And then she pushed away and her voice changed again. “Good-bye, Mother.”
The spider legs sprang from her back then, and their tips poked the ground. They raised her off her human feet and walked her to the edge and over. The kiddlies followed.
I cried out and ran to the brink and might have fallen in had Hill not grabbed my arm. Reflected moonlight lit the upper reach of the smooth-walled shaft and I saw her walking surefootedly downward on her eight spindly legs.
I wanted to jump, truly, I did. And if she’d been my only child I would have done just that. Gladly. But I had Bess to think of.
Ellie quickly passed into the inky shadows and was lost from sight.
“I can’t…” Hill began, then swallowed. “I can’t believe that’s the same girl I carried from the park back in December.”
“She is and she isn’t.”
I needed to get away from this place, needed to find Bess and cling to her and convince her to come home where, according to Ellie, we might have a chance.
…I won’t be there to help you in the nightworld that’s coming…
Part of me screamed to stay, but I knew if I listened I might lose it and jump in after her.
I thrust out my hand. “Mister Hill…thank you for your hospitality today.”
“Oh, that penthouse isn’t really my place. I’m just living there for the time being, but I think I’ll stay on awhile longer and keep an eye on things down here.” He didn’t release my hand right away. “I’m sorry about Ellie. I don’t know what—”
I pulled my hand free. “Neither do I. Good bye, Mister Hill.”
I was barely holding it together. Kind words of sympathy would reduce me to a blubbering puddle.
He nodded and we walked off in opposite directions, knowing we’d never see each other again, even if we both survived the coming Nightworld.
The Secret Histo
ry of the World
The preponderance of my work deals with a history of the world that remains undiscovered, unexplored, and unknown to most of humanity. Some of this secret history has been revealed in the Adversary Cycle, some in the Repairman Jack novels, and bits and pieces in other, seemingly unconnected works. Taken together, even these millions of words barely scratch the surface of what has been going on behind the scenes, hidden from the workaday world. I've listed them below in chronological order. (NB: “Year Zero” is the end of civilization as we know it; “Year Zero Minus One” is the year preceding it, etc.)
Scenes from the Secret History is FREE on Smashwords
The Past
“Demonsong” (prehistory)*
“The Compendium of Srem” (1498)
“Wardenclyffe” (1903-1906)
“Aryans and Absinthe”* (1923-1924)
Black Wind (1926-1945)
The Keep (1941)
Reborn (February-March 1968)
“Dat Tay Vao”* (March 1968)
Jack: Secret Histories (1983)
Jack: Secret Circles (1983)
Jack: Secret Vengeance (1983)
“Faces”* (1988)
Cold City (1990)
Dark City (1991)
Fear City (1993)
“Fix” (2004) with Joe Konrath and Ann Voss Peterson
Year Zero Minus Three
Sibs (February)
The Tomb (summer)
“The Barrens”* (ends in September)
“A Day in the Life”* (October)
“The Long Way Home”+
Legacies (December)
Year Zero Minus Two
“Interlude at Duane’s”+ (April)
Conspiracies (April) (includes “Home Repairs”+)
All the Rage (May) (includes “The Last Rakosh”+)
Hosts (June)
The Haunted Air (August)
Gateways (September)
Crisscross (November)
Infernal (December)
Year Zero Minus One
Harbingers (January)
“Infernal Night” (with Heather Graham)
Bloodline (April)
The Fifth Harmonic (April)
Panacea (April)
The God Gene (May)
By the Sword (May)
Ground Zero (July)
The Touch (ends in August)
The Void Protocol (September)
The Peabody-Ozymandias Traveling Circus & Oddity Emporium (ends in
September)
“Tenants”*
The Last Christmas
Year Zero
“Pelts”*
Reprisal (ends in February)
Fatal Error (February) (includes “The Wringer”+)
The Dark at the End (March)
Signalz (May)
Nightworld (May)
* available in Secret Stories
+ available in Quick Fixes—Tales of Repairman Jack
Signalz Page 18
