“You’re a fool if you think this changes anything,” the Bad Man shouted after them. “You’ll see, Wyatt the Mighty…I was protecting you.”
Wyatt kept walking, focusing on each footstep. Only a few more feet until they reached the door.
“Even if you find what was hidden, it will change nothing! Nothing! You’re not enough. Not nearly enough!”
Wyatt’s steps faltered as the Bad Man began laughing in earnest, drowning out all other sounds, but Ms. Abagail tugged on his arm and forced his mind to center. Whatever that thing is, Wyatt thought. It’s all lies. And I’m not scared. I’m not scared…
* * *
Once inside the toy store, Wyatt stole a look back through the glass door. The Bad Man was gone.
“That felt good,” Ms. Abagail said. “Didn’t it?”
“I guess,” Wyatt said, still scanning the sidewalk for signs of the apparition. In truth, he wasn’t sure how he felt. Standing up to the creature had felt good, but he wasn’t sure it solved anything. However, it had shown that the Bad Man was not nearly as powerful as Wyatt had feared.
“That thing is just trying to stop you from remembering whatever it is you need to remember. And it seemed pretty pissed off, so I’d say we’re on the right track,” Ms. Abagail said.
“You’re right,” Wyatt said, though he still didn’t feel any better about it.
“So, you think this is Lucy’s memory-dream? Or dream-memory. Or whatever.”
Wyatt turned to survey the interior of the store for the first time. The encounter with the Bad Man had momentarily stolen his focus, and he had forgotten the sight of his sister.
“She was over by the bears,” Wyatt said, leading the way to the window display he had seen from the street.
The store was cluttered with endless aisles and displays of toys, but Wyatt saw few shoppers. Not that it would have mattered; he and Ms. Abagail were specters in their own right.
Wyatt rounded a cage of rubber balls and stopped. Lucy—a younger version of her—was still standing at the window display, pawing through the stuffed bears. Ms. Abagail bumped into Wyatt at his sudden stop.
“We sure that’s even her?” Ms. Abagail asked.
Wyatt nodded and slowly stepped forward, eyes locked on the small girl’s dirty-blonde curls. She was holding up two bears, one with a red bowtie, and the other with one of blue. After a moment, she tossed them back into the pile and withdrew one with a pink and purple polka-dotted tie.
Wyatt drew close enough that he could have reached out and touched her. He didn’t know what he expected to see or learn from the moment, but it felt important.
“So, this is where her bear came from, huh?” Ms. Abagail said, having circled to the other side of Lucy. “Ha, I still remember her dropping it out the window your first day at—”
“Shhh. I’m trying to think,” Lucy said suddenly. She set aside the bear she had been holding and looked for another.
Wyatt and Ms. Abagail locked eyes. “Is she talking to me?” Ms. Abagail asked.
Wyatt looked around, thinking to see someone else nearby, but didn’t. He looked back at Lucy, leaned close, and whispered, “Can you hear me?”
Lucy’s head turned on a swivel. A frown crowded her sparkling eyes. “Yes, I’m talking to you. Now hush, I have to find the perfect bear.”
“Well…” Ms. Abagail mused.
“How can you hear us? No one else can,” Wyatt asserted.
Lucy set down another bear and faced Wyatt directly, folding her arms as she did. “Why are you even here?”
“I…uh…we’re not even sure where we are. Are you really Lucy?”
Lucy rolled her eyes. “This is my special dream. You shouldn’t be here. You’ll ruin it.” She spun back to the stuffed bears, drew out one with a green tie, and held it up. “What do you think of this one?”
“Uh, it’s nice, I guess,” Wyatt said. “But are you the Lucy we left in the, uh, hole?”
“Hole?” she said, dropping the green-tied bear and leaning forward to grab another. “I don’t know. Maybe. I come here when things hurt. It’s my favorite dream.”
“You mean memory,” Wyatt said.
Lucy shrugged. “I like it here. I can look at bears forever.”
“We need to get you back,” Wyatt said. “Back to…well, the Realms, I guess. Out of this memory, anyway.”
“I’m not leaving.”
Wyatt looked up at Ms. Abagail pleadingly. She held up her hands as if to say, what do you want me to do?
