JOURNEY INTO DARKNESS by PENNYSPY RATED FRT

Sequel to THE APPROACHING DARKNESS.

Winner of the 2012 TIWF Halloween Challenge.

Rated FRT for language.

The desert of skulls stretched as far as Virgil could see, each pale bone lit by a dim silver moon. Here there was no warmth. He'd been here before, only this time he was merely dreaming, a visitor. He had been near this set of the enormous fossilised monsters before, and he grew both closer and further away from the figure with every step.

"Scott!" Virgil yelled. The figure in the hood turned to Virgil, hearing his shout, lifting its arm as it did. Virgil strained to see beneath it, but their face was shrouded in midnight, and the dark shapes moving within made blood freeze down Virgil's spine. Something was wrong.

Chuckling came from all around. The chatter of ancient amusement filled his ears, and with a jolt Virgil realised that the skulls were laughing at him.

They were catching up.

The streets of Interzone formed an inescapable maze around him, each dark alley reeking of dung, hashish and sweat. Smoke-blurred night air caught in his heaving lungs, but he could still hear his pursuers, and forced his body to push onward. The woman he carried over his shoulder moaned; her blood trickled hotly onto his neck. He glanced at an open doorway and dived into it, laid her down carefully before pulling the door closed. He crouched down tight, arms wrapped around his shoulders; trembling in the entrance to a stranger's house, gasping for breath.

"Get to…airport…" she muttered.

"Quiet." He was unable to think clearly, clouded by drugs and heat and panic. Nearly five hard years of neglect had also taken their toll. His body was trembling in protest at his last burst of speed. "Be quiet, they're close."

"Shoulda paid her…" she made a chuckling, rasping sound that descended into racking coughs. He shoved his hand over her mouth, desperate; her spit flecked his palm. She glared up with eyes lit by agony.

"Shut up," he said quietly, leaning over her.

She breathed awkwardly under him, making bad, shallow noises in her throat. He heard boots thump into the street behind him, and stop. He huddled in his ripped coat, praying they wouldn't find him.

A cat yowled down the street. The boots began to move again. He let himself breathe out in gratitude.

There was a sudden noise on his left. Inside the house, in the hall, a little old lady stared at him, asking something in French. She wanted to know what the hell he was doing there; and then she screamed for her sons.

He started to get up, apologising in French while his back throbbed and all his muscles protested. He nearly gave up on trying to move, but then four dangerous-looking men appeared right behind the old lady. He figured they were her sons, each one a mean-looking Interzone thug, probably members of the local gangs. Adrenaline kicked in again. He pulled the girl up, shouting, "She's hurt! We just have to get to the airport and we'll be out of your way."

"Get out of here, junkie!" Son number one came storming down the corridor towards them.

He pushed on the door he'd entered through, as eager to get out through it as he had been to get in.

The door came away weightlessly, and he squinted in the dark caused by the big Korean who grinned down at him.

"Virgil Tracy?" the Korean asked.

Virgil panted a hoarse, "No…"

"You lie." The big man lifted him easily and hauled him into the street, throwing him down. Virgil scuffed to the filthy ground, rolling with the fall. He fought his fogged senses as the big man closed in.

"You stole from Madame Xu. Hand it over, junkie."

Virgil shook his head. "I…I can't…"

"Where is what you stole?" the big Korean motioned to the two men he'd brought with him.

They lifted Virgil off his feet. The Korean pulled out, a long, shining knife that hungrily reflected Virgil's panicked eyes.

"Tell now, or later, Tracy. But you will tell."

Virgil said, "OK. OK, I'll do better - I'll show you. You'll never find it without me."

"I say we check him over first," one of the smaller guys holding Virgil pressed a knee hard against his ass, "These junkies will hide it anywhere."

The big Korean grinned, and lifted the knife. "What do you say…?"

Virgil struggled, received a punch in the face, screwed up his bleeding mouth. "I can show you. It's…it's in…"

"Too slow." The big Korean traced the knife point indelicately down Virgil's grizzled chin. "Say."

"In my coat. Asshole." Virgil glared.

The Korean glared back, then laughed unpleasantly. "Check his coat."

The one on Virgil's right side hunted through the coat, tearing it more in the process. "He's lying. It's not here."

"What?" Virgil groaned. "No, it was there, I put it there…"

"Then you dropped it?" the big Korean said.

"Yes!"

"You lie again. You hide it somewhere."

"No… I'm not lying."

The big Korean shook his head. "Guess we have to check everywhere. Know an easy place to start. Hold him."

"No!" Virgil struggled fiercely as they turned him over.

A shot rang out.

The big Korean slid sideways past Virgil, a surprised look on his face. There were two more shots. Virgil slumped forwards, pushed down by the dead weight of his other two captors. He lay there, weakened, gasping for air again.

A blonde figure came out of the fog, and at her side a tall, dour looking man. Virgil grinned through a deepening haze. "…How did you…?"

He took a breath of salty air, and his eyes weighed shut.

When he came to, he was propped up in a small lounge in one of the tiny apartments in the area, and the little old lady he'd frightened was tending to his head while Penelope looked down at him. He hadn't quite seen that expression on her face before. Only later did he decipher it as sheer, unfiltered pity.

"Virgil, what on earth possessed you to do this to yourself?"

He gave a cracked laugh. "You know why."

"You think Scott's here? Amongst the junkies, the slavers, and the whores?"

Virgil gathered a breath. He was almost not surprised to see that a couple of the old lady's fearsome sons were hovering with puppydog eyes as they watched Penelope, interrupting their conversation and asking her if there was anything she needed. Penny dismissed the brothers with a gracious manner that made Virgil smile, despite his many aches and pains.

Seeing the look of pity return to Penelope's face, he simply said, "It was going just great til Dad cut me off. That was his idea, wasn't it? Declare me mentally incompetent, cut off my accounts. I didn't even realise he had that much influence. You helped, right?"

Penelope's face tightened into a mask of anger. The little old lady paused, as if sensing the fury in the air.

Penelope said curtly, "You broke a mad woman out of an asylum and put three guards in hospital. Rather an impressive feat, I'll concede, but ridiculous nonetheless."

"I needed her. Bear wouldn't help me. I had no choice!"

"Oh, really? You raided Bear's cabin and killed one of his dogs while on your insane quest. Just because he wanted you to wait until the time was right. Why wouldn't you simply wait, Virgil?"

The answer to that was easy, the easiest thing he'd been asked in his whole life. He said, "You didn't see Scott's eyes. No one did."

"Virgil…"

"Scott sacrificed everything. First the Curwens use him to take over the damn Island and everyone on it. Then he stops their insane grandfather from ending everything sane in the whole world, pulls us back from the edge of chaos. You remember the way we were going before he did that? Dogs and cats living together, the works."

"The world was dying, I know. We were all there, Virgil."

"And he spent a year fixing what happened, as though it was all his fault. And it wasn't. I saw what took him, Penny. He knew he was headed into hell. And we tried, once, but he's still there. He's in pain. And I'm so close, Penny. I'm so close to getting him back."

"And you've been out of touch for over four years, Virgil. Yes, your father wanted me to help him cut off your accounts. He was out of ideas, and so was I. He wants the family back together again."

"It'll never be 'back together', Penny."

"Not if you stay in this hell hole a minute longer. Do you honestly think Scott's alive in this dreadful place? I've searched, too, Virgil. I've been looking high and low. He's gone."

"Then you weren't looking low enough." Virgil said. He sat up, wincing as he did. Parker stood beside another cot where the girl lay, bandaged and watching the argument with watery blue eyes. Virgil said, "We need to get her to a hospital. But I need her, I'm not letting you return her to the asylum. We get her looked at and then she comes with me."

"Lucy Curwen has sucked you into her madness, the same one that possessed poor Scott; the same that almost destroyed you all. Please come back with me. Rest. Recover. Your father needs you."

"You have no idea how close I am to finding Scott. I can't leave now."

"How close?"

"I have one more trip to make. I just have to find…what I need…to get there."

"The drugs?" Penelope sounded disgusted. "No, that ends here, Virgil."

"Not yet!" Virgil stood up, then. He wavered, his eyes watered, stomach woozing ominously inside before settling. "Penelope, I just need one more trip. The drug, the Taduki, it opens doors…"

"Nonsense."

"No." He clasped Penelope's wrists gently, willing her to see him again. "Penny, listen to me. I know where he is, I just have to get to him."

"You've been smoking so much of that awful stuff, you've entirely lost your grip on reality."

Virgil fought the urge to shake her. "No. I swear it. The drug – the Taduki drug – it shows me where they took him. The deal he made drew him into their world. He's alive, and whole, and I can bring him back, I swear it."

"And why do you need her for that?"

"When Bear refused to help any more, I had no choice. She's shown me the way so far, I still need her."

"She's made you into a shell, Virgil." Penelope said, sounding furious again. "A few days going dry will help with that. I promised your father I would bring you home, and I shall."

"I just need one more trip." Virgil said. "One more and I'll have him back."

She pulled herself away sharply, turning to Parker who was administering to Lucy. "We're leaving, Parker. Bring Curwen with us. We should be able to find our way to the airport from here."

"I can't let you do that." Virgil said. "I need you to believe me, just this time. We need to find the drugs, I think I dropped them on the way here."

"While you were running for your life."

"Yeah." He was beyond shame at this point, "Penny, please. Think about the crazy shit we've seen. The monsters we escaped from five years ago. Those creatures in Arkham. The shoggoths, for fuck's sake. Penny, why won't you believe that I can enter a whole other world when I take that stuff?"

"Because it's an utterly ridiculous notion."

"It's true. And I've almost found Scott. And all I have to do when I get to him, is put one of these around his neck." He held up Scott's USAF dog tags; they'd been around his throat since he'd started looking, each on its own separate chain. There was a reason for that. "He's alive. And he's suffering."

"And what, you'll pull him out of a dream? This isn't a fantasy, Virgil."

"This last trip means I can get him out of the dream later on. The dog tags will link me to him. I put one on him in the dream, and I can pull him out when I'm back in the real world. Just give me a few more hours."

"No."

"Then I'll go back to Xu's on my own, and you can hang out and watch me get killed. Or leave. But I'm not leaving Interzone without the drug."

Penelope glared at him. "Oh, really?"

"I'm not leaving. So you can either shoot me, or let me get more on my own."

Penelope sighed, put a hand on his arm. "Virgil, wait."

He paused. "What?"

"Virgil – I see you believe all this is true. Some of it may seem very real. I…I don't want you to die here. I want to bring you home."

Virgil shook his head, "Not without Scott."

Penelope folded her arms. She was unreadable. He stuffed the tags back out of sight under his coat. "I mean it, Penny, I'm not going. I'm so goddam close…" He wasn't confident that he could take on both Penelope and Parker in his current condition, but he was prepared to find out if he had to.

He felt a light touch on his head and looked up. Penelope stood over him. "Virgil…"

"My mind's made up."

"I know." She sighed. "If this is the only way you'll come home – here." She brought out a small, silver foil wrapped packet and handed it to him. "This is yours, I believe."

"You found it?" He unwrapped it, unbelieving; checked it. The deceptively unpromising little rock of honey and pepper scented drug sat inside the crinkle of foil. Taduki. His whole body craved the taste, and the dreams. "How long were you following us?"

"We were there when you when you robbed Xu's smoking den. Who do you think kept the first wave of guards off your backs?"

"Oh."

"Oh yes. So, tell me, Virgil. Will one more 'hit' actually do the trick?"

"More than you can imagine." He said.

"We won't do it here," Penelope said, "And once you've done it, you are returning to the Island. Is that clear?"

Virgil leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "Penelope, you're an angel."

"And you need a bath," she said firmly, but her eyes lightened a little. "Let's leave this place."

"No problem," he said.

Penelope knew a doctor in another part of Morocco who they could trust. To get there without further questions about Lucy, and to avoid Madame Xu's spies, Penelope discreetly bribed a pilot and the right officials so they could hop a small charter flight to get them out of Interzone. Most private flights in and out of the lawless city tended to be arranged that way. It was how Virgil had arrived here without his real papers. No questions were asked about Lucy,

The flight there was silent apart from Lucy's laboured breathing. Virgil held tight to the Taduki in his pocket, unable to sleep, his mind played over and over the plan he had to put into motion, the steps he had to take.

Every sacrifice he'd made to find Scott.

His brother waited on the other side of the mirror.

Too weary to sleep, Virgil stared past his own reflection. After a while, he realised that Penelope was staring at him.

"What is it, Penny? I grow an extra ear or something?"

"Not so far, Virgil. But it's been four years. You must have one or two questions, surely."

Trying not to think about his family every day had become a habit. He nearly wrenched a brain cell as a hundred questions suddenly brimmed. "How are they?" Virgil said, finally narrowing it down.

"Surviving," Penelope said. "Did you see the reports on the last rescue?"

Even in the depths of Interzone smog, he'd glimpsed a headline or two. "Yeah, heard about that earthquake in Iran. They've got some replacements for Scott and me."

"Yes. I'm afraid they have. Your father had no choice."

"How's Dad?"

Penelope bit her lip, looking away. "He's fine."

Virgil frowned. "What's wrong with him?"

"What the Curwens did to your family took a great deal out of him. Add that to the strain of making the organisation functional again, and – he looks old, Virgil. He wants to see you."

