Aspen

by Skye Knizley

  Aspen shook her head. “Nice. There is only one problem.”

  Jynx reloaded her pistols and spun them around her fingers. “What’s that?”

  “The building is wood.”

  Jynx holstered her pistols and made a face. “So?”

  Aspen started walking across the roof. She could feel it getting warmer beneath her feet.

  “Very dry wood,” she continued.

  Jynx followed her. “And?”

  Aspen heard the crackle of flames below. “And we’re standing on it.”

  She stopped at the edge of the building. Jynx joined her and looked down. “Fuck.”

  Flames were already licking their way through the wall below. Aspen could see their harsh orange glow through the clapboards. The second floor was an inferno and the first floor was catching like, well like a house afire.

  “Yeah. Any idea how we get down without turning into monster hunter flambé?”

  Jynx shrugged. “I thought you were the brains.”

  “Great. You do know I’m a lab monkey, right? I look at blood and evidence through microscopes? That was the first time I ever used a weapon outside a pistol range,” Aspen said.

  Jynx walked to the front and craned her neck to see the street below. “You’re a natural, then. The way you roasted those skeeters? Classic.”

  She turned back. “That side is worse, we aren’t going down the front.”

  The building shook and the roof over the office collapsed with a roar that sent flames shooting into the sky.

  Aspen chewed her lip and looked at the next building over. It was pretty far, but she thought they could make the distance with a running start. And a lot of luck.

  “Right, Okay, we get a running start and jump to the next building,” she said.

  Jynx judged the distance and made a face. “Are you kidding me?”

  “Do you have a better idea?”

  “I think I’d rather take my chances climbing down the front. Burns are better than broken bones,” Jynx replied.

  Aspen backed away from the edge. “In that heat? You won’t burn, you’ll melt. I’ll have to carry you back with a sponge.”

  Jynx looked at the edge again, then back at Aspen. “Fine! If I die, my ass is haunting you!”

  They backed up until they could feel the heat of the inferno on their backs. Aspen took Jynx’s hand. “Ready?”

  Jynx looked at the roof. “Hell, no. I’m really starting to wish I’d stopped at Mondo Burger instead of Creek’s.”

  They started running hand in hand across the roof. The roof began to collapse behind them, tumbling into the flaming abyss below with every step. They reached the crumbling edge of the building and leapt into the void. Behind them, the building collapsed in on itself with a rumble like thunder and a shower of sparks that threatened to set their clothes on fire. There was a moment of breathless quiet as they sailed over the distance, then they landed with a crash and rolled across the roof of Acme Pharmacy where they came to a stop in a heap. After a moment, Jynx untangled herself and pushed Aspen away with one foot.

  “I’m never going hunting with you again.”

  Aspen sat up on her elbows. “Admit it, this is the most fun you’ve had all week.”

  Jynx stood and extended a hand. Aspen took it and was helped to her feet.

  “I admit nothing,” Jynx said. “Come on, let’s find a way down.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Chicago Morgue, Chicago, IL, 7:00 p.m.

  The Chicago City Morgue was one of Raven’s least favorite places. It had started life as one if the city’s famous slaughter houses and the ancient brass drains in the floor still reeked of old blood and offal, at least to her sensitive nose. The old brick building was a relic, with electrical panels that flickered at odd times, gargoyles that gurgled in the rain, and an old copper roof that attracted lightning the same way honey attracted flies. But still, Dr. Ming Zhu refused to let the city move his offices to a more modern location. He said the old building gave his reports character.

  Raven looked down at the body of John Doe 688, formerly known as ‘the dead scumbag from Club Purgatory’. Dr. Zhu had cleaned him up and stripped him down, but hadn’t yet started his autopsy, much to Raven’s relief. The last thing she needed today was a nose full of blood. Mr. Doe now lay on a metal examination table with his head on a padded rest. His pale skin glistened in the light and made the bullet holes in his chest stand out in stark contrast.

  “So, who is he?”

