Fiction
by Michael Seltzer on CD includes The Eyes of a Child, Life,
and Behind Locked Windows.
Copyright © 2000 by Michael Seltzer
You can contact the author at: Michael Seltzer, 33 Gould St., West Roxbury, MA 02132. or seltzer@samizdat.com
Fiction
by Michael Seltzer on CD includes The Eyes of a Child, Life,
and Behind Locked Windows.
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim electronic copies of this novel for non-commercial purposes provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. This novel has not yet been published in paper form.
Where should I begin? One would think at the beginning, but where, or when would that be? For me the beginning was too far back to even remember. But I am merely a teller of tales, and this tale is not about me. At least not directly anyway. We should begin with her story. She is after all the reason why this story can, and must be told. Without her there would be no story to tell, and this world would surely have faded away. But I am getting ahead of myself, and that is never a good way to tell a story. So let us travel into the not too distant past, and to the outskirts of a small town in Massachusetts by the name of Bare County. It is there that we shall meet our heroine, and it was there that her life, and mine, were changed forever. (Don't you just hate those non-descriptive, foreboding lines that get dropped in right before the story starts?)
The general area was notorious for having treacherously winding roads that seemed to snake through a very large forest. During the day it had always been a picturesque scene of nature that one might see in one of those bottled water commercials. However this scene takes place at night. That particular night was a cloudy, windy, yet suffacatingly hot summer night that seemed to be calling out to the imaginations of those that fear the things that go bump in the night. There were no streetlights for miles so one would have to depend upon the aid of the moonlight to assist ones vision. Unfortunately for any motorists the entire night sky was blanketed by a dark sheet of clouds, so the roads would have seemed very ominous to one who had not traveled in the area before. On the left side there were massive oak trees that seemed to touch the sky with their long branches, while on the right there was a thirty-five foot drop into a rocky small creek. It was on one such road that a rather large Jeep happened to be traveling. In the daytime you could see your own reflection by looking at its bright red frame. Even though it had been bought used, the jeep still looked almost brand new. The only indications to the contrary were the slight dents that stood out on the hood. There had been an accident with a boy on a bike. Neither the boy, nor the driver had been paying much attention. Neither one had realized until it had been too late. It was a head on collision that had left a massive dent on the hood. The owners sold the jeep to a man who decided to try and pound away the dent himself. His wife had tried to get him to let an expert do the job but he adamantly defended his own skills as a handyman. After the job was finished the husband wished he had taken it to a body shop, but refused to admit it to his wife. At the moment though, no blemishes could be seen at all.
What could be seen from a distance was the vehicle's shadow connected to a pair of moving beams of light. The vehicle seemed to glide along the road as it coasted at fifty-five miles per hour. The driver knew that she should not be speeding on a road that narrow at night but she did not care. The driver's name was Jessica Porter, and the jeep was her father's. She was on her way home from a concert that she had been at all night, and at that point she was in dire need of a good night's sleep. Her hair was light brown, ending just below the shoulder-blades, and it blew back in the wind that refreshingly surged through the open windows. She had brown eyes which seemed to reflect the soul of one who had lived a lot longer than her actual age. Her choice of clothes for the night had been casual. She wore a pair of brown hiking boots that were stained with small patches of blue paint from when she had been helping her parents redecorate their living room. Her blue jeans seemed to pull tightly enough to show that she was in good shape, but just loose enough to leave something for the imagination. Her purple T-shirt was baggy, and had the word "WINGANGO" spelled out in big letters across her chest. She had bought it at a hard-core punk show, and although Jessica did not know what the word meant, she thought it sounded cool. The look was all topped off by a gold chain that she wore around her neck at all times. Attached to the chain was a gold ring. It had been given to Jessica by her grandmother. Her grandmother had received it on her wedding day and wanted Jessica to have it for hers. Ever since her grandmother's death it had become something to remember her by. All in all, Jessica was an attractive eighteen-year old girl who possessed a certain quality that made people take notice of her whenever she entered a room. She had lived her whole life in Bare County, surrounded by the forest. She had traveled on the road in question so many times that she could probably traverse it blindfolded. Still, she should have realized how dangerous it was. But then, her mind was somewhere else. At a distance it would seem that she was trying to escape from something, or someone. For all intents and purposes that is exactly what the girl was trying to do, except that the someone was dead.
All night long the memories kept flooding through her mind. These memories were painful and overwhelming. They were from three summers ago when her boyfriend, Nate had been killed in an accident. They had had a fight because she accused him of flirting with a girl named Melissa Andrews; a jock-chasing cheerleader who seemingly never ceased to talk, and did so about everything, and everyone she knew. Melissa had a habit of trying to sleep with guys who already had girlfriends, and Jessica had been hell-bent on finding out if Nate had gotten any ideas about cheating on her. "So when are you meeting her?", "Don't lie, I saw the way you were acting around each other". These were the words that came back to her These were some of the last words she had said to him. Nate had stormed out of the house and headed home on foot. A couple of minutes after Nate had left she heard the sickening squeal of tires, followed by a loud crash, and ending with the chilling cry of a man who had seen the accident. "Somebody call an ambulance... quickly...this kid's hurt real bad." Jessica remembered running outside and seeing a navy blue Ferrari wrapped around a tree. She remembered her mother running to her, trying to shield her eyes from the body laying behind the car. Without even seeing the body, its identity was obvious. Nate had walked out of the house and after going only a block and a half, he had been hit by a car that had lost control. It was found out later the driver had just left from a party, and was on his way home to sleep off his drunken stupor. That did not matter to Jessica. Nate was dead, and she had chased him out of the house, and into path of that car.
After the funeral it seemed that she was dealing with it, that is, until the night she tried to take her own life. The girl could not take the pain of the loss mixed in with her feelings of guilt. So one night she climbed into the bathtub, and after a lot of crying, and remembering, she began slitting her left wrist with a knife she had brought from the kitchen. Jessica had not bothered to shut the bathroom door because her parents had gone out for the night. It was only by chance that her father had left his wallet by the bathroom sink where he had been shaving not twenty minutes earlier. Upon seeing what Jessica was trying to do he immediately rushed to her and...
Her memories and feelings of remorse were suddenly thrust out of her mind by a horrifyingly tangible image. There was a deer in the road. It had jumped in front of the jeep, and was frozen in place by the bright headlights. There was no time to react at all. Almost instantly the body of the animal had violently crashed through the windshield and was writhing in pain on the dashboard as well as on the hood. Jessica froze in a state of utter shock as the vehicle kept going straight while the road turned sharply. By the time her foot was on the brake it was too late to stop what she never would have believed could happen to her. While braking did slow down the momentum considerably the jeep still went over the ravine. She screamed in utter terror as the ground rushed up to meet her, clutching her grandmother's ring the whole way down. And then, darkness.
She got up and went over to the mirror to make sure that she was okay. After a moment of looking herself over for some sign that the accident had not just been some realistic nightmare she remarked, "It's okay... It's all good..." Her hair was a tangled mess, and there was dust on her back from the mattress, but other than that she felt that she was okay. With a shaky self assurance Jessica turned around and began to calm down as she brushed away the dust with her hands. Suddenly, a frighteningly familiar voice broke the silence. "Nothing is okay.. It is all far from good." For a moment all Jessica could do was stand there shaking out of pure horror. The voice she had heard was one that could not have spoken, for it was her own voice. With this thought in mind she turned around very, very slowly. Her eyes were wide open, and so was her jaw. What she was seeing in the mirror was her own reflection, only it wasn't reflecting her. The mirror image had tears running down it's eyes, and it seemed to be very distraught. Right before Jessica's eyes the image began to grow scars, and bruises all over its body. Blood began pouring out of its eyes and ears like two small waterfalls, and the mirror seemed to be filling up with it like a bathtub. The sight of all this created an unbearable urge in Jessica to vomit, which she did profusely on the floor in front of the dresser. After the feeling had passed she raised her head back up, hoping the image was gone, but it was not. The pool of blood was gone, but the image was now soaked in it from head to toe. The image spoke out again, "All is not well...far from well..." And as Jessica tried to comprehend what her mirror image was trying to say, she could not help but break under the stress of her current situation. So while her image stood there crying, Jessica fainted, and again came darkness.
She awoke again. This time on the floor. Yet again the feelings of confusion, and fear set in. She heard noises coming from the window. Jessica moved slowly to get up, trying desperately to keep her balance. She moved slower still to get to the window. "What???" That was the only word that she could come up with. What lay outside the window was a sight which almost caused her to fall to the ground again. What her eyes beheld was something that could not have possibly been. She was in a city, and not any city she had seen. It was daytime, wherever she was. The sun shone brightly down upon the bustling streets that seemed to stretch on as far as the eye could see. Where was she? How had she gotten there? How long had she been unconscious? These were her thoughts as she peered out the window. The room appeared to be on the fourth floor. The buildings all seemed to be wrapped in a shade of the gray paint which was on the wall of the room. Across the street there was a newspaper-stand, behind that a flower shop, and so on. If she weren't under so much stress at the moment, the view might have seemed like a refreshing sight. But it all seemed so strange, and yet Jessica felt at ease at the sight of something that she might be able to explain. The memory of the mirror image flashed through her mind and instantly she spun around to look at the mirror. The reflection was her own. She moved around in small motions, watching everything that her image did. It mimicked everything just the way it was supposed to. "Am I going crazy", she thought to herself. It was right after she had thought this that she noticed something in the mirror which made her feel even more upset than the past few moments. Her necklace was gone, and with it was her grandmother's ring! "It was there when I checked myself in the mirror the first time," she remembered in an even greater confused state. Jessica would have to ponder that question later. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of something on the wall that held the door to the room. It was something that had not been there before. At least she did not think it had been there before. No. It was definitely something new. This realization made her whole body tremble. Before the walls had been blank. Now there were two words written in large print, in what looked to be black paint. The words read, "The Dregs". Jessica did not know what it meant, and at that point she did not care.
