Something Quite Peculiar - Chapter 59

Chapter Fifty-Nine: Famous Last Words

---

Jack and Cupid settled themselves on the side of the water tower furthest from the full moon, hiding in shadow as they waited to leap into action like planned. The sun had set and the train wasn't due for a little while. The delay gave them time to take their positions without the Shadow People noticing, as well as allowed the citizens of Burgess to get off the incredibly icy streets.

Thankfully, Burgess was a small, mostly uneventful town. Most businesses had been closed today anyway, as it was a Sunday, and given that most would have to be at work or school the next day, there certainly wasn't about to be anyone out late.

Or, at least, that's what they were counting on.

Jack was perched on the railing circling the tower, watching the empty field below for any movement. Cupid leaned against the tower itself, hoping to conceal his wings in its silhouette, fumbling through his pockets for something. Jack glanced back when he heard a strange clicking sound and found that Cupid had pulled out a lighter and was attempting to get it to stay lit long enough to ignite the end of a cigarette, perched between his lips.

"Want one?" he offered between clenched teeth, still trying to light it.

"Uh, nah, smoke and fire don't really agree with me," Jack said, shaking his head slightly.

"Do me a favor," Cupid said, pausing to take a drag once the cigarette finally lit, "Don't tell Tooth, or she'll give me a lecture about how bad it is for my teeth and gums."

"Yeah, it might stunt your growth, too—Oh, wait," Jack said, unable to help his smirk.

Pocketing his lighter Cupid rolled his eyes and blew smoke in Jack's direction. "You know how easy it would be for me to shove you off that railing?"

"Wow, if only I could fly or something," said Jack, waving the smoke away, swearing he saw Cupid smile, if slightly.

"On second thought, maybe you should tell Tooth. At least to lecture me she'd have to, you know, talk to me," the winged-boy said, flicking aside some ash.

"Still avoiding you, hm?" Jack asked, eyes falling to their surroundings again.

"Sure is." Another drag of the cigarette. In the distance, a bird flew from the roof of a few buildings to some nearby trees. Jack assumed it was Calliope checking in on everyone.

"Well. Hopefully things'll be less tense once this is all over," Jack said. After all, they were still letting Cupid help out with this whole thing. As far as Jack was concerned, at least, Cupid could be trusted.

Unless he had some kind of traitorous trick up his sleeve, but Jack somehow doubted that. Screwing over the Guardians at this point meant screwing over the Muses and Cupid had nothing but ties with the Muses. Strong ties, family ties.

Family meant something, right?

"Hopefully," Cupid said. "Do we have a contingency plan in case they don't make it here from the train station before running into big trouble?"

"Moonbeams, they're following at a distance," Jack said. Cupid nodded in acknowledgement, taking another drag.

The minutes dragged by slowly after that, giving plenty of time for nerves to build up as Jack and Cupid continued making brief, idle conversation in the meantime. It was strange being stuck here with the winged boy.

Cupid hadn't really been anything to Jack in the past but he had stepped up and saved both Jack and Rowan during the new moon. They had managed a few downright civil conversations since then.

So were they friends now or something? There was noticeably less malice in their comments made at the other's expense. Jack wasn't sure.

The bird from earlier landed on the railing beside Jack, feathers iridescent and smooth. It was Calliope, as he had assumed. "They're five minutes out, be ready," she said, her voice quiet but clear. Turning toward Cupid, the bird seemed suddenly unamused before saying, "Put it out, Eros, the light at the end will give you away."

Cupid rolled his eyes, taking a final drag from his cigarette before putting it out in the nearby snow. Calliope flew off again.

"I hate waiting," Cupid mumbled. Jack nodded. It was going to be the longest five minutes ever, he was certain.

This was all so different than when he and the Guardians had gone up against Pitch the year before. That had all been so sudden, with battles and complications showing up and demanding attention in quick succession.

There wasn't a lot of time to plan and dwell then. There was just reacting.

Now they had five more incredibly long minutes to consider all the what-if's, all the things that could go wrong, all the ways to screw things up.

Jack had felt fairly confident about everything until now, now that it was so close and had been so meticulously planned. There was so much at stake.

