The White Book

by George Shadow

  “We still have the book,” Rachel pointed out. “It will protect us if they come back.” Her faith in the white book’s ability to do this had been restored after the incident in the forest.

  “And what if it doesn’t do so this time?” Kimberley wondered aloud. “What if we can’t fight back this time?”

  Nobody replied her and she shrugged.

  All the fight had left her.

  Chapter 25: Retribution

  CARL Bain dropped the bloodied oxygen canister and sighed angrily. Twelve bodies lay around him as he stood there fuming at his stupidity. The boy and the female cop would have been dead by now if he had done what his masters had directed him to do. Of course, his anger blinded his thinking when he confronted the woman back in Africa. However, he could not understand what happened there in the forest a few minutes ago. He could have killed the boy before seizing the book. That way, the threat the kid earlier posed would have been eliminated going forward. But he did not do this. Instead, he had gone for the book, and now he had nothing to show for his efforts.

  Not even his powers.

  The American hustler looked down at his palms, wondering what had happened to him. The two kids must have repeated what they did back in Ukraine, when they caused his infernal masters to disappear while he lost his powers in the process. He turned his left hand around and stared at the tiny cross markings on its dorsal surface.

  The reason he presently couldn’t use his powers.

  Carl Bain’s left forearm also had these drawings etched on it. He tried to rub off some of the symbols to no avail. They must have been written with indelible ink, probably a sharpie or a pen of that nature. If only he could find some water. Maybe a small stream located in the area.

  The human minion looked around at his surroundings. There were no streams in his location, but he found a water hose that snaked out of this vicinity.

  The pipe led him to a fire truck stationed near the edge of the forest. Luckily, water gushed out of the first tap he opened, and he washed off the marks on his arms and forearms.

  “Yes!” the thief exclaimed when he started feeling energy course through his muscles. This sensation fizzled out as soon as he noticed it and intense fear replaced the feeling.

  Carl Bain looked around him. The wind came from nowhere. Of course, they would come. Sweat covered his brows. His hands started shaking. He didn’t want to die yet. “Please, don’t kill me!” he shouted into the howling wind. He could have left those symbols on his person. “Please, I made a mistake! I could have killed the boy first!”

  The Booklords appeared in all their gory glory. Carl Bain made to run and they pulled him back. An external force compelled the American thug to fall on his knees when the Gray Ones holding him sank into the ground. “No!” the scared man screamed. “Help me, someone!”

  The snakes came from nowhere. Venomous Coral snakes of the Amazon slithering out in droves with one clear objective. To kill the human minion.

  The serpents approached the struggling man and surrounded him. They sank their poisonous fangs into his flesh from all sides.

  “No! Please, no!” Carl Bain screamed with his eyes shut. “It’s horrible!” The overwhelming pain paralyzed him, forcing him to fling his eyes wide open.

  He realized there were no snakes.

  No pain.

  Only his fear.

  ‘Your last warning,’ rang out in his head. ‘Kill Aryeh, Rachel and Kpakol before it is too late.’

  Carl Bain knew Aryeh to be the boy, Aiden. “I will not fail this time,” he said, picking up a machete owned by one of his dead victims. He stood up and his masters pointed him in the right direction.

  * * *

  Kimberley looked around her as she played an imaginary drum with her right booted foot. She felt useless as they all waited for Aiden to visualize the hidden Hebrew words again. “We’re just sitting ducks here,” she finally said. “Our enemies are not resting like this.”

  “What can we do now?” Aiden began. “I still can’t see those words.” The white book lay open on his laps.

  “Don’t worry,” Kpakol said. “You will soon see those hidden words by the grace of Yahweh.”

  “Yahweh is God, right?” Aiden asked and Kpakol nodded.

  “Yahweh has been merciful to his people,” the slave spy said. “He has protected us through many wars and now we stand ready to control our destiny.”

  “The modern state of Israel isn’t doing badly last time I checked,” Kimberley grumbled. “Must I always repeat that?”