She just ran for the door, but it was locked with a dead bolt, and a chain lock. The fact that she was alone in a room on the fourth floor, with the doors locked from the inside, was not lost on her. It was just something else that her mind could not deal with at that moment. She quickly undid the locks and ran out of the room. Jessica found herself in a brightly lit hallway where she just barely missed ramming into what oddly appeared to be a maid. An apology was said and again Jessica moved down the long hallway. She tried to calm herself down as she walked, but the questions burning in her brain were too evident not to think about. "I must be in a hotel." She thought. "What am I doing in a fucking hotel?" The hallway had a high white ceiling and a red carpet with pictures of families having picnics, and other such scenes. She considered this strange but then given her current situation everything seemed strange. At the end of the hallway was an elevator. The faded red doors opened up and a man and a woman got out together. They were holding hands as they walked towards her, and laughing, probably at something that had been said on the way up. Jessica waited until they had passed her, and then she quickly got in the elevator and immediately hit the button for the lobby. As the doors closed Jessica noticed something strange about the pair of individuals strolling down the hall. They seemed to be dressed like the people that were in the movie "The Untouchables". The movie had been set in the twenties. She had seen it the night before and wondered if these two were on their way to some costume party.
"Ding" The elevator doors opened up in the lobby. The sun shone through the revolving front door which lay thirty or so feet straight of her. About half that distance and on the left was the front desk. Behind it sat an old man, with glasses, and thinned out gray hair. She could see that he wore a red suit-jacket with a white shirt that badly needed to be washed, and a cheesy-looking red bow-tie that looked to be on crooked.
Jessica immediately walked over and began inquiring as to how she had arrived in the hotel.
"You came in last night with a young gentleman." The man answered. He seemed puzzled at her question, as if she should have known the answer already.
"What young gentleman? Who was he? Did he tell you his name?" Jessica was not being put at ease with this conversation. Instead of answering questions this man was giving her a whole slew of others.
"Take a look at the book. It's the probably the last entry on the page." He answered. She scrolled down the list of names to the bottom. "M. Bell. There's no first name?" Jessica crossed her arms, turned around and looked up in despair to the chandelier that hung from the ceiling.
"Are you all right miss? Should I call you a doctor or something?" The man said in a way that reminded her of someone asking a little girl if she were lost. Right then and there Jessica wanted to break down and cry. But she didn't. Instead she began walking towards the front door of the hotel. She was lost, confused, and above all scared. What had happened to the jeep? Who was M. Bell, and why didn't she remember walking in with him? How long had she been in that room? These were the questions that ran through her mind as she put her hand on the bar of the revolving door, and began pushing her way to the outside world, not knowing just how much trouble she would soon find herself in.
Mr. Black watched Jessica's every move from a monitor that always seemed to appear out of nowhere. Nobody knew how he could do this, but at anytime, and anywhere Mr. Black could call up his computer screen, and view almost anyone without them knowing about it. Outwardly he was viewed as merely a successful businessman, not the man that controlled every aspect of the city with an icy grip. He looked average enough whenever he left The Spire, but somehow he changed everything when he entered the building.
As Mr. Black watched Jessica he seemed to be in his late forties, with long black hair that went down to his shoulders, and bearing a long gold chain around his neck. The chain held a pendant attached with a green emerald inside. It never left his sight. His face was slightly pale, and strangely, although he could see, his eyes were completely white, as though the power of vision was not there. He was dressed in a black robe and sat on a throne-like chair that was made from human bones. A pair of skulls decorated the ends of the armrests. Mr. Black sat there and pondered recent events as they related to the unexpected presence of young Jessica Porter.
As Black thought, a knock came at the door. The word, "enter," was his only acknowledgment. A man in a brown suit, sporting a bowler entered the room, and shut the door. The man was tall, but trim, with a slightly receding hairline. He appeared to be in his early forties, and had a certain air of respectability about him. This man was to play a very important role in the things to come. I'm not sure how I feel about his place in this tale. Was it all his own doing, or was his involvement completely out of his control? I'll leave it to you to judge.
"What is it Mr. Watch" said Mr. Black in an annoyed tone, as if he had just been woken from a very deep sleep. Mr. Watch approached his master's desk with apprehension. This was not the first time he had been in the room. He was often called to be in his master's office. It's just that there was no way to feel comfortable there.
There was always an eerie feeling that Mr. Black's domicile created. For one thing the room never looked the same way twice. Furniture would be in different places, the strange goblin-like designs on the walls seemed different, and even the ceiling appeared to change it's height. Another reason that the room was unnerving was the presence of Mr. Black. The things that he had done in the past, as well as the things he could do to people were enough to scare even the bravest of souls into wetting themselves.
Still, Mr. Watch approached him and said, "A stranger has arrived in Morgan city. She came..."
"I already know." Mr. Black said, cutting Mr. Watch off. "Nothing happens in Morgan without my knowing about it. You should know this by now, after all I am the one who gave you your power, am I not?"
"Yes master. What should be done with her?"
"Ever since her arrival my connection to the boy has been hampered. As if it wasn't enough that he was torn from my grasp by that intolerable nuisance of a magician. This girl's very presence threatens all that I have built. That is, unless I can use her to strengthen that power. If she is as powerful as I believe her to be, then perhaps I can use her power to make my dominance over this dimension permanent! Bring her to me alive. Then she shall be mine, and then the boy and his magician friend will have no choice but to come for her. Then I will have them both, and that insufferable trickster will be gone for good!"
"Consider it done." And with that Mr. Watch departed to carry out the task of kidnapping the girl. And as he left he could not help but feel sorry for what would be done to her. He wondered, as he departed, if his ability to care for anything would remain once his master had gotten what he wanted.
Meanwhile Mr. Black stood up and walked over to the wall on his left. With one wave of his hand the wall seemed to dissipate until it was gone. It was night outside. The city was still bustling, and Mr. Black stood overlooking it with a grin on his face. As he looked, his thoughts drifted towards what he intended to do. "Soon. Soon the struggle will be over. It must be over." His facial expression changed to that of anger, yet, a sense of worry seemed to overshadow anything else. "If my power is not absolute, then there will be no stopping what is coming. It must be stopped. My power has slowly ebbed away ever since the boy was freed from me. I must possess him again! If he is not returned to me soon, nothing will stand in its way."
Jessica supposed that the night life must have been a pretty big thing in the area. The only big city that she had been to before was Boston, when she had gone with her high-school band to the state championships. That seemed to pale in comparison to what lay before her now. The buildings were much taller than in Boston, the smog much thicker, and the whole atmosphere seemed more lively. She finally broke down and decided to ask where the closest police station was. After all, her parents would be worried sick, and maybe at the station someone could arrange to get her home. The fact that her current whereabouts were not known to even her lingered in the back of her mind. It took a moment, but she spotted a gas station a few blocks away. Jessica made her way over and walked up to one of the mechanics. He appeared to be in his late twenties; a tall, skinny man with spiked hair, and a beard that looked like it was completely overgrown and in need of trimming. "Excuse me?" She said. The man looked up to see who was talking to him and replied, "Can I help you?" She paused uneasily. She couldn't help but notice that his eyes were not directed at her face when he talked. Instead they seemed fixated on her chest which she quickly folded her arms over. His point of vision rose reluctantly up to see the disdained look on her face. Once she was sure where his attention was she continued her questioning. He told her what she wanted to know, and she quickly departed. As she walked away Jessica glanced back at the station. Sure enough the man was looking at her, but not the way she expected. He was on the phone and seemed adamant about something. She decided to forget about it. Jessica traveled the streets, carefully following the directions that were given to her. After much walking she finally came to her destination. It looked like any other police station that she had seen. Obviously it was bigger than the one from her home town, but the atmosphere remained the same. There was a set of stairs made out of concrete that led up to the front doors. Everything looked well kept around the front area; from the neatly trimmed hedges, to the finely mowed grass lawn. There was one oddity though. Just outside the precinct she saw a man sitting about halfway up the steps. He looked to be in his early fifties. His hair was neatly combed with some gray on the sides mixed in with dark black on the top. His clothes seemed old and worn, but in pretty good shape; a collared black shirt with white buttons, blue jeans that were faded and torn at the knees, bottomed off with a pair of expensive looking black penny-loafers that shined brightly in the sunlight. He did not seem like he lived on the streets, so why was the man sitting on a set of stairs playing a guitar? He was mumbling out song lyrics that were sung too softly to hear even though she strained to do so. She was about to pass by him when he spoke to her with a hoarse voice. "You don't want to go in there."
She turned towards him and said "Excuse me?"
"You don't want to go in there.", the man said as he pointed towards the precinct. "Definitely not for you." He took a drag from a cigarette, and then spoke again. "You want to go to The Dregs"
After a short pause caused by the shock of the man's words, Jessica asked the man in a quivering voice, "How did you know that? Who are you?" The man would not reply. He just went back to strumming his guitar, and mumbling lyrics too softly for her to hear. She tried again to get his attention, even going so far as to grab his shirt collar. As she did so her voice got louder, but quivered out of extreme frustration and confusion at his seemingly catatonic state. Jessica finally gave up trying to talk to him and turned away slowly. She headed for the front door of the precinct, but before going in she looked back one more time at the strange man who had given her hope for answers, and then taken that hope away. He was not there. She scanned the area but could not see him. It was like he had just vanished. With that Jessica burst through the front door of the building and ran straight to the front desk. A policeman asked her why she was crying. "Are you hurt young lady? What's wrong?" She could not answer. All she could do was crumple into a ball on the floor and cry. Too much had happened. Her mind could not deal with all of the unexplained events which had brought her there. It was all too much. Even the strongest of walls eventually breaks under too much weight. The officer took her to an office and put her on a sofa. He tried to calm her and get her to talk, instead she cried herself to sleep. As soon as the officer saw that she was asleep he picked up a phone from the desk and made a call. "Chief, there's a girl down here that came in off the street. She seems very distraught, and matches the description of that Porter girl. No, I'm not kidding. She's right here in my office passed out on my sofa. You want to talk to her? What's all the fuss about this one anyway, it's just another runaw...? Yes sir. Yes sir. No sir. Yes sir. She'll be here." With that the officer left the room and locked the door behind him, leaving Jessica to sleep, and dream.
"I did as you asked." The young man had said.
"Then why is she not in the room?" The other man replied.
"What do you mean?"
"Close your eyes and look. The door is open, and she is gone."
