In This Skin

  ”Don't worry? Don't worry!”She looked from face to face. They blurred as her eyes skated from one anxious expression to another. ”Don't worry. Of course I'm damn well worried. I'm terrified. I'm so scared I could kill myself!”She looked down at her stomach as a surge of fluttery movements erupted. ”Oh my God. What have I got inside of myself? Nathaniel. It's not human, is it?”

  Nathaniel looked at her with those wise eyes that could have been a thousand years old. He'd seen so much. He knew too much. At least more than he found easy to live with. Then he told her something that rocked her backward.

  She knew she'd remember the words for as long as she was given life on this earth.

  Gently, he said: ”The child you carry was not conceived in the normal way. Your body responded to the needs of all those damaged people in my world. Something inside of you willed the fertilization of the egg.”

  Robyn fumbled back to the chair, sat down with her arms on the table taking her weight before she fell down. Heart beating, short of breath, mouth dry; the room tilted as vertigo threatened to overwhelm her.

  ”You carry that otherworld gene,” Nathaniel told her. ”Those that do can sense it in others. If you meet someone with the same gene, you feel a kinship with them even though they might be strangers. You wonder if you've known them before in the past.”

  Robyn managed to raise her head to meet Ellery's eye. Yes, that's why she'd felt that lightning flash of recognition when she first met Ellery. From his expression he knew it, too.

  Nathaniel continued, ”That otherworld gene also permits your body the ability to function in a different way from those who don't carry it.”

  ”Such as spontaneous conception?” she said, her voice strained.

  Nathaniel nodded. ”But believe this, Robyn. We will take care of you. Just as Mariah was sent here to guard you.”

  Benedict frowned. ”I could swear that Mariah was attacking Robyn the first time I saw her.”

  ”Mariah was saving her from being attacked by those unfortunates in the wood. Most have been driven to insanity, they're so desperate to be rid of their pain. They will have sensed that Robyn here was carrying a child who will heal them. In their desperation…” He shrugged, grimacing.

  ”You mean they would have torn her apart to get at the unborn child?” A look of absolute horror took possession of Noel's face.

  Nathaniel gave a regretful shrug. ”As I say, their desperation for a savior has shattered their logic. They have the capacity to do terrible things. But it isn't their fault.”

  Noel stood. ”We've got to get out of here.”

  ”That's not possible.”

  ”For one, we need to take Robyn to a hospital.”

  ”I repeat: not possible”Nathaniel told him. ”She must have the baby here.”

  ”No, way, buddy. Robyn and I are leaving.”

  Nathaniel didn't move. His solid presence even more statue-like. ”Noel. Robyn will die if you try to remove her from the building.”

  ”That's true”she said as certainty gripped her. ”The same force that drove me here won't let me leave. Not until it's over.”

  Ellery nodded; he felt it, too.

  ”Okay,”Benedict said, ”that may be. What we must do is bring in specialist help.”

  Noel shrugged, bewildered. ”Help? What kind of help?”

  ”A doctor, and whatever medical supplies Robyn will need.”

  ”Shoot, how the hell are you going to convince a doctor to come out here?”

  ”I've got plenty of cash in my checking account. That's a powerful persuader. Anyone have a cell phone? I'll start making calls.”

  Ellery shook his head. Robyn exchanged glances with Noel. ”We have phones but no electricity to recharge the batteries.”

  ”That's not a problem.”Benedict sounded businesslike. ”I've got the car.

  I'll drive home and make the calls from there. I'll also get the cash.”

  Robyn found it hard to speak. ”Thank you… I don't know… we haven't got any cash to repay you. Unless there's a way we can owe-”

  ”No, don't mention it.”Benedict shot her a reassuring smile. ”I've been hoarding for the day I found Mariah. Now that I've found her, well… let's say priorities change.”

  That was it. Plans were made. Benedict would bring a doctor. And just for a moment, the prospect of accelerating through nine months of pregnancy in maybe a dozen hours didn't seem so horrific. Then it all changed. A furious knocking sounded on the door downstairs. A cold hand gripped her heart. That pounding signaled the death of Benedict's plans.

