by Brian Harmon
Eric raised an eyebrow. “‘All?’”
“All the fantastic creatures that wash up out of the lake,” he explained. “I take them. The ones that survive. I’ve always had something of a gift with animals, but when it came to these incredible beasts…” He spread his hands. “They do whatever I want them to. And in return, I keep them alive.”
Eric looked at the hellhound, surprised. Keep them alive? “Wait…what?”
“The environment here is much different from what it is in their world. The journey alone kills most of them. Of the survivors, only a few live more than a few minutes. The lucky ones can survive a few days at most. But once I’ve bonded with them, they can stay alive indefinitely.” He looked down at his four-legged companion. “This one, for example, should’ve died many years ago.”
This explained the creature’s sorry state. It looked like death because its ticket was way overdue for punching. And then there was the business with the burning spirit… That hadn’t done it any good.
“It’s only my power that keeps him from extinguishing.”
Eric stared at the creature’s burning eyes. “Extinguishing?”
“They have a curious biology,” explained Fettarsetter. “They literally run on a sort of furnace, deep inside their guts. It’s fascinating, really. You can actually see the heat and smoke rising from their throats if you look closely.”
Eric recalled the way the ostrich monster fogged up the glass at the cabin with its breath, and the steam that trailed from the shallows walker’s jaws as it rose from the water. It was strange to think that those beasts all had a small inferno burning in their bellies, but anything was possible given that they were from an alien world with a vastly different ecosystem and, for all he knew, entirely different laws of physics.
“They burn even hotter as they get farther past their death, like this one. Even his eyes are glowing now. If kept alive long enough, he might even spontaneously combust.”
That was why Jordan had never noticed the creature’s eyes glowing before. It was a new stage in its torturous existence.
“I should probably just let the miserable thing go, but I can’t. He’s my favorite. I like having him around. He’s very useful.”
Eric had no doubt. Clearly it had the nose of a bloodhound, even in its advanced, zombie-like state. It was how they’d followed him here. It was also why it never seemed to catch up to him. He’d thought it was the triangle that was slowing it down, that the compass was giving him just enough of an advantage to stay ahead of the beast. But the truth was that its master had held it back, giving him time to navigate all the way to the bottom before they revealed themselves to him.
“But we can talk about pets later,” said Fettarsetter, turning his face forward again. “Right now, I think we have a more pressing matter to discuss.”
Eric looked up into the darkness before them. That terrible, shadowy presence loomed over them.
“It’s almost time,” said Fettarsetter.
“I know.”
“You can’t see them, but they’re right in front of us. We couldn’t see them even in broad daylight, but they’re as real as the earth beneath our feet. Tiny tears in the universe, just big enough to create an occasional hiccup when something ventures too close.”
Eric glanced at him. “Like a hellhound or a man-eating fish?”
“Or you and I if we were stupid enough to walk right up to one. It would suck us in like a black hole and spit us out on the other side. The journey alone would almost certainly kill us. In the highly unlikely event that we survived, the harsh atmosphere and unbearable conditions on the other side would finish us off. But if we could survive all that… Well, there’s a whole world over there, isn’t there? The ultimate frontier.”
He made it sound like a trip to Neverland. But Eric was quite content to stay here and grow up. “What about the worm?” he asked.
“The worm is neither here nor there,” replied Fettarsetter. “Neither is it exactly in between.”
Eric blinked several times as he tried to process this. But no matter how hard he tried, it didn’t compute. “You lost me.”
The creepy smile had a matching creepy smirk, it seemed. “No doubt,” he replied.
He didn’t pretend to be smarter than this guy, but he was smart enough to know when he was being insulted. Why did crazy, evil people always have to act like they were so much smarter than him? Did he really look like such an idiot?
“The worm exists in a place that is simultaneously the foundation and the outermost rim of all combined existence.”
“‘Combined existence?’”
“Not merely all the universe, but all the universes that exist, have ever existed and will ever exist.”
“Oh. That makes sense.” It didn’t really, but he wasn’t going to say so. “Except… How can the worm be in the outermost rim of all combined existence if it’s right here?”
“I said it was both the outermost rim and the foundation. It’s the farthest possible point from anywhere and yet it’s also always right beneath our feet.”
“How does that work?”
“It works perfectly well when you abandon the notion that the laws of nature and physics are not the same outside of our limited scope of reality.”
Eric couldn’t argue with that, he guessed. He only barely understood it. If his fascination for books hadn’t included a healthy interest in science fiction, he wasn’t sure he’d have the imagination to grasp any of it.
Fettarsetter looked up at it again. “The worm, like its home, exists ambiguously. It’s out there somewhere, in the distant void at the farthest reaches of all places, but it also shares a sort of orbit with our world and the one on the other side of these tears. We’re all linked together. It’s always been that way.”
“Always?”
“Always.”
Eric ran a hand through his hair as he tried to comprehend all this. “Then how do we get rid of it?”
