Festival of Shadows (32 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.

SORRY!

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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—”

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.

CHAPTER 7

Aliens & Other Inconveniences

 
The saucer rocked from side to side and a door on top opened. A big-headed, green alien with black eyes and a stitched-up slit over his mouth popped out. He rubbed his head, which had a huge, peanut-shaped hump in the back. The nerves on the hump were outside his skin, glistening like the pathways on a silicon chip, and the skin on his long, spindly arms looked oily. When he spoke, his voice came from the speaker of the flying saucer, not his mouth. His voice was ethereal and multilayered, as if five of him were speaking at the same time.

“Darn door. It gets jammed every time.”

He shifted in his seat and hovered the saucer around Theo. “How do you like my creation? I, Braindon, of the Tarapsha’NaXinaxhat Colony, am its mastermind. It took me forty-three million, six hundred thousand, five hundred twenty-nine minutes and nineteen seconds to build. I had to import the selerium that powers the board from distant galaxies, and I spent many decades in my laboratory concocting the right formula to get the board to light up.” His eyes glowed as he gestured across the board proudly. “Oh, the brain power it took! Thank goodness I have a big brain, because the square root of the area was not conducive to the mass of the illusions that Stratus gave me—”

“Shut up and speak English,” Theo said.
 

Braindon balled his fists and the saucer shook. “How dare you interrupt me? I’ve never been able to practice my speech to anyone before. Don’t ruin my moment of fame.”

Theo turned the Whatsamadoozle into a bow and arrow. “Let me out of here.”

Braindon shook so hard his skull glowed. “You ungrateful teddy bear. I was going to explain the rules of the game to you, but now you don’t deserve to hear them.”

“Rules?”

“Now you’ll never know what they are. The only way I’m going to let you out is if you play.”

Theo shot an arrow, but it passed through the saucer without seeming to even touch it.

 
Braindon paused; he closed his eyes and held up his hands. “What’s that? Yes, I hear you, brothers. Speak to me. Om . . . Ooooom . . .” He waved his hands as if he were doing tae kwon do. “Your message is clear. This teddy bear is trying to defy Stratus, and he must be stopped . . .”

“That’s the most pathetic show I’ve ever seen. You knew that all along.”

Braindon opened his eyes. “So what? I was confirming my suspicions with the collective.”

“What collective? You’re a toy, not an alien.”

“Nonsense. I am from the Tarapsha’NaXinaxhat Colony.”

“And where exactly is that?”

“In the Cerulean Quadrant.”

“Cerulean is a crayon color.”

“How dare you relegate my home quadrant to a human design apparatus!” Braindon pulled out a remote control with a huge knob on it, and he turned the knob all the way to the right. The remote control vibrated, and all the squares on the plateau pulsed.
 

A floating deck of cards appeared in front of Braindon and he placed his hand on it. “Maximum difficulty for you, teddy bear. It’s time to begin the game.”

CHALLENGE!

A Game of Skill

RULES OF THE GAME

~ Theo must make it to the end of the board. He will move forward on each turn.
 

~ If he lands on an empty space, he will have the opportunity to move forward again or draw a card from the deck. Cards can be helpful, or they can be harmful.