by Jason Segel
“Those torches look like a fire hazard,” Paige said nervously.
“Then it’s a good thing the fire department is here.” Alfie pointed, and for the first time, Charlie noticed the three big men in flameproof pants who were painting something on the far side of the room. “What are those guys doing to the windows?”
Charlie took a few quiet steps toward the men for a closer look. They were covering the glass in the windows with thick black paint.
“That’s what happens when you let Walkers do your interior decorating,” Paige said. “They probably can’t tell the difference between the walls and the windows.”
“No.” Charlie shook his head. “It’s not an accident. I think the owners are having them paint over the glass because they don’t want anyone to be able to see inside.”
“Or maybe the gentlemen just prefer the dark?” Dabney offered hopefully.
“Yeah.” Bruce nodded. “The guys are probably vampires.”
Paige held back a smile. “We don’t have many vampires here in the Waking World,” she informed the changeling.
“That’s what you think, little miss smarty-pants,” Bruce replied matter-of-factly.
“Well, I say we find the owners and ask them why they want to live in a cave,” Jack announced. Two halls led toward different parts of the house. Jack chose one and set off without even missing a beat.
“Get back here!” Charlie ordered, but Jack ignored him and charged ahead into the dark unknown. Charlie could have shouted, he was so irritated with his brother. Now someone had to go after him.
“Paige, please help me find Jack,” Charlie said. “The rest of you check out the other side of the house. Let’s all report back here in exactly fifteen minutes.”
—
Charlie and Paige didn’t have to go far to locate Jack. The little boy had made it only a few yards down the hallway before he’d stopped in front of an open door.
Jack excitedly waved his brother closer. The kid’s eyes zipped left and right as they explored the room. “This is some crazy stuff!”
Charlie reluctantly peered in over his brother’s shoulder and gasped at what he saw. The room was set up like a medieval banquet hall. At the far end was a fireplace with an enormous fire burning in its hearth. The structure was large enough to roast at least five full-grown pigs. Even from the doorway across the room, Charlie could feel the heat of the flames licking either side of the opening. Between the fire and the door, in the center of the room, stretched an enormous rustic wooden table set with dozens of hammered metal plates and knives.
“Where do you go to you buy stuff like this?” Paige asked. “Transylvania IKEA?”
“More like Crate and Barely Human,” Charlie replied as he counted place settings. There was room at the table for at least forty people. Whoever owned the place seemed to be expecting a lot of company.
Before Charlie could stop him, Jack set off across the banquet hall, and then stopped beneath a mural that filled one of the walls.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Charlie hurried over to retrieve his brother. “We can’t just walk around this place like it’s some kind of museum!”
But when he looked up at the painting Jack was staring at, Charlie found himself mesmerized. The mural showed hundreds of figures in black hoods walking up the winding road to the house they were standing in. In the painting, the house’s door stood wide open as if waiting for the guests to arrive, and high above, hidden in the shadows, two people were watching the scene from one of the building’s turrets. All Charlie could make out was a swatch of reddish-brown hair and three brown eyes.
“That almost looks like a girl I know,” Jack said. “She—”
A female’s shriek echoed off the stone walls. Paige pushed past Charlie and rushed up to the wall. She stopped with her nose almost pressed to one corner of the mural. With her index finger, she traced a shape that Charlie hadn’t spotted. Only when he drew closer could he see it was a sloppy letter J. In an instant, he knew that the artist responsible for the bizarre painting must have been Paige’s aunt Josephine.
Paige held her finger up to Charlie. The tip was covered in black paint. “It’s still wet,” she said. “My aunt might be somewhere in the building!”
She grabbed Charlie’s hand and dragged him out of the banquet hall. Jack hurried after them, and Charlie saw him smirk at the sight of his brother holding hands with Paige. Charlie glowered back at Jack, hoping his expression would serve as a warning. The last thing he needed was someone making embarrassing “Charlie and Paige sittin’ in a tree” jokes. Not that Paige would have noticed. She was too busy searching each room they passed for signs of her aunt.
