by J. D. Oliva
"Stop fighting!" Roscoe shouted in his head.
Cody felt Roscoe pushing back. He was keeping him at bay somehow, so he just keep pushing. One of Roscoe's talons gripped Cody's leg tightly but Roscoe let go and screamed out.
The pain slipped. Roscoe let go of his leg, but still held his neck. The gripped loosened just enough. Cody looked down and saw an orange ember glowing in his left pocket. He reached in and pulled out Abi's ring. Cody put the ring on and grabbed the talon that was still clutching his neck. Roscoe screamed out and backed away. The crescent moon glowed in the center of the ring. Cody struggled to get to his feet. Roscoe's attack had taken more out of him than he realized, but at least Roscoe wasn't inside him anymore.
"Yoooou neeeeed mooorrrre than rag-head maaaaagic, boy."
Roscoe started to crawl back toward him. Exhausted, Cody took a deep breath and squeezed his hand as he pointed the ring toward the creature. This was it. One more shot. If he failed so be it. Roscoe's talon stretched out and grabbed Cody's foot. Cody raised his arm high into the air and with every last bit of strength he had left, drove his fist down. The orange, glowing ring severed the jagged talon from the rest of Roscoe's body.
"AAAAAHHHHH!!!" The demon cried out.
The mirrors started to change shape again. From the center, the glass bulged out and reached toward them. The mirror bent and wobbled, it was like someone was pushing on the glass from the other side but couldn't get through. Only Roscoe knew the secret of traveling through the glass. The mirrors stopped moving. A claw shot toward them from beyond the mirror and grabbed them. Another claw reached out from another mirror and grabbed Roscoe's leg. Then another and another. Soon eight more claws emerged, each from a different mirror, but none of them looked like the normal Djinn hand. Instead, they looked like the Djinn claws wearing reflective gloves, like the glass itself had turned against Roscoe. More and more hands reached out from the reflections, each taking hold of Roscoe, pulling him away from Cody. Soon another set of hands reached out and grabbed Cody and started pulling him in the opposite direction. Roscoe's left talon was cut in half by a reflective claw that swiped down like a samurai sword. His right talon, which Cody had already severed, was pulled through another mirror. Little by little, the mirrors tore Roscoe apart, slicing and dicing him into small chunks of bright blue, fleshy goo that were sucked back into the Hell of Mirrors.
"I ain't going anywhere," Cody heard Roscoe say inside his head.
A mirrored blade shot out from beyond the mirrors and severed Roscoe's head from what was left of his body. The white light in Roscoe's eyes dimmed. Then he heard the sound of the Djinn cry out in pain for a moment before fading away in his mind. Cody watched the blade pool back into the mirror and saw his own reflection. Though it couldn't have been what he saw, Cody swore that in that moment, it wasn't his own reflection staring back at him, but his father's. Dad smiled and winked before the image faded away and Cody was left with his own battered reflection.
Roscoe was gone, and the mirrors were just glass. Again, it was only Cody and the wall of flames that surrounded him. Cody knew Roscoe lied to him about his friends. They were safe, and with the djinn back behind the mirror, it was all over. No more Tyler, no more monsters, no more dark worlds with giant demons. There was nothing left to fight. He thought about just going to sleep.
Then he remembered what Coach Pawley said about it being okay to quit if you've absolutely given everything you had. It was totally not true for football. But today, in the Hell of Mirrors, this was absolutely everything he had to give. He was ready to give in. He could barely breathe and was about to close his eyes when he saw the silhouette move toward him.
"Come on! We gotta go."
He recognized the voice. He focused his eyes and saw Connor, safe and alive.
"Connor? I'm so sorry," Cody said.
"Me too, buddy." Connor said.
Connor lifted his brother up off the ground, slung Cody's arm over his shoulder, and helped carry him out of the burning Hell of Mirrors.
L
As the burning Hallow lit up the night sky, Connor and Cody pushed their way out the same back door that Cody failed to open three and a half hours earlier. The fire department cut the padlock and chains when they heard Connor banging on the emergency exit. Leah ran over to her boys and grabbed them. The family embraced each other and shared a hug. Something they should have done months ago.
"Are you okay, baby?" Leah asked Cody.
He hated being called baby, but the last ten minutes changed his outlook on many things. Being Mom's baby wasn't so bad.
"I'm okay, Mom," Cody said. "Thanks, Connor."
"You were in there for me. You probably wouldn't have even gone in there if I had stopped Tyler from being such an ass."
"No, man, this whole thing was all my fault. Look at the Hallow. Dad would be so disappointed in me."
"No, I sold the Hallow to that monster. This whole thing is all my fault," Leah said.
"Are you guys freaking serious?"
The three confused Burks turned back and looked at Nick.
"I didn't say anything. She did," Nick pointed at Abi.
"Damn right, I did," Abi said. "Cody, you stood up to a bunch of bullies, sorry Connor."
Connor shrugged. She was right.
Cody smiled and pulled the silver ring off his finger and tossed it back to her.
"What is this thing?" He asked.
"It was my grandpa's. He always reached out with his hand in faith."
