John Saul: Black Creek Crossing

“I guess it has to be,” Seth sighed, letting go of the branch. “I should have brought my knife.”

They ran back to the cabin, ducking their heads against the rain.

Even before she took off the poncho, Angel scraped the sap from her finger into the boiling kettle. Seth retrieved the knife from his backpack, squatted down and took the toad from Houdini, who released it the moment Seth had it in his grasp.

“D-Do you really have to hurt it?” Angel asked as he carefully opened a tiny slit in the skin of one of the toad’s large hind legs.

“I barely cut it,” Seth replied, holding the toad over the kettle and squeezing the leg until a few drops of blood fell into the roiling liquid. A moment later he released the toad out the front door and watched as it hopped toward the pile of rocks and disappeared. “I don’t think he even felt it,” he told Angel as he closed the door.

As the fire burned and the cauldron boiled, the storm outside raged on…

As the sun began to set, the fire finally died away. The bubbling in the black kettle settled down to a slow simmer as the storm outside spent the last of its rage; the flashes of lightning weakened, the thunder lost its strength. The light seeping through the cracks in the wall and door brightened. When water stopped pouring into the granite sink, the last rumble of thunder had died away, and the fire beneath the kettle had shrunk to a pile of glowing embers, Seth opened the window.

The air, washed clean by the storm, smelled sweet. As Seth gazed upward, the last remnants of the clouds evaporated into nothing. But for the freshness of the air and the dripping of the still soggy trees, the storm seemed to have left no trace at all, for even the wind that had driven the rain into a slashing torrent had died so completely that Seth felt no breeze against his cheek. He pushed the window shutter wide and opened the door as well. The fresh air left by the storm flushed out the acrid fumes left by the fire as the last rays of the setting sun washed away some of the gloom in the tiny cabin chamber.

Seth came back to the table and watched Angel ladle the contents of the kettle into a small jar. Meanwhile, Houdini twined himself first through Angel’s legs and then through Seth’s, and finally stretched out in the small patch of sunlight that found its way through the doorway.

“Now what?” Seth asked as Angel set the jar on the table.

“One of us adds our own blood to the jar and drinks it. Then we wash the jar out, and the other one does it.”

Saying nothing more, Seth picked up the knife, cut his finger, and squeezed a few drops of blood into the clear liquid in the jar. It vanished in an instant, leaving not even a hint of pink to betray its presence. Waiting only until the fluid was cool enough so it wouldn’t scald his mouth, he lifted the jar to his lips and swallowed the contents.

He rinsed the jar at the sink and Angel refilled it. Repeating the same ritual Seth had just performed, but using her own blood instead of his, she too drained the contents of the jar.

A moment later she picked up a second jar from the counter and handed it to Seth. “It’s the other one,” she said. “The one that lets you lift things. At least you can stop Zack from coming after you for a while.”

Silently, Seth tipped the second jar up, draining it even faster than he had the first.

A few minutes later, leaving no sign that they’d been there at all, Angel and Seth followed Houdini out the door of the cabin, pulled the door closed, and scrambled to the top of the berm of shattered granite. Climbing down the other side, they crossed the clearing and disappeared into the forest. Even though it was almost completely dark now, they had no trouble following Houdini as he led them back toward Black Creek Road.

“Maybe we should go to the drugstore and get a Coke or something,” Seth suggested. They were in front of the Sullivans’ house, and both of them could see her father framed in the window, staring out at the darkness of the evening.

Angel shook her head. “I better not. He can’t see us, but if I’m any later, he’ll just be even madder when I get back.”

“I guess,” Seth agreed, and Angel could hear the disappointment in his voice. “I guess I’d better be going.” Despite his effort to cover it, Angel could hear the fear in Seth’s voice, just as she had when he’d asked her to go to the drugstore for a Coke the last time.

“Are you going to be okay?” she asked.

He cocked his head and managed a small grin. “Well, I was okay last night, so I guess I should be able to make it home, shouldn’t I?”

“Zack probably won’t try anything,” she said.

“Maybe,” Seth replied, but his expression told her that he was worried about it. “So, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” he finally said. Still, he lingered another few seconds before turning and starting to walk away.

Houdini, who had been sitting patiently while they talked, stood up, looked up at Angel, then started after Seth. The cat took a few paces, paused, and turned to gaze at Angel, and for a moment seemed uncertain. But then, turning away from her, Houdini hurried after Seth, catching up to him before he was fifty yards down the road.

“Hey,” Seth said, bending down to scratch the cat’s ears. “What are you doing?” He straightened up and looked back at Angel, but before he could send the cat back, she waved and turned toward her house. “You sure you want to come with me?” Seth asked, squatting down. Houdini promptly rolled over to have his stomach scratched. “Okay,” Seth sighed as he complied. “I’m not going to try to tell you what to do.”

Twenty minutes later he was only a block from his house, and so far had seen no sign of Chad, Zack, or Jared. Instead of going up Court Street as he usually did — where Zack had caught him yesterday — this time he went around to the other side of the park and walked up Church Street, staying across the street from the park, just in case. Coming to Elm Street, he didn’t make the turn toward his house, but went halfway up the next block. Now all he had to do was cut down the alley and come into his house through the back door.

He paused at the mouth of the alley, and as he peered down the long, shadowy row of garages — behind any one of which Zack, Chad, Jared, or anyone else could be hiding — he wondered if it wouldn’t be better to go back down to Elm Street and use the front door. Even if Chad and Jared were around, they’d be at the other end of the street anyway.

But if they saw him…

Better to use the alley, he decided.

With Houdini darting ahead of him, Seth started down the narrow graveled lane, leaving the faint yellowish glow of the streetlights behind.

As the darkness gathered around him, he thought he saw a faint movement off to the right, but when he turned to look, there was nothing.

Nothing but a gate that was slightly ajar.

Was that what he’d seen?

Had it moved?

Or had someone come through it? Someone who was now hiding in the shadows of the garage, which were even darker than the night?

Hunching his shoulders against the darkness — and whatever it might conceal — he hurried his step.

He was halfway to his own garage when Houdini suddenly froze.

As the cat’s back arched and it stared straight ahead, Seth felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up, and knew then that someone was behind him.

He’d walked into a trap.

Spinning around, he found himself staring at a dark figure silhouetted against the glow of the streetlight at the end of the alley. For a moment both Seth and the dark figure froze, and then the figure raised one if its arms. Now Seth could see the broken beer bottle clutched in the hand at the end of the uplifted arm, and as the figure raised it even higher, so that one of its jagged points was aimed directly at him, it caught the light from behind. As if mesmerized by the glittering object, Seth’s mind went blank, and a cold sheen of sweat broke out over his body.