Maurice blinked slowly at Heather. His nerves were already pulled squeaking tight, but there was just...something. The whole monster business. The less-than-pleasant adventures they'd shared in the attic before. The fact that they were MILES AND MILES away from home...the sheer absurdity of it all. And now this. And his mother's house.

He started to snicker.

And then he started to laugh.

He held his stomach and leaned forward, losing his shit over this...this SOOT GOBLIN THING that his friend had become--the friend who could pick him up by his ankles and hide shit from him on top of the fridge.