Chapter 37

Tommy had realized that Hayden had grown still a while ago. He thought that he was simply sleeping, and when he rolled him off his chest Tommy was startled to see his eyes were still open. In horror and disbelief, he reached a shaking hand to feel for a pulse and found one, lively, and beating steadily. He was also breathing deeply in and out, relaxed. But his eyes were distant and unseeing.

Tommy didn’t know what to do and was reaching for the phone to dial 911 when the voice came to him from the shadows. “Let him be, Tommy.”

He reached quickly underneath his pillow for the pistol he kept and pointed it in the direction of the voice. It had come from the darkest point in the room.

“Who’s there?” he asked, his hackles raised and his senses alert. He hadn’t heard anyone come in, and now his balls drew up as the pit of his stomach turned ice-cold.

The figure of a man stepped forward from the shadows, and Tommy instantly recognized him by Terri’s description. His hair was long and black, shrouding his pale face, and his deep dark eyes seemed to radiate in contrast to his pale white skin. His clothing was old and worn and clung to the man like a second skin. Tommy wasn’t sure, but he thought he could see right through him, seeing the darkness behind him.

“Who are you?” Tommy asked, his hands shaking.

The figure raised his hands in a sign of non-aggressiveness, but Tommy didn’t lower his piece. “He’s fine, Tommy. For now. My name is Jeremiah Ackley, and I am here to help.”

“What’s wrong with Hayden?” he bellowed.

Jeremiah shook his head, “I don’t know of the magic Tommy. But I have seen it with my own eyes. Riley has gone to help him.”

“Riley, the dead lover? How do I know you two aren’t working for her?”

“You’re going to have to trust me. Believe me when I say I wish I knew what was going to happen, but we are trying.”

Tommy heard the honesty and sincerity in his voice and lowered the weapon. He turned on his side to look at Hayden, whose eyes were not as distant as they had ever been but darted back and forth wildly in their sockets. Tommy reached out to smooth the hair back from his face, unsure of what to do other than hang on.

“Come on, baby. Come on home to me,” he whispered.

* * * * * * * *

Hayden was pinned underneath the serpent’s body. It coiled around him, tightening and squeezing the life out of him. He had stumbled through another clearing to find a woman he did not recognize chained to an altar. Her long black hair cascaded down the metallic structure, and the chains held her fast. When he came through the clearing, she turned her disbelieving eyes toward him and tried to screech out a warning. But it was too late. The beast had leapt at him, knocking him off balance and then coiled itself around him. He knew he was done for. He couldn’t fight it. Hopelessness sunk in quickly, and Hayden, exhausted from struggling, was about to give in.

“Come on baby. Come home to me,” Tommy said from somewhere far away. The voice resonating inside of his head, through his heart, and through his body, caused Hayden to stir. Tommy’s face flashed in his mind, and Hayden fought back. The heat came again through the floor of the woods, arcing into his body, and out of his skin. He was suddenly bathed in fire as hot as the sun, and the serpent shrieked in pain and uncoiled around him. It was the first time he saw the face of the beast; it, too, was empty and hollow, and as it melted around him, it shrieked in pain and horror.

The woman on the altar had turned away and was weeping, unable to help the man in distress but turned back in amazement as he triumphed over the beast.

Hayden stumbled forward and fell hard onto his knees, bracing himself against the forest floor.

“HAYDEN! HAYDEN? WHERE ARE YOU?” Riley called, stepping through the clearing. He saw the skin of the beast smoking and cooked, and he was forced to cover his mouth. Then he saw Hayden shaking and trying to stand. He rushed over to him to give him a hand when his eyes fell upon her.

“Veronica?” he called.

Hayden’s head snapped up at the sound of the name and stared at the woman. She was shaking her head in disbelief at the sight of Riley. Hayden could feel Riley’s hold on him slip as he trembled.

“Riley?” she cried.

Hayden urged the man forward as he tried to catch his breath, bending at the knees.

Riley reached down and placed his hands on the chains, which broke free and coiled away from her. She immediately sat up and wrapped her arms around him, Hayden watched as they kissed and sobbed and kissed some more. A long time passed before they calmed down enough to register that Hayden was still there. Veronica held her lover’s head against her breast as her gaze focused on him again.

“Who are you?” she asked.

Riley raised his head and wiped his eyes. “This is Hayden. He is like us. Oh, sweetheart, if I knew you were in here… Please forgive me. Hayden was the one who had the courage to forge his way into this place,” Riley explained, contrite and ashamed.

