Authors: Rain Oxford
“The camera was motion activated and the feed was to
the cloud with a wired failsafe in case the wifi was lost. I can access the
videos from a computer in the bedroom,” Ron said, walking out of the room.
Everyone followed him into a bedroom. It had the same
horrible wallpaper, but the unmade bed had simple blue blankets and there
wasn’t much else except for a computer on a writing desk. Dylan stayed in the
doorway. “This is about as close as I should get,” he said.
Ron fiddled with some folders on the computer before
opening one. He skipped through the video that played, closed it, and opened
another file. The camera was aimed at the Christmas tree, but the television
screen in the corner of the image was the only movement. Devon’s instincts
fired up. “Stop there,” he said before Ron could skip ahead. “This was last
night?” Ron nodded. “There are tons of presents under the tree.”
“So?” Hail asked.
“So, there aren’t any now. Someone took all of his
presents.”
In the video, the television switched off and three
of the presents suddenly popped open. “What the hell?” Devon remarked. Out of
the boxes came a creepy monkey, something that looked like a gremlin, and a
robot. With determination, the trio went into the bedroom and returned a few
minutes later, dragging an unconscious teenager. They then proceeded to drag
him over to one of the open boxes and start stuffing him into it. Despite the small
size of the box, they managed to contort him so that he fit inside it. Once he
was fully inside the box, the three creatures returned to their boxes,
including the monkey who joined the boy in the small box. By what could only
have been magic, the lids of the boxes lifted off the floor and resealed the
boxes. Finally, every single present began to crumple in on itself, getting
smaller and smaller until they all vanished with flashes of light.
Devon, Dylan, Mordon, and the boys were silent with
shock. “Son of a biscuit,” Ron said after about ten minutes. “Whose nightmare
is this? I want out.”
“So that’s what happened to our all of our friends?”
Hail asked. “Why weren’t we taken?”
“You have wards over your room,” Mordon said. “So
there were monsters in the presents?”
“I think the presents came alive,” Dylan said.
“That shit doesn’t happen in real life,” Devon
argued.
“Presents have gone missing for a week now, but
children only started disappearing two days ago,” Mordon said.
“Hon’s house still has their presents. Alyssa could
be next,” Devon said. “We need to find out if everyone whose children were
taken is also missing presents. If so, we need to warn everyone who still has
presents.”
“I think everyone is pretty much on high alert
already,” Dylan said.
“A lot of the families that came in today because
their children were missing reported a theft of their gifts days ago,” Mordon
interrupted. Everyone looked at him.
“Okay, so if this is really some freaky demonic toys,
then why would they disappear without the child, only to come back and take
them?” Dylan asked.
“Please don’t call them demonic toys,” Devon said.
“That’s a little too…”
“A little too ‘evil clowns ate my baby’?” Dylan
offered.
“Yes. Something like that. Let’s go back to the
station and ask some more specific questions.”
* * *
They got in the cars and made it to the center of the
town before a mob of people blocked the road. Mordon got out of the Charger
behind Dylan’s Jaguar and pushed his way past everyone to see what was going
on. In the middle of the crowd was Taylor. “What’s going on?” he asked.
Although Taylor was older than Mordon, Rojan was over three thousand, so he
naturally took charge when Taylor was around.
“We want our kids back!” one of the women in the
crowd yelled.
“Taylor is doing what he can to find the one
responsible. You want to put him in his own cell? Who will arrest the
perpetrator then?”
“He’s not doing anything!” a man yelled and chucked a
rock at Taylor. He missed by less than an inch.
Although Mordon sensed that Dylan was about to do
something, it wasn’t Dylan’s presence that Mordon felt trying to invade his
mind. The urge to hold completely still came over him, but Rojan broke the hold
easily. The crowd seemed to take a collective step back, leaving enough space
for Mordon to see Dylan and Devon standing in front Dylan’s car.
“Everyone, go home and wait patiently for
information,” Devon said calmly. Not a word was spoken by any civilian. Even
the demons in the crowed obeyed. In moments, Mordon, Dylan, Devon, and the boys
were alone.
“What was that?” Dylan asked as Devon rubbed his
temple.
“Probably more than I should have handled.” As if the
pain transferred from his head to his chest, Devon sagged against the hood of
the car and held his hand over his chest. After a few seconds, he pulled a
potion bottle out of his leather jacket and drank the contents.
