Kelly Gay: The Hour of Dust and Ashes

Cold, cold, cold, I chanted, I imagined, I felt …

It dropped me six feet above the ground and let out a wounded cry. I landed belly first in the sand, flipped over, finally able to pull my gun, only to see the largest nithyn crash into the wounded one.

They tumbled through the air, landing in a rolling ball. I looked away from the macabre scene and focused on getting back on my feet.

A few feet in front of me, Brim circled and whined. He lay down and rested his jaw between his front legs. Alarm crept up my spine. I went for Brim, but only made it one step before I came face-to-face with the shadow creature.

I drew up short and gasped. Brim whined again.

It hovered inches from the ground. A tall, black form without solid mass and as terrifying as before.

Had it jumped planes? Jesus. My mind raced. Had it sensed my use of power earlier and had come after me? Come this far? Sensed it from another world?

What the hell was this thing?

My fingers flexed on the grip of my gun.

I saw beyond it to Hank. He was running toward me. Sand kicked up and circled around me and this creature. It spoke and the ground under my feet trembled.

Shadowy tendrils reached out, wrapping around me. The main mass of the creature pulled toward me in a blink so fast it seemed like one minute it was a few feet from me and the next it was inches from my face.

I swallowed, poised and still, utterly at the mercy of this thing.

Darkness that went on forever is the only thing I saw on the inside of this creature. Yet somewhere inside of it was a voice, a mouth, some type of creature, I was sure of it. Maybe one that didn’t want to be seen …

It spoke again, this time with an inflection that suggested a question had been posed. My body thrummed, the words ebbing deep into my bones. A question I had no idea how to answer.

Then it drew back, spun, drawing all of the shadows back into itself. It disappeared like a puff of wind, gone on a breeze. The sand tornado around me dropped. Brim lifted his head, stood, and shook off the sand as Hank came to a stop, heaving from the run. “That was it? That was the creature?”

I nodded, rubbing my arms as the nithyn’s death cries drew goose bumps along my skin. It made me shiver, cold despite the heat of the hot, dry dunes. At least it hadn’t gone through me this time.

Hank was staring oddly at me. “You realize it jumped planes.”

Yeah. I did. And it scared the shit out of me. If that thing was lured by my power and had the ability to cross dimensions whenever I used it … Not good. It had probably felt the first time I used my power fighting off the sand lizards and it had just taken some time to get here. All it had to do was hang around and wait for me to use it again and voilà.

“Come on, they can’t be far behind us.” I took off toward the ruins.

The ruins of the Temple of the Moon were colossal. Stone blocks the size of city buses littered the ground. Yet another testament to the god-like structures of the off-worlders.

“Rex said the portal is under the altar.” I climbed onto a fallen column where I stood to survey the complex, trying to envision it as it had once been, to get a better idea of where the main temple might be. A piece of Bryn’s skirt had been wedged between two stones, a marker from Rex no doubt. “Hank! Over here!” I slid off the column and scrambled over the ruins.

Hank studied the narrow, slanted opening near the stones. “Footprints, too,” he noted, looking around. Brim trotted over and began sniffing. He darted inside the dark passageway. I pulled out my flashlight.

The passage was only wide enough for us to go single file. Blocks of stones stuck out of the walls, making us twist and angle our bodies around to make way. Eventually the space opened up to a larger area filled with fallen stones. The floor was streaked with footsteps. Rex must’ve cleared enough stone away to make the small passage.

I climbed through. “Be careful. This leads down into steps.”

Stone debris littered the way, but the going was relatively simple and soon we came to a dark chamber deep beneath the temple complex. Our lights beamed over large stones, fitted perfectly together. Side reliefs of jinn warriors had been carved into the walls, enemies and creatures subdued beneath their feet. Two ancient fire basins of black marble sat at opposite sides of the room.

In the center of the floor ringed in smooth black stones was a circular pool. Very shallow and filled with a substance that looked like liquid mercury.

“What is that?”

Hank stopped beside me. “The portal; I don’t see anything else down here that could be it.”

“Well, they were here. Their footprints are all over the place.” Mytrailed over the dusty floor. “And look, there’s a dusty handprint on the stones. They must’ve made it through …”

Hank knelt down, examining the stones.

“Rex said to feed my power and think of where we wanted to go. He said the station, to concentrate on the station. The cell block.”

“Using your power draws that creature. I’ll use mine.”

“You think Elysian power is going to work in a Charbydon-created portal?” I asked dubiously.

“We can try.” He placed his hands on the stones and closed his eyes. Instantly the energy in the place changed. A soft yellow glow began to form beneath his palms.

And nothing else happened.

Finally he opened his eyes, his brow furrowed. “Let me try this.” This time he stuck his hands into the pool. The strange liquid seemed to conduct power and the entire thing shimmered in a golden light and then dimmed. Again, nothing.

“Here, let me try.” I returned my flashlight to my belt. “If this works, we’ll be gone before the Grim Reaper gets here. If he jumps planes behind us, we’ll deal with it at the station.” All that mattered was getting home. “You ready?” I asked.

Hank nodded. I shoved my dirty hands into the liquid. It closed around my skin, heavy and thick, the consistency of honey, but dry and cool. I closed my eyes and brought to mind the hum, the memory of the power—how it tingled through my body, set me alive …

“It’s working.” Hank said.

I peeked. The pool shimmered blue, very similar to the colors of the sphere back at the terminals in Telmath and Atlanta. It began to swirl, going around and around until it resembled a whirlpool, the middle a long, bottomless pit.

“Hook your arm in mine,” I said. “Think of the station, the cell block …”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” I just hoped Bryn had been strong enough to think for herself and concentrate on the cell block, too.

“And the hellhound?”

I whistled Brim over. “I sure as hell hope he’s thinking about Emma, or his bed, or his ball …” But he was going in that portal with us. It was better than leaving him here. “You whistle for him when we go,” I told Hank. “I’m going to put all my concentration on the cell. Ready?”

He nodded. I closed my eyes and focused on our destination, seeing it in my mind, the colors, the smells, the architecture … I remembered it until I felt as though I was standing there.

I let my body fall forward, one hand in the liquid, my other arm crooked around Hank’s. He moved with me. I heard his soft whistle to Brim and then we were falling into the spinning pool of liquid.

It sucked me in, coated me, and squeezed me tightly; taking me away from everything I’d ever known until the only thing remaining was silence. A vast, black silence. Slowly I became aware of Hank,our elbows still locked together. I held on tightly, linking my fingers and clinging for dear life.

The cell, the cell, the cell …