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  He shot a quick grin at me. “Hiya, mate.”

  The thing ran forward and slammed a fist into the soft skin of the crater as Kotis rolled out of the way. I sidestepped the two battling behemoths and ran toward my family, hoping I wasn’t too late.

  Black ichor and fresh blood covered the floor. I knew then that I was wrong. The cries from the spiders hadn’t been exultations, but ones of fear.

  Fellow jumped and weaved through their midst, his knife swinging in whipping arcs. Gouts of blood mixed with the spiders’ fluid sprayed the air and mingled with the falling rain. Dozens of dead spiders lay prone, their legs broken and lifeless. There were several that continued attacking Fellow, and more came out of the holes in the depression’s floor, but he seemed to be holding his own. The speed at which he moved and fought was graceful, poetic, and sure. Scrim flew in darting dives and cut through several spiders’ legs with a wingtip before soaring away into the stormy sky.

  I still expected the worst, but my heart flooded with joy as I saw Jane huddling with the kids outside of the ring of dead spiders. I ran to them and slid to my knees, hugging them close.

  “Dad!” Jack cried. His face was a mess of tears and smudged gore, but he smiled at me. Sara gripped my hand.

  “Hide over there,” I said, jerking my head toward a nodule of flesh at least four feet high.

  Jane nodded and pulled the kids up. “Come on, guys, let’s go.”

  I pivoted to see Kotis spin and snap an elbow into the side of the thing’s head. It staggered and shook its skull.

  “Come on, you fucking chump, you’ve got nothing on me, you traitor!” Kotis yelled.

  The creature opened its mouth and bellowed loud enough to make my eardrums flutter. It swung its claws at Kotis, and the giant dodged the swipe with a returned cry.

  To my left, Fellow dispatched two spiders at once, cutting their heads from their bodies with an upward swipe of his blade. Three spiders emerged from a scabrous hole behind Fellow and rushed toward him.

  I sprinted at them and yelled a warning. Fellow spun and stabbed one through the face just as it reared to bite him, his blade sinking into the bridge of its nose. I jumped into the air as another spider latched on to Fellow’s slender leg. My feet came down on the back end of its bulbous body. It felt as if I were balancing on a basketball, and then there was a sickening tear and my feet sank into the stinking warmth of its guts. Its head was of a middle-aged man with a goatee, and it screamed obscenities until I pulled a sneaker free of its fluids and drove the ball of my foot into the side of its head. It flailed and twitched for a few more seconds, and then laid still.

  Fellow hacked at the last spider’s face until it was a bloody mass of skin and bone, dripping chunks of meat to the ground. It cried out one last time before I kicked it in the throat, silencing it for good.

  “Thank ... you,” Fellow said between heaving breaths.

  I nodded. We looked at where Kotis and the Ellius thing battled just in time to see Kotis throw a left hook that was caught in midair. The thing twisted Kotis’s fist until it opened, and then continued to turn it at an odd angle. Kotis’s lips peeled back from his teeth in a grimace of determination and pain. A loud crack made my stomach clench. Kotis cried out, and I saw his hand hanging backward at the end of his arm, a white glint of bone exposed at the wrist.

  “No!” I yelled, and sprinted toward them with Fellow behind me, his feet pounding the slick muscle.

  Scrim appeared above the two sparring giants and dove at Ellius’s skull, pinning his wings back as he flew straight down. With a casual swipe, the monster slapped the bird aside. Scrim flipped over once and landed with his feathers knotted in a pile. Kotis yelled a primal scream of rage and jabbed at the demon’s face with his other fist. In horror I watched its mouth open and snap shut.

  Kotis screamed again, this time in pain, and drew back his arm, which spewed blood from the stump of his missing hand. He dropped to his knees, as the creature stood above him, chewing and grinding the bones and flesh before swallowing. It then brought its foot up, jabbed a clawed foot into Kotis’s midsection, and kicked downward.

  Kotis’s stomach unzipped, and his intestines rolled into view. Ellius grinned over Kotis’s shoulder at us before picking the giant up as though he weighed nothing, and threw him in a straight line at the hard wall of bone.

