When I think back, I have only seen male Lighters.
Huh.
"You don"t know me half as well as you think you do if you could think that being worshipped is something I would want," I say, but I feel like my arguments are beginning to loose steam.
How long can we sit here and go back and forth like this? Something"s gotta give.
"Oh, I know you pretty well. Every human female wants to be worshipped, especially by men. Have you yourself not thought in your mind that Merrick is at your every female command and pouty whim?" he says looking at Merrick, begging for a reaction.
Interesting.
I had thought that but not quite as devious as he laid it out to be. I was being silly and playful, wasn"t I?
"Being worshipped by my husband is a bonus, not a requirement, for me. I don"t need that to be happy. I"m not like other women. I think you"ve got the wrong girl."
"Oh. I got the right girl. Modest as all get out and nave as well. You don"t see how beautiful you are, how meek. It just makes people want to protect you. Love you. You don"t use your powers of persuasion anywhere near the level of what you could. Merrick is merely a toy, a play thing. Imagine having a fleet of toys under your every command."
But before I can think of anything to say in response. I see Trudy in my peripheral. She was already the closest to Crandle, on his left, but now she"s inched closer.
"Enough of this rubbish!" she yells and takes her iron rod, ramming it right through Crandle"s chest. He falls backwards from the force and lands on his back on the floor, banging his head on the hall table. The table falls too and the flower vase shatters spraying water, yellow roses and gla.s.s over the floor.
Cain is under the attic door in seconds, trying to coax Lily, who is now looking down to jump.
"Lily!" he called and then looked back at us to make sure we heard. "She"s here. Lily! Come on. Jump down to me."
"No! No! The bad man..." she starts and before I can even suggest it Merrick swings into action, instantly heading for the attic.
"Lily. The bad man is gone now. I"m here. Come on, sweetheart. I need you to jump to me. I"ll catch you, I promise. Come on, baby. Let"s go home," Merrick says pleading.
Merrick is tall with a long reach but it"s still a pretty far jump, especially for a toddler. But, she must trust Merrick completely, like me, because she jumped without any further moments hesitation. She landed safely in his arms and she hugged his neck so hard and he hugged her so sweetly in return.
"Mewwick!" she yelled, still hugging him. "Mewwick! Don"t make me stay with the bad man! Pwease."
"Never, sweetheart. You belong with me. With us."
She continued to be a trooper, tolerating all the happy crooning and rea.s.suring touches and pats of the others, as I stood in my same spot and observed.
She was happy. Maybe she wouldn"t be so happy to see me? She looked as content as could be with everyone else. But when Merrick turned with her in his arms, and she saw me, my heart stopped. She practically busted free of his grip to get to me, he had to hold tight to keep her from falling as he strode my way.
"Shawwy!"
She almost strangled me with her pet.i.te arms when Merrick reached me. He still held her because of my leg and crutches but she gripped my neck like a vise, and I loved every second of it. She was ecstatic, because of me. Seeing me made her happy. That, made me happy.
"Oh, Lily bug. I missed you," I told her.
"I wike that name, bug, Shawwy. I wike you to call me dat."
"You do? Well, I"ll always call you that then."
I was crying, again. I cried a lot lately, especially when it came to this little girl.
"Shawwy, why you cwying?"
"I"m just so happy to see you, Lily bug. Are you ready to go home?"
She nodded her head vigorously with the cutest little turned up nose and raised eyebrows but our happy reunion was short lived when I heard a familiar laugh echoing in the halls.
Why won"t he just die!? Then I remembered that Merrick said Crandle couldn"t be killed by running him through, like a Lighter. Only by fire. Oh no. Merrick wraps both Lily and I in in his arms protectively.
"What a sweet reunion," Crandle says, pulling himself up and slowly removing the rod from his chest even slower, with a grimace, white light spurting out of the wound until it heals shut. I can"t help but hope that it really did hurt. "Unfortunately, I"m tired of these games. I"m ready to go. Sherry? Shall we? Or shall I call the Lighters to deal with your family?"
The ones outside? The ones we already took care of? Others? What do I do? I can"t go with him. Come on someone, think of something!
"I guess I have your answer then." He took a step forward and shook his head, looking at me. "I"m so disappointed in you Sherry. First I"ll call the Lighters to come and kill your "band of misfits" as you once called them and then I"ll take you by force. One way or another, I will have you," Crandle said raising his hands in the air, the rod still in his fist.
His palms start to glow with a faint light. Waiting for...lightning or smoke or something, I"m not sure but nothing seems to be happening. What"s he waiting for?
Then he blurs forward, moving the few feet to where Trudy is standing. He stabs her through the back, the rod protruding, coming out the chest, right where her heart would be.
"No! No!" I hear myself yell but I"m not the only one.
Trudy gasped and almost falls, holding her chest. Crandle, holds her in one arm while the other hand is placed over her chest. He breathes deeply, taking big breaths and concentrates. His hand starts to glow brighter then comes a white light from underneath his palm and his eyes glaze over black and dark. Trudy screams and wrenches to get free and just as Jeff moves forward to help it"s too late.
