Disclaimer: Not mine, not making any money. I'm just playing.

Shadow Puppets

Chapter 27

A shadow crossed in front of the hard candy window of the cottage. In the time it took Stephanie to turn her head and register the fact, Ranger had grabbed hold of her neck with both hands and, snarling, pinned her against the side of the cage. She looked at him with wide eyes and struggled.

The witch hissed with fury as she entered the cottage and saw it. "Stop!" she shouted. "Put her down. Now."

Ranger didn't answer, just carried on throttling Stephanie. She put her hands up to try to pull his away and thrashed her legs uselessly against the bars.

"Stop it, right now." The witch crossed the floor to the cage and touched the vines that held the door closed. They uncoiled and the door swung open. The witch leaned forward into the cage and reached for Ranger's neck.

"Now," Stephanie said, and Ranger dropped her and turned. The two of them launched at the witch simultaneously, Stephanie clawing at her eyes and Ranger delivering a kick to her throat that made her gag.

She reeled back and they followed her, attacking her face and throat, not giving her a second to collect herself and take back control. She staggered back across the cottage.

She screeched and froze as her back came into contact with the hot iron of the stove. The sound cracked and dried, fading to leave her mouth open in a silent scream. Her body rustled as a brown wave rose from the neck of her dress and spread across her face.

She furled and crumpled like a fall leaf. And died.

Stephanie and Ranger stepped back.

"Wow," Stephanie said. "That was unexpected."

"Yeah." Ranger sat back and leaned against the bars of the empty cage and closed his eyes. "I think we fucked up."

"Why?"

"Look down. You feel any different?"

Stephanie examined her felt body. It was unchanged. "Oh no. That's not fair."

"Tell me about it."

"Maybe it will take time."

"Let's hope so." Ranger stood and picked the witch up, lifting the husk easily despite its size. "Let's get rid of this thing anyway."

He stopped to look at the open door as he left the cottage and shook his head. "Looks like toffee."

Stephanie sat down on the floor with prickling eyes and scrubbed angrily at the felt of her arm. "Shit."

The creamy fabric loosened and tore under her fingers. She poked at it and peeled a thin piece away. Instead of white stuffing, she saw skin underneath.

"Oh my God." She enlarged the area of skin, tugging at the felt around it and tearing it away in long strips.

"Steph?" Ranger stood in the doorway.

"Look." She waved her arm at him. "It's coming off."

He looked at her arm then picked at his own felt and pulled a large chunk away to reveal his own skin.

Stephanie suddenly felt the material constricting her throat and scrabbled at her neck. "Help me," she said, "I can't breathe."

Ranger looked her over. "That's because you're growing. Hold on."

He went outside again and returned with a sharp stone. "Keep still." He scored the felt along her neck with the sharp end of the stone. It split and fell away.

"And the rest?"

He repeated the procedure along her ribs, then her arms and legs and more felt fell away.

She stretched her arms and legs until her spine popped. "Oh thank God."

"Just one more thing." Ranger grabbed a handful of wool and pulled it away from her head. The whole thing came away at once.

Stephanie put a hand up to her head and felt her own hair underneath. She laughed with delight and peeled the felt off her face.

"A little help here, Babe." Ranger's voice was strained and Stephanie turned to help him strip off his remaining felt as it constricted around his body.

She smiled as she used the stone to slice through the material and free him.

"What's so funny?" he asked, amusement clear in his own voice.

"I bet you never stripped a girl's skin right off with her clothes before."

"Nope, it's a first. You?"

"Me either. I lead a sheltered life. Hold still." She pulled his wool hair away from his head and stripped the felt away from his face. "There you are," she smiled. "How've you been?"

"Missed those eyes."

"The eyes, huh? Funny, that's not what you're looking at right now."

"Yeah, busted. Not just the eyes."

"Really."

"Really. Do I have to explain?"

"I think you should try."

"You know, some things are best demonstrated." He stood up, scanned the inside of the cottage and laughed. "The bed is made of sheet cake. You've got to admit, Babe, she nailed you good."

He picked her up and tossed her onto the broad expanse of white frosting. "But I'm going to do it better."

He followed her down and pinned her to the sheet cake bed. "Now, what was that you said? 'Good to know you've still got something between your legs' wasn't it?"

"Oh come on. I was under stress."

