The Keepers Of The Light (God Stone Book 2)

by Andrew Schafer

  “Look! She’s doing it again!” David shouted.

  She was back in the basement but now something sizzled like frying bacon, then everything exploded inward. Bricks and fire smashed into Apep’s body as he screamed in a combination of pain and rage.

  When the vision was over, the voices around her turned up like the dial on a radio.

  “You mean she gets visions of what’s going to happen right before it happens?” Pete was asking.

  “Yeah, something like that,” Paul said.

  Breanne blinked as the cloudiness cleared from her vision. “Guys, I just saw Apep screaming and then everything around him blew up.”

  “What? Are you sure!” Janis asked.

  “So far every flash I’ve had happens right after I see it,” Breanne said.

  “I say we go up and wait out back. Maybe we can see something,” Janis said, reaching for Pete’s hand. “I’ll lead you out.”

  “Or…” Pete said, rustling around in his backpack for a flashlight. He retrieved it, illuminating Janis with a soft click of the switch.

  “Oh, okay,” Janis said, starting to pull her hand away.

  Pete squeezed it as she tried to let go. “Or we could do the hand-holding thing, either way…”

  “Are you okay, Janis?” Breanne asked, noticing her complexion had paled in the low light.

  Janis nodded with a weak smile and left her hand in Pete’s. “Come on, let’s go.”

  They went upstairs single file. Mrs. Cleary sat in her same chair behind the counter, reading her paperback illuminated by the golden glow of an antique oil lantern. “Ah, glad you made your way up, and I see you have lights with you. Good. The storm is coming, and I fear it’s going to be a bad one.”

  “Yeah, looks like it is,” Pete said, leading the group to the front door. “Well, good night, Mrs. Cleary.”

  “Peter? Shouldn’t you wait for Garrett and Lennard?” Mrs. Cleary asked.

  Pete froze, hand on the door handle.

  Breanne looked back at the librarian, who sat unmoving, peering at Pete over the top of her glasses.

  “Mrs. Cleary, how do you know we are waiting on Garrett and Lenny? I didn’t say anything about them.”

  Mrs. Cleary held their gaze for a long moment as silence filled the room.

  Breanne looked at Paul, who returned the look. A look that said something was wrong.

  “Peter,” the librarian finally said, “don’t go out the front. Not tonight. Tonight, go out the back.”

  Pete let go of the door handle and turned to face the suddenly mysterious woman behind the counter. “Mrs. Cleary?” Pete said, swallowing hard. “Who are you?”

  Ms. Cleary smiled. “I’m a friend, Peter. And tonight, you should go out the back and wait for your friends behind the library. Stay out of sight, and when they get here get on with it. Tonight isn’t a night for lingering. Now follow me. The back is this way.” She pulled her spectacles from her face, folded them gently, and placed her paperback along with her readers on the counter. She didn’t wait for anyone to speak as she lifted the lantern and moved toward the back of the library.

  They all shared uneasy looks, but they followed single file.

  Mrs. Cleary opened the back door and motioned them out. “I wish you the best. All of you.”

  As they poured out the back of the library, Breanne watched Pete turn as if he wanted to say something but didn’t know what to say. Finally, he just said, “Thanks, Mrs. Cleary.”

  Mrs. Cleary nodded and as the door swung slowly shut, she said, “We’re counting on you.”

  “What the hell was that about?!” David asked.

  “That was weird,” Janis said.

  “Incredibly weird!” Breanne agreed.

  “No, don’t you guys get it? She is a Keeper,” Pete said.

  “What!” David said, looking back toward the closed door with a newfound awe. “You think so?”

  “I know so. It’s the only explanation. It makes total sense. All this time she has been here observing us. Observing me. She knew all of our comings and goings. Remember what Mr. B said? There are so many.” Pete shook his head. “All this time. A Keeper was right here.”

  “Do you guys hear that? Sounds like sirens,” Paul said.

  The group walked to the north edge of the building, carefully peeking around the corner toward the town square.

  “Holy shit! The whole side of the town square is on fire!” David said, pointing.

  Sirens could be heard as firetrucks, ambulances, and squad cars poured onto the square in an effort to stifle the flames.

