“Yeah, what about it?”
“I-I didn’t tell you everything.”
“What didn’t you tell me?”
Finally she looked at him, brimming with tears. “Teresa’s right. The Nagas, they’re behind all of this. They control Savage, and it might go even higher than that. They’re an evil species. I’ve been seeing them all my life. Some call them shadow people, most know them as demons, devils, even Satan himself.”
“What? What are you saying? That we’re being chased by the devil?”
“No, they’re not really demons. That’s folklore. Nagas are real, living beings. They walk between dimensions. They can appear and disappear. And they can do other things. They’re powerful, and they mean to destroy us.”
Jack felt fluttering in his gut. The butterflies were back. Not because of what Amelia just told him. He was still in shock about that. His cold, clammy hands, quick pulse and short-witted thinking could only be attributed to one thing—Amelia. In the late sunset, her alabaster skin glowed, her pitch-black hair shimmered.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
“Tell me.”
He glanced at Takota, asleep on his lap. “Amelia, have you ever wanted something so bad, ever wished and wished for something until you thought you would burst?”
“Well, yeah. Why?”
“No reason.”
She sighed and peeked through the curtains. “You know you owe me a kiss.”
His spine tingled. He became uncomfortably warm.
“Remember?” she asked. “The other day after school?”
“Of course,” he tried to breathe. His lungs refused. Every muscle in his body seemed on strike.
“Well? What are you waiting for?”
He stole a glimpse at his mother. She and Lily dozed contentedly on the sofa, Pud wedged between them. Enola nestled against a sleeping Cheyton. Takota and Ayita seemed dead to the world.
Amelia smiled. She squeezed her eyelids and put her lips together. Now or never. He leaned toward her and the quivering in his stomach dissolved, taken over by a sublime numbness. He caught her clean scent. Heavenly.
Before he made contact, something stopped him. A rumbling outside, coming up the driveway. Takota stirred in his lap. Ayita woke up with him.
“What is that?” asked Takota.
Amelia peered into the nightfall. “A car. Someone’s coming.”
Liz got up and ran to the window. Silently the rest of them did the same, each finding a surreptitious spot to watch.
Two headlight beams bounded into full view. They blinded Jack for a second. He tried looking out again, blinking away the haze. A seventies station wagon faced the house, engine running, lights flooding the front porch.
“Do you know who it is?” he asked. “Amelia? Ayita?” They both shook their heads.
“I don’t know, but I don’ like it,” answered Amelia.
“Me neither,” Ayita added.
Liz disagreed. “What’s the big deal? It’s just an old car, not some official secret agency vehicle. It’s not the police, either. What are we all afraid of?”
The car’s motor popped and gasped to a hushed standstill. The quiet made Jack’s ears ring. He heard the frogs again. In the chilly stillness, a mist crept up the hill. It played with the headlight beams, casting eerie shapes and shadows in the halo. Jack heard the door to Teresa’s house squeak open. She stepped into the brightness, guarding her eyes.
“Gert? Is that you?”
The vintage vehicle sat in silence. They all sat in silence. Jack held his breath. Teresa eased down the stairs, toeing each step. When she reached the ground, the driver’s door opened.
“Gert!” she flung her hands wide. Quiet and gloom accepted her greeting. She dropped her arms to her sides and hunched, peering in. Jack knew by the way she stood up, she’d seen something alarming.
Teresa stepped back, then again.
“You have them, don’t you?” a woman’s voice called from inside the wagon. It sounded familiar. “You’re hiding them here. In this house. The great, dark God will punish you for this!”
“Gertrude! What have you done!” Teresa hurried to the steps, stumbling over a ceramic planter. It cracked into several pieces, soil and roots spilling on the bottom step. A short, round figure, cloaked in black, flew from the wagon and seized Teresa’s arm. Two other doors opened and two more women jumped out, both dressed the same, both hurrying to help Gert. They subdued their prisoner, tying her wrists. Teresa seemed unable to put up a fight.
Jack shifted in his seat. Takota, too, was restless. They all were.
