God Stones: Books 1 - 3

by Otto Schafer

  That’s when they heard a distant explosion. A second later they could feel a soft rumble traveling across the asphalt of the parking lot.

  Janis turned to Breanne and began running back around the library. “Oh my god! That was it, wasn’t it!? The explosions you saw!?”

  Breanne nodded, trailing Janis. “Pete, what do you see?”

  Pete slid to a stop, squinting in the direction of Garrett’s house. “I don’t have a clear line of sight, but judging from the mushroom cloud in the distance I don’t think Garrett’s house is there anymore, guys.”

  14

  Just Cut Off Its Head

  Wednesday, April 6 – God Stones Day 1

  Petersburg, Illinois

  Dark smoke plumed into the night sky to merge with thickening rain clouds. Hot wind washed over Garrett, and the acrid smoke from his burning home assaulted his nose. This he could ignore. But the loss of his home assailed his soul, and the loss of his father and Mr. B. attacked his heart. These wounds were impossible to brush off.

  “What now?” Garrett asked thickly.

  “We move. This will only buy time,” James said, looking to Elaine’s ankle. “Can you run, Elaine?”

  “No. It may be broken… I… I rolled it pretty good,” she said, grimacing.

  James positioned himself so that Elaine could lean on him and take the weight off the bad ankle. As quickly as they could, they made their way around the block and into an alley.

  “James, what do mean ‘only buy time’ – don’t you think he’s dead after that?” Garrett asked hopefully.

  “I would love to think so, but he has the God Stones. Unfortunately, the prophecy doesn’t end with him dying in our basement. You still have a mission.” James looked back over his shoulder as if he expected Apep to come running toward him from around the corner. “You have to get to the temple, while we still have a chance.”

  Garrett looked to Elaine. “Mom, I have so many questions.”

  “I know you do,” she said, wincing as she shifted position from one foot to try and put most of her weight on the other. “This isn’t the way you were supposed to find out. All the Keepers knew the signal, knew that when Brother Brockridge called for the closed test it was time. What we didn’t know was that Apep would obtain the stones before we were able to properly… enlighten you.”

  “I want to be so pissed off right now,” Garrett said. “But I can’t. I want to run away – but I can’t. I want to just sit down and cry – but I can’t even do that!” He lifted his head and met his mother’s eyes. He searched them and found what he was looking for – love. He knew at least that much was true. If everything else was nothing more than a lie, at least that much he knew had to be true.

  Elaine smiled and hugged him hard. Then she pushed him back and found his eyes again. “You’re right, Garrett. You can’t do any of those things. Not now anyway. The prophecy has been written and your path is waiting. Now you must go.” She squeezed his shoulders reassuringly.

  “And you?” Garrett asked.

  “I must go too. James and I must warn the other Keepers and tell them of the loss of Brother Brockridge, of Phillip,” she said, her voice cracking. “We must tell them it has begun and Apep is here. We will be safe. Find me after,” she said, forcing an unconvincing tight-lipped smile.

  “Find you? How will I find you?”

  “Find your way back to the dojo.”

  “But the building burned.”

  His mother bent forward and kissed him on the cheek. Then she turned to Lenny. “Brother Brockridge put that staff in your hand for a reason, Lenny. Take care of my son. Keep him safe.”

  Lenny nodded.

  “Okay, little brother. I must go with your mom.”

  “What? Wait, you obviously know what you’re doing – come with me… help me,” Garrett pleaded.

  “Garrett, most everything in your life has been carefully orchestrated to prepare you for this moment. Sure, we had to improvise when your real father lost his shit. But we made it work. We gave you what you needed and taught you how to survive with less than most. We raised you poor so you would appreciate what you had when everything was taken away from you. We made sure you grew up strong because we knew you would need to be. I treated you like crap because you needed to learn to stand up on your own. Phillip treated you with tough love because the journey ahead will test all your morals – morals we have ensured you possess. Your mother loved you and made sure you knew love so that when the time came you would understand what was at stake.” James stepped closer and laid a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “This journey is yours. You will find all the help you need in your sages. The prophecy of Turek tells us no one can alter the course set forth. Find me when you destroy what’s in the temple. Right now though, I need to get your mother to safety.”

