Chapter Three

The Doll House.

"Is this it?" Gepetto asked.

"This is where that shopkeeper told me it would be," Anastasia said. "I just hope Cornelia knows how to follow directions."

"Now now," Kurando said, nudging the princess.

"Oh, sorry," Anastasia apologized. Karin was genuinely shocked that the princess had apologized for a rude comment. Perhaps Kurando was growing on her?

The place could have used some fixing up. Big time. The house looked old already, but not the worst. It seemed livable, and Gepetto made his way up the driveway. Everyone else followed and he knocked on the door.

No one answered. It was late evening, but Gepetto knew someone had to be inside.

"Hello?" Gepetto asked at the front door, throwing back his puppeteer's cape. "I need to speak with you. Hello?"

There was still no answer. Blanca barked, circling the house and digging a small hole. There was a marker near it, and the wolf hit a box.

"Blanca, what are you—" Karin asked, walking over to the wolf.

The wooden casket began constantly vibrating, and a small voice could be heard.

"Help!" a girl's voice cried.

Gepetto walked over to Blanca and Karin tore off the casket. Out emerged a girl with brown hair, gasping for air, her arms tied behind her back.

"Oh thank God!" the girl gasped. "Thank you so much!"

"What happened?" Kurando asked.

"There's a man…and he told me that he would make me a special doll so that I could remember my mother who passed away a few years ago. Then, as I waited for him to finish, everything turned black, and I woke up in this box. I'm so hungry, I don't know how long I've been inside."

"My goodness, have you seen a girl with blonde hair and pigtails?" Gepetto asked. "Her name is Cornelia."

"Cornelia…Cornelia!" she pointed to the puppet in Gepetto's hands. "Yeah, I've seen her. She came in after I did with the man who promised us dolls. She didn't want a doll though; she was just asking if he knew someone named Gepetto."

"That's my name! I'm her father, please tell me where she went."

"She was still there, I'm afraid," the girl replied, shaking her head. "I'm sorry. I don't know any more."

"Where is he?" Gepetto asked.

"Inside, in his basement. I'm scared to go down there," the girl replied.

"What's your name?" Anastasia asked.

"My name? It's Hannah," the girl replied.

"Thank you Hannah," Gepetto replied swiftly, jogging back to the front door. Blanca helped Hannah out of the hole and the puppeteer knocked again. Still no answer.

Finally, Lucia and Karin knocked over the front door. Intially, there was no one in sight, but Gepetto looked around hurriedly.

"Cornelia!" he called for her over and over. The sound of a door busting open came from upstairs.

"Papa!" that was Cornelia!

"Cornelia!" Gepetto raced upstairs, and Blanca ran ahead of him, standing before the master puppeteer of this dollhouse.

He growled, lunging at the man without hesitation. Cornelia gasped at the door, but her face immediately brightened as she saw her father.

"Papa!" she ran towards him, but an invisible string pulled her back, making her cringe in pain. Gepetto raced to her, seeing the string attached, almost like a spider's web. It was only around his left wrist.

Blood dripped from her wrist. She ran too hard too fast.

"It hurts," she said as her liquid dripped to the floor, looking up. She then saw the doll. "Is that…me?"

"Yes," Gepetto said. "It is you."

"Is she all bloody too? Just like me?" she asked.

"She's seen much pain, my dear," Gepetto said. Karin and Lucia were taking on the puppeteer while Anastasia and Kurando searched the house for more girls. Lucia cut Cornelia's string and her father scooped her up instantly. She held her doll form, letting the blood drip onto the doll's left wrist so it could be just like her.

"We're getting out of here," Gepetto said, walking down the stairs with his daughter.

"Did you find Hannah?" Cornelia asked.

"We did," her father replied. "She's outside, waiting for us."

Gepetto and Cornelia met Hannah outside, where they tried to think of anyone else who could be there with them. Anastasia and Kurando came upstairs with five more girls, still alive and well. Two were dead; they were too late for them. The doll maker had taken their souls from their bodies and put them into dolls.

No one knew exactly how many dolls this man had made and how many girls were gone because of him. Cornelia and Hannah didn't even know there were as many as five girls with them in the house.

"He's gone," Karin said proudly, coming downstairs with Lucia.

"I only wish Joachim could have joined us on this one," Lucia said. "He'd have gotten that door much more easily."

"No use worrying about it now. Get the police!" Gepetto exclaimed. They headed down to a police station with the girls they'd rescued, and within the day, they had all made front-page news.