  Dr. Ming Zhu, the chief coroner, smoothed his green apron and put his hands in the pockets. His black hair was slicked back from his eyes and his goatee was so carefully trimmed that every hair looked perfect, even after a day behind a surgical mask.

  “Raven, I already told you. He’s a John Doe. I ran his prints and Harvey has his DNA in the system. So far, nothing,” Zhu said. “His license and identification were all fakes. Very good ones, but fakes nonetheless.”

  Raven shook her head in disgust. “How does a career criminal not end up in the system?”

  “How do you know he’s career?”

  Raven pointed at the hole in her jacket. “He shot me.”

  Zhu laughed and patted the corpse’s cheek. “Perhaps it was his first time and he got lucky.”

  Raven arched an eyebrow at him. “Lucky?”

  “Indeed. Everyone gets lucky, my dear Raven. Perhaps today was his day,” Zhu said.

  Levac pushed through the doors with a donut in one hand and a foam coffee cup in the other. “He doesn’t look very lucky to me, doc.”

  “Mm, perhaps not, Rupert, I dug two ten-millimeter slugs out of his chest. Yours, I presume,” Zhu said.

  Levac took a big bite out of his donut. “Only two? I lost one.”

  Zhu shrugged. “Perhaps you need more time at the range, but on that I cannot comment. He also had a thirty caliber in his leg and another grazed his right forearm, courtesy of Ms. Storm.”

  He patted the man again. “Our Doe certainly had no intention of coming quietly.”

  “What else can you tell me, Ming?” Raven asked.

  Zhu walked around the table. “He’s in his mid to late thirties, six feet tall approximately one-hundred and eighty pounds. Brown hair, brown eyes, you could almost call him ‘Mr. Average.’ He only had one distinguishing mark, a tattoo on his right shoulder.”

  Zhu pointed at a photograph he’d pinned to the nearby wall. It depicted a complicated pattern of five intertwined circles. “The tattoo ink is typical carbon black made with just a hint of ash. Nothing out of the ordinary.”

  Levac licked sugar from his fingers. “What is the symbol for? I mean, what’s the symbology?”

  Zhu made a face. “Rupert, please don’t do that here.”

  Levac stopped mid-lick. “Don’t do what?”

  Zhu mimed licking his own fingers and Levac blushed slightly.

  “Sorry, doc. I didn’t have a big lunch.”

  Zhu looked back at the photo. “I believe what you meant is ‘what is the symbolism’ of the tattoo. All I can tell you is it is the five-fold circle, a symbol of balance in ancient times. What it meant to this fellow I cannot imagine. It isn’t a common symbol.” He looked at them conspiratorially. “I had to look it up.”

  Raven moved closer to the photo. “Can I get a copy of this?”

  Zhu handed her a folder that had been lying on the counter. “I took the liberty of adding a copy to my preliminary findings. Everything should be there, unless you want to wait for the full autopsy.”

  Raven opened the file. “I’m pretty sure I know what killed him. Thanks, Ming.”

  She tucked the file under her arm and started for the door. “Come on, Rupe, we’ve got trees to shake.”

  “Where to now?” Levac asked when they were outside.

  Raven glanced at the
sky, which was black shot through with purple-black clouds. “Marie should be up. I want to show her this symbol and see if she knows anything.”

  She looked back at Rupert, who was sucking on the contents of his coffee cup. “You don’t have to come, you can head home and get some dinner. I can handle this.”

  Levac finished his coffee and tossed the cup in the trash. “Are you sure? I mean, if we’ve got a lead—”

  “You want to be there,” Raven finished. “I promise, if Marie comes up with something, I’ll call you.”

  Levac shrugged and started backing toward his parked Nash Metropolitan. “I’m not going to look a few hours’ off in the mouth. But you better keep that promise. Marie comes up with anything, you call me.”

  Raven waved him away. “Go get some real food. I’ll call if anything comes up.”

  She watched him climb into his old car and rattle away before heading for Marie’s. If anyone would know what the symbol was, it was her.

  II

  Devil’s Lake, MO, 8:13 p.m.

