Fossil Lake: An Anthology of the Aberrant by Ramsey Campbell, Peter Rawlik, Mary Pletsch, Jerrod Balzer, John Goodrich, Scott Colbert, John Claude Smith, Ken Goldman, Doug Blakeslee
Authors: Ramsey Campbell, Peter Rawlik, Mary Pletsch, Jerrod Balzer, John Goodrich, Scott Colbert, John Claude Smith, Ken Goldman, Doug Blakeslee
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find them little better than the original pair.
I fell despite my precautions. The rope went slack, maybe slipped, maybe cut. Luckily, it was a short fall and I landed butt-first in muddy sand that squished and oozed. A wet cold seeped into my jeans. Next to me, the rope coiled down in a heap. I saw the loop had come undone.
“Dammit!” My voice echoed loudly in the cavern.
I flashed the waning light around, seeing it glimmer across the surface of a large body of water. The ceiling lay hidden in the dark, but the walls drew my attention.
Bones. Dozens and dozens of bones, sealed and preserved by time. Large ones, small ones. Femurs. Ribs. Vertebrae. Skulls. Not dinosaurs but beings of the imagination. Goblins, griffins, and the like. Fantastic creatures found only in storybooks and legends.
“Fossil Lake,” I murmured. “Not what I expected.”
“None do,” someone replied, in a syrupy and cloying voice.
I hung my head, sighed, and turned around.
A plump figure rose up, half submerged, from the lake. Pale green skin, scaled and wet, glistened in my light.
“Hi. You must be mother.”
“A visitor. How delightful.” She smiled, warm and welcoming, the emotion reflecting in her all-too-human eyes. “I am Mira of Cetus. Pleased to meet you, young changeling.”
“Theo.”
“What brings you here, Theo?” The water rippled as she walked out of the lake, clad in a dress of seaweed that hung to her knees. Finer strands of kelp sprouted from her scalp, woven into a single, long braid.
“Dropping off a package for someone. Am I going to have to answer a riddle before I can?”
“Aren’t you a quick learner! So clever, and so handsome, too!”
“Thanks,” I said, though after the previous two encounters, I didn’t have to be that clever to put the pieces together.
“Does Mother need to ask the riddle? Or do you already know the answer? Or does Theo need a hintsie?”
What sort of game is Bernie playing at? I hate being kept in the dark.
“Is the answer chocolate bars?” I dug into the kit for the last of the items Bernie’d packed, items that had seemed odd before but made sense now. Not that he’d bothered to let me know.
“Very good! Such a good boy. Someone prepared you well. That is the answer and I will claim my prize.” She held out a scaled hand.
I gave her the bars. “Here you go.”
She sniffed them, looked at the wrappers, and nodded. “Dark chocolate from Switzerland. A fine quality and more than adequate price. You may approach the lake.”
I did so, though I had the proverbial bad feeling about this. All I had to do was dump the contents of the pouch Bernie had given me into the water. Piece of cake, he’d said. Yeah, right.
The wet sand, still squishing beneath my boots, was very gritty and pale. Calcified. Less like sand, more like …
“But,” said the lake-woman in a lilting tone, “what will you give me for the next boon?”
And here it comes.
“Next boon?”
“I told you that you may approach. How, though, do you plan to leave? Your light is fading and your rope lies unsecured. Without my help, you’ll never escape this cave. They will find your bones, gnawed and scattered.”
And, eventually, pulverized into sand, like the stuff I was walking on.
Great, I found Grendel’s mother. “Rock and a god damn hard place. What do you want?”
She tutted reprovingly. “Mother would only like a kiss on the cheek.”
Okay, she’s not hideous. A bit scaly, wet, and smells like seaweed. You’ve kissed worse, Theo. “Just a kiss?”
“Is that so much to ask? After all that Mother’s done for you?”
Grendel’s guilt-tripping mother …
“That sounds reasonable enough,” I said.
