by Simon Holt
They stared out at the mean winter landscape. Icicles gleamed like knives from the eaves. The sky hung black and cold, and the yard looked frozen and dead. Every year, winter murdered the world. What if spring never came?
“I’d rather kill him than make him live in that hell.”
“Agreed.”
“Aaron?”
“Yeah?”
“Is there an entry in the journal called ‘How to Find Your Brother in His Fearscape’?”
“Nope. You write that chapter yourself, baby.”
Aaron smiled at her, but Reggie could see the worry in his face.
Aaron kneaded his hands. “There’s one other thing…”
“What is it?” asked Reggie.
“In the fearscape, an imaginary blade cuts. And it cuts you from the inside out.”
Reggie instinctively touched her shoulder.
“Wounds in the fearscape are real,” he said. “Not the same as in this reality, but they inflict damage. And my guess is you just got a small taste of it. If you … die … in the fearscape —”
“I could die for real.” Reggie grabbed their jackets and threw Aaron’s at him. “I understand the risk. What else can I do? I’ll face it. Whatever it is. I’ll get Henry out.”
Reggie ran down the stairs, and Aaron followed her out on to the driveway. When the door closed behind them, Reggie felt a grim weight gather in the pit of her stomach.
“The lake’s three miles from here,” Reggie said. “There’s no way we can bike —”
“We’ll take this, instead.” He pointed to his mom’s hulking silver SUV. His dad’s Honda looked like a Matchbox car beside it. “She’s in New York on business for the next few days.”
“Won’t your Dad notice it’s gone?”
“Are you kidding? It’s after ten o’clock. He’s probably sleeping like the dead already.” Aaron blew into his hands, his fingers white from the freezing air.
“Get the keys, then. Hurry! That thing is alone in my house with my dad.”
Aaron started back in the house but then paused.
“Hypothermia and drowning are real dangers here, Reg. You need to accept that.”
“I know. But what —”
“Give me just ten minutes. Let me put together an emergency kit to warm you guys up — you know, dry blankets, warm towels. I think we have a hot-water bottle here somewhere.”
“No time. Get that kit together. Meet me at my house. I’ll drag that bastard out on the lawn by his hair if I have to.”
Reggie sprinted down the driveway and into the street.
“Reggie! Wait!”
“Be there, Aaron!”
She didn’t turn around.
16
The distance between the Halloways’ and the Coles’ was exactly three-quarters of a mile, but tonight it felt as if a small country separated the two homes. The wind slapped Reggie’s face as she made her way.
Two figures leaned against a lamppost across the street, hot cherries burning at the ends of two cigarettes. Smoke streamed out of their nostrils. Black hoodies were pulled tightly around their faces. The pair looked like matching gargoyles.
The Kassner twins.
Reggie quickened her pace and avoided looking at them as she passed. The twins were the last people she wanted to come across in the dark, especially tonight. When she glanced back at the lamppost, they were gone.
Reggie sighed in relief and turned back to the sidewalk. Her heart jumped. Keech stood directly in her path now, towering over her, just a few steps away. His lips pulled back into a yellow-toothed smile and emitted a long wisp of smoke. Behind her, Mitch’s boots thumped down the sidewalk, his bulk casting a long, bladelike shadow.
Fear seized Reggie as Keech reached out to grab her. She recoiled from him and stumbled over the curb, turning her ankle and falling into the street. Her knee scraped on the asphalt, and one of her forearms cracked hard against the road. The twins’ empty eyes stared down at her from the sidewalk.
“Get the hell away from me!” she screamed, scrambling to her feet again.
A pair of headlights blinded her, and a pristine Mustang screeched to a halt. The tinted passenger-side window rolled down. Reggie stood up and sighed with relief at the sight of Quinn.
“Hey, Reggie,” he said. His smile faded when he saw Keech and Mitch.
“Guys,” Quinn said coolly.
“Yo, Cap,” Keech grumbled.
“A little far from home, aren’t you?”
The twins shrugged.
Quinn reached across his seat and opened the passenger door.
“Get in, Reggie.”
