“You were there for her, Kat. No one can stop a friend or loved one from making frightful decisions,” Paul said.
“I know. I sure wish I could, though.”
“She was another casualty in this horrible war for our souls,” Josiah whispered.
“At the risk of sounding insensitive—and I have been accused of that—there’s still a bunch of buildings covered in weird stuff that should be dealt with. Don’t you think?” Dayton said.
“The town is only a symptom of a bigger problem. Whatever waits at the bridge is the answer,” Grandma said.
“Now that’s a new look for this pile of wood.” Bart surveyed the bridge’s strong mahogany-brown boards arched across the fast-moving river.
“It looks like someone just built it.” Dayton remarked.
“Looks are deceiving in the Cove. I wouldn’t try crossing it,” Bart answered.
The sun dipped behind the western mountains. A blanket of darkness floated over the bridge.
“Somebody bring a flashlight?” Bart quipped.
The water under the bridge started to glow.
“Not exactly what I had in mind, but it works.”
Kat pointed at a chrome orange beam beneath the rippling liquid. “What’s causing the lightshow? Did someone throw some searchlights in the river?”
“Not sure.” Ken moved forward to get a closer look.
The glowing light drifted up and floated above the fast-moving water.
“That thing is defying gravity,” Dayton said.
“Yes, it is,” Kat answered.
“Who comes to worship me?” A melodic voice called out. “Come, I will make you immortal.”
“I have to get a closer look.” Ken walked forward.
“Me, too,” Bart said.
Kat watched the pale orange beam. It puffed up like an overfilled balloon and burst, sending tiny light shards into the waters below. A mummified body with lifeless eyes floated into the middle of the river.
Kat yelled, “Ken, Bart! Come back. It’s Lilith.”
Ken bumped Grandma with an elbow and kept moving.
Alese caught Ken’s hand. Paul took hold of his shirt.
“Bart, no!” Josiah grasped Bart’s utility belt. Bart unsnapped the clasp and continued on.
Kat ran forward and planted her feet in front of Bart. “Stop, cousin.”
“Don’t you see how beautiful she is? She has to be an angel,” he whispered and pushed her to the side.
“Tell me what you see?” Paul asked Ken.
“She looks just like the statue except more beautiful. Let me go. I want to go talk to her.” Ken yanked free.
“Ken, Bart, please stop!” Kat screamed.
“I’ll be right back. Just want to talk to her. Can’t you see she’s an angel?” Ken answered.
“What is wrong with those men?” Dayton said.
“Dayton? Don’t you want to go down and see the lady in the water?
“Why would I want to go down and see that ugly thing? I’m thinking we should all run away from here as fast as we can.”
“I agree. But why isn’t it having any effect on you?” Kat asked again.
“Lucky, I guess.”
“What are you holding?”
Dayton opened his hand. A gold chain was laced through a miniature vial filled with blue-green fluid. It glowed with a light of its own.
“A necklace?”
“A gift from my crazy aunt when I moved to Alaska. She made me promise to wear it. Said it would keep me safe. I promised. Had it in my pocket because of this stupid wound on my neck.”
“Some kind of magic amulet?”
“A trinket she picked up on one of her trips around the world. Said it was blessed by a priest. She’s a staunch Catholic.”
“Maybe your aunt wasn’t so crazy. You’re immune to Lilith.”
“Ken, stop!”
Kat’s head snapped toward Josiah’s voice. She looked on in despair as Ken walked trancelike into the water.
Josiah followed him to the rocks lining the riverbank.
A cream-toned box with glowing gems of indigo blue bumped Ken’s ankle. He scooped it out of the river.
“I’ll take that.” The sound of creaking leather closed in on Ken. The trance broke, and he ducked. A clawed hand jerked the box from Ken’s hand. The heavy wings whooshed skyward. The dark giant hovered above the trees. “I will settle my score with you at a later time. Atramentous, come!”
A strong wind bent the trees like grass. Atramentous hovered next to Iconoclast.
