changing future: book 1 through time

chapter 2: back in time

"I wish you would help…"

The first thing he saw were the stars above. 

The second? Golden sand that surrounded him like a warm blanket that swirled all around him, forming a stunning island. 

Instantly, Sandy shot up from his sleeping position to look all around him. His body ached, his head felt heavy. What happened? Where was he? 

He sat there for a minute trying to recall what had happened to him, only to remember Jack, Pitch, and himself fighting against a horde of out of control Fearlings and hearing a wish just before he woke up on the golden sand Island. 

To say he was confused was an understatement. He knew where he was now, though it was just slightly different… his sand castle home was gone, just like when he had first woken up from his thousands of years of slumber after crashing to Earth… 

"Pitch Black has awoken and now prowls the night. So I ask you, when the moon's not full and bright, would you keep the children safe at night?" A familiar voice called, bringing Sandy’s eyes up to the bright, full moon, knowing that the one who spoke was the very man he had served for millennia.

Sandy nodded, for if a wish was made to him, he still felt bound to answer it. Just like those many aeons ago. 

The golden man already knew what to do and tried to conjure up his dream sand cloud, only for the sand to not respond to it. Why? Why was this happening? He wondered. 

Frowning, the golden man marched around his island, his thoughts wild and restless. Tugging at his golden hair, he sat down, trying to organise his thoughts. 

Somehow, he was back in the past. Did anyone else remember or was he alone? Maybe he should find Bunny, the Pooka always did say it was his duty to make sure the timestream continued to flow without interruptions, maybe he could take him back? But what about this time stream? Would he be leaving it without a Sandman? Or was that all just a strange dream he had? He didn't know. 

Stars above, his head hurt more and more the more he thought. Oh, how he wished he could sleep, but he couldn't. Not now. He had to help Manny and figure out a way to get home. 

Help Manny… he remembered a memory… the very first night he flew up on his sand cloud, the very first time he wove dreams to the children of Earth. Oh, how they were all filled with fear… well, he couldn't just leave them like that… he could find a way to get back later, for now he had to find a way to restore his dream cloud, a way to travel through the sky once again. 

He knew he did something that very first night. He knew he didn't always have control of the dream sand. Oh, what was he forgetting? What was it that made him able to use his sand? It wasn't his imagination, he already had that.

Sandy then caught sight of shimmering scales by the water- mermaids, he realised. They watched, along with the shells and the turtles, the stout golden man with curiosity, as if seeing him move for the first time. 

Sandy gave them a small smile, now remembering what he had done the first night. Quietly, he beckoned over the turtles and the shells, knowing that they too heard the man in the Moon speak, and held information about the children they wanted to tell him. 

He would listen, not wanting to disrupt the timestream. So one by one, Sandy listened to the turtles tell him how the children were afraid of the dark, and the shells who told him of the secret joys and sorrows of children before they told him of Pitch and the Fearlings he had brought down to Earth with him.

He had listened to what the creatures had told him. Now it was up to Sandy to figure out how to get his dream sand cloud back. For hours he paced about, trying over and over, yet getting nothing done. Unable to even get a wine of sleep himself.