Four minutes, thirty seconds…

---

When Thalia eyed the black nightmare sand levitating calmly before the ATM camera that they had just walked past, she pulled the scarf down from her nose at last to fully reveal her face. Or rather, to fully reveal Rowan's face.

The street was deserted and quiet, just as they had hoped and planned for. It was a bit eerie.

"We're almost there," Euterpe said, trying to sound reassuring. She and Terpsichore walked on either side of her, ever alert.

The plan was to lead the Shadow People to that empty field, but there was still the treat of them making a move before they got that far, rather than just quietly following. Thalia couldn't help but feel as though they were being watched already and wondered if the other Muses felt the same.

Maybe it was just nerves.

Their breath fogged before them as they went, carefully watching the pavement before them, coated in ice. Euterpe and Thalia had each slipped and almost fallen several times. Terpsichore had slipped only once, and had handled it so gracefully that Thalia almost felt some disdain for her.

What did she expect? She was the Muse of dance, and her balance was rivaled by none.

As they continued their careful steps (and silently cursed Jack for all the ice, though they knew it was only to assure that the civilians were all indoors) the streetlights dimmed for a moment before illuminating fully again.

Dim light, full light. Dim light, full light. This continued for a time, the sisters exchanging glances before increasing their pace. Either it was a coincidental glitch with the power, or the Shadow People were certainly around.

Thalia knew their luck wasn't good enough for a glitch.

They passed a light and it began to flicker before going out. The light they had yet to pass began to flicker as well. When Thalia turned to look back, she found that the street behind them was dark, lit only by moonlight.

This was it; the Shadow People were in pursuit.

"Come on!" Terpsichore said, grabbing Thalia's arm and tugging her along as they began to run. They weren't far off from the field and knew some running might be required.

Oh, but everything was still so icy. The salt that had been spread by the city had barely helped and Thalia found her feet sliding beneath her as they stumbled along. The lights continued to violently flicker and go out as they passed.

Euterpe finally fell, groaning as her hip hit the ice and she skid a few yards forward. Thalia and Terpsichore did their best to scoop her upright without falling themselves.

Thalia chanced another glance back, finding that dark figures were emerging from the darkness pursuing them, much like she would imagine a zombie bursting from their grave.

The fast, really lethal, foaming at the mouth kind of zombie, not those slow groaning ones that dragged a foot along as they went. It was always important to specify the kind of zombie.

Was this what Rowan had to deal with during the New Moon? With even less light? What Jack had to deal with? Thalia shuddered, suddenly feeling very badly for the two as they began rushing away again.

She would have to try and remember to send them a card or something. Did Hallmark have a card for "hey thanks for dealing with this scary shit so long so that we didn't have to?"

"There it is!" Terpsichore said, pointing ahead. Sure enough, their turn to get to the field was coming up. Thalia just hoped that Melpomene was ready to go.

Something caught her ankle and Thalia watched with dread as the pavement came closer and closer until her wrist hit the curb at full force, her head meeting the street.

As pain shot through her skull and wrist, Thalia couldn't help but feel strangely… nostalgic.

She was pulled back, sliding quickly against the ice. Her heart raced. This certainly wasn't supposed to happen. Euterpe and Terpsichore turned quickly, almost synchronized, to bound back after her. There was nothing to grab on to as she dragged, and when Thalia tried to move her left hand at all, she winced in pain.

Had she broken her wrist? She knew her wrist had taken most of the impact of her fall but how hard had she fallen?

Euterpe grabbed that hand as Terpsichore took hold of her jacket. Thalia couldn't help but cry out at the pain again as she was tugged hastily out of the grasp of the Shadow People.

She'd barely gotten to her feet again before they were running once more. Thalia wasn't great at running in the first place, always relying on her ability to change locations at will. Not to mention, she was still disguised as someone else, and Rowan's body was strange to her. Her legs were longer, her weight distributed differently. She hadn't had much opportunity while sitting on the train to get used to moving around in it.

At least with longer legs, she seemed to move a bit faster, if not clumsily.