We see a ripple go through her entire body, a bright shining light with it that engulfs her and evaporates just a quickly leaving her skin dull and ashen, and then Crandle drops her and walks away.
Jeff, who was close to her already, catches her and helps lower her to the ground. Her eyes are wide and her face is pale. Not pale but ash white. She murmurs for us not to worry about her, she wouldn"t have lived much longer anyway...and then nothing. She stops breathing and her eyes close, head rolling to the side and she"s gone.
I realize, he"s just absorbed her. Something I thought I"d never see and never wanted to. I wouldn"t have Lily in my arms right this second if it hadn"t been for Trudy"s sacrifice.
I want to cry, scream, hit and beat something. But my need to make him pay is all I can handle at this point.
"b.a.s.t.a.r.d! You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" I heard myself yelling and cursing again. Cain tries to grab him and he pushes him away easily. Then he"s there, right in my face in a blur of a second.
His palm sweeps forward at the same time to Merrick"s chest with a powerful blow, sending him bounding backwards and slamming into a huge aerial picture of the town on the wall. I can hear it breaking and shattering to the wood floor behind us.
Crandle is right in our faces, I can feel his sickly sweet breath on my face as I hold Lily tighter, the Takers arms going around us both like an embrace. Maybe he"s gonna flee with us this way? Lily speaks before I can.
"You"re a bad man!" she yells with as much force as a three year old girl can muster.
Then she thumps his nose. As innocently as you would thump a bug off your arm.
Crandle"s eye go wide, he looks aghast, how dare she, and then he blinks, he blinks rapidly but then...something else. He starts to clear his throat...then choke. He removes his cold arms from us. He coughs. He gasps. He grabs his throat. He moves back and doubles over, putting his hands on his knees, still coughing huskily and looking up at Lily in angry wonderment.
Merrick has returned to my side in a blur now and we all look on, wondering what is going on. I"m wondering if Lily has a gift too and if she has just shown us all for the first time, not even knowing she was doing it. As I continue to watch the display, I"m sure she does and has.
Crandle wasn"t expecting us to be prepared. I ponder whether he knew about the Special"s gifts at all. He thought we"d go down admirably and fighting but still go down in the end. He thought he"d win. He was a fool for being so blind and arrogant. I squeeze Lily with pride and then look at Merrick. I see blood on his sleeve.
"You"re hurt!" I yell and move to examine it.
He has a gash on his arm. The gla.s.s cut through his sleeve and skin on his shoulder but doesn"t look too deep.
"It"s fine. It"s nothing." He says, still watching Crandle.
Crandle continues to cough and hack, he"s on his knees on the floor now, and Jeff decides to use it as an escape opportunity. He motions for us to head out the hallway. Merrick takes Lily from me and I start to hobble away but stop.
"Wait. Trudy?" I ask Jeff, grabbing his sleeve in protest.
"I"m sorry Sherry. She"s gone. We can"t save her."
I bite my lower lip to hold back the sob and nod as Merrick pushes me, urging me down the hall. Lana and Calvin are behind us. Everyone else in front.
Then I hear breaking gla.s.s, doors slamming. Pounding, footsteps. I realize the reinforcements have been called in. Theirs.
More Lighters are here. Merrick shoves Lily and I on the elevator and hops in with us quickly. The moment the doors open on the first floor, I see them. Waiting for us all.
Some of us, Jeff and Ryan I can tell, have made it downstairs and are fighting already. Merrick blurs us through the commotion and to the front door, putting us in the shadowed corner of the foyer.
"Stay," he commands and kisses me quickly.
I will stay this time. I have so much to lose now. Precious cargo in my arms. The rest of them take their stand as the fighting continues in the main hall, a huge room with an obscene gold and crystal chandelier hanging right over the center. Right above the fight.
Jeff and someone else sneaks off, I can see them go. He see"s me watching. I must look frightened because he reaches out to my mind, which he doesn"t do often.
We"re headed to the bas.e.m.e.nt Sherry, to let those people out before they all get killed. Hopefully, they"ll all be too scared to care if we"re Keepers or not. Stay right there with Lily. Don"t move.
I nod. As soon as he rounds the corner, out of sight, the lights flicker and a clanking sound resounds. Rattling gla.s.s. I glance up and see what the noise is coming from. I scream.
I yell for everyone to move. They look up. I hear gasp and yells. Even the Lighters stop and look, and then run. Everyone scrambles and scatters in all directions as we all see the ma.s.sive chandelier coming down. It shatters and smashes in the middle of the room sending pieces of gla.s.s everywhere. The boom from the crash is enormous and I feel it rattle the floor when it hits.
I shield Lily and when I look back, thankfully, no one was hurt. Merrick is safely by the staircase.
Crandle appears, falling, jumping down all flights of stairs down the middle to land on the rug and gla.s.s in front of us all. Gracefully on his feet.
