Golden Glories

by Gerald Lopez

  “Hey!” Poppy said to his out of control customers. “You’re wrecking my place, you bastards!”

  The ghost dancing girls laughed eerily as people fought around them.

  “Greedy-greedy!” one of the ghost dancers said. “People never really change, do they girls? They’ll take all we offer.”

  They continued swinging from the chandeliers while throwing gold coins. The bodies below the chandeliers became indistinguishable from one another, as they crowded together fighting and pushing to get coins. A cane or two hit me from behind in the skirmish. People screamed and yelled as they were picked up and thrown across the room by others. One gray-haired old lady went crazy smacking people with her cane, while clutching a shirt full of gold coins against her bosom. Somehow Granny and I managed to get Alex back to our table, and safely next to Jorri and Nikki.

  “Miss Lucy needs help,” Jorri said.

  I looked to my left in time to see Sassy jump from a chair and onto the back of a man who was attacking her brother Ivory. She then began hitting the man with her stiletto shoe. Miss Lucy was throwing punches, trying to keep people off Ebony. Chicken feathers from Ebony and Ivory’s costumes were flying everywhere. Jorri, Granny, and I ran toward them, and tackled the men and woman assaulting them. Then something new happened. The tone of the screams had changed. There was now the sound of people in pain.

  “It burns!” the woman with the cane, clutching coins to her chest said. “Burns!”

  The ghostly dancing girls were laughing. The gold coins were burning people’s skin. One coin hit me in the shoulder and I yelled from the pain of the heat. I yanked a tablecloth off one of the tables, and tried to cover myself and those with me, as we headed back to our table. Others in the room were fighting over tablecloths or hiding under tables.

  “The gold not enough?” A ghost dancer girl said. “How about some fancy necklaces?”

  The ghosts started throwing what looked like jewel-encrusted necklaces. One fell in front of me and started to move.

  “Shit!” I said, then moved quickly ahead. “Snakes! The necklaces are turning into snakes!”

  Screams of terror filled the restaurant, as people struggled to get snakes off their bodies. There was a dash to the front and side doors but no one could open them to get out. Someone threw a chair through a window and Poppy could be heard yelling before he was thrown out the same window.

  That’s when I noticed something—it was beginning to get dark outside. When we got back to our table Forrest was there shooting at the snakes and ghost girls with his water gun. Others began doing the same. I aimed my water gun at a ghost, shot her with a stream of water, and heard her wail before she disappeared.

  “I’ve almost got the secret passage open,” Nikki said. “Gather around, everyone. Hurry.”

  “I’m heading to the dock with my people,” Miss Lucy said. “Good luck, everyone.” Before leaving she handed me the binoculars she’d promised me.

  “It was nice almost meeting you, Layton,” Ebony said.

  “Layton, we’ll need to meet the right way one day,” Ivory said, then followed Miss Lucy and Ebony out a window.

  “I need to check on my lady,” Diesel said. “Later, guys.” She ran toward the side door, that was now open, while shooting her water gun at flying necklaces, gold coins, and ghosts.

  “Let’s move,” Nikki said.

  Sassy and Granny followed after Nikki, then Jorri went down the secret passage. Finally, Forrest, Alex and I went into the passage and down a short ladder to a waiting small motorboat. Sassy had started the boat, and Nikki and Jorri were on their Jet Skis. Once we were all in and had life vests on, Sassy headed out at full speed. She managed to get around other boats and water vehicles. Everyone seemed to be heading toward the same spot as darkness came. But the clouds were out, and no moon could be seen.

  “What do we do?” Alex said.

  “We wait,” Jorri said from his position next to the boat. “With all the others—we wait.”

  Alex spotted the burn on my arm then looked at Forrest.

  “Put some of the water from your gun in my hands,” Alex said.

  When Forrest had done so, Alex poured the water over my burn. Immediately it got better.

  “Thanks,” I said, and gave Alex a quick kiss. “Forrest, how was Charity doing?”

  “Braedon, Don, and Pete were right outside Poppy’s,” Forrest said. “They were gonna make sure she got to the chapel safe and sound.”