“But you can’t just stay here,” Wyatt said. “We have to go back. We have to protect Sanctuary, find Athena, and—”
“No thanks,” Lucy said sharply. She lifted up a bear with a simple black tie. “Oh yes, this is the perfect bear.” She spun on the tips of her toes, bear pulled tightly to her chest, a grin plastered on her face.
Something crashed to the floor somewhere in the store. Wyatt heard someone yelling, but couldn’t make sense of the words. He looked at Lucy and saw her eyes grow wide.
“Lucy?” he asked.
Lucy didn’t reply. Instead, she took off running down an aisle, bear clutched to her chest. Wyatt watched her go, stupefied.
“This is weird,” he said. “Even for me.”
Something else crashed toward the back of the store, followed by louder yelling.
“I’d ask what that was, but I don’t suppose you have an answer,” Ms. Abagail said.
“Doesn’t matter. We need to keep track of Lucy. If this is just some dream, then she can get us all back to where we belong.”
Wyatt ran after Lucy, trusting Ms. Abagail to follow.
He found Lucy near the front counter, leaning against the leg of a young man and clutching the hand of a young woman.
Wyatt missed a stepped and fell to his knees. He recognized the woman at once, having seen her face on multiple occasions, most often surrounded by a body of twisting shadows. The man he had never seen, but Wyatt knew him immediately.
“Oh my God,” Ms. Abagail said.
“That’s my dad,” Wyatt said, hardly freeing the words.
“And that’s me,” Ms. Abagail said.
Only then did Wyatt see the teenager moving from behind the checkout counter. Her hair was trussed up in a high ponytail, dyed bright purple, but her face was unmistakable. The young Ms. Abagail was waving her hands over her head, looking down a side aisle of action figures. She was shouting something, but the words sounded fuzzy in Wyatt’s ears.
He glanced back at his parents. His father was staring off in the same direction young Ms. Abagail was moving. Lucy continued to cower behind his leg. Wyatt’s mother crouched at Lucy’s side and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.
Someone screamed from the aisle that held all their attention. It sounded like a girl, but beyond that, Wyatt couldn’t be certain.
“Oh my God, I remember this. Oh my God. This…oh my God,” Ms. Abagail said. She was quickly beginning to hyperventilate.
Wyatt found his footing and faced Ms. Abagail. Her eyes were wide and her fingers were at her mouth, trembling.
“What’s going on?” Wyatt demanded.
The lights overhead flickered for a moment, nearly causing Wyatt to fall. He was dizzy.
“Oh my God,” Ms. Abagail said again, eyes locked on the younger version of herself, standing at the end of an aisle, still shouting down it.
“Ms. Abagail!” Wyatt yelled.
“It can’t be…” she said slowly. “We were all there that day…”
Wyatt meant to press her further, but a young woman shrieked behind him, and turning, Wyatt saw the young Ms. Abagail thrown to the ground as a towering man charged past her. A large hood covered his face, making him look more monster than man, but even more arresting was the small girl he was chasing.
Sprinting across the store was a girl with a tight crop of dark hair that Wyatt knew would one day be dyed bright red. Her face was streaked with tears, and she ran as if it meant her life.
“Athena!” Wyatt yelled, moving to intercept the girl.
She bolted past him before he could entertain the idea of grabbing for her. The lumbering man came hot on her heels, knocking aside Wyatt’s parents and sister. They fell against the counter, Lucy immediately breaking into loud sobs. Young Ms. Abagail shouted from the spot she had fallen, but didn’t get up.
Knowing he could do nothing, Wyatt stood stock-still, watching as Athena raced for the door, and he found himself urging her to reach it before the man did. Something wicked ran off the figure, washing over Wyatt like a frigid wave. He knew him to be the same shadowy figure that had stolen Athena away the first time he and Lucy had ventured into a memory together.
Athena was fast, and though the man was large, his steps were slow and clumsy. She reached the entrance first and Wyatt almost let out a cheer. But then the door opened suddenly, swinging inward and taking Athena off her feet as it slammed into her face and chest.
A young boy with thick-rimmed glasses stepped into the store, looked down at Athena, then up at the towering man, and stood rooted, just as Wyatt was.