"Is he ill? What do you mean by old, for fuck's sake? Tell me."

"All right. John is taking the strain, as far as I can tell. He's adeptly handling the business end of things, while the rest of the organisation expands and develops. No, your father isn't dying, Virgil, but he's not the man he was, either. Losing Scott, and then you deciding to disappear as well, hurt him far more than you seem willing to realise. You honestly had no idea how much he wanted Scott back."

"We tried once. Then he gave up." Virgil felt the old anger flare, the amazement that Jeff had thrown in the towel after a single effort to retrieve Scott.

"That wasn't the case. All of you almost died trying to do that – the Villa had to be rebuilt from scratch after that thing came through the mirror, and that was the safe option."

"So is this. Once I found the way."

"Oh yes, you and the oh-so-stable Lucy Curwen. You'd be dead in some godforsaken alleyway by now if we hadn't –"

"Only because someone cut off my funds. You closed my goddamn bank accounts, Penny. If you were trying to kill me in Interzone that was definitely the way to go about it."

"Why do you think I came straight after you?" She sighed, "Please, Virgil, you've tried it your way, and now it's long past time you came home."

"Not yet." Virgil shook his head. "What have they been doing since we got franchised, anyway?"

"Approaching normality again, despite everything that's happened. John's married now, and so is Gordon. There's a baby on its way, too. Hard to believe, isn't it?"

"I guess a lot can happen in nearly five years." Virgil felt an ache that had been dulled for a very long time re-emerge; his chest tightened. He still really missed them. "Whose baby is it?"

"Gordon's. Due any day, now."

"Gordon, huh?" He liked that.

"Yes. Your brothers have been moving on. They've had to."

Virgil wrapped his ragged coat around him and hunched back into the seat. He said, "Good for them."

"Yes."

"When do we land?"

Penelope glanced at her watch. "Ten minutes."

"See you on the ground." Virgil shut his eyes.

The Taduki was thin in his sleeping blood, although he knew the way. Drifting in his dream, Virgil was back where he'd last tracked down Scott. He had been so close it hurt. The Bone Desert stretched on all sides, and only a short distance from where he'd last seen him, Virgil gave a cry of triumph. The hooded figure examined markings beneath a vast skull. Scott's dog tags were vibrating hot against his see-through flesh. Virgil ghosted across the Dreamland and reached out across the the figure's shoulder. "Scott, I know it's you."

The figure spun, and for a second Virgil glimpsed what his brother had become.

"We're here," Penelope tapped his arm and Virgil woke with a startled grunt, wiping off the trail of drool that had crusted on his aching jaw. Scott…Virgil remembered only a glimpse, something moving beneath the hood in the dark light of the desert. The horror and pity that had gripped him. But his brother's actual appearance was hazy, the image retreating fast as his brain came to full consciousness. Virgil clutched at the tags, which were cooling rapidly now that the dream had faded.

Despite the nightmarish nature of his dreams, the micro-nap had helped revive him a little. With a long stretching motion, Virgil pulled himself upright. The Moroccan landscape was sharpening under the little plane's descent. It was a bright, clear morning out there. He hadn't been out in one for a very long while, and his eyes hurt at its clarity.

Stepping down from the plane, he inhaled truly pure air for the first time in three years. Sure, there was the distinctive whiff of jet fuel, and spilled oil, but the heat radiating from the vast, rocky desert flowed into him was practically sweating the drug from his pores. Virgil's hands trembled and his body threatened a thousand undignified penalties if he didn't get his next fix very soon. He fastened his left fist around the foil-wrapped ball of Taduki, gritting his back teeth. Get a grip, he told himself angrily.

"Virgil?" Penelope had stopped beside him while Parker escorted Lucy Curwen to the rental car they'd just procured. "Are you ready?"

"Yes. Ready." Virgil wiped sweat off his forehead, out of his eyes. Everything felt gritty. He said, "Hurry, she has to live…for this all to work."

"She'll be perfectly all right," Penelope took his arm. " And you can finish this and soon return home. Isn't that right, Virgil?"

"Yeah," Virgil kept his fist around the foil; by now he knew every reassuring little crinkle of the packet. "Yeah, this is the last time."

Penelope smiled just a little, and he followed her to their vehicle. It was a people carrier, and they were able to lie Lucy down flat in the back, where she gave them a scare by bleeding all over Parker. They got it to stop, but Virgil worried that the wound was a lot worse than he'd first guessed.

"How long until we reach this doctor of yours?" he demanded, checking Lucy over himself. She was too pale, her lips pressed tight together in pain.

"Twenty minutes, Virgil."

"Step on it, will you, Parker? I'm staying with her." Virgil kept pressure on Lucy's wound, and Lucy giggled to herself as they drove. There was an awkward silence as Parker drove and Penelope stared out the window, bronze sand and burnished rock flashing past.

As he tended to Lucy, Virgil rolled his sweat slickened forehead against the window glass. The burning sun on his eyelids created a shadowed figure out of blood cells, although whether it was beckoning, or holding up an arm in warning, he wasn't entirely sure.

The doctor was a genial little man aged somewhere between forty and eighty-five. He greeted Penelope with great enthusiasm before ushering them through into a small, but highly organised little house. He checked over Lucy's condition, whilst his housekeeper furnished them with mild, soothing tea and sweets that tasted like pulped ash to Virgil's gnarled senses.

Finally, the doctor re-entered with a report. "I have examined the poor woman. She suffered a very serious injury and will need some time to rest."

"Will she live?" Virgil asked, trying not to gnaw at his own tongue. The doctor scrutinised him for a moment, then nodded over at the room where Lucy was being treated.

"I think she will pull through. She must rest here for twenty four hours, however. I beg your patience for that."

Penelope replied, "Of course, Amal. Parker will stay and watch over her, if you don't mind. However, Virgil and I have some urgent business to attend to this morning – we shall be gone for just a few hours. If anything happens, call me on this." She pressed a small radio into the Doctor's hand. "And thank you again. Of course you will not go unrewarded."

"Go with Allah, and drive safely, my dear Penelope." He clasped her hands tightly and then did the same to Virgil, "I can help you, when you need it," he said, clearly missing no detail of Virgil's withdrawal.

"I'm good for now," Virgil said, narrowing his eyes and pulling back.

The doctor shrugged, "As soon as you are ready, tell me. I have some excellent treatments to ease your…"

"Which we will use very soon, I am sure," Penelope interjected and gently steered Virgil apart from the little man.

Back in the rental car, Penelope claimed the driver's seat, and spent five minutes staring at a map screen.

"Where are we going, Penny?" Virgil asked. He was feeling irritable now, the gluey tea and sweets only serving to provoke his stomach even further.

"You aren't going to smoke that awful drug around the good doctor, Virgil. Even though he's aware you're likely to do just that. We're going somewhere quiet, where you won't be disturbed. You should know what you're doing by now, so I'm trusting you to come back safely."

"I'm…" Virgil shook his head, "All right. Fine. But we'll have to get a pipe, because…"

Penelope handed him a small pipe made of red clay, of surprisingly fine workmanship, and he stared at it in silence, holding it between his fingers like a puzzle to be unlocked.

They drove for half an hour, stopping finally at the base of dry hills. "There." Penelope pointed to a stone hut, nestled against the hills. "That's where we'll finish this."

"Real cosy."

She ignored him. Alighting from the car, she pulled a blanket and a large flashlight from the trunk and gestured. "Not quite as elegant as Madame Xu's, but it should suffice."

Virgil followed her, eyeing the bare bones of the hut, the blackness of the windows. "This place is probably used by every junkie within a hundred miles."

"It's a shepherd's hut. It looks perfectly adequate to me."

"Don't step on any needles," he warned, more seriously, as she forced open the door.

Inside the hut it was cool and musty. The floor was surprisingly clear, although the walls were coated in streaked graffiti and a few bottles of murky liquid littered the corners. Penelope set down the flashlight so it lit a corner of the room, and laid down the blanket.

"Here," she said.

"Right." He sat cross legged on the blanket, suddenly even more conscious of the state of his unwashed pants and body. He pulled off the ragged coat and set the Taduki down on the floor, then tugged Scott's dog tags from around his neck, wrapping the chain around his wrist.

"So you plan to get Scott back with those?" Penelope raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah. They're how I've been tracking him. They tell me when he's close. I got them blessed in a city called Celephais. It's beautiful there. The white buildings and the turquoise sea, it was like home…"

"Are we getting on with this?" she cut across his reverie.

Virgil nodded. Sharply. "Sure. Going in now. I hope you brought something to read, Penny."

"You aren't doing this by yourself, Virgil." She said, and sat down beside him on the blanket, also crossing her legs. Her green pant suit looked impeccable even here. "I'm going in with you."

"No."

"I know how this works. I actually learned a great deal about what you've been doing. Even though it's…"

"You don't think it's 'nonsense' at all, do you." He realised humourlessly. "You know it's true just as much as I do."

She sent him a hard stare. "I have heard whispers about the Dreamlands, that's all. I understand that it's very dangerous there, and therefore I assume you always had Lucy with you as some sort of...backup."

Virgil glanced down, "I promised I'd help her get her grandfather back if she taught me how to find Scott. If she helped me get to him, I'd make sure we got her back to the mountains and pulled Grendel out of his own nightmare."

"Foolish. Scott did this precisely so that her twisted Grandfather wouldn't come back at all."

"Yeah. Well, she took a knife from one of Xu's guys while protecting me, before you and Parker bothered to step in, I guess."

"I was protecting your back, not hers. And let's get on with this, shall we? The light won't last forever."

"Yeah." Virgil drew out matches from his ripped coat, and said, "But you don't have a pipe."

"Of course I have a pipe, Virgil."

"When did you…"

"Do you think I spent all my time in Interzone seeking you? All right, yes, I did, but I found time to take in a bazaar or two. The locals are very friendly if you speak to them in the correct manner." She took out a pipe – its glass and clay rather pinkish in the light – and presented it to him. "It's time you showed me where you've been going, Virgil."

"It's addictive," he warned, "You have no idea what it'll do to you."

"I'm quite able to decide for myself. You need someone in there, with you. Show me that you've found Scott, and I will confirm it to your father."

"You're absolutely…"

"Do it." She pressed the pinkish pipe into his hand, her hand trembling only a little. He was proud of her.

Preparing the drug was almost second nature to him; by now Virgil could have done it with the flashlight off, or hanging halfway off a cliffside on a moonless night. He handed Penelope the Taduki-packed pipe, and said, "When you breathe in, hold every breath for as long as you can. Hold onto my hand and follow my voice."

"And how do we leave again when we're done?"

"That's tougher. Stay close to me, and I'll bring us both back." He leaned in close to her. "Penny, are you sure you want to do this? Scott's in a really bad place."

Her cool gaze reassured him, though her pupils were big in the dark. She took his hand firmly and squeezed. "Let's get on with it. Then you can finally have that bath."

"Sounds real good, Penny." He smiled, squeezing her hand back. "OK, light her up."

They sat opposite each other, and she took a long draw on the pipe the same time he did. "Oh…" she slid forwards a little, her eyes widening then closing as the smoke did its work. "I'm…I'm going away…" He gripped her free hand, guided her lips again to the pipe. She sucked on it with an unhappy sound.

"You're OK, Penny. I'm right here. Hold onto me."

He held her gaze and took another long, deep drag on his pipe, not letting go of Penelope's slender fingers; she groaned into his chest and he felt her grip tight, pressing into his rib cage. A harsh breath shuddered through her body, she made an odd, childish noise and he put his right arm tight around her, cradling her whitening face in his palm. "That's good. Another." He inhaled and guided her to do the same again, and again.

They slid down side by side, and she said, "I see the gate…oh God…"

He felt her breath go in and out, slowing down; breathed in time with her, waiting for the moment to hit. A slide, a push, and in the smoke his world transformed. As the flashlight beam spiralled, they were going faster, falling through the walls of the hut. The dead pipe dropped from his hands, their souls melted into the Dreamlands.

The bone desert stretched for miles around him, the bones crackled under his boots, but now the skulls were silent. A rotten wind stirred his hair as Virgil squinted into the darklight, trying to make out the robed figure he had seen before. He dropped Penelope's hand, marching swiftly to where his brother had stood.

Virgil stood beneath the skull, a massive structure, elephantine in shape, but many times larger. In his dream, Scott had stood right there, reading something before turning to face him. Virgil stood in the same spot, and when he went inside the skull he made out writing scratched in an unnatural hand along the inside. It was the colour of dried blood and odder, thicker substances. He couldn't translate much of it, simply understanding a tiny section of it as a warning, or a curse. He shivered as his memory glimpsed Scott's appearance in the dream. But he was not there now.

"Shit!" Virgil turned in a full circle, taking in the view. "Shit! He's gone."

Penelope had sunk to her knees, gasping in the fierce air. "Jesus Christ, where…"

"Welcome to the Dreamlands. This is where the Taduki takes you."

"Impossible," she said, as dirt spun around them, "Virgil, this is a nightmare."

"Yes. That too." He helped her to her feet. She steadied herself on his arm, then straightened and appeared to draw herself together.

"You say you tracked Scott here?"

"Yes. To that skull, the one that looks like it came out of a whale or something."

"Or something…" Penelope walked up to it, stroked the long bleached rib bone. "This is incredible."

