The giant nutcracker, his sword still flashing in the moonlight, turned his head all the way around. His big green eyes fixed on Clara. “Are you all right, Miss Clara?” he said. Clara fled. She couldn’t help it. The shock of it, the rats and the forest and the magician and the fairy and then a giant toy with wild hair and big ears and massive eyes and a mouth that opened and shut like a window shade all staring at her backwards and talking unfroze her feet and she ran.