  ***

  The sound puzzled Logan. It jiggled his curiosity enough to want to grab the flashlight and see what was happening on the dance floor. Only to do that would give away the fact that he sat here behind the stage curtain with a submachine gun on his lap. A funny sound though… funny weird… funny peculiar… funny sinister. Like people who walked strangely were shuffling across the floor, dragging their feet. He could even hear the snorting way they breathed. Shit, did they have lung complaints or what? You had to suffer something bad to make that kind of noise.

  Sucking and blowing with a wet bronchial crackle. Now, who wouldn't want to turn on the flashlight and have a gander at that crowd? But he needed that element of surprise.

  So lay off the light, buddy, he told himself. You only want to flick the switch when you know Eh-Eh-Ellery Hann is standing there. That's when you can hose him down with these nine-millimeter slugs.

  The funky footsteps weren't headed Logan's way. That was good. Instead they retreated through the darkened interior of the dance floor. That was puzzling. Where were they headed? Through the dark came the sound of the big doors to the lobby opening. A glimmer of day326 light beyond revealed a bunch of silhouettes bobbing through. That was revealing. Now he knew more than ever that Ellery and his buddies were holed up behind one of those locked doors through there. Some cash office or liquor store or something. The suspicion was confirmed when he heard a fist pounding on a closed door.

  Let us in, let us in, old friends…

  That might have been the meaning, but it was a mighty powerful knock.

  These newcomers could have been aiming to smash the door rather than making a rappity-rap to attract attention to their arrival.

  Okay he thought, running a hand down the barrel of the gun. Let's see what shakes down next.

  ***

  Have you ever thought what death would sound like if he ever came knocking at your door? During many a sleepless night after Mariah's disappearance, Benedict had imagined how it would sound. And it would sound just like that. A measured pounding that was so deep and so powerful, it would shake the very walls of the building.

  ”They've followed us. They know that Robyn is here.”

  ”The Skinners? You said they were too stupid to open up the doorway.”Benedict rose to his feet as the pounding grew louder.

  ”No. Not Skinners. These are the others. They can open the doorway if they want to badly enough. They sense that the birth is imminent.”

  ”They want my baby?”

  Benedict saw the girl's eyes open wide with fright.

  Nathaniel nodded. ”They crave release from their agony. He clenched his fists, angry. ”They're so desperate they'll ruin everything. They always do.”

  ”It's happened before?”As Benedict asked the question he saw the look of dread seep into Nathaniel's once-calm eyes.

  ”Yes.”Nathaniel touched his chest. ”I might have helped them. I had the gene.”

  ”That's why you were abducted as a baby?”

  ”But there was some defect in my body, too. I never grew into the healer they needed so desperately. He stood up, taking his weight on those massive, splayed foot-hands. ”I grew into something else instead. Now, damn them, they're going to wind up destroying the very thing that can save them.”

  ”Dear God…”Robyn swayed. She wasn't far from collapse. The shocks of the last few hours had been like hammer blows. Be
nedict doubted she could take any more. If they broke in, she knew that they wouldCrash. This time the blow had a splintering afternoise, wood rending.

  Noel bounded through the doorway. ”I'm not letting the bastards touch her!”

  Benedict followed with Nathaniel joining them. Glancing back, he saw that Ellery had crouched beside Robyn to put a protective arm around her. Instead of heading for the stairs, Noel detoured to the bed-' room, then returned with the gun. The man's eyes blazed fury.

  Downstairs, the door shivered on its hinges. Pressure followed blow.

  Those things were trying to push the door open. Either they were strong or there were many. The door curved inward beneath the force of the push. Beyond the narrow slats of frosted glass in the top of the door, Benedict glimpsed misshapen heads bobbing as they clustered there. Beams of light shining through the boards on the main Luxor doors caught a gleaming eye or a domed skull.

  Noel paused just for a second. The door creaked, groaned. The frame cracked as wood fibers yielded.

