Emerald Hell

'Reckon you need a fourth eye for that, huh?'

'Enough,' Ma'am McCulver said, stepping into the moonlight, the pale silver illumination embracing and enhancing her beauty. Her presence was both calming and fearsome. Her black hair was a mass of wild curls that rose and reached. Fishboy Lenny tugged at the nearly unconscious pumpkin-headed boy and drew him away through the mud.

Ma'am McCulver scowled, and the wind grew louder and the storm suddenly seemed closer. The Ferris brothers didn't know what to make of any of this witchy business and simply stood there, wondering who to kill next.

Sarah said, 'Please, Ma'am, this is a family argument. It's my fight and no one else's. Only I can do anythin' about it and put a stop to all the fuss.'

'I know you,' Duffy said to Sarah, 'least I almost reckon I do. We seen you about.'

'You have,' she told them.

Deeter said, 'You're Sarah, the girl been causin' us so much trouble.'

'Deeter Ferris,' she said, 'you're one rotten soul, through and through. And how is it I've caused you any bother?'

'Well, the bother really started a bit before you was even mentioned, when we were takin' care of the lady saleswoman in the swamp, but anyways a bother you've become all right, thanks to Jester.'

Duffy released the three-eyed woman and grabbed Sarah's arm instead. Her sleeping baby sighed loudly. He held his cutting blade to Sarah's cheek, turned to Ma'am McCulver and said, 'Now that's it, no more trouble! You gonna raise a hand to me, you gorgeous piece of love?'

'I won't. It will do no good.'

'Glad you reckon that. You gonna keep that jughead and fish-head away from us?'

She held out her arm and the pumpkin-headed boy climbed to his feet, stepped close to her, and laid the side of his bleeding face against her chest. Fishboy Lenny swam up and rested against her knee.

'All apostles must face their masters on their own,' Ma'am McCulver said. 'You two evil brothers are no different.'

Deeter stared at the granny witch and a crazed leer split his face. 'I'll be back for you, darlin', and we'll have ourselves a good ole time, I promise. We'll have us some catfish and pumpkin pie for snackin'.'

'You'll be dead within the hour,' the three-eyed girl said.

Deeter looked back at his brother and said, 'For swamp folk who know how to kick up a fine hootenanny, these people are startin' to work on my nerves some!'

'Mine too,' Duffy said. 'We'll burn the whole place down before we leave.' He looked at Sarah and told her, 'Come on along, little miss. Your daddy is waitin' on you.'

Chapter 24

You are many things, the children said, bonded of great love and extreme hatred. Power and resilience. Ego and narrow-minded bias. Threatened and threat. Hopeful and hope. He is remote and He is not. He is vast and He is not. He is here within you and He is not. You are. You are in need of acknowledgment and response. Your questions can neper be answered because He is beyond understanding. You rely on faith. This is the distance between you and Him, you and the Almighty. We seek to bring the world closer. We seek to reopen Eden. We dream of taking down the flaming swords at the gates of the garden. It is our duty and our grace. We are mistaken, we have much to learn. We give thanks for your efforts. We love. He loves. You love. The children wailed because it was what children do. Because they couldn't understand all they were and all that was around them in the great divine experiment of humanity. They were lost, in need of their father.

Hellboy came down like a sputtering V-2 rocket and crashed through another shanty.

This one wasn't empty. This one had a family in it. A pretty large family packed into a tiny place. A man and a woman, two children, an elderly lady, and an old dude in a rattan wheelchair. Everybody was huddled to one side of the shack holding on to each other. The roof was mostly gone. The little girl was wide-eyed and on the verge of tears. Hellboy's head was on fire.

He'd landed in the fireplace and the flames lashed at him. The precocious shadows weighed on top of him, still inquisitive, nosy even, tickling the underside of his mind. They were trying desperately to communicate, drilling into his brain.

It wasn't easy, just letting this kind of thing go on, kids making mudpies in your memories, but he decided not to fight them this time.

He let them take whatever pieces from him they wanted. Whatever memories they needed to sift, drawing up his experiences and holding them before their own interest and attention.

Maybe Jester was right and they were similar creatures. Hellboy thought about being the destroyed and the destroyer. It was the truth that always lay within him that he refused to acknowledge. It was how he lived. He never dealt with what he was. He never thought about it and just did what he was supposed to do.

He didn't know the shadow children, but they knew him.

'Ain't your head hurt?' the old lady asked. She bent and peered at him. 'Pull it outta the fire. Ain't you got no sense?'

Hellboy sat up.'Ouch.'

'You ain't burned much. I got some salve if you need it.' Then she grunted and sucked at her gums. 'Well, I did have some. Looks like you done mashed it beyond use.'

'Sorry.'

'Mama,' the little boy said, 'it's the devil.'

'It ain't the devil, son.'

'It looks like the devil. His skin is red.'

'He just been out in the sun too long, and stickin' his head in the fire. You hush now, son.'

The girl stared at him, trying not to cry. He wanted to console her. He had no idea how.

Clambering up, he stood and looked around the shack. He'd seen a few miracles in his time and thought this might be one for the books. The room was maybe ten by ten. Six people in it.

Hellboy had missed them all. What were the chances?

He said, 'Sorry about the mess.'

'A mess is what you make when you spill the porridge,' the old man said, rolling forward. He couldn't get far because there was too much smashed lumber about. 'This is a whole other matter now.'

'Sorry about the whole other matter.'

'It don't mean nothin', we'll fix it and get on by. What's of greater pertinence is you gettin' out there and kickin' them nasty fellas outta our village.'

'You're right. Consider it done.'

'I'll consider it done after you finish doin' it.'

Hellboy marched out the door, tasting blood and glancing once more at the family behind, the children scared but both slightly grinning, the old woman nodding to him once.

When he turned to look outside once more, Brother Jester was stroking black flames from his chin, and Lament was there playing his mouth-harp.

Lament stood facing Brother Jester beneath the brightening moonlight, neither of them looking particularly upset or angry. In fact, they appeared rather relaxed. Like two old friends at odds for the moment, after a bitter but brief quarrel, who knew they'd make up soon. Lament kept plucking away, making his strange music.

The rain had stopped. The storm drifted above but the clouds had spun aside leaving a hole almost directly above. Lament had cleaned up and had fresh clothes on, his suspenders tight around his shoulders, his arms crossed against his chest as he held the mouth-harp. It took Hellboy a moment to realize that Lament was actively