obvious. But the Ur-locs? Pre- Christian? Even
Dr. Harold did not attempt to contemplate an answer.
He felt sick in increments, waning as the car droned on into the inclement dark. The pinkened moonlight on his face felt warm, humid. He could see it still, Tharp’s harrowing psych ward sketch transposing into a vision of stunning clarity: the perfect hourglass physique, the large and perfect breasts, and then the bestial three-fingered hands with talons like meat hooks, and—
—a black, thinly stretched maw full of stalactitic teeth.
How long had he been driving now? It seemed like all night, or a week of nights. Perhaps he’d been driving in circles, his sense of direction perverted by Tharp’s perverted imagery.
Then the big green road sign flashed in the headlights, a beacon to his relief.
LOCKWOOD, 15 MILES.
The moon shimmered beyond the sign, beyond the night.
Beyond the world.
And beyond the eye of Dr. Harold’s mind, the dark sketch of the creature seemed to turn to flesh and smile.
—
Chapter 35
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“Ann, Ann?” queried the familiar voice.
Ann’s eyes opened, but at first she saw nothing. Soft murmurs seemed to hover about her like vapor. Color shifted—orange—and she sensed a pleasant pulse of heat. Again she’d had the nightmare of Melanie’s birth…but where was she? She knew she couldn’t be in bed. Beneath her felt cold, hard, like stone. Then, as suddenly as her realizations—
Her vision blanked again, bringing the image of crimson vertigo.
The wide knife plunging down—
“Ann. Wake up.”
The face formed, a reverse dissolve. It was Dr. Heyd.
Her eyes at last came into focus. Cloaked and hooded figures surrounded her, looking serenely down. Ann’s gaze panned. One by one she recognized the ovaled faces: all of Lockwood’s elderwomen. Around each of their necks hung a pale pendant, like a piece of stone on a white cord. At Ann’s feet stood Maedeen and Milly, and standing between them, in a cloak not of sackcloth but of black silk, was Ann’s mother.
Ann couldn’t move from where she lay, though she felt no lashings of any kind. She was completely naked before them all. It felt as though ghosts squirmed over her, holding her down.
In the background, more figures busied themselves. Shadows bent to stoke the flames within a great brick furnace. They were all men, she could see, and they seemed faltering, devoid of all will. Another man poured some dark fluid from a vessel into a large earthen cup. A chalice.
The women lowered their hoods, their eyes wide in some deep intent. The man passed the cup to Ann’s mother. The man was Martin.
He did not look at her at all.
“Blud fo cuppe,” the wifmunuc intoned. “Nis heofonrice, bute nisfan.”
The coven responded: “Us macain wihan, o Modor. Us macain fulluht with eower blud.”
The chalice was passed around, each woman mouthing a silent prayer, then sipping. When the chalice had made the entire circle, the wifmunuc, Ann’s mother, consumed the rest of its contents.
Engraved along the cup’s rim, the glyph could be seen—the weird double circle. And when Ann’s mother bent to set the chalice down, Ann saw the glyph again, a much larger version, behind the circle. It was not a carving, she noticed, but a large slab of flat stone hanging from the rear wall. Ann’s eyes could only remain fixed ahead. The wifmunuc turned around, her hands splayed. Then she leaned forward and kissed the great rectangular slab of stone.
“O Mother, Holy Sister, Holy Daughter—”
“Bless us on this holy night.”