by Zeller, Jill
“Me too.” Sawyer’s voice was rough, but he was making the attempt.
Jonah picked up one of the bicycles. “We’ve got to get going. Maybe we can pick up their trail in the City.”
Sawyer looked at me. “We were just in the City. Are we going back?”
I shook my head. “Not to San Francisco. The other City.” I took the bike, and Mae pushed the other to Sawyer. “Did you see them there?” I asked Jonah.
Mounting, I started to pedal, Pepper trotting beside me. On the other side Jonah floated, keeping pace. Glancing back, I saw Sawyer following on his bike, Mae gliding at Sawyer’s right hand, hair and gown maintaining their rippling effect but not blowing as they might from her forward movement. I had to look away, the sight was so strange.
“No,” Jonah answered. “But I’ve heard they were seen. Dominique, with three others, two girls, a boy—”
I swallowed. “Zoe, Agnes, and Bruce.”
“Yup, and one other. A man in a lab coat.”
I nearly fell off my bike, caught myself, kept pedaling as Jonah’s words sent needles through my brain. “My dad?”
Croaking, I had to cough.
Jonah shrugged, the wall sconces floating past us as we went. “I think so, Annie. What does that mean?”
I had to think about that one. The more this horrible situation unfolded, the more I realized that I knew nothing about my father. Frederick Novak was a complex man; I could just glimpse one layer of personality before he stripped it off and showed me another. Was he helping Dominique in her plan to open the Portal for her ready supply of Bijou? Allowing her to wait at the portal like the proverbial spider, to trap the newly dead or worse the not-so-dead-yet, and grab their Bijou Xtra?
But why would my father assist Dominique in destroying his own grandchildren? Is he thoroughly amoral, interested only in his own research? Or is it something else? Protecting the family Bijou from Dom? Joining up with her to betray her later?
My head ached with both trying to understand and my own growing exhaustion. On a good day, I could cycle a century. I had done it several times. My average just for fun was sixty miles round trip, depending on the route’s difficulty. But right now I felt as if I had already ridden one thousand miles uphill in low gear.
Sawyer was in no better shape, but he kept up with me. Lucky for us and our wiped-out state, the tunnels were level. It was one of the anomalies of the Underworld that its territories did not exist in space, or maybe even time. They just were.
Jonah muttered to himself as he flew beside me. “I’ll kill your sister. What did she think she was doing, taking Zoe with her to see a Delphine? If anything happens to my girl I’ll make Ivy’s life a living hell.”
She’s already started down that road, I thought mournfully. I was angry too, but I didn’t share with Jonah. Ivy had meant well, in her own crazed way. She had, I surmised from her mumbling, tried to get Dominique to accept her as the sacrifice for the opening of the Portal. Why Dom refused her, I didn’t know. Perhaps Ivy’s blood was too old or sick. Dominique just wanted Zoe because Zoe is mine. My fingers itched to take her by the throat again.
But why Agnes, her own daughter, and Bruce—Ivy’s son? A metal bar tightened around my skull just above my eyebrows. The scorched smell burned into my nostrils, as if Hollis were trying to get inside my head.
Jonah glanced at me. “Who is that?”
He meant Hollis, of course. “You can see him?”
Jonah squinted, wrinkled his nose. “It’s a he? He’s like a black nothing, a hole, a nil. It’s hard to look at him because you feel like you are being suctioned into an endless black hole. Sometimes—like now—he takes the shape of a human being.”
A chill ran up my back, drained strength from my legs. Behind us I could hear Sawyer and Mae talking amiably. Did Mae know Hollis traveled with us? “Hollis was one of my friends from high school. He’s a—well it’s hard to explain. I don’t think there’s a name for what he is. He was coming to see Ivy about something when his bike went out of control and hit our tree.”
Jonah’s eyes grew round as I explained about how Ivy took Hollis’s soul when he was in a state far from death. “Annie, I think he’s trying to get a message to you.”
A smile tugged at my mouth, not a happy smile. I patted my pocket where Hollis’s Bijou still resided, and Jonah nodded. “Oh.”
