The Devouring (16 page)

“Your house. Must be your dad wondering what happened. Want me to —”

“No. Let me get it.” Reggie picked up the receiver but did not speak. She could hear the boy’s raspy breathing.

“Come home, Reggie.” Henry’s voice sounded calm and sweet. “I don’t want to fight anymore. Don’t you love me?”

“You’re not Henry.”

“Of course I am. I remember everything, Reggie. I remember all the times you read to me, all the scary stories —”

“You have my brother’s memory, but you’re not him.”

“Dad thinks so. He loves me just the way I am,” Henry said.

“I’ll take you out.” Reggie’s voice was low and grim. “I swear on my life I
will
take you out.”

“Nah. You just caught me unprepared today.” Henry’s sugary tone vanished. “It won’t happen again. Besides, I hate to see you upsetting Dad. You know he’s a wreck since Mom left. And he looks so fragile when he’s sleeping.”

Reggie went cold. “Stay away from him.”

“Then be a good sister and come home. I’ll let you read me a story. One with a happy ending.” The line clicked off, and there was only silence.

Reggie hung up the phone. She buried her face in her burnt, trembling hands.

“He’s going to hurt Dad if I don’t go home.”

She walked to the window and stared out. Flecks of snow whipped in the air.

“I found him, Aaron. I found him in there. The real Henry. Now I need to find a way to get him out.”

“We will. You get some sleep and then —”

“Tonight. I’m going back into the fearscape tonight,” she said. “I can’t leave him in there, now that I know.”

“But look at you. I’m worried. You’re a wreck.”

“Henry — the
real
Henry — has been living out his worst nightmares ever since Sorry Night.” Reggie held up her bandaged hands. “This is nothing compared to that. We have to figure out how to beat this thing.”

Aaron nodded. “It hates the cold. You got inside when you had it pinned in the snow. Maybe that’s when their grip on the mind is weakest. We need to get it outside. Somewhere no one can see us.”

“The snow was enough to weaken it, but I got pushed out before I could find Henry. We need a real deep freeze. Like Cutter’s Lake,” Reggie said. “The water below the ice.”

“That might kill him, Reggie.”

They stared out at the mean winter landscape. Icicles gleamed like knives from the eaves. The sky hung black and cold, and the yard looked frozen and dead. Every year, winter murdered the world. What if spring never came?

“I’d rather kill him than make him live in that hell.”

“Agreed.”

“Aaron?”

“Yeah?”

“Is there an entry in the journal called ‘How to Find Your Brother in His Fearscape’?”

“Nope. You write that chapter yourself, baby.”

Aaron smiled at her, but Reggie could see the worry in his face.

Aaron kneaded his hands. “There’s one other thing . . .”

“What is it?” asked Reggie.

“In the fearscape, an imaginary blade cuts. And it cuts you from the inside out.”

Reggie instinctively touched her shoulder.

“Wounds in the fearscape are real,” he said. “Not the same as in this reality, but they inflict damage. And my guess is you just got a small taste of it. If you ... die ... in the fearscape —”

“I could die for real.” Reggie grabbed their jackets and threw Aaron’s at him. “I understand the risk. What else can I do? I’ll face it. Whatever it is. I’ll get Henry out.”

Reggie ran down the stairs, and Aaron followed her out on to the driveway. When the door closed behind them, Reggie felt a grim weight gather in the pit of her stomach.

“The lake’s three miles from here,” Reggie said. “There’s no way we can bike —”

“We’ll take this, instead.” He pointed to his mom’s hulking silver SUV. His dad’s Honda looked like a Matchbox car beside it. “She’s in New York on business for the next few days.”

“Won’t your Dad notice it’s gone?”

“Are you kidding? It’s after ten o’clock. He’s probably sleeping like the dead already.” Aaron blew into his hands, his fingers white from the freezing air.

“Get the keys, then. Hurry! That thing is alone in my house with my dad.”

Aaron started back in the house but then paused.

“Hypothermia and drowning are real dangers here, Reg. You need to accept that.”

“I know. But what —”

“Give me just ten minutes. Let me put together an emergency kit to warm you guys up — you know, dry blankets, warm towels. I think we have a hot-water bottle here somewhere.”

“No time. Get that kit together. Meet me at my house. I’ll drag that bastard out on the lawn by his hair if I have to.”

Reggie sprinted down the driveway and into the street.

“Reggie! Wait!”

