Read Online Ghost Walk by Brian Keene - Free Book Online

out like candles, was strong. It was hungry. But not yet. The other sigils needed to be removed first. The doorway must be opened. Then it would feed.
    The sun began its descent. In a few hours, darkness would reclaim the forest.
    And in a few more days, when the walls between the worlds were at their thinnest, Nodens would do the same, and then spread out into the world, bringing eternal darkness in its wake.
       
    Ken nodded at Rhonda as she walked past him. Sweat ran into his eyes. He hoisted a dummy into the air. A noose was around the dummy’s neck. Ken had tossed the other end of the rope over a sturdy oak tree branch jutting out over the trail. Customers would have to walk directly beneath the hanging “victim” as they made their way along the path.
    “How you doing, Rhonda? You and Sam finished up for the day?”
    Without stopping, Rhonda nodded. She kept her gaze averted, staring straight ahead. Ken noticed that her shoes and jeans were smudged with dirt and ashes. More filth covered her hands and the back of her neck. Twigs and leaves dangled from her hair.
    “I was looking for you guys earlier,” Ken said. “Thought maybe you’d left already.”
    Rhonda didn’t respond.
    Ken tied off the rope and flexed his aching fingers. “You okay?”
    “I’m fine, Mr. Ripple.” She kept walking, not turning to face him. “Sorry. We didn’t hear you calling for us before.”
    “Well, that’s okay. I just want you kids to know how much I appreciate your help. Couldn’t do this without you.”
    “It’s no problem. Really. I have to get going now. I’m late.”
    Rhonda rounded a curve in the trail and disappeared from sight. Sam heard leaves and twigs crunching beneath her feet.
    “Don’t mention it,” he muttered. “Wouldn’t want to in-convenience you.”
    Ken noticed that she hadn’t looked at him. Hadn’t let him see her eyes. The girl’s reaction was uncharacteristic. Usually, Rhonda was friendly and outgoing. Terry called her a chatterbox. This wasn’t like her at all. She seemed sullen. Maybe she’d gotten into a fight with her boyfriend. That might explain why they hadn’t completed their tasks earlier.
    “Oh well. Kids…”
    Shaking his head, Ken studied his handiwork. The dummy swung slowly back and forth like a pendulum. The rope creaked against the rough tree bark. Ken grinned at the sound—it would add to the ambience. The dummy’s clothing had been splattered with red paint. He debated hiding a spotlight in the undergrowth beside the trail and positioning it to shine on the dummy, but decided against it. The sight would be more effective in darkness.
    “Perfect.”
    He glanced up at the sky. The sun was a red ball. The clouds glowed, tinted with orange and yellow hues. It was a beautiful sight. Ken enjoyed it for a moment, wishing Deena was there to see it with him. How many evening walks had they taken together through the woods behind their house? How many sunsets had they watched together, not knowing that those moments weren’t infinite?
    He remembered one in particular. His favorite. Early in the morning, on their fifth wedding anniversary, Ken packed a picnic lunch—crackers, cheese, fruit and vegetables, bottled water, whipped cream. He put it all in a wicker basket, grabbed a beach blanket from the hall closet, and then left the house. When Deena woke up, she found a note from him in the kitchen, telling her to get dressed and walk down to the edge of their property. She’d find further instructions along the banks of the stream that served as their lot’s boundary line. Deena found a second note nailed to a tree along the creek. That one told her to follow the trail along the brook. She kept following the notes Ken had left behind like a trail of bread crumbs until she found him. The blanket was spread out along the stream bank. They’d sat there all day, eating their lunch, swimming, making love, and then swimming again. The land was owned by the Sportsman’s