Black House: A Novel

Jack Sawyer and Dale Gilbertson meet Beezer St. Pierre and Doc Amberson at the Sand Bar. The bikers are armed and ready to assault Black House, though they are terrified after their friend Mouse’s horrific death. To strengthen their resolve, Jack uses the word “d’yamba” to summon a swarm of bees, which then levitate a honey bottle across the bar to him; afterward, the bartender, Lester Moon, faints from shock after the bees stream out the door. As they prepare to leave, Fred Marshall arrives with a package for his son, Tyler—a prize from a contest hosted by George Rathbun. At that moment, Jack, Beezer, Doc, and Fred experience a powerful psychic shock, while Dale senses a disturbance without experiencing its full force. The shock coincides with Ty’s struggle against Burnside.

The narrative shifts to Ty, who is trapped in a shed filled with butchering tools. As Burnside prepares to handcuff him to the wall, Ty fights back, first crushing Burnside’s testicles and then reaching into his stomach wound to pull out his intestines, killing him. This act is the source of the psychic shockwave. Back at the Sand Bar, Jack tells a weeping Fred to go home and prepare for Ty’s return. In Dale’s car, Jack opens the package and finds a baseball bat signed by Brewers slugger Richie Sexson. Jack directs Dale to the hidden lane leading to Black House, where they apply honey to their noses to help them withstand the house’s influence, a protection Jack understands depends on their belief. Jack spots Gorg, the evil crow, watching from a tree and shoots it dead. The four men then drive up the poisonous lane toward Black House, whose shifting appearance makes it impossible to perceive its true size and shape.

Jack, Dale, Beezer, and Doc—the Sawyer Gang—approach Black House, whose appearance continually shifts in size and shape. A vast swarm of bees unexpectedly arrives, forming a protective canopy over them. Jack uses “d’yamba” to summon a queen bee. Guided by the queen bee, they enter the house and navigate its labyrinthine, surreal interior, eventually finding the cell where Ty was held.

Meanwhile, still wearing the mind-dulling cap that impairs his coordination, Ty frees himself from the shackles in the shed by using Burnside’s intestines to drag a leather bag closer, then repeatedly raising it with his foot until he can reach the handcuff key inside. As he steps outside, he is captured by Lord Malshun (the creature previously known as Mr. Munshun), who paralyzes him with a word from the Dark Speech. The Sawyer Gang emerges from Black House into the hellish landscape of End-World and confronts Malshun, who is holding Ty. To Malshun’s disbelief, his Dark Speech only briefly immobilizes Dale, Beezer, and Doc, who overcome its effect. Jack shoots a bolt of light from the baseball bat, blinding Malshun; then, as Malshun lurches forward trying to bite, Beezer shoots another bolt from his ring, striking Malshun square in the mouth and setting his lips on fire. Dale grabs Ty, and Jack kills Malshun by smashing his head with the bat.

Jack then forces the traumatized Ty to unleash his latent psychic power. After Jack slaps the mind-dulling cap from his head, Ty focuses his energy and destroys the Big Combination, freeing hundreds of enslaved children. Some children head toward entrances to their own worlds, while others follow the Sawyer Gang back through the portal in Black House. In Wisconsin, the house has become an ordinary, dilapidated building, and the children who followed the gang emerge into the yard. Beezer agrees to help Jack destroy the house before midnight, and the gang leaves to reunite Ty with his parents. The chapter closes with a news report describing the discovery of at least 750 children, the explosion that destroyed Black House, and an upcoming press conference involving Dale and Jack.

Jack Sawyer, Dale Gilbertson, Beezer St. Pierre, and Doc Amberson prepare for their press conference. They finalize their cover story: The late Henry Leyden identified the Fisherman, as Charles Burnside from a 911 recording and mortally wounded him before being killed. When the group subsequently visited Burnside’s house, they found Ty Marshall handcuffed in the yard next to the dead killer. They will claim the “bad air” in the house affected their memories of other details. They step onto a podium before a massive, cheering crowd of French Landing residents and news media. As they raise their linked hands in triumph, a woman pushes forward. Jack recognizes her as Wanda Kinderling, the wife of Thornberg Kinderling, a murderer whose case Jack investigated in Los Angeles.

Speedy Parker, watching from the crowd, recognizes the danger and tries unsuccessfully to warn Jack. Before anyone can stop her, Wanda shoots Jack multiple times in the chest, throat, and hand. In the ensuing panic, Doc tackles Wanda. Speedy, the elderly black man in the crowd, leaps onto the stage. He picks up the mortally wounded Jack, tells Dale there might be a chance to save him, and carries him into a nearby Winnebago. When Dale, Beezer, and Doc enter the vehicle moments later, both Jack and Speedy have vanished. Dale relays Speedy’s words to Beezer and Doc, giving them hope that Jack might survive.

The narrative moves to the Territories, where Speedy Parker (now called Parkus) has brought the critically wounded Jack Sawyer. Queen Sophie and Parkus watch over Jack, who lies comatose in the same royal bed where his mother’s Twinner, Queen Laura DeLoessian, once lay ill, and where Jack first saw her as a child. Parkus explains that the residual magic of the Talisman protected Jack from dying immediately after the shooting, while the stronger magic of the Territories has allowed him to survive. He predicts Jack will recover but will be fundamentally changed: He may visit his own world for short periods, but attempting to live there would cause his fatal wounds to return over days or weeks, eventually killing him. He is now a “creature of the Territories” (563), where there is important work for him to do, possibly connected to the approaching climax of the Tower’s affairs. Sophie confesses her love for Jack, and Parkus comforts her, attributing Jack’s fate to ka, or destiny.

Ten days after her conversation with Parkus, Sophie sits by Jack Sawyer’s bedside on a summer evening during the Full-Earth Moon. They are in the pavilion room where his mother’s Twinner once lay. After a period of being unresponsive, Jack opens his eyes. Sophie leans in and lovingly welcomes him back to consciousness, affirming her deep affection for him.