"…Ring-a-ring-a-rosie,
A pocket full of posy.
A tissue, a tissue, we all fall down…"
—Ring-A-Ring-A Rosie
There was a beat of silence as no one moved or breathed; none of the Losers could do anything as they watched the darkness swallow their friend. Steeling his gaze, Bill knelt next to the opening in the floor before flitting his eyes over the others."J-just stay…together" Bill coached before he too, descended into the darkness.
"Okay…" Ben nodded as he shone his torch down into the dark tunnel, not that it helped any.
"You guys…" Ed whined, his face pale and his limbs shaky. "I can't do it! I can't—"
"Ed—" Richie turned to him.
"—You saw what I did up there" Ed backed away from the manhole as Ben dropped in next. "I was—I was gonna let you die! I just fucking froze up! You let me go down there with you, I'm gonna get us all killed—!" Katherine could only watch with concerned eyes as Ed yanked out his inhaler from his pocket and sucked hard on it in panic. At least that was until Richie stormed forward and snatched the device from his grip.
"Gimme that! Gimme that—!" Richie struggled with Ed, just as they had done as kids.
"No! No!" Ed struggled.
"You little perve—!"
"I just—I need—"
"Nngh!" Richie shined his torchlight in Ed's face long enough for him to snatch the inhaler from the germaphobe's hand and step back, holding it hostage. "Listen to me: we had a moment, fine. But who killed a psychotic clown before they were 14?"
"…Me" Ed admitted.
"Who stabbed Bowers with a knife he pulled from his own face?"
"Also me"
"Who married a woman ten times his own body mass?"
"…Me"
"Yeah, you're braver than you think"
"—And stronger than you think, and smarter than you believe" Katherine chuckled from behind them.
"Winnie the Pooh? Really?" Richie glanced over his shoulder at the woman crouched by the open manhole. "Way to ruin the moment, Midge"
"I learnt from the best" Katherine ginned innocently up at the bespectacled man, as Ed softly thanked him for the pep talk.
Just as Katherine had pushed herself over the lip of the tunnel—thankful, once again, that she had strapped her torch to her forehead—and began to descend into the darkness, blinking rapidly as her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting; she heard, more than saw, Ed & Richie move closer. Sparing a glance upwards, she noticed Beverly handing Ed the old iron pike from the rusty fence out of the street. "Take it" Beverly instructed, her voice echoing downwards as she handed him the make-shift weapon. "It kills monsters…"
"Does it?" Ed asked.
"Yeah…if you believe it does"
"Thanks for that"
Thankfully it didn't take long for the Losers to emerge from the craggy tunnel that led further into the Derry sewer system, and Katherine thanked her lucky stars as she shimmied through the small gap in the rock after Ben. Holy. Shit. Katherine stared wide-eyed at their surroundings as she followed the others into the open-plan cavern. "This is where IT hid" Mike supplied, standing out in the open before leading them up to the skeletal-looking altar.
"So what? This has been under Derry…forever?" Ed questioned as he stumbled over a stray skull.
"Not forever" Mike corrected, "Just a few million years"
"Oh God…" Katherine mumbled as her torch caught the light of a stalagmite erupting from the cavern wall and the darkened liquid that floated upwards from it, much like the blood had done all those years ago. If she had thought that the first cavern with the tower of junk and floating kids had been nightmarish, it had nothing on the one they had just stepped foot into. A skeletal altar sat in the middle of the cavern, directly below where the opening in the ceiling (which, if she'd happen to guess, connected to the large sewer pipe in the cavern above them). The dusty floor was littered with ash and bone, whilst the cave walls were damp and glistened with what she hoped was only water, but with Pennywise, you'd never truly know.
Getting straight to business, Mike set about placing the Native-looking vase in the middle of the altar with the lid off, before he lit a small fire inside and gestured for the other Losers to gather around the small pot alongside him. "IT can only be attacked in its true form" Mike began. "The ritual will show us"
"What is IT's true form?" Ben questioned.
"I hope its a puppy" Richie commented, trying to break the tension running high between them. "A little fluffy Pomeranian…I'll shut up"
"It's light" Mike continued on as if the other two hadn't spoken.
"Like the Deadlights?" Katherine knotted her brows.
"It's light that must be snuffed out by darkness" Mike answered, stoking the small fire until it danced above the rim of the pot. "Your artefacts—place them in the fire. Past must burn with the present"
With shaky hands Katherine undid the clasp of her Saint Ursula pendant; just as the others pulled their various artefacts from hidden pockets. An odd cocktail of feelings ran through her as she pulled the old chain free for the first in…ever. Like a dog free from its collar, she both missed the feeling of its familiar weight against her chest and loved the feeling of no longer having the old chain rubbing at her skin.
"Er…this is the-the boat that I built with G—with Georgie" Bill went first, dropping an old paper boat into the fire.
"It's uh, my inhaler" Ed went next, having one last suck at the thing.
"C'me on dude" Richie sighed as Ed chucked the inhaler into the flames.
"Something that I wish I had held onto" Beverly admitted, stroking the edges of a well-worn and blood-splattered postcard before dropping it into the flaming pot.
