Voodootown

Chapter 9 part 1

Chapter 9

Blink

The kiosk had grown since Blink had seen it last.  Normally it reminded him of a doll sized newspaper stand, but its size had at least quadrupled in the last week.  A doll stood on top of its green, wooden roof.  He was wearing a bright orange vest like a grade school crossing guard.  It was the captain of the gatekeepers.  He raised his arms and the crowd began to quiet down.

Blink had never seen this many dolls in one place before.  The square had expanded to fit them all in.  He realized most of the city's population must be here.  The dolls pressed in close, but kept shifting around, which made it hard for him to blip around.  He'd have to walk like the rest of the dolls if he wanted to keep close to Squat's bubble.  The challenge wasn't officially over and he wasn't going to give up on scaring Squat into better behavior.

"Everyone!"  The gatekeeper captain turned in a circle on top of the podium.  Blink didn't know the gatekeepers could call everyone to the square like this, but he decided it made sense.  The gatekeepers were volunteers, but they were the closest thing the dolls had to leaders; were the closest thing to leaders the dolls would stand for.  The thought of Voodoo doll politicians made him chuckle.  They left that sort of ridiculous behavior to their humans.  "I think you all know why I've called you here."

It was only then that Blink looked down at the kiosk.  It was covered with posters and notes.  Each one held a picture, drawing or description of a missing doll.  There had to be hundreds.

The crowd didn't wait for more.  "Where are they?" one voice asked.

"Who took them?"  Blink turned, saw that it was Ju Ju who had shouted out this question.  She was in her usual black dress and hat, with the tiny doll dangling around her neck.  Something passed in front of her and her features blurred slightly until it passed.  The blur moved on and disappeared as it stopped next to Root.

Root cocked her head to the side, nodded.  "Who do you have looking for them?"

Blink glanced up at the gatekeeper, who was waving down questions from every side.  When he looked back, the blur moved over to Twister, then disappeared again.  It had to be Camo, Hehet's doll.  "No.  Ask your own questions."  He heard Twister say.

"We don't know what has happened to them or where they are.  We wondered for a while if it was some kind of flash-mob vacation, but their humans are all disconnected."  The gatekeeper spun in another circle.  "And, last night thirteen gatekeepers disappeared at their posts."

At that, all the questions stopped.  Blink looked around, saw Root scanning the crowd, her button eyes looking unfocused.  Beside her, Ribbon swayed, obviously overwhelmed by the crowd's emotions.

"They, and all the others, have disappeared while topside.  The portal to other towns is safe and I haven't heard reports of any missing from any place else.  I have all of the rest of the gatekeepers out searching, so that means the local gates to Voodootown are unguarded.  If anyone has any information that would help..."  The gatekeeper shrugged.

The crowd was quiet, and after a moment, Root raised her hand.  "Their lines are blocked."'

The gatekeeper turned to her.  "Blocked how?"

"It's not the way they are cut when someone dies.  It's more like the connection just disappears.  The thread to them is still there, it just doesn't know where to go."

"Is it a hex?" he asked.

"Not like I've ever seen," Root said.

The gatekeeper nodded.  "Anyone else?"

The crowd blurted out hundreds of theories.  Blink heard one nearby shout out something about the Loa coming back and another start in on experiments done by humans.

Then he saw the gatekeeper's talent.  The doll pushed his hands out in quieting motion and a portion of the crowd went silent.  He spun in place and shushed the whole crowd.  "Does anyone have anything useful?"  The quiet went uninterrupted and the gatekeeper nodded.  "Then for everyone's safety, I'm going to declare an immediate curfew.  All dolls are to go back to their humans and stay there until we find out what's been going on.  I'll call everyone back here when the danger has passed."

Yells of "No!" went around the crowd and the gatekeeper had to silence them again.

"Go home," he said.  "For your safety.  For your human's safety."  With a few grumbled protests, the crowd began to disperse.  Blink looked around, saw Twister beckon to Root.  He followed her into the huddle and saw several other dolls, including Sticks, join the group.

Twister frowned at them all, shifted position more quickly than Blink could clearly see, then reached out and grabbed at the air nearby.  "Camo, stop it."  Camo stopped using her ability and faded into view.  Her eyes were as bright as Hehet's but she dressed in gray, nondescript clothing.  For a moment, Blink saw how much Hehet wanted to stand out juxtaposed with how Camo tried to blend in.  He shook Ash's vision of Hehet in her skirt away as Twister spoke again.  "Root, what do you see?"

Root shrugged.  "Everyone's connections just fade.  I can't find where they are."  Root had used her ability to help Blink find Ribbon.  She could see the web of connections between the dolls and their humans.  As far as he knew, she could find anyone.

It didn't look like Root's answer did anything good for Twister's mood.  She turned to Flow.  "Can you make a spotter charm?"  In answer, he just shook his hands in front of his chest and formed a ball of light that coalesced into a little compass.  He tossed it to Twister, who opened it and said, "Bounce."

They all waited, but the charm didn't lead her anywhere.  She shook it, then turned.  "Ju Ju, Blink?  Do you know him?  Can you guys find him?"

Ju Ju frowned at Twister.  Blink could tell Ju Ju wanted to say something, but was holding it back.  Then, she pulled the little doll up in front of her and held its legs in her hands.  She concentrated, walked its legs forward with her hands.  She sighed and shook her head.  "I got nothing."

They all turned to Blink.  It was rare that Blink used a gate into Voodootown since he could appear there instantly, but he had met Bounce several times while walking with other dolls.  He pushed aside the memories and feelings from Ash that the crowd of dolls was pulling up into his awareness and tried to just think about Bounce. 

Immediately, he teleported away from Voodootown and the group of dolls, but where he ended up, he had no idea.  There was no light, no sound, nothing around him.  He tried to search through it, couldn't even see his arms.

And then, he felt how real the emptiness was.  The way the vacuum of space diffused a puff of oxygen, it started to pull at him from all sides.  He felt himself stretching and dispersing.  He was beginning to disappear.