It’s me, Wyatt realized.
The man reached down mid-stride, grabbed Athena by the arm and dragged her out of the store before Wyatt could make sense of the sight of his younger self. Young Wyatt stumbled out of the way, but quickly continued into the store as if nothing had happened.
“Can we go yet?” he asked.
Wyatt watched as his younger image walked toward his parents, comic book hanging from his hand, face wrought with impatience. Ignoring the question, Wyatt’s father moved toward young Ms. Abagail and helped her from the floor.
His mother pulled a phone from her pocket. “I’m calling the police,” she said, looking toward her husband, free hand still tied to Lucy’s. “She all right?”
“I’m fine,” young Ms. Abagail said, voice now clear.
Wyatt fell against Ms. Abagail and looked to her for some sort of explanation. Or reassurance. Anything.
“I remember this,” she was whispering to herself. “But I didn’t know…oh my God, we were all there.” She clasped a hand over her mouth. She was crying.
Wyatt spun back to the memory. Young Wyatt was crossing his arms, repeatedly asking his mother if they could leave. Lucy continued to cry, and Wyatt’s mother was talking into her phone.
“What a selfish…” Wyatt began to say, eyeing his own image with bitter indignation. How could I be so blind?
“Did you see which way they went?” Wyatt’s mother asked.
It was enough to shake Wyatt from his stupor. He spun to Ms. Abagail. “I have to go after Athena. I have to find her.”
Ms. Abagail was still watching the scene in stunned horror and revelation.
Wyatt didn’t wait for any response, instead moving for the door with every bit of speed he could muster, fueled by a sick desperation to atone for past sins.
It’s all my fault.
Wyatt slammed into the glass door of M and G Toys and was thrown back when it didn’t open. He stumbled, gathered himself, and tried again in vain to open the portal, this time pulling.
“Athena!” he yelled, his breath fogging the glass.
Wyatt could see the mountain of a man dragging Athena by the hair into the parking lot. He yelled again and beat at the door. He grabbed the handle and shook it with every bit of force he could muster.
“Why won’t it open?” he shouted, turning to find the owner of the dream.
Lucy stepped away from her mother’s side. Her face was awash in tears, her hair a frazzled mess. Bearsy hung from a hand as she bellowed in response, “Why did you do that? You ruined my dream!”
The floor shifted sharply, nearly spilling Wyatt onto it. Lucy stared back at him, unfazed and wild-eyed. The vision of Wyatt’s mother turned, began to speak, and crumbled to dust.
“Mom?” Wyatt asked, moving back toward the center of the store.
The floor shifted again and several shelves fell over. He looked at his father, still crouched over the young version of Ms. Abagail. After another violent tremor, they, too, fell to dust.
“What are you doing?” Wyatt asked, turning his attention back to Lucy.
The small girl was trembling with fury. “You ruined my special dream! You shouldn’t be here. You ruin everything!” The last word came as a bloodcurdling screech, and the ceiling of the toy store began falling in.
Wyatt bolted for Lucy, though he didn’t know if it was to shield her or attack her. He collided with Ms. Abagail halfway there and fell in a heap.
“Watch out!” Ms. Abagail yelled.
Wyatt tried to rise, but a large section of ceiling fell directly on top of him. He flinched and squeezed his eyes shut, but never felt the impact. When he opened them again, only Lucy and Ms. Abagail remained. The store was gone, as was the parking lot, and the rest of whatever world they had just been a part of. Nothing but endless wisps of gray amid an unending stretch of black remained.
Chapter Twelve
WYATT STOOD, THOUGH he couldn’t discern the ground beneath his feet. Lucy remained as she had been, but was no longer yelling. Bearsy had vanished as well, leaving Lucy looking as she had when Wyatt had last seen her in the Realms. Her chest and shoulder were crudely bandaged, and she look as haggard as Wyatt felt.
“Where are we?” Ms. Abagail asked.
Lucy whimpered and looked at Wyatt. “Why did you do that?”
“I didn’t do anything, Lucy,” he said as softly as he could. “We came looking for you. What was that?”
