by Catie Rhodes
I pressed the palms of my hands against the cool floor and raised myself to a sitting position. Water dripped somewhere, and I smelled the soap in the dispensers at the sinks. All four doors to the toilets were closed. Was I alone? I twisted on the floor so I could survey the whole room, sore tendons and muscles crying out from the abuse.
“They’re not here yet.” The voice came from within the room, its deep bass notes bouncing off the tile walls. “Griff and Mysti aren’t as easy to pull in as you are.”
Judging by what I saw in Lewis DeVoss’s barn, Camden was very much alive, so I couldn’t fathom why we had a connection. I got slowly to my feet, body screaming in pain with every move. A movement in one of the corners caught my peripheral vision. I turned and gasped, suddenly getting a real good idea about the source of Camden’s connection to me.
“Your victim’s spirits are still here.” The burlap head family watched me from one corner. A young woman with dark hair and rope marks around her neck stood near them, reaching out to me. The spirits thought I could help them. Their pull plus Camden’s was more than I knew how to fight.
“When I’m bored, I come here and play with them,” Camden said. “It’s all mine, so I can move time backward, forward. Do it again and again.”
My mouth went dry. If I died in this place, I’d stay as Camden’s plaything.
“Okay, here we go,” Camden’s voice filled the room again.
Two wet slaps cut short my fear fest. Griff and Mysti lay on the floor, curled against each other. I scooted over and poked Mysti with one finger. She moaned and stirred.
“Wake up.” They had to wake up and help me. I didn’t know how to fight Camden on my own. Mysti would have some ideas. Griff would help us.
“We’re all here. Let’s get started.” The metal stall door swung open, and Camden stepped out wearing the same bunny-horse head I’d seen in my vision. He yanked his special curved knife free of the battle-scarred sheaf on his belt and walked toward me. His tight jeans and engineer boots were a far cry from the clothes of his convalescing body in the real world. He took slow measured steps across the restroom, stopped a short distance from me and nudged me with his boot.
“C’mon.” His deep voice still boomed both because of the small space and because of the way his mask muffled it. It sounded creepy and crawly, which was probably how he liked it. “Get moving. All of you.”
The hair on the back of my neck rose, and my bowels turned to liquid. His voice held no more emotion than a man asking for a glass of milk. He didn’t even sound angry.
“Mysti.” I knelt and shook my friend’s shoulder. No response. I tried the same thing on Griff, and he didn’t move.
“Idiot, do you hear me?” Camden’s loud voice bounced off the tile walls, echoing in on itself and coming back for more.
I jumped and gaped at him, not knowing what to do.
Camden rushed toward me, yelling, “Didn’t you hear me? I said ‘run.’” He got close enough for me to smell the mildew on the horsey head he wore.
I recoiled and scooted backward toward the sinks.
Mysti stirred on the floor, reacting more to Camden’s voice than she had to mine. She opened her eyes and struggled to a sitting position. She peered around the room, blinking stupidly. She saw Camden, and realization hit her. She put her hand to her stomach and moaned, “Oh no.”
Ignoring Camden, I hurried to her side and pulled her to a standing position. I already had a theory on getting out of this, but I didn’t know how to communicate it to Mysti. Camden wanted to see our fear. If we didn’t show it to him, he might not be able to work up the juice to kill us. This dreamscape of his had to take serious mental energy. Eventually, he’d run out, and we could escape.
Camden strolled over to Griff, practically bobbing his head in joy, and reared back one of his engineer boots.
“Don’t kick him,” Mysti yelled.
It was all Camden needed. He let it fly. Griff’s eyes flew open a second before the boot made impact. He grabbed Camden’s leg and twisted. Crying out, Camden danced around, hopping on one foot. Griff gave his leg another twist, and he went down. Camden’s breath rushed out of him in a pained yelp, and the iridescence coating the walls disappeared, showing us the filth of the ruined restroom underneath. Griff rolled to his feet.
“Run for the door,” he screamed at Mysti and me. We raced for the restroom door. Griff reached it first, yanked it open, and herded Mysti and me through.
