The lantern was pristine looking, its bronze dull but unblemished and its glass fully intact, without so much as a chip or fracture. Thomas eyed the thing with more than a little suspicion. He remembered the last time he saw it, and he half expected it to flare into a bright ball of flame and reach out for him, but its appearance remained as it was. Cold and lifeless.
Kai sat the lantern on the table next to him, then dropped back in his seat and went back to his eating.
Thomas looked at Sophie, who stared back at him looking neither scared nor interested, only serious. He stretched out a finger and ran it along the metal top. It was much warmer than it looked, as if it had been burning only minutes ago.
“Like I said, not interested in selling, but feel free to get it looked at. Just make sure it makes it back to me in one piece.”
“Yeah,” Thomas said quietly, still transfixed on the mysterious object before him, “sure thing. Won’t make a scratch.”
28
As was becoming a new custom, the old Dodge rumbled to a stop at the end of Kai’s driveway and he jumped into the warm cab for the ride to school. There had been a moment of intrigue when he had reached the road, hoping to see the red Dodge of the retired cop parked across the street, but the house was silent, and no visitors were parked alongside the quiet home. Kai found himself to be just a little disappointed. Ms. Garret’s son was a blip on the radar, but even a minor adversary proved to be a fun distraction.
“What’s up, big fella?” Lee had a can between his legs and a bulging lip. As soon as Kai had entered the cab, he’d reached over and flicked off the truck’s heater.
“How’s it going, Lee?”
“Exciting! Looking forward to getting back on the project. I gotta say, we made good progress last night. I don’t think this thing is going to take half as long as I expected. Helped a lot having you there, I think. The guys all worked hard and had fun.”
“It went very well, I agree. You seem to know what you’re doing. The larger stones in the corners, the metal rod things . . .”
“Rebar,” Lee interjected.
“Yeah, and the wood mortared in for the roof. Good forward planning. I’m really happy to have you for this, Lee.”
“Shit, Kai, like I said, it was fun. Hell, I’m half-tempted to try to drag a few of the guys out of school early to get a jump on it. We could have the roof framed up by this weekend.”
“The faster the better. I can find another ride home, no worries there. I’ll bring pizza with me.”
Kai leaned his head back and stared up at the truck’s roof with a satisfied smile on his face. He spent the next few minutes in silence, just analyzing the patterns of aging on the roof and feeling suddenly fond of the old truck. Nowadays, everything was so sleek and modern. Cars were made with lighter materials and everything was covered in leathers, fabrics, and paneling. It was a sign of the times. Computers ran vehicles now, just like everything else. Progress, as some thought of it, was marching on. Making lives easier, as most would profess, but really only causing more complexity, in his opinion. He found himself longing increasingly for a simpler life. One without vehicles or computers, without phones or televisions. A life where he could have his own tribe and each member of the tribe would have worth and importance. Him being at the center of it all.
“Rise and shine, O’ Great One. We’re here.”
Kai shook himself out of his fanciful ruminations as Lee pulled the old Dodge into a spot up front in the senior parking section. He thanked Lee for the ride and walked on through the double doors and into the usual chaos of a Friday pre-bell morning. Making his way through the crowd, he approached Jenny’s locker, looking forward to seeing the sizzle of electricity that always sparked through her eyes when they first confronted each other each morning. She wasn’t there. He scanned the length of the hallway, looking for the telltale sign of her auburn hair jumping out from the crowd of browns and yellows, but no flames stood out from the earthly crowd.
He turned back toward her locker, where he recognized two girls that normally huddled with Jenny in the mornings, but when he asked about her, he got only shrugged shoulders and shaking heads.
“If you hear from her, let me know,” he said, and they nodded eagerly.