“We can’t just sit here,” Pud said to Takota, then Cheyton. “Can we?”
“Shhh!” Takota remained glued to the activity outside.
The three women held hands around Teresa, their faces hidden by the cowls of their gowns. Jack recognized they were chanting an evil spell. The tall, gangly one drew back her cloak, revealing a maze of wrinkles and crow’s feet.
“Oh, Great Master. Hear us! We’ve found them! The creatures are here! Let us lead you!”
Jack blinked, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. A small, thin line formed in the air, stretching to the ground. Liz gasped. Lily whined. Jack felt Takota tense up. The line split into several sections which fell at once, forming the frame of a tall, slender man. The blackness seemed to wash away, leaving behind a creature with smooth, perfectly pale flesh. Even at night, even from yards away, Jack noted the thing’s features were flawless.
“That’s it,” Ayita whispered. “That’s what I’ve been seeing. A shadow person.”
“I think that’s the man Savage is working for,” Takota said.
“That’s no man,” Amelia didn’t blink. “That’s the thing Teresa warned us about. It’s Davos.”
“How do you know?” Jack was bewildered.
She remained motionless. “I just do.”
“This can’t be good,” Pud groaned.
“Hold on,” Jack detected something else. “Look.”
Davos had his hands raised, making a circle with his thumbs and forefingers. Between them, a point of blazing light burst into existence. It grew in a sudden jolt, hovering and sparking. Jack felt the heat from where he was hiding. A quick projection from the fireball lifted Teresa off the ground, her legs kicking and dangling.
“We’ve got to help!” Pud cried.
“Be quiet,” Cheyton ordered.
“But…”
“I mean it!”
Pud sulked.
Cheyton glared at Takota. “Nobody needs to make any brave moves. Got it? We don’t owe the humans anything.”
Takota looked at Jack, then outside. The witches split up. Two of them retreated to the rear of the house while their leader remained in front, dancing and chanting in some macabre language. Davos was stationary, his long hair falling in dark coils which swayed in unnatural ripples. In an instant his body divided into what looked like hundreds of long, thin shapes resembling winged snakes. They circled the area where Davos once stood, then widened their flight until they orbited the house.
“My God!” Liz blurted. She covered her own mouth and blocked Lily from the sight. The little girl, though, would have none of it. She wriggled from her mother’s grip and took her place along the window, watching with confused curiosity. The swarm of slender creatures infiltrated Teresa’s house, top to bottom, entering under doors, through open windows, the chimneys, every crack and crevice which allowed them in.
Jack saw the apparitions inside. The candlelight projected their silhouettes on the walls as the things spread throughout each room, separating into smaller and smaller groups. The operation seemed coldly efficient, and in a strange way he admired their calculated approach. That didn’t stop him from trembling. And the butterflies in his gut fluttered with the same ferocity as the dark swarm invading Teresa’s house.
“What are they doing?” Lily’s jaw dropped.
“They’re hunting for
us,” Jack confirmed.
Still levitating near the front porch, Teresa struggled to free her wrists. The short, rotund Gert approached and raised her dagger-like instrument. It twinkled in the moonlight.
Jack squinted. “What’s she got?”
“It’s an athamé,” Amelia answered.
“Looks like a knife to me,” countered Pud. “I’m gonna help her!” he lurched for the door. Cheyton darted in his way.
“You’re not going anywhere!” he glared. Pud beseeched the others in the room silently. Then he breathed hard and went back to the window.
AFTER A FEW MOMENTS, the flying creatures poured out of the house, shattering glass and splintering holes in doors. Jack sensed they were agitated. They increased their speed, along with their fury, gathering once again in a dark mass, circling and colliding until each of the individual serpentine beings bonded into one form—Davos.
He stood before Teresa, his vacant glare visible plainly from Jack’s position yards away. The others saw it, too. A gasp rolled through the tiny cabin.
“Where are they!” he demanded.
He didn’t wait for a response. He whipped his arm and a long tentacle caught her cheek. It left a large, swollen scrape.