"Not good enough. I think payback is still due for that one."

"How much payback?"

"I'll let you know when you're done. It could take years. Since there's food right here."

"My kind of food. You don't eat this stuff, remember?"

He pinned her with his knees, grabbed one of the hard chairs and smashed it against the wall, showering her with shards of chocolate.

She yelped and closed her eyes.

He took one of the pieces, pushed it between her lips until it started to melt then used it to draw a long sinuous line from her throat to her pelvis.

As he licked the chocolate from her throat he said, "I can make an exception."

* * *

The fight against the vines was going badly. As Tank fought one off, another wrapped itself around his throat and drew him back against the rock face.

Lester spotted it and fought his way towards him, trying to get a knife to the vine choking the life out of Tank as more vines tried to wrap around his own arms and legs. He sliced at them but for every one that he cut there seemed to be two more, a seething mass of strangulation waiting to happen. Tank was turning gray as the vines held him at bay. "Garrick!" he shouted, "help me!"

"I can't get free!" Garrick shouted back.

Lester looked over and it was true. Garrick and his men were struggling. Two were trapped like Tank. No-one could help.

Suddenly, the thrashing of the vines slowed and stopped. Lester seized the moment to slice at the vines holding Tank. He fell to the ground coughing.

"What happened?" Lester asked Garrick.

He shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm glad it did. We were losing."

Lester looked around. Two of the boys were down, but seemed to be alive. The rest were watching for the vines to start moving again. They all looked exhausted.

"Berin, take Dewar and check the thistles," Garrick ordered. "See if they've stopped too."

Berin nodded and the two youths walked to the nearest thistle. Berin poked it with his blade. It didn't respond. He whirled and cut it through at the base and it fell like any normal plant.

The boys turned back and shrugged.

"All right, we move forward," Garrick said. "Slowly."

They settled Tank and the other two fallen members of the warband out of reach of the vines in case they attacked again and moved warily through the gap.

The forest on the other side of the wall was picture postcard-pretty. Large ash trees rose gracefully above a clear, dry forest floor. Rhododendrons provided an occasional burst of brilliant color. Streamlets criss-crossed the broad expanse of forest floor.

It seemed normal. Nonetheless they moved forward carefully.

"Boss." Berin gestured to the right where a gap in the forest canopy let light through into a bright clearing.

In the center of the clearing a white picket fence ringed a swathe of green lawn, which in turn surrounded the strangest house that Lester had ever seen.

"What in the name of the gods is that?" Garrick said.

"I, ah, think it's a gingerbread house," Lester answered.

"A what?"

"A house made of cake. And candy, and cookies by the looks of the roof."

Garrick stared at him. "You've seen one of these before?"

"Well not for real. It's a storybook thing."

"More of your stories."

"Hey, be nice. You're awake thanks to those stories."

Garrick just shook his head. "Let's go and take a look."

They stepped over the picket fence one by one and eased up to the hard candy window.

Berin peered in the window, snorted and pulled back. "I don't think there's a threat," he reported, fighting back a grin. "Two people inside and they're… occupied. She's pretty."

Savin poked a nose over the windowsill and looked for himself. A blush slowly spread up his face to the roots of his ginger hair. "Is he…? Oh my gods he is, he's…"

Garrick pulled him back by the scruff of the neck. "If you're blushing that badly, it's nothing you should be watching."

Lester looked in from the side. "Yeah, that's the boss for you. He's an inventive son of a bitch. And nobody you want to cross. Trust me, you don't want him to catch you watching. I suggest we withdraw."

"I don't think he's going to," Berin murmured, trying to look innocent and failing when Garrick gave him a sharp look.

"We're leaving," Garrick said firmly. "We'll come back tomorrow."

"Yeah," Lester said. "We ought to make sure everything's okay though."

"He looked more than okay to me," Berin said.

This time Garrick added a pointed finger to his glare.

Lester snorted. "He'll know we're here by now. I'd better report. Stay here."

He walked round to the door and rapped on it twice. "Ah, boss?" he said. "Just reporting in. Is the threat dealt with?"

"Yes." Ranger's voice filtered through the door. "Everything's fine. You can stand down."

"Received and understood, boss. See you in the morning. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Go away, Lester," Stephanie's voice yelled.

