End of Days

by Max Turner

She raised her head so that her chin sat gently against my chest. I smiled. Nothing about this was odd. It was perfect. She was perfect. I saw her smile. It was beautiful. Just for me. Then her eyes popped to full width, then somehow got bigger.

  “I can hear you,” she whispered.

  Unbelievable!

  Her head shook back and forth. Her mouth started to move as if she were going to say something, but nothing came out. Her hands were touching me. I could almost feel what she was thinking. Surprise. Wonder. Then fear. She could hear my thoughts.

  I was stunned. Then embarrassed. Her beautiful neck was still in front of me. The two puncture wounds I’d put there were healing. To see them, and smell her blood, made me ravenous. I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t help it. Nor could I hide it. She could read my mind. I felt my face heating up. A smile crept back onto her lips. Her eyes sparkled. Beautiful shades of olive and pale emerald. They were moist and happy. Then mischievous.

  That’s nothing to worry about.

  “I’m not worried.” I realized as the words left my mouth that she hadn’t spoken out loud.

  I didn’t.

  The thought was as clear as the sound of my own heartbeat. I wasn’t imagining this. It was real. I could hear her thoughts, too. I looked at her face and pulled my hand through her long, beautiful hair. This was really happening.

  Yes, it really is, she thought.

  She smiled, and my senses were suddenly flooded. Her hands found my sides. She squeezed me. I couldn’t imagine it was possible to feel more complete than I did at that moment.

  I love you, she thought. And I thought the same. And she held me tighter.

  — CHAPTER 36

  MISSING IN ACTION

  I think I must have slept, although I’m not sure, because I didn’t dream. I just thought of Luna. We didn’t speak. There was no need. But a kind of physical paralysis had come over me. I wasn’t aware of it until I felt Luna’s breath on my neck again.

  You still owe me a kiss, she thought.

  I wasn’t sure that I could pull it off.

  Why? she asked.

  I thought of my answer before I had a chance to stop myself.

  You’ve never kissed anyone? She paused. Her smile was electric. “Oh, that’s so cute.”

  Cute. I had nothing against the word, but it had never been an ambition of mine to be described that way.

  You’ll get over it, she thought. Then she leaned in and kissed me.

  I’m not going to say it wasn’t pleasant. The whole lip-smushing experience was quite exciting. It didn’t compare to the thrill of our vampires’ kiss, but I soon discovered that kisses of the normal kind had an addictive quality all of their own. After one, I found I needed another. And another. I was beginning to feel as if the canoe were just about the best invention since God made air. I could have spent weeks like this. The whole time we shared thoughts. Well, one thought, over and over. But that was all right. It was a good thought. We were in love. It was nice to say it, and better to hear it, and better still to feel that it was true.

  Just before midnight, we were interrupted by the sound of our canoe banging against something solid.

  Luna sat up.

  “What is it?” I asked. I peeked over the gunnels. The water had pushed us into a dock down from the camp. We were bumping up against a large powerboat.

  “I’d better get us back,” she said.

  I let her go, thinking how terrible it was that some moments had to end.

  “That’s very romantic,” she said. Then she climbed into the back of the canoe and started paddling.

  Do you want to try?

  I didn’t, and I let her know.

  This is going to take some getting used to.

  You’re tellin’ me. I wonder how long it will last.

  I have no idea, Luna thought. But I like it.

  I did, too.

  She smiled, then paddled us back to camp.

  Charlie and Suki were on the farthest dock along the shore. I could see a huge waterslide beside them. It looked like fun, except that it involved landing in the water.

  You just need more practice swimming, Luna thought.

  This was true. I needed practice with lots of things.

  “Not as much as you think,” she said. “Not that we won’t practice more anyway, but we should check in with those two first and see what’s up.”

  I glanced down toward Charlie and Suki. They were sitting together, holding hands, their feet dangling in the water. I wondered if he’d bitten her.

  I hope not.

  As we got closer, I could hear Charlie whispering. “Man, I miss this . . .”

  I felt a pang of guilt. And then sympathy. This had come from Luna.

  Charlie saw us coming and put his hand in the water, then scooped a handful and splashed it our way. “I was starting to think you two lovebirds were going to float down to Burleigh Falls.”