We were quiet for a while. I was concerned for my ability to keep up this pace. Riding was like prayer for me, meditation. All was in sync, body, mind, blah blah. But a black kernel of anger stubbornly clung to me. I fed from it, drawing fuel. But it would burn out soon, I knew.
Soon, there was no conversation. Sawyer and I could only think about continuing, forcing on. Pepper panted heavily, dropped to a walk, then trotted to catch up. I drew again and again on my reserve of hatred for Dominique to give me strength. The silence weighed on me, green darkness pressed around us, and Hollis would not let me be, buzzing incessantly around me like a black fly.
I would have cycled straight past the opening but for the ghosts. Mae called out to me, and I wove to an uncertain stop. I was afraid to stop, afraid that I would be unable to get going again.
The tunnels of the Underworld never strictly adhere to place. They are fluid, repositioned by desire and hope. As we rolled I told Jonah of my plan, with Mae listening as she glided behind us. We had been cycling maybe an hour when we came to the intersection I wanted and I rode straight past it.
I had to lean against the wall for a moment, my knees Gumby-like. Sawyer rested heavily on his handle-bars. Hollis manifested as a black glassy shape, nauseating in the way he—or it—shifted shape and depth at the same instant, a dizzying optical illusion.
“Annie, are you OK?” Sawyer’s voice spun in my head in changing frequency, like an incomplete cell connection. I tried to nod, I think I nodded, at least.
Jonah, were he flesh, would have held me up. Sawyer took me by the arm, Jonah took the bicycle, and we turned into the corridor that would lead to my father’s fortress.
Chapter Thirty
Hollis’s Bijou
I don’t know how I got there, in the care of ghosts and a dog and a man who bravely walked into Hell for love. Drawing on my hatred for Dominique, I was able to focus, pushed Hollis to one side so that I could see, and looked across the dark plain to the rising halls of the Novaks in Hell.
A light burned inside, visible like a weak orange star. Summoning strength from at the sight of my father’s dwelling, a man I could also readily despise, I mounted and we started toward the doors.
Above the milky sky whirled in an agitated way. Wraiths accompanied us, and the place smelled of electricity and energy, as if we were inside a vast cyclotron. Something was afoot in Hell.
It was very cold. The sweat on my back turned to ice. By the time we arrived at the great doors, Sawyer was blowing on his hands.
Pushing the doors so they slammed against the obsidian walls, I entered my father’s house. The little trailer stood, light burning in a welcoming way, in the center of the vast hall. Without a word I coasted to it, laid my bicycle gently on its side, and opened the door.
Of course, he wasn’t there. He was with Dominique. Was he trying to protect Zoe and Bruce, Agnes too? I hoped that was the case, that he actually cared for the living, not only the dead.
The Bijou, too was gone. Of course he wouldn’t leave that here unguarded, and I had not counted on getting any of it, but a small hope lingered that he might have unaccountably left some here.
“Pepper. Pick up the trail. Where are they?”
Pepper’s ears pricked as she whined and cast the air for a scent. Mastiffs are not tracking dogs, as a rule, but Pepper was special. I remembered thinking that as I sank onto the seat of the breakfast nook and found that I couldn’t move.
Sawyer knelt beside me. “God, Annie, you look terrible.”
“She looks like shit, I think.” Mae floated somewhere off to my right; I could just make out the ebony
trails of her gown floating in and out of my vision, blending in a disconcerting way with Hollis’s schizo formations.
Jonah’s face floated very close to mine. He seemed to be able to penetrate the shifting black shadows, and drill straight into my brain. I remember thinking, I love you, Jonah, but I wasn’t sure I said it aloud.
“Annie,” Jonah said, his blue eyes staring into mine, enveloped by black. “Hollis needs to tell you something.” Jonah’s face faded, and I heard voices, and felt someone’s hand go into my pocket. By the time I reached to stop them, it was too late.
A vortex of tonal shades obscured all my vision, gave me the sense of motion forward at a dizzying speed. In the kaleidoscopic center a phial appeared, Hollis’s rainbow Bijou Xtra; inside, through the amber, I could make out a struggling shape, and I felt as if a big fist had taken hold of my heart and mashed it. Hollis, inside there, begging to be let out, drowning in a pool of soul.
