The Talisman

They get off the street and crawl through the weeds on their stomachs. Gardener sends agents out to search. Jack hears Speedy’s voice calling him although he doesn’t know how it is possible. He sees Speedy leaning against a pile of rocks. He looks worse than Richard. His sore and wounds make him look like a leper. Jack knows that Sloat did it to him.

Speedy says Osmond has been spreading rumors that Laura is dead in the Territories. He gives Jack a rubber object and tells him to blow it up. It’s a raft shaped like a carousel horse. He says Sloat and his creatures avoid the waters in Point Venuti.

Gardener sees them just as they shove the raft into the water, narrowly avoiding bullets from many guns. Jack gets beneath the pilings for protection and sees that the water is filled with large, gentle creatures who push Jack closer to the shore. The Talisman put them there and Sloat and his creatures avoid the water. They find a ladder and see that there are slugs on all the pilings. They ignore them and climb the ladder.

Sloat is excited. He thinks Richard must be dead and he will punish Jack for it. He remembers his father, Gordon Sloat, who often said, “What does it profit the world, if a man lose his own son?” (652). He talks with Gardener, who is hysterical and thinks the boys have made it inside the hotel. They go to the beach to find Speedy. If Jack survives the hotel, Sloat knows that he will go to Speedy first once he leaves. Then they will be waiting.

Richard is unconscious again and Jack carries him to the hotel. There are threatening soap messages on the windows. He enters the hotel and feels something invisible try to push him back. A spider descends on the strand of a web and calls him a thief. Jack takes out a large green marble—it was the mirror in the Territories, lays Richard down, and puts it in his hand as the spider laughs.

In his head, a voice says, “We in the Black Hotel care only for the Talisman—the nexus of all possible worlds” (662). Jack ignores the voice and the spider as he moves down the hall. He sees a carving in a door: YOUR MOTHER DIED SCREAMING! The world begins to overlap further with the Territories. He gets the sense of flipping back and forth rapidly. A huge fist smashes through a door and Jack flips involuntarily. Now he faces someone in a massive suit of armor. It raises its visor; there is nothing inside. Suddenly it has an ancient, smashed face. Other knights appear. The first one grabs him, and he pushes the guitar pick into its face. Its eyes explode and worms pour out. Three more knights approach. Jack thinks that his mental stability is nearing its breaking point.

Jack’s favorite movie of his mother’s was Last Train to Hangtown. He imagines himself as the character Will Hutchins as he faces the knights. He flips and becomes Jason. The suits of armor fall apart as he flips back and forth, using his transitions to surprise them and uses the pick to destroy them. Back at the Alhambra, Lily considers suicide as she prays for Jack to come home.

In the Black Hotel, the Talisman calls for Jack. He flips between multiple worlds as he beats the final knight. Outside, Sloat watches the dying Speedy on the beach. Gardener says to look at the hotel; the weathervanes on its roof have all stopped moving. Sloat knows it is because the “guardians” (684) are dead. He thinks Jack will get the Talisman. Gardener shoots the raft, which sinks. The earth shakes and they run up the boardwalk. In the hotel, Jack sees the Talisman floating in the ballroom. It is a glowing crystal sphere. It descends when he calls it. As it moves into his hands, he sees visions of endless worlds.

Lily suddenly feels hope. She sits up and calls for Jack. In another home, Donny Keegan shouts that he loves Ferd Janklow. Judge Fairchild is destined for jail. He pushes a knife into his brain and kills himself.

At the Oatley Tap, Smokey has chest pains. His calculator reads TALISMAN as the jukebox speeds up and the grill explodes. The tavern explodes and the fire spreads to Oatley. Students regain consciousness at Thayer. Wolf’s mother gives birth to triplets. She grieves for him, but knows he died honorably. Buddy Parkins realizes Jack has reached his destination and is overcome with euphoria. The Sunlight Home burns to the ground and an earthquake begins.