To Ally with the Guardians

Chapter 2: The Nightmare Attacks

This was the only day of the week Mallory Philip Bennett looked forward to. The only thing he looked forward to in general. Not the low-wage job he had, the poor connection in his cramped apartment, or the cheap meals he ate every day, but the one day a week when he got to spend a few hours with his kids.

He sat on a bench in the park, a green grassy area nearly surrounded by trees, waiting for them to arrive. On Fridays, he worked a different shift so that he could be with them. Something was different about this Friday, however. Something wasn't right, but he couldn't tell what.

When he saw his kids coming down the sidewalk, his heart came to life and forgot all about the sense of doom, and he stood up and waved, beaming at them. Five-year-old Sophie ran up and hugged his legs, and he bent down to hug her back.

"Hi Daddy!" she said. "I'm on summer break now!" Mallory laughed, and his twelve-year-old son Jamie walked up to him as well, followed closely by none other than Jack Frost, looking out of his element in the summer weather. While the spirit wore a blue tank top and brown shorts, his face was still flushed from the heat, and his skin glistened with too much sweat.

Mallory reached out and patted Jamie on the shoulder as Sophie let go, and the brown-haired boy smiled a little.

"What would you like to do today?" Mallory asked. Jamie shrugged, tired bags under his brown eyes. The Bennetts used to play sports and such together, but twelve-year-old boys couldn't be seen playing with their parents, much like how grown men couldn't be seen talking to childhood myths. Mallory would just have them meet in his house if there was anything to do there besides talk. At least here, he and Sophie had enough room to safely play catch.

"The Nightmares wouldn't stop coming last night," Jack said.

"Every hour," Jamie said. "They attacked every hour." There was a hint of concealed fear in his voice.

Sophie tugged on one of her two braids, the same shade of blond as Mallory's own short hair, that reached her waist. "I heard it. I hid under my bed." She didn't physically look as tired as her brother, but her exhaustion still showed through in her fidgeting.

"How much longer will this go on?" Mallory asked, looking at Sophie but really asking the question to Jack.

"I don't know," the white-haired winter spirit replied. "Apparently there's something else like this that's been going on for a while, a group of teenagers over in Illinois who've been attacked by Fearlings for almost a year. The other Guardians have gone over to help them. If that can last that long, this can last much longer than just two months." At least the Bennetts were lucky in that Jack had been nearby when the Nightmares' first attack had begun.

"It's getting worse," Sophie said. "Daddy, you need to make Mommy believe us. Tell her we're right about the Nightmares and that she's wrong." The look in her green eyes made Mallory turn away because of the twinge of guilt in his heart.

"I've tried, Soph. I wish I could, but she doesn't believe me either. Remember, she doesn't like me very much anymore." Not that Sophie could remember a time when her parents had shown love to one another. As far as Mallory knew, she didn't even remember the first time she had seen the Guardians when she was two, so how could she remember a time when she hadn't even been born yet, when her parents hadn't known for very long that she existed? "I wish I could come protect your brother, but your mommy wouldn't let me. She would think I'm insane."

"Why?"

"I believed you and your brother when you first told me about the Guardians and Nightmares because I knew that Jamie wouldn't just make up something like that. Your mommy thought you two and his friends were just kids playing pretend, but I knew that this time that wasn't true. I could see it in your faces and hear it in your voices. You act differently when they're not making things up."

Mallory suddenly became aware of the sky darkening overhead, and he remembered the bad feeling he had had. He looked above him and saw the sun and blue expanse being smothered by big black clouds. Wait- no, those were Nightmares. Nightmares.

Their shadows crept over the park, ruining Mallory's happy day.

"Get Jamie and Sophie somewhere safe," Jack told him, and the Guardian took off into the sky.

"He can't fight off that many," Jamie said, his face wrinkled in apparent worry, "especially not by himself."

Mallory turned away from the sight. "Come on."

"I've never seen that many before," Sophie said, her voice wavering.

Jamie darkly said, "I have."

Mallory picked up Sophie and spun Jamie around, away from the storm. "Let's go!" He, like Sophie, had never seen such a large number of Nightmares before, only a few occasionally roaming the streets, their glowing golden eyes standing out against their dark sandy bodies. But he had never seen them in broad daylight.

The Bennetts sprinted down the sidewalk, the parent trying to keep the kids from looking back. If something bad did happen to Jack, he didn't want them to see it.

"Where are we going?" Jamie asked between pants.

"Somewhere where we can lock the door." There hadn't been enough time to think of a specific place, but Mallory mentally berated himself anyway. He should've been more prepared. He should've known the Nightmares might attack Jamie while he was with him, so Mallory should've come up with a plan earlier. The father shouldn't have just assumed that Jack could take care of everything.

"Nightmares can go under doors," Jamie said.

Mallory's adrenaline levels grew even higher. "Where do you think we should go, then?"

"We need to hide!" Sophie declared, saying what had been drilled into her many times by Jack and Jamie: if she saw or heard Nightmares, she needed to hide.

"They're after me," Jamie said. "Dad, you take Sophie..."

Mallory was quick to interrupt him. "I am not leaving you." He knew that Sophie would be safer away from his son, but he couldn't think of anyone to leave her with who would keep her safe from the Nightmares.

"They're getting closer!" she cried.

"Don't look," Mallory said as he and Jamie sped up. He could feel the darkness above coming closer and the shrieking Nightmare neighs getting louder and the cracking shots of ice from Jack's staff being fired more often.

The family tore through the street, getting strange looks from other people, even some of the children. No one but the Bennetts could see the Nightmares. Mallory's heart thudded in his chest, and he could feel that Sophie's heartbeat was hard and fast as well. He didn't know how they were to get away from the creatures. Could Jack contact the other Guardians and get them to help? Mallory hoped so.

Suddenly, the immortal was directly to Mallory's right, still shooting frosty blasts at the Nightmares every second.

"I can't fight off this many," he breathed. "I'm gonna take you guys to the workshop. All of you."

Mallory shook his head, almost disorienting himself. "I have a job I need to work." His body pumped more fearful adrenaline through him at the thought of him getting fired again. "I can't leave. They're not after me. Take Jamie and Sophie, but leave me here." Surely, the creatures would stop chasing him once he was no longer with his son. Mallory wasn't their target.

Jack gave him a look. "Look, you're helping protect Jamie from the Nightmares right now. They probably don't like that. This is safer. Just use your vacation days until you can go home, and get a new job if you need to." Get a new job. The words stung Mallory's ears. He would hate to have to explain to a potential employer how he was fired from two jobs, the first that had already happened and the second that was bound to happen if he didn't show up for his current one for a while, especially without warning or getting one of his coworkers to temporarily replace him. A negative track record wasn't exactly what people were looking for in an employee.

"Are you an adult?" Mallory asked with scorn as Jack took out a snowglobe and whispered "North's workshop" into its mostly-clear exterior. "Do you need money to survive? Do you pay bills? Do you understand how much I need..."

Jack threw the snowglobe right in the Bennetts' path, and they all ran right into it, Mallory being unable to stop himself before he did so.