Festival of Shadows Read online

  “How can you sit here and listen to that every night?” Theo asked.

  “Stop judging us,” Lucinda said. “You have no right.”

  “I have every right. This is unacceptable.”

  “We still need our mascot,” she said, ignoring him. “If you can rescue him, then I can help you. I promise.”

  Theo dug his foot into the ground and scowled. He looked over at Bethany, who was smiling and motioning for him to come over.

  Lucinda scoffed and hovered away, and Bethany uppercut the air as Theo approached.

  “I knew you’d come and see ol’ Bethany.”

  “Tell me what you want.”

  “I want my Gasket back.”

  “Make another one.”

  “Make?” Bethany asked. She put her hands on her hips and stared at Theo so hard that he stepped back. “You can’t just up and make a baby dragon.”

  Theo’s eyes widened.

  “I found him in the forest many years ago,” she said, tearing up. “He’s my best bud! He’s better than any horse, too. If I don’t get him back, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

  “Where is he?”

  Bethany pointed to a rolling hill. The lights of a small town flickered on the top. “Darn rival circus. They kidnapped him last night. I know for a fact that Andersen the Clown took him. We’re the best caravan in the Stratusphere and he’s jealous. Envy-green, I tell ya!”

  “Who is he?”

  “He’s the one in charge, but he’s a third-rate clown in a second-rate caravan, if you know what I mean.” She spit on the ground. “He’s a balding, no-good, polka-dot-wearing, makeupped joke of a toy whose shoes are as big as Conestoga wagons. Oooh, he makes me so livid. His dung heap circus wouldn’t even attract a hungry fly!”

  Theo looked at the small town and guessed that it would be a short walk.

  “Gasket’s probably so scared,” Bethany said. A wave of tears appeared in her eyes. “I can’t imagine all the evil things that Andersen is doing to him. I just can’t. So what’ll it be? Will you help me, Mister Ursabrand?”

  “Why don’t you go and rescue him?”

  “They need me here at the caravan,” Bethany said, patting her biceps. “Besides, if I walked into town, they’d know me straightaway.”

  “Fine. I’ll help you.”

  Bethany uppercut the air again. “Go get ’em, sir! And if you see that clown Andersen, sock him on his noisy red nose and tell him it was from me.”

  CHAPTER COMPLETE!

  The moon is bright.

  Remember or Highlight the above sentence. It may come in handy . . .

  ~ Continue.

  SORRY!

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  Theo strolled back to the camp, and he turned the Whatsamadoozle into a yo-yo. He swung it with every step, and it sent off glowing golden rays that danced around the clearing, brightening everything.

  The toys, who were building platforms and pitching tents, clapped when they saw the light.

  “Oh mein gott!” Heinrich cried, putting his hands on his head.

  Theo turned the Whatsamadoozle into a golden ball and handed it to Heinrich. The strongman jumped up and down and squealed.

  “There,” Theo said. He looked at Lucinda as he spoke. “If anyone here had any reservations before, I dare you to doubt me now.”

  Heinrich quickly turned the Whatsamadoozle into a giant mallet and rested it on his shoulder. “I never doubted you for one moment. You’re a brave bear. Now I can fulfill my duty as the strongman, and I can smack the bell. Ya!”

  Theo jumped on a platform and threw his hands in the air. “Who else could benefit from my services? You’re in the protection of a real Ursabrand now.”

  The toys gathered at the base of the platform and cheered.

  “Now it’s your turn to help me, Lucinda,” Theo said.

  “We still need your help,” Lucinda said.

  Theo jumped down from the platform and glared at her. “What? I did what you asked me to.” He pointed at the moon. “I’m running out of time!”

  Suddenly, Bethany screamed and pointed in the direction of the forest. A purple streak was quickly approaching. As it neared, there was the sound of grinding saws and maniacal laughter. —Cutter.

  “Not again,” Theo said, drawing his broken sword.