  Kotis landed on his back, and I heard his spine break. His eyes flashed open before he slid to the ground, his mouth agape with agony.

  “No! You fucking bastard!” I yelled, and jumped into the air, trying to aim a kick at the thing’s chest.

  It batted its hand at me and knocked me askew, so that I landed on my side, the wind blasting from my chest. Fellow lunged toward the thing, trying to stab it in the thigh. The knife hit the pale skin and glanced off, as if it were made of granite. With speed so fast its hand blurred in the rain, it snatched Fellow by the arm and swung him around in a circle. The knife flew free of Fellow’s grasp and landed on the tissue beside me a few feet away.

  There was a snapping sound, like dry brush breaking, and Fellow flew free of its grip. He landed opposite me, his legs splayed out and his face upturned into the pouring rain. He didn’t move.

  The thing turned to me, holding something in its hand that, at first, I didn’t recognize, but then it became clear: Fellow’s arm. It had broken from his body just below the shoulder, and an amber sap dripped from its splintered end. The Ellius thing tossed it aside and shifted toward me, its eyes lanterns of red in the gloom.

  “Your friends died for you, Michael. So comforting, isn’t it?”

  “They were your friends too,” I said, scrambling to my feet. I inched closer to the knife on the ground and stooped to pick it up, my eyes never leaving the pale demon before me.

  It laughed. “I have no friends, I am timeless. I used them to acquire what I needed. I planned ahead, gaining their trust, until the moment was right and I was able to find you. The tale about every world ending was a nice touch to entice them and ensure you reached this place safely.”

  I pointed the knife at its face. “You could have left my family out of this! You could have just taken me!”

  It shook its head and took a step closer. “You could only be brought here willingly. The power in your blood would have destroyed this world if you had been taken. Your family was the decoy to get you here.”

  I swallowed and tasted blood. Fellow hadn’t moved and I couldn’t bring myself to look at where Kotis lay. Movement to the creature’s left drew my attention, and I glanced, not absorbing what I saw until I looked back at its leering face.

  The sap from Fellow’s disembodied arm was eating through the tissue below the creature.

  A million thoughts sped through my mind at once, and the thing nearly caught me as it jumped forward, its splayed hand outstretched. But I rolled away and dodged another swipe of a fist as it swept through the air at my back. Squinting through the rain, I looked past the hulking figure, and was rewarded with a strobe of lightning just when I needed it. Kotis lay on his back, his mouth opening and closing, his blood pooling in a rough crescent around him. The muscle of the crater receded from the blood like an army of ants from a flame.

  “So small the whims of man compared with those of gods, don’t you think?” it rumbled.

  I unbuttoned my coat and let it fall to the bloody ground. “You’re no god.”

  “But I am, Michael, just an unfamiliar one. Soon all will know me, fear me, die for me.”

  “It’s funny you bring that up,” I said, flipping the knife around so that I held it by its wide blade. “Let me be the first.”

  I gouged the tip of the knife into the inside of my forearm, just below the elbow. It slid through without effort, and I yelled at the sensation of my skin parting under the blade.

  “NO!” the thing screamed and ran forward as the cut crossed the finish line of my wrist. Bright blood spurted from the wound and ran off my fingertips in streams. The waterlogged muscle at m
y feet remained whole for a beat, and then exploded with motion as it tore away from my blood in sizzling layers.

  The monster slid to a stop a few steps away and threw its hand back to cut me in two. I raised my head and dropped the knife on the ground, hearing more sinew snap and hiss. Without pausing, I whipped my bleeding hand in the creature’s direction and saw crimson drops land on its face.

  The effect was immediate. It fell back, hands flying to the burns on its face. A high screeching filled the air, capped with a hammering of thunder. The scorching heat of the cut on my arm became a numbing cold, and I was grateful for it. Stepping forward, I threw another handful of blood at the staggering abomination. The blood spattered its legs, and a howl of pain erupted from its mouth as deep gashes opened up, revealing striations of muscle beneath. I swung my hand again, and felt my vision flash with lightning behind my eyes. I stumbled but caught myself before I fell, a bout of dizziness clouding my vision before easing away. The creature’s skin looked leprous in the low light. Oily patches disintegrated, peeling away to expose flesh, and then dark bone.

