Limbo's Child (86 page)

“How do you know that?!” Nephys implored, “Maybe she
did
know you would try and she knew it
wouldn’t
be okay. Maybe she didn’t tell you because she was trying to protect you! How can you know for sure?!”

“WHAT NOTE?!!!” Yo-yo screamed.

“I just know, OK?!” Lucy yelled back at Nephys, but she wasn’t sure anymore. Her mother had kept things from her, and she
had
done it to protect her. Was she trying to help her now from even beyond the grave? She was so uncertain.

“Lucy, look!” It was Yo-yo. He had let go of her middle and stood up next to her. He was pointing up to the tunnel of light. It had widened enough so that she could see the dark tunnel on the other side, but the tunnel was filled with some great, monstrous beast. It had no clear form but looked like it was draped in thick, dark shrouds. Under the shrouds, she could see the form of a giant wing here, the indistinct head of an animal there. From under the edges, she saw many feet: taloned claws, like those of an eagle, iron hooves and even paws like a lion, only far bigger than any lion on earth. It made the sounds of all of those creatures, as well as the chanting and moaning of thousands of human souls in torment. It was as if someone had thrown a huge tarpaulin over a monstrous menagerie the size of a house. It breathed out a raspy, shuddering breath punctuated by horrifying screeches that unhinged your very psyche. It was radiating a sickly amber light that was filled with dust. As the dust fell, everything it touched seemed to disintegrate and waste away into nothingness. The very walls of the tunnel seemed to crack and crumble into dust as it stepped forward.

“It’s the Great Master,” Nephys whispered in horror.

Lucy didn’t need Nephys’ words to tell her what she already knew somehow, instinctively. This was Death, the taker of life, the taker of every life that had ever lived from gnat to king.

It was the most horrifying thing Lucy had ever seen. She had expected a man or a skeleton in a robe with a scythe, not this unfathomable, ancient monster. She could imagine her mother fighting some lanky skeleton in a robe, but no one had told her Death was like this! How could her mother fight this?! It seemed impossible and maybe it was. Maybe Amanda had lied to her after all.

“There she is, Lucy!” Yo-yo cried, “It’s your mother!!”

There, in the rubble-strewn path before the monster, was the tiny figure of a woman cowering. It was so small compared to the beast, it wasn’t surprising she hadn’t seen it, but she couldn’t see her clearly. Was it really her mother? She couldn’t tell. The figure was hiding behind the broken-off foot of a massive statue, but the foot was disintegrating before the slow, endless advance of Death. The monster took only one step at a time, plodding slowly, but so giant were its strides it didn’t matter. It moved with the pace of something that knew it was irresistible.

“Mother?” Lucy said weakly watching the sad, poor, pathetic victim at the feet of this monster.

“Call her, Lucy! Call her to you! Bring her back into her body!! You can do it!” Yo-yo implored, yanking on her arm like an earnest and needy child.

There was a crashing sound as Amanda came storming into the room. Miles was right behind her literally dragging himself after her, one back leg hanging loosely behind him. He pulled himself up to his feet, changing into his human shape and tried to bar the doors. From the sound on the other side, the vampires hadn’t given up the chase just yet. Amanda hurried to Lucy’s side of the room, and her eyes lit up in horror and delight at the sight of the small figure in front of the Great Master before she turned to Lucy.

“LUCY!! Do it now!! Do it before it’s too late!!”

Nephys was speechless and just shook his head numbly from side to side.

Lucy looked in earnest between all three of them, but she was paralyzed and didn’t know what to do.

“Lucy, you can do it! We believe in you!” Yo-yo said.

“DO IT NOW!” Amanda commanded.

The monster crept closer to the tiny figure, but suddenly, there beside her mother, was another figure screaming and waving, cursing at the monster. Who was it? It was impossible to tell. A tall and gaunt man it looked like. In the room, Amanda and Yo-yo were yelling at her to continue, and now Miles too was joining in, yelling for her stop.

All of them wanted her to do something and they were yelling at her and she just couldn’t think. If she could get them all to stop just for a moment and let her think!!

