Never speak them.
Never whisper them.
The Words.
The Words is a novella of otherworldly terror and madness from Douglas Clegg, the award-winning author of The Priest of Blood, Isis, Purity, The Hour Before Dark and many others.
The two teenagers invoke the words -- the names of those who walk beyond the veil, in the dark of the Nowhere...
When Mark befriends outsider Dash, he believes his new friend to be an outcast rebel. But a dark mystery unfolds as Dash leads Mark into dangerous games and rituals involving stories of the occult and a strange drug that allows Dash to see into another world -- a world of absolute darkness and terror.
"Your flesh will remember the words even if your mind forgets."
One summer night, on their way with friends to a party, they make a fateful detour to a place where the words of Dash's secret ceremonies will bring a new terror into the world...and where Mark will face unspeakable horror as it comes to monstrous life.
A tale of teen alienation at the crossroads of darkness and absolute brotherhood, The Words will get under your skin...and stay with you long after the lights go out.
"Clegg's stories can chill the spine so effectively that the reader should keep paramedics on standby." -- Dean Koontz
"Clegg delivers!" -- John Saul
"Douglas Clegg is one of the best!"-- Richard Laymon
"Clegg is the best horror writer of the post-Stephen King generation!" -- Bentley Little
"Clegg is the future of dark fantasy!" -- Sherrilyn Kenyon
Excerpt:
After the last match goes out, he mouths the words to the Our Father, but it brings him no comfort. He remembers The Veil. He remembers the way things moved, and how the sky looked under its influence. He doubts now that a prayer could be answered. He doubts everything he has come to believe about the world.
The echo of the last scream. He can hear it, even though the room is silent. It seems to be in his head now: the final cry.
Hope it's final.
The scream is too seductive, he knows. He understands what's out there. It's attracted to noise, because it doesn't see with its eyes anymore. It sees by smell and sound and vibration. He has begun to think of it by its new name, only he doesn't want to ever say that name out loud. Again.
Your flesh won't forget.
Prickly feeling along the backs of his hands, along his calves. In his mind, he goes through the alphabet, trying to latch onto something he can work around. Something that will give him a jump into remembering the words...