A small brass key appeared in Iconoclast’s hand. He pushed it into the keyhole of the box. The blazing jewels sparked and turned coal-black. Iconoclast thrust the rectangle into Atramentous’s distorted hand. “Take this, and bury it where it cannot be found.”
Atramentous rocketed into the sky.
The Gorgon dissolved into a ball of light and floated toward the dark woods.
“You’re freedom is forbidden,” Iconoclast’s voice thundered after the sphere. A jeweled urn appeared in Iconoclast’s left hand. His wings snapped to his side, and he plummeted toward the light.
“You will not contain me again!” Lilith screeched.
“Your followers have been given to me. So it ends! You go back to your prison, Gorgon who was once called Lilith.
The entity shrieked and rushed to meet Iconoclast in the air. She took her human form right before she plunged sharp fangs into the sinews of Iconoclast’s neck.
Iconoclast seized the stringy tendrils of hair and yanked the hag’s head backwards. The hag went limp.
The jar’s lid levitated away from the base. Iconoclast raised Gorgon above his head and swung her in a circle. She moved faster and faster until she turned into a dark mist.
“By the power of hell, you are bound.” An invisible vacuum sucked the mist into the jar. The lid settled over the base. A blood-red seal formed in the air and snaked around the edge of the jar. Iconoclast winged into the night sky. The flap of hundreds of wings faded until there was only silence.
“What happened? My head is killing me.” Ken looked at Kat.
Kat threw her arms around him and held on tight. “I thought I’d lost you for sure!”
“Does anyone know why I’m here when Old Town’s bleeding?” Bart joined the group rubbing the back of his head.
Kat laughed and dragged Bart into a hug. “You two almost became Lilith’s significant others.”
Bart pulled back. “Not in a million years.”
Dayton slapped him on the back. “She’s telling you the truth. I saw it with my own eyes. You’d be another body in the morgue if some giant with wings hadn’t stepped in.”
Bart turned to Kat. “Iconoclast?”
“The very same.”
“If he’s on the loose, our troubles are far from over,” Ken said.
“I’m ready to finish this.” Kat jogged ahead.
“Hey, wait! This is not the time to be without me,” Ken yelled after her.
Kat stopped to catch her breath and wait for the others.
“Katrina Tovslosky?”
Kat turned and faced a tall, bronze-skinned man. She searched the man’s golden eyes. “Do I know you?”
The man smiled.”Do you?”
“You look familiar. Besides, how else would you know my name?”
“It is a mystery which will become clear. I have been asked to give you a message.”
Kat backed up. “From who?”
“Do not be afraid. I will not harm you.”
“I’ve had enough mysterious communications for a lifetime! So, if you don’t mind, I’m in a hurry. Whatever you need to say to me can just wait.” Kat waved him to the side.
The man stepped off the path and called after Kat. “You are favored. You have seen how the Holy One can use all things for His good and the good of those who love Him. He wants you to be a witness at the old town—nothing more.”
“I’ll keep it in mind.” She gave th
e stranger a salute and walked toward Ravens Cove.
Ken jogged up beside her. “Who were you talking to?”
“Didn’t you see him?” She turned and pointed to the path behind her. “Where’d he go?”
“Who?”
“Some guy who said he was delivering a message from God.”
“Well, at least he was a part of the good-guy team. Let’s get to Old Town.”
Gray mist gave way to deep fog at the edge of Old Town. The buildings peeked out from the parting mist and were swallowed again.
“Well, those orbs of light are gone. That’s a good thing,” Bart said. “I’d feel great if the rest of this place were normal.”
The log cabin was enveloped in black and green algae. The windows were completely obscured. The mansion sagged at the roofline, its five spires leaning into the dip—like laser guns from some old science fiction movie.
“That does not do anything for my security level.” Bart pointed out a group of Kumrande gathered around the rust-brown skull rock. Three semi-transparent people—one woman and two men—joined the Kumrande.
