Chapter Eighteen

Levi sat in the passenger side of O’Shay’s car, coffee in one hand, cell phone in the other.

O’Shay pushed his seat back as far as the cab would allow and stretched out. The nose of the brown sedan stared into the front windows of the home. In five days, there had been no signs of Queenie Louise Lowe or “Lulu.”

When Levi first came to the house, hoping to find one shred of evidence it was all a dream, he only found a hollow Kelsi Lowe. She answered the door, but her eyes were glazed over—the kind of expression one has when their soul is completely drained away. A look Levi became more familiar with as the days went on.

The monster in the trees, the dead teenagers, Queenie’s raving about dreams, riots in the streets—it devoured his sanity. Levi witnessed the town of Harperville slowly descend into madness. Zombie-like citizens filled the streets; their shuffling haunted his ears. Hands rattled gates, screams pierced the night. People claimed to have seen he who slumbers. In one moment, it could be calm, and all would be deathly quiet. Then the fog would roll in, the sky would darken, and all hell would break loose. Bodies scattered the park that Sunday, bodies they couldn’t even collect. Dr. Green tried his best, but every attempt to breach the park ended up in violence.

Killing helpless citizens who were manipulated was out of the question. Finding Queenie was his last hope. A small group of cops searched the forest; Levi even ran the length of the trees behind Theo’s home. No sign of the beast had been left behind—no black sludge, no pieces of teens. He was a drift in a sea of panic and confusion with no hope for land.

Levi lay his head back against the seat. “This is useless; she’s not here.”

“We can’t be sure of anything anymore.” O’Shay analyzed the sky beyond the roof of the home.

“Mrs. Lowe let us search the house, and it’s scrubbed clean. I’ve searched the beach, I’ve walked the woods, nothing.” Levi rubbing his forehead hard. Exhaustion seeped into every pore and drained his strength. It went without saying that Levi barely slept.

O’Shay took a long sip of his own coffee; his shaggy mustache brushed the top of his lid. “Well, then, I’m going to go jump off that cliff.”

“Walk slow enough, and I’ll push you.” Levi nudged his boss with his elbow. He took a long, steady sip of his poorly made coffee.

“Please, that way I’m sure to die at the bottom.” O’Shay brushed the back of his hand across his mustache, “Then I don’t have to be the homicide captain when the Feds show up.”

“The Feds?” Levi coughed through his coffee as it coated his throat. “Do they know what’s going on here?”

“Do we?” O’Shay shot back with furrowed brows. “We’re up against what? A witch?”

“No, it’s not—” Levi flinched as he cut himself off. Even Levi didn’t know what to say.

“See! You don’t even know! Hell, I’ve been a cop in Harperville for thirty years. Levi, do you know how many times the town has gone nuts and stabbed a cop in the precinct before?” O’Shay spat, mustache dripping with coffee.

“Uh, probably none, sir.” Levi glanced away from his captain.

“That’s right! None! Do you know how many times I’ve had witnesses bash their heads into walls? Had teenagers rip each other apart at the drop of a hat or had video evidence of teachers assaulting a homicide detective?” O’Shay slammed his cup into the holder and let out a hiss as the liquid splashed out onto his palm.

“Oh, you saw that.” Levi grimaced at the reflection of his in the window.

“Of course, I saw that, Earlington!” O’Shay slapped his hands against the wheel. “I’ve seen it all and none of it makes any sense. Now I’ve got a homicide detective chasing ghosts, citizen zombies, and worst yet, the only lead we have is a missing teenager, who gives me nothing! I had to explain the best I could to some federal agent who is ready to rip me out of my seat and take my badge, and I was kind of disappointed he didn’t. Earlington, there is no precedent for this. How do I even explain this to myself, let alone some bureaucrat?” O’Shay broke. Hands falling toward his lap, his fingers trembled. He shoved them into his armpits to avoid letting Levi see, but both of them peeked at the front of the house. Unable to meet the other person’s eye, Levi and O’Shay sat in thick tension.

“How long do we have?” Levi asked tentatively.

“Maybe three days, if we’re lucky. Not that it will change anything. This town has gone to hell… and I don’t know anything that can stop it.”

A cold shiver ran the length of Levi’s spine as he slipped down in the seat. O’Shay was right—there was no precedent. There was no paranormal hotline. His research was only theory. No one sold demon repellent, and no one taught Cthulhu defense in the police academy. O’Shay’s phone rang.

