Sons of Dust

by P. Dalton Updyke

  “Come on,” Alex took her hand. His skin was warm and a little shock went through her. She looked up at him swiftly, at the cut of his jaw in the early evening light, the bright blue of his eyes and her heart flipped over, her lower belly went warm and jiggly. This is what being in love feels like.

  Looking at Alex made her light headed and weak, but it was a good feeling. A happy feeling. Katie looked down at the ground, afraid he’d be able to see it in her face and think her silly. He squeezed her hand, tugging it so that she had to look up at him again.

  “It’s going to be okay, you know.” He smiled her then, such a warm, sweet smile that her belly did another flip.

  “I hope so.”

  Alex smiled wider. “Katie,” he leaned in like he was going to confide a secret, so close Katie could feel his breath on her face. He smelled of Wrigley’s Spearmint gum. “We both know nothing’s going to happen.” He was still smiling, but his eyes were cold and distant like he was looking at her from away.

  “What do you mean?”

  “What could happen? It’s just a stupid board game.”

  “But I saw--”

  “You’ve always been good at stories, Katie,” Alex cut in. “You’ve got a great imagination. It’s fun.”

  And just like that, the good feeling in her faded, leaving her cold and sick.”So you think we’re making this up?” she tried to keep the anger and disappointment from her voice, but knew her cheeks were flaming.

  Alex shrugged. “Hey, it’s a great game.” He squeezed her hand one last time and then walked away toward the others, Katie watched him go, wondering. Did the others feel the same? Did they all think she was making it up? Did they really think she and Bo were making up an exciting let’s-pretend about a ghost chained to a dead woman, bricked into the wall of some house? And if they did believe that, who could blame them? Wouldn’t Katie think the same thing?

  “It’s not a game,” she said out loud. “It’s not.”

  The others, her friends, her best friends, were sitting in an arc with Bo at the center. Bo lifted her head and stared across the field at Katie, and Katie, as if pulled by a magnetic force, began to walk.

  There was a space opposite Bo and Katie sank to the ground, the long grass and weeds tickling her legs. Bo lifted the board and put it on her knees and looked at Katie expectantly. Katie hesitated. “Before we do this,” she said, looking around the circle at each of them, “I want you to know that this isn’t a game. It’s real.” She saw the small smile that started to form on Alex’s lips. “I don’t know what’s going to happen--”

  “--but whatever happens, we’re in it together,” Bo said. “As long as we stay together, we’ll be okay. Ready?” she asked Katie.

  Katie nodded.

  Bo took a deep breath and put her fingers on the board. Alex, to her left, put his hand next to hers on the planchette, and then Marcus, Gina and Vinny did the same. Katie was the only one left. Her hand trembled as she put it on the board and as soon as she touched it, the triangle flew across and landed on the YES and Katie was gone.

  There was no sense of being in one place one moment and somewhere else the next; it was simpler than that. Rather than feeling transported, it was as if the fabric around her changed. Katie suddenly realized that what Bo said was wrong: she didn’t go to another place; another place came to her.

  It was dark. There was a steady plink plink sound; dripping water. As Katie’s eyes adjusted to the light, she could make out the wall in front of her. The same painted walls as before, huge flowers and twisty leaves, but this section was water-stained, the scent of mildew underlined the scent of decay. Plink plink…Katie looked up, following the sound and saw water falling in a steady drip from a pipe overhead.

  Something brushed against her leg and Katie screamed, stepping back as fast as she could. A rat the size of a small dog trotted past, its small eyes beads of liquid in the flickering light.

  “See?” she whispered. “It’s not a dream, Alex. You can’t feel rats in a dream.”

  The soles of her sneakers made a squishy noise against the rubble and trash that littered the floor. She tried to make out the entrance to Lucien’s room in the dim light, but the door wasn’t there. The hallway stretched in front of her, impossibly long and totally devoid of doors.

  She took a step and then another, aware of the scurrying around her, the squeal of rodents and she clenched her teeth. She touched one wall to steady herself then immediately drew her hand back. The wall was clammy and cold to her touch. Like a dead person’s skin.

