“What are we going to do?” I asked in a tiny voice. I squinted at the boarded-up windows on the front of the building. “I need help. Fast. Or else …” I couldn’t finish my sentence.
Jenny tugged my arm. “We have to take you to Dr. Ackerman.”
“But it’s Saturday morning,” Bird said, frowning. “He won’t be in his office.”
My mouth clicked up and down. “Besides, what can a doctor do? Look at me!” I raised both hands, with the tiny metal rings on the backs. “Is he going to give me anti-puppet medicine?”
They both stared at me openmouthed. A tear rolled down Jenny’s cheek. “We have to find Mom and Dad. They —”
She stopped as a tall man strode up to us. He had a stained gray cap pulled over his head and wore baggy khakis torn at the knees. His eyes were as gray as his hat, and he had a stubble of white beard on his cheeks.
Too late to run. He had us backed against the building wall. My heart started to pound as he eyed us one by one.
“You looking for Caleb?” he said finally. His voice was hoarse, scratchy.
I nodded. “Yeah. We —”
“He moved away,” the man said. The strange gray eyes locked on me. “Caleb moved. I don’t know where he went. There’s no one in there now.”
He stuck a grimy hand out. “Do you have change for the bus? I’m trying to get home to Toledo.”
“No. Sorry,” I said. “We only have bus passes.”
He nodded, scratching the stubble on his face. Then he turned and strode on down the street.
The sun came back and the buildings appeared to light up. But nothing could brighten my mood. I sighed again. “All this way for nothing,” I murmured. My knees started to fold.
Jenny held me up by the arm. “We have to find the bus stop to go back,” she said.
We peered across the street. A garbage truck rumbled past slowly. It left a sour aroma behind it.
“We have to cross Mulgrew,” Bird said. “Is that a bus stop sign over there?” He pointed.
We took a few steps. Then I held back. “Hey — wait,” I said.
“What’s wrong?” Jenny asked.
“I think I saw someone,” I said. I squinted at the boarded-up window beside the building entrance. “In that window. I saw a face.”
“Probably just a reflection,” Bird said. “The sunlight —”
“No.” I pulled free from their hands. “I definitely saw someone looking out at us from that window. Maybe that guy was wrong. Maybe Caleb is still in there.”
I didn’t hesitate. I staggered to the door, forcing my rubbery legs to carry me. “We have to see if it’s him,” I said. “He’s my only chance.”
I raised my hand to the boarded-up door and knocked as hard as I could.
I listened hard. I couldn’t hear any footsteps inside the building. I could still hear the rumbling of the garbage truck as it made its way down the block.
I knocked again. Bird stepped up beside me and pounded the door with both hands.
We waited.
Nothing happened.
“Please!” I shouted. “Please open the door! Please!” I totally lost it. I began to pound the door with both fists. “Please! I need help! Please!”
I pounded and pounded. I beat the door until my puppet hands throbbed with pain.
Silence. No one answered.
I turned to Jenny and Bird. “Say good-bye,” I whispered. “I’m going to be a puppet now.”
“No!” Jenny cried. “Don’t give up. Maybe there’s a back door.”
“Right. A back door,” Bird repeated. It was a desperate idea, but that’s exactly what we were — desperate.
We made our way around the side of the building. We found ourselves in a narrow alley filled with trash. A cat yowled. The cry sounded like a human calling for help. Another cat joined in.
I stumbled over a pile of wet garbage and fell onto my stomach. Bird and Jenny pulled me up. The smell back here was totally sickening.
“I … I don’t think we should be back here,” Bird stammered.
I brushed sticky garbage off the front of my shirt.
“Look,” Jenny said, pulling me forward. “Maybe that’s the back door.”
I raised my eyes and saw a narrow black door, the glass broken in the window. We made our way around an overturned trash can. Cats yowled all around, but I couldn’t see them.
We stepped up to the door. I peered through the broken window. Nothing but darkness on the other side.