“I thank you, then, kind sir,” she said. She turned her head to Riley. “There is a girl trapped down there with my body. The demon has her still. It split me in two, my soul was chained here, but my body is chained there. The girl is fighting him, but she won’t last.”

“Can you rejoin your physical body, Veronica?” Hayden asked.

She nodded. “Yes. But it will overpower me. The demon is attached to me and has to be defeated before I can rest.”

Hayden nodded. “Riley, I have a plan. But I need your help, Veronica.”

“I’ll help any way I can.” She stepped down onto the forest floor.

“Let’s get out of here and I’ll explain everything as we head back.”

Veronica reached out and grabbed Hayden’s arm before he walked away. He turned and looked at her and saw the sorrow in her eyes.

“Hayden, whatever we do, even if we destroy that thing, you’ve crossed over. You may be condemned to this place,” she said.

Hayden nodded sadly. “I know. But let’s not worry about that now. Come on.”

He thought about her words and her warning to him, and the truth of it broke his heart. He knew what he was doing before he stepped foot across the river. He loved Tommy, he loved his friends, and he would rather be condemned for being moved with compassion than run the risk of more people being swept away into the void.

As they walked, they talked, the route back much easier than it was coming in. Both Riley and Veronica nodded and interjected when need be, but the plan was laid out. As they crossed the cold river and crawled up the bank, Veronica kissed her lover passionately and promised to wait for him. Then she disappeared.

Riley turned to him once more. “Thank you, Hayden, for what you have done. We’ll be waiting when you are ready.” The ground shook underneath them again, and Riley and he were separated by the force of the shaking.

“Quickly, Hayden. I think it just realized what’s happening.”

In a flash, the field was vacant once again.

* * * * * * * *

Suzie was walking through the parking lot of the diner, keys in hand, and purse slung over her shoulder. The sun was just coming up over the mountains and the sky was cloudless. She had stayed last night with Judy looking through endless web pages about druidism and magic, laughing at some of the content but drawn in to other bits of it. At six a.m., her phone alarm had gone off, and she’d left the slumbering woman in her lazy-boy chair after covering her up with an afghan and kissing her cheek.

She was approaching the door when the shaking started. It was forceful and threw her to the ground. She fell hard and hurt her wrists as she tried to brace her forward pitch. The sound of glass shattering and the rolling of the ground underneath scared her. A car that was passing by lost control and hit a tree, its passenger swinging the car door open and the man stumbling out.

Suzie turned her head towards the lake and was astounded at what she saw. There was a green glow in the center of the lake, and it was getting brighter. The glow rose higher and higher, until it reached the surface and then exploded in a white light that shot up into the sky. She stood there in amazement as it pierced the remaining night sky, arcing up into the heavens. Where it reached the atmosphere, it spread out storm clouds as black as anything she had ever seen before. Lightning flashed, and the thunder rolled as the clouds spread, quickly consuming the fledgling light and drowning it out.

People came streaming out of their houses to look upon the phenomenon with wonder and fear. They stumbled about, screaming and clutching one another. Whatever it was, it was coming closer, and Suzie surged forward.

“Get in your houses! Get off the streets!” she screamed and set to work. People hesitated but suddenly listened to her and set off running towards their doors. She reached for her phone and dialed Paul’s number; it wasn’t connecting. Suddenly, a shrill scream rang out of the lake and a winged demon flew up into the wind and the rain and took off like a shot, leaving Suzie staring after it, trembling in fear.

* * * * * * * *

Paul sat at the table, pale, drawn, and exhausted. The grad students refused to leave, and Tony was furious with them for it. Amanda, who had become fast friends with Tara, defended her from the yelling cop.

“Why don’t you go write a ticket for jaywalking and leave the girl alone?” Amanda gave Tony a withering look.

“You damn lawyers think you know everything. I’m trying to get them out for their own protection.”

“Maybe she doesn’t want to run the way the Owens did. How can you expect her to unlearn what she saw? Robert as well. They are in this till the end, damn it, and who are you to try and force them out?” Amanda stood between the two students and the police officer.

“I’m the sheriff, and I’m responsible for what goes on in this town,” he said, his face burning with anger.

“You’re responsible for keeping criminals off the street. Your legal powers fall short of what we’re dealing with. How do we know it won’t follow them to wherever they go? I think the safest place for them is to stay here where we can keep an eye on them.”

