by Otto Schafer
“Terry, holy shit! Do you see that?” one of the other men said, noticing the orange glow from somewhere in the distance over the building’s roof.
“Those are sirens!” said another.
The night sky crackled with the sound of thunder gone hoarse. A split second later it lit up in fractures of brilliant amber. The golden lines webbed across the sky as if it were made of cracked glass.
More people spilled out of the bar now, no doubt hoping to see a fight.
“Jes-sus! If that ain’t the strangest lightning I ever saw,” someone said, their head tipped back, mouth ajar.
“Yeah, the sky is all weird. Maybe we’re about to get hit with a tornado?” someone said.
“Look over there! That glow, I’ll be damned if that isn’t a fire. Come on, let’s go check it out,” another said.
Terry frowned at the sky. “God help ya if I come back and you’re still here, Joe. God help ya.”
Garrett stepped to the side as the men rushed past, ignoring him completely.
“How in the hell does half the square catch fire and these guys just now notice?” Garrett asked, shaking his head.
“Too busy playing grab-ass by candlelight with Terry’s girl, I guess,” Lenny said.
“I guess. Come on. We need to go,” Garrett said. But as the crowd continued to pour out, choking the alley, a dozen pairs of eyes fell on them.
A middle-aged man jutted a finger toward them and slurred, “Well whatdowe… have here?”
Another man stepped forward, sounding equally as impaired as the first. “You boys… look like you’re… uptonogood.”
Even in the rain Garrett could smell the strong odor of cigarette smoke and whiskey on the man’s breath.
“Excuse us, please. We need to pass,” Lenny said.
A woman with sunken eyes, wearing a short skirt, pushed past the men. “You two ain’t going nowhere. It’s obvious just looking at you you’re probably the cause of whatever that fire is across the street. Trying to make your escape, I’m guessing.”
Lenny rolled his eyes. “And here we go.”
Garrett leaned in toward Lenny. “Lenny, we don’t have time for this, let’s just turn back and go around. These drunks could never catch us anyway.”
“Is that it, boys? You two been out causing trouble?”
“Maybe lighting stuff on fire,” came another voice.
More people were coming out of the bar now and moving in behind them, surrounding them.
Joe still hadn’t managed to get up.
“Move out the way and let me through,” boomed a deep voice from somewhere behind the forming mob. “I said, get out the way!”
The crowd parted as a stocky man with his sleeves rolled up to reveal dark, hairy arms appeared from the crowd.
Garrett didn’t recognize the man. He looked over at Lenny, who shrugged.
“Garrett, it’s okay,” he said, placing a hand on Garrett’s shoulder.
Garrett frowned at the man, then at the man’s hand.
Lenny mouthed the words, What the?
“It’s okay. You go on now, Garrett. You and Lenny have a big night ahead of you. These people won’t bother you anymore.” He turned to the crowd. “Get out their way. I won’t have this mob crap in my establishment.”
“We’re not in your establishment, Ben, we’re in the alley,” a man said, holding a pool stick in one hand and slapping it in the other.
“Roger, by god, you talk one more ounce of shit, and I will close your tab. That goes for the rest of you too! Now make way! Or so help me I will blow those candles out, lock up, and the only thing you will be drinking is water from your own tap!”
There was no hesitation. The crowd parted without another word.
Garrett stared at the bartender, his forehead creased.
“It’s alright, Garrett. Go on now,” he said.
“Thanks,” Lenny said.
The bartender pressed his mouth into a tight line and bowed slightly. “My pleasure, Lenny. Now go on, boys. Go.”
They ran.
“Garrett, you think?”
“A Keeper? Yeah, I mean what else makes sense?” Garrett asked, shaking his head.
“How many could there be?”
“I don’t know. Mr. B made it sound like there could be a lot.”
“This is crazy, Garrett.”
“You’re just figuring that out?”
A minute later they were at the library.
“Garrett, look!” Lenny said, noticing the gang was walking toward them.
“Why aren’t you guys inside?”