  “Good,” I said. “That’s one less thing to worry about.”

  “I hate snakes,” Granny said.

  “I’m not fond of them myself,” Forrest said. “At least the water is calm.”

  “Granny, thanks for helping me back at Poppy’s place,” Alex said.

  “No problem,” Granny said, looking around. “It’s dark out here except for the lights coming from the key and the docks on this side.”

  “And it’s way too still on the water,” I said.

  “With all these big and small boats out here be glad of that,” Forrest said.

  “Look, everyone,” Nikki said, then pointed ahead.

  I’d spoken too soon about things being still. In front of our eyes an immense pirate ship began to appear and I spotted ripples in the water.

  Before it had even fully materialized the pirate ship began blasting cannons at the surrounding boats. There was a large splash in the water in front of us and the boat we were in rocked.

  “I didn’t see anything,” Alex said. “No cannon.”

  “That may be,” Granny said, “but the boat’s still rocking.”

  Multiple cannon shots were heard, and smoke filled the air. The water became choppy, and we held onto the sides of the boat as it bobbed around. Return fire from Sassy’s dad’s boat could now be seen.

  “Yeah, boys!” Sassy said.

  “What are they firing?” Forrest said. “It looked like a big stream of water.”

  “That’s probably what it was,” Sassy said. “Holy water.”

  “Well it doesn’t seem to be helping!” Granny said.

  We were under fire yet again, and I could hear people screaming around us as the water grew even more choppy and there was more smoke than ever.

  “Nikki, Jorri,’ I said. “Are you two OK?”

  “We’re good,” Jorri said.

  “I’m still here,” Nikki said, then turned her hair lights back on.

  I laughed at the lights, then I heard someone humming the chicken song. When I turned, I was surprised to see it was Forrest doing the song.

  “What can I say?” Forrest said. “The damn song’s stuck in my head.”

  “The moon’s coming out from behind the clouds!” Sassy said.

  Several things were now happening at once: the smoke cleared, the cannon fire stopped, and ghostly trees began to rise from the water. I put the binoculars to my eyes and looked—there was no way I was missing those moonbeams. As I looked on, I felt like the boat was beginning to rise. People began screaming and I turned.

  “Oh shit!” I said. “Where are those damn moonbeams?”

  “The center ghost tree,” Alex said. “There’s a beam going through its branches.”

  We were rising even higher but I kept my eyes on the ghost trees. Laser-like beams shot out from three of the trees. Two beams pointed toward downtown, the other looked like it went to Calvary. I heard the sound of boat motors starting, but looking behind me, I knew it was too late. Too late for all of us.

  Chapter 34

  Thrill

  PEOPLE TRIED TO move their boats out of the way. I even spotted Ebony and Ivory in their chicken outfits on Jet Skis. The folks on Sassy’s dad’s yacht still fired on the ghost ship that now towered above all of us on the top of an immense wave. Sassy had started the motor, but our boat wasn’t going anywhere. None of us were. We were at the mercy of the ghosts. As the wave rose even higher our boat went with it.

  “Lie down, and hold on tight to the boat,” Forrest
said.

  “And pray like you’ve never prayed before!” Granny said.

  I felt Forrest’s weight against me as he lay on top of Alex and me and held us tight. Sassy and Granny were between us. With both hands I gripped the bottom of the seat in front of me. This was gonna be bad—a really bad ride. And I was never one for carnival rides.

  All around us I could hear people screaming, as our boat rose higher with the wave.

  “Hang on Nikki and Jorri!” I said.

  A mere second later the wave stated its rapid downward crash. The boat flipped, and we were underwater holding on, but then it flipped back upright. Alex and the others were there and everything was still again. When we all sat up we discovered to our dismay that we were on the top of yet another big wave. I managed to spot Nikki’s hair lights before the new wave we were on began to crash.

  Boats and Jet Skis rushed to the shore from the center of the water where the wave had left us. The water was smooth now but we had another problem. Pirate ghosts were abandoning their ship and running on water toward us while waving their swords in the air.

