by Ike Hamill
Trina approached carefully, but the giant only had eyes for the little girl in Mary’s other hand. The girl let out a piercing shrill shriek as the giant took Mary’s offering. It lifted the girl high in the air. It held the defeated body of Vernon the entire time.
Trina found the lights quickly on Mary’s shoulder. April converged on them with the knife. Trina took it and slammed the point between the three lights. It shocked her briefly as the lights flickered out. Mary slumped down. Trina turned for Jenny’s mother and saw that April was off again.
Above her, Trina was a little relieved when the girl stopped screaming. The giant was lowering her little feet into its mouth.
Trina couldn’t watch. She rushed to help Lily.
Jenny pointed to her mom’s forehead. She was protective of her mother when Trina raised the knife. Trina shoved the knife in anyway. After a quick zap, Jenny’s mom fell over and Jenny pushed Trina away so she could take care of her mother.
Trina stood up.
The giant was eating the girl.
She didn’t seem to be in any pain. She cried silently as her legs disappeared into the thing. Vernon was hanging limp in its other hand. The monster tossed him to the side and he flew several yards before landing in the bushes.
“We have to wake him,” April yelled. She was hovering over Ricky’s body. “He must be the first. He borrowed my book. He’ll have the words to destroy it.”
Trina didn’t know what she was talking about, but she circled the fountain to go help.
[ Axe ]
Gerard burst from the building and ran across the asphalt. He was holding a shiny axe. The tool looked like it had never been used before. As Trina reached Ricky and April, she took a second to watch her cousin. He didn’t slow down. He jumped into the fountain and slogged through the yellow stuff. When he got close enough, he planted his feet and swung.
Gerard started chopping at the giant’s leg like he was trying to fell a sturdy tree.
Meanwhile, April was patting Ricky’s face and begging him to wake up.
“Lift him,” Trina said.
Ricky’s head flopped back as they lifted him under his shoulders.
“Ricky,” she said to him.
The giant was batting its free hand at Gerard, but he was too quick. Every time the thing tried to swat him away, Gerard would duck. She wasn’t sure if his axe was doing any damage to the giant’s leg.
“Ricky!” April said. “Ricky wake up. You have to take control of the Ceremony.”
Trina was about to give up. Across the fountain, Lily was trying to wake her mother. It might be time for Trina to rescue Lily and get them away from the giant before it turned its attention to the rest of them.
Ricky’s eyelids were fluttering. His head bobbed and he lifted it upright.
“The Ceremony of the King’s Flame,” April said.
Ricky moaned. Both women shook him gently until his eyes stayed open. Gerard was still chopping. The giant was still eating the little girl.
“It already happened,” Ricky said. He looked up at the giant and his mouth fell open. “Where am I?”
“You have to control the demon, Ricky,” April said. “You’re the one who called it, so you can control it.”
“It wasn’t supposed to do anything,” Ricky said. “The center was empty.”
Chapter 57 : Dunn
[ Epiphany ]
“NO,” RICKY SAID. HE realized just how wrong he was. The center of the pentagram was never empty. He had set his computer in there so he could read off the foreign syllables of the incantation. He had reached into the center to wake up the computer when the display went blank.
Instead of providing it an animal to use as its minion, Ricky had given it technology. He had let the demon infect the electronic devices, and then he had let it into himself. He had given it everything it needed.
“No,” he said again. “It’s my fault.”
“It doesn’t matter,” April said. “Just order it to stop.”
“Stop?” Ricky asked. “It can’t be stopped. Once it feeds, it can’t be stopped.”
The little girl’s long hair disappeared into the demon’s mouth. The demon turned and looked down at Ricky. Gerard took another swing with the axe and saw that his time was up. Gerard dropped the axe and tried to run. The demon swung a giant fist and sent him flying.
The demon smiled and the blood swirling under the surface of its form came to a stop. As it stepped forward, the thing’s skin solidified and began to brighten. Spots of normal-looking skin appeared and grew rapidly as it strode forward. Ricky’s horror deepened as he looked into the demon’s eyes. They transformed from hollow, black holes to bright white flames.
Aside from the glowing eyes, the face of the demon bore a striking resemblance to Ricky’s brother, George.
“Yes, Ricky,” April said. “It can be stopped. As long as it doesn’t leave the harvest it can be stopped.”
“The harvest?”
“The flesh of the unholy, Ricky, the fountain. Order it to stop before it leaves the fountain.”
Ricky took a second to understand what she was saying. He thought about the book and the description of the Ceremony. He had spent most of his effort learning the calling of the purple flame. This part of the ritual was a dim memory.
The demon strode forward.
“Ricky! Order it.”
“Stop!” Ricky said.
The demon stood up straight and the smile disappeared from its mouth.
“Tell it to kneel,” April said.
Ricky swallowed. His mouth was so dry that the word croaked out from his throat.
“Kneel.”
The demon lowered itself down to its knees and sat back on its heels. Ricky tried to stand up straight, but a sharp pain from his leg nearly toppled him.
“Go back to where you came from,” Ricky said. He tried to look the demon in the eyes, but they were too bright. He couldn’t focus on those white flames for long.
