Festival of Shadows (18 page)

“Get out of our way,” Theo said.
 

“You’re pretty sneaky. Why are you running around with those gypsies? We could use someone like you.”

“I don’t have time for you. Fly, Gasket! Fly!”

Gasket nodded, and he flapped his wings furiously; he blew fire at the clowns and sent them running for cover. Then he lifted off into the air and hovered as he gained his balance.

Gasket took to the sky and the town shrank below them.

“Good job, pal,” Theo said. “I think we’re safe now.” He pointed in the direction of the festival grounds, far in the distance, and Gasket flapped his wings.
 

There was a roar behind them, and Theo looked back and saw another dragon rising into the sky. It looked like Gasket, but it was red, and its eyes glowed orange. Andersen was riding the dragon, and next to him flew Verona, with a propeller attached to her head.

“You have to be kidding me,” Theo said.
 

Gasket saw the clowns approaching and whimpered.

Andersen approached. “You aren’t going to get away. I’ve got a dragon of my own. Let’s go, Wheelie!”

“It’s okay,” Theo said, patting Gasket on the back. “Just listen to me and we’ll get through this.”

~ Continue.

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The roach was twice her size, and its shell was an ugly brown. It smooched its big red lips as it neared Verona. It was the strangest cockroach Theo had ever seen, but it worked.

“Stay away!”

The cockroach tried to kiss her, but she shrieked and ran into the funhouse.

“Why are you running?” Theo asked. “It just wants to kiss you.”

He entered the cool darkness of the funhouse, and a recording of Andersen’s voice played through a speaker in the ceiling.
 

“
Hyuk hyuk, welcome to my funhouse! I hope you find it fun—if you ever escape, that is.
”

A laugh track played, followed by a series of horrendous screams. The screams faded into suspenseful music that played the same low note over and over with a timpani boom every few beats.
 

Theo ventured farther into the darkness until he reached a neon-green wall with three doors in the shape of clowns’ mouths. One was tall, one was fat and wide, and another was an electric revolving door with the reflection of fire on the other side.
 

He heard Verona’s voice on the other side of the wall.
 

“Come and get me, you dum-dum!”

Theo entered the:

~ tall door.

~ fat door.
 

~ revolving door.
 

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Theo ran through the tall door; it was dark on the other side, and he lost his balance and fell down a long slide that stretched through the darkness. The slide wound up and down, side to side, and did three loops before the lights turned on, then Theo shot down toward a colorful ball pit.
 

Verona popped up from the ball pit like an alligator in a dark marsh, and she aimed a bazooka at Theo. She fired, but it missed.
 

Theo turned the Whatsamadoozle into a mallet and smacked her on the head as he landed in the pit. A trapdoor opened beneath them and they fell into a whistling, air-powered tube that sucked them through a maze of tunnels and spit them out of the funhouse.
 

Theo staggered up, dizzy from the wild ride. Verona lay next to him, unconscious.
 

He picked her pocket and found the paper slip.
 

“The password is
fanny pack
, huh?” Theo said. “Pretty creative.”

Theo chuckled to himself as he ripped up the slip of paper.

As he left the circus grounds, Theo saw a large mansion on a hill overlooking the town. It was German-looking, with a brick and half-timber exterior. He had never seen such a huge mansion before.

He snuck toward the manor and came to a wrought-iron gate blocking the way. Grabbing a barrel from the alley, he climbed on top of it and threw himself over the gate.
 

The front lawn was manicured, and there was a fountain with a statue of a laughing clown’s face; water streamed from its eyes, but it was smiling.
 

He snuck around the side of the mansion, peeking in the windows as he went. There was nothing of interest inside—just fancy rooms with expensive decorations.
 

As he rounded the side of the house, bright light and heat suddenly surrounded him. Theo found himself standing in a library stacked wall-to-wall with old books.
 

How did I get in?

He stepped back and saw that the rear exterior of the mansion was missing, exposing the rooms. Here and there, teddy bear butlers moved throughout, dusting, cleaning, spraying, and waxing.
 

It’s a doll house.
 

He could hear Andersen in a bedroom on the second floor, snoring on his bed.
 

Theo entered the library again and listened at the door leading out. Hearing nothing on the other side, he opened it and snuck into the hallway. The shiny wood floor was slippery under his feet, and portraits of toys, painted in oil, hung unevenly along the walls. Beneath each portrait was a caption in plated gold.

One portrait showed a serious-looking futuristic robot with a star on his chest, crawler treads for feet, and a laser gun in both hands. The caption underneath the photo read (FORMER) MAYOR ROBO. A knife had been stuck in the painting where the robot’s face was.
 