  “I thought only Jesus could do that,” Alex said.

  “Get us to shore, Sassy!” I said.

  “I’m doing my best,” Sassy said.

  Pirates attacked our boat from the sides, but Forrest, Granny, and I shot at them with our water guns which seemed to do the trick. But some ghosts had tricks of their own and would dunk under the water and come back up again. A few of the pirates tried to capsize our boat, but Alex opened a can of holy beer and splashed them with it. Finally shore was in our sight, but that’s when I saw a whole new problem heading our way.

  The trees that had been far from the beach had grown to cover the entire sandy area.

  “This is new!” Jorri said from his Jet Ski, “What do we do?”

  “I’ve got to get off this water,” Nikki said. “My wig and I can’t take another dunking.”

  “I agree,” I said. “And really, what choice do we have?”

  “None,” Sassy said, and made for the tree covered shoreline.

  Twisted bare branches were everywhere in front of us, but Sassy found a place to stop the boat. After squirting a couple straggler ghosts with our water guns, Forrest and I jumped off the boat onto a tree limb. We helped, Sassy, Granny, and Alex out. By that time Jorri and Nikki were off their Jet Skis and on a branch as were others.

  “It’s a maze of tree branches,” Sassy said. “How do we know where to go?”

  “We look for our men who were positioned here,” I said, then crouched down. “Get on my shoulders and see what you can see, Sassy.”

  While Sassy did that, Forrest reached into my shorts’ pocket and got out my cell phone that was ringing.

  “It’s Sister Vaughn,” Forrest said, after answering the call. “He can see us from his position and is gonna give us directions. Head straight ahead.”

  Sassy wore sneakers, as did Granny, and Forrest had on his sturdy sandals. I had lost my flip-flops somewhere in the water and was making my way barefoot across slippery branches. Alex was barefoot as well, and still snapping pictures.

  The further in we went, the larger the trees were around us. Granny’s long dress got caught in smaller branches at times, but she’d just tug it free. At one point it felt like we were in a tunnel of trees with branches overhead and at our sides. At least our group was together. A couple of times I thought I spotted our chicken feather festooned tutu wearing friends in the distance, but we didn’t stray from the path Sister Vaughn had us walking.

  “I’ve spotted Sister Vaughn,” Sassy said, from atop my shoulders. “He’s on a high branch wearing binoculars.

  “We need to veer left,” Forrest said.

  “I need to go back to the gym when I get home,” I said, as I spotted low hanging branches we’d have to bend under. “My knees aren’t going to like the bending we’re gonna have to do. This is where you get off, Miss Sassy.”

  “Thanks for the ride,” Sassy said, before she was helped off my shoulders by Forrest.

  “Are you worried about the kids, Granny?” Alex said, as we were crawling under branches in wet sand.

  “I’m trying not to think about them at present,” Granny said. “The sand in my drawers is bothering me too much to worry about Bogie and Antoinette. Besides, they’re smart kids who know how to handle themselves.”

  “And they’re with my baby Julio,” Nikki said. “He’ll watch over them.”

  “Nikki, it’s a good thing you wore those lights in your hair,” Forrest said. “That’s how Sister Vaughn and the others are able to track us. Sister Vaughn says to take a deep breath, a wave is heading our way.”

  We all held our breath as water came in over our heads before it quickly retreated back to where it had come from.

  “This is not fun,” Jorri said, then laughed.

  “Take a right and we’re almost there,” Forrest said.

  Before making it to the end, we were dunked under water a couple more times.

  Finally we were out of the tree maze, standing in front of Sister Randy, Sister Vaughn, Bean, and Bella.

  “The moonbeam, Layton!” Sister Randy said. “There’s more than one.”

  “Sister Joe called and said to go straight to Calvary,” Bella said.

  “He said one of the beams was definitely shining there,” Bean said. “The other two were shining somewhere downtown. We’ll head there. Take my golf cart to Calvary.” He handed me his key. “Hit the red button to find it.”

