of shell casings on the floor. Where in the world had he been hiding all of those? Link didn't have time to think about it. He hoisted his makeshift bat to swing just as the door to his left swung open.
Link glanced back at his attacker, preparing himself to fight back, when he realized it was Tom. Standing just inside the doorframe, Tom said, "Quick, get everybody inside."
Link stared in confusion. Where had the door come from? It hadn't been there before. He was sure of it. He felt Roland at his back, still swinging his arms. The air was electric, but the stench was almost unbearable.
Max shoved Link into the room. Then he helped Roland fend off a couple more Broken that had somehow eluded both bullet and electrocution, but were close enough to be a danger. Then they both hurried into the room and slammed the door shut behind them.
Once inside, Link saw Panch. He was lying lifeless on a hospital bed, hooked up to a variety of machines by a series of wires and tubes. Link wondered if he was dead.
Across from the bed, a woman dressed as a nurse was slumped over in one of two rolling vinyl chairs. Link wasn't sure who she was, but he knew it wasn't Panch's mother. Her face rested on top of her knees, and a metal spike protruded through her lower back like a skewer. A puddle of red pooled by her feet.
Where were Panch's parents? Did they have any idea what was going on? Had they been here but managed to escape? If so, what kind of parents would leave their son behind to face all of this? Remembering the difficulty they'd experienced at the front desk, Link wondered if Panch's parents had even been allowed up here to visit him.
Max heaved one of the large pieces of machinery in front of the door. Roland hurled the unoccupied chair toward the window. Link knew they were on the backside of the building, where it was unlikely there would be people below, but it was still shocking to see the chair explode through the glass then plummet to the ground.
"What if someone was down there?" Link asked, still disoriented by their abrupt descent into chaos.
"I hope they moved," Roland grunted. He grabbed the heels of the dead lady and rolled her out the opening, chair and all.
"Why'd you do that?" Link screamed. Suddenly noticing the way Roland eyed his sleeping friend, Link leapt between Roland and Panch. "Don't even think about it!"
"Move aside, you fool. The lady was already dead. Raythuse left her here. She was a Trojan horse. If I didn't throw her out the window, a Skia could have used her body to kill us from inside the room. Unless your friend is already dead, he has nothing to worry about. But if he is dead, he goes out the window like the lady. Last thing we need is to give those monsters an easy way in. We were set up?" Roland checked Panch's neck for a pulse. Apparently finding one, he left Panch's side and approached Max. "Do you think it'll hold?" he said, nodding to the back door.
Max's face contorted with rage. "I told you we shouldn't have listened to her. This was a trap from the start. I knew it."
"Be serious," Roland soothed. "You know she had nothing to do with this mess. We had to come here. You know that, too. It was the right move. It's what separates us from those beasts out there."
Before Max could answer, Link heard a loud crash against the door. A disturbing chorus of screams echoed from the other side. Similar to the time Link had opened the strange e-mail, the room around him began to drip with noise. Some voices sounded human, though the words were spoken in an unfamiliar tongue. Others sounded like barnyard animals, crying with fear on their way to the slaughterhouse. Link lifted his camera.
"No!" Roland shouted. "Put that down! It isn't time!"
Link was about to ask what could possibly be worse than being trapped inside a room on the thirteenth floor with a bunch of blood-thirsty Broken when he heard a horrible screaming. It was coming from the shattered window. He swiveled to find Max dangling Tom out the window by his feet.
Consumed with rage, Max screamed, "What do you know about all this, you little rat? Don't think for a second I haven't been watching you this whole time! I knew it was you! I knew it!"
"Help!" Tom pleaded. "Link, help! This guy's insane!" He lifted the canister of pepper spray and aimed it at Max's face.
"Go ahead," Max said. "I dare you. Give me a reason to drop you."
Link moved quickly to help his friend, but Roland stepped in between them. "Link," he said, "it was a trap. You see that, right? Think with your head, not your heart. Who could have orchestrated all this? I know it wasn't me. It definitely wasn't my dad. And it wouldn't make any sense if it was you. The only person who could have done it was Tom. Think about it."
