Jeremy Chikalto and the Demon Trace (Book III of The Hazy Souls) (21 page)

After a time, the gardener spoke to the
shepherd. “Brother, I have labored this whole year in the dirt, and
look what I have grown. From my sweat have I brought this gift for
the Lord, without spilling a drop of blood except my own. You have
laid in the field while the animals eat the grass, and slept under
the sun, and then you slew this lamb today. Who do you think has
done right by the Lord?”

And the shepherd was saddened by these
words. “Brother, I have done only as the Lord has asked me to do.
We are the same.”

“We are not the same!” Mantel's will burned
in Cain's eyes. “Because my offering to the Lord is greater, so the
Lord's love for me will be greater.”

And the Lord, who was always watching from
the unseen place, spoke to the men as they sat. “If you offer
properly, but divide improperly, have you not sinned?”

And then the scene swirled, and she saw
Mantel in his Maze for thousands of years, alone but surrounded by
souls. Mantel looked at her through the dream. “Except,” he said.
“I tried to be apart, to become an exception. But everyone, always,
belongs to the One. This, now, I accept.”

Maren awoke and left her hut to join the
others, who were sitting at the edge of the oasis room looking down
at the root network and telling stories about the old days. They
turned to look at Maren.

“When we found the salmon they said to us,
'We have to return to our birth place to die.' All forms are born
out of the One, and all must return to the One, which is always
forming and unforming.”

“Death,” said Jeremy.

“No, true death is when
you refuse to go back. Cain's Mark
—
Nisi. It means 'except, only.'
Accept.” said Maren.

“Accept,” she said again
and again, and the air began to vibrate with the word. The halo
around Maren's crown appeared again and began to shine like a
beacon. Maren felt like a pool of water expanding, submerging the
Maze, and it seeped through the webs, and she could feel her
friends and family raging in their prisons. She vibrated into
them:
Accept
. And
their minds grew calm and still like a cup holding the
water.

“Look!” Jeremy grabbed Maren and Tina and
flew them down into the root network. “The thread is
unravelling!”

The blood had stopped pouring out of
Wantoro's mouth, and he was unleashed from the sac into Jeremy's
arms waiting below. Jeremy eased him onto the ground, and Wantoro's
limbs began to convulse. Soon he was coughing up blood from his
lungs. He opened his eyes and looked around him.

Jeremy grabbed hold of his father's face and
kissed him. “You're alive!”

“I'm dead,” said Wantoro, with a smile
slowly spreading across his face.

Maren knelt down beside him and clasped his
hand. “I think we all are.”

Chapter 40

Bathed in Light

One by one, the prisoners were released from
the sacs and revived, and there were many joyous reunions. Jeremy
and Maren moved everyone into the oasis room and away from the
blood. Then Jeremy dismantled the spider carcass in the oasis bit
by bit, and threw the remains into the roots. He blasted the pool
again and again, hoping to sterilize it, if that even meant
anything anymore.

“How are you feeling?” Maren crouched beside
her father.

Mateo smiled up at her. “I'm okay. When I
was strung up like a sausage, all I could think about was my girls.
You, your mother... your baby.”

Maren laughed. “A girl, huh?”

Mateo smiled. “Just a hunch. Your mother was
calling to me.” The corners of Mateo's eyes welled up. “I think we
all felt it, Maren. It's time to leave.”

“Yeah.” Maren walked to the other side of
the oasis room and stood beside Jeremy. She faced the group and
cleared her throat. A hush spread across the room.

“I'm amazed that people can go through an
experience like yours and be grateful for it. I have something to
tell everyone. We know why the spirit animals are attacking us.”
She took a deep breath. “It's because we're all already dead. After
the Apocalypse began, the world of spirits merged with our own.
Everyone on this plane has died, but our spirits haven't yet
been... processed. The spirit animals separate our energies. A part
of us goes up, and a part of us goes down. Jeremy has control over
the demons, and they will do us no harm. But he does not control
the spirit animals. You control the spirit animals.” Maren smiled.
“The good news is that you can all be sorted peacefully. The spirit
animals only fight the body that resists the sorting. I propose we
bring the spirit animals to us. We let them take us!”

