The Stone Child (24 page)

She began to speak. She sounded tired.
I have many friends, Eddie. My children
. In his head, he heard her voice, each word like a bit of smoke releasing itself from a lick of flame.
You have met some of them, haven’t you?
she said, her mouth unmoving.
You will be my friend too, my child. Listen to me. Give me what I want, and when I am through, I will give you anything you want
.

Eddie tried to speak, but he couldn’t.
Anything I want?
What
did
he want? he wondered. What could
she
possibly give to him?

As if in answer to his question, Eddie suddenly found himself thrown into the air. Looking around, he realized he was in a school cafeteria, sitting on the shoulders of two football players. The entire school crowded around him. All of his teachers smiled brightly, and the prettiest cheerleaders chanted his name. Triumphant music began to play as—

Eddie sat on a gold throne in a room made of giant marble pillars that stretched as far as he could see. Enormous platters of food were piled around him—vibrant, colorful fruits, roasted crackling meats, desserts covered in so much whipped cream he could not tell what was underneath. The sweet smell was intoxicating. His mouth watered as—

Eddie flew high over a lush green countryside. Wind whipped at his face. Sunlight poured around him as he raced through the clear blue sky. Looking up, Eddie could see strange wings attached to his back. They appeared to be made of clouds. …

Then he was back in the Nameless Woods—the pendant throbbing, ice cold, in his hand.

Anything you want
, the Woman repeated.

He glanced at Harris and Maggie—his first real friends—who stood entranced and speechless at the sight of the Woman behind the statue, holding their flashlights against the Watchers at the edge of the clearing. Harris was beside
him on his left, fierce courage written on his face. Maggie stood on his right, unflinching determination pulsing behind her eyes.

He remembered the conversation he’d had with Maggie at the beginning of the school year. She had told him, “Epic tales of good and evil are so unnecessary. Those kinds of battles are fought every single day, right here. Kapow.” Eddie recalled how she’d pointed at his head and fired her finger like a gun. He finally understood what she meant. Those kinds of battles are fought every single day—right here—inside every decision he made, in order to do what he knew was right.

I don’t need you to give me what I want, Eddie thought at the Woman. I’ve already got what I want standing here beside me.

He clutched the silver pendant in his fist and took a step toward the statue. The Woman rose up, towering over him like night. He stepped forward again just as the statue clearing turned dark. He glanced up. Blocking out the moon, the Woman’s face now glowered at him from the sky. He turned away and looked into the stone child’s eyes. She seemed to stare knowingly back at him, giving him permission to do what was needed.

Suddenly, the Woman in Black reached down at him with her shadowy hands, her arms stretching from the sky like tar pouring from a cauldron. Eddie cringed as her bony fingers swiped at him, but he felt nothing as her hands passed
through him. She couldn’t hurt him—not yet, at least. He raced forward, lunging at the statue. Eddie grasped the key tightly. He raised it over his head, paused for only a moment to get the best grip, then plunged it into the stone child’s chest. In his head, Eddie heard the Woman scream. The pendant slid into the stone like a key in a door.

The forest instantly went silent—all sounds of wild creatures ceased. Eddie looked around and saw that the three of them stood alone.

The ground trembled. Where Eddie stood, the pebbles rattled like sand on a drum. Eddie turned back to the statue and watched as cracks spread from where the key had pierced it. Without thinking, he reached forward and grabbed the end of the pendant from which the silver chain dangled. Using the heel of his palm, he pushed as hard as he could, and the cracks crept out across the stone child’s chest and traveled down her alabaster robes. Dark lines raced across her body—out to her arms, up her neck, to her head, even across the book. Like ink on paper, the lines bled until every inch of her held a crack. Then she started to crumble. Eddie leapt away from her and ran to where Harris and Maggie stood.

They watched as small bits of stone slowly fell away. The statue continued to erode, and after a moment, like a pause before an exhalation, her body simply disintegrated into dust. Moments later, a small breeze came from the direction of the lake and blew most of it away.

