Desolation

  “I want you,” Kelly said softly.

  They kissed, and Amber’s demon-self plunged her hand into Kelly’s chest and pulled out her heart and Kelly kept kissing her. “You can have this,” Amber’s demon-self said, tossing the heart to Amber. “I’ll have the rest.”

  Tears came to Amber’s eyes, but thankfully Wesley Sterling stepped into her line of vision and blocked out the kiss.

  “I like your dreams,” he said.

  The tears were turning the world into a blurry mix of light and dark.

  “Most people have surprisingly dull dreams,” said Sterling. “I like yours. I’d have liked to play in them, if only we had more time.”

  “Wake up!” Kelly shouted from somewhere behind him.

  “But as good as they are,” Sterling continued, “they’re just the appetiser. The Ghost of the Highway … now he has some nightmares worth devouring.” Sterling’s blurred outline moved a little as he pointed the speargun into her face.

  Amber’s demon-self walked up beside them, in shocking clarity amid all the blurred details of the alley. “A speargun is a shit weapon,” she said, and stepped into Amber and Amber gasped, like she was reabsorbing every violent thought she’d ever had, and the fuzziness vanished and she blinked. She wasn’t in the alley anymore. She was in Jesper’s office, with the floor-to-ceiling bookcases and the big windows and the desk that was probably once owned by a president. She was still in demon form, and Jesper was there, and Milo stood beside her with his head down and his eyes closed, and right in front of her with his finger tightening on the trigger of his speargun was the Nightmare Man.

  Amber jerked her head to the side as she batted the speargun away. The gun hissed with compressed gas and the spear shot past her ear and thudded into the bookshelf behind. Beneath his plastic mask, Sterling looked surprised, and angry, but before he had a chance to recast whatever spell he’d put on her, she shoved him. He lost the speargun when he hit the ground and went sprawling. Jesper staggered back against his desk, actual fear on his face now, but Amber ignored him as Sterling scrambled to his feet. His features contorting with hatred, he slid a spear from his jacket, then dived for his fallen weapon. When he was in mid-air, Milo drew his gun and fired three times.

  Sterling collapsed mere inches away from his weapon. Blood leaked from the bullet holes in his chest.

  Amber raised her eyes to Jesper. He wasn’t looking so confident now.

  “We don’t have to be enemies,” the old man said.

  Milo grunted, grabbed Jesper’s arm, and dragged him after Amber as she headed for the door they’d come through. She shook away the last remnants of the dream and took the brass key from her pocket. Ignoring Jesper’s attempts at bargaining, she did her best to visualise the mirrored door back at the carnival, but images of her parents eating her flesh kept sneaking back into her thoughts.

  “I remember him now,” said Milo.

  She looked at him. “What?”

  “I’ll pay you,” said Jesper. “Ten million. Ten million each.”

  “Shut up,” said Milo, and turned back to Amber. “The Nightmare Man. I remember him. Or the stories, at least. Only two other people are known to have managed to break out of that … whatever that was. Trance, or whatever. Only two. And now you.”

  “I didn’t much like the dream he had me in.”

  “Didn’t like mine, either,” said Milo, “but I was trapped in it. Not like you.”

  Amber shrugged. “I got lucky.”

  “Stop selling yourself short, kid,” Milo said. “Own your awesomeness.”

  She grinned. “Awesomeness?”

  “And you can shut up now, too, and concentrate on getting us the hell out of here.”

  Still grinning, she focused once more on the door in her mind. The memory of the other door, the dull metal door to the cell, nagged and niggled at the edges of her consciousness, but she kept it there, on the outskirts, where it couldn’t interfere. She turned the key, and turned it again, and they stepped through and out, into the carnival site.

  “What are you going to do?” Jesper asked as they shepherded him back towards the gap in the chain-link fence. He was breathing fast, his breath crystallising in small puffs of vapour. “Are you going to hand me over to the Hounds? I know you think I deserve it, and I probably do, especially after what I tried to do to you, but think about this, I want you to think about it …” He got in front of them and turned, hands out, trying to smile. “We join forces. Eh? We join forces and together we keep Astaroth out.”