Ken squinted through the chain-link fence. “Isn’t that Ivy June Coistrell?”
“I think it is,” Kat said.
“What do you think that means?” Bart pointed to the five spires on the mansion’s roof. The points had turned and bent toward the roof’s center.
Ken rubbed his face and watched the five spires wind around each other until they became a chain. The bulk of wood moved itself until its point lined up with the skull-rock.
“I think we should back up.” Ken yanked Kat away from the chain-link fence.
“Who’s over there?” Kat pointed to someone standing between the rock and the mansion.
Bart’s eyes followed Kat’s finger. “I’ve never seen him, but we need to get him out of there before he becomes the Kumrande’s main course.” He ran for the fence.
Ken sprinted to Bart’s side and shook the gate. “How did this get locked?”
“Look down. There is no lock.” Bart laced his fingers through the fence and yanked it hard. The gate creaked and held its position.
The Kumrande stopped moving and looked at the gate, then in the direction of the mansion. They trotted toward the man.
Bart jerked the gate back and forth in a rapid motion. “GET OUT OF THERE!” Bart yelled.
The man smiled. When he spoke, his voice reminded Kat of rolling thunder. It carried high above the clippity-clops of the Kumrande’s hoof beats against the quartz courtyard. “Watch, Katrina Tovslosky. You are a witness.”
“It’s the guy I met on the path. You got to get him out of there,” Kat yelled.
Ken yanked harder on the gate. “Hey, whoever you are, get out of there now!”
The giant of a man waved, then lifted his hands above his head, then threw them toward the ground. The old wood groaned. Two spires broke away from the main trunk and took the shape of a cross.
An electric tendril jumped out of the center of the cross. The blue light strengthened and blasted into the skull-rock. Crystalline light filled the boulder and poured out from the eyes and beak. It shook violently, then exploded. Jagged blue stones showered down on Old Town. The stones transformed into thousands of comets with fiery white tails.
The Kumrande shouted and turned to the forest. The fire targeted the cloven-hoofed beings. They burst into flames as the blazing stones hit their mark. Piles of ashes lay where the Kumrande had just stood. More fiery missiles landed on the ghosts of Ivy June Coistrell, Grady Spawldine, and Carson Watermill. The pebbles of fire showered down on the buildings of Old Town. The ancient buildings went up like the dry tender they were. The blue flames blazed against the night sky. The fire engulfed Old Town—then died out as quickly as it had started. A westerly wind blew the puffs of white smoke away from the town. Ashes and a quartz courtyard covered in soot were the only sign it had ever existed.
“Where’d he go?” Kat searched the ashes. Her eyes stopped on a bronze-toned being standing in the courtyard. She watched it streak into the heavens like a shooting star.
“I did know you,” she breathed, remembering the kind voice of the angel who stepped into her path so long ago at the ravine. “You saved me then, too.” She smiled and waved at the sky.
Bart walked up beside Kat. “Who was that masked man?”
“My guardian angel.”
“Sure seemed awful normal for an angel,” Dayton said. “Where’d he go anyway?”
Kat pointed to the sky.
Dayton let out a heavy sigh. “Of course he did.”
The rest of the group broke into loud laughter.
“Where’s Iconoclast?” Ken asked.
“I wish we could leave the question unanswered,” Bart responded.
“He’s free, so why didn’t he come after us instead of the apparition?”
“Just as good has many aspects, so does evil. Like the threads of a tapestry only God can bring together,” Dayton murmured.
All eyes turned on the detective.
“Just something my mother used to tell me.”
“My guess is Iconoclast vacated before the town was destroyed. But where are they?”
“I think he left for another of his earthly dwellings. If so, we are free of him for the time being.”
“Goodbye, and good riddance is what I say.”
“And if he returns, we will be ready for him,” Grandma Bricken said.
“We will?”
“Has God ever failed us?”
“No.”
“Then, we will be ready for him and any attack he plans—if he returns. He is no fool. Since he can no longer deceive us, why would he come back?” Kat said.