“She’s hurt!” Lily announced.
“That’s it!” Pud went for the door again. Again Cheyton stopped him.
Davos struck Teresa once more, tearing at her neck.
“I said where are they!”
“Cheyton!” Enola begged. “We’ve got to do something!”
Cheyton hesitated. It gave Pud the opening he needed. He pulled open the door and ran outside.
“You want me?” Pud taunted. “Here I am!”
Davos stopped in mid-swing, glaring. Then he divided into living arrows and sped toward Pud. Into the trees Pud dashed, a blur against the nightfall, the soaring creatures following fast.
“Pud!” Cheyton screamed. “Wait here!” he directed Enola, sprinting into the dark to get his friend.
“No! Wait!” Enola stood at the door. She seemed torn. Then she turned to watch the three witches once more surround Teresa.
“I’m going to help her,” Takota announced. “Jack, you stay here. Understand? Wait until I get back.”
Fighting for breath, Jack couldn’t answer.
“I’m coming,” Ayita announced.
“No, you…”
“This isn’t a debate. I’m coming.”
Takota hurried out the door with Ayita behind him. He timed his leap to catch Teresa’s leg and scrambled to her wrists where he began unraveling her restraints. The evil witches raised their right hands, each pointing her athamé at the stars. Ghostly flames formed above them, and in a flash, shot at Takota, throwing him off Teresa and to the ground hard.
“Takota!” Jack screamed. The witches turned, glared, and started toward the cabin. They made it only a few steps when Ayita, nothing more than a tiny, silver and black shadow, zipped past, tripping all three.
Enola knelt by Takota’s side. Ayita raced back around to help him up, allowing the witches time to get on their feet.
Seeing nothing now stood between the wicked women and the cabin, Jack ran to the door and slammed it closed.
“I need something to block this!”
Liz got behind the loveseat. “Here! Everybody push!”
They all heaved, and the small couch groaned across the wooden floorboards, ramming against the door.
“The window!” Amelia yelled. Too late.
Smash!
Hundreds of tiny glass splinters showered in on them. Lily screamed and clutched her mother. Jack and Amelia held each other. He brushed a shard from her hair.
“You!” Gert pointed at Jack through the shattered window. She used her midnight gown’s long sleeve to brush aside the remnants of glass from the frame. Before she leapt into the room, something jerked her by the hair, tugging violently. She screamed, clutching her head, falling backward onto the ground outside. After a Thunk! she stopped shouting. Then Takota jumped in the windowsill.
“You guys should come with me. It’s not safe in here anymore.”
“Look!” Lily pointed behind him. The creatures sailed past the shed in a wave, their screeches sending cold, icy fingers down Jack’s spine. They surrounded Teresa one more time.
“Great one! Over here! They’re over here!” the two remaining witches gestured toward the shack fervently.
The airborne beasts united into the shape of Davos. Jack felt the evil creature’s cold intent. He was coming. Fast.
“You guys get outta here!” Takota instructed Ayita and Enola.
“Forget it!” Ayita yelled. “I’m not going anywhere!”
“Me neither!” agreed Enola.
The witches followed behind Davos. In the darkness, his eyes were the color of the full moon. His pace slowed and he smiled at Takota.
“So, this is the great Power Protector?” he stopped. The witches huddled behind him, giggling, chanting.
“I know what you want to do,” Takota growled. “And I won’t let you.”
“Ha! Such confidence! But you are forgetting one very important detail. You see, I know you haven’t yet learned your powers. Eteea is most formidable, for those who know how to use it. And you do NOT!”
Takota dove at him. With a twitch of his hand, Davos’ fiery sphere appeared and shot a vivid burst, surrounding Jack’s protector and freezing him in his midair attack.
The witches boiled over in amusement.
“That was too easy,” Davos chuckled. “I’m beginning to think maybe you’re not such a powerful being, after all. Maybe this is a waste of my time, just as the others said. Maybe I should have destroyed you from the very beginning,” he directed his piercing frown at Jack. “Along with the True Soul.”
