Unfortunately, Charlie was a baby. And that meant he napped a lot. This left Orb with a lot of free time on his hands. Today, he hovered in a ceiling corner, spying on Richard and Mary, Charlie’s guardians, as they went about their day.

Richard stood in front of the window, staring out at the beautiful weather. Sunshine highlighted his features. He was in his forties, his hair already starting to gray. He had a thick beard and one arm hung at his side, the other he’d apparently lost in battle. Richard didn’t talk about it. From what Orb gathered, he once belonged to the same order of knights that Sir Brandt led. The man who brought Charlie here.

Mary, his wife, was singing softly to herself and putting away dishes. Orb couldn’t make out the words, but enjoyed it regardless. He caught himself moving from side to side, dancing to the calming hum of music. Mary loved to sing. She did it often, and she did it well. Her hair was the color of pleasant, orange autumn leaves and her smile was as white as fresh falling snow. She was the kind of person who looked like she gave a great hug.

Charlie grew fond of her quickly. Orb understood why.

Mary finished her song and filled a glass of water to soothe her throat. Richard turned, noting her pause, and they exchanged a smile. His faded quickly. “I heard something in the market today,” he told her, an odd look on his face.

She set her glass on the counter and walked around to sit on the couch.

There’s a dead mouse in that couch. Yuck.

“Oh, and what was that?”

“Lusafeen has returned. That cursed witch. Someone spotted her in the tavern late last night.”

Mary looked unsettled. Orb hovered closer. This sounded interesting.

“That’s a shame. I’d hoped to take Charlie out today. He needs some fresh air. It’s not healthy to stay cooped up in the house all the time.”

“I know. But it’s best to wait. She never stays long. Safer for her that way,” he remarked. He rubbed his injured shoulder and sighed. “I hate magic.”

Mary was quiet. She stood, approaching, and draped her arms around his neck, leaning her head against his back.

Orb rolled from side to side in the air. A witch was exactly what they needed.

***

That night, Orb and Charlie made preparations for their first trial run. “Alright, Mousifer, today’s the day,” Orb said. Their black furred friend scurried up Charlie’s shoulder, tilting its head at them.

Charlie stifled a laugh. “That tickles.” Mousifer put his nose in Charlie’s ear and squeaked. He couldn’t talk, but he could understand their telepathic words. Oddly enough, his squeaks now sounded slightly more like someone with a very high-pitched voice saying the word squeak, rather than squeaking itself. It was very strange.

Orb still couldn’t get over how poorly the naming process had gone. He’d brainstormed all night thinking of names to pitch Charlie.

“Okay, first idea, I was trying to come up with a combination of devil and mouse. Then I thought of Mousifer. What do you think?”

Charlie’s jaw dropped. “Let’s go with that one! I love it!”

“Huh? Wait, no, that’s just the first one. I have an entire list.”

“Mousifer is perfect!” Charlie said. Their new minion quickly squeaked his agreement.

Orb groaned. “Of course he went with the first name. I just had to run with the devil mouse idea. I knew I should’ve led with Jerry,” he ranted to himself.

Now, they stood before an obstacle that had beaten them thus far.

The front door.

Orb didn’t have thumbs. Charlie was a baby.

Doors were pretty much their greatest weakness at this stage.

Luckily for them, Mousifer was perfect for the job. He jumped from Charlie’s shoulders onto Orb, his limbs flailing until he got a good enough grip to stay balanced. Orb slowly levitated until they reached the doors handle. Mousifer stood on his hind legs and put his paws on either side of the doorknob.

“Alright, hold on tight,” Orb said. Mousifer wrapped his tail around the dungeon core and planted his feet. Orb slowly hovered in a circle. Mousifer focused on maintaining a tight hold on the doorknob, even as the maneuver turned him upside down. Slowly but surely, the knob turned. Orb hovered away while Mousifer maintained his grip and the door pried open about an inch.

