by Paul Berry
I feel a warm glow spreading up from my toes to the top of my head.
I remember another piece of life advice my dad gave me when he was soothing me after an anxiety attack last year. He sat on the edge of my bed, my head propped up with extra pillows and the duvet tucked around my neck. ‘Know your enemy, Sam. Even the most invincible foe has hidden chinks in their armour. Superman has kryptonite; even formidable kings and queens become piles of dusty bones over the passage of time. And your anxiety, eventually you’ll discover its weak points so it won’t control you anymore. Someday you’ll slay your beast.’
‘This sounds like a bad idea, ‘I say, ‘but I could talk to Dagona before we try to escape.’
‘That sounds like the ultimate worst idea,’ Mitch says, her head appearing from behind the bonnet, brandishing a spanner.
‘He might have a point,’ Jacob says. ‘Even if she isn’t willing to let us go, we can find out what she wants. Maybe use it against her. After all these years here, we still don’t know much about her.’
‘What do you suggest?’ Mitch asks. ‘Meeting at the Frying Pan and Fish for a coffee? It’s too risky.’
‘Not a physical meeting,’ I say. ‘I could send out my mind and talk to her. It’s not as though I’m trying to leave New Innsmouth.’
‘And if she just decides to kill you?’ Mitch asks.
‘Then I snap back into my body.’
‘I agree with Mitch. It’s dangerous,’ Bruce says.
‘I’ll be fine.’
‘What happens if she captures you instead?’ he asks, ‘Goes inside like she did with the others? That’s even worse than death.’
‘But it’s not my actual body. She can’t possess something that isn’t physical.’
‘You don’t know for sure.’
‘If I can talk to her, maybe I can come to an agreement, a bargain.’
‘No. She’ll kill you.’ Bruce’s face is lined with worry. ‘Sam, please don’t do this.’
‘We need any upper hand we can get.’
‘But how can you find her?’
‘She’s like Hastur. Remember what she said in the church. Only part of her is in Rachel; the rest is imprisoned in another place under the sea.’
‘But don’t you need to know where it is to project your mind there?’ Bruce asks. I remember the picture I drew for Dr Stone when he had me strapped to the chair. The subterranean temple.
‘I’ve already seen it, at Jupiter Hill, when they made me use the crystal.’
Before Bruce can object again, I stare into the crystal and visualise the temple, but the facets resist, as though I’m trying to invoke a place that doesn’t exist.
He looks at me and sighs. ‘You’re not going to let me talk you out of it, are you?’ I shake my head.
‘Are there any bigger sheets of paper? Drawing helps me focus.’ Jacob rifles through piles of detritus on the shelves and pulls out a yellowing sheet of newspaper and a stick of charcoal.
‘This place is better than an art shop,’ he says. I sit cross-legged on the floor and try to recall every aspect of the temple, allowing its image to pollute my mind. After a few minutes, I’ve sketched its strange vertices.
‘Mr Hewitt would’ve given you an A-plus for that,’ Bruce says, then winces.
‘Ok. Here goes nothing.’ I stare at the picture and let it fill me, feeling as though I’ve swallowed something repellent.
I look into the crystal.
Chapter 39
I feel myself being tugged from my body. I look down from the rafters of the garage and see the corner of my mouth twitching and my brow furrowed with effort, Bruce kneeling on the floor next to me.
Suddenly, I’m sucked down a dark tunnel, wind blasting inside my ears. The sensation stops and I’m standing in a dark cave. The roof is domed and constructed from stone slabs that are in constant movement, sliding over each other like the facets in the crystal. On each slab is carved a symbol. The walls of the cave are made of pitted metallic stone that look like the outside of the geode we found in the garden. The floor rises and falls as though I’m standing on the chest of some impossibly large creature.
Gossamer strands of mist waft upwards from a crack in the floor. They caress my face and then coalesce into a humanoid shape, the features becoming more defined.
It is Rachel, wraith-like, her body transparent.