  “Not interested,” said Milo, taking Jesper’s arm again and spinning him round.

  Amber walked ahead, and reached the Charger first. She took the handcuffs from the glove compartment, putting the brass key in their place, and shut it. She got back out as Jesper stumbled against the car.

  “You can stay,” Jesper said, “for as long as you want. You’ll be one of us. Part of the town. You’ll be safe.”

  “Desolation Hill is the last place I’d ever want to stay,” Amber told him, tossing Milo the cuffs. “The people here are no better than the killers Astaroth sent after us.”

  “No,” said Jesper. “You’re wrong. They’re good folk.”

  “And what about the child sacrifices?”

  “Necessary,” Jesper said. “An acceptable necessity.”

  Amber shook her head. “There’s something wrong with you. There’s something wrong with everyone here. You’re keeping a Demon trapped in a cell and you think you’ve got all the power? He’s been infecting this whole town from the moment you trapped him.”

  Milo opened the trunk and motioned to Jesper. “In.”

  “Please,” Jesper said, “whatever you want, I’ll give you.”

  “We don’t need your help,” Amber said.

  “I don’t understand this!” Jesper cried. “What are you trying to do? If the Narrow Man doesn’t bring a sacrifice to Naberius, the barrier will fall and the Hounds will get you!”

  “Naberius will get his sacrifice,” Milo said.

  Jesper paled. “Me? You’re going to give him me? You can’t. You can’t!”

  He twisted from Milo’s grip and started running.

  “Oh, for God’s sake,” Milo muttered.

  Amber ran after Jesper, catching up with him easily. A hand on his shoulder brought him to a panting, gasping stop.

  “You can’t do this,” he said. “It won’t even work! I’ve already traded my soul to Astaroth!”

  “Astaroth and his brother can argue about that later,” said Milo, walking up.

  Jesper fell to his knees. Probably the first time those pants had ever come into contact with anything resembling dirt. “Please! I’ve hidden from him for all this time – he will torture me for eternity!”

  “You kinda deserve it, though,” said Amber.

  “But how will that help you? How will any of this help you? He’ll still be after you when the barrier comes down. He’ll still be after you once I’m dead.”

  “You won’t have to worry about any of that,” Milo said.

  “I can help!”

  “You’re a child-killer,” said Amber. “We don’t want your help.”

  She hauled him up off the ground and they turned back towards the Charger. There was somebody leaning through the passenger window.

  “Hey!” Amber shouted.

  The boy with the birthmark, the one they’d seen with his friends on the carousel, jerked up out of the car, something in his hand. Phil Daggett’s gun, still with its silencer attached. He bolted, disappearing through the gap in the fence.

  Milo tore after him, leaving Amber alone with Jesper.

  “You and me,” Jesper whispered, “we can make a deal, can’t we?”

  “Shut the hell up,” Amber said, dragging him to the trunk and throwing him in.

  “Please!” he shouted as she slammed it shut.

  “I’d keep quiet if I were you,” she warned. “Last person we threw in there, the car started to eat h
im. You don’t want to draw attention to yourself, you really don’t.”

  Jesper quieted.

  A few minutes later, she saw Milo walking back. His hands were empty and he looked pissed.

  Well, this day was just getting better and better.

  IT HAD JUST PASSED 9pm, and they took a road that skimmed the town boundary for a short way. At Amber’s request, Milo stopped, and they got out. A minute later, they heard a motorcycle. The Hound drew up before them. Calmly, he dismounted, and took the few steps to the barrier. He pressed his hand against empty space and pushed, and empty space resisted.

  But not without showing signs of weakness. That hand, that hairy-knuckled hand with the oil stains deep in the grooves of the palm, pressed upon the invisible barrier and for a moment Amber thought it would yield, break, and the Hound would be on her before she even knew what was happening.

  But the barrier stayed intact. Barely.

  “Won’t be long now,” said Milo.