Charlie crawled toward the side of the door and slowly pushed it open enough that they could look outside. There was nothing stopping them now.

“We make quite the team!” Orb said. Charlie giggled. Mousifer squeaked. “Alright, Mousifer, you’re up. Go find the witch.”

“Squeaaaak?”

“What do you mean, all alone? Of course. That’s your job.”

“Squeaaaaak. Squeak squeak.”

“Don’t use that language, mister. If you’re old enough to eat the flesh of another mouse, you’re old enough to go on a scouting mission.”

“Squeak?”

“Yes, it’s safe,” Orb said, growing more impatient.

“Squea?”

“Yes! I promise! Now go!”

Mousifer bared his teeth at Orb, but relented. He peered upward into the sky, looking for predators. Steeling himself to make the run of his life.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Before him was a field of mostly dirt. Occasional patches of grass, and a solitary tree at the edge of the property. Beyond the tree was a path that led further into town, which was their goal. Across the path, grass grew more densely. If Mousifer made it that far, his mission was a success. He could use it to hide while he moved into town. Admittedly, the route wouldn’t offer much cover up to that point, though.

Orb focused his thoughts on Charlie, so Mousifer couldn’t hear them. “Charlie, watch the sky. Earth had a lot of movies where as soon as they let the mouse go, a bird swoops down and gets it. I’m not saying this world is nearly as cliche as that, but you never know.”

“Okay Orb, I’m on it.” Charlie’s face grew serious. Well, as serious as a baby can be. He formed a circle with his fingers, touching his pointer fingers to his thumbs, and held them up to his eyes like binoculars.

Again, as serious as a baby can be.

Mousifer turned and gave one last squeak before saluting Charlie and turning to run into the night. It was amazing how much his personality changed once Orb used sentience on him. He expected a badass Michael Myers kinda mouse. Mousifer was… not that.

He scurried from side to side, performing evasive maneuvers as he went, dodging imaginary birds and…

Oh, not so imaginary birds as well. An owl swooped down, a cruel fate for a minion so young.

Mousifer dodged, throwing himself just out of harm’s way as the owl’s talons closed on the dirt he was standing on only a second ago. He turned to look back for only a moment before scurrying off. The owl beat its wings and shot back into the air, out of sight. Orb cheered. “Nice job, Mousifer!”

“Not cliche! Not cliche!” Charlie chanted, throwing a baby fist into the air.

Mousifer kept running, suddenly looking downward at the earth around him. A mound of dirt erupted from the ground. Mousifer jumped into the air, narrowly avoiding the snapping jaws of some kind of underground creature. Rows of long, sharp teeth penetrated the earth, almost tearing their minion in two. The creature’s creepy, beady black eyes rolled around, hunting for its prey. It descended back beneath the earth.

Orb and Charlie exchanged a look. “Suddenly, the real world looks a lot scarier than I thought. I don’t even know what that was,” Orb said.

Charlie nodded, gulping.

Mousifer took shelter, leaning against the tree at the edge of the property. He looked from side to side for danger, appearing overwhelmed. He looked back toward Orb and Charlie. “Don’t worry! You’re doing great! They weren’t even close to eating you alive!” Orb said.

Charlie turned. “What are you talking about? They almost ate him twice.”

“Charlie! I’m lying so he feels more confident,” Orb said, forgetting not to let Mousifer hear.

Mousifer waved a balled up paw toward the pair of them. And though they couldn’t hear it. They knew he was squeaking obscenely in the distance. “You’ve gotta keep going, buddy. You’re almost there. Just a little farther,” Orb said.

Mousifer was in the home stretch. He took a deep breath and started running again. The owl reappeared and… Orb tilted his body. “Is it…”

“I think so..” Charlie said.

The owl landed on the ground, waiting. The earthen creature surfaced, and the owl picked it up with its talons. It beat its wings and rose into the air before setting off in pursuit of Mousifer. “Okay, that doesn’t even make sense,” Orb said.