“Well, shit, it’s the Doc. Hey Green. Yeah, he’s in here with me. Hold on. Earlington, he wants to talk to you.” O’Shay shoved the phone into Levi’s face.

Levi pressed the phone up against his ear. “What’s up Doc?”

“Where are you two?” Erhart harped from the other side.

“Sitting ducks outside of Lowe’s Residence.” Levi glanced at O’Shay, who nodded in agreement.

“Good—leave the house and head to Rainbow Cove. I think I’ve got something.”

“What?” Levi choked on his own spit.

“Hurry up, Rainbow Cove, chop, chop.” Erhart barked.

Levi heard the click of the phone before he peeked over at O’Shay. “Doc’s got something, head to Rainbow Cove.”

“Excellent, I can jump off that cliff.” O’Shay tossed the car into drive. They peeled out of the driveway.

Levi watched the house as they sped from the driveway onto Hourton Lane. A shadowy figure stood up in the front windows as they ripped down the road. Sharp chills ran down his spine into his hips; his ribs and legs ached from the pain as he clenched up in the seat the best he could.

O’Shay ripped the heater on inside the car, but it couldn’t pierce the chill in his body. Fog rolled over the roads and the sky darkened with clouds. Levi braced himself in the car as O’Shay sped through the blinding fog. With a pop, they came out of it at the top of Hourton Lane. Like a bubble of clean air and blue skies, the car screeched to a stop. They skidded into a spot near the jumping spot.

O’Shay blinked as he spun in his seat to look around them. “Now what kind of—”

“I’m not about to look a gift horse in the mouth—get out of the car, Boss.” Levi launched from the seat and into the sunshine, a beauty he had not seen in weeks at this point. He stepped into the warmth of the sunlight.

Erhart Green pivoted from the gate latch to beam at Levi. “There you are! Took you long enough!”

“What did you find?” Levi laughed.

“Come! Come look!” Erhart waved him over frantically.

Levi stumbled over to the wooden gate. O’Shay wheezed for air as the two looked over the edge into the turbulent sea below. Black swirls churned the ocean and it bubbled like a roaring boil filled with seaweed tentacles that broke the surface in fits of rage. Levi gripped the side of the fence with both hands. Levi’s attention traveled up the water to the horizon. His heart stopped as Erhart grabbed his shoulder.

“Wait, you can see him too?” Erhart’s garbled words fell away from him.

The pain returned to his body and Levi crumbled to his knees. Frozen knives sliced open his muscles; his eyes ached as he tried to keep them open. Just at the horizon stood a monster of unimaginable size. Storm clouds shrouded his vision, but he could see the beast. Lit up with rain and lightning, the monster passed in and out of reality, like a dream that wanted to be real. The ocean reacted wildly around it. Erhart tried to touch him, but Levi’s soul ripped away from them.

“Earlington?” O’Shay’s faded away from him as Levi fainted on the side of the road.

Something yanked him hard from within and dragged him through the muddy darkness of his mind. The image of what lay just beyond reality burned into the back of his head. Levi clawed at nothing, unable to catch a ledge. He peered through infinity and found only an empty space around him. Panic pumped into his veins, hot like lava to combat the frozen pain. Left paralyzed, he let go and fell into the infinity.

When he opened his eyes again, he was in her room. Queenie sat on her bed, clutching her knees against her chest. She fumbled with nail clippers as she chopped off pieces of her fingernails and toenails slivers one at a time. She caught him in her peripheral as he tried to move the computer chair across her carpet toward her. A weak smile broke across her tear-stained cheeks, and she flicked her index finger at him. The chair and him were yanked across the floor violently till he sat an arm’s length from her.

“What is this?” His voice wavered, like he spoke underwater. He frowned, his eyebrows knitting down.

“It’s the only way I could talk to you.” Queenie sniffled hard. Queenie rubbed the back of her knuckles against her cheeks and pushed away fresh tears. “I’m stuck in the Tilt; I don’t know how to turn it off. Guess I don’t really know how to control it yet.”

“The what?” Levi felt the tense paralysis lift off his body and he was able to relax into the seat.

“That place between life and dreams, where all the monsters are from. Turns out she controls it too. Or maybe I never did. Doesn’t matter, I guess. I’m stuck here.” She shrugged as she dropped the clippers onto her covers. She shuddered. Queenie took long inhales through her nose, even shorter exhales and tears poured down her cheeks. “I just— I didn’t know who to turn to.”

He didn’t know what to say. He’d thought this whole time about just finding her, not what would happen afterwards. Levi stood up from the seat and glanced toward the door.

