He grinned lopsidedly. “Was there a certain redhead involved?”
I looked back down at the ground.
“Are you okay?”
I pointed at the brick. “Was this here when you first showed up?”
Max looked down. “Uh… I don’t think so.”
“No?”
“I don’t remember seeing it.”
I crouched, rain pattering on the cement. I picked up the brick—it was dry underneath. “When did it start raining?” I squinted, looking up at Max.
“Maybe fifteen minutes ago.”
“Not when you got here, though?”
“No,” Max clarified. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Are you sure nothing creepy is going on?”
“Positive,” I lied as I stood, brick still in my hand. I offered it to Max, who held it like it was going to bite him, and I hurried to raise the gate.
So someone had left it there after Max called me and went for coffee, but before I’d hardly gotten out of my apartment when the rain started….
I unlocked the front door and pushed it—only for it to resist opening. I could hear the beeping of the security system and swore. I only had a few seconds to turn it off before it began wailing. I gave the door another serious shove and heard the strange sound ofbricksclatter together.
After managing enough space to squeeze into the shop, I nearly tripped when the floor was higher than it was yesterday.
That was mighty strange.
I grabbed the wall, leaned in close to the security system, punched in the code, and waited for the light to flash a gray shade I’d been told was green before letting out a breath.
“What the hell is going on?” Max asked.
“I don’t know.” I wiggled back out of the small opening, then shoved the door hard. More loud scraping and scratching across my antique wood floor. I reached in and switched on the rarely used overhead lights, wincing and looking away.
Max muttered, “This is so messed up.”
I cracked open one eye and looked back into the shop. Still wearing my sunglasses helped me see the bricks that wereeverywhere. “The hell…?” I whispered.
Max slowly crouched and set the brick in his hand back on the ground. He stood again, and I could hear him swallow. He laughed nervously. “If only they were yellow.”
“Huh?”
“Follow the yellow brick road.”
“Where does the gray road lead?” I asked before taking a step inside.
“Seb, wait. Maybe we should call the cops.”
The bricks shifted under my feet as I walked across the floor. I paused in front of the first display and glanced around to either side. The bricks kept going toward the far end of the shop, where the maps and back door was. I took the right aisle, moving to the counter. Sure enough, there were bricks on the steps and on the elevated floor.
“Seb?” Max called, still standing at the open door.
“Yeah? Hold on.” I tiptoed around bricks as I went to the counter.
One brick sat beside the brass register, a rubber band around it.
