This place is creepy.
Theo climbed the stairs. Reaching the top, he heard a sound and hid behind a sculpture of a kazoo.
A portly teddy bear butler was waxing the floor by hand. He wore a black tuxedo with long coattails. He wasn’t an Ursabrand, and Theo despised him on sight.
“Oh my,” Oxley said. “I must have missed a spot.”
He inspected the top of the stairs. A bit of mud marked the otherwise shiny floor.
That’s from me.
“I must trace the source of this most unfortunate speck, lest the master chastise me.”
He followed the trail of mud that led toward Theo, but Theo pushed over the sculpture and hit Oxley in the head, knocking him out. He dragged the butler into a nearby closet, shut the door, and wedged the kazoo against the door so the butler couldn’t escape.
Andersen’s room sho