  Aspen peered out at the street from the safety of the Onyx Theater. The Onyx had once been the small town’s movie theater, complete with two screens and an old-fashioned corn popper that still held petrified popcorn. Now, the building was nothing but a ruin that smelled of age and mold. The window was covered in the ash that had started falling as she and Jynx made their way down the side of the pharmacy. They’d taken refuge from the strange ash-fall inside the theater simply because it was there.

  “The rest of the building is clear,” Jynx said, exiting the second projection room. “Just some old Horror Fest posters. Anything going on outside?”

  Aspen shook her head. “Nothing. Just this weird ash and the glow of the store you torched.”

  Jynx joined her at the window. “It isn’t my fault the place went up like an old newspaper, I was just taking out the nosferatu, which, by the way, I had a thought about.”

  “Something along the lines of ‘if there were nosferatu here, how did Martel get out alive?’”

  “Something like that. How did you—”

  Aspen shrugged. “Because I was thinking the same thing. There is something else going on here. Something more sinister than nosferatu and old popcorn.”

  “It might be time to get the hell out of here until we figure out what,” Jynx said.

  Aspen turned from the glass. “I can’t argue with that, Jynxie. I don’t think this is letting up, do you want to chance a drive in all of this?”

  Jynx drew a pistol and pushed the door partway open with her hip. “Why not? I’ve driven in worse. We can snag some milkshakes at the Mondo Burger we passed and then head back to Creek’s. ”

  “It’s a date. I’m sure Raven won’t mind.”

  Aspen followed Jynx out into the ash-fall. It had been falling steadily for almost an hour and the road outside was slick with it, almost as treacherous as the winter storms it so closely resembled. She stayed close to Jynx, often checking behind and walking backwards to scan the deepening shadows that seemed to follow them. Before long, the Charger appeared, a black beacon in a sea of gloom. Jynx wiped ash away as she walked down the driver’s side. “Baby, you are a sight for sore eyes. Did you miss me?”

  Aspen had never felt affinity for a car before, she could barely drive, but she had to agree that the car was a welcoming sight. She tossed her gear in the back and dropped with relief onto the passenger’s seat. A few moments later they were driving slowly down the hill to the main road. Aspen closed her eyes and rested her head on the window. She’d never been in a situation like this before, the closest had been with Xavier and then she’d had Raven by her side.

  I wish you were here, she thought.

  “What the hell?”

  Aspen opened her eyes to see Jynx staring at the road ahead. The car slowed to a stop and Jynx got out, one hand raised to shield her eyes from the sulfurous ash. She walked ahead of the car and looked at something ahead, something hidden in the gloom. After a moment, she turned back.

  “Asp, you have to come see this.”

  Aspen sighed and opened the door; that was the last thing she wanted to do. The ash-fall continued unabated and she huddled in her jacket as she walked. She opened her mouth to ask Jynx what was wrong, but stopped when she saw the shapes in the dark. Ahead of them was their camp, exactly as they’d left it ten minutes ago.

  “Why did you turn around?” she asked.

  “I didn’t. We started down the hill to the main road and then suddenly we were back here,” Jynx said.

  “Yesterday, I would have said that was impossible.”

  Jynx coughed and spat on the pavement. “But not today?”

  Aspen continued to stare at the camp. “No. I’ve seen nosferatu that I would have sworn were extinct, a town that time forgot, and ash that falls from the sky when we are nowhere near a volcano. This is almost normal. Should we try again?”

  Jynx shrugged. “I have no idea. Piper and I usually just find the bad thing and kill it, this is a new level of weird.”

  “Let’s at least get back in the car, we can decide out of this stuff.”

  Inside the car, Jynx wiped ash out of her eyes. “Well? You’re the magik expert.”

  “This isn’t like any magik I know. Can you drive faster?”

  Jynx grinned at her. “Midnite and I were born to go faster.”

  She spun the car around and accelerated back down the hill. The big car’s engine roared like some kind of caged demon and the trees flew past closer than Aspen thought was safe. She glanced at Jynx and saw that she was smiling. She truly did have a bizarre idea of fun.