“Richard Virgil Dunn, this is where I came from,” the demon said. Its lips parted as the skin finished covering its head. The demon smiled at him. “But it’s not where I will stay.”
“No, you stay,” Ricky said. “I order you to stay.”
Ricky turned to April. “What do I say?”
“Make it destroy itself,” April said.
“That won’t work,” Ricky said. He stole a glance at the demon. It seemed to be enjoying the conversation he was having with April. It smiled and looked between them.
“How do you know it won’t work if you don’t try?” April asked.
The demon sighed and pushed itself back to its feet.
“I’m growing tired of this, Richard Virgil Dunn,” it said. Ricky looked up at it. The demon was enormous. It was an enormous, grownup version of his little brother. Ricky’s eyes grew wide as he realized the implication. He looked around the fountain until he saw the collapsed form of his mother. He tilted his head back up to the demon.
“You took my brother?” Ricky’s hands clenched into tight fists.
The demon smiled down. “George Vernon Dunn became a part of me, as did Lori Alexandra Jankovic, and Kirk Peter Hilliard, and…”
“Stop!” Ricky yelled. He stepped up onto the lip of the fountain and locked his eyes with the demon’s blazing orbs. “Give him back.”
“Give who back?” the demon asked, tilting his head.
“Give me my brother back,” Ricky said. He stepped down into the fountain and circled the demon. The giant turned to watch him as he moved. Ricky reached down and picked up the axe that Gerard had dropped when the demon had swatted him away.
Ricky raised the axe above his shoulder and stalked forward. The demon put its hands up and dropped into a fighting stance. The thing was enormous compared to the approaching young man.
“Give me my brother back,” Ricky said.
“Be careful, Ricky,” his father said. Vernon was stumbling from the deep grass over near the rocks.
“Don’t do it, Ricky,” Trina said. “It wants you to attack.”
There was movement all around the circle of the fountain. Lily and Sarah had roused Lily’s mother and they were helping her get away from the action. Gerard was limping back towards the fountain, dragging his bad leg. April picked up the knife and ran to Vernon. She pressed the knife back into his hands.
Vernon took the knife and proceeded on his course. He stepped over the lip of the fountain and formed a triangle with his son and the demon.
“Use your words, Ricky,” April shouted. “You called it. You can send it back.”
“You’re wrong,” Ricky whispered. He advanced and swung his axe at the thing’s ankle. Aside from its size, it almost looked human. The skin was too pink and too new to look real. The head of the axe swung through empty air. The demon lifted its foot at the last moment.
Vernon used the opportunity to attack. He circled the demon and slashed at its thigh. He drew blood. When the thing turned and reached to snatch Vernon with one of its giant hands, Ricky swung, catching it in the forearm.
The axe stuck, wedged in bone. The demon turned away from Vernon. Ricky held onto the axe handle and was lifted out of the fountain as the demon rose up and spun.
“Remember the Ceremony, Ricky,” April called. “There should be a passage to reverse everything.”
Ricky couldn’t think. He was holding onto the handle and looking down at the ground below. His father was hacking at the demon’s leg. Holding Ricky in the air by the axe, the demon reached down and grabbed Vernon with its other hand. As it lifted him, Vernon stabbed into its flesh with his knife. The thing’s flesh was real now. Its wounds were real as well.
Trina came over the side of the fountain and grabbed one of the demon’s legs. She wrapped herself around the leg and beat at the muscle with a fist. Gerard limped into the fray as well. He grabbed the other ankle and tried to drag it to the center pedestal of the fountain so he could hang on.
Ricky couldn’t keep his grip. His hands slipped as the demon thrashed. He splashed down in the yellow liquid and looked up at the towering giant. The thing was bleeding from his father’s cuts. The axe hung from its forearm. A rock sailed over Ricky’s head and he looked back to see his mother. She had woken up and started chucking rocks at the demon.
April rounded the fountain and spoke to Ricky over the wall.
Ricky tried to get up as he saw what the demon was doing. Despite his father’s work with the knife, the demon was lifting Vernon towards its mouth. It tilted back its head and opened its jaws.
“It wants you in the circle, Ricky,” April said. She put a hand on his shoulder. “It wants you to attack so it can feed on you. It can’t leave the circle until it has had enough to feed on.”
Ricky wanted to run forward and grab the axe again, but he understood the logic in what Ms. Yettin was saying. The thing was powerful enough that it could have shaken off the attack and left. For some reason, it stayed.
“Find the words,” April said. “You have to remember the words.”
Ricky forced himself to think back.
[ Preparation ]
He had been talking to the thing for nearly a year—he realized that now. Every time he whispered to himself and managed to levitate an object, he was actually whispering to the demon. It was reaching out from wherever it came from and manipulating his world. He thought it was doing his bidding, but was it? Or was it using his mental energy as a conduit between worlds?
It didn’t matter. What mattered was the language. Some part of him already knew how to speak to the thing. He had done it dozens of times. Every time he wanted to do one of his special magic tricks, he had called on the demon. Maybe he could work his brain into that same state and control the thing now.
Ricky whispered to himself in that same trancelike way.