  Kpakol feigned annoyance. “I am talking of Jews all over the world, miss,” he said. “We can do better than this modern state you talk so highly of.”

  “And what’s wrong with that state?”

  “Everything that could go wrong?” Rachel interrupted.

  “Do you even know what we’re talking about?” Kimberley chided, glaring at the little girl.

  “Yes, I do, Kim,” Rachel said. “Israel is a country governed by corrupt leaders now. We’re always at loggerheads with our neighbors. This is an unnecessary distraction from our main purpose of being here. Of being alive. Yahweh would never have allowed that if we had followed his commandments and performed the ritual. Maybe the Messiah would have arrived by now and peace here on Earth made a reality.”

  “You know all this at your age?” Aiden was blown away.

  “I make it my business to know during my travels,” Rachel replied. “I visit libraries whenever I can.”

  “Impressive,” Kpakol said thoughtfully. “Impressive.”

  “The Messiah?” Kimberley continued. “Christians say he’s here already.”

  “Not true,” Kpakol intervened. “We’re still waiting for the Messiah.”

  Kimberley responded no more. She caught Rachel staring at her as if warning her not to do anything foolish again. “Let’s use the sharpie on ourselves like Aiden did on Carl Bain back there,” she suggested all of a sudden. “We need to protect ourselves from those things now more than ever.”

  “The sharpie ink doesn’t last, remember?” Aiden reminded her. “It fades after a few hours?”

  “Brazil is not as corrupt as Nigeria where there are no checks on product quality,” Kimberley assured him. “No need for your concern.”

  The sharpie exchanged hands and many ankhs were drawn.

  A moderately chilly wind ensued.

  * * *

  The black-coated man appeared with his infernal masters near the enemy. “Good,” he said. “We’re out of sight.” He saw the boy scribble something on the little girl’s arm and smiled. “They’re writing symbols on their arms. This will not save them this time.”

  The shrubs and trees around the Gray Ones started dying, their leaves a kaleidoscope of greens and browns. Carl Bain felt the atmospheric chill and turned to his masters. “We must act quickly before they notice us,” he said, brandishing the machete. “Of course, I have a plan.”

  * * *

  Aiden turned towards the trees to his left as soon as Rachel did the same thing. Their eyes met and they realized they dreaded the same situation. The boy cleared his throat and turned back to Kimberley, who had vaguely repeated a question in his direction. “What, Kim?” he wondered and the sergeant stared at him.

  “Guess you’re enjoying all this, right?” she let out.

  “No, I’m…”

  “Better this than jail time for you, right?”

  An embarrassed Aiden looked down at his feet. “No need to bring that up now, Kim,” he said. “I never asked for this.”

  “Says the boy who killed his mother by running away from home and ending up in a juvenile prison before running away again from a foster home to accidentally meet a little girl who takes him on an adventure ridiculing time and space.”

  “What are you saying?” Rachel thought she didn’t hear what she just heard.

  “Did you run away from home?” Kpakol asked Aiden.

  “Yes, eh but not the way she just sa
id it,” Aiden stammered. He turned red. “It’s…It’s complicated.”

  “Then uncomplicate it,” Kimberley interrupted. “Tell them why you left home and joined a gang of criminals.”

  “I didn’t join any gang,” Aiden countered.

  “I believe you,” Rachel said.

  “Okay,” Kimberley kept up. “If you didn’t do that, how did you come across this?” She displayed the small box from her pocket. “How did this man now after us come to know you, Aiden? Please explain.”

  “Please stop doing what you’re doing to him,” Rachel said. “You’re wrong.”

  “No, Rachel,” Aiden said. “She’s right.” He was teary eyed. “I killed Mum by running away. I deserve to die.”

  “No, you don’t,” Rachel said, turning to Kimberley. “You’re despicable.”

  “Is this helping us now?” Kpakol asked no one in particular.

  “No, it’s not,” Kimberley agreed. “I just needed to get that off my chest.”

  “By making him cry?” Rachel exclaimed. “You know what we’re going through, Kim, and you bring this up now?”

