The Legend of Holly Claus by Brittney Ryan

Author:Brittney Ryan [Ryan, Brittney]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4532-8873-3
Publisher: Open Road
Published: 2012-10-04T16:33:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

THEIR FOOTSTEPS SEEMED TO echo in the quiet shop. Holly, her eyes growing accustomed to the dimness, looked about and saw shelves stacked from floor to ceiling with toys of every imaginable description. There were painted blocks and stiff horses on wheels, spinning tops and elaborate castles well guarded by legions of tin soldiers. A gleaming metal carriage, child-sized, stood in a corner where it was overseen by a towering pair of stilts and a kite covered in silver stars. A splendid hot-air balloon embellished with scarlet swirls floated from the ceiling.

A row of nutcrackers, grinning diabolically, perched upon a glass case that contained a miniature country town. Holly drew in her breath with wonder and knelt to peer at the little stores and houses that lined the town’s main street. Each tiny house was perfect in every detail, from its glowing windows edged with crisp white curtains to the umbrella, no larger than Holly’s little finger, that waited conveniently on the front porch for its owner to take a bit of fresh air. A thick forest of trees—the largest no higher than a foot—sprouted behind the churchyard, and Holly could just see the flash of a silver stream running through the woods. A deer leaned down to drink from the cool water. Nearby in the snow-covered fields, two white rabbits paused to look over their shoulders. In the midst of the woods was a small clearing where a Christmas tree stood, garlanded in shimmering gold and silver, topped by an angel the size of a teardrop. Beneath its lowest branches was piled a stack of wee packages, wrapped in bright paper. Holly looked again at the splendid scene. She peeked into the tiny houses and squinted into the thick woods. All were empty. “Odd,” she whispered. The little country had no citizens. There was not a single doll inhabitant in the whole land.

Holly rose. Her green eyes, accustomed to toys of every variety, skimmed over bears, brown and black and polar, over exotic Chinese lanterns and great flowery paper garlands, over a monumental mechanical railway well stocked with shiny trains in various degrees of authenticity. She glanced from a dazzling display of toy watches to the heavy cardboard pictures announcing that A was for Acrobat and B was for Balloon. Ships with masts at full sail. A piano complete with a secret mechanism that played lullabies. Puppets, both chilling and charming, and dozens of paper games, tricks, inventions, and diversions.

Where were the dolls? Holly looked again. And again. There was not a single doll in the whole store. Though it was bulging with toys—marvelous toys, Holly had to admit—in every possible cranny and corner, Carroll’s Curiosities and Wonders contained not one doll. Not a tiny dollhouse doll, nor a homely rag doll, nor a dimpled baby doll, nor even an elegant porcelain doll too fancy to be touched. Curious indeed, Holly thought to herself.

The toy shop also appeared to be empty of humans. She and Jeremy and Tundra seemed to be the only living creatures there.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.