by Justin Sloan
And now the responsibility was Allie’s, with Daniel's help of course. She wondered how two kids were going to handle it, but then she looked over at Daniel walking beside her and she knew.
The bad guys didn’t stand a chance.
ALLIE STROM
AND THE TENTH WORTHY
Justin Sloan
Allie Strom and the Tenth Worthy
by Justin Sloan
Copyright © 2015 Justin Sloan.
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. No people known to the author have as of yet vanquished evil, but maybe you can be the first. The first step is to leave a review, the second is to tell your friends about Allie Strom and the Tenth Worthy.
Thank you for supporting my work.
To my children, Brendan and Verona.
I love you both so much and can’t wait to share my stories with you.
Contents
ALLIE STROM AND THE TENTH WORTHY
Chapter 1: No Rest
Chapter 2: War Begins
Chapter 3: Burnt Wings
Chapter 4: Escape
Chapter 5: Mt. Fuji
Chapter 6: The Tomb
Chapter 7: Regroup
Chapter 8: Dream World
Chapter 9: The Temple
Chapter 10: Egyptian Gods
Chapter 11: The Greeks
Chapter 12: Two Worlds Collide
Chapter 13: The Eleventh Worthy
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALLIE STROM AND THE TENTH WORTHY
Chapter 1: No Rest
Allie stood in the middle of the field, her opponents running right for her. She had fought worse than them, and didn’t even flinch. Taking a focusing breath, she lunged, pulled back her leg, and kicked—sending the soccer ball flying into the goal for the winning shot!
The crowd in the bleachers went wild, and her whole team surrounded her, high fiving and patting her on the back.
“You did it!” one girl said.
“We won!” others were shouting. “We won!”
Allie walked to the sideline, grabbed a cup of water, and looked to the bleachers. Sure enough, her mom and dad were there, smiling and waving. Half of her wondered if they were actually happy to see her playing soccer, or just happy to know that she wasn’t out risking her neck to save the world at that moment.
So far, she and Daniel had found the Ring of Solomon, the Sword of the Spirit, the Helmet of Salvation, and the Shield of Faith. But on their last attempt, they’d failed to get a fifth item. She had no way of knowing which one it had been—or where it had gone. What she did know was that they were still missing the Belt of Truth, the Breastplate of Righteousness, and the Sandals of Peace.
She had been told that the person to collect these items, “The Armor of God,” as Gabe called them, would become The Tenth Worthy, and therefore gain immense power. If this meant going up against those shadowy figures from the underground fortress of Samyaza, then she wanted to run the opposite direction. Their whispery voices still echoed in her ears, along with the image of Yuko trying to snag the Ring of Solomon from her.
“Way to bring it home,” Paulette said with a smile. She leaned in close and lowered her voice. “Didn’t use any of your extra powers, did ya?”
“Of course not,” Allie said.
“Yeah, right.” Paulette stared at her, and Allie knew the older girl was wishing she still had her old powers, that she could still train. But she had been forbidden to.
Once a dark one was allowed access to your brain, it was that much easier for them to do so again in the future, Principal Eisner had explained. So since Paulette had been possessed by Samyaza, she could not return to training.
Allie smiled at the awkward silence, then turned to find Daniel in the crowd.
He was standing in the bleachers, just about to head the opposite direction. She said goodbye to her parents, then caught up with him.
“Where you going?” she said.
“Hey.” He greeted her with a surprised smile. “Thought you’d want to hang out with your cool friends today.”
“Come on, you’re my friend.”
“I mean, Allie… you’re the most popular girl in school now. With so many of the kids knowing what you did, and those girls helping you out on the field….”
“Does Chris feel this way?”
“Chris doesn’t think about it like that. He’s busy drinking the ‘I love Allie’ juice just like everyone else out here.”
“Everyone but you.”
“Hey, I—”
“Wait, you just said Chris loves me,” she teased. “Wow, this is big news.”
Daniel laughed. “Hey, I saw the way you ogled him when you first met.”
“Yeah, but that was before he tried to kill us both and take the ring for….” Allie glanced over her shoulder at Paulette. “You know.”
Daniel shrugged. “They couldn’t help themselves. We can’t linger on that.”
“Still, I’m not ready for Chris’s love.”
Daniel hit her playfully. “You know what I meant.”
“Okay, well I’m gonna get changed up. You and Chris want to hang out after? Maybe at my place?”
“Yeah, I’ll check with him.”
Allie watched Daniel walk off, slightly annoyed. After everything Daniel had been through with her, Allie kind of expected they would be best buddies now, not this weird third wheel situation they seemed to be headed in. To make it worse, she wasn’t sure who the third wheel was at this point: Chris or herself.
“Let’s go girls,” the coach said, and the team began filtering off to get washed up.
Allie meandered over to the locker room, but her arm was throbbing. It had been doing that more and more lately, and it was starting to worry her.
She found her towel and was heading to her locker when Brenda walked by.
“Hanging out with your boyfriend again today, Strom?”
