Usher's Passing (69 page)

"We've got to get out!" she shouted at him. Across the chamber, knives that were scattered on the floor whirled up like a deadly storm and stabbed against the walls. "Can you find the way?"

He shook his head. He didn't remember how Edwin had brought him here, and he feared the Lodge would seal them in.

They'd have to go back through the tunnel, Raven realized. The rafter that Greediguts hung from was tearing loose. She pulled New to his feet and said, "Come on! Hurry!"

At the doorway, as the bass moan continued to rise, and the currents of black magic from Edwin's contorting body began to crack the walls, Rix stopped to look back at the elderly man he'd loved.

He saw only the Pumpkin Man.

Then he turned away and ran after New and Raven.

The entire corridor was shaking, chunks of stone falling from the ceiling, rock dust churning through the air and almost blinding them. "The wand!" New told Raven. "I have to get it back!"

In Ludlow's workshop, the pendulum was swinging steadily. The tuning forks were vibrating blurs, and the bass tone had passed the pain threshold. Raven, her bones twisting as the sound pierced her, retrieved her lantern. The walls and floor shivered violently, cracks snaking across New's path as he picked up the Mountain King's wand. A piece of rock the size of an anvil fell from above, crashing only a few feet away. Rubble rained down, striking him on the head and back. The pendulum was swinging faster, and New felt a terrible pressure building in his head. There was no way to stop it, he realized. The thing was out of control, and God only knew what it was going to do. They had to get out of the Lodge as fast as they could.

The chamber's floor buckled, almost throwing New to his knees. The bass tone had become a low, demonic bellow.

Guided by their light, they ran through the pitching corridor to the staircase that had brought New and Raven from the lower level. In another moment, Pendulum's moan had reached a pitch of pure agony. Rix's eardrums were about to explode, and as he struggled down the stairs, his equilibrium dangerously unbalanced by the noise, blood burst from his nostrils.

On the lower level, the granite pillars were shivering. The iron pilings were making high whining sounds, like the strings of a harp being plucked by a madman's hand. One of the pillars cracked and collapsed, followed by a second and a third. Stones tumbled from the ceiling.

"The foundation!" Raven shouted, barely able to hear herself. "It's destroying the foundation!"

The tunnel stretched before them. Around them the stones grated and shifted. Black water poured through cracks above their heads.

Still the moan of Pendulum pursued them. Raven faltered, but Rix supported her and took the lantern before she dropped it. Water swirled around their ankles.

And then the hair stirred at the back of New's neck, and he turned toward the Lodge. Several paces ahead, Rix looked over his shoulder, then aimed the light in the direction from which they'd come. He froze with terror. The beam illuminated the panther racing after them along the tunnel, coming like a massive black machine of destruction. It dragged chain and entrails after it, the hook still buried deeply in its belly.

As the monster hurtled toward them, New tightened his grip around the wand. He had no power of his own left; he was weak, worn out, and would have to trust in the power that had been passed from generation to generation, contained within a gnarled stick that wouldn't bring two dollars at a flea market.

"Come on, you bastard!" New shouted in defiance.

Greediguts leaped, gory steam bursting from its nostrils.

New swung the stick like a baseball bat.

A blinding ball of blue flame shot from it as it met the panther's head. The monster shrieked—and for an instant both New and Greediguts were connected by the fiery wand. Then Greediguts' body was thrown backward as if it had hit a stone wall, and New fell into the water that surged around his knees, his nerves on fire.

The panther's body, its mangled head hanging on strings of tough tissue, slowly began to rise to its feet again. Its jaws snapped together, tearing at the air.

And over the wail of Ludlow Usher's machine came the sharp cracking of tunnel stones, like sticks broken in powerful hands. A section of the tunnel between them and the Lodge caved in. Black mud, water, and weeds collapsed into the tunnel. A torrent of water swept toward Greediguts, New, Rix, and Raven. Rix had time only to put his arm around Raven's waist before the water hit them with a force that knocked them backward and off their feet. He was blinded. New's body collided with him, then was tossed away.

Rix was lifted up in the thrashing water; as his head emerged into a space of air in the darkness, he heard the tunnel stones above him cracking, splitting open. Water from the lake was hammering down into the tunnel. Rix gasped for air and shouted to Raven, "Hold on!"

Raven's hand found his shoulder and gripped hard. The entire tunnel was flooding, and again the water surged over Rix's head.

They tumbled before the wild currents. Rix was thrown violently upward, his back scraping across tunnel stones that had not yet collapsed. Air burst from his nostrils and Raven was almost wrenched away, but Rix held on to her with all his strength.

His lungs burned for air. Currents swirled in all directions, pushing and pulling at the same time. A cold sweep of water threw him upward again, and he braced for another collision with the tunnel's ceiling.

But then he was tangled in weeds and mud, and he realized the current had shoved him out of the tunnel, onto the lakebed. Now the water was sucking him down again, and his body fought wildly against it. Raven was kicking too, trying to escape its suction.