Voices around me, urgent, urging. Fingers on my jaw, sure and strong like a dentist, then, an icy ping on my tongue, cold, heavy molasses from a deep well that spread, more feeling than taste, coating my tongue and slaking my thirst.
A buzzer sounded in my head. Black spirals broke, cleared. My headache and heartache vanished, and I came to myself lying on the vinyl-covered breakfast nook of my dad’s camping trailer, looking up at a vinyl-covered ceiling.
Sawyer, Jonah, Mae peered down at me. Pepper under the table, big head bumping its underside, licking my cheek.
I sat up. My legs were springs, dark shadows drained away. I saw the phial in Sawyer’s hand, the stopper removed. “NO! You didn’t!”
“Annie.” Jonah pushed in front of Sawyer, nudged him out of the way. Mae squeezed in behind. “Hollis wanted you to have it. I figured out what he was trying to say. You need it. You have to be strong and get Zoe out of danger. You need it to be able to stay in Hell as long as you need to find Dominique.”
Mae tilted her head, nodding her sweet, pointed chin. “SW should have some too. He’ll really need some.”
Behind and through the two ghosts, I saw Sawyer shake his head. Well-being flooded me, and I pushed myself to my feet, arms and legs tingling, all pain and exhaustion vanished. I could even see better, every object outlined with brightness.
“They’re right.” I took the phial from Sawyer, who, seeing me, looking me up and down, lips parted in amazement, nodded. “Listen. This is the only time ever. It feels wonderful. I can attest!” I wanted to shout it, but I needed more control. “This is never right. We are granted a privilege no one else can ever rationalize. The free gift of Bijou Xtra. Atoms of Hollis’s soul, our friend giving us this essence of his own free will.”
I held the phial. The jumping form was gone, but the sharp dark star of Hollis’s bitterness remained.
Sawyer accepted the droplet. We watched as his skin color melded from gray to pink, lines smoothed and his shoulders straightened. He looked hale and strong, almost fearsome. I knew how he felt.
One more task before we could go. I wasn’t certain how it was to be done. I had no guidebook or map, I didn’t know if it had ever been accomplished before now.
Mae watched me. I could see her thoughts run across her face, as if she knew why I was hesitating. “Pour it in this.”
She lifted a flask from the trailer counter where Dad had set up a little laboratory bench. She set it down on the table.
I did this thing. Hollis’s soul poured like mercury, quivered in a gelatinous pool in the bottom of the flask. The black blot what was Hollis arrowed in, slipped inside, spread itself on the shifting substance. All we had to do was watch.
Bursts of black gas and sparks filled the flask. As it flowed upward through the neck we stepped back. A rich, deep smell came with it, like rotting leaves. I felt myself shivering; elation filled me, and before I knew it, I had taken Sawyer’s hand.
Above the flask a shape appeared, sifting shades and tones, the rainbow liquid Bijou transformed into a rainbow cloud shot with black holes. It molded itself into the compact physique of Hollis Bettencourt.
He was unlike any ghost I had ever seen. Not living colors like Jonah, or gray/black tones of Mae, but a shifting array of color. It was difficult for me to look at his face as lines of gold and red and green cycled through it. But I could make out his eyes and nose and mouth, everything crisp and narrow and slim, like Hollis always was.
“Wow.” His voice was gravelly and hoarse, like a bad cell signal. “Dude, that was a trip and a half.”
“I’m sorry for what Ivy did. She made a mistake.” I itched to be on my way, but I had to say it. If Hollis stayed angry at the Novaks forever, we deserved it.
“Jesus, I thought she was going to help me, but everything went black and then—it’s hard to explain, like I was all anger and nothing else.” He smiled, and I saw rainbow teeth edged with black. I had to look away.
He continued, “I spent all that time trying to get her attention. The hole in the wall. That was me. You thought it was Mae. And the tree. I mean, my resources were kind of limited.”
I shook my head. “Sorry, Hollis. We were too dense to figure it out. And all this stuff going on with Mae kind of distracted us.”
He fell silent. A faint crackling, like static, filled the trailer. Hollis shrugged his cloud-shot shoulders. “Well, this is better than what I was going through. At least I can talk now. Hey-Mae. You look pretty good as a ghost.”
