Chapter#18

"Little fuckers!" He kicked a piece of side table near him, sending the wood spinning into the room. Those nasty little rodents had gone too far. The inner turmoil he had been experiencing was suddenly resolved. They needed to go.

"Mike." Her voice barely a whisper, Beth pointed at the corner of the room where Tink's wide-eyed gaze was fixed. It took him a second before what he was seeing had registered.

Jenny's dollhouse had been smashed to pieces and lay in ruin. Of the doll herself, there was no sign.

…

The search for Jenny commenced immediately. Mike, Tink, Beth, and Cecilia searched the known rooms of the home while Abella searched the perimeter of the house. The fairies had split up for their own search and Zel was busy inspecting the front room for any other clues.

Mike was checking under his own bed, a cold sweat on his brow. While he was certain that Jenny wouldn't blame him for this, the doll was known to be volatile and would see the destruction of her house as the ultimate insult. He was also worried that she had been taken by the rats, not sure what they had planned for her.

"Mike!" Zel's voice carried from downstairs, and he banged his head on the underside of the bed. He scrambled out, rubbing the back of his head once he stood. At the top of the railing, he leaned over to look at the bottom floor.

"You find something?"

"Come down and look." Zel's voice carried from the living room. He ran down, jumping the last three steps. Zel was on her back, her body stuffed into the fireplace. Just the lower part of her face was showing, her upper body covered in soot.

"What did you find?"

"This." Zel lowered herself, her arms still up the chimney. Her face was red while she pulled, her arms dropping a few inches at a time. She was making quite the mess already, but with one last pull, it rained soot and ash down on top of her, a black cloud billowing out across the room. Coughing, she held up a large mass.

"What the fuck is that?"

"A rat." Zel grabbed the bundle and unfolded it. He grimaced when the dead creature's mouth popped open, its tongue hanging out. "It was stuffed up the chimney. Sideways. Wait... yeah, its head isn't facing the right direction either."

Mike swallowed the lump in his throat. That would be Jenny's doing. "She doesn't happen to be up there too, does she?"

A red light burst from the chimney, landing on the floor by Zel's feet. Carmina landed at Mike's feet, a cloud of soot billowing from her upon landing.

"Nope. The chimney is clean." She grabbed her antennae and shook them with both hands, scattering more ash. "No rats, no doll."

"Shit." Mike helped Zel stand up. Her tail was now black with soot, and she had dark smears along her cheeks like warpaint. "Any clues where they went?"

"I imagine back to rat land. However, I did a quick survey of the rooms upstairs. They certainly didn't come out of those, they are still sealed shut. This means they have found a new entry point."

"I really don't need this." He ran his hands through his hair in frustration when he got an idea. "Hey Tink!"

Upstairs, he heard the pitter patter of feet on wood, and the goblin launched herself down the stairs, her hammer clutched tightly in one hand. Seeing there was no danger, she relaxed. "What husband want?"

"Use the goggles. See if you can spot their footprints."

Tink smacked her forehead, clearly appalled that she hadn't thought of it. She turned a knob and slid her goggles over her face, the Divine Object bowing to her demands. Several lenses flicked in and out of place, her eyes now large behind them. They had been in a hurry trying to find Jenny, not thinking the rats were likely where she was. Scanning the room, she waved her hand for them to follow and disappeared around the corner. They walked through the large dining hall and into the kitchen. Tink knelt down by the sink, opening the cabinet door slowly.

"Oh fuck." Mike could see it from here, a hole chewed in the back wall. It was just large enough for him to squirm through on his belly if he could make it past the pipes. "This sucks."

"Mm-hmm." Tink looked around the edges of the hole. "New hole. Rats make today."

"Any sign of Jenny?"

Tink shook her head. "See footprint of living thing only." She crawled underneath for a closer look and stuck her hand up the hole. She withdrew a piece of red fabric. "But no need goggles now. Ghost doll in here."

"So I guess I'm going in." Mike crouched down, but Tink pushed him away.

"No go. Hole get tighter, husband no fit." She was already squirming in when he grabbed her by the ankles and dragged her back out, her skirt lifting up to reveal bare green buttocks.

"You're not going in alone either. We will find another way." He looked at Zel. "We need to put together a search party to go in the walls. I suspect we will run into trouble, so would appreciate any potions you may have for us."

"You got it." Zel gave him a mock salute and left.

He turned his attention to the grumpy goblin by his feet.

"Go get yourself a bigger hammer. We're about to make rat jam."

-

Beth's first thought upon Jenny's disappearance was that she had run for the safety of the Labyrinth. She had gone up the stairs to her bedroom, opening the closet door only to discover that it was still a boring closet. She could hear the others calling Jenny's name, so knew that she was alone on the third floor of the house. She closed her door just in case, then lifted the sleeve of her blouse.

The finger marks on her arm were nasty burns, and they were bleeding near the tips where Oliver's claws had touched her. Stunned, she touched the wound gently. It

didn't hurt too bad, but the skin around the wound had gone numb.