Sadie Madison and the Boy in the Crimson Scarf

35 | The Witching Hour

Oliver watched Sadie from the shadows. She stood talking to a tall, thin man in a tailored purple suit and top hat.

"With Danver around, you would never have seen the things you've seen or learnt the things you've learned," the man said. "But most importantly you would never have created Oliver." The doktor looked over Sadie's shoulder and smiled at the boy in the crimson scarf. "He is the most important thing you have ever done."

"He's my Fear," Sadie said.

"Of course he is," the doktor replied, beckoning the boy over.

Sadie stared at Oliver. A mix of anger and relief welled in her eyes.

"Without Oliver you would never have escaped the museum pursued by Hobbsworth. You would never have followed the Ice Fox through the brightly coloured door. You would never have ran with the Fire Wolves. Never sat opposite Vulpes. And as for the Wretched, well, your fear of them would have been your undoing. Oliver saved you from all that. He is more powerful than you could possibly imagine."

Twirling his cane around his wrist like a baton, the doktor led Sadie down the garden. The air fizzed, electric, alive. Something moved in the shadows of the sandstone wall. It shifted awkwardly, lurching towards them.

"For example," said Doktor Merrick. "May I present, for one night only: Goofang, Glawackus, Hodag, the Cactus Cat, the Winter Witches, the Axe-Handle Hound, Wendigo, and Ratchet Owl—monsters from your father's bedtime stories—and a legion of your other favourites too, Sadie."

The creatures her father had put in her mind shambled, lurched, and slithered into view. Behind them came a mighty throng of other monsters—things from her nightmares, from her Penny Dreadfuls and horror grimoires, things that should never have been. A sea of leathery wings, horns, teeth, and burning eyes. The smell of blood, decay, and death weaved its way around her.

Sadie did not move. She scanned the creatures, illuminated by the strobes of lightning now forking through the rainstorm. The monsters were far bigger than her father had described, more foul and murderous, radiating a silent dread.

Panic overwhelmed Oliver.

The creatures were upon them.

Nightmarish beasts lingered all around.

The doktor held up a white-gloved hand and the monsters stopped, their chest rising and falling, heated breath streaming into the night.

"Choose one," the doktor said simply.

"For what purpose?" Sadie replied.

"Not you, my dear," he said, his gaze falling on Sadie's terrified friend. "Oliver. Choose one."

"M-me?"

"Sooner or later we must all confront out fears." The doktor adjusted his gloves. "What scares Sadie more than anything else in the entire Universe? What's her biggest fear?"

Oliver could barely look at the monsters lingering before him, much less decide on one to confront. What did that mean? Was he supposed to engage of them in combat?

"Shall I pick for you?" Sadie said. "I think I know what it is."

"No," the doktor said. "Oliver must choose."

"But how? Why?" he protested. "I am nothing. Her Fear, and that alone."

The doctor laughed. "You're much more than that, Oliver."

Sadie unzipped one of the pockets of her coat and pulled out a piece of folded paper. She flattened it against her thigh then held it up. Oliver scanned the paper as it became dotted with rainwater. There were three words, repeated over and over, the ink beginning to run.