The Talisman (The Talisman, #1)

by Stephen King

Jack began to edge to his left, his eyes never leaving the man’s face. His eyes now seemed almost transparent, not just yellow but lighted from within . . . the eyes of a hideous Halloween jack-o’-lantern. ‘But you can trust old Elroy,’ the cowboy-thing said, and now it grinned to reveal a mouthful of great curving teeth, some of them jaggedly broken off, some black with rot. Jack screamed. ‘Oh, you can trust Elroy,’ it said, its words now hardly discernible from a doglike growl. ‘He ain’t gonna hurt you too bad. ‘You’ll be all right,’ it growled, moving toward Jack, ‘you’ll be all right, oh yeah, you’ll . . .’ It continued to talk, but Jack could no longer tell what it was saying. Now it was only snarling.