The Dark Light (12 page)

It was a child, or seemed that way, maybe five or six years old, but much, much smaller, and scurrying on all fours, its butt up in the air. Huge round eyes skittishly peered our way. Its neck was long and swayed side to side. At the end of each finger grew a thick claw, which it tapped against the stone. It chirruped again, spun one-eighty, then scampered off into the streets, flicking a long, hairless tail before disappearing into the mist.

Sol let out a deep breath. “It’s just a gutterscamp,” he said.
“They feed on the trash after nightfall. Come on, we need to move.”

I stared into the space where the creature had been, as stunned as if I’d watched a plane fall from the sky. Everything I’d seen and heard collided in a jumble of images and sounds. I sank to my knees.

Sol dashed to my side. “Mia,” he said, his expression earnest. “You have to get up.
Now.
You’re coming with me, whether on your own feet or over my shoulder. Your choice.”

It didn’t seem like much of a choice, but what other did I have?

The labyrinth seemed endless. I was about to ask how much farther, when we stopped in front of a door on a narrow, cobbled street. Sol knocked. Long moments passed as we waited. Freaked to the point of hysteria, and convinced that whatever followed us was only steps away, I was about to bang on the door myself when footsteps shuffled inside.

“It’s late,” barked a man’s voice. “What do you want?”

Sol leaned against the wood. He whispered words I couldn’t make out, or maybe words I simply didn’t know. Finally the door opened. Without word, Sol ushered me into a long, narrow room with a table and benches in the center. To the left, two straight-backed armchairs faced a stone fireplace.

The man hurried away, disappearing through a doorway at the
rear of the room that stood beside a wooden staircase. Footsteps sounded overhead. I looked to the stairs. No one came down.

Though we were safely inside, Sol remained at the door. He pressed his ear to the wood and gestured for me to remain silent.

“Were we followed?” I whispered.

“I’m not sure.”

I backed away, determined to hold myself together and not imagine what might be prowling the streets. It wasn’t easy. Here in this room, this world suddenly felt far too real.

The man who’d let us in returned, brushing past me as he made his way to Sol. He was older, maybe Sheriff Burkett’s age, but shorter, and wore baggy brown pants and a long linen shirt. His hand clasped a sword, which he offered to Sol.

Sol took the weapon without question. I followed the sweep of the blade down to the tip, which despite Sol’s height, almost grazed the stone floor. “I think we’re safe,” he said. “We got lucky.”

Lucky? I didn’t feel lucky at all. Lucky was when you got called first for debate and didn’t have to wait the entire class for your turn. Lucky was when Rich Manning’s mom was in town and he missed a night of drinking at Mickey’s. But this?
Lucky?

“Why are you here?” the older man asked, his face sweaty and red. I noticed his teeth were widely spaced and filed into tiny, sharp points. “We saw the Barrier open.”

Before Sol could reply, footsteps sounded overhead, and a
guy bounded down the stairs. He appeared about Sol’s age, was of a similar build, and had dark hair, much darker than Sol’s, almost black. His clothes, a thick blue shirt and loose black pants, cast me back to Sol’s bedroom and the woven shirts I’d found in his trunk. He headed straight for Sol. Unnoticed, unwatched, I remained in my spot.

“They passed by,” the guy said, without greeting. “Headed toward the square.”

“How many?” asked Sol.

“One sentinel. Two visage demons. But the alarm’s ringing; there’ll be more.”

It was clear Sol knew this guy well. It was like Willie and me: no fuss or nonsense, just straight down to business.

Sol placed the sword on the table. He slumped onto the bench closest to the door. “They must have seen the Barrier open,” he said.

“It was hard to miss,” replied the guy. He shot me a questioning look. “Just about lit up the whole town.”

“Then they already know.”

If I’d dared, I would have asked whom he was talking about and what it was they now knew. But I pretty much knew the answer. Someone—
they
—knew I’d tumbled into a world I wasn’t meant to see. I was also pretty sure
they
wouldn’t care that it wasn’t my fault.

“She opened the Barrier,” said Sol. All eyes turned on me. “They’ll want to find who did it. We have to get her back before they do.”

The man with the pointed teeth watched me as if I were one of Rich Manning’s aliens. “That was no little opening,” he said. “That was an Equinox, or as close as you can get. How’d she do it?”

