Heroes and Villains, Season Five

[spideyfan914]

COME THE APOCALYPSE

Reaper is back. The final battle is about to commence. Ghosts and minions of the devil. Shadows, zombies, banshees, and the like. It's all come down to this. Not everyone will survive. Be careful, Jake Bradley. Even if you don't die, you still might lose your mind.

Don't miss the epic sixteen-episode final season of Heroes and Villains. Pilot tomorrow, the rest COMING SOON!


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[spideyfan914]

Episode One: SHADOW OF A MAN


The funeral band rarely plays to expectation. They don’t make sounds like church bells, or downtrodden melodies. They don’t play songs of death or mournfulness. They speak with the family of the damned and play her favorite tunes from when she could still hear them. The idea, they explain, is to remember to appreciate the joys of existence and not mourn so hard as to forget to live. What a sick world it is we live in.
A lot of people attended the funeral. Rose, Jarrett, Mrs. Bielle, and even Hunter Atlas – it wasn’t exactly quiet to the public. But I don’t know much else about the funeral. I wasn’t there.
To my father, I was at home, sitting in my room, staring at the blank wall. I heard him griping, trying to get me to go with him, but I wasn’t really listening. Really, I wasn’t there either. I was somewhere else entirely, in a far off place, a mountain, a burning mountain, a mountain of the dead, the passing into the afterlife. If there is an afterlife. That’s one thing they never answered – they never told me, though Nouda’s Realm may as well be Hell, if you go there when you die. As much as I don’t want to think that’s what awaits us, sometimes I hope everyone’s still there.
I wondered, briefly, how the funeral is going. It’s a huge room, with an almost theatricality to its layout, balconies overhead to seat the overflowing crowd. Up above are distant acquaintances and those simply curious what is happening. In the orchestra are the closer friends: Nick’s in the back, gazing into the abyss, not understanding what’s going on, Corporal Atlas sits with my dad, fuming about how irrelevant his brother was, Alex and Lauren are front and center, with Abby and Mr. Bielle sobbing solemnly to the side.
But then, the picture faded away, in place of a far grimmer one. A skeletal face, ghost-white with a bony flatness. Hooded it is with a black rag, casting dark shadows over the skull and its eyes. Its ruby-red eyes. Blood.
Go away, I whisper. And it whispers back, No.
“Jake....”
I didn’t need to turn around. “Hello, Shawn.”
“I expected you at the funeral, but....” He trailed off. “Listen, let me just....”
I heard him hold his breath, and a slight breeze flew into my eyes. Wincing, I turned toward him. He wouldn’t go away anyhow.
He’d changed back now. Human once more. He held up his hand, upon which was etched a small, red rune.
“I had it engraved,” he explained. “Makes things a little easier....”
“Yeah.”
“Listen, I haven’t seen you since you came back –”
“If my dad knew you were here, he’d have your head.”
Shawn paused. I hadn’t told him that before. “I.... Yeah, I tried to come over yesterday.... Your dad seemed, um, pretty pissed....” He sighed. “But I mean, a lot of people have decided they don’t like me anymore. It’s no big deal, don’t – don’t worry about it.”
Yeah, right.
“Jake.... Are you all right?”
“What do you think, Shawn?? Do I look like I’m all right?? Rose is dead, and she isn’t coming back!!”
“I.... I’m sorry. If there’s anything I can do –”
“Of course there’s nothing you can do! Unless you’ve suddenly gotten the power the bring the dead back to life – and none of that Nosferatu-Zombie bull, all right?”
“Well, you’ve.... I mean, I guess it’s just like –“
“Don’t say it.”
“- like when Blake died....” He said it. “You made it through that, you can make it through this, right?”
“Shawn…. I’m sorry, but you have no idea what you’re talking about. This is nothing like when Blake died, and you have no idea what I’ve been through.”
He stood there a moment, just staring as tears slid down my face. He didn’t know what to do. He may be Phantom, but he’s still just a man.
“You loved her.”
“Yes.”
“Jake,” he said, “you can tell me that. I know that. I used to tease you about that. Seriously. (And by the way, I’m sorry for teasing you….)”
I just shrugged and turned away, turned back to the empty wall.
“Did you guys…. do anything?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I mean, it’s just…. Well, you were out there a little more than two months. Did anything go down between you two?”
“What would’ve ‘gone down,’ exactly?”
“Sex?”
“None of your business.”
“Oh....”
He didn’t mean it like that, though. He only cared.
“We kissed,” I told him.
He nodded. “It’s difficult, I know that. But she wouldn’t want you to wallow in grief forever. It’s only been a few days – you have every right to grieve. But remember, life moves on. There will be others, and Rose wouldn’t want her memory to keep you from living.”
What is he talking about?
“We kissed,” I said again, “and she died.... The Wolf-Man came, and killed her. Right then and there.”
He blinked. “Oh.... Well, uh, what I said still applies. Just, uh, maybe you grieve a bit…. Uh…. Wolf-Man?”
“Jarrett. He’s the Wolf-Man.”
“There’s a Wolf-Man now?”
“He’s dead.”
“Oh.”
“Reaper was there.”
A pause. We’d had this conversation before.
“Jake, Reaper is –”
“STOP DENYING IT, DAMMIT!!!” I jumped out of my chair. “REAPER IS ALIVE, HE WAS NEVER DEAD!! OPEN YOUR EYES ALREADY!! REAPER CREATED BEN, REAPER CREATED JARRETT!! IT’S BEEN REAPER ALL ALONG!! IT’S ALL – BEEN – REAPER!!!!”
“I KNOW!!” he shouted. “I know. I know….”
I gazed at him directly now, face-to-face. “He’s coming back, Shawn. He’s been making sacrifices all along. I still have the dreams, and they’ve only gotten stronger. He’s coming back soon.”
“Which is why, more than ever, you need to be strong. Jake, I need you. I….” He closed eyes and took a breath. “I’m not strong enough to do this on my own. I’ve tried to be a hero, but…. but I’m a kid, and…. and I need you, Jake. I see that now – I need your help. I can’t do this alone….”
I looked him up and down. His eyes were still shut – he couldn’t bear looking into mine. He was giving me one of those corny friend speeches, I could tell. He needed me, he said, he needed his friend to help him fight off the evil I’ve been warning him about for months.
“Listen, there’s been this…. shadow thing the past few weeks…. I don’t know what it’s here for, but I…. I can’t beat it. Each time it shows up, it’s like it’s there but it’s not. It’s hard to explain, but I…. (It seems so familiar….) It’s like it just kinda kills you. I’m not even sure how, really. I think it’s been attacking people’s shadows or something and….”
A shadow monster. Of course. We’ve fought with giant spiders, living buildings, undead, werewolves, and now he expects me to go up against an image on a wall? Why can’t we have more hot witches to fight?
“Jake…. I’m scared….”
The fires of hell. Mountain burning, burning with fire. Fire of hell. Wolves burn.
“You ask too much of me,” I finally said, turning back toward the wall. “You don’t know what I’ve been through.”
“No, Jake, I do understand. The girl you love died –”
“It’s more than that!”
“You watched her die –”
“IT’S MORE THAN THAT!!”
“Then tell me!” He grabbed me by the shoulder and spun me to face him. “Tell me what happened to you. What happened to you in those woods??”
I could tell him. I could tell him how Reaper could plant thoughts into our minds. I could tell him how Reaper is the one who pushed me and Rose together. I could tell him how I stole Atlas’ gun, how I went off into the woods to save Rose, and my thoughts quickly turned to revenge. How I didn’t care about Jarrett, only wanted to kill the wolf, how I set fire to the mountain, how I killed them, how I didn’t do anything I could have to prevent it all.
But what could I tell him?
You’re no fun like this, Jake….
You shut up.
Oo, how’d you know it was me?
Lucky guess….
All I’m saying is, if I’m going to kill you, I’d rather you not be so pathetic at the time!
You did this.
Ah, we’ve been over this, see. I did not do this – didn’t you understand that part where I shook my head and then pointed “one accusatory finger” at you? Personally, I thought that was extremely symbolic and poetic.
“Just leave me alone.”
I pushed Shawn off of me and went back to stare at the wall. Who cares anyway?
“Fine then! You just sit there, wallowing in grief!” he yelled. “Abandon your friend, let Reaper conquer the world for all I care! Just live in the past, screw the future! Right?”
“Yeah, something like that….”
“Well, I just want you to know that this is truly pathetic. A new low. Huge low. I never thought you could stoop this low, but you’ve proven me wrong. A new all-time low, I swear.”
The lights seemed to flicker a moment.
“Ah, dammit….” he whispered.
“Let them die. I don’t feel getting the spares.”
“Your lights aren’t dying, Jake….”
“Yeah, this is a really weird tangent,” I said, turning around once again to see if he’d leave already. “If you’re trying to get into my weird sense of humor –“
He was back in his Phantom form, battling with a big black…. thing…. My life is really messed up. At this point, I don’t even feel like describing it. I wouldn’t really know what to say. It was humanoid, sort of. Black as night. No eyes, no mouth. It was kind of like Phantom, freely shifting form.
Like a shadow. Oh, duh.
“This be Shadow, I presume?”
It swung down its hand and it blew open, exhuming a beam of darkness to engulf Phantom. All I could do was stare, stare as Shawn disappeared from view entirely. Even as the darkness narrowed down, when I should’ve seen Phantom again, he wasn’t there.
What is this thing?
Suddenly, gusts of wind blew all around the room. I grabbed onto my chair just to stop from moving. Papers blew everywhere. My summer reading book went right out the window – can’t say I’m too upset. And yet, that thing was unaffected. It just stared down at its hand, in the middle of the hurricane, where Phantom was a moment ago. Or at least, it looked like it was staring. It had no eyes.
Really, if I wasn’t mistaken, it almost seemed like the debris was going through it….
Suddenly, the lamp shade went flying into the air. The lightbulb flashed and the whole room brightened, as the shadow disappeared from sight, revealing Phantom, standing right there in the darkness. Without a moment’s hesitation, he flew across the room and out the window, and for good reason – the next moment, the shadow had reappeared.
It quickly slunk into the floor and slithered out of the window, reflecting itself onto the air as this two-dimensional blackness chased after Phantom. I walked over to the window and peered outside. Not sure why.
It was faster than him. Soon, it grabbed onto Phantom’s foot, and slicked itself over him, turning him all black as it rushed around the block, people below pointing up at the strange occurrence – and in broad daylight no less – until it finally crashed against the side of a building and disappeared.
What had just happened? I wasn’t sure, really. Maybe they’d gone through Nouda’s Realm…. but if the shadow had caught up to him then….
I backed up. This couldn’t be happening. Not again. It all went down so quick, I wasn’t sure what exactly had happened at all. Maybe – maybe it was a dream? Granted, that excuse never works with me – my dreams are all real.
You got that right!
But he couldn’t be…. dead? No – no maybe it just possesses you or something. Well, that wouldn’t be very good either but…. I didn’t have any time to react! I couldn’t have done anything!
First Blake, then Rose – I couldn’t lose Shawn too. He’s my best friend. Once upon a time he was my only friend. With Doug still missing, he might as well be my only friend. Why am I so unpopular anyway? I think I’m a pretty cool guy…. But Shawn….
Suddenly, there was a burst of wind. I spun around – before me was a huge blob of formlessness – Phantom and Shadow, intertwined, struggling wordlessly. It was frightening, like some sort of supernatural seizure.
And then, a blue tendril flicked across the room, toward me! I ducked aside, and heard a crashing behind me – the lamp, he’d knocked over the lamp. Darkness. And Phantom was…. freed…. somehow….
I looked up at him in disbelief. “Okay, I read a lot of comic books,” I said, “and shadows are weak to LIGHT, not DARKNESS!”
“It’s both. I’ll explain later.”
The shadow had reappeared again in the middle of the room, and stretching out like a blanket, forming a wall directly in the middle of the room. Coming closer. Fast.
Before I knew what had happened, Phantom had grabbed hold of me and now we were downstairs. I’ll be honest, this stuff still kinda freaks me out…. And, of course, Shadow just slips through the floor.
“Okay dude, I’ll admit it. I can see why you’ve been having some problems….”
Just then, the shadow leapt toward us, reaching its arms out and spreading them around Phantom. Just Phantom. I’m not used to these guys ignoring me, but this one was just after Phantom. He dove down into the floor to escape the shadow, but it followed him – shadows are made for the floor.
Phantom only made it halfway.
Catching him mid-dive, the shadow sucked him, pulling him into floor. It rose up, and I could even see the blue patches struggling as they were slowly sucked in. I didn’t know what to do, but….
I watched her die….
“STOP!!”
Time froze. I couldn’t hear the clock ticking anymore. I couldn’t hear my heart beating, though I felt it pretty hard. Phantom had stopped struggling. And Shadow just…. turned. I don’t know what that means; it didn’t have eyes, but I felt it turning to face me, gazing into my soul. And – I guess this would be the weird part, if it weren’t for everything else being pretty weird – I could’ve sworn that it recognized me.
And then it was gone.
Now I’ve seen plenty of guys disappear before. Reaper retreats into the shadows, Phantom implodes into a vortex. But Shadow just disappears. In the blink of an eye. Like it was never even there.
Shawn collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily. I ran over to help him up. “Light pours into the shadow, but if it’s too dark he has nothing to contrast with. I figured out that just by quickly changing the lighting – either way – he needs a moment to adjust.”
I laughed. “Thanks for clearing that up.”
“What did you do to it?” he asked. “How did you stop it?”
“I….” What DID I do? “I honestly have no idea. I just yelled, ‘STOP!’ And it stopped.”
“Really? Maybe I’ll try that next time.”
“I wonder if it’d work against Reaper too.”
“You never know!”
Still laughing. First time I’d laughed in well over a week. But looking up at the clock….
“My parents will be back soon,” I said.
He nodded. “Yeah, I’d imagine so.” He let out a sigh. “Guess I’d better get going.”
He sat down, concentrating to change back into Phantom form. I don’t know what my dad’s problem with Shawn is, but ever since he found out about his superhero-ing, it’s been a nonstop anti-Phantom campaign. I suppose he’s not alone – a lot of people are scared of Phantom.
“Shawn,” I added on. “No matter what anyone says, you’re doing the right thing. You’re a hero.”
He looked up at me and smiled. “Thanks, Jake.” He paused a moment, thinking. “So are you.”
“Yeah, I don’t have superpowers….”
“And yet, who saved who a moment ago?”
“I’m no hero, Shawn.” Glad you’re keeping a clear head. “SHUT UP!!!!!!”
I grabbed my mouth shut. I could hear Reaper laughing away in my head as Shawn glared up in confusion. I never told my dad about the dreams – if I did, he would probably just blame Shawn again.
“Jake, what happened in the mountain?”
Shawn is my best friend.
“I…. I did it…. I mean, I didn’t want to…. Well, I did, but….”
I waited for him to goad me to take it from the top. But he didn’t interject. He only listened.
“Reaper had turned the mountain into a rune. He used it to turn Rose’s cousin into a werewolf, the Wolf-Man. And he used it to strengthen our…. connection…. You remember how the last time we fought Reaper, how I could hear his thoughts? That’s what gave me the edge, really, ‘cause I knew what he was going to do and he hadn’t realized it yet…. Yet…. But he figured it out.
“He used that connection, started planting thoughts in mine and Rose’s minds. He made us do things we never would’ve done. At first, we were able to snap out of it before we got out of hand. We had just enough control to hold back. But then, when…. when the Wolf-Man came….
“See, we had to go out. We had to make sure Jarrett was okay. He may have been a werewolf, yeah, but he was a good guy. And, well, we had this sort of…. moment. And it’s gonna sound crazy, but I kinda feel like Reaper himself had been pushing along this moment. So we kissed, and then….
“Well, then the Wolf-Man showed up.
“He killed Rose, Shawn. He ate her alive. It was a horrible way to go. She crawled away, half-dead. And I wanted…. I wanted revenge.
“But I could have gone after her. I would have gone after her. But Reaper knew I was weak. He knew I was angry. And he used it. He made me want to kill the wolf. He made me want to kill Jarrett. I started the fire, Shawn. I didn’t care who burned – all I wanted was revenge.
“It was all my fault…. Abby was right, I deserve to die.”
We were sitting in the living room now. We sat there a moment in silence. I expected him to hate me. How could he not hate me, after what I’d done? And yet, he didn’t look it…. He even…. smiled a little….
“I suppose,” he finally said, “you think there’s no way on Earth or Nouda’s Realm I could understand what you’ve been through.”
“More or less.”
“Well, I can’t imagine it’s that much worse than killing your mother.”
I blinked. “Wh….? What?”
“I killed my mother, remember? That’s, like, the entire reason my father tried to murder us a few months ago.”
“Oh…. Yeah…. Good point.”
“Well, do you hate me, knowing I killed my own mother?”
“Uh…. No, not really….”
“Well then, I don’t hate you for killing Jarrett, Mrs. Bielle, or Hunter Atlas.”
“Hey!! It’s not like I would’ve done it if Reaper wasn’t in my head!”
“Then what’s the problem? I killed Goblin in cold blood – now THAT’S badass.”
“God! I hate it when you put things into perspective like that!”
He laughed. “So, you gonna stop moping around, and actually come to school next week?”
I glared him down. I was really starting to hate him here. “Fine,” I said.
“Great! In that case, my work here is done!”
I opened to my mouth to speak, but he held up a hand to shush me, closing his eyes and transforming into Phantom.
“By the way,” he said as the winds started to blow, “I’m sorry about that mess in your room.” He chuckled a little. "And happy birthday."
“Wait!” I ran up and grabbed his hand just before he could whish away. “Did…. Were you ever able to forgive yourself? For what happened with your mom, I mean?”
He gazed off into space. For a few moments, there was silence. And then, he shrugged. “Yes, I suppose I have. Time moves on, Jake, and we learn to live with our mistakes. It doesn’t do to dwell in the past. That’s what happened to my father, and he was consumed by it. We must forgive, or else there won’t be a tomorrow.”
He looked down at me. I just nodded, and let go. In a gust of wind, he was gone, disappeared to return home. I, meanwhile, had a rather obnoxious mess to clean, and headed upstairs. Phantom says that time moves on.
I know my friend well enough to tell when he’s lying.
---
“You hate Jake Bradley?”
Yes.
“You would do anything to get your revenge?”
Yes.
He raises his scythe high into the air, blunt end pointed toward me.
“Then there is much to teach you…. I’ve been performing sacrifices, you see.”
The scythe lunges down, and as it passes through my body I feel excruciating pain. It is unbearable, but I know that I must make do, and so I stare deep into his eyes of blood. I know who he is.
Reaper.
“And I only need one more.”

[spideyfan914]

Episode Two: DREAMCAST

We’re here. The Coliseum, in the very heart of Nouda’s Realm. I’ve heard about this place. This is where the True Society is centered. This is where Phantom was born.
We walk forward, and a doorway reveals itself. He opens the door, and lets me and that Wraith go in first. He wears a cloak, the same one he always does, and holds his scythe in his hand. For now, however, he’s in his human form.
It’s strange, I think. He’s about to summon a new era, and yet he looks so young. Like a kid. I wonder if I really know anything about him at all. Maybe he’s actually hundreds of years old. But then, why now? Why would he wait until now to go through with his plans? I suppose it doesn’t really matter. I admire him either way.
He calls himself Zamxus Zane.
---
We’re here. The first day of school.
It had been a long journey, but after eleven well-fought years, we were finally at the crème of the crop, Seniors ‘10! No more SATs, no more final exams (or at least none that count for anything), and now all we had to worry about were those really annoying college applications! I didn’t know it at the time, but I would soon come to despise college applications with a burning passion nearly the equivalent of my hatred for anything SAT.
“Yo, Jake!”
It was still before first period when Shawn caught up with me at my locker. “Hey. Any shadows chasing you lately?”
“Oddly enough, it seems to have laid off since our last encounter.”
“Weird….”
“You know that we never compared our schedules?”
“Oh, yeah,” I laughed weakly. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the crumpled piece of paper which shockingly had my classes written on it. Shawn did the same, crumpled paper and all, and we held them up.
No matches.
“Damn….” I said. “That means I don’t have any friends in any classes….”
He laughed. “I think Alex and Lauren are in that first period.”
“Are we friends with them?”
“Usually, when someone saves your life.”
“What about Nick?”
“Point taken. Speak of the devil….”
I turned around, and sure enough, there was Nick, walking down the hallway toward us.
“Oh boy,” I whispered. “Think he’s prepping up for a first-day torment?”
Shawn didn’t respond. We just stood and watched as Nick walked by, staring us in the eyes, saying nothing. And he kept walking, as though we weren’t even there.
Glaring at his back, my mouth hung slightly open. “I…. can get used to this.”
“I miss the acknowledgement.”
I shut my locker and we started walking toward my class. “Y’know, over the summer, Rose actually tried to convince me Nick isn’t that bad a guy.”
Shawn laughed. “Okay, I’ll admit he had a pretty crappy life.”
“Like we haven’t? Just last week we were exchanging stories of how guilty we feel for accidentally killing someone close to us.”
“A fair point, good sir. Nick has never made such a mistake, and thus has no idea what we’ve been through. However,” he added on, “he also has grown up with no parents, to which only I can relate to.”
“Well, actually, he had an abusive uncle. I suppose Doug could attest to that.”
We stopped laughing. I was sorry I brought up Doug.
“You never found him, yeah….”
“I’m just worried that…. Last time we saw him, he was talking about how he believed he was a monster….”
“Well….” I’d already seen him with Reaper, in my dreams. But then again, maybe it was some other Wraith. Maybe Doug was still out there. “I’m sure we’ll find him soon.” I didn’t want to worry Shawn unless I was certain.
“Your class,” he said. We’d arrived at the door I was supposed to be entering.
“Yeah, I’ll talk to you later….”
---
We’re in a room. It’s something of a shrine, a shrine to a demon-god. Nouda. I’ve heard of Him too.
In the seats, all the people look up at us. Two women are standing by the altar: one old and blind, one young and beautiful. They watch us approach from the side-door. At least there was a side-door when we entered.
“You aren’t welcome in these parts,” the old woman says.
“Please!” Zamxus laughs. “Ladies, ladies, don’t get ahead of yourself. It’s not like there’s anything you can do to stop me.”
“You haven’t shown your face in the True Society in many years. And now you think you can just waltz right in?”
He simply walks down the aisle, hardly acknowledging the old woman’s presence as he stares into the faces of the frightened people in the seats. “I suppose, Mrs. Ranar, it’s a matter to be taken up with your leader. Do you know where I may find him?”
“What do you want?” the young woman asks. Looking at her now, she isn’t a day older than 19. I wonder, again, just how old she really is – does the True Society allow for teenagers on the Higher Council?
“Your name is Wendy, right?” Zamxus has reached the large doors on the end and spun back to face the women. “You’re the new one, yes. A teenager, on the Higher Council?”
“Speak for yourself.”
---
“Jake?”
I yanked my head up. Alex Wolf was looking over at me from the next desk over, and I could see Lauren Teeves sitting on his other side.
“You okay, Jake? You looked like you were in pain….”
“I…. I wasn’t sleeping….”
“Uh, no….”
“I…. Yeah, I’m, uh, I’m fine. Just a, y’know, headache.”
“You want some pills?” Lauren asked, holding up her pocketbook. “I always bring some aspirin with me.”
“Oh, um, no. I’ll be all right….”
I gazed out the window. A man with red hair was standing across the street. He looked so familiar…. He was…. Gary Bielle….
Pay attention, Jake.
---
“If I know Frank, he’ll be beneath the Coliseum,” Zamxus smiles. “Correct?”
The younger woman simply looks toward the older one, who says nothing.
“Thank you.” He turns to us. “Make sure none of these people leave the room.”
The Wraith and I nod, and Zamxus prepares to leave, but something holds him back. He looks down at the floor, at his shadow.
“Pardon me, but this is Nouda’s Realm. There are no shadows.”
My heart jumps as Zamxus’ shadow rises from the ground, taking a form all its own. I knew this would be difficult, but I hadn’t prepared for just how horrifying it would be. And yet, somehow
it feels good.
---
“Hello, everyone. My name is Miss Watson, and I’ll be your English teacher for this year. Now, I understand that you’ve all been through a lot, but in this class, I don’t want any talk of hocus-pocus or whatnot. We’re here to learn about books, and learn about books we shall.”
“Don’t let her looks fool you,” I heard Alex whisper into my ear. “She’s supposed to be a real bitch.“
I chuckled. I couldn’t quite say exactly when the teacher had walked in, or if I’d been talking with Alex this whole time. But I did know that I didn’t want to dream. I’d much rather read a crappy book at the instruction of a bitch teacher than dream anymore.
Ranar…. I’ve heard that name before….
I didn’t care about reapers or shadows, or ghosts or vampires or whatever was happening in my dreams. In all honesty, I almost liked Miss Watson right away just for dismissing it all.
Were these women the new Higher Council?
I wondered how Quen was doing. I hadn’t heard from him all summer. If I’m suddenly friends with Alex and Lauren now, maybe I’m friends with him too. Wait a minute….
“Hey, Alex, I thought Mr. Fangye was supposed to teach this class?”
Alex glanced at me, with a face taken aback. Was it something I said?
“Excuse me,” I looked up to Miss Watson hovering above me, “but if you’re going to start a habit of talking in class now, then we’re off to a very bad start.”
“I’m sorry, I just…. I think I’m in the wrong place – I’m supposed to be Mr. Fangye’s class.”
“Sit down,” she said quickly, though I hadn’t gotten up. She looked upset too, and hesitated before saying anything more. “D.M. Fangye…. could not return this year. He grew very ill over the summer, and…. well, he’s in a hospital now, recovering. I’ll be teaching in his place.”
Lauren raised her hand.
“Yes?” Miss Watson called on her.
“Yeah, um, I heard on the news…. Didn’t he try to…. um….”
Miss Watson slumped into her desk chair. “Yes, it was a suicide attempt. That man has been through a lot, and I don’t want any of you talking rumors, all right? His family had been killed tragically last year, and we believe that is what led to his depression. He was already severely ill when he started teaching here, and none of the events last June contributed –” Wait, what?
“Reaper killed his family!!” I jumped up. Miss Watson glared at me.
“I told you, this is a class of literature! We aren’t reading any books with Grim Reapers, and so we will not discuss –”
“But it’s true! Reaper killed Mr. Fangye’s family, and Reaper turned Ben into what he became!”
“Young man, I have had enough –“
“If you’re telling me, me who saw him have a mental breakdown in class, that nothing Ben did affected his mind, then you’re just plain wrong!”
“Detention!” she yelled. “Now sit down!”
Never mind, she is a bitch.
“Now then, I’m going to hand out a list of the books –“
“I warned you,” Alex whispered.
“I hadn’t heard about Fangye.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, Lauren and I are back together.”
I stared him in the eye, stifling a laugh. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Because it isn’t all bad endings,” he smiled. “Remember dude, today’s the first day of the end of high school. Now smile!”
---
This is my cave.
Webs all around, and a darkness through which few eyes can peer. No one comes down here except by my command; they’re too afraid.
So why do I hear someone approaching?
I spin around and a sharp blade of metal pierces my eye. I yell out in pain as I gaze into the eyes of blood.
“Reeaper….”
“Frank Ranar, it’s been too long buddy!”
I jump up and shoot a web at him, but he disappears into the darkness. Too much darkness….
“Behind you!”
I leap aside just in time to avoid Reaper’s scythe. He told me he was there – he’s toying with me! He cannot do this, I AM THE MASTER OF FEAR!
I yell into his skull face. “FEAR MEEEEEEE!!!” And he laughs, a laugh like nails on a chalkboard, like a dozen crying babies, a laugh of death.
And I know what is going to happen.
“You can’t do thisss to mee…. I am the Highesst Council of –“
The scythe lands in my back.
“Now, now, my spider. From one master of fear to another, we both know how useless the True Society has become.”
I had…. everything….
“You’re nothing but a mercenary. A weakling. No one could possibly fear you. You’ve long outlived your purpose, and the Lord has no further use for you.”
He cuts me down again.
“Don’t worry, though. In death, you have become what you could never accomplish in life.”
Everything….
“Nouda will rise. Today’s the first day of the end of everything.”

