Among You (22 page)

Sally stepped to my side and proclaimed, “You can’t claim her like a piece of property.”

“
You clearly do not know our ways.”

Babbette and Timely appeared from the darkness. Babbette spoke; her tone was laced with anger. “She’s right, Skorsdan. I have never been and never will be your property.”

Skorsdan’s glare remained locked on me. He raised his arm and pointed his finger at Babbette. “I’ll deal with you in a moment, woman. First, I have a toy to play with.”

Before Skorsdan acted on his threat, I ran at him. The second before I made contact, I lowered my shoulder and drove it home into his solar plexus. A great gasp of air exploded from his lungs as we both went down.

Skorsdan shouted something incomprehensible and then every ‘Kind surrounding the Monolith began with a low, thrumming hum. The sound shook me, from the inside out until my vision blurred and rolled. The taste of bile touched my tongue. The only thing preventing me from tossing rainbows was sheer willpower.

Through my newfound kaleidoscopic vision, I could still make out the shape of Skorsdan. I rushed him again, this time landing a solid punch somewhere on his upper torso. He stumbled back and roared.

The humming ceased.

I stepped in close to Sally. “Run,” I whispered. “Get the hell out of here. I don’t want you in danger.”

Sally adamantly shook her head. “No way, Scott. Your fight is my fight.”

She balled her fists and moved in alongside me.

Skorsdan laughed. “So now, Scotty Human calls upon a woman to protect him.”

“
He doesn’t need me for protection,” Sally hissed. “You, on the other hand….”

She swung a right hook and missed. Skorsdan brushed her off and sent her sprawling to the ground.

“
This is between you and me, human. Call your lapdog off before I have to permanently hurt her.”

My foot bumped up against something solid. A tree limb, as thick and long as a baseball bat. It took a moment to form the plan and a heartbeat to execute. I reached down, grabbed the wood, raced at Skorsdan, and clubbed his skull. When I stepped back, Skorsdan was staring straight ahead. His eyes were empty and glazed. A gasp rang out from the surrounding ‘Kind.

I stumbled back a step, to take in what looked to be a victory. The club dropped from my hand and rang out with a hollow ‘thunk’.

Skorsdan’s eyes closed; his body remained standing, rigid. Without warning, he raised his hands to me and a bolt of glowing, dark energy shot out. The blast landed, dead center in my chest and knocked me back and down.

“
Scott,” Sally cried and was immediately attending to me.

From all around I heard rumbled whispers. The sound hissed and snaked its way through the clearing and finally fell silent. And then, Babbette screamed. The sound of her voice rang inside my head like the Christ Church Cathedral bells. The bones of my skull vibrated and my eyeballs threatened to explode from their sockets. I closed my eyes against the force and released my own, Hell-born sound.

The sound finally faded. I opened my eyes to see Skorsdan standing over me, his glowing hands just feet from my face.

“
Skorsdan,” Babbette shouted, “what you are doing is forbidden.”

The raging ‘Kind turned to Babbette, his voice bitter. “Your father has done everything in his power to silence who and what we are. I will no longer live under a tyranny we fled long ago. It is time to put your father and his rule to rest.”

Skorsdan returned his attention to me.

“
But first, I must do away with this insect.”

The energy hit me like a piano dropped on my chest. Fingers of electricity wove through the fabric of my nerves and muscles. I couldn’t cry out, I couldn’t move…all I could do was suffer.

Until everything went black.

nineteen | forever changed

“
What have you done?” Sally dropped to the ground
and lifted Scott’s limp head into an embrace.

Horror and disbelief sent the majority of the ‘Kind fleeing into the darkness.

Babbette knelt next to Sally and placed her hand to Scott’s chest. A faint heartbeat greeted her touch. She finally stood and turned to Skorsdan.

“
You,” she growled. Get out of my sight before I turn you into nothing but a distant memory. Don’t think for a second that power is not mine to wield…it is.”

Skorsdan stepped into Babbette’s space and looked down on her. “You wouldn’t dare.”

Babbette inhaled a deep breath and unleashed another storm of sound. Skorsdan’s body vibrated in time with the oscillations of the raging noise. He finally raised his still-glowing hands and produced a barrier to protect him from Babbette’s power.

“
This isn’t finished,” Skorsdan shouted over the noise and then vanished as if he were never there.

“
We have to get him to a hospital,” wailed Sally. Tears ran in rivers down her cheeks.

The sound of weeping filled the clearing.

“
Help me, please,” begged Sally.

Babbette turned to Timely. “We have to get him to Father.”

“
Are you sure that’s wise?”

“
It may be his only chance to survive this, Timely.”

Sally turned back to Babbette. “What do you mean? What did Skorsdan do to him?”

Babbette knelt beside Sally and placed a gentle hand on her cheek. “There isn’t time to explain. We must get him back to the house.”

Sally looked to Timely, who nodded her approval.

“
How do I know I can trust you? You’re…”

“
Monsters?” Babbette questioned.

“
That’s not what I meant,” Sally replied.

“
There’s no time for this,” Timely interrupted. “If we don’t get Scott to Gorman, he’ll not make it.”

Sally wiped her sleeve across her face. When she looked back at the two girls, her eyes begged for mercy and help. She nodded once. “My car is close. Do you think we can carry him?”

Together, the girls managed to carry the dead-like weight of Scott to Sally’s car. Babbette seated herself beside Scott in the rear seat. Timely joined Sally in the front and the car sped off toward the Gaultier House.

Babbette pulled her mobile phone from her purse and tapped the direct dial icon to call her father.

