“No!” Mouth called. He struggled to yank himself free from the spikes. “I warned you. It’s too late.”
Reed Taylor stood there, looking tired and pale. I took an automatic step toward him, but something stopped me. His body language was off. The way he stood was unnatural, like he was being pulled upward by strings.
“Something’s wrong with him,” I breathed.
Mouth nodded grimly, and I bit my lip, hard.
“But that’s him, though, isn’t it? I mean, he’s real, even if he is all jacked up.”
“That’s him.” Mouth’s voice was very soft, and full of something strangely like pity. I looked at him.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“Look closer.”
I didn’t want to. It took everything that I had to force myself to clench my fists and study what I saw in front of me. Reed Taylor’s handsome face was white and slack. Dark spikes ran from his red hair, spearing upwards. I realized what I was seeing, who I was seeing, and I hissed.
“So you understand,” Mouth said quietly.
“I understand.”
The darkness flowed from Reed Taylor’s scalp up into a long, thin arm. Too thin. Bone-shatteringly thin. The very stuff of nightmares, or at least my nightmares. The arm connected to a shadow so large that its head projected onto the ceiling. The shadow turned toward me and I thought my heart would stop. I tried to breathe normally. I bit my tongue to keep myself from shrieking. I knew if I started then I would never, never, never stop.
The shadow giggled.
“Ah, Luna! It has been, mmm, such a long time!”
The voice was higher than I remembered, squeaky and broken in all the wrong places. As it spoke, its head rotated to the side so far that I braced myself for the sound of snapping bones.
Everything in me screamed to run and hide. The shadow pranced its way closer. It tiptoed on impossibly small feet.
“And how is the brother, mmm? Still a coward? Learned from his bargain, girl?” It sniffed the air. “Oh! I can smell him. He smells like such lovely things. Despair. Shame. Oh, yes, guilt and misery.”
It turned his eyeless face back to me. “And you. I missed you, mmm, yes. Little girls and fears are so delicious. But yours, oh, yours were always the sweetest. So delightful to lead down waterways and into the dark places. There was magic there, Luna. Tell me, do you still see magic in the water? Look closer, Luna, and see what you find! Put your face right down into the water and—”
“Shut up,” I said. My fists were clenched at my side. “I’m sick of your voice. I’m not six years old anymore. You’re gonna have to do better than that.”
“Watch it,” Mouth breathed warningly.
I pointed at Reed Taylor. “I want him. Give him back to me.”
The Tiptoe Shadow cackled in delight. “You want the puppet? My new friend? Oh, but I think not, mmm. I was lonely without you, Luna. No one to whisper to. No one to run my fingers across in the night. I needed, mmm, someone to play with, and someone came. He’s a lovely one, don’t you think? And he knows things. A great many things. He knows where the New You is.”
The New You?
Lydia. Reed Taylor knew where Lydia was.
The shadow moved its great arm, and I realized with horror that his fingers were boring through the top of Reed Taylor’s skull. This was how it was controlling him. It danced Reed Taylor closer to me. His left leg turned in awkwardly and his heavy boots dragged on the ground.
“Stop it, you’re hurting him,” I yelled and rushed forward.
Mouth’s cold voice stopped me. “Tread carefully,” he said. His eyes never left the shadow man’s face. “He’s counting on you to get emotional. It isn’t Reed he wants.”
I took a deep breath, nodded. Reed Taylor’s gorgeous greens were vacant, the corners filled with swirling black. I reached forward and ran my hand down his face gently. Cold to the touch, but so beautiful.
I felt the heat of the Tiptoe Shadow’s gaze. “Why, you care for this one?” He shook his hand, and Reed Taylor’s body danced like a broken doll. “This one, mmm, when he has caused you so much trouble? Oh yes,” he said, and his squeaky voice turned deeper, more sinister, “I know this one. I know his consorts: those who think they fly, mmm, higher than us. I know.” He suddenly bent over backwards, his head twisting toward Reed Taylor’s face. He ran his tongue down Reed Taylor’s cheek. “He, mmm, tastes like you. Is that why you want him back? ‘Come on, Luna, give me a kiss.’” He opened Reed Taylor’s mouth and shadowy black fingers waggled where his tongue should be. The shadow giggled wildly.
