Endless (Shadowlands) (19 page)

“Please don’t do this, Rory. Please. You’re my best friend on this stupid island. I don’t want you to get stuck in the Shadowlands.”

“I won’t, Krista,” I told her, even though, technically, I had no idea what was about to happen.

Her cold fingers closed around my wrist as we slipped out the back door of the police station. The mayor’s car was parked just a few yards away. “How do you know that?”

My stomach clenched and I braced myself, trying not to look as terrified as I felt. “I just do,” I lied.

Another loud roar of anger went up from the crowd out front. Krista and I both froze, and my knees went weak. Tristan had lost them somehow. My eyes darted toward the front of the building, and I hesitated.

“Tristan?” Krista breathed.

I clenched my jaw. This was not the time to go running to my boyfriend’s side. I finally had the information I needed to save my father and Darcy. We each had a role to play, and mine was not here in town. It was up at the bridge. If I could just get there, if I could just free my family and the other innocent souls, everything would go back to normal. We could usher the visitors and set things right.

“We can’t help him,” I said. Someone shrieked angrily and a cheer rose up. “If anything goes wrong, they’ll get him somewhere safe. Don’t worry. Now, give me the keys.”

Krista’s eyes were wide and teary. “Please, Rory. Don’t make me. If something happens to you—”

“Give me the keys!” I snapped, frustrated.

Krista flinched, and a single, fat tear rolled down her face. She sniffled and drew the keys out of her pocket. Guilt consumed me, but I still snatched them away from her.

“I’m sorry, but I have to go,” I said, heading for the car. “The sooner I get up there, the sooner this is over.”

Krista hesitated, looking back and forth between me and the front of the building, as if she could see what was going on with Tristan. I had a feeling that, in the back of her mind, she was wondering whether she could get through the town square and up to her house alive so that she could hide under the covers until someone came to tell her everything was okay. Then another roar of ire rose up, and she bolted toward the car. When she climbed in beside me, she was soaking wet and crying.

I bit down on my tongue, gunned the engine, and headed for the hills.

“No way, Rory. Not gonna happen.”

Fisher proved to be a tough sell on the whole
opening the door to the Shadowlands
question. He stood between me and the bridge like my personal Great Wall of China, his legs planted firmly apart, his massive arms crossed over his chest as rain poured freely over his closely-shaved head and down his face and into the collar of his T-shirt. The guy had lost the jacket at some point, and now stood there with nothing but the gray tee sucked to his every muscle, and cargo pants that were soaked through to a dark shade of green. In another life, this guy could have made a killing as a professional wrestler. He just needed to get himself a few well-placed tattoos and a stupid nickname, and he was gold.

“Fisher, don’t you want me to get Darcy back?” I asked, trying to bite back the frustration simmering inside me. “She’s being tortured right now. While you’re just standing there.”

Kevin and the other guys were lined up next to Fisher like a barricade, but none of them were quite as intimidating. Without Tristan or Joaquin here, Fisher was the de facto leader, and I knew that if I could get through to him, the others wouldn’t fight me. I glanced sidelong at Krista. Her white rain jacket was snapped up to her chin, the hood forming a perfect O around her face with the laces pulled taut. She looked like she would rather be anywhere other than here.

“Look, my orders were not to let anyone over the bridge, so I’m not letting anyone over the bridge,” Fisher told me.

“Well, there you go!” Krista said, reaching for my hand. “Let’s go back to my house.”

I snatched my fingers away. An impressive fork of lightning split the sky behind Fisher, and a crack of thunder quickly followed, causing Krista to yelp.

“But I’m not just anyone,” I replied, clenching my fists, the skin on my hands so raw it tightened to near cracking. “I’m the person Pete finally talked to.”

Fisher narrowed his eyes and reset his stance, looking down his nose at me like he was the commanding officer and I was some pissant private challenging his authority.

“Right. And how am I supposed to know that for sure, exactly?” he asked. “How do I know you’re not just making this up?”

