“Fire in the
hole!” Nigel screamed at the top of his lungs. “Viva la
revolucion! Take that, you buggy-thing-type monsters!”
Nigel jerked to a
stop. Emma reached back and grabbed his hand. She laughed, “This is
no time to stop and catch your breath, bro--come on!”
Alex turned to see
why Nigel had stopped, and peering past Nigel's shoulder, caught a
glimpse of something purple heading quickly toward him. “Whatever
you do, Nigel, don’t move,” he hissed between gritted teeth.
Nigel looked at
Emma, terror and resignation on his face. “I guess it’s my time,
Em. I—I’ve never been good at goodbyes, you know that. I don’t
know what I thought would come of this trip; Countess Motiga warned
me back at the Silver Ocean. ‘Tangled forever in darkness and
strife.' It all makes
sense now.”
“No, no, no, no,
no,” said Emma, desperation painting her face. “No, no. It can’t
be. You can just run. We can just run. We’re so close—I
can taste it. Don’t you dare, don’t you—” Emma broke down in
tears. She fell into Hudson’s arms and cried in to his chest.
“Alex,” Nigel
said, “Take care of my baby sister.” Alex gave him a simple nod
of understanding. “I suppose this is it then,” Nigel said. “I
can feel it crawling up my leg now. And Kristen,” he started,
giving her a look of longing for things that never where, “if you
get back—when you get back—I want you to have my Blue Oyster Cult
records. Put them to good use.” He pulled the gold cross necklace
from underneath his shirt, closed his eyes, and in his unmistakably
British accent said, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be
thy name, thy kingdom come—” an abrupt pull from the Tangleweed
brought him to his knees “—thy will be done, on earth as it—”
And he was gone into the never-ending darkness.
Emma tore herself
from Hudson's arms, threw herself to the ground and sobbed.
“I can’t
believe I ever doubted him,” said Hudson, pacing back and forth.
“You couldn’t
have known,” Alex said. “I thought he was working for Salvador
too.” He grabbed Hudson by the shoulders, turning him so they were
face to face. “You can’t blame yourself for what happened,”
Alex said softly.
“Come on, Em. We
have to keep moving,” Kristen pled. Emma allowed Kristen to pull
her to her feet, and together they went deeper into the forest. Emma
had stopped sobbing, shock replacing tears. “I miss him already,
and he’s barely gone.” She sighed deeply. “Remind me to give
you his records when we get back up. Between therapy sessions, of
course.”
“Why do you think
he left me his Blue Oyster Cult records?” Kristen asked.
“You didn’t see
it, did you?” Emma said. Kristen had a blank look on her face. “He
was crazy about you. Besotted, I think he called it. And you really
didn’t kno—” Emma was interrupted by a rustling noise.
