The Guardians

by William Joyce

  “The Hunter called out again. ‘I bring you the half-breed daughter of Haroom and Rashmi.’ At this, an otherworldly sound—like a rustle of trees in the wind—was heard. And indeed wind did begin to blow down from the mountain. It grew stronger and more furious, with gusts that nearly put out the torches.

  “Toothiana knew instinctually that this wind was sent by the Sisters of Flight and that they did not trust the Hunter. She also knew that it was time to take out the box her parents had left her.

  “As the winds continued to rise, the Hunter grew increasingly nervous, as did his minions. They began to chatter in the oddest way, not in words, but in sounds.

  “Then a chorus of voices, all speaking in unison, rang out bright and clear above the howl of the wind: ‘Tell us, Hunter, why cage our child? Where be her father and mother? What trick of men do you bring us? What do you seek, you who seem of men and yet are not?’

  “The Hunter rocked on his feet, seething with undisguised hate. He held his torch high and stepped forward, leaning into the wind. The elephants raised their trunks but took a step back. Fire was a fearsome thing, even for these mighty beasts.

  “The Hunter laughed, then threw down his tattered cloak. He was no man at all, but a massive monkey. ‘A maharaja of men I once was,’ he screamed, ‘and by your doing, I am now a king of the monkeys!’ Then his troops dropped their cloaks as well. An array of monkeys revealed themselves, all armed with bows and arrows.

  “The Monkey King shrieked above the roaring wind, ‘You ask about her parents? Dead! By my doing! What do I seek? Revenge! On all who made me thus!’ Then he threw his torch into the herd of elephants and grabbed a bow and arrow from one of his men. He had it drawn in an instant, aimed directly at Toothiana’s heart.

  “Before he could let loose the arrow, the wind tripled in strength. Toothiana knew what to do. She held the ruby box tightly in her hand. ‘Mother, Father, help me,’ she whispered furiously, clenching her eyes shut. She pictured them clearly in her mind, letting herself feel the bond they had shared so deeply, letting herself remember how much they had sacrificed for her.

  “Suddenly, she was no longer in the cage. She was no longer a single entity, but several smaller versions of herself.

  “Bow drawn, the Monkey King hesitated, bewildered. How can this be? He could not remember the power of love—even though it had been this girl’s father who had loved him best—and his own memories were now fueled only by hate.

  “So the world turned against him once again.

  “The Sisters of Flight circled overhead. It was the flapping of their wings that made the great wind. It grew wilder and stranger, like a tornado. Leaves snapped off trees. Dirt swirled like a storm, and the Monkey King’s torch blew out.

  “Now the only light came from the Moon, and no jungle creature fears that guiding light. In an instant the elephants stampeded forward. Toothiana’s animal friends attacked. Toothiana’s mini-selves charged the Monkey King. The monkey army screamed and ran.

  A mini Tooth

  “The king tried to grab the Toothianas, but he could not catch them. Then all the fairy-sized selves merged back into a single being. Toothiana was mystified by her new power, but she didn’t think on it. With one hand, she grabbed the Monkey King by the throat. It was as if she now had the strength of a dozen. The Monkey King cried out in terror and pain.

  “For an instant Toothiana felt the rage within her swell. She would snap his neck and be done with him. But the little box glowed in one hand, and the memory of her parents made her stop. She would not end this monkey man’s life. Let the jungle choose his fate.

  “So she let him go.

  “He fell to the ground, and she did not look back as she flew up to join the Sisters of Flight.

  “As they sped away, Toothiana and her kindred could hear the creatures of the jungle do as they saw fit with the fallen Monkey King. And his cries could be heard all the way to the Moon.”

  Mr. Qwerty then shut his pages. The tale, as it was written, was done.

  Toothiana’s story made Katherine feel many things, but the strangest was a twinge of envy. Toothiana had memories of her parents. It was something Katherine wished for more than anything.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Nightlight Faces the Unknown

  AFTER LISTENING AT THE window to the story of Queen Toothiana, Nightlight flew listlessly around the mountains that surrounded the Lunar Lamadary. He was increasingly troubled. Until now he had viewed the events of his life in very simple terms. To him, the world was divided into good and bad. Katherine and the Guardians were good—absolutely. And Pitch was bad, through and through, without even an ounce of good in him. And yet . . .