Mousifer turned around and saw his two worst nightmares working together to hunt him down. He ran as hard as he could, kicking up dirt with his paws. If he could find refuge in the thick, tangled grass on the other side, he could lose them.

There were only three more feet until Mousifer reached safety. But as he ran, the owl flapped its wings faster.

Two more feet. They were almost upon him. He dared a glance over his shoulder with wide eyes. They were close now.

Only a foot away. He scurried as fast as he could, and dove into the grass just as the team of predators swooped over him, just barely missing his small body.

He was safe.

The owl glared at the creature in its talons. The gopher from hell squealed back at it. It seemed the creature went too far. The owl flew up higher, releasing the creature from its talons and flying away as it fell and landed on the earth with a splat. Orb turned to look at Charlie, a blank expression on his baby face.

Oh great, I traumatized the kid.

Mousifer peeked back out from the grass and looked at them. Charlie waved. Orb bounced in the air in excitement a few times. “Alright, now go find the witch,” he said.

Mousifer nodded, then made a strange expression. He rose to stand on his hind legs, stumbling several inches. He leaned against a long piece of grass, clutching at his heart. Mousifer gasped, and his tongue lolled from the side of his mouth. He fell face first into the dirt.

Orb and Charlie stared in silence. “What just happened?” Charlie asked.

“I think we just watched a mouse have a heart attack. Well, so much for that minion. Back to the drawing board.” Orb flew into the door, starting to close it.

Charlie put a hand in front of it. “Nu huh. We’re going to help him.”

“Charlie, I understand how you feel. I totally wanna save him too. But also, no.”

“We’re going!”

“Charlie! It’s dangerous. There are… demon gopher things. And owls with terrible emotional regulation. I mean, he dropped his best friend from the sky without a second thought. I’m not messing with that guy!”

Charlie pouted. “Fine! Then I’m not playing dungeon with you anymore.”

“What? That’s not fair! I can’t exactly find someone else to help! Our fates are kind of interconnected at this point!”

Charlie lifted his chin and looked away. “Hmph!”

“If I had eyes, I’d be rolling them right now. Fine. Let’s go help the stupid mouse.”

Charlie giggled and started crawling at full speed to rescue Mousifer.

***

“Well, he looks pretty dead to me,” Orb said, rotating to get a good look around them. It was super creepy out here, and this dungeon core had a baby for a bodyguard. It didn’t exactly help soothe the nerves.

“Use that trick on him again.” Charlie suggested.

“It only works once. Besides, there are limits to it. It only pushes the boundaries of consciousness a little bit. I can’t just keep making something more sentient. Just the one time. Also, it has nothing to do with healing.”

Charlie frowned. “What do we do then?”

“You could try CPR.”

“Okay. What’s CPR?”

“Uh, well. I guess you put your lips around his nose and blow. Not too hard. You’ll make his lungs explode. But hard enough that his chest expands.”

“Okay.” Charlie picked Mousifer up and blew into his nose three times. Orb shuddered.

Charlie looked back at Orb expectantly.

“Okay uhm… in humans, I know you press on their chest. But he’s kinda small. So maybe give him a little chest massage. Then blow on his nose some more.”

Charlie followed his instructions.

Orb heard a branch snap, and grass rustled not far from them. He shot up above the grass line to scan the area. “What the heck was that?” he asked. Charlie ignored him, focused on his promising new career as the world’s first baby doctor.

Orb couldn’t see anything, but his instincts told him something wasn’t right. He needed to get Charlie out of here. Now. He dropped back to the ground, hovering only a couple of inches above the dirt, freezing in place when he saw it.

Charlie wore a big smile on his face. Mousifer squeaked on his shoulder, happy and breathing once again. But Orb was too focused on the creature behind them. Charlie and Mousifer noticed his demeanor and slowly turned around to look.

It towered above them, an evil look in its eyes. Charlie screamed. Mousifer squeaked.

“Charlie…run!” Orb yelled at the top of his telepathic lungs.