Cody had no idea what that meant, but Abi seemed convinced of something. He wanted to ask her more questions about the ring, but it didn't matter. They were alive.
"Thank you," was all Cody said.
"It's cool. We're all just so lucky," she said.
"Some of us weren't so lucky," Connor added.
He was right, Tyler was gone. So were the rest of Connor's friends. They weren't good people, but they were still his friends. Plus, there was that girl on fire in the Monkey cage. She didn't deserve any of this. Who knows how many people Blake and the Slaters killed since they came to Hawk Hallow?
"But we were," Nick said softly.
Abi's eyes welled up slightly. She ran up to Cody and grabbed him, hugging him tight. His first instinct was to push her away, but he couldn't. He didn't want to, hugging a pretty girl was much better than...well, anything was better than the alternative. As she hugged him, he smelled her hair. It was nice. Better than the burning wood smell in the air. They looked into each other’s eyes and like so many other teenagers had done at the Halloween Barn Dance over the years, shared their first kiss. Normally doing that in front of your friends and mother might be awkward. Tonight was an understandable exception.
"Dude, you would not believe what happened out here. It was literally the craziest thing you ever saw!" Nick said trying to stop the young couple.
"I bet it isn't," Cody said back.
LI
Cody Burk slept for the first time in weeks, but it wasn't a good, sound sleep. Instead, he thrashed about with visions of the Djinn world and its demonic overlord haunting him. He woke up in a cold sweat and fell back asleep only to hear Roscoe's voice still echoing in his head. The process repeated itself for hours until Cody decided it was enough. He looked at the clock, it was a quarter after six on All Saints Day. He didn't get out his bed. He just laid there, reflecting on the night. That wasn't too comforting either. As they were all leaving, everyone seemed in good spirits, all things considered. His friends all seemed happier, stronger. He supposed it had something to do with the near death experiences. Cody didn't feel that way. He was pretty happy about things with Abi. They hadn't made anything official yet. But that wasn't where his thoughts were.
The others saw a small, but messed up glimpse of what the Slaters really were, especially what Abi told him happened with Roscoe and that Blake guy. But Cody had a much different view of things. He didn't tell anyone about what Roscoe did to him. He was pretty sure Connor didn'
t see it either or else he would have said something about the mirrors cutting the monster to shreds. Cody was the only one who saw that, not to mention he may have been the only person ever to see where they came from. But was that even real? Maybe Roscoe was just playing games? Maybe Roscoe made him think about those things while he was trying to break Cody's mind. Maybe it was just a trick. Maybe it was only the beginning.
Cody got up and went to the bathroom where his accusatory reflection met him. The bathroom mirror made him uncomfortable. Could they still see him from the other side? Cody wanted to smash the glass and any other mirror that he'd ever look at, but he didn't. He just left the bathroom.
In the kitchen, he opened the refrigerator and pulled out a can of Mountain Dew. He was still tired but wasn't ready to sleep. The excessive caffeine would help. Something was gnawing in the back of his head. The thought that maybe Roscoe was still there, waiting for him or some other poor bastard to take a wrong step and lose their body. Maybe that whole thing was just an elaborate charade and Roscoe never planned on taking Cody's body at all. Maybe that was the real game Roscoe was playing. There were too many questions rumbling in his mind. He needed answers.
Cody threw his shoes on and ran to the garage. He went to jump on his bike but then remembered that he never brought it home. They all left their bikes at the Hallow and got rides home from the police instead. They each spent a good hour giving their statements. They agreed not to mention anything about the Slater's, or at least what they really were. It was easier to point to Blake and put the whole thing on him. The cops thought that he might've been the source of the Hospital fire. It worked. The truth wouldn't set anyone free. It would probably have them all committed.
Cody took a deep breath and started jogging to the Hallow, or where the Hallow was before last night. The morning was cool with a thick, wet fog hanging over the town. After about half a mile, his lungs started to burn. Cody hadn't done anything athletic since playing in the Morrisonville game, and his cardiovascular conditioning wasn't what it was back then. He kept pushing forward, the taste of sweat and his clearing sinus felt good. The best he felt in a while. With each step, he seemed to leave a little more behind, and with each deep breath he felt a little more alive.
When he reached Jericho Avenue he paused and looked out at the charred remains of what was Great-Uncle Pete's farm. Dad would have been sad. This place was special to him. He wanted it to be special to the family, but the Hallow was his thing. Maybe it was better that it was gone. He saw what happened when someone else took over. Maybe the Hallow was better off with Dad.
Cody walked around the property and saw the city had already put out a cleanup crew. The case was pretty cut and dry, as far as anyone else knew. Probably just easier to clean up and move on. The town had been through a lot too.
Near the black, skeletal frame of the Hallow he found Connor. He was just sitting there, staring at the crew as they swept away the last remnants of their dad's work.
"What are you doing here?" Cody asked.
"I couldn't sleep," he answered. "You?"
"I don't wanna go to sleep for a while."
"I get that."
Cody took a seat next to his brother and joined him in a solid two minutes of silence. It was nice not to have to say anything or explain anything. The two of them just sat until Connor finally broke the silence.
"I keep thinking about Dad."
"Like how?"