“Be there, Aaron!”

She didn’t turn around.

16

The distance between the Halloways’ and the Coles’ was exactly three-quarters of a mile, but tonight it felt as if a small country separated the two homes. The wind slapped Reggie’s face as she made her way.

Two figures leaned against a lamppost across the street, hot cherries burning at the ends of two cigarettes. Smoke streamed out of their nostrils. Black hoodies were pulled tightly around their faces. The pair looked like matching gargoyles.

The Kassner twins.

Reggie quickened her pace and avoided looking at them as she passed. The twins were the last people she wanted to come across in the dark, especially tonight. When she glanced back at the lamppost, they were gone.

Reggie sighed in relief and turned back to the sidewalk. Her heart jumped. Keech stood directly in her path now, towering over her, just a few steps away. His lips pulled back into a yellow-toothed smile and emitted a long wisp of smoke. Behind her, Mitch’s boots thumped down the sidewalk, his bulk casting a long, bladelike shadow.

Fear seized Reggie as Keech reached out to grab her. She recoiled from him and stumbled over the curb, turning her ankle and falling into the street. Her knee scraped on the asphalt, and one of her forearms cracked hard against the road. The twins’ empty eyes stared down at her from the sidewalk.

“Get the hell away from me!” she screamed, scrambling to her feet again.

A pair of headlights blinded her, and a pristine Mustang screeched to a halt. The tinted passenger-side window rolled down. Reggie stood up and sighed with relief at the sight of Quinn.

“Hey, Reggie,” he said. His smile faded when he saw Keech and Mitch.

“Guys,” Quinn said coolly.

“Yo, Cap,” Keech grumbled.

“A little far from home, aren’t you?”

The twins shrugged.

Quinn reached across his seat and opened the passenger door.

“Get in, Reggie.”

Reggie slipped into the car and slammed the door shut. She looked at Keech through the window. His face was pale against the black hood. Quinn revved the engine and they sped away.

The heat in the car thawed Reggie’s bones and the bitter night melted away. Despite all the turmoil, Reggie managed to relax.

“They didn’t hurt you, did they?” Quinn asked, flashing Reggie a concerned look. “I’ll kick their asses if they —”

“No, no,” Reggie said hurriedly. “I think they were just trying to scare me, and I tripped. It was stupid.”

“I just — I saw them, and you on the ground, and I thought . . .”

“I’m fine,” said Reggie. “But you do have good timing. I’m starting to think you’re my guardian angel or something.”

“Angel, huh?” He smiled.

“Here’s me.” She pointed to her house, but Quinn cruised past it. “You overshot. I live back there.”

“I just thought, well, we could take a drive,” he said. His voice was shy. “Maybe talk a little.”

Reggie almost choked. The dashboard clock showed that she only had a few minutes to get Henry outside before Aaron showed up, and here was Quinn trying to make a move.

“Quinn, I would really love to. I’m serious. But —”

“Hot date?”

“I have to get home. My brother —”

“He’s not still hanging out on deserted street corners, is he?”

“No, he just doesn’t like to be alone.”

“I won’t keep you long.”

The heater blazed. Beads of sweat rose on her forehead.

“I really shouldn’t. He’ll get —”

“Scared? Nah. I think he’s gotten over that.”

The neighborhood thinned out as they headed into the coun-tryside.

“What?” she said.

“Henry’s gotten over
all
his fears.”

Reggie’s heart quaked. Quinn’s voice had changed. It was harsh now, like Henry’s had been since the Vour had taken him over. Smirking, Quinn glanced over at her, and a sudden chill racked her body. The Mustang’s engine roared, picking up speed. Reggie clutched the dash with her bandaged fingers.

“Oh, God. No. Please ... not
you.
”

“Come on, Halloway. You really think a guy like me would hook up with you? A flat-chested freshman nobody?” The car hit fifty. “Aw. You did! How sad.”

Reggie’s head spun, the blasting heat suffocating her. “Stop the car!” she yelled.

“Yeah, Henry’s coming along just fine,” Quinn said. “See, once we get in, it takes a little while to get used to stuff — taste, smell, sleep, how to talk and act like a kid. Bet he’s still shoveling down the sweets and playing with fire and all that, right?”

Reggie pressed into the car door and fumbled for the handle.

Quinn blew a bubble and snapped it with a smirk. “After all these years, I still have a hard time with that myself. But when you come from a world without light, without flavor, you tend to go a little overboard. Know what I’m saying?”

