He turned away and repeated the inscription process over every door and window in the house, while the others returned to the sitting room. When he was finished, Levi joined them. To the others, he seemed exhausted.
“Mrs. Laudry—”
“Call me Esther, dear.”
“Very well. Esther, would you be so kind as to grant me a drink of water?”
“Certainly. We have bottled water in the refrigerator. I would imagine it’s still cold, even with the power being out. I’ll get some for everyone. Myrtle, would you help me?”
“Sure. Good thing our eyes have adjusted to the dark. I don’t fancy breaking a hip on top of everything else tonight.”
“Oh, hush.”
The two old women bustled off to the kitchen again. Marsha hovered over her brother, seemingly oblivious to anything else in the room. Donny and Levi studied each other.
“You look beat, Levi.”
“Not yet.”
“No, I mean you look tired.”
“Oh.” Grinning, Levi scratched his beard. “That I am. But it will be a long time before I sleep. I don’t think any of us will sleep before dawn—except for the boy there. His name is Randy?”
“Yeah.”
“He has… abilities.” Levi’s tone was flat—a statement rather than a question.
Donny shrugged. “He’s pretty good at fixing cars, but other than that, I don’t know. Why?”
“It’s… Never mind. We have more urgent matters to discuss. I just find him fascinating, is all.”
Donny looked over at Randy and Marsha and then back at Levi. “Fascinating?”
“He reminds me of… someone else at that age.”
“Who?”
“Here we are,” Esther said as she and Myrtle came back into the room, juggling plastic bottles of water. “It’s still cool. I’m sorry we didn’t pour it into glasses, but these seemed easier, given the circumstances.”
Levi smiled as he accepted one. “I’m sure this is fine. Thank you both.”
He unscrewed the cap and took a long sip while they handed bottles to Donny and Marsha. Marsha opened hers, but rather than drinking, she raised her brother’s head slightly off the couch, put the bottle to his parted lips and poured a small amount into his mouth. Randy swallowed and then smacked his lips. His eyes remained closed.
“I hope he’s okay,” Marsha said.
“Here.” Levi stood up, crossed the room and knelt by him. “Allow me.”
He took Randy’s hand in his and lightly pinched the skin between the thumb and index finger. A moment later, Randy’s eyes opened. He glanced around in bewilderment and then relaxed when he saw his sister and Donny. Levi gently released his hand and then returned to his seat.
“Thirsty,” Randy rasped, licking his lips.
“Here. Don’t try to sit up.” Marsha gave him another sip of water.
“Where are we?”
“We’re at Mrs. Laudry’s bed-and-breakfast,” Marsha told him. “You passed out on the sidewalk. Do you remember? You were getting ready to tell me something about Mom and Dad.”
His expression darkened. “Oh.”
“Randy, what happened? What’s wrong?”
He sat up slowly and stared at his hands in his lap.
Marsha put her arm around him. Donny sat down next to her on the other side of the couch and took her free hand in his. When Randy looked up at her again, fresh tears brimmed in his eyes. He spoke slowly at first, halting between words. His voice was monotone. Emotionless. But then the words began to spill out of him. He shuddered and his throat worked as if what he had to say was choking him. He told them everything that had happened—the power going out, the crow on the patio that had turned into a man, the murder of his parents, the strange effect the spilled salt had on the killer, his escape with Stephanie and Sam, what they’d seen driving through town, the strange graffiti on the hanging tree, Sam and Stephanie’s death, the invisible barrier and the dead birds. When he was finished, he broke down into uncontrollable sobs, leaned forward and buried his face in his sister’s lap. She wrapped her arms around him, lay her cheek against his back and shared his grief. Donny rubbed her back and tried to comfort them both.
“That poor boy,” Myrtle whispered. “Those poor children. Randy and Marsha are good kids, and their parents were fine people. This is such a shame.”
“It’s terrible.” Esther nodded in agreement. “What do you think really happened, Levi?”
He glanced up at them, appearing distracted.
“I’m sorry?”
“Out there. What do you think really happened with Randy tonight?”
“I think it happened exactly like he told us.”
Esther flinched. “But some of the things he said, birds changing into humans and invisible force fields…”
“You haven’t been outside. We have. I believe the boy is telling the truth. In fact, I know he is. We’ve seen some of the same things he saw.”
Myrtle grew pale. “Is it the apocalypse? Are these demons?”
“I don’t know what they are yet. That’s what I need to figure out.”
They fell silent again and listened to Marsha and Randy weep.
Levi folded his fingers into a steeple, closed his eyes and concentrated. Randy’s sudden appearance outside had badly distracted him. The youth clearly had the gift, but seemed almost completely oblivious to it. In some ways, Levi envied him for that. He thought back to when he was Randy’s age—that fateful summer when everything had changed and he’d learned just what high a price magic had—and wished that he’d been oblivious, as well. Maybe if he hadn’t known, things would be different. Maybe the girl he had loved would still be alive. Maybe he’d still have a home, a real home, with people who welcomed him and a family that he could always turn to, no matter how bad things got.
He needed to focus. Growing maudlin over the past wouldn’t help their present situation. What did he know so far? Brinkley Springs had been attacked by supernatural entities with the ability to change shape. They had appeared as both a crow and human. In their human guise, they appeared clad in antiquated, Puritan-style clothing. Their speech was a curious mix: outdated colloquialisms mixed with more modern terms and slang. They had inhuman strength, speed and abilities. They were systematically slaughtering every living thing. They devoured their victims’ souls, leaving an empty husk behind, as a locust in summer leaves its desiccated shell clinging to a tree. Their victims’ bodies turned to dust shortly after death, leaving no trace save for a small pile of ash.
Levi shuddered at the thought of such a fate. To have one’s soul eaten, to lose all sense of self or being, to not travel to the levels and planes of existence beyond this one, to become the sum total of null with no chance of ever being reborn or reconstituted— that was the worst fate he could imagine. Better to end up in hell than to be completely eradicated.
What else did he know? The entities seemed impervious to various workings and magical disciplines. His binding spell had been only partially effective, serving to slow his antagonist down rather than actually binding it to his will. They’d sealed off Brinkley Springs from the outside world by means of a mystical barrier, which would have taken an enormous force of will and an incredible amount of energy to construct. It was possible that the barrier was some sort of soul cage, though Levi had never heard of one so massive in size. It was a stunning achievement. And then, finally, there was the word Randy had seen carved into the trunk of a tree—Croatoan. It was obvious from their reactions that Randy, Marsha, Donny, Esther and Myrtle hadn’t recognized the word or its significance, but Levi did. He just didn’t know how it fit into all of this.
Yet.
Croatoan. The word had several different meanings, and not all of them were related to occult lore. At best, it was a location and nothing more, but Levi was fairly certain its association with tonight’s events was something more sinister.