"How did this happen? I used the suspended animation spell just like you showed me."
"Yes you did."
"Then why the fuck isn't she there? Where did she go?"
"I'm curious about that myself."
"I still don't see why we're going through all of this trouble for one girl. I mean..."
"Was there nothing you felt in her presence? Have I taught you nothing in all this time?"
"Time is a man-made illusion."
"Throwing my own words at me, eh. Well if you're so smart then what did you notice about the girl?"
"She did have a nice set of..."
"Focus. The fate of the world is at stake and you're thinking with the wrong set of marbles."
"You don't think they were...?"
"Oh boy," The older man put his head in his hands and started grumbling
some words that could not be made out. After a moment, he lifted his head
up and said
"Yes, the girl is attractive, now will you focus on the matter at hand?"
"Okay, okay."
"So what did you notice about the girl, other than her physical appearance?"
"She had a strange glow about her. It was as though something on the inside of her was trying to push it's way out."
"Exactly. Can't you see that this is what we have been waiting for? That girl may hold the key to the mysteries that have plagued you your entire life, and baffled me for quite some time. Through her, there is a chance to find out how you came to be in the clutches of Mr. Black, and most importantly she is our last chance to end the reign of that twisted piece of humanity"
"I still don't understand why we can't stop him ourselves?"
"He has grown far too powerful, and most of my energies were spent freeing you from that damnable Pullson Siphon of his. That thing nearly killed us both. Instead it gave most of my power to you."
"I know. And I am grateful for all you've done for me, but..."
"You want some action, some adventure. Believe me, it's highly overrated."
"Isn't that what we've been working towards. Getting your strength back up, improving my skills, aren't these things we're doing to prepare for some big battle?"
"You want a battle? It'll come soon enough. Only it won't be fought the way you expect, and there will be more riding on the outcome than in one of those video games you seem so fond of playing. This fight that is coming up, and believe me it is coming fast, it will not be pretty, and in the end there may be no-one left to claim a victory. Do you understand? The youth responded only with a nod of his head. "Now go seek out this girl again. She must not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands."
"Well, I see you're awake." He said.
"Yes, um, why was the door locked?" Jessica asked. It seemed like a pertinent question since she still did not trust the man entirely.
"Oh, well you were in such a rather frantic state that the officer thought it might be best for you to calm down undisturbed." Jessica felt slightly reassured. She looked at the man and wondered who he was. He seemed normal enough, but there was one thing that seemed unusual. His brown suit, which seemed to be fairly new, was topped off by an old tattered brown bowler. She put it out of her mind as the man began to speak again. He informed her that her parents had been looking for her for a week. After she had arrived they had been notified and were on there way to get her. Upon hearing this revelation Jessica couldn't help but let out a heavy sigh of relief. The man patted her on the shoulder and told her not to worry. "They'll be arriving tomorrow by car. I have been asked to see that you are escorted to a hotel for the night." Jessica was savoring every word of this good news. Her ordeal seemed to almost be at an end. "Thank you. Thank you very much Mr..."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I never introduced myself. My name is John Watch. Chief Watch actually. I'm in charge of keeping the city streets of Morgan safe." Jessica couldn't remember any city by that name, but she probably just hadn't heard of it before. It didn't matter, she was going home tomorrow. The nightmare was almost over. We know better than that though. If it were over, then the this tale would not have been a tale worth telling. Still, it was all she could think about as they headed out the front door of the precinct, and down the steps where the strange old man had been sitting. But she wasn't thinking about him as the two of them walked towards Mr. Watch's car, nor did she notice the man who was walking behind them. The car was shiny brown '96' Cadillac, and the closer it got, the more Jessica thought of it as a rescue ship, waiting to ferry her to safety. Mr. Watch opened the passenger side door for her to get in, and she did so, stretching out on the extremely comfortable leather upholstery. Then he casually walked around towards the drivers side and opened the door. "Thwack" That was the sound Jessica heard. What she saw was some guy bashing Chief Watch's head with the butt of a revolver. The stranger climbed into the car, and started the engine with the keys he had stolen out of the hands of the unconscious owner of the car. The man put the car into drive, and floored it. In that instant Jessica realized that she was far from home-free. She was now apparently a hostage, and at the whim of what seemed to be a madman.
Jessica was getting some of her courage back. She took a moment to collect her thoughts and then responded in an angry and bitter tone. "First off I don't know who this Mr. Black person is, but that man back there was helping me get back home! I'd be sleeping in a hotel room by now waiting for my parents to show up if you hadn't come along!" She calmed down a bit. "Look, I don't know who you are, or what you think you're doing, but if you'll just pull over I'll forget I ever saw you. Okay?" He just shook his head and kept on driving. As they stopped at a red light he turned to talk to her again, but Jessica had other plans. She quickly swung her body so that her back was to the door. Just as his head was turning to look at her, Jessica kicked both of her feet at his head. The man was able to get one hand up which stopped her left foot, the right connected with his forehead. At the same time she was feeling for the handle of the car door, and as he reacted to the impact she opened the door and tried to climb out. He had held on to her left leg though, and before she could get out the man roughly hauled her back inside. Meanwhile the light turned green just in time for him to slam on the gas, thereby closing the door with the sudden forward jolt of the car.
"That was very stupid Jessie! I'm trying to help you. If you'll just liste..."
"How did you know my name?" Jessica shouted. "Who the fuck are you anyway, and why are you kidnapping me?"
"I'm not kidnapping you."
"Oh really? Then what do you call this then, a bad pick-up line?"
He sighed heavily, and then tried to speak in a calm tone, but the hint of frustration was evident. "My name is Mark Bell. I'm the one wh..."
"You're the guy from the hotel?!?!" She was silent. Her thoughts drifted back to the room she woke up in, and of the name in the guest book. Then she recalled the name in the police report and decided to listen to hear what the man had to say.
"That's right now if you'll listen I can explain what's happening, okay?" He took her silence as a yes. "Like I said before, that man who you think was going to help you was just telling you what you wanted to hear so that he could bring you to a place called The Spire."
At the mention of that name her eyes widened a bit. "How did you know what hotel I was supposed to go to?"
Mark let out a sigh. "Just listen."
And she did. He told her about The Spire, and Its owner Mr. Black. Then came Mr. Watch's involvement. "The police have been owned by Black since the moment he arrived." Jessica listened to the story of how Mark had been a prisoner inside The Spire, and used as a generator for Mr. Black's personal magic power supply. It all sounded so far fetched, but so did her current situation, so the girl listened to his story. Mark parked the car in a warehouse, what he called a "safe-house", and he went on to relate how a wizard named Jack Mage had freed him from The Spire, and had been training him in the use of his own abilities.
When he was finally done she was allowed to speak. "That's an interesting story, but even if I believe it's true, which I don't, why should I trust you more than Mr. Watch?"
Mark gave another heavy sigh, and said, "Let me take you to someone who can answer all of your questions, and maybe help you see what the truth really is."
"Who? That wizard guy? Buddy, I think you've seen Star Wars one too many times."
"What's Star Wars?"
She was confused by his ignorance of the movie, but that did not seem important at the time. "Forget it. Where is this guy anyway?"
"He's very close actually. He owns a nightclub not far from here. It's called The Dregs."
The line at the door seemed obscenely long, and it appeared to Jessica that they'd have to wait for at least an hour to get in. To her surprise Mark did not head to the back of the line. Instead he walked right up to the front, right up to the intimidatingly large doorman. The doorman seemed to be well over six feet tall, and from his build it seemed as though he could have assumed the role of an entire offensive line for a football team. His dark blue suit seemed to barely fit his massive figure. What Jessica later learned, and what she already gathered was that the man standing watch over the front door was without a doubt the toughest guy in all of Morgan City. He was both an irresistible force, and an immovable object rolled into one. But that is not what Jessica noticed first most about this man. The fact that he was someone who could probably squash her with one finger was a fact that was evident. The thing that caught Jessica's attention was that the hulk of a man was wearing a pink hat. That is correct. The man was wearing a pink bowler on his head. It seemed so out of place that when Mark called her over she did not hear him. After a moment she realized that he was signaling her and made her way over to the front of the line.
As she approached Mark said to her, "Jessie, I'd like you to meet a friend of mine. His name's Floyd. He's the guy that keeps out the riffraff."
"Oh, your name is Floyd, I was wondering about that hat." Jessica replied with a chuckle, and immediately wished that she hadn't because the two of them gave her a look that said that they didn't have a clue what she was talking about.
"Anyway," Mark said to break the uncomfortable silence that had been created. "We're gonna' go find Jack now."
And with that Mark and Jessica passed through the open door. There was a set of ten stairs that went down, at the end of which were black streamers which hung from the ceiling. While the streamers blocked any view of what was going on inside, Jessica could hear the music blasting, and the people inside enjoying themselves. Mark passed through them, and then so did she. As she did so the music grew in volume, and Jessica saw what was inside. There were hundreds of people dancing on the wooden dance floor. She couldn't see anything unusual about them, except the ones who were obviously heavily intoxicated. The strobe lights were flashing, the booze was flowing, and people were having a good time. The Dregs was my favorite part of the city. It was always full of life. It had all the things whith which to make a night on the town. There was a bar off to the left, and on the opposite side of the room there appeared to be a restaurant, or dining area where people could go to get away from the crowd and relax, have a conversation, or go at it until a passing waitress told them cool it. After a moment Jessica's eyes got used to the lighting, and the visual effects. Mark was scanning the crowd for Mage when finally he gave up and said, "Come on." With that he took her hand and led her across the large room to the quieter side of the club. They went up to the bar and Mark called over to the bartender. The bartender was about average height, with a trim figure, and orangish red hair that matched his thickly grown beard. He wore glasses with a silver frame, a white button down shirt with a collar, and black slacks with a black belt that had a gold buckle. He spoke with a Boston accent, and said rather loudly, and jovially, "Mark, you missed young miss James' antics for the night. Michelle got completely loaded! At about midnight she jumped on top of one of the tables and started ripping her clothes off! Did you know she wears crotchle...?" Harry paused for a second after noticing Jessica, and the disinterested look on her face.