[spideyfan914]

Episode Three: DEATH RETURNS

“Tarantula is dead. I am now the Highest Council of the True Society.”
---
“Shawn, we need to talk.”
He slammed his locker shut as I approached. “Yeah?”
I nodded. “I think something big is going down….”
“And this is news because….?”
“FREAK GO HOME!!” We spun around to see some wimpy kid yelling at us. “You don’t belong here, demon!” I’d never seen this kid before in my life.
“Hey, Shawn has just as much a right to attend school as all the rest of us,” I quickly stepped in. “You got any problem with it, you can take it up with me!”
“Oh, and what are you gonna do about it?” His voice was really high and nasally too. “Burn my house down?”
That was a low blow….
“He won’t, but I will.” Quen had arrived.
“Hey!! Is that a threat??” His glasses were taped down the middle, and he had a lot of acne.
“What grade are you in?”
“My dad’s a lawyer, and if you threaten me –“
“What grade are you in?”
“I’m in tenth grade, you psychopa-!”
“So in that case, you were here last year when Phantom saved your life. Now kiss his feet.”
The wimpy kid had no response, just a stare of bewilderment. Now Quen’s not exactly a football player, but he easily had a hundred pounds on this kid. Granted, so did I.
Quen repeated, “Kiss his feet.”
The wimpy kid turned and walked away.
So did Quen, in the opposite direction.
“Okay, that was…. Yeah, that was random….”
Shawn laughed. “Trust me, I’ve seen stranger. Now what was it you were saying?”
I opened my mouth to tell him what had been happening the past week, but just then the bell cut me off. Sometimes I wonder if the school is still working for Nouda.
“I…. am going to be in so much trouble, my teacher’s a bitch,” I said. “I’ll talk to you later!” And I darted down the hallway once more….
---
Of course, as fate would have it, I didn’t run into Shawn again for the rest of the day. I wound up waiting for him outside the main doors – where we met up every day last year. Lately, we hadn’t really been hanging out, mainly because of my dad’s personal vendetta against him.
And yet, he never showed up. I mean, seriously, I told him we’d talk later – where else would we meet up? For that matter, what other way is there out of the school? Only sports kids take the back exit. In all honesty, I was kinda pissed off he wasn’t there.
So, I waited a bit. Nick passed by, again without even an acknowledgement. Alex and Lauren waved. When Quen came out I tried to talk but he kinda just nodded at me and kept going – not much of a social life with that one. It wasn’t long before I was the last one there. Well, me and the trenchcoat kids…. Those kids who deal drugs and do all the experimenting that’s supposed to happen in college – yeah, they like to loiter around after school, so they’re always the last ones there. I finally just left. Seriously, did Shawn change into Phantom and disappear in a huge wind or something?
“Don’t let them escape!”
My head flared up again. These visions were getting more Harry Potter-esque by the day. As much as I’d always hated dreaming I was one of Reaper’s victims, I kinda missed when they only happened at night and could still be classified as dreams. Since the Catskills, it’s just been getting worse and worse.
Luckily, I’d noticed, Reaper hadn’t been controlling my mind anymore lately. Some runes are known to be multi-purpose, so I’d kinda just guessed that the rune which turned Jarrett into the Wolf-Man was also strengthening my connection with Reaper. (My connection with Reaper – what horrible words….) After all, it had always been strongest at the full moon, and he needed that to make the rune work.
Damn, these logistics are confusing….
“Wait for sundown, then go and find them!”
There he was.
Gary Bielle, Rose’s father. Every day now, he’d been waiting for me after school. Sometimes he’d be there right as I left. Other times he’d be farther along the walk. But I knew he was waiting for me. He would stare at me. Looking for answers.
I kept walking, as I did every day. I didn’t stop, didn’t even look at him. What was I supposed to say? “Sorry Mr. Bielle, I watched your daughter die at the hands of your nephew, then murdered your wife as well. But it wasn’t my fault.”
Yeah, that would go over real well….
So I just kept walking. I wanted to acknowledge him, to let him know I was sorry, but who has the strength to do something like that? Honestly, I barely even know the guy. I only wished he’d stop staring at me!
---
I phase through the shadows, searching for someone. The master sent us after these people, if only we knew where they were.
I go through building after building, park after park. What if they aren’t in the city anymore? What if they’ve hidden someplace we’ll never find them?
But no, the master is strong. He has a good sense for these things, and the Wraith isn’t too bad itself. Even my sense is improving by the day. I must fulfill the master’s wishes, as he commands.
Here….
A voice in my head? The Wraith.
22nd Street and Broadway. Shadow.
Be there soon….
---
I woke up.
Strangely comforting knowing I can still have nightmares while actually sleeping. Still, Shawn would want to know, so I grabbed my cell phone and dialed his number. Really, I just wanted to go back to sleep, but….
“Hi, this is Shawn Casper.”
“Hey, Shawn, listen –“
“Please leave a message after the ghostly wail. Also, if you’re a prankster, religious organizer, or political activist, do be warned I have the ability to trace calls and then respond with an electronic transmission that will kill the caller, so hang up now.”
I wanted to go back to sleep, but I got the voicemail.
“Okay, the crazy Christians are gone now? Good, so if this is the police, I just want you to know that last part was a complete lie. You’d be surprised how well it works.”
The tone came – and yes, it does sound very ghost-like. I didn’t find it THAT funny.
“Yeah, Shawn? It’s Jake. So, uh, I think a Wraith or something and something is about to meet up with and/or chase and/or kill and/or something that Shadow thing or something, and, um, yeah. 22nd Street and Broadway. My dream was strangely precise this time – the somethings were talking to each other or something.”
Ending the call, it was pretty obvious what was going to happen. I was going to try to get to sleep, but find myself unable knowing that Shawn wasn’t there. Then my weary sleep-deprived high school mind would suddenly remember that the Wraith might be Doug. Then I’d feel guilty for passing up the chance to see him, and go out there myself, and possibly die. So I figured I’d skip the first steps and just go out there myself, and possibly die though hopefully not.
Sneaking out of the house was easy – I’d done plenty of it over the summer, and that was while sharing my room with a werewolf.
22nd Street and Broadway. I had to admit how nicely convenient that kind of precision is. The streets were dark, and there weren’t too many walkers, though naturally even when demons are on the loose the city still never sleeps.
I myself remained in an almost trance, barely thinking about what I was doing at all. I knew I had to see what was happening, but I was still honestly quite tired.
At last, I arrived at the corner. Though I didn’t see any sort of Reaper minions, a few people were staring off into the distance. Even the cars were stopped, gazing down the street.
“What’s everyone staring at?” I asked the first guy I saw.
“I…. I don’t know….” He didn’t look at me, just kept gazing. “I can’t really…. describe it….”
Sounds about right. “Which way did they go?”
He pointed me around the corner, and I raced in the proper direction. Maybe it really was Doug, and I could try to break through to him. I’d done it before, when the True Society brainwashed him. Granted, he almost killed me that time, but as long as this doesn’t end too much worse, I should be fine.
I turned the corner, and looked up the block. At first, there was nothing. The path had grown stale….
And then, all of a sudden, figures zipped through the air. It was like a blur, and I could hardly make out what I was even looking at. I ran up the avenue – avenues are shorter than streets – and looked in their direction.
They were gone already.
I was so close though…. I hadn’t gotten a good look, but I knew now in my gut – this was Doug I was dealing with. It had to be, how many Wraiths are there? We hadn’t seen him since the day he was unmasked, and now he’d turned back over to Reaper….
No, that wasn’t it – I didn’t know it was Doug, not definitely. I wanted it to be Doug. If it were anyone else, I’d soon be dead.
They reappeared then. This time I could make it out: Shadow, and a Wraith on its tail. They ducked into an alley, as fast as darkness can travel. I wasn’t tired anymore. Why do these things always end up in alleys?
Stepping forward, I gazed into the alley. There was nothing.
“Hello?” I called out, stepping forward. I remember what Phantom said once, before I knew he was Shawn. He asked me if I was doing because I wanted to die. He was wrong, though – I just wanted answers.
A chill ran down my spine. I spun around, and stared into the eyes of blackness.
The Wraith. He was here. He stood in place, scythe by his side, cloaked and all.
“Doug….?”
He raised his scythe beyond his head.
I dove aside as a scythe flew at me from behind. It crashed beside me, as I leaped out of the way, falling into a puddle of green I-don’t-want-to-know-what. But we were in an alley, and there wasn’t much room to go – I was cornered. Still, I had to ask myself, if Doug were in front of me, how had he attacked from behind?
I turned around.
Two Wraiths. Each one with its own set of swirling black eyes.
I’d learned to recognize Doug in his Wraith form, by his height, by the shape of his skull, and that were him on the right. But on the left, I did not recognize. It was shorter, with a larger chest. And a longer scythe.
This was not the way I’d pictured my demise. Cornered in an alley, in some green vomit-inducing puddle (maybe it was vomit, that would probably be the preferable option).
Two Wraiths, coming closer….
I closed my eyes, waiting for it to come. And I saw him – closing my eyes, I could see Reaper, laughing. It’s not time….
There was a slash. And another slash. Two slashes, and I didn’t feel a thing. And another slash. And I still didn’t feel anything. A clubbing sound. For some reason, I didn’t feel wet anymore….
I opened my eyes. The puddle was gone. A figure was fighting off the two Wraiths, brutally beating them. At first sight, it seemed to have a whole arsenal of weapons, switching between faster than I ever thought possible. Then I realized it was shifting its own green body.
Another fourth figure bolted down from above – a woman, in a light purple gown. She picked up one of the Wraiths, flew up, and flung it against a wall. The other one, meanwhile, was restrained by the shapeshifter, caught in some immovable grasp. This was beginning to seem very familiar….
As the woman flew back down, I could make out her pale skin and yellow eyes, and she bit – yes, bit – into the Wraiths neck. For a brief moment, the Wraith’s face was revealed, and there was no denying that Doug was screaming. Then the other Wraith jumped out of the shadows and grabbed ahold of them, until the next moment as they both disappeared into the darkness.
My heart was pounding, but at least I was among friends.
“Hi, Jake. Long time no see.”
“Hello Clarissa….”
Nosferatu smiled as Zombie stepped forward to offer me a hand up.
“How’d you know where to find me?”
“I was over at Shawn’s. We sometimes meet, get updates on the whole Nouda situation. He wasn’t there, but I saw your message.”
“So…. I was lying down in…. dead people puddle?” Yeah, vomit would have been preferable.
She laughed. It had been a while since we’d last met. “Listen, Phantom told me what happened with you in the woods.”
“Oh….”
“Just tell me this: Is Reaper still in your mind?”
So much for ‘If there’s anything I can do to help….’
“He is, but he doesn’t control it anymore…. I think he was using the –“
“Rune, yes. I thought so.” She thought for a moment. “Be careful, Jake.”
“What?”
“If he’s gotten to you once, he could do it again. And next time, who knows what he’ll do.”
Well, aside from killing a few bugs….
“He killed Tarantula.”
“What?”
“I think he killed Tarantula,” I rushed. “I don’t know why, but…. And these Wraiths – they were chasing after Shadow. Shadow was…. It was there, it was in the True Society too!”
“I –“
“But I don’t know if they were trying to kill it. They might’ve been. I don’t know…. There was something about escape. ‘Don’t let them escape.’ Them! There’s more, like….”
I took a breath.
“What’s going on?”
Nosferatu stood in the alley, her undead husband by her side. She gazed off, thinking for a moment, piecing things together.
“Let’s get you home.”

[spideyfan914]

Episode Four: WAITING FOR NOTHING

“Lieutenant Bradley, your son is here to see you.”
My dad was with several other officers, standing in the hallway, when he looked over at me. “Jake? What are you doing here? I’m very busy.”
“I’m sorry, Dad, I just really need to talk to you….”
He sighed, and spoke to the officer who’d brought me in, “Thank you, Peters. Carry on.”
The officer named Peters left the room, and another cop whispered something into my dad’s ear, to which he nodded. “Come on, Jake, let’s go into my office.”
I followed him in, and shut the door as he sat down.
“Keep it brief. We just pulled in a guy and I’m needed in interrogation.”
“You know Mr. Bielle, right?” I began urgently. My dad was shuffling through papers as he spoke.
“Yes, I’ve met him before. Last I saw him at the funeral – still don’t know why you –“
“I’ve been running into him a lot lately.”
“Okay, and?”
I couldn’t help it. I began to cry.
My dad looked up from his papers, more concerned now. “Jake, is something bothering you?”
“He’s always just…. standing there,” I cried, “staring at me. I don’t know what he wants, or if he even wants anything. I don’t know what to do!”
The door opened behind me, and I could hear Corporal Atlas’ voice reign into the room. “Hurry it up, Harvey! We can’t hold Sanchez for long, you know.”
“I’ll be right out, Corporal.”
The door shut behind me. “Sanchez?” I asked, wiping away the tears.
“Oh yeah, you go to school with his nephew. Right.”
“This is Nick’s uncle? I thought he was in jail….”
“He was for many years, but we only had him for dealing. We knew there was more, but couldn’t get enough on him. He got out a month or two ago, and now we’re trying to get some info on the higher-ups – it’s probably best that you don’t bring it up at school, Jake.”
I nodded.
“Now about Mr. Bielle…. Is that all he’s doing, is standing and staring? He isn’t speaking to you in any way?”
“No, he never says anything…. I feel like I’m supposed to say something, but don’t know what.”
“And he isn’t…. making any moves, or….” He searched for the words, seeming fairly concerned now. “Does Gary seem threatening to you, Jake?”
“No!” I quickly said. “No, it’s nothing like that! It’s more like he just…. wants answers.”
My dad bit his lip. “Listen, if you feel uncomfortable with Gary, we could file something…. There are ways to make him back off, legally speaking.”
“That’s not why I came to you!” I cried. “I’m not a client, I just want you to tell me what to do!”
He sighed, looking over at the clock above my head. “You said that you feel like you’re supposed to say something to him…. If you really feel that way, you need to confront him.” He then quickly added on, “But be careful, son.”
“But what do I say?”
“I don’t think it’s my place to put words in your mouth. Say what you need to say.” He looked over at the clock again. “Now I’m sorry, but I really need to get back to work.”
I nodded, turning to the door.
“And Jake,” my dad called. I looked back. “Good luck.”
---
It was still a few more hours before evening. Hopefully, the streets would be safe to wander. My dad was right, obviously. Mr. Bielle had not let up – I’d still been seeing him every day after school, and I had to confront him sooner or later. Might as well be right then and there, while I was still decided on doing it.
I took the Subway from the station, planning to go directly to Rose’s house. I hadn’t been there since….
23rd Street and 7th Avenue. The blocks rang through my head all of a sudden. The intersection was just north of here. I wondered what was there….
Breaking off from the path to Rose’s house, I turned north. 23rd Street and 7th Avenue, Zamxus’ house. I hadn’t been there since the morning when Blake died. Of course, it wasn’t really Zamxus’ house, but it was where he once planted an entrance into Nouda’s Realm. A sanctuary.
It was just across the street. All I needed to do was cross over and ring the bell. Maybe, just maybe, he would answer the door, and I could demand answers for all of my questions. Or maybe it would be that old man who really lived here, in the physical world.
But I caught something out the peripheral of my eye – Quentin Lake. What was he doing here? He was on the other corner, staring at the same house as well. But, he didn’t know anything…. Did he?
I didn’t want him to see me. I turned around and dashed back down the avenue.
To Rose’s house it is.
---
The doorbell sounded. I stood at the door, waiting and taking deep breaths. Maybe he wouldn’t be there, and I could leave. I turned to go, when I heard the door open behind me.
I looked at the man standing in the doorway. Gary Bielle, red-haired accountant with a wife and two daughters. His wife and oldest daughter are now dead.
He stared at me, and I stared back, both of us speechless for a moment. His face was without expression, completely void of all emotion. He was not angry, or sad, or happy to see me, or desperate to talk. He was tired. And he wasn’t about to say or do anything any time soon.
“Hi Mr. Bielle,” I finally said. He did not respond. “Can I come in?”
He waited a moment, then receded into the house, leaving the door open for me to enter.
The house wasn’t as I remembered it. It was messy and unkempt. It looked like it hadn’t been cared for in about a month, quite an appropriate timeframe really. Mr. Bielle went into the kitchen without a word. I stood in the living room, looking at the family pictures along the fireplace.
There she was. Rose Bielle, the girl I’d loved. In front of the house, she stood beside her parents and Abby, smiling with braces in her teeth. It was an old photo, and she looked no older than eight. Her red hair was short and curly in the picture, and she looked more like Annie than anything.
Beside it was another picture, showing Rose and her father. She looked closer to 12 in this one, and didn’t have the braces anymore. Her hair had grown down to her shoulders now. She continued to smile, showing all her white teeth.
The next one showed Abby at 10. And after that, it was the Rose I knew. It was taken maybe last year, of Rose and Nick standing in front of a diner at night. Rose was dressed up, in a long blue gown to contrast with Nick’s cheap suit. Her hair falling to the side of the photo, she hugged him and smiled at the camera. Always smiling.
If only she hadn’t....
“You like tea?”
I turned around, noticing the kettle whistling in the background. Mr. Bielle stood in the doorway to the kitchen, holding a box of tea in his hand.
“Oh, um, yes, thank you,” I said, and he slipped back into the kitchen.
I crossed over to the couch and sat down in front of the coffee table. On the wall opposite me, I now noticed baby pictures of Rose and Abby. Mr. Bielle returned, two cups of tea in his hand.
“Where is Abby?” I asked as he sat down across from me.
“She never came home,” he said. “The last I’ve seen of Abby was when she left on that trip with you.”
“She wasn’t at the funeral?”
“No.”
I looked down into my tea. It was black, no sugar. I didn’t know what I was supposed to say. What did he want me to say?
“You think I’m bad luck?” came out of my mouth, not sure why.
Mr. Bielle sipped his tea, still expressionless. “Are you?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just…. What do you want me to say?”
He didn’t answer me.
“Listen, I can tell you what happened, but it isn’t anything I didn’t tell the police and I don’t think you want to hear this again.”
He took another sip of his tea, not even looking at me.
“Fine! It was a flippin’ werewolf, okay! They proved it too – Hunter had called in a report or two of a wolf resembling a man. See, these cultists, they worship a demon called Nouda – well, they’re responsible for making Phantom and Reaper and guys like that – and they managed to secretly turn Jarrett into this Wolf-Man. He didn’t ask for it, or even know he was it, but that’s what happened.
“So one night, we just sort of piece it together. I see Jarrett leaving, I see him transform. Mrs. Bielle – your wife – she went out after him, asking us to stay put. But Rose and I, well we were scared for her and went out after her. The Wolf-Man attacked, and he killed Rose!
“He dove into her, ate her alive. I tried to stop it, but it knocked me out. I saw her dying. She was gazing up into nothingness, breathing heavily and trying to hold onto life for just a second longer. Hunter came by and saved me, but he left Rose behind, saying her heart wound was too deep, and too fatal. When I went back there, she was gone – she left a trail of blood behind. I’m guessing in her last moments of life, she crept through the woods, completely aimless and praying for help. Then she’d’ve collapsed on the ground, and stared at some bug as she faded out of existence. Maybe she even lived until the fire started, and that’s what did her in. The fire killed Jarrett, and it killed Hunter. Your wife probably burned too, unless the wolf got to her first.
“You happy now? You happy that I told you all of this, all over again??”
He still would not look at me, solemnly drinking his tea without a single emotion on his face. How could he be so expressionless? Did he not feel? Is he heartless?
“I get it….” I whispered, leaning in. “I get it now. You think this is my fault. You think I killed them, that I started that fire! You think I’m making this up, or twisting the facts!” I was yelling now, and standing up. “You’re blaming me for this!! YOU’RE BLAMING ME!!!!”
“I’m not blaming you.”
“WHY NOT???”
I gazed down at Mr. Bielle, as he sat with his tea. A moment passed, and then a tear slipped by his cheek. “Do you want me to blame you?” he asked.
I stared at him, and at my untouched cup. I sat down again in the couch. “Reaper is alive,” I told him. “He attacked me once, earlier in the year, and since then I’ve had this sort of…. mental connection with him. When I go to sleep, I can see what he’s doing. And…. And Rose had this too.”
Mr. Bielle nodded. “Are you going to drink your tea?”
I grabbed my cup, and took a sip. It was bitter. “Well there in the mountains, Reaper was there. And he found some way to use this connection. He could plant thoughts in our minds, make us do thing we’d never do. More than once, we attacked each other, for no reason whatsoever, just realizing to pull back at the last second. He created Man-Wolf. And when Man-Wolf attacked Rose….” I trailed off, tearing up. “I couldn’t control it anymore. I wanted to kill Jarrett. I wanted to burn down the entire mountain. I started that fire. It was me…. All me.”
Mr. Bielle set down his cup on the table. It was empty.
“Thank you,” he whispered, weakly. “Now leave.”
I couldn’t tell what he meant. His voice was like a mix of everything: anger, restraint, sadness, relief, tiredness.
“Leave, I said.”
I got up and walked out the door.