After the dust settled, the necklace lay sparkling in the dirt as it caught the moonlight’s white reflection. Harris, Eddie, and Maggie watched in awe from the center of the clearing. After a moment, Eddie stepped forward, picked up the necklace from the ground, and slipped it into his backpack.

A voice came from somewhere—it was so quiet, it was impossible to tell exactly whether it was above, below, in front, or behind the three of them. Secretly, Eddie knew it was the Woman in Black, screaming to him as the gate closed to her forever. She said something none of them could hear, and then her voice died away.

Eddie sighed in relief.

“Are you okay?” said Maggie, tucking her hair behind her ears.

“I guess so.”

“That was awesome! Nice job, Eddie,” said Harris.

Eddie glanced around at the forest. The dogs had disappeared. The Watchers were no longer watching. All the other creatures that might have been hiding in the shadows were gone.

They trampled their way back through the woods in the direction of Nathaniel Olmstead’s abandoned house. Eddie was exhausted. He knew his friends felt the same way. Each held a flashlight, swinging the light at every snap of a twig or rustle of leaves. Eddie had a feeling he’d be sleeping with the lights on tonight, yet for some reason, he was also certain they didn’t need to worry about the monsters anymore. They’d defeated the scariest one of all. Now they simply had to get home.

When they reached the orchard, Eddie heard something that made him want to run all the way up the hill. It sounded as if someone behind them had coughed. Harris and Maggie heard it too. They both spun, holding the flashlights against the shadows between the trees on the hill. But they
didn’t see anything. Had they imagined the sound? Or was there another monster who had followed them from the clearing?

They had destroyed the gate. Right? They had nothing to worry about.

But as they walked past the last row of twisted apple trees, Eddie heard the distinct sound of feet brushing through the grass behind them. This time, when Eddie spun around, his flashlight found its target.

A pale face stared back at him, squinting as the beam of light shone in its eyes. Eddie’s hand shook, and he dropped his flashlight. A man stood ten feet away, backlit by the moon. Even so, Eddie thought he could still make out some of the distinct details of the man’s dark face. The eyes had aged since the last photograph Eddie had seen. The beard had grown shaggy and gone gray. His ratty hair now hung past his shoulders. Time had passed since his picture had appeared on a book jacket. Thirteen years, to be precise.

Harris and Maggie spun, their own lights taking over for Eddie’s. Eddie bent down to pick up his own from the grass. Then, as they all shone their flashlights on the man who stood behind them, Eddie’s friends discovered his identity. They were staring into the eyes of Nathaniel Olmstead.

“Who—who are you kids?” said the man, holding
his hand up to block the blinding light. He wore dingy clothes, a torn T-shirt, and dark, stained pants. An acrid stench surrounded him, as if he hadn’t bathed since the last time he’d set foot amongst these overgrown trees.

Eddie couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He opened his mouth to talk, but he was so nervous, nothing came out.

Harris spoke up instead. “I’m Harris,” he said. “This is Maggie. And this is Eddie.” He paused before adding, “Are you Nathaniel Olmstead?”

The man nodded, a hint of skepticism in his eye. “Where are we?” said Nathaniel.

“This is the orchard behind your old house,” said Harris. “You’re back in Gatesweed.”

Nathaniel opened his mouth and looked toward the sky. A wave of relief seemed to wash over him. He dropped to his knees and pressed his palms to his face, clutching his forehead with his long fingers. After a long moment, he shook his head and lowered his hands. “How?” he said. “How?”

The three of them looked at each other. How were they supposed to answer that question? Nathaniel continued to kneel in the grass, staring in disbelief at the hill where his house sat like a sentinel waiting for their approach. The wind blew dead leaves through the field, and the man began to tremble. Eddie stepped forward. He held out his hand to Nathaniel. “Come on,” said Eddie. “It’s a long story.”