Reggie slipped into the car and slammed the door shut. She looked at Keech through the window. His face was pale against the black hood. Quinn revved the engine and they sped away.
The heat in the car thawed Reggie’s bones and the bitter night melted away. Despite all the turmoil, Reggie managed to relax.
“They didn’t hurt you, did they?” Quinn asked, flashing Reggie a concerned look. “I’ll kick their asses if they —”
“No, no,” Reggie said hurriedly. “I think they were just trying to scare me, and I tripped. It was stupid.”
“I just — I saw them, and you on the ground, and I thought…”
“I’m fine,” said Reggie. “But you do have good timing. I’m starting to think you’re my guardian angel or something.”
“Angel, huh?” He smiled.
“Here’s me.” She pointed to her house, but Quinn cruised past it. “You overshot. I live back there.”
“I just thought, well, we could take a drive,” he said. His voice was shy. “Maybe talk a little.”
Reggie almost choked. The dashboard clock showed that she only had a few minutes to get Henry outside before Aaron showed up, and here was Quinn trying to make a move.
“Quinn, I would really love to. I’m serious. But —”
“Hot date?”
“I have to get home. My brother —”
“He’s not still hanging out on deserted street corners, is he?”
“No, he just doesn’t like to be alone.”
“I won’t keep you long.”
The heater blazed. Beads of sweat rose on her forehead.
“I really shouldn’t. He’ll get —”
“Scared? Nah. I think he’s gotten over that.”
The neighborhood thinned out as they headed into the coun-tryside.
“What?” she said.
“Henry’s gotten over all his fears.”
Reggie’s heart quaked. Quinn’s voice had changed. It was harsh now, like Henry’s had been since the Vour had taken him over. Smirking, Quinn glanced over at her, and a sudden chill racked her body. The Mustang’s engine roared, picking up speed. Reggie clutched the dash with her bandaged fingers.
“Oh, God. No. Please … not you.”
“Come on, Halloway. You really think a guy like me would hook up with you? A flat-chested freshman nobody?” The car hit fifty. “Aw. You did! How sad.”
Reggie’s head spun, the blasting heat suffocating her. “Stop the car!” she yelled.
“Yeah, Henry’s coming along just fine,” Quinn said. “See, once we get in, it takes a little while to get used to stuff — taste, smell, sleep, how to talk and act like a kid. Bet he’s still shoveling down the sweets and playing with fire and all that, right?”
Reggie pressed into the car door and fumbled for the handle.
Quinn blew a bubble and snapped it with a smirk. “After all these years, I still have a hard time with that myself. But when you come from a world without light, without flavor, you tend to go a little overboard. Know what I’m saying?”
“Let me out!”
The car hit sixty, zooming down the icy road. A few more miles and they’d reach Abernathy Flats, acres and acres of barren, snow-covered farmland. Remote enough for wicked deeds to go unseen and unheard.
Reggie lunged for the steering wheel. The car fishtailed, and the back
end lost traction, sending the vehicle into a sickening spin. Quinn swung an elbow hard into Reggie’s sternum, and the force of it knocked the breath out of her. She slumped against the window, gasping. Quinn seized the wheel. He steered them out of the three-sixty before pulling over onto the shoulder. The Mustang screeched to a stop.
“Wooooo! Sweet! I love this car!”
Reggie opened the door but Quinn grabbed her left wrist.
“Relax. Stay a bit. I said I wanted to talk.”
Where Quinn held Reggie, a chill pierced her, numbing her entire arm.
“Man, was I surprised when I saw that journal you dropped. I knew then I had to keep an eye on you, and I’ve been trailing you ever since. So when you snuck out to that old house, I followed you. I really thought I’d taken care of you when I torched the place. But surprise, surprise! You got out alive. You’re a tough little girl, Reggie Halloway.”
Reggie’s gauzed hand ached like sensitive teeth slathered in ice cream. Her fingertips turned purple as Quinn’s grip tightened.