  Kpakol cleared his throat. “Okay then, let’s talk about this later? We need to leave if Aiden cannot see the writings. No need hanging around here.”

  “Yes,” Kimberley said. “You…You’re right.”

  “Odd that you bring up Aiden’s issue at this dangerous time, miss,” Kpakol said. “Are you acting with outside influence?”

  “Of course, not,” Kimberley said. “Do you think I am?” Kpakol stared at her and she looked away. “You suggested we talk about this later, remember?”

  “Yes, I remember,” the slave spy said. ”We’ll talk later, when we’re safe.”

  “Have you seen anything?” Rachel asked Aiden, stepping up to him.

  “No,” Aiden replied. “Nothing yet.”

  Kpakol cried out and crashed to the ground. Carl Bain swung the bloody machete at Kimberley, missing her by inches as she avoided the blade and brushed his legs off the ground. She kicked away the machete before he could use the weapon again and slammed her right heel on his chest. He rolled away as she brought down her heel again. He grabbed Rachel who proceeded to bite his arm and elbow his stomach.

  “Yeow,” Carl Bain shouted, releasing the girl, who ran to Aiden. The boy watched from afar.

  “Lost your powers?” Kimberley began as she watched her enemy’s every step. “I don’t even know your name.”

  “Carl Bain to you, ma’am,” the man announced with a smile. “And who am I fighting?”

  “Sergeant Kimberley Reyna of the Portwood Police Department to you, mister,” Kimberley replied. “I see you don’t have your powers.”

  “He’s been affected by the ankhs we drew on our arms, Kim,” Rachel shouted. “He can’t use his powers here.”

  Carl Bain eyed the girl. “My demon lords stripped me of my powers as soon as I appeared in your midst,” he told her. “This eliminated the effect of those worthless symbols on me.”

  “They’re not worthless,” Aiden stammered, handing the white book to Rachel.

  Carl Bain glared at him. “I will kill you after I kill your friends, boy,” he snapped. “After all, you got me into this mess.”

  “Is this about your package?” Kimberley jeered, pulling the small box out of her pocket. “Come and get it again, boy.”

  “Okay,” Carl Bain said, looking around for his machete. Not seeing the weapon, he picked up a tree branch and broke it into two. “Now, you die.”

  Repeatedly thrusting the jagged end of the stick at his opponent, Carl Bain moved into her space. The sergeant avoided the thrusts as best as she could, going backward before kicking away the stick with a high right foot swing. She swung back her right leg, intending to hit Carl Bain’s neck with the deadly kickbox, but the American hustler held her leg and threw her off-balance by pushing the leg he held.

  Kimberley fell and quickly got up before her opponent got to her unstable figure. His right fist smashed into her jaw and she fell backward in a daze.

  The human minion straddled his enemy and broke her nose with his right fist before Aiden smashed him into oblivion by swinging a heavy tree branch at his head. This action prevented another affront on Kimberley’s nose.

  “Kpakol,” Rachel screamed, running towards the slave spy’s immobile figure.

  “He’s dead,” Aiden said dejectedly. “Nobody can survive that cut.”

  “Yes,” Kimberley agreed, picking herself up. She looked for Carl Bain’s machete and found it in the tall grass. “Look away,” she told the children, going over to pick up the weapon.

  “What do you want to do with it?” Aiden asked her.

  “Something I should have done a long time ago,” the Portwood sergeant said.

  “No, Kim, don’t do it,” Rachel pleaded.

  “You can’t do that, Kim,” Aiden began.

  “Yes, I can,” Kimberley said. “Now, look away.” She cut off Carl Bain’s head in one fell swoop. The long grass hid this bloody deed from the wide-eyed kids. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Chapter 26: Greenland

  KIMBERLEY and the kids appeared on a snowy landscape wearing Eskimo-styled clothing.

  “The symbols are no longer on our arms,” Aiden realized. “Where’s the sharpie, Kim?” he requested.

  “I no longer have it,” Kimberley said.

  “Must it be a sharpie?” Rachel asked.