Lester grinned and waved the warband away from the house. They left, Berin sneaking one more look through the window first.

* * *

Tank was sitting up and looking a little better when they got back.

Morelli and Edna, Lula and Gareth had joined them at some point, and Edna was brewing coffee over a small fire.

"Everything okay?" Tank croaked as Lula dabbed paste on his throat.

"Yep," Lester said. "Believe it or not, the boss and Steph are here, in a gingerbread house about a mile into the woods. Looks like they've taken care of Ash themselves, because they're back to their normal selves and fucking like bunnies. We'll see them in the morning, unless they're still making up for lost time."

Tank winced and pointed to the children, but they were busy watching the warband and showed no sign of having heard.

Morelli, on the other hand, looked puzzled. "What do you mean making up for lost time?"

"Didn't you know? Ranger's puppet body didn't have a…" Lester spotted Tank's frantic throat-cutting motions too late, "…dick."

Morelli barked with laughter. "You mean he's been dickless all this time? He finally stole my girlfriend and he couldn't do anything once he had her? That's absolutely priceless." He laughed until his shoulders shook. "That's perfect. Damn, what a punishment." He got up and walked away, still chuckling.

Tank glared at Lester. "Way to open your big fat mouth, Santos. I'll send flowers to your funeral."

"He wouldn't say anything to him would he?"

Tank shrugged. "After what you just told him, would you be pulling your punches?"

"Shit." Lester sprang up and ran after Morelli. "Yo, Morelli, wait up."

* * *

The little house basked in brilliant sunshine when they returned the next day.

"I don't believe it," Tank muttered as they approached.

"They say seein' is believin' but I'm gonna have to run with taste on this here occasion. Edna, you coming to see our girl?" Lula hurried away from the group towards the house without waiting to find out.

Edna ran to catch up, joining her when she came to an abrupt halt at the corner of the house. "What's the matter?" she asked Lula before following her gaze. She grinned. "That's my girl."

Two figures were on the grass. The man wore a tiny loincloth made of braided felt in the same mocha latte color as his skin and his hair was slicked back off his face with white paste. He sat motionless on the ground with his eyes closed as the woman finger-painted elaborate swirls and geometric shapes on his torso. She wore a dangerously small bikini in the same pale cream as her own skin and her body and hair were similarly decorated.

Edna looked over the strange ritual and felt new knowledge prickle through her veins, except it felt like something she had always been on the edge of knowing; The moment when the penny finally dropped. She took the last step into full awareness.

Ranger opened his eyes and met Edna's. "Babe," he said. "Company."

"What?" Stephanie looked up from her finger-painting. "Grandma!"

She jumped up and threw herself into Edna's arms. "You're okay. Thank God."

"Hi sweetie. And you're not doing so badly either I see."

A blush spread across Stephanie's face and neck and Edna smiled and shook her head. "Don't be embarrassed. You just helped me work out how to get home. I'll tell you later."

"I can't wait to hear this," Lula said and Stephanie swung to hug her too.

"I'm so glad to see you."

"Me too girlfriend, but there's a bunch of guys right behind us. You wanna ditch the hot cavegirl costume and get dressed quick?"

"I can't. This is all I've got."

Ranger got up and walked past them, pulling Stephanie towards him and pressing a kiss into her hair as he passed. "Wait here."

Once he was safely out of sight Lula whistled. "Dayam. If he wants to stay like that, I ain't complainin'. Holy shit, I gotta hot flash."

Stephanie looked at Edna. "What, no comments?"

"Not this time. Is he the one?"

Stephanie nodded.

"Good. That will help."

Stephanie's eyes narrowed. "Help what?"

"Help us get home."

"How?"

"Later, I promise."

Ranger came back around the corner with a strip of blanket tied round his waist. He passed the rest of the blanket to Stephanie. "All we have right now. You gonna be okay?"

"I'll do my best."

Lula held her hand out for the blanket. "Give me that. I know how to do togas."

"You do?"

"Trust me, every good hooker know how to dress for the occasion."

"Thanks."

"And then you can give me a guided tour around your dream home. I'm so hungry I could eat a house."

"You've got it."

Lula wrapped Stephanie in her makeshift toga and stepped back. "Reckon you're okay now. Time to meet my boys."

"Your boys?"