"Hi." She said, in a tone that showed her reluctance to continue the current subject of conversation. The mood quickly changed as Mark asked for a couple of beers. Harry quickly topped off two mugs and placed them on the bar.
"Anything new happening around here Harry?" Mark asked
"Same old, same old. Only thing new going on around here are the rumors." Replied Harry.
"What rumors?" Jessica chimed in.
"Just some weird stories about weird lights in the sky." Harry said.
"Oh great, flying saucers are gonna' invade Morgan." Mark said sarcastically.
"I didn't hear anything about aliens, just strange lights in the sky." Harry paused to remember what he had been told. "I've heard a lot of people talking about these lights. From what I can gather people are seeing flashes of bright light during the day as well as the night."
"Probably just meteor showers or something." Jessica said.
"You can't see meteor showers in the daytime." Said Harry.
"Then what is it then?" Mark was getting interested.
"I don't know, but you haven't even heard the strangest part about it. There are people who also claim to have seen a flash of light that they can only describe as being dark." Harry said, with a hint of disbelief.
"That doesn't make any sense. How can light be dark?" Jessica asked.
"I don't know." replied Harry.
"Then what makes you think that the stories are true?" Jessica asked.
"Because this dark light is said to have caused people to disappear. Listen. Mark, look around you. You know the regulars as well as I do. I see maybe one or two familiar faces in here, and maybe a few more on the dance-floor. It's slowly been getting like this over the last couple of days. If I know one thing, it's the attendance habits of the people who come in here and talk to me on a regular basis. Where are they?" Mark looked around to see if Harry was right, and he was. There were very few familiar faces in the crowd. If all the people who should have been there were dancing, then they had to have been on the other side of the dance-floor. But then there were the regulars who did not dance. The ones who came to enjoy the inactivity of the quieter section of the bar were not in their usual crowds. The room that they were in should have been packed with people he'd known for years, yet he could count the number at that time on one of his hands. It all seemed very strange.
"So Harry, you seen Jack around tonight?" Mark asked, remembering why they were there in the first place.
"He's in his office. Hold on, I'll give him a ring." Harry replied. As he did so he also produced a phone from behind the bar and made the call.
"He knew!" That was all Watch could think about as he went to open the door. It was something that had never occurred to the man in the brown suit. His master had known about what had taken place and was merely waiting for him to decide to face up to his own carelessness. With this in mind Watch entered the room that he had so many times before, and threw himself on the floor before Black to beg for forgiveness.
"Get off your knees John. It's not your style to grovel." Black said with a sarcastic tone. Watch did as he was told and stood up. Fear was practically written on his forehead.
"I'm sorr..."
"Don't apologize John. I should have expected this to happen. Stupidity is one of your more prevailing qualities. Not only did you fail to bring me the girl, but you also allowed her to fall into the hands of the very people that can, and will use her against me."
"The boy..."
"Don't make excuses. I saw what happened. You allowed him to sneak up on you. Maybe you're getting too old for this kind of work. We'll see, in time. I've decided to take charge of the matter myself. I have located her. She is currently in the nightclub called The Dregs, and I have decided to send in some of my special helpers. I shall lead them into battle myself, and my enemies shall be made to bow before me."
"Yes sir."
"You shall have your police force positioned outside to arrest anyone who tries to leave. Is that understood?"
"Yes sir."
"Good. Now get out of my sight, and get your men ready."
"Yes sir." And with that Watch headed for the door. Mr. Black sat there staring at the far wall.
"John." Black said sternly. Watch stopped dead in his tracks and turned. Black was still staring at the wall.
"Yes sir?"
"It would be in your best interest not to fail me again."
"Yes sir." Watch departed the room, leaving Black to prepare for the battle to come. Mentally, Black felt as ready as he'd ever be. As always he was confident that his power was supreme, but he also knew that time was running short. He began to ponder his declining situation, and found only uncertainty.
Harry was just getting off the phone when he looked over and asked her what she wanted to drink.
"Can I get my usual please?" She replied casually. Mark turned around and a pleasant smile came over her face just before he could see her.
"Hi Katie, what are you up to tonight?" Mark said half-heartedly.
"Oh, the usual. So who's your new playmate?" She said, gesturing towards Jessica who was sipping her beer.
"Oh, forgive me." Mark burst out, and then introduced the two ladies. "Jessica's from... out of town."
Katie eyed the both of them as she shook Jessica's hand. It was obvious that Jessica was not comfortable with the surroundings. It seemed as though there was something tugging at her brain. Something that made her very uncomfortable. Kate tried to figure out the relationship between Mark and Jessica. There did not seem to be any moves being made, but it was obvious to Kate that by their body language neither one of them seemed to have any qualms about pushing their association further. She tried to figure out why they had not done so yet. Her thoughts on the matter were put on hold as Harry handed her a "Bloody Mary". She thanked him and took a sip.
"So where's Jack?" Mark asked.
"Huh?" Harry had been distracted by Kate's arrival so it took him a moment to remember the phone-call. "He's on his way. Said he had something to take care of, and that you two should grab a booth and wait for him."
"Mind if I join you two for a while?" Kate asked. She was still determined to find out what was going on between the two of them.
"Be my guest." Mark said, with a slight quiver in his voice. He did not want to involve Kate in the meeting between Jessica and Mage, but he figured that she would get the message when Mage arrived at the table. They ordered two more drinks and then made their way over to one of the empty booths by the wall to sit down. Mark and Jessica sat on one side, and Kate on the other. Kate noticed that Jessica had begun to relax a little more.
"So how did the two of you meet?" Kate asked. She wanted to figure out just what the situation was.
"Oh..um..er." They replied simultaneously. It was a question that they had not planned to answer.
"We met downtown." Mark said, hoping that Kate would not see through his white lie. "We bumped into each other, and seemed to hit it right off." Kate could tell that Mark was lying by the way his eye twitched when he had talked. It was something she had been able to pick up on since the first time they had met. She was about to continue her interrogation when Jack Mage arrived.
The four men standing in front of Mr. Black had been good friends at an early age. That friendship and loyalty had been there right up until the end, right up until Mr. Black decided to take away their humanity. After that, all they felt the need to do was serve their master. Their loyalties resided only with him, and it seemed doubtful that the word friendship had any meaning to them at all. Black called upon them only when he needed something done that required their unwavering ability to carry out whatever task he set before them, no matter how viscous the task seemed. This was such an occasion. They were his most trustworthy minions. It had been a long time since he had called upon them, but it had become obvious to Mr. Black that time was too precious to waste. So he would let loose his four slaves to ride into battle. He would let loose his Four Horsemen, and they would crush his enemies, and bring order back to his empire. Mr. Black looked at the four of them, and smiled as he said, "You know what to do?"
"Yes master." They all replied simultaneously.
Black waved his hand over the wall as he had done many times before, and the wall disappeared. The five of them began to float off the ground, and then out the open space where the wall had been. A battle was coming. The men floated towards the battlefield with purpose and resolve. They floated over the city, and down towards The Dregs.
"So why are you dressed like it's a lazy Sunday, and you don't feel like going out of the house?" Jessica asked in a mocking tone.
"I do live here, but I can assure you that I am not lazy. But I don't think that is one of the many questions that you wanted to ask me." said Mage. Then he looked over at Kate and said, "Katie, if you don't mind, I'd like to have a few words alone with these two." Kate knew not to argue, so she said goodbye, and walked back to the bar. Mage's insistence that she leave the table had only served to fuel her curiosity on the matter. She tried to think of just what Jessica's questions could be, and as they talked she tried without success to read their lips in an effort to figure out just what was going on. There were too many questions in her mind to keep her curiosity at bay.
Jessica looked at the man who was sitting across from her. His hair was short, blond, and well kept. His blue eyes seemed like an ocean that was so deep that one could only imagine what was at the bottom. They seemed hypnotic in a way that made her feel slightly unnerved at the calm they induced. While Jessica was still contemplating his outfit he began to speak, and everything else was put into the background. All that remained was the steady sound of his voice that let loose a story too unreal to believe, yet too plausible to ignore. "Jessica, you are not of this world. Some power that we do not yet understand brought you here from your own world and dropped you here."
"Okay, thanks for all your help guys but..." Jessica rose from her seat as she made the mocking comments. She was cut off by Mage's reasoning.
"Haven't you wondered why people don't know things they should; such as events or people? Do the people here act or dress differently from what you perceive to be normal?" Mage could tell that his words were getting through to her. She sat back down and let him continue. He had reminded her of the peculiarities that she had noticed such as the couple in the hallway at the hotel, and Mark's ignorance of "Star Wars."
"Let me start at the beginning. Since the dawn of man there has always been Mr. Black. He is an evil, twisted creature that seeks nothing short of the enslavement of all who dwell here. There are very few people who know this since he has always kept his alter ego meticulously well hidden. Most people believe that he is the son and grandson of wealthy businessmen. In reality it has always been him. The children were made up, and all the records that pertained to them were false. His power keeps him alive indefinitely."
"But how is that possible?"
"Well, what I know is that his power comes from a thing called Darklight. It is what feeds the energies that allow him to use his magic, and it emanates from The Spire. That is what keeps him alive, and allows him to keep this city under control. His only problem is that Black cannot control the amount of energy that seeps out. He needs something to keep it in check, otherwise that power would break out and consume him. It is the only thing that I know of that can kill him."
"So he can die?"
"In theory, yes. But he has always been very careful when it comes to the Darklight. He never comes in direct contact with the source. That means he needs to find someone born with the ability to use magic, and connect that person to a machine which he calls a Pullson Siphon. It transmits the power from whoever is unlucky enough to be enslaved, and into himself. Of course once this information was known to me I immediately set out to free whoever it was, and destroy the darkness forever. That is how I found Mark. You see he was the inhabitant at the time." Jessica glanced over towards the young man with a slightly shocked expression. She then turned back towards Mage with an even greater need to hear him out. "I could see that the machine was causing him great pain. So I hastily began the process of freeing him."
Jessica looked back at Mark and asked, "How long were you trapped there?"
Mark could see the cynical look in her eyes, and tried to avoid yelling at her for it. "I don't know. I have memory gaps that were probably caused by the machine."
