“Really! We are not going to freak out here!” Eva yelled, stomping her foot so hard that she lost her balance. Bloom caught her.
“Let me down!” she grumped.
“Of course.” He dropped her on the floor next to a crying hedgehog wearing a yellow-and-orange superhero cape.
More shifters, as well as Canin and some stone giants, rushed inside the room. The mermaids and mermen swam to the surface of the fountain. Farkey, one of Jamie’s favorites, winked at Jamie. Jamie was too scared to wink back, but he gave a little wave. It didn’t feel like a time for winking anyway, but who knew what mermen winking even meant. Maybe it meant don’t worry. Maybe it meant the lobsters are jerks today. Who knew?
Jamie offered Eva his hand to help her stand. She glared at him and climbed back up the banister. It creaked a bit under her weight. She started taking all sorts of things out of her pocket and dropping them onto the stairs or onto the heads of the creatures surrounding her—a sausage link, a plant, a piece of gold nugget, a bag of dirt, and finally a whistle. She clasped the whistle and brought it to her lips, blowing hard three times.
Everyone was quiet.
“Finally,” Eva muttered, removing the whistle. “I expected more from all of you. Carrying on like this ain’t helping, and I expect Miss Cornelia would say that, too. Wouldn’t she? Oh, don’t you glower at me, Odham Norton-Dog.” She pointed at a scowling boy. “You know I’m right. Now, everybody listen to me, Eva Beryl-Axe, recent hero of glorious awesomeness. I am asking you all, right this second, if any of you have seen Miss Cornelia this morning? Do NOT speak!” She yelled as people started raising their voices, babbling over the top of one another.
She blew her whistle again.
People stopped talking, but it was a bit more slowly this time, Jamie noticed. It was as if they really didn’t want to be quiet or listen to the young dwarf balanced precariously on the banister.
“How about this,” Eva suggested. “Raise your hand or your paw or your fin or whatever if you did indeed see Miss Cornelia this morning.”
Nobody raised anything.
Annie pushed her way up the staircase to have a better look.
“Anyone? Surely, someone must have seen something?” she called out into the crowd.
Nobody raised anything, but then there was a slight splash in the fountain. The merboy Farkey tentatively lifted his tail fin.
“Yes … Mer … Merperson? I don’t know your name, I’m sorry,” Annie said.
“Farkey.” He cleared his throat and repeated. “I’m Farkey.”
“Farkey. It’s good to meet you.”
Annie was always polite, Jamie realized, even in a crisis.
“Did you see Miss Cornelia this morning?” Annie asked.
“Um … no …” He cleared his throat again as the crowd started murmuring and mumbling over him.
“Please be quiet, everyone!” Annie asked with her tiny voice.
Eva blew the whistle again, eliciting some angry moans from all the shifting dogs who found high-pitched whistle noises offensive.
Once everyone was silent again, Annie continued, “But you saw something, didn’t you?”
“It was more like I heard something,” Farkey agreed. He looked nervously around. “Everyone’s staring at me. Does my hair look okay?” His wet hand fluttered up to his unruly hair.
“It’s great. Very full of volume. No tangles,” Annie assured him. “And everyone is looking at you because … because …”
She appealed to Jamie for help.
“Because we want to hear what you have to say,” Jamie finished for her and tried to give Farkey a reassuring look.
Farkey cleared his throat again. “It happened late last night. It sounded like a door opening and clothes being rustled. I was … was on the surface, drying out a little, trying to keep the mold at bay. My flipper has been having an issue.”
“So, a door? And rustling clothes? Is that all?” Annie asked. She leaned closer, listening.
“More like the swirling of skirts. And a horse. It smelled like a horse was outside, and there was the sound of something heavy being moved around.”
Jamie’s mouth dropped open. A horse? The dark evil horse was still in Aurora.
For a moment nobody said anything, and then the room burst into chaos and ranting and worry. Even Eva’s whistle couldn’t quiet anyone.
“Miss Cornelia’s been kidnapped!” someone shouted.
“Don’t jump to conclusions!” a Big Foot argued.
“We’re doomed!” the fairies and hags all started yelling.
