Page 26 of Office of the Lost

Soon he was hardly more than a bright spot of light in a darkening sky.

Leopold had read about fireflies but had never seen one, and now he imagined that they must look something like this.He wished desperately that he could be up there too, that he wasn’t doomed to bumble about barely a few feet in the air and then crash-land.But it was also nice just to watch.

“Hey!”he shouted.“Crispy!That’s really cool!Show me your moves!”

Crispin did a dive followed by a steep ascent and a showy series of twirls.He performed a little ballet with dips and pirouettes and cartwheels.It was amazing.Breathtaking, almost.It was?—

Something huge and dark soared across the sky, snatched Crispin with enormous claws, and flapped away.

11

Crispin

Oh, what a joy tofly.

Crispin rose through the air, free from the clutches of gravity at last, a feat previously denied to him by the ancestors who’d signed that blasted treaty.He could forget almost that what he was doing was banned.But, in fact, that simple thought gilded his flight with a naughty bit of forbidden pleasure.

He wasn’t used to naughty bits of… well… much of anything.It had been a long, dry spell since the last time he’d?—

Something huge and dark enveloped him like a cloud, and for a brief instant before he blacked out from the pain, he thought itwasthe cloud, come back for him again.But who will save Leo?

Crispin sighed, floating in that happy space between sleeping and waking, content to just stay in bed a few minutes longer.Surely Minkis could fend for himself for a bit.There were acorns in the nut bowl, and plenty of water in the glass pipette that hung near The Door.

His bed felt uncommonly comfortable today.

But something was poking him in the middle of his back.He shifted, trying to find a good spot without waking up too much, a delicate balance.

It was rather cool too.Had he left the door ajar when he’d gotten home?If so, that was clumsy of him.I’m not usually such a half-wit….

Sharp pain lanced through his shoulder, bringing him fully awake.“Fuuaaaark.”He blinked, trying to reconcile what his eyes were telling him with what his brain knew to be true.He was home in bed, safe and sound, and yet—he realized with growing alarm—he was staring at the toe-ends of five gigantic fuzzy baby-blue slippers.

“You finally awake?”

Crispin turned his head, bringing him face-to-face with a creature only a little shorter than he was.The similarities ended there.

It was covered with royal blue fuzz—much deeper in color than the slipper things—which extended partway down a pair of wings that enfolded it like a cloak, ending in bright white edging.It had six legs, two curving antennae, a couple sharp mandibles, and big blue eyes that wouldn’t have been out of place in a human face, except for their size—about as large as his fist.

“I… um… yes.”It was far from his most elegant response.“I seem to have injured myself.”He reached back to touch his shoulder and found crusted blood where his right wing should have been.

“Yes, so sorry about that.Molly snapped it off when she grabbed you.”It blinked, but its eyelids closed from the sides instead of from top to bottom, like most creatures.

Molly?At least it didn’t hurt too much.

Crispin shook his head.Where are my manners?Ignoring the pain where his wing had been, he extended a hand.“Crispin Eladrin Moss’caladin, at your service.”

The stranger spit a bit of something black and sticky into his open palm.“Morris Mucklin.Pleased to meet you.”

Crispin stared at the goo, unsure if he should wipe it off, or lick it, or….Staring at Morris, he decided to just close his hand, which made the splooge, well, made it splooge itself out the sides of his fist.

Morris seemed satisfied with that.

Crispin vowed to wipe it off—surreptitiously, of course—when he had the chance.“So… where are we, then?”He turned to look over his shoulder, and wished he hadn’t.There was nothing but green sky there.

Above him.Next to him.Below him.

He grabbed the edge of the… what was it?It was made of branches and leaves and clumps of green moss.He turned back slowly to his new friend Morris, the situation slowly dawning on him.“This is a nest, isn’t it?”He swallowed, hard.

“Right quick you are.Usually takes the dinner a bit longer to realize its predicament.”

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