"Uh, this is a page from a year book and only one person signed" Ben sighed, staring down at the old piece of paper in his hands, "I probably should've forgotten it, but…I couldn't 'cause I kept it in my wallet…for twenty-seven years"
"Er, this is my tag from the orphanage" Katherine spoke up next as she rubbed her thumb over the well-worn groove in the pendant, unable to meet the eyes of the others. "We were all given one…God, I can't ever remember not wearing this stupid thing…" With a put-upon sigh, she dropped the silver pendant into the fire and watched as the silver was licked by the flames.
"This is a token from the Capital Theatre" Richie rushed, tossing the silver coin into the fire and refusing to give any more insight into why it was his artefact.
"You gonna burn an actual token?" Ed knotted his brow.
"Yeah, that's what you're s'posed to do, asshole"
"Do you have any idea how long that's gonna take to burn?"
"Yeah, but so is your inhaler, dude, or Midge's necklace"
"Guys, c'me on—" Ben scolded.
"—The toxic fumes & the plastic & shit, so—"
"Look closely at this" Mike interrupted, holding up his artefact—a bloody rock—as it glittered in the firelight, "You see it?"
"Mm" Beverly murmured stepping in for a closer look.
"It's where you hit Bowers"
"Heh! Rock fight!"
"The day these bonds were forged"
"That's not gonna burn either" Ed whispered to Mike, but he was ignored as the rock was added to the pile. "Oh! Wait!" Ed rummaged in his back pocket for a moment before he pulled out one of the old shower caps and tossed it into the flames. "Can't forget about Stan. Again"
The silence dragged on as together, the seven adult Losers just stood and watched as their most prized possessions burned away with the little pot at their feet. "Okay" Mike whispered, eager to get things underway. "Grab hands…c'me on!" Linking hands with Beverly & Bill, Katherine stood in the circle of Losers, just as they hadn't twenty-seven years ago when the blood oath had been made in a field of green. Silently and apprehensively, they waited and watched Mike for what was to happen next.
"The ritual of Chüd…it's a battle of wills" Said Mike.
I knew it! Katherine silently crowed as she shifted on her feet, Thank you Gar!
"The first step is our union" Mike gestured to their joint hands, "The second step is to gather the tokens and this is the final step…"
"Okay…" Katherine whispered as the fire in the pot suddenly went out. No wind, no breeze, no rhyme or reason; just out. And then up above came three things she had never thought she'd ever lay her eyes on again. Three ginormous balls of twisting light descended from the depths of darkness as it opened up like a throat and they swung in lazy circles around each other as they grew closer and closer. She did her best to ignore the excited buzzing of Voice in the back of her head, and instead focused on Mike's harried words.
"Don't look at 'em! They're Deadlights! Don't look at 'em!" Mike warned, making the Losers to either force their gazes away or slam their eyes shut. It wasn't soon after that, that Mike began to chant. "Turn light into dark, turn light into dark—SAY IT! SAY IT!"
"Turn light into dark! Turn light into dark! Light into dark! Turn light into dark! Turn light into dark!" Ben, Bill, Beverly, Ed, Richie & Katherine shouted as Mike recited something a little more native. Their harried voices overlapped and grew louder & louder as the Deadlights descended upon them, showering the group in blinding hot light. Voice sang hallelujahs in Katherine's head as Mike encouraged them to keep going.
"TURN LIGHT INTO DARK! TURN LIGHT INTO DARK! TURN LIGHT INTO DARK! TURN LIGHT INTO DARK!"
With her eyes screwed shut, Katherine was unable to see what was happening but she could feel blinding hot light wash over her body, with a force she couldn't even hope to describe. Holding tight to the hands on either side of her, she felt like she was being battered about in a wind tunnel that surrounded that poor little pot. Thankfully, it only lasted a few seconds before the lights were swallowed by the pot at their feet. Katherine was thankful that Mike wasted no time in slamming the lid shut, sealing the Deadlights inside.
"TURN LIGHT INTO DARK! TURN LIGHT INTO DARK! IS IT WORKING? DID WE DO IT?" Ed cried, the only one still chanting. For a moment everything seemed right, the Deadlights were sealed and the Losers all shared disbelieving looks of relief that the nightmare was over. But they were wrong.
Whilst Mike still held a lead-tight grip on the lid, he soon began to struggle with whatever was trying to escape. Katherine felt her eyes blow wide when she saw what it was; a dreaded balloon bulged out from beneath his fingertips and over the rim of the pot like a pimple ready to pop. "Mikey…" Katherine hedged, suddenly tense.
"Is this s'posed to happen?" Beverly asked hysterically.
"Mike, is this s'posed to be happening?" Richie rushed out as the balloon blew up to an impossible size.
"Oh God…!" Ed gasped as they all hurriedly scrambled off of the altar, escaping through the large shards and down onto the cavern floor.
"What the hell…" Katherine breathed as she scrambled backwards along the ground, watching as the bright red balloon bulged around the large shards. "Is this a bad dream?"
BANG!