  After a few minutes, a time that seemed even shorter than it should have been, they skidded to a stop with their camp dead in the headlights.

  “Shit,” Jynx muttered.

  “Whatever is here, I don’t think it wants us to leave,” Aspen said.

  Ten minutes later they were cruising down the main street at a walking pace. The ash-fall and the distant rumble of thunder had persuaded them that spending the night out in the open was risky, at best. They’d agreed to scout the town and then find a safe place to hole up until daybreak.

  Once they neared the center of the small town, the ash-fall seemed to lessen and visibility became clearer. The town hadn’t been large, but had all the amenities available to small-town America in the late ‘60s, including a realtor, two doctor’s offices, an eye doctor and a fast-food burger joint called the Red Barn.

  Also spaced along the main street were abandoned cars somehow untouched by time, streetlights that flickered fitfully, and old-fashioned pay phones with the “Missouri Bell” logo still glowing in the night. Aspen convinced Jynx to pull over near one and she got out to look.

  The telephone stood on a thin steel pole and was shrouded in a blue and white housing that would give the user a small amount of privacy from passerby on the street. Out of curiosity, Aspen picked up the handset and listened. There was no dial tone, but a strange urge made her press the cradle. There was a click in the handset and then what sounded like someone breathing. Aspen looked at the phone in surprise, then held it to her ear.

  “Hello?”

  There was no answer, but she thought she detected a change in the breathing. Or her stressed-out imagination was playing tricks on her.

  “Hello? Is someone there?”

  This time there was a definite change in the breathing. It almost sounded… excited.

  “I know you’re there, I can hear you breathing,” she tried.

  The raspy, excited breathing didn’t change, it just continued, in and out. Aspen knew it was just breathing, but the cadence was getting on her nerves. She could feel the hair standing on the back of her neck.

  “I’m not into heavy breathing from some random dude. If you don’t say anything, I’m hanging up.”

  T
he breathing changed again, becoming faster, almost desperate. Then it stopped, only to be replaced with a deep rolling laugh that raised goosebumps on Aspen’s skin. She hung up the phone, but the laugh continued, rolling over the street, a terrifying sound from some unseen force.

  Jynx opened the car’s door and stood. “What the hell was that?”

  Aspen felt like all the blood had drained from her skin. She hugged herself and walked back to the car. “I don’t know, there was a voice on the phone then the laugh.”

  “There was someone on the phone? What did they say?”

  “Nothing, they just called to breathe at us. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

  Jynx looked like she wanted to ask more questions, but she caught the look on Aspen’s face and got back into the car. “Fine. But where the hell are we going?”

  “I don’t know, Jynx! Okay? I don’t know. This isn’t what I expected. I expected magik or monsters or a cult, something I could investigate and stop. Not this!”

  She stopped and rubbed her eyes, which stung from the ash and sulfur. “Just drive, maybe there is a way out on the other side of town.”

  Jynx started driving. They rolled slowly past a two-story brick building that had once been an elementary school, peered through the windows at the Grand Hotel and turned at the end of the street, where it became a dead end in front of the town’s church.

  “Welcome to Devil’s Gate,” Jynx read.

  “That’s not right, the name of the town is—”

  “Devil’s Lake,” Jynx finished. “That’s never a good sign.”

  The church was a large structure, almost three stories high, surrounded by a wrought-iron fence. The building was made of brick with a central spire capped with a bent metal cruciform. The façade was white, with stained glass windows extending above the doors nearly to the roof cap. The front doors were made of heavy wood and stood almost two stories at the center. The wood was scarred and badly scorched, but still held firm against the darkness of the night

  Jynx handed Aspen a flashlight and started up the long flight of stairs that led to the doors. Aspen followed, shining her light at the ash-covered lawn. It looked to her as if the ash was rippling in the dark, but where the light touched it, it remained unmoving. She shook it off as her imagination and joined Jynx where she stood at the door. She was running her fingers over the wood, pressing them into the scars and crevasses.