  James turned to Elaine and, just as they started to walk away, Garrett blurted out, “Wait!”

  James turned.

  “At least answer one question first.”

  “Sure.”

  “What’s in the temple that I have to destroy?”

  “What!? Brother Brockridge didn’t tell you?” James said, turning completely around and stepping back toward Garrett.

  Garrett held out his hands. “No. Apep came and, well…”

  “Did he at least tell you of the great battles and of the old ones who brought the God Stones to earth through the tear in space?”

  “Yes, he told us about the battles and the seven sages who defeated the seven old ones and even that Turek and Apep were both part of that group.”

  Lenny nodded.

  James reached up and scratched at a patch of whiskers. “Inside the temple lies one of the old ones, Garrett.”

  “What? You’re telling me there’s a space alien inside there?” Garrett asked.

  “Yep. It is in a state of suspension.”

  Ever since they found the journal, Garrett and his crew had speculated about what they would find inside the temple. A secret treasure? An ancient worshipping place built by the Masons? In truth, he had no idea what he’d expected to be inside Lincoln’s temple. But an ancient space alien? “I was hoping it would be some kind of God Stone instruction manual sitting atop an altar. But an alien? I thought all the old ones were destroyed by the sages?”

  “Not destroyed, Garrett. Defeated. The place you’re going isn’t really a temple as much as it is a prison. One of seven prisons across the world. One on each continent and all connected by the same spell. It’s a prison never meant to be found, with a being inside never meant to be awakened. Well, not until now. If Apep wakes it, the old one will show him how to assemble the God Stones into the Sound Eye. If that happens… God help us.”

  “And I have to go in there and kill it?” The words slipped from Garrett’s mouth, taking all the moisture with them. He tried to swallow. He didn’t need the answer – he just needed to say it aloud.

  “Yes, that’s where that sword strapped to your back comes in. All you need to do is get there first and use it to cut off the old one’s head. You do that, and Apep won’t be able to wake it up.”

  “Seriously?!” Lenny said.

  “Serious as a heart attack, Lenny. Now both of you, go.” And with that, James turned to Elaine and the two of them hobbled into the shadows of the alley in the opposite direction from Garrett’s destiny.

  For a moment, the two boys stood next to each other, silently watching the darkness of the alley that had just absorbed Garrett’s mother and brother.

  Garrett blinked, unable to speak as his mind reeled. Cut off its head! That’s all, Garrett, just cut off its head. You know… with a sword! No big deal, right!? He couldn’t let the gravity of it all weigh on him – not now. If he dared pause here, staring into the darkness too long, if he dared think beyond the next moment, he might just crumple right there in the alley unable to move. Finally, he turned to his friend. “What have we gotten into, Lenny?”

  Lenny gazed back down the alley to
ward his own house. “Garrett?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I don’t think we will ever be coming back here.”

  “Don’t say that—”

  Lightning cracked across the night sky, lighting up the neighborhood in an orange glow. It was beautiful, strange, and wrong all at the same time. With the crack of lightning, the power stopped fluctuating and Petersburg went completely dark. Two police cars sped past the mouth of the alley toward what was left of Garrett’s burning house.

  Orange flashes fractured the night sky again, followed by a boom of thunder. The night sky began to spit fat drops of rain.

  Lenny felt the first drop hit his cheek and panic consumed him. “Come on! Garrett, we got to go now!” he said, breaking into an instant sprint toward the library.

  “What’s wrong?” Garrett asked, matching pace in an easy stride.

  “The rain! The tunnel!”