“So you know about us. Big deal. That might worry Henry — the new Henry — but here’s the thing: he’s a novice. He’s still getting used to his body, his surroundings, how you humans behave. I’ve been around a lot longer and I don’t freak out so easy.”
Reggie shook her head.
“No, no, it can’t be, you all can’t be … Vours,” she babbled.
“Yeah, that’s one name for us, sweetie.” Quinn laughed. “Creeple, bogeyman, doppelgänger, Vour — take your pick. It’s all the same to me.”
Reggie’s entire hand was blue now. It looked alien. Dead.
“What do you want?”
“Me? I just want to lead a human life. But something else, something bigger, has plans, Halloway. We ‘Vours’ are just the tip of the iceberg, baby. And the sweetest part of it all? Nobody will see it coming until it’s too late.”
“But I know all about you now. And —”
Quinn snapped his gum again. “You don’t know a damn thing.”
His grip tightened on her wrist. Reggie’s graying fingers swelled and the skin stretched. She tried desperately to pull away, but his hold was iron.
“But you know what the really scary part is?”
Her fingertips split open and tiny black legs wriggled out.
“The really scary part is now we know about you.”
Cackling, he released her as hundreds of black spiders streamed out of her fingers and swarmed up her arm. They raced over her entire body — her eyes, her ears, pouring into her mouth when she tried to scream. Her scrabbling hands found the door handle. She threw open the door, fell out of the car, and stumbled into the snow.
“Get them off me!”
Thick strands of spider silk covered her cheeks. She tried to rip them off but the spiders spiraled their webs faster and faster around her face. They raced around her entire body, cocoon-ing her.
Quinn had shut off the engine to enjoy the show. He leaned back in his seat and had less than a second to brace for impact when a massive SUV slammed into the back of his Mustang. His head smashed against the windshield, splintering the glass and knocking him unconscious.
Aaron jumped out of the almost undamaged truck and tackled Reggie in the snow as she tried to free herself from the imaginary spiders. She kicked and screamed at him, ripping into his neck with her nails.
He didn’t let her go.
“Reggie! You’re okay! Relax. It’s me.” Aaron hugged her tight and pressed the side of his face to hers. He whispered in her ear. “Come back, Reggie. It’s okay. It’s me, Aaron. I’m here.”
Her spasms slowed. She looked up at him with tear-misted eyes.
“Aaron?”
“Yeah. I’m here.”
She stared at her fingertips and wiggled them. She hugged Aaron back.
“How did — where did —?” she stammered. Above the hum of the engine came muffled shouts from the back of the SUV.
“You weren’t outside when I got to your house, so I snuck in. Henry was curled up in front of the TV and I grabbed him. He tried to drown me again but I fought back.” Aaron grinned. “I pushed back like you did, Reggie. And it worked. I put him in the trunk and waited for you, but —”
“How did you find me?”
“I saw you in Quinn’s car when he drove past the house. I followed. Something had to be up, right? Then he swerved and spun out, and I could see you two struggling. You staggered out of the car, and I knew it was my chance to take him out.”
“Yeah. Looks like your mom’s yuppie-tank didn’t get a scratch, but Quinn —”
Aaron looked into the Mustang and saw Quinn slumped on the steering wheel, blood pouring from a gash in his head. “This looks bad, Reggie. He needs an ambulance.”
“You want to rescue a Vour?” Reggie asked. “You’re joking, right?”
Aaron gaped at her.
“What? Quinn’s one of them? I just thought he was an asshole!”
17
Aaron looked ridiculous behind the wheel of his mom’s SUV.
“I don’t know how she drives this thing,” he said. “It’s like a yacht. And these seats are worse than my grandmother’s sofa. I’m getting sucked in like loose change, and the gas mileage —”
The grunting and thrashing of the captive in back interrupted Aaron’s rant. He grimaced and shifted in the driver’s seat.
“This is messed up,” Reggie said. “I can’t believe we’re kid-nappers.”
“The Vour is the kidnapper. Not us.”
Open farmland gave over to snow-covered oak and birch that crept right up to the edge of the winding road.