“So do you, H.” Mae was easily 12 inches taller than Hollis. It was good to see them together again. With a shock I realized the four of us were here together again in this small place. Mae and Hollis, at the same instant, looked at Sawyer and me, then down at my hand holding his. We let go at the same time.
“We need to get going.” I felt good now. I could ride that bicycle through all the levels of Hell, down to the ice caves of Lucifer, if necessary, to find my child. Mae floated before me as I started toward the trailer door.
“Wait. There’s still a drop of Hollis’s Bijou here. We can’t leave it.”
She was right; a tiny pearl of the stuff lingered inside the flask. Why hadn’t he scooped up all of it? Hollis nudged Mae aside. “Oh, I almost forgot. It’s like forgetting what memory is, but that’s for Ivy.”
Huh? I had to stare at him for a moment, drinking in what he just said. “For Ivy?”
“Listen, lame brain. Figure it out. I know what’s going on. I might have been elemental dog shit for a while, but I get it. You and Sawyer needed a boost to get you through Hell long enough to get your kids back. Ivy is really sick. Bruce is right. That little bit of me will help. A lot.” He crackled as he moved back toward the table. “Put it back in the phial and bring it along.”
“Wait.” Jonah pushed past all of them. Worry flashed through me. I hoped he wasn’t going to flare into one of his infamous jealous scenes. “I have a better idea.”
With relief I watched him dash outside. I only hoped it wouldn’t take too long. Every second lost took my Zoe farther and farther away.
We waited. Sawyer impatiently followed Jonah, and I watched through the trailer window as he paced back and forth on the obsidian floor. After several minutes, he poked his head back through the door.
“Annie. We have to get going. We can’t wait for him any longer.”
I knew Sawyer was right. Sighing, I carefully slid Hollis’s last bit of Bijou back into the phial, stoppered it firmly, and slid it into my pocket. Then Hollis, Mae and I left the trailer. Closing the door behind us, I bent over to pick up my bicycle; the desire to move, be, experience everything was almost overwhelming. People would sell their children to maintain their supply of Bijou, this rare and beautiful drug. I would forever be in Hollis’s debt for this gift.
“Jesus Christ.” Sawyer backed into me. “What the fuck is that?”
He pointed toward the fortress gates, no, above them. Seeing what he saw—my eyesight so good now I could see that above us was not a ceiling but a velvety black mist—I laughed out lo
ud.
Sawyer looked at me as if I had lost my mind, whirled, and bolted inside the trailer. But I got on my bike and rode toward Driselda, Chloe and Sam, the friendly Harpies. The three of them glided in behind Jonah, who ran toward us with no noise in his furious movement, just like a silent movie.
“Annie! They can help us.” Jonah buzzed around me as I made widening circles on my bike. “We need a way to get the kids out of here. The girls can bring the trailer, with you inside, and all your dad’s supplies. Who know what we might need when we find Dominique.”
“You are brilliant!” I would have kissed him, were he flesh.
Jonah floated away, leading me back toward the trailer. “Get inside. Let’s fly.”
I pushed my bicycle inside, and Sawyer grabbed it, glancing over my shoulder as the three Harpies walked up to the trailer like giant multicolored crows. Handing him the second bicycle I came in and fastened the door behind me.
“Harpies,” I said as Sawyer bent down to watch then through the window. “They are going to help.”
“I’ve never seen Harpies who looked like models before.” Sam, the one with the really huge boobs, hopped onto the trailer tongue and grasped it with her claws. Behind us, we heard a scrabbling noise, and saw a pair of massive talons easing in through the louvered window.
The hall echoed with the flap of their wings as they rose from the ground, carrying the trailer between them. The floor beneath us rocked up and down like a vessel in a storm. Beakers, flasks, graduated cylinders crashed to the floor. To keep from getting bruised and beaten, Sawyer and I climbed into the nook and held on to the table.
Once we had gained altitude, the ride leveled a little and we risked a look. Below us the fabric of Hell unfolded.
“Nine leagues he traveled, the North wind licked at his face
dense was the darkness, light there was none,
neither what lies ahead nor behind does it allow him to see.”