by Jonah Hewitt
“Now, Lucy! Now I’ll go through and find your mother. Hold it open for as long as you can!”
Just then there was a loud crashing sound from the other side of the room. The double doors flew open and Miles and Sky crashed through them. They skidded across the floor, nearly to the lounge where Lucy’s mother lay. Graber stalked in behind. Hokharty stiffened. Yo-yo jumped up from the dais, ran to Lucy’s side and hugged her tight around the middle.
“Dude, that hurt!” Sky stood up and yanked Miles off the ground. “I can’t believe that didn’t work! I was certain he’d fall for a sucker punch! He must be smarter than he looks.”
“Aye, and a wee bit faster than we thought too.”
“Vampires,” Amanda muttered contemptuously under her breath, “I hate vampires.” “HOKHARTY! KILL THEM!!”
Hokharty balked. He looked angry at this order to attack his own, but he obeyed. He took off his leather jacket and tossed it aside. He walked towards the two of them with a purposeful stride.
Miles looked up and locked eyes with Lucy.
“LUCY, STOP!!” he yelled.
Lucy’s hand wavered a fraction of a second.
“NO, LUCY! DON’T STOP!” Amanda screamed. Miles looked to Graber who was fast closing on them from behind with Amarantha and Hokharty ahead.
“Stick to the plan?” Miles muttered with a dry chuckle.
Sky replied sarcastically, “And pray baldy’s pet has a bazooka shoved up its….”
“Remember!” Miles cut him off, “If Graber grabs ya it’s over, ya won’t ever get free after that. Stay away from him.”
“You too. Don’t let Hokharty pin you down, and if he turns into those golden insects, don’t look back, just run.”
With that, Sky bolted for Graber. Graber rushed forward to grab him, but Sky flipped right over him and bounced off the far wall. It turned out Graber could jump pretty high himself, but Sky was just a fraction of a second quicker. Sky managed to reach the double doors near the dais and burst through them and into the garden just before Graber. Graber tore after him and into the woods. Sky had done his part, now it was Miles’ turn.
Hokharty zeroed in on Miles and broke into a run as his form exploded into a cloud of thick, red smoke that rose up into the form of a serpent. The serpent reared up and then lightning-quick struck at Miles. Miles stood frozen and was about to be consumed by the serpent’s jaws when he transformed into the dog monster and barreled towards Amarantha and Lucy. The snake’s fangs struck the floor just inches from the dog-monster’s hindquarters. Miles bore down on Amanda, but she stood her ground and didn’t transform. Miles opened his jaws wide but something grabbed him from behind and his teeth closed on air just inches from Amanda. Hokharty had snagged him. The giant, red snake dragged him back and gathered itself like a boa constrictor around Miles.
As Miles was dragged away, he had a sickening feeling he had seen this little drama before. This was how Wallach died. Soon he would be crushed like Wallach and killed only something was different. He was in pain, but he was not fading as fast as he had before just now with Sky. Think, Miles! He wasn’t all that sharp to begin with and in the dog form things came even slower to him. The coils of the snake bound him ever tighter. Hokharty had stopped Ulami dead in her tracks with just a glance. What had Hokharty said all that while ago in the woods in the fight with Ulami and Forzgrim? Knowledge and reason. Think, ya stupid blighter! Think! What was different about the time Hokharty took out Wallach? Then Miles realized. It was him! Hokharty hadn’t defeated Wallach on his own. He needed Miles. Miles had been fighting with Wallach the same way that Hokharty had been fighting with Ulami. Only now Hokharty didn’t have Miles’ help. How to do it? The eyes. He had to look him in the eyes.
Miles cleared his head and turned to glare into the serpent’s eyes. The giant snake hissed and looked away. The grip of the serpent wavered but didn’t let go. That was something – not nearly enough – but it did give Miles a little more time to think. What to do?! First, he had to get out of these coils before he was crushed to death. He ignored the pain and forced it away. Then he remembered how Hokharty had changed first into smoke, then into the serpent. Could he do the same? Somehow he let go of his body and felt it disintegrate around him into the smoke but he didn’t let himself coalesce back into human form just yet. He almost lost himself for a moment there, but he stayed as a cloud of smoke and passed right through the coils of the snake. Then he moved away and reformed into his human shape. Miles looked down at his hands. He had never imagined he could do anything like that. Then he remembered he was in the middle of a fight.