“What’s that?” Hail asked.
“Nothing to worry about. I knew they would fight
back, but I didn’t know they were all so powerful.”
Ron took Devon’s hand, startling the wizard. A second
later, Ron let go. “You have a lot of power,” he said.
Just to be sure, Mordon inhaled deeply. Once again,
he got a clear scent of the man. Devon was powerful, but he was also
self-destructive in how he took his responsibility to heart. There was shame in
him and he held a grudge. There was another, lighter level to him, but it was
tentative, as if he was still learning to let go of things.
He was very different from Dylan, who was extremely
laid back until someone needed his help. Dylan and Devon were both natural-born
heroes, but Dylan would rather come up with a plan to solve everyone’s problems
and Devon wanted the bad guys defeated. That wasn’t to say Devon was violent;
he could be violent, but he generally preferred to be peaceful.
Rojan growled in Mordon’s mind.
What’s wrong
?
He is reading you as you are him
, the dragon
said.
“Now isn’t the time for this,” Mordon said aloud.
“We’ll split up and question everyone. Devon, you go to the station and wait
for people to come to you.”
“Why?”
“For one thing, you’re obviously injured.”
Even
though I can’t smell it. That was weird
. His dragon senses should have been
able to detect an injury or illness.
“I’m perfectly fine.”
“For another, you just sent our sheriff home to wait
for information.”
“Right. I’ll go to the station then.”
Devon crossed the street and entered the small shop.
A bell tolled above the door. Devon looked around. Something bugged him about
the cramped space, and it wasn’t claustrophobia.
Then again…
Devon thought as he came face to
face with the creepiest doll he had ever seen. It was one of those tall,
one-of-a-kind types. Its hair was far too yellow and its face was too
colorfully painted. It was propped on a tall stool that put it at eye level
with Devon, which was probably so little kids couldn’t get it down and break
it.
What kid would want that
?
An old man ambled out of the back. He was a decent
looking person, but Devon figured the man probably wasn’t aware of what was
really going on in town. “How can I help you?” the man asked.
“Some Christmas presents went missing from houses
around here. Have you had any complaints?”
“Like electronics and stuff?”
“No. Presents like dolls, toy monkeys, and robots.”
“Goodness! Who would steal from children?” the man
leaned against the counter. “I haven’t heard anything about these toys being
stolen, but you should talk to my brother. He owns this place; I’m just manning
it when he runs out for errands. Sylvester should be back in a few minutes if
you want to wait.”
“Yes, I think I should. I’ll just glance around if
you don’t mind.”
“Don’t mind at all! All of our toys are handmade and
come with gift boxes.” Devon stared at the doll again. “Isn’t that one a
beauty? Too bad not enough children know how to take care of dolls like this.
It was returned this morning.”
“Returned?”
“Yes. We have a very strict return policy; if you
don’t love it, bring it back. We aren’t satisfied until the child is happy.”
Devon realized what bugged him so much about the shop
being so full. It was days from Christmas and while many of the toys were
creepy, they were very high quality. “I guess it’s been a slow year for sales?”
“Not at all!”
“How many did you have to begin with, then, if you
sold so many and you still have enough to stuff your shop full?” It shouldn’t
have been so full.
“Oh, Sylvester does most of the work.”
Devon was about to move on when he noticed a smudge
of something on the doll’s arm. Instinctively, he reached for it and pulled the
doll down. A sharp irritation started in his head, an urge so strong he
couldn’t stand it, but he didn’t know what it was for. He pulled the ring out
of the pouch hanging at the nape of his neck and slipped it on. What made him
do it? Instinct.
And he regretted instantly. An innocent,
blond-haired, brown eyed girl screamed as she woke to find her doll reaching
for her. He saw this vision from the doll’s eyes and felt the creature’s mind.
Well, it wasn’t so much a mind as a purpose. It needed life, and it was going
to take that life from the little girl.
The doll put one hand on the girl’s mouth and
clinched the other one in her hair. Devon could feel the doll drawing energy
from the girl and within seconds, she passed out. The doll then dragged the
girl off the bed and into the living room.
* * *
Dylan and Ron split from Mordon and Hail to cover
more ground. Dylan knocked on the door of the first house they came to and was
surprised when a kid answered. AJ was a fifth-grader Dylan had treated for a
broken arm when the boy insisted on skateboarding in the school parking lot.