Another loud crash thundered outside in the hallway. It sounded as if the Broken were ramming something against the door, but for the time being, it held.
"He's not a Broken," Link protested. "He can't be! Look at him! Does he look like a Broken to you? Let him up, or I'll use this camera." Link raised it to emphasize his threat.
"Where's his grandmother, Link?" Roland said. "Have you seen her since the bear? The fact that somebody is not a Broken doesn't mean they aren't helping them. Who knows what they offered him in return. But if you use that camera now, the Broken win. Is that what you want?"
Link tried to compose his thoughts. Who had Tom really been calling back at the gas station and after the bear attack? Roland was probably right, but Link just couldn't bring himself to believe it. Tom had to be on their side.
Plagued by indecision, Link struggled to separate the demonic voices that raged in his ears from his own voice of reason. Overwhelmed by the effort, he had a sudden impulse to jump out the window and end it all himself. Unable to take the unwelcome visitors in his head any longer, he began the short walk to the window. He needed to end this. And he needed to end it now before anyone else got hurt.
"Stop!" Roland pleaded. "Don't let him win! Fight it!"
All Link could hear was the voice in his head. It was telling him to jump. He peered over the edge at Tom's look of horror. He could see the pavement below. It looked soft and inviting, like a hug of pillows. One more step and it would all be over.
Suddenly a hot flash of pain seared through the back of his eyes and ripped all his senses from him at once. It happened so fast that Link didn't have time to react. Tom had sprayed him, but why? It was all he could do to breathe in between terrible fits of coughing. He felt something rip free from the inside out. He squeezed his eyes shut against the agonizing burn of the spray, but somehow he could still see through his eyelids.
The room, now bathed entirely in hues of red, appeared exactly as it had when he had last looked. The only difference was that he now found himself alone. Everyone had disappeared. The unexpected crack of gunshots rang out. They sounded close, but he couldn't see anyone shooting.
Slowly, he pulled his senses back and tested each one, trying to open his eyes last. The pain was still too much, so he quickly shut them again and concentrated on his new kind of sight. As he regained dominion over his thoughts, all the demonic voices gradually died away.
With all the noise, Link expected the door to begin bulging inward the way it had when the polar bear had broken through his bedroom door. He wanted to look away, but he turned to face it nonetheless. He would not die with his back to the fight. In what seemed like an instant, Link found himself surrounded by fearsome shadows like the one he'd trapped inside the picture. He glanced over to where the machines that Max had propped against the door still stood. How had the Broken entered the room without moving the equipment? That was when he realized that these particular demons must not be Broken at all. They were Skias. But if that was true, then how could he see them? Had Tom put something into the spray? He wasn't sure such a thing could be done. But if it could, a Watcher would be the one person who could do it.
Link could only stare back at them open-mouthed as the wraithlike Skias surrounded him. Where were Max and Roland? Where was Panch? Nothing made any sense! He slammed his fist on the closest wall out of frustration. One minute he was trying to save Tom. The next, he was alone insid
e the same room.
Link spun around uneasily, preparing himself for the inevitable attack, but for some reason, the Skias never came. They simply hovered around him ominously, flitting about the room.
55
Beginning of the End
Link lashed out at one that came particularly close, but his fist punched through it like it was made of air. He had just begun to swing at another one when he was greeted by the voice of the devil. It had an oily drawl, smooth and slippery. It appeared to be coming from something in the shape of a man, but it wasn't a man. The creature's shape was spectral and confused, impossible to define. The edges of its enormous dark red cloak appeared to shift as if it were suspended by alternating currents of air rather than an actual body. Grotesque and hypnotic, the thing in front of him reminded Link of the shadowy creature that had tormented Ayden. The only difference was the eyes. Instead of the brilliant white from his nightmares, these eyes were deep yellow with intense flames that burned brightly in the pupil.
"So, this must be the famous Link I've heard so much about," it drawled. "Real shame about your momma, boy. I hear a fire is an excruciating way to die. Her fault, though. Shouldn't start something you can't finish. Speaking of fires, any idea where the rest of your family is?" There was a harsh rattling that sounded like somebody stepping