Sol watched me in the same way that other two watched me. As if I were the strange one. “With solens,” he replied.

“From
where
?” asked Pointy Teeth.

Sol ran a hand across his mouth, all the time watching me closely. I couldn’t tell if he’d paused for impact or if he simply couldn’t decide how to answer.

“It was the Solenetta,” he said.

Pointy Teeth collapsed onto the bench. He continued to gape. Though I barely understood a word of what they’d discussed, I suddenly felt bare, dissected. I didn’t like it at all. My temper flared.

“Tell me what’s going on,” I demanded.

Silence.

“Well?”

Glances were exchanged. It was Sol who finally replied. “Your necklace,” he said.

My
necklace
? I immediately glanced at my hand or, more
specifically, at the hand that had held my necklace. I’d not given it a thought since the Ridge.

“It’s gone,” I said.

The previous silence had been ponderous. This was one was downright oppressive.

Sol shifted in his seat. He leaned over the table, frowning deeply. “What do you mean ‘gone’?”

I shrugged. “I had it in my hand. I must have dropped it.”

Sol sprung to his feet, moving toward me with such speed that I instinctively backed away. “Check your pockets,” he said.

“It’s not in my pockets.” I patted the front of my jeans and jacket to prove the point. “It was definitely in my hand. Why does it matter? It’s just a necklace.”

Sol’s face looked like he’d just found his home burned to the ground. Shock. Disbelief. Fear. He turned for the door. “I have to go back.”

The younger guy offered Sol the sword, “It’ll be crawling out there. You’ll never make it.”

Sol paused at the door. “What choice do we have?” he asked. He placed a hand on the other guy’s shoulder. “If they find it, we’re finished.”

* * *

I don’t know how long I waited on that bench for Sol to return. Pointy Teeth disappeared upstairs not long after he left. It was
just me and the other guy, like a pair of shy freshman thrust together in the cafeteria. It didn’t matter. I’d decided that none of this was real. Any minute I’d wake up on the Ridge. Unless I really was dead and this was Hell. I surveyed every inch of the walls and waited for the joke to wear off.

On one of my many sweeps of the room, I caught the other guy’s glance. He offered his hand. “Delane,” he said.

I guessed it was his name and shook back.

“Mia Stone.” Then added, “From Crownsville.” If that even existed anymore.

Delane nodded. With his black hair and blue eyes, he reminded me of someone. He was a really good-looking guy, tall and strong like Sol, definitely Willie’s type. I studied him closely, trying to put my finger on why he felt so familiar.

“I’ve never seen Crownsville,” he said. “I’ve been stuck here since Solandun volunteered to go over.”

Solandun?
Confused, I shook my head. “You mean Sol?”

“Yeah,” said Delane. “Welcome to the Other Side.”

Whoever Delane was, he didn’t seem afflicted with the same reticence as Sol. He was open and friendly, his manner warm. If there was a chance for answers, it was now.

“So what is this place?”

“This place?” he asked. “It’s Rip’s house; he keeps it so we’ve got somewhere to—”

“No,” I said, gesturing all around. “
This
place. This
whole
thing.”

“Well . . .” He paused. His icy blue eyes narrowed and two deep lines appeared on his forehead. It was an expression I’d seen before, and I realized who he looked like. Those lines on his forehead were the same as when Pete was deep in thought. He was a young, friendly version of
Pete
.

“How much do you know?” he asked.

I shrugged. “How about ‘nothing.’”

“Then this could take all night.”

Only, we didn’t have all night. I had to get back to the Ridge. To do that, I needed to know what I was up against. “There were lights,” I said. “On the Ridge.”

“That’s the Barrier,” Delane replied. “It’s what you passed through. It protects us from you, and you from us.”

Every question I wanted to ask led back to yet another question and then another and another. I tried backing up: “This place is
real
?”

“I hope so,” said Delane, laughing. “Or I definitely ate something I shouldn’t have.”

I knew the feeling.

“The Barrier’s been here forever,” he continued. “More or less. It’s an energy created from magic.”

So this was a dream. I
was
unconscious on the Ridge.
“Magic?”

“Old magic.”

“But there is no magic.”

“Not on your side. Some wanted it the same here, too. Course, it didn’t quite work out like that. Why do you think we’re in this mess?”

