The Toast Is Gone!

"Luka!"

Luka groaned. Her eyes felt gritty after being up the night before. "Miku?" she asked sleepily. "What is it?"

"It's gone."

"What? I didn't touch your leeks…."

"No," Miku insisted, tugging at Luka's arm to force her to sit up. "The toast."

Luka was awake instantly. "It is?"

"Yeah. I went to go see if it was still there, and it's not."

"Did you look around?"

"Twice."

"Okay, I'm coming."

Luka put on her robe again and, on a whim, grabbed the anit-Kaito baseball bat she used to defend herself from Kaito attacks. The bat was blue and had a picture of a flattened Kaito on it—a painful reminder to Kaito why he shouldn't mess with Luka. And why toast shouldn't mess with me!

She put her slippers on and slipped out of the room. She could hear Kaito snoring from his room. And he doesn't snore this late—seven o'clock—unless he's been up the night before. Ha.

"Hello?" she called quietly into the kitchen.

No reply.

She went in, bat poised to smack whatever startled her.

She heard a rustle and whirled around, pointing her bat at the sound. "Who's there?" she demanded.

Luka….

Luka jumped at the voice in her head. "Leave me alone!" she screeched, flailing the bat at thin air. "You won't steal my soul!"

The voice in her head giggled eerily. Oh, Luka, you don't know what I'm capable of. See, I've already captured one of your "friends."

"Luka?" a drowsy voice called. "What's wrong?"

Oh no! Keep your hands off of Len!

You don't have the authority to tell me what to do, the toast replied laughingly. And I don't have hands. Bad luck, Luka.

You're bad luck! she retorted, close to tears. What did I ever do to deserve this?

"Luka?" Len repeated, his voice rising. "Are you okay?"

"I'm here," she replied, avoiding the question. "What are you doing in the kitchen?"

Len emerged from behind a counter. "I was sleeping," he explained. "I had the weirdest dream. I dreamt I was walking away from a mild threat of some sort. Then I sort of woke up here. I was really tired, so I think I fell asleep on the floor." He rubbed his face, smirking. "I think I have tile marks."

He did, but Luka was in no mood to joke. "Len," she began, "do you know about toast?"

"Yeah…," he answered, confused. "It used to be cooked over a hot fire with a device that—"

"Shut up about the toast," Luka snapped. "Do you know about weird toast? Talking toast? Evil toast? Soul-stealing toast?"

Len looked bewildered. "I know about talking toast," he pointed out. "Now that you mention it, I think I dreamed about toast last night. That's what I was walking away from, maybe."

Darn you, evil toast!

Darn you, Len, for your brilliant memory! the toast countered, seeming flustered.

"Listen, Len," Luka said hastily. "There's this toast that invaded our house last night. It has red eyes, a scar on its forehead, and looks like Frankenstein or Big Al. You have to watch out for this toast. It steals souls. If it asks you to eat it, don't. In fact, try to stay out of the kitchen. I-I'll move all our food to the dining room today. Only go in the kitchen for the fridge, stove, whatever. Just stay away from toast!"

Len studied Luka, looking hurt. "But what about my daily peanut-butter-and-banana sandwich?"

"I-I'll make it for you. Leave the bread alone."

"Okay." He began to walk away, then looked back at Luka. "Thanks for warning me."

I didn't plan for this, the toast mused.

Where the heck are you? ! Luka demanded, frustrated.

I thought you didn't like dumpster-diving, the toast commented.

I hate it, Luka countered, hurrying to the garbage can. She dumped its contents onto the floor and was immediately greeted by loud, screechy cackling in her mind, like a broken cuckoo clock. She held her head, squirming in agony.

"Leave me alone!" she wailed.

"Luka!" She heard Miku's voice, faintly. "What's wrong?"

"Miku!" That was Len. "What's wrong with Luka?"

Through blurred vision, Luka saw something brown stir in the contents of the garbage and rise out of it. Two blazing red eyes met Luka's, and then the shape was gone.

The fingernails-on-chalkboard laughter in her head ended abruptly. She swayed on her feet, staring transfixed at the spot where the shape had vanished, black spots dotting her vision.

"Kaito!" Miku shrieked. "Something's wrong with Luka!"

Then the kitchen whirled wildly, and all went black.

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