Page 15 of Office of the Lost

Crispin sighed.

“The grass is really good here,” Leo said.“But I wonder if we might have a few more of those… cookie crumbs you brought with the tea?”

Crispin’s stomach rumbled in agreement.“Leopold’s right.We could use a bit more to eat before we rush off into the forest again.”And maybe something to deal with those… what had Fromlith called them?Gleeth?Pleeth?

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, my little friends.”The giant grinned, teeth as big as tombstones, and Crispin shuddered.

He’s going to eat us after all.Crispin closed his eyes, determined to depart this worldly plane with at least a modicum of dignity.

Leo, in a surprising act of bravery, placed himself in front of Crispin.Or maybe he’d just tripped.In any case, he drew himself up to his full height, a good three inches taller than Crispin, and stared down the giant.“You can’t have him.He’s my… my desk fae.”

Crispin blinked, and so did the giant.Why did it sound as though something else had been about to come out of the Earthling’s mouth?

“You thought… I mean… I already said that…” Fromlith grabbed his belly with both hands and began to laugh, a sound so guttural and deep that it shook the leaves off the closest trees.He slapped his knees, and birds flew out of the forest canopy in alarm, and the sky cleared as the wayward clouds steered out of his way.

“I don’t see what’s so funny.”Leo turned on Crispin.“What’s he laughing about?”His eyes narrowed.“This is all your fault, you know.”

“I’m laughing, dear friends, because you’ve apparently misunderstood me.I don’t eat things with faces, as delicious as the two of you look.What I meant is that I couldn’t feed you here, because I intend to accompany you to the Pond of Disappointment, and we could eat on the way.”He chortled again, seemingly amusing himself.“A Flokrion always looks after his friends.Especially those he doesn’t eat.”He nodded and spun around toward his massive cottage.“Let me just gather a few things and we’ll be on our way.”

He vanished as nimbly as a thirty-foot-tall creature could into the darkness of his home.

“What was that thing?The cloud thing, with the teeth?”Leo was staring at Crispin as if he would somehow know, his earlier hostility apparently forgotten.

“You were mad at me just two minutes ago?—”

“Sorry about that.My blood sugar’s a bit low.I get a little…” and he wobbled his hand in a way that reminded Crispin of a three-footed sploot.

“Um… splooty?”

Leo’s mouth worked on that a bit, and then he blinked again and nodded.“Sure.Let’s go with that.”His gaze lifted to the tree where the dark and twisty thing had been.“So what was it?”

Crispin scratched his head.“I have no idea.It looks a bit like the things that chased us out of your….”He’d been about to say “garbage pit,” but that didn’t sound politic.“Um… your flat.But what they are, where they came from, or what they want”—could an ethereal being truly want anything?—“I haven’t a clue.”

For all this trouble, he was going to ask for a raise when he got back home.And an extra week off.And maybe a pony.He’d always wanted a pony, and he figured they’d owe him if he got this one back safely.“Thea?”

His hopes that she’d maybe found her way back to sanity were dashed when she hiccuped and then belched something green that might have been spores from the invading purple moss.

He forged ahead anyway.“Any idea what that weird dark thing was?”

Her response was to play something that sounded halfway between fingernails on a chalkboard and a dwarf with a head cold.Crispin sighed and started to put the device away.

“Wait.I know this one.”Leo mouthed the lyrics.“It’s Marilyn Manson.”

“Well, she has a perfectly lovely voice.”Crispin rolled his eyes.

Leo waved that assessment aside.“It’s called ‘We Are Chaos.’”His eyes met Crispin’s and for the first time there seemed to be a bit of light in them.“Maybe Thea’s trying to tell us something?”

Crispin frowned.Thea was broken all to bits, just like his schedule.“I don’t think so.I’ll have to get a new PTD when we get back.”If we get back.

“I still think she might be?—”

“Here we are.”Fromlith appeared from his castle-sized cottage with a couple human/fae sized packs.“This should fill your stomachs.”

Crispin took his.It had two straps, presumably for putting over one’s shoulders.“Where did they come….”It crossed his mind that the previous owners of the packs had likely become soup, or maybe a delicious spot of tea, so he decided he didn’t need to know.“Thank you, Master Fromlith.”His mother would have been proud of his diplomatic skills.

“You’re welcome, Master Moss’caladin.”

Crispin opened the sack, took out a giant cookie crumb as large as his fist, and then settled the straps of the pack over his shoulders.

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