---=Chapter 31: Puppets Exist---=

I was doodling in the dust, and the gremlins watched the dirt intently to see what shape I'd draw next.

I drew a simple picture of a house with a sun peeking from behind a cloud. "Know what that is?" I asked through my Sori-crow vocalizer.

"A house!" The gremlins cheered with their rumbling voices, pointing back at their hut.

I pointed at the sun. "What about this?" I was trying to figure out if they knew what the sun was. With the haze, they wouldn't have seen it if they'd only existed since the apocalypse began.

They looked close at the dirt and then looked up at the sky and the horizon. In their higher, chittering voices, they whispered back and forth in each other's ears, human-like fingers hiding their mouths.

"It circle!" they cheered together, dancing at their unquestionable success.

Okay, we'll call that inconclusive. They were at least looking in the right place for it. Then again, they'd unlikely learned English in ten weeks, so their knowledge might come secondhand. They were unlike both Crowseph and trauma monsters like Slender Hopper. That didn't mean they didn't start out as someone's traumatic memories. I decided to just ask them.

"Have you seen the sun?" Sori asked at my prodding.

They both immediately looked sad. "No sons for husband and wife. No daughters. We try, we try." They patted each other on the back comfortingly. It was simultaneously adorable and heartbreaking, and I felt guilty for bringing them down.

I drew a flower in the dirt to make it up to them. Husband bent over and tried to smell it, making me smile. He sneezed loudly, sending up a large puff of dust, and Wife fell to the ground and began to roll around laughing.

The sneeze was powerful and matched their basso voice, if not their stature or chittering communication. It reminded me that I'd seen Husband grow tall enough it could peek through a second-story window. They were a pair of mysteries, and I wished I didn't have more urgent matters begging my attention. I resolved to unravel the mystery of the Gremlins after I sorted out my Shadow, Crowseph's bullshit, and Jon's ignorance about me. Oh, and Maebe's catatonia. I probably needed to resolve things with Hands, too. My enemies—which was a weird thing to have—viewed the Shadow as a genuine threat, so just getting ahold of it would go a long way.

Hopefully.

Then again, someone had presumably already used it against me, considering my missing memories, so the Shadow certainly wouldn't solve all my problems.

I had other questions. "Do you have any crystals?" I asked the innocent-seeming creatures and immediately felt gross. I wasn't looking for a handout—although I would take them if they let me—but I also had questions. They had rounded and polished the memory crystals, and I wanted to know if there was a reason.

"You left crystals before. Want again?" Wife asked from where she still lay in the dust, her head cocked awkwardly to look where I crouched.

"Yes, please."

"Silly Oberon," Husband said, shaking his head and entering the make-shift hut.

He came back out holding two memory crystals. They were bigger but less polished than the three they gave me before.

"Why do you polish them?" Sori asked for me.

"Jagged rocks are too sharp. They poke." Wife said.

"Smooth is better." Husband agreed.

I reached into my pack and pulled out the memory crystal from Slender Hopper to compare. My memory crystal was bigger than the ones Husband had just handed me—bigger than them combined, even. Had they just ground that much away, or had they always been smaller?

I looked up to see the gremlins eyeing my crystal with greed or hunger or something. Husband was drooling anyway.

"Where you get big boy?" Husband asked, never tearing his eyes away from the crystal.

"From Slender Hopper in the lobby," Sori said without checking in.

I doubted that would mean anything to them, but both nodded before Wife asked. "You bring baby Hopper next time?"

Umm, what? I asked myself—and Sori since he was also in my head.

I offered them the crystal, thinking it was what they were after. It was a slight risk—since destroying it would return my spawn point to the car—but I wasn't especially worried about that from them. Husband picked up the larger unpolished crystal and one of the smaller crystals he'd just given me. He pressed them together a few times and shook his head before putting them both back in my paw-hand. "Bring back tomorrow, not dead."

I did know where there was a living monster bug. The patrol car wasn't that far.

"There's a live bug-thing nearby," Sori said. "Want to see?"

"Baby bug! Yay!" Wife said and twirled until she fell over dizzy.

The little Gremlins huddled together and chirped in their odd language before running over and climbing me like scaffolding to settle on my shoulders. Sori was dislodged with a squawk and circled around me to land on my head.

Standing up carefully, trying not to dislodge any of the zoo, I turned and headed toward the patrol car.

I look ridiculous.

This would be a terrible time for Jon to appear; I wouldn't be dodging behind any cars while trying to keep these guys settled. Then again, I still had the two shield buttons somehow taken from the ether. It was a neat trick that Sori had never really explained. When everything is impossible, there's only so much time for questions. At some point, all I could do was my best, ignorance be damned.

I put my hand on the necklace of buttons Sori gave me. Walking to the patrol car, I pondered the memory crystals and 'demons.' If demons were spawned somehow from trauma, it was surprising there weren't more running around. Based on my own experiences, there was plenty of trauma to go around. For that matter, if I ever managed to take a nap again, I was sure I'd have nightmares. Despite that, I hadn't seen any new monsters running around—spawned from my many traumas.

You're your own demon. Haven't I been telling you? People are green, you aren't people. A person, sure, but not human. Why am I telling you this? You've seen yourself, right? Sori said in my head.

Tickles hadn't been in the patrol car when I woke up after dying the first time. I could absolutely see that creature being spawned from Nia's trauma of the crash, the loss of her dad, and the end of the world, all within a few seconds. It was pale, but the tick-looking creature had legs like fingers and mandibles like two broken thumbs bent toward each other. The visceral memory of Nia dropping Titus's severed arm flashed through my mind. Tickles certainly fit the bill of a monster that might spawn from the trauma she'd gone through.

We got to the patrol car, and the gremlin's excitement visibly fell.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"Oh. It's so puny." Husband said dejectedly.

