Goblin Lies

By S.E. Burr

Clarity sees goblins everywhere. They've left their world and are invading ours, unseen but destructive. Worse, people are still falling catatonic. In the fourth and final book in the Gobbled series, Clarity and Maude Clare will finally find the answers they need to save the world and end the goblin fruit plague, but they might have to sacrifice everything to do it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Willow Road Press
• Release date: Jan 3, 2021

Book preview

Goblin Lies

By S.E. Burr

© S.E. Burr 2020

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Epilogue

Chapter 1

Audrey

While playing bass guitar on their hit single, First of Many, Audrey looked out at the crowd. She picked out individual faces near the stage, people she recognized, random kids she'd met in the few months she'd gone to high school here. She'd thought it would matter more to her. She hadn’t been well liked in Organo; now she was a rock star, but she just couldn't bring herself to care. The person she'd most wanted to impress was Todd, and he was catatonic now. The only face in the crowd that mattered was her best friend Clarity. There she was looking cute in a tie-dyed Benjamy shirt she’d made herself, her long, dark, curly hair pulled into a pony tail on the top of her head. Clarity loved Benjamy's music, and Audrey was glad to be able to perform for her, even if the auditorium in Organo was the smallest venue on their tour. She wanted to play well for Clarity. No mistakes, she told herself. This time she'd do better.

Audrey glanced at her brother Andrew beside her on stage, his guitar in his hands, his fingers flying.

He was leaning into the microphone but it hardly seemed like he needed it. His voice soared into the crowd, and hundreds of voices sang back at him.

Benjamy had been on the rise before Andrew's illness. Then, he’d fallen catatonic and everyone, Audrey included, had believed the band was finished. But, amazingly, Andrew had woken up, and after that, they'd become truly famous.

They weren't playing the family-friendly show they once had. Most parents wouldn't let their kids go to a concert where the lead singer was a former catatonic. What if he was still somehow contaminated? Still contagious? To assuage these fears there was actually a doctor's report posted on the band’s website giving the all-clear, but that hardly mattered. Now they were attracting a different crowd, one drawn to the danger, to the thrill of being near a person who had fallen into that living death and emerged again seemingly unscathed. Andrew had become a folk hero to the morbid. The only other person to have woken from a catatonia was Sincerity, Clarity’s mom, and she’d died soon after. Not knowing the details of Sincerity's death, many people expected Andrew to suddenly drop dead. as well. That probably made it more exciting for them, expecting that he might suddenly die right before their eyes.

No. Audrey tried not to think about that.

Crap!

She'd messed up her part, yet again. She'd gone back into the chorus instead of the bridge. She corrected as quickly and subtly as she could and leaned toward the mic to sing her part of the song Oo – aa – Oo a minor backing vocal. The crowd seemed not to notice but she could feel Jacob's eyes on her back and when she glanced over, she saw the rhythm guitarist, Mark, openly staring at her. Andrew revealed nothing, but of course he knew she’d messed up. He always noticed if something changed with the music.

Small mistakes were obvious to him. He was born with more talent than she would ever acquire.

For the rest of the song, Audrey looked above the heads of the crowd rather than at them. She focused on keeping the beat with her bass line and she tried to enjoy herself. It should feel good to be playing this song again, First of Many. It had felt so devastatingly ironic when Andrew was catatonic and all the experts agreed that there was nothing in his future but a mindless shuffle toward an inescapable early death. But now they had a new beginning and the words sounded as hopeful as they had the first time.

Almost.

Recognizing the changing demographic and desires of their audience, Andrew had somehow made his part sound bitter without affecting the other parts.

Happy words sounding sad. Maybe the fans were right and Andrew would suddenly be gone again – not dead, but back into drugs or partying.

Audrey could lose him again.

But she wasn't going to let that happen. She'd lost everything but it had been miraculously returned to her. She wouldn’t waste this opportunity.

In her spare time, she practiced and devoted herself to learning the new songs. Every night she vowed to be more careful in her playing and to keep a close eye on Andrew. Natalie, their mom, was too sick to be on the road with them, so Audrey had to be the responsible one; she had to hold the band together, hold Andrew together. The money they sent home paid for her medical treatments, after all. Audrey would make their mom proud.

The lights in the audience were dimmed, so Audrey couldn't see anyone beyond the first few rows, but as a door opened at the rear of the auditorium she caught a glimpse of long golden brown hair and faltered. This time her screw up was major, and the audience noticed. She heard mutters and laughs, as she squinted into the back of the audience, which was once again obscured. It's not her. Olivia wouldn't dare show her face here, she told herself and got her playing back on track.

Maria

Take me to my son! said Maria. She wanted to throttle this woman, this queen.

I can't, said the queen again, speaking slowly as though Maria was the one who was acting like an idiot. To repeat, I don't know where Todd is.