  Nightlight was confounded by what he had seen in Katherine’s Dream Tear. And in this dream, Pitch’s hand was human, as it had been since he’d tried to make Nightlight a Darkling Prince.

  But there was more.

  In the dream, Pitch had held in his human hand the locket with his daughter’s picture. But the picture shifted, and Katherine’s face took its place. And then her face began to change! It became different. Older. A grown-up’s face. And then darker. More like Pitch’s.

  Nightlight was afraid of this dream. It felt true. No Guardian had seen any sign of Pitch of late, yet Nightlight had; Pitch lived—in Katherine’s dreams. What did this mean?

  Would she grow up? Would she become like so many adults, a grim shadow of her youthful self? Or was there a greater danger? Would she somehow be taken over by Pitch? Was her soul in danger? These questions tore at his heart and soul in ways he could not comprehend or put into words. So he turned to his oldest friend.

  For hours he waited for the Moon to rise, and when it did, he took Katherine’s Dream Tear and held it up. The moonbeam inside his staff began to flash, and moments later, the Man in the Moon responded to his signal. Moonbeams shined down and flickered as they interpreted the Dream Tear. Then Nightlight, waiting anxiously, finally whispered in his rarely used and otherworldly voice, “Will my Katherine go Darkling or stay true?” He stood, still and tense, for a long while until a moonbeam brought back the simple answer, the answer that was the truth of everything:

  Believe. Believe. Believe, it said.

  And for the first time in his endless childhood life, Nightlight cried. He was not sure why he was crying. He could not describe the feeling that brought the tears. It was not happiness or sorrow. It was not good or bad. But it was something just as powerful.

  Someday he would know what it was, that first mysterious step beyond childhood. It is a strange feeling, to realize that you will grow up, especially for one who has been a child for so long. But he now had the answer he needed to face this uncertainty.

  Believe. Believe. Believe. If he could remember that, he would make everything right. And so his tears stopped. He wiped them from his cheeks, then brought them close to his face, so unaccustomed was he to having tears.

  Each was bright with light and seemed to take the burden from his anxious heart. He let them spill together with Katherine’s Dream Tear.

  Then he took the diamond tip of his staff and touched it to the tears, holding it there until they fused with the diamond. Now the spearlike point of his staff held not just his friend’s fear and sorrow, but his own as well.

  The moonbeam inside grew furiously bright, for sorrow and fear that are triumphed over make a powerful weapon.

  At that instant he heard Katherine calling for him, and he knew that whatever might come, he was ready.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Plots, Plans, and Pillows

  IT IS NOT EASY to fall asleep when an entire village, an army of Abominable Snowmen, a troupe of ancient Lunar holy men, and all your best friends are coming into your bedroom and wishing you good night. It is also not easy to sleep when you know you are going to be visited by a half-bird, half-human queen with magical powers. And it is really hard to sleep when you have made a secret plan with your dearest friend to do the one thing you
’ve been told you absolutely MUST NOT DO when this particular queen arrives. So there Katherine sat, in her huge and feathered bed in her special room in the Lunar Lamadary, as wide awake as any twelve-year-old has ever been.

  She’d just checked under her pillow for the eleventh time to make certain that her tooth hadn’t somehow rolled onto the floor when North opened the bedroom door again, just enough to stick in his head. “Still awake?” he asked in surprise.

  Ombric and Bunnymund crowded in next to him, crammed so tightly in the doorway that Katherine could see only half of Ombric’s face and one of Bunnymund’s ears, with Ombric’s beard tangled around it.

  “Perhaps if you chant the ancient Atlantan phrase ‘Sleep-o deep-o slumberly doo—’ ” Ombric began to suggest.

  Bunnymund interrupted with, “Counting! That’ll do it. Count chocolate eggs jumping counterclockwise over a small wall also made of chocolate—”

  Then North interrupted, saying, “A song! We should sing a song!”