‘So you’ve found my house,’ she says. ‘I’ve underestimated your talents.’
‘Is Rachel still alive?’
‘She’s quite the fighter. Every second she’s trying to resist me. It’s almost a struggle to remain in control of her body. You’ve not come here to visit, have you?’
‘I just want to talk. It must be lonely down here. I understand how you feel.’
‘You’re sweet,’ she says, touching my cheek. ‘I know you used the crystal to try and escape. I’m afraid it’s quite useless. I embrace this town with many arms.’
‘You brought me to New Innsmouth, didn’t you?’
‘Yes, I projected the picture you drew into your mind.’
‘And it was you I saw in the mirror at Adam’s house.’
‘I’ve been observing you and your little town for a while. You even took note of the book I showed you in the college library. That required a lot of energy to perform. Almost completely burnt out the body I was inhabiting.’
‘What do you want from me?’
‘You are the key to my freedom.’
‘And why would I want to be that?’
‘Consider your options. You can’t escape. Eventually me or my brother will find you.’
‘I’ll find a way out eventually.’
She shakes her head. ‘There’s no escape, my friend. I have your mother to thank for freeing me, though.’ She points at one of the slabs. A deep fissure runs through its centre, splitting the symbol in half. ‘The ritual that freed my brother destroyed one of the binding symbols to my prison. We’re twins, you see; you can’t free one without freeing the other. I brought your mother here the same way I brought you – a few signs, a few dreams, promises to vanquish Hastur from Preston and cure the affliction wrought on her body by her gauche command of magics.’
‘Why did she bring the bus here? Those students had nothing to do with this.’ Even though I’m not in my body, I can feel my heart beating faster with trepidation that Dagona is about to realise why I’m talking to her.
‘Although the ritual freed me, I am still bound to New Innsmouth and Preston. I can only take hosts from these places. Unfortunately, she reneged on her deal after I allowed her to return, so I had to take matters into my own hands. I also discerned your mother was hiding a secret, that she wasn’t the one who created the ritual. Like my brother, I knew there was one in Preston who held the key to my complete freedom. It was only a matter of time before one of us found you. When I saw you at his house, I knew you were the one.’
‘And if I help you?’
‘I’ll let your friends go and return your father. My brother’s prison in the Datum is within my reach.’
‘I can find it myself. And I don’t think your reach stretches that far.’ There is a distant growl of anger and the floor shudders.
‘The only way you can leave is if I allow it.’ She puts her hand on my shoulder and cold seeps into my bones, the kind of cold that comes from the ocean depths. ‘You can rule at my side, a much better offer than my brother would make. You will want for nothing. Nobody will pick on you anymore or humiliate you.’
‘And your brother?’
‘I’ve grown tired of him. Already he plots against me.’
‘He’s becoming stronger than you. That’s why you’re slowly losing your grip on the town.’
Her face creases in fury. ‘Your friend Bruce. You seem to be growing close to him. I can shed Rachel’s body if
you’d like and take his. He wouldn’t last long before I burned through him.’
‘Don’t touch him.’
She smiles. ‘Everyone has a weak spot. Yours is love.’ She holds out her hand. ‘Last chance. You’ll agree to help me?’
I shake my head. ‘And then what? You destroy the world?’
‘Not destroy. Remake. Into a place of wonders. Of water.’
‘How do you even know I can free you?’
She taps her temple. ‘What Rachel knows, so do I. You have power, Sam, even greater than the crystal.’
‘What about my mother?’
‘She chose her own fate despite what my brother did to her. Collateral damage, I’m afraid.’ Wisps of mist flutter past my eyelashes, probing inside my ears and my nostrils. ‘For some reason you seem immune to my charms. You are quite the enigma, Sam Black. One last time, will you help me?’
‘No.’
‘That is disappointing news.’ She dissipates and there is a grinding sound below my feet. The crack in the floor splits into a fissure and a huge tentacle whips out and encircles my legs,
‘Bruce!’ I scream.
