“I know,” Ardat said through clenched teeth.
Alan turned to Kyle. “You have to let me stop her. You don’t know what they are going to do.”
Kyle raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I do. They are going to use my knowledge from the Chronicle and this metal to forge weapons to defeat both Angels and the Nephilim that stand with them.”
Alan took a step back as though Kyle’s words were a physical blow. “You know? They told you all of this and you’re still going to side with them?”
Kyle nodded with a set jaw. “They gave me powers, Alan. They turned me from a nobody into somebody that I can live with. You don’t know what’s like everyday wondering if you’d be better off dead, dealing with the depression and the bullying.”
Alan’s heart tore in his chest. Even though Kyle was only a few years younger than Alan, Alan could see the person he used to be in the young man. It was like looking into a mirror of his not so distant past. “Kyle, I know what you’re going through.”
Kyle’s face brightened for a moment, “You do? Then you must understand. This is my ticket out. This is my calling.”
“No,” Alan said. Before he could say anything else, another large explosion rocked the ship. Alan and Kyle both lost their balance and fell to their knees. Ardat still stood as solid as the statue she was levitating, beads of sweat snaking their way down from her hairline.
Alan regained his feet and took another look outside. More of the statue was visible. What looked like a rusted and lichen covered wing was taking form. At this pace, Ardat would be able to raise the entire colossal figure in minutes.
“I’m sorry, Kyle,” Alan said truly meaning his words, ”I have to stop her.”
Alan bolted from his standing position taking a path that would lead him around Kyle and to what he hoped would be a vulnerable Ardat. As Alan reached out to grab Ardat by the shoulder and swing her around to face him, Kyle’s hand caught his wrist.
Alan urged his hand to move forward but Kyle was just as strong as he was. “That’s the gift she gave me,” Kyle explained. “I can absorb any surrounding Nephilim’s powers. Yours included.”
Again, Alan willed his hand to travel further. Kyle was too strong. The two men stared for a moment at one another before Kyle released his grip and pushed Alan backwards.
Up to this point Alan’s earpiece had been silent. Now it squawked with Jacob’s familiar voice. “Dominic is down. I need a report. Has anyone been able to locate the Nephilim that is raising the statue?”
“I know who’s raising the statue. I’m in—“
Kyle ran at Alan with a wild punch. Alan easily ducked under the strike and sent an uppercut of his own towards Kyle’s jaw. Kyle saw the punch coming and turned his head to the side, just out of harm’s way.
Grabbing Alan around the torso, Kyle grunted with exertion and lifted him over his head. One second Alan was being lifted into the air and the next he was flying through shattered glass to the ship’s unwelcoming steel surface below.
Somewhere deep down Alan knew he was going to be all right. Not only was he incredibly strong now, he was also physically immune to harm, at least that’s what he wanted to believe. Alan said a silent prayer hoping his body would hold up as well as his fist had when striking Jacob’s stone form.
Alan wouldn’t have to find out. With a jerking motion, his forward momentum stopped and he was lowered gently to the ship deck. Bewildered, Alan looked around for an explanation. Arther smiled and gave him a wink as he released his telepathic hold.
Before a smile could touch his lips, Alan shouted a warning to the man who had caught him in midair.
Arther turned in the blink of an eye—still it was too late. Kyle collided with Arther at a speed that sent them both flying into the airship still docked on the boat’s deck. The collision was so intense the plane groaned and quivered under the force. Alan rushed over to help his friend fearful of what me might find.
The metal where the two Nephilim struck the plane was dented. Kyle was regaining his feet looking down over a bloody and damaged Arther. Alan’s heart caught in his throat.
“Kyle, what have you done?”
Kyle looked down on Arther’s broken, limp body with a shudder, “I’m, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize how strong and fast you were. I—I only meant to stop him.”
Alan rushed past Kyle and knelt by Arther. Even before Alan checked for a pulse, he knew he wouldn’t find one. Arther’s body wasn’t as resilient as his or Jacob’s. Alan’s hand quivered as he checked for a pulse anyway. There was nothing. Alan’s stomach tuned as he witnessed death for the first time.
Kyle fell to his knees. “Is—oh god, is he dead?”
The loss of life told Alan anger should be his first response. Instead, sadness for the man he would already call a friend was all he felt. “He’s dead, Kyle. You killed him. What did he ever do to you?”
Kyle was ghostly white as he fumbled for words.
“All available team members,” Jacob’s voice screamed in his earpiece. “Ardat is on the ship in the control room. I’m going to need all of you if we are going to stop her.”
Alan took a moment to find his voice. There was nothing he could do for the telepath now. Danielle could only heal wounds, not raise the dead. Arther was gone. “Guardian, Arch is down. Angel is still with Valkyrie. There’s only me.”
Jacob’s voice came back stronger than ever. Like a true leader, he took the news in stride. “You’re more than enough. Meet me at the end of the cargo ship. She’s in the two-story control building raising the statue.”
