Blackwater Lights by Michael M. Hughes Read Free Book Online Page B

he wanted her. He wanted nothing else. He wanted more than anything to rub his hands and his tongue over that smooth belly, to press himself against that dark, warm place between her legs. He felt like he’d die if he didn’t.
    “I’m going in the greenhouse,” she said. “It’s warm in there. We can lie on the grass. You want to come with me?”
    “Yes,” he said, stumbling on the pool steps. “Wow. I’m really fucked up.”
    “Yes, you are. Your eyes are opening up.”
    She was splitting into two, then three, phasing in and out.
    “They’re wide open. It’s like every bit of you is right there in front of me. You’re wide open, Ray—all your defenses are down.” She steadied him. “Look into my eyes. Let yourself open up. No, stop the wiggling. Focus on my eyes. Let yourself fall into them.”
    With effort he steadied his gaze. Lily’s face expanded, filling his visual field. Her pupils enlarged, growing bigger than her irises, bigger than her eyes, and kept growing.
She’s swallowing me. She’s eating me
. And then …

    He’s walking down a twisting path, a dirt road deep in the woods. There are ruts, and he has to pay attention to the ground because it’s night. He turns and looks behind him, and Kevin stares. He’s smiling, pretending like he’s not scared, but his eyes give it away. He’s scared shitless
.
    There are more kids in front of him and behind him. And men leading them and following behind them
.
    The light at the end of the path is brilliant white. They’re all being marched toward it. Hewants to turn around and run, even if he can’t find his way back to the camp, because the light makes him want to scream. It’s so bright it hurts inside his head. He threw up the last time
.
    As they get closer he sees more details. The lights are movie lights, mounted on stands. Cameras as well, big, bulky things. A few adults are fiddling with the equipment, but one man in a suit waits for them
.
    Dr. Green. His name is Dr. Green
.
    The doctor leads them, only the boys now, into the center of the bright circle of light. Ray has done this before, and he falls into practiced formation. One by one, the boys align themselves on their backs in the grass, feet together in the center, bodies arrayed outward like the petals of a flower. They all stare into the sky
.
    The movie lights lower and now it seems almost dark
.
    Nothing happens for a long time. Ray does what he was instructed, his heart hammering in his chest
.
    Above him, the stars begin to move
.

    “Oh my God,” Ray said, his head snapping back. “What did you just do to me?” He stumbled, and she grabbed him. The world tilted on an extreme angle, then reversed itself. “What the fuck
was
that?”
    “Shhh, Ray. It’s okay. You’re tripping hard.”
    “No … Jesus. No. You looked into me, somehow. You fucked with my head.” He was shaking. This was getting to be too much, way too fucking much.
    “Relax. Relax, Ray. You’ll be okay. Let’s go in the greenhouse. It’s warm in there. You’re shivering. You’re probably dehydrated, too.” She took his hand and led him slowly down the path. The drug blasted him now, fragmenting his panicked consciousness. His head swarmed with chattering insects.
    The trees morphed into shadowy faces, some leering, some smiling beneficently, all of them watching as he stumbled through their secret world. He staggered. The stone path was rising to meet his motionless feet, so how could he be walking? But he was moving along, somehow.
    God, help me
.
    But there was no God here. There was power, and poison, and regeneration, and death, ancient and cold. The faces of the trees followed him, turning in unison as he passed, whispering in inscrutable tongues.
    She walked in front of him, opening up a rippling hole in space, her red hair bleeding into the sky. The sky was alive. She pulled him along, slowly, like he was a child learning to walk. She turned her head to look at him, but he