The Child Thief

“Well, I’ll tell you what I think,” Danny said. “I think old Leroy there ate too many paint chips when he was a baby.”

“Maybe we should tell someone?” Cricket suggested.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good plan,” Danny snorted. “Cricket, why don’t you go do that.”

“Why not?”

“Are you kidding? Look around.”

Nick watched two Devils taking turns throwing a knife at each other’s feet. Another group were carving tribal designs into their arms.

Cricket let out a tired sigh and slumped to the floor.

NICK COULDN’T GET the vision of the pixie’s murder from his mind. The little creature had just seemed so human. He guessed all living creatures were the same: animals, people, even pixies, when they’re in pain and in fear for their lives—all the same. Nick’s eyelids grew heavy. He was ready for sleep, ready to put this long, horrible day behind him. His stomach felt warm, unnaturally warm. He wondered again about the food and what it might be doing to him. But it was mostly a good feeling. He shut his eyes and enjoyed the strange way it spread through his body.

The fire had burned low, and several of the Devils were drifting over to the straw-lined cages. The band stopped playing and Sekeu and Abraham were dousing the wall torches.

“I think they’re giving us a hint,” Cricket said. “C’mon, Nick. We need to set you up.”

Nick opened his eyes. “What?” But both Cricket and Danny were headed toward the cages. Nick pushed himself to his feet and followed.

“How’s this one?” Cricket pointed to a cage next to hers.

“Sure,” Nick said absently and started to crawl in. He stopped when the absurdity of sleeping in a cage dawned on him. “Cricket?”

“Yeah.”

“Why do they put us in cages?”

Cricket laughed. “So the pixies can’t screw with you all night.” She dragged over a cut of canvas. “Here. Toss this over the top. That way they can’t pee on you. You can tie the ends down, but it really doesn’t matter because I don’t think there’s a knot they can’t untie.”

“Yeah, if they get to you they’ll suck out all your blood,” Danny said. “Happened to a kid just the other night.”

Nick looked at him, horrified, then caught the smirk on Cricket’s face.

“Uh-uh,” Nick said.

Danny laughed.

Nick placed the tarp over his cage and crawled in. He still felt weird about sleeping in a cage, but at this point was too exhausted to care.

“Well, I’m hoping for bacon and waffles tomorrow,” Danny said and crawled in his cage. “Shoot, I’d even settle for Cocoa Puffs.”

Cricket kept rattling on about something, but Nick barely heard. His eyes felt so heavy. The warmth in his stomach continued to spread, covering him like a blanket, pulling him down into a deep sleep.

The warmth followed him into his dream, turning into the bright sunshine of a balmy summer day. He was in a meadow surrounded by trees, everything turned golden by the sun’s brilliant rays. He lifted his face up and put his arms out, letting the heat bathe his whole body.

Giggles caught his attention. A multitude of faerie folk danced and frolicked from one end of the dreamy meadow to the other. Tiny, insect-size people with colorful butterfly wings floated about, pollinating the thousands of multicolored flowers blooming from every vine, tree, and bush. A snort came from the tall grass. Nick saw cat-size centaurs gallop past. Little white-skinned maidens in flowing gossamer rode on their backs, leaping and whooping gleefully. Hoots and howls came from the trees, where purple monkeys leaped from branch to branch. A chorus of bird and faerie song drifted about on the light breeze.

In the dream, Nick drew in a deep breath, filling his lungs with the sweet aroma of flowers and the spice of earth. It was all so wonderful, but all at once he began to sweat and thought a bit of shade would be nice. As he searched for a cool spot, the heat became unbearable and he realized this heat wasn’t from the sun, but from his gut. His stomach was burning. Nick wished he could find some water, something to quench the burning. He clasped his belly and groaned, and when he did, the meadow fell silent. All the creatures stared at him and he could see fear in their eyes—fear of him.

Nick didn’t want them to be afraid. He raised his hands to calm them and that’s when his skin turned black. Right before his eyes, twisting splotches of darkness snaked along his arms, and scaly spots, the color of bruises, bloomed across the backs of his hands. He watched, terrified, as his fingers twisted into jagged black claws.

The creatures fled, leaving him behind. This made him angry, furious. He wanted to hurt them, wanted to chase them down and butcher every one of them.

Nick awoke clutching his gut. His stomach burned, and his clothes were soaked from sweat. He needed some water, but didn’t dare go into the privy at night, not with those damn spiders. So he lay there wondering how he ever ended up on an island, in a cage, sharing a fort with Devils and little blue people. Eventually, the heat in his stomach passed, and shortly before morning he fell back asleep.

Chapter Ten Ginny Greenteeth

Nathan sat on the curb, his face in his hands. He’d been sitting like that for close to an hour.

They were at the docks; the housing projects, the drug dealers, the gangs, all left far behind. The Mist was brewing, swirling up from the bay in front of them, waiting.

Peter wanted to get moving, anxious to get back, but knew better than to pressure or rush the kid. The next step was delicate. The boy had to truly want to follow him or he would never survive.

“I meant it when I said you could come home with me.”

The boy didn’t seem to hear him. Once out of the housing project, the kid had only talked about his brother.

“It’s a really cool fort. You’ll like it. I’m sure.”

The boy wiped his nose, but didn’t look up. “Yeah, that sounds fine,” he mumbled. “I got no place else, y’know. With Tony gone I got no one.”

“You’ll have lots of friends soon. We need to hurry though, before the Mist leaves.”

“Okay, man. Just give me another sec.” The kid wiped his eyes on the front of his shirt and got to his feet. He saw the mist and frowned. “That’s kinda creepy. You sure we wanna go that way?”

“The Mist will take us to Avalon, a magical place where you never have to grow up and no grown-ups are allowed.”

Nathan gave Peter a quizzical look. “You’re a strange dude. You know that?”

“Do you want to go?” Peter asked.

“Sure, why not.”

“Do you go willingly?”

“Sure.”

“Well then, you have to say it.”

“Say what?”

“Say, ‘I go willingly.’”