[spideyfan914]

Episode Five: THE SHRIEKING

“I feel like I haven’t seen you at all in the past month,” I said to Shawn.
He shrugged, shutting his locker. “Yeah, I guess that’s what happens when you don’t share any classes….”
“But I haven’t seen you after school or anything either.”
“And that’s what happens when your dad hates me,” he laughed.
“Listen, Shawn, big stuff is happening. Reaper is back, and he’s taking major charge.”
Shawn nodded. “I know.”
“Yeah, and did you know there are two Wraiths now?”
“Nosferatu’s told me all of this.”
Oh.
I sighed. Class would soon be starting, and the halls were already emptying.
“Listen, Shawn, I….” I wasn’t sure how to put this. “You’re, like, my best friend, y’know.”
“Actually, I think I’m your only friend. Unless you count Quen and Alex.”
“Yeah, thanks for putting it lightly. My point is, I’m sick of you dodging me all the time.”
He shrugged. “That obvious, huh?”
“What’s up?”
Shawn looked down the empty hall, pausing for a moment until the bell rang. “I gotta go to class, Jake.”
“I don’t give a damn!” I shouted. “What the hell is going on??”
“Hell IS going on! That’s the point!” He caught his breath, lowering his voice. “Reaper is back, and what’s coming is really really big, Jake. I have to handle this alone, don’t you understand that?”
“Uh, no?”
“Reaper is my arch-enemy. He’s dangerous.”
I shrugged. “Personally, I always considered my arch-enemy. Your dad is yours.”
“Oh, shut up!”
“Well, it’s true. When we split up over the summer, who did Reaper go after again? Who is it that killed Blake again? Honestly, this is way more personal for me by now than it could ever be for you. I’m in it deeper than you are, Shawn, and you’re not going to be able to shrug me off so easily.”
He looked me up and down, searching for a retort. “You could die.”
“Yeah, I could’ve died that time you dragged me along to the True Society too. Thanks for that, by the way. And I told you then, we’re in this together.” I smiled. “Just consider me your sidekick, ‘kay?”
Shawn sighed. “Fine.”
“So, meet after school to discuss battle plan?”
He nodded. “Wait for me out front.”
“Great! Then I’m gonna head to class now and tell the teacher I just had major diarrhea!”
Shawn laughed as we parted.
I waited for him an hour after school. He never showed up.
---
I didn’t bother bringing it up with Shawn again. He was, quite clearly, unmoved by my performance. So, I would just have to wait for Reaper to attack the city and large, and interrupt proceedings then.
The dreams were still going on as usual. Now, though, there was very little murdering of innocents – now, the Wraiths seemed to be looking for someone. Someone specific, not just a random kill. Who they were after, I wasn’t sure. It wasn’t me for once – I’d be dead by now if it were. And it wasn’t Shawn either, I don’t think. But who else could be a threat to Zamxus Zane?
“Did you know Zamxus Zane?”
I spun around. We were in 6th period now, lunch. I was just sitting there, eating by myself since Shawn had a different lunch period. And Quentin Lake was standing behind me.
“Quen?” I said. “What do you mean?”
He narrowed his eyes, liking he was peering into my soul. Then he kept walking right past me.
“Wait!” I called after him, jumping up and running to his side as he left the cafeteria altogether. “What makes you think I know -?”
“There’s no point if you’re going to lie,” Quen said.
“L-lie? Why -? I mean, he was in our class, dude, but….”
“You were at his house.”
I froze. Quen had seen me.
When I stopped walking, Quen turned around to face me. “Why were you at his house? You were never close to him, were you?”
“I….” What was I supposed to say? Quen didn’t know Zamxus was Reaper, and it was probably better that way. “What were YOU doing at his house?” Wrong answer.
Quen stared at me coldly. His expression was unchanged by my remark. Maybe I should just cross him off my friends list….
“Don’t you ever visit Rose’s house?”
My heart sunk like a stone. It was a low blow, though I probably deserved it.
“I know you were close to him, Quen….” I whispered. “I’m sorry. It’s…. hard times for everyone.”
Quen nodded. “We’ve both lost two…. close ones.”
Two?
“You lost Blake, and Rose. I don’t mean to sound harsh, Jake.” I think that’s his way of apologizing.
“I….” Two? “I’m sorry, two?”
“Zamxus, and Ellen.”
My mouth opened, but nothing came out. Ellen Teeves. Killed when Ben Wolf turned the school into his personal killing weapon. “You…. Her….” Oh, wow. “I-I didn’t realize.”
He stared at me with his same cold look. “What were you doing at Zamxus’ house?”
I could tell him Zamxus lived. I could tell him who Zamxus truly was. I could tell him what Zamxus did to Ben, and what that meant for Ellen. But how would he take it? Would he even believe me? The last time he didn’t believe me, he rallied our entire class to mob-lynch me….
“I was…. friendly with Zamxus….” I whispered, not looking him in the eye. “Nobody knew. I was already unpopular enough, and Zamxus was weird enough to screw things up for me even more. I mean, I wasn’t super-close to him or anything, but…. Well, he’s the only one who actually believed me about Reaper and I guess because of that, I kinda somehow feel…. responsible, y’know? It’s stupid, yeah, but…. Yeah….”
Quen’s glare was relentless. I felt like if I looked up, his glare alone would slit my throat. He turned and walked away, without another word, leaving me standing there.
I don’t think he bought it.
---
I went right home after school that day. I didn’t bother waiting for Shawn. I didn’t stop by Mr. Bielle’s house. I didn’t go looking for my dad. I just went straight home, hoping to grab a Pop-Tart and maybe do some of that homework stuff I kept hearing about.
But I didn’t make it. Much as I wanted to, I just didn’t make it.
There’s this little bench in front of a shop on one of the corners midway. I half-expected to see Gary Bielle sitting there, as he had a few times in the past. But instead, there was just this little old lady, with ghost-white hair, wrinkles all around her face, and sunglasses that a blind person would wear.
I looked around. The corner was plenty crowded, with heavy traffic, police officers, loads of pedestrians, even tourists. To the side, I saw a small four-unit family, father proudly carrying his infant son, little girl standing between her parents, mother with beautiful golden hair and a large pregnant tummy.
It was broad daylight, not a likely place for Reaper to attack, though you never can know with him. Yet somehow, I had a bad feeling about this scene, as the policewoman traffic safety officer blew her whistle and called for a line of cars, trucks, and taxis to pass through.
Something here was familiar.
The old lady, the one with the blind person’s cane in her hands. I’d seen her before. I’d seen her before in….
My heart began to pound. My adrenaline rushed. I moved swiftly across the street, right through the moving cars much to the policewoman’s dismay, and approached that blind old lady.
“Jake Bradley,” she said, as though she knew I was there.
“Who are you?”
“Put these in your ears.” She drew her hand, holding it open to reveal two blood-red earplugs.
“Are you working with Reaper?” I demanded, keeping my voice low so no one could hear me. She said nothing, merely holding out her hand with the earplugs. “Do you have powers too?”
The old lady said nothing. She faced forward unseeingly, without speaking. I wanted her to say something. It was no coincidence she was here. I had to know who she was. I had to know what was going on.
I grabbed the earplugs.
“Now tell me who you are!” I said, but the old lady merely smiled, taking with both hands the cane across her lap and placing it aside. She looked up toward the heavens, raising her hands into the air, lifting off her seat. A small wind circled around her. A rune had been etched beneath the bench. Heads turned. A blind woman, flying up to heaven, skin shrinking away, mouth opening, wider, wider, screaming.
Screaming.
SCREAMING!!
I took the earplugs and jammed them deep into my ears, still only drowning out most of the noise, the scream. It was worse than ten babies crying! This was worse than a rocket engine!
Her sunglasses fell to the floor, but no eyes remained in her head. She didn’t have a face anymore – just a mouth with hair, and a scream! It pierced all around the corner. Cars went mad, rearing off the road and to the side, crashing into each other, debris flying everywhere. She wasn’t the only one screaming anymore, though no one else’s voice could quite match it.
My eyes flickered around the corner, as I held tight to my earplugs, panicked. The scream was louder than any noise I’d heard before, and I could only wonder how it sounded to the others. They keeled over, fainted, died. Blood trickled out their ears, as though someone had run knives into everyone’s heads.
The policewoman traffic safety officer collapsed in the intersection, and four cars ganged up on her, ramming into each other. One flipped over, leaping the gap and coming right toward me. I gazed up in fear as it slammed what seemed like a foot away from me in an enormous fiery explosion. All around me, everyone – EVERYONE – was dying.
I collapsed to the ground. Was I going to die too? I couldn’t die, not like this, not without half a decent explanation.
A body fell in front of me. A woman with beautiful golden hair and a large pregnant tummy. Her ears bled onto the ground, as she stared lifelessly into my eyes, and I into hers. Her eyes were green. And it all blacked out.

[spideyfan914]

Episode Six: TRUE REBELS

I awoke.
I was in a small room somewhere. It looked strangely like my own bedroom, but something was off – I hadn’t been before. Or if I had, it didn’t look like this.
I was lying in bed, and sitting at the desk was a young woman, only a few years older than me at most, with long brown hair down her back and a beautiful smile. She sat there almost seductively, staring at me with deep blue eyes. Where was I?
“Good, you’re awake,” said the woman.
“Who are you?” I sat up. “Where am I? Where’s the old -?”
Suddenly, I recognized her. I’d seen this woman before too, standing side-by-side with the old blind banshee in one of my dreams.
“You’re with her!” I shouted, leaping out of the bed. “You’re in league with Reaper, all of you! What do you want with me? Why didn’t you just kill me when you could??”
“Ssh,” she put a finger over her lips and leaned back, hair flowing over the back of the seat. “Just wait, Jake. We aren’t with Reaper; we never were. No harm will come to you.”
“No harm will come to me! Well what about all those people? That woman you’re working with – she killed all those people! Men, women, children, EVERYBODY DROPPED DEAD!!!”
“Yes, Banshee’s wail is quite powerful. You should be grateful, Jake, that she let you live.”
Earplugs! God damn it!
“And to be perfectly clear, those plugs had already been enchanted.” She was speaking so calmly, soothingly, about the massacre of –
“Why does this stuff always happen to me?”
It wasn’t worth the energy, really. I sat down on the bed. After two onslaughts on a high school, countless murders around the city, and the devil knows what else, what difference would one little street corner make anyway? Yeah, it was pretty tragic and all that, but so was everything in my entire life.
The door opened up all of a sudden, and the old woman from earlier arrived, using her cane to feel the way.
“He’s awake, Vi,” the young one said.
The old lady smiled. “Good, Arthur will be in in just a moment.”
“You’re a Banshee.” I shrugged. “You’re a Banshee, she’s probably another Sorceress or something, Shadows, Reapers, what does it matter.”
“Sorceress!” the girl laughed. “I’ll take it as a compliment, but no, not at all.”
“My name is Violet Ranar,” the old woman said. “I am, as you say, Banshee. I brought you here, Jake, because we believe you are a primary target for the one known as Reaper.”
“Yeah, thanks for telling me,” I rolled my eyes. “So why did you have to, like, kill everyone?”
“We knew you would never come peacefully, and we didn’t want you knowing our location either. I could knock you out by lowering my wail, though I cannot do that naturally. The others were merely a side-effect.”
“And you couldn’t, y’know, direct your screaming thing….?”
She took it peculiarly, furrowing her brow as she spoke. “Why would I want to do that?”
I groaned, but waved it off. “How big a radius, exactly, but this undirected wail carry over?”
“Oh, quite a large one,” the old woman replied matter-of-factly. “It kills within about forty yards or so, and past that can still render unconsciousness for several city blocks. And I’m certain most of Manhattan at least heard something mildly irritating. Now Jake,” she moved on as though of no consequence, “if I recall correctly, you have a sort of spiritual connection with Reaper, correct?”
“Don’t remind me,” I muttered under my breath.
“So in that case, you’re already aware of what’s transpired.”
“I saw you – both of you – with him that day!” I said.
“You mean the day my husband was killed?”
“Yes! Wait, your husband?”
Violet Ranar nodded. “My husband, Frank Ranar. He was an acquaintance of yours, I believe, though you knew him better as Tarantula.”
“Oh….”
“When he was put in charge of the True Society, he needed new members to place on the Higher Council. Traditionally, there are two.”
“So he gave his wife a favor, and then got this kid as well.”
“Actually,” Mrs. Ranar said, “Wendy here was not the first. There was a Fairy who he first took in, then a Dragonwoman, and then finally Wendy Gorman.”
I looked back and forth between them, then spoke to Wendy. “What happened to the first two?”
Wendy shrugged nonchalantly, and Mrs. Ranar interrupted. “They stopped sucking up to him.”
“Sucking up to….?” I jerked back to Wendy, who was gazing off into space. And I vomited. I really wish I hadn’t heard that.
“Between you and me,” Mrs. Ranar whispered into my ear, “this girl should be grateful my husband died when he did. I had just happened to find out what she’d done with their future children, and he would not at all have been happy…. She’d likely have joined her predecessors six feet under.”
I vomited again. “Why did you tell me that? Why, oh why, did you tell me that?”
“You’d have liked that, wouldn’t you, Vi?” Wendy said in her same seductive voice. “For the spider to kill me so you would have him all to yourself?”
“Can we PLEASE stop this conversation? PLEASE???”
“Honestly, Wendy,” Mrs. Ranar sneered, “if Arthur didn’t find you so valuable, I’d’ve done you off ages ago?”
Wendy laughed. “And how would you do that? Your wail doesn’t work on anyone with demons inside. To be perfectly blunt, I’m surprised anyone could care so much for that bug.”
“It’s something you wouldn’t understand, Wendy. Something you will never understand.”
“No, I’m with the girl,” I said. “This is really, really disgusting. Like, you’re both disgusting. Just wanted to get that out there.”
“Please don’t judge me,” Wendy looked to me. “I only did it for the power. You’d have done the same thing.”
“No, I don’t think I would, and that’s prostitution, you’re a prostitute.”
Mrs. Ranar laughed, as Wendy’s face flared up in rage. She leapt up, growing in size, her teeth shooting out, nails growing long, morphed into a monster, pounced on me. My heart rate shot skyward as the creature roared in my face.
“Wendigo! Calm!”
The creature turned to the door, where Arthur had just walked in, a man wearing a mask that looked like Phantom. A mask that looked like….?
“I…. apologize, Arthur,” the creature spoke, standing up – it was easily ten feet tall, though Wendy was no more than five-and-a-half. “I lost my temper.”
It walked away from me, and I noticed a rune carved along its back, as it shrunk back into the body of Wendy Gorman. Her shirt had been torn, but she simply faced away from us the remainder of the time.
And Arthur….
He turned to face me, still lying on the ground. “Remember me, Jake?”
“Yeah,” I nodded, trying to hide my nervousness. “You tried to kill me.”
“And I will again, but not today.” Art Casper kneeled down in front of me. “Zamxus Zane has seized the True Society, Jake. You may or may not have figured this out, but it is the truth. He killed Tarantula, and claimed control for himself. However, not all of us are fond of his methods. Banshee and Wendigo here freed me from my cell, and we’ve been hiding away ever since. Naturally, considering your connection with Reaper, this is why we did not want you knowing our location.”
“What is there to know? Seen one bit of Nouda’s Realm, you’ve seen it all, right?”
“Maybe to you, but Zamxus will know better than that.”
“Yeah, so why did you bring me here at all? What’s the point?”
He snapped his finger. “We’re giving you a shadow.” What was it Zamxus had said? There are no shadows in Nouda’s Realm? Because I was casting one right now, and it rose up from the ground.
“That thing’s with you too??” I moaned.
Art Casper stood up. “You mean you don’t recognize him?”
I blinked. “Recognize who?”
Casper shrugged, ignoring my question, and turning to Shadow. “You’re going to be following Jake now. Zamxus cannot resist, and when he shows his face, you will report directly to me. I will send whatever reinforcements are necessary, and we will defeat Reaper.”
Wait a minute….
“It’s a shame, really. You were a much more valuable ally before Tarantula changed you, back when you had a mind of your own. Although I suppose that’s why you needed to be changed.”
It clicked just then.
“So, do you have all that Cradle?”
“Jonathan Cradle!!” I jumped up from the ground. “Jonathan Cradle!!!! I – I thought you were…. I assumed they had….”
“Don’t bother,” Casper spoke. “It doesn’t understand, doesn’t remember. It’s just a puppet now, nothing more.”
Jonathan Cradle was alive….
“It will hide in your shadow, emerging only when necessary. Remember, of course, that is important you do not mention this to anyone. Try not to even acknowledge your Shadow, in case Reaper hears you.”
I shrugged. “Y’know, I’ve never really been certain that my connection works both ways….”
“Trust me, it does. Though maybe not to quite the same extent.”
“Well then, how come he doesn’t see this right now?”
“You know that blood rune Reaper made on the mountain which increased your connection with him?” Mrs. Ranar said. “Well, we did a reverse of that in this room. Of course, though, you will need to fall asleep before we bring you back to the city.”
I sighed. “I don’t like this,” I muttered. “I don’t like any of you.”
“You have no choice,” Casper declared in his usual uncaring tone.
“I have to ask, though. What is Reaper planning? What is so bad that even you are against him?”
“Jake, I want to kill my son. That is all I want. I do not care about the same things Zamxus cares about.”
“Same freakin’ society!”
Wendy laughed over in her corner. “Have you never noticed, boy? No one in the True Society actually gives a damn about the True Society. We use it for our own gain, for power, that sort of thing. Zamxus Zane is the only one crazy enough to take it seriously.”
“I…. I…. Don’t call me boy!” She was like 18. Seriously.
“Zane has been plotting for a long time, Jake,” Mrs. Ranar explained. “He’s finally made the sacrifices he needs, and his plans are almost complete.”
“Yeah, I’ve been volleyed around for the past six months like a human ping-pong ball, but I definitely have no idea what he’s been planning.”
There was a silence, as though they were considering how much of an idiot I was. And then Art Casper spoke.
“The Apocalypse. Nouda will rise, and the Apocalypse will come.”
My life is average.

[spideyfan914]

Episode Seven: FRIEND OF THE REAPER


A ghost. A ghost looks me in the eye. This is impossible, I know it can’t be true. And yet, here he is.
“What’s the matter?” Zamxus smiles. “Don’t you recognize me?”
But you’re dead. You died.
“In that case, how am I standing here now?”
He makes a point. Here he stands on his porch at his doorstep, myself just a few steps below. I reach out, I touch him. I can touch him.
But how?
“Some people just won’t die,” he says. “It’s nice to see you again after all these months. Why don’t you stop by later, and I’ll explain it all in detail? Let’s say 3:00, right after school.”
You can’t now?
“I need time, old friend, to prepare.”
---
I woke up in bed. My real bed, in the real world. My mom was calling to me to get out of bed, as though I’d been there all night long, as though nothing had ever happened.
There was rain outside. Like the rain of April. Perhaps, this time, it really was just a dream.
I climbed out of bed, feeling strangely rejuvenated, ready for a new day. As though nothing had ever happened.
I got dressed, went over to the bathroom to brush my teeth, stared myself in the mirror. Nothing had ever happened. Just one long nightmare, from which I’d finally woken up.
I laughed. It was almost anti-climactic, like I wanted to know how it ended. It’s that feeling after a really epic movie turned off just before the climax. But thank the non-demon Lord it wasn’t real. Just one, long dream.
Except when I put my toothbrush back in the holder, it was the only one there.
Glad to see you’re up, Jake. For a moment there, I thought you died without me.
I closed my eyes, letting it gently settle in. Not a dream. I haven’t dreamed in months. May never dream again.
There is no reason to hope.
“You there, Jonathan?” I whispered. “I was scared for you, y’know. I’ve already lost so many friends in this, and I didn’t even have that many friends to start with. Just want you to know, I don’t believe you’re really dead. I think you are in there, somewhere. There can’t be a shadow without a man.”
No response. He couldn’t blow his cover, I understood. Maybe even he was sleeping. Do shadows sleep?
I went downstairs, where my mom had breakfast on the table. Bacon, egg, and cheese. My favorite.
“That must’ve been one really bad headache you had last night,” my mom said. “You were out all night long. You must be starving.”
So that’s the excuse they came up with.
“I don’t blame you, of course. That bomb was close on your way home from school. I was worried about you, Jake.” She ran up to me all of a sudden, hugging me tight. “I was really worried about you….”
“I….” I just wanted to eat. “B-bomb? What – what happened?”
She let go of me, standing up and staring me in the eye. “They’re saying it was terrorists. A sort of noise bomb. Was dropped not too far from here. So many dead….”
Banshee. If only I hadn’t approached her…. She wouldn’t have seen me, after all, and nothing would have happened….
“Where’s Dad?” I asked.
“He left for work,” Mom said, returning to the dishes. “The police have a lot of…. clean-up to do…. He went into your room early in the morning to kiss you good-bye. I’m sorry, Jake. We were both very late last night – there were lots of detainments.”
“And….” Wait a minute. “And I still have school? After all that?”
“Personally, I don’t really agree with it either. A lot of people are taking off.” She looked to me. “If you don’t feel up to it, Jake, you don’t have to go.”
I shrugged. “No,” I said. “It’s fine. I want to go.” Stranger words have never been spoken.
---
Most students were not at school that day. I looked for Shawn, but couldn’t find him. Alex and Lauren were both out. Miss Watson went on as normal, though the rest of the teachers held some sort of memorial session. It made me prefer Watson’s class, surprisingly.
I did run into Nick at one point between classes. He had a black eye. I wondered if his uncle had done that, when Nick glared at me and said, “What are you looking at??” I apologized, “I’m sorry, I heard your uncle –“ But before I could finish, he’d slammed me against a locker, preparing for the final blow, then suddenly left before delivering. Slightly confused, I kept on walking, pushing the incident out of my mind.
The rest of the day proceeded in silence. Maybe some of the students knew people who’d died. I couldn’t really be certain, it’s hard to imagine they’d still come to school if they’d known one of Banshee’s victims, but it’s even harder to imagine that they’d be so upset over the deaths of people they never knew.
One thing I’ve learned recently: There is a lot of room for blackness in the heart.
The final bell rang. I didn’t really want to return home, but there seemed little else to do. I went out the doors and began walking, but as I crossed through the gates I was suddenly shoved up against them.
“Did you know that Zamxus Zane is alive?”
Pinned to the fence, I stared into the cold frightened eyes of Quentin Lake.
“Well?”
I stammered. “I…. What are you talking about?”
He sharpened his gaze, frowning angrily. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“N…. No!” I declared, as it sunk in. “No, Quen, that’s – No!”
“I saw him.”
My dream.
I stared up at Quen, searching for the words. Before I could find them, he let me go and started walking off. I chased after him – this couldn’t be good.
“Where are you going?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“I’m meeting my friend,” he sneered.
“Quen, please, you have to –“
“DON’T CALL ME QUEN!” he snapped, spinning toward me.
“Quentin,” I said, “you have to listen to me. You – you can’t trust Zamxus.”
“Funny, where I’m standing, I can’t trust you.” He kept walking, ignoring me as I followed him.
“Okay, I’m sorry I lied to you!” I shouted, trying to keep up with his pace. “But I didn’t want to…. There are things you don’t know, and….”
At least I think he doesn’t know them. He wasn’t giving me any response.
“Listen, remember back in June, when you asked me who Reaper was, and I wouldn’t answer? Well, that’s because – are you listening to any of this?”
He crossed the street in front of a car, cutting me off. I waited for the light to change, then ran up after him. Zane’s house wasn’t far from here. I didn’t have much time.
“Zamxus Zane is Reaper!!”
He spun around, pointing a knife in my face, just hidden enough that no one but me would see it. “You have lost my respect, Jake,” he sneered. “Now stop following me, or I will slit your throat.”
I stared down at the blade of the knife. He wouldn’t believe me. What was I supposed to do?
He backed away, ducking into an alleyway as a shortcut. I don’t much like alleyways. But I had to stop him somehow, so I ran in after him, but he was already gone. Whatever Reaper was planning, it’s never good.
Shadow rose up. He was going to get Spirit, obviously. Reaper had shown himself, but what would they do to Quen if they found him there?
“Wait,” I whispered, “don’t go.”
The shadow froze in midair. It had no eyes, but I could feel it looking down at me.
“Quen is…. He’s my friend. He’s just confused is all. Don’t bring those others – I don’t….”
It waited a moment, then sunk back down into the ground beside me. I breathed a sigh of relief. If only I knew where Shawn was….
I dialed his number, but no response as always. So I left a message – maybe Nosferatu would get it again. I knew where Zane’s house was. I just had to find a way in.
I ran out of the alley, making it over to the devil house as quickly as I could. I got there just in time to see him beckoning Quen inside. He wasn’t wearing anything unusual – just normal clothes, for once. It occurred to me that if Quen had been here before, he would’ve had to have been inside before, but then again Nouda’s Realm has many components, and it’s possible Zamxus brought him to a “normal” part.
I crossed the street, and went up the porch. I wasn’t certain I could even get inside – opening the door, I might just wind up in some random guy’s house. Unless….
“Jonathan,” I whispered, “you can get us in there, right?”
He didn’t respond, but I felt a bit more confident. The door was unlocked, and holding my breath I opened it.
A long, dimly lit hallway. Pictures hung from the walls, of demons and hellfire. This was the place.
“Zamxus,” a voice said at the end of the hallway. “This…. where are we?”
I snuck along, staying behind the wall and peering out in the large candlelit room, with an enormous rune in the center of it. Quentin Lake stood, staring beyond Zamxus Zane, staring at the demonic statue of Nouda himself, and at the small door atop that balcony.
Zamxus smiled at Quen, stepping back beneath the statue. “This,” he declared, “is Nouda. He is the demon Lord who will bring us the Apocalypse.”
Quen stared for a moment, then laughed. “You always did have a sadistic sense of humor….”
Zamxus shook his head, clicking his head and pulling out a cloak from behind the statue.
“No, my friend, I kid you not. Nouda has demanded many sacrifices, something which I have been successful in bringing for him. Already, the clock is ticking, and at the end of the six hundred sixty-six days, Nouda will come to Earth.” He tried on the cloak, buttoning up and Quen stared in confusion. “Of course, that is by the time frame of Nouda’s Realm. By Earth days, it should be about mid-October.”
“Zamxus,” Quen said, “it’s already October.”
He smiled. “Oh? Is it? In that case, just a few more weeks.”
“What’s going on?”
Zamxus lifted his hood above his head, walking across the room. “I have recently harnessed control over a group of people who worship Nouda. They call themselves –“
“The True Society.”
“Oh, good! You’ve heard of it, that saves me some explaining. Of course, you should know that most of these guys are complete hypocrites. They don’t even WANT Nouda to come! Can you believe that?”
Smiling gleefully, Zamxus reached into the darkness and pulled out the scythe of Reaper. I could hardly imagine what was going through Quen’s head right now. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
“You’re Reaper….” he said. “Jake was telling the truth.”
“Well of course I’m Reaper! Who did you expect? Donald Trump?”
We had to make our move. It was now or never. I whispered Jonathan’s name, but got no response. I wasn’t casting a shadow anymore. He was gone. He’d went to fetch Spirit….
“So,” Zamxus spoke to Quen, cracking his neck as he walked forward, “it appears that I have to construct my own Higher Council. The old one’s kinda skipped out on me. And Lake my friend, I’ve chosen you.”
Quentin Lake….
“I am going to give you powers beyond your wildest imagination. We will rule this land. We will bring about the Apocalypse. You and me….”
He stared into the eyes of his old friend.
“Together.”