There was almost another fall as the three Muses attempted to make a sharp turn down the path leading to the field where the others would be. There was something wonderfully satisfying about the way the snow crunched beneath their boots the closer they got.

Snow wasn't exactly ideal terrain to be running on either, but basically everything beat ice right now.

At the next meeting, Thalia vowed to suggest that they only ever have battles in pleasant, summer months in the future.

"Go, go, go, go!" Terpsichore said, practically shoving Thalia ahead. She kept running as Euterpe and Terpsichore stopped, turning back and preparing to finally fight the pursuing Shadow People directly.

Thalia ran and ran with all her might, reminding herself that soon enough she'd be able to stop as she gasped for air in the meantime. Up ahead, from the trees, came more Shadow People. A quick glance around made her cringe.

As far as she could tell, it wasn't just the Shadows that had been pursuing them on the streets. This field was entirely surrounded by a sea of inky, black shadows now.

Pitch had told them to bring all their manpower. They had taken that advice to heart.

Nearly to the center of the field, Thalia reached inside her coat and pulled out her grinning comedy mask, setting it to her face.

She disappeared.

---

As soon as Thalia vanished from sight, Sandy's shining dream cloud began to descend and with a flick of his wrist he took out a line of Shadow People that had been pursuing her a moment ago. Various dream creatures emerged from the skies, fantastic beings of all kinds, rushing to plow into the mass of darkness waiting for them.

With a laugh as jolly as one could expect, given the circumstances, North burst forward from his hiding place next, sword in each hand and a troop of yetis following close behind. He moved swiftly, slicing through the shadows effortlessly.

He looked absolutely joyous, as though there was no other way he would rather spend his Sunday night.

Bunny's boomerangs appeared before he did. His dream sand-covered egg statues approached slowly, but took out any shadow in their path. Bunny moved quickly, catching and throwing his boomerangs in quick succession before taking up post near Terpsichore and Euterpe who were holding their own but quickly becoming overwhelmed.

"Looking for me?" Melpomene called, her voice loud but still hoarse as she appeared near the base of the water tower, looking entirely convincing as Rowan Sawyer. The great masses of Shadows barely hesitated before bounding after her, seeming barely phased by the fact that she hadn't been there a moment before.

They came closer, closer, and closer still until at the last possible moment Melpomene turned, covered her face with her mask, and vanished from the spot.

Now completely surrounded by easy targets, Jack and Cupid abandoned their places at the water tower, weapons at the ready. Swift movements of Jack's wrist left bright light to pursue the Shadow People, while shots from Cupid's arrows left bursts of light that easily destroyed entire groups.

But these gaps were quickly filled by more Shadow People. They climbed the water tower, reaching for Jack and Cupid, who were quick to fly from their reach.

"Over here!" Thalia called, appearing as Rowan near the woods. Less Shadow People approached this time, noticeably more suspicious in their movements as they spread out.

It had to be more than obvious by now that they had been lured into a trap, but Rowan's soul was still a grand prize to be obtained, apparently worth a few casualties.

Tooth flew forward from the woods, sword at the ready, followed quickly by Urania. Urania flew gracefully, followed by a formation of moonbeams that obeyed her every signal, her every command. It was almost a lovely sight, the way they almost danced through the ranks of the Shadow People.

Tooth moved swiftly, no hint of hesitation in sight as she wielded the sword. It was as though she had never taken a break.

Thalia disappeared from sight.

Clio flew down low, guns of her own design in each hand. Shots from her stardust bullets left bursts of light, much like Cupid's stardust arrows. While the bullets could be fired in quick succession, the bursts of light were much smaller.

Everyone was moving quickly, efficiently, but for every gap in the Shadow People's ranks that they made, it seemed to fill again all too quickly.

"Yeti needs back-up, two o'clock," Calliope called, flying by Jack and Cupid. The water tower had been established as twelve early in the meeting and Jack wasted little time heading for the yeti in question. He was hard to see, pulled to the ground and his entire form consumed by shadows.

Jack sent a blast of light forward and managed to clear off the Shadow People that had been attempting to devour that yeti's spirit. But the yeti tried to stand and clumsily fell again, noticeably shaking.