There was a pregnant silence.

“You're right,” said Frisky. “While I was in
the sac, I knew it with all my being that I wanted to be someplace
else. I saw my parents, grams, relatives I'd only ever heard
stories about. I'm not afraid.” She reached out to Ren, and he
smiled at her.

Jeremy pulled Maren aside. “What are you
doing?” he whispered.

“Don't you hear them? It's what they
want.”

“Is it what you want?”

Maren looked back at her father, who was
reclining on the moss, his face bathed in light. “I think so.”

Tina wedged herself between them. “I think I
can do this!” She laughed, wiped away a stray tear and then ran
over to her parents.

“They're actually celebrating,” said Jeremy
under his breath.

Maren rubbed her temples. “I think I need
another nap,” she said.

“Yeah, well me too.” Jeremy opened a door up
to the next room over. It was a simple, rectangular room carpeted
in moss with four torches burning in each of the four corners.
“We're all exhausted. Let's sleep on it and then decide.”

Chapter 41

It Roams

Something fell on Jeremy's nose. He swiped
it away, but then another flake fell into the crease of his eye,
and he reflexively batted his eyelash. This woke him. “Hey, Maren?”
Jeremy nudged her softly and then moved away from the wall where
he'd been resting. He looked up and saw that the ceiling was
crumbling slightly just above them. “Maren!”

She was roused from her sleep, and rubbed at
her eyes. Dust and debris settled on her head. “What is this?”
Maren scooched beside Jeremy.

“The ceiling is falling,” said Jeremy.

“Look over there,” said Maren, pointing. A
crack was spreading to the other side of the room, growing thicker
with each passing second.

“We should check out the graveyard. Maybe
Mantel's fight with the demons destabilized the infrastructure of
the Maze.”

“Right.” Maren stretched her arms overhead
and then made for the door. “Let's keep this to ourselves for the
time being.”

Jeremy and Maren walked by the others, who
were talking to one another about the sorting and visions that they
had about life beyond. Jeremy carried Maren as he flew through the
root network, still bloodied and with webs strung up,
criss-crossing every which way, until they ascended into the
graveyard passageway.

The graveyard was ill lit where they
stood.

“Go towards the torch light,” said
Maren.

They passed row after row
of gravestones and came to a pile of debris from Earth's surface. A
small stream of dirt fell on top of his head and Jeremy frantically
styled the dust out of his hair. He jumped off the pile of debris,
but was too late
—
his weight had already caused more damage. “It's
bad.”

They looked at the ceiling of the Maze. “You
think...?”

“The Earth is collapsing in on itself.”
Maren gasped. “We have to sort everyone, now.”

Jeremy stopped short and studied a spot in
the distance. “Do you see that?”

“What?” Maren squinted.

“Something's coming,” whispered Jeremy.
“It's flying towards us.”

“What?” She looked where Jeremy had pointed
and could detect a small movement. Something airy fluttered towards
them. It shined like gold. As it drew closer, it whispered,
“Apollyon.”

Jeremy stepped towards it. “Did you hear
that?”

“Be careful,” said Maren.

Jeremy held up a cautious hand. It floated
closer and then stopped mid-air. All he had to do was grab it. It
was a key.

Maren gasped. “Jeremy, don't!”

“It's a key,” he looked back at Maren. “Does
that mean...?”

Maren's face lost all its color.

“I'm not the Antichrist.”
Jeremy laughed. “I can't be, right? If I take this
key
—
so what, I'd
lock myself away? No.”

“I never thought you were,” she said.

“I wasn't sure, but I should take this right
now, right?” His smile was manic, but she remained stoic. “Maren,
what should I do?”

“Leave it.”

Jeremy blinked. “I can't just leave it.”

“You can get it later. Please.” Maren
gripped him by the arms. “We need everyone sorted before you get
that key. Bring me back to everyone and I'll tell them to prepare.
You find Lyrna.”