[spideyfan914]

Episode Eight: THE TRUE QUENTIN LAKE

“Lake my friend, I’ve chosen you. I am going to give you powers beyond your wildest imagination. We will rule this land. We will bring about the Apocalypse. You and me, together.”
Quentin Lake stared into the eyes of his old friend. His old friend is Reaper. He stared into the eyes of Zamxus Zane, not saying a word.
Shadow was gone. Any minute now, he’d return with Art Casper and the others, and they’d tear Quen to shreds if they learned of Zamxus’ interest in him. If I didn’t act now, then….
What if Quen agrees?
“Well, Lake,” Zamxus smiled, “what do you say?”
Quen continued to stare at him. I couldn’t see his face. I didn’t know what he was thinking.
“Zamxus,” he spoke, “my friends call me Quen.”
He turned around and began to walk away. Zamxus stood there, alone in the center of the room, still smiling.
They came out of the darkness – the Wraiths, Reaper’s minions. In but a moment, they’d grabbed Quen, one for each arm, dragged him back to the center, pushed him down.
“I’m sorry ‘bout this, Lake,” Zamxus said, standing over him and looking down, “but see you really don’t have as much choice here as I initially said you did.”
I had to do something!
“STOP!”
Does that count as something?
Quen looked over at me, a look in his eyes I hadn’t seen before – a look of fear. Zamxus did not share the reaction, not even turning to look at me.
“Oh yeah,” he said as though he’d known I was there the whole time, “and grab him too.”
The smaller Wraith, the one I didn’t recognize, flew over to me. I turned and ran. I wish I knew how to navigate the True Society – I’ve seen others do it, but I have no idea how! It was only a moment before it had grabbed me, and brought me over to Zamxus.
“Jake Bradley,” he declared. “Long time, no see. Pay close attention now: This is how a demon is born.”
The other Wraith, the one I knew to be Doug Urson, held down Quentin Lake as Zamxus Zane chained him to the floor, to the rune. He lied there in silence, knowing it was useless to struggle, but still the look of fear was undeniable as Zamxus and Doug backed away to the edges of the room, leaving Quen all alone within the rune.
“I’ve prepared this rune special for the occasion,” Zamxus spoke. “You’ll notice, Jake, that it does not have the same markings as the last time you were here. It is not for my transformations now, but for creation. See, you’ll notice how the circle actually has several different layers to it. The inner circle contains what will be Quen’s new name, and is itself the rune he’ll later use to transform. The outer layers are the detailed instructions to Nouda so he can send the demon to share Quen’s body.”
Zamxus sat down on the staircase, making himself comfortable and picking up a book that was resting there.
“See this?” he said, holding the book up for me to see. “This is a very useful book. It contains all sorts of runes and how to activate them.”
“How to….?”
“Oh, it’s not that hard,” Zamxus laughed. “Now, as you know, runes were originally etched in human flesh, but nowadays most of us have learned that simple chalk is just as effective, and frankly is a lot less messy. Anyway, once the rune is drawn, all you gotta do is read it. Remember: All runes are actually words, written in Nouda’s own language. (It’s a very large alphabet, I know.) So, there are some runes which are fairly easy, and you can activate them through concentration. But, of course, when you aren’t in the rune yourself, there is an alternate means: You simply have to speak the word aloud.”
Zamxus flipped open to a bookmarked page, and began to speak, when it suddenly grew windy in the room. Spirit had arrived.
“Hello, Reaper.”
“Shawn??”
Shadow leapt out of the darkness, tackling the Wraith that had grabbed onto me. He hadn’t gone after his team – he’d gone after Shawn!
Doug leapt into action, going right for Phantom, swinging his scythe. Phantom flew around Doug, dodging blows left and right. Across the room, Shadow continued his charge against the other Wraith, as it tried to bend him like the darkness but he fought back, forcing himself around it to engulf it.
Suddenly, a light shone around the room, a light like a circle. I looked up to see Zamxus standing atop the balcony, whispering something inaudibly.
“SHUT HIM UP!!” Quen yelled in the center of the rune, and Phantom spun around, flying up to Zamxus, but before he could make it Doug blocked his way, cutting sharply into Phantom’s arm.
I had to do something! The rune had a glow all around it now, like a wall of light. It was working so perfectly, and Quen was yellng in pain.
“No one said it was painless,” Zamxus rolled his eyes.
It was working so perfectly, the rune….
The rune….
I jumped forward, but crashed against the wall of light. It really was a wall. I punched at it, clawed, trying to seek a way through, but nothing worked – what made me think it would?
Quen screamed in pain, as the chains binding him melted away, and he grabbed onto his head, screaming.
Phantom blew a burst of wind, slamming Doug against a wall, then flew over to Zamxus and swatted the closed book out of his hand. The closed book….
Zamxus smiled. “It’s too late now,” he said. “It’s already begun.”
Phantom threw a punch, to which Zamxus slammed down his scythe and cut right into the hand of Phantom. Doug’s scythe may have worked enough to hurt Phantom, but only Reaper could ever make him scream, make him bleed.
Blood…. We needed blood….
Phantom vanished for a moment, and Zamxus ducked out of sight, running behind a wall I did not remember seeing earlier and would never see again.
Quen was still screaming in the center of the rune.
“It’s a long and brutal process,” Phantom spoke beside me. “I’ve been through this before. But we only have a few minutes.”
“Can you get inside?” I asked. He looked at me strangely, as though wondering why I’d even suggest it. I asked again. “Can you get inside?”
“No,” he said. “Nothing can get in or out once the process has begun. Quen is in there alone, beginning to end.”
Beginning to end…. Alone…. Without chains, though.
Doug came back from the rebound. He swung his scythe through Phantom, who spun around and shot some more wind, though weaker now. Doug quickly managed a comeback, slashing and slashing and slashing.
“Shawn….”
Suddenly, Doug was hurled aside. Another scythe had been hurled at him – Shadow had seized the other Wraith’s scythe! Shadow picked it up again, silently blinking beside Doug and meeting scythe’s, using his blade to slice through the wooden part of Doug’s. Before Doug could even react, his blade slid down into Shadow’s arm, and the creature suddenly engulfed both weapons within him, absorbing them, and leaned in toward Doug, who threw a futile karate chop. It didn’t even disturb Shadow’s presence. Doug slipped away into the darkness.
The other Wraith flew over now, toward Phantom. It created an icy plate along the wall, forming a makeshift scythe out of the darkness itself, but Phantom simply zipped around it like a ghost, hurling a wind against the Wraith. It was down.
And Quen…. Still screaming, it was up to him now.
“QUEN!!!!” I shouted out. “YOU HAVE TO BLEED!!!!”
Suddenly, a pair of bony hands grabbed me from behind, pulled me back. A moment later, I was falling through darkness.
All this darkness….
“Jake Bradley.” I hate that voice. “Why do you want so badly to ruin my plans?”
“Uh, because you’re evil?”
There was silence for a moment. And then, “Okay, fair enough.”
Two blood-red eyes appeared before me.
“Still, there’s nothing you can do. You cannot ruin my plans, for they are already complete. In all honesty, everything I’m doing now is merely celebration. Nouda will rise in just a few more weeks. It is inevitable.”
“Are you going to kill me?” I asked. I was surprised by how naturally the words slipped off my tongue. Almost as though I was ready to die. Maybe I was.
“Yes.”
“Then get on with it.”
A laugh. Perhaps the only thing I hate more than his voice is his laugh. It’s the laugh that will keep you up at night, the most frightening thing in the universe.
“Jake, let’s not misunderstand each other,” he said. “I’m going to kill you, but not now. Now would be too easy, too pointless. I mean, this has been building up for months, man! We need climax, excitement! Didn’t you learn anything from the movies?”
“I hate you,” I whispered.
“I hate you too,” he cooed it like a love letter.
Jake, why did you do it, Jake?
I recognize that voice.
I loved you. Why did you let me go?
I…. I didn’t mean to.
You killed me, Jake! Not Reaper, not Jarrett, you!
Don’t forget about me, big bro.
No….
You’re the only reason Reaper had come after me at all. If you hadn’t lived, he’d have moved on.
Your brother makes a point, Jake. We all would’ve been safe if only we weren’t related to you.
Shut up!
You should have died instead.
“Don’t worry, Jake,” Reaper grabbed me with both hands, pulling me from the darkness. “Like I said, it isn’t time for you to die, yet.”
I emerged from the darkness. I was back in the same room. The wall of light had faded now. Reaper stood at my feet.
Phantom rushed toward him, and with a flick of his scythe Reaper threw him aside. Shadow lunged at Reaper, but he took complete control of him, more than the Wraith ever could, throwing my Shadow across the room with but a thought. Reaper crossed the room, spinning back to stop another charge from Phantom. He spun his scythe in circles, using it like a shield against Shadow’s whole bombardment of shapeshifting attacks.
He slowly stepped back, without making a single offensive move against Phantom. He stepped back and picked up the Wraith on the ground, gently and delicately like you would a fallen angel. Something hit me all of a sudden, as I noticed the specific shape of the new Wraith. Maybe I was imagining things, but it seemed to be a girl.
Reaper continued to step backward, protecting himself from Phantom’s onslaught. And then, at the last minute, spinning his scythe to the side, slicing into the wall. And it, the wall, seemed to topple over in pain, as Shadow collapsed, cut right in the heart, and Reaper backed up into the dark shroud of the room’s edge.
I stared in shock. It had only been a second, but already Shadow was standing up, like nothing had happened at all.
Quen.
“Quen!”
We all ran to the center of the room. Reaper had not stopped to collect Quentin Lake. He was laying, in the middle of the rune, a pool of blood surrounding him. It seemed he’d taken my advice quite literally. His head was bleeding. He’d slammed his head against the hard floor, and bled. Destroying the rune in the process.
“I don’t get,” he said wearily, most of his energy sapped, “how actually going emo managed to save me.”
I smiled, but Phantom explained it. “Runes are written in flesh,” he said. “Your blood mixed in and became part of the rune. But in such a disorganized matter, it just became meaningless markings, powerless.”
“Should I…. go to a hospital?”
Shadow leaned over, covering himself around Quen’s head wound, and as he pulled back, Quen was fully healed.
I looked over at Shadow, staring at it in awe. “Okay, that was pretty cool.”
“So this is Jonathan Cradle,” Phantom whispered. “What have they done to you?”
“They said that this way, he’s fully loyal,” I explained. “Just a shadow of a man.” But then I realized what had happened. “Except he listened to me! I asked him not to fetch your dad, and he didn’t!”
“MY DAD???”
Okay, I’ll admit it, there were probably better ways of bringing that up.
“Yeah, um, your dad’s leading these, uh, rebels against the True Society…. Himself, a Banshee, a Wendigo, and Jonathan. And, um –“
“I know about Banshee, Wendigo, and Shadow,” he said. “I just didn’t know my father was with them.”
I shrugged. “He probably didn’t want you knowing….”
“That was Banshee who killed those people yesterday, right? I’ve been trying to find her all day. We’ve spoken before, and she’d agreed to harm as few innocents as possible.”
“As few??”
“I don’t like her much either….” he went on. “All I found today was Wendy. She told me about your Shadow, Jake.”
I nodded. “So much for keeping me out of it, huh?”
He didn’t say anything the next moment. I almost regretted saying it. “I’m sorry, Jake. Reaper will never stop until you’re dead. I know that.”
“So you thought by distancing yourself, I’d be safer and out of danger, I get it dude. But frankly, I don’t give a damn.”
“I asked you once if you’re sure you don’t just want to die.”
My heart sunk. I can’t deny that I well remember the question.
“Dude,” I said, “not in front of these guys.”
Quen stood up. “You two need to stick together. A friendship is more important than good and evil.”
We turned toward him, but he was already walking away and out the door. Shadow had resumed his position as my shadow. For all intents and purposes, we were as alone as we could be. In Reaper’s house. I don’t know if that’s a particularly great time and place for a tear jerking moment, but life is weird like that.
“If it makes you feel better,” I said, “I always thought this was my story, and that you’re the one who got caught in the middle.”
He nodded. “Want me to take you home?”
“My dad won’t like that.”
“Some things are more important.”
I smiled. “Thanks, but most things aren’t worth getting caught over. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”
He nodded. “See you tomorrow, Jake.” And with that, he disappeared into a burst of wind.
---
The doorbell rang.
I remained in my room, doing homework to pass the time. Economics. I had this strange feeling that economics wouldn’t really matter if Reaper won. I could already see him back in his house, Wraiths by his side, repairing the rune and waiting.
“Jake,” my mom called, “it’s for you.”
Judging by her tone, it wasn’t Shawn. A bit curious, I went downstairs, praying it wasn’t Zamxus or something like that – I seriously would not be surprised. But no, this one did surprise.
“Hey Jake,” Nick said.
I stood there in a mix of shock and terror. Nick Sanchez was at my house, black eye and all.
He hadn’t happened been here since he was attacked by Reaper months ago. He stood in the door, gazing kind of down and off to the side. I glanced around to see if I was missing something, but everything was indeed in place.
“Wh…. What do YOU want??” I blurted out.
He shrugged, half-heartedly. “You mind coming outside?”
“So you can give me a wedgie or something? Uh, no thank you.”
“Please.”
I stared in amazement. Nick Sanchez had rung my doorbell, asking for me. And I don’t know why, but the next thing I said was, “I’ll go get my coat.” Maybe the black eye made him sympathetic. Or maybe Reaper was in my head again.
We walked through the streets of Manhattan. I followed his lead, wondering where we were going. He didn’t say anything. I still didn’t know what to think, but he wasn’t saying anything!
“What is going on?” I finally asked.
Nick stopped in his steps, remaining silent for just another moment. “You have the dreams too?”
I blinked. I had the dreams. Rose had the dreams. But had it ever before been mentioned that….?
“Yeah,” I said, “ever since Reaper attacked me that first time. And they’ve gotten worse….”
He sighed. “I see what you do.”
“How do you mean?”
“In the dreams. Whenever you meet with Reaper, I see what you do.”
I stared in silence, not quite knowing what to make of this. On the one hand, it was kind of intrusive…. Did other Reaper survivors also see everything I do? That’s kind of….
“I know what happened on the mountain, Jake,” Nick went on. “I saw it all.”
“That wasn’t my -!”
“I know! I know….”
We stood there in silence another moment, as I could do no more than guess at what he was thinking. And then he kept walking again. I ran up after him.
“Where are we going?” I demanded.
Nick shrugged again. It was starting to get annoying. “I don’t know.”
“You aren’t, like, evil or anything, are you? ‘Cause it’s not that big a stretch.”
“Shut up.”
He said it like I was picking on him. That would be a new one.
“You met him today.”
I nodded. “Yes. It was…. yes.”
“And he’s really building some kind of army?”
“No, just a few,” I explained. “He’s forming his own True Society. But that’s a moot point.”
“The Apocalypse….”
“Yeah, that’s not a moot point.” Why was I even telling him all of this? What had he done to deserve –
We both froze in our steps, realizing where we’d arrived.
“That’s it, isn’t it?” Nick asked.
I confirmed it. “Zamxus’ house.”
Standing on the corner. We must’ve been going there subconsciously. Or maybe Zamxus wanted us to go there…. Who knows.
“We should leave,” I said, but Nick stepped forward, crossing the street.
What was he doing??
The light changed, but I ran into the street anyway, through the traffic.
“Nick!” I shouted. “Stop!”
He turned around, now standing on the porch. He looked to me, bruises on his face, and then at the door.
“I’ve never been inside….”
“Well, lucky you! You think you want to go inside? Like it’s going to have your answers? It won’t solve anything – only make it worse!”
“But it’s….” he searched for the word, “calling to me.”
Against my protests, Nick took the old-fashioned knocker in hand and banged on the door. My heart froze as the door opened and an old man answered the door.
“Yes?” he asked, looking down at Nick.
“I…. This is Reaper’s house, right?”
The old man stared at him a moment, then cracked up laughing. Then started yelling, “YOU GODDAMN PRANKSTERS!!!!”
I leaned forward, peering inside. It was a normal house, normal furniture, a TV flashing in the distance.
“You again?” the old man noticed me. “Oh, get out of here before I call the police!” He slammed the door. We stood there a moment in silence before the door opened up again. “And don’t come back!”
The old man slammed the door in Nick’s face, and he slowly turned around and walked down the steps.
“It…. doesn’t always work,” I told him. Nick nodded, understanding, and we continued walking.
“I had to see it,” he said. “I had to see it.”
“Trust me, Nick, you wouldn’t get any of your answers in there. More likely than not, Reaper would kill you. Just like before.”
“He didn’t try to kill Lake.”
“Okay,” I grabbed Nick, stopping once again only halfway down the block. “There is a big difference between you and Quentin Lake! Quen was apparently his friend once, so Zamxus decided to return the favor by trying to turn him into some sort of monster! You do not want that, Nick. You don’t want to be like Ben, or Jarrett, or whatever.”
“At least they can stand up to Reaper….”
“And you think he’s going to give that kind of power to someone who isn’t just like him? He wants to control you, to get inside your mind. He’s looking for minions. And if you think he cares about any of them – even Quen – you’re as good as Reaper’s next victim.”
Nick didn’t look me in the eye. He stood there, quietly staring at the ground, then let out a breath of air and gently nodded his head. He walked past me, and we left the block of evil at last.
“Can I ask,” I said, “where you got that black eye?”
“My uncle,” he replied without hesitation.
“Yeah, I figured as much….”
“He isn’t that bad,” Nick said. “Just a bit…. rough….”
Riiight. “I know what you mean.”
“No, you don’t.” I couldn’t help but notice the drops of water on his cheek. It made me think of a certain emotion, but I couldn’t quite place it. “That man is horrible, Jake. Half the time he isn’t even there, and those are the better days. I’m nothing to him, just another nuisance he needs to look after. My parents died for this man. And he doesn’t even care.”
I’d heard the story before. Mr. Sanchez of the mafia was asked to knock off his own brother. He refused, and not too much later, Mr. Sanchez and his wife were knocked off themselves. But on the bright side of things, brother Morris did live and is still alive. I guess he didn’t rat after all.
“Today’s the anniversary,” Nick said.
Oh.
“I wish my father had killed him. I would do it myself, but…. well, he’s my uncle. And if I were to kill him now, it would be like they died for nothing, you know? Unconditional love, and bull like that.”
I didn’t know how I was supposed to respond, so I just listened and nodded. I don’t think I could’ve said anything worth caring about anyway.
“She was the only one who understood,” he went on. “I wasn’t good at showing it, but….”
We stopped at the crosswalk, waiting for the walk signal.
“Did you love her?” he turned to face me. I didn’t need to ask who.
“Yes,” I said. “I mean, I don’t know much about love, but well, I…. I think I did. I liked being around her, and….”
“Good,” he cut me off. “As long as she wasn’t wasting her time.” The signal changed, and we walked across the street.
“We were happy,” I told him.
Nick didn’t say anything, looking up at the old run-down building before us.
“My apartment building,” he said. “Thanks for listening, Jake.”
I nodded, making to leave.
“Jake,” Nick called out, and I looked back. “I’m sorry,” he said, “for everything.”
I smiled. And then, stranger than anything I’d seen over the past six months, I said, “Forget about it.”
---
A long hallway, demonic in its construction. Pictures on the wall of people – no, creatures – burning in hellfire. Whoever owns this place, he is really hardcore.
The hall opens up into a large candlelit room, with some strange markings on the floor and a demon statue on the far end. A kid stands in the center, with little skeleton creatures on either side of him.
“A kid?” I bellow. “You’re a freakin’ kid!”
The kid smiles widely. “Please, don’t insult me.”
He steps forward, skeleton creatures flying around him.
“Few are able to enter my house, but I sense something in you. I like it.”
“You’re a freakin’ kid!!”
Suddenly, a blade lands in my shoulder. I curse top of my lungs, but it’s no knife – it’s some sort of fancy weapon, like the Grim Reaper.
“Why have you come here?”
“Damn it! I was just following this guy! GODDAMMIT!!!”
“Ah, I see. You heard them talking about power, I take it, and so you came here.”
“Goddammit!!”
“Don’t worry, it’s no lie.”
He lifts the blade from my shoulder, then reaches out, touching my wound and scooping up some blood. He walks over to the wall. My arm is flaring in pain. He touches the wall, drawing a mark on it in my blood, a mark similar to the chalk on the floor.
“The hell are you doing?”
“Ssh!”
“I’m not gonna be shush’ed by some freakin’ –“
Suddenly the skeleton creatures fly to my either side, holding more of those weapons up to my neck. I am quiet as the kid taps the marking with his index finger, closing his eyes as his skin slips away, hair falls out. Like he’s dying. His hand is all bony now.
But no, he’s alive.
With the bloody hand, he lifts the hood on his cloak and turns to face me. He’s like one of them now, the skeleton creatures. Except for his eyes. Like rubies. Like blood.
“What are you?”
“I’m known as Reaper. You, too, can be like this. Oh, not just like this, but I already have the rune mapped out. I was saving it for a friend, but I don’t think he’s worthy anymore.”
I stare into his eyes. I can hardly move. Like I’m possessed.
And then, I laugh.
“Bring him into the rune.”
I do not resist as the skeleton creatures pick me up and fly me into the center of the marking on the floor. They part, leaving me all alone, looking out at the demons.
The demon kid speaks. “What is your name?”
“Morris Sanchez.”
He mutters something, inaudible to me, and a wall of light flashes around me.
“From now on, you will have a new name: Necromancer.”

[spideyfan914]

Episode Nine: THE SUMMONING

The sky turned orange.
No one knew how, or why. The sun went down, and the next morning the sky was orange. Like fire. Like Hell. The kind of fire that wolves burn in.
I asked my dad about the orange sky. He always has the answers. But this time, he didn’t know. Not even my dad could explain the orange sky.
Shawn wasn’t in school after that. I suppose when the sky changes color, superheroes have bigger things to worry about than going to class.
“Don’t you know?” Alex Wolf said. “If anyone would know, I thought it’d be you.”
He was talking to me.
“All I can tell you,” I whispered, “is that whatever it is, it’s not good.”
“Yeah, I figured that part out.”
“Oh. In that case, I haven’t the slightest idea.”
Granted, I did know a little more than he. I knew Reaper was back, I knew what he was planning. My first thought had been of the Apocalypse, but as time continued to roll on, I could only assume that this was just one step, one phase. A sort of beginning to the end.
And I still didn’t even know if Nouda was real.
Magic – that was real. There was clearly some sort of other dimension, a place of mystery and hellfire. But the demon, the devil? A personification or an entity? I couldn’t tell. Reaper seemed to believe. All in all, it really didn’t matter – the end of the world has a way of rendering all preceding bothers pointless.
But this was only the beginning of the end. After all, the sky had only just turned orange.
---
“Why are you still in school?”
I shrugged, stuffing a piece of whatever the school cafeteria serves these days into my mouth. “I don’t know,” I told him. “Why not?”
“You’ve been nearly killed over and over again. You have a psychic connection with a demon from hell. Your oldest friend has turned into a ghostlike vigilante. Your brother was killed in front of you, and your girlfriend was eaten alive. Plus the world is about to go ‘boom!’ And still, you go to class every single day.”
“Then why do you go to class? Your oldest friend just tried to turn you into a demon from hell.”
Quen shrugged. “Nothing better to do.”
“Then I have nothing better to do either.”
“Damn, this food sucks.”
I laughed as I forced another piece of the mystery down my throat. “Maybe it gets better post-Apocalypse.”
“Sulfur and brimstone over school cafeteria any day.”
Actually, a lot of people had stopped coming to school. Place that in combo with the two thirds of the student body brutally murdered last year, and the cafeteria was fairly empty. We were actually able to whisper and hear each other! Of course, that didn’t mean they’d put any more effort into the meals – it just meant more leftovers.
I gazed out the window, staring up at the orange sky. Maybe it was a sort of portal into Nouda’s Realm? Or maybe we were already in Nouda’s Realm? But no – there was still daytime, so we had to be in our own reality.
“It’s not as complicated as it seems.”
I looked back at Quen. He was staring out the window now as well.
“You know what it means?” I asked.
“It means that Heaven is no more. Only Hell awaits.”
Lovely.
“If it makes a difference, I made a little detour on my way out of Zamxus’ place the other night.”
“How? That hallway’s straight.”
“Not when I was leaving. I found –“
A shadow descended across the table. For a moment, I thought Jonathan was stirring, but then I saw the source – Nick Sanchez.
Quen stared up at him oddly, as though wondering what he could possibly want from us. I waved it off. “It’s all right, Quen,” I said. “Believe it or not, we made amends.”
I smiled up at Nick. He stared down at me, unblinkingly.
“Sit down, man,” I declared in spite of Quen’s gaze. “There’s plenty of room.”
He said nothing. I felt a small chill – it felt like something Quen would’ve done when we first met.
“Is something wrong?” I finally asked.
He looked directly at me, into my eyes. I couldn’t read his mind, no idea what he was thinking. There was something frightening, but also something in distress. Finally, he leaned over against the table, slowly coming closer until his face was directly in mine.
“Leave now, or I will kill you.”
That was Quen. “Seriously, not helping,” I whispered across the table.
Nick stared at me a second longer, then spoke, “Necromancer?”
He rose and walked away. For some strange reason, it made a small amount of sense, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. It was as though I was forgetting something important....
“Nick Sanchez?” I turned back to Quen. He was clearly in disapproval. “When will you learn, Jake? Nick is not your friend. And he never will be.”
“But.... What did he mean, ‘Necromancer’?”
“Is that what he said?” I guess it was pretty quiet. “I don’t know, any dreams about raising the dead recently?”
“I suppose Nosferatu can, but I haven’t.... not that I can remember....”
“What the hell was Nick Sanchez doing over here??” I looked up at Samantha Hayner.
“Yes, we were just discussing that.”
“Dude,” Alex Wolf walked over, “what just happened?”
“If you guess it, you may just win a cool new car!” I could see Nick in the corner of the room walking away. Why does high school mentality demand for everyone to ask me things only he would get? “Quen, keep them busy.”
I got up and ran after Nick, leaving Quen to fend for himself. Also, most of my lunch was still on the table, but that was probably jinxed by Reaper anyway. Looking up and down the hall, I found Nick near the doors, heading out.
“Wait up!!” I called, chasing him down, but he sped up and as a football quarterback he was always faster than me.
And I collapsed. Like lightning had struck. My head was on fire. I was in a hospital room, staring out of bed.
“You’ve finally come back for me,” I speak against my will.
“Please, don’t act like you’re my central focus or anything!”
A blade lands in my arm and I yell out in pain. My arm is on fire. But I cannot run – I’m all hooked up to the machinery.
“Seriously, D. You have been LOOKING for me, and I STILL took this long to get around to you.”
“Just kill me already! Get it over with! You’ve already taken everything else!”
“Your family, yes? Or were you referring to your sanity. Tell me, what if it happens that this is not real? What if this is all a hallucination? Or, what if this is real, and everything else is a hallucination? Maybe it was you who killed your family. Maybe you never had a family!”
“Maybe you’re just screwing with me.”
“Yeah, pretty much....”
A man steps forward. He is tall and lean, and wears a pair of sunglasses to cover his eyes. His skin is pale as ice, and two long fangs protrude from his upper lip.
I laugh. “Don’t feel like doing it yourself, huh? Gotta have the slave do it for you?”
“We’re not going to kill you, D. It’s far more fun to watch you suffer. By the way, have you seen the sky?”
“I have. And it’s daylight hours.”
“Blinds are closed,” the creature smirks.
“Remember him now?” I feel almost as though this remark is directed at someone not in the room, someone far far away. “It’s not like you to forget one of our exchanges. Or maybe I’m just going for shock value, boggling your mind.”
“If you’re going to speak,” I say, “speak to me.”
Death laughs.
“Morrie, don’t forget to leave the shell.”
He walks away, and the vampire steps closer, leaning forward.
Jumping forward. I was sitting on the grass just outside the school. Nick Sanchez was a hundred yards away, on the basketball court where I’d last seen Ben Wolf. The sky was still orange.
“Who is the Necromancer?” he called across the field.
I stared at him. I had a hunch, but I didn’t want to think.
“Reaper likes you better than me,” he said. “You have to know. Who is the Necromancer?”
I looked down at the grass. The green grass. The sky may have turned orange, but the grass was still green. They couldn’t take that away from us. They couldn’t take that.
I shrugged at Nick’s question, and turned my gaze upwards. He was gone. As for me, I had to get back to class. Why am I still in school?
I ran. I ran out the gate, and across the city. I ran without direction, not knowing where I was going, beneath the fiery glow of the canopy up above. A yellow hue bounced around the glass structures of New York, the windows, jumping around and lighting everything in its hellish glare. Like the city was burning.
Was it like this elsewhere? I never was one to follow the news. I never cared much for politics, or the weather. All I know is what’s laid out before me, and at this time what I knew was the city, my city. I should’ve asked someone. I should’ve asked if Miami was orange, or maybe Chicago had gone violent pink.
Maybe, just maybe, the grass was greener in LA. Perhaps somewhere, there still existed a small town with no flames in sight.
But all I could run to was the nearest hospital, and then I ran out of breath. Without even thinking, I wandered inside. I didn’t stop to consider before asking if D. M. Fangye resided somewhere, and followed their directions without hesitation. I think they said it would do well for him to have a visitor, that he was lonely and it was sad, but I wasn’t really paying attention.
D. M. Fangye. He lied in his bed, in a twisted sort of peace, a smile on his face like a man without a head. A cackle echoed through the room as I entered, though the nurse must’ve thought it friendly and generously left us alone.
“J a k e _ B r a d l e y !” he laughed weakly in spite of himself. His wrists were heavily bandaged, and he was hooked to a machine.
“Hi, Mr. Fangye. I suppose you’ll say I should be in class.”
“N e v e r _ d i d _ m e _ a n y _ g o o d - I _ t a u g h t _ o n c e , _ a n d _ l o o k _ w h e r e _ t h a t _ g o t _ m e !”
I shrugged.
“T h e y _ s a y _ I ‘ v e _ l o s t _ m y _ m a r b l e s . _ B u t _ t h e y _ h a v e n ‘ t _ c h e c k e d _ u n d e r _ t h e _ b e d - M a _ n e v e r _ f o u n d _ t h e m _ t h e r e !”
“So, you didn’t have any other visitors today?”
“D e a t h _ w a s _ k n o c k i n g _ o n _ m y _ d o o r , _ b u t _ t h e _ n u r s e _ h a s _ t h e _ k e y .”
It couldn’t have been him. There’d have been more recent wounds, at least. “You weren’t visited by Reaper, though-“
“SSHHHH!!!!!! _ N e v e r _ s p e a k _ h i s _ n a m e !! _ _ he can h e a r you....”
Reaper was here....
I took a step closer, leaning beside him. Two marks rested on his neck. Like something out of a Dracula movie.
“A vampire?” I whispered. “There was a vampire with him?”
“O h _ y e s !! _ T h e y _ s a y _ I ‘ l l _ o n l y _ l i v e _ a s _ l o n g a s _ i t _ d o e s , _ b u t _ i t _ d o e s n ‘ t _ r e a l l y _ w o r k _ l i k e _ t h a t .”
Mr. Fangye stared off into space. I noticed his skin was rather pale now. It was as though he’d lost a lot of blood.... As though he’d lost all his blood.
“I ‘ d _ s a y _ I _ h a v e _ a _ f e w _ m i n u t e s _ t o p s ....”
I took his hand in mine. His eyes seemed like they were spinning. Perhaps he really was dying? “Maybe we should call the nurse....”
Fangye laughed, shaking his head lazily. He grabbed my hand tight, not letting me go. He didn’t want to be alone anymore.
“W h a t _ w e a t h e r _ w e ‘ r e _ h a v i n g !!” he cheered.
I smiled. It was all sort of funny, in an odd unsettling way. “I hear,” I whispered with a smile, “that Hell has finally risen up and conquered Heaven.”
He let out a loud laugh that made the lights flicker.
“Y o u _ b e l i e v e _ i n _ H e a v e n ?”