A few more blasts kept away more pursuing shadows but they wouldn't let up. Jack didn't understand why they were so relentless about this particular yeti.

He wondered if the yetis weren't as strong against their attacks as the Guardians and the Muses were.

A barrier of dream sand appeared around the yeti and Sandy drifted by, giving Jack a thumbs-up before continuing on to the battle. The yeti would be safe for now.

Jack tried to focus on the battle overall again.

Melpomene and Thalia were disappearing and reappearing in quick succession now, leaving many of the Shadow People to rapidly change direction. It was giving the Guardians and Muses plenty of opportunity to take them out.

But the Shadow People were still greatly outnumbering them and as Jack took a moment to glance around again, he took note that there didn't seem to be much of an end in sight. They just kept re-appearing and re-appearing.

Cupid flew in low to begin quickly retrieving his arrows to shoot again, having run out. Clio could be seen having holstered one gun in order to re-load the other.

Cupid had pointed the numbers out ever since he had joined their ranks.

What if there were just too many?

Cupid swore, having been tugged down to the ground when grasping for one of his arrows. The Shadow People immediately began clinging to his wings as he tried shaking them off.

Jack flew low, staff at the ready and swinging hard, sending out a strong burst of light. He had barely cleared the area of the Shadow People that had been holding on to Cupid before Urania flew in and grabbed at Cupid's collar, dragging him back into the air.

Clumsily, the boy began to fly again.

"Are you all right?" Urania said.

"Yeah I'm fine, a little dizzy," Cupid replied, the arrow he had been after clutched in his grasp.

"Good work, Jack," Urania said as she left Cupid's side and flew by.

"Thanks," Cupid called after Jack before knocking his arrow and firing again. Jack only nodded before swinging his staff to fire again as well.

Another glance around. It was hard to say if any progress had actually been made.

"There's too many!" Terpsichore called, echoing Jack's earlier thoughts. Glancing her way, he saw that a trembling Euterpe was lying in a dream sand barrier, much like the yeti from earlier. It would at least keep them safe until they could be treated properly, and since they weren't mortal they would most certainly recover.

But how many more would fall?

Another quick glance around the area. North seemed to be limping, Bunny was a bit uneasy on his feet, but they were still fighting strong.

For how much longer, though?

---

Melpomene had barely appeared beside Pitch when he took her by the arm and pulled her along behind the nearby building.

"Now's the time," he said as she put her mask to her face and quickly took on her own appearance rather than Rowan's.

"Are they still coming? Do they still trust you now that they know you've lead them into a trap?" Melpomene asked. She glanced around the corner, back at the chaos in progress and watched as Thalia continued to disappear and re-appear as planned.

"I've explained that my insistence that they bring their full ranks was to give them a strategic advantage against the Guardians' silly plan. The Guardians are noticeably overwhelmed, so the Shadow People thankfully believe me," Pitch explained. Melpomene shook her head. Of course Pitch had managed to make this work to his advantage.

He was generally good at that.

"Now's as good a time as any, before something drastic happens," Pitch said. Melpomene nodded. If the Guardians and the Muses decided to use the bomb, there wouldn't be any Shadow People left to pursue this side plan with.

This betrayal of the alliance had to happen now.

"Let's go," she said. Pitch led the way to a group of Shadow People who stood in wait. As they all continued at a swift pace to get across town to Jamie Bennett's house, Melpomene found herself glancing at the Shadow People suspiciously, suddenly quite glad that the clothes she was wearing were re-enforced with stardust.

What if they decided to turn on them, instead?

Hopefully Jamie Bennett was still a far more enticing prize for them. They could use the boost in strength his spirit would give them for this battle anyway. Melpomene was sure that Pitch had brought both of these points up when explaining how exactly he was still on their side while setting them up to walk into a trap.

The house was on the corner, with an old wooden fence surrounding it. It was covered in red panels and stood at two stories high. The lights were out, save for the dream sand that twisted protectively around it, and all was quiet except for the faint sounds of the battle in the distance.

"Just go inside and send him out. He'll do anything you ask if you look like his cousin," Pitch said.

