“And,” Garth began over their noise, “to send this soul to Hell once and for all.”
The Demon stopped and uttered a summons from antiquity. Nick fell to the ground and slid to its feet. The Demon picked him up with a bloody claw and held him to Garth for confirmation. He endorsed my cousin with a nod.
“This is a weak soul. It does no magic,” bellowed the Demon. It threw Nick into the wall. He fell limply to the ground.
“Then take me,” Garth said. “An Immortal offering himself, his whole being, will be strong enough. I am sure of it.”
I collapsed in Bryant’s grip and wept so deeply, no sounds came forth.
“You dare?” hissed the Demon.
“I do,” Garth said.
“That has never been done, Guardian.”
“I know.”
The Demon purred with curiosity. It looked skyward and asked a question in a dead language. Bryant translated into my ear: “This Immortal seeks to bring down wandering souls and seal the cracks between worlds. For this he offers his existence. Do you accept his sacrifice?”
“No!” I screamed. Bryant held me tighter.
The Way replied with a deep tremor. The Demon grinned. “It is done,” it said. “The Challenger will challenge the Way no more…” It reared up in preparation to devour Garth.
“Wait,” Garth commanded. He turned to me. “This is for you. This is for all of us.”
He didn’t even get a chance to turn around and meet fate in the face. As the Demon was about to come down on him, Garth exploded into billions of particles of dust.
The Demon landed on the ground with a boom. “That one was mine!” it screamed to the Way. “That one was mine!” The floor shook once more, and then split. A light blasted through the crack and claimed the monster. A cold wind swept by us as the souls of the damned were sucked down behind it.
The last one to go down came from inside of Nick. His limp body heaved itself into the air. It contorted into gruesome shapes before falling into a jumbled heap of lifeless limbs. Nick, not my cousin, flickered eyeballs from under half-closed lids like someone experiencing the most horrible of dreams.
My world went dark. Every nightmare I’d ever had rushed past me and locked itself in Hell. I too felt myself slipping, like a toy boat towards an open drain. Bryant roped me in with his strong arms. His cold lips pressed through my hair onto my scalp, sending secret words into my brain. They came out like a melody without being set to music, lulling me into a sleep that was as clear and cool as his eyes. There were no visions or feelings or fears in that moment, just my soul and I taking a well-deserved retreat in preparation for the next leg of my life.
19. The Return of the King
The hospital room was expectedly bleak. The muted colors reminded me more of bile and pus than serenity and well-being. My gold face was turned a violent red from harsh soaps and my royal garb abandoned for a flakey hospital gown. A deep, clinical depression washed over me as I brewed in the foreignness of my sterilized skin, the crispy sheets and my memory-less brain. What upset me the most was not that I couldn’t recall how I ended up there, but that I’d ended up there at all. Garth wouldn’t have let that happen. Garth would have taken me somewhere anonymous, somewhere where I didn’t have to face realities like gay bashings and breakups and death. Garth would let me live in his faerie tale. Garth…
I couldn’t bring to mind all of the events in the tunnel. The sequence, the reasoning, and the visual of his destruction melded into nothing more than a feeling that forced my body into and intense, weepy catharsis. Both versions of my soul cried in that bed. Both love affairs were mourned. Both of his sacrifices were scraped deeply onto my insides, forming wounds that would never clot or scab or fade away.
A dry hand grasped my forearm. “You okay, Bub?” my father asked. He hadn’t called me that since I was a child. Or maybe he had. Every time I’d seen or spoken to him or my mother, I’d been distant. I wondered how much I’d actually heard them say in the past year. Their presence at the end of my journey marked my return to reality.
My father’s lips tightened as he tried to hold back tears that parental concern—no, parental love had prompted. To see his son laying so feebly in a cold hospital room was unsettling. What scenario had he constructed to explain my injuries? The tears he cried were the same tears he’d shed after I came out of the closet. They weren’t tears of anger for having a faggot son or tears mourning the end of our family name. Most parents don’t cry for those reasons. They may say they do but they don’t. They cry out of fear. Their tears acknowledge that their children will face adversity in a world that only pretends to be accepting.
This was a foreign sight for the soul inside of me. His father didn’t have the capacity for love that mine did. His father was the adversary my father was afraid of. As I watched dad cry for me, I felt the Prince squirm inside. He flinched with dread and burned with anger. But for the first time I felt in control of myself. “No,” I told the Prince. “He’s not like that. Those days are over.”
