The Abyssal Pt. 01

'Regardless of their power, we believe that the divisions the original three created between the worlds are weakening. They couldn't help but create gateways between the worlds, secret doors known only to a select few. We believe even more doors have been created in the time since history began, and continue to be created, but all of these doors are weak spots. Imagine a door in a wall, used day in and day out, open and slammed shut time after time over years, decades, centuries. If not properly maintained, the frame weakens, the hinges loosen, the wall around it begins to crack. Pretty soon you've got a door hanging loose in its frame, people charging in and out as they please, not all of them the kind of savory folks you want poking around your house.'

'Is there any way to fix these weak spots?' Maddy asks.

'Good question, and the answer is yes. If we could gather the remnants of the original three sorcerers, I mean all fifteen members of the original three bloodlines and unite them on the Darkstar itself, then we could restructure the very bonds of existence.'

Maddy's mouth drops open. 'Are you serious? Fifteen people from three different universes gathered together on a rock that no one knows whether it really exists or not?'

'That's right. Seems impossible, I know, but according to prophecy, the Darkstar will gather what it needs when it needs it. That the Darkstar itself with gather its children together when it's time for them to come home.'

'Or maybe that's just wishful thinking,' Maddy says with some amusement, but not much.

'Maybe it is.'

'So, where are these gateways located?' Maddy asks.

This seems to be the question Lauren has been waiting for her to ask. She draws in a deep breath and releases it in a long sigh, the cuts her eyes down to the bowl. Maddy watches in fascination as the blood in the bowl forms itself into a picture she recognizes instantly.

'What is this?' Maddy asks. 'What am I looking at?'

'I think you know what that is.'

'I do, but why am I looking at it right now?' Only she kind of knows already. She's not a stupid girl by any stretch of the imagination, and she knows that the crimson illustration in this bowl, this all-seeing eye, is being shown to her in some kind of context. It is showing her one of Lauren's gateways, the location of one of the doors between the worlds.

What it is showing her right now is Saint's Point, and the harbor behind the Eastman house.

* * *

'Is this for real?' Maddy asks.

'Considering the size of the earth,' Lauren continues, 'and our universe as a whole, there are relatively few known gateways. But those that we know about, we guard and study for decades, centuries in some cases. But in the late nineteenth century, a man named Jackson Eastman settled on this little plot of land on the New England seashore, either led there by his discovery or finding it soon after. And so the Eastman family has been the primary keeper of this gateway for almost a hundred years.'

Maddy draws in a breath that feels cold in her lungs and sends a shiver up her spine. To think that during all of her years, as relatively short as they may be, she has been living on top of a gateway to another world. The Otherworld as Lauren keeps calling it, a world that Maddy doesn't completely understand; in fact, a world she understands very little at all. The images in the bowl had shown her a vague image of this place during Lauren's telling of its history, vague in that she had only seen a place with rolling hills, dark forests, soaring mountains, which could have all been snapshots of earth. She knows only from the story that the Otherworld is a place supposedly rich with magic, more primitive than her own world, but that fact helped her understand very little. As far as she knows from her studies in school, there are places similar to that in other countries, where technology is rare and different forms of symbolic magic replace or inform their own organized religions.

So the question is, what makes this Otherworld so special, other than the fact that it is an other world? And what effect has being so close to it had on Maddy's life until now, what effect will it have on her future? She's not entirely certain she wants answers to these questions in the first place. And of course there is one further question that comes to mind now, one that—considering the events of the last few weeks—she must ask.

'What kinds of things can come through these gates?'

Lauren sits back finally, drawing her face away from the mystical orange candlelight that has been bathing it for the past moments. She looks tired and slightly hesitant to answer the question, yet she will, Maddy knows, because she has no choice now. Lauren has passed something on to Maddy, some kind of power or some kind of knowledge or both, that cannot be taken back.

'Anything can come through,' Lauren replies, 'anything or anyone with the power or knowledge to use the gate can use it.'

'Okay, maybe that's the wrong question. What has come through?'

'One of the creatures of the void, Maddy,' Lauren says matter-of-factly. Beneath this, though, her voice trembles.

* * *

'So,' Maddy says, attempting to sound light and speculative and finding herself failing miserably at both, 'there's an evil, magical creature from the void... living in the harbor behind my house.'