“I wouldn’t go out there! she’s out there.” Queenie lurched forward, slapping at the comforter.

“Lulu?” Levi wrenched back toward her.

“No, my mom, or what’s left of her, anyway… She won’t attack me, none of them will, but the couch ate Matthew, and I’m not sure what she’ll do to you. She’s just outside the door, waiting for me to come back out.” Queenie slid back further into her bed and buried her head into her knees.

Levi faced her and sat down on the edge of the bed. She poked her eyes out from between her knees at him, bright red to match her nose. Levi put a hand out. She took one off her knees and took his hand.

“Hey, we’re going to figure this out.” He rubbed circles into the back of her hand.

“No, we’re not,” she gasped for air sharply.

“Don’t give up on me just yet.” He poked at her shin with his free hand. “I’ve gotten out of tighter spots. You know? Like when I was twelve, I got stuck in a tomb!”

She knitted her brow as she raised her head up from her knees. “How?”

“A friend dared me to climb inside, then he locked it from the outside and bolted. I sat with a bunch of dead people all night, pretty sure I cried myself to sleep in that place. Then the grounds keeper opened up and found me. My dad was furious, he spent the whole night looking for me all over the place.” Levi squeezed her hand.

“What did he do?” Queenie slid closer toward Levi.

“Well, first thing he did was hug me. Then he made me rat out my friend. Then he made both of us cut down a tree with axes down to the stump, then he made us dig it up, move the stump, then cut up the stump and bury the hole. Took the whole weekend, I’ve never been in so much agony… Both my dad and his dad watched from the porch. Then my friend’s dad made him apologize to me.” Levi grinned as the memory passed around them like a projection. It danced around the air as he replayed the summer afternoon, cursing out his friend as they both bit their axes deep into a tree. But, by Sunday evening, both of them were sweaty and barely able to stand or fight each other. They relied on each other to finish the work set out before them.

Queenie studied the image intensely. “Why did he punish you? When you were the victim?”

“Well, you see I shouldn’t have been outside with him in the first place, we snuck out.”

“But you wouldn’t have been missing all night if he didn’t lock you in a tomb.” She took her hand back.

“You’re missing the point of the story.” Levi dropped his hands into his lap. “I meant to show that I’ve been trapped in my fear before, but I know there is light at the end of the tunnel.”

Queenie frowned as she slid her legs to cross before her, “I’m not trapped in my fear.”

“Oh? Then what would you call this?” He motioned around the room with a finger.

“I’m stuck, in a dimension—”

“Built around fear and the only thing you do in here is hide in your room and drag one of the only father figures in your life in to comfort you.” Levi quirked an eyebrow. Queenie scrunched up. He folded his hands in his lap as he searched her expression. “I want to help you Queenie. I think you’re a victim like I was, but you also haven’t been completely innocent.”

“It’s not my fault!” She tossed her arms out to her side.

The room’s pressure increased as Levi found his new freedom ripped from his grasp. Paralysis took over and cemented him onto the side of the bed.

“You need to take responsibility for what you’ve done.” Levi ground his teeth. The pressure twisted him hard at the torso, his spine threatened to snap as Queenie threw herself off her bed. She wrenched her hand, controlling the pressure around him. Levi wheezed, “You’re allowed to be angry and grieve and be upset, but those are not excuses for killing.”

“What do you know?” Queenie whirled back to face him, her back to the door.

It flung open from behind her and the shadow from the living room lumbered into the room— a human figure twisted up in anger and grief. Kelsi Lowe’s face was missing from the gnarled and tangled flesh that hovered behind Queenie. Darkness seeped into the bedroom much like the tentacles in the ocean. The room was icy cold around him as the pressure built up in his ears and between his temples.

“I know you didn’t mean for it to get this far.” Levi shuddered.

“Oh yes I did!” She gasped for air, “You said it yourself, take responsibility. Being upset isn’t an excuse, right?”

Levi felt his body yanked to his feet as the fleshy body snatched him up with slimy, protruding limbs. He was thrown into the bedroom wall. “Queenie,” He yelped.

“What should I have done? Detective, tell me, what should I have done? Huh? If we’re so alike, what should I have done? Let him kill me? Just sit in a tomb and wait for sunrise?” Queenie dropped to her knees before him and took up the front of his shirt. “Tell me!”

“Queenie, please—” Levi crumbled to the ground as the fleshy remains of Kelsi Lowe stumbled back from him.

“Go on! Look me in the eye and tell me we’re the same! Go on! Tell me there’s a light at the end of my tunnel, that there is hope for me.” She thrashed him back and forth.

