“Don’t! Stop! I mean Stop! Don’t!”

Jonah stayed still, feeling ridiculous half-way bent over, his arm extended to pick up the stuffed toy.  “What is it Clive? Don’t stop or stop, don’t? Grammar matters, dude.”

“Back away from the duck slowly. Your life depends on it.”

The seriousness in Clive’s voice was genuine even if the words themselves were laughable, so Jonah stood up. The fluffy yellow thing lay helpless on the ground. “It’s a toy,” he said. “Some poor kid probably lost it and wants it back. Shouldn’t we help?”

“Look, Jonah, I know you’re going to think I’m crazy, but I don’t think that’s just a stuffed duck. I think it’s… it’s…” he leaned in to whisper in his ear.

“It’s a what?”

“Shhh,” he pulled lowered his voice to a whisper. “Don’t let it know we’re on to it.”

Jonah followed suit with his voice. “What’s a Mimic?”

“A Mimic is a deadly shape shifter,” Clive whispered. “When lying still, it looks all normal and innocent. But if you get to close, than bam.  Its pseudopod lashes out at you and swallows you whole. The last thing you see before dying horribly is big, pointy teeth.

“Dude, you’re nuts,” Jonah said bending down to the brightly colored toy. “Some little kid is probably crying because she lost her toy and you’ve been playing way too much D&D.”  As giant teeth appeared from its beak, the last words Jonah heard were, “Dude, I warned you.”