by P. T. Hylton
It was daytime. He was outside. Where was he? Where was Wendy’s living room with the wine glass and the Twilight Zone? It was hard to think, hard to keep any one thought in his head. It was as if his thoughts had become slippery. Holding on to each one was nearly impossible.
He looked around, trying to orient himself. He was in a parking lot. It looked familiar… yes, this was the Food City parking lot. He felt a pull. The same pull he had felt when he was in the mirror. It was trying to pull him back, to take him downward.
He looked around, panicked. He had come here to tell someone something. Who was it? What had he wanted to say?
The pull was growing stronger. He knew he couldn’t fight it for long. He needed to get the job done quickly. Then he saw her, only ten feet away. Sally Badwater. Not the person he had been looking for but she would have to do.
He ran to her, fighting the backwards pull with all the strength in his legs. He reached out and grabbed her shoulder.
She turned around and gasped when she saw him. Why was she so surprised?
He opened his mouth and tried to remember what he had to say, tried to find the words he needed to speak. Zed had said he would be investigating Jake’s friends. The coin was in danger. He needed to tell someone. Maybe his friend. His brother. Will. Wait, was that his name? Everything was so confused in his mind. “Tell my brother. Tell my brother to meet me at the quarry.”
The words were all jumbled in his head, but he had gotten them out. They would understand. He prayed they would.
The pull on him was stronger now and he almost stopped fighting. Then he remembered one more thing. Zed had a Tool too. Jake needed protection from Zed. He needed time to find help for Rook Mountain. There was only one thing he knew of that could protect him. And only one person who had it. A person who wouldn’t hesitate to help Jake if he could.
“And if Frank comes, tell him to bring the Cassandra lock.”
Then he stopped fighting.
He crashed back into the liquid almost immediately, almost before he had the chance to take a last deep breath. When he hit the liquid, he went limp, not fighting this time, and his mental clarity returned. He let himself be pulled down toward whatever salvation or damnation lay below. He hoped it would be a place where he could find help for his family. He had failed all of them—Trevor, Christine, Frank, and Will—for far too long. He hoped it would be a place of second chances.
As he rushed through the liquid he saw the figure of another man join him. It was dark and he couldn’t make out the details. He could only see a vague shape. Then a third shape appeared. Jake barely had time to register that one at all before the liquid spit him out.
He stood in a forest of towering trees. Will had been right—they weren’t the trees of Eastern Tennessee. Jake took a long deep breath of sweet forest air. The woods were alive with sound, the birds singing, the wind in the trees, the buzz of the insects. It felt like a place of peace.
He stood there for a long while enjoying the forest before he saw the object on the ground in front of him. It was a book. Jake picked it up.
The book was bound with rich brown leather. The only marking on the cover was a symbol. For a terrible moment, Jake thought it was the broken clock symbol. But it wasn’t. It was similar; it too had a crack running down the length of the image. It was a globe. A broadly drawn representation of the Earth.
Jake tucked the book with the symbol of the broken Earth under his arm and started walking. He had come to find help, and he intended to do so.
IN THE AFTER
1.
One morning, in the middle of May 2014, Wendy Caulfield and Sean Lee knocked on the Osmonds’ door. Will looked through the peephole. Between the media, the government, and the scientists investigating the events in Rook Mountain, the Osmonds barely had a moment to themselves. Knocks at the door were far too common these days, and Will, Christine, and Trevor had quickly adjusted to ignoring them when they came unexpectedly.
Frank was still living in their spare bedroom. With the town so overrun with outsiders, it wasn’t the best time to look for an apartment. He was keeping busy, distracting himself from the media circus by learning about programming. In prison, he’d had some ideas about locks that could be opened by completing a puzzle on a smart phone. Now that the Internet was back, it seemed like a good time to look into it.
Those were the reasons Frank and the Osmonds told themselves that Frank hadn’t moved out. The real reason was that it felt better to be together, to be with the only people who truly understood what it had been like, what had happened on the roof of City Hall that day.
Will opened the door when he saw Wendy and Sean. He invited them in, scanning the street for strange vans or news cameras before shutting the door behind her.
“You doing okay?” Wendy asked.
Will thought about how thoroughly to answer that question and then nodded. “Yeah. We’re okay. How about you?”
Wendy did a half-shrug half-nod. “As well as anyone I guess.”
Overall, the people of Rook Mountain were handling the situation very well. Sure, there were a few media whores who appeared on every news and talk show that would have them. There were a few who had signed book deals and sold their movie rights. Some good Samaritans had volunteered to spend time with the scientists trying to figure out what had really happened in Rook Mountain and how the population of the town had aged nine years in one night. The former selectmen seemed to be adapting to life without teleportation and mind reading.
Frank kept waiting for someone to show up and tell him it was time to go back to prison, but it hadn’t happened yet. He had cut his hair to a more manageable length, but he had left it gray. He kind of liked it that way.
Will looked at Sean. “You brought it?”
Sean nodded. “I’ll be glad to get rid of the thing. We should have done this two months ago. Things have been a little…”
“Yeah,” Will said. “I know.”