Alan figured it was pointless to tell Jacob that he already knew it was Ardat bringing up the statue from the ocean floor. Even more so, it was useless to tell him he knew where she was.
With one last look at Arther’s still form, Alan rose to his feet. He didn’t say another word to Kyle as the young man kneeled motionless on the ship’s steel frame. Since realizing what he had done, Kyle hadn’t moved. One look into his eyes and Alan knew Kyle wasn’t completely lost. He would have to pay for his actions yet Kyle wasn’t evil at heart. Mislead maybe, but not inherently prone towards the life Ardat was leading him.
Arther’s death still weighing heavy on his heart, Alan moved across the ship to meet Jacob. In the few moments it took Alan to return to the ship's control room, Ardat had been hard at work. She doubled the rate she used to lift the statue. Now more than half of the angelic Colossus was visible over the swirling water.
The statue was indeed an Angel. Head bowed and covered in a cowl, the Angel held a sword hilt in both hands. The sword pointed downward parallel to its body. One large wing extended out to the right of its body. The other must have broken off centuries before during its first descent. There was no denying the statue was in dire repair. Reddish brown rust covered nearly every square inch of the form. Mollusks and sea moss in every shade of green painted the statue from cowled head to sandaled feet.
Danielle’s voice brought him back to reality as he skidded to a stop near Jacob’s stone form. “Angel will be okay. She’s out for now. She needs rest but she’ll make it.”
Alan’s mouth was dry. Unsure whether or not this was the time to tell them about Arther. Not sure if they already sensed it, Alan decided to err on the side of full disclosure rather than assumption. “Arch is—Arch didn’t make it.”
Danielle was silent. Jacob looked first to Alan then over his shoulder squinting to see the airship they used for transport, still docked on the opposite side of the cargo boat.
“I’m sorry,” Alan said unsure if it was up to him to fill the silence. He could only imagine how they felt knowing the man for years on end. Although Alan had only been introduced to the smiling telepath days before, he knew he too would need a time of mourning.
“If we do not stop her,” Jacob said, “this will all be for nothing.”
It was clear Danielle was crying; however, she fought through the tears to shout a warning to her surviving friends. “Whatever happen
s, you have to do it soon. I’ve been monitoring the Greek airwaves. They have spotted the statue rising and their military is inbound. A first response team will be here in minutes.”
“Great. Secure Arch and Angel in the plane and prepare for flight. We’ll handle Ardat.” Jacob turned to Alan with a wild look in his stone eyes. “Ardat’s power is the control of gravity. That’s how she is raising the Colossus. She’ll use the same power on us when we try to stop her. I’ll distract her while you bring her down. Be fast.”
“He won’t have to be fast, Guardian,” Ardat said as she hovered in air emerging from the broken window. “I’ll come to you.”
Her black hair and cape flapped in the breeze as she continued to lift the statue from the depths of the sea. Her right hand was outstretched, fingers curled as through she physically held a weight in her hand.
Other then the constant gurgling of water, the scene had been silent. Now a new noise met the combatants’ ears, the sound of choppers over the sea. Steel blades slicing the ocean air could be heard, every passing second the noise grew.
Alan turned to see two large military choppers approaching from the Greek coast.
“It’s over, Ardat,” Jacob shouted. “If the military doesn’t stop you, we will.”
Ardat had lifted the entire statue from the water. She grunted as she hefted the fallen structure even higher and moved to place it on the ship. “Nothing is over. This is only the beginning. Although we have never engaged in conflict, Guardian, believe that I am more powerful than any Nephilim, Angel or member of the Fallen you have ever encountered. Now with the celestial weapons behind me and mine, you stand no chance. Behold the power that will claim your Heaven and earth.”
Through clenched teeth, Ardat lifted the entire statue high into the air. The figure was enormous, even bigger than Alan had first thought. From the statue’s feet to the crown of its head, Alan knew it had to be equivalent to a high-rise building and weigh hundreds of tons.
“Valkyrie,” Jacob shouted. “Lift off now. Get Angel and Arch out of here.”
“Roger, I’m not leaving without you two. I’ll circle around.”
Jacob didn’t say a word. Instead, Alan saw him hunch low to the ground in a squatting position.
Ardat ignored Jacob and Alan for the time being and decided to make her move. With a swing of her arms, she used the raised statue like a baseball bat. Swinging wide, the newly resurrected sculpture arched in the clear sky and crashed into the two approaching helicopters. Danielle turned her plane to the side narrowly avoiding the strike from Ardat. The two less fortunate military helicopters took the blow head on. Metal screeched and parts flew in every direction. There were no explosions like in the Hollywood movies, but the helicopters spiraled out of control and hit the open waters with a heavy crash.
At the same time Ardat struck at the helicopters, Jacob launched himself into the air. His Nephilim strength took him straight up as though he was shot from the very floor of the ship itself. Outstretched arms sought to collide with Ardat. Nearly within grasp, Ardat brought her attention back to Jacob and Alan. Without any sign of physical motion, she brought the full power of her ability to bear down on her two enemies.