“Sitting alone at home by yourself again?” Allie snapped. “Maybe if you weren’t such a snot, you’d have some friends to hang out with.”
Instantly Allie regretted saying it, having no idea where that came from. Brenda stared at her, wide-eyed, then turned on her heel and stomped off. Allie opened her mouth to apologize, but couldn’t do it. She just watched Brenda turn down a row of lockers and disappear.
“You feeling okay?” Paulette asked, throwing her gear into the locker next to Allie’s.
“Yeah, I think so.” Allie quickly changed, then started for the door.
“We’re not boys,” Paulette said with a laugh. “You don’t have to be shy about showering.”
Allie instinctively put her hand over the sleeve of her shirt, to make sure the pattern was covered.
“I’m not,” she said, glancing back with a forced smile. “I’m just in a hurry.”
Outside, she pulled up the sleeve and looked at the pattern. It itched, but she did her best not to scratch it. She rubbed it gently on her jeans, then felt her stomach lurch—the pattern seemed to have moved, writhing like a snake.
She was going to have to tell someone about this, but… not yet, she thought, walking to where Daniel and Chris waited. She returned their waves, and decided that no matter how much her arm itched, she wasn’t going to snap at these two.
“Ready for Christmas break?” Chris asked. “Any big plans?”
“Just hanging out here,” Allie said.
“Talk about going out on a bang.” Chris nodded back at the soccer field. “Really upped your game, huh?”
“Maybe I was always that good.”
“Yeah, but something seems different about you.”
They laughed, and Daniel held up his fingers, as if counting. “Let’s see, she saved you, saved me….”
“I had your help,” Allie said, nudging Daniel with her elbow.
He shrugged and gave a nervous glance Chris’s way. Chris was looking off, a distant look in his eyes.
“You okay?”
“Hu
h?” Chris looked back at them and forced a smile. “Yeah, of course.”
Allie frowned, confused. “Something going on?”
Chris took a moment, staring at the ground, then sighed. “It was tough, you know. Like I was in two places. And when I think about it, I start to feel pulled apart again. I don’t know, it’s stupid.”
“No, I get it,” Daniel said.
“Don’t see how you could,” Chris replied, irritation growing in his voice. “You weren’t really taken over, were you?”
“Not exactly, but—”
“That’s what I thought.”
After an awkward silence, Chris mumbled something about seeing them later and walked off.
“Come on, Chris,” Daniel called after him. “Chris!”
But Chris was already walking back inside, the green doors swinging behind him.
“Sooo….” Allie waited.
“I don’t know.” Daniel stood with his hands on his hips, staring at the doors. “He kinda gets that way sometimes. Ever since…. But it’s over now, and you’d think he’d get over it.”
“It’s a lot to get over.”
Daniel nodded, turning back to her. “Yeah, you’re right.” He allowed a smile to return. “So, to the mall for free hot cocoa?”
“Of course, but I’m not going near ice skates.”
“Deal.”
They headed over on foot, since it was only a twenty-minute walk. The whole way, they talked about how great it was to be living normal student lives again. She was sure she’d done horrible on the day’s midterm exam, and he complained about striking out at the worst possible time in Vigil Junior High’s recent baseball game. But they laughed about it, because no matter what, these kinds of problems meant nothing when compared with the chaos of the fallen angels and that side of their lives.
At the edge of the outdoor skating rink, Daniel finished his hot chocolate and fished for a marshmallow with his fingers.
“You don’t have to catch ‘em all,” Allie said with a laugh.
“Growing up, my dad would make me lick the pasta sauce from the plate, not wanting to waste anything. Call me silly, but a marshmallow’s way more valuable than pasta sauce. So I refuse to give up.”
Allie scoffed, then said, “Get it, get it, get it,” in a mock chant. When he succeeded, she cheered, and a couple of kids skating by looked at her like she was a dork.
But Daniel beamed at her. “Hey, at least we’re dorks together.”
“I’ll take it.”
They went into the mall to look for some last-minute Christmas gifts. After a trip to the Hallmark store and Macy’s, they decided they’d come back later and figure it out.
“Is that Chris?” Daniel asked, stopping next to the big wreath at the entrance to the food court.
Sure enough, Chris was entering the movie theater with a girl. The girl laughed, then tossed her hair back.
“With Paulette?”
“Wow,” Daniel said, his tone sounding as flabbergasted as Allie felt. “I mean… wow.”
“Since when are they hanging out?”
Daniel shook his head, biting his lip in thought. “Didn’t even say anything to me about it.”
“We don’t need them,” Allie said, and held the door open for Daniel. “Come on, you promised you’d help me with soccer, right?”
“It’s getting dark,” he said, but at her look added, “But of course.”
They walked for a bit in silence before Allie said, “Maybe they get each other, you know?”
“Daniel and Paulette?”
“Yeah. I mean, after both being possessed or whatever you call it. Maybe they’re like people who lived through traumatic events, only other people who went through it get it?”
“Or they’re possessed again, and—”
“Don’t joke like that,” Allie said, and walked along in silence, trying to think about what Chris was going through.
