Tiffany, ran the furthest back from the group as Shawn yelled. She was almost thirty or forty feet away. Then, realizing she was now with the strange, colorful plants that moved at odd angles and no longer on the road, she hurried back. When her feet hit the brown dirt marking the road she immediately collapsed onto her knees, folding her legs underneath her thighs, her but falling against her on the heels.

Then, she started to cry.

"A puppet." Bobby marveled, taking heed of Shawn's warning and backing up several more steps than he had initially when Mr. Clayton sprung from the box.

"Hey, guys. Guys." Bobby said in voice that was hardly heard because of the arguing, finger pointing weakly at the spectacle that was Mr. Clayton. "It's a....Oh brother."

But then, when Delilah mentioned the words 'Clown' and 'Mr. Cherrywinks', Bobby held his hands to his temples, dropping to one knee with an expression of pain, like he had bumped his head. At that point, he stopped talking, head tucked against his chest, eyes closed. It looked like he was trying to remember something, was in pain, or perhaps both.

"Nooo..." The puppet cried out in longing desperation. His voice lacked the jovial, jester-like quality that both Shawn and Delilah had previously seen and heard. Then his head turned towards Shawn, the cord attatched to it running taught and producing a metallic 'cling.' It was too far turned, Shawn noticed. Like it might turn all the way around, unnaturally like Shawn had heard was done in a movie called 'The Exorcist.' But instead it stopped at an awkward angle that might break a kid's neck if it weren't a puppet.

"But I need Bradford." Mr. Clayton protested, saying the words as if Shawn didn't understand, or couldn't understand. There was a hint of pain in the words. Of course, emotional, that was obvious by the way the puppet was acting. Mr. Clayton was very much like a dog that had lost its owner. Or maybe a kid that had lost his favorite toy, it was hard to say.

"No you don't - you just need some kid to take over or something, I bet! I bet that's why Bradford did all this in the first place." Shawn was just wildly accusing Mr. Clayton of all the various nightmares he'd had about the dummy at this point.

And then he caught a glimpse of Bobby, and suddenly Shawn looked scared and worried. "Hey Bobby, it'll be okay - just think about the Joes..."

"He is SO a liar! And it's all his fault!" Delilah yelled at the stuttering baby, Ralph. Then she turned to prop up Mr. Clayton.

"We need Bradford, too! We need help to find him. And the Krinner Rock. And to go home. And... everything! Can you help us?"

Looking around, she saw the kids scattered and crying and panicking. Her breathing was shallow and fast. She didn't know what to do or where to go next. But everyone was still alive. That meant there was still a chance.

She turned back to the painted, wooden face and hoped that Mr. Clayton could fix everything. Like he did before.

Shawn lied about everything. If he said Mr. Clayton was evil, then it was some kind of trick. Mr. Clayton gave her eye back and tried to give her a new life. It wasn't perfect, but it was a really good one. And way better than being dead.

"Stop it now" Mr. Clayton said to Shawn, the metal wires jerking and making his hand and arm 'wave Shawn off' with a dismissive gesture like Shawn's griping was both annoying and distracting to his point.

The puppet cried out again in longing desperation. "Bradfoooooord." But no one answered. Bradford had been taken.

There was a 'twang' and the cords straightened. And with it, the puppet's head straightened as well. He looked at Delilah, directing his voice to first her and the rest of the kids in the group. "If I don't have Bradford, I'll die."

He crawled slightly, towards Delilah, the metal wires all the while jangling above him.

"I mean it." He pleaded. "Someone has to carry me in that case. I can't be outside of it without Bradford for more than an hour or two."


"Bradford and I...we're...a team." He finished with a sad note, rather lamely as he pleaded, mostly emphasizing this point to Delilah.

"W-will the case be closed?" As the moments dragged on, Shawn became increasingly aware that with Bradford gone, Mr. Clayton was the only other person who really knew what was going on. Loathe as he might be to think it, they might need his advice to survive.

"Yes!" Mr. Clayton snapped at Shawn, the metal wires jerking back and forth and making all kinds of angry noise as he inched himself closer across the road. The puppet was heading for the case. And Delilah and Shawn could see it.

"We've got to find my Bradford!" He insisted, cross the area in front of Penelope who quickly backed up a few steps, eyeing the puppet with wide eyes.

His head shot an upward glance at the mountain top.

"He's up there, isn't he? My Bradford is up there."

"O-okay. Good." Shawn was relieved that the puppet would be somewhere out of sight for the time being. And at least he knew that Mr. Clayton couldn't get out by himself. "A dragon took him. He's probably up there somewhere. With whatever we're supposed to be looking for."

Delilah carried the case. It was easier now that it was empty and nothing was rolling around within.

"And we have to hurry. Bradford said-- he said we had to hurry to find something."

The cords pulled taught and lifted Mr. Clayton to his feet. He spoke with more confidence and certainty, regaining his composure now that he was coming to the see the reality of the situation.

"It's not a good thing." He snapped at Shawn when Shawn commented on how Mr. Clayton would have to be in the case. "It's bad. Bad. Bad."