“We shall see, child of my heart.”
Ken felt a small tug on his pant leg. “Where’d you come from?” He bent over and picked up Carnelian. She gave him a lick on the face and looked at the ruins of Old Town.
BC wound around Kat’s legs. “How’d you get away from Doctor Douglas?” She scooped him into her arms.
“That’d be on the vet’s orders,” Doc Douglas said. “The leg’s healing nicely. No need to keep him any longer.”
Douglas pointed at Kat’s arm. “Glad to see your arm’s about well, too.”
“We Tovslosky’s have always been fast healers.”
Carnelian barked up at Kat. “What?”
Carnelian sat down and stared at BC.
“Just for a minute.” She leaned over. BC pushed his head into Carnelian’s and purred.
“Well, I’d say you definitely are a blended family.” Grandma smiled at Kat and Ken, then the animals who had such peace with each other.
“The only thing left to do is make it legal.” Ken looked at Kat.
Kat smiled. “And I’m ready.”
Ken leaned closer. “Say it again.”
“Name the time, name the place. I’m ready—are you?”
“You bet I am!”
“I’m available anytime.” Paul smiled at the two of them.
“And the party can be at my house.” Grandma chimed in.
“Nope. Wendy has the reception planned, and I’m going to make sure she does it.” Kat thought of her friend and the horror she must be feeling right now because of Mandy’s illness.
She pulled out her phone and dialed. “How you doing, Winsome?”
“Not so good. Mandy died on the way to the hospital.”
“What? How?”
“Seems she had a brain hemorrhage. They think it’s why she acted so badly before she died. It was a small bleed at first.”
“I should have helped her!” Kat lamented.
“No, they said no one could. When she started acting oddly, the thing had started bleeding. No one could have helped her.”
“Are you coming home?”
“Turn around.”
Kat turned. Wendy walked to her, tears streaming down her face.
Kat did what her grandmother had done so many times. She gathered he
r friend into her arms and let her sob until she couldn’t anymore.
“I know she wasn’t my sister for a long time, but I had always hoped.”
“As well you should have. How about we find Bernice? She always knows what to say to you.”
Wendy smiled. “She does have a way with me. Besides, I could use petting the Benny dog.”
BC growled.
“Sorry I said the B word. It’s a good thing the meeting will take place without BC present.”
“Definitely.”
Epilogue
When the Cove Calls
Bernice Tellamoot arrived and whisked Wendy away. Benny had jumped out of the car and run to Doc Douglas for a pet.
“No treats in the pocket, golden eyes.” Doc patted him on the head. Benny trotted back to Mrs. Tellamoot.
“She’ll be fine. Bernice will listen just like her momma used to.” Grandma Bricken told Kat.
“Yes. She will.”
“So, about the wedding?” Ken asked Kat.
“What about it? You staying in the Cove long enough to plan one?”
“I’m staying.”
“What about your boss?”
Ken turned to Bart. “What do you think?”
Kat slapped Ken on the arm. “I meant your real boss—FBI guy Binnings.”
“I resigned. Just didn’t get a chance to tell you with everything going on.”
Kat locked eyes with Ken. “No kidding.”
“No kidding.” Ken put a hand around Kat’s waist and pulled her close. “So about the wedding?”
She grinned. “Told you. Just name the day and time, FBI. I’ll be there.”
Carnelian yipped at Ken and wagged her tail. “We’ve got a built-in flower girl.”
“So, I have to put up with your meddlesome body in the Cove all the time?” Kat asked.
“You bet you do.”
“Don’t mean to interrupt a good time, but is there a way to get me back to Anchorage?”
“Our police chief would be happy to escort you to Anchorage,” Bart said.
“So much for staying in the Cove.” Kat crossed her arms and glared at Bart.
“I’ll be back in a day.”
“You better be.”
Ken pulled Kat into his arms and kissed her head. “We’ve got a date to set. I’m not letting anything get in the way.”
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