  Then they all began to talk at once: “It should be about eggs! A sleepy chocolate egg opera would be perfect!” . . . “No, no, no! A good old-fashioned Cossack lullaby. ‘Don’t cut my throat while I am sleeping, mother, my mother dear.’ ” . . . “North, that’s awful! No, she should chant, ‘Dream, dream, dream of chocolate ocean waves . . .’ ”

  And so it went till Nightlight flew down from the rafters and, with a firm but caring swing of his staff, slammed the door shut.

  The three Guardians muttered outside the door for a moment or two, then the Lunar Lamas could be heard suggesting that the centuries-old method of simply being left quietly alone tended to bring about sleep quite reliably. And so things finally settled down.

  Nightlight leaped to Katherine’s bed and sat cross-legged on the footboard. He still seemed . . . different to her; no longer quite so sad or distant. But the cheerful half grin that had always been there was replaced by a look that seemed—well, she couldn’t really put a finger on it, but he didn’t seem quite so like a little boy now.

  And whether it was the Lamas’ suggestion or just the result of a very full day, Katherine suddenly felt overcome with sleepiness and ready to close her eyes. But she propped herself up on one elbow for another minute, careful not to shift the pillow that covered her tooth. She wanted to go over the plan she’d concocted earlier with Nightlight one more time. It had come to her when the Lunar Lamas had told her even more details about the workings of Queen Toothiana. It had taken a while, given the Lamas’ propensity for vague answers, but Katherine had learned that she had to be asleep for Toothiana to come and take her tooth. And only Toothiana could unlock the countless memories in a tooth, by holding it in her magic grasp. Once the memories were unlocked, Katherine wanted her tooth back.

  “You must get my tooth back the instant she does her magic!” she reminded Nightlight.

  Nightlight nodded. He could feel how much this meant to Katherine. She wants to remember her mother and father, thought Nightlight. And if she remembers them, then perhaps she’ll forget Pitch.

  That’s what he believed in his hopeful heart. He had never failed Katherine before, and he would not fail her now.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

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

  FOR CENTURY UPON CENTURY Queen Toothiana flew majestically on her nightly rounds with her half dozen mini-selves. At the bedside of every child who had left a tooth under his pillow, one of her selves quietly collected the tooth and made a silent wish. The children each were different, but the wish was the same: that the child would grow up to be kind and happy. In the many villages and cities and jungles of Asia, the children knew to place their lost teeth under their pillows. Then a tiny treasure would be left in place of the tooth. And the tooth would be stored in the palace of the flying elephant of Punjam Hy Loo until it was needed again.

  Once, Toothiana had loved to spend time at each child’s bedside—straightening a blanket that had been kicked off or whispering messages of hope into sleeping ears. She had loved to peek from the windows as the children woke in the morning; their joyful cries when they reached under their pillows and found their gifts—this was her treasure.

  But she wanted to help all the children in the world, however there simply wasn’t enough of her to go around. Since she’d learned long ago that jewels of any kind were likely to bring the wrong kind of interest from adults, she had begun to use coins or other smaller treasures in exchange for teeth. But, oh, the coins! Children loved to receive them; however, as more countries were formed, more currencies were invented, and each child required the coin from his or her realm. It became a complicated business. Even with six of her, there was barely time to outrun the coming dawn.

  Yet despite Queen Toothiana’s hurried pace, there was something about her presence that calmed every child she visited. And while on any given night she might encounter a bad dream or two, the terrible time of the Nightmare Man seemed to be over. The children in her lands, like children everywhere, called him the Boogeyman, and she’d seen no sign of him for months.

  While Queen Toothiana knew less about the Guardians than they knew about her, she’d observed that glimmering boy made of light who had been involved in battling the Boogeyman. She’d seen how brave he’d been saving the girl who wrote stories and drew pictures. She felt a special fondness for the two of them. In a strange way their devotion to each other reminded her of her parents’ devotion, and so she was looking very much forward to the last stop of the evening.