  Should we tell him? Luna asked.

  No, I thought. I didn’t want him to know about this. Not until I was sure that things with him and Suki were solid. I was worried that he might get jealous. It was bad enough that his girlfriend was struggling and wasn’t one of us. If we told him about this connection, it would just be one more thing that Luna and I shared that Suki and he couldn’t.

  “How were things at your cottage?” Luna asked.

  “We didn’t stop in,” Charlie said. “But I gotta tell ya, it would be a perfect place to hide from Hyde.”

  “But?”

  “But Dan is there with his family.”

  Dan was one of Charlie’s older brothers. He had a gaggle of kids. I doubt he would have wanted us showing up to make things even more chaotic.

  “So what happens now?” I asked.

  Charlie shrugged, then he saw the marks on my neck. And on Luna’s.

  “You didn’t! Isn’t that supposed to kill you?”

  “It hasn’t yet,” I said.

  “Let’s hope Daddy Abbott doesn’t notice.”

  My stomach wasn’t thrilled with the idea. Fortunately Charlie got the conversation rolling in another direction.

  “I think we should call,” he said.

  I assumed he meant Ophelia.

  “We should get back to the apartment,” he added.

  “Who? All of us?” I glanced at Suki, then at Luna.

  Charlie looked as me like I’d just won the village idiot award. “Well, I didn’t come here to work on my tan.”

  Are you cool with this? I asked Luna.

  What? With leaving? You bet! I don’t want that thing showing up here. We need to stick together, and get someplace safe.

  I agreed, and pulled my cell phone from my pocket, but I couldn’t get a signal.

  “What is it?” Charlie asked. “Is the battery dead?”

  “No. I’m not getting any coverage.”

  I felt Luna’s hand come to rest on my arm. “I could have told you that.”

  I guess it explained why I hadn’t heard from Ophelia. I felt a twinge of guilt in my stomach. She must have been worried sick.

  “So what do we do?” Suki asked.

  “Do you feel up for a drive?” Luna asked her.

  A drive?

  How do you think we got here? We’ll just take our car.

  What do we tell your father? If we just leave, he’ll murder us!

  No, thought Luna, he’ll murder you.

  Suki was the only one with a license, which meant Luna and I were crammed into the back of the car. It was a BMW—90 percent engine and 10 percent tire. The backseat was like an afterthought, small, cramped, with just enough leg room for a small house cat, but that was okay, it kept us close. There was a lot of nervous energy in the car. No wonder Charlie broke the rules so often at school. It was fun.

  Until the phone rang. Everyone but Luna checked their pockets.

  “That’s me.” I scanned the display. Ophelia was calling.

  Are you going to answer?

  I hit the butt
on with the green phone on it and said hello.

  “Oh, Zachary, thank heavens. Why did you turn your phone off?”

  “I didn’t. We came up to the lake to get the girls. There’s no reception up here.”

  “So Charlie’s with you? And Luna?”

  “And Suki.”

  “I suspected as much. Is everyone all right?”

  I said yes.

  A wave of relief poured through the speaker of my phone. “I need to speak to John.”

  John? I thought for a second Ophelia must have meant Luna’s father, then I remembered his name was Gerald. “You mean Mr. Entwistle?”

  “Yes. I need to speak with him.”

  Luna was listening. So was Charlie. I looked at both of them. Charlie shrugged. Luna didn’t. She was wondering what I was wondering. Why would Ophelia think Mr. Entwistle was with us?

  “He’s not here,” I said.

  There was a short pause. “So who’s driving?”

  “Suki.”

  Smart money would have bet she was in her headache pose right now.

  “So is John following you? He’s not answering his phone.”

  “No. We haven’t seen him all night.”

  This time the pause was longer. “I beg your pardon.”

  “We haven’t seen him all night.”

  It might have been static, but I could have sworn I heard a faint “Oh, no.”

  “What is it?” I asked. “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know. John left to get you just after sunset. He took the ambulance. That was hours ago.”

  I looked at Charlie. I heard Luna’s thoughts running parallel with mine. Mr. Entwistle had left for the camp to get us and hadn’t arrived. There could only be one reason. And I knew what it was.