“The power is out, and it’s pitch black in there, plus we were worried about you,” Breanne said, her eyes searching Garrett for any sign of injury.
Garrett wasn’t sure what prompted him – maybe it was the look of worry in her eyes, maybe it was the loss of his father, or maybe it was the connection he felt to her – but whatever it was, it compelled him. He ran to Breanne and pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly. Amazingly, she hugged him back, her face buried in his neck like she belonged there. He took a breath, his senses filling with her. He took it all in, her smell, her warmth through damp clothes, her breath on his neck. He wanted to stay right there, in that moment, in the rain, with her, but he knew he couldn’t.
“Are you okay?” she asked, still in his embrace.
“No, no I’m not, but I’m glad you’re here,” he said softly.
“Dude, is that a sword on your back?” Pete asked.
“Guys, as much as I love to see true love blossom, we have to move,” Lenny said, tipping his head back to consider the night sky. “The rain. We need to get in the tunnel and find the opening now before it fills with water and we can’t get in at all.”
Fortunately, no one could see Garrett blush as he reluctantly released Bre. When she let go, he didn’t think she wanted to, but he couldn’t be sure if that was true or if he was telling himself that. Later, when the time was right and Lenny was least expecting it, he was going to slap him in the sack, good and hard.
“Crap, you’re right,” Pete said. “Lucky for you guys, I came prepared with a couple cheapy flashlights and some tools for removing the bricks.” He patted his backpack with a smile. “Let’s jet.”
Lenny nodded down the alley. “This way, guys,” he said, breaking into a slow jog.
Everyone started jogging behind Lenny.
Breanne stayed next to Garrett, and Pete next to Janis.
“Did you kill him, Garrett?” Janis asked.
“Kill him?” Garrett asked.
“Apep. Bre said she had a vision that he exploded. Then we heard the booms. Is it true? Did you kill him?”
“I… I don’t know, but James doesn’t think so,” Garrett said. The talk of explosions reminded him Apep wasn’t the only one in the basement. His father was there too.
Pete cocked his head. “James? James knows about this too?”
“James isn’t who you think he is,” Garrett answered distantly, his thoughts on Phillip.
“So, he’s not a dick?” Pete asked with a smile.
“Hey! Pete. What the hell is going on with you?” Lenny asked suddenly, turning around and jogging backward to face him.
“Huh? Going on with me… what?”
“Your glasses, what the hell?”
Pete started mumbling in a soft whisper.
Rabbits in the garden
Rabbits in greens
Rabbits run from the farmer
Rabbits run free
Lenny held his hands out. “What the hell was that?”
Pete hesitated. “That was a nursery rhyme by A. O. Schafer. My mother taught it to me when I was little to help me with my r’s.”
“Strange time to practice your speech, Pete,” Lenny said.
“Look, while you and Garrett were gone, I developed some kind of super-vision.”
“What!? Come on, seriously?” Lenny asked.
Janis shrugged. “And I can see in t
he dark like it’s daytime.”
“No way!” Lenny said, exchanging looks with Garrett.
“It’s the God Stones,” Paul said. “They change you. How do you guys feel now?” he asked, looking at Lenny.
Lenny shrugged. “I don’t know – too freaked out to be sure of anything.”
Garrett felt something. First, he felt it during his test before he ever laid eyes on the God Stones. But Apep had them at that point, and they were out in the world. Somehow through his focus he had found their power, using it to slow time around him. Since then he had been exposed. Even now in the distant part of his mind he could feel the ghost of a headache and his body tingled with this strange electricity or energy. He imagined it was like how someone felt right before they were struck with lightning.
“I don’t think I feel anything,” David said disappointedly, slowing to a walk. “And can we please stop with the running?”
“I thought you’d never ask,” Pete said, stopping to lean on his knees.
“You boys call this running?” Paul laughed.
“Pete, I still don’t understand, what’s with the nursery rhyme?” Garrett asked.
“I was kind of hoping the God Stones would have fixed my speech too. I would gladly give up super-vision just to talk normal,” Pete said softly.