“Don’t touch my boy!” Liz hurried in front of him. “You’ll have to kill me first!”
“Not a problem,” Davos flung his hand. More rubicund lightning shot from the powerful globe, striking Liz in the chest. She jerked back and collapsed, her body motionless on the ground.
“Mommy!” Lily screamed. Jack couldn’t speak. He and his sister both rushed to their mother’s side.
Then, overpowering all other sound, Teresa’s voice resounded through the woods.
“In this very forest lives an ancient being,” she stood erect, holding a weathered volume in front of her wide, glistening gaze. “Taller than the timbers and mightier than a raging sea, this gentle soul lazily sleeps away his days, waiting for the time when his home is invaded by evil. That time is now!”
“Stop her!” Davos commanded. “She must not be able to read from that book!”
The wicked women hastened toward Teresa. She continued her story.
“Whenever evil tries to set foot on his land, the giant soldier of peace makes his mammoth presence felt. ‘Gedegwsets,’ the forest whispers his name. ‘Gedegwsets,’ and the ground quakes!”
Actually, the earth did move. Jack leaned over his mom, trying to protect her from whatever was coming.
Davos stumbled. The surprise made him lose concentration on Takota. The energy field enveloping the little creature disappeared and he dropped to the grass.
While the two witches gave chase, Teresa evaded capture and read further.
“The very presence of evil turns the ordinarily docile giant into a ferocious predator. His wrath can be felt for miles and miles as he hunts down each and every unclean spirit.”
The ground trembled again, then again. Tremendous footsteps in the distance getting closer. Davos raised his hands high and breathed hard. The burning sphere spun between his palms. He directed his fingers forward and jolted. A blistering swirl streaked at Takota.
BOOM!
It seemed a tree had fallen in front of Davos. But it wasn’t a tree. It was a leg, the biggest leg Jack had ever seen, attached to the biggest man he’d ever seen. He wore no clothes, except for a scrap of frayed animal pelt covering his waist. A thick layer of hair matte
d on his upper body like armor, spreading all over except for his bald pate. His broad shoulders burst with muscle, along with his barrel chest and bulging thighs, giving him the appearance of an immovable object.
He took the full force of Davos’ energy surge. It hit him in the knee and ricocheted harmlessly. At the same time, the witches cornered Teresa, yet before they subdued her, she read a sentence that frightened them.
“A good witch fears no evil, succumbs to no evil. It is evil that fears the good witch and all she manifests. It is evil that fears Gedegwsets!”
Gedegwsets let out a howl so loud Jack had to cover his ears. The witches abandoned Teresa, hurried to Gert, and dragged her, lifeless, to their station wagon. Gedegwsets paid no attention. Davos was his lone target.
Takota hurried to Jack, catching the giant’s eye. With a great groan, it bent to study him and Takota up and down. Jack couldn’t tell who was in more awe. A smile spread across the giant’s face. It erased when Davos hit him in the back with another scorching eruption. The giant stood tall and uprooted a fifty foot pine. He stepped toward Davos and hurled the tree at him. With speed that rivaled the Tanakee, Davos jumped out of the way, landing near the witches’ retreating station wagon.
The witches made it halfway down the drive when a black Chevrolet Suburban, its headlights off, barreled up the hill.
Crunch!
The vehicles collided. A cloud of steam and debris hurled to the sky. The unmarked SUV slammed into reverse, kicking up gravel, separating the two vehicles, and allowing the witches to flee.
Davos surged toward the Suburban. Gedegwsets followed, each stride rumbling the forest. Savage stepped out of the vehicle. His jaw dropped, gawking at the giant.
“The Tanakee are over there! Get them!” Davos gestured.
Savage motioned. Four men hustled from the SUV, dressed in dark camouflage, wielding large rifles, hooting and hollering. Their bravado ceased when they saw Gedegwsets towering over them. They stopped and waited for Savage.
“Don’t just stand there!” he barked, pointing toward the cabin. “Get the animals! Go! Go! Go!”
Jack James and the Tribe of the Teddy Bear Page 24