"I want to stay inside the barrier when I send him out. I don't really want to watch, and it will be safer for me inside," Melpomene bargained, glancing Pitch's way.

"Fair enough," Pitch shrugged. Melpomene nodded, setting her mask to her face in order to take on Rowan's appearance again. In the next instant she was inside the Bennett's home, on the second floor, eying the doors she had to choose from. Quietly, she pushed open the door closest to her.

A nightlight. A dollhouse. Butterflies on the wall. A mess of blonde hair dangled from the edge of the bed as the pillow lay discarded on the floor. At some point the girl had kicked off her blankets and turned entirely sideways on her bed.

Dream sand twisted above her head, taking the form of hopping rabbits.

"Sleep well, little girl. Tonight isn't your night," Melpomene whispered softly before gently closing the door.

A few more quiet paces found the bathroom. The next door had to be the boy's. Melpomene made sure her mask was securely tucked away before opening the door.

Drawings were pinned to the wall, much like at Rowan's apartment. Melpomene eyed one of Rowan's missing posters on the desk. There were lots of books and toys typical of a little boy with a big imagination.

The little boy in question was sleeping soundly.

As Melpomene carefully closed the door behind her, she kept her focus on the dog, however, that had begun to stir at the foot of the bed.

"Shhh," Melpomene whispered, approaching the dog and petting her head gently. The greyhound wagged her tail, licking Melpomene's cheek and whining happily.

"Shhh," Melpomene said again. The dog watched her curiously as she leaned over Jamie and gently shook his shoulder.

"Jamie," she whispered. The boy stirred and rubbed his eyes. He had barely opened them and glanced her way before he sat upright, suddenly completely alert.

"Rowan!" he exclaimed, smile on his face as he pulled Melpomene into a hug. Awkwardly, Melpomene hugged back, hoping he wouldn't notice her hesitation.

"Shh, shh, you have to be quiet," she whispered. "We can't wake anyone."

"But you're back! Everything is okay now right? Everyone's been so worried and Jack said you might be back soon," Jamie said, unable to hide the excitement in his voice as Melpomene continued to shush him. "We have to wake up my mom, we have to call Aunt Dot, let everyone know you're okay!"

"No, no, not yet," Melpomene said, shaking her head.

"Why not?" Jamie asked, shoulders slumping as Abbey slid her head below Melpomene's arm, hoping for attention. Melpomene pet the dog gently.

"Because everything isn't okay yet, but it will be soon, I promise," Melpomene said, still careful to keep her voice at a whisper to keep the hoarseness from being too noticeable.

"What do you mean?" Jamie asked. "What's going on?"

"I need you to do something for me," Melpomene said. "It's going to sound sort of silly, but I need you to do exactly what I ask you to do, it's very important, okay?"

"Okay," Jamie said, visibly puzzled. "What is it?"

---

Rowan closed the door to the guest room and locked it, urging herself to take slow, deep breaths as her head ached and her mind spun. So many thoughts seemed to be occurring at once that she wasn't sure what to focus on; she seemed to be fighting herself.

I can trust Melpomene. Melpomene is a Muse. I am the Mortal Muse. She is my sister.

No, she isn't! None of them are my sister! I am an only child! My parents tried and failed and tried again until I was born, the only child they were able to have. Just because they say they're sisters doesn't—

Melpomene is my sister, the Muses are my sisters and I can trust—

They have manipulated my thoughts before; she just did it again!

The pain shooting through her skull brought her back to the night of the new moon, back to sitting on the cold stone floors of the North Pole and becoming overwhelmed with thoughts, ideas, and emotions. It was all too much then and this wasn't much better as tears sprang to her eyes and she lowered herself to the ground again, too dizzy from pain to stay upright.

"Stop, stop, stop," she cried, clutching her head and trying to think of something else, anything else. She tried to count by threes, she tried to remember vocabulary from her last art history test, but nothing would distract from her frantic thoughts, nothing would make them stop.

Melpomene can be trusted. She is part of this alliance.

Melpomene has hurt people in this alliance in the past. It doesn't mean anything to her.

