Into the Beyond Books 1-3

Josie awoke to Lewis vigorously shaking her. It was still dark. Her face was damp where it had been resting against Lewis’s chest, and not just from the rain. A slick puddle of drool strung between them as they separated.

Josie wiped her face with the back of her hand, severing the slobber trail as she turned away in embarrassment. She hardly had time to ground herself in the moment when Lewis leapt up to his feet and gestured for her to follow. He crept silently over to where the other girls were resting. Josie followed him over in the dark, scanning her eyes across the dense shadows of the barn as they consolidated the group. Channie and Steph sat up as they approached. Rebecca didn’t rise. She appeared to be sleeping, fatigue having gotten the better of her.

“Did you guys hear that?” whispered Lewis, barely audible as he pointed up towards the loft.

Channie and Steph shook their heads.

Josie turned her attention upwards. The loft exuded only stillness. She’d heard nothing since waking up. Everybody huddled together now, staring towards the shadowed area above. A gust of wind outside produced a whistling draft somewhere unseen. The wind was getting in up there. And if the wind could get in…

Heh-heh-heh!

—A shrill chuckle sounded from out of the darkness above.

Woo-woah!

—A breathy sob of a response cried out from the opposite side of the loft. There was already more than one inside!

Josie was grateful no one had made any noise or turned on their flashlights. The creatures were talking to each other in the dark, seemingly unaware of the frightened children below.

Thump-thump thump-thump thump-thump!

—A series of quick footfalls pounded against the floor of the overhanging loft. The scampering ceased directly above the children. The silence that followed didn’t help ease their terror.

Josie held her breath, not daring to make a sound. Steph, seated beside her, appeared to be on the verge of a panic attack. Her eyes were wide with fear. The beginnings of hyperventilation showed in the girl’s rhythms with tiny puffs of air blasting through her flared nostrils.

A heavy thud against the stuck-open window on the other side of the barn produced a scream from Steph. Channie muffled Steph’s cry with the palm of her hand, but the damage was already done.

A chorus of excited cries rang out from above. It sounded like a pair of unruly kindergartners cackling. The old barn creaked and groaned as the ghasts clamored over to the railing, chittering joyfully all the while. In the same moment another thud at the window was punctuated by the crash of glass shattering.

Lewis flicked on his flashlight. The beam cut through the darkness, revealing two ghasts climbing upside down over the loft’s railing. They clung to the overhang with their feet like giant bats. A third creature was inside by the broken window. It picked itself up and scampered across the barn floor sending bits of broken glass skittering about. The two ghasts dangling from the overhang froze in place as Lewis’s light landed upon them, blinding their nocturnally inclined eyes. Their jagged-toothed maws stretched wide as they hissed towards the unexpected light source.

Lewis raised his arm with the silver coil wrapped around it. He pointed his wrist towards the dangling ghasts. As soon as he flexed his arm, a flash of energy like a bolt of lightning shot out from his wrist, barely missing one of the ghasts.

The creatures retreated in a flurry of wing-flaps and flailing limbs. They whooped like hyenas as they pulled themselves back up and over the railing.

Lewis turned towards the third ghast, letting more energy blasts fly. The barn lit up with the flashes. The blasts sounded in low resonating booms as the light dissipated against the far wall of the barn.

The two monsters up above swooped down simultaneously with wings spread wide. Steph and Channie scattered, screaming as they went in opposite directions. Lewis pushed Josie behind him. She fell down in the hay beside Rebecca, who was still unconscious.

Lewis dropped his flashlight to the barn floor. He used his newly freed hand to pull a tiny whistle out from under his shirt and placed it between his lips. No sound was produced as he blew hard through the opening, but all three ghasts reacted violently, shaking immediately with intense spasms.

The two that were swooping down crashed to the floor hard, while the third fell over writhing and hissing. Whatever sound the whistle was making, only the monsters were able to hear it.

Unfortunately, the distraction only lasted a moment before the ghasts picked themselves back up and moved again towards the children, even more angrily.

Josie scooped up Lewis’s flashlight, aiming it at the ghasts to give Lewis some light to guide his energy blasts.