Alan saw Jacob halt in the air for a brief moment before rocketing back down to the cargo ship’s steel deck. Before he could move to help, an unbearable weight collided with his shoulders forcing him to his hands and knees. The pressure was breathtaking. Alan knew no visible or tangible weight was forcing him down. It was Ardat manipulating the gravity around him at a skull-crushing degree.
Alan groaned under the pressure. It felt like his spine was going to snap at any moment. Looking up he could see Jacob in a similar situation. The Nephilim was on his back staring up at Ardat with a look of raw determination. “You cannot win,” Jacob shouted. “The Angels will rally against you now that you have broken the treaty. By striking those helicopters down and now us, you will pay for your sins.”
Ardat laughed aloud. “Oh—oh—I’m sorry, you’re being serious. Peace? A treaty? Really? Living side by side with humanity was never an option. I was only biding my time until an opportunity presented itself. Now, since you spoke first, stone man, you can die first.”
Alan’s stomach churned as he witnessed Jacob’s still form being moved to the center of the ship with invisible hands.
Alan’s body shook as he struggled to move from his kneeling position to his feet. The weight was like nothing he had ever felt. The boat’s steel deck dented and dimpled under his hands and feet. Alan felt helpless as Jacob was moved to a position under the still levitated statue.
For the briefest of moments, Alan met Jacob’s eyes. Instead of fear, they were full of peace. Acceptance for what was coming next showed across his face. “Be the man we already know you are, Alan. You still haven’t discovered all your gifts. You have the ability to be so much more if you only believe in yourself.”
Alan was struggling to breathe, much less respond. Jacob was dragged to the center of the ship and with a satisfied chuckle, Ardat let the statue fall.
In that moment, time stopped for Alan: Ardat hovering above him and Jacob under the falling statue. His chest began to heat. His whole body felt like a furnace turned on high. A crackling sound filled his ears from somewhere behind him. A blue glow of energy surrounded him as alien appendages began to form at his back.
Alan wasn’t sure what to think. Michael told him no Nephilim had been able to fly; however, there was no denying what he felt and saw. Blue strands of pure energy formed from his back into wings and spread out from either side. Even with the new revelation of his manifested powers, he was powerless to do anything to save Jacob.
The statue fell on top of the Nephilim known as Guardian. The monolithic statue weighed somewhere in the hundreds of tons range. The ship buckled, steel screamed underneath the pressure. If it had not been for Ardat forcing Alan to the ship's deck, he would have been tossed off board and into the thrashing sea below.
Blue wings beat all on their own. Once again, Alan found himself in shock. Not about the continuing evolution of his powers, but about the second friend he had lost that day. As the ship continued to groan and creek under the statue’s pressure Alan could hear Ardat tsk, “My, my, a Nephilim with wings. How strange. Too bad you will not live to use them.”
Ardat motioned with a hand and brought Alan off the ground and level with her own hovering stance. “Interesting indeed.”
“Ardat, we—we should be going.”
Alan couldn’t move his head but his eyes shifted down to see Kyle dragging a limp Dominic Drencher behind him.
“I agree,” she said.
“What about Infinity?”
“What about him?”
“Well, the Telepath threw all of his copies off the boat.”
Ardat shrugged, “Oh well. I had though about using the ship to make our escape but now that the local authorities are involved that is no longer an option. I’ll lift us from this place.” Ardat’s dark eyes turned back to Alan, “First, I need to take care of this one.”
Alan struggled against his oppressor’s invisible hold. It was useless; the demonic woman holding him at arm's length was too powerful. Alan watched helplessly as she brought her left hand up palm open, raising Kyle, Dominic and the statue. With her right hand clenched into a fist, she slammed Alan into the deck of the cargo boat.
All Alan remembered was metal floor after metal floor slamming against his body as Ardat drove his body through the ship’s steel floors and into the cold sea waiting below. Alan’s last thought wasn’t about dying or how he planned to survive, it was on retribution for his friends who lay dead and beaten. One more chance. I just need one more chance. I can be the person I am meant to be. I know that now. I just need one more chance.
Then everything went black.
Chapter 44
Alan blinked as he struggled to open his eyes. He was lying on his back staring into the ceiling of his own bedroom, in the warehous
e. His first thought was of astonishment at the lack of pain he found himself experiencing after the harsh treatment from Ardat. The second thing he remembered was the loss of Jacob and Arther as well as Angelica’s perilous state.
Alan sat up bracing himself for the inevitable pain from the battle to wash over him. Nothing happened. He reached a hand over his shoulder to touch his back where the wings had sprouted… nothing. Did you imagine it? Did you really have wings?
Alan didn’t have time to think on the matter further, he had to find out whether Danielle and Angelica were all right.
Alan Price and the Colossus of Rhodes (The Nephilim Chronicles) Page 13