“What do we do?”
“Where did they take her?”
“And who?”
“And why?”
“And how?”
Annie moved toward Jamie and Bloom. “It was that horse. The one with the crow, I bet.” She turned to Farkey. “What else did you hear?”
“Heavy footsteps going out the front door.”
“But you don’t know for sure it was Miss Cornelia, do you?”
“It was dark, and I couldn’t see. But it smelled like her,” Farkey said sadly, shaking the water out of his hair. “Plus, I smelled someone else, someone spicy. That’s all I know. I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry about. You’re being super helpful,” Annie said.
“No. I’m sorry that I didn’t realize earlier. That I-I didn’t put it all together. I was too busy being sad about the mold and my hair and …”
“It doesn’t matter,” Jamie said, patting Farkey’s shoulder, and then awkwardly wiping the wetness off his hand. “You’ve told us now. Right?”
Jamie took a deep breath and surveyed the large front room, which was absolutely crammed full of magical creatures, most of whom were arguing or having hysterics. It was sort of pitiful. He’d expected more out of magical creatures somehow.
“The Stopper Girl, Annie. She should tell us what to do,” a hag insisted. “If she’s a real Time Stopper and all.”
“She’s a real Stopper,” said Eva. “I’ve seen it! You calling me a liar?”
Eva bounded off the banister and began thumping her chest up against the hag’s stomach in what was meant to be an intimidating move. The hag seemed unfazed, as if threatening dwarfs were normal occurrences in her day. Maybe they were. Jamie didn’t know.
What Jamie did know was that he wanted to turn and run away, just run right out of the front room, up the stairs and into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him, go back to sleep, and start the day over.
“Settle down, everyone!” The mayor strode into the room purposefully, unzipping his bright red parka as he smiled.
Relief flooded Jamie. The mayor was in charge here. Not him, not Annie. Surely the mayor would fix everything or tell them what to do to fix everything.
“What is all this about?” the mayor asked.
“Oh, great. He’s going to talk forever,” Eva muttered.
Annie edged closer to Jamie, protectively.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered. “It’s the mayor. He’ll fix it. It’s his job. The town where I lived has a mayor, too. That’s what they do.”
Bloom cleared his throat and called out over the murmuring crowd, “It’s Miss Cornelia, Mayor. We think she has been kidnapped. Nobody can find her, and the magic in Aquarius House isn’t quite right.”
“Or in the town!” shouted out a broad dwarf with black hair. He scratched at his nose. “The Belles are fluttering around yelling ‘Emergency’ in that silly accent and then just disappearing. Poof! That ain’t right.”
“And the Gnome of Protection is blowing bubbles,” Miss Helena said, brushing flour out of her hair. “The bubbles smell of rotten eggs.”
People gasped and started talking all at once.
Farkey whispered in Jamie’s ear. “I smell the spice smell again. Right now.”
“What?” Jamie yelled the word, too late realizing that drawing attention to himself was not a good idea.
“It’s hi
s fault,” one of the hags shouted, pointing a long, crooked finger at Jamie. “That troll boy has a hand in this! I know it!”
Jamie thought fast, trying to determine if he could run out of the crowded room without anyone stopping him; it didn’t seem likely.
“Jamie hasn’t done a thing!” Annie shouted, gripping his hand hard and keeping him by her side. “He’s been looking for Miss Cornelia all morning.”
“Looking for her, eh?” a mossy rock said. “How’d he know she was missing, then?”
The rock raised an eyebrow. Jamie didn’t know rocks could have eyebrows.
“Unless he’s the one who took her!” the rock continued.
People started clamoring about, shouting and edging toward Jamie. Annie pushed him behind her, and Bloom helped block him from the angry townspeople. Jamie stood on the rim of the mermaid fountain, teeth chattering. He clenched Annie’s hand, tottering on the edge.
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Eva shouted, but nobody listened to her. Instead they just inched closer, yelling.
“Put him in the dungeon, we should.”
“No, that’s too good for him, coming in here, messing with our Stopper.”
“Once you live with trolls, you can’t be good. Being near that evil? It wears off on you.”