Feet slamming on the ground, breath tearing out of us, we ran for the parking lot. The day had gone to night again, and moonlight shone on the asphalt, reflecting back in puddles of yellow light. One car sat in the parking lot. It was Camden’s old beater.
“Hurry.” Griff pushed Mysti and me toward the car.
“But it’s not here.” I stopped running and pressed one hand against my side where my smoke singed lungs begged for mercy.
Griff whirled to glare at me. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s back in DeVoss’s shop on blocks. It’s an illusion.” Speaking instead of gulping precious oxygen made me dizzy. I ended up letting Griff tug me the rest of the way to the car.
“It’s here. See? You’re touching it.” Griff jerked open the driver’s side door and shoved the seat forward. “Get in before he comes after us. Now!”
Can’t hurt to try. Plus, he’s not going to listen to reason. I leapt inside. Griff got in. Mysti climbed in the passenger side.
“Key’s in the ignition,” he muttered.
“Because it’s not real. It’s all part of this mental torture chamber Camden created in his mind. It’s—”
“There’s got to be a way out of this hellhole.” Griff started the engine and burned rubber backing out of the parking place. The car’s engine roared in protest as we sped toward the rest stop’s exit.
I didn’t believe it was this easy to get away from Camden, but I couldn’t stop myself from hoping. Maybe the exit would lead us back to the real world. I’d rather deal in reality than fight in some psychopath’s playground any day.
The exit grew closer, and euphoria surged through me. We were going to make it. I could see the highway on the other side of the long driveway. As I watched, a modern day sports car drove past. Just a little bit more. The nose of Camden’s junker left the rest area and disappeared into a ripple of intensely colored light. No, no, no, no. A sob of disappointment built in my chest.
“Hold on,” Griff yelled. “Maybe we can push through.” The engine howled as he pushed down the accelerator. The sparkling pool resisted.
For the first time, I became aware of the black opal swinging back and forth on my chest. I called on its power, feeling the zing of it spread through me, tingling as it made its way. The colorful pool resisted for a second and then accepted us.
The three of us sat on the restroom floor again. My disappointment burnt to a crisp and rebirthed itself as anger.
“Motherfucker.” I slapped my hand on the floor. The black opal still burned on my chest, but I had no idea what to do with its magic. I’d tried the only thing I knew, and my efforts put us right back where we started.
Camden launched himself at us, and Griff caught him mid-stride. The two men struggled, grunting with effort. I took a step toward them. I had to help. If I could distract Camden, maybe Griff could wrestle the knife from him, stab him. He probably wouldn’t die, not in his playground, but it would hurt him, maybe weaken him. The weaker he got, the less time he could hold this place together in his mind. Then we’d be free to fight it out with his father. I danced around Camden and Griff, searching for my opening.
“It’s okay.” Mysti grabbed my arm, her voice stronger than I felt. “I think I know what to do. I need your help.” She led me a short distance away and began to speak so fast her words sounded like an exotic language in which I was almost, but not quite, fluent. “I’m going to start casting a circle. When I do, you yell for Griff to get in it with us. Then, we’re going to bind Camden f
rom harming us.”
Mysti started her routine, which was familiar to me after these weeks as her apprentice. When she was halfway through casting the circle, she nodded to me.
“Griff!” I shouted. “Get in the circle with us.”
Griff changed gears more quickly than I’d thought him able. He shoved Camden, sending him sprawling. He leapt into the circle just a few inches to spare. Mysti closed it.
“It doesn’t matter,” Camden said. He crossed his arms over his chest.
“We’ll see about that.” Mysti pulled a thread off her blouse and took a business card from her pocket. With her finger she began tracing a word. Pulling on the power of the black opal, I stood near Mysti and placed my palm flat on her back. She gave no notice I’d touched her until the power hit her. Her finger left a charred trail on the business card. She went back over the first part of the word and “Camden DeVoss” took shape. Then she rolled it into a tube and tied the thread from her blouse around it. She took a deep breath and raised her arms. “Camden DeVoss,” she yelled. “I bind you with your own evil.”
Mysti’s and my power filled the circle, with a light I felt rather than saw. Camden jumped at the circle, laughing when I flinched. We’d show him this was no joke. I glanced at Mysti, ready for her to put the butt-hurt on him.