  Amber bared her fangs at the Hound, who didn’t change his expression, and followed Milo back to the Charger. They got in. Jesper was quiet in the trunk.

  They pulled back on to the road and drove on, leaving the boundary behind them. No other cars on the road. Everyone in town was preparing for Hell Night.

  They left the road they were on, joined another, turned off that on to the narrowest road so far and took it until there were trees on either side and they were headed uphill. The narrow road met another narrow road, became a slightly bigger road, and continued on past a large concrete building set back a little, surrounded on three sides by trees. It was wide but low, squat and ugly and functional. There were three small sheds on the opposite side of the road, each with rusted padlocks hanging from rusted loops.

  Milo swung round, parked outside the bunker. The heavy door was open, the lights on inside. Kelly came out and Amber watched her approach in the side mirror. She hesitated, then reverted. Milo said nothing as she got out.

  “Hey,” said Kelly.

  “Hey,” said Amber, not quite meeting her eye. “You got the code, then.”

  Kelly nodded. “How did you do?”

  Milo got out and the trunk sprang open, and Jesper raised his head and blinked.

  “Cool,” said Kelly. “Any word from Virgil and Javier?”

  “We were hoping you’d spoken to them.”

  “Linda tried calling, but got no response,” said Kelly. “That doesn’t mean anything. I saw Virgil try to answer a call earlier. He doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing.”

  Milo hauled Jesper out of the trunk. “Who’s the Narrow Man going after now?”

  “I don’t know,” said Jesper. “I swear! He didn’t tell me! He just said he’d take care of it.”

  Milo glanced at Amber. “We’ll give them another few minutes. It isn’t even ten yet. If they’re still not here by then, we’ll go looking.”

  “I can help,” said Jesper. “If you let me, I can speak with the Narrow Man.”

  “You’re going to want to shut up now,” said Milo.

  “Can I talk to you?” Kelly asked, lightly touching Amber’s arm. They walked over to the sheds. “Now’s probably not the best time for this, I get that, but I just wanted to apologise for how I acted earlier.”

  Amber shook her head. “I’m the one who should be saying sorry. I panicked, I think. I didn’t know what to do or how to act or—”

  “No, Amber, seriously, I should have been more understanding. You probably didn’t even mean to change. I’m the one who overreacted.”

  “Well, like, you couldn’t have known, could you?”

  “I’m really sorry,” said Kelly. “Forgive me?”

  Amber hesitated. “Ah, balls.”

  “What?”

  “It wasn’t an accident. I did mean to change.”

  Kelly smiled. “Were you trying to lie to me just there?”

  “Slightly. You kissed me and I panicked, and I’m sorry. That’s never happened to me before.”

  “What part?”

  “You know, the … the whole …”

  Kelly raised her eyebrows. “Was that your first kiss?”

  “No,” Amber said, laughing. “Of course not. Well, sort of. I kissed a boy in my class when I was nine.”

  “Who is he? I’ll kill him.”

  They laughed, and Kelly raised Amber’s chin to look into her eyes. “That was your first kiss,” she said.

  “Pretty much,” Amber said. “I didn’t want to disappoint you or do something wrong … I didn’t know what I was doing, as you could probably tell.”

  “I couldn’t tell anything of the kind,” said Kelly. “That was a good kiss. It was a wonderful kiss. It made my insides all fluttery.”

  “Mine, too.”

  “But we could probably do better with a little practice.”

  “We should practise more.”

  “We should practise a lot more.”

  It was a moment, a cute moment, and Amber wondered if she should make a move, lean in and kiss Kelly, maybe, but she wasn’t sure if there was a sign she should give first, something to warn Kelly what was about to happen. On TV, whenever Balthazar and Tempest kissed, it happened so flawlessly, so smoothly, that it made Amber think there might be some system in place for these things to happen, and now she was overthinking it, goddammit, and the moment was passing and she jerked her head forward and then back again, gave an awkward laugh and nearly fell over.

  “You are so odd,” said Kelly, apparently amused by the whole thing.

