Festival of Shadows (30 page)

He clutched his heart and cried, “Shawn! Shawn!” He pretended to wander around the factory. He felt the Whatsamadoozle on his waist—Shaggy hadn’t taken it.
 

Meanwhile, Shaggy hovered closer, his tongue a blasting blowtorch of flames.
 

The Dream Marshes blinked back into sight and Theo saw an iridescent pond next to his foot.

A little closer . . .
 

“Time to die,” Shaggy whispered.

Theo activated the Whatsamadoozle, turned it into a bucket, scooped up water and splashed it in Shaggy’s face.

“No—”

Shaggy’s body sparked. “You’ve short-circuited me—”
 

That was his last coherent thought. The dog paused and looked into the distance, squinting. “Gregory?”
 

Smoke rose from the dog’s shoulders. He barked, but no sound came out. He ran away, crying out for Gregory. “Don’t run. I’ve waited for you. I need you!”

One of Shaggy’s legs stopped working, but that didn’t stop him. He moved deeper into the shadows of the marsh, screaming and whimpering. “Gregory . . .”

Another leg stopped and Shaggy fell face-first. He called out for Gregory again; his voice rose five octaves, sank ten octaves, then his body exploded.
 

“What a shame,” Theo said, standing over the dog’s body. “I wish it didn’t have to end this way.”

But he couldn’t stop thinking about Shawn. The memories were so vivid he could still imagine himself there. A wave of anxiety fell over him and his heart felt heavy.
 

What if I had picked the other Shawn? Was that real? No, it couldn’t have been. Everything is so weird here, I can’t know for sure. I’ve got to get out of here.
 

And then he remembered the caravan.
 

I’ve got to warn them before it’s too late.

He turned the Whatsamadoozle into a propeller and flew out of the marsh.

The Dream Marshes fell away, and the farther Theo flew, the less heavy his heart felt, though he would never be able to forget what he had seen. He focused on the sky and hoped that he could get back to the festival grounds to save Lucinda and the caravan.
 

He passed over a rocky plateau lined with a trail of colorful, painted squares that snaked all over. It was a strange-looking place; if he didn’t know any better, he’d say it looked like a board game . . .

Something knocked him out of the sky, and he landed on a green square with START written on it. He stood up and tried to fly away, but an invisible force bound his feet.
 
He couldn’t move.
 

 
“What the—”

A small flying saucer loomed over him. Maniacal laughter came from inside while cheesy music played from a speaker on the bottom.

“Let me out of here!” Theo cried.

The spaceship danced in the air. “Welcome, challenger. You are the first—and last—contestant in the greatest board game of all time!”

CHAPTER COMPLETE!

~ Continue.

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Theo grabbed the quiet Shawn off the conveyor belt and they crashed to the floor.
 

Shawn disappeared, and Theo was back at home, lying on the kitchen table while Mom and Dad paced around the kitchen.
 

“Where do you think he could be?” Mom asked.
 

“He’s got to be around the neighborhood somewhere,” Dad said.
 

Theo wanted to move, but he couldn’t as long as Mom and Dad were in the room. A policeman knocked on the back door.

Theo remembered.
No. I don’t want to relive this day.
 

Mom, Dad, and the officer went into the living room to talk. Theo jumped off the table and ran through the hall, past puppy Amos who was sleeping in his bed, and upstairs into Shawn’s bedroom, which was filled with toys.

Shawn wasn’t there.

“I’m too late.”

He saw a portal glowing under the bed—the same portal that had appeared after Grant had been abducted.
 

“This was my fault,” Theo said. “And now I’ve got a second chance to fix it.”

He ran toward the portal, but it imploded just before he reached it. The explosion knocked him out of the bedroom, downstairs, and onto the sofa where Mom and Dad were talking to the officer.

“When was the last time you saw your son?” the officer asked, scribbling on his notepad.

“Last night,” Mom said. She was in tears, and Dad put his arm around her.
 

“How old is he?”

“Nine.”

“Do you have any enemies?” the officer said.
 

Dad shook his head.
 

“It’s been forty-eight hours, so that’s strange. Kids usually come back home on their own by this time. And you’re sure no one came through the window?”

“It’s locked from the inside,” Mom said, sobbing.
 

The officer bunched his lips and picked up Theo by his neck. “This his?”

Mom and Dad nodded.
 

“What a terrible teddy bear,” the officer said, smirking at Theo. “He couldn’t even protect a nine-year-old. Ha ha ha . . .”

Theo tried to free himself from the officer’s grip, but he couldn’t.
 

Now Mom and Dad were laughing with the officer. Dad was slapping his knee, and Mom was laughing hysterically, with sad tears still streaming down her cheeks.
 

“I think you need to throw this guy in the trash!” the officer said.
 

Theo swiped at the officer but couldn’t reach. Meanwhile, the chokehold grew tighter.
 

“You don’t know the whole story,” Theo said, gasping. “I—”

“I do know the whole story,” the officer said, carrying him past the big TV and stereo and toward the garbage disposal in the kitchen. “You failed your oath as an Ursabrand. And now you will face the consequences of your failure.”

“No—”

Theo grabbed the remote control off the entertainment center and hit the officer in the eye; the officer let go of Theo and screamed. His body warped into Shaggy, who growled and flew away, out of reach.

They were back in the factory, and Theo was on top of a conveyor belt again and even closer to the chomping mouth.
He jumped off just in time.
 

