Theodore & The 7 Layers of Space, Book 1: Brick & Bird

Chapter 19: Shortcuts

"Um, what's the deal, TCG?" Theodore said, looking at both of them.

"It's true. The Layer cops closed some doors. But I'm sure some doors were closed to you at The House of the Magician Detective, too?" Terrycloth Green offered, and Theodore couldn't help but nod. "And the least you can do is have a look at yet another comprehensive gallery of glorious Sock Puppet Portraits?"

Theodore couldn't help but be intrigued. He looked at The Buddy Bot apologetically, "It doesn't hurt to look," he said quietly.

"There are other ways that will keep you safer," The Buddy Bot responded, and Theodore couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt.

His curiosity overtook him. He shook his head and heaved with all of his strength to push open one of the large golden doors. It felt stuck, but when it gave, it gave surprisingly easily, as it was tuned to open at a touch like his. He stumbled forward as it swung with little woosh of cold air and a sliver of shimmering green light, leaving just enough for the three of them to pass through in a little line. Terrycloth Green and The Buddy Bot followed him, though an irritated hum had emerged from the Buddy Bot again.

"So...technically I'm not even allowed in here!" Terrycloth Green said as he sauntered forward with a new spring in his step. "Which is criminal, as I match it so well!" he sang out, his words echoing far and wide in every direction. "...so well so well so well."

The enormous door slid shut behind them with a loud SHWOOP, and they stood inside an incomprehensibly large cavern. In stark contrast to the rest of the building, this felt more like an ancient cave than a man-made space, as if a giant had thrust its hand in the side of a mountain and left an enormous hole. The sprawling rock walls glittered green, covered in a shimmering tapestry of naturally sprouting gems. The ground caught Theodore's eye, all dirt and rock, but richly colored in just the tone of the carpet that he knew and loved from the Hall of the Sock Puppet Portraits. But the similarities did not end there, for as far as the eyes could see, corridor after labyrinthine corridor of free-standing stone walls stood covered in ornate picture frames with pictures of sock puppets inside them. He could already glimpse that here the frames varied more, some orante and baroque like those he knew well, but others wooden and stone and made of incomprehensible materials. It felt endless.

The sight was strange and familiar at once, and Theodore gasped at its beauty.

"Did you think you had the only one? There's a Gallery of The Sock Puppet Portraits in every major Thru-spot. But ours is the biggest," he boasted, "And the best."

"Is Auntie Nanaface here?" Theodore asked eagerly.

"Her frame is, among that of nearly everyone else who has ever existed...But you know where she prefers to hang out..."

Theodore's heart sunk a little, but before he knew it, Terrycloth Green was racing off again. "This-a-way!" he commanded, popping around a corner.

As they ran, Theodore lost count of the number of unfamiliar sock puppet faces he caught sight of staring back. While many looked like simple socks or variants of some he'd seen in his own gallery, others jumped out at him – a unicorn with rainbow hair, a tightly wound yellow mummy with one eye peeking from behind its bandages, a simple little dog with his tongue sticking out, a vampire in a lab coat, a piece of pizza with a face, a green monster with rectangular orange eyes and big yellow teeth. The variations were endless, and it was hard not to stop and study them all, but he had to keep up with the little man.

After a few minutes of racing past pictures, they skidded to a stop in front of an over-sized antique frame. "This is the very one!" Terrycloth Green cried out, scooting up to an empty portrait, panting and sweaty.