Lucy wiped at her nose and sniffed. “It was my favorite dream. It’s where I usually go when I’m scared or hurting. But you made it different.”
“Different how, Lucy?” Ms. Abagail interjected. “I remember that. It wasn’t just a dream. I just didn’t know…”
“That we were there, too?” Wyatt asked. “And Athena?”
Lucy shook her head. “That wasn’t right. I just pick out Bearsy. You weren’t supposed to be there. Or your stupid friend.”
“Hey!” Wyatt said.
Ms. Abagail steadied Wyatt with a gentle touch of his arm. “Don’t start.”
Wyatt scowled at her. “We need to find Athena. That man is going to hurt her.”
“It was a memory, Wyatt. Maybe you still don’t remember it, but I do,” Ms. Abagail said.
“She’s still in danger,” Wyatt protested.
“Are you not even going to consider what we just saw?” Ms. Abagail asked. “Five years ago, we were all there, in that toy store. You, me, Lucy, Athena…”
Wyatt had already taken stock of the strange notion, and purposefully avoided giving any serious thought to it. It was too impossible. If they had all been there that day and were all part of the Realms now…
Wyatt clutched at his temples and groaned. “We just need to find Athena and defeat the Regents.”
“It’s more than that,” Ms. Abagail said. “It has to be. No way is this—whatever this is—just some weird coincidence. And let’s set aside the utter impossibility of being able to travel to memories like they’re real places, and let’s not think about a vast army of weird creatures in a weird world that shouldn’t exist either. There has to be something more than just being in a toy store at the same time five years ago. There has to—”
“I know, I know,” Wyatt said, fanning his hands at her. “But we can’t think about that now. I know it doesn’t make any sense, but we can figure it all out later. Right now, we need to get out of here.”
Ms. Abagail twisted around, seeming to see their surroundings for the first time. “Oh,” she said simply.
“Lucy…” Wyatt said, slowly leaning toward his sister. She stared at him blankly. “We need to get back to the Realms. We need to find Athena.”
“Why do you care about her so much?” Lucy said, her eyes still vacant.
“She’s my friend,” he said. “And she’s important.”
“What about me?”
“Oh, Lucy,�
� Ms. Abagail said, kneeling at Lucy’s side. “You’re important, too.”
Wyatt nodded. “Yeah. You’re my sister, after all.”
“You yelled at me,” Lucy said. “And all you talk about is Athena and Rozen and Regents and…”
Her words cut deep into Wyatt’s soul. Ms. Abagail gave him a telling look, but he didn’t need any help feeling horrible.
“I know,” he said. “It’s just…never mind…you’re right. I was a jerk. I shouldn’t have said those things to you.”
“Then, why did you?”
Wyatt looked down at his feet. “I was scared, too.”
“Really?” Lucy asked.
Wyatt looked at her again and saw her eyes focused on his. He nodded. “I’ve been scared ever since I first traveled to the Realms. I was scared when I got sent to Greenwood. I was scared when I realized what the shadows were and I was scared when the Bad Man first came. And most of all, I’m scared to remember what happened to us. I’m scared I won’t be able to handle it. Lucy, I’m scared right now. Scared for you and Ms. Abagail and Athena and everyone else wrapped up in this mess. I’m just plain scared.”
With that, Wyatt instinctively grabbed for Lucy. She did the same and they fell into each other’s arms. Ms. Abagail moved next, wrapping them both up just as she always did when they needed it most, and together they cried. Wyatt wept for the small pieces of his past he was remembering and for the uncertainty of what would come. Ms. Abagail had been right when she said he couldn’t do it on his own, but now he feared that, even as a family, it wouldn’t be enough.
As they held each other, that day in the toy store slowly solidified in Wyatt’s memory, not just as what he had just experienced, but as it had been that day five years ago. He hadn’t known who that girl was that had run out of the toy store as he was entering, and he knew less about the man that followed her. At the time, he had given neither even a passing thought, but now he realized that whatever darkness Athena had left behind, Wyatt had played a role in it. It renewed his conviction. He had to set things right.
“I know where she is,” Lucy said suddenly, stepping out of their embrace.
The Druid's Guise: The Complete Trilogy (The Druid's Guise Trilogy) Page 72