Now I glared at Krista. It was way past time for her to speak up. But she just looked at me, her blue eyes wide like a startled rabbit’s.

“Tell him, Krista!” I demanded. “Tell him what you heard.”

Krista looked at the ground. “He said that if we opened the door, the innocents would be released,” she mumbled. “But I don’t get why it has to be you, Rory!” she whined, suddenly full of life. “Can’t we send one of the older Lifers over? Someone who doesn’t have friends or a family or—”

“We don’t have time to start looking for a willing guinea pig!” I interjected. “Don’t you get it? It’s my family in there. My best friend. We have to do this now.”

A few of the other guys heard this and started to whisper, looking at us with a new sort of respect. Possibly awe.

Suddenly, Krista’s face hardened into a sort of resolute mask of fear. “Fine. Then I’m coming with you.”

“What?” Fisher, Kevin, and I said as one.

Krista cleared her throat and spoke up. “There’s no way I’m going to stay back here and explain to Tristan how I let her go alone,” she said. “Dealing with the fallout from that would be way worse than anything the Shadowlands has to offer.”

“Wow, Krista. I’m impressed,” Fisher said, looking her up and down.

Krista lifted her shoulders. “She’s my best friend. Like my sister. If she goes, I guess I have to go.”

Kevin turned his back to us and murmured something in Fisher’s ear. Then Fisher turned his back on us, and the two of them got into it, whisper-fighting something fierce until Fisher finally shouted, “Fine!”

I felt Krista tense up. “Fine what?” I asked.

“Fine, you guys can go. But I’m coming with you. Safety in numbers, right?”

He stepped aside, forming a hole in the line between him and Kevin. The bridge loomed before us, the steel girders seeming huge at the foot of the bridge before they tapered up and disappeared inside the swirling gray mist. My throat went dry, and the mixture of fear and adrenaline coursing through me made my head swim. But I forced myself to walk toward the seam where the muddy road met the steel ramp, and I didn’t look back, though I could hear Krista and Fisher behind me.

I stopped in front of the wall of mist. Eighteen paces and I’d see Darcy again. Eighteen paces and I’d have my dad back. And Aaron and Jennifer and everyone else who was needlessly suffering. Fisher stepped up to my left, Krista to my right.

“I should warn you guys, it’s not pleasant in there,” I said. “There are voices. Whispers. And something kept trying to grab me. I don’t know who or what, but…it wasn’t fun.”

“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Krista said.

“Don’t worry,” Fisher told her, giving her shoulder a squeeze. “I got your back.”

I took a deep breath. “Ready?”

Fisher looked over his shoulder and gave Kevin a nod. Kevin lifted his walkie to his lips and spoke. “Joaquin. Come in, Joaquin. Rory, Krista, and Fish are going over the bridge. They say they know how to open the portal to the Shadowlands. You might want to get your ass up here.”

“Fisher!” Krista and I scolded.

Fisher shrugged. “You don’t go into battle without backup. Now, let’s go rescue my girlfriend.”

And then he took the first step into the mist. I clenched my teeth and followed him, knowing that Joaquin and possibly Tristan—if he could get away—were already on their way here, but it didn’t matter anymore. This wasn’t going to take long. By the time he got here, it would all be over.

The second the fog enveloped me, I was alone. Fisher should have been dead ahead, Krista to my right, but I couldn’t see either one of them. Then, suddenly, a hand closed around mine and Krista reappeared. She smiled wanly and I smiled back.

“Here goes.”

Together, we began to count our steps.

“One…two…three…”

The whispers began.

“…she’s brought a friend…”

“…pretty, pretty…”

“…bite the toes off one by one…”

Krista’s grip on my hand tightened. Fear coursed through me, pulsating through my veins, my temples, my wrists, my heart, but I knew I couldn’t stop. Darcy was depending on me. My dad and Aaron needed me. I imagined their faces, their smiles, their eyes, and kept walking. I’d survived this once before. I could survive it again. For them.