Mira glided toward me, leaving a groove in passing in the bone-meal sand. She turned her head, presenting a finely-fishscaled cheek.
Just like duty-kissing a weird old auntie. Nothing big.
I puckered up and gave her a quick peck. Her skin was cold. I tasted salt on my lips.
I fell despite my precautions. The rope went slack, maybe slipped, maybe cut. Luckily, it was a short fall and I landed butt-first in muddy sand that squished and oozed. A wet cold seeped into my jeans. Next to me, the rope coiled down in a heap. I saw the loop had come undone.
“Dammit!” My voice echoed loudly in the cavern.
I flashed the waning light around, seeing it glimmer across the surface of a large body of water. The ceiling lay hidden in the dark, but the walls drew my attention.
Bones. Dozens and dozens of bones, sealed and preserved by time. Large ones, small ones. Femurs. Ribs. Vertebrae. Skulls. Not dinosaurs but beings of the imagination. Goblins, griffins, and the like. Fantastic creatures found only in storybooks and legends.
“Fossil Lake,” I murmured. “Not what I expected.”
“None do,” someone replied, in a syrupy and cloying voice.
I hung my head, sighed, and turned around.
A plump figure rose up, half submerged, from the lake. Pale green skin, scaled and wet, glistened in my light.
“Hi. You must be mother.”
“A visitor. How delightful.” She smiled, warm and welcoming, the emotion reflecting in her all-too-human eyes. “I am Mira of Cetus. Pleased to meet you, young changeling.”
“Theo.”
“What brings you here, Theo?” The water rippled as she walked out of the lake, clad in a dress of seaweed that hung to her knees. Finer strands of kelp sprouted from her scalp, woven into a single, long braid.
“Dropping off a package for someone. Am I going to have to answer a riddle before I can?”
“Aren’t you a quick learner! So clever, and so handsome, too!”
“Thanks,” I said, though after the previous two encounters, I didn’t have to be that clever to put the pieces together.
“Does Mother need to ask the riddle? Or do you already know the answer? Or does Theo need a hintsie?”
What sort of game is Bernie playing at? I hate being kept in the dark.
“Is the answer chocolate bars?” I dug into the kit for the last of the items Bernie’d packed, items that had seemed odd before but made sense now. Not that he’d bothered to let me know.
“Very good! Such a good boy. Someone prepared you well. That is the answer and I will claim my prize.” She held out a scaled hand.
I gave her the bars. “Here you go.”
She sniffed them, looked at the wrappers, and nodded. “Dark chocolate from Switzerland. A fine quality and more than adequate price. You may approach the lake.”
I did so, though I had the proverbial bad feeling about this. All I had to do was dump the contents of the pouch Bernie had given me into the water. Piece of cake, he’d said. Yeah, right.
The wet sand, still squishing beneath my boots, was very gritty and pale. Calcified. Less like sand, more like …
“But,” said the lake-woman in a lilting tone, “what will you give me for the next boon?”
And here it comes.
“Next boon?”
“I told you that you may approach. How, though, do you plan to leave? Your light is fading and your rope lies unsecured. Without my help, you’ll never escape this cave. They will find your bones, gnawed and scattered.”
And, eventually, pulverized into sand, like the stuff I was walking on.
Great, I found Grendel’s mother. “Rock and a god damn hard place. What do you want?”
She tutted reprovingly. “Mother would only like a kiss on the cheek.”
Okay, she’s not hideous. A bit scaly, wet, and smells like seaweed. You’ve kissed worse, Theo. “Just a kiss?”
“Is that so much to ask? After all that Mother’s done for you?”
Grendel’s guilt-tripping mother …
“That sounds reasonable enough,” I said.
Mira glided toward me, leaving a groove in passing in the bone-meal sand. She turned her head, presenting a finely-fishscaled cheek.
Just like duty-kissing a weird old auntie. Nothing big.
I puckered up and gave her a quick peck. Her skin was cold. I tasted salt on my lips.
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