The Dark Corner

by Christopher Pike

  The demon was still suspicious. “What’s your name?”

  “Belfart,” Adam said, remembering the name of the goblin in the witch’s castle who wanted to join the marines. The demon snorted.

  “That sounds like a goblin’s name,” he said. “Where are you from? I haven’t seen you around here before.”

  Adam didn’t believe he could stand a lengthy questioning. He decided to act more annoyed, more like a real demon.

  “Listen,” he said impatiently. “If you don’t want this blood, it’s fine with me.” He raised the glass to his lips. “I’m not that full after all. I think I’ll just finish it myself. Hmm—this is going to be good. Nothing like a glass of warm human juice in the evening.”

  The demon didn’t like that. In one swift move, he grabbed the glass from Adam and threw the drink down in one gulp. Then the glass fell from the demon’s hand, and he stared at Adam with the most peculiar expression, even for a demon.

  “That must have been one cold kid,” he mumbled.

  Then the demon’s eyes closed and he fainted on the spot.

  “Hurry!” Adam called to the others, who were watching from behind the jetty.

  * * *

  It was almost dark by the time they were able to drag Bryce’s demon to the cemetery. The demon weighed more than they would have thought for such a small guy. Watch, Adam, and Sally had to do all the work. Bryce continued to maintain it wasn’t safe for him to touch his counterpart. He told them to lay the demon beside the tombstone, but not touching it.

  “He will wake up as soon as we put his hand on the portal,” Bryce said.

  “You know an awful lot about demons,” Watch remarked.

  “You know how everything works here,” Adam added.

  “That’s because I’ve kept my eyes and ears open since I got here,” Bryce said sternly. “If you had done the same you wouldn’t be in the mess you’re in now. You wouldn’t have rushed off to meet your counterparts.”

  “They sometimes make poor decisions,” Sally said quietly.

  “Night’s coming,” Adam said. “How are we supposed to survive here until you return with our demons?”

  “You’ll just have to do the best you can,” Bryce said. “But whatever you do, stay near here. I can’t say exactly when I’ll been shoving your demons through, but you have to be right here. Otherwise you won’t get back.”

  “What do we do when you shove them through?” Watch asked.

  “The portal will open,” Bryce said, “and you’ll be able to jump through.”

  “Do you know where Cindy lives?” Adam asked.

  “Yes,” Bryce said. “I’ll go straight to her house and see how she is. I promise.” He nodded to his demon slumped on the ground. “Now press his palm against the tombstone. Like I said, it will probably wake him up. You must be prepared to fight him off.”

  “How do we do that?” Sally asked, suddenly not so sure about her super hero.

  “Do the best you can. I’ll return as soon as I can.” Bryce paused and glanced around. “Place his hand on the tombstone. Do it now.”

  Adam did as Bryce said. Several things happened simultaneously. The tombstone glowed with a strange white light and Bryce leaped into it and disappeared, taking his knapsack with him. Then the demon shook his head and opened his eyes, looking angrily around.

  “Hey,” he said when he saw them. “You’re the humans I heard about. You’re the ones with the warm blood. Come here, I’m thirsty.”

  9

  When the knock came on the door, Cindy almost screamed. Her mother had gone out for the evening, and her little brother had a cold and was already in bed. In a sense she was all alone in the house. Even though it wasn’t completely dark, she was terrified to be alone. Ever since she had said goodbye to Adam, Watch, and Sally, she had been trembling. They had said that they were coming back for her, and even though they were her friends, she was terrified of seeing them again.

  And she didn’t know why.

  She was so confused.

  Her brain felt as if it were working underwater.

  The person knocked at the front door again.

  Cindy felt like crying. She wanted to remain silent and hope they went away. She tried that, in fact, but whoever was at the door was persistent. The knocking continued, growing harder and harder. Clutching a folded magazine for protection, foolishly, she crept to the door.

  “Who is it?” she called softly through the door.