  “You won’t get away,” the dinosaur cried. He was covered with vines and twigs. “What have we here? A festival? Oooooh! I’m going to dash you all to plush and laugh when Stratus tortures you!”

  Heinrich ran to the front of the festival grounds and pointed the mallet at Cutter. “Stand down, you Jurassic ruffian, or I will give you the biggest ouchy of your life.”

  Cutter grinned and kept approaching.

  Heinrich spun around rapidly until he and the mallet began to glow. When Cutter neared—POW!—Heinrich smacked him so hard that he arced into the sky and disappeared over the horizon.

  “And stay away!” Heinrich said.

  Theo sighed. “He won’t give up.”

  Heinrich scanned the horizon and shook his head. “Perhaps. It appears that you have more journeying ahead of you. I hate to give up my Whatsamadoozle again after such a joyful reunion, but I think you may need it more than I do.”

  “This will come in handy,” Theo said, turning the Whatsamadoozle into a golden sword.

  As Theo admired the sword, the wind blew, carrying distant screams. Soft at first, they grew louder until they filled the air. They were goose bump-making screams, so loud that Theo felt them in his bones. They were children.

  “What is that?” Theo asked.

  Heinrich shook his head. “Don’t ask, my little cub.”

  Shaggy trotted to Theo’s side. “Stratus is infusing the children with nightmares. It happens several times each night. Try to think happy thoughts. You’ll get used to it, Theo.”

  He knew that Grant’s scream was mixed in with the other children’s. Theo scowled at the castle and said, “I don’t know how you could ever get used to this.”

  The bell tower chimed, and the screams stopped and faded into the night. Though they were gone, Theo could still hear them in his mind, and he didn’t want to imagine what horrible things Stratus was doing. But he had to know.

  “How can you sit here and listen to that every night?” Theo asked.

  “Stop judging us,” Lucinda said. “You have no right.”

  “I have every right. This is unacceptable.”

  “We still need our mascot,” she said, ignoring him. “If you can rescue him, then I can help you. I promise.”

  Theo dug his foot into the ground and scowled. He looked over at Bethany, who was smiling and motioning for him to come over.

  Lucinda scoffed and hovered away, and Bethany uppercut the air as Theo approached.

  “I knew you’d come and see ol’ Bethany.”

  “Tell me what you want.”

  “I want my Gasket back.”

  “Make another one.”

  “Make?” Bethany asked. She put her hands on her hips and stared at Theo so hard that he stepped back. “You can’t just up and make a baby dragon.”

  Theo’s eyes widened.

  “I found him in the forest many years ago,” she said, tearing up. “He’s my best bud! He’s better than any horse, too. If I don’t get him back, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

  “Where is he?”

  Bethany pointed to a rolling hill. The lights of a small town flickered on the top. “Darn rival circus. They kidnapped him last night. I know for a fact that Andersen the Clown took him. We’re the best caravan in the Stratusphere and he’s jealous. Envy-green, I tell ya!”

  “Who is he?”

  “He’s the one in charge, but he’s a third-rate clown in a second-rate caravan, if you know what I mean.” She spit on the ground. “He’s a balding, no-good, polka-dot-wearing, makeupped joke of a toy whose shoes are as big as Conestoga wagons. Oooh,
he makes me so livid. His dung heap circus wouldn’t even attract a hungry fly!”

  Theo looked at the small town and guessed that it would be a short walk.

  “Gasket’s probably so scared,” Bethany said. A wave of tears appeared in her eyes. “I can’t imagine all the evil things that Andersen is doing to him. I just can’t. So what’ll it be? Will you help me, Mister Ursabrand?”

  “Why don’t you go and rescue him?”

  “They need me here at the caravan,” Bethany said, patting her biceps. “Besides, if I walked into town, they’d know me straightaway.”

  “Fine. I’ll help you.”

  Bethany uppercut the air again. “Go get ’em, sir! And if you see that clown Andersen, sock him on his noisy red nose and tell him it was from me.”

