“She who is she,” another adds.
Given I am the onlyshein the room, they must be talking about me, albeit in a nonsensical manner.
Theo groans. “Ignore them.”
They emerge from the shadows, stumbling closer toward us. Aww, they are boy puppets dressed in shorts with suspenders and cute colored hats.
“Hey, I’m Daphne.” I tilt my head, trying to make sense of what I’m seeing. The closest one walks funny, with one leg longer than the other. Poor little guy.
“I’m Percy,” he says. I stare in disbelief as the longer leg grows even more. He stumbles and falls flat on his face. The others titter at their friend. I rush forward and grab his arm, pulling him up.
“Are you okay?” I ask with a frown at the long leg. There’s no way he can walk with that thing.
He glares at the others. Another approaches, this one with one arm dragging on the floor. The other is half the length.
“Daphne, ignore them,” Theo drawls. “They are reject Pinocchios.”
“The puppets who want to be real boys?”
Another emerges from the shadows. He puffs on a cigar, but everything about him seems in proportion. “That’s right, toots,” he growls, shocking the bunkum poop out of me. His voice is a raw, gravelly deep thing, a total contrast to the others. He flicks his gaze from my toes to my head as I clutch Percy’s arm. “Peter here told you my name to get clout, forgetting he has a big tell.”
I snap my head to Peter. “What tell?”
His wooden cheeks turn pink. Oh my Idols, the puppets blush. “My leg grows when I lie,” he whispers.
I’m sure the original tale talks of a nose issue.
“So you see, they cannot lie without being found out,” Percy declares.
Theo comes to my side and folds his arms. “We are just here to collect a few things, not hear your life story.”
“That’s always the way with you Hallowed,” Percy says after taking a puff on his cigar. “Never looking out for the little guy.”
My heart squeezes. “Are you bound to this room?”
Percy shakes his head. “No, but after Pickle and Paul got tossed onto the fire by a Charming, we retreated to somewhere they would never look. Knowledge is contained here, but we all know Charmings aren’t the sharpest of Hallowed.”
Another of the puppets emerges, this one with an eye protruding from the socket. My stomach gurgles as I swallow back the nausea. Really, these puppets need a village of their own in So Far Away to gain sanctuary and live their lives freely without fear of becoming fuel.
“You all grow different parts?” I check. How horrid to have to be so transparent. Although I don’t make a habit of lying, everyone seems to work with white lies to keep the peace.
Percy blows a ring of smoke into the air and winks at me. Theo huffs, two tempos away from turning scaly and displaying his superior smoky abilities. “That’s right.”
“What part do you grow?”
“Daphne, no,” Theo mutters.
“What? Is that not the done thing? To ask which body part magically grows?” I clearly committed some kind of faux pas.
“That’s okay,” Percy growls. “Ask me a question and find out.”
Umm. “Is your favorite color pink?”
“No.”
Nothing happens. Percy presses his wooden lips into a thin line. “Ask another.”
“Do you wish to be thrown on the fire?”