"We have to keep moving. Just going to use these…get us a direction…keep your eyes peeled, Penny. I have to concentrate here." He gripped the dog tags in his right fist and shut his eyes tight, turning in a slow circle, feeling out the dead surroundings for any indication of Scott's present location. For some reason, finding Scott in the Bone Desert had been a real bitch ever since he'd arrived in the area. He really hoped the Blessing he'd obtained in Celephais hadn't started to wear off.

After five lengthy minutes of concentration, and slow spinning, the guiding heat in the tags flared for a split second. Virgil opened his eyes, the world wobbled, and he pointed. "Think he went that way. Recently."

"Oh. Good. I was beginning to worry we'd go home without anything happening."

"Something always happens here," Virgil assured her grimly.

"I'd imagine so. It's rather like a video game," she said, looking around her again.

"Except here, you can die. You might wake up, but you'll…you'll lose something. Try not to die."

"I'll endeavour not to," she said, rather acidly. She peered at him through the dirt flecked air. "You look significantly improved by the change in location."

Virgil shrugged. In the Dreamlands, his longcoat was whole and flapped weightily in the stormy air; his shirt and pants were actually clean, made of hard worn but tough leather and cotton. He wore sturdy boots from the hide of a creature whose name he couldn't pronounce, and a hat that kept off the worst of the weather. Compared to the state of his life in Interzone, he was doing pretty well here. He even still had his pack from the last time he'd visited. And the weapons.

Penelope looked exactly the same, pristine in her light green pantsuit, with barely a single wisp of smooth blonde hair blown out of place. Sadly there would be no chance to get her something more practical.

"Take this," He handed her one of his knives, and the sheath to go with it. "We're in a bad part of this world. Very bad. Wish you could have seen Ulthar, or Celephais. I really wish…"

"Let's find Scott and get out of here. You can paint those places for me, later."

"Yeah." Virgil held the revolver that he'd pulled from his pack. "I'll definitely do that."

They went in a direction best described as 'west' by the position of the darklight sun, passing overhead. The brittle cartilage shattered noisily beneath their feed as they headed even deeper into the bone fields. "Makes it hard for anything to sneak up on us, I suppose." Penelope said.

"Don't be so sure. Stay alert." Virgil stopped them and touched the tags again. "OK, this way." They altered course slightly, walking along the sun's path. He was strong, here, and his eyes and ears were keenly attuned.

"Is he close?"

"I don't know. We must be almost caught up. I saw him when I fell asleep in the plane." Virgil froze as something uprooted a pile of bones and skittered away.

"What was that?" Penelope whispered.

Virgil held up the revolver. "Show yourself," he said.

The bones skittered again. Virgil picked up a skull and threw it at the pile. The bones chittered, then grew upright into a loose formation of mismatched part and skulls, rapidly pulling itself into the teetering semblance of a humanoid body which loomed about five feet over their heads. There you are…

"Virgil!" Penelope gave a panicked cry, "Get back!"

"It's OK," he said, "This is a ghost, that's all. The Damana, isn't it? You won't harm travellers with a purpose, will you – only treasure seekers."

"You're a soul seeker," it said, and its three heads leered down over Virgil's.

"And you have to answer one question from a traveller," Virgil told it. "Do it, or I'll put a boot through your skulls."

The Damana made a rattling chuckle. "One…question…only…Traveller."

"Which way is the man carrying the sign of Azathoth headed?"

The Damana hissed, drawing its spine up even longer like an angry cobra, its triple skulls making unhappy snapping sounds. "The Avatar of the Mad God, someone who only a fool would follow." It snickered. "Yes, Traveller, he passed this way."

"Which way?" Virgil demanded, stepping under its lengthy shadow. "Tell me where he is!"

"The God's Hand went Northward, to the Arrak Pit. You are half a sun behind him."

"Thanks," Virgil pulled out a shining stone from his pack, and tossed it to the creature. The Damana snapped hold of it in a fluid motion, its many hands reaching for it, drawing it back inside itself. It slid back beneath the unlikely dunes, only a rattle here and there, or the tilt of a skull moving alone giving away its position.

Penelope looked ready to pass out. He gave her water, and said, "We have to hurry."

When she could breathe and speak again, she said "That thing was o, oddly b, benign."

"Only just. Hopefully it'll stay off our backs. It doesn't like being asked questions."

"Wonderful." Penelope stayed very close beside him after that, he noticed.

"What's an Arrak Pit?" she asked eventually, as they walked.

"I've heard a little about it since I got here. Think pit of monsters. Supposed to be a sleeping god buried there, which is more common around here than you'd think…"

"More monsters?" she shuddered, "How have you managed to spend so long here, Virgil? It's hellish. One could lose one's mind here."

"The Dreamlands are pretty vast, Penny. Not everything wants to kill us. And you should see the cities, and the parts that have the countryside that looks like your home in England….it can be really beautiful. Incredibly so. Just not around here. I can't think of a worse place to have started your visit in." Actually, he could think of a few, but it seemed wiser not to go on about them right now.

Penelope stepped around a stack of skulls that seemed to have been arranged in a very deliberate way. The Bone Desert attracted that kind of artist. She said, "I suspect, Virgil, that you're too fond of it, here. No wonder Taduki's addictive, if this place has been your main reality. You're like a computer game addict, losing yourself every time you close your eyes. This isn't real. It makes no sense at all."

"It's very real, Penny." Virgil took a drink from a leather pouch and then handed it to her. "And so is Scott."

"And is he very close, yet?"

"Yeah. He's real close." Virgil pointed, holding the dog tag which vibrated warmly under his palm. "We need to reach there."

He noticed a white shape pointing like a skeleton's finger into the sky, some way off. Penelope grimaced. "Oh, no…but I thought it was a pit."

"The Pit is underneath it."

"Wonderful." She steeled herself visibly.

They reached the tower thirty minutes later. Sections gleamed like ivory in the half-light. It was constructed from parched bones that inhuman hands had contorted, making impossibly intricate interweavings, creating an ornate puzzle out of death.

"Who made this?" Penelope breathed.

"I don't know, Penny. There," Virgil pointed to the hole in the base of the tower of bones, "That's where we'll find him."

"What on earth is he doing in such a horrible place? It looks like the entrance to a bloody ant hill."

"Could be for all I know. But we have to get down there and follow him while my link to him still works. Watch your step, though," Virgil stomped forwards, the bones crunching to powder under his heel.

"What built this?" Penelope wondered out loud. "And why are there so many bones in the first place?"

"Some kind of ancient battle, I think…"

A shrill voice echoed between cracked rib cages. "Four thousand years ago, there was a great war, and an unthinkable number of the Dreamlands' creatures fought and died on this ten mile stretch of nothing. Some called it the war to end imagination. Luckily for us, that didn't happen. Bet there's a few extinct dreams here, though. Sad, isn't it?"

"Who…?" Penelope whirled in a circle.

Virgil spun round, too, ready with his rifle. "Who's there?"

"It's only little me." Lucy Curwen came into view. She wore a leather pair of pants and a sturdy leather jacket and like him, carried her back pack and weapons. However, Virgil could also see seven leering skulls through her body. She was 'ghosting', then. He would have looked the same to Scott as he approached him in his last dream.

"But she hasn't taken Taduki!" Penelope said suspiciously.

"No, but she has recently. She can find her way here with the Taduki left in her body, but she's like a ghost. She can watch and comment, to some people anyway, but she'll be about as useful as a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest if we have to fight anything."

"Your doctor pal must have given me some really good stuff," Lucy grinned at them. "I'm here to see what happens next, and to keep an eye on you, honeybear..." She twirled to show all the angles they could see through. "And I really want to see how you get Scott to take those dog tags, Virgil." She reached up and caressed his face. Her touch was like clammy seaweed on his stubble. He shivered again.

"Scott's down there," he said. "If you've only come to fucking gape, you can find your way right back again."

"I'll make myself useful, I swear." Lucy grinned. The smile always made her elfin features that bit crazier. Virgil frowned, which only seemed to make her smile harder.

"All right. Keep out of my way."

"Is that any way to treat your trusted road companion?" Lucy said.

Virgil said, "You were going to leave me in Celephais."

"Only because you were happy. I'd have come back, eventually…"

"Can we please get moving after Scott, now? While I would really rather not have you here at all," Penelope said, also frowning at Lucy, "it's not the time to get into a debate. The less time we spend here the better."

"Lady Pee's got a point," Lucy chuckled. "Bad place to linger, Virgil honeybear."

He didn't like it when she called him that. She knew it. He shouldered his rifle and said gruffly, "Fine. Let's get this done."

The bones crackled underfoot as he, Penelope and Lucy made their way towards the hole. Up close, Virgil realised it was actually a very deep tunnel, leading into a chasm a very long way below. A spindly, sticky rope hung from the edge, leading who knew how far to the bottom of the pit. Not trusting it, he started to unwrap his pack and Penelope helped him secure his own rope to several of the sturdier bones that made up the tower.

"How am I supposed to get down there?" Lucy whined, looking at the precipice forlornly.

"You figured it out this far. I bet you can figure out how to get ahead and warn me of anything in our way."

"Oh, sure. I'll just float down, shall I?" Lucy folded her arms, Virgil's thick climbing rope visible between her legs as he started to climb down the tunnel with utmost care. His boots sank into the moist wall and the shaft grew narrower the lower he went. It funnelled them to a small flat area, where they could both just about stand side by side. He noticed that the spidery thread of the other rope had actually reached all this way as well. Scott must have used it, he reasoned. Surely that meant that he couldn't be far away.

There was another hole at their feet, this gap only barely wider than his shoulders. They would have to squeeze down there, too. He said to Penny, "I'm sure Scott came this way. Ready?"

"Oh, bloody fantastic," she was shivering violently, her eyes rolling almost white as she looked about her, "Nothing even to be scared of, y yet…"

"Are you OK?" he felt her trembling against him, "You're doing great. You can go back now if you want." If she was in shock, if the dreamworld had already proved too traumatic, then he would send her away right here and now. "You don't have to stay, Penny."

"And l, leave you on y, your own with Lucy Curwen? N, never," she took his hand, squeezed it, her trembling increased violently. "Bloody hell, Virgil. You spoke to a t, talking triplet of skulls as though it was n, nothing, and now we're in a pit in the middle of nowhere. I don't know how you can stand it all."

"I'm almost used to it." It was almost the truth.

"How c,close do you think Scott is?" she asked.

"Take deep breaths. I'll check."

He heard her fighting to control her panic as he wrapped his fist around the tags. They thrummed in confirmation. "Good news. I'm sure Scott is right below us."

"You're v, very good with those…things." Penelope took in a deep breath, and he felt her grow still again against his chest. "You said they were…Blessed?"

"Yeah, they were. A priestess taught me how to use them." He released them, "One day I promise to show you Celphais, Penny. Like I said, I'm sorry that this place was your first visit to the Dreamlands. You've missed out on the reason most people come here."

"I certainly shan't be coming back, Virgil. Even while I'm fast asleep." She eyed the tiny gap at their feet, kneeling a little to get a better look. "Perhaps I ought to take the lead this time. There is no telling just how narrow this gets."

"I think Scott's been using this rope to climb here." He pointed out the spindly, clear thread that hung against the shaft they'd descended, and after lighting his oil lantern, he found the top of another thread at the rim of the next hole. "I think that if Scott went down there then it'll be OK for me, too. I'll go ahead if it's all the same." He pushed gently past her and lowered another rope. "Hope this one's long enough."

"So do I." Penelope helped him to fix it to the reddish, mushy floor, wrapping it around nubs that stood out like the tips of a spine. "This all feels like bone." She commented, "It's a structure, an organic structure of some kind…"

"I think it is."

"And it very much feels like flesh." She ran a finger along the surface before tugging the rope tight and coming to stand with him over the pit. "We're inside something that breathes, Virgil. What the devil can Scott be doing here?"

"I don't know." Virgil had his gloves on, but the soft, yielding texture of the walls was disturbingly flesh like. He didn't want to confirm to her that for all he knew they could well be climbing inside some great, sleeping creature. It wouldn't be the first time on his journey. "Are you OK, Penny?"

"I'm fine." She said sharply, "Are you?"

With a deep breath, he said, "Let's go deeper."

The smell of decaying life was strong as they descended into the smaller tunnel. It was also shorter. After less than ten metres of climbing down, the tunnel came to an abrupt halt, and levelled off at a curved angle to become a gooey, low rise horizontal passage. Virgil crouched to look down it, holding the lantern forward to see deeper down the shaft. They would have to crawl down it on hands and knees to get any further into the Pit. Then something moved. "Oh, shit."

"What is it?" Penelope was close at his back, "What's in there?"

"The tunnel's…writhing…"

As the lantern's glow dispelled the dark, squirming shapes the length of his lower arm wriggled frantically away from the illumination. He removed the light, stabbed, hooking one of the creatures onto the end of his knife. Penelope let out a hoarse gasp of disgust as he dragged it into the lantern's glow. It was a very big worm, greyish and sightless, drooling a sticky clear slime from one end. It arched up from where it was skewered, making barely audible hissing noises. Virgil grabbed the end of it with a leather gloved hand. It twisted, but it made no effort al all to bite him.

"Disgusting." Penelope said.

