Pitch’s reign seemed to be over.

  The other children of the village now filled their days with mischief and magic. Bunnymund, who could burrow through the Earth with astonishing speed, had created a series of tunnels for them, connecting the village with his home on Easter Island and with other amazing outposts around the world, and the children had become intrepid explorers. On any given day they might journey to the African savanna to visit the lions, cheetahs, and hippopotami—Ombric had taught them a number of animal languages, so they had numerous stories to hear and tell. Many of the creatures had already heard of their amazing adventures.

  The children also regularly circled through Easter Island for the latest chocolate confection Bunnymund had invented, and could still be back in time for dinner and games with Bunnymund’s mechanical egg comrades. The eggs were once Bunnymund’s warriors; now they helped the children build all manner of interesting contraptions, from
intricate egg-shaped puzzles where every piece was egg-shaped (a nearly impossible and frankly unexplainable feat) to egg-shaped submarines. But no matter where the children roamed or what they did to occupy their days, whenever they returned home to Santoff Claussen, it had never seemed so lovely to them.

  As Katherine sat in her tree house, she put her arm around Kailash, her great Himalayan Snow Goose, and looked out on her beloved village. The forest that surrounded and protected Santoff Claussen had bloomed into a kind of eternal spring. The massive oaks and vines that had once formed an impenetrable wall against the outside world were thick with leaves of the deepest green. The huge, spear-size thorns that had once covered the vines grew pliant and blossomed with sweet-scented flowers.

  Katherine loved the smell, and drew a deep breath of it. In the distance she could see Nicholas St. North walking with the beautiful, ephemeral Spirit of the Forest. She was more radiant now than ever before. Her gossamer robes were resplendent with blooms that shimmered like jewels. North was deep in conversation with her, so Katherine decided to investigate. She climbed on to Kailash’s back and flew down into the clearing, just in time to see William the Absolute Youngest try out the new wings with which he’d outfitted his Warrior Egg. He landed and trotted over to her.

  “Want to race with us, Katherine?” he asked. He gave Kailash a scratch on her neck, and the goose honked a hello.

  “I will later!” Katherine said, smiling. She waved to her friends and headed into the forest, realizing that it had been quite some time since any of the children had asked her to play, and an even longer time since she had accepted. In joining the world of the Guardians, she was in a strange new phase of her life—where she was neither child nor adult. As she watched the youngest William fly away with Sascha close behind him, she couldn’t help but feel a bit torn.

  Then she heard North’s hearty laugh and, underneath that, the more musical tones of the Spirit of the Forest. Katherine hurried toward them, thinking that it was hard to believe that when North first came to Santoff Claussen with his band of outlaws, it had been with the intent to steal its treasures. The Spirit of the Forest, the village’s last line of defense, had turned North’s crew of cutthroats and bandits into stone statues—hideous, hunched elves. But she had spared North, for he alone among them was pure of heart.

  When Katherine caught up with the Spirit and North, they were standing in that most strange and eerie part of the forest—the place where North’s men stood frozen in time, like stones in a forgotten burial site. With the Spirit’s help, North was bringing his bandits back to human form.

  As the Spirit touched the head of each statue, North repeated the same spell, “From flesh to stone and back again. To serve with honor, your one true friend.” And one by one they emerged from their frozen poses. To North’s great amusement, they hadn’t regained their size. They were still the same height as their stone selves—about two feet tall, with bulbous noses and high, childlike voices.

  “Welcome back,” North called out, slapping each of the elfin men on the back.

  The men stamped their little feet and waved their little arms to get their blood flowing again, and soon the children, drawn by North’s laughter, arrived. They were shocked; they often played among these small stone men, and now that they were moving—were alive, in fact—the children were most intrigued. Tall William, the first son of Old William, towered over them. Even the youngest William was overjoyed—at last he was taller than someone else.

  While the children watched, the little men kneeled before North. They took on new names as they pledged to follow their former outlaw leader in a new life of goodness. Gregor of the Mighty Stink became Gregor of the Mighty Smile. Sergei the Terrible was now Sergei the Giggler, and so on.

  It was an odd but auspicious moment, especially for North. He remembered his wild, unruly life as a bandit and the many dark deeds that he and these fellows had committed. He’d become a hero, a man of great learning, good humor, and some wisdom. So much had changed since that moment when he faced the temptation of the Spirit of the Forest, when he had rejected her promises of treasure and had chosen to save the children of Santoff Claussen.

  North turned and looked at young Katherine. He felt the full weight of all they had been through. They had both changed. It was a change he did not fully understand, but he knew he was glad for it. For though these dwarfish fellows in front of him had once been his comrades in crime, North, in his heart, had been alone. But that was past. This was a different day. And through the friendship he now knew, he could change bad men to good and stone back to flesh.