The three of them raced from doorway to doorway down the hall. Paige was squeezing Charlie’s hand so tightly that he worried she might cut off his circulation. But he wasn’t about to complain. Unfortunately, Josephine was nowhere to be found. From time to time, they ran past a Walker who was putting the final touches on a bit of décor, or adding an extra coat of black paint to the windows. Otherwise, their wing of the house was empty. Empty, and yet it didn’t feel deserted. Fires were lit in every room. It was as if the house were waiting for its inhabitants to return. Charlie couldn’t help but think of Snow White stumbling upon the empty cabin in the middle of the woods. Whoever lived in the mansion would soon be back, but they weren’t likely to be Sleepy and Dopey. The people who had chosen this castle for a home were definitely Grumpies. Charlie had never been all that picky when it came to interior decorating, but even he could see that the rooms they passed were filled with the most hideous furniture ever crafted. Most of it seemed better suited for a dungeon. And Charlie knew a thing or two about dungeons.
They finally slowed to catch their breath at the very last room in their wing of the house. It seemed to be the same as the rest—dark, dreary, and empty.
“Let’s find Alfie and Dabney,” Paige urged, turning to go. “Maybe they saw my aunt on the other side of the castle.”
Charlie nodded, but just as he went to leave, something small and fast darted out of a shadow and into a wardrobe. Charlie grabbed Paige’s arm to stop her and called Jack back with a soft “Psssst!” He held a finger to his lips and pointed at the wardrobe in the corner of the room. The three of them tiptoed to the large wooden cabinet. Charlie grabbed both knobs, and on the silent count of three, he threw the doors open.
The creature inside flinched. Then it went limp, and its head flopped to one side. Charlie was almost positive that the thing was a little girl, but it was so filthy that it was hard to tell.
Jack stepped closer to get a better look and screwed up his face. “You’re not a Walker,” he announced. “Stop trying to pretend.”
The kid huffed and wiped the slobber off her face with her shirtsleeve. “Walker—is that what you call them?” she asked. “How’d you figure out I’m not one of them?”
Jack leaned in and sniffed. “You smell good. Like toothpaste,” he told her.
The girl held a hand to her mouth. “Who knew oral hygiene would end up being my downfall,” she muttered. She looked miserable.
“Your downfall?” Paige asked. “Who exactly do you think we are?”
The girl eyed them suspiciously. “I figured anyone who could still speak proper English at this point had to be one of the bad guys.”
“We’re not bad guys,” Jack said. He sounded appalled at the thought. “We’re from Cypress Creek. I’m Jack. That’s my big brother, Charlie, and his friend Paige.”
“I’m Poppy,” said the girl. “Are all of the people in Cypress Creek still normal? Don’t you have the tonic?” Charlie could see hope beginning to sparkle in her hazel eyes.
“Not yet,” Paige told her. “But there’s a Tranquility Tonight store opening up in our town tomorrow.”
Poppy lurched out of the wardrobe and grabbed Charlie and Paige by their T-shirts. “Don’t drink the tonic!” she cried, her eyes wild. “It eats people’s brains!”
“I’m not,” said Poppy. “Other people tried to avoid it too. But you don’t have a choice anymore—they keep a record. Everyone has to drink a bottle a day for a month. But after a while, they don’t need to be forced. Once people start drinking, they just want more.”
“What happens after a month?” Jack asked.
Poppy shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’ve heard that after thirty days, you’ll never have a bad dream again. But I’ve been drinking the stuff for at least two weeks, and it doesn’t do anything at all to me. I just pretend I’m a Walker and try to do my best to blend in.”
Paige suddenly gasped. “You must be immune to the tonic!” she said. “Is there anyone else like you in Orville Falls?”
Poppy’s face fell. Charlie could sense her exhaustion and sadness. “No. I’ve been searching for days. I haven’t given up yet, but it’s starting to look like I’m the only one,” she said.