A gigantic octopus eye blinks up at me.
‘Sam, wake up!’ a distant voice shouts in my ear. I can feel hands shaking my shoulders, but I’m still in the temple. I take a deep breath and picture Bruce’s face. Dagona screams in fury as the temple evaporates around me.
I open my eyes. Bruce is looking down at me, his eyes shining with terror. I try to stand up, but the room spins.
‘Better sit still and take it easy,’ Jacob says. I stuff the crystal back into my pocket and the vertigo immediately starts to ease.
‘We should never have let him to do it,’ Bruce says angrily. The bottom half of my trouser leg has been ripped off, leaving a concentric circle of red marks around my calf.
‘Did you find her?’ Mitch asks.
I nod and rub my leg. ‘If I help to free her, she’ll let us go.’
‘Maybe we should accept her offer,’ Jacob says. ‘There’s no guarantee the bus will work.’
‘Does she know about the bus?’ Mitch asks.
‘She tried to get inside me but couldn’t see anything.’ There is a tattered armchair in the corner of the garage, the stuffing bursting out of its arms like fuzzy mushrooms. I force myself to my feet and collapse onto it, springs digging into my back. I close my eyes as a wave of exhaustion washes over my body.
‘No time for a siesta,’ Jacob says. ‘We’ve got work to do.’
‘Let him rest,’ Bruce says, standing over me.
‘I’m fine,’ I say, trying to stand up, but my legs still feel like jelly.
‘Just relax for a while. Ignore him.’
Jacob snorts as he rattles through a metal toolbox.
I open my eyes. The garage looks like it’s on fire as coral bands of twilight stream through the narrow mesh windows. My temples throb and Bruce hands me a mug of water.
‘How long was I sleeping?’ I greedily gulp it down.
‘A few hours. I wouldn’t let them wake you.’
‘But why is it evening so soon?’
‘Something is happening to Dagona. She must be getting weaker.’
I realise what’s really happening. Hastur is growing stronger as he is making the town into a place of night.
The air becomes heavy with the smell of paint as Bruce daubs the symbols I drew onto the bonnet of the bus. Mitch and Jacob are arguing, their voices inflaming the dulling bands of pain under my skull.
‘How could you forget them?’ he asks.
‘I thought you’d brought them.’
‘It won’t work without them.’
‘Of course it will.’
‘You really wanna take that chance?’ He flings a screwdriver into the corner of the garage. Bruce makes a final stroke of black paint and walks over to me.
‘What’s wrong?’ I ask.
‘We left the keys at Ruby’s.’
‘We can start the engine without them,’ Mitch says.
‘If part of the original bus is missing, it might not break past her barriers,’ Jacob says.
I remember the octopus weather vane, its tentacles woven around an ornate key. ‘He might be right. Everything seems focused around keys. Even the crystal is one.’
Mitch touches one of the wet symbols and wipes her blackened fingertip on her jeans. ‘I’ll go back and get them.’
‘We’ve still got a few more repairs to make,’ Jacob says.
‘I’ll get them,’ Bruce says.
‘Then I’m coming too,’ I say, heaving myself up from the armchair. ‘You need a second person to watch your back.’
‘It could be too risky,’ Mitch says, ‘Dagona will be tearing apart New Innsmouth looking for you.’
Bruce smiles at Mitch and Jacob. ‘We’ll return before you know it.’
‘Take some firepower with you.’ Mitch hands us a couple of kitchen knives and we slide them under our belts.
‘We look like a couple of pirate chefs.’ Bruce laughs. ‘We’ll take the forest route and stay in the shadows.’ He pulls up the door shutter, wincing at the clatter. The concrete forecourt is deserted apart from a startled ginger cat which bounds through a gap under the mesh fencing.
‘Good luck,’ Mitch says. She gives me a long hug before she pulls down the shutter. We walk quickly down the road and cut across the garden of the abandoned bungalow. As we enter the woods, Bruce puts a finger over his lips and I nod.
