Part 58

A sound like thunder shook the room. David recoiled, both from the sound that seemed to strike at him from all directions, and from the sudden disturbance in the black wall at the front of the chamber. When the thunder struck, the swirling chaos of shadows froze... and then exploded outward as if hit with an invisible fist.

Everything slowed. Everything stopped.

Less than a pace away, Rinius dove for him with knives outstretched. The blades hung motionless in the air. The ocean of gray robes behind David stood frozen in the instant before their reaction.

The low growl of the single thunderclap stretched to impossible length.

A pearl of darkness separated itself from heart of the black storm. David watched as it sailed toward him, untouched by whatever had fixed the entire chamber in time. He opened his mouth to scream, but his jaw would not move. His eyes would not close. The trailing edge of his last breath... the one he'd used to speak the name... hung just beyond hips lips. The droplet dove toward David's chest even as he tried to raise his hands. To block it? To wrestle with it? To ward it off?

It didn't matter. Nothing moved. Not even David.

What... is...

When it touched him, the darkness flared outward... and inward...

The force of the inrush threw David backward-

-but he didn't move. His body remained fixed as his senses shifted. Talons of ice sank into his thoughts... twisting... pulling... forcing him back...

"MINE!"

The voice sizzled out of the shadow, burning like venom. David recoiled from it-

-and was forced back even further by the tide of icy hatred.

And yet his body didn't budge.

"MINE!"

"NO!" David screamed. His lips remained frozen. He held on... he didn't know how or to what... or what would happen if he let go... but he held on tight. The darkness fought him. Flashes of deeper shadow darted across his eyes, forming a pattern on the backdrop of darkness.

The boy. The boy from the barn.

Eric.

The face twisted into a sneer of impossible rage.

"GIVE IT TO ME!"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" David shouted.

"YOU SUMMONED ME! YOU WANTED HELP! NOW I'M HERE! LET GO!"

"NO! WHAT ARE YOU-"

"GET... OUT!!!!!!"

The sudden surge of anger snapped David's hold.

He'd seen nothing but darkness and that horrible, horrible face... but now light flooded in from the corners of his vision. It flared and expanded, exposing the scene around him.

The chamber.

Rinius and his sacrificial blades.

The crowd of townspeople who had assembled to watch him die.

They were all there, still frozen...

...but David saw HIMSELF, too! He stared at his own back from a position several paces behind...

The view shifted. David was moving backward... slowly at first, then faster.

Gray robes sailed past as some invisible force pulled him into the crowd.

His body moved on the altar. He could SEE it... David watched his own head turn toward Rinius. Watched his own features slowly twist into a sneer-

Then his perspective shifted. He twisted until he no longer saw himself, but stared into the crowd. Faces zoomed toward, then past him.

What was happening!? What WAS THIS!?

The crowd began to move as time started to flow once more. Expressions of surprise twisted into shock... then panic. Slowly... very slowly... mouths opened to scream or cry out. Gray robes flared as formerly motionless legs propelled some forward while others turned away.

David floated among them...

It had all been a trick. The ghost... the name... He'd found it, and the ghost had used it to switch places with him.

HE was the ghost now. HE was-

The mysterious pull shifted suddenly. A pair of gray robes stumbled past and the entire chamber whirled as David spun to face them.

David's uncle Derris wielded his bulk like a clumsy weapon, clearing a path toward the room's only door. His flight sparked a ripple of motion around him as he jostled others from their frozen shock Behind him, David's aunt Theema skittered after him like a startled spider.

David lurched after them... not by choice, but pulled along by some invisible force.

Time still flowed slowly... except for David. He caught up with the pair easily, but instead of stopping, his speed increased. He dove toward them... toward Theema Vern. Her gray robe filled his entire field of vision for an instant.

There was a flash of red warmth-

-and then darkness.

Several yards away, David's body dropped into a predatory crouch atop the stone altar, sneering as time returned to the world.

Eyes that had seen Hell looked out at the crowd.

"...hnnnn..." David's mouth growled. The eyes shifted to something closer.

Rinius.

Knives.

David's mouth began to smile.