I exited the house, watching as Kelly ran over to Liz, who was mounting her bike.  “Hey, excuse you.  I’m coming with you.”  Kelly informed her. 
         “No.  You will just get in my way.  Or you’ll get possessed, hypnotized, cursed poisoned, or turned into a three headed dog of darkness.”  Liz informed us.
          Kelly’s eyes widened.  “For real?”  she asked quietly.  Kelly placed her hand on her forehead, overcome by the gruesome possibilities. 
          I opened my mouth to speak to Liz but was interrupted by Kelly.  “Wait, did you even see this?”  Kelly asked.  I turned and followed her over towards a line of bushes that hugged the side of the house. 
        The ground looked scorched, thick lines scoring the ground. 
         “These burn marks, they come from out of Jacob’s window, run down here and then they just vanish.”  Kelly observed as Liz walked over and turned on her pointer, following the scorched earth.
         “And those tracks, they don’t match the claws that those Trollies had—”  Kelly recalled but was interrupted by Liz.
         “Toadies.”  She corrected. 
         “—Toadies had, and they have an entirely different pattern and diameter, which means a completely different thing was here.” 
          Liz looked Kelly up and down thoughtfully before she spoke.  “Okay, CSI, Road island.  Your funeral.”  Liz said pushing a helmet into Kelly’s hands.
          “Ow.”  Kelly winced.
          “Hop on, the clock’s ticking.”  Liz spoke.  I stepped forward, resting my hands on the front of the bike so Liz couldn’t motor away.
          “Hang on.”  I snapped and Liz looked lazily up at me.  “I may not be good at math or know much about monsters, but out of the three of us, who has a learner’s permit?”
          Liz poked the inside of her cheek with her tongue and thought a moment before sighing.  “Fine.  You got a car?”  she asked.
          “Yeah.”  I nodded.
          “Then follow me.”  Liz said.  I stepped away from the bike and patted my leg, Marv following me back through the house and into the Zellman’s garage. 
          I opened the garage door and stepped down onto the cement driveway walking over to the car that sat on the left side of the garage.
          It was a white Volkswagen, a newer model, but it was obviously the lesser car. 
         I opened the door, and let Marv hop into the front seat before I searched the driver’s side from Mrs. Zellman’s keys.
         “Wait, the car isn’t yours?”  I heard Liz call.  I looked over at them and shrugged. 
         “No!”  I shouted out the open car door.  I opened the visor and a pair of keys fell into my lap.  I lifted them up and showed she girls on the bike.
          “Let’s go!”  Liz called and revved the bike before I shut the car door and inserted the keys into the ignition.
          I eased out of the driveway after Liz and Kelly, Marv laying down on the front seat, his head resting on the window ledge, getting nose prints on the window.
         It felt weird.  But I had to remember that I wasn’t stealing the car, I was just borrowing it.  I shifted anxiously in the seat, wondering if the seats were made of real or faux leather. 
         “This is just like all those Marvel movies.”  I mutter to myself as I watched Liz on her motorbike.  Every so often she would stick an arm out to indicate a turn and I would follow. 
          I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel and hummed to myself.  “Am I doing the right thing here, Marv?”  I asked absentmindedly.  “I mean, I am under a bit of influence.  What if this is all a dream and I’m passed out somewhere on Mrs. Zellman’s floor?”  I wondered aloud.
          I pinched my left and, and shook my head.  “Not dreaming… okay then.”  I was sure that I was still in shock, so I tried focus on Liz and Kelly up ahead.

~~•☆•~~

        We pulled up to a fun center for kids, Sharkey Park.  I pulled into a parking space, not bothering to readjust the car.   I hopped out of the car, and let Marv out of the passenger side.  Hid nails clicked on the sidewalk and I walked over to Kelly and Liz LeRue, who had parked near me.
         “GPR?” Kelly spoke, tilting her head a little to the side. 
        “Ground penetrating radar. Toadies have a network of tunnels under the city.  Sometimes out monster GPR picks up their movements.”  Liz informed us.
        Liz opened the back door, and we walked through the backroom.  “Were not going down in the tunnels?”  Kelly asked hopefully as we entered the play area.