“Before we do that, can I talk to Trevor?” Wendy asked. “I have something for him. From Jake.”
A few minutes later the group was gathered in the living room. Will had a duffel bag as his feet.
Wendy handed Trevor the envelope.
“Your father wanted me to me to give this to you when you grew up. After everything that’s happened, I guess now’s the time. I never read it. But I did let Frank read it the night before he was sent Away. I thought… I hoped maybe there would be something in there that would help him. I hope that’s okay.”
Trevor nodded slowly. “Yeah. Of course.”
Trevor took out the single piece of paper and read carefully. When he was finished he didn’t say anything, but he passed Christine the note.
“You sure you want me to read this?” she asked.
Trevor said, “You both should.”
Christine read it with tears in her eyes, then she passed it to Will. He held it on his lap and read.
Dear Trev,
I am so sorry I have to leave you. I don’t know how much you know about what’s happened, so I wanted to explain.
One night when you were little, a bad man named Zed somehow managed to cut off Rook Mountain from the rest of the world. This place he put us in was filled with these creatures he called the Unfeathered. He protected us from the Unfeathered as long as we didn’t leave town, so people were grateful and they gave him and his friends a lot of power. But the real reason he took us here was so that he would have time to find these objects he calls the Tools. There’s a key, a cane, a knife, and a bunch of others. These things have special powers. If he gets them, he will have all the power he wants, and that would be a very bad thing. So me and your mom and some of our friends decided to fight him. I found a way to maybe get us some help, and that’s why I am not there with you today.
You may already know some of this. Maybe you know all of it. But I wanted to tell you in case no one else has told you straight out.
Three other things I need to make
sure you know:
1) Your mother is the toughest person I’ve ever met. She will fight all the monsters in the world to protect you. Trust her and do what she says.
2) Will is a good man. I’m not sure what your relationship with him is like, but you need to trust him too. He loves you like a father. Will and your mother will do anything to protect you. Will has a way of figuring out what the Tools are for. He is sort of in tune with them in a strange way. He hasn’t figured out the knife yet, but tell him to keep trying. I know the answer will come to him when he needs it.
3) I will never stop trying to get back to you. I wouldn’t have left unless I thought it was the best way to help you. I’ll see you again someday. Believe that with all your heart. I know I do.
Love,
Dad
Will set the letter down, walked to the couch, and hugged Christine and Trevor with all his strength.
Frank said, “I’m sorry I never mentioned the letter. I forgot about it after everything that happened.”
“Is that why you left me the knife?” Will asked. “On the stage that day?”
Frank nodded. “Jake said the answer would come to you when you needed it. He was right.”
“It was a little scary the way the knife spoke to me. It told me exactly what to do.”
“Maybe the Tools changed the two of you,” Sean said.
“What do you mean?” Frank asked.
“The lighter was buried out there by your cabins. Who knows how long it was there. Maybe it amplified your natural talents. It made your locks stronger, so that people who weren’t meant to open them didn’t even see they existed. And maybe it upped Will’s powers of perception.”
Frank couldn’t argue. Becky Raymond had searched that shed, and she hadn’t even noticed the freezer with his lock on it. It was Frank’s lock that had trapped Zed and the selectmen on the roof of City Hall.
After a long moment, Frank turned to Will and said, “Speaking of powers of perception, let me ask you something. In that letter, it seemed like Jake knew you and Christine would get together. How’d he know that?”
Will looked out the window a long time before answering. “After you went to prison, things changed between the three of us. We grew closer. We spent a lot of time together. It’s hard to explain the relationship the three of us had. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. Christine and I never did anything behind Jake’s back or anything like that… but we were all close. You’re right. He knew Christine and I would get together if he were gone. And we knew we would have his blessing.”
Trevor cleared his throat. “Can we get to what we came here to do?”
Christine laughed. “You’re right. Enough of this touchy-feely stuff. Lay it on the table, Sean.”
Sean reached into his coat and set the coin on the coffee table.
Frank looked away. The sight of the thing still made him shiver.
Will unzipped the duffel bag and took out the cane, the key, the mirror, and the lighter. Finally, he brought out the knife.
“If Zed ever makes it back here, he won’t find these Tools waiting for him,” Will said.
Frank held up his hand. “Zed said that we need to protect ourselves. That the Ones Who Sing were coming. Do you think maybe we should hold on to them? Just in case?”
“No,” Christine said. “I’m done waiting and I’m done being cautious. Zed said, ‘death of millions.’ We are not letting that thing survive. Do it, Will.”
Will brought the knife down on the coin, and it shattered. Then he set the cane on the table and did the same. Then the key. Then the lighter. When he raised the knife over the mirror, Frank held up a hand.
“Wait,” he said.
“I thought we agreed these things have to be destroyed,” Will said.
“Yeah, I agree. But I have to go into the mirror first.”
He continued before any of them could speak. “Jake went through there and we don’t know where he ended up. Then we sent Zed through the same way. What if Jake needs help? What if Zed is coming for him and Jake doesn’t know it?”