"If I may continue?" Mage asked. Jessica nodded, and Mage went on. "So as I was saying, I attempted to free Mark. Unfortunately there were a few magical safeguards that I had not counted on. In the end, Mark was free, but my powers were depleted greatly. Ever since then I have been trying to regain my power, as well as teach Mark to use his. And ever since then, Black has been obsessed with regaining control of the boy, and destroying me I might add."
"Okay, let me get this straight. You guys are some kind of wizards or something? Is that what you dragged me all the way out here to tell me?" Jessica said, surprised that they'd think that anyone would be so gullible as to believe their far fetched story.
"Words will not convince you, and neither will reason." Mage said.
"I'm willing to listen to reason, not a fairy-tale!" She retorted angrily.
"Very well." said Mage. And with those words he produced a small glass bowl from seemingly nowhere. It was full of water, and there was something at the bottom. Jessica leaned over to see what it was, and found that it was her necklace, with her grandmother's ring attached. She quickly reached in the bowl to grab it, but she could not touch it, as though it weren't even there.
"I'm not amused by your parlor tricks with mirrors!"
Mage mumbled a few words, and the water in the bowl began to glow. He waved his hand over it, and the necklace rose from the bottom. It rose out of the bowl and hung in the air before Jessica. All the while it was surrounded by a light that seemed to hold it a foot off of the table. "Now try." Mage said. Jessica slowly reached out her right hand and took hold of the necklace. She stared at the object in her hand as if it were a ghost. The light faded away, and Jessica sat there stunned. She looked around the bar, but it appeared as though nobody else had seen what had happened except for the three of them. She caught the gaze of Kate, who had been watching the whole time. Kate waved and then turned to talk to Harry nonchalantly. Then Mage began speaking again, as if what had happened was not as amazing as Jessica had found it to be. She listened to every word very carefully.
"The boy and myself have been hiding out. Black would not dare to attack a place so public. It would draw far too much attention to himself. He likes to keep a low profile so as to keep up the image that he is a good citizen of our fair city. Lately though, he has become more brazen when it comes to the public. Something recently arrived that has him in a frenzy. I was meditating on the roof a few nights ago when it first appeared. There was a flash of light in the sky that should not have happened. There was nothing in the world that could have caused it. Nothing in this world anyway. Not knowing what it was, I sent Mark to investigate the phenomenon. What he found, was you. You were lying unconscious in an alley."
"But how did I get there?" Jessica asked insistently.
"I do not know, but Mr. Black must have noticed it too because the police were there almost at the same time that Mark arrived. Mark had to cast a spell of invisibility over the two of you in order to escape. I felt it would be best to hide you in the hotel room until I could figure out how to bring you here safely. So Mark carried you inside, while making everyone around think that you were walking. He then cast a sleep spell over you that he intended to take off as soon as he had returned with my instructions. Unfortunately, somehow you woke up before anything was decided."
Jessica waited until she felt that he was finished, and then she held up the necklace and asked Mage something which he had not yet answered. "How did you get this?"
"Do not ask something that you are not fully prepared to know the answer to." Mage replied.
"What do you mean? I want to know." Jessica was confused by his reluctance to answer.
"If you really want to know then there are a few things that you must be willing to do." He paused as she nodded her head to say yes. "The first is to trust me. Can you do that?" Again she nodded. "The second is to forget everything that you know to be possible, and come to accept the word impossible as something that does not exist. Given the look in your eyes I can tell that you are already on your way to doing that already." Jessica blushed a bit because she realized that she had been staring at Mage ever since he had used his magic. "The third and final thing that you must do is prepare yourself mentally for things that you may not want to hear. Now don't interrupt. Just listen. I did not acquire that ring from you, or Mark. I found it inside what I call, the mirror maze. To know the answer you seek, you and Mark will have to enter that maze. There, you shall be challenged mentally, physically, and emotionally. More so than you ever have, and perhaps ever will. Whatever brought you here resides in the realm of mirrors which exists in between all worlds, and realities. It is a connecting realm which binds everything with time and space, yet keeps them separate. It is a very dangerous place that you will enter, and enter it you must. For there you will find your answers, there you shall find a way to stop Black forever, and perhaps find your way home."
"What if I don't want to go? What if I'm too afraid of what I find?" Jessica said. She was becoming hesitant. Mage's warnings were a bit unnerving, to say the least.
"If you choose to go, then Mark shall aid you in your quest inside the maze, while I hold the portal open from the outside. If you choose not to go, then Black will eventually come for you. He will come for us all, if for no other reason than his control over the Darklight is almost gone. The rumors of the disappearances are true. The Darklight has been sweeping people away in an attempt to feed it's own hunger. It had formed a sort of bond with Mark while he was trapped inside The Spire. It may be stopped unless it has him again, or it consumes Black. If neither of these conditions are met then it shall destroy everything and everyone in this world in the process of finding its prey."
"What happens to the people? Where do they go?" Jessica asked in a timid voice.
"That is a question that I cannot answer. All I know is that..." Mage was suddenly interrupted by a large explosion. The three of them looked towards where the sound had come from, as did all the other people in The Dregs. There was a cloud of smoke, and dust in the air. Through the haze floated five figures clad in black.
"Who the fuck are they?" Jessica asked. She had been almost completely paralyzed with fear.
"It's him!" Mark said with a slight, but noticeable quiver in his voice. "It's Mr. Black!"
"He's not alone either." Mage interjected. "Time to go people, the Four Horsemen have arrived!"
It began when the man in the gray T-shirt reached out his right hand towards the fear-stricken crowd, and a burst of Darklight leapt from his fingertips. The beam collided with a blonde woman in a tight leather blue dress. The instant it hit her, she cried out in pain. That cry turned into a scream of unparalleled agony as her body seemed to fold in on itself. It was as if her stomach had become a vacuum, and it was sucking the rest of her inward. First, she shriveled up until her skin became merely an outlining of her skeleton, and her face became as pale as that of a ghost. Then, her skin peeled off, and all that could be seen was the skeleton, covered in blood. Finally what was left of her crumpled to the ground in a heap. The crowd quieted out of shock, amazement, and terror. The people had no idea what to do, or what was to come next. All they knew was that they did not want to die that night. Unfortunately, that is exactly what they were about to do. The four younger men floated towards the crowd slowly, all the while they slowly raised their hands out towards the patrons of The Dregs. The people began to plea, scream, and run for their lives. Their words were wasted on seemingly deaf ears, and their efforts to run useless. There was nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide. One by one the crowd began to fall to the ground, dead.
A few tried to fend off their attackers, but it was in vain. One individual in particular came close to escaping when he tried to get to the hole in the wall that had been created by the initial blast. It was the gas station attendant that had given Jessica directions to the Police Precinct. He was scrambling desperately as he avoided both the killers, and the terrified mob that was scattering in all directions. The man fell twice in his attempt to escape. The first time, he fell over a young woman who had tripped while trying to run in high heels. The girl screamed as he fell on top of her, then the man then yelled at her for not getting out of the way. He then sprinted off towards the hole in the wall, only to be met by the man in the black T-shirt. The gas station attendant skidded to a halt as the man before him floated to the ground, and reached out his hand. Then a bust of Darklight leapt from the man's fingertips, and that is when the garage attendant fell for the second, and final time. There was no escaping from The Dregs.
The only option the poor souls had was to pick which way they would die, in other words, which of the attackers would be allowed to murder them. Those that fell by the hand of the man in the green seemed to slowly rot where they stood, their bodies swelled with massive sores filled with puss. The man in red left his victims in piles of severed body parts. His beam of Darklight seemed to hold his victims in place as it carved them up at the same time. The least painful deaths were experienced by those that fell to the pale man in the black T- shirt. His victims barely screamed, and fell to the ground with no visible injuries. It was as though their life essence had been torn from their bodies. All that was left was an empty shell. In the end, there were no survivors.
None were spared the wrath that had been brought down upon the unsuspecting nightclub's patrons. None, except those that had snuck out before the slaughter. Mr. Black had been surveying the crowd for his prize before the killing had started. They had not been on the dance-floor, so while his minions did his dirty-work, the dark specter had floated into the side-bar, the only place where they could have been hiding. There, he had discovered a door behind the bar. With a sinister grin on his face he waved his hand, and nothing happened. The smile left his face as he attempted his spell again, and again it had failed. Black examined the door and realized that there were protection spells in place around that entire section of the club. The spells cast were what had been keeping him from finding Mark. They were very powerful spells too. Black wondered who was powerful enough to keep him out of anything. Who could challenge his power in any way? The thoughts left his mind as he prepared to cast his own spells, and gain entrance to whatever lay behind the door.
They had been sitting in the sidebar when Jessica had heard the thunderous blast which had ripped apart one of the walls of The Dregs. Then they arrived. Five men she had never seen before, and prayed that she would never meet again. She watched as they floated through the air, and into the club. Then she watched them butcher a helpless crowd. Mage had quickly sized up the situation and was telling the people in the sidebar to follow him through a small door that was behind the bar. Jessica could not remember if it had been there before. She did not believe so, but then, it was getting difficult to know what was real, and what was not. Ever since she had woken up in the hotel room it seemed as though the laws of reality had taken a vacation. She moved quickly towards the door, all the while her eyes remained on the crowd. She finally looked away from the crowd and towards the door. Harry was telling people to hurry up. Jessica did not know if they hurried because of the scene in the other room, or because Harry was holding an AK-47. It did not matter. Everyone who was on that side of the night club began to hop over the counter, and rush through the door. Jessica took their example to heart and moved quickly over the top of the bar. Just before she passed through the door, Jessica took one more glance at the people who were dying. She watched them as they died, listened to their cries for mercy, and began to wonder how anything like the scene before her could possibly happen.
Jessica was about to look away when she noticed something. The old man from in front of the police precinct was sitting in the middle of the room. Nobody seemed to be paying any attention to him. The attackers passed by him without even acknowledging the fact that he was there. Likewise, he did not seem to acknowledge what was going on around him. In a room where hundreds of people were being slaughtered like cattle, he just sat there, playing his guitar. Bodies were strewn everywhere, people were dying right before his very eyes, and he just sat there, singing lyrics that were sung too softly for her to hear. Harry saw that Jessica was not moving and pushed her through the doorway. She stuck her head out one last time to try and tell the man to run, hide, to do anything. But when she looked, he was gone. He had vanished again. And with that, Jessica had passed through the doorway, and into the dimly lit room. She did not want to think about that scene anymore. At that point all she wanted to do was wake up in her bed, in Bare County. She wanted all of it to be a dream, but it was all too real for her to believe that it was a dream. With that thought in mind she walked over to an empty corner of the room, curled up into a ball, and waited for whatever would happen next.
