by John Wilson
Howard watched in paralyzed fascination as the island grew, shedding water in falls that would have dwarfed Niagara. For the first time, he grasped the size of the island ruins being forced up from the ocean’s depths. The scale was horrifying. Who raised single blocks the size of entire buildings? What required city streets wider than six-lane freeways? And the perspective was alarmingly wrong. A pillar became a street. A road bent back on itself in endless, impossible loops. A solid black block of stone was also a cold, dark cave. A three-dimensional shape projecting toward Howard one moment became a recess leading his eye into the far distance in the next. In the center of everything was the arch.
Howard blinked repeatedly to try to clear his overwhelmed brain. The ruined city had ceased rising, but the hill behind it continued to swell. In captive horror, he watched as the hill unfolded. A colossal fin expanded from the summit. Then two wings—ragged drapes hanging from skeletal arms—unfurled and swept wide until they cloaked the city below in shadow. The hill had become a head—although not like any head Howard had ever seen before or even imagined. A vast mass of writhing tentacles sprouted from where a neck should have been. They reached out over the city and into the surrounding ocean.
Howard couldn’t look away. As the mountainous thing stood up, he saw a node at the base of the twisting tentacles. It was elongated and vaguely rounded. As he watched, slits on either side opened, and two malevolent blood-red eyes stared straight at him.
Even the power of Hei’s magic could not prevent Howard’s mouth from opening and his panicked scream from escaping. He wanted to close his eyes—to shut out what could not possibly be—but he had to watch. He had to because this gargantuan nightmare climbing from the primordial ruins was coming closer.
Howard’s mind teetered on the cliff edge of madness. A part of him wanted to fall into the abyss, to find the blessed escape of a mindless insanity that could hide the horror before him.
Then he heard the voice inside his head. “When that which is far comes near.”
“What?” he managed to croak out.
“Say it, Sheepherder.”
“When that which is far comes near.”
In his panic, Howard couldn’t remember the next line. The monster’s bulk now completely blocked the moon, and there was a tentacle snaking through the water toward him.
“That which is closed may open,” said the voice in Howard’s head.
“That which is closed may open,” Howard repeated.
“When worlds bleed one through the other.”
“When worlds bleed one through the other.”
“That which cannot is.”
“That which cannot is.”
“Doors that the power of the moon may open.”
“Doors that the power of the moon may open.”
“The power of the sun shall close.”
“The power of the sun shall close.”
Around Howard a shimmering globe like the one that had forced the water out of Leon’s house was slowly spreading. It flashed and glimmered uncertainly and seemed pitifully weak compared to the forces pushing against it, but Howard felt his body loosening. He could move.
“Keep saying it,” the voice in his head ordered as the gruesome tentacle smashed against the expanding globe, sending a shower of sparks down into the water.
Howard began again at the beginning. “When that which is far…” As he continued to intone, he turned and forced his way through the squirming ocean life that was clogging the water between him and the shore. Cate was standing at the edge of the stone circle, yelling at him to hurry. She had been replaced on the altar by Madison, who was holding Heimao in her arms.
Hei and Leon stood together at the water’s edge. Next to them were the foul creatures, their arms spread wide and their cowls thrown back to show their disgusting heads. They were staring out to sea and chanting, “Cthulhu! Cthulhu! Cthulhu!”
They ignored Howard as he pushed past them and embraced Cate. “Thank you,” he mumbled.
“We don’t have time,” she said, ignoring his gratitude. “Be angry.”
“What?” he asked.
Cate’s face twisted with rage, and she punched Howard hard on the chest. “For God’s sake, why am I stuck with such a wimp?” She hit him again, even harder. “Your life’s a mess, and I’ve made it worse. Why aren’t you angry at me for bringing you here? Madison’s right—you’re such a dork. You deserve to have Leon make your life miserable. Your mom’s a nutcase, and your dad went mad and left you. You’re a pitiful excuse for a human being. I don’t know why I ever thought I could rely on you for anything.”
Howard stared at her openmouthed. “That’s not fair!” he yelled.
“Keep reciting,” the voice ordered.
Howard glanced over Cate’s shoulder and saw Heimao’s green eyes blazing with light. He forced himself to say the words even while a different part of his brain realized that Cate was right. His life was miserable, and he should be angry at all the things that made it so—especially his dad for deserting him. His fists clenched and unclenched with rage, and his voice rose as he repeated the stupid rhyme.
“You’re right it’s unfair!” Cate howled at him. She hit him again. “Why can’t you get angry at all the people who have messed up your life? Any normal person would. They hate you. They despise you. They think you’re a worthless geek. Fight back. Hate them.”
Every muscle in Howard’s body tensed. Wrath, rage, fury—all swirled through him. Cate was right. He wanted to hit something. He wanted to kill something. He had never been so angry in his life.