Jack stepped forward and gave the girl a hug. Taken by surprise, Poppy resisted for moment, and then gave in. “We’ll get you out of here,” Jack said. “I’m sure our dad and stepmom will let you stay at our house until things are safe in Orville Falls.”
“Yeah,” Paige agreed. “You’re too little to stay here by yourself.”
“Too little? I’m twelve!” the girl told them. “How old are you? Look, I wish I could go with you guys, but I can’t. My parents are here. So are all of my friends. They aren’t a whole lot of fun anymore, but I’m not gonna leave them. I need to make sure they eat, and I change their clothes once a day. You wouldn’t believe how bad some of the people here smell.”
“Have you ever considered helping your parents and friends escape?” Charlie asked her. “Maybe if we took them back to Cypress Creek, we could find a cure for their—”
The kid shook her head violently, stopping Charlie before he could finish. “He wouldn’t like that. Not at all. He’d send someone to find us.”
“Who would?” Paige asked, shooting Charlie a wary glance.
Poppy looked around hesitantly and then whispered two words. “The Shopkeeper.”
“You mean the guy who sells the tonic?” Jack whispered back.
Poppy nodded sadly. “This is his house. They make me work here.”
Charlie and his brother locked eyes. “What do you know about this guy?” Charlie asked. “What’s his real name?”
“I’ve never heard his name,” the girl admitted. “Everyone just calls him the Shopkeeper.”
“What’s he like?” Jack asked.
“Short,” Poppy told them. “He’s not that much taller than us. He has a big nose, and I think he wears a wig. His hair doesn’t fit right on his head. And his fingers are super-long.”
It wasn’t the most vivid description that Charlie had ever heard, but it sounded like the guy he’d seen in the shop. “What else can you tell us?”
“He doesn’t like to have people around,” Poppy said. “The only time I see him is when I pick up my tonic. And when I’m in the shop, I try my best not to look at him. I don’t know what would happen to me if he found out about my condition.”
“What could he do to you?” Jack asked lightly. “He’s just a short little man.”
“He’s not alone,” the girl told them. “I’ve never seen the people he works for, but I know they’re real. They kidnap people. Anyone who refuses to drink the tonic disappears. Then they show up a day later acting just like the rest of the town.” Poppy paused for a moment, and her brow wrinkled. Charlie could see she’d remembered something. “I’ve listened to him talking to his bosses too. Yesterday I heard him tell somebody that the job was almost over. Then he asked when they’d be ready to open the door.”
He’d been talking to ICK and INK! Charlie thought, his heart thumping inside his chest. “What else did you hear?”
Poppy shook her head. “That was it.”
Just then there were footsteps in the hallway outside the room.
“Get in here,” the girl whispered. She looked terrified as she pulled Charlie and his brother into the wardrobe. Paige squeezed in beside them.
“What is it?” Charlie whispered back.
“That’s got to be one of the bad guys!” the girl said. “Whoever’s out there is walking like a normal person.”
Charlie tried to peek, but Poppy pushed him back.
“No!” The girl reached out and gently pulled the door shut, but not before Charlie got a glimpse of the shadow cast upon the stone wall. It looked like a man with one unusually long finger shoved halfway up his giant nose.
“It’s him!” Poppy whispered. She was clutching Charlie’s sleeve and shaking with such terror that she nearly pulled him over. “It’s the Shopkeeper!”
Charlie glanced down at the glow-in-the-dark numbers on Paige’s Swiss Army watch. It was half past ten in the morning. Shouldn’t a shopkeeper be at work in his shop? An idea had just sprung into Charlie’s head, when Jack announced, “I’ve got an idea!”
Charlie rolled his eyes.
“Shhhh!” Poppy begged, though the sound of the Shopkeeper’s footsteps was fading as he disappeared into the far reaches of the mansion.
Jack lowered his voice. “If the Shopkeeper’s here, that means no one’s watching his shop! We can steal a whole bunch of the tonic and take it back to Charlotte.”
