“My people worked hard to collect those photos,” a deep voice said behind them. Ed and Sarah both turned to see Arthur in the doorway, his head shining in the faint light. He was glaring at Sarah. “Didn’t Mary tell your woman to stay downstairs?”
“I’m not his woman,” Sarah growled.
“And yet you followed him up here like a puppy,” Arthur snapped. “Too bad he never bothered to train you. But it’s all right; I’ll give you permission to stay.”
“Thanks a bunch.”
“Don’t talk to her that way,” said Ed through clenched teeth, his nervousness overcome by his anger for the moment.
“Blake wrote of females as emanations of the male,” Arthur said. “If you treat them as equals, you forget that woman had her origin in man. Adam came first; Eve came from Adam.” Seeing the dangerous look in Sarah’s eyes, he smiled and waved the thought away. “Fine, fine. I said she could stay. Can I offer you a drink?”
“No,” said Sarah and Ed together.
“Suit yourself.” Arthur moved past them and sat on the edge of the bed, leaving the two of them standing. “I have to say, Ed, I’m disappointed it took you so long to come see me after John spoke to you. John told me you didn’t treat him very well during that meeting.”
“I thought it was a civil conversation.”
“He said you punched him in the nose.”
“Not true. It was more like the side of his face. Just to try and knock some sense into him. Did it work?”
“You’ve heard that John is no longer living in my house?” A faint smile crossed Arthur’s lips.
Ed found it difficult to meet his intense stare. “That’s what I heard.”
“No one chooses to leave the Society once they’ve joined,” Arthur said, still smiling his tiny smile.
“What does that mean?”
“It means your friend John is one of mine, just as much now as he was before. He’s helping me consolidate. No one else knows this; I would appreciate your not telling any of my people just yet. Then again, I’m sure they wouldn’t believe you.”
Sarah stepped forward. “What do you mean, ‘consolidate’?”
“He’s helping me eliminate my rivals. With the cripple dead, and the Process Church bringing itself to the verge of collapse without my help, there’s only one other of importance. My Society will be ready to stand against Urizen when the apocalypse comes.”
Without warning, Ed felt his head humming the way it did when the gnome was about to appear. But the gnome wasn’t there. It had to be Arthur, rummaging through his thoughts. “Stop that,” said Ed. Sarah looked from Arthur to Ed in confusion.
Arthur cocked an eyebrow, still smiling in that infuriating way. “Stop what?”
Ed felt for the foreign presence in his mind and pushed it away as forcefully as he could, the way he sometimes did with the gnome. Arthur twitched and grunted as though stung by a bee, but quickly recovered his composure. “Good!” he laughed. “So you’ve been learning something from old Nathaniel. Is he still making himself at home inside your head?”
“Never mind Nathaniel,” Ed snapped. “I want to know―”
“But it’s all about Nathaniel. He’s the reason I called you here.”
“Nobody called us,” Sarah said, her voice oozing derision. “We’re here because―”
“You came because of what happened to Rodney. It amounts to the same thing. And you will not speak to me directly again.”
Sarah opened her mouth to retort, but no sound came out. Her eyes bulged in fury as she struggled to speak.
“You want to know,” Arthur continued, turning calmly back to Ed, “what I was about to tell you, back there in the forest of his dying mind. There are a lot of things the Guru held back from you, and it’s vital that you hear them. I won’t require you to join the Society, but I must ask you to stay here in my house for a while so that I may teach you. I have never before allowed someone to learn from me without taking the oath first. I’m offering you this opportunity as a gesture of goodwill.”
“Goodwill!” Ed blurted. “After what you did to the Guru―”
Arthur kept right on talking, raising his voice to be heard. “If you choose to join us, I’ll put you in a position of importance. Equal to John. As my lieutenants, the two of you would serve me directly and command my army in preparation for the True Judgment.”
“True judgment!” Ed scoffed. “Sounds like L. Ron Hubbard stuff to me.”
“Bah!” Arthur’s face darkened. “Don’t even mention those Scientologists here.”