“Come on,” I said. I grabbed the rusted doorknob and pushed hard. The door groaned, then slid open.
Bird held back. “Are we really going in here?”
I turned to him. My puppet eyes slid from side to side. “Do we have a choice?”
We found ourselves in a long, dark hallway. The only light came from sunlight through the broken window.
Our shoes scraped over the stone floor, which was covered in about an inch of dust. We passed open doorways with dark, empty rooms behind them.
“There’s no one here,” Bird whispered. “We seriously have to leave.”
The hall turned and we followed it to the end. “Anyone home?” Jenny called. Her voice echoed as if we were in a deep tunnel. “Anyone home? Can anyone hear us?” she cried.
We stepped into a large, dimly lit room. Sunlight washed in through dust-caked windows along the top of the wall.
“I can’t see a thing,” I said, blinking hard.
“This place is too creepy,” Bird said. “Let’s go.”
“I’m going to give it one more try,” Jenny said. She cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted. “Can anyone hear us? Is anyone in this building?”
All three of us gasped as bright ceiling lights suddenly flashed on. And we stared at a wall of human faces.
The faces stared down at us, eyes glassy and blank. The mouths were turned up in red-lipped smiles.
My eyes shifted from face to face. They didn’t move. They didn’t blink. They stared down at us with the ugly grins on their shiny faces. It took me so long to realize they weren’t human faces.
The three of us were staring at a wall of wooden puppet heads.
“Are you admiring my work?” a voice said behind us.
A startled cry escaped my throat. I spun around. And gazed at a smiling man in denim overalls and a red plaid shirt. He was short and a bit chubby, with a round red face and flashing blue eyes. He was bald except for a fringe of white hair above his ears. His smooth head appeared to shine under the bright lights.
“Welcome,” he said softly. “How did you get in? The back door?”
I nodded. “Sorry if we —”
He raised a hand to silence me. “You must be clever kids not to be fooled by my Condemned sign or boarded-up windows. You see, I don’t like visitors to interrupt me in my work.”
“Are you Eduardo Caleb?” Jenny asked, huddling close to me.
He nodded. “Yes, I am. And as you can see, I am a puppet-maker.” He motioned to the wall of heads.
“We have your card,” Bird said, his voice cracking. “We came here because Ben —”
“I need help,” I blurted out. “They brought me here because I’m in trouble.” I raised both hands. “Do you see what’s happening to me?”
Caleb’s eyes bulged as he studied me. “Oh, how horrible. You have been infected, Ben.”
My mouth clicked open. “Infected?”
“The puppet cells grow quickly,” he said. He stepped forward and gently picked up my hand. He studied it for a long moment. He squeezed the little metal rings poking out of my skin. “I’d say you have half an hour at most.”
“B-but … can you help me?” I stammered.
He nodded, still holding on to my hand. “I’m the only one in the world who can help you, young man.” He lowered his eyes. His smile was almost shy. “It’s good you found me in time. I’ll take good care of you, I promise.”
Suddenly, he turned to Bird. “What do you have i
n that suitcase?”
“Marionettes,” Bird answered. He set the suitcase on the floor and bent to open it. “Three of them. I think they’re yours.”
Caleb’s blue eyes flashed wide with surprise when Bird pulled out the princess and the sultan. He frowned and shook his head. “Failures,” he muttered.
He picked up the knight puppet from the suitcase and raised it in front of him. “I never should have sold these puppets. They weren’t made right. And I knew they would infect others.”
He frowned. “I’ve been trying to find them. For years, I’ve been trying to track them down, hoping I could get to them before they spread their evil.”
“It was the sultan,” I said, my wooden lips clicking. “He infected me. He poked his nose into my ear and — and —”
“Stay calm,” Caleb said softly. “You are here now, son. I’ll make sure you are right again.”
He took the three puppets and tossed them onto the floor. They lay in a tangle of arms, legs, and strings. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure these three failures never harm anyone again.”
He patted me gently on the shoulder. “Look what they’ve done to you. It isn’t right. I am so sorry this happened. I take full responsibility.”