  Screw heads moved loosely in the holes. The pressure was immense. Those creatures would soon burst through to snatch Robyn… or at least snatch the thing they craved in her womb. Noel raised the revolver, aimed, then fired two shots. One smacked into heavy timber. The second passed through a narrow slat of glass to smash into the blurred face of one of the creatures that shoved at the door. Benedict heard a bark of pain.

  ”Good shot,”Benedict breathed. ”Got any more guns?”

  ”No. And I only have twenty rounds left.”

  ”Damn. It's not going to be a cinch popping out for more.”

  ”Shooting them isn't the answer,”Nathaniel told them.

  ”No shit,”Noel countered. ”It felt good to me.”

  ”You've dissuaded them for the moment,”Benedict said. ”What we need to do is barricade the door. If we plug the stairwell with furniture, that should stop them.”

  ”Hey,' Noel turned, startled by the suggestion. ”I thought you said we'd bring medical help for Robyn?”

  ”As I said, popping out is no longer a cinch.”

  ”Benedict's right.”Nathaniel nodded.

  ”You mean we're under siege?”

  ”But we can stop them from getting in.”Benedict climbed the stairs.

  ”We'll stuff so much furniture behind the door they'll never push it open.”

  With the formidable strength of Nathaniel, it didn't take much more than ten minutes to carry cabinets from the bedrooms down to the door that was now taking a tentative shove or two. They wedged the bulky (and meatily robust) cabinets up against the door with the ends wedged against the stair risers. After that they created a heavy plug of more of that old-fashioned furniture-bed frames, chairs, a table, a chest of drawers. This filled the stairwell. If the creatures ever got through the door (presumably having to bite it out piece by piece) then they would be faced with close to eight hundred pounds of well-carpented timber and upholstery, interlocked and jammed.

  Benedict was wondering if words like ”There, a job well done”wouldn't sound too trivial at a time like this, when all three stopped dead and looked at each other. They heard a sound that chilled their blood. From the direction of the kitchen came Robyn Vincent's piercing scream.

  CHAPTER 34

  Noel was first back to the kitchen where Robyn stood at the sink, doubled up in pain and pressing both hands against her stomach. Ellery was at her side, worried yet helpless to stop the hurt.

  ”It's changing,”she said through gritted teeth. ”It's growing. I can feel it. Ah… it's hurting now:' Pain made her too restless to sit.

  Instead, she paced the kitchen until the spasm passed. A few moments later she sighed. ”It's feeling better now… I'm okay.”She returned to the chair. ”Wow, Junior's going to put me through it, huh?”The smile tugging her mouth was a false one. Her eyes brimmed with horror. A thump sounded from downstairs as mutant fists punched the door. Even the brave attempt at a smile died. Fear tightened her face, pulling back her lips to expose her teeth.

  ”Robyn, trust me: you're safe.”

  ”Safe? How can anyone be safe with those things breaking down the door?”

  Benedict saw the way her eyes darted toward the hallway as crunches of breaking wood came in jagged waves from the door. The girl was frightened. And not just frightened of them-but frightened of what grew inside her body ”Robyn,”Benedict said. ”We've packed the stairwell with furniture. Even if they get through the door they're going to find their way blocked.”

  Noel reloaded the pistol. ”And I've made sure I left a gap big enough so I can keep pumping shots through. That's going to reduce their enthusiasm for breaking in.”

  Nathaniel reacted to Noel's own enthusiasm for killing with a wince.

  ”When all's said and done, those are my own kind down there.”

  ”They're the bad guys, Nathaniel.” He clicked the magazine drum back in place. ”They'd hurt Robyn if they got the chance.”

  ”They're desperate guys, Noel.” Nathaniel's eyes filled with sadness.

  ”They don't know what they're doing.”

  Noel stood up. ”Until they get their heads back together and stop trying to bust in here, they're still bad guys in my book.”Noel went into the hallway to stand guard at the top of the stairs.

  Nathaniel's expression of concern intensified. ”I wish I could see Mariah.”

  ”I'm sure she'll be safe where she is,”Benedict told him. ”The entrance to the void under the stage is concealed. No one should find her”

  ”If she's hurt then she should be taken back to my world. She will heal quickly.”