        “No.  We are fishing for Toadies.”  Liz informed us.  We walked around the indoor park, seeing various Shark sculptures on playground equipment.  There was a jungle Jim and a couple slides as well as a ball pit.
         We walked over to the edge of the ball pit and Kelly shivered.  “Ball pits, so gross, like gross to the third power.”  Kelly spoke, scanning the sea of bright blue plastic balls.
        “Math jokes, huh, funny.”  Liz replied sarcastically.  “Anyway, look for a hidden tunnel.  It should be around here somewhere.”  She added as we walked about.
        “How do you know all this stuff?”  I asked as Marv sniffed a large plastic turtle and walked around it a couple times before returning to my side. 
        “Check the bag.”  Liz spoke.   She paused for a moment and I took that as the go ahead.  I walked over to her and opened her bag, smiling briefly at Carmella before I retrieved a tablet.  The screen lit up faintly with a unsettling scene of a human silhouette, armed with a sword against a reptilian like creature that hung from a gnarled tree.
        “Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting?”  Kelly asked and I handed her the tablet.  She slid her finger across the screen to flip to a different image.
        “It’s a collection.  Thousands  of years of monster hunting wisdom passed down through the ages.”  Liz informed us.  “Memorize the guide, stay alive.”  Liz added over her shoulder.
         Kelly went stiff and let the tablet go dark in her hands.  “So I’m not crazy.”
         Liz walked over to a slide and kicked aside a mat, reveling a hole filled with churned dirt.  “Found it.”  Liz announced.  “I mean, can you believe this?  The Toadies dug their tunnel right at the bottom of the slide, so when a kid comes sliding down, whoosh, right into their trap.”  Liz spoke, her face held conflicting emotions, such as despair, disgust and anger. 
         “This is insane.  What should I do?”  Kelly asked as Liz laid Carmella on the floor by the tunnel, digging into her bag. 
         “Maybe take off her jacket?”  Liz asked.  Kelly unfolded the blanket around Carmella and hesitated before unzipping her jacket.  I helped Kelly by getting Carmella’s arms out of the sleeves and keeping her quiet.
         Marv peered over my shoulder, resting his chin on my sleeve, sniffing at the baby.  Using a slender line of rope, Liz encircled the tunnel and added a layer of baby powder around Carmella .
       “Why do you need baby powder?”  Kelly asked. 
       Liz looked at Kelly with exasperation.  “Read the guide.  Come on.”  She spoke and left Carmella.  I reluctantly followed her, Marv at my side as the four of us backed up, sheltering behind the plastic turtle as Liz laid down a line and Kelly read from the guide.
       “Beware,  Toadies love the smell of newborns, they can’t resist a taste?”  Kelly read, looking at Liz with wide eyes.
       “One of em pops out looking for a snack, boom, we got em.”  Liz informed us.  I gaped at her.
       “You’re using Carmella as bait?”  I asked, a little loudly.  I shifted nervously, watching Carmella. 
       “No!  Listen, this is the only thing that will get them up to the surface.”  Liz spoke quietly, but forcefully. 
       I watched Carmella, feeling my stomach churn.  “This is sick.  Shouldn’t babysitters have a—a baby smell candle or something?”  I asked.  Liz looked sideways at me thoughtfully.
       “That’s not bad.”  Liz shrugged and I sat on the balls of my feet, crewing the nail of my pointer finger. 
        “Are you chewing your nails?”  Liz asked me with a skeptical glance.  I glowed at her.
        “No.  Nail.  Singular, I only chew this one.”  I informed her and she rolled her eyes.  Liz placed a small spire on the ground and put in an ear bud.
        “What is that?” Kelly asked.
        “Those are sound vibrations.”  I went stiff as I begun to hear scrapping sounds, like that of a rake in the soil… or claws.  I shifted nervously watching as they soil churned and a little, stubby blue hand emerged from the tunnel.  This was followed by a head of lime green and yellow spines and a pair of lopsided blue eyes. 
          My heart thundered in my chest and Kelly jumped to her feet.  “I can’t do this!”  Kelly shouted.  She ran for Carmella and Marv sprang into action as Liz shouted and pulled on the rope, snagging the Toadie as it leapt into the air. 