  It keened the high freight-train sound again and reached out to crush me. I punched its open palm with my bleeding fist, my knuckles penetrating skin and sinking deep before the thing jerked away.

  “How?” it screamed, stepping back. It held its melting hand as even more gray flesh flayed from its body.

  “Sacrifice,” I said, though the word sounded slurry and indistinct. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to remember if I’d breathed recently. I sucked air in and shivered from the lance of cold steel that seemed buried in my chest; it radiated arctic breakers until I was filled with a sea of ice. I’d lived in Minnesota all my life, but realized I’d never truly been cold before.

  The ground felt strangely solid below my feet. Looking down, I saw that only rock and bits of sand rested beneath my shoes. The path of the demon’s retreat was marked with a swath through the tissue covering the bowl’s surface. Organs and muscles continued to dissolve in bubbling masses, and the air was full of the sounds of snapping tendons and shredding nerves.

  Its fiery gaze caught and held mine through the rain. Although pain brimmed on their edges, there was still hatred in its eyes, a loathing so deep it surpassed the wish of my death. Its look burned with domination and extinction, slavery and defilement. It wanted utter destruction and chaos, because that was what ran through its veins.

  “You’ll die!” it screamed. “You’ll die and leave your family alone, just as they were before!”

  My muscles tensed and I rallied the last bit of strength I possessed. “They were never alone.”

  I ran and flung my hand forward, sending more blood at the monster’s face. It howled again and stepped back to retreat, but I was already airborne. I landed on its chest, my feet catching on disintegrating thighs, my left hand wrapping over its cold shoulder. It immediately tried to fling me off, but I plunged my bleeding fingers into the center of its chest, feeling them drill through skin and bone like they were butter. It attempted to bellow, but lost its breath as I shoved harder, my blood opening up a dinner plate–sized wound in the center of its breastbone. I reached farther, and felt gravity pull us down as it lost its balance. It landed on its back, and again tried to pry me off. But the motions were powerless, and the massive clawed hands barely scraped my side.

  My fingers slid inward. Fluids leaked around my arm and tissue squirted away. Then I felt it, the vast pulsation and movement under my palm. I strained harder, and dissolved bone bit into my bicep. The heart sac ripped apart, and then heat bloomed so hot I almost yanked my hand back from its touch. Its heart rippled in frantic beats for a moment, and then I shoved my arm in up to the shoulder.

  I squeezed the pulsating muscle, and it burst, deep in the creature’s chest.

  Blood flowed up in a fountain and covered me, soaked me in warmth. The thing spasmed, bucking its hips up before settling back down. The glow in its eyes searched the sky for a few seconds, flaring like supernovas alight with a fading fury of hatred. Then they dimmed, eventually fading out completely. Rainwater began to fill up the sockets, and steam escaped in small jets.

  I pulled my arm from the carcass and stood up. The rain was small hammers on my scalp, and suddenly the world tipped. The crater turned on its side and the ground came up to meet me. The rock was soft, down feathers and cotton on my skin. I tried to swallow, but my mouth ached with dryness. My jaw went slack, and the rain pattered past my teeth, coating my tongue with moisture. So sweet and good. A heavy fatigue pushed my eyelids down with gentle fingers that weighed tons.

  A face appeared over me, a woman. She was beautiful but angry. No, she was sad. Tears rained on me from her eyes, and she struggled with something. She yelled over her shoulder at someone, and I wanted to tell her she was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, but couldn’t form the words. I was warm and couldn’t keep my eyes open. The world slipped away into cottoned silence.

  “Dad?”

  The word reverberated in my mind. It meant something, but I couldn’t place it. It sounded like a name. It pulled at me and made me want to open my eyes, but they were glued shut and sleep tugged in the opposite direction. I slid backward, rolled away from the word, fell down.

  “Dad?”

  A rope in my chest yanked me up, drew me forward toward light. There was pain where the voice wanted me to go, and I tried to retreat, even though something told me not to. Resisting, descending.