"Going somewhere?" he bellows, laughing deeply.
The Lighters are stacked behind him now and our crew retreats some towards the door, towards Lily and I. The Lighters look more fierce every time I see them.
This can"t be how it ends? After all this, we die here, in evil"s house, right on the brink of our escape?
Crandle continues to laugh, reading our thoughts, at least my thoughts of defeat. I"m not giving up, I"m just accepting the way it is. Crandle will kill them all then take me away with him for G.o.d knows what purpose.
He steps forward and motions with both arms moving forward in a push movement for the Lighters to attack. I brace myself, smothering my face in Lily"s hair and murmuring for her not to look, it"ll be over soon.
But then I hear Calvin yelling, pulling our attention, he steps out from behind Lana, towards the Lighters. I can hear the gla.s.s crunching under his feet.
"You killed Mrs. Trudy," he accused and yelled as Lana holds his shirt sleeve to restrain him, I could hear the tears in his voice.
When Crandle threw back his head and laughed again he started all the Lighters on a laughing frenzy. Calvin hands and arms started to glow a faint red. His breathing accelerated. His arms pulsed with each breath and then he threw his hands forward, all I could see was a blazing swirl of red and orange and black.
I could feel the heat and my eyes wanted to squint from the bright light. Calvin was spouting fire from his hands, and arms and fingers. I recoil with Lily on instinct into the door jam and cover her ears and eyes from the sight and sound of them burning.
Crandle and the other Lighters scream and screech, pulling at their flesh and faces and clothes as the licking flames consume them. Yelling, cursing, running, and falling. I look away, not wanting to see death. Not wanting to remember. Then I feel Merrick touch my arm and as I look up, I see Jeff coming around the corner, with a ma.s.s of dirty, thin, some bleeding, frightened people behind him.
The burning Lighters are running around and touching and b.u.mping things in the chaos, not purposely but just trying to put out the flames on themselves. I can see small spurts of light where their skin is burned away.
The Taker comes forward, engulfed in flames and looks at us so disdainfully as he burns. His face is stoic and surreal. He knows what"s happening. He also knows he"ll come back as another Taker. This isn"t over.
Then he threw his head back and his body exploded in a burst of cold air and light. It was strange to see the fire all around us and yet feel the cold wind we always felt when one of them dies. There is lightning like with the others but it"s raging in every direction not just up. It was quick. A few seconds and he"s reduced to nothing.
The curtains catch fire in the big room by the front window first, then the cloth table runner and huge fake flower arrangement on the hall table go up in the blaze.
Merrick and Jeff start ushering all of us out, including the bas.e.m.e.nt people, who look too scared to care who helped them, just happy to be alive. Jeff was right.
I see all the cops and ambulances already outside, probably because of our earlier encounter in the street with the Lighters.
"Oh no. How are we gonna get past them?" I ask, still shielding Lily but not moving since I can"t walk with crutches and carry her too.
"Blend," Merrick answers and pulls his arm around me, taking Lily first.
By this time we are all dirty with soot and coughing, we look like everyone else as we make our way down the porch and through the yard to the street. I don"t see any of our group out and about other than the ones that were in the house.
No one stops us.
No one looks at us.
No one cares.
We casually walk, spread out to the van and other vehicles further down the street.
We hobble over and make it at last. The part of our group who was supposed to stay behind and fight the Lighters is there already, packed into the vehicle, hiding and looking grim. Hoping to come out of this unscathed was a fools hope. We lost Trudy and as Miguel explains, they lost Mike. I guess, all things considered, we should be grateful for only losing two.
What? Be grateful? The Lighters should never had come her in the first place! If they hadn"t, Trudy would still be here. Course, I wouldn"t even know her, or Merrick. But that"s not a fair trade. This should never have happened.
"So what do we do with it?" Miguel ask, referring to the Lighter still tied up in the van.
"Well, it can"t give us any more information. I suppose we should kill it," Jeff advises matter-of-factly.
"Kill it? But it"s defenseless," Celeste announces in a shrill panic, like we don"t know that it"s tied up.
"It"s not defenseless, Celeste. It would kill you the first chance it got. Should I let it go first, then wait for it to try to kill me before I strike it?" Jeff"s response was calm, but I can tell he"s tired and agitated and ready to go home and be done with this day.
"Well...no, but...I"m sorry. I know you"re right it just feels...wrong," she whispers, looking at the ground.
All I can think right now is that I"m freezing, my leg is throbbing, Lily is tired and traumatized as is Calvin. I"m ready to take what"s left of my family home.
"Enough," Miguel says bitterly. "One of those b.l.o.o.d.y things killed Mike and I"m not letting it go. I"ll handle it. Everyone else get in the cars and go home. We"ll stop someone out of the way in the van and take care of him. We"ll meet you at the store."
We drive a while, Merrick, Miguel, Jeff, Danny and Celeste, Lily and the Lighter, in the van. We are driving slowly, Miguel says he"s looking for a good spot. Good spot for what? Just do it already if that"s what we have to do.