I didn’t get a chance to hazard a guess. Another knock came at the door. Footsteps thundered overhead. Delane was already at the door when Pointy Teeth hurried back into the room.

“It’s Solandun,” said Pointy. “I saw him from upstairs.”

Delane opened the door, and as soon as Sol entered, I knew my opportunity to ask questions had gone. He didn’t look happy.

“I couldn’t find it,” he said. “It’s crawling with masks.”

“What do we do?” asked Delane.

“We get Mia back,” Sol replied. He offered me a cursory glance. “Do we have grains?”

Delane shook his head. He looked to Pointy. “Rip?”

“Maybe I can get a couple,” Rip replied. “
Maybe.
But you can’t take her up there until they’ve cleared out. It’s too great a risk.”

“If she’s found here, it’ll be worse.”

The argument raged back and forth, but I no longer heard their words. If I’d disappeared through the lights and come here, so had Jay!

I leapt up and pushed past Delane, positioning myself right in front of Sol.

“Sol,
Jay
!”

Sol nodded slowly. It was all I needed.

“You knew,” I gasped. “About
all
of this. And the man I saw—the hooded man.”

Again, he nodded.

“We have to find him.”

“You can’t go out there.”

“I have to. Jay’s here, Sol!”

Sol didn’t blink. “Yes.”

“Yes?”
I blurted. “That’s all you can say? What about the other kids?” I looked from Sol to Rip to Delane. “They’ve taken six other boys.”

“They’ve been bringing them over,” said Rip. Then to Sol: “That’s what I was trying to tell you about the Barrier. The same thing happened last night. It was like an Equinox began and then just stopped. We think they have solens.”

“It was us,” said Sol, wearily. “They took Mia’s brother, Jay, last night. Mia was there. She was wearing the Solenetta.”

“My necklace?” I asked, increasingly uneasy. “It’s just a piece of junk.”

No one replied.

“And what’s it got to do with Jay? Why did they take him?”

Silence.

“Sol,
why
?” I couldn’t stand it any longer. He was wasting
time when Jay was somewhere in this nightmare. “We have to do something. He’s my brother, Sol. He’s ten years old.” I took a step for the door.

Sol blocked my path. “He’ll be found, Mia.”

Yeah,
right
. Sol had known that Jay was here all along and he’d said nothing. Now he expected me to believe that Jay’d suddenly just appear? “Who’s going to find him?”

“We have people looking.”

“Really? And why would anyone here be looking for Jay?”

I tried to push past him, but getting by Sol was like trying to walk through a wall.

“If they find you out there, they’ll kill you,” he said. He raised his hands like he was trying to calm me. “Mia, I’m not going to let that happen.”

“We’ll see about that.” Pumped, ready, I remembered the phone in my pocket. “I’m calling the sheriff. See what he has to say about this.”

I switched on my phone. The display was blank. It must have gotten crushed on the Ridge. The thing
was
ancient. Again I pushed the power button. Held it down. Nothing.

“Fine,” I said, refusing to look at Sol. “I’ll just go back and open that Barrier-thing. I did it once.”

“With solens,” said Sol.

“Then I’ll get more. Someone in this town must have some.”

Sol glanced at Rip and Delane, then looked to the ground. “Mia, there aren’t any others,” he said, softly.

I faltered. “Then how do we get back?”

Rip thrust his hands into his pockets. Delane studied the wall. Only Sol would hold my gaze.

I watched him back. Stuck? This nightmare was plunging into new depths of terror. I pictured Pete wondering where I was, if he’d even noticed I was gone. And Willie. She’d go nuts if I disappeared. I’d told her that I’d call her. I glanced at my phone in my hand. The useless phone. My only link to Crownsville.

“It can’t be,” I whispered.

Trapped here. Only, here was exactly where I needed to be. I thought of Jay in the hands of a psycho somewhere in this hellish world. His time was ticking away.

“Look, Mia,” said Sol. He sighed, his hand grazing mine with the slightest touch. “Whatever you think, I’m not trying to be difficult. I know you’re upset about your brother. But I have to get you home. You shouldn’t be here. Believe me. There is another way to get you back, but it means returning to the Ridge and we can’t do that until they give up looking. You’ll have to stay. For now.”