He felt Ms. Yettin’s hand fall from his shoulder.
Ricky rose up to his full height and then realized that he was still rising.
He was doing it—he kept whispering and felt himself levitate out of the stinking fountain.
The demon locked its glowing orbs on Ricky. It closed its mouth and dropped Vernon. The demon rose up too. The others were forgotten.
In his nearly-silent whispers, Ricky spoke directly to the thing in its language.
“I order you to go back to where you came from,” Ricky said.
The thing spoke. Its booming voice was a foreign tongue. The sounds were too odd to come from a human mouth. Ricky heard a softer version in his head. He understood that version.
“You called me, but you do not command me,” it said.
“You cannot survive without me. I will destroy myself and destroy you at the same time.”
The thing grew still and regarded Ricky carefully. Ricky could see the eyes behind the burning light. The thing was afraid, but it was doing its best to hide that fact. It took Ricky a second to realize why—by venturing into this world, the thing had extended itself and become vulnerable. It might be impervious to Vernon’s knife, but it was tied to Ricky. It needed him in order to survive.
“Your parents will suffer twice today,” the demon said. “Let me on my way and I will spare them. I will take my dominion away from here and you can live your life in peace.”
“There is no peace with you in this world,” Ricky said. It was something he had read in Ms. Yettin’s book. The words hadn’t meant much at the time. They made perfect sense now. This creature was not of this world and its presence would bring unimaginable chaos, no matter where it founded its kingdom.
Meanwhile, Ricky’s plan was working. The demon didn’t seem to realize that it wasn’t the only force from its world that could extend fingers into Ricky’s reality. The two of them were rising from the fountain. They were being lifted.
Ricky thought about the magic trick at the park. Something from the demon’s realm had wanted Ricky to die even then. It had tried to take him away and only his parents had saved him from that fate. By saving Ricky, they had doomed everyone. Now Ricky had the chance to set things right.
Ricky glanced down and saw that they were high above the golf course. He could see the whole town spread below them.
The demon saw Ricky’s attention waiver and followed his gaze down. The demon’s shock was short-lived. Its surprise turned to a smile.
“You’ve forgotten my minions,” the demon said. “With help from your cabal, I have an electronic army. The demon raised its hands. Ricky looked down and saw a hundred black dots swarming below. They moved like a flock of birds, flowing like mechanical liquid up towards the demon.
Ricky whispered his last request to the mysterious forces from the demon’s realm.
The two of them shot laterally through the air, flying towards the lake. Below them, the flock of drones rushed to catch up. Ricky and the demon moved too fast. They streaked towards the water, picking up speed as they descended. Ricky saw the sunlight flashing off the surface of the lake and prayed that they would hit where the water was deep. He intended to drag the demon down to the depths and hold it there until they were both dead. If he couldn’t hold the demon down, then he would at least kill himself. He was certain that the demon still needed him to survive in this world.
The look on the demon’s face brought Ricky fresh hope. The thing saw that the drones weren’t going to catch them. It urged the flying robots to move faster, but they were going to hit the water before its army could save it.
Ricky put out his arms and willed himself closer to the demon. He latched onto the monster’s torso just before they hit the surface of the water. Ricky’s arms were wrenched free by the impact. The world became a bubbling nightmare of swirling liquid and bones.
[ Swimming ]
Ricky’s body was bent in half by the impact with the water. The air was driven from his lungs and he plunged into the dep
ths. He had no idea which direction was up. Ricky expelled the last of his air through his mouth and tried to force himself to take the water into his lungs. His body wouldn’t obey. He wanted to die so he could be sure that the demon would go back to where it came from.
As his body sank, he spun. For the second time that day, Ricky looked up at the dwindling sunlight. Last time, the swimming form at the surface had been Katrina Prescott. She had come to his rescue.
Ricky saw something moving up there and didn’t even want to imagine what it was. That’s when the debris began to filter down.
He batted away bones and sinew as it filtered down through the water. Then plastic parts and metal motors sank around him. It was all less-buoyant than Ricky and settled towards the bottom faster than he did.
Ricky didn’t seem to be sinking anymore.
His body convulsed. It fought against itself—he wanted to take in the lake water, and his lungs burned to fill themselves, but some part of his brain wouldn’t let that happen. An undeniable instinct kicked in and Ricky’s muscles moved on their own. He pulled his way towards the surface. He couldn’t seem to stop himself.
Finally, with the last molecules of air in his body, Ricky screamed, “NO!”
His voice was bubbling nonsense under the water.
Ricky’s diaphragm spasmed and then drew in the water. The cool liquid burned his insides and brought him peace.
[ Freed ]
Swallowed by the monster, George was alone in the hot darkness. His solitude didn’t last long. He could hear voices of others below him. Some were whispering little secrets to each other. Some of them laughed. Every now and again, one of them moaned in pain.
George hugged his knees to his chest and tried to keep perfectly still. He couldn’t breathe, but it was okay. He didn’t need to breathe. He wondered what would happen next. He wondered if the monster would start to digest him and what it would feel like. If he was in some sort of acid, he figured that he would feel it in his eyes first. That might be the most sensitive part.