Nothing.

Mo’Lock was staring at me, eyes wide. “Cal, are you sure this is—” he whispered.

“Shut up,” I hissed. “It might work.”

I stepped forward and pressed the gun harder into the side of the heart and repeated my threat. This time I added a five-second time limit and began the countdown.

Still nothing. I hesitated.

“Four . . . Three . . . Two . . .”

Finally, just when I thought my bluff had been called, Blout dropped limp to the ground. He began coughing and gagging, trying to catch his breath. His wide back heaved and arched as he fought to regain control of his body. He was free, but I knew what we’d seen might only be a small taste of the power of our foe.

21

Blout was groggy and agitated, but very much alive. Although the bleeding had been horrible to see, he hadn’t lost much blood in the end. It was just enough to achieve the desired effect—scaring the crap out of all of us.

“GHAA! What the hell was that?” Blout sputtered, trying to clear his throat. “I couldn’t move, couldn’t hear a thing . . . I was floating in tar.”

I tried to help him to his feet, but Blout shook his head. He was still too weak. We all took a seat in the dirt again and ate more painkillers. All except Mo’Lock, who waved me off again.

“You sure?” I said, downing another myself. “How’s your head?”

The ghoul nodded confidently. “I’m fine. There’s nothing there, I’m sure.”

Blout was looking more alert despite the pill. Slowly he came back to his old self. He snapped at me for staring and got annoyed with the blood caked around the various openings of his face. When he got around to re-lighting the cigar he’d dropped I knew he was close to a hundred percent.

I grabbed the box and stood, using my free hand to wipe off the dirt that stuck to my pants. It was much more moist than it had been before, less crumbly and more like dough. Definitely doughy. Mo’Lock noticed the same, and was examining one particular wad of the stuff.

“You think we’re near water?”

Mo’Lock shook his head slightly. “I don’t think this is dirt. Feels like very rich soil.”

“Great, we’ll start an herb garden.”

“I’m no expert, but I thought soil was usually found close to the surface, the top layer.”

“Well, add it to the list of weird shit. If there’s room.”

I started walking on but stopped as Blout grunted and fell behind me. He was injured pretty bad. I began doubting whether he’d be able to continue.

Not that I was much better. With the repeated beating my body was taking, I was asking too much of the painkiller. It couldn’t block out pain from injuries and protect me from invading psychic forces forever. Again I thought about the packet in my sock, but fought it off. Not yet, not yet.