Lucy closed her eyes and screamed, “STOP!!”

In Scranton an emergency trauma patient dying on the operating table inexplicably stopped dying. Her heart rate had crashed, her pulse non-existent, but she was stubbornly remaining alive. The doctors tending her were mystified at the sudden reversal and began frantically working to make good use of the time. Somewhere in a logging camp in Siberia, a man crushed under a massive log that had rolled off of a truck when a chain broke lay in anguish unable to die. A crowd gathered in shock and horror as they watched the pulped body of the man, which should no longer be living,
refuse
to die. A child dying of cancer in a hospital in Riverside, California stopped in the middle of her dying breath and opened her eyes for the first time in months. She had long ago felt she shouldn’t remain, but now, when the moment had finally arrived, she found she couldn’t leave. Her mother cried. Another man in China who lay dying of emphysema and wishing for death found his last breath stuck in his throat and yet he couldn’t die. He lay in agony, waiting for the end, but it wouldn’t come. Everywhere Death had stopped, and the dying had stopped
dying
and Lucy could see them all. For some, the pause was a blessing, giving moments of desperate hope but for others, it was a horrid curse extending the pain of their passing. Everywhere it had stopped, for old people and young people, the ones long dying and the ones just recently struck by tragedy in every land and nation. For how long she couldn’t tell, but it had stopped everywhere.

Lucy looked up at the tunnel. The monster had stopped, just inches from her mother and the other figure. It stood there towering over them, but it wasn’t still. It was wheezing and gasping, as tired and weary as that man in China. It was looking at her, looking at her with many eyes and heads and faces. Even under all those shrouds, she could tell. It was
showing
this to her, it
wanted
her to see. She became faintly aware that Yo-yo and Amanda were still there – still yelling, begging, demanding that she call her mom forth. They hadn’t stopped, but
Death
had stopped. She had asked for someone, anyone to stop and give her some time to think, and DEATH had listened. It was listening now. And waiting. How long had passed, a minute, maybe less, she didn’t know, but it was waiting to see what she would do, but as something unspoken was communicated between her and the monster, she knew it wouldn’t wait forever.

Ok, so she wanted time to think and it was giving it to her, so think, Lucy! THINK! She thought about everything Amanda had said, and how she could bring her Mom back, and that somehow bringing her mom back would conquer death, and she
knew
it was true. Death would not have come this far, to the very edge of the world of the living if it wasn’t. Then she thought of the note and realized that her mother must have known it too, but knew that it was wrong.

Death did not want to destroy her mother, but Lucy was forcing the issue. Lucy had dragged her mother and Death itself to the brink. She had done it, and if she had simply said no, then none of this would be happening. She had made the choice to bring it this far. It was all her fault. And all those languishing now, pleading for the release of death that would not come, or being tortured by false hope of a sudden pardon, she was the cause of that too.

Lucy looked up at the great beast and bowed slowly from the neck. The creature bowed once in return. Lucy looked back one more time at the small figure in the tunnel she was certain now was her mother and said softly, “Goodbye, Mom.”

Lucy stood up and let go of her mother’s hand.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!” screamed Amanda.

“LUCY! YOUR MOTHER!!” yelled Yo-yo.

Lucy stood up slowly and pulled the stone back. She had held it there so long, now it resisted the sudden retreat, but she gritted her teeth and yanked hard. The stone flew back so hard it almost pulled her over with it, but she steadied herself and didn’t fall. There was a loud crack and the tunnel of light collapsed back down to a single, bright spot before disappearing entirely. As it closed, she felt the spirits of the woman in Scranton, the man under the log, the girl in Riverside and the elderly gentleman from China pass through. As their souls went, it was like a long sigh.

The crack reverberated around the now-silent ballroom for a moment before another terrifying sound erupted into the room.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”

Amanda had exploded into her specter form, expanding to fill the room with her terrifying, flying black hair and immense hollow eyes. Her large, taloned hands reached out as if to strangle Lucy.