He saw another portrait of a jack-in-the-box with legs. Its caption read (FORMER) MAYOR JACK, and a knife was stuck in his face, too.
 

All down the hall were portraits of different mayors with knives stuck in their faces, except for one at the end of the hall—Andersen’s.

In his portrait, Andersen stood against a black background with his arms folded like a gangster, half his face covered in shadow. Next to his picture hung a portrait of Stratus. Only his eyes were visible. The caption below read MAY HE LIVE FOREVER.
 

This place is creepy.

Theo climbed the stairs. Reaching the top, he heard a sound and hid behind a sculpture of a kazoo.

A portly teddy bear butler was waxing the floor by hand. He wore a black tuxedo with long coattails. He wasn’t an Ursabrand, and Theo despised him on sight.
 

“Oh my,” Oxley said. “I must have missed a spot.”

He inspected the top of the stairs. A bit of mud marked the otherwise shiny floor.

That’s from me.

“I must trace the source of this most unfortunate speck, lest the master chastise me.”

He followed the trail of mud that led toward Theo, but Theo pushed over the sculpture and hit Oxley in the head, knocking him out. He dragged the butler into a nearby closet, shut the door, and wedged the kazoo against the door so the butler couldn’t escape.
 

Andersen’s room should be down the hall.
 

Theo crept down the hallway, and as he did, he heard snoring; it was so loud that it shook the portraits on the walls.
 

He opened the door to Andersen’s room. The clown was sprawled across his bed. Snot hung from his nose, and it rose and fell with each snore.
 

Theo hid in the closet, thinking of his next move, when Andersen suddenly startled and burped in his sleep. A golden key flew out of his mouth and clattered across the floor.

“Darn it,” Andersen said, swiping up the key. He held it over his mouth like an anchovy and he swallowed it whole. Then he fell asleep again, snoring louder than before.
 

Great. How am I supposed to steal the key when he’s keeping it in his stomach?

There was a key ring on the desk next to Andersen’s bed, with several different shaped keys on it. Theo picked it off the desk and wrestled a bronze key off.
 

He crawled under the bed and waited for a huge snore. When Andersen sucked in air, Theo punched the bottom of the bed. The noise startled Andersen so badly that he burped the key onto the floor.
 

Theo grabbed a baseball that was under the bed and threw it in the direction of the door.
 

Andersen shot up and ran to the door. “Huh? What? Who?”

Theo snatched the real key off the floor and replaced it with the bronze key from the ring. Then he slipped under the bed again.

Andersen opened the door and looked out. Seeing no one, he yawned and grabbed the old key without even noticing the switch. He swallowed it and fell asleep again.
 

Theo snuck out of the mansion without being seen.
 

Theo returned to Gasket’s cell, and the dragon was still sleeping.
 

He unlocked the padlock with Andersen’s key. Then he used Ludwig’s finger on the fingerprint scanner, and it beeped and unlocked.
 

The microphone shot in front of his face and asked, “What’s the password?”

“Fanny pack.”

The cell door opened, and Gasket stood, looking at Theo with his head cocked.

“Bethany sent me,” Theo said. “We’ve got to go—fast.”

Gasket perked up and licked him.
 

A camera descended from the ceiling and scanned Theo. “You are not Andersen. Intruder alert.”

Alarms sounded, and Theo untied Gasket from the cell and they ran outside. He hopped on Gasket, and the dragon flapped his wings and got ready to take off when Andersen hobbled out of the shadows.
 

“So you’re the one sneaking around,” Andersen said.
 

“Get out of our way,” Theo said.
 

“You’re pretty sneaky. Why are you running around with those gypsies? We could use someone like you.”

“I don’t have time for you. Fly, Gasket! Fly!”

Gasket took to the sky and the town shrank below them.

“Good job, pal,” Theo said. “I think we’re safe now.” He pointed in the direction of the caravan, far in the distance, and Gasket flapped his wings.
 

There was a roar behind them, and Theo looked back and saw another dragon lifting off into the sky. It looked like Gasket, but it was red, and its eyes glowed orange. Andersen was riding it.

“You have to be kidding me,” Theo said.
 

Gasket saw the crew approaching and whimpered.

Andersen approached. “You aren’t going to get away. I’ve got a dragon of my own. Let’s go, Wheelie!”

“It’s okay,” Theo said, patting Gasket on the back. “Just listen to me and we’ll get through this.”

~ Continue.

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He ran through the fat door and entered a small, circular room, and the floor heated up under him.
 

“Wrong guess!” Verona’s voice said.

The floor collapsed beneath him, and he landed in the bottom of a cannon. A hole in the ceiling opened, exposing the night sky. The cannon fired him out, and he heard Verona’s voice again.

 
“Leave me alone, stupid!”