“Heard and answered.”
“Yes. Heard and answered.”
Erik got to his feet and looked around. The masses of the damned ignored them completely now, as if they had never existed. Erik took a step towards one of them, an old man who must have died recently, since his rags were not as rotted. The soul of the man backed away in disgust.
Erik noticed that the glow of light was fading away now, and both he and his friend were returning to normal. But the feeling of refreshment remained. They had experienced just a drop of heaven here in this hellish place, and it was enough to rejuvenate their spirits, at least for the moment. Neither man knew if it would be enough to sustain them for the rest of the battle. But it was obvious that they had not been destined for this place, and, whatever happened, their fate would not mean staying here for all of eternity. Whatever they had to face, it couldn’t be worse than this, Erik thought.
“Come on,” Dovecrest said. “I have a demon to destroy.”
“And I have a family to rescue.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
1
Todd could tell something had happened, but he didn’t know exactly what. He knew the demon knew it, too, because it became angry and agitated and swore under its breath. Todd knew that whatever had happened must be good if the demon didn’t like it. Still, he had no idea what had to be done next.
His mother was in bad shape now. Her pains were more regular.
“The baby’s coming soon,” she told him. “Very soon. Just stay and help me, Todd.”
“It’s ok, Mom,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere. You’ll be fine.”
“Hey, you’ll be the only kid on the block to have delivered a baby,” she said. “Won’t you have a story to tell your baby sister!”
Todd forced a laugh. “Yeah, she’ll owe me big time!”
“She sure will. We’ll both owe you big time. I’ll tell you what, when we get out of here we’re going out for a huge ice cream sundae.”
“I want chocolate chip ice cream with whipped cream and cherries,” Todd said, playing along with his Mom.
“And I want strawberry. With whipped cream and nuts.”
His mother’s face winced in pain and she struggled not to cry out.
“I think she’s coming, Todd,” she said. “You know what to do?”
He nodded. She had told him what to expect and what he had to do. He thought it was gross and disgusting, but he couldn’t let that stop him. When the baby’s head came out he was supposed to hold it steady and help guide it out by pulling, but not too hard, as his mother pushed. He knew about cutting the chord, and had found a sharp stone for this purpose. And he knew about getting air into the baby’s lungs if she didn’t cry. The only thing he didn’t know was what the demon was going to do next.
He looked at the monster from the corner of his eyes. It didn’t actually look like a monster anymore. It appeared as a normal man. But he knew better. He’d seen it transform and he knew what it really was. Even now, he wondered what it was up to as it drew shapes in the sand and chanted foreign-sounding words. He knew nothing good could come of that. He’d never seen anything like that in the normal world.
He turned back to look at his mother. Her face was scrunched up in pain. He knelt down between her legs and waited. He’d never seen his mother naked before, and it made him very uncomfortable. He just wanted this whole thing to be over. He wasn’t a doctor and he didn’t know how to deliver a baby. What if something went wrong? What if it got stuck.
Todd blinked hard to hold back the tears. And suppose the baby was born ok, and things went right. What then? The demon wasn’t going to just let them all go, just like that. It had something horrible planned for them. And Todd was afraid he would be the one to come out the worst.
He’d seen that awful head growing from the thing’s shoulder earlier. Would he end up like that? He knew he’d rather die than become a monster like that. He thought if it came to that choice he’d figure out a way to kill himself. He’d keep that sharpened stone just in case he needed it for more than just cutting his sister’s chord when she was born. He might have to use it on himself.
Then his mother clenched her teeth and reared up, and a pool of liquid flowed from her and onto the sand. She’d told him this would happen, but it grossed him out anyway and he wished he could be sick. But he swallowed hard and didn’t let on that it bothered him. He had to be strong now. They were in enough trouble without him caving in and being a baby.
“It’s ok, Mom,” he said. “I’m here. We’re going to be ok.”
She forced a smile and wiped away a tear.
Todd took another look at the demon. The monster was totally absorbed in whatever it was doing now. Todd wished the baby would hurry up and be born before this thing finished whatever weird plans it had cooked up.
2
Erik knew he had to find his wife and son, but he had no idea where to go next. This entire world had been designed with one thing in mind-to be completely and totally monotonous, featureless, and uninteresting. The black sand went on for as far as the eye could see, broken only by obsidian rocky outcroppings that became tedious in and of themselves. The sky-or whatever it was-was completely black and starless. Erik suspected it was more a ceiling than a sky. He had the dreadful image of being trapped underground in an infinite cave on a planet that made Jupiter look like a speck in the universe.
There was no sun or moon to point out time or direction. Only a red glow to the edges of the horizon in all directions. It shed enough light to see by, bathing everything in a hellish red tint, but did not throw enough light to give even the impression of daylight. It was like a perpetual sunset in all directions, but an ugly black-red monotone sunset not broken up by atmosphere or clouds.
The doomed souls still wandered around the place, but their movement was aimless and pathetic, and Erik tried not to look at them. He was still sickened by their presence, and didn’t think he’d ever forget their horrible touch upon him. They would be no help. He was just thankful that they now shied away from him as if he were poison.
He looked at Dovecrest and shrugged. “So where do we begin?”
Dovecrest looked carefully in every direction. He seemed to study the horizon, searching for clues. He knelt down and put his ear to the sand. He seemed so intent, so focused. But after a few moments, he stood up and shook his head.
“Nothing,” he said. “I’m not even sure they’re still here.”
“Where else would they be?”
“I don’t know. But this place is endless. I don’t even know where to begin.”
Erik shook his head. “We have to do something. We can’t just give up.”
“It won’t do any good to just go off wandering without knowing where we’re going,” Dovecrest said.
Erik nodded. “But what else can we do?”
“Unless you can make some connection with your wife…or your son….”
Erik thought for a moment. It seemed impossible, but why not? Everything that had happened to him during the past week was impossible by all scientific standards. If people could raise demons and go through a portal to the waiting room of hell, why couldn’t he establish a psychic connection with his own wife or son?
“What the hell?” he said. “No pun intended.”
He had read a little bit about meditation, and, though he was certainly no expert, he had learned how to relax