“WHAT. HAVE. YOU. DONE?!!!” came Amarantha’s sepulchral voice. Lucy cowered, uncertain if Amanda were about to kill her, but as sudden as her rage arrived it departed. Amanda shrunk back down to her human shape, which seemed impossibly frail and small now in comparison with her previous ghostly form. Amanda staggered around the floor like a person in shock after a car wreck, unable to look at Lucy. Then she spoke.

“I’m…I’m sorry, Lucy. I…must have pushed you too hard.” She looked broken, dazed and defeated.

A sudden sound crashed against the double doors. Miles spread himself against them, holding them back, and began piling anything he could reach in front of them.

“Come, we have to go!” Amanda raced forward, grabbed Lucy by the hand and tried to pull her after her, but Lucy shook off her grip.

“NO!” Lucy said firmly, “I’m not going anywhere with you!”

Amanda looked at her angrily.

“And I’m not leaving my mother.” Lucy stepped in front of her mother’s body defensively.

Amanda looked back at her with a forlorn look. It seemed as if she wanted to say something, but then she exchanged looks with Yo-yo, who looked more impassive and numb then ever. Amanda’s face stiffened. She looked back to Lucy. Resigned that Lucy would have it no other way she slowly backed away from Lucy and her mother’s body.

“I’m not your enemy, Lucy.” she said coldly, “In time…I hope you’ll see that.” She flashed into the specter form and passed right through the wall and was gone.

Lucy looked to Yo-yo. She saw him standing on the far side of the room. His face locked in that impassive stare, but this time it didn’t brighten when Lucy saw him. He just stood there, idly winding the string of his yo-yo.

“Why?” he said to her through narrowed eyes. He was hurt.

“Oh, Yo-yo. It’s hard to explain…but if you just give me some time…”

“You’re the only one in the world that could bring her mother back, but you didn’t want to.
Why?”

“Yo-yo, it’s not like that.” She ran to him and tried take his hand, but he just pulled away and turned his back to her. She wanted to hug him but held back.

“I’d give anything to have a mother,” he said sullenly. He rubbed his nose on his sleeve and shot a wicked look her direction. “I
hate
you,” he mumbled under his breath.

“Yo-yo!” Lucy said, hurt and saddened. She went to grab him by the shoulder, but a large well of utter blackness appeared on the wall next to him. He turned into it and disappeared.

Lucy ran to stop him, but her fingers bumped against the broken plaster of the far wall. He was gone. She hardly had a moment to think when Miles grabbed her by the hand and began pulling her away.

“C’mon!” he yelled, pulling her along toward the doors on the dais leading to the garden, “It’s not over! Those vampires are goin’ to kill us all if we don’t git the bloody heck outta here!”

Lucy had to struggle to yank her hand free from his large mitt.

“I’m not leaving without my mother!”

Miles looked at her in shock and grabbed his scalp in frustration. “Of all the stubborn, pig-headed…” but then the doors burst open and an angry mob of vampires came storming through. Hiero was chasing them around with the butcher knife, but he couldn’t chase them fast enough on his mismatched legs. Miles instantly pulled Lucy behind him to protect her and began charging around the room in dog form, thrashing other vampires left and right. Lucy threw herself over her mother’s body. Nephys ran to her side and cowered beside her. It was chaos.

“What do we do?!” Nephys screamed.

Then she realized she was the Necromancer. Maybe she could command them? She stood up and screamed at them to stop, but no one listened, and with a rampaging dog-monster and an imp with a butcher knife attacking them, it was no wonder. She figured they thought that once Miles and Hiero were out of the way, she and Nephys would be easy pickings, and they were probably right. She thought about using the “magic finger” to get their attention, but they were moving so fast she couldn’t even get close enough to touch one of them.

“What good is it to be the Necromancer if no one will listen to me?!!” Lucy yelled to Nephys over the noise.

“They don’t know you’re the Necromancer! They are still running on Hokharty’s last instructions, which were to do whatever Amanda told them to do! They’ll only listen to Hokharty!”