Levi became putty in her hands as she shook him up against her bedroom wall. The fleshy beast lumbered closer. Dark lines crawled through the walls and the ceiling arched out to take him. It took more effort than he’d put into anything. But he ripped one hand out and flopped it onto hers. Her eyes snapped to his palm; her arms trembled as he squeezed her hand.

“You’re not weak for being scared,” He gasped for air between lungs the weight of steel beams. Tears welled up in her lids as she studied his hand. He squeezed his hand around her. “Being scared just means you’re smart. I’m sorry, I didn’t realize the implications… of my words.”

Then a loud sniffle filled the air. The dark lines were sucked out of the room. The fleshy being screeched as air ripped it from behind Queenie and tossing it out into the hall. The door slammed. Levi wheezed for air as the walls rattled around him. Queenie’s hands shook as she glanced down into her own lap.

“Queenie?”

She inhaled sharply as she peeked up with a broken expression. “I killed him. With her help.”

Levi gripped her hands tightly as she trembled; tears poured down the side of her jawline. She bit deep into her cheeks before her lips opened again. “I shot him. I did it. Because no one was ever going to save me. No prince charming was coming to save me, most of my friends didn’t believe me, and I was alone, and scared. I asked for help, I begged for someone to listen. And she did. And I shot him. Now she wants me to join her.”

The pressure softened around his body as she swallowed a hard lump in her throat. Warmth penetrated the room slowly as she shuffled away from him. A scent of ocean and kelp that had become so normal became a stench he couldn’t remove from his nose. “Why you?”

“She needed someone to release her.” Queenie swallowed hard.

Levi raked his fingers between his locs. “You were the last hope.”

“What?” Queenie shrank an inch.

“Someone told me that Cth- Um, Lulu’s stuck in the city. Right? So to get out, they have to be released. You asked for help and Lulu helped you. Now you must finish the ritual in order for Lulu to be free and you might be the last chance Lulu has. Without you, there are no followers to sacrifice left, and Lulu gave you all the power. Without you, Lulu will be stuck.” He settled back against the wall. The full plot filled out before him.

“That’s why she’s being so patient.” Queenie breathed; her lips trembled. “She can’t afford to lose me. She really does need me.” Queenie hugged herself.

Levi rubbed his nose as water blurred his vision. Levi reached out for her. “Queenie, wait, what are you going to do?”

“Don’t worry, Detective, I’m going to fix this, I’ll stop her.” Queenie blinked away tears.

“Queenie— Wait, I’m at Rainbow Cove. Come find me, I want to help you—”

She stepped away from him as the room turned to an infinity of blurry colors. He floated in the abyss, unable to spot a singular solid item. The stench faded from his nose and Levi came to life with a snap. The smell of warm sugar cookies filled his nostrils as he woke up to a Tupperware box of freshly baked goods on the table before him. He sat in his kitchen, flopped against the table. A first aid box lay open beside the baked goods and the plate full of crumbs. Marigold sat in a food coma in her Minnie Mouse highchair, her mouth hung open and her head drooping. Erhart and Karla sat at the other end, both with wide smiles and tall glasses of sweet tea in their hands.

“Oh, there he is.” Erhart swiveled toward Levi. “Scared me there for a moment, big guy.”

“He is a big guy! I had to drag him once drunk across my college campus back to my dorm. I felt like I was dragging bags of wet cement!” Karla laughed with a wink shot across the table at Levi.

“Only where it counts.” Levi attempted to move. He blinked the dreams away like sand in his lashes and sat up inch by inch till his spine met the back of the chair. The grin on his lips fell away as Karla slapped him hard on the bicep. He pouted.

“I never knew you two met in college.” Erhart glanced back to Karla.

“Correction, he met me in college. He was going into the police academy but was friends with a friend. Met me at a bar. Mychell said that Butch’s friend was trying to talk to me, but I didn’t think she was telling the truth until I was tipsy enough to walk up and ask him myself. Never stopped talking to him since.” Karla’s voice softened.

Erhart let out an audible sigh of appreciation as he glanced between the two. “You two are adorable. Richard’s going to love this.”

“Richard?” Karla eyed Erhart as he flashed his wedding ring. “Ooooh! Richard.” She brightened.

“Yeah, though our love life wasn’t such a Hallmark movie like yours. Met him at a friend’s house party. He introduced himself as Richard. I jokingly asked if everyone calls him Dick, you know, like the Nixon joke? Then he dropped the line ‘You know how you get Dick out of Richard? You ask nicely.’ It was so dumb, I fell in love immediately.” Erhart rolled his eyes. “Man has been dropping dumb puns like that all our lives—I love them.”