“Four…five…”

A cold finger swept along my cheek. Krista yelped and swatted at the back of her neck.

“What was that?” she whined.

“It’s nothing. It’s just messing with us,” I told her, willing the terror out of my voice.

“
What’s
messing with us?” Her grip on my hand was like a vice.

“The bridge,” I said through my teeth. “Just keep going. We’re almost there.”

“Six…seven…eight…” I counted on my own this time.

“…still so clueless…”

“…doesn’t know what she’s…”

“…dark as pitch, that one…”

“Rory?” Krista mewled, looking over her shoulder at nothing. “This was a bad idea. I wanna go. Let’s go, okay? Please?”

Then she screeched again, and I saw her hair rise up behind her, some invisible thing in the mist pulling at its matted strands.

“Oh my god,” she whined, her breath broken. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my—”

“There’s nothing there,” I promised her. “Keep moving.”

“Nine…ten…”

The mist to my left swirled, then started to pulse. In and out. In and out. As if someone was standing just inches away, breathing. Watching. Krista held my hand with both of hers now, pulling me awkwardly against her side.

“Fisher?” I whispered.

The response was a laugh so dark and evil it couldn’t have belonged to a human being. At least not a living one. My brain went momentarily fuzzy, and I was sure I was about to pass out from the fear. But Krista clung to my side, steadying me with her terror and forcing me to be the brave one. I knew I couldn’t go down. If I went down, all was lost.

“You don’t need them. Your family. You don’t,” Krista whispered furtively, staring at the pulsating mist. “You’ve got me now. And Tristan, Joaquin. Darcy and your dad were going to move on anyway, right? Why don’t you just let it go? Just let it go so we can get the hell out of here?”

I clenched my teeth and ignored her. I had to. If I listened to what she was saying I was going to punch her in the face. I turned and kept walking, now dragging Krista with me.

“Thirteen…fourteen…fifteen…sixteen.”

“Nonononononono,” Krista babbled, shaking her head. “No, please. No.”

“…come out, come out, wherever you are!”

“…never ever thought it would end this way…”

“…closer, dearie, just a little closer…”

A bony finger swiped my ear from top to bottom, tucking stray hairs behind it. I felt a chill down my back and almost squealed. Krista planted her feet and leaned backward, doing her best to root me to the spot. Luckily, I was stronger. I closed my eyes and took the last two steps, yanking on her arm.

“Seventeen,” I said. “Eighteen.”

We stopped. Krista shook from head to foot. I could hear her teeth chattering. I gathered every bit of courage I had left within me, my heart pounding so hard I could feel little else, and turned to the left. There was no sign of Fisher. Whatever he thought he might save us from, it wasn’t going to happen. We were on our own. Hopefully he’d just keep walking and find himself right back where he’d started, as I had two days ago.

“Roreeeee…” Krista called out. Sweat had pooled between our palms and turned to ice.

“Don’t worry. Everything is gonna be fine.”

This was for my family. This was for my dad and Darcy and Aaron. As much as I hated to think of him at that moment, I closed my eyes and conjured up a picture of Steven Nell, gasping and sputtering as he took his very last breaths. I held my own breath and whispered, “I took another person’s life.”

There was a loud bang, like the sound of a dump truck lowering its metal lift to the ground without care. The bridge beneath us shook. Krista somehow tightened her grip on me, squeezing my fingers until I thought my hand would shatter. The mist in front of us started to move, haphazardly at first, like smoke being waved off a fire, but it quickly organized itself into a vortex, swirling before us like a sideways tornado opening its mouth. We stood there, but we felt no wind.

I was staring at an endless depth of blackness, darker than anything I’d seen on Earth, and I was sure that I had been duped. I was certain that at any second, something cold and gray and slimy was going to reach out and grab me and Krista and drag us into hell.

She was going to spend eternity suffering in the Shadowlands, and it was my fault.