"You claim that this is your world! You claim to be its ruler and yet you can't keep track of your subjects. She’d nursed this woman, Sincerity, in the real world. She’d fed her mush because she couldn’t chew and swallow solid food. In the real world, Maria had changed Sincerity's diapers. Here, she was a queen. Doesn't seem to me that you’re in charge of anything, or that you’re being diligent in your duty. If he’s your subject, then you should know where he is!"

I'm not his mother! said Sincerity.

Maria crossed the room in a moment. Her hand raised in a slap, but she never reached the queen.

The goblins were on her. Though they were all small, their diminutive sizes belied their strength. The dog-like goblin and the rat-like goblin rushed into her way, tripping her and taking her down before she could reach their queen. Then they sat on her back, holding her in place. She let out a primal growl.

Maria felt scarcely human, almost like one of the half animal creatures sitting atop her. Losing Todd had changed her. Her brother, Manuel, was a difficult loss, too. She started to cry, her face pressed into the floor. The sensation was remarkably lifelike, given that Goblinton was, after all, only a dream world. Her body was back in her house holding the hand of her catatonic son, a son this woman had lost.

The weight of the goblins atop her didn't decrease; their claws were digging into her back, but the dog-like goblin whimpered sympathetically. Maria hated sympathy. She hated looking weak.

Ma’am? said the rat-like goblin addressing the queen.

Let her up, Rohaboem, said Sincerity.

They did.

Maria sat, not bothering to wipe the tears from her face and looked at Sincerity. I took care of you in the center when you were alive.

I know, said Sincerity, standing from her wooden throne on its purple dais and coming toward her.

Squatting in front of Maria, she looked into her eyes. She reached a hand forward as though to place it on Maria's shoulder, but then hesitated and drew it back. Touch was uncommon in the real world except with close family members, and Maria recognized that Sincerity was obeying the taboo here to avoid making her uncomfortable.

The loss of her son filled Maria with such an ocean of anger and despair that she might drown in it. It was hard to see past that pain, but a part of her knew that it wasn't this woman's duty to care for Todd, nor had it been her fault that he had been trapped in the goblin realms. All that weight rested firmly on her own shoulders. She was his mother and she'd failed him. Sincerity had also failed a child; her daughter Clarity had been raised by Dr. Harman while Sincerity's body was catatonic and her mind was playing queen here.

Standing, Maria moved toward Sincerity, reaching out in what would have been a gesture of mutual understanding and reconciliation, but a noise stopped her.

Help!

Maria froze searching for the source of the voice – It sounded feminine and young. A child?

Help! I'm trapped down here! The voice came from beneath the dais.

Maria's gaze flew to Sincerity, who looked uncomfortable, embarrassed, and even guilty. Rohaboem's expression was unreadable. What did guilt look like on a rat? But the dog goblin's muzzle was hanging a bit low.

Maria strode forward. She knew that they could stop her, but they didn't move. She pushed at the throne and its dais from the front and was unable to move it. But it shifted slightly to the side with her efforts, so then she moved around to push it sideways, and it moved easily. She noticed that it was on rollers and a track even as the force of her push and the quick resulting movement of the dais caused her to almost fall. She barely managed to avoid tumbling into the deep dark hole that had been hidden beneath the throne. Only Rohaboem grabbing onto her shirt from behind saved her.

She stared down into the hole—a cellar—and saw a teenage girl staring back at her. Older than Maria had imagined from the voice, the girl was slender and pretty with long straight light brown hair. She gave Maria a dazzling toothy smile. Mrs. Williams, she said, I'm so glad to see you.

Ms. Jimenez, Maria corrected automatically. She'd returned to her maiden name after she divorced Todd's father. She blinked down at the vaguely familiar girl, searching for a name, something that started with a J maybe? The girlfriend of one of Todd's reprobate friends. What are you doing down there?

‘The queen—’ the girl used finger quotes around the two words— locked me in her dungeon because she didn’t want it to get out that her daughter turned me catatonic.

Clarity? Maria asked. She thought Clarity was basically a good girl, although she and Audrey had once fed goblin fruit to a patient in a mad attempt to cure the patient’s catatonia using the very thing that had caused it in the first place. Had Clarity done something else reckless? But where would she have gotten the goblin fruit? It was supposed to be off the streets now that Nick, its manufacturer, was dead.

Jamie claims that Clarity turned her catatonic with a kiss, said Sincerity, but that’s not why she’s in the dungeon.

Maria looked at Sincerity, waiting for her to go on. She could think of very few good enough reasons to lock a seventeen-year-old in a dark basement.

She’s been creating discord, said the queen, telling everyone that I’m lying to them about where my daughter, Todd, and Manuel have gone. She claims they’re not exploring other goblin worlds.

At Maria's angry expression, Sincerity hurried on. "I promise you they are. This girl just likes to cause unrest and