Levi fell backward, landing on his ass. He began to laugh. The sudden outburst surprised the others.
“Are you okay?” Maria asked, concerned.
“What’s so funny?” Ken demanded.
“Lime! Oh, this is perfect. Better than I could have ever hoped for. This, my friends, is a testimony to the power of prayer.”
Ken glanced at Maria. “What’s he going on about?”
She shook her head.
Levi gazed upward. “Thank you, Lord! Thank you for this boon.”
“LeHorn used lime,” Adam said. “I remember, from his journal. He used lime in one of the banishing spells, when he tried to cleanse the hollow.”
“That is correct.” Levi stood up and brushed the dirt from his pants. “He did indeed. Although lime is not as powerful as salt, it can be used as a substitute. All you have to do is charge it properly.”
While Levi examined the lime, Ken turned back to the trail and took another tentative step forward. He thought he sensed movement in the darkness, but he couldn’t see anything. He stared harder, trying to peer beyond the black curtain. There it was again—movement, a slight tremor. But from what?
Then his eyes widened.
It was the darkness itself.
As he watched, it crept toward them, slowly, excruciatingly, as if it were a rubber band stretched to its limit.
Noticing his reaction, Maria and Adam followed Ken’s gaze. Maria gasped and Adam screamed, dropping the bag of salt. It split open, spilling onto the ground.
“That’s it!” Adam shrieked. “He Who Shall Not Be Named! It waits at the heart of the Labyrinth like a big tumor, infecting the universe. And now it’s here!”
Maria grabbed Ken’s shoulder and tried to pull him backward, but he remained rooted to the spot, staring as the darkness crept closer.
“Ken,” she urged, “come on!”
“It’s moving slowly,” Levi said.
“Not slow enough for me,” Maria replied.
Adam ran to the edge of the forest.
“It’s sluggish,” Levi insisted. “Which means that it’s extended to its limits. It won’t be able to go much farther until the barriers are down. We still have time. Maria, Mr. Ripple—get behind me. Adam, come here. I need your help.”
“No thanks,” Adam called. “I’m fine right here. You go ahead. Work your voodoo.”
“Adam,” Levi insisted, “you promised that you’d help me. You agreed that you owed it to your loved ones. Now I need you to honor that promise—and to honor their memories.”
“I can’t. I’m…afraid.”
“We’re all afraid, Adam. But this is what we’ve been called to do. Now please, come here. You have to trust me.”
“Trust you?”
“Yes. I’ve helped you so far, haven’t I?”
Adam slowly approached him, while Maria tried to drag Ken away. Ken shrugged free of her and pointed at the darkness.
“Look!”
The night rippled. Ken glanced over his shoulder to verify that Maria had seen it, too—but she was gone. They were all gone. Maria, Levi, and Adam. The woods. The trail. All of it. He floated in a sea of black. There was only him, adrift in an ebony void, completely alone.
His greatest fear. Ever since Deena’s death, Ken was afraid of being alone.
The darkness pressed in on all sides, and Ken screamed.
Maria tried to pull him away, but before she could, two figures stepped out of the darkness.
Maria …
“M-Mom? Dad?”
Her parents glided toward her. Their skin, hair, eyes, and clothes were black.
You have failed us, Maria. You are an embarrassment to this family. To your culture. Your heritage. Our standing in the community.
“No.” Maria closed her eyes. “You’re not real. Levi said you take the form of the things that haunt us. The things we fear.”
Maria, look at us!
“I’M NOT AFRAID OF YOU!”
Maria opened her eyes again. Her parents reached for her, and her resolve shattered. Maria screamed.
“Adam,” Levi shouted, “to me!”
The darkness swirled around Ken and Maria, poised to strike.
Levi scooped up a handful of salt and ran toward them.
“Ia Ishtari, ios daneri, ut nemo descendre fhatagn Shtar! God, guide my hand.”
He tossed the salt at the entity. The crystals sparked, turning blue as they soared through the air. They pelted the darkness, and it withdrew, shuddering.
“Grab Ripple before he falls,” Levi told Adam as he reached for Maria.
Stumbling, they guided Maria and Ken back to the beginning of the trail, out of reach of the darkness. Levi peered into Maria’s eyes.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded. “I think so.”
“Ripple, how about you?”
“I’ll live. The fuck just happened?”
“We’ve been trying to tell you,” Levi said, “but you would not listen. Now I’m afraid I’ll have to insist that you stay out of my way.”
“Fuck that,” Ken said. “I want to help. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
Levi knelt, picked up the bag of salt, and handed it to Ken.
“Be careful that you don’t spill it.”
Ken frowned. “What am I supposed to do with this?”
“If you’re being sincere and you really do want to help, then listen to me carefully. I saw an exit not far from the entrance. Am I correct in assuming that this trail loops around?”
“Yeah. So what?”
Levi placed one hand on Ken’s shoulder and his other hand on the ruptured bag. Then he repeated the same phrase he’d shouted before throwing the salt. For a second, Ken felt a slight charge go through him, like licking a battery. Then it faded. The air smelled of ozone.
“What did you just do?”
Levi shook his head. “I need you and Maria to take this salt to the exit. Pour a line of it all the way across the exit, connecting to the lime lines on either side. You don’t have to use a lot of it. In fact, try to conserve. But the line must completely touch both sides. Think of it as an invisible wall. Okay?”
Ken nodded. “Sure. What will that do?”
“Just what I said. It will create an invisible wall. Once you’ve done that, I want the two of you to stand on the far side of that line. Make absolutely sure you’re not standing on the trail or between the lines. Do you understand?”
“This is like before,” Maria said. “With the circle of protection?”
“Exactly. But this time, instead of keeping something out, we’re trying to keep something in.”
“A trap?”
Levi winked at her.
“Stay clear of the path,” he told them, “but be ready for me to call you. When I do, proceed into the woods—making absolutely sure you walk on the outside of the lines, avoiding the path—and sprinkle the salt onto the trail.”
Maria coughed. “But won’t the salt break the circle?”
“No. I’ve already prepared it. As long as neither of you cross the barriers, we’ll be fine. Be mindful of that as you sprinkle the salt. Don’t let your hands or fingers cross the lines. Just the salt. You won’t have to go very far. Probably only a few feet. A few yards at the most.”
“How will we know when to stop?”
“You’ll know.”
“You want us to go into the woods?” Ken asked.
“Correct.”
“And that thing—that dark stuff—is in the woods?”
“Yes.”
“Fuck that.”
“Then Maria can do it alone. Three is a better number than four, anyway. In certain Chinese dialects, the word for four is very similar to the word for death. I have no time to reassure you, Mr. Ripple. This is our last chance and we are out of time.”
Ken flinched, staring at him. Then he turned to Maria.