The rest of the morning went on much the same way, with Kai checking her locker in between each of his first two classes and her friends giving the same puzzled looks in response to his inquiries. His concern grew, though he knew that missing a day of school wasn’t something to be overly distressed about, but he had a growing sense of foreboding about her sudden and silent disappearance. He estimated that it was a ten-minute walk to her home from school and during his third period class he resolved himself to slipping off-campus and making a surprise visit.
When the bell rang signifying that class was over and the lunch period had begun, Kai dumped his English book off at his locker and glided out of the doors to the school and hit the pavement in long-strides. His footsteps came fast, crunching along the shoulder of the road in a quick and rhythmic beat. Every vehicle that passed by, he expected to stop, as some interfering adult would roll down their window and ask him why he wasn’t in school, to which he planned to reply with a polite “go fuck yourself” but nobody stopped him. Before long, he was walking up to the familiar two-story home.
Without pause he marched right up the walkway and rapped sharply on the front door. For a time, seconds that stretched on to hours in his perception, he was greeted by only silence. Then a sound echoed out of the dead silence, a thump, then a couple more light thumps, and finally, heavy and labored steps approaching the door.
The hand turned, snapped back to neutral, then turned again more thoroughly and the door slipped open with an exaggerated creak. Two lifeless and bloodshot eyes stared out at him without a glimmer of surprise or distress.
“Yes, of course. I knew before I got up from the desk it would be you. Judgement’s arrival in the form of a dark demon.”
“You look tired, pastor. Have you been up all night?” He hoped to hear that the overbearing preacher had been up tending to his sick daughter, but tendrils of paranoia were slowly winding themselves through his thoughts and he feared much worse. Had the man found out? Overreacted in a fit of rage? Kai thought he seemed capable.
“My sleep patterns are of no concern to you, young Succubus. Now, if you came to say something, have it said, then remove yourself from my porch. I have work to do.”
Kai didn’t know what a Succubus was so ignored what he assumed was an insult or some type. He tried to peer through the door but saw little of the dark interior behind the large form of Jenny’s father. Briefly, he thought of yelling for her, but his reason overrode his nervousness and he refrained.
“I came to check on Jenny. Is she here?” He rubbed at his chest, something felt off. Inside, the thumping of his heart was coming in irregular patterns.
The glassy red eyes stared back at him, and Kai was suddenly struck by just how haggard the man looked. His normal composure and well-manicured image were in tatters.
“My daughter is here. But she cannot speak.”
Cannot speak, he thought. Was that the same thing as cannot speak right now?
The choice of words haunted him and once again his fear threatened to override his senses as he struggled against the urge to burst through the door and check on Jenny’s welfare. He tensed and waited, breaths coming through quick and short. Strangely, he was feeling a little light-headed.
The edge of panic softened, just enough.
“Please tell her I was asking about her.” He trusted himself to say no more, nor to remain in front of the door, so tantalizingly close to the girl he loved. He turned and began to make the short trip back to school, wondering what was wrong with him. What might be wrong with her.
“Kai.” The voice came out as a croak, as if the effort to call out to his retreating form were nearly too much. “You have not forgotten about tomorrow, I hope? Seven o’clock.”
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Kai didn’t answer, merely pulling a hand from his chest to wave back in acknowledgment and continued.
“We shall cleanse you, one way or another,” the ragged voice muttered.
Thomas rang the doorbell again and rapped at the door with the back of his right hand, then stared through the peephole, knowing it didn’t work backward but feeling like he needed to do something to pass his time waiting. Under his left arm was tucked a medium-sized box.
“She’s probably just writing in the back room. Let’s give her another minute.”
James grunted then took a couple steps back to look over the house. He hadn’t seen it in the daylight. It was a beautiful home, though not of an elaborate design. A sprawling ranch house with full brick facade on the entire front, wood windows, and an ornately carved wood entry door. He pictured his own tiny apartment that was not much more than a rear commercial space converted into liveable quarters.
The echo of footsteps approached, and the door swung open. Sophie stood there in black yoga pants and a small green and blue T-shirt that had the number eighty on it. Her dark hair was tied up on her head in a swirl of random knots that somehow looked fashionable.