Across the barn, the third ghast narrowed in on Steph over by the side wall. She groped wildly through the darkness at the tools hanging between nails. A wooden handle fell into her grasp. She swung towards the ghast as it lunged at her. The bristles of a broom-head slapped the ghast across its snout, narrowly diverting its chomp.

It turned back towards Steph slowly, chuckling all the while.

Steph struck it again.

The broom-head broke off with the powerful swing. The creature stopped laughing. Its black scales bristled, glistening in the flashes of light as Lewis fired upon the other two monsters. It reared up on its hind legs and snatched the broom handle from Steph with its fast fingers. It brought the stick down with a sharp crack against its own knee, snapping it in half effortlessly.

The ghast lunged at Steph’s neck with snapping teeth. A shout from Channie distracted its attack while a pitchfork to its back ended its life. Channie grunted as she stabbed the creature through.

Across the barn, Lewis was having difficulty hitting his targets. They dodged his attacks, dashing left and right. Lewis shifted to the side, trying to draw the monsters away from Josie and Rebecca.

“Over here! Come get me!” Lewis yelled. He blew into his whistle again.

It was working! The ghasts screamed back at Lewis with terrifying high-pitched screeches that pierced the night.

A groan from Rebecca stole Josie’s attention. Rebecca was sitting up, pale as a corpse. She was attempting to climb to her feet. Josie moved in and helped steady her.

“I need light!” cried Lewis as he stumbled backwards, away from the attacking monsters.

Josie found him again with the flashlight. The ghasts dodged between support posts, quickly closing in on Lewis.

A well-timed blast of energy collided with one of the monsters. A brilliant glow flashed out from the creature like an exploding star. By the time Josie’s eyes readjusted to the darkness, the ghast ceased to exist. Erased. Plucked from the multi-verse, including from the memories of each of the girls. Only Lewis, outside of his native time steam, remembered that the creature had ever been.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Josie watched as the one ghast from the loft deftly out-maneuvered Lewis’s wildly inaccurate energy blasts.

Lewis zeroed in on his target as Josie steadied her flashlight across the creature’s advance. It dove at him, screeching. Lewis lit it up with a blast from his coil. The ghast flashed brilliantly, briefly blinding Josie and confusing her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lewis’s odd behavior—acting like a maniac, shooting flashes of light into the darkness while Channie and Steph dealt with the lone ghast all by themselves—was wholly unhelpful.

Josie scowled at him from across the barn as she shifted her weight to better aid Rebecca’s slumping stance. Rebecca hissed quietly as she rounded on Josie and sank her full mouth of teeth into the exposed flesh of Josie’s neck.

The terrible pinch was shocking, like ice water in her veins. She went weak in the knees as Rebecca tore into her viciously. Josie gasped. She could feel her blood spilling down her body; her warmth leaving her.

Josie crumpled into the hay pile. Everything went dark as she fell on the flashlight. Her mind went fuzzy as she drifted into delirium. She was on the verge of passing out. Her breath quickened in her chest as the world slipped away like the tide through outstretched fingers.

Images came back to her like waves crashing upon her. A tiny man—a Parca, standing beside her; Lewis pulling Rebecca away from her; the girls huddling around her as the Fate injected a metallic fluid that looked like mercury into her arm.

The liquid silver serum burned like acid in her veins.

The world slipped away into darkness again.

Okay, okay, I couldn’t just stand by and let Josie succumb to the madness. Things are playing out more dangerously than ever before…. Previous attempts at this journey didn’t require my direct attention until the following day. I apologize for not explaining this before, but Lewis has in his possession several other-worldly devices: A whistle whose pitch creatures from beyond the mortal realm can’t stand but which humans cannot hear, and a silver coil wrapped around his wrist that is capable of Erasing anything its energy blasts touch. Once Erased, only people outside of their native time stream (in this case only Lewis and myself) have any memory that they ever existed in the first place. Now please excuse me, for I have several pressing matters to attend to! Hang in there Josie!

Keep vigilant,

-Mr. Gray