Frantic Inside Grand Caves

6: Neon Boy

So we reached Napoleon Tailtassle's stall, he greeted us with a warm smile.

But when we asked him about Allen and Angel, he frowned, wrinkling his eyebrows in concentration. "I'm afraid I can't help you, Beeston," he finally said, "because no one has bought hair tattoos from me for a week and a half. They're going out of style, I'm afraid. Not good business. Why, just yesterday, I heard word from Clam Seamare's friend that a colleague of mine had closed down back in –"

"Tailtassle," yelled Beeston, "Are you missing any highlights or not?"

"I haven't checked," said Napoleon meekly and led the way into his storeroom.

We followed, silent.

Napoleon switched on an illuminating light. There were boxes and shelves of wares. I spotted some that looked suspiciously illegal but kept my mouth shut.

He pushed through several crates till he reached a small box on top of two larger cartons. With the knife he had hanging at his side, Beeston sliced it open.

There were rows and rows of neon packets, every bright color of the rainbow imaginable. Yellow green, blue green, sea green, okra green, sand yellow, sun yellow, coral red, blood red, prom dress pink, bunny pink, emo purple, lavender violet, and on and on and on till my eyes dizzied from looking at them.

"Look," it was Shona speaking. "There's a gash on the side."

We did, it was obvious: it'd been pilfered.

"It must've been Neon Boy," Napoleon said.

All eyes swiveled in his direction…