“He’s not even magic. He don’t belong here.”
Annie’s heart seemed to growl. She yelled as loudly as she could, “Stop it!”
“You should all be ashamed of yourselves,” Bloom muttered. “I am so ashamed of you.”
The crowd didn’t seem to care about shame or anything else. Then, SalGoud, Ned the Doctor, and Gramma Doris pushed through the doors, hair askew, coats half-unbuttoned, and faces all drawn down into upset lines, making them horribly concerned looking. Jamie doubted they could help. There were so many people upset, so many people yelling, so many people wanting to blame him.
“Jamie has nothing to do with this,” Annie yelled, hopping up to the statue in the fountain so that everyone could see her and she could see them. “Just because he is not magic does not make him evil!” Her voice grew stronger. “Do you know who is acting evil? All of you! You’re making snap decisions, laying blame, and pointing fingers at Jamie—and what has he ever done to you? I’ll tell you what he’s done. He’s saved you. Risked his life for you! And this is the way you repay him? You’re all being nasty anti-troll bigots, and he is not even a troll! He’s just a boy, a brave, human boy. I am ashamed of you! And Miss Cornelia would be ashamed of you, too. She loves Jamie. He helped save all of us. He’s a hero!”
Annie drew in a deep breath, hair wild about her face and eyes fierce. She had never seemed so magical, never seemed so powerful, and Jamie had never heard her yell so loudly, not ever. She climbed down from the fountain and stood defiantly next to Eva.
“A hero of glorious gloriousness,” Annie finished.
The creatures were quiet.
“She’s right, you know,” Ned the Doctor said in a serious, calm voice. “As Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, ‘There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.’ ”
SalGoud, the young stone giant, adjusted his glasses farther up on the bridge of his nose and said, “Or as Sir William Drummond said, ‘He, who will not reason, is a bigot; he, who cannot, is a fool; and he, who dares not, is a slave.’ Will you all be slaves to your fear? Do you not dare to reason?”
Ned the Doctor patted SalGoud on the back. “Or this one from Emma Goldman, ‘Someone has said that it requires less mental effort to condemn than to think.’ ”
“Good one!” SalGoud said, beginning another quote as soon as Ned the Doctor thanked him.
“They can go on like this all day,” Eva grumped, crossing her arms in front of her chest, but putting her ax away.
Just as she grumped, the room shook. Everyone went silent. Annie’s eyes grew wide and she turned to Bloom. “There’s something … Something is coming … I can feel it.”
Bloom pulled out his dagger. Eva grabbed her ax once more, and all around the room, dwarfs unsheathed their weapons. The mermaids and mermen, even Farkey, dived into the fountain, terrified, as the room rumbled and the water stirred. Dwarfs stood strong while Big Feet hugged stone giants, who hugged shifters. Some pixies cowered by the chandelier, hiding behind the flowery bulbs.
“What is it?” Annie whispered, leaping off the statue to the floor next to Jamie.
Jamie pointed to where she just was. “The fountain.”
The water blackened and bubbled. A watery figure started to form from the droplets. The room gasped as the air vibrated. Some creatures ran back outside into the snow.
“Ah, it’ll not be him again,” Gramma Doris muttered, making the sign of a heart above her chest. “Lovely, dramatic timing, he has.”
As she spoke, the water formed a man. And the man had a face. A face they all recognized.
“The Raiff,” Bloom whispered, his skin whitening.
“I see you remember me, even those whom I haven’t met. How lovely.” The image smiled.
Someone shrieked. Eva fainted, but luckily Bloom and Jamie had been expecting it, and they caught her before she hit the floor. Some other dwarfs were not as lucky.
The mayor strode forward, forcibly knocking some smaller vampires out of his way. He stood face-to-face with the Raiff’s water embodiment.
“He’s not really here, right?” Jamie whispered. “This is just magic, but not his real self, right?”
Helena grabbed his shoulder. Her hand trembled. “Right.”
“What do you want, demon?” the mayor demanded, puffing himself up to his full height and sticking his broad chest out so much that it seemed like the seams of his parka might burst.