[spideyfan914]

Episode Ten: THE LIVING DEAD

Nightfall.
It’s busy around here. There are always a lot of people. So glad I ditched the kid for this.
I push my way through the crowd of tourists. It’s always thickest on a Friday night, but that’s ideal really. One guy starts bitching about my rudeness, following me around. I draw with a small piece of chalk.
Some people laugh as I lean over and start drawing on the ground, but most just keep going about their business. Some lady with a fanny pack stands to the side and snaps a picture. Gotta remember to kill her first.
I sit down in my rune. Hear a little kid asking his mommy what that crazy guy is doing. Then the kid starts screaming – must be the fangs.
More screams. Lord, do I love that sound. Don’t even need a gun.
The lady with the fanny pack is indeed the first to go.
---
I was eating dinner with my mom when we first heard the report on the seven o’clock news. A vampire in the middle of Times Square. But it was stranger than that, it was as though he wasn’t killing anyone, but instead those who should have died were simply joining the slaughter, stronger and faster than before. I thought at first of Nosferatu, but this was someone else.
“Cops on the scene have been so far unable to stop the growing assault,” the reporter said, shaking as she looked around her, camera facing the square from the safety of a roof. “I.... can hardly even describe what I’m witnessing here.” She didn’t notice the vampire jumping up onto the rooftop behind her and slowly creeping up. “This is live, folks, everything you’re seeing is.... My God....”
“K-Kate,” a voice came in, presumably the cameraman, as the reporter spun around to come face-to-face with the smiling fangs of the vampire.
“Don’t worry about it, sweet cheeks. I want them to know. Tell ‘em to call me Necromancer.”
As it took flight, the reporter just stared down speechless, and the camera whipped away to stare below.
“They don’t have that many police cars in Midtown,” my mom uttered. She was fixated on the screen, not even noticing her dinner anymore. There were a lot of police cars. That much is true.
“How do you know?” I was trying to comfort her, not really succeeding.
“You don’t think they called in cars from other districts, do you?”
It was obvious what she was thinking. I didn’t know what to do, so I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and dialed for Dad.
Voicemail.
I tried the station. “Hi, it’s Jake. Jake Bradley. I was wondering – Oh. Okay. Thank you.” It wasn’t good news, at least.
“He’s gone, isn’t he?”
“They called up a lot of cars....” I told her. “But I’m sure he’ll be all right.”
“Oh my God....” the TV began speaking again. “Charlie, please tell me this isn’t the end of the world.”
I grabbed the remote off the table and switched networks.
“- I repeat, zombies are using firearms. If you are near the area, leave immediately and do not follow officers. Many have been turned -”
I turned off the TV.
“I’m going up there,” I said. I don’t know why I said it. I honestly hadn’t even made up my mind about going up there yet. But I said it nonetheless.
My mom simply stared for a moment, not at me but at the television.
Jonathan rose from my shadow. “He’s more powerful than Phantom, Mom. It’s Dad’s only hope.”
She nodded in solemnity. “Remember to bring your Epi-Pen.”
That’s Mom. I grabbed one off the counter and pocketed it, then turned to my Shadow, wondering if there was an easy way to get there. Phantom can take me places, why not Shadow? But he simply stood there for a moment, with that same faceless face as always, and sunk back down. For this part, I had to waste money on a cab.
---
“This is as far I’m bringin’ you,” the driver said. “Sure you wanna go up there, kid?”
“Not really,” I shrugged, watching the news broadcast on the cab’s small TV. “How much do I owe you?”
“Nothin’. I’m not gonna rob a dead man.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” I opened the door, catching one last glimpse at the TV.
“Footage taken before the emergence of this ‘Necromancer’ reveals the man who eyewitnesses have claimed transformed into the vampire. Police have identified him as felon Morrie Sanchez.”
Dammit.
“Listen, if you want a ride back....”
I looked up at the driver. He seemed seriously concerned, but I shook my head.
“It’s a freakin’ zombie apocalypse out there, kid. And don’t you think it’s anything less.”
“I WISH it were only that,” I said. “Several months ago, I got into a cab just like this one, and you know who was at the wheel?”
He waited for the answer, but I shrugged.
“No one you’d know. But he killed my brother.” I handed two dollars over the wall. “Please take it as gratitude.”
We walked the rest of the way up. It wasn’t too far to the police line. They were fast to turn me away, but I was persistent.
“How far does the police line stretch?”
“You’re not getting around this,” the cop grunted.
“My dad is on the force! I think he’s up here somewhere.”
“Is your dad a good cop?”
“Yes!”
“I don’t mean like good cop, bad cop. I mean is he GOOD.”
“Yes!”
“Then he’s not gonna be along the police line.”
“You have to let me in,” I told them again, but they still wouldn’t listen. Just then, Shadow jumped up from under me. The officers all freaked, shooting at Shadow, but the bullets simply disappeared when they hit him. As their guns hit blank, they dropped everything and ran. Clearly, they were not good cops.
I wondered if Phantom would be in the battle. I hadn’t seen or heard from Shawn since the sky changed color. I didn’t know where he was, or if he had news access. I kind of assumed he’d have access to this type of news. I kind of assumed everyone would have access to this type of news.
I thought of Nosferatu. She, like Necromancer, was something of a vampire. Clarissa Clearwater was her real name. She’d accepted the powers only because they included a rather unique ability for the vampire repertoire: the ability to raise the dead. But the living dead weren’t really alive, merely shells of what they once were, and can you call that living?
Zombie. Her husband. It was faster than zombies usually are, and stronger too. I wasn’t sure if it was even possible to force it to move. It’s like the ability to seize control over corpses, over rotting flesh, with some added touches. Zombie could shift its form as well, turning its limbs into weapons over even disguising itself as a small green puddle. But if the zombies in Times Square could do that, it would’ve made the news, right?
Zombies. A zombie apocalypse. This couldn’t be Nouda’s plan. This couldn’t be the end of the world, because after all didn’t Zamxus himself say that he did not really need another apprentice? No, something bigger was coming. Bigger than zombies. Bigger than anything a two-bit crook like Morrie Sanchez could ever come up with. Something big enough to warrant an orange sky.
Times Square. The dead people roamed around, killing anyone than they could find. No biting, that only happened in George Romero movies, but the cops found all resistance futile. A few zombie cops walked around with guns in hand. The news people said the dead people could use firearms. As though they need it.
In some ways, they were creepier than Clarissa’s husband. All of them were freshly dead, and hardly rotten at all. They had only their kill wounds, nothing more.
Necromancer stood in the middle.
Suddenly, popping out from behind a turned over cop car, an officer dashed through the arena, gun in one hand cross in the other. Necromancer turned to look as the officer pointed his brave gun toward the head, just in time for a woman with a bleeding head to grab onto the gun’s barrel.
The noise was deafening, and the man flew back, woman and fiend unharmed. Several bleeders leapt over, holding him down as the woman bashed his head in with her bare hand. And then, as they stepped back, Necromancer waved his hand, and the officer rose again, brains dripping on the pavement. So much for the one way to kill a zombie....
As for me, I hid behind a building. I looked down to my Shadow, and whispered softly. “This is it, Jonathan. I’ve seen you in action. You can’t be harmed. Even Reaper himself could only slow you down. If anyone can beat these things, it’s you.”
He lifted himself off the ground.
“Please, save my dad.”
Shadow leapt into action. I didn’t see my dad among the zombies, so I hoped that meant he was still alive. Shadow jumped around the scene like something less than a ghost, popping in and out of existence, as the zombies struggled to gang up on him. Necromancer stood on his perch in the middle, looking on interested.
Shadow chose one zombie in particular, the one of the officer I’d just seen die. Though it shot into the darkness, black tendrils soon circled and consumed it. Shadow disappeared, leaving no trace behind.
“I’ve heard of you,” Necromancer spoke. “You been called by some the Man’s most inventive creation, but we all have weaknesses bud.” He took off into the air as Shadow continued fading from here to there, taking out the zombies one-by-one.
And then, I heard a breathing behind me.
“Jake Bradley.”
I spun around, shoving away whatever it was behind me. It was Corporal Atlas.
“Jesus, kid! What the hell are you doing here?”
“Oh, I-I’m sorry Corporal....”
“I called for your dad to come along, not you. These are dead people come back to life – they don’t teach this in cop school, they don’t teach this is in the military, and they certainly don’t teach this in Junior Freakin’ High!”
“Um....” It occurred to me that I’d kind of accidentally killed this man’s brother in a trance a couple of months ago. “Is my dad here?”
“Hell yeah, and he’s flippin’ his lid. You’re in for it, Bradley. Be afraid.”
I liked his brother better.
As I followed the Corporal around the corner, I took a few glances back at Shadow and the zombies. It was overwhelming. They seemed to be increasing in number faster than he could get rid of them. It then occurred to me that people were falling from above, that Necromancer was dropping people into the brawl.
“I take it bullets are useless?” I whispered.
“Pretty much. Sometimes they work.”
“Sometimes?”
“Yeah. Like, it doesn’t matter where we shoot ‘em or what angle or any of that. It’s kinda just luck.”
“I told you, Corporal, we were having better ‘luck’ when we were full-scale attacking them.” I looked up to my dad, at the forefront of a small crowd of policeman hiding out in a dark back alley. “And Jake, I’ll deal with you later.”
“Bradley, you want us to blindly rush into there, we’re gonna lose more men than we have. It’s not even up to me anymore – Midtown chief takes charge.”
“Nobody is taking charge here. We are here to save lives by getting rid of those things before they spread any more.”
“And I still say if we just get rid of the head –“
“Definitely! But we cannot do so one at a time. We will all die that way, except it will be one-by-one, and by the time they realize I’m right they won’t have enough men left for it to matter.”
I whipped my head back and forth, watching them argue in fast motion. It was like a no bars western movie, or maybe a horror would be appropriate, except instead of Henry Fonda or Peter Cushing it was my dad.
“Personally,” the Corporal declared, looking out at Shadow fighting the dead by himself, “I say let that black thing handle it.”
“And I say let’s blow the brains outta the black thing too.”
“No!” I shouted. Both of them looked down at me.
Slowly, my dad leaned over and stared me in the eyes. “Son, what are you doing here, and what do you know about what’s going on?”
An uproar filled the alley as the policemen clamored and pointed to the scene. Necromancer had swooped down out of nowhere, grabbed onto an unsuspecting Shadow as he devoured another Zombie. And before another move could be made, the vampire’s teeth were implanted in that black thing, and it was having a seizure of blackness, like a computer program preparing to short out.
Something could beat Shadow.
We stared on with the wind, as papers blew about in the rising breeze, the violent breeze. Shadow finally re-emerged, but not out of his own power, but because Necromancer had been thrown away.
“Sorry I’m late.” Phantom had arrived.
Shadow blinked away, fleeing from the scene for the time being, appearing again right beside, well, me. Dad gave me a curious look as I was the only one unmoved by his sudden emergence. “It’s a long story,” I whispered, then turned to Jonathan. “You’ll need to go back out there. Rest for now, but you can’t stay down for long. Shawn can’t do this alone.”
Necromancer was already laughing at Phantom’s arrival.
“I know who you are. Morris Sanchez, supposed guardian of Nicholas Sanchez. Do you have any idea what this is doing to him?”
“You think I care??” Sanchez laughed. “I’ve never had such a great reason to kill guys in my entire life!! I LOVE the new me!”
“I’ve heard stories about you. Your brother died for you.”
“Thanks for remindin’ me. I should bring ‘im back to life!”
“Do you not have a soul?”
“’Course not!”
“Then I won’t hold back.”
Necromancer released another laugh, as Phantom lashed out against him and he flipped back across the square. He countered every move Phantom made, without even bothering to make a move of his own.
“Yo, I know you can do better than that, ghost-boy. You ever kill a man?”
Phantom ignored his taunts, drawing his fists like a sledgehammer and slamming them down as Necromancer dove aside and flew high into the air, past a rooftop, a rooftop with a figure. Phantom chased after him, up to the rooftop, and froze.
“I said, you ever kill a man? Feel the guy’s last breath? Suck it out his mouth?”
Phantom backed away, down to the ground, his ghostly form refusing to reveal the emotion in store. The figure on the roof leapt down, something green. Green and red, and rotten.
“Of course ya have, ghosty. And his name was Greg Blino.”
The officers around me were confused, lost in the reference. But I understood. This was no anonymous figure, it was someone we’d both known in life.
“Nowadays, we like ta call ‘im Hobgoblin. It’s irony, get it?”
And the Goblin was still smiling.

[spideyfan914]

Episode Eleven: HOBGOBLIN

You ever kill a man? Feel the guy’s last breath? Suck it out his mouth? Of course ya have, ghosty. And his name was Greg Blino. Nowadays, we like ta call ‘im Hobgoblin.
“It’s irony, get it?”
Phantom stared at the grinning corpse before him. Once upon a time, the body had belonged to a villain. He was a killer, a psychopath of the purest intentions. And Phantom took his life.
“Jake, do you know what’s going on?”
I looked up at my Dad, surrounded by a team of cops including the Corporal himself. He had a right to know.
“You remember a few months ago when that Goblin guy killed a bunch of cops?”
The Corporal sighed. They were all uncomforted by the reminder.
“Well, Phantom kind of.... killed him.”
“And that thing just....?”
“I know another vampire like him.”
“There’s ANOTHER vampire??” the Corporal exclaimed.
“Her name’s Nosferatu,” I nodded, “but she turned against the True Society. She’s a friend. Anyway, she had this Zombie ex-husband she controlled with her mind. He was unstoppable. He could even…. shapeshift.... Say, have these zombies shapeshifted yet?”
“Corporal, you’re not really gonna listen to this kid, are you?” a cop asked.
“My son is.... friends with the ghost-kid,” my father said with a bit of disdain. “He knows more about this than any of us.”
“But shapeshifting?”
Goblin’s zombie was faster than the others – saying a lot, considering that the others were pretty fast. He seemed to maintain his agility from life as he lashed out at Phantom, each move so swift it sliced right through Phantom, even hurt him. Phantom shoved a burst of wind against the Hobgoblin, pushing him back, but Hobgoblin stretched out his arms, forming long thorny razors and cutting at Phantom wherever he flew.
“There we go,” Corporal rolled his eyes. “Hate to admit it, but kid knows his stuff. Probably some sort of witch.”
“My son is not a witch,” Dad sneered. “Now think, Jake. You knew another one of these.... things....”
“Yeah, but she only ever animated one corpse. And Goblin had powers even in life – it’s like he’s some sort of double-demon now.”
“Maybe that means Sanchez has to split his concentration,” someone said. “There are still bodies on the ground, after all – maybe it’s hard to keep track of so many guys.”
“That makes sense!” I declared.
“It does?”
“Well, about as much sense as anything else makes. The sky is freakin’ orange, remember?”
“Personally, I’d call it more a reddish brown.”
“I’m color-blind.”
Phantom flew around Times Square, desperately avoiding Hobgoblins knivy tendrils. But just then one more shot out of its head and sliced him in two. Phantom screamed, disappearing in a gush of wind. Wind which blew around the square.
“Ah, cut that out man! This city’s a wind tunnel!”
Suddenly, a zombie leapt out of the alleyway, lunging toward us. Several cops opened fire, but it was Shadow who formed a wall in front of it, for it to disappear into.
“I don’t like that thing one bit,” the Corporal grimaced.
“He saved your life.”
“Shut your mouth! You killed my brother!”
I opened my mouth to speak, but I could think of nothing. He was right, after all, technically speaking.
“Jake,” my father spoke in a low voice. “Send your thing into battle. It was doing better than any of us.”
I nodded, and Shadow blinked away.
Phantom re-emerged right beside Necromancer. Blew him off his pedestal, ruined his concentration. For a moment, Hobgoblin’s tendrils shattered into dust. Shadow blinked above him, tumbling down.
But the next moment, Hobgoblin had melted away, into a glob that spewed across the square, swinging around and shoot through Phantom like a cannon.
“Much as I’m enjoying this....”
“It’s about time you picked on someone just like you.”
All eyes shot into the sky. A blonde-haired vampiress had flown in, a small urn in her hand. Nosferatu.
She crashed down in the center of Times Square. Three zombies tackled her, and in three swift blows they had all been thrown aside. She smiled. “Sorry I’m late, guys.”
“Now’s your chance,” I said right away. “That’s the vampire I was telling you about. She can hold back the zombies. I think.”
“Just what we need,” the Corporal sighed. “Another vampire. I’m not sending out anymore men until this thing dies down.”
“I’m going anyway.” That was my dad. Before I say a thing, he charged into battle, gun firing.
I charged after him, but several cops grabbed me back. “Sorry kid,” the Corporal shrugged, “but I don’t think your dad would approve of that. Let the demons handle it, witch.”
The zombies all froze up, struggling with which way to move. Here and there, a few remained attacking, but it was impossible even to tell which were on whose side.
“So you can control them too,” Necromancer sighed. “I know all about you, Clarissa Clearwater. But you’re really just a little girl with emotional issues – you don’t know what it means to have power.”
“Say that to your Hobgoblin over there.”
Necromancer spun to Hobgoblin, watching as Phantom beat him and beat him and beat him. And yet, the Goblin’s smile never faded. My dad ran through the parade, his bullets finally going through the zombies, making them stumble.
“You can’t stop them all, Clarie.”
A zombie tackled my dad to the ground. His gun flew off. It slashed at him, murdering him. Shadow jumped down upon them both, engulfing them both.
“NO!!!”
“I told him not to go in.”
“Shut up!! SHUT UP!!! That’s my dad, you idiot – if you’re not going to go in there, give me a gun and I’ll do it myself!”
Another zombie tackled Nosferatu from behind. Hugging the urn in her arms, she spun around and kicked it away, whisked it to flee. But the distraction was what mattered.
Hobgoblin sliced spikes through the air, shooting knives out of its own stomach. Phantom screamed, blood spurting out of the ghost. Nosferatu reached out and made it stop – but then the knives came down again.
Corporal Atlas nodded. “Give the kid a gun.”
“But sir –”
“Do it.”
Shadow flew over beside Hobgoblin. Phantom stumbled away as Shadow took over, surrounding the creature in darkness.
“You’re outnumbered, Morris.”
“You really are quite unpleasant.”
“Look around you – the Shadow has already vanished most of the bodies.”
“He’s vanished all of the bodies,” I said, walking forward. “And that last one was my dad.”
“Hey! Jake Bradley! Is that a gun in your hand?”
He couldn’t possibly move fast enough –
Just then, a knife shot through the air, knocking the gun out of my hand. I flicked my head to Hobgoblin, arm outstretched, smiling as Shadow consumed him. I looked back up at Necromancer, smiling coolly as Nosferatu shouted, “Look out!” and I ducked just in time to dodge the corpse-knife’s rebound as it sliced the skin off the back of my neck. It still hurt like hell.
Shadow caught the corpse-knife before it could swing again and I collapsed on the ground.
“Okay,” Necromancer chuckled, “now it’s vanished all the bodies.”
“Not all of them,” Nosferatu smiled. Phantom swung around Necromancer, holding him back by the arms.
“It’s over, Morris.”
“What say we vampires duke this out in a more secluded, less numbers-oriented setting?” Suddenly he grasped one hand free and dug his teeth into Phantom.
Shawn Casper collapsed in Times Square. The vampire leapt into the air, taking flight. “Follow me, Clarissa!”
She obeyed, taking that urn with her. I watched as they vanished into the air. Shadow approached me.
“Well,” I grumbled, “aren’t you going to go after them?”
It stared at me, even though it had no eyes. Maybe I didn’t have as much control as I thought.
“Did you have to take my dad too?”
Suddenly, the darkness opened up. My dad collapsed out of it, still breathing.
A rush of relief came over me, and I ran up to him.
“Jake,” he said, smiling at me, “did we win?”
“Yeah, dad. Apocalypse averted."
“So.... cold….”
“Corporal!”
A few police officers came out of the woodwork, guns at the ready. Several of them pointed at Shawn, unconscious.
“Stand down!” my father shouted with all his energy. “Just.... stand down.”
“At least your head is healed,” I smiled, “like you were never beaten up by a zombie.”
“Yeah... Something that black thing did to me....”
“It’s healing powers.”
“It’s….” He lifted his shirt and gasped. “My tattoo is gone!!”
“Oh, um....”
“I hated that tattoo! Never brown out, Jake.”
I smiled. I grabbed my dad’s hand and helped him up.
“Seen enough fighting for one day,” he said with a sly grin.
“Yeah, well, there’s more to come.”
“What? I thought you said we won.”
“We did. Sort of.” How do I put this? “The Necromancer guy – Nick’s uncle – he, um, gotta away....”
“Aw, no!”
“They were heading downtown,” Corporal Atlas said as he approached. “Calls already come in, Harvey – they’ve been spotted in the World Financial District. You know what means.”
“The freakin’ Freedom Tower?”
“The freakin’ Freedom Tower.”
That makes absolutely no sense. Necromancer said he wanted to go to a more secluded place, so why….?
“This is the place.”
“That’s not where they’re going,” I said, realization coming in. The cops turned to me.
“No?” Corporal had a bit of sarcasm in his voice.
“Listen, I need a ride. Shadow has more of a chance than any of you – Shawn too – but –”
“I thought those things could teleport or something.”
“I have to go too. He wants me there.”
“What?”
“It’s too long to explain,” I explained. “And you wouldn’t agree with me anyway, Dad.”
“In that case, you’re not getting a lift.”
“So many dead right out back. You gonna use them?”
“Only if I can fool you long enough. Figure I probably can’t.”
“I figure you figure right.”
“But I know where they’re going. They’re already there. I can see it.”
“You can SEE it?”
“And you’re not going to get there without me, and you know it.”
“So what’s with the urn anyway?” I ask. And then she throws it at me. The creature bursts out of it. Before I can react.
“Give the kid a lift!” the Corporal declared.
“That’s my son, Corporal!”
“And these are vampires from hell, Harvey. Law isn’t a concern anymore.”
“I’ll resign.”
“Resign then!”
The Corporal whisked me away, waving to some officers to gather Shawn as well. My Dad remained standing there, staring.
Her zombie stabs me three times before I take it over. And yet, she still seems to have more control of it. As though she’s spent all her energy on this one.
Ah yes, that one. “So this is Mr. Clearwater, eh?”
We gathered into the car and drive. Downtown. Shawn was still unconscious. Shadow rested in my shadow.
I took ahold of Shawn’s hand and felt his pulse. I was sure someone already had, but in all the confusion a part of me worried they’d forgot.
But it was beating. He lived. And a scar was etched carefully on the back of his hand, a rune. One step up from chalk, I suppose.
Nosferatu leaps at me, but I’m stronger. I worked out long before I became a vampire.
“Turn right here.”
Zombie attacks, but I’m ready for it this time. I can control it.
“Next block.”
She comes at me again. She snapped the cross off of the arch – a large cross indeed. But only movie vampires are really scared of that stuff. Not that I’m gonna let her stab me with it or anything.
"This is the place.” The church. The new World Trade Center is right behind it, but here off to the side is a small church.... and a graveyard. We had to end this quickly.
She tackles me to the ground. I let her. She holds the cross above me, trying to stab me through the heart as I struggle to force it up and away.
“When he comes to,” I pointed to Shawn, “tell him to come inside. I’ll take Shadow in for now.”
She’s taken her eye off the thing behind her.
“What about –”
“Form a perimeter.”
“Who are you to give orders?”
The Zombie stabs her through the heart. She drops the broken cross. She gasps for breath. I smile as its other hand becomes an axe.
“No....”
It’s over already.
“It’s over....”

