Page 1 of Hello, Nurse! (Ghostlight Falls #10)

Blabbo

“ I n here,” I say hurriedly, shuffling my makeshift family into what appears to be an abandoned building.

Absurdo and Angelina huddle together in the far corner of the room, away from the windows.

The helicopter spotlight sweeps over the building, flooding the room with light, but thanks to our dark coloring, we blend in with the shadows.

The helicopter repeats its message, garbled nonsense in all the noise, but we understand the meaning all too well. They want us back.

Not going to happen.

Angelina’s hands squeeze my arm, her little mouse companions perched on her shoulder. “I can’t go back, Blabbo. I just can’t.” Tears well in her eyes.

“You’re not going back, Lina,” I say. “None of us are.”

Absurdo rocks back and forth, something he does to calm himself.

Angelina and I have been together since we were pups, grown or altered in the lab for who knows what purpose.

Absurdo joined us as a teen. It took a long time for him to open up and trust us.

He spent that entire first year more or less silently rocking, nervously waiting for the next experiment.

When we broke out tonight, Angelina wanted to grab more of the others, but I had to prioritize my family.

We may not be a family by blood, but there is nothing I wouldn’t do for them.

I proved that tonight getting us out of there.

I don’t regret anything that happened. It was our best, and maybe only, opportunity, but it ended up tripping more alarms than I’d expected, and now there’s a fucking helicopter overhead .

But we got out. All of us. Now we just need to make it a little farther.

Angelina’s mouse friends had actually escaped the lab before, but paid dearly for it when they got caught.

It took months of convincing to get them to help us.

The short one, Encephalon, has an overgrown frontal lobe and is smarter than the rest of us put together.

Unfortunately for him, his partner isn’t nearly as bright.

Last time, they were able to find a nearby town to lie low where the unusual is more accepted.

They hid out there safely for months. Only got caught when they tried to travel to Wisconsin for a dairy expo.

Seems like an unnecessary risk, but it was Peanut’s dream, and Encephalon would do anything to make him happy.

Now, the next part of our escape hinges on them showing us the way to this mystery town.

Encephalon says that once we’re there, he’ll pay us back by setting up our place with appropriate security.

As long as he can keep Peanut out of trouble, I think I can keep us safe .

Not willing to put all my cheese in one mousetrap, I also have a back-up plan.

A little ceremony I found out about from a demon Doctor Sinister had in his possession for a brief time.

The ceremony doesn’t seem overly complicated as far as mystical dealings go.

And there’s nothing I won’t do to keep my family safe.