“
Father, do not ask questions. Just meet us at the delivery entrance in about five minutes. I’ll explain everything then.”

Without farewell, Babbette hung up and returned the phone to her purse.

Sally crushed the gas pedal to the floor and nudged her green Honda until it shuddered and jittered over the road.

*

Timely instructed Sally to pull to the rear of the Gaultier House via a service driveway. Gravel crunched under the tires as she slowly navigated around wheelbarrows, mounds of mulch, and tools. When the car finally pulled to a stop, they were greeted by Gorman hurriedly exiting the back of the house. He peered into the rear of the car and voiced immediate concern.

“
What did this?”

Babbette exited the car and ran to her father’s side. “It was Skorsdan, Father. He…”

“
Enough,” Gorman interrupted as he opened the door and carefully pulled Scott’s limp body from the rear seat. The man cradled Scott in his arms as if he were his own child. “Get the door for me.”

Timely raced to the entrance and held the door open. Gorman stepped through and turned back. “Timely, I need you to inform Constable Quorrum he must track down and bring Skorsdan to me. I want to know when this is done.”

Timely nodded and took off at a sprinter’s pace.

Gorman looked to Babbette and Sally. “Both of you, follow me. There is much to be done to save this boy’s life.”

*

Gorman delivered Scott’s body to a stone-lined room in the basement and carefully rested him on a massive earthen table. The room was dark and smelled of moss and dirt.

“
What is…”

“
Silence,” Gorman interrupted Sally. “If you are to remain, you must be out of sight and out of mind.”

Babbette guided Sally back to a wall, where they stood, helpless to aid the man looming over Scott’s body.

“
I must warn you, this boy will be forever changed. We ‘Kind were once the curators of a tremendous gift – the ability to drain energy from another’s soul. When that power grew out of control, in order for my people to blend into your society, I demanded the energy be repressed. It took nearly a quarter of a century for the majority of our kind to forget we held sway over such magic. Somehow, Skorsdan discovered the ability lay dormant and somehow trained himself to harness the power. Although I can save this boy from the clutches of death, your friend will not be the same as you remember. Who he was will be no more. Do you wish for me to proceed?”

Sally wiped tears from her eyes with her sleeve and nodded. “Yes. Please.”

Gorman turned to Sally. “Are you certain of this?”

Again, Sally nodded.

“
Very well. You have been warned, human. I must ask you both to leave the room.”

“
No,” Sally shouted.

Babbette placed Sally’s hand between hers. “You have to trust my father. This is the only way to save Scott.”

Sally nodded and Babbette led her from the room.

With the two girls no longer present, Gorman turned back to Scott and laid his hands onto his chest. A bluish light spilled from under the palms of the elder ‘Kinds hands. The light spread over the body like thick, glowing, syrup. When Scott’s body was completely consumed with light, Gorman threw his head back and opened his great mouth. The sound that bubbled up from his throat was a mixture of wind and minor harmonic tones, punctuated by the roar of an unknown beast.

As quickly as the rush of sound came, all went silent.

twenty | nothingness

Where was I? A shudder of light pierced the darkness and then flickered out. A screech of sound cracked the veil of silence and dissipated back to emptiness. Electricity danced across my flesh and then faded away.

I was lost, adrift on some unknown sea of darkness. Around me was a vast, empty nothing. All I had was thought and memory. But the memory I had wasn’t mine. Bits and scraps of an unfamiliar past floated into and out of my mind’s eye to reveal a life I never lived.

“
Hello?” I cried out. The sound of my voice, one that really wasn’t mine at all, called out and faded away to join the all-encompassing blankness.

Finally, the darkness gave way to light, which coalesced into an image. All of a sudden I was thrust into a scene from long ago. Time was bent and skewed. Everything was drawn out in a sepia tone wash of moments past. Another time, another place…an age of wonder.

The scene played out before me – two children, a male and female, each with the markings and deformities of ‘Kind. The children laughed and held hands as they skipped about the playground. There was something familiar about the two children.

The young boy stopped and pulled the girl to him. When he spoke, his voice was slow and his pitch too low for a child’s voice.

“
One of these days, Babbette, you will be mine.”

The girl giggled and spoke in a similar, warped, fashion like the boy.

“
I know, Skorsdan.”

The two children leaned in as if they would kiss and the surrounding children broke out in a wall of devilish and demonic laughter. The entire scene, once formed and painted with joy, devolved until the veil cracked and shattered. With a crash and a symphony of children’s screams, the scene broke apart, twisted, and shifted until a new reality appeared.

Disease. Plague. Hatred and suffering. Skin boiled and turned a ghastly pale shade of death. The sound of pain spilled from the mouths of children strapped to rusted and creaking beds.

A familiar voice reached my ears.

My own.

Bound to a bed was my body; my skin, bubbling and cracked.

“
This is a mistake,” my doppelganger cried out. “I don’t belong here.”

A nurse stepped up to the bed of my twin and pulled out a huge, metal hypodermic. She tapped the barrel and depressed the plunger. An oil-black liquid shot out from the needle and dropped to the floor. The black drops were like acid on the tile. A cloud of greenish smoke rose and filled the room to choking. As the smoke grew thick, the scene began to crack and shatter like before.

The hospital was replaced by a void. I stood in the center of the cocoon of dark and shivered. Sweat dripped and dropped from my flesh in counterpoint to the cold of the bleak surroundings.

“
Scott,” Sally’s voice whispered to me in a chorus of reverb. “I will always be with you. I will always love you.”