Mark saw the look on Jessica's face and decided to walk over to her. When he had been sent to rescue her from Mr. Watch, Mark did not believe her to be worth all the trouble. She had seemed to be just another girl who'd probably break down and cry if one of her nails broke. In fact he had arrived at the Precinct just in time to witness her break down and cry by the front desk. The scene had confirmed his suspicions about her in his mind. Still, Mark had felt sorry for leaving her at the hotel alone. But there was nothing that he could do. Mage had told him to leave her, that there was more important work to be done. So he had cast the sleeping spell, and then left her. When it turned out that he had to find her again he had again been annoyed by the fact that she had caused him such trouble. His opinion of her did not start to change until after their escape from Mr. Watch. Jessica had shown spirit when she tried to get away from him. At the time it had enraged Mark beyond belief. But once his jaw stopped hurting he came to think of the incident as being quite comical. The girl had begun to show him that he was wrong about her. He still had his misgivings, but a small amount of curiosity about her had begun to grow.
Jessica looked up to see Mark sit down next to her. She was still nervous
around him. Trust had quickly become something that she did not feel like
giving out so easily. Still, if she needed any more proof about the truth
in Mark's words, then the scene she had just witnessed was more than enough.
The young man sitting next to her had saved her earlier that day, and he
and Mage had gotten her to safety again. She did not know what to do or
say. It was an awkward moment when she knew that she should say something,
but the words did not come to her. Finally she broke the silence with the
words, "So you come here often?"
Mark looked at her and saw the forced smile on her face. She was attempting
to lighten the mood, if that were at all possible. He could see that Jessica
had been crying recently. Her eyes were red from wiping away the tears.
He asked, "Are you okay?" After asking he felt rather stupid. Of course
she was not okay. Who could be after the scene that had taken place in
the club. He was relieved when she was not annoyed by the question.
"I'm okay. It's just that... all those people... they..."
"It's not your fault. It's nobody's fault but those who did it. There was nothing that you could have done to save them." Mark put his hand on her shoulder, and as he did Jessica leaned her head on his arm.
"I know, but will they stop? Will Mr. Black ever stop looking for us?"
"No. No, I don't believe that he will." He felt bad in saying it, for the both of them. But that was the truth and Mark knew it. He thought about what would happen if Black were to catch them. He'd hook them up to The Spire, and make them his slaves forever. Mark remembered all too well what the experience was like. It was very painful, and the pain did not stop until Mage had set him free. From that moment forward he had vowed not to return until he had found a way to destroy Black, and most importantly free himself from fear once and for all. He wanted to be free from everyone and everything. He wanted to lead a normal life that did not involve hiding, or fighting. He wanted to be free. Truly free, forever. But how could it be done? How could they take on an army? Mark resigned himself to his fate. Black would never leave him alone, and eventually Mark would end up back in The Spire, and bound to the Pullson Siphon. And then there was Jessica to think about. She didn't do anything to deserve the fate that Black had in store for her. It wasn't even her own world, and it still wanted to destroy her. Mark stopped pondering his situation. He had noticed a change in Jessica's expression. It was one he had not seen on her since the incident in the car. It was a look of defiance, and anger.
"We can stop him!" She said.
"How?"
"We'll do what Mage said, we'll go into the Mirror Maze."
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
"No. But we don't have any other choice. I have to get out of this place.
I have to go back home, to my world. If this is the only way for that to
happen, then this is what I am going to do. Besides, we can't run from
Black forever. Eventually he'd catch us, and then we'd be better off dead."
Mark looked at her. He looked into her eyes and for the first time
he realized that he was wrong about her. She seemed determined, and devoid
of fear. He listened to her voice, which echoed his own thoughts. She would
do what was necessary when the time came. Of that he was now sure. Now
it was a matter of his own belief. It was a question of his own courage,
and his own will. In the end, there really was no choice.
"Let's do it." The two of them stood up and began making their way over to Mage. With his help, they would enter the Mirror Maze, and face whatever was to come.
"You two shall enter the maze while I keep the portal between worlds open. Remember, you must find the answers you seek quickly. The stress of existing between worlds is great. If you spend too much time inside the maze, you may never make it out." Mage's words of caution hung heavily in the minds of the two youths. They were both afraid, but did not want to show it. Mage began chanting words which did not make any sense to Jessica, and that is when it happened. The entire maze began to glow brightly. It seemed to give off a light almost exactly like the light that had come from the bowl which had held the necklace. Jessica looked at Mark with concerned eyes.
"Don't worry. I'll be with you the whole way. We'll make it through this, you'll see."
Mark's words of confidence did nothing to soothe Jessica's fears. "Still", she thought, "what other choice do I have?" She responded to Mark's words with a nod. Then, they made their way towards the entrance. Both of them took a deep breath, and then they passed through the gate, and into the mirror maze.
At first it was just a regular maze. If the circumstances had been different the two adventurers might have laughed at the way their reflections were distorted. But this was a time of great severity. They both knew the risks, and neither one of them really wanted to go through with it. But what choice did they really have. So Mark and Jessica made their way through the maze slowly, and carefully. They did not know what to expect. They had no idea what could happen. The two of them had walked for a good deal of time before stopping to rest. It seemed strange that they had walked for so long, and the end was nowhere in sight. Neither was the beginning, which gave the two of them an unspoken reason to be quite nervous.
"Is there no end to this place?" Jessica asked.
"How could there be? We are at the intersection of all worlds. Everything that could possibly happen is happening here." Mark answered.
"What do you mean?" Jessica asked. The idea of multiple dimensions had never really interested her before. Things change.
"Do you dream?" Mark asked.
"Of course, everybody does."
"Imagine that every dream that you've ever had is actually taking place somewhere else. You're greatest fantasies, and you're worst nightmares are all real. They are just not real in your world. But..."
"They're real in another dimension?"
"Exactly. Think about it. How many choices does someone make in a day? How many events could have taken place differently? All of the possible outcomes take place in different dimensions. We are now in the nexus of all of those dimensions."
"So in other words, you don't know how far we have to go." Jessica made a point to seem slightly annoyed. Mark seemed so excited even though there was a good possibility that they could both die in the maze. Mark took the hint and hid his enthusiasm for adventure a bit more. They both stood up and stretched in preparation for another round of walking. Then things quickly changed, and in a bad way. A smoke cloud began to rise from the floor. Jessica heard Mark tell her to grab his hand so that they would not be separated, but when she reached out, he was not there. "Mark, where are you?"
"Jessica? You're going the wrong way. Move towards my voice. She did as he had said, but the harder she tried, the farther away he sounded. His voice became so distant that even though it seemed strained as though he were shouting, she could barely hear him. Jessica became so frightened that her replies were nothing short of screams for help. Her screams were eventually unanswered, and that is when the real terror set in. For Jessica knew that she was alone, in a strange place, and in grave danger.
There was a period of unbearable silence before the smoke cleared. After it cleared Jessica wished that it had not. That way she would not have to deal with the fact, that she was alone. Mark was nowhere in sight. For a moment she stood alone in the hallway of mirrors hoping that Mark would somehow find her. That he was really just around the corner and that together they would get through the nightmare that had been presented to them. Alas, it was not to be. She quickly came to grips with this fact, and then began trying to make her way through the maze. But which way should she go? The smoke had turned her all around, making forwards look the same as backwards. Still, all she could do was pick a direction, and so she did.
It seemed as though she had walked for hours without any inclination as to where the end might be. Frustration, as well as fear had taken a tight grip on the mind of the young woman who had been through so much before. Her world became a maze of mirrors filled with an ominous silence which kept Jessica's nerves bordering on the breaking point. Then, out of nowhere, the silence was broken. A voice was calling out to her. It was a very familiar, and very haunting voice which seemed to come from all around her. It was Jessica's own voice, or rather, the voice of her mirror image, which called upon her, again.
"Why have you come here?" The mirror asked.
Jessica summoned up what remained of her courage and said, "Who are you?"
"We are you. Why have you come here?"
"If you're me, then you should know the answer to your question."
"You want to go home. But you are already there. So we ask you again, why have you come here?"
"I'm not home, this is not where I belong."
"Why have you come here?"
Jessica was both confused by the mirror's answer, as well as frustrated by its answer. "I've come here to find out how to get back to my world. Can you help me?"
"Where is your world?"
"I don't know. Can you help me find it?"
"Find what?"
"My home!!!" Jessica was becoming even more frustrated. The mirror image was not helping her situation at all.
"Why do you keep insisting that you are not home?"
"Because I'm not home? Why are you doing this?"
"Doing what?"
"Taunting me the way you are. All I want to do is to be able to go home."
"You are home. Why have you come here?"
Jessica finally gave up. She thought that the image was only trying to distract her from her goal, so she pressed on through the maze. But the images no longer reflected her actions. They were all unmoving, and staring at her with concerned expressions. After a while Jessica began to run, in the hopes that she could escape the staring eyes of the images. She ran as hard, and as fast as she could, paying no heed to the silent mirrors which watched her every move closely. Finally she ran out of breath, and collapsed to the floor in a heap of exhaustion. Still conscious, she looked up at a mirror that showed no distortion, and exasperatingly asked, "What do you want?!?"