  “You’re going to kill me!” Jesper shrieked.

  Kelly turned and Amber scowled and did the same, as Jesper staggered away from Milo, into the middle of the road. Ronnie and Linda came out of the bunker, followed by Austin and the dog.

  “All of you!” said Jesper. “It might be him handing me over to Naberius, but you’re all responsible. Are you okay with that? Are you? It’s murder. You’re going to murder me.”

  “Just like you were going to murder this boy,” said Ronnie.

  “That doesn’t excuse it!” Jesper roared. “That doesn’t justify it! That won’t wipe the black stain from your souls! Believe me, I know!”

  “You want to be gagged?” Milo asked.

  Jesper ignored him. “Look at you. You’re proud of yourselves, aren’t you? You saved the boy. You’re heroes. Only you’re not. Because, in order to win, you’ll have to murder me in cold blood.”

  “You kinda deserve it,” said Kelly, leading Amber over by the hand.

  Jesper whipped his head round to her. “That is not for you to judge.”

  “I’m not the one responsible for the deaths of, what, two hundred kids?” Kelly said, still holding Amber’s hand. “I think I’m in a pretty good position to judge you.”

  “If you kill me, you’ll be giving the Shining Demon what he wants.”

  “So?”

  Tears filled Jesper’s eyes. “Please. Please, when I die I’m going to hell. Please don’t send me there now.”

  “You should’ve thought about that before you made your deal with the Devil,” said Ronnie.

  “I was young and naïve and greedy. I’ve regretted it ever since. I dedicated my life to making the people of this town as happy as I could. I’ve done good things.”

  “And along the way you’ve been responsible for two hundred kids being killed.”

  Ronnie’s phone rang.

  “I’m sorry,” Jesper sobbed. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Shush,” Ronnie said, putting the phone on speaker. “Warrick. What’s the situation? How’s the barrier?”

  “The eagle has landed,” Warrick said on the other end. “Repeat, the eagle has landed.”

  Linda frowned. “Has the barrier dropped or not?”

  “What’d I just say?” Warrick answered. “‘The eagle has landed’ is code for ‘the barrier has dropped’. I’m watching the Hounds roll in right now. That’s the good news. Even better news is that they’re not headed this wa
y, so it looks like Milo was right about their radar being screwed up in here. Three of them are going straight into town. The other two are splitting up.”

  Ronnie nodded. “Good job, Warrick.”

  “I can see a lot of people standing in little groups, looking pretty excited. Won’t be long now before they’re running around killing each other like the murderous psycho demons they’re dying to be. Don’t tell Amber or Milo I said that.”

  “You’re on speaker,” said Ronnie.

  There was a hesitation. “Did they hear?”

  “They’re standing right beside me.”

  “Dude …”

  “Sorry.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I didn’t know you were going to say that.”

  “Do they look mad?”

  “They look fine.”

  “They don’t look like they’re going to kill me?”

  “No, they really don’t. Not at all.”

  “Okay, good,” said Warrick. “I won’t mention it when I see them. If I mention it, I’ll only draw attention to it, and then it’ll be this whole big deal and they’ll feel embarrassed and I’ll feel embarrassed and it’ll turn into this huge awkward thing where no one will know what to say and we’ll all be super-nice and super-polite to each other and … Am I still on speaker?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh, come on! Dude! A little warning, you know?”

  “Get back here, Warrick, before you’re seen. And before you say anything else stupid.”

  “Yeah,” Warrick said, and sighed. “I’m really sorry, Amber and Milo. I didn’t mean anything bad. Please don’t hate me.”

  “We don’t hate you,” said Amber.

  “When I said psycho demons, I didn’t mean you. You’re nice demons.”

  “We know. It’s fine.”

  “Thanks for being cool, Amber. Milo, I notice that you didn’t say anything just there, which might mean that you’re mad, or it might mean you’re just being your usual quiet self. I hope you’re not mad, man. I’ll see you in a minute. We can hug it out.” He hung up.