  — CHAPTER 37

  HOMECOMING

  “Get home right away,” Ophelia said. “I mean here—to the apartment.”

  I said we would. Then she hung up. I felt another surge of sympathy from Luna as I put my phone away. And fear. She didn’t know Mr. Entwistle well, but she could feel my distress and was worried.

  Charlie was watching me closely. “He knew where we were going, didn’t he?”

  Probably.

  “So Hyde got him.”

  I didn’t think so. My guess was, he had told Ophelia he was coming to find us, but instead went after Hyde knowing we wouldn’t be able to follow. It would have explained his odd behavior and the things he’d said when he came to see me that morning. It was his way of saying good-bye.

  Do you think so?

  I do.

  Luna squeezed my hand. “Step on it,” she said to her sister.

  Suki didn’t disappoint. The engine roared. What would have taken Charlie and me almost an hour on the Shoe-Leather Express she covered in about twenty minutes. The only thing that slowed us down were all the fire trucks on Clonsilla as we approached the apartment. Police cars and ambulances were gathering, too.

  “That’s smoke,” said Charlie.

  It was. It got thicker as we got closer to home.

  “Hurry,” he said.

  “I can’t,” Suki exclaimed. “There’s police everywhere. You want to get pulled over and spend the next few hours explaining why we have a car full of medieval weapons?”

  She had a point. The two-handed sword and voulge were tucked along one side of the car. They were too long to lie flat against the floor, so the handles of both would be obvious to anyone who looked in.

  As we rounded the corner near Gordon Avenue, I could see the apartment. It was being consumed in a pillar of fire. Gouts of flame burst from the windows, and a thick, billowing cloud of black smoke poured from the roof. The fire trucks were setting up. Men scrambled with ladders and hoses. The police were there. Someone in a paramedics uniform was waving for us to turn down Victory Crescent instead of driving past the building.

  “What do I do?” asked Suki.

  “Pull over up there,” said Charlie.

  We turned off of Clonsilla and Suki slid in along the curb. Charlie had to get out first so I could climb past his seat. I heard Luna’s voice in my head: Call her. I dug out my phone. Found Ophelia’s number. There was no answer. I started running. Several officers tried to stop me, but I was moving too quickly. Then I reached the front walk. The heat from the building was so intense, I couldn’t get near the door. I felt someone take hold of my arm, a firefighter. He started talking to me.

  “It’s my house,” I said. “My mother is inside.”

  I don’t know if he answered me, but he let go. I guess he knew I wouldn’t be able to get any closer. I just stared at the inferno. If Ophelia was in there, it was going to take a time machine to save her.

  Charlie caught up a moment later. Luna was with him. Listen! she thought.

  I looked at her, then realized Charlie was talking to me.

  “. . . be around.”

  “What was that?”

  “If Hyde did this, he might still be around. We need to get out of here.”

  “What about Ophelia?” I couldn’t leave until I knew if she’d made it out okay.

  Luna took hold of my arm. She would want you to get somewhere safe.

  That was true.

  Luna started pulling me away from the crowd that was gathering on the sidewalk to watch. I didn’t resist. Men and women in uniform were trying to move everyone to the other side of the street.

  Then my phone rang. I checked the display. Iron Spike Enterprises. It was my uncle. He would know what to do. I picked up and said hello.

  “Zack. What a relief! Everything okay?”

  “No.”

  “Are you here—at the hospital?”

  It was just up the hill. “I’m down the street at the apartment.”

  “What’s going on? It sounds like a circus.”

  I told him about the fire. He swore. “I’m still at the Civic. It’s crazy here, as well.” I could hear him stumbling around. “Wait. I can see it from the window. Did Ophelia make it out?”

  I couldn’t answer. He repeated the question. Luna moved her mouth closer to my ear and told him we didn’t know.

  “Zachary, listen. This is important,” he said. “Hyde was just here. He’s taken Baddon’s son.”

  I thought of the small, frail child and a part of my mind snapped awake. It was angry. “Is he still there?”

  “Who? Hyde? I don’t think so. I can’t get near the room. Security has it cordoned off. I was asleep when he broke in and didn’t get down the hall in time. Dammit, I can hardly move.”