The twilight makes the shadows menacing, every leaf crunch threatening to reveal our location. We eventually reach the second garden. As we pass the dragon topiary, I grab the back of Bruce’s jumper. He looks at me, taken aback, as I pull out my knife. The dragon’s head twitches and I step towards it, raising the knife above my head.
A starling pokes its head from its twisted mouth, chirping angrily before taking flight into the woods.
‘It looks very dangerous.’ Bruce laughs, covering his mouth. He stands closer to me, puts his hands on my shoulders and kisses me. ‘We’re going to get out of this place. I feel it in my bones.’ He hugs me tightly and I wrap my arms around his waist. ‘Life is more than just waiting for the next horrible thing to happen. I have to believe that.’
‘If it wasn’t for me you’d still be in Preston.’
‘Stop blaming yourself.’ He touches my lips with his fingertips. ‘Sometimes things happen that none of us can control. But look at how much you’ve changed. The Sam I knew from Vega college has become a fearless superhero.’
‘Is that why you like me now?’ I smile.
‘I’ve always liked you. I was just too much of a wimp to admit it. After we escape, we’ll find a way of stopping the monsters and save Rachel and your father.’ His certitude is unwavering and I can feel his strength flowing into me.
‘Where do you want to go after all the dragons are slain?’ I ask.
‘Nowhere near the coast. I’m sick of the sea.’
We set off and move furtively through the streets and back alleys. Everything is quiet. Too quiet.
‘Where is everyone?’ I murmur.
‘I don’t know. Even at this time there are usually Dagona zombies milling around.’
We exit the ginnel that leads out onto the promenade next to the Dorchester when the screech of tyres splits the air.
‘No!’ Bruce shouts. In the distance, on the long road that runs parallel to the promenade, are blinking lights. They hurtle towards us, the sound of an engine gradually growing louder. Faintly visible on the bonnet are three interlinked snakes.
The bus.
Chapter 40
‘They lied!’ Bruce shouts. ‘They already had the keys!’
I pat my jean pockets. Empty. ‘The crystal. Mitch must have stolen it, but why?’
&nbs
p; ‘Why else? They were planning to leave us here.’ A writhing mass of mist appears behind the bus, its greenish luminescence casting the row of seafront houses in an alien glow. ‘It’s Dagona. She’s not going to let them escape.’ As the bus gets closer it seems to be outrunning the mist.
‘They’re going to get away,’ I say. Despite what they’ve done, part of me is rooting for them. I can see their blurry silhouettes through the windscreen.
Another bank of mist climbs out of the sea over the railings of the promenade in front of the bus.
Like a cat toying with a mouse.
The bus screeches to a halt a few metres away from us. I can see Jacob banging the steering wheel in frustration. It reverses and stops again, then tries to turn down one of the roads leading off the promenade.
The mist slams into it, flipping it onto its side.
Jacob smashes through the windscreen and is tossed along the road like a mannequin, one of his legs ripping off. Bruce gasps and presses his hand over his eyes.
Rachel appears out of the mist. She walks over to Jacob, who begins to drag himself towards us, an arm outstretched, blood squirting from the stump of his ruined leg. She grabs his head and twists it sharply.
Mitch begins screaming behind the shattered windscreen, trying to pull herself free from her seatbelt. Her face is slick with blood and she locks eyes with me, pieces of glass embedded in her forehead. Rachel steps over Jacob’s body to the front of the bus.
Mitch thrusts the crystal towards her. ‘Stop or I’ll break it.’ She raises it above the dashboard.
Rachel smiles. ‘You really think you can send me back?’ Mitch raises the crystal higher, and she steps away, the writhing tide of mist dissipating. Mitch releases the seatbelt and slumps forward, blood spilling from her mouth.
Perched along the top of the promenade railings are seagulls, gripping the bar tightly with their clawed feet and ruffling their feathers.
‘We have to help her,’ Bruce says, taking a step forward.
‘Wait.’ I push him back. ‘It’s a trap.’