“Turn around,” Cate ordered, roughly grabbing his shoulders and turning him back toward the ocean. He tried to resist, but she was surprisingly strong. He was about to lash out at her when he noticed the air. All movement in front of him had stopped. It was as if he were looking at a scene painted on glass. He could see everything, but it was two-dimensional. The horror on the island was motionless—but the glass was rippling in an odd way. Confusion edged into his brain, displacing some of his anger. The ripples became more intense.
“We’re not strong enough to hold it,” Cate said. “Run!” She grabbed Howard’s arm and hauled him in a stumbling sprint toward the peninsula.
Howard shook off her grip, his anger still overwhelming him. “You’re the one who got me into all this. You’re the one who’s crazy. Leave me alone. Why should I listen to you?”
“Because if you don’t,” Cate said calmly, “we’re all going to die and the world will end.”
Howard could see the creatures still chanting at the water’s edge. Out on the sea, the image on the glass was twisting and rippling like crazy. He was distracted by Heimao rubbing against his ankle.
“Keep reciting,” the voice in his head insisted. “And go to the ship.”
The shimmering glass melted into a curtain of fire. Howard’s anger was replaced by terror when he saw how close the monster and the island ruins were. The tattered wings formed an arch that reached almost over the beach, and the tentacles probed the water close to the shore. The chanting became ragged. One tentacle, as thick as a man’s body, snaked out of the water, waved in the air as if sensing something and wrapped itself around three cowled creatures. The others screamed and scattered as the three victims were whipped effortlessly into the air and dragged out beneath the waves.
The scene gave Howard the push he needed, and he broke into a run. Heimao was out in front, Cate was by his side, and Madison was close behind. Trying desperately not to think about the tentacle or the screams, he ran as hard as the loose stones allowed.
As they turned onto the peninsula, the ground hardened and the running became easier, but Howard didn’t think his body could hold out much longer. He was hauling great gasps of air into his tortured lungs, but it did little good. His legs were weakening, and he was wobbling from side to side. The white ship was very close, but did it matter? One of those tentacles could smash the ship to splinters in seconds. And eve
n if they did escape, where could they go? Cthulhu was free.
Howard’s legs gave way, and he collapsed onto the beach. “What’s the point?” he asked when Cate tried to haul him to his feet.
“That’s the point,” she said, pointing to the island.
“It’s the end of the world. I don’t want to watch it.”
Heimao jumped onto Howard’s lap and flexed her claws. “You just want to lie on the beach and feel sorry for yourself? Watch!”
Reluctantly Howard lifted his head and peered out to sea. Then he jumped to his feet, his aching body forgotten. “The monster…it’s smaller!”
“It’s a matter of physics,” Heimao said. “Things farther away look smaller. I suspect even Madison knows that.”
“Why? What happened?” Even as Howard watched, the horrifying creature continued to shrink. Its tentacles barely reached a third of the way to shore now, its wings were folding up, and its head was shrinking back into the hill.
“Two things happened,” a different voice said.
Howard turned to see Aileen standing next to the white ship.
“The ritual was not completed,” she explained, “and you moved away from the power of the stone circle. That weakened the portal.”
A slimy tentacle broke from the sea and crashed onto the shore three feet from Howard. It moved around as if searching for something to hold on to.
“Of course, the portal’s not completely closed,” Aileen added. “Perhaps we should get on board the ship.”
Howard needed no more encouragement.
AYLFORD
THE WHITE SHIP
Howard and Cate sat in the bow of the white ship as it sailed away from the peninsula. Both were relieved to see that they weren’t heading for the island. There was no sign of the monster, but they could still see the ruins and the threatening black arch.
“I wonder where we’re going,” Howard mused.
“As long as it’s away from Hei, Leon, the beach and whatever the thing that came out of the island was, it works for me,” Cate said. She looked back over the deck of the ship, where Madison sat contentedly against the main mast, stroking Heimao. Aileen was standing near the stern, a thoughtful expression on her face.
Howard looked up. The sails were billowed and the ship was moving rapidly over the calm sea, yet there was no crew and he could feel no wind. It was one more inexplicable thing, but he was happy that it didn’t seem dangerous. Safety was something to be treasured after what he had just been through.
“Did you mean those things you said on the beach?” he asked Cate.
She looked at him and smiled. “Of course not. I wanted to make you angry.”
“Why?”
“To freeze what was happening and give us enough time to escape to the ship. Your power is always there, but it’s like a pan of water simmering on the stove. It needs to boil to reach its full potential, and strong emotions are the way that happens. I’m really sorry—especially for the thing I said about your dad.”
“Does that mean you don’t think I’m a wimp?”
“No!” Cate’s smile broadened, and she hugged him. “I think you’re the most wonderful, balanced person I know.”
“Strangely enough,” he murmured to the top of Cate’s head, “a lot of what you said was true. Deep inside, I know I should stand up to Leon more, and I do have unfinished business with my dad.”
Cate lifted her head and looked at him.
“Okay,” Howard said, taking a deep breath. “This probably isn’t the best time for a therapy session. But I feel surprisingly calm, considering what just happened. It doesn’t even bother me that I have no idea where we’re going.”
