by Gary Jonas
Victor furrowed his brow. “What could that be?”
“I need the bomb.”
“The what?”
Indra stepped up to Victor and took Zeus’s disk from his pocket. “I would be remiss if I allowed you to take this with you.”
“Did you say bomb?” I asked.
“It is a game the gods sometimes play. Send a weapon with a mortal to try and kill another god where it can’t be traced back to them. Zeus thought he could have you kill me for him.”
“He said it would expose the entrance to Mount Meru.”
Indra laughed. “I know. I saw it in your memories. It would have removed half this mountain range in one mighty explosion.”
“That would have vaporized us too,” I said.
Indra shrugged and nodded. “A mortal should never trust a god.” He walked to the edge of the platform and tossed the disk into the void.
Indra snapped his fingers and we were back on the mountain.
The cold wind cut into me. “Jesus,” I said.
“Your coat and boots are over there,” Kelly said, pointing.
I staggered through the snow, grabbed my coat and pulled it on. That cut down on the wind. I sat on a rock, brushed snow from my feet then put on the boots.
Off to the side, I saw Brenda’s corpse. A wave of regret and remorse swept through me. I knelt by her side.
Kelly walked over and placed a hand on my shoulder.
“She’s dead because of me,” I said.
“She knew the risks, Jonathan.”
I closed my eyes and shook my head. “If I hadn’t told her to touch Khamet…”
“It was a good death,” Kelly said. “Who can ask for more?”
“I don’t expect you to understand,” I said. “Brenda deserved a long, healthy life.”
“That went out the window the moment she was cursed, and she knew it. If she were here, she wouldn’t blame you. She’d thank you for making her last few months better. There is no greater way to die than going out in battle.”
“For you, maybe.” I held Brenda’s hand. Her skin was already ice cold. “We need to bury her.”
“The mountain will claim her,” Indra said.
“You can’t bring her back?”
He shook his head. “I do not breathe life into mortals. But I can make her part of the stone.” He waved his hands and her body floated up. He made another motion and she fused into the side of the mountain until only the front half of her stood out like the presidents on Mount Rushmore. Her features turned to stone, and she remained life-size.
I ran my fingers down her stone cheeks.
“Now she graces Mount Meru as a proud and beautiful, stalwart champion,” Indra said.
She did look beautiful, but my heart hung heavy in my chest.
The elephant trumpeted.
“Oh, is she ready?” Indra asked.
The elephant trumpeted again.
“Excellent,” Indra said and waved his hands. The bubble holding Esther drifted down to him. He clapped his hands and the bubble popped.
Esther dropped into the ground. “Whoa,” she said. “I feel ossified.”
“Rise, my child,” Indra said.
Esther stood.
“Higher,” Indra said.
She floated a few feet into the air.
“How do you feel?”
“My head is buzzing,” she said.
I knew how she felt. My head was still buzzing too.
“I thank you for finding and waking me. I thank you for the initial introduction to the English language. It served me in good stead.”
“If you say so,” Esther said. She looked around. “Kelly?”
“Hi, Esther,” Kelly said. “We weren't sure you were still with us.”
“I was sleeping, I think,” Esther said. “I feel weird.” She spotted Victor. “The vampire,” she said. “I don't trust you.”
“Nor should you,” Victor said.
“Where's Jonathan?” she asked.
“Give your eyesight a moment to adjust,” Indra said, and pointed at me still beside Brenda’s stone remains.
Esther squinted. “Jonathan!” she said. She darted toward me and tackled me off the damn rock.
I landed on my back and the weight of her body pressed against me as she planted a kiss on my cheek.
She smiled and her eyes grew wide. “I can feel you!” she shouted.
“Holy moly,” I said, snapped out of my grief for a moment. “I can feel you too!”
She turned her head to the side and spit. Her saliva landed in the snow and left an impression.
“You taste terrible,” she said. “I can taste!”
I grabbed her arms and felt the warmth of her flesh.
“It's cold out here,” she said. Her eyes widened. “It's cold! I can feel the cold!”
“What the hell?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I don't like cold.”
“Will it to pass through you,” Indra said.
“What?”
“You are still a ghost, my dear, but to pull your memories, I needed you to have corporeal form. So I gave you the ability to solidify your body. I'm afraid it's not permanent. You'll be solid for short periods of time then you'll revert back to your ghostly state. But it will be your choice when that happens, and given practice, you might be able to hold yourself in the physical form for longer periods of time.”
“Well isn't that the cat's pajamas!” Esther said. “You can't get away from me now, Jonathan Shade. I can hold you and squeeze you and kiss you.”
“Just don't call me George,” I said.
She looked at me like I was an idiot. “Why would I do that?”
Esther helped me up. She hugged me, kissed me then faded and popped over to Kelly. She solidified and wrapped her arms around Kelly, who returned the embrace.
“I hope the new ability eases your loneliness, my dear,” Indra said.
“Oh, thank you thank you thank you!” Esther said.
She rushed back into my arms and held me tight. She looked at Brenda’s statue and her jaw dropped. “Oh, no,” she said. “Here I’ve been all giddy and you just lost Brenda.”
“It’s all right,” I said.
“No it isn’t,” she said and hugged me even tighter.
My body hurt, but when she held me, the pain was forgotten.
“You can play around with your new abilities all you like, my sweet Esther,” Indra said. “And there will be a time for grief, Jonathan. But we still have some business to handle.”
“What business?” Kelly asked.