Janis took his hand in hers. “Petey, I already miss the glasses, so don’t be so quick to change the cutest thing that makes you who you are.”
Pete blushed.
“I wouldn’t change anything about you, Pete,” Janis said.
“Me either, Petey,” Lenny said, winking wryly as he prodded him with his elbow.
They made their way onto the railroad tracks and followed them down past the sub sandwich shop until they were behind the bank. The bizarre orange lightning continued to flash and crackle, sizzling across the sky, a spiderweb of brilliance inside rolling clouds as black as the space between stars. The steady rain was beginning to pick up momentum, becoming sheets of water falling in waves.
“This is the spot,” Lenny announced.
David peered down the steep bank toward the dark, churning water below. “Oh, hell no!” David backed away from the embankment as if merely standing there might tempt the Sangamon River to lash out and yank him into its murky depths. “Hey, Lenny, how are we supposed to make this climb down in the dark? It’s going to be a mudslide. I can’t even see the tunnel from here and if we miss… if we land in that water, it’s over. You won’t be able to see which way is up and there is only like two blocks before the broken dam.” David’s voice rose in pitch as he finished, and he began to breathe hard.
“Calm down, David, we can do this,” Garrett said, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“We don’t have a choice and we don’t have any more time,” Lenny said, turning to Pete, who was babbling on about Abraham Lincoln to Breanne and Janis. “I’ll go first. Pete, give me a flashlight.”
Pete, not missing a beat in his Lincoln conversation, reached into his pack and fished out a light, tossing it to Lenny. “Since Mr. Offutt went out of business all suddenly, it left old Lincoln without a job, so with no income he decides to enlist in the Black Hawk War.”
Lenny, Paul, and Garrett peered over the edge of the embankment.
Lenny pointed the flashlight down the slope. “Even with the light I still can’t see exactly where the culvert is, but I think it should be right here. When I get down to the culvert, I’ll flash the light so you know where you need to slide down at. Guys, you need to slide onto the top of the culvert. If you start to lose control, grab a tree, a root, anything, but yeah… don’t fall in. The river is wicked through here and it don’t care how good a swimmer you are.”
Garrett turned to Paul and made a poor attempt to wipe the rain off his face with the wet sleeve of his dobok. “He’s not kidding, a lot of people have died in this river. I would rate this somewhere between stupid and crazy.”
Paul nodded and smiled.
Garrett raised an eyebrow at the unexpected reaction. He was suddenly reminded, he really had no idea who this man was. He turned back to Lenny and grabbed the flashlight out of his hand. “Let me do this, Lenny.”
Lenny frowned at Garrett and snatched the flashlight back away from his friend. “Are you nuts! Oh, that would be just great wouldn’t it? Our leader, and the world’s only hope, falls in the river trying to find the culvert. Then what? I got to destroy the alien? I don’t think so.”
“Um, did you just say destroy the alien?” Paul asked.
“Um, sure did, big guy. That’s the plan – destroy the alien before magic psycho murderer wakes him up and they start swapping stories of the old days, including how to put that Sound Eye thingamabob together.” Lenny leaned out over the edge and studied the embankment for a second then turned back to the group, hooking a thumb toward Garrett. “My boy here is going to use that sword to hack the alien’s head off,” Lenny said with a confident nod, then turned back to the embankment – and jumped over the side.
Garrett and Paul ran forward.
Garrett watched as Paul’s headlamp illuminated Lenny just in time to see his feet go out from under him. He landed on his ass, continuing to slide, the leaves and muck offering him no purchase as he scrambled to find something, anything to slow his descent.
“Lenny!” Garrett shouted helplessly.
Halfway down, Lenny’s body jolted as he flailed for a grip. His fingers wrapped around a small sapling as the momentum twisted him onto his stomach. Even with the new handhold, gravity continued to yank him toward the dark water. The young sapling flexed all the way over, straightening like a stiff rope. He didn’t stop; couldn’t stop. Instead, he continued down the embankment toward the river – toward his death. His hand slid down the sapling, ripping tiny budding branches from the thin trunk. As the end of the sapling neared, it became thinner and thinner.