Suddenly, all the machinery in the room stopped.

Shaggy barked from above. “I hate it when the system malfunctions.” He raced to a security panel on the other side of the factory.

Meanwhile, the other Shawns were stuck on the conveyor belt in front of the mouth; it hadn’t eaten them yet.
 

Theo saved:

~ Crying Shawn.

~ Screaming Shawn.
 

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Theo leaped and pulled the crying Shawn off the conveyor belt. When they landed on the ground, Shawn was gone, and Theo felt something carrying him by the arm.
 

He was in Shawn’s bedroom. There was a crib with a mobile of stars. The toy box that he had known all his life was in the middle of the room on a rug, but there were no toys in it yet. It was sunrise, and light shone into the room in soft angles.

I remember this. Shawn was a baby on this day.

The person carrying him stopped moving and brought him higher. It was Mom. She looked so young. Her hair was pulled back in a long ponytail, and she wore a flowery dress. What he remembered most about her during these days was her warmth; he could feel it again, and he felt so comfortable.
 

“Well, Mr. Theo, it’s time to meet your best friend,” she said. She turned him so that he could see baby Shawn wriggling and cooing in a blue blanket.

She set him next to Shawn and left them alone.

Theo lay with Shawn and watched the sunlight flowing through the window.

“I failed you, old pal,” Theo said.

Shawn cooed and grabbed Theo’s nose.
 

“You don’t hate me anymore?”

Baby Shawn began to cry.

“No, I’m sorry. Don’t cry—”

Now Shawn was crying uncontrollably, and every gasp hurt Theo’s heart.

“It’s going to be okay. I won’t let anything hurt you.”

Shawn kept crying, louder and louder. It was deafening, and it was driving Theo crazy.
 

He stuffed a pacifier in Shawn’s mouth. Shawn stopped, sucked the pacifier, then spit it into Theo’s face and cried louder than before.
 

I forgot. He always hated pacifiers. Maybe I can tell a joke.
 

“Once, there was a donkey,” Theo started, but Shawn kept crying. “The donkey walked into a daycare looking for his owner, and, and—”

Shawn kept crying.
 

Theo took a blanket, held it to his face, and blew into it with all his might, making it billow.
 

Shawn saw this and laughed. Theo laughed with him, and then Shawn started to cry again.
 

“Oh no . . .”

Shawn stopped crying and looked at Theo with faint amusement.
 

“Good,” Theo said. Theo turned on the mobile, and the stars and moon began to whir.

One of the baby’s eyes glowed red for a moment, and Theo stepped back.
 

“Something’s wrong. You’re not—”

Suddenly, Baby Shawn stood up on two feet and holding a roaring chainsaw. Theo rolled away, and his surroundings morphed back into the factory.
The crib turned into a conveyor belt; Theo was on top of it, and he was seconds away from the chomping mouth.
He jumped off just in time.
 

“Why won’t you die?” Shaggy growled.
 

The factory bubbled and popped around Theo. The marsh blinked into view, and then the factory appeared again. The changing scenery gave Theo a headache.
 

The illusions are wearing off. I’ll create an illusion for him.
 

He clutched his heart and cried, “Shawn! Shawn!” He pretended to wander around the factory. He felt the Whatsamadoozle on his waist—Shaggy hadn’t taken it.
 

Meanwhile, Shaggy hovered closer, his tongue a blasting blowtorch of flames.
 

The Dream Marshes blinked back into sight and Theo saw an iridescent pond next to his foot.

A little closer . . .
 

“Time to die,” Shaggy whispered.

Theo activated the Whatsamadoozle, turned it into a bucket, scooped up water and splashed it in Shaggy’s face.

“No—”

Shaggy’s body sparked. “You’ve short-circuited me—”
 

That was his last coherent thought. The dog paused and looked into the distance, squinting. “Gregory?”
 

Smoke rose from the dog’s shoulders. He barked, but no sound came out. He ran away, crying out for Gregory. “Don’t run. I’ve waited for you. I need you!”

One of Shaggy’s legs stopped working, but that didn’t stop him. He moved deeper into the shadows of the marsh, screaming and whimpering. “Gregory . . .”

Another leg stopped and Shaggy fell face-first. He called out for Gregory again; his voice rose five octaves, sank ten octaves, then his body exploded.
 

“What a shame,” Theo said, standing over the dog’s body. “I wish it didn’t have to end this way.”

But he couldn’t stop thinking about Shawn. The memories were so vivid he could still imagine himself there. A wave of anxiety fell over him and his heart felt heavy.
 

What if I had picked the other Shawn? Was that real? No, it couldn’t have been. Everything is so weird here, I can’t know for sure. I’ve got to get out of here.
 

And then he remembered the caravan.
 

I’ve got to warn them before it’s too late.

He turned the Whatsamadoozle into a propeller and flew out of the marsh.

The Dream Marshes fell away, and the farther Theo flew, the less heavy his heart felt, though he would never be able to forget what he had seen. He focused on the sky and hoped that he could get back to the festival grounds to save Lucinda and the caravan.
 

He passed over a rocky plateau lined with a trail of colorful, painted squares that snaked all over. It was a strange-looking place; if he didn’t know any better, he’d say it looked like a board game . . .

Something knocked him out of the sky, and he landed on a green square with START written on it. He stood up and tried to fly away, but an invisible force bound his feet.
 
He couldn’t move.
 

 
“What the—”