"And so stupid," Wife added. "Kill it."

"Eat it." Husband agreed.

"Tell to Nia." Wife said, surprising me. They knew about Nia?

The gremlins hopped off my shoulder and onto the car and began making faces at the pale tick-shaped monster, which, as far as I could tell, had no eyes.

"You don't want it?" I asked

"Too puny. Too stupid. Nobody feed ever. Nia eat, grow big and strong."

"You know Nia?" I asked.

"Good drawer," Wife said

"Good drawer," Husband agreed.

Well, I guess that was that. Crowseph had described Nia as I'd seen her before dying the second time. He'd called her Titania and claimed she was half-trauma. Considering Tickles had been absent in that loop, and Nia had a distinctly inhuman appearance, what with horns and wings and all, it seemed a safe bet that 'Titania' and Tickles were related. Or at least, my mind, drowning in uncertainty, was willing to treat it as fact.

Sori, what do you know about 'Titania' and the trauma monsters? Crowseph made it sound like trauma monsters can take over the person they spawned from. Is that what happened to Nia?

Why do you ask questions you already know the answers to? Sori thought at me, clearly trying to sound wise.

Sori, this whole world is a brand new mystery. I don't know a damned thing—except that you're related to it.

Oh, I see, I see. So you've come to beg from someone more omniscient.

I don't think you can be 'more' omniscient.

The trouble with asking a question of someone who knows everything is that everything is related and important. In other words, to answer your question, I would either need infinite time or a way to trade infinities.

You are so full of shit. I said, rolling my eyes and chuffing out a sigh, true to form. I wasn't sure why I was asking Sori anyway. His answers were far from trustworthy. Even if he wasn't lying or manipulating me—which he almost certainly was—his grip on and understanding of reality was fractured at best. It was his most redeeming quality—assuming it wasn't an affectation.

I gave the gremlins a few minutes to tease Tickles by making faces and pressing their butts and faces against the glass of the rear window. Their antics improved my mood, even if Sori was being unhelpful.

I'd kept my eyes open for any sign of a shadow that wasn't a shadow. It turns out, between the overcast skies and the haze, shadows weren't very common outside. Everything was almost evenly lit by the soft green glow from the clouds, haze, and vortex. It wasn't precisely gloomy. It was more—atmospheric. All of this meant that—despite not really knowing what I was looking for—I was pretty sure I hadn't overlooked my Shadow.

I wasn't really expecting to find it lying around somewhere. Maebe's catatonia was probably caused by her mind getting trapped inside the Shadow somehow. According to Sori, there were only a few ways for that to happen. Mainly, it required physically entering the Shadow and being kept there, which suggested that Maebe was made catatonic by someone.

The only lead I had on my missing memories also pointed to someone using the Shadow on me. I probably wouldn't find it in a random alcove or in the shade under a car. The only reason I had to believe it was anywhere near the hospital was that Maebe was affected by it; otherwise, I'd had 70 days to lose it anywhere in Forest Lake. While that was still possible, Maebe's state significantly reduced the likelihood.

That wasn't necessarily better. Between Hands, Jon, Crowseph, and Buck, half the people in the hospital would probably attack on sight. It was interesting that Hands considered killing me pragmatically convenient; meanwhile, Crowseph had hesitated to kill me while I was unconscious. Of course, that had changed. Now, Crowseph was just as likely to be murderous as the rest. Sori also wouldn't be riding around on my shoulder next loop, so I wanted to play it somewhat safe.

I didn't know if the shield buttons would respawn with me. Maybe if I reset my spawn point, they would. I wondered if I could use Slender Hoppers crystal again—to set my spawn point—or if it was a one-and-done situation.

Sam? Sori asked as I was lost in thought.

Hmm? I replied distractedly.

What kind of puppets exist in your world?

What? A lot. I'm sure there are more kinds than I even know about.

Oh good. Maybe that explains it.

Explains what?

Before he could answer, I heard gravel scraping against the blacktop behind me. Startled, I whirled to see who or what snuck up behind me while I naval gazed and watched the Gremlins' antics.

Behind me was a man wearing a khaki uniform I recognized from the City's aquarium. He held a gun in his hand, still pointed at the ground. Based on his blank expression, I wasn't sure which of us was more surprised.

Unprepared for a confrontation, my mind was scattered. I scrambled to devise a glamour, give Sori instructions, and grab one of my shield buttons all at once.

"Uh-Oh," Sori said before I could think anything coherent. I'd stupidly let myself absentmindedly naval gaze when I knew there were dangers around.

Bullets slammed into me as my fingers found one of the buttons and pressed. My head spun, and my vision fuzzed. I felt myself impact with the ground before sensation faded.

Shit, here we go again.

--- --= -=- -== =-- =-= ==- === ---

"Hey! I did it!" Sori's voice said. It sounded different, like it had when I first met him, and it was coming from a floating silver eye.

I realized my eyes were closed and opened them.

I was back on the stone ship with the beach, the small house, and the plasma oceans, back in the ether.

"Dammit," I said. "What's that guy's problem."

"What guy?" Sori said.

"The fucking guy that shot me."

Sori just laughed. "That's not what happened."

"What do you mean that's not what happened? I watched it happen."

"But that wasn't a guy that shot you."

"His shirt literally had the name 'Guy' stitched into it." Although it was possibly not his shirt—or that the shirt was a reference to something—but I wasn't about to make Sori's argument for him.

"I mean, that wasn't a person." Sori corrected. "It was a puppet. We were just talking about this."

It was a good thing I'd decided not to make his arguments for him since he'd officially lost me.

"Didn't you notice?" Sori asked."

"Apparently not," I said.

"Aquarium Guy didn't have an aura."

---=