“I have someone you want.” The Raiff reached out into the air, his arm and hand disappearing, and pulled a bound woman beside him. Even though she was watery and blurry, it was obvious that it was Miss Cornelia. Annie’s world spun and for a second she thought she might faint next to Eva, but then anger made her bones solid. What had he done to Miss Cornelia and how had he gotten her?
“You scoundrel!” the mayor yelled. He put his hands on his heart. Annie had never heard anyone use the word “scoundrel” before, but it fit. “How dare you?”
“I dare because I can!” The Raiff’s quiet words were much more frightening than the mayor’s yells.
“What do you want?” the mayor pleaded. “Tell us. We’ll give you anything. Let us have Miss Cornelia back.”
“Her!” The demon pointed at Annie. “I want the Nobody.”
4
Wanted: Dead or Alive
The Raiff’s demands echoed in the crowded room for only a split second before Megan, a hag Annie and Jamie’s age, pushed Annie from behind, forcing Annie forward. “Take her!”
Canin snarled and snatched Annie’s arm, yanking her backward and away from the fountain. Tala hopped in front of Annie, too, ears back, and growling. They were protecting her as if the Raiff’s watery image could somehow snatch her away.
“Megan!” SalGoud yelled out. “Don’t do that!”
“We should trade her. She’s no good as a Stopper anyway. We need Miss Cornelia!” Megan reasoned, eyes flickering.
“Don’t you dare!” Gramma Doris yanked Megan away from Annie and shooed her through the remaining crowd and out the front door, slamming it shut right in Megan’s startled face. “You’ll not be getting any of our Stoppers, you … you demon, you!”
“Looks like I already have one,” the Raiff preened.
Even though he was only made of water, the evil rolling off him was strong and made Annie sick.
“No,” she managed to say, “Megan is right. You should trade me for Miss Cornelia. You should—”
Canin covered his mouth with his hand and whispered, “Hush,” into her ear. “Say no more.”
“Exactly!” the demon agreed. “Send Annie over and I will return the old—”
“Don’t send Annie. Do not!” Miss Cornelia gasped behind h
im. “Look for the Big Foot to find the … the dragon … the elves …” Her voice fizzled out, and the image exploded into a million drops of water, all raining down on the creatures cluttered in the hall.
The Raiff and Miss Cornelia were gone, leaving only the faint smell of rotten eggs and fear.
“Dragon!” The crowd rumbled and panicked even more. Fairies rushed to the front door and scanned the skies.
“There are no dragons …”
“Why would she say ‘dragon’?”
“Are they in the Badlands? Does the Raiff have a dragon?”
Canin released Annie, who fell to the floor in a sobbing heap. Her arms circled Tala’s doggy side. “Let me go … You should just trade me … You should just make me go …”
“We will do no such thing, young lady,” said Gramma Doris. “We will get Miss Cornelia back, and YOU will not be the price that we pay. He probably wouldn’t trade in the first place, just wants you both, he does. Demons don’t keep their word anyway. Just like pirates, they are … You ask the Woman in White. No, don’t ask her anything. She’ll just disappear,” Gramma Doris ordered as her ears went pink. “Ned, take Annie to rest. Right now. I will send up some nice tea later.”
As she hurried to the kitchen, Gramma Doris muttered under her breath, “Why would Corny mention Big Foot and elves? She … Oh, she must be under such stress. Poor thing … Poor wonderful woman …”
The mayor eyed the remaining folk in the front room as Ned carried Annie’s sad, small frame up the stairs. The dwarfs had all fainted straight away, as they tend to do under moments of extreme duress. The shifters couldn’t stop shifting, and they blinked in between forms, causing a strobe light–effect on the rest of the crowd.
“Someone start resuscitating the dwarfs,” the mayor ordered. “There will be a Council meeting in a half hour. Mr. Nate, you fill in Miss Cornelia’s seat, since you somehow qualify as a magical human—barely. Town Hall. Be there.”
Mr. Nate froze for a second. The mayor strode away.
“Mr. Nate?” Jamie nudged his friend who had been his only confidant when he first discovered the whole troll family business. “You okay?”