***
That evening, Allie and Daniel met in the woods by their house to kick the soccer ball around, but soon they found themselves practicing their training instead.
“Come at me,” Allie said, and blocked two punches and a kick from Daniel before he connected with a mock-elbow blow to her head.
He smirked, then motioned for her to come at him. She did, but after he dodged her first few strikes and ran, she spun, foot dragging to create an arrow in the dirt surrounded by a crescent. A burst of energy threw her into the air and after him.
“Whoa!” he said as she landed before him, his tone scolding. “What’re you thinking?”
“What?”
“Someone could’ve seen that!”
She glanced around at the dark woods. “Come on….”
“Allie, we’re not supposed to play around like that.”
She stared at him, unsure until he lunged, both fists stopping inches from hitting her.
“Got you,” he said. “As if I’d care about being discovered. We could just pass it off with some sort of magic, right? Like the earthquake thing.”
“Not sure how that works,” she said. “But I think you’re right, we should be careful.”
“If I’d had the helmet, no way you coulda caught me.”
“Sure I could’ve. I’d just summon my eagle and have her take you down.”
Daniel laughed, and they sat for a moment, considering.
Allie picked up a pinecone and flicked it against a tree.
“With Samyaza gone, what’s the point of all this training?”
“It’s fun though.”
“True.”
“Michael have you practicing the whole summon-an-eagle thing?”
“Yeah, but honestly it’s still iffy. Half the time I call the eagle and it comes, the other half… nothing.”
Daniel shrugged. “But hey, not like you need powers or spirit animals lately anyway.”
“Right,” she said, hoping that was true. She couldn’t count the times in a day when that hope crossed through her mind.
Samyaza was gone, for sure. But she couldn’t erase the images of those dark beings she’d seen as Samyaza’s fortress collapsed around her. The look in Yuko’s eyes when she’d tried to snatch the Ring of Solomon still haunted her.
“Come on,” she said, standing. “Best get to bed. We have a big day of finding Christmas presents ahead of us tomorrow.”
***
Christmas Eve came, and Allie and Daniel agreed they’d meet up the next day, after opening presents and spending some time with their families. They hadn’t seen much of Chris, but Daniel said they’d chatted and Chris had told him more about hanging out with Paulette.
“I get it,” Daniel said from the other end of the phone.
“If you do,” she replied as she finished wrapping the book titled Mohira that she’d bought for her mom, “that’s good enough for me.”
“Alright, Allie. Merry Christmas.”
“You too!”
They hung up and Allie dashed to the living room to add her present to the pile of others under the tree. Some families didn’t bother much with a Christmas tree, or there was the situation like Daniel’s, where his dad didn’t see the difference between going all out and just throwing some decorations on one of their house plants.
But in Allie’s house, the Christmas tree was like their country flag. It represented her family, or she felt so, anyway. It started with the first Christmas her mom had to miss because of the “Army,” or what Allie now knew to be her work as a Bringer of Light. Not having a lot of money at the time, her dad had worked some favors with friends to get the biggest tree he could find, visited the dollar store and secondhand stores for ornaments and lights galore, and did his best to make sure the living room sparkled and shone in red, green, and gold.
Now with her mom back, the tradition continued. The only difference was now they’d been accumulating ornaments over the years, and nice ones too. When they visited Allie’s grandparents on Whidbey Island, they’d picked up a hand-cr
afted wooden Santa ornament. On their trip to California one year—a drive that Allie wanted blocked from her memory—they’d found a Santa-on-the-beach ornament that took a prominent spot on the tree. The list went on. Allie sat back on the couch, watching the lights transition from white to color.
A thought hit her—over-decorating to make up for a family member’s absence would be about her from now on. If what Principal Eisner said was true and that the war was far from over, she’d eventually have to get back out there to find the rest of the Armor of God. Allie sighed, hoping that day was far off in the future.
“There she is,” her dad said, plopping down on the couch next to her with a candy cane between his lips. “You guessed all your presents yet?”
“Not even close,” she said, motioning toward a large one in the corner with her name on it. “But I know which one I want to open tonight.”
“That one?” he said with a casual wave of his hand at the big box. “Not your best choice.”
“No?”
“You always go for the biggest box. How many times has that been the best gift?”
She thought back, testing the implication. “Huh…”
“Exactly,” he said triumphantly. “Huh. Never.”
“Oh, the one year when I got the Costco teddy bear,” she said, finger in the air.
“Doesn’t count. It was too big to be wrapped.”
She laughed, remembering how they’d simply put a box over the bear’s head, the body left in plain sight next to the tree.
“Okay, you win.”
He shook his head. “Not until I get my Christmas Eve hug.”
“Daa-ad.” She rolled her eyes, but gave him a big hug.
Just then, her mom and brother walked in.
“Ahhh,” Ian said.
“You owe me one too,” their dad said, and pulled Ian in as Allie maneuvered her way out of the hug.
“Can we get to it then?” Ian asked. “I kinda… I got a date tonight.”
“On Christmas Eve?” their mom said.
Ian shrugged. “I take what I can get.”