  CHAPTER COMPLETE!

  The moon is hidden behind clouds and is not visible.

  Remember or Highlight the above sentence. It may come in handy . . .

  ~ Continue.

  SORRY!

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

  CHAPTER 4

  Finding Gasket

  Theo crested a hill and stared at the sky. The moon was bright, and clouds covered it like fingers.

  The town lay at the bottom of a foggy valley. A bell tower rose over the small skyline, and under it, the yellow lights of houses flickered. The town reminded Theo of the old European cities that he had seen in Shawn’s textbooks. Fog shifted here and there, exposing bits of tile roofs and cobblestone streets. Behind the town was a circus ground that was submerged in shadows; he could make out a Ferris wheel, a funhouse, and a small midway.

  He stood, staring at all the different buildings, wondering where Gasket could be.

  A noise behind him interrupted his thoughts. A wagon approached, drawn by blue carousel ponies that neighed as if possessed. Theo couldn’t see who was inside the wagon.

  He rushed to hide in a bush before the wagon passed, but in his hurry he accidentally dropped his shield on the path.

  CRACK! The front wheel of the wagon rolled over the shield. It shot up and broke one of the spokes, causing the wagon to slump.

  Oops.

  “What the blue bazooka was that?”

  A clown jumped out of the wagon and looked around angrily. He wore a polka-dotted clown suit with balloon pants, and his huge clown shoes clacked with every step and sounded like they were full of water. He had a red nose, dark, red eyes, and a faded white face with paint peeling at the cheeks. His orange hair looked like cotton candy, and it was partially covered by a triangle cap with a fuzzy cotton ball at the top that bounced when he walked. His voice was stuffy, as if he had suffered from a cold his whole life.

  The clown limped over to the wheel and plucked the wooden shield out.

  “Rats.”

  Two other clowns jumped out. One was a short, round female in a striped shirt. She wore a long, flowery skirt that flowed under her as she waddled. The other was a male, tall and lanky, with a face that reminded Theo of a bass. His clown suit was one size too small for him, and his wrists and ankles showed. He had bony joints that looked as if they could come unhinged at any moment.

  “What’s up, boss?” the female clown asked.

  Andersen the Clown gazed around the clearing. Seeing no one, he shrugged and hurled the shield as far as he could. “Stupid dead toys, leaving their parts everywhere. I can’t go anywhere anymore without being impeded by one.”

  “Praise Stratus for this impediment,” the tall clown said. “May there be more of them!”

  Andersen smacked the tall clown on the head. “You’re supposed to agree with me.”

  The tall clown rubbed his head, and the female clown pointed at him and laughed. “Yeah, you’re an idiot, Ludwig. You’re supposed to agree with the boss.”

  Andersen smacked her on the head. “I hate suck-ups.”

  The female clown’s eyes watered, and she scrunched her face up as if about to cry.

  The tall clown laughed at her. “Yeah, no one likes a suck-up, Verona.”

  Andersen snarled at Ludwig and raised his hand to smack him again, but decided not to. Instead, he blew a whistle, and a group of wind-up monkeys scurried from the wagon. “Get to work.”

  The monkeys produced a spare wheel from the wagon and began to install it.

  “Let’s get some practice time in while we wait,” Andersen said. “Fall into formation.”

  Ludwig climbed onto Verona’s shoulders and juggled three balls while Verona started tap dancing out of rhythm. They posed with their arms wide and said tiredly: “Ta-da.”

  “No, no, no, no!” Andersen said, stomping toward them. “How many times’ve I told you?” He held out his arms wide and put on his biggest smile. “It’s ta-daaaah!”

  Ludwig and Verona chimed in and tried to imitate Andersen, completely out of tune.

  “Taaaaaaa . . .”

  “Daaaaaa . . .”

  Andersen hung his head. “We need a million more hours of practice if we’re going to be the best circus in the Stratusphere.”