'It sounds pretty silly when you put it that way, but yes. Maybe not exactly living there, but—'

'Let me see if I can fill in the blanks here, just for my own amusement,' Maddy interrupts. She can hear how frantic she sounds, but doesn't care. 'This particular gateway exists as an abyssal trench deep in the Atlantic and kind of... funnels up into our harbor.'

Lauren looks surprised, but says nothing.

'And this thing, the creature we're talking about, known by some as the Abyssal, has been floating around these waters for some time, terrorizing fishermen and—'

'—how do you know all this?' Lauren interjects, her expression a cross between surprise and alarm.

'I've lived on the seashore my entire life, Lauren,' Maddy says, wanting to keep Tommy's name out of the mix, 'I've heard all of the stories, but until now I thought they were just stories. And I'm not stupid, I can add two and two together. So, is it true this creature can walk on land in the form of a man?'

'Yes. It's true.'

I will not leave until I am paid what is due me, he had said. He had smelled of the sea, had been seemingly made of the sea.

'I've met this man,' Maddy says. It is not a question, because she already knows the answer. 'He came after me, he—he wanted something from me. He knew things about me and about my family, because... because why? Because he's been coming after us for a hundred years?'

'This creature is tricky,' Lauren says, 'he'll make things up or he'll tell you things that aren't important. He'll prey on the fact that you know very little, but in truth, it's very difficult for him to hurt you. Because of your power, and your family's power.'

Maddy looks back down at the bowl and once again sees a vague form trying to take shape. The blood flows into an almost cohesive form, then dissipates and forms nothing, then does it again, and again.

'Why is it doing that? Why can't I see it?'

'I have no real way of describing what this creature looks like to you. I don't know if anyone does. It comes from far, far away, and is very old. It's one of the ancient evils from the void.'

'An... ancient evil from the void? And it's after me?'

Lauren's expression softens into something like sympathy, then she says, 'Yes.'

Maddy rocks back now, away from the circle, and jumps to her feet, tipping over the bowl of blood and water in the process. Without hearing Lauren's voice calling out for her, she stomps through the store and shoves open the iron exit door, dazzling her eyes with afternoon sunshine, a thin sheen of sweat instantly breaking on her skin from the heat. It has been a day since she was outside, and it feels strange and slightly dizzying. She feels pale and weak.

She cuts quickly through the alley and emerges on the street. Her eyes dart up and down the thoroughfare, looking for the man, looking for him. She knows what he looks like now, she knows what he is and how dangerous he is, but still she looks. Somehow she knows he's here right now, looking for her because this is part of his game, part of the fun for him.

She winds her way, sometimes pushing, elbowing, through small clusters of summer tourists, oblivious to their shouts and protests. Lauren, somewhere behind her, calls her name but she barely hears it. She doesn't know where she's going, only that she's intentionally moving toward she shore, because that's where he must be. There is no thought in her mind for what she's going to do, or what might happen if she actually manages to find him, or it.

'Where are you, you son of a bitch?' she whispers, just loud enough to make a couple close to her move away. She catches a glimpse of herself in a storefront window, and by god what a sight she makes. Her long black hair trails in a cloud behind her, her face is grim and intense and slightly mad looking. If she is to be a powerful witch, this is how she pictures herself. Pale skin, black tank top, long legs propelling her like a dervish down the crowded street.

When she reaches the shore, she propels herself down the nearest boat slip and into the cool Atlantic waters. She screams loudly, splashing her palms crazily across the surface of the water, just as she will one drunken night in the future. Some people move away, but even more gather around the entrance to the boat slip to watch the townie girl lose her mind. Maddy doesn't care, she only screams again.

In her panic, in the rush of emotion, she doesn't notice the figure come up behind her. When a strong hand falls heavily on her shoulder, she nearly jumps out of her own skin.

* * *

'Maddalena, my gods, child, what in the hell is the meaning of this?' It is Rachel Eastman, enormous blue-blocker sunglasses on her face, floppy and jaunty straw hat on her head. Behind her on dry land is a dogged looking Nancy with shopping bags at her feet. Coming up quickly behind her is Lauren.

'Momma?' And now the tears come, the tears for every secret that has been kept from her for years of her life.

