“I know. Me too. But there’s literally no way back.” He glanced over his shoulder and realized that the brush he’d just pushed through was far less overgrown. The path that lay behind him was not the same path he’d just walked. Like Edgar told him, this was a one-way road.
“Please be careful,” Karen begged. Her voice crackled. The connection was nearly gone.
“I will. I promise. Now I’ve got to go.”
She said something else, but her voice was lost in static. He did not dare try to back up to find the signal again. Instead, he just said, “Bye Karen,” and hung up the phone.
Before him, an earthen path wound through the familiar rocky terrain of the fissure. The trees thinned away until there were none standing before him and he was climbing a steep hill in a mostly barren landscape.
He remembered climbing this hill in his dream. He was afraid. His mind was cloudy. His mangled hand throbbed ceaselessly.
He still couldn’t remember what waited beyond the crest of the hill, but there was a sick dread creeping up from the depths of his gut.
His cell phone rang.
That could only be Isabelle.
“The cathedral is just on the other side of that hill,” she warned him. “You’re almost there.”
“Can you see everything I see?”
“Not see it, exactly. I just know it’s there. I can feel what you feel. And right now you feel like you’re walking into the gates of hell.”
Eric had to admit that her ability to read his feelings was dead-accurate. The gates of hell made a perfectly adequate description.
“I just wanted you to know that I’m with you. And I’ll stay with you. No matter what.”
Eric smiled. “Thanks, Isabelle. That does make it feel a little better.”
“I know,” she replied. “I can tell.”
“In my dream, I was almost killed back in that canyon.”
“You were. You lost most of your hand.”
“I did. But in the dream, I arrived before the foggy man. He wasn’t here. I never had to run from his golems. I didn’t get my shoulder torn up on the roof of Altrusk’s house.”
“That’s right.”
“I also never found you.”
“I’m glad you didn’t come two days ago.”
“Me too.”
Eric was halfway up the hill now. Soon he would have his first look at the cathedral. He hoped the sight alone wasn’t going to be enough to kill him, but after all he’d been through, he wouldn’t be a damned bit surprised.
“Listen,” Isabelle said. “I know you’re scared, and I know you’re not sure you can do this, and you’re right to not feel confident. This fissure…it’s really messed up. The other world, the one that’s smashed up against ours, it’s a bad place. It’s the worst kind of nightmare you can imagine. And whatever you find in there, it’s probably going to be even worse.”
“You think so?”
“I do. The fissure is concentrated there. The two worlds are so smashed together that it pervades reality. It takes the bad from that world and it magnifies it.”
“Sounds like a blast.” Eric was breathing harder now. He was growing tired. This hill was steeper than it looked.
“And the foggy man will be there somewhere, too. He’ll be waiting for you. You need to be careful of him.”
“No kidding.”
“Seriously, Eric. He’s bad news.”
Eric stopped walking. “Did you figure something out about him?”
“No. Not exactly. I felt something back at the factory. Something disturbing. It took a while for me to figure out what it was. But now I think I get it. It’s not him I was feeling. He’s not what you have to fear. He’s no devil. But the people he works for… I can’t really explain it, but there’s something terribly wrong about them. And he’s afraid of them. He’s going to be desperate not to fail them.”
Moving forward again, Eric said. “Is he already in the cathedral?”
“I don’t know for sure. But I am sure he’s nearby. You need to be very careful.”
“Believe me, I intend to be.”
“Good.”
“But can I really hope to beat something as bad as that?”
“There’s always hope. And I’ve realized something since I got away from Altrusk.”
“What’s that?”
“I’ve realized there’s a thread of order in the universe, a thread that connects us all, and one that’s way too intricate to be there by accident. We’re not alone. And I really don’t think you’re here just to die.”
“I sure hope not.”
“Do more than just hope, Eric. Believe. I need you to look back on all that’s happened today. Every detail. You have to realize that there’s more to all this than a bunch of creepy ghosts and a wonky dream. There’s a reason you’re here today and not two days ago. I’m part of that reason. That cat was part of that reason. The foggy man is also part of that reason. I think it’s the same reason you’re the person who had the dream and not some Olympic athlete or super-genius.”
“Thanks, Isabelle. You’re right. I have to believe I’m not just here to die.”
“Don’t forget it. Not even if it all seems lost.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
“Good.”
Eric approached the top of the hill. He felt so tired. It was as if he’d just hauled himself up the side of an enormous mountain.
“You helped me escape from Altrusk, Eric.”
“It was you who helped me escape.”
“But I’d still be there if I hadn’t met you. You saved me. And I can never repay you for that. I…” She trailed off, the words lost before they crossed her lips.
“I know. And I promise you, I won’t go down without giving everything I have.”
“You’d better not.”
“I swear.”
“Good.”
Eric reached the crest of the hill and surveyed the land before him.
“You’ve seen it…”
“It’s…”
“Apocalyptically terrifying.”
That was about as perfectly as he could have ever described it. Before him lay what looked like a lifeless crater at least four miles across. At the very center was the cathedral. He’d expected some kind of grand architecture, towering spires, a gothic monolith, perhaps. Instead, it was nothing more than an enormous hole in the ground.
“This is where I let you go,” said Isabelle. “Don’t forget what I said.”
Eric was staring into the black abyss at the center of the barren crater with his mouth agape. Now, at Isabelle’s words, he drew himself up. She was right. He didn’t come all this way to die. “Thank you,” he said.
“You’re welcome.”
He took a deep breath.
“Bye,” said Isabelle.
And then Eric stood all alone.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Eric made his way down the slope of the crater. No plants grew here. The earth lay crushed beneath his feet, the soil barren. It was no explosion that formed this crater, nor any falling celestial object. The earth had not been forced into this shape in an instant, but instead over billions of years. The weight of two worlds pushed down on him, literally driving him against the ground so that every step was a labor. Even the air here felt heavy.
Inside that hole at the crater’s center was the point where the two worlds met. A singularity, the denizens of the fissure had called it. This was what happened where worlds collided. He could actually feel the pressure against his skin.
No creatures roamed the crater and Eric did not blame them for keeping their distance. It was uncomfortable here. His ears felt as if they were about to pop. He couldn’t quite catch his breath.
There was also no sign of the foggy man. Not since he came across the carcass of the floppy-eared cat had he seen any evidence of the mysterious figure shrouded in nothingness. He hadn’t left any more traps.