“Ah! So that’s the key, bad dad jokes.” Levi stretched out his arms. His elbows and shoulders cracked.

“And being cute as a button, but Richard denies ever being cute.” Erhart took up a cookie and bit into it. “Anyway, enough about me, how are you? How was Queenie?”

“Drained—my head feels like pudding. She dragged me into her dreams again— Wait, one second! How did you know?” Levi blubbered about as his body returned to normal controls. His brain swam around in the ocean of his skull, slowly draining back into his body. With every passing second, aching muscles and bruised bones returned to his senses. Almost as if he was dragged by a man half his size across gravel and tossed into a car. He would need more than one Ibuprofen.

“I do more for Harperville than dissect dead people and pronounce the cause of death, Levi. But that conversation is for another day.” Erhart slid from his seat. He slid up to Levi’s side. Levi took Erhart’s extended hand and struggled to his feet. A cookie was dropped into his other hand. “Eat this—I made them specifically for you and your family.”

“There aren’t any dead body parts in it, right?” Levi snickered with a weak smirk.

“Levi!” Karla slapped his arm from across the table.

“I used my grandmother’s ashes for flour, but I think the butter that ran through her veins adds a little to the cookie batter.” Erhart rolled his eyes. He dusted off his hands on his sides. “I could tell by the way you hit the deck and began to flop about like a trout that you’d been touched by you-know-who. Only one person in this whole town would have the power to drag your conscious mind under while I was around.”

Levi chomped down on the moist, sweet cookie. The aches of his body softened, and his bones bent back into working fashion.

“What are you? A witch?” Levi muttered between bites as he shoved another cookie into his mouth. Karla appeared at his side and stuffed a glass of milk into his hand. He took a long sip and thanked her with a kiss to her cheek.

“Ignoring that pointed statement. Look, Levi, you’re the only person who can get to Queenie anymore. We need her to end this.”

Levi sputtered to life as he broke into a run from between the two and burst across the kitchen into the front door. Erhart let out an exasperated sigh from behind him. He ripped the front door open and launched into the late afternoon sunlight.

“Levi! Hold on!” Erhart bolted after Levi.

“I told her I was at Rainbow Cove; she might be looking for me!” Levi barked over his shoulder.

“Levi! Wait!”

His legs froze in the middle of his yard as the momentum flung him face first into the grass before him. Levi flopped onto his back and stared up into the concerned features of Erhart Green and Karla. Karla knelt beside him and took up his hand.

“Love, listen for a moment before you jump the gun again.” Karla patted his hands affectionately.

“Levi, He’s attached himself to her. There is no separating them anymore, she’s made his form real and given him a foot hold in reality. There’s no going back.” Erhart crossed his arms.

Levi put both his hands to his hips and peered up from the grass. “What are you saying?” He surveyed them both. Then his vision landed on Karla and saw the tears already in her eyes. “No, no—”

“Levi, you’ve got to accept you can’t save everyone.” Karla rubbed the back of his palms in comforting circles.

Levi flung himself up to a sitting position. He brought her hand to his mouth, kissing the back of her knuckles. Then he glared up at Erhart. “No! I won’t accept it! She’s a kid!”

“A kid with powers beyond either of our control. Levi, you have to face facts—if she continues to live, others will die. We have to stop the summoning and return him to R’yleh.” Erhart worried his lower lip.

“You don’t know that!” Levi scrambled to remove himself from his wife and Erhart’s stares. “I got through to her! I convinced her to come back, that I could help her!”

“How did you imagine you could do that? Levi, this isn’t some bad guy you can chase down and shoot with a gun. You can’t put him on trial—there’s no court case for this! She opened up a can of worms that can’t be closed and now Harperville will pay the price for it. To stop him, we have to stop her.” Erhart moved his hands to his temples to rub them in slow circles. “She’s killed countless people, Levi, she’s dangerous and powerful and we need—”

The chirp of Erhart’s cellphone interrupted them. He ripped it from his slack’s pocket and stared at the screen with horror. Levi waited in stunned silence as Erhart answered to a fit of screams from the other side. “O’Shay? Where are you?”

“She’s here!”

And the screams grew louder before the call cut off with a thick crack of lightning that ripped through all of Harperville.

“We need to go.” Levi blurted out as the rain descended over their heads. “Right now.”