  There was a pause. “This is Bryce Poole. Are you Cindy?”

  She coughed. “What do you want?”

  “I have to talk to you. It’s important. Open the door.”

  “No. I don’t know you. Go away. Come back tomorrow.”

  “I can’t. This is an emergency. Your friends are in danger.”

  “My friends,” Cindy muttered, not sure how she was supposed to complete the sentence. She didn’t want to talk about her friends, she didn’t want to see them. Yet they had told her they were coming back for her. Why did that thought fill her with dread? She saw them practically every day.

  “Open the door,” Bryce demanded.

  “What do you want?” Cindy asked again. “My friends are not here.”

  Again Bryce paused. “I know,” he said quietly, so softly she almost didn’t hear him through the door. “They’re trapped on the other side of the Secret Path.”

  Cindy choked. “That’s impossible. I saw them.”

  “It wasn’t them, Cindy. It was demons who had stolen their forms. Please open the door.”

  Cindy finally did as she was told. Bryce practically jumped inside, and then quickly closed the door behind him. Cindy was pleased to see he was as cute as Sally had said. Unfortunately she wasn’t in the mood to enjoy his company. He stared at her anxiously.

  “What?” she muttered.

  “Look into my eyes,” he ordered.

  “Why?”

  “Do it!”

  Cindy stared into his eyes, and as she did so the memory of staring into other eyes, much darker eyes, came back to her. Sally, Watch, Adam—they had done something to her with their stares! Cruel red flames blazed in her head, even though she felt a terrible chill in the pit of her stomach. She turned away and buried her face in her hands, tears burning her eyes.

  “What’s happening to me?” she cried.

  Bryce put a hand on her shoulder. “The demons used their power on you. They tried to bend your will to theirs. But it’s all right now. The spell is broken.”

  She looked at him. “Who are you? How do you know about demons?”

  “Sally told you about me. My name is Bryce Poole. For a long time I have been exploring the many sides of the Secret Path. There I discovered many wonderful things, and many horrible things. I have just come from the worst place of all—the Dark Corner. Your friends are trapped there now. They cannot return to this dimension until we capture their counterpart demons and force them back through the interdimensional portal.”

  Cindy put a hand up to her head. She couldn’t keep up. “I don’t understand. My friends returned through the Secret Path. I saw them. I went and ate with them.”

  Bryce shook his head. “Those were not human beings who returned. They were demons. You must have noticed how weird they acted. Even when a demon tries to hide it, his cruel nature comes out. And I know they used the power of their eyes on you. That’s why you feel so confused. But the worst of it has passed. You’re free to do what you wish. You can help me if you want, and I do need your help.”

  Cindy had to take a breath. “They were acting so strange. I do remember staring into their eyes and seeing fire. But then, everything after that is crazy.” She paused. “This is like some kind of night-mare. I just feel like I have to wake up.”

  Bryce was grim. “There will be no relief until we get your friends back. Tell me, what time did the demons say they’d come back for you?”

  Cindy strained to remember. “I don’t know. They didn’t give a time.
But I got the impression it would be late at night. I know there were things they wanted to do first.”

  “What kind of things?”

  “I don’t know! If they’re demons, like you say, could they hurt other people?”

  A shadow crossed Bryce’s face. “They can do much worse than hurt people. They can drag them back to the Dark Corner, to the Gatekeepers.”

  “Who are they?” Cindy gasped.

  Bryce shook his head. “It’s better not to talk about them, not when it’s almost dark.” He stepped to the window and peered out through the drawn curtains. For the first time Cindy noticed he was carrying a knapsack. “We must search for them, stop them before they capture any more people.”

  “Shouldn’t we get help?” Cindy asked.

  “No one will help us. No one will believe us. We have to do this ourselves, and we must do it now.”

  “But I can’t leave. I’m watching my little brother. He’s asleep upstairs.”

  “It’s better if you leave here. It’ll be safer for him. Remember, the demons want you in particular. Your brother will stay asleep. He won’t know anything is wrong.”