The four of them made their way up the hill to Nathaniel’s house. Once at the back door, Harris, Maggie, and Eddie managed to pull the last of the wooden planks away from the frame. Nathaniel opened the door himself, pausing before going inside. The three of them followed him into the dark kitchen.

They sat at the dining room table, amid the scattered crystals of the fallen chandelier. They rested their flashlights in the middle of the table, the bluish light reflecting off the shards, painting the walls and ceiling with tiny rainbows. “Are you hungry? Thirsty?” Eddie asked Nathaniel. “Can we get you something from the kitchen?”

Nathaniel laughed, a surprising, radiant sound that seemed to brighten the decay around them. “I am hungry and thirsty. But I’m certain my cupboards are currently bare.” He began to cough slightly. “How long have I actually been gone?”

“Almost thirteen years,” whispered Maggie.

“Wow,” said Nathaniel. “Thirteen years.” He picked up a shard of crystal from the dining room table. “I have no words.”

“Where were you?” said Harris cautiously. “What happened?”

“Ah,” said Nathaniel, looking up at them. He turned the shard, end over end, tossing an echo of light across his
forehead, as he contemplated his answer. “That too is a long story.” He took a deep breath. “So we both have stories to tell. The question is … who goes first?”

Eddie, Maggie, and Harris explained everything they had gone through over the past month, starting with Eddie’s arrival in Gatesweed and his mother’s discovery of
The Enigmatic Manuscript
. Eddie told the stories about encountering the monsters in and around Nathaniel’s estate, how they had figured out the code, and finally, their struggle to defeat the Woman in Black. Nathaniel was horrified to hear that both his book and the necklace had been discovered in the Nameless Lake, but he was impressed with the diligence of these three makeshift detectives to solve the mysteries of the strange objects.

When Eddie explained how he had come to destroy the statue in the woods using the pendant, Nathaniel threw the crystal shard he’d been holding against the wall. He hung his head, as if he were trying to hold back some sort of wild emotion. Laughter. Tears. Eddie couldn’t tell which.

“Of course!” he said, once he calmed down. “If only I’d had Eddie’s foresight thirteen years ago, I never would have made the journey I did.”

Nathaniel went on to explain what had happened to him the night he finished writing
The Enigmatic Manuscript
and opened the gate. After he tossed the metal box with the
pendant and the book into the Nameless Lake, he watched as the dogs’ red eyes began to appear, like he had expected, under the surface of the water. He turned and quickly ran up the hill toward the clearing. When he saw the statue, glowing brilliant blue, his situation, which had once felt like a work of fiction, suddenly became all too real. He paused, wondering if he should go home and face his fate. But then he heard the dogs approaching quickly from the lake. Nathaniel ran toward the stone child. When he reached the statue, the forest disappeared, the world changed, and suddenly he found himself standing in the middle of a dark, muddy field. The sky was filled with charcoal-colored storm clouds. On the horizon, he could see what looked like a deserted, burned-out town. The statue was still beside him, but it no longer glowed. He was alone in an unfamiliar world. Frightened, he reached out and touched the statue, expecting to find himself back in the woods behind his house. But as the stone of the statue cooled the palm of his hand, Nathaniel instantly realized his mistake. The gate had closed. It would not remain open for him to travel back and forth between Gatesweed, as he had assumed it would. And Nathaniel no longer possessed the key with which he could open it.

He spent the next thirteen years—the story of which he insisted could fill countless books—building a life, struggling to survive in the new, impossible landscape, regretting every minute of his decision. The worst part—the Woman in Black
was nowhere to be found. Either she was hiding, or she existed in another world entirely—one that Nathaniel knew he would never be able to reach.

Only earlier that evening did things change for him. He awoke from a nap and found himself lying at the edge of a circular clearing in familiar woods. He thought he might have been dreaming—so much of his life had seemed like a dream—but then he heard footsteps tramping through the brush nearby. He got to his feet and followed the sound through the woods and over a small hill. That was moments before Eddie had found Nathaniel in the orchard, blinding him with the flashlight.