[spideyfan914]

Episode Twelve: BATTLE FOR NEW YORK

Nosferatu had been slain.
“Hey, uh, kid….?”
Murdered by her own Zombie. Murdered by Necromancer.
“Jonathan….” Shadow rose up from the ground. Some of the officers jumped. “Get Art Casper.” He blinked away.
Aw, now you’re desperate. How cute.
“Listen, kid,” the Corporal scowled, “are you telling me that you’re not even bringing that black thing with you? You’re not going in there alone.”
“Jake….?”
I turned around to see Shawn coming to. Just in time. An officer stuck a gun to his head.
A burst of wind. Phantom had arrived.
“Where’s Necromancer?”
Just then, the roof of the church burst open. A rotting green corpse leaped out. The police opened fire, as though it would actually make a difference. Zombie charged down the slant and jumped toward us.
Phantom dashed to stop the slaughter. He turned tangible, taking Zombie’s full blow, using the aerial descent as a chance to actually redirect Zombie.
“Nosferatu is dead, Shawn. It’s all under Necromancer’s control now!”
“Precisely.” Necromancer grinned as he rose up through the hole in the roof. “If you’ll pardon the cliché, nothing can stop me now.”
Phantom made a straight charge for Necromancer, shooting multiple attacks at him, but he side-stepped them all. Zombie rushed after Phantom, turning his limbs into blades and striking every which way. Phantom formed a blade out of the wind and sliced into Zombie’s shoulder – piercing his arm off as it fell to the ground.
That’d never happened before. But of course, Necromancer wasn’t as well-synced with the Zombie as Nosferatu had been. In fact, as Phantom continued to slice up Zombie on the roof, I thought of something:
Where was Necromancer?
I ran into the church. Someone shouted to stop me, but I didn’t listen. I charged in, past Nosferatu’s dead body, and out through the back door. Into the graveyard.
The moment I opened the door, a hand shot out of a grave. And the moment after that, the premise was littered with rotting zombies.
I’d figured it out by now, why the zombies in Times Square couldn’t shapeshift – it’s because they were fresh. It was the rotting which allowed them to mold their flesh any which the master commanded. And these zombies were long-dead.
The head of Nosferatu’s Zombie crashed down in front of me. Phantom flew down, and saw the crowd before him.
“I knew that was too easy….”
Let’s do this.
The zombies charged toward us. Phantom hit them back with everything he could – it was clear that Necromancer wasn’t putting too much effort into any single blow – but they kept coming, one after the other. I ducked back into the church, not sure what else to do. There was screaming outside, as some of the zombies had circled around front, went after the police. A rotting hand punched through the wall and I jumped backwards, watching a gust of wind knock the zombie back. And then something grabbed onto me. I screamed as I was tossed across the room, up against the wall. Nosferatu was approaching, a hole through her chest, but she wasn’t Nosferatu anymore. My head was bleeding profusely, as it ran at me and before I could react dug its teeth into my neck. And then a slash – the vampire zombie had been torn away. So easily. The corpse was been torn to shreds before my eyes by a larger, far more hideous monster – the one known as Wendigo.
Shadow emerged beside me and stretched out around my neck. For a few seconds, I felt as though all my insides had been clogged with sludge, as though nothing was open for anything, and yet somehow as though I could do anything, the ultimate power. And then, back to normal. Except at full health.
“Outside, boy.”
“You’re like eighteen!!”
The creature smiled. Blood dripped from her lips. I looked around for a moment, searching for Nosferatu…. and then I realized there was nothing to be found.
Wendigo turned around and charged out back, breaking down the wall as Shadow flew out after her. A bit less eager to approach an army of zombies, I more crept than charged.
Rotting flesh shot around the premises like sludge in a food fight. Phantom tried to redirect the airborne attacks as best he could, as Wendigo lunged in and devoured one zombie at a time.
“What took you so long?”
I jumped. The old lady was there, the one was married to…. let’s not talk about it.
“Violet. Remember?”
“Why aren’t you transformed?”
“If I were transformed, I would be screaming right now.”
“So what? You’re nothing but a hollering mouth?”
“I’m plotting.”
Something began to change. She rose off the ground, hovering like a ghost and her head shrunk back and her mouth opened wide.
Pain shot through my ears, as though my skull was going to burst. It occurred to me then that the old lady once said her scream would kill anyone within forty yards, and I was easily within one….
But instead, the vibrations shot forward this time. A loud scream, yes, but its kill-shot was directed, aimed at the zombies. Still, I didn’t know how much I could take, and began to topple over. Shadow jumped up around me, covering my ears. And then, only silence.
“Thank you....”
I could still see. Banshee’s screams shook the foundation of the zombies, as though it was messing with their shapeshifteriness. Phantom threw a blow at one, and it turned to gook. Wendigo grabbed another and slurped it up. Necromancer flew above the graveyard, seemingly shouting curses down below. But I couldn’t really tell. And then, he saw me.
He flew down toward me. The one thing I could hear was heart racing. He opened his mouth, I closed my eyes. But nothing happened. A bolt of shadow had been thrust down his throat.
Listen closely, Jake. Something important is about to happen.
Get out of my head.
You were supposed to keep the Shadow a secret, correct? Unfortunately for you, it was never even worth trying. Granted, you would’ve spilled the beans anyway about a thousand times over.
You created him. You turned Nick’s uncle into a monster. He was already a monster, I suppose.
Not the only monster I have. Pay close attention to that other monster.
What do you mean?
I glanced around. There were lots of zombies. They could all pretty much count as monsters.
Something in the corner of my eye – I spun to see Corporal Atlas, blood dripping down his neck, pointing a gun to my head. Just another zombie now. Blackness rushed out from behind me and swallowed him up. A guardian shadow. I wondered for a minute what had killed him – an escaped zombie, or perhaps Banshee’s scream? But no, she’d been directing her scream, precisely to avoid any more zombies.
More police zombies jumped the fence now. A few civilians too, with wounds all over. The invasion had been leaked.
A burst of wind. But not Phantom, it was Spirit. Art Casper rushed in to attack Necromancer, while the others battled the zombies below. But Necromancer’s plan was clear: avoid and concentrate on his minions. Or at least the ones Wendigo hadn’t…. eaten….
Her stomach is infinitely big, and still she’s leaving a few limbs here and there for dessert. My Necromancer can use those well.
I thought to warn the monster, as I opened my mouth. But then….
I’m right behind you.
“HOLY -!!!!”
I jumped around, collapsing on the ground and out of Shadow’s grip. Sound poured into my ears – Banshee’s wail, Wendigo’s growl, huge amounts of wind, even the city traffic. But nothing worse than the rusty cackling of the devil.
They all froze in their tracks. Even Banshee returned to her human state. Reaper was there.
“Hey, guys. What’s up?”
Phantom rushed toward him, but Reaper ducked underneath, spun his scythe and slashed into Phantom’s back. His scream was worse than Banshee’s, like a hurricane.
“Say Artie, aren’t you supposed to be in a cage somewhere?”
“I found a reason to break out.”
“So I’m told.”
“Yo, Skele-Kid, what’s the deal? I thought you said these zombies were invincible!” Necromancer flew down beside Reaper.
“They are, if you’re not an idiot with them. You have to be more than a petty thief in this business.”
“Hey! I got ambition and loyalty! What do you got?”
“Actual ambition, and loyalty to but one. Wendy, you can stop pretending now.”
Wendy?
I spun to the Wendigo. It reached into its mouth, and tore out the remains of a twitching leg, hurling it aside. “All yours, Morrie.” It marched toward Reaper, shrinking back down into the small beautiful girl.
She put her arms around Reaper and kissed him on the cheek.
She kissed Reaper....
“Not now, Wendy. Killing first.”
“I never took you for one who cares about such earthly desires, Reaper.” Phantom rose up, ready to fight.
Like a villain-themed poster, the three stared out at us. I suppose these were the new Councils – Reaper as the Highest, with Necromancer and Wendigo just beneath him. Somehow, it didn’t seem too well-thought out, like a rather sloppy assortment of characters. Not a group of devout cultists, but a group of…. well, evil and stuff.
“Is it time for our showdown then? Oh, I so look forward to this. Like every great hero and villain, we have so much in common. We both killed at least one of our parents.”
A burst of wind slammed against Reaper. But it wasn’t from Phantom – it was Spirit. The next current blew him off toward the Freedom Tower, and Spirit followed, only to be met with a swing of the scythe.
Phantom readied to follow, when two more scythes swung down on top of him. The Wraiths, both of them. Phantom flew up into the air, and the Wraiths followed.
“So you were a spy for the devil the whole time,” the old lady scowled. Wendy smiled, pleased with herself.
“What can I say? I like bad boys.”
“You were only using my husband for the power. I knew you didn’t love him, but this? You would disgrace his memory?”
“Um.... duh. He was a giant bug, Vi.”
Honestly, I was disturbed.
“Y’know,” the vampire grinned, “I’m kinda a bad boy.”
Wendy grimaced at him. And then the shrieking came. Wendy grabbed her ears as though it were a mild annoyance and transformed instantly to oppose her foe. Wendigo pounced the Banshee, biting into her arm and tearing it off, only for another shriek to emerge from the hole.
Shadow covered my ears again. Good man. Except there was no one left…. but us and Necromancer.
He smiled, speaking something I could not hear beyond the Shadow.
“I know your nephew,” I said, without even thinking. “He’s not a bad person. He’s troubled, but he’s not a bad person. I know you don’t care, but he needs a father, and that’s supposed to be you.”
I couldn’t hear. But I was certain Necromancer was laughing. I backed up, into the graveyard. A hand grabbed my foot – the same one Wendigo had spat out.
Necromancer licked his lips. And charged. I thought to scream, but then a rush of sound poured into my ears again. Shadow had leapt off, met the Necromancer’s charge. Banshee’s wail could not be heard. Maybe she was far away. Or maybe….
Shadow began to seize. I’d seen him do that but once before, the last time Necromancer had bitten in. But this time, there was no one to stop him.
I ran forward, thinking to push him away myself, but I only tripped and fell to the ground. The zombie hand still held my foot.
Shadow began to fade as Necromancer teethed in. I had to wonder if anything could actually kill Jonathan anymore. Normally, nothing could even hurt him, but what if it was possible? What if he could die?
I wasn’t sure if he was dying, but he was fading. I couldn’t do anything. I was completely helpless as my own Shadow faded from the scene. And then, there was nothing.
Between me and Necromancer, there was nothing.
“I like you, kid. You’re righteous. This world needs people like you, for people like me to pick on.”
“You’re not a person anymore.”
“Honestly, I never was. Not at heart anyway.”
“Then…. why’d you say that?”
“Say what?”
“You said, ‘this world needs people like you for people like me to pick on.’ ‘People like me’ is referring to me – I mean you – as, y’know, a person.”
“Are you done making fun of my grammar?”
“Sorry.”
“Sheesh, your last words, and you’re gonna make fun of my grammar.”
Gunshot.
For a moment, the world stood in silence. And then, Morris Sanchez collapsed on the ground. A bullet wound in the back of his head. Even the zombie arm was easing.
Nick stood in the graveyard, gun in hand.
“Nick…. I….”
He stared down at his uncle’s body. Vampires can be killed with bullets.
“Thank you, Nick. I’m…. I’m sorry.”
He shook as though he wanted to cry but couldn’t.
“Where…. If you don’t mind my asking, where did you get the gun?”
He pointed it at me. He stared me in the eyes, rage and fear emanating from his own.
I didn’t know what to do. I was ready for the Apocalypse, ready to die any minute, but not ready for this.
“Easy now, I’m your friend. We made peace, remember?”
I tried to get up, but Nick jerked and urged me to stay down.
“Don’t….”
I didn’t know what else to do.
“Please don’t….”
He had his index finger on the trigger.
“Don’t kill me, I want to live!!!”
And he flipped it and fired, and a second later his body lied on the graveyard ground. Bullet through the brain.

[spideyfan914]

Episode Thirteen: COME THE APOCALYPSE

My Shadow faded in. Maybe I wasn’t wrong. Maybe nothing could kill him.
I walked down the street, not even sure anymore which battle was where. I tried to make sense of it, to even remember what had happened over the past seven months, but I just couldn’t grasp it. I couldn’t understand.
Reaper. It was his fault. That’s all I knew, was that it was his fault. Something was his fault. Everything was his fault. And there he was, hovering by the Freedom Tower. Staring at me as I walked down the block. Waiting for me.
“You win.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
“I don’t want to die.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve asked Nouda to spare you.”
“The gate has been opened then.”
“Yes. Hell is here. For the next twenty-seven days and eighteen hours, Nouda will reign fire and destruction. All unblessed life will burn. And then a new era will begin, with He as the ruler, and myself his humble prophet.”
“I suppose I’ll be the sole survivor not in the True Society then.”
“I never said you would survive. Only that Nouda would spare you.”
Most people cry when they learn of their demise. But it was too hot to cry. The world around me was burning, on fire. The people in the streets were turning to ash. They ran in panic, but they all burned. Quickly and effectively. Nothing remained.
“Ah…. Cleansing….”
Shadow wanted to leap out at him. I could feel it. It wanted to save the world. It wanted to pretend there was hope.
The Wraiths flew in from behind me, joining Reaper at his feet and kneeling. Wendigo stepped forward as well, ignoring me and addressing Reaper.
“Necromancer is dead.”
“As I expected. I mean, I had hopes that he could actually serve me well, but I suppose this was inevitable.”
“The rest of the True Rebels have been properly secured.”
“Then only the Shadow remains?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Jake, would you mind stepping over here for me?” He pointed toward a rune etched on the ground below. For a moment, I thought of running. The worst he could do was kill me, after all. Aside from that, he’s done everything else. There was no point in obliging. But there was no point in running either. No point in fighting. So I stepped forward.
And then Shadow leaped out from under me.
He looped around the rune and dashed toward Reaper, stretching the darkness toward him. Reaper swung his scythe and knocked the darkness away. Shadow kept coming, and Reaper fight valiantly. Wendigo and the Wraiths remained unmoving.
Shadow slammed against Reaper, knocking him against the wall of the tower, pinning him. It began to consume him. But I knew this wouldn’t be the end of it, and I was right.
Ice consumed the building. Reaper swung down his scythe and pierced Shadow in the back. The dark creature clung to the building, trying to suck in, but the ice acted as a blockade, and Reaper spun around flinging the Shadow off his scythe like a pea off a spoon.
He landed in the rune.
A gold light shot up around the edge. The unbreakable barrier. I didn’t know what was happening, but it certainly wasn’t good. Maybe the creature was dying.
Except it wasn’t a creature. It was Jonathan. I barely knew him before he was changed, but he risked his life to save me, and they stole his will as punishment.
“Stop,” I whispered.
Something was happening to the shapeless black. It was assuming some sort of shape. I could make out circles, lines….
“What are you doing to it?”
A face….
“What are you doing to him?”
A lifeless face…. Pale blue skin, with rotting teeth and eyes white as a ghost. Just barely visible behind the fading black.
“Stop that, you’re killing him!!”
“No, he was already dead.”
I ran up to the barrier and pounded on it. I couldn’t let it happen. As all around me, people disintegrated into nothing, I couldn’t let them kill one more life.
“Jonathan!!!”
Suddenly, the black swarmed up, engulfed the face. The next moment, he was gone. In the blink of an eye.
But he wasn’t dead. Just gone.
“Well, that was annoying. We almost killed him.”
“Nothing can kill him.”
“You keep telling yourself that. Wendy, would you go keep an eye on those prisoner folks we have? I’ll be getting to them momentarily.”
“Yes, my love.”
The beast rose and walked into the street. We were the only ones remaining now, me and the demons. Wendigo slashed the air and a rift opened, a rift which she entered and disappeared.
“And Doug…. Do leave us be a moment.”
The larger Wraith rose. It looked toward me for a moment, with swirling dark eyes inside the bony face.
I’m sorry.
And then it flew off into the distance.
“You know what’s happening, right, Jake? Earth and Nouda’s Realm are merging, becoming one. It opened up 23rd Street, and will ultimately spread over the entire…. Universe.”
“World’s not enough for you?”
“Don’t play innocent, Jake. You are guilty just as much as I. Who was it that made the sacrifices on the burning mountain?”
“The way I understand it, you could have killed anyone you wanted. Specifics never mattered.”
“A fair point, I suppose. Still, you gave me several more lives.”
“You tricked me.”
“What are you talking about? I was shocked by your sudden turn to violence! Why, I was the hero in that season. I tried to save the girl.”
“You killed her.”
“I saved her.”
The second Wraith stood. The female one. My eyes flicked back and forth.
“Why didn’t you ask her to leave?” I pointed to the Wraith.
“Ah, so you’ve noticed her chest. How…. manlike.”
The Wraith turned toward me, looked me straight in the eye. And she approached. I stepped back. I was scared. For some reason, I was more scared than ever before. Even more than on the first night I’d seen death’s eye.
“Don’t tell me you haven’t recognized your friend.”
“No....”
She rose her scythe, and it glistened in the flames, in the rising red sun.
“Jake Bradley, allow me to reintroduce you to Miss Bielle.”
“Rose?”
She swung her blade toward me. I jumped back. This couldn’t be possible, couldn’t be happening. I’d seen the Wolf-Man maul her to death. I set fire to the mountain. It couldn’t possibly be Rose.
Geisers of darkness burst up all around me and the Wraith came ever closer. I had nowhere to run to now.
“Rose, it’s…. it’s Jake. Don’t you... remember me?”
She nodded.
“We kissed, on the mountain.”
She charged toward me, scythe at the ready.
“I love you, Rose.”
Just then, the geisers collapsed. The Wraith tripped and fell upon the ground, screaming in pain. That unbearable scream.
The sun had hit. There’s no daytime in Nouda’s Realm, but there is on Earth, and this is still Earth.
I ran to her side as Reaper laughed in his harsh, rusty voice. An unbearable laugh.
Her bony hand grew skin, as he held onto her tight. “It’s okay, it’s okay….”
The screaming subsided. The laughing did not. Her face turned away.
What if she burns up?
“She won’t, don’t worry. Though the demon leaves by day, Nouda can still see her as one.”
I closed my eyes and hugged her tight. “It’s going to be all right. You’re out of his control now. Nothing will ever come between us again.”
“Besides, she’s a valuable member.”
I whispered. “I love you, Rose.”
She whispered back. “You killed Rose….”
No, that wasn’t her voice. I knew the voice, but it wasn’t what I thought. It couldn’t be, though. She was alive. I’d figured it out right then, that Rose was alive. The world may end, but what did it matter now. I could clench my eyelids tight knowing Rose was alive, the nightmare was over. The worst was yet to come, but the nightmare was over. And if Rose was alive, it meant we could save the others too. My mom and my dad, Shawn, Doug and Jonathan and Quen and Nick too – even Blake could come back. They always said that the dead could never be raised. But it’s not true. There is a place the dead go, and if it’s a place it means there’s a way out, a way back. They can come back. They can all come back. No one will ever die again, and we’ll all live happily ever after.
“You killed my sister.”
A whack across my chin.
I fell back. Sooner or later, we all have to open our eyes.
Abby stood, black shred of a gown around her. Scythe in her hands. Fire in her eyes.
“I never did say which Miss Bielle.”
“I’m sorry, Abby….”
“It’s too late, Jake. Zamxus found me, he told me what you did, why you did it. And how I could get revenge.”
“He lied to you, Abby.”
Tears streamed her cheeks as she stared at me with anger. “You’re the liar.”
“He’s destroying the world!! Your father included.”
“My father is dead.”
My last card.
“Good-bye, Jake Bradley. It was nice messing with you.”
“And good riddance.”

[spideyfan914]

