Festival of Shadows (31 page)

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 pulled the screaming Shawn off the conveyor belt and they crashed to the ground.

Shawn disappeared; Theo was in Shawn’s bedroom. It was dark, and moonlight was shining through the window.
 

Theo looked around.
I remember this night.
 

A portal appeared under the bed, and Shawn climbed from it, gasping and heaving. He looked as if he had been attacked; he was sweating and his eyes were wild and unfocused.

He was nine when this happened, the same age as Grant now.

Shawn crawled forward and screamed.

“It’s okay, pal,” Theo said, patting Shawn on the back. “You’re safe from Stratus now. You’re going to be okay.”

Shawn pushed him away and kept screaming.

Quick footsteps pattered outside the door, and Mom and Dad rushed into the room. Seeing Shawn on the floor, they took him into their arms, crying with joy and sadness.
 

The portal closed quietly under the bed.
 

Theo shrank into the closet as Mom tried to console Shawn.

“What happened?” she asked.

But Shawn kept screaming.
 

“Honey, you have to tell me what happened,” Mom said, tears in her eyes.
 

Shawn looked back at the bed where the portal had been and kept yelling.
 

Dad got on his knees and looked under the bed but saw nothing but socks. He checked the window—he had put tape there to detect intruders—but it was shut fast. He was baffled. “I don’t know where he came from, or how he got back.” He stood staring at the window. Young Grant was in his arms, and when he sensed Dad’s uncertainty, Grant began to cry.

“He was in the Stratusphere,” Theo said, even though Mom and Dad couldn’t hear him. “And somehow, he escaped. I don’t know how. But he’s safe now, and I promise that this will never happen again.”

Suddenly several shadowy hands appeared from under the bed and positioned themselves to grab Mom and Dad, Shawn, and Grant.
 

“No!” Theo cried. He charged at one of the hands, but it smacked him away. The hands rose into the air and converged into a giant fist that came down toward Theo. He rolled away, and the surroundings changed back to the factory.

The giant hand was a giant piston; Theo was on a conveyor belt, once again seconds away from the chomping maw.
He jumped off before it ate him.
 

“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—”

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.

SORRY!

You didn’t make a selection. Go back to the previous page. Otherwise, you may get lost.

Theo pulled the screaming Shawn off the conveyor belt and they crashed to the ground.

Shawn disappeared; Theo was in Shawn’s bedroom. It was dark, and moonlight was shining through the window.
 

Theo looked around.
I remember this night.
 

A portal appeared under the bed, and Shawn climbed from it, gasping and heaving. He looked as if he had been attacked; he was sweating and his eyes were wild and unfocused.

He was nine when this happened, the same age as Grant now.

Shawn crawled forward and screamed.

“It’s okay, pal,” Theo said, patting Shawn on the back. “You’re safe from Stratus now. You’re going to be okay.”

Shawn pushed him away and kept screaming.

Quick footsteps pattered outside the door, and Mom and Dad rushed into the room. Seeing Shawn on the floor, they took him into their arms, crying with joy and sadness.
 

The portal closed quietly under the bed.
 

Theo shrank into the closet as Mom tried to console Shawn.

“What happened?” she asked.

But Shawn kept screaming.
 

“Honey, you have to tell me what happened,” Mom said, tears in her eyes.
 

Shawn looked back at the bed where the portal had been and kept yelling.
 

Dad got on his knees and looked under the bed but saw nothing but socks. He checked the window—he had put tape there to detect intruders—but it was shut fast. He was baffled. “I don’t know where he came from, or how he got back.” He stood staring at the window. Young Grant was in his arms, and when he sensed Dad’s uncertainty, Grant began to cry.

“He was in the Stratusphere,” Theo said, even though Mom and Dad couldn’t hear him. “And somehow, he escaped. I don’t know how. But he’s safe now, and I promise that this will never happen again.”

Suddenly several shadowy hands appeared from under the bed and positioned themselves to grab Mom and Dad, Shawn, and Grant.
 

“No!” Theo cried. He charged at one of the hands, but it smacked him away. The hands rose into the air and converged into a giant fist that came down toward Theo. He rolled away, and the surroundings changed back to the factory.

The giant hand was a giant piston; Theo was on a conveyor belt, once again seconds away from the chomping maw.
He jumped off before it ate him.
 

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:

~ Quiet Shawn.

~ Crying Shawn.
 

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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.
 

“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.