“And what makes you think I’d help you with your ‘army’?” said Ed. Sarah, still unable to make a sound, nodded vigorously. “You’re out of your mind if you think―”
Arthur stood up so quickly that Ed took a step back and reached involuntarily for his Ruger. Before he could touch it, pain erupted along the entire length of his arm as every muscle suddenly tensed against his will. His hand froze an inch from the gun and he found that he couldn’t move it. His head was ringing like a bell; Arthur’s presence in his mind was stronger than before. Try as he might, Ed couldn’t push him out.
“I am NOT crazy,” Arthur snarled, spittle flying from his mouth. The veins in his forehead bulged and throbbed in a most disconcerting manner. “You will respect me in my own house, or―” He trailed off, visibly fought to recover his composure, and took two deep breaths before going on. “If one of the Society said what you just said, he would suffer the Three Days’ Torment in the basement.” He jerked his head in Sarah’s direction. “And if one of the women said it, I’d have her put on garden duty. I’m a fair man, but I don’t take these things lightly. What was I saying before you interrupted me?”
“I think you were getting to the ‘or else,’” said Ed. Sarah was glaring at Arthur with her arms folded and her mouth shut tight.
“There’s no ‘or else,’” Arthur said, sitting back down. Ed felt the muscles in his arm loosen as Arthur released him. “If you choose not to join me today, you’ll change your mind eventually. You’re a prophet; you have to pick a side. Your only other option is to give yourself up to Urizen, and you won’t do that.”
“I’m not here to join your cult. I just want to know what he was keeping from me.”
Arthur shook his head sadly. “You’ve been told so many lies by people who want to manipulate you. I don’t blame you for being fooled. But whatever I tell you, you won’t believe. So why should I tell you?”
“This is a waste of time,” Ed muttered. “I don’t know why I bothered coming here.”
Arthur fixed him with his intense stare. “Watch my recruiting film. See for yourself why John left everything to follow me. You’ll understand once you’ve seen it.”
“That’s enough of that,” said Ed. He turned to leave, but Sarah didn’t move to go with him. She seemed anchored to where she stood. Ed heard Arthur grinding his teeth, and the veins in the man’s forehead were pulsating more furiously than before.
Instead of erupting, though, Arthur took another deep breath and said, “Then let the woman watch it. You’ll see that it’s harmless, then. She’ll prove there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
Still unable to speak, Sarah shook her head emphatically.
“We’re leaving,” said Ed.
“You’re not,” Arthur said softly.
Ed tried to take another step toward the door, but his legs wouldn’t obey. As a tiny seed of fear began to grow inside his chest and the wild humming in his head returned, he reached once more for his gun, only to find that he couldn’t bring his hand near it.
“I could make her watch it,” Arthur murmured. “If I wanted.”
At once, Sarah collapsed to the hardwood floor. Arthur raised a hand and she stood up again, arms hanging loosely at her sides and head lolling against her left shoulder. Her terrified eyes shifted from Arthur to Ed and back again, but the rest of her body was under Arthur’s control. Breathing heavily with effort or excitement—Ed couldn’
t tell which—Arthur twitched his outstretched fingers and made her take an unsteady step toward the bed.
“Let her go!” Ed shouted, still struggling to move his hand toward his gun. Panic was welling up inside him. Giving up on his attempts to reach his weapon, he tried to take a step toward Arthur, only to find that his feet were stuck firmly where they stood. His head was buzzing madly with Arthur’s presence. His attempts to force that presence from his head had no effect at all.
“You have this power too, Ed,” Arthur said. Sarah now stood before him, wobbling slightly under Arthur’s control. His fingers twitched again; Sarah’s hand rose to caress his face. “Nathaniel saw it in you from the moment he first laid eyes on you. All our minds exist in the same place. Learn to control that place, and you can do anything.”
In desperation, Ed fought to push Arthur from his mind. It was like pushing against a concrete wall.
“Take control of her,” Arthur said, his face shining in the light of the lamp. “Reach out and take her.”
It was no use. Every time he had gone to the place Arthur was talking about, it had been in a dream. He didn’t know how to get there when he was awake.