  Katie’s thoughts broke off. She took another step, her eyes scanning the darkness in front of her. Where was his room? And how come she was so far away? Before, she’d been right in front of his door and there’d been other doorways, too, but now

  now

  she was alone

  wandering in a long, dark hallway filled with creatures she could only hear and the sounds were enough to drive her out of her mind. She tried to fight the panic, but her heart was thudding and her eyes scanned the hallway from side to side.

  The claustrophobia was close now, threatening to choke her, close her throat and make her gasp for air. This is what it’s like to be dead, she thought, long hallways leading nowhere and no doors to get out.

  “Lucien?”

  Even though she whispered, the word echoed back to her so loud it was a shout. Katie jumped, her heart beating faster than she thought possible. It’s going to explode, she thought, right out of my chest. A creaking sound made her turn around. At the end of the hall, a door was opening. The door wasn’t a wooden one like the ones she remembered from her last visits; it was cut right into the wall. The rose painting was slitting, opening to reveal a triangle of darkness and Katie was terrified. Fear was a cold liquid poured into her veins, freezing her blood. Her scalp tingled, there was a buzzing noise in her ears. She didn’t want to go in there. It didn’t matter anymore what Lucien wanted or what Bo thought she should do. Nothing mattered except—

  “Going home.” His voice was soft, but it still rose the hair on the back of her neck. “You can go home soon. When it is finished. The sooner you begin, the sooner we shall finish.”

  Even though she couldn’t see him with her eyes, she could picture him in her mind. Smiling that sad smile, his eyes burning bright. She started down the long hallway on legs that felt heavy and stiff. The darkness in the room up ahead was so complete it was beyond black, edging into a purple shade of murk she’d never seen before. Reaching the doorway, she peered in. A rustling sound, like silk moving and then there was a sudden flare of light – a match lit. Katie flinched.

  “Lucien?”

  The room was empty. A candle was flickering, but the illumination was scant. It was another bedroom, this one longer and narrower than the one Lucien had shown her before. There was a bed against the wall, but the mattress had long since rotted away, leaving only a worm eaten headboard and frame. There was no other furniture in the room, no clothing or blankets. Nothing except…

  Katie squinted, trying to see it clearer. There was something on the floor, next to the bed. It looked like a book, a long book and Katie remembered Bo telling her about the ledgers at the Historical Society, the old books where crimes were written down and punishment doled out and the people who wrote the books couldn’t spell at all.

  Without even thinking about it, Katie went into the room. The floorboards were warped and rotted, so spongy underneath that for one fleeting moment, Katie was afraid she’d fall right through, but the floor held and she crept closer to the thing on the floor.

  She was right. It was a book. The binding had disintegrated, the pages so old and yellowed they were practically dust. Surely this is what Lucien wanted her to see. The book had to be why he opened the door into the wall, why a candle sparked to life.

  She leaned closer and then her head jerked back in shock.

  She’d seen this book before, in her father’s office. He’d found the book when the contra
ctors tore out the basement for the embalming room. They’d found it in the wall

  in the wall

  Feeling dizzy and hot, she stretched out a hand to steady herself.

  The book had been in the wall, the wall in her house and that meant

  that meant

  “Read,” Lucien said.

  Katie looked around wildly, but the room was still empty. The hallway was a black void, the bedroom lit only by shadows. “Read,” he said again.

  She could barely make out a word. The ink was so old and faded it was like reading ghost writing. She managed to make sense of a few words

  Bound for eternity

  And under that, so until such time … freed by the will of…

  She squinted, trying to bring the spindly letters into focus. Another sound beyond her and Katie looked up swiftly and her mouth dropped open. The bedroom was gone. The hallway was gone. She was in a narrow room. In front of her was a high rock wall, the stone crumbled and gray. A cross had been carved into the surface.

  “Bring them.”

  Lucien’s voice was louder in her head and there was a tone under the words, her father’s tone when he was angry with her and trying to hide it.