Episode Fourteen: THE PLACE THE DEAD GO

Colors.
There are six unique colors in the rainbow. Some say seven, but the truth is that Indigo was added on simply to fill out a lucky number. Not that seven is actually lucky, that’s just a myth.
It begins with violet. A violent color, indeed. Ambient and shining against all odds, like a beacon of light. A beacon of hope. It might just be the rarest color in nature. I don’t know that for certain, but I have a hard time listing things which are naturally violet.
Except the lilacs. Flowers, pretty little things. Alive and yet unknowing, naïve to evil and innocent in the purest form.
Then we move on to blue. Violets are blue. I never understood that line. Blue is more like the ocean, deep and serene. Blue is in the sky, mighty and unreachable. Blue is in tears.
I heard once that fancy restaurants use blue as a means of inducing passion, romance. I never quite made the association before. It’s cool and wise. It never speaks out of turn. It doesn’t know how.
Green, the next in the line-up. The color of grass, the color of nature. The color of birth, the color of life. Like blue, green is simple and vast. Like violet, it shines, and stands out against the surroundings.
Winter lasts many long months, but spring always wins in the end. Green rises from the ground and from the trees. Green gives us hope.
Yellow is the sun. Bright and optimistic. Always happy, never down. It’s youth and innocence, freedom and enthusiasm. Playful, naïve.
Yellow is light. Yellow is the end of the tunnel. Yellow is the train. Yellow is stupid. It knows nothing of the world. Yellow is an ideal fool. I wish it didn’t exist.
Orange, on the other hand, knows its place. Green is life, but orange is living. Orange is fire, the thing that moves us forward. Orange burns and knocks down everything in its path. It knows the world, understands, and tears it away, shoving through. The only way through.
There is no mercy to get ahead. This is why orange reigns by the top of the rainbow. It bows before no other, relying only on itself and moving fast. Only one color rests atop orange.
That is red. The color of death.
They’re all around me now. Violet and blue and green and yellow and orange and red. All the rainbow, intermingling, dancing about like a pattern on water, bouncing off everything and anything, but what is there anyway? There is no ground, there is no sky, there is no air. There is nothing.
Colors.
This is the place the dead go.
A vertical tube, with no top and no bottom. Swimming in rainbow light. I don’t know how thick it is – maybe just a few feet, maybe many miles, maybe there are no tangible walls but just an infinite loop.
It’s lonely, though. We die alone, and so we remain alone. This is not a world which works by any known physics. Perhaps there is a curse of loneliness. Perhaps we all wind up in separate hells of our own creation. I would think my hell would have more spiders, frankly.
No, it’s all one place. I can tell. We’re all floating in the infinite abyss, many miles apart.
And another question springs to mind: Does this mean that I am dead?
If this is where I’m to spend Eternity…. then at least I know what to expect, I suppose. I’ll begin by wishing I hadn’t died, and looking over every little thing that led up to it, what I could have done differently, how I could have lived. Then I’ll ponder my life as a whole, thinking of all the things I never accomplished, all the opportunities I was too cowardly to seize. I’ll look at how I wasted my life, and I will hate myself for it.
But hate grows weary after a while. Eventually, I’ll grow bored, and stop caring about what I did in life. It will have been so long that it will all just seem insignificant. After all, no one lives forever, and I’ll ultimately reach the point where I would have been dead anyway, and nothing I did in life will matter. Maybe that will be nice, knowing that nothing I did in life matters.
But then I’ll be bored of being bored. I’ll yearn to live again. I’ll start pounding at the colored tube, searching for weaknesses, for a way out. I wonder if I’ll age. I doubt it. Even if I do, there are no mirrors to tell, and I’ll be too busy shouting to the Heavens to care. That is, if I even believe in Heaven at that point.
The loneliness will get to me. I’ll consider my truth the only truth, ignorant to the existence of any other. As time goes by, what would be the equivalent of a thousand of my lifetimes, I’ll begin to forget that there was ever another world. It will feel more as a dream, except I won’t know, truly, what a dream is. That’s another thing I look forward to – no more dreams means no more nightmares.
I’ll go mad first, babbling nonsense, incorporating Freudian slips as the only evidence that there was ever a breath, a soul. And then it will cease to matter if I’m mad, and I’ll be but a lifeless shell. I will truly die, altogether stop existing. Stop thinking.
I will be nothing.
It will be a long and painful process, but I can’t help but feel a certain excitement toward the end. I just can’t wait to be nothing.
It’s easier if you have a friend, she says. But no, that is not possible. The last time I heard her voice, it was an illusion, another person altogether. And yet, this time, it is her. It is truth. It is Rose.
You died Rose, I reply.
And so have you, she says.
I’m sorry, I swear, I never meant to let you go.
I know.
But what about me?, comes another. You watched me die, and you did nothing. It is my brother. It is Blake.
I couldn’t, I say, he had us both.
And now he’s won, she sneers. You did nothing to stop him.
Please let’s not waste this reunion, I plead. I’ve missed you both. I love you both.
You can only love one.
You can’t just shove it around.
You try too hard.
But I love both of you, in different ways. I try to explain. But they don’t understand.
Life and death are not so complicated. In life, you can love anyone you want. In death, such feelings do not exist. In death, there is only bitterness and despair.
Colors.
Do you remember the sunset Blake?, I ask.
I wanted to stay there forever, he says. You said we’d be there forever.
We still are, more or less. This whole place, it’s a collection. We’re always together, never apart.
Everything and anything.
Anything and everything.
No one really dies, do they? I understand now. I tell them, I understand now.
No Jake, she responds, everyone dies.
Then we all die together.
They will all die together, she agrees, now that Reaper has won. Nouda has risen.
Then only those who remain will truly be alone.
I love you too Jake, she whispers.
I love you more, I kid.
She laughs. I haven’t heard her laugh in so long.
I can get used to this Eternity.
But it’s your fault, says Nick. You killed us all.
No, I –
You dragged Blake into the war. He had no reason to be there, if you had died he would’ve been left alone. You killed Rose in those woods. You burned the forest to the ground.
It was Reaper, he was controlling me!
Was it Reaper who chose to leave the cabin and bring Rose out with you? Was it Reaper who looked her in the eye as she died, and hesitated before saving her? Are you slave to Reaper’s will? You went to look for Rose, not for the wolf. But you took your eye off the ball, you let Rose go and sought vengeance. Any chance she had was taken when you burned the forest to the ground.
You killed me Jake, says Mary Bielle.
You killed me Jake, says Hunter Atlas.
You killed me Jake, says Jarrett Bielle.
You killed them all, says Nick.
No he’s my brother!, Blake declares. He wouldn’t kill anybody, not intentionally, not the ones he loved.
Then maybe he didn’t love you. Maybe he’s stranger to the emotion.
You killed your own uncle Nick, I shout.
My uncle was a madman. Blake was not.
I killed all those people, Blake declares. I was a Wraith.
You weren’t in control of your actions, I tell him. You were in Reaper’s hands.
You keep using the demon as an excuse, Nick sneers. But my uncle was in full control of his actions. As was I. As were you.
We made our peace.
Peace does not exist.
No Nick, it wasn’t Jake who killed me, Rose intervenes.
A minute ago you were ready to crucify him.
Crucifixion is nonsensical in the place the dead go.
Amen.
No Rose, I whisper. He’s right. Nick is right. This was my fault. I wish I didn’t exist.
Then kill yourself, Blake says. Stop breathing.
I want you to blame me first, I speak to Rose now. I want you to blame me for your death.
I love you though.
And I killed you.
You’re right, she says.
Thank you, I say.
I forgive you, she says.
I don’t know what to say. This wasn’t part of the plan. I wasn’t supposed to be forgiven. I was supposed to be punished, to suffer. I was supposed to die.
But aren’t I already dead?
This isn’t it.
You aren’t dead.
The place the dead go.
Colors.
You still live.
Stop breathing.
You can make it out of here.
There’s the door.
Kill yourself.
Your fault.
The door, Jake.
Time to go.
Red.
Color of death.
Color of blood that runs through my veins.
Color of vigor.
Time to die.
Then you aren’t really Blake.
You aren’t really Nick.
You aren’t really Rose.
There’s always a way.
Reaper is the key.
Die.
He must die.
Demons all around.
Still human though.
They’re all still human.
Except Shadow.
Leave!
Stay!
Choke yourself!
Don’t you want to know the answers to your questions, to finally understand, to seek and discover the place the dead go?
I can wait.
Through the door, and into the light. Colors fade away.

[spideyfan914]

Episode Fifteen: WHENCE WE WAKE

I collapsed on the hard stone floor. I was on a balcony somewhere – in Reaper’s house. Stairs on either side led down to a rune etched on the floor, and I stared at the back of the head of a statue of Nouda.
I whisked around. The big doors I’d always seen but never entered slammed shut and faded away.
It was, after all, Nouda’s Realm. There was no real map, and it was often malleable.
The room was empty. But they’d all been captured…. Phantom, Spirit, Banshee – no, this was my turn. I’d escaped my trap. It was up to me now.
What was it I’d been told? The paths will reveal themselves to those in the True Society. Well maybe they’d make an exception.
I spun back to where those big doors had been. I slammed my hands against them and closed my eyes. And I thought, over and over again, of two giant doors, two doors leading to Shawn and the rest, doors which would find me those with the power to save the day.
Aw, phoo. Do you have any idea how much time it took me to design that place? Well, not too long actually. But you’ve gotta admit – it was a poetic death-trap. Oh well, I’ll get you soon enough.
No doors. It wasn’t working.
I opened my eyes. But I wasn’t in the same room anymore. The wall I’d been pushing against was at the end of a narrow hallway, or perhaps the beginning.
A maze.
I didn’t know where I was, but I had a good feeling about it. Shawn was in here somewhere, and I just needed to find him.
I ran along the hallway, turning this way and that. Right, left, straight ahead, right. Dead end. Turn back, go left this time. Left again, right – another dead end. Back up, go straight, left – no good.
I thought of drawing a map. Except I had nothing to draw with. Nothing to draw on. I had my hand, I had blood – if I really needed to, that could work. Except I had nothing to cut.
No, I had to keep trying, keep guessing. Left, right, straight, dead end.
You’re really not that good at this….
Right, left, right…. Wait, I know this place. I’ve been here before. I was going in circles.
But they had to be down there somewhere. I just knew it. If only they would say something, call, give me some idea of which way to turn.
Another right…. And then I was face-to-face with black swirling eyes.
Wrong turn.
“Doug….” He came at me with his scythe. I dove out of the way, let it slash against the stone and an aura of darkness burst out.
I kept running, having to keep mindful of dead ends – now far more literally with the Wraith on my trail. But it was hard, looking down each dark hallway, you could never make out the end.
Ice crackled around the walls and floors. It was slippery now, hard to keep balance. I tripped. Scythe came down and I rolled out of the way just in time.
The world depended on it now. I had to be daring.
And it was Doug.
Before he could ready for another blow, I jumped up and tackled him down, his scythe remaining stuck in the ground.
“Doug, listen to me! This isn’t you! He’s convinced you you’re a monster, but you can end this! Just show me where Shawn is!”
I heard a shick, and I ducked in time to avoid the scythe as he flew back into his hands, a dark tentacle wrapped around it. His next blow sliced my arm. I had my blood to write with now, I guess, but I didn’t have the time.
I kept running, hearing Doug just behind me at all times. He swung his scythe this way and that, slicing against the walls. A fork in the hall – right or left. I turned to go left, and a wall of darkness sprung up before me. Without stopping to think, I took the other path and kept running. A four-way intersection. No time to think, and the ice beneath my feet made it impossible to turn. Straight ahead.
I was running out of breath – never was the best in gym, even with a rush of adrenaline – but something was happening, the walls were widening.
A clearing. A chamber. And a dead end.
I collapsed against the wall and looked around to see the Wraith charging at me with his scythe. I ducked and the scythe slashed through the wall, demolishing the stone.
“Mr. Bradley.”
I knew the voice….
“Art Casper.”
I expected to die in the next instant, so when I didn’t I knew something was up. I looked into the cell – the Wraith had changed his focus, deeming Casper the bigger threat. They were locked hand-in-hand, each grasping for control of the scyther.
“Quick, Jake! Do you know what my rune looks like?”
“Uh…. No?”
“Draw a universal rune then!”
“A what?”
“It can work for any demon! Like the one in the coliseum!”
“Oh, that! Um, yeah, I’ve…. I’ve never drawn a rune before….”
Casper rolled back, taking the Wraith with him, then kicked up into the skeleton’s ribs, spinning him away and seizing the scythe.
“Do you have any blood, Jake?”
“Yes, right –“
I pointed to my hand, but before I could do anything more I felt a searing pain in my pinky finger. And then the scythe was in my hands.
“You hold him off,” Casper told me, running down the hall with my finger in his hand.
“Hey!” I shouted, but just then a rope of darkness reached around me.
I grasped the scythe and sliced at the rope, just a much bigger sword of darkness grew from the Wraith’s fingertips.
“Okay, look, the only reason I was able to hold off Reaper that one time was cause I could hear his thoughts in my head. I don’t actually have any fighting ability except what I was feeding from him. So, can we just, y’know, talk this out?”
Actually, there was a moment of hesitation, as though he was actually considering it. And then….
I have no choice, Jake….
He rammed at me, sword of darkness swirling. I spun his scythe, trying to block, but it just knocked me off my feet. How does anyone fight with a scythe any way? It’s like a huge stick with a perpendicular blade – seriously, this thing has major handling issues.
He stood above me, dark sword pointing down at my neck.
No choice….
That’s when I realized, as he lifted his sword, he was talking to me.
“You always have a choice!” I blurted out. He froze.
Don’t be cliché.
“I…. Yeah, it’s a cliché, but….”
He stared down at me. There was silence. He readied for the blow.
“But you brought me here!! You led me to Casper!!”
He froze again. I didn’t even know for sure if it was true, but it worked, so….
If anyone kills him, it’s going to be me.
Emerging from the darkness, the other Wraith came forward. Abby Bielle. What had happened to her?
She picked up Doug’s scythe to add to her own.
Step aside.
“Abby, I…. You were never like this. How could you, of all people, be like this?”
Doug turned into Casper’s empty cell, and leaned against the wall. Abby stared at me, with drull lifeless eyes.
“Listen to me, Reaper is responsible for everything – he killed your sister and my brother! He was playing with mine and Rose’s minds, just like he’s doing with yours. And I don’t know what happened to your dad, but I’ll bet he’s behind that too!”
She bent down over me, her skeletal face glaring into mine. She planted the two scythes on either side, criss-crossing over my heart. That’s when I knew she intended to take her time.
But I was lucky. A gust of wind blew out of the tunnel and knocked her away, tossing her into the cell. Another gust hit the roof and made it collapse, trapping both Wraiths inside.
Spirit had arrived. He flew into the chamber, and cast two more bursts of wind, destroying the walls on either sides to reveal the other cells, with Shawn and Mrs. Ranar inside.
“It’s about time,” the old lady sneered.
“I apologize. A finger is a very inaccurate utensil, and I had to be careful with my brush work.”
“What kind of rune?”
“A universal one. No need to worry.”
The old lady smiled, and calmly walked off down the hallway.
Shawn remained put for a minute. He seemed…. frightened.
“Come on, Shawn,” his father grunted. “There are greater things happening here.”
He stayed in the cell, not sure what to do or who to trust.
“Shawn….” I said. “We have to save the world.”
“It can’t be saved.”
“I’ve raised a coward. It’s not even worth killing you.”
A burst of wind, and Spirit was gone. For a brief moment, I heard a head-splitting scream down the hallway, but then it disappeared.
“Shawn, what are you talking about, ‘the world can’t be saved’?”
“It’s too late, Jake. Nouda is here.”
“I thought you didn’t believe in Nouda.”
“I said I wasn’t sure.”
“Well whatever it is, it has to be stopped! And you won’t be able to do a thing about it sitting in here!”
“It can’t be fought! It will only spread, engulf the entire world in flames.”
“So then fight it before it spreads! While it’s still contained! Reaper said it would last like a month or something –“
“Six hundred sixty-six hours.”
“Really? That’s kinda cool. But my point is, it’s only just begun! It probably hasn’t even made it out of Manhattan yet! You can fight this thing!”
“It’s not a thing, though. Don’t you get it? Only Reaper can actually see it, and that’s just on his word.”
“Dude, didn’t you ever see The Invisible Man?”
“So?”
“He died in the end! Invisibility is not invincibility!”
“This is a demon-lord which has promised the Apocalypse for millennia.”
“Yeah, and George H.W. Bush promised no new taxes. And look how that turned out.”
“You paid attention in history?”
“Only that once.”
Shawn pursed his lips, thinking.
“Listen, we’ve made it much too far to end now. I mean, we’ve only got, like, this many more months before we graduate high school! And then we’ll never have to take P.E. again!”
“That is a nice thought,” he smiled.
“So what do you say, Shawn? Your dad chopped off my finger and used the blood to make some rune back there.”
“Good to know. They cut up the one on my hand.”
“I figured.”
Screaming. I loop around the block, screaming at the buildings until they collapse. Collapse on Reaper. Kill him!
Spirit flies around the city, forming a wind barrier, a torrent.
I come down to the rubble. Reaper is in there somewhere, dead presumably. And then the scythe emerges. Spinning violently, blocking the rubble.
He flies up after me, blood-red eyes like the headlights of the devil’s train.
I run. What else am I to do? I’m no hero.
A stab in my back. I fall to the ground, still screaming.
“Scream all you want,” he says, “you should’ve known better than to come alone.”
Stabbed in the back.
“They need you out there,” I said to Shawn.
“Still having those dreams, huh?”
“Every day.”
Hm, I should probably turn my attention to you now….
“They’re coming.”
Shawn stared at me in shock.
“Well I can’t control it! He sees me just as clearly as I see him!”
“That’s right!”
I spun around just in time to see Wendigo plunging at me. I dove aside as she dashed into the cell. The scythes – they were still there where Abby left them.
“You have to go!!” I shouted. “Get to that rune!!”
I made a dash for it, the longest ten feet I’d ever run, after those scythes. Not only was Wendigo behind me, but the crumpled wall Casper had collapsed was starting to ice up. And just as I grabbed the scythes from their resting place, a shaft of darkness exploded the wall and both Wraiths flew out.
I crossed the scythes, using them like a shield as the Wraiths pummeled me to the ground and into a slide that wasn’t there before. I slid backwards, with the Wraiths staring me down all the way until we shot out of the ceiling back in Reaper’s house.
We collapsed on the floor. I was surprised by how little it hurt, considering the height. But I grasped tightly onto the scythes, knowing that as hardly as I could use them, the Wraiths certainly could.
I attack him. Again and again, I slash at the Phantom. He has some skill, clearly, ducking beneath my blows, using his smaller size as an advantage. But he’s still just meat….
I dive into him. He rolls out of the way, getting out of the cell at last.
“Get back here!!”
They formed their scythes of darkness, circling around me.
“You know, where I come from, two against one is considered rather unfair.”
They charged. An expert fighter would have used the double scythes to block their attacks, but I just ducked. And ran.
I had to stay away from them – get across the room, anything to delay for just another second.
I grab him by the head and thrust him back against the wall. He screams in pain as I charge, ready to feast.
But he kicks me at the last second. I must admit, he has a fire – to still be able to fight, even against everything.
They come running again, and I flee up the stairs to the balcony where the double doors to the place the dead go used to be. I needed something. I needed Doug.
“Stop doing this! You’re good people, both of you! Stop letting Reaper control you!”
Abby leaped up the staircase and spun her dark scythe. I got lucky this time, blocking with my own scythes, crossing them to just barely keep hers away.
Except hers wasn’t real….
I guessed the strategy not a moment too late, quickly pushing her dark blade as it grew in length, piercing into the wall.
“Stop!!!”
“You are a noble fighter, Shawn Casper. Most only rely on their demons for support.”
“Yeah, well I was supposed to be some sort of ultimate soldier. I’ve had training.”
“You have a little blood on your cheek. Right there.”
He wipes it away. I grin.
“Much better. Have to look nice for dinner….”
I run forward, and he rushes underneath me. But I’m ready for him this time, whipping him with my tail. I turn around and slash at him, but he still manages to stand up and make a limping dash to the hallway.
Most only rely on their demons for support. It’s always nighttime in Nouda’s Realm, but maybe outside, maybe it was day, maybe….
I jumped down the stairs, away from Abby. But Doug was waiting for me at the bottom. I crashed right into him.
We fell on the floor, scythes scattered. I didn’t waste any time picking them up, I just ran. I ran and I prayed.
I knew the Wraiths were right behind me, but I never looked back. One of them slashed me right across the ribs – another scar to match the one Reaper had given the last time I made this dash.
I shoved open the doors. Nighttime.
Of course. This isn’t just Nouda’s Realm anymore – it is that and Earth, combined into one. The only thing that could save me now was the rising sun….
Or Phantom.
I tackle him to the ground and bite him in the shoulder. He screams in pain, but flips over, shoving me against the wall.
It’s almost funny, how persistent he is. He’s still crawling, still after that rune at the end of the hall. I don’t even need to run anymore.
Shawn….
A scythe came up around my neck. Without thinking, I let myself fall off the porch, collapse into the bushes. This time it did hurt, but I got up anyway. I’d never stop trying, even if I had to crawl.
Abby slammed down in front of me, her scythe returned to her.
“Where’s Doug?” I asked.
Abby swung her scythe precisely, pinning me by my shirt to the wall. She grabbed my arms and pinned me, as an icy sensation creeped across my skin.
“They got Shawn,” I whispered, as though there was still a chance of getting through. “You know what’s going to happen, don’t you? The whole world and everything is going to die.”
I could see into her eyes, into the swirling black. Her sister was dead. Her mother was dead. Her father was dead. The man she took orders from now was responsible for it all. I thought, perhaps, she just didn’t realize this.
But now I knew she did. She knew it, but she ignored it, pretended otherwise. Because she didn’t care. She wasn’t looking for justice. She wasn’t looking for a cure. She wasn’t even looking for vengeance. All she wanted was to take it out on someone, to feel like she was in control again.
“You’re not Abby. You call yourself that, but you’re not.”
I don’t want to be.
Just then, a blade shot through her chest. A terrifying scream – even moreso in close proximity. Like nails on a chalkboard, like seven babies crying, like every bone in her skeleton was screeching in pain. A golden light leaped out of the wound, a blinding light which spread all over her glowing body, consuming her. And then….
“Doug….?”
He stared at me for a moment, still holding his scythe where it had met Abby’s still heart seconds before.
Shawn….
“I…. I’m sorry, Doug….”
Where’s Shawn?
“I don’t…. know….”
A gust of wind knocked Doug aside. For a moment, I thought of Shawn, but it was Spirit who came instead.
“Don’t know what? I saw the golden light, does that mean you’ve killed one of them?”
Doug charged at Spirit, scythe flying. He slashed and slashed as Spirit dodged each attack, spinning around Doug and striking him from behind.
“No, wait!” There was still a layer of ice around me. I was cold, barely able to move. But it was hot outside. It was really, really hot.
Doug shot a beam of dark energy at Shawn’s father, knocking him back down the block. Spirit leaped into the air, growing bigger by the split-second, becoming a monstrous tornado and striking at Doug.
“I didn’t kill the Wraith!” I yelled over the power of the wind. “It was him! He did it!”
Doug was whipped around the block, nary able to hold himself down. And Spirit kept going and going, spinning him ‘round and ‘round.
I crept my right hand up, looking for a grasp on the scythe that kept me against the wall. Doug still had his, flicking it around, as though there was something worth hitting. Instead, he hit a wall, and a moment later the tornado flicked him away, separating the Wraith from his scythe.
“Don’t kill him!!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, but the wind raged louder and louder. It was even catching on fire now.
Fire? If Reaper’s summoning had spread all across the city now…. Well, there was no one in the streets after all.
I had to do something. I had to do it fast. I ripped Abby’s scythe away from the wall. I didn’t really know what to do. I was battered and bloodied, and missing a finger. But I could see a blur of darkness within the raging inferno, and I hurled Abby’s scythe right into it.
A cry sounded across Manhattan. And then the Wraith fell.
Scythe in hand, he landed on his feet. Spirit collapsed not too far away, grasping onto his stomach. Doug held up his weapon.
“I said stop, for crying out loud!!” I ran in between them. “Doug, we need him.”
Doug remained there a moment, scythe still high, as though considering it. He’d once been brainwashed by Casper, after all. I could hardly blame him.
“Kill him later.”
The Wraith lowered his scythe.
A burst of wind knocked him over, and he came running back.
“No, wait already! Just wait!”
“Jake, it was created by Reaper.”
“And you know first-hand that Doug has overcome his dark side before. You tried to bring it out of him, and didn’t go so well for you, remember?”
Spirit stared at me, a flare in his shapeless face.
“Listen, Banshee is dead, and Wendigo has crossed over. Shadow is missing – we need all the help we can get!”
By God you do!
“Reaper just told me ‘By God we do.’ See, even the bad guy knows that!”
“Very well.” He stood up, seemingly healed by now. “Where’s Phantom?”
---
You can hope all you want. Hope’s all you have sometimes. Even when you know it’s over, you can still always hope.
But it doesn’t help. Hope doesn’t change things, and it never saved anyone.
Spirit had drawn a rune in the center of the hall. And just outside, a hand touched the outer rim. A human hand. Attached to it, a body, staring at us. It stared at me as I dragged it the extra foot, carrying it into the rune. But it was no use. It was barely conscious. It couldn’t move or think, it only was able to whisper, “Graduation’s just a few months away.”
---
“Phantom is dead, Reaper dearest,” I smile at him. He looks at me with those hideous blood-red eyes. Still, I had to resume human form.
He rises from his throne and steps down toward me. He’s going to want to kiss or something now. I killed his greatest threat. Worth a promotion.
“I wanted to do that.”
One slash across the throat. Great promotion….

[spideyfan914]