I broke.
“How dare you call my brother a coward? You’re the coward. How dare you pick on little girls, and men that can’t see you, and small boys who are afraid of the dark? If you’re going to fight somebody, fight somebody who can fight back.”
Mouth made a warning sound, but I was too worked up to care. “Leave Reed Taylor alone, and come after—”
“Luna!” Mouth roared, and I stopped short. My body began to tremble. I suddenly had the sense that I had almost gone too far, said something that couldn’t be taken back, and Mouth had saved me.
Moving almost faster than I could register, the Tiptoe Shadow snaked forward until he was face-to-face with Mouth.
“You,” he said, and I realized that, until now, he hadn’t even known he was there.
Mouth dipped his head.
“Why do you stop her? Why do you, mmm, betray?”
Mouth bowed his head respectfully. “I…I don’t betray, master. I forgot myself. She offered to help me and I was…moved.”
The demon’s giggle went higher, more wild. The hair on my arms stood.
“She? Help you? Then she doesn’t know. Oh, mmm, tell me she doesn’t know.”
Mouth, head still bowed, murmured, “She doesn’t know.”
The Tiptoe Shadow screamed with laughter. He wrapped his long, thin arms around himself, and Reed Taylor’s body flopped and shook with the demon’s mirth.
“You’re breaking him,” I yelled, tears in my eyes. I whirled on Mouth. “What don’t I know?”
He looked away from me. “Do you ever wish,” he said quietly, “that you could take something back? That you could change who you are?” He met my eyes again. “I never wanted to hurt you.”
“Luna.” I whirled at my brother’s voice.
“Seth, don’t come in here.”
He looked horrified. “What’s happening to Reed?” I realized he only saw me and a broken Reed Taylor levitating through the air. It must be too horrible to comprehend.
“It’s the Tiptoe Shadow.”
Seth’s face changed into an expression of horror more grotesque than anything I had ever seen. I was afraid his heart would stop.
I was sick of this.
“Enough games.” I stormed up to the Tiptoe Shadow. “Where’s my niece?” Fear didn’t have a hold of me anymore. Nothing but rage.
“The little one?” he squeaked. He wriggled, his happiness an obscenity. My mouth tasted sour. “The pigtails, and starfish hands, and laugh like, mmm, bubbles? It had been so long since I had one so small around to play my games, someone to hide under her blankets and pray I don’t exist. But I do, you see. I sing songs, all night, comforting, about things that, mmm, crawl in the dirt and things that will eat her eyes, and when she cries for Mama Luna, no one comes. ‘We’re all alone,’ I tell her. ‘They’ve all abandoned you,’ and I open my mouth and catch her tears and they are so sweet, so sweet, so sweet…”
The sound that came out of me was unlike anything I had ever heard. It was something I expected from the wolf demons, or something that dreamed of sucking marrow from bones at night, but not from me. It was wild and frightening. From the corner of my eye I saw Seth shrink away, but I didn’t care. I rushed at the demon.
“No, no,” he said slyly. He lifted Reed Taylor into the air as though he weighed nothing. “I will break my toy. Just you see. Do you like toys, Luna? Do you like
when they twist and spin and, mmm, snap?”
He twisted Reed Taylor’s arm painfully in its socket. Reed Taylor’s expression didn’t change, but his face went even paler, and sweat stood out on his forehead.
“No, stop,” I cried. “Please don’t. I’ll do anything.”
“Anything?” The demon looked shrewd. I’d been down this road before.
“Luna, think of what you’re saying,” Mouth whispered. His head was still bowed. “You think he doesn’t know what he’s doing? He’s playing you.”
“Whose side are you on?” I hissed and Mouth winced. I turned my attention back to the Tiptoe Shadow, who was nibbling down Reed Taylor’s ribs like a hungry dog. I saw blood.
“What will it take for you to leave him alone?” I asked. “For you to put him away and give Lydia back to my brother?”
“You ask hard things,” the shadow said. He pointed at Mouth. “Doesn’t she ask hard things?”
“Yes, she does,” he said respectfully. He cut his gaze to me, but I deliberately avoided his eye.