“About time, sis. Working out?”
She stepped aside to let the men pass. “Sorry, boys, had my headphones in while I was working on a sweat. I didn’t realize I was expecting company. What’s the occasion? Did you do it?” She dipped her head down toward the box. “Is that it?”
Thomas looked both nervous and excited, his handing coming up to rub absently at the large scar along the side of his face. “Initially I took it to James’s place, but before we did anything, I realized that we were leaving out a big piece of the puzzle.”
“What? What are you missing?” Her eyes were wrinkled in concern and she looked back and forth between the two men.
“You,” James said with a harsh little laugh.
“You’ve been affected by this more than anybody else. Kai is your son. Seemed wrong to do it without you. This could finally bring an end to . . . whatever this is.”
Sophie looked down at the box in a look that said that there could be a head in it, for all she knew. “I’m not sure I want to be around when you destroy that thing. Maybe nothing happens. Maybe something crazy happens. I’m not sure I could stand it, either way.”
“C’mon sis. This needs to happen. We all need closure.” He grabbed her by the hand and led her through the back of the house and out the rear sliding door, where he left her standing on the patio. Off to the left side of the yard was a small wood shed that looked nearly identical in finish to the main house. Beside it was a small stack of firewood. Unlatching the shed door, he stepped inside for a moment, then returned with an almost obscene smile and a splitting maul held victoriously in his left hand. Walking back over to join Sophie and James on the patio, he dropped the box unceremoniously to the ground where it thudded with a metallic rattle and lay quiet.
“Do you wanna pull it out, sis?” He stood back, both hands gripping the maul in front of his chest, the blunt side of the tool facing forward.
“No. Honestly, I don’t.” She stared at the box and took four long steps backward, until her back bumped up against the glass door to the house.
James stepped forward, popped open the top of the box, and after staring at the lantern for a long few seconds, reached in and pulled it out. His forehead scrunched up and he nearly dropped the thing on the ground at his feet. “It’s really warm.”
“Not for long,” said Thomas. “Step back, James.” He was staring at the lantern now, licking his lips and wondering if he were about to be burned alive.
James did better than take a step back. He took a few steps back, coming to a stop when he bumped the door next to Sophie.
Thomas gripped the smooth handle of the splitting maul. “It’s now or never. If anybody has any objections,” he looked over at them both, “just keep them to yourself.”
He raised the maul high overhead, intending on a deathblow. He wanted the first strike to be a vicious one, just in case the damn thing sprang to life. The hammer end of the tool came down hard and fast, crashing dead center into the top of the brass lantern. There was a small flash, then nothing as the thing folded in beneath the weight of the blow in a small explosion of glass and metal.
Sophie let out a small scream as tiny shards of glass blew out over them, rattling against the door. After a moment, she peeked out between a small crease in her hands and waited to see what would happen.
The lantern sat still and dead, a tangle of twisted golden metal roughly half the size now as it was before. All the glass was now gone, and bits of its frame stuck up at sharp angles.
Thomas gave it a kick, sending it rattling across the concrete. Nothing happened. He glanced at Sophie, then walked forward and bent down to reach out slowly with his right hand. When his finger touched the metal, he heard Sophie let out a small gasp.
“It’s cold.” He looked at Sophie, then at James. “It’s cold! I think it’s over, Sophie. I think this madness is finally done with.”
The short walk back to school proved to be much more challenging for Kai then it had any right to be. Each step took a focused effort on his part and his breathing became gradually more labored. What should have been a ten-minute walk was stretching out to three times what it should be.
On the way to Jenny’s house, he had feared getting stopped and reported for leaving school grounds, a fear that had proved baseless. Nobody had stopped him. Now, on his return, when his fears were non-existent, there was one person that stopped, only not for any reasons concerning his delinquency. An altruistic old man in a gold-colored Buick pulled up next to him and rolled down his window as Kai was struggling to pick up his pace and failing.
