Absolute Midnight. Clive Barker

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      It might have been a brightly colored monkey, except that he’d never seen a monkey move so fast. The motion drove the birds into a fresh frenzy, and some, in their terror, found the strength to escape their pinning. They rose into the middle of the room, apparently unwilling, despite the open roof above them, to depart the presence of whatever had attracted them here in the first place.

      Their excited circling made it even harder for Bill to get a clear sense of the thing.

      What was this strange entity pinned to the wall? It seemed to be made of fabric rather than skin: a patchwork of four, perhaps five, colored materials that ranged from livid scarlet to one of polished black with a dash of vibrant blue.

      The beast didn’t appear to have any recognizable anatomy; there was no sign of anything resembling a head or even any of the features a head might have carried: it had no eyes that Bill could make out, nor ears, nor nose, nor mouth. Bill felt profoundly disappointed. Surely this couldn’t be the answer to the mystery of his nightly searches around town. The answer he’d been seeking had to be something more than some formless scraps of stained felt.

      However, though there was little about the creature he found beguiling, he was still curious about it.

      “What are you?” he asked, more to himself than anything.

      The creature’s response, much to Bill’s surprise, was to stretch out its four extremities and draw all its power into itself. Then it kicked off from the wall and flew at Bill as though plucked by an unseen hand.

      Bill was too slow, too surprised, to avoid it. The thing wrapped itself around him, blinding him completely. In the sudden darkness Bill’s sense of smell worked overtime. The beast stank! It had the stench of a heavy fur coat that had been put away soaking wet and had been left in a wardrobe to rot ever since.

      The stench oppressed him, disgusted him. He grabbed hold of the thing and tried to pull it off his head.

      “Finally,” the creature said, “William Quackenbush, you heard our call.”

      “Get off me!”

      “Only if you will listen to us.”

      “Us?”

      “Yes. You’re hearing five voices. There are five of us, William Quackenbush, here to serve you.”

      “To . . . serve me?” Bill stopped fighting with the thing. “You mean, like, to obey me?”

      “Yes!”

      Bill grinned a spittle-grin. “Anything I say?”

      “Yes!”

      “Then stop smothering me, you damn fools!”

      The five responded, instantly leaping off his head and back onto the wall again.

      “What are you?”

      “Well, why not? If he doesn’t like the truth because it sounds crazy, then he’s learned something hasn’t he?” the thing said to itself. Then it addressed Bill. “We were once five hats, belonging to members of the Noncian Magic Circle. But our owners were murdered and the murderer then celebrated his getting what he wanted by having a heart attack. So we were left looking for someone to give our powers to.”

      “And you chose me.”

      “Of course.”

      “Why ‘of course’? Nobody has ever willingly chosen me for anything.”

      “Why do you think, lord?”

      Bill knew the answer without having to think.

      “My daughter.”

      “Yes,” said the thing. “She has great power. No doubt it comes from you.”

      “From me? What does that mean?”

      “It means you will possess greater influence than you ever dreamed of owning. Even in your wildest dreams of godhood.”

      “I never dreamed of being God.”

      “Then wake up, William Quackenbush! Wake up and know the reality!”

      Though Bill was already awake, his instinctive self understood the deeper significance of what he was being told. The expression on his face opened like a door, and whatever was behind it caught the attention of the creature that had once been several hats.

      “Look at you, Billy-boy!” it said, its five voices suddenly changed and harmonizing in admiration. “Such a radiance there is out of you! Such a strong, clear light to drive all the fear away.”

      “Me?”

      “Who else? Think Billy-boy. Think. Who can deliver us from the terror that your child is about to call down upon the world if not you who made her?”

      At the moment when the creature had talked about Bill’s “radiance” the many silent birds Bill had seen rose into the air and circled around Bill in a vortex of bright black eyes and applauding wings.

      “What are they doing?” Bill asked the shapeless thing.

      “Paying homage to you.”

      “Well, I don’t like it.”

      “What do you want me to do?”

      “Stop them.”

      “Stop them dead?”

      “Sure.”

      “Sure,” the creature said, catching perfectly the tone of Bill’s response.

      “Are you making fun of me?”

      “Never,” came the reply.

      A heartbeat later every single bird dropped out of the air and fell lifeless in the debris.

      “Better?” the creature said.

      Bill considered the silence.

      “A whole lot,” he finally replied. He laughed lightly. It was a laugh he’d forgotten he was capable of: that of a man who had nothing to lose and nothing to fear.

      He glanced at his watch.

      “Almost dawn,” he said. “I’d better be going. What do I do with you?”

      “Wear us. On your head. Like a turban.”

      “Foreigners wear those.”

      “You are a foreigner, Billy-boy. You don’t belong here. You’ll get used to wearing us. In our previous life we made very impressive hats. We’ve just come unglued of late.”

      “I know exactly how you feel,” Bill said. “But that’s all going to change now, isn’t СКАЧАТЬ