Fortunately, he was only
lightly
hit by a car.
“Doctor, what are you doing here?” AJ asked.
Dylan knew most people called him by his title
instead of Yatunus because everyone thought they were mispronouncing it even
when he told them they weren’t. “Is your dad here?”
AJ nodded and moved out of the way of the door. “Dad!
The doctor is here to see you!”
A man in his early fifties stepped out of the kitchen
and motioned towards the couch with a spatula. “Come on in! I’ll be right out.”
Dylan sat on the couch and studied the Christmas tree
with only three presents under it. Ron sat next to him, trying to ignore AJ.
Ron could be very peculiar about other students at school, probably because he
was raised on Shomodii, where he was miles away from the neighbors. Apparently,
AJ was in Ron’s “out” club.
“What can I do you for?” Lincoln asked as he joined
them in the living room.
“We’re asking around about some thefts because there
have been reports of gifts going missing. Know anything about it?”
Lincoln nodded. “Yep. Ours vanished, too.”
“Not all of them, though?” Ron asked, indicating the
presents.
“No, all of the presents disappeared. We got more,
but that’s all I could afford after spending almost all our money on the first
ones. I really would like some time in a room alone with the one who’s been
taken all the kids’ presents.”
Dylan understood. He wasn’t going to pound on
someone, but he wanted the one responsible for kidnapping the kids to suffer.
He wasn’t interested in hitting, because he had so many better ways to torture
the culprit. “At least they’re nice-looking,” he pointed out, not that it
helped.
“Those are from Sylvester’s Toys, right?” Ron asked
Lincoln.
“Yeah.”
“What’s that?” Dylan asked.
“There’s a new toy store in town,” Ron said. “They
seemed kind of rundown to me, not to mention dusty. The guy didn’t even turn on
the lights until we went in.”
“I went down to the store to buy some more presents
and they were closed,” Lincoln said. “So, Kyla down the street suggested we go
to Sylvester’s.”
AJ glanced between Dylan and his father nervously.
“The guy who took all the toys, could he be---”
“AJ, hush!” Lincoln admonished, cutting his son off.
“What about him?” Ron asked.
“It’s nothing,” Lincoln said. “AJ had a nightmare and
thinks he heard something in his closet. That was the night the presents went
missing, so he thinks a monster took them.”
“Do you mind if I take a look?” Dylan asked,
standing.
Lincoln frowned. “Do you really think that’s
necessary?”
“It’ll either prove to your son there isn’t anything
in there or to you that there is.”
Lincoln pointed down the hall and Dylan ventured into
the child’s bedroom. Ron was right behind him. They flipped on the light. There
was a chair wedged against the closet door, which they moved aside, then opened
the door. The entire inside of the door was covered in long, deep scratches.
* * *
Devon woke very suddenly, and was very blind.
Although the blindfold over his eyes was a hindrance, it was the cloth in his
mouth that made him gag. It tasted foul and was obviously dirty, for the taste
made its way up the back of his throat until it was all he could smell. He
couldn’t identify it. That was probably a good thing.
He knew very well what the situation was; he had been
knocked out during his vision, tied to a chair, and was to be tortured with the
horrendous gag. He tried to reach out with his magic to find the minds around
him, but instead suffered a swift and sharp pain in his head. The harder he
tried to use his magic, the worse the pain grew.
He recognized this; Vincent had showed him how to
contain a person’s power using sigils in a circle. Vincent had showed him by
using it on him. He was in one such circle, and he knew that if it was the same
one he had been taught, fighting was futile. The sigils created a transfer of
energy from the circle to the caster. That meant the more magic and energy he
exerted, the more he was giving to his enemy.
But the worst part was that it was also absorbing the
power of his scorpion healing charm. He tried desperately to calm himself. He
focused on his breathing and pictured sitting at the kitchen table, drinking a
coffee. He soaked in the quietness that surrounded him as if it were peace.
Vincent said he would have about two hours in one of
these circles before the scorpion was “dead.” And then… so was he.
How long was
I out
?
* * *
Mordon knocked on the third door and sighed when
there was no answer, just like at the previous two houses. Hail kicked the
door. “Why do we have to be out here when no one is even home? I’m hungry!”
Mordon pulled him away from the door. “I know, but
the diner is closed and we don’t have time to go home to make you something.