Rowan was starting to notice that the thoughts in Melpomene's favor seemed to be echoing through her mind in that particular Muse's voice. They didn't feel like Rowan's own thoughts. It was a very similar, uneasy, sensation to the one she'd had after the new moon and all the Muses had manipulated her thoughts.

Melpomene won't let anything bad happen to Jamie.

She. Is. The. Muse. Of. Tragedy.

She's double-crossing Pitch.

No, she's double-crossing the Guardians, the Muses, and by extension, me.

Jamie is going to be okay, Jamie is going to be just fine.

No he isn't, I can't trust her, I can't trust her, I have no reason to trust her. The only thing she did was keep me from interfering with her plan.

Pain seemed to subside, Rowan lowered a hand from her head as she continued her deep breaths. The thoughts she had felt less strained now. They felt less like a strange reflex and more like her own thoughts. But she could barely take solace in this, as her stomach sank at the realization of what was happening.

Jamie is in trouble.

As long as the Guardians and other Muses don't know about this, Jamie is in trouble.

I didn't say anything and now Jamie is in trouble.

They had already been gone for a while now, what if it was already too late? What if, as she sat safe and sound in the North Pole, far away from the action, Jamie was being served up to those terrible shadows to be fed upon?

What if, by not saying anything, she had helped seal his fate?

Rowan pulled herself to her feet, turning to the door and stopping short. What was she supposed to do? Tell the other Muses that weren't allowed to leave? They probably trusted Melpomene and wouldn't be much help anyway, being grounded. Tell Arachne? She wasn't exactly battle-ready either. Should Rowan tell a Yeti and hope that the messenger would get there on time?

For the second time, Rowan found herself wishing that the Guardians had cell phones. Even if she could get a message to them, what were the odds that they would be able to leave the battle long enough to help? What if none of them were in any shape to help?

Rowan groaned, feeling entirely helpless as she rejected every course of action she came up with. There had to be some way to assure that Jamie would be safe! She wouldn't be able to live with herself if he wasn't.

Frustrated, the girl kicked the leg of the bedside table before taking a seat on the bed. The table shifted just enough for the drawer to slide open slightly. When she went to close it, she paused, sliding it open instead.

With shaking hands, Rowan pulled out the snow globe she had borrowed. This was it; this was her express ticket to Burgess.

But then what? Rowan frowned. Did she run frantically, hoping not to run into Shadow People before she ran into one of the Guardians or the Muses? Hope that whoever she ran into would take her seriously and come help before it was too late? It was the same issue with sending a yeti, just with a sick, mortal messenger.

But what else was she supposed to do? Go save Jamie herself? She wasn't a heroine; she had just been over this!

Rowan paused, eying the bruises on her arms.

The Shadow People were at Burgess because they thought Rowan was there. They wanted to feed on her soul; they wanted her powers.

Maybe she could offer a trade. Rowan Sawyer, the so-called Mortal Muse, in exchange for sparing Jamie Bennett's soul.

Rowan's stomach immediately turned at the idea. The others had told her that while her condition was mostly mysterious to them, they were certain another attack while she was in this weakened state would kill her.

If they fed on her again, a stardust necklace wasn't going to do much to help this time. She was most certainly going to die.

If they killed her, they would take her powers away in the process, and that would assure that she could never come back as a Muse. Though, that thought bothered her far less than the notion that perhaps everything would just end right then.

Not to mention, taking her powers meant a lot of bad things for the state of the world.

Her heart pounded, she forced slow, deep breaths again. The thought terrified her. Could she really march over there and basically offer up her life? Could she really decide that Jamie's life was worth more than everything the Guardians and Muses had been fighting for by keeping her safe?

But it was the full moon, and the Shadow People would be at their weakest. There would be moonbeams somewhere nearby, surely, and Sandy's dream creatures—

But what if she couldn't rely on that? What if it was like the New Moon and she was utterly cornered and alone again?

Her heart sank, realizing that could be Jamie. If she didn't do something soon, he could be the one feeling that heavy weight of sadness pulling him down. That desperate, hopeless feeling of one's spirit completely falling apart and losing everything that makes life worth anything.

She couldn't let that happen.

