The Collected Christopher Connery by L. EE Page A

standing in the center of the room with her
eyes closed, but judging by the deep line between her brows, she wasn’t finding
what she was looking for.
    Her eyes opened when Gail came into the room. “This is
intolerable! With all this magic everywhere I can’t find Connery.”
    She sounded like she was complaining about someone
forgetting to shelve library books correctly, but Gail was beginning to get
used to that. “Can’t you get rid of the magic like you did with the people
downstairs?”
    “It would take too long! I’d have to draw ten – twenty! –
complex spells in specific places around the house, which I would first have to
measure, but if we could just find Connery all of this would –” She broke off
when Arthur shouted from the hall. “Arthur!” she called back. “Arthur, are you
all right?”
    The only answer was another wordless yell.
    Nia whirled on Gail. “Keep looking for Connery! I have to
help Arthur.” Then she was gone.
    If you, the magician, can’t find him, how the hell do
you expect me to? But she turned and scanned the room carefully anyway. Nia
had said some of Connery was here, but where? The room was full of shelves, but
none of them had space enough to hold a human body part unless Connery had been
broken into far smaller pieces than any amount of money could get Gail
searching for. Then her eyes landed on the toy box.
    Out in the hallway, she could hear several bangs and
thuds, but no more screaming, which was something. Pushing Nia and Arthur out
of her mind for the moment, she yanked open the box and drove her arms deep
into the collection of toys, throwing aside blocks and stuffed animals as she
dug toward the bottom.
    Her hand closed on a wooden toy magician, but before she
could toss it away, it twisted in her grip and dug its hard little hands into
her skin. Barking out a curse, she shook her hand sharply, dislodging the toy.
It fell to the floor, bounced twice, then, with unnatural stiffness, it began
dragging itself across the floor toward her. Before she could kick it away, the
other toys in the box began writhe and thrash. Dolls clung to her arms while
stuffed animals stretched stubby arms toward her face to smother her. She
shoved those aside just in time to be struck below the eye by a toy train
rearing up like a snake.
    She fell back on her elbows, stunned by the force of the
blow. Hot blood ran down the bridge of her nose. The things in the chest
twisted against each other with hissing scrapes and clacks. Some fell over the
edge and began dragging or rolling toward her.
    Well, Gail thought dazedly, it’s definitely in
there.
    Nia yelled something from the hall.
    And I’d better find it fast.
    Scrubbing the blood from her face, she dove forward
again, plunging her arms into the toy box. She curled her fingers into fists as
the toys crushed down on her hands. Gritting her teeth, she forced her arms
deeper as toys with sharp edges dug into her skin.
    Nia called, “Detective!” but Gail ignored her. Her hands
had found something soft near the bottom of the box, soft threads that felt
like…
    She yanked upward hard. The force of her pull threw her
off balance and the head flew from her hand, landing behind her with a thud and
rolling across the floor.
    The toys in the box, immediately collapsed, harmless and
still once again. Turning her head, Gail watched through the doorway as the
dead child fell free of Arthur’s jacket and stared vacantly in her direction.
She gazed back as blood ran slowly down her face and arms. The cuts hadn’t felt
that deep when the toys were inflicting them, but suddenly she had no strength
to move. Her arms and legs felt like they weighed a hundred pounds.
    Poison? she wondered through the growing haze in
her head. Had Connery’s cronies gone so far as to poison the goddamn toys?
    Maybe that’s how they got the kid.
    Nia knelt beside her. There was an angry bite mark on one
of her arms, but she didn’t seem to feel it as she drew a