"We got us some help along the way. Hardly none of them old enough to shave, but they good boys. I don't know what Morelli told 'em but they look at me like I'm some kind of superwoman."

"Joe? Joe's here? He's okay?"

"He's here. He's fine."

Stephanie's face fell. "I don't think I can face him."

"Of course you can," Edna interrupted. "Look at me."

Stephanie did.

"It's time to grow up, Stephanie. He's a good boy. A good man. He's here because he'd never let anything bad happen to you, and he deserves better than you hiding from him. Find some backbone and get out there."

"Okay," she said reluctantly.

"You'll find that some things have changed anyway."

"He's found someone else?"

"In a way."

"You've changed too."

"More than you know. It's been a strange few months. Now come on." Edna took Stephanie's hand and led her around the corner.

Joe waited with the warband behind him, Hans at his side and Greta clinging around his neck. Edna stepped back and left her to it.

Stephanie stood, jaw hanging. "Holy cow. Joe?"

"Steph. You look good."

"So do you. Damn, leather suits you."

He smiled and held his free arm out.

Stephanie walked into it and hugged him tightly. Greta mewed a complaint and clung on, defending her position.

"You look beautiful," Morelli said. He sniffed. "What is this stuff in your hair? Cream?"

"Yeah. I'm so sorry for everything that's happened."

"Hey. My Grandma did the damage, not you. I would have settled for a normal fight. It's good to see you're okay."

"Ranger and I…"

"Yeah, I figured. Don't worry about it, Cupcake."

"Thanks. That means a lot."

Lula came round the corner with a cookie in one hand and a chunk of cake in the other. "Hey, did you know that the roof is made of cookies? This stuff is fabulous. Oh my Lord, I missed cake so bad I can't tell you."

Edna held her arms out to Greta. "Want to come and get some cake?"

Greta glared at Stephanie before letting Edna take her and Hans off to find cake.

Both children were plastered with frosting and chocolate when Morelli came into the cottage and joined them.

"Everything okay?" Edna asked.

"I guess." He sat on the edge of the sheet cake bed. "It just feels strange that it's over. Tank and Lula went off into the woods together with a bunch of cake and stuff. Ranger's hovering over Steph and trying to turn the boys to stone every time they look at her, which is every chance they get, and I'm just hanging around waiting for something to happen."

Greta got up and pulled a piece of cake out of the wall and pushed it into his mouth.

"Thank you, honey," he said around the huge, sugar-laden mouthful. "You like it?"

She gave him a beatific smile and pulled another piece out for herself.

"Don't eat too much or you'll be sick," he warned.

Edna snorted. "It's going to happen. Sometimes they have to learn the hard way."

"Yeah, I guess. Garrick is talking about riding out to find the girl in the tower. I gave him directions."

"Good."

"We need to think about how to get home, I guess."

"You don't sound so sure."

"Can't have the happy ever after till everybody's home safe, right?"

"I can get us home. I know how."

Morelli looked at her, startled. "Since when?"

"Just since today. I found the last piece in the puzzle. My puzzle."

"I can believe it. You're different here."

"I found what I was missing. What I didn't know I knew."

"Because you're a…" He made sure Hans and Greta were looking the other way and mouthed the word 'witch'.

"You worked it out?"

He laughed and tapped his temple. "Detective. Trained powers of observation. You have power, or something. But different from her."

"Very," she answered. "Hans, why don't you take your sister and get her a drink of water before she makes herself sick?"

Hans nodded and took Greta out into the sunshine.

"Let me guess," Morelli said watching her face. "Sex."

Edna grinned. "Among other things."

"Makes sense. Nobody's that horny in their golden years. You're a legend in Trenton. You start locking girls up in towers, though, and I'm coming after you."

"No towers, I promise. You could call it my speciality. And it's going to give us the power to break out and go home."

"Yeah, home."

"Go find the children, Joseph, and think about what you want. I can take you back. You can't be kept here against your will."

He changed the subject abruptly, and she had the feeling this time it was what he really needed to talk about.

"Do you think he's right for her?"

"She thinks so."

"I just don't trust him. Does he even love her, or did he just decide he wanted her?"

"There's all kinds of love. Some just keep you going until you're ready for the next kind."

"I hope you're right."

"She'll be all right, Joseph. Make your decision for yourself. Nobody else can."