Your friends are missing.”
Hail pouted, but Mordon knew he really was trying to
control himself. “I’m just hungry!”
Mordon started to roll his eyes only to catch himself
in time. It was a contagious habit. He was about move on to the fourth house
when he heard a scream and took off running for it. They arrived at a house and
Hail opened the door, easily breaking the lock. Inside, a couple was sheltering
a very small child on the couch between them. In front of them was a creature
that would terrify most people. Instinctively, Mordon drew on the fire inside
him.
The creature was about five feet tall with long, thin
arms and had green and brown, scaly, slimy skin. Instead of a face, it had what
looked like the skull of a canine, with white, spherical eyes. Mordon wished
more than ever that he didn’t have his dragon’s advanced senses. Even Rojan
shuddered in his mind from the scent of rotting flesh that emanated from the
creature.
Rotting flesh and…
peppermint
?
It raised one of its long arms to strike at the
family with its sharp claws. Mordon was faster, blasting a stream of his
hottest fire, which could melt most metals.
The creature raised its head amidst the flames and
made a sharp, husky noise that was almost a choking sound. It wasn’t in pain,
though; the creature was laughing. Then, suddenly, it lunged at Mordon. Mordon
grabbed Hail and dove out of the way, allowing the creature to vanish through
the open door. By the time he got back to his feet and reached the door, the
creature had taken off into the night by huge wings.
It was still on fire.
* * *
Devon tried to find a sharp edge on the chair to rub
the duct tape against. His assailant had done a good enough job with the
binding that Devon was losing feeling in his fingers. Once again, he tried to
use his magic and only received pain. He was calm for the moment so as to not
stress his heart.
Until my time runs out
.
Way to stay calm.
“It won’t be long now,” a sinister, hissing voice
said, disturbing the silence. The gag was finally removed from Devon’s mouth
and he immediately tried to spit out the foul taste. “What have you done with
my salominius?”
“Your whatsit?”
The unseen stranger struck Devon across the face.
“Don’t play dumb. You or one of your friends took my salominius and I want it
back.”
“What does it look like?” He was slapped again. “Damn
it! Stop that! How would I know who took it if I don’t know what it looks like
or what it does?”
“It looks like a very small gift box! What it does is
none of your business.”
“Really? Because I think I’m tied to a chair right
now and that makes whatever you’re after very much my business. Let me guess;
you’re Sylvester? Going by the magic you’re using to restrain my power, I’m
also guessing you enchanted your toys to steal all the children in order to
absorb their life energy. How am I doing? Getting warm?”
It was very easy to antagonize an enemy he couldn’t
see. He heard the distinct sound of a match being lit and then felt a sharp
burn on his right thigh for several seconds before the flame went out.
“Yep, that would be warm,” Devon said. He really
hoped his jeans weren’t flammable. “Are the kids dead?”
“Not yet. Soon, though. Very soon.”
“What about the chimney monster? How does---”
The cloth was shoved back into his mouth, but Devon
managed to bite down on several fingers, causing Sylvester to shout. He was
struck hard again and suddenly smelled gasoline. “Keep it up. I don’t need
you.”
Devon heard a bell ring from somewhere in a room
above him and Sylvester fell silent. Instead of feeling relief, Devon’s
instincts warned him that things were about to go from bad to worse.
* * *
Mordon arrived at the store at the same time as
Dylan. “What did you find out?” Dylan asked.
“Nothing, except I found the creature that has been
attacking people from their chimneys, attics, and closets. It took off in the
sky, so I’m a few minutes behind, but I tracked it here. What about you?”
“I talked to Lincoln over on Fourth Street. The
original presents he put under the tree were stolen. He went to buy more, but
the general store was closed. Guess where he bought more presents.”
“From Sylvester’s Toys.” Mordon stared at the dolls
in the window.
“Right. How much do you want to bet we find similar
stories if we ask around? The creature you tracked must have been going around
and destroying presents in order to get people to buy from Sylvester.”
Which is a really weird purpose for a monster
,
Rojan remarked.
“What’s the plan then?” Mordon asked.
“We go in and talked to Sylvester. If he’s not in a
talkative mood, we’ll have to persuade him.”
“Yay!” Ron said excitedly. “Bloodshed and crying!
This is going to be fun!”
“It’s dark. Can’t we come back tomorrow?” Hail asked.