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She screas to God as she scraled in the sheet, she fell to the floor with a thump and then backed into a corner As she went, those le over the top of the bed at her as though weightless

Perhaps it was because she had been sleeping in her father’s house, or perhaps because all of her fear and grief were bound tightly to Ted Halliwell’s vanishing But in that irl, waking in the dark froht froze with its knife fingers stretched out toward her Lemon eyes went dark

Like a statue, it had frozen solid, halfway across her bed

Within the consciousness of the Sandhter’s name She’d called out to him His powdered bones sifted with the sand and the dust, and he fought the horrid will of the ing, yet he had done it His soul felt as though the strain would tear it apart, but for the moment, the Sandman had been halted

Grains of sand shifted Skittered to the floor

No, Halliwell thought But he kneas no use His love for Sara had given hith to stop the Sandman, but he would not be able to hold the monster

Pain clutched at the core of him, the part that would have been his heart if he still had flesh The maelstrom that was the Sandman had slowed It parted like curtains--like a veil--and he could feel the hatred searing him Those terrible eyes looked inward, now, and they found Halliwell there, alone

"I wanted eance," the Sandman said The voice echoed around inside the maelstrom, inside the consciousness that was all that remained of Ted Halliwell save those powdered bones, scattered arains of theainst eance, little nothing man You infest me like pestilence, like rot, like conscience, and I will not have it

"You irl’s eyes will pop in my teeth, and I will be certain that you can taste theue, as if it were your own"

The words/thoughts slithered inside Halliwell’s mind, and whatever trace remained of hie The ht have let death and this bizarre dahter called his name and now this aboht be afraid, but Ted Hallias more than a man The soldier in him, the detective in hirip on the Sandhtened

The monster roared fury Halliwell felt aware of every bone shard, every particle of yellowed bone and marrow that mixed with the substance of the Sandman, and he reached out into the paralyzed limbs of the child-killer and he took hold

Fucker, he said/thought That’s irl

Awareness radiated out from Halliwell’s consciousness His senses searched thein the er of their spirits, their essences, he found the third consciousness locked inside this body Peering, spying, from the ht be the brother of the Sandend--but he was also a kind of rim He was a creature of order, where his brother was chaos and anarchy

Help me, damn you! The blood’s on all of our hands, now You can’t just hide, or he’ll erode you away to nothing!

Still the Dustman did not stir

The Sandan to slip Somewhere beyond the tiny universe that existed within the ain Shefroet past the monster to reach for the phone to call the police, or maybe she’d just run

God, Halliwell hoped she would run

"He’s a coward," the voice of the Sandlooainst , no more than you"

Listen to me, Halliwell hissed at the Dustman All of those children you visited, the ones who couldn’t sleep or didn’t want to…you were gentle with them You cast your dust in their eyes and they slept in peace and dreamed the way children should I’ve felt your hts We’re all part of each other, now Is this what you want? To terrify those kids, to murder them in their beds, to mutilate their--

"It’s exactly what he wants," the Sandman said

Halliwell’s soul--whatever remained of it--froze at those words Could that be true? Was that what the Dustman had alanted? Was that why his brother was ascendant, now, because he didn’t want to fight?

"You lie!" the Dustman roared

He stepped from the maelstrom, closer to Halliwell now than he had been since the two of theed with the Sandreatcoat and bowler hat and with that ht have see, golden eyes

I thought I could do nothing, the Dustman said, but now the voice did not echo in the ht beside Halliwell, in his own end A shard That’s what you’ve become yourself, Detective A facet

But that’s all he is, Halliwell replied One facet

Yes

Halliwell held out his hand for the Dustman to shake, to seal the deal

The maelstrom calrip and the fore inside the prison of the Sandman, was thron

"Go to hell," Halliwell snarled, and he stood, reaching out once again to shake the Dustman’s hand There was power in a vow An oath And that hat they were about to enter into

Then the Sande, but he was also there inside the mindscape with them Those dreadful yellow eyes peered out from beneath his hood

"I will not allow it," he said, al of words and sand

Halliwell smiled The bastard was too late He and the Dustman clasped hands…

Sara ran around the bed, colliding with the closet door and pushing off She lunged for the phone on the nightstand, snatched it off the cradle, and even as she did, she turned to look at the bizarre statue--rough like concrete--on the bed

It said her na Instead, it sounded faer a statue, the thing began to shift and flow as though reality were ocean waves rolling in and reshaping it The hood went away The figure slid to the end of the bed, away fro coat, collar turned up high around its neck A derby sat upon its head, made of the same material as the coat and the monster’s hands, its flesh

Sand

It looked up at her and she caught her breath Le ray brown of sand

But the face…she knew the face

"Daddy?" she whispered

The strength went out of her legs and she staggered back, catching herself against the doorja looked unsure athat s that Robiquet had told her--about the Veil and the creatures of legend, about the Borderkind--came back to her now

"Dad?" she ventured