"I think it's harmless enough, Penny. Good thing too. We have to go through the rest of them." He threw the creature down and it disappeared back into the tunnel, bleeding a trail of greenish liquid.

"Oh, God, no…" Her face twisted in repulsion.

"I'm sorry. But they stay away from the light." He peered down the tunnel, already deeply uncomfortable at the crouched position. "You can stay back here if you want."

"Is Scott close?" she asked.

Virgil ungloved a hand and wrapped it around the tags. They were as warm as fresh blood against his skin; he could sense that Scott was barely half a mile from them, somewhere just below. He said, "We're nearly on him."

"Very well." She was tense. "Do you have another light?"

"No. Stay close behind me."

"I should go ahead." She said, shivering visibly.

"No. Not a chance, Penny. You might freeze up."

"And you won't?"

"I've been in this place a long time. Seen a lot of strange stuff. Trust me, I'm less likely to freeze than you are if something strange comes out of the dark."

Penelope glared at him, but gave a small nod. "Very well. Do you have a scarf at least? I would like to tie it around my hair. No telling when we'll find a shower, in this dreadful place…"

"Be quick." He actually had one of Lucy's old scarves in his pack, he remembered. He handed the colourful strip of cloth to Penelope, and she wrapped it deftly around her blonde hair, keeping it safe under the material.

Then they crawled into the tunnel. The worms slithered from the light as Virgil half slid through mucus that at points came up to his elbow. He heard Penelope retching and singing to herself right behind him. "Are you still with me?"

"Just keep moving!" came her terse reply.

The wet, decaying smell was growing stronger. Virgil only began to worry when they reached a split in the tunnel. "Shit."

Penelope bumped up close behind him. "Which way do we take?"

He wiped his hand on the parts of his clothes that weren't slimed, and clutched the tags close. "He's definitely below us, somewhere," Virgil said. He shone the beam into the tunnels. "We're in luck. This one seems to have a slope going down. I think it's that way."

"Oh, good," she said, then made a short, sharp shriek.

"Penny!"

"Two of the bloody worms c, crawled over me. I'm all right, Virgil. For the love of God keep moving."

He slid forwards, pushing down the tunnel on their right. The creatures were repulsive, but harmless. "They're won't hurt you," he tried to reassure her.

"Are you certain?" she said.

"At least they aren't rats," he said.

Penelope swore audibly and started singing to herself again.

The slime-drenched walls made the notes flat and the querulous sound didn't seem to carry very far. If anything was going to drive her crazy in the Dreamlands, being trapped in a narrow tunnel full of worms was going to do it. He prayed that Penelope was made of stern enough stuff. He'd been through a lot worse the first time he'd travelled here. Virgil pushed on through the ooze, fervently hoping he'd chosen the right direction. They were guessing down here, but finding the strange, weblike rope had made him almost certain that Scott was somewhere in this tunnel system.

The worms kept away from the light, so it was relatively clear as he squelched onward. Soon the tunnel widened again, and a passage banked sharply upright, and above them was an eerie greenish glow. They were both finally able to stand up again. As he swung his light upward, Virgil spotted another strange rope dangling down the slippery tube. "What made that?" Penelope whispered.

"We can use it," he said, ignoring her question. "Ready to climb?"

"Just a moment, please," she pulled out a section of the scarf and began wiping worm slime from her pale features. Her chin wobbled.

"Hey." He squeezed her shoulder, felt her slender frame shiver at his touch, then she squeezed his hand back and tilted her chin up.

"I'm all right, Virgil."

"Are you sure?"

"It takes more than a few oversized earthworms to drive me out of my mind. As you said, at least they weren't rats." She looked upward. "Do you think Scott's very near?"

"He's close." The dog tags began to hum even through the material of his pocket. He held them and his senses screamed confirmation. "He must be just up there."

"Good. Then we can give him the dog tags and be on our way."

"I hope it's that easy." Virgil gave the tags a final check before starting to climb.

Ascending the slippery, almost vertical tunnel would have been impossible without the rope, and it held both his weight and Penelope's without breaking. It was sticky, too, gripping his gloves as he pulled his way up, digging into what little purchase there was with his feet to lever his way to the summit. Penelope had little difficulty, as far as he could tell. Drips from worms landed on his face every time he glanced upward. The air was increasingly foul. He breathed hard through his mouth, and noticed it was also getting hotter.

He guessed it took them half an hour to climb the oozing slope, but they eventually reached a narrow plateau which came out onto a ledge sticking out into a vast cavern, as wide and high as the worm tunnels had been tiny and cramped.

Gratefully, Virgil stretched long-compressed muscles. A few seconds later, Penelope also crawled out of the tunnel, and he helped her to her feet.

"Any sign of Scott?" she whispered.

"I don't know. He should be close. Maybe we came out on the wrong level." He moved the light to the cusp of the ledge. "Wait, here's another of those ropes." He stooped and shone the lantern's beam down its shining path.

A hideous face glared up at Virgil from less than a foot down the thread. Clinging to the slender rope, the shadowed figure below Virgil hissed, revealing brilliantly sharp teeth. Then their whole face wriggled, and Virgil realised their entire head was covered in twisting black tentacles. Virgil gave a cry of shock as the dog tags burned fiercely against his chest; the heat confirmed exactly who he was looking at.

"Scott!" Virgil flattened on the ledge, leaning toward the figure as it slid away on the rope and into the dark below him. "No! Wait! Scott!" he shone the beam down at where the figure had been, scanned the area. "Scott, it's Virgil. Where are you?" He leaned as far over the edge as he could, searching the floor with the lantern's beam. He nearly slid forwards in his efforts to see.

Penelope grabbed him, pulled him back by the scruff of his coat. "Be careful!"

"It was Scott!" Virgil gasped.

"What was? What did you see?"

"That…that was…that had to be Scott…."

"What are you talking about? What was Scott?"

Virgil told her, "He was made an Avatar of the Mad God. He doesn't look pretty but I actually expected it to be worse." Not a helluva lot worse, though.

"What do you mean?" Penelope peeped down the ledge. "How bad does he look?"

"His face is covered in something alive. Completely covered. Without the tags I wouldn't have even known who he was."

"Oh God. Poor, poor Scott. How on earth can you bring him back from that?"

"I have a way to help him." Swinging over the edge, trusting the thread that Scott had used, he began to climb down to the bottom of the cavern.

There were no worms here, but the walls still felt strange as he descended, digging his toes into the tough, spongy texture. The lamplight revealed very little. Reaching the bottom of the Cavern, Virgil shone his beam across the floor. It was ribbed and veiny, and then he noticed it pulsing. The air was utterly still, thick with the stench of ancient and unwashed flesh slowly rising into the atmosphere. Virgil wiped the last of the worm slime from his sweating face and stripped off the sopping coat. He shouted, "Scott!"

He heard a noise above him. Penelope was halfway down the cliff behind him and she screamed something to him. Virgil said, "What?"

The dog tags went white hot against his chest, and then something struck him full in the face. Virgil went spinning to his knees. The figure, swathed in black, face writhing, stalked towards him. Virgil cried out, "Scott, it's Virgil. I'm your brother! I'm here to help you. You have to remember me!"

Without another look at Virgil, the figure reached up and yanked on the rope. It brought it whirling down, and Penelope hit the pulsing ground with a scream. She must have fallen a good fifteen feet from where she'd been climbing. Virgil forced himself upright, "Hey!" he ran to her limp form, checking her over. Penelope groaned, barely conscious. Virgil was appalled as blood spread from her nose and mouth. "No!"

He turned to the figure, who hadn't made another move. "Scott, I know it's you," he The dog tags confirmed it, there was no doubt that the dark figure beneath the writhing face was his brother in some form or other. "What are you doing here?"

The figure snarled something in the inhuman voice both the Tracys and Grendel had used in rituals, five years ago. Virgil didn't understand a word. His face ached from the punch, but he said, "Scott, let me help you."

Scott, or what was left of him, hissed and moved away. Virgil propped up Penelope as comfortably as he could, and moved towards him. "I'm not letting you go."

The figure swung round, swiping at Virgil. Virgil skidded backwards again, his cheek burst with pain as a tooth caught on the inside of his mouth. He tried again, and Scott lashed out, sending him back against the cavern wall. Whatever had changed him had made him incredibly strong, too. Badly winded, Virgil gasped for air. Scott snarled again in the language that made Virgil's blood spin backwards. It hurt to hear, like a thousand nails on chalkboard, and a microphone feedback that just kept looping. It was a thousand times worse than being punched in the face.

Scott increased the volume and pace of his words, and turned away from Virgil, pacing steadily towards the huge, smooth expanse of wall at the far side of the cavern. Virgil watched, sucking in air, muffling hearing with his palms in an effort to stop the awful sounds. He saw Penelope's mouth open, and scrambled painfully towards her.

"Why is he doing this?" she mouthed hoarsely.

"Cover your ears." Virgil instructed. His eyes watered as the sounds reached a pitch unbearable to him, and Penelope hunched over, throwing up on the floor to her left, her whole body shaking. Virgil wasn't much better. He was pretty sure that blood was trickling from his own eyes, and pressed his palms tighter against his ears, while the dog tags felt ready to burn through his skin.

Scott ended on a horrendous note that sent Virgil and Penelope doubling over, cringing at the sheer pain it caused. It took a good long moment for Virgil's senses to clear as the note died in the air, and the cavern shuddered violently under his body. Reddish slits opened in the veined floor, releasing a yellowish sulphuric air. A dim light spread out of the wall, and he saw that Scott was standing before something that was slowly taking shape.

Out of the moist rock and the twisted bone, a woman's face began to emerge. Her features were the length of the Mole, and sharper. It was as though she was part of the wall itself, and Scott had wakened her. Eyes the size of Virgil's body blinked and fixed on Scott's form with indifferent curiosity. Her perfect lips parted in a hiss of breath, filling the wide cavern with a fetid perfumed air as warm as blood. She spoke in the same voice as Scott. He could only assume she was demanding to know what Scott wanted.

Penelope grasped Virgil's arm. "What the devil is that?"

Virgil didn't answer, fixated on the woman's features. He hadn't expected beauty in this place, fantastic though it was.

Scott answered the woman, speaking for a long time. Virgil caught the name "Azathoth," but that was about all he understood. His fingers wrapped around the dog tags. For some reason, stepping forward and giving them to Scott right now struck him as a very bad idea. He fingered the tags, biding his time.

Lucy Curwen emerged beside Virgil a moment later, her body a mere pale wisp in the gloom. "Found you at last." She murmured into Virgil's ear. Even the whisper hurt to hear.

"Where were you?" he muttered.

"I took a more scenic route. Holy shit, is that Scott?

"Yes." Virgil said, "It's him. I've found him. Can you understand him? What's he doing?"

"He's having an argument with a Lesser God," Lucy made a sucking sound with her teeth. "Fuck, we really shouldn't be down here."

"What are they saying?"

"Hold on." She listened to the exchange. "I think Scott's making a bargain with her. Or trying to. I don't think she's going to give it up, though."

"What?"

"He wants some powerful item. I'm not sure what it is, but she doesn't want to give it to him, that's for sure. It's called the Ath-Kay-La. Could be an instrument, I think."

"An instrument? Like music?"

Lucy shrugged, "Search me. All I got was 'instrument of force'. She's not going to give it to him, though."

Penelope said, "I really think we should go. Now."

"Little scared, are we, milady? Lost your mind yet?" Lucy snarked.

"Quiet." Virgil hissed. "What's he saying now?"

Scott repeated a forceful sentence three times, and the woman in the wall yelled something at him. Lucy said, "That was a no."

"No shit." Virgil hadn't needed any translation for that one.

"Now what will he do?" Penelope breathed.

Whatever the goddess had said, Scott was not pleased at all, that was clear. He replied in a single clipped line that send fear racing across the woman's face. In a swift move he pulled a dagger from his cloak, all the tentacles on his face writhing with renewed motion, thrashing on his features. He stalked forwards, pulling out a dagger. It glinted brightly in the dark. The goddess looked alarmed, her big eyes widening, mouth parting in to say something in a pleading tone.

"He's going to hurt her," Virgil realised.

"Oh, no, no, no, don't…" Virgil heard Penelope gasping behind him.

Scott leapt towards the creature's face in a jump impossible for a normal man. The goddess screamed. Before Scott reached her, the floor erupted underneath him and a grey worm, many times larger than the ones Virgil and Penelope had encountered, pushed its way from a curved slit in the ground. Its body was a good forty feet long. Scott whirled to face it, striking out with the dagger before getting wrapped in its grip. The dagger flew from his hands as the thing slid around him, squeezing.

"No!" Virgil snatched up his rifle and began firing at the creature. The worm writhed at the attack, rolling so violently that Scott slid from its coils. Scott spun to his feet as the goddess screamed in fury.

Green blood oozed from bullet holes in the worm's waxy flesh. It arched up, stretched forwards in slick segments, and Virgil barely rolled out of its way before it smacked into the ground where he had stood. It came after him. Virgil was forced to run from it along the edge of the cavern, barely springing out of reach as it lunged again. It bore down on him, rushing closer and closer. He didn't dare stop to fire at it. When it struck at him once more he was knocked sideways, and twisted backwards to fire one more shot, but on impact the rifle flew from his grasp. The beast wrapped its coils around his body, squeezing him as it had done Scott. Virgil lost breath rapidly, moaned as a rib began to give out under the irresistible pressure. The world flicked red then utterly black.