“I bind you from harming the three of us.” Mysti’s soft voice boomed with power. “I bind you from harming the souls you’ve trapped here. I banish you from this place and bind you to the real world, that you may be trapped there forevermore.”
Camden’s lips twisted, and his eyes bugged out. He clutched a spot on his chest. His sides heaved with hard breaths.
Mysti glanced at Griff and me. “Say it with me. Both of you.”
We obeyed, the feeling of energy in our circle increasing.
Camden fell to his knees. A thin line of slobber ran out of his mouth and stretched to the floor.
“Come on.” Mysti elbowed me. “One more time.”
Griff and I spoke the words. Hot, bright power filled me until I thought I’d burst and become nothing more than a ball of light. Camden collapsed onto his side and jerked a couple of times. I sagged with relief and put my hands on my knees.
“All right. All we need to do is finish it.” Mysti secured the rolled business card by tying three knots. “One of you give me your cigarette lighter.”
Griff handed her the fancy blowtorch lighter he used on his cigarillos. Mysti set the card on fire, and it flamed bright, burning orange and blue. She dropped it on the floor and let it burn at our feet. I couldn’t keep from glancing at Camden’s still form. Something wasn’t right. Shouldn’t he disappear? Go back to the real world?
“I don’t understand…” Mysti put her fingertips to her lips.
Camden flopped onto his back and barked laugher at the restroom’s ceiling. He gained his feet and stood in front of us, clutching his sides, the ugly mask on his head bouncing with his chuckles. His guffaws went on and on, long enough to give me time to feel the first cold stirrings of terror. Maybe there was no way to beat this monster. Finally, his laughter died.
“Y’all were great.” He pointed his knife at us. “It was all ‘I bind you with this business card and thread’ and ‘Do no more evil.’ Y’all believed that shit.” He broke up again, choking on his own laugher. He didn’t laugh as long this time. “Now let me show you what I can do.” He stomped over to our circle. Using his knife, he cut through the air, making it bleed the iridescent ripples I’d come to associate with this place. He reached in and yanked me out.
The way he did it, like he was the Guru of Doo-doo and I was one of his little dingleberries, pissed me right square off. I faced him and threw back my shoulders, anger surging through me. “Go on. Stab me. Gut me. Cut out my eyes. Get it over with it. I’m sick of your bullshit.”
Camden shook his head and took a step away from me.
“That’s right. You won’t do it because you didn’t get to scare us enough.” I jabbed a finger at Camden to punctuate my point, and he reached out and grabbed it, yanking me against him. I put my free hand on his chest and tried to shove away. It was like pushing on a ten-ton statue. One of his slimy arms snaked behind my back and held me fast.
“You will provide me entertainment, whether you like it or not.” His extremely deep voice echoing inside his stupid bunny-horse head tickled my funny bone. It wasn’t the right time to laugh, but I couldn’t help myself. I brayed right at the horse’s snout.
Camden let go of my finger and grabbed his knife from the sheath. He used it to cut a thin red trail down my forearm. Electric pain traveled with the knife. I squealed and tried to wiggle away, laughter the furthest thing from my mind. Camden jerked me against him again but immediately yelped and danced away.
“You burned me,” he yelled. “How’d you burn me?”
“You cut me, you idiot,” I shouted back. Truth was, I didn’t know how I’d burned him. He rubbed a spot on his chest. The black opal shot a shock of magic through me as though saying, “Yeah. I did that.” How had the black opal burned Camden when it was still cool on my chest?
It didn’t matter right then. I saw a perfect opportunity. A lifetime of fistfights made me notice Camden stood legs wide apart, completely unprotected. I reared back my foot and kicked him hard enough to break those babies and make an omelet. It was like hitting a steel plate.
I fell to the ground, cradling my wounded foot and moaning, “Cock knocker” over and over again. Mysti scooted over to me and hovered over me as I tried to recover. Camden ran toward me, and Griff rushed at him. Camden slashed with his knife. Griff jumped away, eyes widening and filling with pain. A stripe of red seeped through his white dress shirt. He backed away from Camden, raising one hand to his chest.