Fettarsetter turned and looked at Eric now. “Not ‘we,’” he said. “You. Isn’t this what you came to Hedge Lake for?”
Eric turned and stared at him. “What?”
Fettarsetter smiled. Was it possible that it was even creepier than all the smiles that he’d smiled before it? “I knew you’d come, you know.”
Eric didn’t have to feign bewilderment. He was practically bursting with the genuine thing. How the hell could this guy have known he was coming? Even he didn’t know he was coming until he started having the damn dream.
The rain had been reduced to a drizzle, but he barely noticed. His eyes were fixed on Fettarsetter as he turned his face back toward the worm and said, “I have a theory about the universe as we humans know it.” For some reason, it made his skin crawl to hear this man refer to himself as a fellow human. Perhaps he was being a little overly judgmental…but he didn’t think so. “I believe that it’s impossible for our world to survive on its own. We, as a race, should’ve died out by now. But we’re still here.”
“We’re a pretty stubborn species,” offered Eric.
“Yes. But not stubborn enough to survive our own stupidity and greed. Not to mention our ignorance.”
He shrugged. “We’re not all bad.”
“Enough of us are. The fact is that we shouldn’t be here now.”
Eric thought that if this was true then they simply wouldn’t be here now. The very fact that they were standing here having this insane conversation was proof enough that this theory was a load of crap. But he decided not to push his luck by saying so.
“I believe that there are god forces out there. Conscious beings of a higher plane responsible for the continued existence of our flawed race.”
Eric nodded. “God. I think most people believe in Him in some form or another.”
“Maybe,” said Fettarsetter. “I’m not concerned about who or what these god forces are. All I’m looking for is proof that they exist.”
“Proof of God?”
&nbs
p; “Or gods. Or sub-gods, or demi-gods. Angels or demons. Something. I’m simply talking about god-like forces. Something greater than man. I’m not here to squabble about religion, Mr. Fortrell.”
“Me either,” Eric quickly agreed. “So you intend to find this proof…um…how, exactly?”
“I’ve already done it,” he replied. “You are the proof.”
Eric stared at him for a moment, bemused. “What?”
“My grand experiment is finally coming to an end.”
“What grand experiment?”
He thrust one long, bony arm out at the empty darkness in front of them. “The worm. It’s attracted to high levels of spiritual energy. The death and tragedy that’s taken place over the centuries, the spirits that have been trapped here, accumulating for millennia. That’s what’s drawing the worm here.”
“Wait…” Eric’s head was spinning. He couldn’t seem to comprehend it. “You knew this was happening?”
Fettarsetter laughed. “I made it happen.”
“What?”
“I’ve been manipulating the events of the triangle for years. I’ve studied it. I was the first to find a way to navigate it, over a hundred years ago.”
Eric had to let this sink in for a moment. “That’s…”
“Impossible? We both know you know better than that.”
Eric closed his mouth. It was true. He did know better. But still… “How?”
“I don’t know. I should’ve died at least two centuries ago, but I just keep going on. It was my first clue that something was amiss in the universe.”
That would be a pretty big clue.
“I was the one who found this lake. I was the one who realized what it was. The natives that were here before me, they sensed the worm. They thought it was a dark god they needed to appease. They practiced human sacrifice for millennia, too ignorant to understand that they were only luring it closer. It was no different than pouring blood into the sea. No god would come, but the sharks would be drawn. The more people they murdered the closer it came, the stronger it felt, the harder they tried to pacify it. They practically eradicated themselves in the process. They were stupid.”
“So you just continued what they started?”
“Oh, I don’t think they started it. The worm, itself, was always here. This is simply the point in our universe that comes closest to it. But something happened here at some point in time, something that stopped the natural flow of spiritual energy. I don’t know what it was, but I think it would have to be something extremely profound. I don’t think the natives were capable of anything like that. I think it must’ve been someone who came before them. Someone…or something…in the distant past…”
Eric recalled Cordelia mentioning something about older, wiser and greater races than man, beings capable of creating gateways between the worlds. Was this what he was talking about? Had some mysterious, powerful race visited this lake in ancient times? Did they do something to this place? Could they be the reason Hedge Lake was now so saturated with spiritual energy?
He remembered Jordan telling him that it was different when you died here, that there was something in the lake that wouldn’t let you go where you were supposed to go. This must’ve been what she was talking about.
“But yes,” said Fettarsetter. “I continued what they started. I tended the spiritual energy here, kept it stoked up, made sure it continued to grow.”
Eric felt numb. “You were Jeremiah Bog…” he realized.
Fettarsetter’s smile was definitely the creepiest one yet. There seemed to be genuine evil behind it. “Him and many more.”
“You killed all those people? For an experiment?”