  As the boys exchanged horrified glances, understanding slapped Garrett as suddenly as the next drop of rain. The first rule of exploring Petersburg’s drainage pipes was to never, ever do it in the rain. “Oh, this is just perfect! It’s going to fill!”

  Lenny shook his head back and forth. “What happens if we can’t get in Garrett!?”

  Elaine stopped in the shadows and turned to watch Garrett and Lenny as they ran away into the night – into their destiny.

  “Are you okay, Elaine?” James asked.

  “No, James. No, I am far from okay. We have already lost so much. Now I stand here watching my son go off to… to…” She shook her head and squeezed her eyes closed, trying desperately to hold it together. “It’s like when a relative you love comes home and then has to leave after a long visit. You stand at the door watching them go, wondering when you will see them again and how much you will miss them. But the difference is” – a sob broke loose from her as if ripped from her soul, unable to be held any longer – “I know he is going to die!” she cried out, throwing her face into her hands.

  James put an arm around her. “Elaine. I know this is hard, but you know he has to do this. It has already been written. Even the part where he dies.”

  15

  Brushwork and Magic?

  Wednesday, April 6 – God Stones Day 1

  Rural Chiapas State, Mexico

  Gabi crawled back from the pit opening and pushed herself up onto her feet. “Really, Mamá! I can actually help you with the wall mural?” Gabi asked hopefully.

  “Sí, sure you can help. As long as you can answer this question.”

  Gabi’s eyes narrowed. “What question?”

  “There are a few methods we can deploy for the preliminary cleaning of wall paintings. What are they?”

  “Easy!” Gabi held up three fingers, closing each as she ticked them off. “Mechanical cleaning of dry soil residue with brushes and a scalpel if needed, chemical cleaning of carbonates and other deposits, and extraction of salts.”

  “Good! What method will we be using?” her mother asked.

  That was two questions, but she was pretty sure she knew the answer. “Mechanical?”

  “That’s right, just a light brushing for now. What we want is the least abrasive method that will yield the best results.”

  The scene on the wall began above the skulls, starting just to the left of the stairwell and wrapping around the entire room, but large portions were completely covered with a layer of dust and dirt.

  Itzel pointed at the scene. “So far I can see these images here depict a great number of people battling with another group. See, here you can see these people are much larger.”

  “Those must be the giants!” Gabi said.

  “Giants – such a strange word. Even in our own language. Gabi, who would have ever thought we would be referring to people as gigantes!”

  “But they are, Mamá,” Gabi said.

  “Yes, María Purísima, I suppose so. I can’t tell what happens after so let’s start over here and work our way back,” Itzel said, pointing at the far end of the battle scene where everything seemed to fade away. “Listen to me, Gabi, you are going to be next to me on a ladder. I will position the ladders for us, and you must be careful not to drop your brush onto the skull racks, or to bump into the skull racks, or to—”

  “Mamá, I promise I will be so careful.”

  “I know you will. You’re a woman, Gabi. You are nearly fourteen!”

  Gabi and her mom went to work carefully brushing the wall. Slowly, so slowly, the layer of time drifted away to reveal a long-forgotten history.

  “Look at this! It’s the pyramid!” On the wall before them was a depiction of a massive pyramid, but part of the top was missing. “Look! Gabi! This must be a depiction of how the pyramid was made!” Itzel repositioned her ladder and climbed back up. She began brushing around the part of the pyramid that was missing stones.

  Gabi climbed down and stepped back to take in the scene. The horsehair bristles of her mother’s brush danced delicately, almost gracefully, side to side. A tiny cloud of dust lifted off the wall and floated away, as if by magic. Magically, too, the paintless brush revealed the secret of how the pyramid was built. The young girl’s eyes grew wider and wider as a deep crinkle split her brow.

  Her mother’s own eyes matched those of her daughter as her hand suddenly froze. “¡Ay, María Purísima!” she gasped.

  “Do you see this, Gabi?” Itzel said. “María, Come here. Please look at this!”