“Good thinking, kiddo,” Paige said brightly, grinning at Jack as she mussed his hair.
Charlie gritted his teeth. That was exactly what he’d been thinking, but Jack—as always—had rushed in first and gotten the credit.
“Are you sure you want to stay here?” Charlie asked Poppy. “Come to Cypress Creek with us. When my stepmother makes the antidote, you can bring it back to your parents and friends.”
“I told you before. I can’t leave them,” Poppy said firmly. “I’m their only hope.”
“But…” When Jack started to argue, Paige stopped him.
“I understand,” she told Poppy. “They depend on you. And you can depend on us. We’ll find you when we have the antidote. Right, Charlie?”
“Absolutely,” Charlie said. “But if you change your mind or need any help, just come to Cypress Creek and look for the purple mansion. You won’t be able to miss it, and that’s where we’ll be.”
—
Charlie let Paige lead the way back through the dark, dreary castle. His mind was still on Poppy. He couldn’t imagine how much courage it must have taken for a twelve-year-old kid to live all alone in a town filled with Walkers. The only person he knew with that kind of guts was Paige.
“You look like you’ve got something on your mind,” Paige told Charlie as the three kids waited for a group of Walkers to pass by.
“I was just thinking that Poppy’s pretty amazing,” Charlie replied honestly.
“Charlie and Poppy, sittin’ in—” Jack started to sing.
“Shut up!” Charlie snarled at Jack so suddenly and ferociously that the little boy obeyed an order for once.
“Old grump,” Jack muttered under his breath.
“Little brat,” Charlie responded in kind.
He was so embarrassed that he couldn’t bring himself to look over at Paige. They walked the rest of the way back to the strange castle’s entrance in silence. Charlie was so deep in his own thoughts that he didn’t notice Alfie until his friend spoke.
“Wow, what happened to you guys?” Alfie said, stepping out of the shadows. “You all look really pale.”
“Did you run into one of those vampires you think don’t exist?” Bruce asked. Dabney giggled nervously, but Bruce was the only one who seemed amused.
“No, we just had a chat with
the only non-Walker in Orville Falls,” Paige said. “Her name is Poppy and she’s twelve. She’s been drinking the tonic for over a week, but it doesn’t do anything to her.”
Alfie’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. He hopped up and down like he always did when he got really excited. “You found someone who may be immune to the tonic? Where is she? Why didn’t you bring her? She could be the key to making the antidote!”
“She has to stay here and take care of her parents,” Charlie said. “What do you mean, she might be the key?”
“Something is protecting Poppy from the tonic,” Alfie said. “It could be lots of different things. It could be a gene in her body. Or something she puts in her body—like a food or a medicine. Or something in her environment. Or—”
“It doesn’t make any difference right now,” Charlie said, getting more frustrated by the second. “We can’t study her, because she won’t come with us. And we don’t have time to talk about this anymore because we need to get out of this place.”
“The Shopkeeper is here in the house,” Jack blurted out.
“And that means he can’t stop us from paying a little visit to his shop,” Charlie added.
—
The line that led to the front door of Tranquility Tonight still stretched through most of Orville Falls. Hundreds of bedraggled citizens waited their turn to enter the shop. Charlie and Paige had seen it before, but the sight brought the rest of the team to a standstill.
“Remarkable,” Dabney gasped.
“What are they doing here?” Jack asked. “The shop’s not even open!”
“So the Shopkeeper just comes and goes as he wants, and everyone stays lined up and waits for him?” Alfie wondered out loud.
“Guess so,” Charlie said. Then a familiar face caught his eye, and his heart sank. Kyle, the boy who played for the Comets, was standing in the line, wedged between his parents. They’d finally found a way to make him drink the tonic, Charlie thought miserably.
The jingle of a bell made Charlie look up just as an Orville Falls Walker exited the store. Before the door closed again, another Walker entered, and the entire line took a step forward in unison.
