TEA WITH THE MIDNIGHT MONSTERS

MIRACULOUS LIGHT

After three hours, Millie was bored waiting for Red.

She left the silverware behind, the linens and teacups, all that was organized and civilized and pretty, all that reminded her of home and her mother. She headed to the Main, from the Main to the Mess, to the tunnel to the void...

Thinking of Max.

Max, the boy she had met that morning, was alone and stuck behind bars. They never allowed him to come out and play. And that wasn't right, so Millie thought she would pay him a visit.

The children were eating the late luncheon soup -- turnip again -- except Pim, who only pretended -- when Red lumbered in, spitting and steaming, darting his head left and right.

"Oh, he's upset," Pim said, and sat on his new linen napkins to hide them.

Red sang off-pitch, looking this way and that:

"Come out, come out, wherever you are... Silly, Millie, come out, come out..." Since nine that morning, he had been searching for miles and miles in every direction. "You can't hide forever..."

"She can hide forever," Pim reminded him, as Red approached. "That's the point. She can hide until you surrender."

"I'll never surrender!" Red shrieked, spraying saliva into Pim's face. The last thing he needed. More germs.

"You don't have to spit on me," Pim said, wiping the foul smelling goop from his cheek. "You found me first. I lost first."

"I want a clue!" Red demanded, and stomped his foot.

"No," Pim replied. "It's against the rules."

Red shook his fists. "We don't play by rules down here! That's the whole point of being a monster! No rules!"

Pim shook his head and pretended to eat. "Well, none of us know where she is. Sorry we can't help." He picked up his spoon and dragged it across the bottom of the bowl. "And anyway, games have to have rules. Otherwise it's only... chaos."

"I like chaos," Red muttered. "I love chaos." He headed off toward the aviary void, sniffing the air as he went. "Ah," he said. "I smell her now. Sugar and spice and everything NASTY!" Then, like a cat on the scent of a mouse, he bent his knees and crept toward the door.

Alarmed, Pim rose and followed from a distance.

Ryan, KK, and Beatrice, too, slipped from their seats around the table and followed Pim, who followed Red.

They wanted to see the end of the game.

Millie had been hiding behind the big root; the one next to Max's cage. She'd collected rocks, and the two had constructed a Checkers board -- on the ground, just beyond his bars. Millie had already won four games, Max had won four, and now they were playing a final round.

"Olly-olly, in come free!" came Red's voice from out in the tunnel.

"Shush," Max whispered, and drew his finger to his lips. "Hide. He's coming." With his hand, he mussed the Checkers, and Millie crouched further into shadow.

In the doorway, Pim hung back and watched as Red searched the cages.

"Millie?" he sang in a sickening way. "Oh, silly Millie, come out, come out..."

Behind the root, Millie lay down on her stomach. She watched closely, holding her breath, as Red steered clear of the center of the void.

He's avoiding the sunlight, Millie thought. He cowered away from it when he came near it and hugged the walls. Did anyone see this? Red was afraid of the beam of light!