Aaron slowed down, wary that one slip on the icy path could land them in a steep roadside gulch. The SUV crawled through the entrance of the camping grounds surrounding Cutter’s Lake.
Reggie stared out the window. “Henry created that place — the fearscape — because of me.”
“You know that’s not true.”
“No? Who left scary movies around for him to watch? Who talks about gruesome, gory legends 24/7? I mean, what kind of sister reads horror books to her brother as bedtime stories? Like the world isn’t dark and terrible enough.”
“Most of the world is a good place, Reg.”
“The vampire killer from Sacramento? Jack the Ripper? Dahmer? Bundy? BTK?”
Aaron said nothing. The truck coasted to a halt.
“God, we’re monsters. All of us.”
“We all have a dark side, Reggie. You. Me. The old lady down the street. Henry. Everyone. We make the choice not to embrace it, but the dark is there. It’s always there. Inside us.”
“Yeah, well.” Reggie opened her door. “After tonight, I’m only reading cheesy romance novels.”
“Lusty blacksmiths and naughty princesses. Now that’s scary.” Aaron climbed out of his side. “We’re as close as we can get. I’ll leave the headlights on to light our way down to the lake.” He took a tire iron from the backseat. “We’ll take this to break the ice, okay?”
Reggie didn’t answer.
“You can do this, Reg. I know you can.”
“I have to.”
The two stood behind the trunk with a grim determination.
“Open it. Let it out.”
Aaron fumbled with the key and popped the lock. A bluish boy in his underwear lay shivering atop a pile of ice cubes. His hands were bound in front of him. Where the cubes touched his skin, sores bloomed and spread.
“Please … ,” he stammered. “Reggie…”
“Henry … ,” Reggie said softly.
“No,” Aaron snapped. “This thing is not your brother.”
The boy jerked his head and hissed. Black smoke leaked from his mouth. Aaron reached into the trunk, grabbed Henry by the ankle, and yanked him out onto the hard icy ground, where the boy writhed in pain.
“Enough!” Reggie shouted and shoved Aaron back. She kneeled down beside her brother’s body. “I know you’re inside somewhere, Henry
. I’m going to find you.”
“So … cold … scared…”
“I know.”
Reggie leaned over him and brushed his forehead. Smoke from his mouth morphed into a spider that leaped at her face. The shock was just enough to freeze her for a moment while Henry scrambled to his feet and staggered toward the woods.
Another set of headlights swung into the parking lot. The car sounded like a low-flying biplane. Its muffler and rear bumper dragged against the road, throwing sparks and clattering.
“Go! Catch Henry and get him in the water!” Aaron handed the tire iron to Reggie and stuffed some of the ice cubes from the trunk into his pockets. “I’ll deal with this.”
“Aaron —”
“Do it!”
Reggie raced off as the Mustang prowled toward Aaron.
A familiar silhouette lurked behind the cracked, blood-streaked windshield. The car pulled up next to the SUV, and the splintered but functional taillights of the crushed back end winked out as the car’s smooth engine cut off.
The door opened, and Quinn got out. The gash above his right eyebrow had bled all over his leather jacket. One eye had swollen shut.
“You got blood on my new coat. Not cool.”
“You’re too late, Quinn. Reggie’s got Henry.”
“Really, now. She’s your hero, huh?” Quinn walked around the front of Aaron’s mom’s truck. He shook his head. “Damn SUVs. You crush my back end but what happens to you? Not even a dented fender. No sense of social responsibility with these things.”
“We’ve got you figured out, Quinn. Or whatever the hell you are. She knows how to get inside. We know —”
“You don’t know shit, pansy.”
Aaron kept his hands in his pockets. The ice cubes had already numbed his fingers. The boys faced each other across the car hood.
“You think your lame girlfriend is some sort of savior? She wriggles her bony butt inside one little room of our infinite halls and she’s your King freakin’ Arthur? You know nothing, Cole.”
“I know you’re scared of her. I can see your fear.”
Quinn sprang across the hood and pushed Aaron to the ground. He placed a knee on Aaron’s chest and a hand to his throat.
“Look in my eyes, boy. Do you see fear?”