  “But where will we look for them? They could be anywhere.”

  Bryce was thoughtful. “Each of these demons is the counterpart of one of your friends. Even though they are completely evil, they are connected to Adam, Watch, and Sally. There is a good chance that they’d do what your friends would do after returning through the Secret Path.”

  “You mean, go home?” Cindy asked, horrified.

  Bryce nodded. “It’s possible. At least it gives us a place to try to pick up their trail. Let’s hurry to Adam’s house. It’s closest, and Adam is the natural leader of the group. His demon is probably as well.”

  “What do we do when we catch up with them?”

  Bryce allowed himself a faint smile. “I have studied these monsters for a long time. Don’t worry, I have a few tricks up my sleeve.”

  10

  Adam never doubted Bryce so much as when Bryce’s demon woke up and tried to attack them. Adam felt as if Bryce had set up the whole thing. Of course Adam didn’t have much of a chance to be angry at Bryce. Not with a demon climbing to his feet and demanding their blood. The demon eyed Adam up and down. Adam still had his demon costume on, except for the head, which sort of ruined the effect.

  “Hey,” the demon said. “You’re the one who gave me that red-colored ice-cold lemonade. That gave me a terrible headache. You owe me. Give me your arm and open a vein.”

  “You think he would at least say please after making a request like that,” Sally remarked.

  “Grab some sticks!” Adam yelled, reaching for a branch himself. The trouble was, in this particular dimension, there weren’t a lot of heavy branches lying around. Adam came up with a stick that probably wouldn’t have frightened a goblin, never mind a demon. The others did about as well. Yet the demon seemed upset that they were arming themselves. He continued to rub his ugly head.

  “I am not in the mood to fight,” he said. “But if you wish to surrender, I will be happy to drink your blood and bring your cursed souls before the Gatekeepers.”

  “Somehow that doesn’t appeal to us,” Sally said.

  The demon turned away. “Then I’m going for my partners. They’ll be more than happy to fight with you and eat you alive. Stay here until we get back.”

  Adam shook his head as the demon left. “Bryce gave us the same instructions. And it looks like it’s going to get us killed, or worse.”

  “You have to quit blaming Bryce for all our problems,” Sally said.

  “We could blame you,” Watch said.

  Adam sighed and threw down his flimsy stick. “I don’t want to blame anyone. I just want to go home. We can’t stay here, but if we leave we’ll miss our chance to get back through the portal.”

  “That is if Bryce returns with our demons,” Watch said. “For all we know he could be at home already, watching TV.”

  “Maybe a Twilight Zone rerun,” Adam agreed. “To remember us by.”

  “I have faith in Bryce,” Sally said. “If he can’t save us, he’ll die trying.”

  “That should be the least he’d do after leaving us here,” Watch grumbled. He checked his watches. “They’ve stopped. This dimension’s got heavy time distortion on top of everything else.”

  “We’ve got to come up with a plan of action,” Adam said. “Sorehead, Bryce’s demon, and his friends will be back soon.” He paused. “The only thing I can think of is to run.”

  “Can demons run fast?” Sally asked.

  “Like we’re all experts on demons,” Watch said.

  Sally frowned. “You’re in a bad mood.”

  “It must be because I’m about to be tortured to death,” Watch said. He turned to Adam. “Where should we run?”

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” Adam said. “This place is gross and disgusting, but it mirrors our Spooksville as far as its design. I’m thinking it probably has a chapel in the same place our town has a chapel. We might be able to hide there for a while. I imagine demons would stay away from there.”

  “But we have to time our return to this spot to match Bryce’s return with our demons,” Watch said. “And that is next to impossible with the time differences and Sorehead and his friends chasing after us.”

  “We’ll just have to hope for the best,” Adam said, cocking his head to the side. “Do you guys hear that?”

  Sally jumped. “Yeah. It sounds like a bunch of screaming demons, coming this way. That Sorehead sure moves fast.”