          It landed on the ground in a tangle Marv barked, circling the Toadie as Kelly turned on her heel and ran away, leaping into the ball pit as the Toadie frees himself and followed.  Marv ran over to me as I shot over to the tunnel grabbing Carmella and leaning over beside Liz as garbled speech drifted up from the tunnel.
           Two Toadies squatted in the tunnel, dragging a sack behind them, the sack with Jacob inside.
          “By the Order of The Babysitters, I demand you return that child!” Liz shouted.  I passed Carmella to Liz. 
          “They’re not going to listen to you!” I snapped as the Toadies blew a raspberry up at us.  I jumped down inside the tunnel, though I was too tall to squeeze through the tunnels, I could try and grab Jacob. 
         “Don’t worry Carmella, I’m going to keep you safe.”  Liz spoke.  I clawed for the Toadies but I couldn’t reach them.  Growling in frustration I pulled myself out of the tunnel.
        There was a shrill scream and I looked around, seeing Kelly in the ball pit, a mound of plastic balls moving… no something was moving under the surface.
        Liz dove for a trophy case and broke open the glass, grabbing a silver trophy with tinsel exploding out of the top.  She ran to the edge of the ball pit as the Toadie rose up in front of Kelly.  “Hey, look what I’ve got!” Liz called. 
        The Toadie looked over at Liz wide eyed.  “If you give us the boy, you get the sparkly.”  Liz spoke and tossed the trophy to the Toadie as Kelly scrambled out of the ball pit.  “Come on, what do you say?  Don’t play hardball with me.  You guys love to trade.”  Liz continued, trying to convince the Toadie.
        Kelly ran over to me and picked up Carmella.  “Hi.”  She cooed as Liz spoke again.
       “Jacob for the sparkly! Do we have a deal?”  Liz asked as the Toadie smirked.  The creature opened a pouch on his stomach and stuffed the trophy inside and began to snicker as he paddled away.  Liz growled and dove into the ball pit.
       Kelly grunted as she struggled to hold Carmella as he Rhone started ringing.  Kelly quickly passed Carmella to me and hesitated to answer her phone. 
       “Shut that off!”  Liz called from the ball pit. 
       “It's Jacob’s mom!”  Kelly called back.  I motioned for her to answer the phone, though it may have looked like I was swatting at flies.  “Hi, Mrs. Zellman.”  Kelly answered.   I couldn’t make out what Mrs. Zellman was saying on the other end of the line.
       “What?”  Kelly asked, before she blinked rapidly and spoke again.  “Oh! You mean.  No, yeah,  Everything is fine.  Jacob and I are having so much fun.”  Kelly spoke and looked over at the ball pit where Liz kept disappearing.
        “Uh, it’s a movie!”  Kelly spoke hurriedly as Liz emerged, pulling the Toadie by a line.  “No, no, no, no, no it’s a fun movie with unicorns and some rainbows…”  Kelly trailed off as the Toadie shot towards us on Liz’s leash.  Marv leapt forward and barked, snapping at the Toadie.  I grabbed the line and pulled back, bringing the Toadie flying towards me and Carmella.
       With one hand I held Carmella and with the other I booted the Toadie towards Liz. 
       “Uh… a unicorn fell off a rainbow, but it was saved by a cloud.  We’re all good here.”  Kelly spoke watching Liz throw around the Toadie.  Her eyes went wide again as she franticly blurted into the phone.  “No, he’s asleep!   …No, he just fell asleep like—like that.”  Kelly stammered.  “Tonight is a night of firsts.”   She muttered a couple more ‘okays’ and finally a goodbye when Liz stuffed the subdued Toadie into her bag.
        She dragged it towards us and Marv circled her, sniffling the bag and growling.  “I am going to be grounded for all of eternity.”  Kelly informed her.
        “The Toadies left with Jacob.”  Liz spoke.  That was a bit more concerning than being grounded.
       “How are we going to get him back now?”  Kelly asked.
       “That’s why this little creep is coming with us.”  Liz said and looked over at me.  “Time?” she asked.  I checked my watch. 
        “9:00.”  I showed her. 
        “Did you hear that?” Liz spoke to Carmella in my arms, “It’s 9 o’clock Carmella.  We gotta get you home sweetie.”  She spoke before looking at the Toadie bag.  “The Toadies always trade this is worse than I thought…”