  “Are you hurt?”

  “No. It’s the radiation treatment. Burns your insides. . . . Poor Adam. I think he might be dead.”

  Who’s Adam? Luna asked.

  Detective Baddon.

  For a few seconds all I could hear was static and the sound of sirens and chaos.

  “Get somewhere safe,” my uncle said. “I’ll find you. Just get out of sight.”

  Somewhere safe? Unless he had a spaceship and could ferry us to Mars, we weren’t going to be safe anywhere. And I had to look for Ophelia. She had to be somewhere. My uncle started talking again. I couldn’t really hear him. The hand I was using to hold the phone had dropped to my side, and the sirens were making a lot of noise.

  “Zack. Zack, are you still there?”

  Luna took the phone. “We’re here. We’ll call you once we’re clear.”

  My uncle said something to her, then she hung up and handed the phone back to me. I felt Charlie’s hand on my back. He’d opened the door to the car and was guiding me in.

  “What’s going on?” Suki asked.

  She and Luna and Charlie started talking. I didn’t follow their conversation. My mind was too busy trying to figure out how to find Ophelia. If she’d made it out, where would she go? Would she stay here knowing we’d be back? Did she have another safe house I didn’t know about? Would she try to find Mr. Entwistle or go to the hospital to get my uncle?

  Suki pulled out o
f the parking spot and Charlie fed her instructions. I didn’t pay attention. Not until the car stopped.

  We were outside of town on Highway 4. A familiar pasture was beside us. It was where Mr. Entwistle, Charlie, and I had followed Hyde’s trail the night before. Charlie got out. So did Suki. I felt Luna nudge me gently. I climbed outside and she followed.

  Where is this? she asked.

  I told her.

  What is Charlie thinking?

  That we have something to take care of. I turned to face my friend. He was talking to Suki.

  “Then we followed him out here. His trail is just off the road.” He reached into the car along the side of the seat to where he’d stashed our weapons. He handed me the sword, then pulled out the long-handled voulge.

  “What are we doing?” I asked, although I already knew the answer.

  Charlie looked at me. His pupils were widening. I saw his tongue flick up against his gums, a sure sign his teeth were dropping.

  “We’re going to follow Hyde’s tracks,” he said. “You and I. We’re going to find his lair and wait for him there. Then when he comes back, we’re going to kill him.”

  — CHAPTER 38

  SCORCHED EARTH

  My thoughts seemed to be stuck in slow motion. Luna’s were racing. There was fear. Uncertainty. Questions. About me. About Mr. Entwistle. About Ophelia. About Hyde and the stupidity of two young boys who thought they could deal with him using weapons that were out-of-date three centuries ago. I didn’t have answers. I only knew Charlie was right—we had to kill him.

  I hadn’t spoken to him much about the prophecies—about the son of the hunter, the messiah. The End of Days. Not after we’d read the letter together. But Luna and I had covered them thoroughly when we’d met on the Dream Road. Since then, I’d spoken to Ophelia, to the prophet Baoh, and to Mr. Entwistle. It came down to this. None of it mattered. Not one pinch. Was I special? Well, sure. Isn’t everyone? We’re all the heroes of our own life stories. We try to be good. To do what is right. And we have to live with ourselves. With what we do. And what we don’t do.

  Hyde had stolen a man’s son. The boy was finished if we didn’t find him. I didn’t even know his name. But if Maximilian’s hunch was right, his father, Detective Baddon, was dead. I thought of all that had happened in the last few nights. I heard Baoh’s voice in my head. Be righteous. And do not do to others that which is harmful to yourself. What could be more harmful to a person than being left in the hands of a beast like Hyde? In my mind’s eye, I could still see the boy as he’d appeared in that hospital bed. He reminded me of myself. I was his age when Vlad had infected me. It was just after my father died. I’d spent weeks in a coma. But I hadn’t been alone. Ophelia had saved me. But she was gone now. So was Mr. Entwistle. My uncle was a walking corpse, a man just waiting for his cancer to kill him. That left only me. And Charlie. And Luna. She moved closer to me. I could feel the nervous energy in her.