  Adam began to back up. “We better do the same. Let’s head out the back way and circle around to the chapel. I just hope we can make it that far.”

  “I just hope the demons don’t hold parties there,” Sally muttered.

  * * *

  They managed to make it to the chapel, but the going was rough. It was fully night now and the dark had brought about more evil changes in the town. In many places huge fissures had opened in the ground, out of which shone steaming red light. From these holes they thought they heard pitiful screams.

  Yet the chapel looked much as it did in their Spooksville, perhaps a bit more neglected. The place definitely needed paint and a good cleaning, but the walls and windows were reasonably intact. In fact the chapel was one of the best-kept buildings in the entire Dark Corner, and Adam felt a measure of relief. He was sure the demons could not enter the building. Hurrying inside, he locked the door behind them and hoped they would be safe for the time being.

  “Maybe we should go to church more often,” Watch said, looking around.

  “It’s got to be a safer place to hang out than in the cemetery,” Sally said, plopping down in one of the pews.

  “But not as exciting,” Adam said, trudging toward the altar.

  “I could use a little less excitement in my life,” Watch said.

  Sally was astounded. “I can’t believe you said that. Fearless Watch, who is always ready for the next big adventure.”

  Watch removed his glasses and cleaned them on his shirt. “I’m still disgusted that we will probably be tortured and eaten before dawn.”

  Adam spun around and looked back at his friends. “I hear the mob again! They’re coming this way!”

  It was true. The howls were growing louder by the second.

  Sally jumped up. “We have to get out of here!”

  Watch put his ear to the back door. “No. It’s too late. They’re already on the same street. We’d be cut down as soon as we stepped outside. We’ve just got to trust that they won’t enter this holy building.”

  “Is any building holy in this evil dimension?” Sally asked.

  The demons surrounded them a minute later. Adam and his friends could see them through the stained-glass windows, dozens of them. Their burning torches sending shafts of light across the wooden pews. Their hideous faces glaring at them with hunger. Yet in the midst of the attack Adam smiled.

  “See,”
he said. “We’re safe. They’re afraid to come inside.”

  But a minute later the gang smelled smoke.

  The demons were not afraid to set the chapel on fire.

  11

  Cindy and Bryce caught up with the demons outside Adam’s house. Apparently Adam’s family was out for the evening. The front door of the house lay wide open and the stereo blared onto the front lawn. The demons danced on the grass, kicking and spitting on each other as they did so. They had the radio tuned to a heavy metal station. Cindy peered at them from around the side of a neighboring house.

  “They look like they’re having fun,” she said, having doubts about Bryce’s story.

  “They’re just getting warmed up for a night of destruction and evil,” Bryce said.

  “Is it possible you’re wrong?” Cindy asked. “Maybe they weren’t changed on the other side.”

  “You forget,” Bryce said. “I was with the real Adam, Watch, and Sally. These are definitely impostors.” He nodded. “See how they spit and curse each other. Is that normal?”

  “For Sally it’s not completely unusual.” Cindy paused and listened as the three characters giggled together. A chill went through her body and once again she saw the cold red flames in her mind. “Never mind,” she said quickly. “I believe you. What do you want to do?”

  “We have to get their attention and force them to follow us.” Bryce dug in his knapsack. “We have to lead them to a place where they’ll be vulnerable, but also a place they’ll want to enter.”

  “Where’s that?” Cindy asked.

  Bryce pulled a couple of flares out of his bag. “A meat locker at the grocery store. Demons are always hungry for raw meat. When they see it, they lose all control. They run toward it and start eating. If we can get them to run into a meat locker, we’ll be able to shut the door on them and they’ll soon pass out. Demons can’t stand the cold. In fact, they’ll remain unconscious for a while. During that time we should be able to drag them up to the cemetery and open the Secret Path so that we can rescue your friends.”

  Cindy thought his plan was brilliant, except for a few small details. “How do we get them to follow us into a meat locker?”