Shadow Puppets II

She did not speak. She did not move. The Wooden Girl simply stood there in silence, surveying the firefight before her.

Behind her, the air began to shimmer. This was followed by a great tearing in the world, and a portal to some other horrible realm opened up in the forest. Even above the gunfire, even from across the clearing, I could hear the screams. Within the Screaming Tower, the puppet tortures her dolls. They hang suspended in the tower's halls. Their bodies respond only to the commands of the tower's mistress. Their bodies decay, even as the dolls themselves are forced to remain alive. Some are allowed to scream in terror. Some cannot scream, for their throats have rotted away. Some only scream when the vultures come for them, to eat at their flesh. Some are taken to secret rooms and forced to endure more conventional methods of torture. Their screams echo throughout the tower. This is the symphony to which she conducts her plays.

As the screams washed over us, one by one, everyone stopped and turned to see the Wooden Girl and the portal to her hellish realm.

"Experiment 154," I heard Scribe Sigma say. "Using materials collected from Experiment 153, they attempted to find a way to use her strings for themselves."

Neomaria faced the Wooden Girl. The shadows coalesced around her, almost cocooning the poor girl. "Who are you?" she asked the Wooden Girl. "Why are you here?"

The Wooden Girl was silent, but she lifted one arm, and pointed on finger at Martyr Alpha. The man seemed to turn white as a sheet.

"It's not my--" he protested. "I wasn't the first to use your strings! I just used what was available to me! I--"

I don't know what else he was going to say. I suppose I'll never know. His voice was cut off by a sudden choking sound, and suddenly he was being lifted into the air, struggling feebly against invisible strings. I saw the other Martyrs being pulled across the clearing toward the Wooden Girl. Unlike their Alpha, they did not resist.

That's when I realized: there was nothing left inside the Martyrs. They were puppets of the Alpha. Anything that remained of the people they once were was long gone.

The Wooden Girl turned around and stepped into the tear in space. The Martyrs were pulled in behind her. Just before the portal closed, I saw Martyr Alpha casting one last panicked look back at the clearing, back at the world that he would never see again. He opened his mouth, and though the Wooden Girl did not allow any sound to come out, I knew that he was screaming.

The world went silent. The Screaming Tower was gone. Neomaria fell to the ground, and lay there.

"Maria!" Ghost shouted, rushing to her. The shadows swirled around her, and seemed almost like they were going to lash out at him, but then they receded. Ghost knelt next to her and held her in his arms.

I wasn't close enough to hear what was said, but I saw her wrapping her arms around him, and the two of them holding each other close. Scribe Sigma began to walk away.

"You're not going to say anything to her?" I asked.

"No, she's safe now."

"But she's your sister. Shouldn't you talk to her?"

Scribe Sigma just gave me a sad smile. She didn't say anything, and I heard a sound like stone grinding against stone, and the the entrance to a tunnel opened up in the world, and Scribe Sigma walked through it.

The grinding again, and the tunnel closed itself.

In the clearing, Ghost stood, helping Neomaria to her feet. "We're leaving," Ghost announced. "I've set aside some resources. I've got a home for us squared away. You won't be hearing from us again."

"Like hell!" Stone said. "That girl is still wanted for murder."

"And if I recall your orders were to leave her be," Ghost snapped. "Don't try to stop us."

"Need some help getting to wherever you're going?" Jorma asked, a sly smile on her lips.

"Absolutely not. I don't want you telling your 'mother' where we are."

"She'll find out anyway. Every mirror, every reflection you cast, she can see." Jorma laughed. "I promise not to harm you. My Mother just wants to be sure that Neomaria can't be used to interfere with her plans. If she retires to some farm with her sweetheart, then it all works out."

Ghost glared at Jorma, and Neomaria whispered something in his ear. "Alright," he said finally. "Fine. But we're watching you."

Jorma laughed and approached the pair. "Don't worry," she said. "We'll just take a quick detour through the Garden." It was like a sudden sandstorm came out of nowhere, and then vanished, and Ghost, Jorma, and Neomaria were gone.

Ophilim had apparently decided to leave at some point during all this as well, so it was only us SMSC employees that made the trek through the woods back to New Rossfield.

Matthias, why don't you tell them what else you saw?

No?

Very well.

On every tree in the forest as we walked back, there was an eye. And the gaze of each eye followed Matthias as he passed. He said not a word, and stared straight ahead. But he could feel every eye on his back.