"If Bradford isn't here. Then that means that we have to get him back. And it's no laughing matter. Delilah is right. We have to find it." He emphasized that last word.

"It, destroys the whole Circus. It, makes everything normal again. That's what It does." Mr. Clayton said, looking up at the sky, the false eyes in his head made a clicking sound as they moved back and forth to survey the red clouds.

"And I know how to get there."

Tiffany was mostly sniffling now. She choked out a question in between sobs "What..is it?"

Mr. Clayton's false gaze turned to Tiffany. Did Bradford tell you what it was?" When Tiffany didn't answer, the metal ropes jangled and he turned to the rest of the group before focusing on Ralph.

"No...I..i..i..i.ii.i.ii..don't think he told me." Ralph spoke up, eyeing the puppet with a mix of fear and caution on his face.

Mr. Clayton considered this. No matter. Two cords from the sky pulled outward, allowing him to spread his arms in a gesture that made it seem like he was speaking to everyone present.

"I know where It is. And Bradford is on that mountain top. We'll simply find Bradford we'll go to the place where It is. Then Bradford will know what to look for." He reasoned.

"Now we just have to decide where all of you want to go. If you head up this road, then things are going to get a lot colder. You all have to cross the The Julesk Ice Field, which is no easy matter."

"But if we go off the road, we can avoid that frigid tundra and head up the side of the mountain. But we'd have to pass the Willow of Truth. It's a great big tree."

Everyone could tell that Mr. Clayton was eager to move on with things. Get the group moving on. Get himself moving. He spoke with the urgency of a child who needed to get something done or get as much play in before being called home by his parents. But there was something else in his voice--worry.

Shawn was terrified of Mr. Clayton, but even he could pick up the hint in his voice about their choice. If there was even a choice in where to go, there had to be some sort of catch in going off-road. "W-what's wrong with the Willow of Truth?"

"Alright. So let's go. Let's go now!"

Delilah nodded eagerly. It was good to have a team captain with a plan. She yelled at the other kids who had ran some distance off to come back.

"Doesn't sound so bad. It's a tree. We can climb trees," she said openly. She was sure nothing bad could come of this plan.

The kids inched forward. Tiffany pulled a tootsie roll out from her pocked and popped in her mouth with one hand, the other used to wipe her eyes from the tears. She was recovering.




"The Willow of Truth is a Willow tree." Mr. Clayton explained, even though the name seemed obvious.

"No one gets by the Willow of Truth without learning a truth. And a truth learned by one, is something that is learned by all."

"I've heard that some truths are too true to actually learn without walking away...changed. You gotta be afraid of un-earned wisdom! Yucka--Yucka!" The puppet philosophized in a joking tone that suggested he was feeling more or less resigned to the absence of Bradford.

This tree sounded scary to Shawn, but he couldn't think of a way to justify it to the others without coming across as suspicious. "You say it's learning a truth? So it wouldn't be something we already know?"

Delilah's concerns lay elsewhere. She kept the mountain in her sights. It was a tree and it was the truth. Neither sounded like anything to worry about.

"Why do you gotta be afraid of unearned wisdom? Isn't that just more truth? My mom says the truth will set you free. And we need to get free of this place."

"Learning...a truth?" Bobby repeated with wonder and a distant look in his eyes.

"I've only been to the Willow of Truth once. You have to duck under its shade of drooping branches and when you pass through and out the other side of it, something in you changes. It sure ain't easy to explain! Ha-HA!" Mr. Clayton laughed a laugh that had a bit of 'pop' to it, but also was somehow inappropriate given the transcendental topic of conversation.

"When you pass through, its just like those branches brush against you. And they tell you something. Something that is true. The Tattooed Lady passed through it, and that's when she learned that the Freaks were being offed by the Clowns one by one. That's what spurred her into action."

"But that was a long time ago. Sometimes they say that when you pass through it, everyone sees the same truth that the Tree passed to that one person. Others say the Tree only passes its truths in secret to individual minds."

"Hell, I don't know. Maybe nothing earned is worth at damn! That's just some silly quote I heard the Fortune Teller say one day. You know, kids, a lot has changed since your old Uncle Clayton was last at the Willow Tree. A new jefe in charge, Malinda the Fortune Teller, new rules... even a few dead Clowns. But now I'm back in the Underworld, I'm rested and I'm ready to give this place a big wedgie again!"

Shawn wasn't sure he liked the sound of truths about him being revealed to other people, but he was keenly aware that Bradford had mentioned a time limit before they actually for-real died. "Fine, let's just do it then. We don't have time to argue." He went over to Bobby, and gave him a reassuring pat.

A gloomy shadow crossed Delilah's face.

"I don't want to change anymore. That's the truth."

She nodded along with Shawn without realizing it. The sooner they were done with the tree, the better. She couldn't tell how much time had passed under the bizzare, crimson sky.

"To the tree!" Penelope announced with some enthusiasm. At the same time, both Shawn and Delilah noticed that she kept a considerable distance from the Puppet.

OOC: Shawn and Delilah Join Thread

Shawn, Delilah: The Willow Tree of Truth