A loud thud came from his right, then he was outstretched on the gnarly ground, fingers clutching the scaly skin of the beast. It thrashed, and powerful hands pulled him clear of its death throes. Scott was drenched in lurid green blood, the dagger in his hand. Beneath the writhing shapes, the sharp mouth parted in what might have been a smile. Or a warning. "Thanks." Virgil gasped anyway.

Scott seemed to stare at him for a long moment, although his expression was entirely lost in tentacles and shadow. Then, with a dismissive grunt, he turned around and walked back towards the woman in the wall. He shed the cloak, revealing longer tentacles that slid and lifted up into a hideous silhouette. On his bare back the symbol of Azathoth glowed molten red. "Come back! Wait, Scott!" Virgil wanted desperately to go after him but he could barely move. Then he heard the goddess shrieking further down the cavern.

Penelope reached Virgil, and supported him as he managed to stand, his innards racked with pain. "Fuck!" he panted. "Did you see that? Scott saved me!"

Penelope said, "Scott helped me to kill it. Hit it...with something. A light, I don't know. It worked. Then he stabbed it."

The goddess was screeching now. Virgil and Penelope staggered towards the noise. The light from Virgil's torch revealed what Scott was trying to do. "Bloody hell…" Penelope whispered.

Scott had climbed up to the goddess's panicked eye and was hacking away at the edge of it with the dagger. Penelope let out a horrified shriek as the big orb burst, splashing the floor with slick fluid. Virgil sank to his knees, appalled beyond words. Only Lucy whooped at the sight. "He hurt the fucking goddess!" she yelled. "What he's after must be really worth it!"

The goddess was shrieking and sobbing as Scott held on – the tentacles writhing on his body, weaving a web-like rope that held him in place before the bleeding space where her eye had been. He kept cutting until another spurt of reddish liquid poured out, and then he climbed forwards.

"What the fuck is he doing?" Virgil growled. His chest burned, a red veil of pain obscuring his sight each time he breathed.

"I only work here," Lucy murmured.

Penelope said in a thin voice, "It's wrong. It's so wrong."

The goddess's remaining eye swam up into the top of her eyelid, then it closed. Virgil guessed that she was as dead as goddess could be. The cavern shuddered and floor stopped pulsing, and a reddish gel trickled from her mouth.

"He killed her." Penelope said tightly. "He murdered her."

"Scott killed a goddess." There was even wonder in Lucy's voice. "That'll end well…"

He might have killed the goddess, but Virgil started getting worried that Scott might not come out again. "Get me closer," he said to Penny. "What if he gets trapped?"

She screwed up her face, but nodded and he leaned on her again. They limped as near to the face as they could, Virgil straining to see what had become of Scott. There were awful noises coming from within the wreck of the goddess, and then a slicing, sawing noise began. It lasted a while. Then there was complete silence. Virgil, Penelope and Lucy exchanged a look.

"I'm not going in there." Penelope said firmly.

The other eye erupted. Virgil and Penelope pulled away as it burst, too late to avoid the gush of milky fluid. Scott fell from the socket and landed on the sodden ground. He clasped a long piece of bone shaped like a pair of bizarre saxophones, connected together at the top and then twisting tightly together, flaring out again at the ends. The thought occurred absurdly, that it might be possible to play it.

"Guess that's the Ath-Kay-La…" Lucy muttered at his ear.

Scott curled over on the ground now, shuddering visibly, drenched in blood. The things on his skin wriggled, as though cleaning him, or themselves. The symbol of Azathoth was even more pronounced on his flesh as he began uttering a guttural prayer. Scott seemed utterly absorbed in what he was doing, rocking back and forth where he sat.

Virgil said, "Help me get to him." Each word was an effort.

"You're not still thinking of getting him back? He's gone, Virgil." Penelope hissed. "We must leave."

"When we're done," he said.

"He killed her! He nearly killed us!"

"I'm not so sure." Virgil grasped the dog tags in his fist. "I have to try." Stuffing one chain into his pocket, he gripped the other in his fist. "Have to get him back."

"No!" Penelope pulled away, pleading with him to stop. He elbowed her off him, pushing her backwards on the slippery floor.

Fighting the crippling pain in his chest, Virgil staggered to where Scott still sat with his head bowed. Scott glanced up just as Virgil stood over him, the dog tag ready. With his last strength, Virgil dropped onto his knees before his brother, and pushed the chain over his head. Scott's mouth curled in a snarl as the writhing things clutched at Virgil's hands. Virgil shoved the tag down, gasping a phrase he'd been taught with the last of his breath.

Scott grabbed Virgil's arm, squeezed. Virgil howled in pain as something snapped. Then a rifle shot rang out, and Scott turned his head, snarling. Virgil scrambled backwards as Scott rose to his feet and turned towards Penelope, stiff with fury. Penelope fired above his head, Scott grabbed the rifle end and threw her down beside Virgil. "Go!" Penelope wrapped her arms around Virgil's chest. "We have to go!"

"Scott! I'll come back for you!" Virgil shouted.

With a snarl, Scott snatched up the dagger and tried to cut at the chain holding the tag around his neck. "It's unbreakable." Virgil grinned madly. Scott snarled, rushing towards him.

Virgil squeezed his eyes shut. In a long forgotten language he whispered, "Break."

Penelope screamed something, and Virgil felt a fleeting pain, the ghost of a knife passing into his flesh, before he and Penelope fell upwards, his breath gone, the night digging into his mind. It occurred to him he might have died, and he would be falling forever, and Penelope would be lost with him.

But nothing falls forever.

Virgil woke in the shadows of the shepherd hut, his whole body aching from his head down.

Penelope held tightly onto him, sobbing softly into his shoulder. The Taduki's pepper and bile aftertaste lingered in his throat. Virgil choked when he tried to swallow. He unwrapped himself from Penelope's grasp.

"How long were we there?" he wondered aloud. Penelope coughed, climbing stiffly to her feet. She rummaged in her purse and found her compact. A quick check of its screen made her eyes go wide. "We've been gone for twelve hours!" She coughed again, dryly. "I, I must call Parker and tell him we will return shortly."

As she radioed, they gulped down the cold tea and wolfed the dry sandwiches which Parker must have packed for them that morning.

The Moroccan sun had almost set. Penelope sat in the driver's seat, and didn't turn to Virgil as he strapped on his seatbelt. Instead, she said, "You can't bring that back to our world, Virgil. There's nothing left. Nothing."

Virgil said, "We'll see, Penny…" He held up the remaining dog tag to the last of the light.

"No! You don't see it at all, do you! He's a…a creature. A killer. He nearly killed us both before we got back here!"

"I have a way to help him, once he's back on this side. He'll be himself again, you'll see."

"How can you possibly be sure of that? I have a feeling it would be worse than bloody Grendel Curwen, if you summoned that out of hell."

"Penny, you're not going to change my mind."

"Then we are not going back." She turned to face him directly, her skin horribly drawn against her skull; she appeared to have aged several decades while she'd travelled with him. "Virgil, no. He's gone."

Virgil frowned.

"When you all first tried, you failed horribly. Scott paid the price to save you all and that's the end of it. You tried, Virgil. You've lost everything but your life. Haven't you done enough?"

"No. It's not enough until he's home."

"Then you're a fool. Scott would think so, too. And I am not helping you any further. I'm taking Miss Curwen back to the asylum, and you are going home until you see sense."

"And if I don't, what then?"

"I don't know. But at least return home first, see your family, before…"

Virgil gave her a long and considered look. "All right. I did what I came to do. I've marked Scott so I can bring him home. So what's a little longer going to cost me?"

"Precisely. Perhaps by that point, Bear will be able to offer more secure assistance. Safer than Lucy Curwen's help, at least."

"I was under the impression that Bear wants to kill me."

"We'll see about that, too." Penelope pursed her lips and started driving again.

It was dark by the time they returned, and Parker met them as the car drove up.

"How's Ms Curwen?" Penelope asked.

"She's asleep upstairs," Parker said with a stab of the thumb, "Doctor Amal finks she'll be h'all right, though. You were away for a very long time. Are you all right, milady?"

"Not really, Parker. I would like a good strong cup of tea and then a moment to myself, if you don't mind." Penelope passed into the house without another look at Virgil. She'd looked impossibly fragile all of a sudden.

"Right h'away, milady. I'll be straight up." Parker gave Virgil a hard stare "Did you get what you were after, then?"

"Yes, Parker. We did." Virgil wanted to curl up on the nearest flat surface and fall asleep as well.

Parker caught his arm. The big man spoke harshly into his ear. "If you've done anyfing permanent to 'er ladyship, I'll send you to the bloody Dreamlands without anaesthetic, is that quite clear, mate?"

The threat took a good twenty seconds to sink in, Virgil gazing startled into Parker's deadly serious eyes, until he yanked his arm free. His junkie frame juddered at the brutal strength Parker had applied, and could already feel his arm bruising.

Not dropping eye contact with the older man, he answered. "It's perfectly fucking clear."

"Good." Parker moved back as Penelope stepped out of her room.

She said, "Virgil, your father is on the line. Would you come and speak to him, now."

It wasn't a request. It was also the last thing Virgil wanted to do. His bed called to him, but there was no chance to get away. He nodded, not trusting himself to talk.

He sat down opposite the glowing square of light in Penelope's room, and looked his father in the eye.

Lucy Curwen was lying outstretched, bandages around her torso and down to her stomach. She seemed to be asleep, until he closed the door.

"I saw you in my dreams," she said softly.

"I know." He sat heavily next to her on a small wooden chair. "I did it."

"You aren't there, yet, Virgil. Scott's close, but there's 'miles to go' and all that…"

"Right. Penelope's little manoeuvres have almost screwed this up." He rested his head in his palms, weary beyond belief. Lucy prodded his hip with her foot, tilting her body to half-sit in the hospital bed.

"You look way too happy for someone who got stabbed." He commented.

"Told you, the doctor gave me some great drugs." She nudged him again with her toes, which still had a pinkish pearlescent nail polish on them from their time in Interzone. "And I'm still tingling. I've been going over and over, thinking about what Scott did to that Lesser God…holy shit. He's incredible. He's fucking lethal. I bet Penelope wants you to give up on him, right? She thinks you don't have a hope."

"I can make him right again," Virgil clenched his fists over his face, "You know that, too."

"Penelope nearly got me and you killed in Interzone and she was useless out there, too. She's trouble, Virgil. In thrall to your daddy. She's going to cost you any chance at getting Scott if you let her."

"I know," he grimaced.

"Are you going to take care of her, then?"

"Shut up." Virgil knew all too well what he had to do. Lucy thought she knew him inside out, and she was probably right.

She made a noise that was almost sympathetic. "So what's plan B? Now there's only one shot left, and time is really fucking short." She stroked him with her toes, chuckling when he backed away hastily. "Your family will never let you go again, you know. Not until you're 'cured'. You'll probably have a cell like mine, only on the island somewhere. It'll be warm, padded, tucked away somewhere quiet. Do you think they'll visit you? Do you think they'll come and stare at their mad brother in the padded cave?"

Virgil said nothing. She wasn't wrong, about any of it, and that was the killer.

Lucy persisted, "You'll lose Scott and you'll have to start all over again. And honestly, I think you're already at your limit."

"I'll improvise." Virgil turned to her, finding a shallow reservoir of strength. He said, "So do you know who has the key to this cupboard or not?"

It took a second, but Lucy's eyes widened. She had caught on immediately, as he had been sure she would. "You're really going to do it?" she said, "They'll never have you back if you do this, you know." She grinned. "I'm so proud of you, honeybear."

"Don't call me that, Chastity."

"Hey!" she kicked at him. "Fuck you, Virgie."

"Don't blame you for changing it." He frowned. "Must be the only thing about your fucked up family that you didn't like…"

"You're tired. I will be generous and forgive you, honeybear…" He grimaced, and she pouted. "Well, you didn't used to mind it."

"Another time, another place," he said flatly. "The key, Lucy."

She sighed and stretched out an arm. "It's in the doc's coat pocket. Over there. He thought I was asleep when he put it in there."

"Thanks." Virgil stood up and found the keys where she said. "This'll help a lot."

"I won't tell them what you're planning. I know you'll keep your word to me."

He looked at her, nodded. "That's right. I promised."

"Good boy." She smiled. "So, how are you going to do this?"

"I spoke to my father just now. He's sending Thunderbird One to get us tomorrow. Only one person will be flying it - my brother John. First, we're taking you back to Arkham. Then I'm going home."

"And what's really going to happen?"

"Just be ready."

"I always am." She lifted up her leg and said, "I took you to hell and back. I hope you aren't too tired, honeybear."

Virgil tried to keep the incredulity out of his voice. "You've got to be kidding, Lucy. The shape you're in?"

"Aww, honeybear," she sighed. "The doctor made it better, didn't he?"

"Let's be sure, shall we? Besides, I need you in one piece for tomorrow. After that, we'll talk."

She smiled. The hunger in it haunted him all the way back to his own room.