“Frank,” Sean said, “I hate to say it, but they might be dead.”
“And they might be alive. I have to try. When I was Away, the Ones Who Sing told me that I will never see Jake again, but I have to try. I’m going in. After I’m through, destroy the mirror.”
“What if the mirror is the only way back?” Will asked.
“All the more reason to destroy it. We can’t leave Zed a way back. But I won’t leave Jake there alone.”
Christine said, “I think I finally understand the other part of Jake’s message to Sally Badwater.”
“If Frank comes, tell him to bring the Cassandra lock,” Will said.
“He knew you’d come after him.” Christine couldn’t help but smile.
Frank reached into his pocket and pulled out the Cassandra lock. “I’m way ahead of you.”
“Is that the one Zed made?” Christine asked.
“That cheap imitation? No, this is the real deal. I finished it last week.” He turned to Sean. “You got a knife? I need to cut myself and I’m not using that thing with the broken clock on it.”
“Let me come with you,” Trevor said.
Frank shook his head. “I’m sorry, Trevor. The best way to honor your dad is to live your life. Remember his letter. He promised to come back to you, and I’m going to do everything I can to help him keep that promise.”
“Before I go, I need to tell you all something,” Frank said to the group. “I want to apologize.”
“For what?” Christine asked.
“I’m sorry that I wasn’t here for you. Zed told me that I was the one person who could have stopped him. He said I could have been the hero. If I hadn’t murdered Brett, I would have been here. Maybe things would have gone differently.”
“That wasn’t you,” Sean said. “That was the coin.”
“Maybe,” Frank said. “But the coin used me. It amplified the anger that was already inside me. I think I could have stopped it.”
“But you did save us,” Christine said. “It was your locks that let us hide the Tools from Zed. It was your locks that bought us time, time we used to raise Trevor. It was your lock that kept the coin out of Zed’s hands. Frank, you were the hero.”
Frank smiled at Christine. He didn’t know what to say, and he was afraid if he waited much longer he would lose his nerve. He cut his hand, watched the blood fall onto the mirror, and fell in after it.
He didn’t fight the downward pull. It was a feeling he knew only too well. He was drifting. And in a few moments he was standing in a forest of tall, strange trees.
2.
The Osmonds lived in Rook Mountain for five more years. The media frenzy eventually died down, but the government and scientific interest never did. Will and Christine kept the knife hidden in their home, the last of the discovered Tools. They told the government about everything that had happened except for the knife. There were three more Tools out there waiting to be discovered, and they wanted to be ready.
When Trevor was seventeen, he told Will and Christine he wanted to go to college out west. He had his eye on a couple of good premed programs, but Christine suspected that ‘out west’ was the most important part of that equation.
After some discussion, Will and Christine decided that they too would take the opportunity to head west. They loved the rolling mountains and forests of Appalachia, but as Brett Miller had once noted, the dense foliage could be stifling. This place had too many memories and everywhere they looked held reminders of the horror they had lived in for nine years.
Leaving would be hard, especially with Jake and Frank gone and this town the last connection to them. But the Osmonds knew that if Jake and Frank found a way back, they too would be glad to put Rook Mountain in the rear view.
Christine gave the Hansens the cabins and surrounding property. Christine and Will put their house on the market and it sold for a surprisingly large amount. Roo
k Mountain property values had risen dramatically in recent years. The researchers studying the town had to live somewhere.
At the end of the summer the Osmonds loaded up a U-Haul truck, left Rook Mountain, and never looked back.
In the years that followed, Christine would occasionally see an old object at a garage sale or in an antique store and pick it up, sure she would see the broken clock symbol. But she never did. She would sometimes stare into mirrors, trying to see the face of her first husband or his convict brother or even the wide smile of a man she hoped was dead. But all she ever saw was her own aging reflection.
After a while, these things stopped bothering her. She had her family. She had hope. And she had her knife. Whatever happened next, she was ready.
A Place Without
Shadows
Book Two of the Deadlock Trilogy
By P.T. Hylton
PROLOGUE
Frank Hinkle drifted through the mirror.
Falling into the mirror had been a violent experience, like being pulled into a pool of cold water, but falling out of it was gentle. One moment, there was the strange coldness and the sensation of being suspended in liquid, his lungs burning and desperate for air, and the next, Frank was on a dirt path, dry and standing upright.
He stood in a forest of towering, twisted trees. It was eerily quiet; Frank felt the absence of all the expected forest sounds—no birds singing or insects buzzing. Even the wind was silent.
He leaned his head back and gazed up at the trees, trying to make out the tops of them, and a wave of dizziness washed over him. This place—wherever it was—it wasn’t right. The silence felt like a sickness.
It had been almost three months since he’d left prison—three months since he promised the Rook Mountain city manager he would find his brother Jake. Or had it? Time was tricky, especially for Frank. It had been three months of Rook Mountain time, but that didn’t count the time—probably years—he’d spent in the Away, fighting for his life against the Ones Who Sing.