He looked at Lucy and Amarantha who looked stunned, and then to Hokharty who had also transformed back into his human state. Miles fixed him with a withering stare and formed a single thought, “STOP!” Hokharty winced and hesitated. Miles smiled. Maybe this wasn’t going to be a rout after all. Then Hokharty stared back and Miles instantly felt like an ice pick had been shoved into his left eye.
“Aaargh!” Miles screamed, slapping his hand over his eye, nearly falling to his knees, but then he managed to bring his gaze back to Hokharty with his one good eye and push back. Hokharty flinched again, but less this time. His gaze softened and then Miles heard Hokharty speak inside his head.
“Yield, my child,” the voice inside his head spoke with a booming echo. “Yield and no harm will come to you, I promise. I have no desire to kill you. Least of all you.”
“Me?!” Miles thought, uncertain if Hokharty could hear him, “What’s so ruddy special about me?!” Miles pushed back. He shouted out in his mind as hard as he could, “STOP THIS! STOP Amanda! You’re going to destroy the world!”
Hokharty replied to his mind, “It is too late, child of the shadows, too late for us, but there may yet may be enough time for others before the end of time.”
That was so cryptic Miles figured not even Nephys could make sense of it. Hokharty went on projecting his thoughts, “I regret what must be done, but I cannot let even you stop it.” Hokharty’s face began disintegrating before his eyes into a mass of glittering insects.
“Sweet Brigid,” Miles said out loud. He looked at Lucy who looked equally horrified and then at Amanda who was staring down Miles with a venomous glare, but by the time he turned back, Hokharty was gone and had been replaced by a swarm of golden locusts. Miles had no choice. He instantly turned into his dog form and fled back towards the foyer. He sure hoped the kid and that bloody imp of his could help him now.
“AFTER HIM!” Amanda screamed in rage. The swarm of insects poured out of the hall, stripping the paint and plaster off the walls as it went. Lucy had to close her eyes and cringe as the chattering insects flew by. They tore at the already-tattered robe, revealing more of the wide-eyed princess kitties.
Lucy opened her eyes to see where they had gone, but Amanda grabbed her by the face and squeezed her cheeks painfully.
“CONCENTRATE ON THE GATE!” she yelled, “EVERYTHING DEPENDS ON THE GATE!” Then she calmed herself and stepped back. “Hold it open as long as you can, I’ll be back as soon as I am able.”
There was a blast of cold, grey light. Amanda disappeared and was replaced by the tall, hollow-eyed specter of Amarantha with its long, black hair flying. The specter rose up briefly before storming through the gate and down the tunnel of light to the tunnel on the other side.
Maggie made her way back out to the street. There were dozens of shades in the streets now, but they completely ignored her. They were all heading in the same direction. She ran out a little further into the street and looked at the horizon. There was a blue-white light glowing on the far side of the city near where the causeway stood. It was the Gates of Erebus and all the shades were heading that way. As she looked, the blue light pulsed once brilliantly, and there were screams of terror coming from that direction.
Before she had time to think, the earth beneath her feet shook with a violent shuddering, followed by another scream, but nothing that could be produced by men or
even spirits. It was high and piercing like an eagle, and low like the moaning of an ox, with the roar of a lion superimposed over all of it. In every note there were dread words, thousands of them chanted and spoken as if by a thousand voices, speaking tomes of forbidden knowledge and wisdom. It nearly unstitched Maggie’s fragile mind, and all time seemed to grind to a halt.
Maggie turned to look at the center of the city. The silhouette of the acropolis, which normally lay dark and invisible, hidden by a veil of gloom, was lit by a strange, sickly amber glow that was gathering about it like a storm. The earth shuddered again, and a few of the remaining spires and towers of the acropolis, the last vestiges of Elysium, crumbled and tumbled to the ground. The earth shook again, paused and then shook once more. Maggie clutched her head as she realized what the earth-shaking tremors really were. They were footsteps. Death was leaving his temple.
“Oh, Lucy,” Maggie said in horror, “What have you done?”