Rachel throws her arms in an uncharacteristic hug around her daughters wet shoulders. 'Good lord, girl, you're shaking like a—' but she stops, having spotted Lauren standing next to Nancy.

'You,' Rachel hisses, though not with much surprise. Both Nancy and Lauren seems to freeze in their places, and by the tone in Rachel's voice, Maddy can hardly blame them. Her mother now sounds and looks the most forceful Maddy has seen in years. As a matter of fact, she can hardly remember the last time she has seen her mother out, anywhere other than the house.

Rachel shoves Maddy an arm's length from herself like a ragdoll, still clutching her upper arms in a death grip. 'Is this what you've been sneaking around doing? Is this your new friend in town? This woman? Don't lie to me, child!'

Maddy, tall, strong, feels herself break down into tears and sobs being handled by her mother this way. She feels like a toddler on the receiving end of a good scolding. To be honest, she is.

'Yes, Momma.'

'For God's sake,' Rachel says, letting her go and turning her fiery gaze on Nancy. 'And you. You knew about this?'

'Yes'm, thought there'd be no harm in—'

'—you are very lucky,' Rachel spoke over her, 'that you've been such a fine employee and that Jack loved you like his own daughters, otherwise I'd send you back to the goddamned swamp you came from—'

'Mother!'

'Hush your foolish mouth, child. You've already meddled in affairs that aren't your own.' Her gaze shifts now to Lauren, who almost seems to draw back from it. 'Not that it's entirely your fault.'

Rachel begins a slow slog back up to the boat ramp now, eyes firmly locked on Lauren. Her skirt and shoes are soaked through, but she doesn't seem to notice, and she makes for a damned frightful apparition rising from the seawater, long finger pointed in Lauren's direction.

'Ms. Eastman, I—' Lauren begins.

'Shut up. If your believe you're to receive any lenience from me, you're sadly mistaken. What's your name again, girl?'

'Lauren—'

'That's right, Lauren, Lauren McClaren. We chose you for this position in spite of your previous experience, in which you failed to adequately protect your—

'Now wait a minute!'

'Do not interrupt me, child! It was, of course, not entirely your fault, these things do happen, and we look past them.' Rachel steps close to her now. 'But when you come here and fuck with things in my world, then you have me to answer to. I can tell by the way that child is shaking, by the look in her eyes, that you've told her far more than is appropriate.'

'She was ready,' Lauren says weakly.

'She was not ready. I decide when she's ready. If at all.'

'She was attacked and you were nowhere to be found.'

'Attacked posh,' Rachel spits, 'she had nothing to attack for... until you came along, that is. How much did you give her?'

Lauren seems unable to look Rachel in the eyes, and the older woman nods her head.

'I see.'

'She needed to be ready,' Lauren says softly.

'Well, she has no choice now, does she?' Rachel sighs loudly. 'Perhaps it would be wise of me to remember that you're not much less a child than she is. But I hope you know you could have easily killed her doing this. Maybe you still have, and yourself. A witch with no power is just as useful as a witch who doesn't know how to use her powers. Maddalena, to me, now!'

She holds out a cold, bony hand, and for all the wonder, Maddy immediately goes to her and allows her hand to be pinched in a death grip. Maddy has no choice now but to bend to the will of a woman who, in the past few years, appeared to be turning into a dotty old lady. It is obvious that she is anything but, and of course Maddy knows why.

Because crazy, dotty old Rachel Eastman is the most powerful of them all.

Rachel focuses her blazing eyes back on Lauren, who still seems to shrink beneath that gaze. 'You stay away from my daughter, stupid girl, you've done enough damage.'

'Please don't take her away,' Laure says, and the hopelessness in her voice shatters Maddy's heart. 'I love her.'

'Great bleeding Jesus,' Rachel hisses, though not without sympathy, 'some of history's great dumbass mistakes have been made for love.' She looks at Lauren a long moment and then her face softens. She touches Lauren very gently on the arm. 'Go take care of your boy now. That's the best you can do. I'll take care of Maddalena. You've done a lot of damage here, but all is not lost.'

And that, as far as Maddy can tell, is that. Rachel leads her away without another word, or a single look back at the girl who seems to have stolen her daughters heart, who has imbued her daughter with powers beyond her understanding. Maddy takes care of those looks for her, each look back longer than the one before it.