I stared up at him, into his warm blue eyes. “Can you really turn me back to normal?” My shrill puppet voice came from somewhere inside my chest. My glassy eyes slid from side to side.
“Of course,” he said. “It won’t take long at all.” One hand on my shoulder, he started to guide me from the room. “I’m going to put you under my electron dome,” he said. “You’ll be the old Ben in less than five minutes. I promise.”
Caleb turned to Bird and Jenny. “Don’t just stand there. Come along with us. You want to watch, don’t you?”
They both started to follow us.
My heart was pounding. I told myself to be calm, that I was in good hands. I’d be okay again soon. But my head spun and the floor tilted from side to side.
At the doorway, I glanced back. My eyes stopped on the tangle of puppets on the floor. Were they moving?
I blinked. Yes. All three of them.
I stared hard till I realized what they were doing. They were shaking their heads no.
Caleb saw that I was staring at the three puppets. “They are so evil,” he whispered. “I am ashamed that I made them. They were a terrible mistake.”
“But why are they shaking their heads?” Bird asked. He saw them, too. “Are they trying to tell us something?”
“They are evil troublemakers, pure and simple,” Caleb replied. “I’m so glad you brought them back to me. I can make sure they never harm anyone again.”
“Whoa. Hold on a minute. Were they real kids?” Jenny asked. “Were they real kids who changed into puppets the way Ben is changing?”
“No. Of course not,” Caleb said. “I’m just a puppet-maker. That’s all I do.” He turned to me. “Come. Hurry. I’ll answer all your questions later. We haven’t much time.”
He led us down another hallway. The lights were bright here. I heard classical music playing in a room we passed. The next room appeared to be a workshop. A stack of dark lumber stood beside a long workbench.
“We have to get you under the dome right away, Ben,” Caleb said. “The longer we wait, the longer it will take to stop the infection. Once your hands and feet harden to wood …” His voice trailed off.
A chill of fear rolled down my back. “But you can do it, right?” I said. “You said you can turn me back into myself.”
He nodded. “I can do it. I promise. I can do it.”
He led us into a large, brightly lit room. It appeared to be a science lab. I saw a row of laptop computers on a table, as well as a lot of electrical equipment, humming and beeping.
Caleb led us to a long metal table in the center of the lab.
“It looks like an operating table,” Bird said. “Like in those TV shows about hospitals.”
Caleb smiled. He rubbed his smooth red cheeks. “I won’t be doing any operating, my friends. I’m not a doctor.” He pointed up to the high ceiling. “That’s the dome up there.”
A large green dome hung high over the table. It looked like the lid to my mom’s roasting pan, the one she cooks the Thanksgiving turkey in.
I’m going to be the turkey, I thought with a shudder.
“It’s all very simple,” Caleb said to me. “You lie down on the table. I’ll get you a pillow for your head so you are comfortable. Then I’ll lower the dome over you and turn on the electrons. It shouldn’t take long at all.”
“And when you lift the dome —?” I started.
“You’ll know right away that you are okay. You’ll feel perfectly normal again.”
I turned to Jenny and Bird. They stood tensely at the wall. Both had their eyes on the humming, beeping electronic equipment.
“Wish me luck,” I said.
“You don’t need luck, Ben,” Caleb said softly. “You’re in good hands. Come on. Let’s go.”
He helped lift me onto the metal table. It felt surprisingly warm. I stretched out on my back, my arms and legs limp. Once again, I stared at the rings where puppet strings would be attached.
Caleb slid a pillow under my head. He chuckled. “Relax, fella. Close your eyes. Take a rest.”
I pressed my head against the pillow. I gazed up at the green dome suspended from the ceiling. Then I blinked in surprise as Caleb strapped a tight belt over my waist.
“Relax,” he repeated.
He pulled wire cuffs from the sides of the table and cuffed my hands down at my sides.
“Hey —!” I cried out. “What are you doing?”