*
“You’re not coming back, are you?” Robbie asked me. We were walking through the state park near my parent’s house. Mom, Dad, and the dogs kept a few yards in front of us. Seeing Robbie was a welcome break from the much needed coddling my family had been providing. The incident, as they called it, was still not entirely clear to them. When pressed for information, I usually had a semi-breakdown that granted me a few days of peace before more questions edged their way into casual conversation. The emotional ruptures were attributed to a combination of being unable to deal with loss and the stress of trying to figure out what version of the truth was acceptable to my wonderful suburban family. I tried to paint myself as the victim of a hate crime instead of a crazy person trying to sacrifice himself to a Hell beast. One route would bring me sympathy and the other would bring me to an institution. I chose the first option.
“I don’t know if I can go back yet,” I said. “I don’t think I’m ready for that city again. Not yet, anyway.” I took in the tall pines and the unseasonably warm winter sun.
“Maybe it’s not ready for you yet, either. Your friends managed to lead a whole club full of gays to believe they were hallucinating. I think the club is under investigation.”
“You didn’t feel obligated to tell everyone the truth about their visions?”
“People already think I’m weird. Now it’s their turn. Let’s take baby steps in revealing the Way,” he said. His elbow grazed my arm in a slight act of intimacy. “So you’re not going crazy at home like you thought you would?”
“Surprisingly, no. I love it here. It’s my home. I’m going to stay a while and figure out what I want to do.”
“What do you think that is? Still want to act?”
“Absolutely not. I don’t need any more attention called to myself, thank you.” I started doing that thing where I let my eyes retreat to someplace else, hoping I’d disappear instead of divulging personal information. But Robbie was my friend, I could tell him. “I think I’m going to write. I have some interesting things to say, I think.”
“Interesting, bizarre…”
I gave him a slight punch in the arm. “Hey, it’s true.”
“I know,” he laughed. “I didn’t say it wasn’t. I think that’s a great idea.”
I smiled warmly at his dark brown eyes. They knew and loved me well. “Thank you for coming to visit,” I said.
“Well I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. I’ve missed you.”
I’d missed him, too. My head nodded down to his shoulder.
“I also wanted to offer my help, if you need it,” he said, turning slightly red.
“What, because Garth is gone you think I need a replacement?” The mention of that name, again, swelled my face and eyes with sadness. He let me brew in it for a second before I breathed the feelings back into the pit of my stomach. “I don’t need protection, sir.”
“I know. You’re very capable. Now that I t
hink of it, you’ve met your protection quota for your lifetime.”
“Two lifetimes, actually.”
“Yes, two. If a bullet comes your way, I’m going to duck. You’re on your own from now on.”
“Deal.” I let out a genuine chuckle, ridding my eyes of their remaining sad glossiness.
My hand took his and we joined the rest of my family on a trek through sandy trails and along iron-stained creeks. Was I meant to be there, in that forest? Maybe I should have been in the grandest city on Earth? Did I belong in 2009 or fifteen hundred years prior? Was I destined to be with him, a former lover? A new best friend? With my family? Maybe a vampire? A monster? A man? I didn’t know. How did a bunch of kids walk back through a wardrobe and resume life as…well, a bunch of kids? My childhood heroes couldn’t have got along without medication or therapy or ending it all, right? Maybe they couldn’t cope but I would. I had to. Life after magic had to stay just as magical.
The rules in which I’d once believed our world to exist within had been broken. The confines of old beliefs would do nothing for me anymore. No ancient witch or winged creature could tell me how to live and die, for that knowledge is too unique to harness. Each man’s course is different. Each man’s existence must be important. Time’s been slipping through our fingers since the moment we first became conscious. There’s no time left for wasting time.
The souls around me understand that. I look around at the people in my life and I don’t feel so crazy. The pieces of Garth that blew to the wind on that Halloween night were dispersed into them.
They think in ways no modern souls can.
They’re wise beyond the ages their bodies suggest.
They guard me after the sun goes down and while it blazes over our heads.
They count our love in years when they should be counting in centuries.
They may not realize these things but I do.
For the hands that I so often hold now are hands I know well, hands that are no longer set in stone.
The End
About the Author
Jeremy grew up in South Jersey, where his primary life goal was to become a mermaid. When that proved impossible, he decided the next best thing would be to move to New York City and study theater at Marymount Manhattan College. He lived an actor’s life for several years before he realized he’d be more satisfied as a writer. And he was. Besides fiction, he dabbles in essays, screenwriting, and illustration.