Virgil slept heavily, his body ghosting through the Dreamlands. He drifted in the moonlit Bonefields, untouched by monsters or any other living thing. The eerie desert had gained a new layer of stillness, as though Scott's vicious actions in that cavern had killed whatever had kept the bone desert awake and treacherous. The Damana creature rattled past him, weaving past like a snake, hissing from its triplet head of skulls as it brushed against his see-through leg.

Now he had found Scott, there was nothing to keep him in this place or compel him to return. His journey in the Dreamlands had nearly ended. Besides, it was unlikely he'd get hold of any more Taduki in the future. Madame Xu had a stranglehold on its supply. When he got Scott back, there would be plenty enough to worry about.

But he would have really liked to see Celephais again.

Exactly as scheduled, Thunderbird One arrived just after breakfast the next morning. It had been so many years since he'd seen one of the 'birds that Virgil's heart rose to his mouth when she landed. His hands began trembling so much that he was forced to put the coffee cup down on a wall by the house and lean against the weather-beaten brick, catching his breath.

Penelope walked up beside him, touched his upper arm lightly. "They have a small fleet of Thunderbird Ones, now. I imagine they've sent an older model to collect us."

"A fleet, huh?" Virgil noticed that Thunderbird One was much the same. "Explains the extra numbers on her side." The idea of so much change made him queasy.

Penelope said, "It'll be over soon, Virgil. We'll do a round trip to get Curwen back to Arkham, and then return to the Island. I will vouch for your story, you have my word on that."

"OK. Thanks. Good." Virgil was in no hurry to meet the new members of the team. Not that he was in a hurry for a reunion with his family, either. His throat was dry as he went over to meet John.

As he approached, his blond brother climbed down from One's cockpit and hopped the last three steps to the ground. He wore a uniform, which was still blue despite now having a more militaristic look than Virgil had remembered. John's shock of blond hair was much shorter, and he appeared far more deeply tanned than he had in his twenties. Virgil just had time to notice the glimmer of a ring on his brother's hand as he rushed toward him.

John wrapped his arms around Virgil and gave him a fierce hug.

"Thank God you're alive," he said, gripping him so tightly Virgil momentarily struggled to breathe. After a minute that felt like an hour of crushing embrace, John finally let him go. "Christ, Virgil, we thought you were dead. Jesus Christ, you're so fucking skinny. You look dead." Then he gripped Virgil's shoulders and shook him like a rag doll. "And you're a fucking idiot."

Virgil half grinned, half cast his eyes down. John punched him a little too hard in the shoulder, twice, and caught him in another embrace that once again threatened to push all the breath from his body.

"It's good to have you back, Virg." John said gruffly against his ear.

"I know." Virgil mumbled into his brother's shoulder. "I know."

Fifteen minutes later they were both back inside the doctor's house, seated at the breakfast table with the housekeeper buzzing around them.

Virgil said, "I hear Gordon's got a kid on the way."

"Yes. We think it's a boy. Due in a couple weeks. But…Christ, Virg, where have you been? And what happened to you? And to your voice? You smoking a thousand a day now?"

"Not exactly."

"Uh huh." John looked him up and down. "Penelope said you were different. She was right. What the hell did you do to yourself?"

"I was looking for Scott," Virgil said. "I had to look pretty deep."

"Yeah, no shit." John's eyes widened. "Did you…did you find him, then?"

"Nearly." Virgil finished his coffee and pushed it away. Taduki traces swam in red streams behind his eyes. He blinked hard and then rubbed at them to clear his vision. "I mean, I'm really close to tracking him down, it's just…it's hard to explain."

"Then explain it. Use short words if you have to, Virgil, but I want to know where the fuck you've buried yourself for the last four years." An edge was creeping inexorably into his voice.

"It'll be easier if I explain to everyone." Virgil said. "All at once. The sooner I'm home, the better."

John finished his coffee. "How fucking complicated can it be? Where the hell is Scott?"

"I'll explain everything, I promise."

"Virg…."

"I promise. Come on, let's get Curwen on board One."

"Right, right…you shacked up with Lucy Curwen, too. I can't believe you broke that crazy bitch out of Arkham. Caused a fire, nearly killed fifty people…"

"We didn't 'shack up'." Virgil protested. "And those people were never in serious danger."

"Well, I sure as shit hope not." John's voice was serious now, "But you've got a helluva lot to justify. Dad just told me that Bear's on his way to meet us at Arkham. Think you can explain to him what the hell you've been playing at?"

"He wants to kill me." Virgil said.

"Yeah, that's what Dad said, too. I'll back you up, Virg. If he tries to rip your head off, I'll shoot him myself."

"Is it that bad?"

John squeezed Virgil's shoulder, "It's worse. You killed one of his dogs over some lousy bits of mirror glass. Why the hell would you…why the fuck wouldn't you wait?"

"If you'd seen how Scott looked, you'd understand." He looked down at his coffee. "Not all of us went and got married, after all."

"Fuck you, Virgil." John jumped up, grabbed him by the collar and shook him violently. "You think you're the only one who missed him? Do you know what it's been like? At all?"

He lifted Virgil off the floor in his fury. Virgil struggled like a kitten, John's superior strength completely overwhelming him. His head spun and red Taduki threads spiralled, dizzying his vision on all sides. He rasped frantically, "Stop…."

"You think I didn't want him back? Do you?" John shook him harder, knocking out what little air Virgil had left. "You have no fucking clue! I miss Scott every day, you selfish, self-righteous, gutless lunatic!"

A water glass smashed by John's ear, fragmenting the sun as it spilled. With a curse, John dropped Virgil and backed away, looking shocked.

"Enough!" Penelope entered the kitchen, her face equally furious. "John! Look at him! He can barely defend himself, what the devil is wrong with you?"

John leaned against the kitchen cabinets, breathing hard, his face still flushed. Virgil remained gasping on the floor, fighting to get his breath back through his much-abused throat, watching John respond to Penelope.

"It's been four years." John said at last, not meeting her eyes. "Now he can't even tell us where he's been."

"He will explain everything in due course. I can vouch that there is a very good explanation awaiting you all." Without missing a beat, she said, "I do hope that there is still some tea I can enjoy before we board?"

Penelope's very presence seemed to cool John off entirely. His blond brother passed her a rose-patterned teacup and said mildly, "We lift off in fifteen minutes. I'll tell father."

They secured Lucy in One's passenger section, where she was safely strapped into the fold out metal table. Virgil surreptitiously placed a small oxygen mask in her palm, and she folded it beneath her blanket with a knowing look as Penelope and Parker got in behind him.

"Are you going to get rid of that dreadful coat, Virgil?" Penelope remarked, strapping herself in. "It's a disgusting mess."

"I'm sentimental." He responded dryly.

"It's a wreck. I'm sure John can find you something…"

"I'll have my whole wardrobe to choose from when I get back home, Penny, don't sweat it." He squeezed past Parker, who was still giving him a warning look. "Have a good flight back here."

"You too. I'm so glad you've decided to see sense. All this will be over soon, you'll see."

"I know, Penny," he smiled at her, and she returned his look. She still looked strained. He didn't think she'd slept much at all the previous night. But neither had he.

"All aboard, people," John's voice snapped over the radio.

Virgil went through into Thunderbird One's cockpit. It looked entirely wrong to Virgil to see his blond brother in Scott's beloved control seat. John shifted uncomfortably as Virgil glanced up at him.

"Ready?" John asked. Virgil grunted affirmation. Sitting himself down, he strapped himself in below John's chair.

"What's changed in this 'bird, then?" Virgil asked.

John was doing flight checks. He answered, "She's faster, if you can believe it. She isn't even the top of the range, either. We have five in the fleet, now."

"Five Thunderbird One's?"

"Yeah. Five. This is the original, though. Most of the changes went into the Mark II."

"Gotta love expansion, I guess." The thought of so much change really made Virgil's head spin, even as John hit the boosters, and Thunderbird One started her familiar rumble for takeoff.

"Everyone ready?" John asked.

"We are ready now, John." Penelope's voice confirmed.

"FAB." John leaned back in his seat, Virgil saw his boots point out as the rocket lifted smoothly off the ground. They were on their way to Arkham, and then home to confront his father.

Virgil was too tense to enjoy the flight. He waited while John confirmed lift off, set a course, and said, "Hope you still like Chopin?" He flicked on the radio. Chopin's delicate Nocturne flooded the cabin.

Virgil hadn't heard it for years. The sound held a secret inside, one untainted by what he had become. He leaned back, his fingers playing the notes silently on the armrest of the metal chair. John made a contented noise as Thunderbird One sped on, the chronometer counting down the minutes before they reached the New England Coast, after barely twenty minutes since they'd left Morocco. Virgil breathed in, deeply, readying himself. He'd estimated their speed accurately enough. It was time to act.

The G-Force slowed, and the pressure keeping him in the chair eased. Virgil stretched up, unhooking himself and getting to his feet. He climbed the ladder to John's side.

"I know you miss him," he said, stabbing a hypo-syringe into his blond brother's thigh. "I just miss him more."

John's eyes flared, He gasped, wordless, fought valiantly for about half a second and then slumped forwards in his seat. Virgil eased his brothers head back, reached past him and quickly engaged the autopilot. Then he fumbled for the release catch and half-slung John from the chair. He struggled to stop John from slipping, but his brother's tall, muscular frame was far too heavy for him. Virgil dropped John the last four rungs with an ungainly thump, and he sprawled on the floor, still safely out cold. Doctor Amal really did have some great drugs in his cupboard.

He checked John quickly but he seemed totally unhurt. Heaving him into the lower seat, Virgil fastened him securely and tied up his hands and feet. Then he ran to the control chair again, ripping a tiny notebook from a hidden pocket he'd carefully stitched into the seams of his ragged coat. He flicked through the carefully scribed notes he'd jotted back when he was starting this, anticipating, planning every step.

Before becoming a full time junkie, he'd been frighteningly organised in securing his mission. Now his exhaustive preparation was paying off.

Virgil quickly reprogramed One's navigation systems, using his memory of a work-around that Brains had taught them as an emergency measure to send a false trail if the stealth cloaking failed and they were suddenly vulnerable to outside tracking. Its one drawback was that base would receive the same false trail…but ironically this was its supreme usefulness to Virgil's mission right now.

It still worked. Virgil exhaled in relief. Since no one was looking for it back home, anyone tracking Thunderbird One would have no idea she had altered course. If he did the next part right, no one would have a damn clue where he'd gone, either, at least until it was much too late to bring him down on remote.

Virgil had one more thing to do before he altered course. He adjusted the air pressure inside the passenger section. "You OK back there?" he asked over the mike a few minutes later. There was no answer. He flicked on the internal cameras, and was pleased to see Penelope and Parker slumped forwards. Lucy had the mask over her face.

"Neat trick," he heard her reply.

"Hold tight. We're changing course."

"FAB." For plenty of good reasons, hearing her say that made his skin crawl. Once the course was safely set, Virgil left his chair briefly to secure Penelope and Parker. He drugged them with the same thing he had given John, watching in relief as they sank into deep, unshakeable slumbers. Only then did he restore the air pressure to normal.

"This is it, honeybear."

"I know."

"How does it feel?" her voice was breathless, sounding a little high off the oxygen he'd given her.

"I'll let you know," he answered, looking down at Penelope's blonde head with a deepening frown. "Won't be long now."

"You really think the Black Slab will be there?"

The possibility of failure at this point chilled him. "Why? You don't all of a sudden?"

"Just saying…it might be wrong."

"Cut it the fuck out." He heard her snort of amusement. "You can breathe vacuum like these two, if you're gonna start acting like a…"

"Just get us there. I'm as curious as you. It's a really vague old description, isn't it? 'The Black Slab of the Nameless Isle'. Those ancients didn't really go in for specifics."

"It's your intel," Virgil growled.

"And it's accurate. Don't worry so much." She sat up. "How much longer til we get there? Won't your family come after us soon?"

"We'll get there in thirty minutes." He heard Chopin's 'Raindrop Prelude' trickle to a calming finish. "I have to put her at full speed now. We've got around two hours before my family can even try to track us down."

At least, he hoped so.

The 'Nameless Isle' was an unappealing spit of land a very long way off their original path. Somewhere south of the Pacific Ocean's equator, Virgil was relieved to see it just where the ancient scholars had suggested. It was flat, and unappealingly layered with a sticky black mud. He surveyed the area from above, not liking at all what he saw. "Any luck?" Lucy asked him.

"Not yet."

"The marker should be in the centre of a crater, if the testimony from that suicidal mariner was accurate. That was in the nineteen-twenties, though."

Virgil was reviewing his notes that said the same thing. Lucy's memory had always impressed him. He lowered One's viewing hatch and peered out. The dank, almost featureless little island was only four miles around, but it still took a frustratingly long time to spot what he'd come to find.

The sun had begun to set on his tenth sweep. Glimpsing a set of regular shapes in the mud beneath them, he said to Lucy, "The Marker's in a crater, white and pale, surrounded by 'crude sculptures', right?"

"That's it."

"Then I see it," Virgil said.

They touched down on a slimy bank of mud about half a mile from the Marker's location. Once satisfied that One was stable and wouldn't slip away, Virgil opened up the lower hatch and climbed down. The desolate region was putrid with the carcasses of decaying fish, and of other, less describable things. Virgil doubted that even his underwater-obsessed brother would manage to put a name to them.

"Can you get me out of here now?" Lucy demanded.