My mind whirled back and forth. We couldn’t run from Camden. We couldn’t magic him. We couldn’t fight him. He was going to wear us down and torture us to death.
A sharp shock pinged at my chest. The black opal’s magic. It’s letting me know it can help. But how?
The woman who gave me the stone told me it enhanced my natural abilities. It sure hadn’t helped increase Mysti’s witchcraft-doing abilities enough to thwart Camden, and I didn’t see how enhanced ghost-seeing would help us.
The stone sent another shock into my skin. Then another. If I concentrate on the magic and let it do what it wants, how much worse off could I be? If I do nothing, I’ll die here. Mysti and Griff, too.
I glanced up at my friend who still hovered over me, ready to die fighting Camden to protect me.
“The black opal,” I whispered. “I think it has an idea.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.” The pops of magic stung my skin at regular intervals. “But you might want to get away from me.”
Mysti scooted backward, grabbing Griff’s arm as she went. She motioned at the sinks, and the two of them slid underneath the porcelain bowls. I clutched the black opal in one hand and shut my eyes tight, feeling for the sharp sting of magic, ready to latch onto it. There it is. I felt the magic traveling through the stone and jumped when it sank through the palm of my hand. A low rumble came from the back of the room where the toilet stalls were. Water bubbled in the basins.
Oh, no. All I’ve managed to do is back up the sewer system. I braced myself for a shit shower and held my breath.
An earth-shattering crack shook the room. From my vantage point, I could see each toilet had split in half. The porcelain bowls falling had made the awful noise.
“What the fuck?” Camden watched the whole thing from inside his horsey-head. All I could see were wide, surprised eyes.
A long crack appeared in the concrete, accompanied by a rending sound I didn’t like one bit. Never letting go of the black opal, I slid underneath the row of lavatories with Mysti and Griff. Their wide stares and pale faces suggested I’d fucked up royally. The crack in the concrete widened, letting in a spill of deep green light. At first, the iridescent waves of Camden
’s dream world pushed at the green, driving it backward. Then the crack widened again and the green seeped into the room. The green was almost opaque, but I saw shadows moving within it. One of the shadows stood straight and lifted something to its head. I recognized the silhouette of a horse head like the one Camden wore. I recognized the clothes I saw Susie Franklin wearing in my vision. She stepped out of the green and walked toward Camden. For all his bluster with us, the ninny cowered away from his victim.
“You ain’t real. You ain’t real. No. You ain’t real. No. You ain’t real,” he chanted like the words would change what we could all see happening.
The black opal’s magic simultaneously burned and froze my skin as it passed into me and used whatever supernatural power I had to fuel it. Dizziness filled my head, and fatigue pressed on me.
Four more shadows became visible within the green haze, two big ones and two little ones. The family Camden killed. They all put on horse heads before stepping into the bathroom to stand behind Susie Franklin. A couple dressed in biker clothes stepped out of the green haze wearing bunny-horse heads atop their black leather outfits. The last figure to come forth was the dark haired woman I saw reaching for me when Camden first pulled us into this piss palace. She joined her fellow victims in front of Camden. He dropped to his knees. Blubbering sounds issued from his bunny-horse head, and he ripped it off.
His forever young face shone with sweat, eyes bugging in terror. His pale lips trembled. “No, no, no.” He put his hands over his eyes. “This can’t happen. I killed you all. You can’t hurt me. Not ever. I own you.”
“You’re wrong, Camden.” Susie Franklin’s voice was harsh and ugly like maybe her throat was full of dirt. “Anything can happen. Ain’t that what you said right before you cut out my eyes?”
The father of the family Camden slaughtered stepped forward. “Before, you set the stage.”
“Now, it’s our turn.” This came from the motorcycle couple, who spoke in unison.
A lone bathroom stall appeared behind Camden, and an invisible force pulled him into it. Chains appeared from nowhere and lashed themselves to him, hoisting him above the toilet. Camden opened his mouth so wide he looked like a snake with its jaw unhinged. A long, ugly howl issued from him. The sound raised the hair on the back of my neck. The human monster’s chest first caved in and then opened. Black ichor splattered onto the floor.