  “But don’t forget, boss,” Verona said. “Now that we got that baby dragon, we’re gonna—”

  Andersen smacked her on the head again. “I told you: we don’t talk about that out in the open. Someone might hear you.”

  “Sorry, boss . . .”

  “But if you must know,” Andersen said, “Yeah, that thing IS going to make us the best. That stupid gypsy caravan thinks they can win with a cute little mascot, but not anymore.”

  “He’s ours now.” Ludwig said.

  Andersen grinned. “It’s about time you got agreeable. Hyuk hyuk.”

  “Stratus is going to reward us for sure when we present it to him—after our circus, of course,” Verona said, closing her eyes with delight.

  “Just remember,” Andersen said, grabbing the two clowns by the necks and pulling them close, “you two hold the keys to our success.”

  The monkeys saluted; the new wheel was installed.

  “Let’s get outta here.”

  Andersen threw himself into the wagon, and Ludwig and Verona followed.

  Theo leaped out of the bush and climbed onto the underside of the wagon as it passed. It was a bumpy ride into town, and his arms were tired when the wagon finally stopped in the town square near a bubbling fountain.

  The three clowns hopped down.

  “We’ll practice again tomorrow,” Andersen said, tying the horses to a trough. “And don’t forget what I said about that thing earlier.”

  “To success!” Ludwig said, saluting proudly. “Thank god we’ve got the keys.”

  Andersen smacked him on the head.

  “Sorry, boss . . .”

  Verona and Ludwig walked off in different directions while Andersen started down a dark alley, burping the whole way.

  I need a place to hide.

  Theo ducked into a church, a wooden building with stained glass windows and a bell tower.

  He crouched inside the misty sanctuary. It was small and cozy. In front of the empty pews stood an altar with several lit candles and pictures of deceased toys next to them. He looked at each of the photos and wondered how they died—probably at the hands of Andersen, since he was one of Stratus’s henchmen. Even though the clown looked like a bumbling fool, he was probably very dangerous.

  There were no side rooms in the church. Gasket wasn’t there.

  Theo entered the bell tower through a small door in the back of the sanctuary and climbed six flights of stairs to the top, where the bell swayed in the breeze.

  No Gasket.

  Across the plains, he could see the castle. If only he could storm inside! He saw Grant’s face in his mind’s eye and imagined all the terrible things that Stratus might be doing to him. The thoughts were too much. He leaned over the tower railing, scowling and internally kicking himself for not being able to fight Stratus off.

  He sulked on the tower for a while before he r
ealized he was wasting time.

  On his way down, he found a golden coin on the steps. It was faded and had a royal crest with two carrots crossed as if they were spears; on the other side, the letters MMXV were etched into the gold, as well as the words QUOD TE NUTRIT TE DESTRUIT.

  “Interesting coin,” he said, tucking it away, “but I’ve got to find Gasket.”

  He exited the church and snuck down several streets until he came to the town jail, a gray building with a cupola and missing bricks. There were bars over the windows and several steps leading up to the door, which was locked with a rusty padlock. Theo activated the Whatsamadoozle, turned it into a blowtorch, and burned the lock off the door.

  He entered to find a baby dragon sleeping in a jail cell that could hardly contain him. He was at least three times Theo’s size, with black scales, long whiskers, triangular ears, and a paunch.

  “Found you.”

  Gasket opened his sad green eyes, and then closed them.

  “I’m here to save you.”

  Gasket exhaled and nearly blew Theo across the room. He sighed and closed his eyes again.

  He doesn’t trust me.

  Theo tried to open the cell, but it was locked with a heavy padlock. Next to the padlock, a security panel with a fingerprint scanner and a microphone were bolted to the wall.

  They really don’t want him to leave. But where do I find the keys?

  He stared outside at the town that lay before him. There was a mansion on a hill, a tavern, the circus grounds at the edge of town, and a bazaar.

  Theo went to the:

  ~ Midnight Market.

  ~ Tavern.

  SORRY!

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