  North gently asked his old confederates to rise. They did so gladly.

  Peace had indeed come.

  Katherine took North’s hand, and together they welcomed these baffled little men to the world of Santoff Claussen.

  CHAPTER TWO

  The Guardians Gather

  ALTHOUGH THE CHILDREN HAD begun to refer to the battle at the Earth’s core as “Pitch’s Last Battle,” the Guardians knew that the Nightmare King was both devious and shrewd. He could still be lurking somewhere, ready to pounce.

  Nightlight, the mysterious, otherworldly boy who was Katherine’s dearest friend, scoured the night sky for signs of Pitch’s army. He even traveled deep into the cave where he’d been imprisoned in Pitch’s icy heart for centuries, but all he found were memories of those dark times. Of Pitch and his Fearling soldiers, he could find not even an echo. Bunnymund kept his rabbit ears tuned for ominous signs while burrowing his system of tunnels, and Ombric cast his mind about for bits of dark magic that might be creeping into the world. As for North, he was being rather secretive. He kept to himself (or, rather, to his elfin friends), working quietly and diligently in the great study, deep at the center of Big Root. On what he was working, no one knew for sure, but he seemed most intense.

  Mr. Qwerty

  And every night the children clamored for Mr. Qwerty, the glowworm who had transformed himself into a magical book. Because he had eaten every book in Ombric’s library, he could tell the children any fact or story they wanted to hear. Mr. Qwerty’s pages were blank, at least until he began to read himself, and then the words and drawings would appear. But most nights the children wanted to hear one of Katherine’s stories from Mr. Qwerty, for he allowed only her to write in him. But before any story was read, Katherine asked them about their dreams. Not one had had a single nightmare since the great battle.

  There truly was absolutely no sign of Pitch. The sun seemed to shine brighter, every day seemed more beautiful, perfect, carefree. It was as if, when Pitch vanished, he took all the evil in the world with him.

  Even so, the Guardians knew that wickedness of Pitch’s magnitude did not surrender easily. They met together every day, never at an appointed time, but when it somehow seemed right. Their bond of friendship was so strong that it now connected them in heart and mind. Each could often sense what the others felt, and when it felt like the time to gather, they would just somehow know. They would drop what they were doing and go to Big Root, where, with cups of tea, they’d discuss any possible signs of Pitch’s return.

  On this particular day Nightlight hadn’t far to travel. The night before, he’d stayed in Big Root’s treetop all through the night, having searched every corner of the globe at dusk and found nothing alarming. Though he could fly forever, and never slept, his habit was to watch over Katherine and Kailash. More and more often the girl and her goose slept in their nestlike tree house, and so Nightlight would join them and guard them till morning.

  Among the Guardians, his and Katherine’s bond was the greatest. It hovered in a lovely realm that went past words and descriptions. The two never tired of the other’s company and felt a pang of sadness when apart. But even that ache was somehow exquisite, for they knew that they would never be separated for long. Nightlight would never let that be so. Nor would Katherine. Time and time again they had managed a way to find each other, no matter how desperate the circums
tances.

  So Nightlight felt most perfectly at peace when watching over Katherine as she slept. Sleep was a mystery to him, and in some ways, so was dreaming. It worried him, in fact. Katherine was there but not entirely. Her mind traveled to Dreamlands where he could not follow.

  In his childish way, he longed to go with her. And on this night, he had found a way to trespass into the unknown realm of her sleeping mind.

  As he’d sat beside Katherine and her goose as they slept, he’d looked up to the Moon. His friend was full and bright. In these peaceful times the playful moonbeams came to him less often than before. There were no worries or urgent messages from the Man in the Moon, and so Nightlight could now enjoy the silent beauty of his benefactor. But a glint of something on Katherine’s cheek had reflected the Moon’s glow. Nightlight leaned in closely.

  It was a tear. A tear? This confounded him. What was there in her dream that would make Katherine cry? He knew about the power of tears. It was from tears that his diamond dagger was forged. But those tears were from wakeful times. He had never touched a Dream Tear. But before he could think better of it, he reached down and gently plucked it up.

  Dream Tears are very powerful, and when Nightlight first tried to look into it, he was nearly knocked from the tree. He caught his balance and carefully looked at the small drop. Inside was Katherine’s dream. And what he saw there seared his soul. For the first time in all his strange and dazzling life, Nightlight felt a deep, unsettling fear.

  There, haunting her dreams, he had seen Pitch.

  Nightlight and the Dream Tear

  CHAPTER THREE

  Nightlight Must Lie

  NOW, AS NIGHTLIGHT SHIMMERED his way into the waiting room of Big Root, he was the last to arrive. He kept his distance, perching high on one of the bookcases. Ombric and Bunnymund were poring over a map of the lost city of Atlantis. Katherine spied Nightlight and could tell immediately that something was troubling him.