John Saul - The Right Hand of Evil

A trick!

That was it-he was just playing a trick on her!

The grip of fear loosened slightly-enough to let Kim start moving again, but as soon as she did, she knew she was lost. Alone in a place she did not recognize. She'd fallen into some kind of vacuum, and everything she'd ever known seemed to have vanished.

Her heart began pounding as fear once more tightened its hold on her.

Move!

She had to move!

If she didn't, she might never escape from this terrible place where she could see nothing-hear nothing- feel nothing!

Finally, she forced herself to grope her way through the dark fog, her hands stretched out in front of her as she felt her way along.

Something brushed at her fingers, and she jerked them away.

She froze, straining her ears as she struggled to hear a sound that might betray the identity of the thing she'd touched, but all she could hear was the pounding of her own racing heart.

Then she felt the touch again, only this time it was her legs that the thing brushed against.

Stifling a scream, she shrank away from the strange sensation.

Why couldn't she see? Though there wasn't much light, there should have been enough for her to see something other than the swirling mist that floated around her.

She gasped as the thing that lurked just beyond her vision and just beyond her hearing brushed up against her again.

Then, as if from somewhere far in the distance, she heard a throbbing sound emerge from the mists, and for a moment she thought it must be the beating of her own heart. But as it grew louder, she realized that wherever it was coming from, it wasn't within her own body. Yet even as the sound swelled, it sounded oddly muffled, as if the mists surrounding her were smothering it as well.

Then something pressed against her legs.

Her heart racing, she instinctively reached down to shove whatever it was away.

A second later her fingers sank into-

Fur! The soft, wonderful feel of Scout's thick golden coat!

It was Scout she'd touched, Scout she'd felt brushing against her. Dropping to her knees, she put her arms around the dog and pulled him close, burying her face in his coat. "Where's Jared?" she whispered to the dog. "Where is he, Scout? Find him for me."

The dog stiffened, and twisted out of her arms, disappearing into the swirling mists.

Follow him! She had to follow him, or she'd be lost forever in the suffocating gray fog.

"Scout?" she called out. "Scout, where are you?"

She began moving again, forcing her legs to carry her forward, stretching her hands out to feel her way. A moment later she felt something, and began exploring it with her fingers.

A door!

She found the knob and pulled it open, stumbling through into a corridor.

The mists thinned, and finally she could see.

She wasn't in a corridor at all, but on the broad mezzanine that ringed the house's huge entry hall!

The stairs! There they were, off to the right!

And the music was louder now, and coming from somewhere below!

Downstairs. That must be where Scout had gone. Kim hurried to the top of the stairs and started down, quickly coming to the landing where they curved downward in the broad flight that would take her into the entry hall. She started down once again, but the stairs seemed to go on forever, stretching away from her in endless repetition. She hurried her pace, racing down the stairs, and finally came to the bottom.

The music was thundering in her ears now. It still seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere; it drew her forward until she stood at the top of the stairs leading to the basement.

She stared down into the dark abyss, seeing nothing but blackness.

Blackness, and a single pool of light that seemed to fade away into the distance even as she gazed down at it.

But that was where Jared had gone.

She knew it. She could feel it.

And if she wanted to find him, she had to go there, too.

Steeling herself, Kim started down into the darkness.

The music grew louder with each step, until it was throbbing painfully inside her head. But she kept going, for she was beginning to feel something else, too.

Jared.

He was here, close by.

She kept going, deeper into the blackness. With each step, the pool of light seemed to recede. Yet at the same time, it pulled her toward it like a moth. "Jared," she whispered, her voice lost in the throbbing of the music. "Jared, where are you?"

At last she came to a door. A closed door. She paused, part of her wanting to go through the door, while another part of her wanted to turn away, to flee back up the stairs through the darkness, even disappear back into the gray miasma in which she'd first found herself. But she reached out and took the knob.

And pushed the door open.

The music swelled, her head feeling as if it would burst, and the brilliant light that broke from beyond the door blinded her for a moment. But then her vision cleared, and she gazed into the space that opened before her.

The ceiling, which soared to a height that made her dizzy, was supported by huge black columns so large their mass threatened to overwhelm her. Indeed, the entire chamber seemed to be bearing down on her, and despite the vastness of the space, the walls felt as if they were closing in on her. Everywhere, strangely etched panels hung, and Kim's eyes, blinking in the brilliant glare, moved rapidly from one hanging to another, gazing at the figures depicted in them. There was something familiar about them, a flickering of recognition at the edges of her consciousness, but each time she focused on one of the great gleaming panels, the feeling of recognition retreated. Only when she saw what lay at the far end of the vast chamber did she realize what it was: some kind of cathedral. But a cathedral unlike any church she had ever entered, for instead of offering her peace and comfort, this vast emptiness was filled with a terrible despair that seemed to worm its way into the core of her being.

Then, at the far end of the cathedral, above an enormous altar, she saw the cross.

It hung upside down, and where the figure of Jesus should have been, Kim saw the form of a woman, hanging head downward, her face a visage of agony.

On the altar itself, another figure lay, stretched prone on its back, gazing up toward the vaulted ceiling. And in front of the altar, a third figure stood. A tall figure, its arms raised, and spread wide in a gesture of supplication.

Or of blessing.

Even though the figure's back was to her, Kim recognized it at once.

Jared!

She took a step toward him, calling out his name.

He turned.

His eyes met hers, and Kim realized it wasn't Jared at all.

The face was Jared's.

The hair.

The eyes.

The smile.

But it wasn't Jared, for from the familiar form of her twin brother radiated an aura of something so strong it was almost a physical force.

It was Evil.

An Evil so pure and unadulterated that for a moment Kim could do nothing more than stand paralyzed in the face of it. Suddenly she understood that it was the source of everything she'd seen and felt and heard.

The suffocating gray mist.

The force that guided her down the stairs and led her into the cathedral.

The throbbing music.

All of it was Evil, pure and simple.

And at the center of it was Jared.

Now it reached out to her. She could feel it creeping closer, stretching tentacles toward her. Tentacles that-if she allowed them to touch her at all-would never release her from their grip.

She heard her name whispered in the shimmering light: "Kiiim…"

Part of her wanted to answer the siren call, wanted to reach out to the blinding light, be absorbed into it.

"Kiiimmmm…"