“You’re not even trying, Ed,” said Arthur, his voice rising in frustration. “Do I have to kill her?”
Sarah dropped to the floor again, but her momentary relief turned to terror as Arthur’s fingers moved a third time. Then her face contorted in pain; her back arched and she pounded the floor with her hands and feet.
“Ah,” Arthur murmured, “much better if you can hear her, don’t you think?” With another wave of his hand, the gag that had silenced Sarah was removed, and she screamed until she had no breath left.
“Stop!” Ed cried, straining frantically against his invisible restraints.
Sarah screamed again, beating the back of her head against the floor.
Ed closed his eyes and tried to envision himself in the space between worlds again, but he couldn’t find that place. Every time he felt his consciousness separating from his body, Sarah’s screams pulled him back.
“Not that way,” said Arthur. “You’re doing it wrong.”
He opened his eyes again and tried to remember what it had been like, back in the Guru’s house, when he had seen the demon controlling Arthur. He’d been full of drugs at the time, but hadn’t the gnome said the drugs weren’t necessary? Ed struggled to focus on Arthur with the part of his perception that had been active on that night. For an instant he saw a flash of yellow light surrounding Arthur, and then it was gone.
“Yes,” Arthur said approvingly. “Now you’re getting somewhere.”
But Sarah’s screams didn’t lessen. He seemed to be increasing her pain. Ed tried again. If he let his eyes go out of focus and concentrated very deeply just past Arthur, just beyond him...
He could see Sarah’s tortured aura, pulsating rapidly in a flurry of blue sparks. Arthur was a blinding yellow sun, his golden tendrils reaching out to hold Sarah in his grip. Looking more closely, Ed could see the demon again; it stood behind him, controlling his every move, just as it had been doing that night at the Guru’s house.
Without knowing what he was reaching with, he reached out and seized Arthur. Pain filled his head instantly; he fought it down and forced himself not to let go. Sarah’s screams stopped. Ed grappled with Arthur, who seemed to draw his strength from the demon behind him. Together they were too strong for him. The pain began to increase.
“Ed, get away from him!” Sarah shouted. “He’ll kill you!” Her voice sounded distant. Ed shook his head to let her know that he couldn’t move. Over Arthur’s shoulder, the demon looked him in the eye and smiled.
All at once, the pain subsided. The humming in his head stopped abruptly. Ed toppled to the floor, his vision back to normal. Sarah crawled over and hugged him. Arthur sagged, supporting himself with a hand on the bed, breathing hard. A trickle of sweat ran down his shaven head and hung, quivering, on the tip of his nose. There was no sign of the beast. “Good!” the madman exclaimed. “Finally, you’re beginning to see what you can do.”
Ed was too winded to answer. He helped Sarah up to a sitting position and supported her as she caught her breath.
“You’re learning to be your own man!” Arthur continued, still breathless himself. “Rodney thought he could make you one of his, but he failed! Nathaniel worked his way into your dreams, but he never managed to take control. Lester tried to control your fate, but your fate found you anyway. And your friend Kajdas―” Arthur fixed him with a penetrating gaze. “But Kajdas does still have power over you, doesn’t he?”
Ed looked up at him. “What?” The humming sensation was in his head again, and the stench of something burning as well; he wondered distantly what Arthur was rummaging for in there.
“He got you to do something nasty for him, didn’t he?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“You helped Mr. Kajdas commit a crime. Does your girl know that?”
“Ed wouldn’t do that,” Sarah said in a hoarse voice. She still leaned on Ed, but her eyes burned as fiercely as ever.
“O-ho! Is that what you think? But I can see it in his thoughts. He did some things for Kajdas—very bad things.”
“You’re lying,” Sarah whispered.
“Ed can tell you I’m not. Oh, I’m sorry, Ed,” Arthur said, giving Ed a look of exaggerated regret. “I thought you would have told her the truth.”
“I was forced to do it.” Ed could feel Sarah looking at him, but he refused to break eye contact with Arthur.
“Forced?” Arthur murmured. “Is that why you helped Kajdas with his plan to kill that nice Senator from New York? He forced you?”