This was bigger than her. Leaving the North Pole meant being the kind of person that stories were written about, not simply the person that wrote stories. Leaving meant protecting someone precious to her.

Staying meant protecting her powers and potentially the well-being of people world-wide. Staying meant not being able to live with herself. Staying meant a lifetime worth of "what if's."

"It's better me, than him," Rowan said, pulling herself to her feet. She pulled on her coat, fastening the buttons with trembling hands before grabbing for the snow globe.

Still not sure if her decision was the right one, Rowan cleared her throat and said, "Burgess, Pennsylvania," before lightly tossing it ahead.

Blinking back tears as the swirling portal appeared, Rowan braced herself and stepped forward, wishing more than anything that she wasn't still terrified to die.

As usual, Rowan stumbled her way out of the portal, this time slipping on ice and immediately falling to the ground. She groaned, carefully pulling herself upright again and shivering slightly.

Glancing around, Rowan tried to ignore the pounding of her heart and her heavy breathing. She had, indeed, made it to Burgess. The streetlights were all out, but flashes of lights could be seen in the distance, with the low hum of a battle in progress being heard as well.

The full moon provided enough light to see exactly where she had to go.

There was no turning back now. She only had the one snow globe and it was spent.

Swallowing, Rowan rushed down the nearby street toward the residential area, trying not to slip as she went. She could see Sandy's dream barriers around the houses as she came closer and closer.

Her legs cried out in pain as she went, but her complete and utter terror cried out even louder. What if she was too late? What if the damage had already been done?

She began running across snow-covered lawns that had better traction than the sidewalk, ducking below low branches on decorative trees and squeezing between shrubs. She had run through these neighborhoods plenty of times during summer nights when visiting.

Back then they were running from sprinklers and angry neighbors whose houses she had toilet papered with some of the local kids.

What Rowan wouldn't give for that to be the reason she was running now.

A dog barked as she ran past their gate. Some couple stirred only briefly when she ducked passed their living room window.

She approached the house she knew Cupcake lived in and clumsily climbed the fence, hoping that no one in the house would hear. Cupcake's father was tall and intimidating, and while he had liked her fine when they had met over the summer, Rowan had exactly no time to explain to him why a missing person had hopped his fence.

Sprinting across their yard, she hoisted herself atop their shed before jumping down into the backyard of the house behind them. She landed haphazardly in the snow and for only a moment considered just lying there.

She was so close.

Ignoring the painful protests of her knees, Rowan returned to her feet and rushed forward, over another gate and down the next street.

A clumsy hop over a picket fence, another barking dog. She nearly tripped over what she thought might be a garden gnome.

And then she saw it. That red-paneled house with the uneven wooden fence, surrounded by dream sand, a boogey man, and some Shadow People lying in wait.

The front door opened and Jamie stepped outside, his blanket wrapped tightly around him and his breath fogging before him. His eyes were wide with nerves as he walked across the porch, closer and closer to the barrier.

"STOP!" Rowan screamed, trembling in fear. She was at least two houses away. "Jamie! Stop, stay in the barrier, stop!"

Everyone turned to face her. Jamie, Pitch, and all those eerie, feature-less faces of the Shadow People. Jamie paused in his steps, inches away from the barrier.

"Another trick, Thalia?" Pitch called, moving to pursue her himself as nightmare sand twisted around his hand. "This doesn't concern you!"

"I'm not Thalia," Rowan said, pulling the charm of her necklace out of her collar and holding it up as proof of her identity. It caught the moonlight and glistened, noticeable even from the distance she was at.

"Rowan, no!" Jamie called.

"You don't want him, it's my soul you want," Rowan called, taking a few steps back as the Shadow People carefully began heading her way.

"You're here for the boy!" Pitch hissed, pointing to Jamie.

"No, you're here for me! So come and get me!" Rowan called, spreading her arms as though daring them.

"Stay out of this! You're sentencing yourself to death, Sawyer!" Pitch said.

"Yeah? Well, to die will be an awfully big adventure," Rowan said, turning her heel to run as each Shadow Person at Pitch's side abandoned him and began rushing her way.