Darkness Falls by Keith R.A. DeCandido Page A

me the story again. I like—” He hesitated. “I like the way you tell it.”
    Emma rewarded him with a smile again. “All right, but only if you hurry. We don’t want to keep the Tooth Fairy waiting!”
    And so Emma once again told William the story of Matilda Dixon and how she tragically lost her husband at sea, then how she became known to the children of Darkness Falls as the Tooth Fairy, rewarding the children who lost their baby teeth with delicious cakes, pies, and breads.
    This time, though, William interrupted the story. There was one thing he never understood.
    “Nobody ever talks about the Tooth—about Matilda. And they get all strange whenever she’s brought up.”
    Emma shrugged as they wended their way up the path to Lighthouse Point.
    “From what I hear, folks in town thought there was something off about Matilda Dixon before her husband died. After that, they say, things just got worse.”
    William was about to say something else, when he suddenly lost his footing and fell over. “Hey!”
    His jaw hit the dirt hard enough to hurt but not so hard that it felt like he’d broken anything.
    A familiar voice said, “Look out, Willie! Why don’t you watch where you’re going?”
    That was followed by the awful laughter.
    “George Delacroix!” Emma yelled, confirming William’s fears. “You know it was you who bumped into us!”
    William had spent much of his life being tormented by George. He was just about the last person William wanted to see right now. He always made William feel like an idiot, and the last thing he wanted to do was feel like an idiot in front of Emma.
    “Come on, Emma,” George said in a much nicer voice, “I’m only foolin’ with you. Besides, I came to see if you might want to come with me to the fair. It’s just outside of town, they got lots of stuff, too. Candy, even a freak show.” George looked down at William. William, for his part, tried to sink into the ground. “You might like that,” George said with a sneer.
    Then George suddenly reached out. William flinched—
    —but George was going for something on the ground next to William.
    With horror, William realized that it was the tooth, which had come loose and rolled onto the ground.
    “Anyway,” George said, holding up William’s tooth, “somebody’s gotta save you two from all this Tooth Fairy talk.”
    William got to his feet. He was not going to be George’s victim again, especially not in front of Emma.
    “Give it back!”
    He lunged for the tooth, but George dodged out of the way. William fell to the ground again. This was getting worse.
    “Aw, go on! You gonna tell your papa on me again? Little mama’s boy is what you are.”
    William sat fuming on the ground. He wanted to get his tooth back, but he wasn’t sure it was a good idea to confront George physically. George was bigger and faster and nastier.
    “Hey, I got an idea.” George knelt down next to where William had fallen. “How about you let me tell you all about the Tooth Fairy? Then you’ll really have something to mess your britches over.”
    William sat there while George told the story of the fire. William knew all this—it was only a year ago, and he’d been hearing all about it.
    Not that anyone really knew anything, except that there was a fire.
    “The fire brigade saved the house, but she never came out.”
    George had a huge grin on his face as he finished the story. William, who had at this point gotten up, just wanted him to be finished so he’d go away to that stupid fair and leave him alone with Emma.
    But then Emma asked, “How badly was she burned?”
    “Aw, you two are nuts goin’ up there. You know what I heard? After the fire, the old bat lost her mind. She got all scarred and burned. I heard she started covering up her face so no one would have to see her. So much for your pretty Tooth Fairy, huh?”
    William didn’t care about any of this. He just wanted George to go away.
    “Awwww,” George said with