“What’s he talking about?” said Sarah. “New York?”
“Tom threatened me,” said Ed, fighting the unsteadiness in his voice. “I didn’t have any choice.”
“And so,” Arthur went on, “for your own ‘survival,’ you helped Kajdas kill a man. But you didn’t have a choice.”
“They were going to kill him anyway,” Ed said numbly. He hazarded a glance at Sarah, who was staring at him as if he’d just grown a second head.
“And what about the other times?” Arthur continued. “You’ve falsified evidence before, haven’t you? How many murderers have you helped to set free? Four? Five?”
“I don’t remember.”
In a small voice, Sarah said, “Ed, I want to leave now.”
Arthur pressed on. “And for what, Ed? Money? What on earth did you spend all that money on? Your car isn’t expensive. You don’t buy your girl any nice clothes”—he sneered at Sarah—“obviously.”
“You have no idea what I went through when she died,” Ed said softly.
“Rent?” Arthur said. “Ah, that’s it. Your Eleanor made more money than you, and you couldn’t pay the rent without her. And drugs. Let’s not forget all the drugs.”
“Don’t talk about Eleanor!” Ed shouted.
Sarah pulled herself to her feet and walked to the door. “I’m leaving,” she said.
“And then,” Arthur went on, building up his voice in an almost musical crescendo, “you helped hide the evidence so the Senator’s true killer wouldn’t be found. Kajdas gave you money for that too, didn’t he?”
Ed turned to say something to Sarah, but she had already left the room. The humming in his head stopped. He rounded on Arthur. “You son of a bitch! I wasn’t ready to tell her.”
“Someone had to,” Arthur said solemnly, but Ed could see a hint of a twinkle in his eye. The man was amused by all of this! Giving Arthur what he hoped would come across as a dangerous look, Ed started toward the door to catch up with Sarah.
“She’ll wait,” Arthur said, and once again Ed’s feet refused to obey him. He grabbed the doorframe to keep from falling down. “I’m not done talking to you. This isn’t the first time Kajdas has used others to do his work for him. Didn’t he ever tell you how your Eleanor died?”
Her name sounded filt
hy coming from Arthur’s lips. Ed, unable to make his feet obey his brain, held onto the doorframe and glared at him. “Let me go,” he snarled.
Arthur continued mercilessly, searching Ed’s face for a reaction as he spoke. “Of course he didn’t tell you. Kajdas never tells people anything. Nathaniel himself doesn’t even remember it clearly, you know. They addled his brain, what they did to him.”
“What?”
“You wanted to know what I was about to tell you.”
“I’m tired,” Ed sighed. “I want to go home.” He felt utterly fatigued, as though his will had been completely used up. He no longer cared what Arthur had to say.
Arthur’s lips curled into a cold smile. “Don’t pretend you don’t want to hear it. I’m the only person who can help you get what you really want. I’m all you’ve got in this world now.”
“And what is it you think I want?”
“What Kajdas hasn’t been able to give you. You want to kill someone.”
“I don’t want to kill anybody.”
“Sure you do. You just don’t know it yet.”
“I want to go home,” Ed said again. “Let me go, please.”
“You’ve been lied to by everyone, Ed. Everyone. I’m the only one who will tell you the whole truth. And when I’m done, when you realize you have nowhere left to turn, no friends to help you...” Arthur stood up and began to walk toward him. He was nearly a foot taller than Ed, and loomed over him menacingly as he reached out his hands. “Then you’ll belong to me.”
He seized Ed by the head.
32
The Shovel
The instant Arthur took Ed’s head in his hands, Ed experienced a sensation not unlike being immersed in ice-cold water. He shuddered and tried to pull away, and to his surprise he was able to yank his head out of Arthur’s hands. He fell to his knees, but instead of the hardwood floor there was dark, fertile soil. He looked up and found himself alone in a forest. The trees were twisted and ugly, and their leaves had the mottled look of disease. The sky that he could see through the branches was perfectly black; no stars were visible in this place.
Forest of the Mind (The Book of Terwilliger 1) Page 29