* * *

As they walk back from town, Maddy has the sensation of walking through some kind of dreamscape in habited by lush green trees, cool blue skies and the smell of seawater. It is her hometown, and at the same time, it is only an illusion of her hometown, one layer laid atop another, and another, on and on forever. Hadn't it been Lauren's own son, Jake, that had told her this? So many lines connecting us, he had said, that they start to overlap each other and become one, and our worlds become nothing more than transparencies laid on top of one another. Every world feeling like a reality only to its own inhabitants, only now, for Maddy, she can feel all of the worlds pressing down on her from the layers above, pressing up from the layers below.

One world, atop another, atop another. It meant, Maddy thought, that right now, at this very instant in time, there were an infinity of beings walking in her very spot. On one world was Maddy walking this paved road, in another a giant grizzly—maybe enormous—huffing along a game trail, in another a tyrannosaurus blasting through the jungle in search of prey. In some other world, perhaps, a demon, in search of blood. None of them aware of each other's presence in existence. Only now Maddy is aware of the others, almost hypersensitive to the fact that they are all there, here, possibly all travelling the very same path she is on now.

And yet this is not what is bothering her. The real capper to all of this is that one of those unimaginable creatures from another world is coming after her. Hunting her, for reasons unknown... at least, unknown to her.

Maddy is barely aware of her mother hauling her along at a deathly pace, still grasping her arm in her steel grip. Rachel stops suddenly, whirls on Maddy and Nancy, and gains both of their attention instantly as was no doubt her goal.

'I hope you know how goddamned foolish you girls are,' Rachel growls.

'Please, Ms. Eastman,' Nancy says, 'you know Maddy had nothing to—'

'Quiet you, I swear,' Rachel says and turns to Maddy as well, 'and if you're giving some stupid thought to opening your mouth, you can kill it this instant. This is not a conversation nor a discussion now a powwow or a meeting or any-damn-thing else. This is me lecturing you both on being dumbasses. Plain and simple dumbasses that are going to get us all killed. Answer me a single question yes or no, Maddalena, and if you say a word more than yes or no, I'll slap you so hard in the mouth you'll taste my breakfast muffin from three weeks ago. Does your sister know anything about this?'

Maddy shakes her head vigorously, deciding silence is the best way to go.

'Good, and this is how it is to stay, do you understand? She is not to know a bit of this under any circumstances. Christ, I've spent my whole life trying to protect you girls from this, I've done everything in my power, and now one of you bumbles your way into it. And over what? A goddamned schoolgirl crush.' Rachel sighs harshly, shakes her head and rubs a palm across her suddenly tired looking eyes. 'I should have known, I should have known it would be you, Maddalena. You're different from your sister; she's a good girl, but you're something else, you're an old soul.'

Rachel reaches out and strokes Maddy's cheek with uncharacteristic tenderness. 'I had really hoped I could save you from this. You're special, and you could do so much more with yourself than this. I should have done more to keep you from it.'

Rachel's whole countenance is exhausted, exhausted and disappointed and slightly ashamed, and Maddy finds it very difficult to see her mother like this. Before she had only thought the woman was slightly crazy, eccentric like some rich folks from old families in New England sometimes got. But now she could see that... well, Rachel Eastman is a real person with real feelings, isn't she? And she is hurting.

'Missus?' Nancy says softly.

'Yes, dear.'

'Miss Maddy came by the magic naturally, see? I know I should've told you sooner, but I was afraid of how upset you'd be. But Maddalena has the magic all on her own. Wasn't nothing you could have done.' Nancy slips an arm around Maddy's waist, squeezes her firmly, and Maddy is comforted by the touch. 'He'd have found her eventually, missus... he did find her. With what little she had, he found her.'

Rachel's face looses some of the shame, and Maddy is glad to see it. 'And Violetta?'

'Nothing, as far as I know.'

Rachel nods silently. She turns away from them, gazes up and down the forest lined road leading back to the house. 'I am sorry to you both for speaking to you the way I have today, especially you, Nancy. I can see you've done the best you can to protect Maddy... all of us. I'm just very disappointed in how things turned out. I'm very disappointed that after all of these years, our family still cannot have peace from this thing. And yet, we stay and fight... always stay and fight.' She turns her face to Maddy again, and Maddy sees some amazing thing in her mother's eyes that she can still not quite put her finger on.