  Gabi gaped at the wall, unblinking.

  “Am I seeing things or do the pyramid stones look as though they are floating up and into place?” María asked.

  “Yeah, and it looks as though that giant man is pointing at the stones as they float up,” Itzel said.

  “He is even bigger than the other giant ones battling the smaller ones,” María said.

  “Yes, twice as big, but that can’t be,” Itzel said. “That would be ridiculous – impossible. The scale must be off. We have seen this plenty of times on Egyptian hieroglyphs.”

  “Itzel, scale doesn’t explain the floating blocks and the pointing.”

  Gabi tried not to blurt her revelation, but her excitement overpowered her mouth and forced it through. “Not pointing!” she announced.

  Both women had been so deep in thought they turned to Gabi in surprise, as if she had not been standing between them all along.

  “What do you mean?” María asked.

  Gabi pointed at the giant then to the highest stone hovering there like a leaf that had caught the wind just right. “Not pointing,” she repeated. “Guiding, he is guiding them up… with magic.”

  16

  A Hard Rain

  Wednesday, April 6 – God Stones, Day 1

  Petersburg, Illinois

  Again, Garrett found himself running across town, back through the pizza place parking lot, through the row of parked cars, and into the alley that would lead to the Petersburg Public Library. The rain fell harder every second. Quickly the roads and sidewalks went from being spotted with raindrops to being completely saturated as water began to form puddles in low-lying areas. Garrett’s face screwed up with concern, forcing his brows to furrow. He pushed to the back of his mind the obvious questions, such as how his own family could have kept this from him his whole life, how some of this prophecy talk came across like he was somehow the center of a creepy religious cult, and how in the hell was he, a sixteen-year-old kid, expected to hack the head off some sleeping space alien before the evil non-sleeping space alien caught him, woke up the sleeping alien, and destroyed the world. No, he couldn’t worry about all that. Instead, he had to focus on just how the hell they were supposed to get into a drainage tunnel that would soon become a powerful discharge of surging rainwater.

  He couldn’t think about others who might be in on this whole thing or why they couldn’t help him. Like Coach Dagrun – he was a freaking war hero. He had been in combat. Was he a Keeper? If he was, why couldn’t he help? Just to be able to talk to someone. To take a moment an
d get some goddamned advice. God, what he wouldn’t give to be able to swing by Eugene’s house and discuss next moves over a glass of lemonade. He trusted the accountant. If he had time, Eugene would be the perfect adult to provide council. But he didn’t have time. He had to run.

  They turned into an alley one block from the library just as a wood-framed screen door flung open with a groan. A bearded man reeking of alcohol and cigarette smoke staggered out. The man was moving too fast, his feet unable to keep pace with his body. He fell forward, sprawling onto his hands and knees in the gravel. Garrett and Lenny slid to a stop, nearly running into the man. He was too thin, almost sickly. He looked back in a panic, and it was instantly clear the booze wasn’t the cause of his fall. Before the screen door could snap shut, it was intercepted with a larger man’s foot. The door flung back open, smacking into the wall of the tavern, as a large potbellied man, followed by two other men, poured into the alley.

  “That’s right, you son of a bitch! You touched the wrong girl’s ass!” yelled the large man.

  “I didn’t mean to, Terry,” the bearded man begged.

  “Beat his face in, Terry!” one of the other men shouted.

  “Damn you, Joe – you think just on account the power goes out you can get all touchy-feely with my girl! My GIRL!” Terry staggered forward awkwardly and kicked Joe in the ribs.

  Joe tipped off his hands and knees, falling into the fetal position.

  “Those candles on the bar weren’t put there for you to go romanticizing my girl.” Terry reared back to kick Joe again but lost his balance, lurching to the side instead.

  In any other moment before tonight this would have been the coolest thing in the world to stumble upon. He and Lenny would have been talking about it for days, probably weeks. But in this moment, Garrett just wanted to get past them.