“The child says yes,” the Shadow told me, nodding. “I like my pretty toy. But sometimes…they break.”
He snapped Reed Taylor’s arm, and I screamed. Seth took a step forward, but the shadow shook his head. “Uh uh, naughty boy. There are more, mmm, wonderful things to snap and spin on my new toy.”
“Don’t go closer,” I warned Seth. I glared at the demon. “Enough. If you break him, then I won’t have a reason to do what you ask. It’s me you want anyway, isn’t it? Not this toy. Not the girl. Me.” The demon looked wary but didn’t move. “Put the puppet down, and play with me. I’ll be your doll. Remember the sound of my terrified breathing as a child? Remember the magic in the water? I can fear you again. Let me. Let him go, and play with me.” I took a small step forward.
“Luna.”
I heard my brother call me frantically, but I tuned him out. This was for Seth. This was for Lydia. This was for Reed Taylor. What’s one life compared to many? Who would really miss me, anyway?
“Games?” The Tiptoe Shadow asked hopefully. “Twistings and playing and ties?”
“Whatever you want,” I said. I was closer now. I lifted my arms to show that my hands were empty, that they needed to be filled with nightmares and the dead and whatever horrors he could come up with. “Whatever games you desire. Just put him down, please.”
The demon looked from Reed Taylor to me. “Such pretty dollies. So many games that we could play, mmm.”
This wasn’t going as planned. “But you don’t really want Reed Taylor. What kind of horrors could you bring him? You don’t know him like you know me. Take me. I’ll be more satisfying. I’ll scream every night. Take me.”
My brother shouted my name again, and the Tiptoe Shadow gyrated angrily from head to toe.
“Enough of brother. No more, mmm, brother. You,” he thundered, pointing at Mouth, “silence brother! Kill, burn, twist, break brother.” The spikes yanked out of Mouth’s body, clattering to the floor. Mouth sank to his knees.
“No,” I shrieked. I backed away from the demon, standing between Mouth and Seth. “If you hurt him, I won’t stay. I’ll leave you with your broken toy, and I’ll walk away forever, I swear I will.”
“No games?” the shadow asked tearfully. “No stories or songs?”
“No stories or songs or screams. Nothing. Just a toy who can’t see you. No Luna doll. No me.”
The demon paused. Reed Taylor still hung from the air, his arm lolling grotesquely.
The shadow sighed.
“All right. Go, brother. Goodbye, brother. Come here, plaything.”
I turned to Seth. “You have to leave now. Just leave this house before he changes his mind.”
He bared his teeth. “I’m not leaving you here with that…that thing. Luna, I remember. How could I do this to you a second time?”
The Tiptoe Shadow made an impatient sound, fiddling with Reed Taylor’s legs.
“Go, now. Find Lydia. She needs you.” I hugged him fiercely. “I love you.” I stepped back before he even had a chance to put his arms around me.
“I’m ready,” I said, and walked up to the Tiptoe Shadow. I heard the door close behind me as Seth left, but I didn’t take my eyes from the demon’s missing face.
“Dolly,” he said and ran his trembling hands over my cheek.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Mouth wasn’t happy. I could tell it by his wispiness. I could tell it by the way his lips were set into a firm line.
I didn’t care.
“Dolly, dolly,” sang the Tiptoe Shadow, and he ran his long fingers down my hair, twisted them around my neck. They went around several times.
“Can…can you let Reed Taylor go now, please?”
I wanted to sound strong, but the feel of those dark fingers on my skin made my mouth go dry.
“Reed Taylor, where is Lydia?”
“There’s magic in the water.”
Reed Taylor’s voice, but not his words. I reached for him, but the demon pulled us further away.
“No, dollies. Bad dollies.” He shook us, and I choked, grasping at my neck. Mouth clenched his fists, but did nothing.
“Hey, knock it off,” I growled as soon as I had my voice back.
The Tiptoe Shadow giggled. "You want to talk to the puppet? Hear what the puppet has to say? Okay. Okay, okay. Oh, it will make you cry. Big, soft, sad tears, and I will lap them from your face, and I will be happy."
He pulled his hand away from Reed Taylor's head slightly. The inky furls cleared from the corners of his eyes. They were filled with pain instead.
