by Jess Howe

Created on: July 08, 2009

Charlie Sue staggered to work, dragging her shadow behind her. The gremlin guards frowned at her. "Bad to not keep eyes to your shade, isn't it?" one of them laughed. "Careful today... " She rubbed her eyes, entering the mall where she worked.

She lost track of her shadow as the day went on, and as she got more tired. Easy enough to do in this mall, which was spelled to be entirely gray, to prevent theft. Every bit of merchandise inside became its proper color when picked up, tried on or bought. But for Charlie Rose, this was tiring; her eyes swam staring at the bland color. The cash register sang and rang, and kept making snide remarks to her about incorrect change, and, "Sure you want that?"

At Funeral Hour the sun went into eclipse, calling for lunchtime in the kingdom. Charlie Sue found that she could see right through herself, down to the skeleton. "Bad luck, bad luck," the gremlins giggled. "Get it back before the nooner tolls, or off with the Lord of Annwn you'll go..."

_Lord of Annwn doesn't come to the mall_, Charlie Sue in her tired condition thought confusedly. The lettuce she had to eat tasted stale, and the tiny bit of meat she had with it had almost no taste, though she was sure she'd spiced it well with garlic.

When lunch hour was finished, she still found the shade running about the mall by itself. Now a little more energetic, Charlie Sue recognized that she needed to get hold of it again, if only on general principles; she didn't want to wind up without her shadow anywhere. When she went on break later that afternoon, she went to find it. There it was in the clothing store, waltzing with the mannequins.

"Hey! Come back here!" she cried, dashing through a rack of fine silks. But the shadow moved onward as soon as its owner got close.

That was the way of it all day long. Charlie Sue went on several more breaks than she probably should have, and every time she tried chasing the shadow it danced off easily. But every time she was at work, she found the thing across from her as if grinning at her insultingly.

The people who came to the mall came in droves that afternoon, and she found herself working harder and harder. The cash register sang and rang, but soon Charlie Sue found herself stuck doing stock as they got a new shipment of shoes in from the cobbler. That was when she got an idea. Wearily, as she helped one of the little cobbler elves bring in another carton of running shoes, she asked it if it knew anything about

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