  Benedict's heart went out to the giant. ”Don't worry. We'll go to her as soon as we can.”

  Benedict wondered, What's Nathaniel's story in relation to Mariah?

  Nathaniel's concern was both touching and revealing. Twelve years ago Benedict had realized he loved Mariah more deeply than anyone else in his life. Ten years ago she'd vanished. Obsessively he'd searched for her, even put his life on hold while he sifted meager evidence from the Luxor, or sat in the parking lot hoping that somehow, impossibly she'd come skipping out through the doors as if nothing had happened. Now he did know what had happened to her. A decade ago she'd passed through that portal to The Place. There she'd been stranded. Over the years she'd become monsterized-that word again, that ugly damn word. Monsterized.

  Monstrification. Mutation. Whatever freak name you gave to the process, she'd undergone profound anatomical changes. Over the last few hours he'd pictured her lonely and terrified, surviving in the forest, as she mutated into a tall sexless creature, with gray skin and boneless arms that resembled tentacles. What could it have felt like knowing that her mouth was growing… even blossoming… into a multilipped horror on her face? Only now as he watched concern grow in Nathaniel's eyes Benedict could relate another possible version of events: Had Mariah really been so alone? Might she have found happiness?

  Benedict jumped, startled, when Robyn grunted. ”Please,” she hissed.

  ”Will you get me a glass of water?”

  ***

  Robyn thought: There are crows on the roof, soothsaying one of us is going to die soon. There are monsters trying to break down the door.

  There are strangers in the Luxor with guns. And there is something inside of me that wants…

  ”Please, another glass.”

  Ellery refilled the glass from the faucet. Robyn knew she stared at the shining jet of water with greedy eyes. Water. She had to have that water now! Why was he taking so long? ”Please, hurry,” she panted as thirst withered her throat.

  But, dear God, why do I crave water all of a sudden?

  As if in answer, her stomach twitched. Inside her womb a solid mass turned, then stretched.

  Uh! That hurt… that hurt so bad her eyes blurred. And where's the damn water? ”Here… careful.”Ellery spoke gently. ”Shall I hold the glass for you?”

  ”No.”She all but snatched the water from his
hand, spilling precious glistening drops onto her skin. She drained the glass, then licked the beads of fluid from the back of her hand. ”More, please.”Taking a steadying breath, she added. ”I'm sorry. I don't mean to be rude but all I can think about is water… drinking water, lots of it. Jeez, I know what a crack addict feels like now.”

  ”More?”

  ”Please.” Once more she realized she didn't just look at the glass as he filled it with the crystal clear liquid, she lusted for it. An expression of sheer greed must have transformed her face. Ellery handed her the glass. She gulped at the cold water. It tasted the sweetest thing.

  ”It's part of the process,” Nathaniel said. ”Your body needs water.”

  ”It's growing,” she whispered. A statement of fact, incontrovertible fact. ”I feel it. It's stretching, enlarging.”She rubbed her stomach, trying to ease the tight muscles as the fetus developed with supernatural speed. ”Junior's going to need plenty of fluid. All that extra body mass… ever see speeded-up film of plants growing?” She realized her speech was slipping free of logic now. The faces of Ellery, Benedict and Nathaniel proved that. They worried about her.

  At that moment a gunshot cracked, making her jump.

  ”Don't worry,”Noel called from the hallway. ”I'm letting those guys know that they can't just stroll in here.”

  Robyn sat at the table with her fist clenched on the checker-pattern cloth. She focused on that for a moment, willing herself to stop gulping down glass after glass of water.

  Failed…

  ”Another glass, Ellery. Thanks. Will you fill me a pitcher, too?” Draining the glass in one thirsty swallow, she relished the liquid's cool flow down through the core of her body, a body that burned as arid as any desert. ”Pitcher's in the wall cupboard.” She spoke breathlessly. ”Another glass please, Benedict. I'm sorry.”

  As Ellery found the pitcher Benedict refilled the glass at the sink.

  ”Don't apologize, Robyn. We're here for you. Anything you want, we get, okay? Do you want to eat?”