"The two of you spent all that time working on this place. I wish I'd been there too," Connor said.
"Last year, I was putting more time into football than being here with Dad. It's one of the reasons I started playing. I felt like I just needed to get away a little."
"Man, we're jerks."
"Kinda," Cody said.
"I miss him," Connor said.
"Me too."
"I should be dead," Connor finally said. "I should have followed you guys here, and I should've died with Tyler."
"I thought you did," Cody said.
He waited a minute before adding, "I'm sorry about what happened to your friends."
"No, you're not."
"Yes, I am--"
"No. Don't be. If he'd have caught you here, he would've hurt you."
"Better him than Roscoe," Cody said, not sure which was worse.
"Maybe, maybe not. I know Tyler was a piece of shit, but he was my friend. They were all my friends, and they're all gone."
"He was a piece of shit."
"I know. I was afraid of him," Connor confessed. "I was afraid he was gonna hurt Mom. I saw our house trashed, and the first thought that went through my head was that my best friend is gonna kill my mom? How messed up is that?"
"I'm not gonna lie, that's pretty messed up."
"Right? Still, we go back to school tomorrow, and I'm gonna be the guy with no friends. I always figured it's better to have piece of shit friends than no friends."
"You could always hang out with me and my friends."
Connor started laughing, "Yeah, right."
The two of them hadn't been close in years. Cody got why his brother would laugh at the suggestion.
"Seriously, we'll all be at Carter next year. This stupid stuff won't matter anymore."
"No, it'll be a whole new bunch of stupid stuff," Connor said. "Then again, those guys aren't so bad. That Nick kid is pretty funny."
Cody nodded. Nick was funny, a little annoying but funny.
"Besides, in a couple years, that Abi is gonna be hot!" Connor said with a wink.
That wasn't funny. Of course, judging from the smile on Connor's face, maybe it was a little. Cody feigned a chuckle as they got back up to his feet.
"Race you home?" He asked.
"You might be bigger than me, but there's no way you're faster than me," Connor said as he wiped the wet grass from his bottom.
"Am so!"
"Are not!"
"Not a freakin' chance-- go!" Connor shouted as he took off.
"Hey, you cheater! That's not fair!" Cody shouted back as he took off after his brother.
A heavy-set grounds crew member with a long, thick beard looked over and watched the Burks race away from the Hallow. He chuckled as he looked back down at the wreckage in front of him. While sweeping away a pile of rubble, something caught his eye. The crewman bent over and pushed away a bit of the blacked debris. He found a fairly intact mirror with a strange, blue hue. He looked deeper into the glass and a small set of white eyes appeared in the reflection and peered around the corner.
"Hey, you got something over there?" The foreman shouted.
The Djinn locked eyes with the crewman. Both seem surprised and weren't sure what to make of the other. Just as the creature was about to let out an ear-wrenching shriek, the crewman grabbed hold of his ball-peen hammer and drove it straight down, pounding the glass into nothingness.
"Hey, I'm talking to you! Did you find something?"
The crewman stood up and smiled to his foremen, revealing an abnormal set of buck teeth. "Nope. Not a thing," he said.
"All right. Let's get back to work."
"Yes, sir," he said.
The Crewman shook his head and sighed. He pulled back his orange hardhat and wiped the sweat from the crescent moon-shaped scar on his brow.
"Abracadabra," he whispered with a smile.
THE END
Author's Note
Before we go into anything, I want to say thank you for reading this book. What makes that so cool, at least to me, is that this wasn’t supposed to be a book. This was supposed to be a comic book miniseries. My brother and I conceived the idea of the story (a group of kids trapped in a haunted house with a family of vampires) way back in 2011. In 2014, we had an offer from a comic publisher but unfortunately, our artist, Matt Jordan passed away from a staph infection. It was terrible. I didn’t feel right going forward with this as
a comic without Matt with us. The thought of another artist interpreting Matt’s designs just seemed wrong.<
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After a few months, I decided to rework the story and try my hand as a novelist. It took awhile, but here we are! So, as part of a thank you for checking out this book, I’ve included this dropbox link.
In this dropbox folder, you’ll find all of the scripts, character sketches and finished art from the unfinished Hawk Hallow Comic Miniseries. It’s fun to see just how much the story and the characters have evolved and changed since their inception. Also included in that Dropbox is the audio commentary track that details the story behind the creation of this novel. The audio commentary track is a thing that I’ve always done in comics and was something I thought could be a cool way to look behind the scenes of Hawk Hallow. The commentary track turned out to be a little raw, as far as how honest and inside I got with the creation of this world. I’ve also gone through a ton of life changes since Matt passed away. I miss my friend, and I hope he’s proud of what we were able to do with this story. Please give it a lesson.
If you enjoyed the world of Hawk Hallow, please check out my new book, BLOODSHOT, available at Amazon. If you’re into comics, please check out DELUGE on Comixology. If you dig my stuff please consider signing up for my Advanced Reader Team and help shape the work. Being part of The Team really helps ensure that the best possible product is created.
Thank you guys again for walking through the Djinnisphere!
Be on the lookout for HAWK HALLOW: HOMECOMING coming soon!