“Sanxingdui.”
Howard and Cate turned to see Aileen standing behind them.
“That’s in China!” Howard exclaimed. “It’ll take us weeks in a sailing ship.”
“If this were a sailing ship, yes. But do you see a crew? Do you feel a wind?”
Howard looked over the empty deck. “No to both questions. Why are we going to Sanxingdui?”
“So you can go through the arch.”
“But wasn’t the arch back on the island?”
“One of them, yes,” Aileen said.
“Is there more than one arch?” Cate asked.
Aileen hesitated. “Not really. At any instant in time there is only one arch, but the arch has existed for millennia. That’s a lot of instants. The arch on the island existed long, long ago.”
Howard’s head was beginning to hurt. “So does the arch appear on the island every few hundred years or something?”
“Not quite. You see, the arch is not always in the same place. In your world, it appears to move in time.”
“So will it be somewhere else tomorrow?”
Aileen shook her head. “It doesn’t move that fast. We’re going to find the arch when it was accessible from Sanxingdui.”
“You just said when it was accessible from Sanxingdui,” Cate remarked.
Aileen’s smile broadened. “I did say that.” She looked at Howard. “I never said we were going to Sanxingdui in the future.”
Howard’s headache was getting worse. “The past? But time travel’s impossible.”
“There you go again, Sheepherder—calling something that is obviously happening impossible,” Heimao projected from Madison’s lap.
Howard ignored her.
Cate took his hand. “I thought we were past the stage of thinking things are impossible.” She turned to Aileen. “Okay, you’ve told us where we’re going—Sanxingdui. Next question. What time period are we going to?”
“Around four thousand years ago.”
“That’s imp—” Howard stopped himself before he received another reproof from Cate.
“Better,” Heimao said.
“So if we can go through the arch in Sanxingdui four thousand years ago,” Cate asked, “where and when does it lead?”
“It leads to R’lyeh, where time means nothing.”
“Isn’t that where Hei said the Ancient God lived?” Howard asked.
Aileen closed her eyes and recited:
The Ancient One in R’lyeh lies,
Shrouded in deathlike sleep.
If death shall die and
Baleful dreams awake,
Then sunlight, eon-aged and luminous,
Must bright the dreadful ink-dark streets,
B’yond eldritch vaults of time.
And one, from abyss black
And prehistoric depths, must call
The prime of three to bind once more
The sundered chains of sleep
Upon the ghastly Ancient One.
“What does that mean?” Howard asked.
“These words are instructions,” Aileen said. “They tell you how to return Cthulhu to the state it was in before. It’s not the Elder Gods you need to fear. They are, as Cate so creatively put it, the humans coming out on the patio to thoughtlessly kill the ants. No, the Ancient One is what threatens the ants on the patio.”
Howard’s sense of calm safety was sliding away. “And this Ancient One sleeps in R’lyeh, and that’s where we have to go?”
Aileen nodded.
“Is R’lyeh the ruined city on the island?”
“Part of it is,” she said.
“What do we do when we get there?” Howard felt he had nothing to contribute but questions.
“I don’t know.” Aileen looked sad.
“You don’t know! But you’re coming with us, right?”
“I can’t. The powers of light and dark must be in eternal balance. If one becomes too powerful, it feeds power to the other. If I take on your task and use what power I have, I will simply feed the power of dark. So I must be careful. All I can do is advise and point you in the right direction. Hei must guard against the same thing. When he opened the portal in Leon’s house, he sapped his own strength and increased mine. That’s why he stopped short of calling the Ancient One himself. If he had do
ne so, he would have given me immense power. He had to use you to call the Ancient One.”
“And you’re going to use me to stop him?”
“I hope so.”
“That doesn’t sound very encouraging.”
“I’m sorry, Howard. This is the best I can do.”
Howard already felt defeated. “Why me? Why do I have to be the one to do this?”
“Because you always have been. You have no choice.”
He watched Aileen head back to the stern of the ship, nodding to Madison and Heimao as she passed them.
“It’s not fair,” he said. “I never asked to become involved in all this. Why can’t someone else be given the job of saving the world?”
“No, it’s not fair,” Cate agreed. “But that’s the way it is. There is no one else.”
“Will you be coming with me?”
“Of course. And”—Cate glanced over her shoulder—“I suspect Madison and Heimao will be there as well.”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Heimao said. “Or should I say ‘the dimension’?”
Howard and Cate sat back and watched as the ship sped farther out to sea. It had sped up, but its movement remained smooth, and there was still no wind blowing. It seemed as if they were skimming across the tops of the waves rather than plowing through them. Only minutes earlier Howard would have thought this impossible. Now he simply accepted what was happening and pondered other things.
“The Golden Mask was broken thousands of years ago,” he said eventually, “and the pieces were hidden somewhere, right?”
“Yes,” Cate said.
“And you told me that if the mask was broken and lost, then the portal to the Realm of the Elder Gods was closed—meaning that none of these monsters could come through into our world.”
“That’s true.”