“God, Lenny, don’t let go!” Garrett shouted.
Lenny twisted his hand, looping the tiny sapling like a rope. Then finally – he stopped.
“You okay?” Paul shouted.
For a long moment, Lenny lay there facedown in the mud.
Finally, he turned himself over onto his side and, with his free hand, flicked the switch on the flashlight and peered toward the culvert. “I’m good. Almost on top of the culvert,” he shouted back. He let go of the sapling, sending it catapulting upright as he slid down the few remaining feet, landing precariously on top of the protruding concrete tube.
Carefully Lenny turned, pointed his light, and yelled back up the embankment. “Alright, guys, aim for my light and, uh… try and grab some branches or roots on the way down – it’s pretty slick.”
“You think?” Garrett shouted back.
“Look, I will scooch all the way to the back edge of the culvert to give the next person room to land and try to keep them from going over.”
“Well, that’s reassuring,” Garrett said.
“I’ll go next,” Paul said. Then with no further hesitation, he slipped over the embankment, rolled to his stomach, and slid toward Lenny’s light like he had done this maneuver a hundred times before. Finding the top of the culvert with his feet, he landed into a perfectly balanced squat next to Lenny. “I’m down,” he shouted.
“Okay, Paul, go ahead and swing down into the tunnel and wait there!” Garrett said.
Paul disappeared over the side.
“Paul’s in,” Lenny said. “Next.”
“So, with the Black Hawk War over, Lincoln was discharged,” Pete said, still explaining to the girls what he had learned in the journal. “He collected his pay for his service and headed back to Petersburg. According to history, he traveled with a companion. But history was wrong! I know, I know – hard to believe, right? Turns out, he and the other soldier he was traveling with actually parted ways in Havana, Illinois. He told everyone he made the last part of the trip, about twenty-three miles from Havana to New Salem, on his own. But here is where it gets interesting. Accordin
g to his journal, he stumbled upon an injured Potawatomi boy. I’m not sure how young he was, but Lincoln referred to him as a boy. He could have killed him outright and probably been a hero for it, but seeing he was injured, young Abraham decides instead to help him! He makes a fire, treats the boy’s wounds, and cares for him, providing him food and water.”
“That’s crazy!” Breanne said, huddling close to the tree they were sheltering under in a failing attempt to stay dry. “That would have put Lincoln at risk of being charged with treason.”
“Yeah, for sure,” Pete said. “It was a risk – if anyone stumbled upon them, they both would have likely been killed. Like you said, Lincoln for treason and the boy – well, just being Native American would have been enough, and not only that but he also had participated in the war.” Pete pulled his shirt up, wiping his soaked face. “And it gets better! I don’t know how long Lincoln stayed with him, but at some point, the young boy thought he was going to die and decides to confide a secret he is sworn to keep. He tells Lincoln of a cave leading to a temple close to New Salem. He explained that for hundreds of years it had been his people’s responsibility to protect the secret and now he was the last one left who knew of the location. He told Lincoln that it could never be found and asked him to promise to ensure no one ever finds it. Then he tells Lincoln what’s inside!”
“Pete, finish your story when we get inside,” Garrett said, motioning with a wave of his hand. “You’re up.”
“Yeah, but Garrett you need to hear this too. When I deciphered the other half of Lincoln’s journal, I found out what’s inside the temple! I have been waiting all day to tell you,” he said excitedly.
“Pete, I already know what’s in there, and I know what I have to do. What I need you to do is get us past the traps. Can you do that?”
“Yeah, I think I can. But you know?! How?”
“Yeah, James told me.”
Pete hesitated, staring at his friend expectantly, but when no further explanation came, he steeled himself for the descent over the embankment. Sitting on his ass with his feet extended out in front of him, he looked as if he were about to go down a playground slide. Then he frowned, reconsidering, and rolled onto his stomach. Right before he pushed off, he looked at Garrett. “And you really believe that’s what we will find in the temple?”