The mirror did not say anything. What it did do was something that Jessica could not have possibly expected, and wished that it had not. The image changed from being her own image, to that of someone who could not possibly have been there. It was her ex-boyfriend that stood inside the mirrors. Her dead boyfriend, Nate. He looked very pale, and his clothes were slightly torn up. All at once Jessica was taken back to the moment of his death, when her mother had tried to shield her eyes from the gruesome scene. All at once the image of him lying on the ground in a heap of blood and gray matter came back to her. It permeated every part of her mind, and all she could do was stand there in a state of shock. The image of Nate spoke in a low tone, "Why have you come here? What is it that you seek?" With these word the image began to bleed like her own image had done in the hotel room. All the cuts that the boy had had reopened, and spewed blood like a waterfall. Jessica sat there and watched as her lost love bled again before her very eyes, only he did not die. How could he? He was already dead. His voice kept on asking the question "Why have you come here?" Jessica could hear nothing. She felt nothing except for the pain of the memory, and the overwhelming urge to scream in terror. That is exactly what she did. Jessica screamed so loudly that the echo could have been heard for miles, but there was nobody to hear her scream. She scrambled to her feet and ran away. The direction did not matter anymore. All that mattered to her was getting away from the image of her blood-soaked ex-boyfriend who had begun calling her name the minute that she began to run. Jessica did not want to deal with it, and who could blame her? Who could have stood before that image and ignored it? I myself had to turn away from the scene for a moment. It was only natural that Jessica could not deal with what was being forced upon her. The pain ran too deep for her to cope with whatever reality was being presented to her. The only thing that kept her from running to the other side of the universe was exhaustion. She ran until she could run no more, and then she passed out on the floor, in a puddle of her own sweat, and tears.
She awoke to silence. The mirror images had returned to being her own. They stared inquisitively at her, as if they did not understand why she had reacted the way that she had. For a long time Jessica sat on the cold floor of the maze, staring at the ground, trying to forget all that she had seen. And then, the silence was broken yet again.
"Why have you come here?"
Jessica sat up and folded herself into a ball with her arms rapped around
her legs. She began to cry, and the tears ran down her face and onto her
knees which were pressed up against her chin. The mirrors looked at her
and its expression changed to that of concern. "Why are you crying?" It
asked.
Jessica paused a moment and then in between sobs she replied, "I'm
crying because I'm never gonna' get out of here."
"Why do you say that?"
"I'm lost...I'm scared...and I can't find Mark."
"You are not lost. Tell us why you have come here, and we shall take you where you wish to go."
Jessica looked up in astonishment. The words that she had heard were too good to be true, and too unexpected not to balk at. "Really?" She asked with utter disbelief.
"Yes. It is why we are here, but why have you come here?"
"Um...I came here ...I came here to find out how to get home."
"But you are home."
Jessica was about ready to give up. The mirror was not helping her, only frustrating her, and toying with her emotions. There seemed to be no way out, but then she remembered Mark, and why he was there. "I'm here to find a way to stop Mr. Black and the Darklight."
"Is that what you really want?" Asked the mirror.
Jessica thought about getting home, but it did not seem like an option at that point. "Yes that is what I want. I want to stop Mr. Black." With those words there came a sound which seemed to be thunder. It echoed throughout the maze with an eerie tone. A flash of light blinded her vision of everything for a few moments. When her eyes were finally able to open again, she could not believe what she saw. It was an orb. A glass orb that was resting on the floor in front of her. Jessica was hesitant to touch it, but when she finally did, it felt warm. It felt like a window that was directly facing the sun. Jessica stood up and was about to say something when the mirror spoke again.
"That orb will do everything that you want it to do. All you have to do, is will it to be. If you want it badly enough, it shall be so. Just imagine."
"Imagine? Imagine what? What do you mean?" Jessica's question went unanswered for the mirrors were back to normal. She thought about it for a second, and then remembered Mark. He was probably still lost in the maze as well. She decided to try and use the orb. So she began to picture him in her mind. She imagined how he would look surrounded by mirrors. At first it did not work, and Jessica got frustrated. But she tried again, and again. Each time the image in her head of Mark became more and more vivid, until finally, something happened. The ball began to glow with a tremendously bright light. It was almost too bright to look upon. A powerful wind began to pick up dust around her. Jessica shielded her eyes with her arms until the wind dissipated. Then she heard a loud crash, almost like thunder. When it was all over, she opened her eyes to see Mark sitting before her. Or rather, he was lying on the ground before her in a ball. Jessica looked on in shock as the one of them who had seemed the most in control, lay on the floor, crying, and whimpering the word, "No," over, and over again. It was a scene that she never forgot.
Black picked up a skull from the ground and studied it. He was tempted to start quoting Shakespeare but decided against it. This was a happy scene to him. Hamlet had been in a state of grief, and Mr. Black felt none. There was no guilt, or second thought paid to the innocent dead. They had been merely cattle led to the slaughter. Black wondered just who the skull had belonged to. He was about to ponder the question further when he noticed something in the center of the dance floor. There was something there that could not have been there. It was a man, sitting on the ground, playing a guitar. Black moved towards him with a curious look upon his face, but as he got closer he noticed that it was not a man, but some transparent being, like a ghost. The apparition was playing a song that Black had never heard before, and singing lyrics too softly to be heard.
"Who are you?" Black asked. When the man did not even acknowledge Black's presence it enraged the pale faced figure. "Who are you? What are you doing here?" Black was becoming very impatient. Finally he summoned forth a great deal of energy, and focused it in his right hand. He then let loose a blast which should have incinerated the ghostly being, but did not. All it did was leave a hole in the ground where it had hit, after passing through the ghost. Black stared at him with a look of astonishment. Nothing like this had ever happened to Black before. No man living, or dead had ever been able to ignore his power. That is when the ghostly figure looked up at him. It stared into Black's eyes, and Black felt as though the ghost were staring directly into his soul. Then, the ghost spoke.
"They have entered the nexus of realities. The girl has found something which may destroy you. It matters not though. You and Mage play out your power struggle all you want, but in the end, another shall prevail. There shall come one who will dominate the land, and rule all who dwell in it. He shall destroy all power but his own, and then, your war shall be over. Then, the battle shall be done." And with that, the figure disappeared before Black's eyes as if he had not been there at all. Black scanned the room for any trace of the old man, but there was none. The words spoken by the ghost weighed heavily on the mind of the immortal wizard. Black temporarily decided to put the incident out of his mind, but he could not forget. Still, he re-focused his mind on the task at hand, and then he began to attack the wall again, this time with more power, and focus than at any time he had ever used his magic. He could feel that the ghost was telling the truth. Something bad was coming. Black did not know where or when, but it would come. He would have to be ready. He would have to possess Mark, and Jessica, soon. Then he could face the new evil. Then he could stay in control.
"Yes. At least, I think we did." Jessica replied. She did not mention Mark's episode, and he was grateful for it. Mage turned his head to see the what they had retrieved. Upon seeing the orb a rather large smile crossed his face. Jessica was slightly unnerved by it because with that smile the hypnotic effect of his gaze seemed to have slightly faded away. There was something behind the smile which she could not discern, and that fact was unsettling. Jessica's thoughts drifted away from Mage's expression and back to the sound emanating from the wall. It was growing louder and more intense.
"Black is breaking through. I cannot hold him back for much longer." Mage said emphatically. And then it happened. The wall crumbled slowly before their eyes. It started at the top, and worked its way down. When it was finished, the five men who had caused such havoc and destruction entered the room. Mage backed up a bit as they floated across the space where the wall had once been. He said only one thing, "Run!" Mark and Jessica started for the door. When they got there they turned around to see that Mage had not followed them.
"Jack!" Mark call out.
"Go boy! I shall hold them here!"
"You can't beat them all! Let me stay and hel..."
"Do as I say Damn it! Our paths must now diverge! Good hunting, boy."
Mark took a long look at his teacher as Jessica pulled the young man by his arm.
"Why don't you stay Mark?" Black said in an eirie tone. He had a wide smile on his face which sent chills up the spines of the three that he was looking down upon. "Both of you should stay. You will belong to me sooner or later. Why prolong the inevitable?"
Mage looked back at the two youths and with that, they were gone, leaving Mage to fend for himself. They did not want to leave, but there was no time to argue. Mage was right. It was up to them to put a stop to Mr. Black and they could not do that if they were dead. Still, it broke Mark's heart to leave him behind. They ran about a block before they saw the police. As soon as they did, Mark cloaked them with an invisibility spell. They were almost past the blockade when they heard the sound. It was a sound that neither one of them ever forgot. It was the sound of Mage screaming in pain. It was the sound of Mage losing the unwinnable battle, and paying the price for that loss. Both Mark and Jessica could hear him scream long after they were out of earshot of The Dregs. It was imbedded in their memories, and they knew that nothing would ever be the same again.
They sat in silence for a long time. Neither one knowing quite what to say. What could they say? Once they had heard Mage's scream, it had all been placed upon them. All the weight of the responsibility for what they had to do was put onto their shoulders. Neither one could sleep, nor speak. Instead they sat in the corner of the basement of the warehouse, and hugged each other close. Both fought back tears of remorse that neither one would admit existed. They had to be strong. The battle ahead had been left to them to fight. There was no one to turn to for help. However their thoughts could not focus on what they had to do, but on what had happened earlier.
"You hear about shit like this on a daily basis." Jessica said. Mark looked at her inquisitively.
"Mass-murder is not an everyday occurrence in nightclubs." He said in a stern voice.
"I know that." She said, trying to make up for the fact that her words had been phrased badly. Jessica took a moment to put together what she was trying to say and then tried again. "The newspapers report about thirty or so people being killed in some crash, or bombing. It always seemed so distant, so outside of reality. You never think that anything that horrible could possibly be real. You know? You never really think about it until it's right in your face."
"You mean it's not until we face death that we actually think about life. About how truly unfair it can be. I had a lot of friends in that place. People who meant something to me. Now their all but gone. Out of the people that I know made it out, how many did the cops grab? How many of them are probably being tortured by Black and his sadistic fucking lackeys? I lost everything tonight. So don't try to lecture to me about the fucking facts of life. Life is cold, it's cruel. In the end we have whatever happiness we were able to scrape together. I had very few good memories in my life. Most of them were made in that place. The Dregs was my home and now...Now, I have nothing. "
Jessica looked at him with sympathetic eyes. She remembered what it was like to feel like everything was lost. It was how she felt when Nate had died. She remembered dwelling on that feeling of emptiness and helplessness for so long that she had convinced herself that it was all she would ever feel. And then she had tried to end her pain in the only way she knew how. She saw all of this in Mark. All the pain and the despair had begun to take hold of him. It had begun to eat away at him the way it had eaten at her. "It wasn't your fault." She said. A tear was beginning to well up in her eye.