  “I’ve got my golf cart here too,” Jorri said. “Let’s go!”

  We ran in our soaking wet clothes to the parking lot, trying to get ahead of the crowd. A quick click of the keys set Bean’s golf cart off and we found it easily. Soon I was driving Forrest, Alex, and Granny toward Calvary, while Jorri, Nikki, and Sassy followed in a golf cart behind us.

  The others who’d been on the water were a good distance behind our group, and we didn’t have to deal with many cars or pedestrians in front of us.

  “Bogie called me earlier to say that the Calvary area was pretty packed with people,” Granny said, while trying to wring water out of her wet black dress. “That’s probably why the streets are empty now, except for the folks who were on the water. They’ll be on the way up here as soon as they can make it. God, did I pick the wrong thing to wear.”

  “I have to admire how well you and the kids have stayed in character, Granny,” I said.

  An elderly woman raced down the hill in her electric wheelchair followed by a crowd of people.

  “We’s all gonna die!” the old woman screamed as she went by us in her wheelchair. “We’s all gonna die!”

  “Well, she’s lost it,” Granny said.

  “Look,” Alex said. “Fire—I think I see high flames up ahead.”

  “I’m too busy driving to look,” I said. “However, I do see something else.”

  Sister Joe, Sister Mack, and Randall were in the street flagging us down. I drove up to them and stopped. Jorri pulled up next to us in his golf cart.

  “It’s crazy up ahead,” Sister Mack said.

  “What’s going on?” Granny said.

  “Hell on earth,” Randall said. “There are flames everywhere, golf carts and peopled are getting stuck in the ground. The ghosts are there, you name it.”

  “What about the kids and Julio?” Nikki said.

  “We came out here to warn you,” Sister Joe said, then turned to Granny. “Bogie and Antoinette are safe in the treehouse with Ginger, Buck, and Julio, but we’ve got to get them out of there.”

  “Bogie and Antoinette are good in this type of situation,” Granny said. “Unless they try to do something stupid.”

  “They were gonna stay put with the others until we get there,” Randall said.

  “And don’t worry,” Sister Joe said. “We’ve come up with a plan to get to them and maybe even the treasure.”

  “The treasure is smack in the center of the cemetery,” Sister
Mack said. “We even spotted the chalice.”

  “What about the staff?” I said.

  “Julio said they didn’t see any staff, but that the chalice is right on top of the treasure surround by gold coins and jewels,” Sister Mack said.

  “Why hasn’t anyone gotten the treasure yet?” Sassy said, “or dare I ask.”

  “You’ll have to see why to believe it,” Randall said.

  “It’s not the nuns, is it?” I said.

  “Nope, but there are the ghosts of hooded monks, priests, kids, and pirates,” Randall said. “Follow us, and stop when we do.”

  “Will do,” I said.

  “Layton, we’ll be right behind you folks,” Jorri said.

  Just a short drive up, we stopped behind the boy nuns and Randall’s golf cart. In front of us was a hellish scene that made my jaw drop and took my breath away.

  Chapter 35

  Hell on Earth

  THE SCREAMS OF treasure-hunting victims surrounded us, and we were still significantly far from the entrance.

  “It’s horrific,” Alex said.

  “Is there anything we can do?” Forrest said, while looking at the scene.

  “No,” Sassy said. “Things will be back to normal come midnight.”

  “That’s the way it has been in the past,” Nikki said.

  “But those people look like they’re in pain,” Forrest said.

  Rows of hooded monks stood on either side of the street leading up to the cemetery that was consumed in flames. But the horror started even before one entered the cemetery proper. The metal parts of the iron and stone fence had twisted and turned. The iron bars had gotten long, and captured unlucky treasure hunters in their talon-like grip. People wiggled and groaned in place, as they struggled to break free. In front of the gate was a wall of priests who stood shoulder to shoulder guarding the property. Occasionally the monks and priests would raise their arms and shoot flames of fire from their hands.

  “The fire inside the cemetery looks worse than it is from here,” Sister Joe said. “Use your binoculars, Layton.”