  “Right,” Aiden agreed. “Anything that writes will do.”

  Kimberley looked around her at the disappointing snow. “Nothing to see here,” she said. “Just snow.”

  “There’s a building,” Rachel pointed out with her right index finger.

  “Looks tiny from here,” Aiden observed.

  “It’s far,” Kimberley said. “Let’s get closer.” There appeared no other choice.

  The time-travelers started running towards the structure.

  An explosion threw them apart, spewing the Gray Ones through the ice sheet they’d been running on.

  Aiden dropped the white book as the eruption flung him far out like the others. The book formed the magical dome around itself, freezing away the demonic entities near it.

  A shrieking Booklord pinned Rachel to the ground. She turned her head and realized that the others were also going through this gruesome experience.

  Kimberley looked away as the infernal creature holding her screamed into her face. She felt tired and stared at Aiden as he struggled with his own aggressor. She felt like something repulsive was trying to enter her. Something more powerful. More assertive. Something trying to pass through her so as to control her being.

  The Portwood sergeant saw Rachel get up as if in a trance. The little girl walked over to the mysterious book and picked it up despite the mysterious freezing protection around the volume. Kimberley tried to say something, but nothing came out of her mouth. “Rachel, no!” she finally screamed, before realizing that the little girl could not hear her.

  Rachel raised the white book up and the most hideous Gray One Kimberley had ever seen withdrew from the horde and faced the little girl, who moved to give this spiritual creature the book.

  Carl Bain appeared before Aiden and stabbed the boy on the chest. Rachel screamed at this shocking violence while a stunned Kimberley could only stare as the American gangster stabbed the boy again.

  “You thought I have died?!” the human minion growled. “Not when I have my demon lords on my side, boy!”

  The screaming Rachel started struggling for the white book with the Gray One facing her.

  The bullets hit Carl Bain before he could stab Aiden a third time. The Booklords left their human minion behind as they fled. They faded away as the American thug died a second time.

  A new character ran over to Aiden and disappeared with the boy.

  “Where did they go?” a stupefied Kimberley wondered, looking around her.

  “I-I don’t know,” Rachel replied, shaken by the events of the
last few seconds. Heaps of mysterious ash littered an area surrounding the white book on the ground before her and she cringed at the thought of the unearthly creatures rising up from these grave sites to torment her again. “Aiden…someone t-took him away.”

  “I saw that,” Kimberley said.

  “Maybe we’ll get some answers from the house?” Rachel nodded towards the structure.

  Kimberley stood up beside the little girl and faced the two-floor wooden house. She looked at Rachel, who stared at Carl Bain’s body. “He didn’t die, even though I beheaded him,” the Portwood Police sergeant told the little girl. “You know what that means.”

  Rachel nodded. “They can bring back the dead,” she said and picked up the white book.

  “Is that why you wanted to give them the book?” Kimberley asked her. “Or is there any other reason for that?”

  “I-I wasn’t thinking straight,” the Bookbearer confessed. “Something was influencing me.”

  “I wasn’t thinking straight back in Nigeria as well,” Kimberley said. “Something was also influencing me, which means only one thing.”

  “Like Uncle Ezra said, they can control anyone they want to control.”

  “Exactly, though it looks like it’s easier for them to control non-Bookbearers,” Kimberley reasoned.

  “But they must have controlled me now.”

  “Yes, maybe they can easily control Bookbearers as well.” Kimberley held her head.

  Rachel looked at Carl Bain’s body. “Is he still alive right now?”

  “I doubt he’s dead,” Kimberley said. “Though I still hope he’s gone for good.”

  “Over here!” someone called out to them from the house in the distance. “Your friend is okay.”

  “Who is that?” Kimberley began.

  “I don’t know,” Rachel said. “We should find out.”

  A man stood at the distant building’s entrance. He wore attire similar to what Kimberley and Rachel had on. Both time-travelers walked up to this fellow, who had penetrating blue eyes and a deep brow. His handsome smile lit up his chiseled face, which exuded confidence. This tall man literally stooped to avoid the door’s lintel.