Vanished

Chapter Twenty-Five

Greyson opened the wooden drawer and looked at the substance. It seemed to glow as if it were burning. The strange sight could melt anything, including human flesh. He placed it on the test tube rack inside the desk and smiled inwardly. Everything seemed to be falling into place.

Suddenly, all the lights inside the office turned off.

"Hey!" he called from inside the empty office.

He marched toward a light switch that wouldn't turn on. How cheap of electricity did they have in this building? Biting his pinky nail, he sat back in the chair, seeing the evening sky.

"This is how you're getting closer," someone remarked, prompting him to look up and extend his hand.

"Show yourself or die!" Greyson spat, gritting his teeth, hearing the soft sound of footsteps.

"Down." He peered over his desk, seeing a plush doll. It had brown hair in pigtails and circles of blue eyes staring at him. Rubbing his eyes, he assumed he may be seeing something Maverick had created.

"It's not an illusion," it said.

Greyson used his hand to hold the talking doll in the air. "What the hell are you?" he growled.

The doll flung itself out of his grasp and onto the desk. There were papers scattered on the floor as it stood. The doll reminded him of a gingerbread girl, only with human features.

"Divina, they call me," it said as it spun around on one soft foot.

"Goddess," he said, as the doll turned to look at him.

"I'm not some ugly doll," Divina's tone neither feminine nor masculine.

"What are you then?" Greyson asked. It waddled over and grabbed a black pen from the desk. It began drawing pictures that appeared messy.

"See, I'm something," Divina said, tapping the pen on the drawing of a thought bubble. "God took on a stupid body, which intends to kill you all. You vanish in almost two days, which cannot happen."

It tapped on a picture of a slice of cake decorated with curvy lines. It appeared more like a box than an actual cake slice.

"You and Jason are the most important people in the vanishing," Divina said.

Greyson felt intrigued by all this information being explained. Divina slapped her pen on the picture of a stick person.

"Me," Greyson blinked at Divina's statement.

"You're going to break through the bubble?" Greyson asked.

Divina's mouth on the doll broke into a smirk. It looked strange when the mouth moved and the eyes didn't.

"See, when that happens, we can stop god if..." Divina rested silently before saying anything else.

"Why am I the closest?" Greyson asked.

Divina dropped the pen as both their chubby arms rested on the yellow dress. "You're intently searching."

Greyson grinned at their comment. Divina praised him for his knowledge. "Is there something more I need to do?" he asked.

The door opened to Scarlett, who was looking around the dark room. She stopped, seeing the doll on the desk, and broke into a smirk.

"Are you playing with dolls?" she mimicked with amusement in her laugh.

"Yes," Divina said.

Scarlett stopped laughing with knitted eyebrows. She walked toward his desk, looking at the doll, who looked up at her.