CHAPTER 29

"Gee. Thanks." He grabbed his cart and pushed it toward the exit, stopping long enough to shake Tink awake. She scrambled onto his back and locked her arms around his shoulders, then laid her head down. Death followed close behind, pushing the last cart. Back in the office, they pushed the carts over to the corner, setting them with the two that Sofia had already pushed through.

"That's a lot of books," he said, rubbing his eyes.

"And we'll get to them..." Sofia's eye squinted, and she opened her mouth wide, an enormous yawn escaping her. "Sorry about that. I'll catch up with you this afternoon. You're on your own for breakfast, if you get up before me."

"That's fair," Mike mumbled, then watched Sofia activate the magical bookshelf and vanish. Tink muttered something in her sleep, then lightly bit his shoulder.

"C'mon, little goblin, let's get to bed. Goodnight, Death."

"Goodnight, Mike Radley." The reaper gave a wave and then sat down at the desk. "I will think about what you have told me."

"Discreetly?" Mike asked.

"Very." Death winked, causing Mike to flinch.

"Good." He left the office behind and walked into the living room. The lights were all off, but he could see well enough to realize that someone was asleep on the couch. Walking slowly, he squinted, his eyes adjusting to the dark.

A loud thud startled him, and he nearly dropped Tink. He rushed over to the light switch and flicked it on, revealing that the figure on the couch was Beth.

"Hmm?" Beth yawned, stretching her arms so high that her shirt lifted, revealing her bare stomach. "Oh, it's you. Finally."

"Finally what?" Again, a loud thud. "What is that?"

Beth rolled her eyes. "Yeah, about that. Remember the stuff missing from the storage unit?"

"The stuff that got sold at auction? Of course." Honestly, he never thought of it. It had been gone before his arrival, and he figured it was already out in the wild, so why worry?

"Well, you got some of it back." Another thud came from the dining hall. "Here, let me show you."

Curious, he followed, but not before Tink slid down and sleepily drew a hammer from her belt.

"Tink smash, then sleep." The goblin yawned, then blinked weary eyes.

Beth lead them into the dining hall. The first thing Mike noticed was the cardboard box in the middle of the table. It had been duct-taped in place, but kept lifting itself off the ground. A squadron of rats were watching it, their tiny spears at the ready. Sitting atop the box, like a tiny cowboy, was the doll Jenny.

"What's in it?"

"No idea. Figured I would wait for you." Beth pointed in the corner. "There are five other boxes, but this one is restless, to say the least. So... you going to open it?"

Curiosity compelled him to do it, and he was at the edge of the table before he realized what was happening.

He thought about his conversation with Sofia, and even the one with Lily. Determined as he was to open the box and see what was inside, he was dead tired, and so were the others.

"You know what? It can wait for tomorrow." He turned to the rats. "Would that be okay?"

The rats looked to their leader, a heavy-set rat with a modified tin can for a helmet. The chunky rodent gave Mike a solemn nod.

"Good. C'mon, Tink. You can smash it later."

"Okay." Tink slid her hammer back into its holster and wandered off toward the stairs.

Mike turned his attention back to Beth. "So other than this box, anything I should know about?"

"I can tell you later. Nothing that can't wait." Her unkempt hair fell past her face, and she pulled it into a faux ponytail to get it out of her face. "Let's go to bed."

"Uh, yeah, uh..." It was stupid, but he felt his face heat up. Why was it so easy with the others? It wasn't something he could even remotely explain, but Beth still brought out the old him, the one who struggled with women. "Yep. Let's go to sleep in our beds."

If Beth noticed his awkwardness, she didn't acknowledge it. She walked ahead of him up the stairs, her wrinkled shirt caught on the edge of her pants, exposing the thick curves of her ass.

He did his best not to stare all the way up. Once in his room, he stripped to his boxers, turned off the light, and fell into his bed. Tink joined him, curling up behind his back.

He thought about the shadow, Cecilia, and the unknown boxes downstairs. Exhaustion claimed him, his thoughts becoming a tumbled heap as he slipped into the realm of dreams. Somewhere below, the box continued to thump in place like the beating of a cardboard heart.

Sleep came for Mike, but it was far from restful. Unable to properly enter the Dreamscape again, he tossed and turned in his bed, his brain unwilling to let things rest.

His first thoughts were on Cecilia. He could see her now, trapped inside a silver cage in the middle of a glen surrounded by waterfalls. Breaking the lock on the cage, he stepped inside—only to have her melt like wax in his arms and slide through holes in the floor.

"Cecilia," he cried out, her name slurring as if spoken in slow motion. Heat licked the back of his neck, and he turned around to see his home on fire.

I told you, Caretaker! I told you! the shadow hissed, before burning up like a piece of paper and drifting away on the wind. As the flames crawled into the cage and consumed Mike, his body would go numb and the dream would start over, the smell of fire and brimstone clinging to his nostrils.

After hours of his brain doing this to him, he finally gave up on sleep and rolled out of bed.

"Lily? You there?" He half expected her to poof into existence. She had said she was going to watch him more carefully while he slept. Clearly the dreams themselves had taken place outside of the Dreamscape, which meant he clearly didn't qualify for Demon Dream Insurance LLC.