Mark looked at her. He looked her straight in the eye and said, "Then who's fault is it? Huh? Mage wasn't the only one with powers. I could have helped him. I could have..."
"What? Do you really think that the two of you could have taken on the five of them? If you had stayed you would be dead right now." Jessica sighed heavily out of frustration. "Mark, he gave his life so that you could carry on the fight. Because of him we can now try to end this."
"How?"
"The orb. Remember? The mirror told me that it could defeat him. That it can do anything I want as long as I can imagine it."
"Can it bring back my friends?" Mark said in both a sullen, and disheartened tone.
Jessica looked down towards the floor. "I don't..." She could not think of a way to respond. And then she began to speak again. "You say that you have nothing, but you still have me. And we still have the orb. Together, and with your powers I know that we can win. If you give up now then Mage's sacrifice won't mean a thing. Black will find us eventually, but not if we can stop him first. I don't know about you, but I don't want to die. And if there is a chance that we can put an end to this, and in some way give some meaning to why those people died, then I'll be damned if I'm going to give up. Mark look at me." Mark looked up at her, and their eyes met. She put her hand on top of his and held it. He could see that she had begun to cry. She was dead serious about everything that she had said, and he knew she was right. Still, he kept silent, and listened. "I need your help to do this. We can beat him, but I need you to believe that we can. Do you?"
He paused for a moment. Her words had sparked something inside of him. It was something that he did not feel too often. It was a sense of hope. Mark put his hand on her shoulder and said, "I do. I do believe. I don't know why, but I do." Jessica smiled at his words. She had gotten through to him, and things were starting to look better. Their eyes had not strayed from each other, and for whatever reason, they began to move closer to each other. Whether it was because of all that they had been through, or something else, the two of them sat there in the corner, and kissed. It was a strong kiss that seemed to last longer than it actually did. Neither one wanted to stop. It was a moment which relieved all the built up tension and frustrations that had been growing inside both of them. It all came down to that one moment in time when it seemed as though they were the only two people in existence. That night they made love in the warehouse. It was a night that neither one would ever forget. Both the horror, and the happiness would be forever burned into their hearts and minds. But, for the moment, they were content to let thoughts about the outside world leave their minds.
"You let them get away?!?!? How could you allow this to happen Mr. Watch? I gave you a simple task, and again you have failed me!" Watch cringed before his master on the floor. His attempts to downplay his failure had done nothing to assuage the wrath of his dark lord. Watch had quickly fallen to his knees in front of Mr. Black in an effort to beg for forgiveness. He himself could not explain how Mark and Jessica had escaped the police barricade. All the others who had fled had been locked up at police headquarters. Somehow, the two most important people had managed to get away. Where they were he did not know, but it was definitely safer than where Watch was. "No matter. I shall deal with you in a moment." Black turned towards a shadowed corner of the room. Watch could only make out that there was a figure there. Someone standing in the shadows. He could not see who though. And then Black spoke to it. "You have done well in your service to me, so far. I could never have gained access to The Dregs without you. Now I have a new mission that requires your special talents. Find the two who eluded me at the nightclub. Bring them to me, and what you want so badly, will become yours." The figure said nothing, only nodded in agreement. Then Black waved his hand, and whoever had been there vanished without into thin air. Black once again turned towards his once favorite disciple. "At least I have some in my employ that can be trusted to carry out their orders." Watch was about to speak on his own behalf, but Black raised a hand in a gesture which beckoned silence. "It is time that I taught you a lesson Mr. Watch! One that you will never forget! Too long have you been given a cozy position of power. It is time that you re-earned your way back up the ranks. Don't worry though, I'll give you all the tools that you will need to get back in my good graces. Of course there is a price for the gift I am about to give you. Nothing big, really. In the end I have no doubt that you will thank me." Black raised his hands straight up into the air, and looked upward. He closed his eyes, and was about to begin the spell, when a moment of pause came over him. The pale faced figure lowered his head for a moment in order to look at Mr. Watch one last time. "Oh John, one more thing. This may sting a bit."
"No master! Please!!" But Mr. Watch's words were wasted. Black raised his head back up, and said a few incantations. Then it began. Watch doubled over in pain. For a moment he thought that his whole body was on fire, but then the pain began to subside. Watch thought for a moment that it was all over, and that Black had only meant to scare him. Watch was definitely scared out of his wits, but his punishment had only just begun. There was a sound. It sounded like water dripping onto the rug. Watch looked all around to see what it was, and that is when all his fears were made to look like pleasant dreams. The dripping was not coming from the ceiling, or from any other source, other than Watch himself. Mr. Watch looked down at himself in horror as he saw what was happening. His skin was melting off. The dripping sound was that of the melted skin hitting the floor. His screams were not those of pain for all of the nerves in his skin had been burnt away by the first wave of whatever curse had been cast upon him. Watch screamed out of shock and terror. What else does one do when they realize that their skin is melting off. Not only that, but the end result did not lead to death. That would have been far too kind. Instead it left him as a living skeleton; able to walk, and talk. He was also given immense magical power which allowed him to live forever. But then, he would have to live out his eternal life as a nightmarish figure that none could behold without feeling a barrage of terror. This was the reason for his screams. From that point on Mr. Watch was no longer the chief of police. He became a specter that walked in a dark cloak. He became a being that brought death to whatever he touched. In essence, he became death itself, and Black never let him forget it. Neither would anyone else. And as all this played out in the mind of the man who had once been a man, Mr. Black watched as his slave writhed in mental anguish. And as Black watched, he could not help but laugh.
"Mark, you young rapscallion. And here I thought you two were just friends." Said Harry. The three visitors had unmistakable grins on their faces as they watched Mark and Jessica quickly get dressed under the covers. After a few brief uncomfortable moments, they all sat down to discuss exactly what had happened after the massacre at The Dregs.
Floyd had been outside doing his job as the doorman. He had been arrested just before the real attack had taken place. "It was business as usual. I'd let in a few people, then tell a few to get lost. Nothing strange, you know? Then all of a sudden there are about a hundred fucking cops all around. They started arresting people who were going in, and everybody in line too. So I walked over to that police chief, what's his name...?"
"Watch." Jessica blurted out.
"Yeah. Yeah Watch. Anyway I walked up to him to ask him what was up, and the fucking guy has a couple of flatfeet arrest me. Next thing I know I'm in prison being interrogated."
"What did they ask you?" Mark asked. He was very curious as to why any of them had been let go. It seemed like the best way to get at him would be through his friends. Black hadn't done it. Black did not make mistakes.
"He was asking me about you and miss Jessica. What was I gonna' tell them. I'm the fucking doorman. I work for you and Mage. I didn't know where any of you were, and if I did, I sure as hell wasn't gonna tell that fucking pinko piece of shit. The two of you done good by me over the years. Ain't nobody gonna make me betray that."
"Thanks Floyd." Mark said with a grin on his face.
"Don't mention it kid. "Floyd replied. "Oh yeah that reminds me. Where is that crazy magician anyway?" Mark and Jessica looked at each other, and then back at Floyd. "No." Floyd said solemnly. "They got him too?"
"I'm afraid so." Replied Jessica. After a moment of mournful silence Jessica spoke to try and get to a more uplifting topic. "So what happened to you two?" She said, looking at Harry and Jessica. "When we got back you were gone."
Kate was about to start talking when Harry jumped right in and related his side of the story. "Mage made us a doorway after you two had gone in the other way. We ran as fast as we could but the cops got us too. It was no use running now that I think about it. The place was surrounded. Anyway. The cops took us downtown and separated us. I actually talked to that sick fuck Black. Can you believe he had the gall to try and get me to become his fucking spy? When I said no they took me into a room and started in on me. I think the guy that interrogated me was a fucking fag. He kept putting his hand on my shoulder and telling me he'd make it easier for me if I talked. Personally I think he'd of taken it easier on me if I'd bent over and yanked down my fucking pants. But that's just my point of view."
"Okaaay." Jessica said with a slightly nauseated tone. She quickly turned to Kate for her story. "It was just like Harry said up until they separated us. They asked me about you two, and I didn't know anything.
"So how did you all get out?" Mark asked.
"After the interrogations they put us all in one room, kind of like a lounge area." Harry said. "It was really weird. Not the kind of thing that they'd usually do. Then a cop came in the room and said we were free to go. So we left. But don't worry, I made sure we lost any tail they might have had on us before coming here. We're safe here, for now."
They sat in silence for a few moments. Mark had been watching Floyd as he got angrier and angrier by the minute. Finally Floyd blurted out, "I say we march down to the top of The Spire and kick Mr. Black's ass all the way down to the fucking basement."
"An appealing thought," Kate interjected " but just how do you intend to get by all of that security? Not to mention the fact that Black could probably incinerate us all without breaking a sweat."
"Security smeshmurity." Harry said. "I can get us past any man-made system they got in there. With the gadgets I got stashed in this place it wouldn't be a problem."
"And as far as the magic part of it goes, I got that covered." Mark said.
"I can't believe what I am hearing." Kate said exasperatingly. "Come on guys. I know your pissed. I am too. I lost a lot of good friends in The Dregs. But that doesn't mean you have to throw your lives away."
"Who says we're throwing our lives away?" Floyd said. "I say we got a damn good chance of getting some pay-back. I'm in."
"Me too." Harry said.
"And me." Mark chimed in.
"Jessica, "Kate pleaded. "You seem like somebody who hasn't lost her head, and wants to keep it on her shoulders. Help me get these guys to reconsider this insanity."
"Why should I? I say we end this, once and for all. We can't run forever. Eventually we are going to have to fight it out, or die trying. I say we do it on our terms, not Black's. Let's take the fight to him. I'm in too." Jessica looked at Kate with an expression that showed just how determined she was to see the fight to the end. Kate looked around the room for a sign that at least one of them could be convinced that what they were planning to do was suicidal. She saw no such sign. In the end it came down to a choice of doing what she truly wanted to do, or doing what she felt she had to do.
"You're all nuts. You do realize that, right?" Kate breathed a heavy sigh. "Okay, what's the plan?"