  “They must help move the stones. Bring them.”

  “But I don’t know how!” Katie began to tremble and wondered if Lucien could see it. Maybe if he saw she was afraid, he’d leave her alone. Maybe he’d realize she was just, “a little kid. I’m a just a kid! I don’t know how!”

  “A small child shall lead them.” This time, Katie could hear the mocking in his voice, like he was teasing her, but she didn’t get the joke. “You do know what to do. Bring your friends here. Take the same path.”

  The same path? What path? Katie had no idea what path she took, she didn’t know how she got to the stone room, she didn’t know how to bring Gina and Bo and Alex and Marcus—

  “See them! Bring them.”

  See them.

  Katie swallowed, her throat clicked. She closed her eyes on the strange room with the dirt floor and the rock walls and pictured her friends in the Forest Field, sitting in a circle, their knees touching. She pictured Alex next to Gina, grinning, his baseball glove on the ground beside him, palm up. She imagined Gina, trying to sit cross-legged but not really able to, because her legs were too plump and then her view shifted and she saw Marcus looking pale and a little worried, because he was staring at Bo, sitting across from him, and he was nervous because

  because

  Bo was crying. Her eyes were closed and tears were streaming down her cheeks. She didn’t make a sound. Her fingers were still on the triangle. All their fingers were still on the game piece, their hands overlapping each other so Katie couldn’t tell where one hand ended and the next began.

  I need you, she thought.

  Bo jumped as if goosed and her eyes flew open.

  I need your help. Now.

  Katie squeezed her eyes together as hard as she could, lights dancing in front of her vision, concentrating like never before. She imagined sending the words out to them, her voice like a cable shooting into their minds. Marcus looked up, his mouth open. Alex’s smile faded, Vinny grimaced, Gina gasped and Katie thought Please come NOW

  She felt something go out of her, a physical thing leaving her heart and flying across space she couldn’t have imagined. Her hair flew backward, her clothes blew around her and she knew she was making the wind. She thought fleetingly of the angel that stood sentry outside St. Stand’s and then with all her strength she sent out Hurry. I need you. Just think. Think HARD.

  HARD

  THINK HARD

  And then the wind howled and Katie could feel the others coming. It was like the fabric around her changed again, only this time she was controlling the tears and rips and she was the one making the cuts. The idea was dizzying; equal parts exhilaration and despair. Bo was right. She did have power. She did have strength.

  But I don’t know how to use it. I don’t know what to do.

  The wind blew harder, so fierce now her skin felt stretched tight. She tried to know the exact moment Bo came through, the instant Bo was transported and then she did feel it. It was a push, a sudden whoosh that rippled through her and as it moved down her body, the wind died. The room quieted and in the sudden silence she heard their breathing.

  “Wow!” Vinny whispered. “That was so cool!”

  “How did you do that?” Gina’s voice was small and afraid.

  Katie shook her head. Pain flared in her skull and she winced. It was so quiet now their voices echoed. “I don’t know.”

  “I told you it was magic.” The awe in Bo’s voice made Katie look at her swiftly. “I didn’t think there was enough magic to bring all of us here.” Bo reached for Katie’s hand and Katie clung to it. Bo’s hand was warm and soft. Bo squeezed her fingers and Katie squeezed back, relief taking the place of fear.

  It was going to be okay. It was going to work. They’d do whatever they had to do and then they’d go back home and Lucien would never talk through her again. She’d be safe. Free. Katie licked her lips, her heart thudding with expectation and hope.

  There is always hope, Sister Patrice said in her mind. Hope and prayer always exist. But Katrenjia, you must know how to use prayer and you must understand what it is you are hoping for.

  Katie shook her head, trying to clear it. She didn’t know why she was hearing the old nun in her head and she didn’t know what the words were supposed to mean. It didn’t matter, anyway. They were going to do what they had to do and then they were out of here. Fast. Marcus, next to her, rubbed his eyes and then looked around as if he didn’t trust his own vision.