She knew she had to do something, but had no idea what. She had to try to stop Death from leaving the underworld somehow. She turned to go, but when she turned she found herself face to face with the long-haired specter with hollow eyes.
Graber was standing so still in the woods outside Rivenden anyone who saw him would have thought he was some macabre avant-garde statue. He was waiting for a sign or a sound of his quarry that had evaded him several times already. A twig broke somewhere to his right. The suddenness of his movements made the previous stillness all the more amazing by comparison. He leaped and fell on a nearby bush like a tank dropped by a helicopter. Sky erupted out of the bush where he was hiding just in time to avoid the thundering crash. He responded with a flying kick, but Graber deftly dodged the blow and grabbed Sky’s foot as it passed harmlessly by his face and pulled Schuyler to the ground with a colossal thud.
“Crap,” Sky muttered in pain and frustration.
Graber reeled him in with both hands until he had his hand on Sky’s throat and lifted him into the air.
Sky threw a punch against Graber’s jaw with all his strength. The speed and force was incredible, even by vampire standards, but it glanced off of Graber’s chin like a bug off a windshield.
“Unnnggh!” Sky looked down at his hand, the fingers bent out in all directions. It was like hitting a lead brick inside a larger brick of concrete covered in boilerplate. Graber hadn’t even flinched. Graber made like he was about to toss Sky into orbit, but Sky broke in quickly.
“Hey, Graber!” Sky said in a falsely bright tone, struggling to speak against the gripping, massive hand on his voice box. “Nice match, huh? Ok. You win this round, how ‘bout best two out of three?”
Graber just tightened his grip.
“Mmmgh!” Schuyler groaned but kept up the banter, “Y’know, it’s not fair fighting a guy missing the top of his head. I’m not used to kicking so low.” Graber growled a little at this. Sky kept going. As long as he kept Graber mad, he wasn’t going anywhere. “But I gotta tell ya, I love the haircut. Seriously. I’m not usually a fan of the flat-top, but you’ve taken it to new heights, or should I say lows?”
Graber slammed Schuyler against a nearby tree and slid him upward against it until his feet were off the ground, tearing the skin off Schuyler’s shirtless back in the process.
“Arrrgh!” Sky groaned, partly because the flesh of his naked back was now a four-foot red smear on the tree, and partly because he was looking down on a perfect cross-section of Graber’s Hippocampus.
“Still…” Schuyler quipped through the pain, “The haircut’s gotta save on the CAT scans, huh? Aach!”
Graber tightened down so hard on his throat that Schuyler could barely talk at all. It was hard to tell with a guy missing most of his head and his eyes, but it looked like he was eyeing Schuyler suspiciously, as if he were figuring out something.
After a moment Graber did something that scared Schuyler most of all. He spoke.
“CLEVER,” Graber said in a voice like a tomb door opening.
“DUDE! You can talk?! What else can you do? Don’t tell me! You’re potty-trained too, right?”
Graber didn’t respond at all but just tossed Schuyler aside like a rag doll. Schuyler collided with the large, stone outer wall of the estate and fell to the ground hard. When he got up, he could see that Graber was barreling back to the manor at full speed. Schuyler had managed to lead him all the way to the other side of the compound, but it was obvious Graber had figured out it was all a distraction.
“Crap!” Sky tried to yell through his crushed voice box, but it just came out as a squeak. If Graber got back they were done for. Mustering all his strength Sky got up and barely managed to overtake him. He slid his entire body under Graber’s tree trunk legs in an effort to trip him. It did the trick, but at a heavy price. Graber fell over, rolled away like a boulder and crashed against another tree, but one of Sky’s legs snapped like a twig from the collision.
“Unh…!” Schuyler tried to scream, but the collapsed voice box wasn’t cooperating. Lying in the dirt and fallen leaves, he saw Graber get up, unharmed. The brute stood up, brushed himself off and slowly walked to where Sky was lying broken on the ground.
Schuyler had to shake his head in admiration. “May I just say…” he managed to squeak out, “What an honor it has been to work with such pros.” Graber didn’t respond but kept striding towards him.
