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“Yup.” Eddie lunged as the thing made an appearance.
It shot through her legs, deked past Trina’s outstretched palms, and headed for the stage apron.
With a rebel yell, Barrie vaulted three rows back, his long legs spider walking as he made his escape.
Trina ripped off her T-shirt and tossed it over the toad.
Barrie’s head popped up from behind the seats as he ogled Trina’s bra-clad torso. “Well done.”
The thing stopped moving beneath Trina’s shirt, and Eddie lunged with her empty bucket and trapped it.
“You got it, Edsie.” Lillian clapped and looked at the rest of the occupants. “I told you she would deal with it.”
Inside the bucket, the thing had recovered from its momentary paralysis and thumped against the side.
“Have you got it?” Shirley wandered back on stage, having used the toad as an opportunity to take a quick smoke break.
“Get it off the stage.” Whitney pointed an imperious finger to the stage right wings. “I’m not getting down until that thing is out of here.”
Trina crouched beside the bucket and whispered, “Please don’t hurt him.”
“I’m not going to hurt him.” Eddie slid a piece of plywood between the bucket and stage floor. “And I’m getting him out of here now.”
The toad went crazy, flinging itself against the side of the bucket. That was no ordinary damn toad, and Eddie was relieved nobody had taken a closer look at the thing. From what she’d been able to catch, other than its strange way of moving, it had horns and sharp teeth as part of its allure. Along with an odd blue underbelly. Regardless, the thing was going back through the hell gate.
She needed to get ahold of Dee. Grasshoppers and toads were no reason to panic, but they were raising a very decided prickle of alarm.
“It’s escaping,” Whitney screamed.
Folding her long, elegant legs, Lillian held up one hand. “I have total faith in Edsie.”
Shirley’s daisy patterned Doc Martins appeared beside the bucket. “What are you gonna do with it now?”
Trina’s big blue eyes implored her.
“Put it outside,” Eddie said. Outside this realm.
“Thank you.” Tears spilled over Trina’s lids. “I can help.”
That was the last thing she needed, and Eddie pulled back on her yelp and modulated her tone. “No, that’s fine. You carry on with your callbacks.”
“Indeed,” Peter thundered. “Eddie, if you would be so good as to remove the distraction, we can continue.” He pinned her with a censorious look. “The show must go on.”
If Eddie had a dollar for every time she’d heard that old workhorse, she’d…well, she’d still be here, but she’d be able to renovate the living quarters above the theatre. One hand on the top of the bucket, she slid the other under the plywood.
Hell toad lost his shit, and through the plywood she could feel him going for broke as he tried to bust his way out. The jostling motion jarred the grasshopper’s parting gift on her hand.
Kathryn, now standing beside the stage manager’s desk, reeled back as Eddie carried her bucket and wood trap past.
Through the workshop, she took her protesting captive. An odd yowling from the bucket got Eddie moving faster. She didn’t want to answer the questions that would follow if anyone heard that noise.
Down in the basement, the door to the hell gate room stood ajar. Thus answering her question as to how the toad had got into the theatre in the first place. Why the door was open when, as far as she knew, the app was the only way it could be opened, remained a mystery.
Dee had more ’splainin’ to do.
Putting the bucket on the floor, Eddie toed it closer to the hell gate.
Disturbing reds and yellows colored the gray-black swirl. Grasshopper’s bite in mind, she got her trap as close to the hell gate as she dared, using a broom handle to place it right at the edge.