Episode Sixteen: HEROES AND VILLAINS

When, the blindfold was removed, I was back in my room. Or at least, it looked like my room.
“Reaper cannot track you here.”
“I know, I remember. But what about Shawn? We need Shadow! He can save him!”
Right on cue, Shadow appeared front-and-center. Doug laid the body on the bed, and the Shadow went to work, spreading out over his many wounds, engulfing him.
“Where…. where was he?” I had to ask.
Suddenly, the door slammed open. Before I could see who it was, someone’s arms were around me, strangling me. I struggled for my life at first, and then I realized – no, this was a hug.
“Thank God you’re all right,” she said.
“Mom! Is Dad here too?”
“Hi, Jake.” My dad walked in behind her.
“Oh, look at you! What happened?”
“It’s a long story,” I didn’t really want to tell them. “But how’d you get here?”
“Your Shadow came and acted like this shield,” my dad explained. “It got us out. It’s been getting a lot of people out.”
Quen arrived.
“Quen!”
“Is that Shawn on the bed?”
We looked back at Shadow’s handiwork. It rose up to reveal the body. Still just as damaged as ever.
“But….” I couldn’t think of what to say.
“Shadow is powerful,” Spirit spoke, “but it can’t raise the dead.”
“But he’s not dead! He’s still breathing!”
“This couldn’t have been Reaper,” Quen said, approaching the body on the bed. “He doesn’t maul his victims. Another werewolf?”
“Wendigo,” I said. “She’s dead now.”
“You were there??” My mom was freaking out. She had a right to. My dad was too, I could tell, but he was acting like he was calm. Shadow suddenly looped around me, healing my own wounds.
“I have this…. connection thing. My mind is connected with Reaper’s, and he makes me see things from…. Well, he killed Wendy.”
“So with Necromancer and the Wraiths also out of the way, that leaves just Reaper and Nouda.”
“Jake,” my dad beckoned me over. I came. He leaned down and whispered in my ear. “Who are these people? And what makes you think we can trust them?”
I shook my head. “We can’t trust them. But Doug is a friend, and Casper doesn’t want the world to end anymore than we do.”
“Shadow should keep rescuing whatever people are left in the city,” Quen said. “Been doing a pretty good job of it so far.”
Shadow disappeared once more. I was back to full health, aside from the still-missing finger.
“Why did you do that?” Spirit protested. “We could’ve used him much more in battle.”
“It’s a losing battle anyway. We need to get out whoever we can.”
“We need to stop the Apocalypse! There will be casualties, and you must accept this, regardless of your sympathy.”
“No,” I said. “We can’t take him head-on. Even with you, Doug, and Jonathan, he’d find a way to turn the tables.”
“He’ll probably regain control of the Wraith. And then I’ll be the one outnumbered. If we’re going in without Jonathan, I suggest we kill him now!”
“No!” my mom spoke out. “I mean, it…. the skeleton-thing, it – it’s helping us, isn’t it? That’s why it’s here.”
“It was created by Reaper to kill for him.”
“But he has control!” I shouted.
“He’s had control before,” the Spirit sneered. “But he’s weak. His will is easily bent.”
“Then why isn’t he attacking you now?”
Spirit turned to the Wraith. It stood idly by the blank wall. In my real room, there would’ve a window, but here that only would have revealed our location. It had been standing there unmoving, staring at Shawn. Now, sensing the gaze upon it, it looked up to Casper. We all understood.
“You can save him,” my father whispered.
“You were the Highest Council of the True Society for years. You know everything there is to know about runes, and there’s one to save Shawn.”
“There isn’t really,” he spoke. “It wouldn’t really save Shawn.”
“Sort of is good enough! You’re talking about numbers – you save him, and that helps our numbers a lot!”
“We don’t need my son. The world will be better off without him.”
“This is about your ‘cure,’ isn’t it?? That stupid theory that if you kill your kid, you’ll feel better about your wife’s death. Newsflash! You won’t!”
“He murdered my wife.”
“He didn’t even realize she was there! He was only trying to break out of the stupid cult which you had forced him into! It wasn’t his fault, it was yours, you maniac!!”
Suddenly a burst of wind threw me across the room and slammed me against the closet. The door fell off its tracks – just like my real room, that door’s always been faulty.
Spirit charged at me, but the Wraith made it first, standing in front of me scythe out and pointed at the ghost.
“Stop this!” my mother cried out. “Why are you people attacking each other?”
“Mom, maybe you should leave….”
“But –“
My dad touched her on the shoulder and nodded. She sighed, then turned around and walked out the door.
“Shawn’s holding up pretty well,” Quen murmured. “Shadow must’ve bought him time.”
My dad walked up to Spirit. And drew his gun.
“You know that’s useless against me.”
“I know, but I like to wave it around. Makes me feel boss.” I still can’t believe my dad said ‘boss.’ “See, I never much liked that kid either. I mean, yeah, he’s my kid’s best friend, for some reason, but the way I see it, he keeps getting my kid into trouble. And I figure, hey, we never had any of these demons before he came around. But y’know, maybe that’s just a coincidence. After all, we never had any of these demons before the Grim Reaper came around either.”
“Actually, he’s just called Reaper.”
“But guess what. You’re one of those demons. You’re not the one getting into trouble, you are the trouble. And you do not want to mess with me. I have been a father for seventeen years and two months. I was even a father of two. The day my son – my second son – was killed by that thing out there, that was the worst day of my life. Now you’ve been a father for about the same amount of time. Except unlike me, you actually want that day to come.”
“My son has been dead to me since –“
“Shut up and listen.” He holstered the gun. Calmer, he continued. “I don’t care what he did or what he’s going to do. That boy on that bed is your son. Your only son, as far as I know. And that’s something which never changes. No matter what.”
The ghostly figure stared into the face of my father. For the longest time, nobody spoke or moved. And then:
“Come on, Jake,” my dad spoke, without breaking his stance. “Bring your friends. We need to figure a way to kill this thing.”
We hesitated a moment, then when my dad turned to the door, I followed, with Quen and Doug right behind me.
As we passed the staircase, longer than in my read house, I could see the downstairs, bigger than I’d remembered. As though it had taken the exact dimensions of my living room and amplified it by a hundred. It was crowded, with all the people Shadow had saved. Among them, I even made out my classmates – Alex, Lauren, Samantha – they were all safe. As well as some thousand other people. And the black figure was still whipping in and out the front door, forever bringing in more refugees.
“He can’t save all of them,” Quen whispered. “Nouda is spreading faster than Shadow can save them. Much faster. And it’s gaining speed by the minute.”
“It’s still barely out of the city, though,” my dad spoke, opening the door into Blake’s room. “We need to strike soon.”
“A plan would be nice.” I hadn’t been in Blake’s room in so long. Even though this wasn’t the real thing, it was exactly as I’d remembered. The bed in the center, the mess all around. Comics, clothes, video games. Just like every other kid. Except no windows.
“If a rune can save Phantom,” my dad thought out loud, “is there anything like it to help us out.”
“Yes!” Quen declared, smiling – and he didn’t smile much. “I wanted to show you this sooner, but the Shawn thing threw me off.” He reached into his pocket and grabbed out a book.
I didn’t understand. “What….?”
“Listen, you remember when Zamxus tried to make me into a demon-thing?”
“Yeah, he was going to give you the powers he gave Necromancer.”
“Really? That’s badass. Anyway, before I left there, I took a little detour. I found this.” He laid it on the bed. It wasn’t an ordinary book. There was a rune printed on the cover. “A Book of Runes.”
“You mentioned this earlier. But you didn’t finish. That’s….”
“I’ve been looking it over. I haven’t had much practice, but….” He flipped open to a page in the middle. “This one is used for bonding humans with demons.”
“I won’t have you changing my son –“
“And this one….” He flipped to the next page. “This one is for reversing the process.”
I grabbed the book. It looked a lot like the one for creating a demon. An outer ring, probably with instructions for separating the human. And an inner circle….
“We need the demon’s name,” I pointed out. “Without it, the circle’s useless.”
“Well, how do we find that?” my dad asked.
I flipped through the book. “This is an entire section about runes for humans and demons.” If we had the time to look, I thought, we could even find the one to save Phantom. But of course, we didn’t have time. There were greater things happening. “Look, it has the names of all of them! Here’s for a…. a giant Dragonfly, it would seem…. And here’s a Poltergeist. A…. Puppetmaster? What’s a Puppetmaster?”
“Jake….” I looked up. Quen was shaking his head. “That goes on for nearly a hundred pages. And there’s, like, a hundred per page. Besides….”
He took the book, and flipped a few more pages. There was a tear down the center. One was missing.
“Oh, come on! Did he know we were going to steal his book or something?? Why didn’t he just hide it better??”
“He wouldn’t have needed it for his own name,” my dad spoke. “He must’ve burned it. Any other ideas?”
Quen smiled again. “I wouldn’t have brought it up if it wouldn’t have worked. Zamxus tore out his own name, but he forgot….”
He shut the book. The rune on the cover. Suddenly, I recognized it – it was the same rune which Shawn had been reaching out for before he was attacked. The universal rune.
“Literally, it means Demon.”
“We have to be sure it will work,” my dad announced. “If you try it against Reaper, and it doesn’t work, you’re dead.”
Quen nodded, and turned to Doug. He reached out and touched the book.
“That’s one way to be sure you’ll stay in control,” I agreed. “Let’s use chalk this time. Blood hurts.”
“Wait,” dad interrupted again. “Is it really wise to separate him before battle? Can’t we test it some other way? I mean, who will go into battle if….?”
“Dad, I will.”
He looked at me with shock. It was clear what was on his mind.
“Reaper made it so that I’m immune to Nouda’s…. whatever it is that’s happening out there. He wants to kill me himself. I’m the only one who can survive it, I have to go.”
“But –“
“You risk your life every day. You’re the one who taught me that…. Well, I guess I could say with great power comes great responsibility, but I feel like that’s been done.”
He stared at me, not wanting to accept it.
“I should come too,” Quen whispered. “I’ve had the most time to look over the book, and besides, you’ll need back-up.”
“I’m gonna be the bait, huh?”
“More or less…. Like you said, you can survive the thing. You’re the best choice to go in there and draw Reaper out.”
A tear went down my dad’s cheek.
“I’ll be fine, Dad! Don’t worry so hard!”
He hugged me. Tight. It was like one of my mom’s hugs, unbreakable. “I love you, Jake,” he whispered into my ear. Then he jumped up and made his way for the door.
Quen, Doug, and I stared after him for a moment. Then Alex Wolf entered. A stick of chalk in his hand.
“Hey, Jake, your dad asked me to bring you this….” He tossed me the chalk, but was staring at Doug. “Um, is he….?”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “We’re going to cure him.”
I handed the chalk to Quen and cleared a space on the floor, pushing aside all the clothes and comics and video games. As I did so, he started to draw.
“You think, when this over,” I whispered, “can we cure Jonathan too?”
“Shadow, you mean?”
I nodded. He shook his head.
“Sorry, Jake. Shadow is a different thing completely. It’s as though his human half is already dead. Only the demon remains.”
Doug stayed in the corner, laying his scythe at ease. Alex stared on skeptically as Quen drew the circles, the lines, and after many minutes of carefully etching it out, the Wraith entered the circle.
The rest of us backed out, preparing as Quen opened the book. He spoke, in a language I could not understand. A golden light gleamed around the circle as Quen completed the phrase. It wasn’t quite English, and it wasn’t quite Latin – it was something else, something I’d never heard before.
And then the gold faded. The cantation was over.
In the middle, the Wraith still stood, still a Wraith.
Alex crossed over, as Quen and I said nothing. He looked into the book.
“You’re pronouncing it wrong,” Alex said, looking at the English linguistics. “See that accent? It’s a long e. It’s pronounced, ‘ey,’ like ‘hey.’”
Quen looked at Alex’s confident smile, then looked back to the book. Again he chanted, and again the golden light leaped around the circle, farther than before. It was the impassable barrier, just like what we’d seen in Reaper’s house.
The Wraith began to glow as well, every bone every muscle of his body screaming. It looked just as it had when Abby died, when Blake died. He screamed again, that painful scream. He was in pain – it was killing him!
I ran forward, but only bounced off the golden wall. It was useless.
“Quen! You have to stop it!” I shouted.
“No, wait!” he declared. “It’s coming down now!”
Slowly, the golden wall lowered, and shimmered away. Inside, a creature of gold collapsed on the ground, and as the colors faded away, Doug Urson was revealed. Perfectly human.
I ran in to help him up. He still wore the cloak of the Wraith, but now his bones were covered in skin and hair.
“How do you feel?” I asked.
“Like I’m totally not gonna get into college.”
“I think they’ll make an extenuating circumstance.”
“No, you don’t get it…. I just gave up. I could have controlled myself, all that time. But I didn’t see the point. It was my fault.”
“Yeah, don’t tell them that part,” I smiled. “Just skip to when you helped save the world.”
“Okay, I’m feeling out of the loop here,” Alex said, walking to the door. “If you need me, let me know. Otherwise, good luck to ya!” And he left.
I looked up at Quen. “You ready for the real thing?”
“Yeah, I just gotta remember the ‘ey’ like ‘hey’ thing and I should be good.”
“Awesome!”
“Y’know, a few months ago, I was ready to kill you. Thought you were the evil one. And now, I feel like I’m a completely different person.”
“You mean, because you have friends?” I pointed out.
“Yeah! That’s it! I have a bunch of crazy, witty, demonic friends!”
“I think the witty part’s rubbing off too. Except, y’know, you’re not as funny as I am.”
“I can live with that.”
“Hey, um, guys?” Doug interrupted. “World in peril, remember?”
I nodded. “Let’s go.”
---
Shadow spat us out. We were in a woods in a mountain. I wasn’t unfamiliar. The Catskills. A few miles off from where Nouda’s spread had reached. Orange sky above.
Ah, back on radar. Y’know, Wendigo already told me where your little hideout is. Only a matter of time before Nouda reaches that too.
“Okay, you know what to do?” Quen asked. I nodded my head. “Shadow will help me get started, then he’ll go off to keep saving whoever he can. But you’re going to be on your own.”
“I’ll go as fast as I can!” I said, turning to run into the territory.
“Wait!” Quen shouted before I could begin. I turned back. He was pointing to a house. With a car out front.
“I, um, don’t have a license….” I said.
“Do you need one? There’s no one in there you could possibly hit – they’re all already dead.”
“That’s comforting.”
“Speed.”
I sighed, then walked over to the car. It was conveniently open, with the keys conveniently in the seat. People in this town never really bothered locking up.
That’s when I noticed whose house it was. I’d been here before – this was Jarrett’s house. Jarrett’s car. I know I went home in a police vehicle, but I was still fairly surprised by how untouched it was. Completely lifeless.
“What’s taking so long??” Quen shouted. “Go!!”
I put the key in the ignition, and twisted. It lit up. Now…. put it in Drive? I looked at the handle beside me. It was like reading the Book of Runes. I grabbed it, and…. that “D” must be Drive!
The car started moving. Why does the car move when my foot isn’t on the gas? It occurred to me that maybe I should’ve taken Driver’s Ed, despite living in the city.
I put my foot on the pedal. The car stopped. That must be the brakes. You’re really bad at this…. I put my foot on the other pedal, and without a moment’s hesitation the car leaped forward. That must be the gas.
I grabbed the wheel, and watched as the speedometer leaped up to 40, 60, 80…. The highway looped, I turned the wheel but apparently not fast enough. Veering off course, the road got bumpy. A tree came up fast, and the car narrowly looped around it, though I do admit I’m pretty sure the left mirror was there at the beginning of the ride.
I’ve already lost my chance at Phantom, please don’t go and kill yourself! It would be so anticlimactic!
If you want a showdown, Reaper, it would be useful if you came to me.
Don’t worry, I’m close.
How close?
A man stood in the road. I jammed on the brakes, but he was too close – he had a scythe!
I jumped out of the car at the last minute, as Reaper stood his ground and split it in two. I rolled a bit, past him even, and then I looked up into his blood-red eyes.
“You forgot to turn on your headlights.”
Eyes which inspire fear, paralysis, death. But I’d seen it all before. In fact, I’d seen worse. Fear was not a factor anymore.
“This is Nouda’s territory. Witness the cleansing fire.”
Sure enough, the trees around were burning, and it was spreading. But it wasn’t a wildfire, not like last summer. It was more supernatural, more precise and controlled. Like the Devil stepping forward.
“I’m not afraid of you,” I spoke, “or Nouda. You aren’t going to win this. You will not win the world.”
“Phantom is dead. And I can hear your thoughts. The way I see it, there’s nothing more you can do.”
“If that’s the case, what am I thinking now?”
I got up from the ground, and stared him in the eye. Death’s eye. He had me once before. He had so many chances to kill me. But I was more of an obsession, not a threat. The one thing he never imagined is that I could become a threat.
“You’re thinking that you just want to die. Allow me to grant your wish.”
He ran toward me, scythe swinging. I ran around the tree. He didn’t know. Our connection had never been one-way – the last time we’d fought, I was in his mind. The last time we were on this mountain, he was in mine. It works both ways, and if he can block me, I can block him too.
This was it. The showdown.
I reached into my back, and unsheathed my own weapon – the scythe. Doug’s scythe. He didn’t need it anymore.
“I see you’ve killed my last Wraith. Good for you!” We locked blades. “But mine is far more powerful. You know that, right?”
“Maybe against Phantom. But I’m all human, remember? All these things are equally pointy to me.”
Strike him low….
I jumped up, over the ray of darkness striking against my stomach. I flipped over him. It was working. Just like before.
Now spin and strike!
I blocked it with my own scythe just in time.
“I can hear your every thought, predict your every move. Last time I did that, I held you back with a mop.”
Get ready for –
I flipped up my scythe, knocking his back. I understood our connection now. It was all about strength of mind. And right now, I wanted to defeat him, to end it all, more than he wanted to kill me. This had all gone far enough.
We clashed scythes again, and he leaped over me, high into the sky, out of reach.
Blast him….
I’d seen the skeletal people do this many times before. I wasn’t sure if I could do it myself, but maybe….
He shot out of his hand a geiser of darkness, headed straight at me and impossible to dodge. I lifted the scythe, closed my eyes, and spun it around, faster, faster…. The darkness fell and pushed me back – I could feel the coldness all around me, but the spinning scythe held it off.
As it faded away, there was one more thing to do. I wasn’t that strong, but with enough speed….
I flung my scythe at him. And then I ran. Without even looking to see if it hit.
I had to remember the plan. I was feeding off Reaper’s own skills, but I still wouldn’t be able to stop him. Not by myself.
Ice….
I jumped up immediately, knowing better than to run on the ice. I landed and skid.
“You’ll have to do better than that, Zam-kiss!” I shouted. Yes, I’d been wanting to use that one for ages.
I got off the ice and kept running, past the flaming trees and beyond Nouda’s reach. I wasn’t sure exactly where Quen was, but I’d learned that the steering wheel isn’t quite as effective as on the Wii – wherever he’d set up, it was straight ahead.
Now!
I stopped – Reaper landed in front of me, geisers of darkness spurting around him.
“This ends now!” he declared, swinging his scythe over my head, under my feet. Somehow, this was easier. His scythe was shorter.
“Hey, I cut your scythe! That’s awesome!”
He laughed. It knocked me off-balance.
“You think this is funny, huh? Well, I wouldn’t want you to enjoy your final moments….”
He stood over me, the blunt end of his scythe coming down – the end that creates Wraiths….
It hit me on the head. Hurt. But it didn’t go through. I’d cut off the blunt end.
I smiled, and knee’d straight up. I knew he didn’t have genitals in this form, but it was still the easiest place to hit. That knocked him off-balance well enough for me to grab him beneath the knees, slide out and knock him over, all at the same time.
I got up again, and kept running. I could see Jarrett’s house now. I was almost there.
Hit the legs!
I didn’t dodge that one in time. My legs bled, but I kept on running.
Shoulder!
I shimmied over – the blade grazed me.
But I remembered Shawn’s struggle. He never stopped fighting. And neither would I. Not even if I had to crawl my way there. This was a test of will.
The ice shot out around me, covering all the trees and everything. But I didn’t stop. I kept my balance. Even against Reaper’s scythe, as it kept coming down.
Kill….
I tripped forward.
Kill!
I rolled.
KILL!!!!
I spun around and grabbed his scythe in-between my hands. Just inches away from my heart.
He stared at me with his blood-red eyes, furious. My palms began to bleed. But I couldn’t stop there. He was still pushing down.
I slid underneath, and then pushed down as well. The scythe collapsed into the ground. I jumped on top of it.
Freeze….
His hand came forward, reaching for my face. I ducked beneath it, reaching out, holding him back as I grabbed the scythe’s handle with my other hand. He grabbed my back, and I felt the cold iciness reach around the small of my back, but I pried the blade from the ground, and spun it around his foot, tripping him again.
My back was frozen, and my legs were searing, but I had to run. As long as I could.
Tentacles of darkness spat around the scythe. I clenched onto it hard as I could, but Reaper is stronger. It flew out of my hand and I fell back.
He charged, flying straight at me.
And then…. Darkness.
Nothing but darkness.
“I’m not dead,” I whispered. I closed my eyes, but it all looked the same. Open or closed, all there was was darkness. “I’ve seen the place the dead go, and this isn’t it.”
I collapsed on the grassy floor. Shadow stood before me. All my wounds, gone. I smiled.
“You’ve done your part. Now go find people who need you.”
It blinked away.
“Jake!” a whisper shouted. “Where’s Reaper??” I looked over my shoulder, and saw Quen hiding in the bushes. I looked up.
Get him!!
I rolled over just in time to avoid Reaper’s strike. There was a drop of blood on the ground. But Shadow had healed my cuts – I wasn’t bleeding.
Again!
I rolled again to avoid the next one.
“You should have just accepted your fate, Jake Bradley,” the demon proclaimed, hovering above me, scythe pointed down. “If you’d let me kill you when first we met, none of this would have happened.”
“You mean you wouldn’t have destroyed the world?”
“Oh, I still would’ve done that.”
“Then I regret nothing.”
The trees in the distance were catching aflame. Nouda was getting close. We were running out of time.
“Soon, Nouda will come. And then our little friend in the bushes will die too.” He looked up at Quen. “Bet you wish you’d taken those powers now, huh?”
Quen emerged, hiding gone. “I’m not your friend, Zamxus. Not anymore.”
“Look me in the eyes and tell me you’re not afraid.”
“Don’t look him in the eyes, Quen! Those things are evil!”
Quen looked him in the eyes.
“I’m not afraid.”
“You were always a bit emo….”
He had a cut in his arm. But when did….?
There was blood on the ground. Quen’s blood. The rune.
“Quen, see those fiery trees? You have to go now.”
“But you’re….”
“Now, I said.”
“Oh, look at you, holding out for each other. So cute. There’s nowhere to run.” He leaned over me, eye to eye. “Nowhere on Earth.”
“I’m immune. Thanks for that.”
A golden light danced across his eye. He looked up. The ground was glowing, glowing in a circle. Quen was chanting.
“What are you….?”
I seized the distraction, grabbing Reaper’s scythe, and hooking it around him, pinning him down. He struggled, but it was already in effect. He was already growing weak. I didn’t know what would happen to me, stuck in that circle. But whatever it was….
The wind sounded against the trees, even louder than Quen’s cantation. I closed my eyes and counted to three.
The golden wall popped up around the rune. Nothing could get in or out anymore. I didn’t need to hold him down. I wasn’t holding him down. I was out.
I looked beside me.
“Don’t die on me now, Jake.”
Reaper grabbed his scythe and plunged against the walls, slashing again and again, trying desperately to break it down. Nothing budged. He started to glow.
“Good to see you again, Shawn.”
Phantom shook his head.
Screeching filled the woods, far worse than any Wraith had ever screamed. Not like nails on a chalkboard, not like seven babies crying, not like anything of this world. It was worse than the wail of the Banshee, pure pain, pure death, shaking the woods.
We all watched as the golden wall fell and dispersed, as the spirit of Reaper grew out, like a ghost, like a demon without a host. And disappeared. Lost and gone.
Zamxus Zane remained.
“Look me in the eyes,” Quen smirked, “and tell me you’re not afraid.”
“No….”
“It’s over, Zamxus,” I said. “You’re done.”
He whipped around, turned to the burning forest before him, and he shouted into the wild. “NOUDA!!!! It is I, Zamxus Zane, your most faithful servant!! You’ve seen what they’ve done to me!! You must fix it, cure me!! Give me back the Reaper!!!!”
He held out his hand into the flames, and it caught ablaze.
“Don’t you get it?? The rest of them are all hypocrites and traitors!!”
It rose up his arm.
“I can fix this!!”
His body burned.
“GIVE ME POWER!!!”
And he was gone.
“Quen, you have to get out of here, before –“
“Phantom, let’s do this.” A burst of wind. Spirit appeared beside Phantom. They looked at each other, then leapt into the air, transforming, getting bigger, spinning and spinning.
Not a tornado, but a hurricane.
Shadow appeared, grabbing myself and Quen. He flew us up into sky, and dropped us down several mountains away. From the distance, we watched as the hurricane caught fire, a raging inferno like nothing we’d ever seen. It was larger than the mountain, larger than the city. It spread thousands of miles, a true firestorm in the sky. Fire shot everywhere, like the Devil himself was fighting to get out. The storm narrowed itself, rising up, above the clouds.
A shot like thunder. Rumbling for more than a few minutes. The fire spewed into the air. Up into the stratosphere. Even higher. Into space. Into nothing. And it faded away.
We watched in silence, Shadow still beside us. Finally, as the hour reached its end, two ghostly figures descended from the sky.
I smiled. “Shawn, you’re alive. You saved him!”
“Shawn Casper is dead. There is only Phantom now.”
I looked back and forth between them. Spirit slowly faded back into his human form, a rune etched on his hand.
“I don’t understand….”
“You removed Reaper from Zamxus Zane. I removed Shawn Casper from Phantom.”
“My human form is dead. I can never change back again.”
“But…. we can reverse it, right? We can reunite you with –“
“It’s irreversible, Jake Bradley. Just as Doug, I trust, will never be able to bond with another demon.”
“So…. Now what?”
“I understand what I have to do. Reaper is not a threat any longer, but there will be others. This is not the end.”
“Going full-blown superhero,” Quen nodded. “I get it.”
“Not quite the term I’d use.”
“So…. are we….?”
“I consider you a friend, Jake, and a worthy ally. But I must do the rest alone. I won’t put your life in danger any longer.”
“My life? You’re the one who almost died!”
“Shawn died.”
Right….
Quen shrugged. “I guess that’s what Spirit meant when he said he could sort of save you.”
I looked over at Casper, but his back was turned and he was already walking away.
“Thank you!” I called out. “Thank you for saving him!”
He froze. He looked back. On his face was a mask, hiding the scars of his past. And then he turned again and walked away.
---
The city was not in the best shape of its life. Though Nouda had only directly attacked organic life, the firestorm had left much to be desired. But it would survive.
People spoke of what happened in rumors first. Many believed it to be a terrorist attack, never quite believing the eye-witness accounts. But they got money to rebuild regardless. And the survivors all worked together.
The school was closed down. About time, really. But we found new schools.
“Are you sure about this, Doug?”
He nodded. “I can’t go back there. You know that.”
“Listen, just because everyone thinks you’re a killer doesn’t mean your social life is dead. To be perfectly fair, me and Quen basically are your social life as is.”
He smiled slightly. “It’s okay, Jake. I actually slept in a bed last night. I got to look at the moon, with my own eyes. I’m going to be all right.”
“Just keep in touch,” Quen nodded.
Doug agreed. And then he turned and got on the bus, taking his mother’s hand.
“I’ll let you know if there’s any demon action in Chicago. You can send Phantom or Shadow my way.”
The door closed, and they drove off.
“Well, that’s the end of that,” I shrugged. “Doug’s gone, Phantom’s a no-show, school’s closed, and we’re all getting transferred to that place on Long Island. Not looking forward to the commute….”
“Supposed to be a good school, though.”
“I care more about their mortality rate.”
“No demons far as I’ve heard.”
“Sounds awesome.”
“We’ll actually get to graduate!”
“Which kinda sucks actually, since I haven’t given any thought into colleges. I was kinda counting on dying first.”
“No worries, I bombed the SATs. We can be miserable together.”
A wind passed overhead. Just a normal wind, though.
“You think we’ll ever hear from him again?”
“I’d assume so. But if not, sharp objects go right through him – we don’t need to worry.”
I nodded. “Yeah…. I suppose you’re right.”
My phone vibrated in my pocket. I whipped it out.
“Text message from my dad,” I announced. “He wants to know if I’ll be home for dinner.”
---
Colors. Swarming around in a tube-like formation.
I’m not dead. I must be dreaming.
“Hey, Jake.”
I turn around. Blake is standing there, smiling at me. I smile back.
“Hey, kid.”
“Y’know that time we were looking at the sunset, talking about how we wanted to stay there forever?”
“Yeah.”
“This is even cooler! I mean, look at the colors – I love this place!”
I laughed.
A tap on the shoulder. Rose is there. Before I can say a thing, she leans in and plants a kiss.
“Ew, gross! Get a room!”
Rose glares at Blake. He runs off and fades away into the colors. I look her in the deep blue eye.
“Nick’s here too,” she says.
“Oh.”
“He didn’t want to see you.”
“No kidding.”
“Jake, I meant it when I said I love you.”
“So did I. I just really wish, before you left, we could’ve….”
“What?”
“Y’know, that thing people do?”
“Jake!”
“What?? I’m a virgin! It sucks being a virgin!”
Rose laughs. I miss that laugh.
“So…. is this the place the dead go?”
“With Reaper gone, what makes you think there’s still anything supernatural about your dreams?”
“I don’t know…. It’s just nice to think…. that I’ll see you again someday.”
“I love you, Jake. But I’m not going to be the only one. Nobody marries their high school sweetheart.”
“I would.”
“Not going to happen,” she chuckles. “But you’ll find new love. And I won’t get in the way.”
“And then when I die…. I’ll have two girls to bang?? Sweet!”
She looks at me peculiarly. “What makes you think this place is real?”
I shrug. “Nothing. It’s just my best guess.”