“You could’ve taken Forzgrim at any time couldn’t you?” Schuyler forced out in a squeaking voice. It may have been quiet, but Graber heard it. He froze just a few feet from Schuyler. That got him. Schuyler tried to laugh but it got caught in his throat. “Seriously, you guys are amazing. You were playing us the whole time weren’t you?” Graber cocked his half of a head at Schuyler, as if he were puzzling out how much Schuyler knew. “What else are you guys hiding I wonder?” Graber quickly closed the remaining distance and picked Sky up by his head, palming his skull like it was a melon. Sky groaned in pain. His toes were dangling just inches from the ground while his head was slowly being crushed in Graber’s vice-like grip. Graber looked intently at Sky with the empty space where his eyes should have been. He smiled and spoke in that horrifying guttural voice of his.
“I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU.”
Sky closed his eyes and prepared for the end as the vice-like hand tightened. He expected to hear the cracking of his skull followed quickly by the empty sound of oblivion, but instead he heard something else. He heard…Boston?
Crashing out of the bush, eight-track blaring “More Than a Feeling” so loud it made his teeth rattle, came the red tail-lights of a very battered 1974 limited edition Spirit of America Chevy Impala.
Thankfully, Graber released his grip just before impact to try to catch the car, but it was too late. Two tons of American steel and four feet of chrome bumper struck Graber’s midsection and sent him flying backwards where he disappeared into the bush with a colossal crash. Sky dropped to the ground and rolled away just in time to avoid the rear tires. He sat up and patted down all his parts: smashed hand, bloody back, broken leg, crushed windpipe, yep, all there. He quickly looked around.
“YES!!” Tim had stepped out of the driver’s side of the car and jumped up in triumph, raising both fists into the air. “Han Solo DID NOT run away from the battle of Yavin!”
“When Han Solo is finished with his touchdown dance can he please come over here and help me into the Millennium Falcon?!” Sky said as loud as he could with his smashed pipes. “Graber will be back any second!”
“Oh! Sorry, dude.” Tim ran around the car and yanked Sky up off the ground, put his arm around his back and under his armpit and helped him to the passenger side. “Dude, your back is hamburger!”
“Thanks for the news flash!” Sky winced as Tim opened up the door and dropped him into the passenger seat, “Sorry about bleeding on the girlfriend.”
“Don’t call her my girlfriend!” Tim shot back as he jumped the hood and scrambled into the driver’s seat.
“If you get us
the heck out of here alive, I swear I will never say anything bad about this car or Boston ever again!! Now DRIVE!!”
Tim was just popping it into gear when Graber burst out of the undergrowth. He had a large, broken branch stuck through his abdomen and out the other side. He snapped off the back half and pulled the rest of it out the front way slowly before tossing it aside. He looked really pissed. He was snorting like a bull and all at once he charged. Tim froze and screamed. Sky slid over on the bench seat and stomped on the gas with his good foot. Tim’s foot was still under it and he screamed again.
Miles was pounding on all fours through the manor at a frantic pace, the hum of golden locusts was right on his dog heels loud enough to drown out his own footsteps. He had never been very familiar with Rivenden before and his dog-monster mind was just yelping “Run!” over and over again, making it impossible to think about where he was going. He had already crashed through the parlor and the dining room.
In the parlor, the skeletons were all sitting around without clothes. When they saw Miles run through they all screamed and pulled on their robes as if he had charged into a women’s locker room. Who would have known that skeletons could scream, let alone had a sense of modesty? The dining room was holding a confab of some of the mummies drinking tea, or more likely, embalming fluid, from the smell of it. Miles crashed through the tea set, sending pieces of bone china flying everywhere. Irate protestations of his rude behavior erupted behind him, but they were swallowed by the hum of the locusts immediately following him.
From the dining room, he stumbled into the kitchen and skidded across the tile floor, scattering several more meat golems that were resting there. While sliding, he saw the door he hoped went to the basement. He scrambled back to his feet, but then he realized he couldn’t open the door without hands. He transformed back into his human form, fumbling for the doorknob, waiting for the paws to grow thumbs. He managed to open it just in time, lunge into the dark stairwell and slam it shut. He heard the yelps and cries of the poor meat golems and the relentless pelting of the locusts on the other side of the door as if it was being hammered by a heavy, horizontal rain.