“Let me out!”

The car hit sixty, zooming down the icy road. A few more miles and they’d reach Abernathy Flats, acres and acres of barren, snow-covered farmland. Remote enough for wicked deeds to go unseen and unheard.

Reggie lunged for the steering wheel. The car fishtailed, and the back end lost traction, sending the vehicle into a sickening spin. Quinn swung an elbow hard into Reggie’s sternum, and the force of it knocked the breath out of her. She slumped against the window, gasping. Quinn seized the wheel. He steered them out of the three-sixty before pulling over onto the shoulder. The Mustang screeched to a stop.

“Wooooo! Sweet! I
love
this car!”

Reggie opened the door but Quinn grabbed her left wrist.

“Relax. Stay a bit. I said I wanted to talk.”

Where Quinn held Reggie, a chill pierced her, numbing her entire arm.

“Man, was I surprised when I saw that journal you dropped. I knew then I had to keep an eye on you, and I’ve been trailing you ever since. So when you snuck out to that old house, I followed you. I really thought I’d taken care of you when I torched the place. But surprise, surprise! You got out alive. You’re a tough little girl, Reggie Halloway.”

Reggie’s gauzed hand ached like sensitive teeth slathered in ice cream. Her fingertips turned purple as Quinn’s grip tightened.

“So you know about us. Big deal. That might worry Henry — the
new
Henry — but here’s the thing: he’s a novice. He’s still getting used to his body, his surroundings, how you humans behave. I’ve been around a lot longer and I don’t freak out so easy.”

Reggie shook her head.

“No, no, it can’t be, you
all
can’t be ... 
Vours,
” she babbled.

“Yeah, that’s one name for us, sweetie.” Quinn laughed. “Creeple, bogeyman, doppelgänger, Vour — take your pick. It’s all the same to me.”

Reggie’s entire hand was blue now. It looked alien. Dead.

“What do you want?”

“Me? I just want to lead a human life. But something else, something bigger, has plans, Halloway. We ‘Vours’ are just the tip of the iceberg, baby. And the sweetest part of it all? Nobody will see it coming until it’s too late.”

“But I know all about you now. And —”

Quinn snapped his gum again. “You don’t know a damn thing.”

His grip tightened on her wrist. Reggie’s graying fingers swelled and the skin stretched. She tried desperately to pull away, but his hold was iron.

“But you know what the really scary part is?”

Her fingertips split open and tiny black legs wriggled out.

“The really scary part is now
we know about you.
”

Cackling, he released her as hundreds of black spiders streamed out of her fingers and swarmed up her arm. They raced over her entire body — her eyes, her ears, pouring into her mouth when she tried to scream. Her scrabbling hands found the door handle. She threw open the door, fell out of the car, and stumbled into the snow.

“Get them off me!”

Thick strands of spider silk covered her cheeks. She tried to rip them off but the spiders spiraled their webs faster and faster around her face. They raced around her entire body, cocoon-ing her.

Quinn had shut off the engine to enjoy the show. He leaned back in his seat and had less than a second to brace for impact when a massive SUV slammed into the back of his Mustang. His head smashed against the windshield, splintering the glass and knocking him unconscious.

Aaron jumped out of the almost undamaged truck and tackled Reggie in the snow as she tried to free herself from the imaginary spiders. She kicked and screamed at him, ripping into his neck with her nails.

He didn’t let her go.

“Reggie! You’re okay! Relax. It’s me.” Aaron hugged her tight and pressed the side of his face to hers. He whispered in her ear. “Come back, Reggie. It’s okay. It’s me, Aaron. I’m here.”

Her spasms slowed. She looked up at him with tear-misted eyes.

“Aaron?”

“Yeah. I’m here.”

She stared at her fingertips and wiggled them. She hugged Aaron back.

“How did — where did —?” she stammered. Above the hum of the engine came muffled shouts from the back of the SUV.

“You weren’t outside when I got to your house, so I snuck in. Henry was curled up in front of the TV and I grabbed him. He tried to drown me again but I fought back.” Aaron grinned. “I pushed back like you did, Reggie. And it worked. I put him in the trunk and waited for you, but —”

“How did you find me?”

“I saw you in Quinn’s car when he drove past the house. I followed. Something had to be up, right? Then he swerved and spun out, and I could see you two struggling. You staggered out of the car, and I knew it was my chance to take him out.”