They were drawn downward, halfway into the tunnel—and then another surge of water boiled beneath them, and they were thrust upward through the black water and the weeds.

Rix's head emerged into a gray curtain of rain. Beside him, Raven coughed and gasped for air. Rix's arm had been almost dislocated from the effort of holding on to her. Waves rolled over them, propelling them toward the rocky shallows. As they lay on the rough stones with the rain and the waves beating around them, Rix looked back toward the island.

The Lodge was trembling like a massive tuning fork. The glass cupola shattered, the marble lions rocked and plummeted from their positions on the roof.

Pendulum's moan pulsated in the turbulent air. It changed, became a hoarse, maddened scream that pounded into Rix's mind:

—
traitorrrrrr—

The Lodge was falling to pieces like a house of cards. It heaved and shook, its towers and chimneys swaying, then collapsing. The roofs caved in. Lakewater battered the house, black spray shooting fifty feet into the air. The west wing shuddered and fell, the contents of rooms spilling out like jewels from a huge treasure box.

—
all for you—

The voice of the Lodge was weakening.

With its next vibration, the entire front of the house cracked and fell away in an avalanche of marble and masonry. Revealed was an intricate warren of rooms, corridors, and staircases that slowly collapsed, one after another, and disappeared into the water. The lake had become a churning cauldron filled with beautiful trash that boiled up and then was drawn into the depths.

Suddenly the remainder of the Lodge was split by a massive seam that worked its way up from the foundation, branching off into a dozen more cracks, a hundred more, crawling inexorably across the stones.

—
traitor all for you—

The Lodge sagged, crumbling away in what looked like a gigantic, slow-motion explosion, tons of marble plunging into the lake.

The walls fell. From the ruin of the Lodge came a
Shockwave
that crushed Rix and Raven together, a cold fury that carried
the
scream
traitorrrrr
across the lake and over Usherland, echoing from Briartop Mountain in the crash of a thousand falling trees.

The voice of the Lodge and the roar of Pendulum were silenced.

Waterspouts danced like tops across the lake. Chairs, desks, stuffed trophies, curio cases, beds, tables, and pianos had surged toward shore. Around the lake, the trees had been sheared off at their trunks, and much of the forest up the south side of Briartop had been leveled.

The Lodge was rubble, utterly destroyed by Ludlow Usher's sonic weapon.

When they could move again, Rix and Raven slogged through the shallows. Near the shattered remnants of the bridge, another figure lay on its side in the mud.

Rix helped Raven to the ground, and turned toward the ruins. Blood dripped from his nose, he was bruised in a dozen places, and his right arm dangled uselessly. He knew Pendulum hadn't reached its full potential; the weight of the Lodge, he thought, must have crushed the machine before it could destroy the mountain and everything else for miles around.

The front of the maroon limousine suddenly rose up from the depths. It was covered with mud, and its grille looked like a grinning, warped mouth. Then it slid slowly back into the water.

It was only then that Rix realized he still held the ebony cane in his hand. The silver lion's head had been washed almost clean of mud.

He was holding it so tightly that his knuckles ached.

USHER PATRIARCH DIES; LODGE DESTROYED.

FOXTON ROCKED BY TREMORS

_____________________

By Raven Dunstan Editor and Publisher,
Foxton Democrat

Walen Erik Usher, patriarch of the powerful Usher clan and owner-chairman of the Usher Armaments Company, died Wednesday, October 31, at Usherland, the family's estate seven miles east of Foxton.

Usher had been ill for several months, and was confined to bed. The cause of death, according to Dr. John Howard Francis of Boston, was massive cerebral hemorrhage. On November 2, private funeral services were held at the estate, attended by many government and armed forces officials.

Survivors include his wife, Margaret Usher, a daughter, Kattrina Usher; and two sons, Boone and Rix Usher.

Rix Usher has been named successor to the family business. Through a spokesperson, Boone and Kattrina Usher have announced extended travel plans.

Within hours of Usher's passing, a violent series of earth tremors, localized in the Briartop Mountain area, leveled Usher's Lodge, the 143-year-old landmark constructed by Hudson Usher. According to Rix Usher, there are no plans to rebuild.

The tremors, which were felt as far away as Asheville, shattered windows in Foxton, Taylorville, and Rainbow City. Taken to the Foxton clinic for treatment of injuries caused by flying glass were Neville S. Winston, Betty Chesley, Elton Weir, and Johnny Faber, all of Foxton.

Geologists at the University of North Carolina are puzzled by the tremors, and are currently beginning a study of the area in hopes of finding their origin.

The Briartop Mountain-Foxton area suffered an earthquake in the autumn of 1893 that caused severe property damage and left more than twenty mountain residents dead.

The staff and management of the
Foxton Democrat
wish to offer their condolences to the family of Walen Usher.

It was the middle of January, and a cold wind was blowing as Raven stopped her Volkswagen before the closed gates of Usherland. She lifted the collar of her coat up around her neck and then rolled her window down. Within reach was a small speaker. She pressed the mechanism's button and waited.