No One's Home

A Wintervale Tale

Andy DeJong

Copyright © 2021 Andy DeJong

All rights reserved

Book cover designed by Mihaela Joe

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

The illustrious Chadwick Midnight welcomes you back to Wintervale. He thinks it would've been wiser if you escaped when you had the chance.

A WinterVale Tale Series

Book 1- Lost Carnival

Book 2- No One's Home

Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

A WinterVale Tale Series

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

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

A Wintervale Tale Series

About The Author

Chapter 1

Welcome back, brave reader. It is I, Chadwick Midnight, your most honest and trustworthy guide. If you are reading these pages, I trust that you escaped unharmed from Wintervale’s grasp. Maybe you are trapped in this haunted town and are being forced to read. At any rate, I hope you haven’t forgotten about me.

Allow me to remind you of my importance in the slim chance I have slipped your memory. I am the sole official record keeper for the town of Wintervale. The easily frightened citizens flee to my place of business—The Wintervale Hall of Records and Extramundane Events. Here, they tell me their ghastly tales, which I record on parchment and safely store on the sturdy shelves of Winter Hall. Winter Hall is short for The Wintervale Hall of Records and Extramundane Events. Apparently, people find the proper name to be too long and bothersome to say.

Now that you remember me and my superiority, I suppose I should reintroduce you to our little anti-hero, Toby Larkin. Troublesome Toby … he sure got himself in a pickle, didn’t he?

When we last visited him, he had just moved to the chilly town of Wintervale. He found himself friendless until he met a new acquaintance named Beth Stinsky. The two friends traveled deep into the dark woods of Wayward Grove. Unfortunately for Toby, it was in these woods that he encountered the abandoned Dr. Shoemaker’s Oddities and Wonders. Only it wasn’t abandoned, was it? The carnival was full of life … or, more fittingly, the afterlife. Sniveling Toby ran across the ghostly performers and the distinguished Dr. Shoemaker. The doctor and Toby got off on the wrong foot and soon found themselves in a disagreement … of sorts.

To make a long story short, Toby stole a crystal ball from the innocent Dr. Shoemaker and kept it, selfishly, for himself. The carnival children tried in despair to retrieve the crystal ball from Toby—but he refused to give it back. Oh, and I suppose I am required to mention that Toby accidentally rescued a duo by the names of Kevin Daly and Kyle Richards, who are two of the most dreadful children I have ever known. Anyway, back to the terribleness of Toby—left with no other choice, the intelligent Dr. Shoemaker found a way to pit the magic crystal against the mischievous Toby. And the result was … trapping. Let’s just say Toby now finds himself missing something important.

Are you curious as to what happened to our brave Toby? Do you dare read on to find out? If you are ready, then I suggest you wipe the dust off that rickety chair, turn on your lights, and ignore that knocking coming from inside your walls. Join me as we journey through the second tome of Toby’s life in the town of Wintervale.

Good luck. If you hear a noise behind you, don’t look back to see if it’s me—for I might not be the one making the noise.

Chapter 2

Toby Larkin stood at the outskirts of the town of Wintervale, watching a group of kids play an exciting game of flag football in the grass field located on the far side of the gravel road that separated the town from the countryside.

I got you! one girl yelled, waving a yellow flag back and forth.

No, you didn’t! a boy yelled back at her, his hands raised high in celebration of the touchdown he swore he had scored.

"Then tell me why I have your flag," she responded.

The boy pulled his shirt up to look at the place where his flag should’ve been. He stomped his foot and marched back to the spot the girl was pointing. The kids lined up to run another play.

Toby sighed and watched the game go on. He leaned against the invisible barrier that appeared to be nothing more than the open sky, which prevented him from jogging across the road and playing. If any onlookers saw him, they would think he was performing some sort of magical balancing act. He wondered what Dr. Shoemaker had done to keep him trapped in town. Nothing had been the same since the evil doctor disappeared months ago.

Life would be better had his friends not gone away to summer camp. Beth had gone. Even Kevin and Kyle, who were both too cool for such childish activities, had gone as well. The summer camp was in a town called Summersight, which sounded way cooler than gloomy Wintervale. With them gone, Toby found himself alone—like he’d been on the day he moved here.

At least work kept his mind occupied, so he didn’t always think about missing his friends. His dad’s grocery store had been super busy all summer long. He was exhausted from stocking thousands of ice cream pails every day.  But the muscles in his arms seemed to be growing—according to the bathroom mirror, at least.

Speaking of work! Toby sighed again and slogged across the dew-covered grass.

***

Toby stood on a step stool, balancing a box of canned green beans with one hand. With his free hand, he grabbed a can and stretched, standing on the tips of his toes to gently place it on the top shelf. Only eleven more cans to go.

"Mom, is that boy a ghost? He’s so pale."

Toby turned to see a little girl, no older than five, pointing at him. The girl’s mother pushed her arm down. No, sweetie, he’s not a ghost. He is working inside and doesn’t get to be out in the sun playing freely all day like you. She scurried the girl along. Sorry about that, the mom said to Toby. Kids have no filter.

That’s OK, Toby said. He glanced at his arms, realizing just how pale he had become—especially during the summer. Was it from working inside his dad’s grocery store so much? He didn’t think it was. But he had a sneaking suspicion it really had something to do with Dr. Shoemaker and the smashed fortune-teller’s ball. The vile man had said he needed Toby's soul to escape from Wintervale, but Toby hadn't fully believed such a thing was possible. However, over the months he began to think otherwise.

He had searched the internet for help topics on what it felt like to be missing a soul, but had found nothing remotely close. There seemed to be no books on the topic either—not even a Lost Souls For Dummies