“Say there, young fella, you don’t look like you’re doing so well. Why don’t you slide in and let the old Buick do some of the work for ya, eh?”
Kai looked over at the old man, trying to judge through his bleary eyes if this was a guy that looked like a creeper or was just some kindly old chap doing a good deed. The man was clean-cut, no shaggy beard or tussled tufts of hair, and had deep laugh lines etched on his weathered face. He judged him harmless and made his way slowly around the car and into the passenger seat. The car was clean and tidy and smelled faintly of vanilla and spice.
“Thanks,” was all he managed as he settled in.
“Eh, it’s nothing on my part. Got nothing going on anyway, do I? Pinnacle of my day, my post-lunch drive. If I got nothing going on, I can move about to see the goings on of others, can’t I? Sure I can,” he said, answering his own question with a chuckle. “Now, looks to me you got yourself a touch of something viral. Young buck like you, should pass on no problem, but it’ll go a little easier I suspect if you’re resting someplace instead of out on a walkabout! So where do you lay your head at?”
Kai contemplated whether to return to school or to ask the man to take him on further toward home. He felt a chill run the length of his body and he curled into himself. It was a sensation that was completely alien to him. “My home, please.”
He gave the man directions and the car rolled on without any form of complaint from the old man at the prospect of a fifteen-minute drive.
“Name’s Alan. Won’t ask to shake your hand. We’ll forego the formality this time, eh?” Instead of a handshake, Alan reached over and turned the heat up to high. The hot air blowing out of the vent nearly made Kai sigh with pleasure.
“Kai,” he said weakly, and the old man nodded and drove on.
Kai passed the time in a state of half-sleep, aware of the soft hum of the Buick’s wheels on the road and the pleasant vibration the car made, but oblivious to nearly anything else other than his own jumbled thoughts. He wondered at what might be wrong with him and realized that he couldn’t ever remember being sick before. Sickness was only a thing that other people talked about but which he couldn’t relate to. He thought about Lee and his crew and wondered if they w
ere getting an early start to the building. He thought of Blaine and his easygoing charm, and of Dennis and the wolf’s coat he wore.
Then he thought of the Other. That raging beast from his dreams, rampaging through another place and time, bringing devastation and thirst of conquest. Emerging from those dreams left Kai with a similar craving. The desire to possess others and bend their wills toward his own. The feeling had come over him more frequently of late, but now the idea made him sick.
Kai looked over at the old man, Alan, who drove along slowly but surely, both hands on the wheel and humming a song that Kai didn’t recognize.
“Alan?”
“Eh? Out of the dark and into the light is it?” He giggled in a dry old man’s way, then continued humming lightly.
“Are you a good man?”
“Ha! Well isn’t that a tricky question to spring on me? Some might say so. What’s in the heart can be dark sometimes, but it’s light you cast that determines the truth of it. I like to think I cast a little light when I can. Them are some deep thoughts for a young fella such as yourself. Trying to find your way, is that it?”
Kai stared out at the rolling asphalt and thought about Alan’s response. “I guess you could say my heart has been dark sometimes, too. Only I’m not sure I realized it until now.”
For the first time since he started the conversation, Kai saw the old man’s eyes turn toward him, just for a moment, then they were glued to the road again.
“Well, recognizing it is half the battle. Keep an eye on the dark, it will sweep up on ya if you don’t. Cuts you off from those around you, that’s how it gets you in the end. But those is just the ramblings of a lonely old man, young Kai. You’ll find your way; don’t you worry about it none.”
Kai stared down the road and blinked to clear the blur from his eyes. His driveway was coming up and he pointed it out. “There.”
“No kidding. Right across from Old Ironsides place, eh? That Ms. Garret, a handsome woman in her day, but never was one to offer a man a smile.”
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