“More often than not, the triangle killed people on its own, actually. I’m not sure it even needed me. But I did speed things up a bit. Over the years, I cared for it like a garden. I watched it grow. I saw it change.” There was no remorse in his voice. Not even a hint of it. Instead, he actually appeared to grow excited. “As the worm drew closer, the triangle grew deeper. The very landscape began to transform. The lower levels actually resemble the world on the other side now. Did you notice those trees back there? Fascinating things. Some kind of strange hybrid. I think they’re related to a bigger variety I found once when—”
“So you’ve been calling the worm all these years?” blurted Eric, still trying to understand how this man could justify the things he’d done.
Fettarsetter had let himself get carried away talking about his “grand experiment,” but now he composed himself and nodded. “Yes.”
“Why? What can you possibly have to gain from that?”
“Proof, of course. You.”
“What could I possibly prove?”
Fettarsetter sighed. He looked disappointed in him. “The experiment was very simple. I bring the world to the very brink of destruction and then push it over the edge. Not just to the event horizon, but all the way past the point of no return. I can’t hold back. I have to be willing to destroy it all. If the universe works the way I believe it does, then something must happen to put things right again.”
Eric couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He was willing to destroy the entire world for the sake of a stupid theory? This guy was insane! “But you said it was about the worm! You said you’d been waiting your whole life to see it.”
“It is about the worm. It’s the worm that’s going to prove my theory. In the final moments before this world’s utter destruction, something amazing will happen. A miracle. The god-forces will have no choice but to reveal themselves to me, one way or another.”
“And what if you’re wrong?”
“Then the world ends, obviously.”
“And you with it.”
“Maybe. Hard to say. I’ve lived this long without finding death. Maybe I’ll walk away from it. Or maybe I will finally die. And I’ll do it spectacularly. Either way, I call it a win.”
Eric shuddered at the calmness in this man’s voice. He really believed all of this stuff.
It was starting to become clear that he was wrong about Fettarsetter being an agent. If what he was saying was true, he didn’t work for anyone. Even the mysterious, nameless organization, in all their evildoings, wouldn’t have tolerated such a dangerously extreme gamble.
They were evil, not suicidal.
“But I’m not wrong,” said Fettarsetter. “If my theory was correct, then in the eleventh hour something unexpected would happen. And it did. You showed up.”
“Sounds like a coincidence to me,” said Eric.
There was that smirk again. “No. You arrived when you were most needed. And you survived everything I sent to kill you.”
“Wait… That was all you?”
“And you even managed to make it all the way here to the bottom of the triangle.”
“You were trying to kill me?”
“I told you, I had to be willing to do everything in my power to bring about the end. That included stopping anything that might try to prevent me from carrying out my goal. Just like I stopped that couple who came snooping around last December.”
“A couple?”
He shrugged, indifferent. “From Detroit, I think. They rented a cabin from me this past winter. The woman had a gift. A special sense. Naturally, she started snooping around. I thought for a while that she was the one who would prove my theory. But they both died just like everyone else.”
Eric felt sick. He was talking about the bloody woman. He killed her. He killed both of them. It was even his cabin.
“I didn’t think they had anything to do with my theory…but I was wrong, wasn’t I?”
“Were you?”
“Was it her gift that made her different when she died?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” said Eric, but he didn’t think his poker face was very convincing. The bloody woman was the one who called out to him. Somehow, she’d reached all the way to Creek Bend, all the way into his dreams, to summon him here. She showed him her u
nspeakable death…her bleak December…and clearly this man knew that. Why else would he have quoted that line from Poe’s most famous poem?
“I kind of think it was,” decided Fettarsetter. Clearly, he wasn’t buying that Eric was too stupid to understand what he was talking about. “I think she was as much a part of it as you are. It just happens that she played her part more than four months after her death.” Again, he smiled that creepy smile and said, “I wonder which side of death you’ll play your part on.”
Eric stood his ground and said nothing. He thought he remained remarkably well-composed, given how terrible that question was.
Fettarsetter narrowed his eyes and considered him. “Where, precisely, did you find that compass?”
Eric’s hand crept instinctively to his pocket, where the watch rested. “I just found it,” he lied. The one major piece of this puzzle that this guy didn’t seem to have was Cordelia. And he wouldn’t be the one to give it to him.
“Hm,” was all Fettarsetter said. Then he turned his attention back to the worm again. “Doesn’t matter. You have it, even though I hid it deep inside the triangle, in a place where no one should ever have been able to find it.”
“Weird,” said Eric, his voice intentionally flat.
“The experiment is almost over,” said Fettarsetter.
“Almost?”
Another of those creepy smirks crossed his face. “Well…” he said. “You still have to actually stop the worm.”
Eric turned and looked at that imposing shadow again. At that moment, the rain began to fall. It came down slowly at first. But it quickly grew into a raging downpour exactly like the one from his vision.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Eric’s heart was pounding again. This was it. The time had come. But he still had no idea how the hell he was supposed to stop this thing.
If Fettarsetter could be believed, it was the spiritual energy that was drawing the worm in. It was attracted to it for some reason. Maybe it fed off it. It didn’t matter. If the worm couldn’t be moved, then the only thing he could do was divert its attention…which, of course, he had no idea how to do.