In the Shadow of the Dragon King by J. Keller Ford Page A

you? You’re usually up before the sun. Are you drunk?”
    David shook his head. “I think Lily drugged me.”
    Charlotte laughed. “Don’t be silly. Why would she do that?”
    “So I wouldn’t leave before he got here?”
    “Before who got here?”
    David relayed everything that happened.
    Charlotte’s jaw tightened. “This is twisted! How could she even think of sending you away? You’re not going to go, are you?”
    “No. I was packing when—wait a minute. How did you get in the house?”
    “The door was open.”
    A loud crash came from downstairs.
    Charlotte whirled around, her eyes wide. “What the heck was that?”
    David sprang from the bed, his gut wrenched in a knot and crammed his feet into his shoes. “Stay here. I don’t want anything to happen to you, got it?”
    “Seriously? I’m not a fragile little girl, David. I can look out for myself.”
    David caressed her cheek, his fingers slipping through her hair. Out of all the insanity that had touched his life, she was his constant, and he loved her even more for it. “I know, but I would freak if anything happened to you. Promise me you’ll stay here.”
    Charlotte rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Go!”
    David kissed her forehead and headed downstairs. Lily’s favorite antique white vase, hand-painted with baby rosebuds, lay shattered on the parlor floor beside the credenza.
    David grabbed the poker from beside the fireplace. The parlor doors slammed shut.
    Freaking A!
    He glanced around, his chest rising and falling. “Where are you? Come out so I can see you.”
    A stout man, no more than three feet tall and dressed in a tweed suit sauntered from the doorway between the parlor and music room, a long-handled pipe in his hand. His ginger hair spilled over his collar while watchful, topaz-blue eyes took in all of David, appraising him as if he’d discovered a new species.
    David swallowed. “W-what are you doing in my house? What do you want?”
    The little man tapped his pipe into an empty candy dish and stowed it in his breast pocket. Despite his strange, gnomish appearance, he held himself with an air of importance.
    “Now, now, dear boy,” he said. “Is this the way you greet all your visitors? Appalling behavior, I must say.”
    “You’re trespassing in my house. What do you expect?”
    “A bit of propriety, young man. I was told you had impeccable manners, but it appears I was misled. Now please put down that iron. You look ridiculous.”
    “Not until you tell me what you want.”
    Toddler-man circled his finger in the air. The poker flew from David’s hand and somersaulted back to the stand.
    David gaped. His bones rattled. “H-how did you do that?”
    “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, now close your mouth. It’s rude to gawk.”
    “Who are you?”
    The man stepped forward. “If you must know, my name is Twiller, and I am here to accompany you to safety.”
    “You? But I thought—” David wrinkled his brow.
    “Now is not the time to think, Master David. It is time to say good-bye to your friend as you will not see her for quite some time.”
    The ceiling wavered and softened, melting away like warmed butter. Pink sneakers, followed by Charlotte’s entire body, oozed through the pudding plaster. She dangled in the air, held in place by a spinning spiral of green threads sizzling with energy. Her face wore a terror he’d never seen before.
    “David?” Her voice shook. Her fear plowed through him.
    Rage swelled in David’s soul. Twiller could do whatever he wanted with him, but Charlotte was an entirely different matter. He pinned his gaze on the little man.
    “Put. Her. Down.”
    “Say your fond farewell,” Twiller countered. “ Arrivederci . Au revoir . Whatever word you wish, but hurry on with it.”
    “I’m not going anywhere with you! Now put her down!”
    Twiller shook his head. “I can’t do that. You either come with me, or I will be forced to do unspeakable things to your friend. What will it