The Lost Door (36 page)

“I will go with you so long as you let them leave,” Lilly said.

“Done,” DeMarcus responded with a shrug. “I have no need for them anyway. They can go about their insignificant lives as far as I’m concerned.”

“So… that’s it?” DeMarcus and Emily turned to Claire, her eyes wide. “What about Emily?”

“She is host to Lilly.” He said it matter-of-fact, as if that should be answer enough.

“She… she has to go with you?” She looked at Emily. “What will happen to her once you leave?”

Lilly said nothing; Emily’s eyes said it all.

“No!” Claire screamed, making a grab for her. DeMarcus raised his hand and Claire flew across the room, crashing to the floor. She picked herself up, sobbing. “You can’t take her! She’s all I have left!”

“A pity,” DeMarcus cooed.

“Please! You can’t! She’s still a child!”

“I need Lilly to return to Turmoore, Lilly is in Emily. I’m sure you understand the position I’m in.”

Claire stood on shaky legs. “I won’t let you.”

“Won’t?”

With a flick of his hand, DeMarcus sent Claire sailing through the air again. This time the wind was knocked from her.

“Stop it,” Lilly said. “What you’re doing… it’s unnecessary.”

DeMarcus ignored her as he watched Claire get on her hands and knees. “Stay down, Claire. There’s no need for this.”

“You will not take my daughter.” She stared him down, fury in her eyes.

DeMarcus raised his hand, Claire’s body stiffening. She looked as if she were preparing for a punch to the gut.

A deafening gunshot rang out. DeMarcus flinched and looked around wildly. He stood stoic and unmoving, stared down Stavic.

“Your weapon will not work on me.”

“You will leave her alone. Both of them. Claire and Emily are staying.”

“That’s not possible. We have to return to save our people.”

“Bullshit. I don’t buy it.”

“Whether you buy it or not is irrelevant. I will not be stuck in here or on your plane indefinitely. My time is at an end and Lilly is my key.”

Willem glanced at his father, cut in. “Why are you convinced you need her?”

“Her parents would not have sent her here unless they had a way to bring her back. No parent would do that.”

“Our history is full of parents that have done that, parents that would stop at nothing to ensure their children survive, even if it meant never seeing them again.”

“They told me—”

“What you needed to hear. You were cutting out their tongues for god sake. People will say anything under duress.”

DeMarcus considered it. “No they would not have lied. Not to me.” He grabbed Emily’s arm. “You will not break another agreement. I spare them and you come with me. If not for me, then for our people.”

He marched her to the door, Claire howling behind. She lunged but was caught by Willem, who struggled to hold her back.

“Do you want to get yourself killed?” he asked.

“But Emily—”

“We’ll find a way.”

On the opposite end of the room DeMarcus pushed Emily to the door, Willem’s father falling into step behind. DeMarcus glanced back. “Where are you going?”

“With you.”

DeMarcus chuckled, shook his head. “No.”

“You promised. After I saved you, you said I’d go with you.”

“I say a lot of things,” he said and cocked his head.

Willem’s father was thrown back, smashing into a wall. He crumpled to the ground, unmoving.

“Open it,” DeMarcus screamed, shaking her. “Open it now!”

She scowled at him, said slowly, “Let. Me. Go.”

He did and took a step back.

Stavic moved next to Willem and Claire all the while keeping his gun trained on DeMarcus.

DeMarcus slammed his fist against the door, screaming, “Open it!”

Emily gave one sad look back and made eye contact with Claire. “I’ll protect her.”

“No!” Claire cried, tears streaming down her cheeks. She fought Willem, but the man held her back. “Let me go with you! Let me come!”

“I’m sorry, Claire, but it doesn’t work that way.” There was a brief flash in her eye, then, “Goodbye, mother,” and she looked away.

Emily removed the necklace from around her neck and palmed the pendant, wrapping her fingers around it.

David watched sadly. It wasn’t supposed to have been like this, and he felt like an abject failure. All he’d planned to do was return to River Bend and warn Claire and Emily away from DeMarcus. That’s what Lilly had wanted him to do, that’s what he believed she’d been telling him. He’d almost done it too but DeMarcus had stopped him. Here he was, witness to an event he’d been trying to stop, powerless to do anything about it.

Emily opened her hand, the key sitting in it.

DeMarcus’ lips curled. “Excellent,” he said. “Open it.”

She slid the key into the lock and twisted it. There was a
click
and the door opened an inch, the industrial sound David remembered reverberated through the room. Emily pulled the key out of the lock, and DeMarcus grasped the door. He pulled it open and was greeted by blackness on the other side.

DeMarcus, in a very gentlemanly way, offered Emily to take the lead by extending his arm out. She moved into the doorway.

“No!” roared Claire. Willem tried to hold on but lost his grip and Claire swiveled to Stavic. “Shoot him!” she cried and grabbed for the gun in one last frantic move. The gun went off and there was a sharp squeal. Emily dropped to the floor.

The gun blast faded, and all eyes were on Emily as a pool of blood formed beneath her.

Lilly!

“Emily!” called out Claire, sobbing.

How…? Why…?
David couldn’t wrap his mind around what he saw. He’d seen Lilly nearly die once, then pass away twenty years ago. Was he really going to be subjected to her death a second time?

“What have you done?” DeMarcus said, monotone. He looked from the struggling girl at his feet to Stavic and Claire, eyes wide and on fire. He gritted his teeth, raised his arms and pointed at them. Both went flying across the room, the gun dropping. DeMarcus slammed them from one wall to the next, bouncing them like a ball in a pinball machine.

