Marc Chadbourn - The Queen of sinister

'Like killing Carlton?'

An audible gasp escaped Jack's lips. Matt looked back towards the warp-field.

'How could you do that? A boy… an innocent boy…'

He shrugged, wasn't going to say anything, but she wouldn't allow him that luxury. 'Go on. I'm waiting.'

'He was too smart… maybe he even read my mind. He was going to tell you what I was doing-'

'That wasn't the only reason.' She had trouble keeping her voice from trembling with the emotion she felt. 'You saw how close I was getting to him… and you knew it was another way you could destabilise me so you could control me. I was getting too independent on the boat, wasn't I? But I didn't make it back to you after the Lament-Brood attacked Sunchaser, so it was all for nothing. You killed a young boy, for nothing. How does that fit with all your lofty aims?'

Jack had tears in his eyes. 'How could you do that?'

'I still don't understand… strategically,' Caitlin said. 'He was special, the key to sorting all this mess out, wasn't he?'

Matt shook his head. 'He wasn't the one — that's some other kid down in Salisbury, and we've already got him in our sights. The things he can do make Carlton look like… some stupid child.' Caitlin visibly winced. 'You're talking about military potential. The death of a child is so painful because of everything else you lose when they die. Who knows how they're going to turn out? They might become some great hero, a champion, or they might turn into you. You didn't just murder Carlton… you murdered his future, the possibility of what he might have become.'

'I had a job to do, Caitlin-'

'Shut up.' Her voice had more of the Morrigan about it than she had expected. In that instant she had the strangest feeling that Carlton knew he was going to die, that he didn't care because he realised he was part of a bigger plan, and in a way he was: if Carlton hadn't died, Caitlin would never have allowed the Morrigan to take over and perhaps Matt would then have achieved all his aims. Something good had come out of the whole mess; perhaps it had even been Carlton's intention all along. Mahalia had been right: he really was special. 'Everything I've learned since coming here has told me you can't trust anything at face value — nothing is as it appears. You see, you believe the enemies are monsters or supernatural threats, but they're not. The real threat looks just like us, and it always has. The real threat has been amongst us since the dawn of humanity — the hard people, the ones who thought they knew better than anyone else, who could make the tough decisions about who lived or died. You think the world would be better with you and your secret Government in charge, rather than all the things we've got now?'

'Of course. You think the current mess is better with all the death and the misery we've seen?'

'And next to that, the death of an innocent boy amounts to nothing, is that what you're saying?'

Again he made not to speak, but this time he couldn't resist, so sure was he that he was right. 'Exactly. Anyone can see. There's no comparison.'

'I used to think no life was more valuable than another, but you've taught me I was wrong.'

He started to smile.

'We wouldn't miss you, Matt, you or any of your kind.'

His face hardened.

Jack drifted up to Matt. In the boy, Caitlin could see the fractured response of a child whose image of his parent had been destroyed. And Matt could see too what Jack was feeling, but aside from an uncomfortable flicker across the adult's face, he didn't place any value on it. Caitlin wondered how she could ever have been fooled by him.

Then, like a snake, Matt moved. Caitlin glimpsed a face that flashed from mild indifference to steel, and in that instant his arm was around Jack's neck, the boy spun round and locked in place, a small blade pressed against his throat.

Caitlin darted forward, but Matt tipped the knife just enough to draw blood. Caitlin was in no doubt that he would kill Jack if he wanted. 'Don't hurt him!' she said. 'It's pointless. He's a boy — let him go.'

'He's not a boy,' Matt said emotionlessly, 'he's a weapon. The biggest and best weapon that ever existed. If I get him back, with what's inside him, then we've got the upper hand. The other side would have to fall in line.'

'What if they don't? What point is a weapon that could destroy all Existence?'

'If you can't have the world the way you want it, there's no need for the world at all.'

'You'd destroy everything? Just because you couldn't bear not to be in charge?'

Matt began to drag Jack towards the first rank of the Lament-Brood. 'It's about freedom — you wouldn't understand-'

'I know. I'm too naive.' Did humanity stand any chance of advancing when there were people like Matt around, the kind of people who always rose into positions of power? What was the point, then, in anything? 'Turn on the power, Jack,' Matt said firmly. When Jack didn't respond, Matt jabbed the knife hard so that the boy howled in pain and then yelled, 'Turn it on!'

The thin light of the Wish-Hex began to leak from Jack's stomach. Matt forced the boy towards the Lament- Brood, using him as a shield while keeping one eye on Caitlin; his face warned her not to make any move. 'They'll let us out,' he said. 'They know what he can do. But more than that, they don't need us. You were the only threat. As long as they've got you, they'll be happy.'

His words were shown to be true as a path opened up through the Lament-Brood. If the Morrigan had still been a part of her, Caitlin might have been able to do something, but Matt was too vicious, too cunning, for her even to get close. But more than that, she knew she wasn't up to what was expected of her, for if she were she would risk killing Jack to prevent such power being used against Existence. She couldn't do that, not even there at the end. She wasn't hard enough; not like Matt.

He gave a sickeningly triumphant smile and eased down the path towards the exit that would take him away. He still hadn't got a cure for the plague, couldn't cross over on his own, but Caitlin was convinced that a person like Matt would find a way. He'd always win through.

Just as he reached the door to the next chamber, there was a movement a little way along the far wall. Caitlin couldn't tell what it was, but it appeared to come from one of the slits that led to the network of capillary tunnels.

Matt paused in the doorway. Caitlin didn't know if he was going to make some last arrogant comment to celebrate his escape, or simply show his contempt for her, but it never came. There was an odd moment when his face froze in puzzlement, and then a crimson shower gushed from his neck. The knife dropped from his fingers and he pitched backwards, emitting a queasy gurgling noise, his body lost behind the Lament-Brood. And there was Mahalia. The tremble in the hand that held the knife that had slit Matt's throat was visible across the chamber, and her face held the devastation of someone who had been forced to sacrifice their last chance for redemption. But she erased it in a second and grabbed Jack. 'Come on,' she yelled to Caitlin. 'We can still get out of here.'

Caitlin tried to find some remorse in her heart for Matt's death, but there was none. She pulled Liam to her side and made to hurry towards Mahalia and Jack, but she was distracted by the sucking and slurping sounds as the House of Pain birthed another representative from the floor in front of her. It emerged quickly, a spindly frame on skeletal legs. When it was finally complete, it was nearly ten feet tall with a head like a black egg, bending over Caitlin and Liam to speak.

'Cannnnooottttttt… leawwwwe. Boyyyyyy… stayyyyyy. Beyondddd… liessssssssss… deathhhhhhhhhh.'

And there it was, finally, what she had been expecting for so long: the twist in the devil's contract. Liam hadn't been returned to life — he was simply caught in limbo. If she took him out of the House of Pain, his death would once again be a reality.