“Oh, like you kept an eye on Michelle, right?” he fired back.

“You son of a bitch.” She stepped forward, furious, and immediately felt Robert’s arms wrap around her.

“Stop. Amanda, stop,” he said gently.

“No! Let me go! Your cops were crawling all over the place! Where were you?” She struggled in Robert’s grasp.

“That is enough!” Father Mark said, standing up. They both stood down from where they were, and everyone sat in uncomfortable silence. “Don’t you see that’s what it wants? It wants discord among us.”

Tony walked away from the kitchen table and towards the window, where he stood with his back to everyone. He hadn’t slept well in days, and his nerves were fraying at the edges. Now he had more than one homicide, a missing person, and a gaggle of people gathered hoping to stop “it,” whatever it was.

“It is their very nature to sow discord,” said the man sitting next to Father Mark in a low and rumbling voice. He was another priest from Boston who had come immediately upon Father Mark’s request to assist in their plight. Tony shivered at the sound of his voice, the authority of it, and turned to look at him. He had met plenty of priests and nuns in his life, but he had never actually met an exorcist until this morning.

The man was tall, silver-haired, and looked as if his features were carved from the very rock that lay underneath the surface of this town. His blue eyes watched everyone and took in everything he saw and heard. He had arrived with Father Mark, and after interviewing everyone and watching the video that Tara had made with the contraption that she referred to as “Miranda,” he had made his decision.

“This is a demon,” he concluded. The very word had made the temperature in the kitchen grow cold and uncomfortable, and everyone’s face registered it.

Cassandra had stayed home with the children today. Her mother and father had come to stay with them. This was happening all over town. People were gathering in cloisters as if waiting out a Nor’easter, a coming blizzard, of sorts. They had no idea what was happening, but their senses told them to buckle up and hang on tight. Tony was glad for it.

“Mrs. Hatch. Thank your use of the room,” the man said.

“You’re quite welcome,” she responded kindly. Even Mrs. Hatch, who always seemed chaotically put together, was drawn and tired. Mr. Hatch had suddenly come down with something and wasn’t feeling well at all, and she worried about his health and wondered what effect the goings-on were having on him.

The priest was about to continue when the shaking started in force. It was severe this time, and everyone scattered to duck into archways and doorframes. Paul’s training kicked in suddenly, and he had Mrs. Hatch held safely in his arms underneath the table. The shaking stopped after a few minutes, but the damage was done. The lights in the kitchen died, and the house shook dangerously in the dark. Amanda and Tony, who had been ready to kill each other a second ago, now clung to each other in the turmoil. Everything was pitch-black and thunder rolled hard in the distance.

Everyone was silent in the house; another rumble started, and everyone braced themselves again. It wasn’t an earthquake, but a popping sound could be heard coming from deep in the basement, and water began to whoosh and spilled out from under the sink, from the refrigerator, and pushed up from the toilet in the bathroom. Everyone stumbled to get out of the water and ran for the hallway that led out of the kitchen. Paul handed Mrs. Hatch off to Amanda and started shouting for them all to move. Tony reached for his flashlight and leveled it at Paul, who was the last person to leave the kitchen.

Paul felt something grab him from behind and pull him. Tony’s light fell off Paul and moved to the right just in time to see Chad lift his fist upward and bring it down on top of Paul’s head. The man shouted as he went down, and Tony pulled his revolver out and opened fire. The figure of Chad danced from the assault and dissipated right in front of Tony’s eyes. He reached down and grabbed for Paul, pulling him forward and out of the water.

“Everyone get out of the house!” he bellowed. Behind him, the water gushed, and he looked back once again and saw Chad, this time joined by Elizabeth and Rose Demeter. Their lifeless eyes followed them as they surged forward. Tony shot at the figures, and the bullets hit and disrupted them, but they reemerged from the water almost right away. As everyone flooded out the door, Tony made sure he was the last to be in there, slamming it behind him.

“We have to get to the lake,” said the visiting priest. “Look!”

Everyone followed his gaze and could see thunderclouds on the horizon pulsing with lightning.

“Robert, Tara, take Mr. and Mrs. Hatch to my house on Evergreen. They should be safe there. Mrs. Hatch, do you know where that is?” She nodded. “Good! Paul, David, and I will take the priests to the lake. When you get there, stay by the door in case you have to evacuate again!”

The group split, moving quickly and jumping into separate vehicles.