They Set the Fire


 Contents
 
 Title Page
 Copyright Notice
 Dedication
 Epigraph
 Teeth and Claws
 
 Chapter 1
 Chapter 2
 Chapter 3
 Chapter 4
 Chapter 5
 Chapter 6
 Chapter 7
 
 Evidence
 
 Chapter 8
 Chapter 9
 Chapter 10
 Chapter 11
 Chapter 12
 Chapter 13
 Chapter 14
 Chapter 15
 Chapter 16
 Chapter 17
 Chapter 18
 Chapter 19
 Chapter 20
 Chapter 21
 Chapter 22
 
 The Mother
 
 Chapter 23
 Chapter 24
 Chapter 25
 Chapter 26
 Chapter 27
 
 Acknowledgments
 Also by Daniel Kraus
 Praise for The Teddies Saga
 About the Author
 Newsletter Sign-up
 Copyright
 
 
 
 Guide
 
 Cover
 Title Page
 Dedication
 Teeth and Claws
 1
 Acknowledgments
 Contents
 Copyright
 
 
 
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 Table of Contents
 About the Author
 Copyright Page
 
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 This book is for my dad.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I see stuffing in a big metal chest.
 I see stuffing inside a twisted plastic nest.
 I see stuffing piled along a cold gray floor.
 I see stuffing in a crowded brown drawer.
 
 
 
 TEETH AND CLAWS
 
 
 
 
 1
 
 Proto—it was still hard for Buddy to believe it. Proto: the first Furrington Teddy sewed by the Creator known as the Mother. Proto: the shrewd trickster hero in the teddy tales spun by Reginald. Proto: who persuaded the Mother to sew eight other teddies known as the Originals. Proto: whose story ended right here at Furrington Industries, where the Suit had corrupted the Mother’s formula for the best teddies in the world.
 After escaping the teddy village in the cellar, finding the factory above had been a shock.
 Finding Proto behind a dusty glass case had been an even bigger shock.
 Now that Proto was freed, Buddy could take a good look at him. Proto had the same pudgy teddy belly and stubby teddy limbs as Buddy and his friends. But the Suit had made a lot of changes to Furrington Teddies. For the first time, Buddy saw those changes plainly.
 And those changes hurt.
 Buddy and his friends’ plush was made of “Ryulexster,” a synthetic fabric. Proto, however, was made from the Mother’s cherished Softest Fabric in the World. Proto’s plush was blue, the same as Buddy’s, yet not at all the same—Buddy marveled at Proto’s glossy, velvety depths.
 Buddy and his friends had cheap plastic eyes prone to scratches. Take, for example, Pookie, the fork-legged red teddy who’d died leading their escape from the trashlands—she’d had a big white scratch through her left eye. Proto’s eyes, however, were the Mother’s original marble, as deep and mysterious as the starry skies Buddy had seen on the darkest of nights.
 “Proto, tell us about the Mother,” begged Reginald, the gray teddy.
 “No, tell us about the Originals,” said Sunny, the yellow teddy. “How do we stack up?”
 “I would like to hear more about this factory,” said Nothing, the white teddy. “I used to live beneath it, you know.”
 Buddy, the blue teddy, stepped forward like the leader he was.
 “All good questions,” he said. “But first … after all that time trapped inside a case … are you okay, Proto?”
 All about the teddies lay shards of glass from the display case they’d shattered to free Proto. The old teddy had fallen out straight on his muzzle like he’d forgotten how to walk. Sunny, always attuned to her Teddy Duty, had been the one to rush forward and help Proto to his feet.
 Proto was still relearning how to move. He lifted an arm. It squeaked and progressed stiffly. Finally, Proto’s paw reached his head. Buddy stood taller. Proto was going to salute the four courageous teddies who’d freed him!
 Instead, Proto combed back a patch of spiky plush.
 “You are speaking to Proto.” His voice was more musical than any teddy Buddy had heard, like a tiny orchestra inside his stuffing played every word. “The case wasn’t cozy-wozy, as I used to say of the Mother’s home. But I am fine. I am perfectly fine.”
 “You said you have so much to tell us,” Buddy reminded him.