No Dolls Allowed by Mike Ford

Author:Mike Ford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

Mara read the letter a second time, trying to understand it. Then she folded it and set it on the bedside table. She still wasn’t sure what exactly was happening, but now she had a better idea. Violeta had made a doll of her dead daughter, Charlotte. That much was clear now. But how had Charlotte come to life? And how had she switched places with Mara?

Most importantly, how could Mara get her to switch back?

Mara thought hard. She was good at puzzles, and this was a puzzle. She just had to figure out what all the pieces were and how they fit together. She sat on the bed and tried to remember everything that had happened since she’d bought Charlotte at the shop.

First, she had thought she’d seen someone walking in the hallway. Could that have been Charlotte? And could it possibly have been Charlotte who had cut her hair while she was asleep? A day or two ago, that would have seemed ridiculous. Now it seemed like the most obvious answer. Somehow, Charlotte was coming alive at night and getting out of the dollhouse and into the real world.

And now she had trapped Mara inside the dollhouse. Mara remembered the weird clay doll sitting on the table in the dining room. Obviously, it was supposed to be her. That’s why Charlotte had needed her hair.

Then Mara remembered something else. The strange man at the shop—Odson Ends—had told her to say a rhyme every night after putting Charlotte to bed. Mara had thought it was silly and hadn’t done it. Could that really be why Charlotte had come to life? Because she hadn’t said the rhyme? It seemed ridiculous. But there was no other explanation.

Mara struggled to recall the words Odson Ends had recited.

“Stay asleep, don’t walk around,” she said aloud. “I remember that was how it started. But what was the rest?”

She could remember a few words and phrases—wake, all night long, safe—but not the whole thing. Now she wished she had written it down. Even more, she wished she had said it like she was supposed to. If she had, then maybe none of this would be happening.

She wondered what Charlotte was doing. Was she walking around Mara’s house? What would happen if someone saw her? She half hoped someone would. Even then, though, they wouldn’t know to look for Mara in the dollhouse. And what would they do if they found her?

She tried to imagine being this size forever. What if she had to live in the dollhouse for the rest of her life? It was such a strange thing to even think about. Part of her thought that she must be dreaming everything that was happening. That it was really happening was just too bizarre to believe.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the clanging of the grandfather clock. Suddenly, the room around Mara seemed to dim. The shadows lengthened. She had only a moment to be frightened before she found herself surrounded by dark shapes that seemed to rush toward her.

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