“I learned about the world from Jonathan's memories.” He shook his head. “There are many improvements, especially for those with the least. But humanity is still constantly fighting, and I grew weary of that long before I returned to Mount Meru. As much as I'd like to help you with the Men of Anubis, I do not wish to return to the world. Ahalya is still inside the mountain, and though she's invisible, she and I are still together, and I would like nothing more than to spend the rest of my eons with her.”
He walked over to me, and placed a hand on my shoulder. “For all your faults, you are a good man, Jonathan Shade. You came here to steal Vajra from me, and even to kill me if you deemed it necessary. And yes, I understand, most gods are dicks, but not all of us.”
“Yeah, sorry about that,” I said.
“Think no more of it,” he said. “I hereby grant you the use of Vajra. I fear it won't help you as much as you hope, but it might even the odds a bit.”
“Can you come with us to Club Eternity? Maybe help round up a few gods or demigods to help us?”
Indra shook his head. “That is not a good idea. I would rather you told them you killed me and took my weapon. Too many of the gods really are dicks, and too many of them hang out at Club Eternity.”
“You've never been,” Kelly said.
“I have his memories of the place. I know some of those gods, and I don't fancy ever seeing them agai
n. Tell them I put up a good fight. Make up whatever story you like, but don't tell them I'm still here.”
“All right,” I said.
“You have another decision to make,” Indra said.
“What's that?”
“How do you wish to return to your side of the world?”
“Pavel’s dead, but we might be able to work our way back down the mountain.”
“And after a radio call, Behruz can fly you back to the airport, and you can take days on end to get back to the States. Or, you can take a short cut.”
I knew what he meant. “Club Eternity.”
He nodded.
“That's fine for me, and maybe even for Victor, but what about Kelly and Esther?”
“I'm not going there,” Victor said. “I'll get home through the shadows.”
“You're not going to help with the other Men of Anubis?” I asked.
“Don't take this the wrong way, Jonathan, but I'm not one to sign up for suicide missions.”
“Well, thanks for your help on this one, even though it was all your fault in the first place.”
“Thank Khamet for not being open to making a deal,” Victor said. “Good luck not dying.” He gave Kelly an extra long look, then nodded. “Kelly.”
“Victor,” she said with a nod.
And he gave us a final salute before dropping into his own shadow and going who knows where.
“May I see your wrist, Kelly?” Indra said.
Kelly reached out to him.
He placed his fingers around her wrist and concentrated. The silver bracelet fused up out of her skin and snapped open, still resting on her arm like a normal piece of jewelry.
“Now you have access.” He reached for my wrist, closed his fingers around the bracelet and smiled as it snapped open. “And now you can also both remove them at will.”
“Okay,” I said, not understanding.
“So the gods can't summon you with them. If you want to go there, take them in your hand and go. If you don't want anyone to pull you in there against your will, don't wear them.”
He held up his hands and presented Vajra to me.
“Thank you,” I said. “For everything.”
“Your thanks are premature, dear boy. One thing I can tell you is that when Khamet's spirit reaches his compatriots, you'll have a target on your ass.”
“I’m used to that.” I looked at Kelly and Esther. “You two ready?”
“I'm always ready for battle,” Kelly said.
“I was thinking drinks first, but hey.”
Esther wrapped her arms around me. “I'll go with you anywhere,” she said.
I stared at Brenda’s statue, and felt emotions tangling up inside me. Indra was right, though. Grief would have to come later. I took Esther’s hand then Kelly and I activated our bracelets and we disappeared.
Jonathan Shade will return in
TIMELESS GODS
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gary Jonas grew up in a military family, so he moved a lot as a child. His original plan was to be a comic book artist, but in college things changed. He took a creative writing class for the easy A, and found that when he wrote stories, people were affected emotionally by them in ways they weren’t by his artwork. He switched from art to writing without ever looking back. Well, he might have looked back a few times, but by then it was too late. He sold his first short story to Marion Zimmer Bradley for the anthology Sword and Sorceress VII. Many short story sales followed to various magazines and anthologies including Robert Bloch’s Psychos, It Came from the Drive-In, 100 Vicious Little Vampire Stories, Prom Night, and many more.
His first novel, One-Way Ticket to Midnight, was published in 2002, It made the preliminary ballot for the Bram Stoker Award. While the novel was well-reviewed, it didn’t sell diddly squat, so Gary turned to writing screenplays for a few years. A couple of Hollywood options led to nothing, and the notes from producers, while sometimes spot-on, were also sometimes way out in left field (if they were even in the ballpark). Gary returned to novel writing with Modern Sorcery. You can visit him online, and sign up for his mailing list on his rarely updated blog.
Books by Gary Jonas
The Jonathan Shade series:
Modern Sorcery
Acheron Highway
Dragon Gate
Anubis Nights
Sunset Specters
Wizard’s Nocturne
Razor Dreams
Vertigo Effect
Club Eternity
Timeless Gods (coming soon)
The Kelly Chan series
Vampire Midnight
Werewolf Samurai (coming soon)
Zombie Rising (coming soon)
The UFO Conspiracy Files series:
Guardians of the Sky
Rogue Alien (coming soon)
Stand-alone novels:
One-Way Ticket to Midnight
Pirates of the Outrigger Rift (w/Bill D. Allen)
Novella:
Night Marshal: A Tale of the Undead West
also available in Night Marshal Box Set (the first three Night Marshal tales in one bundle--includes Night Marshal by Gary Jonas, High Plains Moon by Glenn R. Sixbury, and This Dance, These Bones by Rebecca Hodgkins). The set kicks ass.
Collection:
Quick Shots
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