"Let me set up first." Virgil hoisted the hoverbikes down from the secure hatch beneath One's outstretched wing. These were sleeker than the older models, and they came with an improved trailer for medical supplies, which relieved him greatly. There was no telling what state Scott would be in once they retrieved him. Virgil breathed in deep, casting an eye toward the pit, and then up to the darkening shoreline. Clouds were gathering where sky met water, and a foul wind buffeted the loose strips of his coat. He climbed into One's warmth to get Lucy from the ship.

Then he went back in for Penelope.

His father's favourite agent was still unconscious, blissfully unaware as he lowered her onto the trailer and secured her again. Lucy Curwen watched him with great interest, her elfin face stretched wide in a grin.

"I love how she's going to help you do this."

"Can you ride OK?" Virgil asked stiffly.

There was a flash of lightning in the far distance. Lucy shivered, wincing, her bandages keeping her upright in the red hoverbike saddle. "Sure, let's get him back before that fucking storm hits." She wrinkled her nose, "This place really stinks."

"Then breathe through your mouth," he said gruffly.

Pulling ahead of her, Virgil cautiously steered his hoverbike towards the Marker as Penelope slept on. The white monolith was contained in a scoop of earth about the width of thirty full grown men. It loomed in the centre, like a shrunken cousin of the bone tower that had sheltered the Goddess. Virgil stopped ten feet in front of it. A faint rain spattered his face as he consulted his texts again, using the hoverbike's headlights to read by.

Lucy drifted to a halt beside his bike as he figured it out. He squelched through the mud, almost losing a shoe, right up to the Marker's base. The carvings on it were more apparent now, the hard shadows throwing up unpleasant imagery. Manlike creatures with bulging eyes were committing various acts that he really didn't want to examine too closely. Repelled, he turned his back on it.

"Do you have it?" Lucy called. "Find the damn slab, honeyb…"

"Think it's about ten steps away!" He adjusted his direction. "South-east…" he stomped forwards, squelching through even deeper mud. His leg landed in a mess of seaweed and fish heads, and he had to pull it out with both hands. His sensitive fingertips grazed a piece of solid stone. "Here!" he shouted. "I think it's here!"

"Really?" Lucy cheered from her rigid position on the bike. "Hoo-fucking-ray. Are you sure?"

"Pretty damn sure," he muttered, digging further into the glutinous muck as it began to rain. Finding still more of the brackish texture he finally exposed a fat, grooved series of stones. He scrabbled like a mad dog for around fifteen minutes, wiping and uncovering the structure beneath. Hidden under the mud was a large stone circle, and in its centre was a shining, jagged groove which the rain rapidly cleaned to a bright gleam.

He dug frantically in his mud-weighted coat. Pulling out the knife he'd liberated from the doctor's kitchen, he used it to rip into another hidden pocket. The coat was not much more than a collection of ragged strips of cloth now. He fished for and found a lump of metal in the same jagged shape as the groove in the stone.

Kneeling beside it, he read hoarsely from the notebook, the short invocation in a dead tongue hurting his skull. Threads of Taduki surged behind his eyes, and Virgil spat out the last words with a pained groan. As he completed the final syllable, he jammed the metal shape into the matching hole.

It fit.

The reaction was instantaneous. The ground rumbled violently, and he scrambled back, falling fully into the mud, as a dark, oblong shape emerged from the centre of the circle, rising into the storm-black sky. Ten feet wide and thirty feet high, it undulated in the rain, glistening with murky, obsidian colours.

Smeared in filth from head to toe, he bawled, "There! There's the fucking slab! You were right all along! We found it!"

Lucy glided her bike close to where he sprawled in the thickening rain. "I don't believe it," she whispered, and took his hand, helping him unglue from the grasping wet dirt.

"We were right, Lucy. We were right!" For a moment, elation threatened to flatten him, the blood sang in his ears, the creeping need for Taduki scared off by a rush of sheer adrenaline.

"Let's get Penelope into place, then." Lucy said.

Virgil's heart chilled. Now the dense rain made his movements heavy. He lurched through the mud, bringing Penelope up and out of the bike's trailer. He laid her down beside the vibrating black slab, and said to Lucy "Help me."

Lucy smiled at Virgil, kissing him. It left stinking dirt caked on her delicate features briefly before the rain sluiced her clean again. "You're so close to getting him back, can't you feel it? You came all this way and now you just have to do one more thing."

Virgil stared down at Penelope's inert body. Drenched by thundery rain, her white clothes, worn for the Moroccan morning, were almost see-through. She had never looked more vulnerable to him, and her breathing was starting to stir as the continual pummelling of rain penetrated the drug he had given her.

"The knife's over there," Lucy gestured helpfully, rubbing his shoulders, kissing him again excitedly. "It's just one little thing left to do."

Virgil pulled the blade from the mud beside Penelope's body, "Are you ready?" Lucy asked, grinning now.

"Yeah. Start your part, and I'll do mine."

The Black Slab undulated, writhing like sentient oil. Virgil lifted Penelope, her limp form reflected in the dark mirror, his own body a ragged ghost wrapped around her. He said, "Now." He saw Lucy Curwen close her eyes, muttering more unpleasant poetry. The storm was nearly on them now, battering the shallow island; the water that struck the slab made it hiss and the surface rippled. Virgil held Penelope's throat exposed against the surface, the knife ready to rip, to tear. He couldn't tell if he was crying.

In the ancient tongue, he whispered, "Accept this offering, and bring my blood back to me."

Virgil ran the blade into pale female flesh, and Penelope dropped from his arms, rolling away from him in the mud. Lucy stared at him, her eyes wide, her smile gone. She staggered forwards, grasping blindly at the knife protruding from her chest.

Virgil roughly pulled her up, pushed her towards the Slab. She screamed, wriggling like a fish in his arms. He didn't know how he manhandled her so that the remaining dog tag wrapped around her neck. It was all a blur as she fought and bit and scratched him, kicking him and screaming. But she was still weakened from her earlier wound, and he managed to overpower her. Blood gushed out as he retrieved the knife, blazing hot on his frozen hand. "I'm sorry," he rasped, and meant it, all the way down to his soul. He pushed her up against the Slab's surface, making sure her blood touched it. It snatched her from him greedily, drawing her whole body inside itself.

"Bring him back." Virgil growled. Then he lost all strength in his knees.

He crouched there in the mud, staring up at the Slab's surface swirling back and forth, like a vast creature chewing. Lucy's cooling blood coated his hand, the red mixing with dirt and rain. Virgil shuddered. "I'm sorry, Lucy. I'm sorry."

Pale fingers grabbed his foot. Penelope gasped at him, "What did you do?"

"I made a deal," he whispered.

"You monster." Pushing to her feet on the bruised muscle of his calf, Penelope shook all over, still halfway under but fighting for full consciousness. She wrapped her arms around herself, her teeth chattering.

Virgil remained sitting in front of the slab. Covered in dirt and wrapped in the shreds of his coat, he barely recognised his reflection in the slick black mirror it provided. It undulated, throbbing visibly. Inside it there came a long, rising hum.

"What have you done? What's it doing?" Penelope shouted. He glanced over at her, and saw she was holding the knife out at him, her whole body trembling.

He responded honestly. "It's gone to find Scott."

"What?"

"This is what everything's been for!" He felt the air and the Slab rumble as one, the whirlwind of stench making him rise to his feet. "It's bringing him back!" He stepped towards Penelope, slipping and sliding on the mud. He'd lost a shoe already, his toes disgustingly mired. He stood on one of the nubs of rock. "Scott's coming back!"

"Stay away from me!" Penelope rapidly slipped and slid a distance clear of him, brandishing the knife. "You're insane! Who are you? You killed her! In cold blood! And then you gave her to that…thing…"

Virgil grimaced, the rain whipping heavier at his face. The words to explain it all eluded him, the cold and exhaustion threatening to overtake him completely. He stripped off his wrecked coat and pulled out a single lump of stone from the remaining pocket.

"What's that? Are you…are you going to beat me to death as well? Is that what you have to do next?"

"It's for Scott." Virgil said. Between Penelope's frantic questions, the high squeal of the wind across the bleak shore, and his own racing blood, he drifted alone in a private vale of calm.

It was probably shock.

There was another rumble. He turned his back on Penelope, starting to breathe hard again as the Black Slab undulated like a vertical wave. It vibrated with increasing speed, sloshing and pulling, and he heard unnatural voices screaming within it. "Scott!" Virgil yelled out.

There was a blast, like something had ripped off a piece of the sky, violently breaking the sound barrier and then the speed of light. The immediate shockwave that followed threw Penelope and Virgil off their feet. The red hoverbike spun in a complete circle while the other flew away several metres. Grimly, Virgil hauled himself out of the sticky ground, the stone still locked within his fist.

The Slab had gone. Scott and Lucy lay in the centre of the stones where it had stood. Virgil slogged through the watery mud to reach his brother.

Scott was already sitting up. In the greenish flashes of lightning, his features seemed more warped than before, buried beneath a mini-Medusa of angry, writhing shapes. His eyes were still impossible to see, sunk away in the deep darkness under the agitated movement. Scott growled when Virgil threw himself on him. In one hard, jabbing motion Virgil thrust the stone into Scott's snarling mouth and forced him to swallow it. Scott fought him, struggled crazily, but Virgil held on tight. The thrashing tentacles stung at his arm and wrists, sending mean pecks of pain into his blood. Grateful to be numb from the cold and rain, Virgil gripped Scott in place, enduring his brother's violent resistance until he was certain that he had swallowed the whole thing. When lightning flashed again, Virgil watched the smooth stone bulge, then slide in his brother's throat, finally slipping down.

When it went, Scott lay completely still for a few seconds, making odd gulping noises. Virgil pressed his ear against his heaving chest, listening to his powerful heartbeat and laboured breath.

"It's OK, it's OK…" Virgil tried to soothe him.

Then Scott began gasping for air again, a horrible hacking sound. He rolled onto his stomach and started to retch. Virgil slid down, trying to help, but Scott kicked him backward with a savage noise. The dark cloak fell away from Scott's bare shoulders and he began uttering even more inhuman sounds.

Virgil retreated just far enough, unable to tear his eyes from the sight. As Scott writhed in the mud, the mark of the mad god on his back glowed brighter and brighter, then vanished, snuffed out. The tentacles all over his body began to flail, going limp, they dropped away one by one like sated leeches.

"It's working…" Virgil whispered. He thought he heard Penelope shouting something at him, but it was entirely lost in the nearing thunder.

Scott let out another inhuman yell, rubbing fiercely at his face, scattering the dying tentacles like gnarly confetti. He doubled up, arms folded tight under his chest while he coughed and retched, opening his mouth an impossibly long way while a greenish black tube slid from his lips. The thing had life. It had no eyes, but a chittering mouth like an insect, and it dragged long spindly tendrils at the end of its body that were snapping off as it climbed from Scott's mouth. It weaved back and forth sickeningly as it emerged. After far too long it fell free of Scott's lips, landing with a heavy squick in the dark mud. Began to twisted around violently like a stranded worm, and the buzzing, squirmy sound it made brought peppery gorge to Virgil's throat.

Penelope was right behind Virgil, her eyes huge. She was filthy, soaked to the bone and shivering, the knife barely gripped in her shaking fingers. Virgil turned his head to her just a little. "Give me the knife," he said.

Wordlessly, she did as he asked.

Virgil walked over to the slippery grey thing and stabbed it over and over.

When it stopped moving, and was in several fast-dissolving pieces, Virgil finally dropped the knife and collapsed beside Scott. His brother was crouched on hands and knees, bare head resting on his elbows while the rain battered his naked back. Helping to swipe off the last of the disgusting wriggling things, Virgil rubbed Scott's trembling shoulders and said. "You're safe now."

Scott gripped Virgil's arm like a drowning man, turning over. Without the writhing shapes, Virgil could finally see Scott's face. He said, "Open your eyes, you're OK. We'll get out of this storm and we…" Lightning flashed. Virgil gripped Scott tight, horrified at what it revealed.

Scott's eyes had been sealed closed, almost seamlessly. He was utterly blind. With a low moan like a wounded animal, Virgil hugged Scott to him, his brother still not quite seeming to comprehend who or where he was. He shivered in Virgil's grip like a shaken puppy.

"We must go." Penelope yelled into his ear after the third thunderclap. "Virgil, we must leave! Get back to Thunderbird! Go home!"

The water around them grew deeper as the storm reached the island. Her words sunk in after a moment's dense thought. Virgil blinked pooling rain from his eyes, and said, "Help me." He hooked Scott's cold arm over his shoulder, and Penelope helped him to get Scott back up to the hoverbike. His brother was shivering violently, and briefly halted to retch up a thick molasses-like substance that merged instantly with the sopping mud.

Virgil fixed him down where he'd restrained Penelope a mere hour ago. "Stay here," he said, cupping the side of Scott's sightless face. He told him. "You'll be OK. I'll be right back."

He started back to the circle. Penelope caught his arm, "What are you doing?"

"I can't leave Lucy alone here."

"Yes, you bloody can…"

He went to move past her and she grabbed him again. "You're going to put her corpse next to Scott, are you? Honestly? He needs immediate medical attention – as we all do!"

"I owe her."

"You owe her nothing, not after what she did to your family."

"I'm not leaving her behind!"