Willem ran toward DeMarcus. His body froze and crumpled to the floor.

“You killed her!” DeMarcus bellowed as he took a step forward, continuing to slam Stavic and Claire against the walls.

What can I do? How do I stop this?
Yet all David could do was stand there and watch helplessly.

And then he saw movement. Emily lifted her head and skimmed the floor, her eyes locking on the key. She stretched for it, grimacing in pain, snatched it up, and looked directly at David.

If he was breathing it surely would have caught.
Does she see me?

Emily smiled.

From the other side of the door came the terrifying screech he remembered from oh so long ago, and in the blackness he saw movement. Through the doorway a four clawed lizard-like foot slammed into DeMarcus, knocking him to the ground. His concentration broken, Stavic and Claire fell to the ground, and Willem began to move.

DeMarcus stood and glared at the trio, eyes blazing. “When I’m through with you, you’ll be begging for death.” He moved toward them, raising his hand.

Willem’s father crashed into DeMarcus taking him down. They grunted and landed in a heap, the wind knocked from their lungs.

An ear piercing screech projected through the room, and DeMarcus looked back, a mix of anger and surprise on his face. Then that melted to horror as a giant raptor-like eye peeked through the door. There was another screech and DeMarcus flipped over, hands and feet slipping as he tried to scramble back.

The clawed foot jetted through the door and slammed into DeMarcus. He screamed in pain as one claw pierced his shoulder and was dragged to the door. He kicked and fought, pounding on the foot.

He lifted his other hand, took aim at the creature. The things eye exploded and it howled in pain. It shook its talon until DeMarcus slid off.

“You’re dead! You’re all dead!”

Before he could say another word the
gormock
grabbed him again. “No!” he screamed, fighting to keep his footing. He was almost to the door, the creature on the other side screeching angrily.

DeMarcus reached out his hands, grabbed the edge of the door and the door frame, holding on, pulling. The
gormock
began to lose its grip, DeMarcus slipping through its talons.

And then he was standing, the creature’s hold gone. The world slowed, and DeMarcus started to close the door, his trademark grin forming.

If he closes that then all is lost.

Before anyone could react Willem’s father slammed his shoulder into DeMarcus, wrapped an arm around his body, and propelled him through.

“Dad!” Willem screamed, watching the
gormock
moving toward the two men.

Then the door closed and all was silent.

* * *

Lilly picked herself up off the floor and leaned against the door, the pain in Emily’s abdomen intense. She pulled her blood covered hand away and looked down at the wound. Got her good. She felt woozy, probably wouldn’t last long unless this was taken care of.

DeMarcus’ words came back to her. Could her staying have caused the death of those in Turmoore? She couldn’t see how that was possible, and DeMarcus was known to embellish and lie to further his cause. It stood to reason he was saying whatever he could to get her to go back. After all, he was misguided about her returning at twenty. She and her foster parents were supposed to continue monitoring the doorway for signs when a return trip was possible, but nothing ever came of it. Then she fell in love and got married and forgot about the door.

By the time of their initial confrontation, she’d become too invested in her life here with David, and decided to stick with the fall back plan—live her life until dying of old age and then transcend back to Turmoore
.
But first she needed to protect herself, so she’d given a part of herself to Claire. Once she was sure DeMarcus was gone, that he wasn’t going to pursue her again, she’d take it back.

The problem was Claire’s parents moved without a goodbye, and that part of Lilly was lost to her. She could always sense it, but pinpointing it was too difficult. So when her frail body began to give out she had no choice but to give the other part of herself to David in the hopes her two halves would find each other at a later date.

As the cancer in David grew she knew her time was running out, and that either she needed to find her other half or transport herself to a new host. But then something strange happened—a flare up—and she could clearly see where her other half was.

Emily.

She could only assume the flare-up happened when it transferred from Claire to Emily. Why that happened she didn’t know, but she was thankful. How surprised she’d been to find Claire had returned to River Bend. She wasn’t strong enough to take control but she saw a clear path, so she sent David images, praying he got the message.

She felt the universe was working against her. She was so close to Emily, so close to being whole, when DeMarcus put her poor David in a coma. She was stuck and powerless to do anything. What happened when David died and only half of her transcended? That was an unknown, and it terrified her.

How interesting that fate had a way of working itself out.

When DeMarcus released her from her prison and she had appeared next to David she began the process of merging. DeMarcus must have sensed it, because that’s when he called her out.

Stavic and Claire stood groggily, bruised and battered. Whatever Claire was feeling must have disappeared because she ran over and enveloped her in a big hug. The pain was excruciating, but Lilly couldn’t help but feel love.

“Oh baby! Oh my God! Are you alright?” Claire looked at the wound, pressed her hand to it.

Willem crouched, pulled Claire’s blood covered hands away, and rolled up Emily’s shirt. “I might be able to slow it, but it’s deep. We need to get to a hospital.”

She couldn’t return to Turmoore like DeMarcus suspected, so she had only two options: stay in Emily and return with Claire letting the natural order of things work its magic, or stay here and let Emily die. It all hinged on whether or not DeMarcus was telling the truth. If she let Emily live and DeMarcus was right then Turmoore would most certainly perish, possibly all of existence. If she let Emily die she might still have a chance to save everyone.

The choice was a no brainer: the survival of countless lives for the sacrifice of one.

“I can’t,” she groaned. “I have to go back. DeMarcus is a liar, yes, but if by some chance he was telling the truth I have to try to stop it.”

“But my daughter—”

“Will be safe.”

“No,” Claire moaned. “No, you can’t.”

“There’s no other way. I don’t have the ability to return like DeMarcus thought. The path is one way.”