June 15, 8:15 pm
In the backyard, Richard came to an immediate, but desperate, decision.
Michelle was standing between him and Howard Gunderson. She was looking back and forth between the boy and the spot in space where she thought Richard must be standing, and the terror and confusion she was radiating was palpable. He knew instantly that her mind was vulnerable at that moment—perhaps the way all minds in this city were now vulnerable to the whims of those in the Hereafter.
I will possess this woman, he thought. I will take her, and I will go into that house and convince Keith that we have to leave. He will never know that it isn't Michelle, but if he still refuses to go, I'll tell him it's me. He'll believe me—I know he will. Especially with Howard to back me up. And dammit, I'll drag Howard into that house by his fucking hair if I have to...
He reached out toward Michelle's trembling face, but he hesitated. He could almost hear Billy and Tuilla in his head, begging him not to do this, telling him that what he was going to do was insanely dangerous. An abomination, the voices said. He shook his head, trying to dislodge the voices, and for a brief moment he tried to think of another option.
Perhaps I could possess Keith myself?
He looked at Howard and saw what possession could do to a person. Howard was broken, and nearly a ghost himself. Could he even think of doing that to Keith?
No, I can't risk it. What might my presence in his mind do to him? What if I drove him mad in his grief? I can't violate him like that...
But yes, he could do it to Michelle.
His fingers brushed her cheek, and instantly he could sense her mind opening up to him like a flower. He saw both passageways; the red and raw one, and the one as smooth as blue glass. In that moment, he knew that, yes, he could do this... But he would try the blue path first...
As if from a great distance, he could hear Howard's voice.
"Richard, what are you doing?" Then, the same voice, but with a level of panic behind it. "Richard, Stop! Don't do this!"
Michelle looked at Howard in surprise, as if she was about to ask him what he was talking about. But then she turned, and her eyes fixed on Richard. Or, at least, on exactly the spot where Richard stood—and this time, she was correct. He knew she could feel him now, entering her mind, and a look of absolute horror rolled across her face.
She opened her mouth to scream...
But it was Keith's scream that Richard heard. It was a scream that froze both the living and the dead, and all three of them turned, desperate to find its source.
Suddenly, the curtain over the patio door was thrown aside, and Keith stumbled out, followed by a huge, tattooed arm, which grabbed the back of his collar. Pil emerged from the house like a roaring yeti, with Billy clinging to him the way a man would ride a raging elephant. The boy was clawing ineffectually at Pil's face, and screaming now too, in a way that chilled Richard to the bone.
Towering there on the back porch, Pil whipped Keith violently around to face him. Richard saw his lover flop like a rag doll in the big man's grip, his limbs loose, his face contorted. Both of Pil's hands knotted themselves in Keith's shirt, and the huge man lifted him into the air as easily as he would pick up a sack of potatoes. Keith's feet kicked uselessly at his friend's knees. Pil was huge and terrifying and Keith looked at him like he'd look on a tiger that had him in its claws. Terror and disbelief fought for control of his lover's face, and his mouth kept trying to form words. But then the big man's giant hand gripped Keith's throat, and only a high-pitched squeak escaped. Before that too was silenced.
In that moment, it seemed to Richard that the tableau froze. Pil was squeezing, and at the same time, shivering as if thousands of volts of electricity were coursing through his enormous chest and shoulders. Richard was about to leap at the man, even though he knew there was nothing he could do. But it was Howard that, in this brief instant, that saved Keith's life.
"Richard, wait!" Howard screamed, throwing an arm across Richard's chest. His outstretched arm stopped Richard as effectively as a steel guardrail, and even when he tried to pass through it, he found himself stymied.
But at the sound of Howard's voice, everything changed. Pil's growling suddenly stopped, and Richard saw his grip on Keith's throat relax, although he still held the smaller man suspended with his other arm. Slowly, Pil's head turned, almost robotically, and his eyes focused on the corner of the house. Richard thought for an instant that it was the sound of his name that had stopped Pil. But it wasn't. Pil looked past Richard as if he wasn't there, and his eyes focused... on Howard Gunderson.
The look on the big man's face was among the strangest that Richard had ever seen. It was a mix of tenderness and desire, but mixed also with desperate lust and hatred. And the warring emotions effectively froze the giant in his tracks.
Howard stepped back under Pil's fiery gaze, recognition dawning terribly on his features.
"Justin..." he whispered.
Richard knew instantly that Howard was right. It had to be Justin. He had possessed the big man, just as Billy had warned that he might. But he also saw that, for one brief moment, Pil had wrestled his invader into a stalemate. Richard was so shocked he hesitated, hoping against hope that Pil would win the struggle.
Only vaguely was he aware that Michelle was screaming and shaking Howard by the shoulders. With a snap, her words became clear.
"Howard, you tell Richard he'd damn well better save my husband! He'd damn well better save Keith! Tell him! Tell him!"
At her words, Billy stopped wailing on Pil's head with his hands, suddenly seeing Richard there. He looked directly into Richard's eyes, and his voice thundered.
"Do it now, Richard! Don't think about it! Just do it!"
Richard couldn't hesitate. He couldn't doubt. He just had to act. He had no time to search for the path of blue glass and silver. He had only his rage at the man strangling his husband, and it threw open a red and raw pathway into Pil that beckoned him hungrily.
He bolted around Howard's outstretched arm.
Anger, he thought. Hatred and rage. That is my doorway. I'm sorry, Tuilla...
And he launched himself at Pil.
Only Billy and Howard could see it. But in the blink of an eye, Richard Pratt disappeared into Pil, like a lethal arrow.