* * *

Jeremy stood on Earth's
surface. Earth had grown hot
—
very hot
—
and the red sun beat down without
mercy. An earthquake shook the ground beneath his feet slightly.
All around him the structures and trees were decimated by fire and
powerlines were toppled by storms.

Jeremy took to the sky. “Lyrna!” he called
out. Thousands of spirit animals clustered around him, demons too,
all eager for him to call them to some end. He closed his eyes and
focused his attention on Lyrna.

Jason.
The thought pierced his brain. What did it all matter,
anyway? If Maren was already dead—if his parents, Mateo, Tina,
Frisky, and Ren were all already dead—what was the rush to have
them sorted? Mantel's vision of individuated souls living forever
in the Maze seemed more tempting than ever.

Jason.
The thought resurfaced and made him sick. So he killed a
young boy—it was the boy's gun.

With newfound alacrity,
Jeremy made it to the Truitt house in Pennsylvania in minutes. The
sun and moon spun past in quick succession, a strobe light in the
sky. He was soon soaring above the Endless Mountains in western
Pennsylvania.
Make this
quick
, he thought to himself. He was
supposed to be finding Lyrna.

Jeremy approached the property slowly. The
trees had long since burned away, replaced now by ashes and dirt.
When he reached the top of the once tree-lined hill, he saw the
house and it looked just like he'd left it. The porch was erected
on stodgy wooden stilts set in a cement foundation. Outside carpet,
worn by the elements, nonetheless remained intact on the steps
leading up to the front door. And the shed that served as Jeremy's
prison looked every bit the nightmare from his youth.

A young man walked out the
front door holding a rake and a large bucket. He continued down the
porch steps and made his way to the center of the yard. Jeremy hid
behind the shed. The young man raked the dirt into the bucket until
it was full.
Jason.
But it couldn't be, he'd killed Jason. Jeremy's heart beat in
his chest. "Jason?"

The young man stood upright. "Hello?"

"Are you Jason?" Jeremy emerged from behind
the shed.

"No. I'm sorry, he died some time ago."

Jeremy stopped and drew a sharp breath. "I
was a friend of his. Forgive me, but you look so much like
him."

"He was my brother."

Jeremy nodded stupidly. "Of course," he
said.

"Yeah. I've been here about three years. How
did you know my brother? Why are you here? Lookin' for refuge?"

Jeremy stammered.

"Hey, it's okay. We make
due here. You wouldn't believe it, but we've been eating the dirt
all this time
—
it
must be loaded with nutrients. Hey, we'd love to have a friend of
Jason's!"

Jeremy began to break into a sweat. “I'd
better not come in." He held his hands up in deference. "But your
brother was great. He, um, was fiercely loyal. I heard he knew
right away that Jacey Moon wasn't you. He just..." Jeremy struggled
to find the words, "Jason knew something wasn't right, so the
gun... it's just a shame how that all went down."

"You look familiar now that I see you up
close." Jeffrey squinted.

Jeremy froze, unsure
whether to bolt or to beg for forgiveness. He so desperately wanted
closure. "I'd better go
—
"

"Jacey Moon," said Jeffrey.

"Yes," said Jeremy, still as stone. "My
name's Jeremy Chikalto, actually."

Jeffrey knelt down and picked up the bucket
of dirt.

"I just wanted to apologize."

After a pause, Jeffrey had the courage to
speak. "Is it true you're the Antichrist?"

Jeremy stiffened. "I have a role to play in
the Apocalypse, but I'm not the Antichrist."

Jeffrey grabbed the rake and pathetically
held it up to protect himself. "Get out of here. Please," he
said.

"I'm not going to hurt anyone," said Jeremy.
“The spirit animals that fly overhead will come for you, but don't
be afraid. There is a... Heaven. Have peace." Jeremy hesitated,
took a couple of steps back, and then glowed an electric blue. He
turned and saw Lyrna floating in the air just behind him.

“Meow!”

“Lyrna! Thank God,” said Jeremy.

She started to growl and flexed her claws.
“It roams,” said Lyrna.

“Come with me.” Jeremy grabbed her by the
scruff of the neck and flew up into the sky, leaving Jeffrey
stupefied.