"You murdered her!" Penelope struck him, spattering mud. "What are you going to do…swan back to your father with her body and claim it was all an accident?"

"I…" Through the stormy air, Virgil suddenly saw something dark moving towards them, over her shoulder. "Did Parker get free already?" he said, blinking in the heavy rain.

The thing that loomed out of the dark was human shaped, but there the resemblance to Parker ended. Bigger than a man by two feet, its huge eyes bulged at them from a fishlike head that led up to a sharply jutting crest. Virgil caught a glimpse of its wide mouth glinting with pointed teeth, and an impression of greenish, scaly skin before he shoved Penelope out of its way. She sprawled flat in the mud, screaming in terror.

The storm was right over the island now. Virgil rolled backwards down the watery slope, tumbling backwards and scrambling towards the white marker as the fishlike man leapt down after him. Its powerful body easily navigated the clinging filth in the crater. Virgil scrabbled for purchase. With an effort he reached the centre of the stones where the mud was deeper than ever. The humanoid creature closed in on him and he stumbled back into the circle of stones, which had turned into a foot-deep pool since he'd pulled Scott from it. The creature circled him, snarling. The lightning revealed and confirmed it – the thing closely resembled the creatures carved onto the marker. A quick glance confirmed it, They own the island, he realised abruptly. They were pictured doing unspeakable things, stuff that made his stomach turn. Oh, shit…

He dug frantically in the mud for the knife, but it was probably buried deep by now.

Lucy's body drifted up beside him. Her dead eyes stared wide open to the torrential rain, her delicate fingers outstretched. Beside her, a large piece of bone also floated to his grasping fingertips. Seeing a weapon, he grabbed it and lifted it up. Then he realised it was the Ath-Kay-La instrument, which Scott had taken from the Goddess. It felt light, yet very solid in his hands, its body ridged and smooth at the same time. Virgil lifted it higher as the monster approached the edge of the circle, while two more of the creatures approached him on either side, gnashing their too-wide mouths gleefully. Still more were surrounding Penelope. Virgil hefted his pathetic weapon. "Stay back!" he yelled.

The first creature sprang right at him. Virgil swung the heavy bone like a baseball bat, gasping as an unnatural strength pulsed through his well-aimed stroke. He caught the creature on the side of its scaly head, and a good portion of its face, gills and crest went sailing into the mud. A searing stench of burnt fish and hissing black blood rose into the night. The humanoid monster dropped like a stone.

The other two creatures that were closing in stopped dead, snarling at Virgil in a hideous tongue. They made no effort to move closer. "Yeah!" Virgil glared at them, not sure what had happened, but brandishing the bone weapon anyway. "Yeah! Back off! Stay the fuck back!"

The things were slow learners.

Another leapt at him, and he cut it in half with a sweeping gesture of the bone. In the pouring rain he could see new markings appearing all over it, and it thrummed with energy.

The final beast took one flopping step away, then bared its needlesharp teeth, roaring into the storm. It made no further effort to get nearer. "Yeah, stay back!" Virgil growled.

He bent down awkwardly, and hauled Lucy Curwen's limp body from the mud. She was very light. The Slab had taken every drop of blood from her. Of course, he'd helped that along.

Once he had her over his shoulder, Virgil shouted. "Penelope! Get Scott out of here!"

Halfway up the slope, he saw Penelope mount the red hoverbike with Scott apparently oblivious in the trailer behind her. The narrow beam of its light swung around, revealing the way out. Then another triple flash of lightning made their situation clear.

A large cluster of the humanoid creatures waited up on the crater's edge. He counted at least forty of them, and more every time he looked, looming over the edge, watching and waiting for him and Penelope to climb back out. Penelope stopped the hoverbike before she reached them. She fired the hoverbike's cannon, and some of the monsters scattered away as the gunfire tore away the top of the cliff, leaving a gap. Penelope gestured wildly for Virgil to follow her.

Virgil took a step over the stone circle, sloshing barefoot through the filth. The closest beasts backed away, snarling at him but staying put. Virgil heard himself laughing, swung the bone at them twice with his free hand. Lucy's clammy hand caressed his aching shoulder. He forced himself to carry on, and the creatures continued to keep their distance. With nothing but adrenaline keeping him going now, he half-mounted the blue hoverbike with Lucy draped over the seat, and steered it towards Penelope.

He put Lucy in the trailer beside Scott. Penelope was staring at the weapon he carried. "Is that the Ath-Kay-La? Scott still h, had it?"

"This?" Virgil swung the bone again. "I think so." He held it up as a couple of the monsters tried to creep sideways towards them. It glimmered, eager to kill. The beasts stayed still, making low growls at him, his threat keeping them at bay. "Thunderbird One isn't far." Virgil said, "We'll shoot our way out together. Ready?"

"Yes." Penelope steadied herself on the bike.

"On three…" Virgil geared up the limited cannon on the hoverbike. "One, two…"

They fired. More of the monsters cleared from the ridge, but he didn't think they'd stay away long. The smoke dissipated and Virgil and Penelope steered as fast as they could up to the top of the crater.

As they reached the swamped cusp of the crater's edge, the lightning revealed what he'd feared. The tiny island was swarming with the creatures now. A mass of scaly, crested bodies approached the crater, while the few that the cannons had scared away were already regrouping. Virgil grimaced. The rain lashed down, and he and Penelope fired again and gunned it, headed for Thunderbird One.

But something was wrong. "I don't see her!" he shouted through the storm.

"Where did you land her?"

"Right over here!" Virgil looked around frantically, the horde of creatures loping closer by the second. He shivered violently, his breath stuck in his chest. "Fuck!"

Penelope brought the hoverbike up close to him, shook his shoulder. "Virgil, think, where did we land?"

"She was here! We should be able to fucking see her by now!" He couldn't believe it, couldn't believe that the ship was missing. "Maybe she sank, I don't know!"

"We have to find her!" Penelope shouted in his ear, and then screamed a warning.

Two of the creatures were close enough to shake hands. Virgil twisted awkwardly in his seat, lifting up to use the Ath-Kay-La. It slashed off the nearest thing's arm, and the other went snorting and growling back to the clump of creatures just ten feet away.

The bigger mass of creatures was audible now, ugly cries cackling through the storm and the rain. They would be on them in minutes. Virgil said in appalled horror. "We're fucked."

"Keep firing then." Penelope said, turning the hoverbike around. She fired like a madwoman at the approaching horde. In the lightning flashes, this only seemed make them run faster, a stinking mass of greasy scales and too-wide mouths stuffed full of greedily gnashing teeth. Virgil shot at them as well, but then spotted that the little group nearest them were moving in, peering at the trailer that held Scott and Lucy.

"Get away from there!" He spun around, fired on their side, but the creatures stayed too close to the trailer and continued their investigation. Virgil half-fell, half jumped from his seat, yelling, "Stay away!" He swiped the Ath-Kay-La, slicing another one in half before they backed off. He inspected the trailer's lid and leaned on it, hearing the creatures' awful din. Penelope was shouting something at him, holding down the trigger until her cannon ran out.

They only had seconds left. "I'm sorry," Virgil said, to the world in general, and Scott in particular. He looked down at the trailer. The clear plastic reflected the raging storm, and a flash of lightning reflected his haggard face.

Then there was another flash, one not borne from the sky.

Twisting around, Virgil held up the unnatural weapon, searching the heavy clouds for what he'd seen. Then he was out of time and had to twist round to deal with three more of the creatures. The Ath-Kay-La was powerful, but he didn't know if he could take on all of them. He set his jaw, deaf to anything but staying alive a few more precious seconds. He'd fight them to his last breath to stop them getting to Scott. It was all there was in his mind, now.

The horde was barely twenty feet away. So close, even the fierce, freezing storm wind could barely diminish their deathlike stench. Virgil brandished the weapon with a grimace, yelling, "Is this what you want? We were leaving, you ugly bastards!"

The creatures moved in with a united howl, surging towards them in a final charge.

A different kind of thunder bombarded the island. The earth shook. The sound was familiar. Welcome. Virgil cracked opened eyes he hadn't realised he'd closed. Out of the sky, a single silver streak flashed past them, and then the thunder roared again. Virgil began to grin through his frozen face as Thunderbird One fired across the monsters, raking their ranks in an effective, lethal pattern. The horde panicked, babbling in confusion, hooting and bellowing their shock and terror. The silver rocket cut through the whirling air, blasting at them with deadly accuracy, driving the mass of hideous creatures back towards the sea.

Thunderbird One cleared the area in four minutes, but a few of the creatures still remained nearby, scattered towards Virgil and Penelope. These they could handle. Virgil jumped back onto the blue bike, using the few missiles he had left to send them on their way, and the bone weapon to finish off a persistent few.

Finally, the island was the same, empty, sticky flat of land it had been when he first landed. Virgil finally lowered the Ath-Kay-La, his arms and shoulders throbbing. The storm was lifting at last, and the clammy air fell silent, and then the purr of Thunderbird One's engines grew louder again. She hovered gracefully towards them in the cool, pouring rain.

Penelope stood upright on her bike and waved as One came down over their heads, landing lightly on the marshy ground. Virgil waved as well, numb with relief.

Then John's voice barked over the 'bird's loudspeaker. "Get the hell aboard before those ugly bastards come back!"

John slid down the ladder from the cockpit. His blue eyes blazed. Virgil held up his hands, dropping the Ath-Kay-La in the thick mud. He began, "I can explain…I have Scott…"

John slugged him squarely in the mouth. Virgil went down in a painful fuzz of red mist. He fell to his knees, spitting out a tooth. Then John was on him again, yelling something in fury. Penelope was also yelling, and then two powerful hands wrenched John off Virgil and wrapped a forearm around his throat.

"Don't we have enuff to bloody worry about?" Parker asked, shaking John til he stopped moving. "Let's get the 'ell aboard, shall we?"

"I have Scott," Virgil choked, getting to his bare feet. "I have Scott. We have to take him home…"

John's eyes went really wide then. He pulled away from Parker after a couple more insistent tugs and a mutter of, "I'll stay the fuck off…"

"I have Scott. He's right here." Virgil opened the trailer. To his relief, Scott was lying there, apparently asleep, he checked his pulse anyway. It was strong, his breath rapid. "Come on, John, look."

John gave him a wary look, moving forward, gesturing for Parker to flank him. He looked in the trailer. "Oh, shit…"

Virgil said, "I told you I'd get him back."

John ran a muddy hand through his blond hair, muttering, "Oh, shit, oh shit…" he prodded Scott's chest, "Fuck, he's real. How the…I mean, where…?" John frowned. "What happened to his goddam eyes, Virgil? And…is that Lucy?" he prodded her, "Is she dead?"

"Yes. And yes." Virgil's tongue found the gap where a back tooth had been. He hurt. All over. He said wearily, "We need to go, Johnny."

"Yes. Those things will likely be coming back," Penelope hissed. "What he says is true, John. And, it truly appears to be Scott. And that's Lucy Curwen's body. But we have to get the hell away from here."

John spent another minute staring at Scott, leaning over him. "Right…" he said at last, shaking his head. "Yeah, OK. OK..." He straightened up. "Parker, help me out, here." He looked at Virgil. "You're getting locked safely in the passenger section til Dad decides to let you out. Scott, too…if it is him."

"I shall keep an eye on them," Penelope said.

"Milady?" Parker said, anxious now, he said, "I can watch 'im h'instead…"

"Then you can sit back there with me. Lucy will go in the hold, I presume."

"Very good, milady."

"Whatever. Yes, OK, people, let's go." John said.

As long as he got to travel in view of Scott, Virgil didn't care if they strapped him to the wing. Once they were all packed aboard, John lifted away from the Nameless Isle.

While Thunderbird One took them home, Parker bound Virgil's wrists and feet a bit overzealously, and said, "I warned you."

"Yeah, you did." Virgil looked up. "But you also know why I did it."

Parker grumbled in his throat, stepping away. "Is Scott OK?" Virgil asked Penelope.

"Do you think he ever will be?" She was staring at Scott, or through him, with an expression he knew now as pity.

Even tied as he was, Virgil was able to rest his head against Scott's fingertips.

"I hope so." He replied.

"Is that it?" she said. "You did all this on hope?"

Virgil felt Scott's fingertips twitch against his mud-matted hair. Virgil turned his head to watch him, afraid to look away now in case he vanished into nothing. He had dreamed of Scott for four years, but now he was here, and he was real. Given time, his brother might even be himself again. Hell, given time, Virgil figured even he might be able to return to his old self, his old life, if he could even remember how being normal worked. The Taduki strummed his tired veins. He knew he wasn't out of the deep woods yet, not by a very long way.

He couldn't begin to imagine the reception he'd get back at base. He had no idea what his father would do to him. Guilt and shame leered at the edge of his thoughts, sharpening their attacks, although he was blessedly too exhausted and numbed by all that had happened to think much more about anything. When he could, he promised himself fiercely, he would make amends for everything he had done.

At that, his guilt and shame rattled like the laughing skulls.

But he had done what nobody else had been able or willing to do…he had journeyed into the darkness and had brought Scott back. The nightmare was over, and his brother was here, right in front of Virgil's eyes - safe, and warm, and solid, and alive.

And that meant that for now at least, as he listened to Scott's gentle breathing, Virgil knew that he had won.