I looked up at Harvey and grimaced. “Do it. End him. End both of us if you need to, just let me get you out first. I accept the price that has to be paid.”

Harvey’s gaunt countenance seemed to frown slightly at that. “No, Tommy. You misunderstand. Death is not the price. Death is no punishment at all. And Rusty’s price is for him alone.” Rusty had sank into petrified silence, but his mind wasn’t gone, at least not yet. He was listening carefully to what we were saying.

I looked at Harvey in confusion as I checked my grip on Rusty’s neck and wrapped my legs around his own. “What then? What are you going to do to him?”

Harvey looked almost sad. “My kind call it being made Dim. It is the worst punishment we have. Rusty will be bound to this place forever. Here, but not here. Seeing, but unseen. Knowing, but unknown. A shadow that can never leave, never die, never rest.”

I swallowed. “That’s his price? For all he’s done?”

Harvey nodded. “It is. Can you accept that? It will only take a moment, but I need him held still and I’m still too weak to do it myself.” I didn’t know what to say. I knew he deserved it, but the enormity of condemning someone to that kind of hell…

That’s when Rusty spoke up.

“You can fucking talk? All this time, you could fucking talk? I dedicated my life to you, taught you so much, and you never said a word to me. But you talk to him? Like I’m not even fucking here?”

Harvey’s gaze flared as he regarded Rusty, and I felt him begin to tremble again under the creature's glare. While I wasn’t afraid exactly, I couldn’t help but hold my breath. Even in his diminished state, Harvey looked somehow…regal. “You were never worth speaking to. Never my friend. You were nothing, and you'll soon be less than that.” His eyes went back to me. “Are you able to help in this?”

Rusty was trying to twist to see me now as he stammered out words fast and hard. “Tommy, don’t do it, man. I’m fucked up, I know it. But I’m your brother. I love you. This thing…I think it messed with me. Made me do bad things. It’s some kind of fucked up monster, and I don’t blame you for abandoning me, for leaving me with it, but I need you now. We can beat it together, just don’t let it…”

“Shut the fuck up.”

I felt Rusty tense slightly. “What?”

“I said shut up. I should have stopped you when we were kids, but I can’t change that. But I can sure as shit stop you from hurting him or anyone else ever again.”

Rusty gritted his teeth. “You picking that fucking thing, that fucking monster, over your own brother?”

I dug my forearm into his neck so hard I felt his tendons creak. “The only monster down here is you.” Looking up at Harvey, I nodded. “Do it.”