  “Honey, please wake up.”

  Another voice, another feeling. This one of longing to hold and touch and caress. To love in a way that made life. It held hope, cupped in the words.

  “Daddy, wake up.”

  My eyes came open.

  Rain misted down from the sky, but the four forms hunched over me shielded me from it. The low light obscured their faces. An ocean rolled inside my head, and a freezing cold that was sufferable till then became unbearable. I shook. Something wrapped around me tighter, and water pressed against my lips. I drank, and tried to breathe deeply. My body felt like an open wound, blistered and enflamed.

  “He’s awake!” one of the smaller forms cried, and hugged me before being pulled away by a larger one.

  “Jack.” The word croaked from my mouth, my tongue rusty.

  “Daddy, you’re okay!”

  “Sara, hi, honey,” I managed, quieter this time.

  Jane bent forward and kissed me hard on the lips. I tried to kiss her back, but didn’t know if I did. She leaned away, her eyes full of tears. “We thought we lost you.”

  “Not a chance.”

  She laughed, wiping away the tears. Memory came rushing back, and I nearly sat bolt upright despite the leaden fatigue. “Fellow? Kotis?” I asked.

  Fellow stepped closer, a smile gracing his gentle features. “I’m here, Michael.”

  “Your arm ...” I started.

  He turned to the side to show me the stump clotted with sap. “I am okay. It will heal, and possibly grow back.”

  “Kotis?”

  He blinked and looked down, shook his head.

  I sat up, pushing off my coat, and nearly vomited. The crater titled and tried to spin away into darkness, but I gritted my teeth and willed it to still. After nearly a minute, it did. “Help me stand.”

  “Honey, no. You lost a lot of blood, and Fellow just got the bleeding stopped.” Jane motioned to my arm.

  I looked down at the ragged wound I’d carved and saw that it was tightly wrapped in scraps of clothing and bound with pieces of intertwined vines that I recognized at once.

  “This is part of your arm,” I said.

  Fellow nodded. “It will hold temporarily, until it dries out and loosens. Then we must find another way to bind the cut.”

  “Help me stand,” I repeated.

  Fellow glanced at Jane, who sighed and dipped her head once. With their help, I regained my feet and battled another dizzying bout of vertigo. When it receded, I looked around.

  The crater
was barren except for a few gathering puddles in its lowest cracks and divots. No organs or muscle remained, and only a scorched outline marked the place where the thing that had been Ellius had expired. I tried to get my bearings, and turned slowly, searching.

  Kotis lay where he had fallen.

  I stumbled the few yards to him, Fellow gripping my right bicep while Jane held my left hand. I sank to my knees at his side and felt warmth soak into my pants. Blood pooled around him in a dark corona. His skin, once a deep gray, looked sapped of life, and was as pale as the moon. The opening in his stomach was raw and glistened with blood and rainwater. His remaining hand pressed against his abdomen, even though it faced in the wrong direction. His face was stoic, eyes closed, brow smooth. I put a hand on his shoulder and felt cold, hardening skin.

  Tears flooded my eyes. Swallowing, I tried to force them back, but it did no good. My head tipped forward to let them spill out. I cursed under my breath, hating Ellius, or what had hidden beneath his façade, so much I almost wished he were alive again just so I could kill him once more.

  “Cryin’ like a woman.”

  My head snapped up at the sound of the voice. Kotis’s eyes were open a half inch, studying me.

  “You’re alive!”

  He smiled weakly. “Barely, mate, barely.”

  I sniffed and rubbed my eyes. “We’re gonna get you out of here. You’re going to be okay.”

  He shook his head, barely perceptible. “Not goin’ anywhere, mate. My time’s almost up.”

  My throat tightened and tried to cut off my words. “No, we’re gonna help you.”

  Again the smile as he closed his eyes. “I wouldn’t make it out of this shit bowl.”

  I heard a scratching sound and turned to see Scrim waddle past. One wing stuck out from his body like a folded playing card, and he limped each time his right foot came down. He stopped at the giant’s side and tapped Kotis’s arm gently with his beak.