  For the very first time, she’d received a call to the highest peak in the Himalayas—to the Lunar Lamadary. There, she knew she would find out more about this valiant girl who rode on a giant goose.

  Meanwhile, Nightlight waited for Queen Toothiana on the top of the Lamadary’s tower with as much patience as he could muster. He remembered the first time he had seen the bird woman: He’d been playing moonbeam tag when she’d flickered by so quickly that he mistook her for an enormous hummingbird. And from time to time they glimpsed each other. She’d never spoken to him, but she always nodded whenever their flying paths briefly crossed. But Nightlight, with his keen intuition, sensed that she distrusted most people and didn’t want the other Guardians to know about her, so he had kept his knowledge of her to himself. Besides, there was something about her that made him feel sort of shy.

  But Katherine asked for his help. So he kept his eyes trained on the night sky, peering among the bright stars for the first sign of this Toothiana.

  Soon, Nightlight spied a glow. It was a shimmer—flickering sparks of iridescent blues and greens. As it came closer, Nightlight made out a feathered head, bright green eyes, and a happy smile. He tried to hide, but Toothiana and her mini-selves saw him before he could leap into the shadows.

  Toothiana knew immediately that he was up to something. Through the centuries, too many children had plotted and planned to wake at the moment she arrived for her to be caught unawares now. She shook her head sternly and held a finger to her lips, warning him not to interfere.

  Nightlight wavered. His deepest loyalty rested with Katherine, and yet he found himself acutely aware that he needed to trust this winged being. At least for the moment. With the slightest of nods, he let her know that he would do as she asked. But he followed her closely as she and her selves shot through the window and down to Katherine’s bed.

  Three of the mini-selves, no bigger than sparrows, each carried a gold coin. They flew silently to Katherine’s pillow, then tucked in their wings and crawled gently and silently under it. Another landed by Katherine’s ear and plucked at a tiny silver instrument while she sang a soft, lulling song. Nightlight was fascinated. They sing to make her sleep more soundly, he realized.

  Katherine and her visitors

  Another mini-self stood guard by the pillow while the last one winged about the room and seemed to be keeping watch as Toothiana, an expectant smile upon her face, waited for the tooth to be smuggled from un
der the pillow.

  The pillow puckered here and rumpled there, then, at last, the three small fairies emerged, Katherine’s tooth in hand. Toothiana picked it up tenderly. With her other hand, she brought out a beautiful, carved, ruby box from a pouch she wore around her neck, and held it tightly.

  She closed her eyes as if in deep thought. A glow began to emanate from both Katherine’s tooth and the box. The queen’s magical power seemed to be working.

  Nightlight had seen all he needed. As willful as the flying woman seemed, he would do as Katherine asked. He readied himself to swoop in to take the tooth, but a quiet, mournful sigh from Toothiana made him pause, puzzled. A sadness came over her lovely face, and then her mini-selves sighed as well, as though they shared her every feelings. She could see all of Katherine’s memories.

  Toothiana murmured, “Poor child. You’re like me—you’ve lost your mother and father. But . . . you didn’t even have a chance to know or remember them.” She bowed her head ever so slightly and looked down at Katherine, who slept on.

  “I must give you the memory you long for,” she whispered. Nightlight leaned forward anxiously as Toothiana lowered the hand that held the tooth to Katherine’s forehead.

  Nightlight knew he needn’t steal the tooth now. Katherine would have the memory. He was glad. He felt a peculiar bond with this bird royal and didn’t want to anger her.

  But suddenly, a sound most angry stopped Toothiana from granting Katherine her wish.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Monkey See, Monkey Don’t

  MONKEYS, DOZENS OF THEM, sprang through the windows of Katherine’s room and swarmed the chamber. They were huge, hulking, and armed with daggers, spears, and crude weapons.

  What is this dark business? Toothiana wondered in shock as a handful of the malicious creatures, screeching loudly, leaped upon her with a swiftness that was unnatural. She crammed the ruby box back into its pouch, then turned, batting her wings at the fiends as she tried to escape their grip, then drew her swords and slashed away. But the monkeys were too quick.