“It’s no problem, Ben,” he said. “I need to keep you very still.” He leaned over me and locked his blue eyes on mine. “I need you to trust me. Do you trust me?”
I hesitated. “Yes,” I said finally. “But I didn’t think you were going to strap me down.”
He took one of my hands and tapped both sides. “Your skin is getting pretty hard. But I think we’re still in time.”
He turned and crossed to the table of laptops. He sat down in front of one of them and began tapping on the keyboard.
I stared straight up and watched as the huge dome slowly lowered itself over the table.
I tried to relax, as he had instructed. But as the shadow of the dome slid over me, I couldn’t keep the frightening questions from repeating over and over in my mind:
Is he really going to help me? Have I made a horrible mistake?
The dome clanged as it touched the table. A heavy darkness fell over me. And suddenly I was gasping for breath.
“Stop!” I shouted. “Stop now! I can’t breathe!”
I tugged at the cuffs that held my hands down. My heart leaped around in my chest. My whole body shuddered. I’ve got to get out of here.
“Relax, Ben.” Caleb’s voice came through a tiny speaker in the metal dome. “Shut your eyes and breathe normally.”
I forced my panic down. I tried to follow his instructions. The metal dome started to vibrate. A loud hum rose up and down. It sounded like a swarm of bees.
I took a deep breath and held it.
“You’re doing fine, Ben,” Caleb said in his soft, gentle voice. “Keep breathing slowly. It’s going to vibrate a little, but it won’t get too rough.”
I breathed in. Breathed out. My heart was still hopping about like a frog in my chest. My hands strained against the cuffs.
The vibrations grew stronger. The hum became a buzzing drone, rising and falling like a police siren.
“Doing fine. Doing fine,” Caleb said.
My skin started to tingle. The vibrations were inside me now. I could feel my whole body vibrating.
A rattling sound made me want to cover my ears. But, of course, my hands were tied down. I tried to test my legs. Were they back to normal? Could I raise them?
The dome was too low to move them very far.
A high, shrill screech made me cry
out. My whole body twisted in shock.
“No problem, Ben.” Caleb’s voice came softly through the little speaker. “Don’t be alarmed. You’re doing well. Just another minute.”
Another screech. Like metal scraping against metal.
It made me grit my teeth. I clamped my eyes shut. I tightened my hands into fists.
“You’re doing well, Ben.” Caleb never raised his voice. He stayed calm and quiet. “Relax. Relax. No need to be tense. That’s just the electrons adjusting. You’re almost done.”
And then, the hum stopped. The dome stopped vibrating.
I opened my eyes. I slowly unclenched my fists.
“You did very well, Ben,” Caleb said. “I’m going to raise the dome now.”
The big dome made a creaking sound as it started to lift off the table. I gazed up at it, watching it glide back up to its place under the ceiling.
Then I raised my head, blinking in the bright light. Bird and Jenny hadn’t moved from the wall.
I took a deep breath. “Am I okay?” I asked in a trembling voice. “Am I back to normal?”
Caleb sat at his laptop, hunched over the keyboard, his face frozen in the glare of the screen. Bird and Jenny hesitated. Then they left their spots at the wall and ran over to me at the table.
“Am I okay?” I repeated. “Do I look like myself again?”
They leaned over the table and studied me. Jenny lifted my hand and ran her fingers over the front and back of it. “No metal rings in your skin,” she reported.
Bird tapped my forehead with his fist. “Normal,” he said. “Skin, not wood.”
I raised my legs. Kicked my feet up and down. “Hey — I feel like myself!” I cried. “Yaaaay!”
“I keep my promises,” Caleb said, still at the computer table. “I told you you’d be normal again, and you are.”
“I … I can’t thank you enough,” I stammered. “I’m me again. I’m not going to spend the rest of my life as a puppet hanging in someone’s closet. I’m so happy! Can I get up now?”
“Not quite yet,” Caleb said.
A stab of fear chilled the back of my neck. “Huh? Why not?”