A TAIL OF NINE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: That Which is Lost

When I wake up, I decide to look for another door. I do, and go through it into nothing spectacular. I try a few more keys and end up in a basement, another attic, and then a doghouse. At least the dog wasn't home!

When I pick my next key to try, I notice one that I didn't see before. And I should have seen it! How come I didn't? The first part is there and the third ... right where they should be, but the middle is missing. What's even holding the last part on?

I do everything like I did the other times and a door appears. But this time ALL the keys crumble to dust. Dang it, Hazlerigg! You coulda mentioned that I shouldn't use THAT one! As I'm staring at the useless pile of what used to be keys, the door yawns open. All I see is blackness on the other side. Unsure of what's waiting for me, I hesitate. But there's something special about this door. I can feel it! Wouldn't it be great if this leads me right to Mr. Unger's place?

I could give him a heads-up about Kon. Maybe I could finally be useful!!!!

After I step through the doorway, I'm standing in blankness. It's not black. It's not white. It's nothingness. I'm in a labyrinth made out of waist-high piles of junk. I take a left by a small sapling that's frozen next to me. Leaning closer, I see that it's not ice but a thin layer of glass encasing it.

Splashes of color, like someone spilled blue, orange, and yellow, hang in the air above my head. The best way to describe it is that it looks like fireworks frozen in time, right when they're exploding. The more my eyes adjust, the more I see there's more to see. From the thick slime trails all over everything, it looks like a human-sized slug's been oozing all over this stuff. That's an image! Gross!

Making sure I can still see the door behind me, I step forward. Ever hear the phrase a shiver means somebody just walked across your grave? From the way I feel, somebody's gotta be dancing on mine.

A pile of boots floats by me. None of them matches and each one is missing its shoestring. Wondering what's up with that, I take a right at the boots, weaving through the heaps of garbage. This place calls to me more than the Deer Woman did. In the back of my head, another song plays: Lean-ing ... Lean-ing ... Leaning on the everlasting arms ... Safe and secure from all alarm ...

Hardly. I don't get why all these hymns have been nagging me lately. Did my parents sing those to me? Did they sing them all the time in the Glass Man's church?

I've been to a normal church a few times. To Kon, even though she respects them, she treats places like that like they're contagious. The Glass Man's church definitely was.

I keep walking. Sticking out of the nearest pillar of scraps and junk, I find a mailbox. I'm guessing somebody's missing this. It just has 300 on it. No name or street. Curious, I open it.

There's a book inside. Somebody's dog-eared the pages. Looks pretty good. Maybe I'll read it sometime. There's a name printed in the front--Dylan Caid.

THE Dylan Caid! I'm definitely keeping this! I don't start moving again, until the book is safe in my coat pocket.

This isn't like the junk from the Junk Man's place. This is stuff that Dylan Caid made disappear during the war. That must have been amazing to see! Dylan Caid taking on the Glass Man's armies! Whoosh! He'd make mountains of glass disappear right before they'd crash into him! From the looks of all this, he made a lot of things disappear.

Dylan Caid's AMAZING!

Then I see the arm sticking out from a pile of chairs.

This is nothing to celebrate, Jack, I think to myself. It's a grave.