He shares an apartment in Manhattan with his best friends and a strange little dog. In Stone is his first novel.
Soliloquy Titles From Bold Strokes Books
Timothy by Greg Herren. Timothy is a romantic suspense thriller from award-winning mystery writer Greg Herren set in the fabulous Hamptons. (978-1-60282-760-8)
In Stone: A Grotesque Faerie Tale by Jeremy Jordan King. A young New Yorker is rescued from a hate crime by a mysterious someone who turns out to be more of a something. (978-1-60282-761-5)
The You Know Who Girls: Freshman Year by Annameekee Hesik. As they begin freshman year, Abbey Brooks and her best friend, Kate, pinky swear they’ll keep away from the lesbians in Gila High, but Abbey already suspects she’s one of those you-know-who girls herself and slowly learns who her true friends really are. (978-1-60282-754-7)
The Secret of Othello by Sam Cameron. Florida teen detectives Steven and Denny risk their lives to search for a sunken NASA satellite—but under the waves, no one can hear you scream… (978-1-60282-742-4)
Andy Squared by Jennifer Lavoie. Andrew never thought anyone could come between him and his twin sister, Andrea…until Ryder rode into town. (978-1-60282-743-1)
OMGqueer edited by Radclyffe and Katherine E. Lynch. Through stories imagined and told by youth across America, this anthology provides a snapshot of queerness at the dawn of the new millennium. (978-1-60282-682-3)
Sara by Greg Herren. A mysterious and beautiful new student at Southern Heights High School stirs things up when students start dying. (978-1-60282-674-8)
Boys of Summer edited by Steve Berman. Stories of young love and adventure, when the sky’s ceiling is a bright blue marvel, when another boy’s laughter at the beach can distract from dull summer jobs. (978-1-60282-663-2)
Street Dreams by Tama Wise. Tyson Rua has more than his fair share of problems growing up in New Zealand—he’s gay, he’s falling in love, and he’s run afoul of the local hip-hop crew leader just as he’s trying to make it as a graffiti artist. (978-1-60282-650-2)
[email protected] by K.E. Payne. Is it possible to fall in love with someone you’ve never met? Imogen Summers thinks so because it’s happened to her. (978-1-60282-592-5)
Swimming to Chicago by David-Matthew Barnes. As the lives of the adults around them unravel, high school students Alex and Robby form an unbreakable bond, vowing to do anything to stay together—even if it means leaving everything behind. (978-1-60282-572-7)
Speaking Out edited by Steve Berman. Inspiring stories written for and about LGBT and Q teens of overcoming adversity (against intolerance and homophobia) and experiencing life after “coming out.” (978-1-60282-566-6)
365 Days by K.E. Payne. Life sucks when you’re seventeen years old and confused about your sexuality, and the girl of your dreams doesn’t even know you exist. Then in walks sexy new emo girl, Hannah Harrison. Clemmie Atkins has exactly 365 days to discover herself, and she’s going to have a blast doing it! (978-1-60282-540-6)
Cursebusters! by Julie Smith. Budding psychic Reeno is the most accomplished teenage burglar in California, but one tiny screw-up and poof!—she’s sentenced to Bad Girl School. And that isn’t even her worst problem. Her sister Haley’s dying of an illness no one can diagnose, and now she can’t even help. (978-1-60282-559-8)
Who I Am by M.L. Rice. Devin Kelly’s senior year is a disaster. She’s in a new school in a new town, and the school bully is making her life miserable—but then she meets his sister Melanie and realizes her feelings for her are more than platonic. (978-1-60282-231-3)
Sleeping Angel by Greg Herren. Eric Matthews survives a terrible car accident only to find out everyone in town thinks he’s a murderer—and he has to clear his name even though he has no memories of what happened. (978-1-60282-214-6)
Mesmerized by David-Matthew Barnes. Through her close friendship with Brodie and Lance, Serena Albright learns about the many forms of love and finds comfort for the grief and guilt she feels over the brutal death of her older brother, the victim of a hate crime. (978-1-60282-191-0)
The Perfect Family by Kathryn Shay. A mother and her gay son stand hand in hand as the storms of change engulf their perfect family and the life they knew. (978-1-60282-181-1)
Father Knows Best by Lynda Sandoval. High school juniors and best friends Lila Moreno, Meryl Morganstern, and Caressa Thibodoux plan to make the most of the summer before senior year. What they discover that amazing summer about girl power, growing up, and trusting friends and family more than prepares them to tackle that all-important senior year! (978-1-60282-147-7)
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