"My arm,” he gasped.
“He broke it,” I said, jerking my head at the monster. “I'm sorry. He’s kind of a jerk.”
Sweat dampened his hair. “You weren’t supposed to see me again. That was the end of it. I was going to live life without you.”
I frowned. He didn’t have to sound so miserable that I was here. The Tiptoe Shadow giggled and his fingers tightened around my throat.
Reed Taylor’s eyes cleared and he looked at me, took in the demon’s ghostly fingers.
“No,” he said.
“It's okay,” I whispered, and tried my best to grin. “It saved Seth. It's worth it. I'd hoped it would get you out of here, too, but now I'm not so sure. The Tiptoe Shadow here seems pretty fond of its pretty little puppets.”
He looked at the shadow. “You’re breaking the deal. You weren’t going to hurt her.”
“You…made a deal?”
Reed Taylor winced. When he opened his eyes again, the cloudy whorls were back. “He’s laughing. He lies. We’re forgetting his true nature.” His body seized, jerked, and he reached for me with his good arm. I pulled away automatically.
The Tiptoe Shadow hadn’t moved. He just stood there, grinning eerily at us.
“He’s not saying anything,” I pointed out to Reed Taylor. Maybe the pain was getting to him more than I thought.
He shook his head. “He’s thinking it. He’s in there with my thoughts. There isn't room in my head for both of us, so sometimes it's mostly him, and sometimes it's mostly me. He's pulling back right now because he wants me to tell you some stuff.” He spit on the ground. “He wants you to cry. He hates you, you know. He thinks it’s love.”
The demon's thumb caressed my neck. I closed my eyes against the oily feel.
“His thoughts make me sick,” Reed Taylor told me. His beautiful greens were full of sorrow. “I don't have to tell you what he’s thinking. I'm pretty sure you know.”
“I always knew.”
The shadow half purred, half growled. “He doesn't want to tell you to your, mmm, face. He wanted to fade away and disappear, become something other than what he is. Oh no, he is ashamed, that's what he is.”
“Shut up!” Reed Taylor yelled at the Tiptoe Shadow, who began chortling wildly.
“I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait,” he started to chant, rocking himself in glee. Both Reed Taylo
r and I swayed with his movements.
“She doesn’t have to know,” Reed Taylor told the shadow flatly. “It’ll only hurt her.”
Mouth surged forward. “It’s too late. There you go. You went and screwed up, just like I knew you would, and now here you are. Here you both are. Luna, you should have listened to me. You should have stayed away.”
The shadow eyed him shrewdly. “She should have what, hmm? Listened to a, mmm, betrayer? A demon who only befriended her so he could bring her to me? Yes,” he said to me, twisting down to meet my eyes. It looked like his body had to break in half to do it. “That's why this one approached you. And you, Luna doll. You were so eager to hate, and so eager to say mean, hurtful things that wounded his little soul, and then you felt sorry, but you were, mmm, right. He has a way with words, my little one, but in the end,” his voice hardened, “he serves. Don't you, child?”
Mouth dropped his head again. “Of course.”
I could hear the anger and hatred in that voice. So could the Tiptoe Shadow, who screamed with laughter.
“Oh, you are so upset. Oh, how you wish to yell and rend and banish me to the dark places. But you can't. You can't even tell her, can you? Because then what will happen?”
I turned to Mouth the best I could. “What will happen? If you try to go against him?”
I could hardly hear him. “I die. Forever. You can't turn against the ones who...you can't even say anything against...”
“I created him,” squealed the Tiptoe Shadow, and he clicked his tongue with an insect-like glee. “The one he prays to and the one who tucks him in at night, when I'm not watching you. Dreaming of you. Running my tongue against your window and wishing you would let me in. Why won't you let me in? Why let my little one in? Not me? I was so, mmm, disappointed.” His laughter sounded like choking. His head turned slowly on his neck. “That isn't nice. That isn't nice at all.”
“You...came because he asked you to?” I didn't know whether I wanted to hit Mouth or cover my face and scream.
Mouth flowed over, put his hands on my cheeks. I could barely feel them. “At first. It was like that at first, but you have to believe me when I say—”
Nameless: The Darkness Comes Page 21