  In front of them was the wall of stone. The rocks were so old they were crumbling and in other places, time had worn the surface so smooth it was like looking at black glass.

  “So what are we supposed to do?” Of all of them, Alex sounded the most nervous.

  “Move the stones,” Bo replied, her eyes traveling over the wall, stretching as far as they could see. “We have to move the stones and then we can break the chain.”

  “Move the stones?” Alex’s voice rose, cracking on each syllable. “We can’t do that! We’ll never be able to move them all!”

  “We can’t do it,” Vinny said and Katie was filled with a new fear. What if they didn’t help her? What if they wouldn’t try?

  “We’re just kids,” Marcus said.

  “We are not!” Bo said hotly. “We’re almost teenagers!”

  Gina stretched out her hand and touched the black rock and the stone immediately crumbled to dust under her fingertips. From someplace far away, Katie could hear laughter and then in her head she heard Lucien. “Sons of Dust.”

  “Magic,” Gina breathed. She touched the stone with both hands and another section turned to dust as fine as ash, drifting over her sneakers and turning her white sneakers gray. Bo followed Gina, touching the stone and laughing out loud as rock turned to dust and then they were all touching the wall, using their hands to turn stone to powder and as the wall disintegrated, the room behind became visible and Katie could see enough of it now to know it was the bedroom she’d first seen Lucien.

  He was standing next to the bed where Magdalene’s body rotted, and as more of the room was revealed, her friends’ laughter stopped. Bo’s arms hung limply by her side as she stared. Gina made a sound like a moan, but it was Alex who spoke.

  “How did you do this?” he asked. “How did you make this dream so real?”

  “It isn’t a dream,” Vinny’s voice was soft, unnatural. “Like Bo said, it’s magic.”

  “The first part is finished,” Lucien said. His eyes gleamed and he smiled at them. Lifting his arms, the chain rattled. “It is time to do as written. The Sons of Dust shall free a Child of Darkness.”

  Katie climbed over the last of the stones and the dust blew up around her in a cloud. The others stayed on the other side of the wall and Lucien took a step toward her, grinning, the chain dra
gging on the floor behind him.

  “As is written,” he said. He held his hands up and looked over Katie’s shoulder to Bo. “Bosauvia,” his voice was a caress. “Break the bonds.”

  Katie reached for the chain, Lucien’s eyes gleamed red and then Bo was shrieking, “No. Katie! No! It’s wrong! It’s all wrong!”

  Lucien’s eyes narrowed, his grin lengthened, distorted.

  “Close it!” Bo screamed. “Close it, Katie!”

  Close what? The words, while in her head, couldn’t seem to make their way out of her mouth.

  “It’s wrong!” Bo shrieked. “Oh Katie, can’t you see? It’s all wrong!”

  What did she mean, wrong? But Bo wasn’t looking at Katie anymore, she was looking over Katie’s shoulder at what was behind them and Katie slowly turned around and looked into the room again.

  At first, all she saw was Lucien, dressed in tattered clothes, his hair a tangle that drifted to his shoulders. He thrust his wrists at Katie. “Break it!” he hissed and as Katie stared, unable to move, she saw the shadow on the wall behind him.

  The shadow wasn’t of a man – it was something hideous and humped. Lucien took another step and this time, it didn’t sound like boot heels on the old floor, it sounded like hooves on stone. “Break it!”

  Katie heard the others screaming. She was dimly aware of Bo’s shrieks, “Don’t do it, Katie! Don’t!”

  But as if she had no power to control her own body, her hand rose in the air and floated forward. Hypnotized, she couldn’t pull her hand away and couldn’t stop it from inching toward the black chain even as Bo screamed and Gina cried out and Lucien’s eyes gleamed red, blood red. Her fingers inched toward the chain and then Bo was beside her, grabbing her hand and pulling her back. “Look!” she screamed. “Don’t you see it?”

  And finally, Katie did.

  The chain wasn’t made of metal. It was bone. Circles of bone so old they’d turned black with time. They were odd sizes, small. Small bones and so many of them. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds—