Oh, wow. His last name was the name of our small town. I wondered if he had any relation to the town. I strolled to the counter and opened my mouth to speak. Too bad that my pesky brother spoke first.

"Do you sell food, old man? Where are the gummy bears?"

Mahar set the folded newspaper on top of the counter. "My apologies, dear boy. This store does not sell gummy bears."

"What?!" He waved his fist in front of the poor man's face. "If you do not hand over some gummy bears, I will kill you!"

Victoria uttered a horrified gasp. "Has your brother killed people, Brandon?"

"I am glad that you asked me that, Victoria," I said. "Brendan has murdered one person and sadly got away with it."

"Might I ask who he killed?"

"A nurse who did not give him a red lollipop because they were out of them."

I had a feeling that at that moment, Victoria felt terrible for defending a murderer and knew exactly what I was dealing with for years.

My eyes widened when I took note that Mahar was not fearful of Brendan. He remained calm and collective and reassured him that he would enjoy the other foods that Territory of Terror had to offer.

"If I were you, I would try a new food," Mahar suggested. "A kid such as you would enjoy our selection."

Brendan pounded his fist on the counter. "Are you deaf, old man? I want my gummy bears!"

Bags of candy and snacks hung on the wall behind Mahar. He pulled a bag off its hook and tossed it on the counter. It was a small, black bag that had eyeballs drawn on it.

My brother took one look at the bag and was furious. "I am a human! I do not eat eyeballs!"

"You deserve to eat eyeballs," I overheard Jason mumble. He was lucky that Brendan did not overhear.

"Please lower your voice, young one," Mahar said nicely. "These are not just any eyeballs. These are gummies in the shapes of eyeballs and taste better than any gummy bear."

This made Brendan curious. "What you are saying is that they are tastier than gummy bears."

The man rubbed his stomach and licked his lips. "I have tried the gummy bears and gummy eyeballs..." He pointed at the bag. "...and these take the cake."

"How much?"

"One bag of gummy eyeballs usually costs an arm and a leg, but you are not a zombie, now are you?" He laughed at his own joke. "Like what you do in Forlot, you have to trade something that is valuable to you in order to get a snack or souvenir from my store."

Brendan grabbed me and pulled me up to the counter. "How about I trade in my older brother? He knows how to cook and clean and massage my feet."

I growled and jerked away from his hold. No way would I be staying in the gift shop, let alone in Territory of Terror.

Mahar clicked his tongue. "You need to learn patience. If you had waited, you would have heard the rest of my speech. I was going to say to you that I would be giving you the gummy eyeballs for free since that you have never tried them."

"Oh. Well, in that case..."

My greedy brother yanked the bag off the counter and used the air in said bag to pop it open. Pop! He peered inside the bag and remarked that there were tons of eyeballs. He picked one up and popped it into his mouth.

"How do they taste?" Mahar asked with a smile.

"Tastes chewy. It has this odd taste."

"Let me try one," Jason volunteered. He reached into the bag and pulled out a gummy eyeball. Only it was not a gummy eyeball. It was a real eyeball. "Ah!" He dropped the eyeball, and the eyeball fell on the floor. "It blinked, Brandon! The eyeball blinked!"

The eyeball blinked and looked up at me and my best friend. I am not joking when I say that it sprouted legs, spider legs, and crawled to the double doors.

"We cannot allow it to escape!" Mahar proclaimed.

Mahar had gotten out from behind the counter with a glass jar in his hands. He unscrewed the lid, got on all fours, and crawled like a baby. He cooed and motioned for the living eyeball to come towards him. The eyeball was apparently attracted to his coos because it cooed too and crawled to him.

"Ha!" He caught the creature and screwed the lid on tight. "Gotcha." He climbed back on his feet. "You can never allow these kinds of monsters to wander around Territory of Terror or Forlot. They are madness."

"That I can believe," my friend said.

Mahar got ahold of the bag and returned to his spot behind the counter. He shoved the jar underneath the counter and sealed the bag with tape. He told us that humans were forbidden to have eyeballs.

"Then why did you give the bag to my brother?" I questioned him.

"In all honestly, he deserved to eat a live eyeball. Humans like him disgust me."

I could not help but smile a little. Yes, it was cruel that Brendan swallowed a real eyeball, but how else was he going to learn his lesson? May I remind you that he committed murder?

Brendan wiped his mouth. "That was weird," he said. "It is as if the gummy eyeball grew legs and crawled down my throat."

"That is because it did grow legs and crawl down your throat," I confirmed. "You just ate an actual eyeball."

He did not believe me. He cackled and pushed me. I stumbled back, but managed to keep my balance.

"I think that we have had enough talk about eyeballs for one lifetime," Victoria said. "We are glad that we located Mahar Forlot because he is the founder of Forlot."