  The burning square held no interest for Breanne as she focused all her attention toward Garrett’s home. She prayed he was okay. She needed him to be okay. “Is this the direction Garrett lives in?” she asked, pointing. Her brow crinkled as she squinted into the shadowed evening.

  “Yep, that’s right,” Pete said, following her finger with his gaze. Squinting himself, he removed his glasses to clean them on his sleeve. With his glasses off he glanced back up toward Garrett’s place. “Holy hell!” he shouted.

  “What? What do you see?” Janis asked.

  “There in the distance, don’t you see it? It looks like Garrett’s house is on fire!”

  Everyone was looking in the direction Pete was pointing now.

  “I don’t see anything?” David said, standing on his tiptoes.

  “No, me either. It’s too dark,” Paul said.

  “Right there!” Pete said, pointing between the buildings toward Jackson Street, then holding out his hands pleadingly. “Come on, none of you see it?”

  “Whatever you see, Pete, I don’t see it either,” Breanne said apologetically.

  “The orange fiery glow rising up… the smoke in the distance. You guys really can’t see it? It’s right where Garrett’s house would be.”

  “That’s like eight city blocks, Pete. No one could see that through town and all the neighborhoods. Especially not in the dark,” David said.

  “I’m telling you…” Pete began.

  “Um, follow me for a second,” David said.

  They jogged back around the stone library to the south parking lot with everyone in tow. “Okay, now look down the street to the DQ. Can you see the sign?”

  “Of course.”

  Breanne could just make out the sign, about two blocks away.

  “Okay, now can you read the sign?”

  “Duh, it says DQ,” Pete said with a scowl.

  “Okay, you knew that. What about underneath the sign. The smaller sign. From here can you see what is says underneath?”

  Everyone squinted into the distance. Breanne couldn’t make out a word in the darkness.

  “Dammit, David, don’t be an ass. You know I have bad eyes as it is, and no one could read that from here. Not even if I had perfect twenty-twenty vision,” Pete said, placing his glasses back on his face then pushing them onto the bridge of his nose.

  “Just try, Pete,” David said.

  Pete squinted toward the DQ sign. “No, jackass, I can’t see it. In fact, I can’t even see the Dairy Queen that well – everything is blurry.”

  “Take off the glasses and try.”

  Pete made a show out of sighing in great annoyance then removing the glasses in an exaggerated gesture. He looked back out toward the Dairy Queen. Then he froze, studying something in the distance for a long moment. “New Summer Blizzard Menu.” Then, squinting, he said, “Today’s special was a cheeseburger basket for five bucks.”

  David raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Wait a minute, how do you know that? They don’t put specials up on the sign.”

  “No, they don’t. It’s posted on the counter inside. I can see it through the glass door,” Pete said, turning back to the group, a surprised smile spreading across his face.

  “Ha!” David said. “That’s crazy cool – you have super-vision!”

  Everyone squinted in the direction of the DQ, trying to see if they could see inside through the doo
r. No one could make anything out. Breanne couldn’t even see this sign they were talking about.

  “I can see in the dark like it is daytime, and I can’t see that sign from here,” Janis said.

  Pete shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s weird. It’s still dark. And when I glance back now, I can’t see it.” Then he paused, appraising the glass door in the distance again. “It’s just that when I focus on the sign, it’s like it magnifies. Pete started to put his glasses back on then stopped abruptly. Still smiling, he tucked the glasses into his pocket. He turned, looking back in the direction of Garrett’s house, his smile falling away. “I’m telling you guys,” he said, hitching his thumb toward his friend’s house, “something is wrong at Garrett’s.”

  That’s when they heard a distant explosion. A second later they could feel a soft rumble traveling across the asphalt of the parking lot.

  Janis turned to Breanne and began running back around the library. “Oh my god! That was it, wasn’t it!? The explosions you saw!?”

  Breanne nodded, trailing Janis. “Pete, what do you see?”

  Pete slid to a stop, squinting in the direction of Garrett’s house. “I don’t have a clear line of sight, but judging from the mushroom cloud in the distance I don’t think Garrett’s house is there anymore, guys.”

  14

  Just Cut Off Its Head

  Wednesday, April 6 – God Stones Day 1

  Petersburg, Illinois

  Dark smoke plumed into the night sky to merge with thickening rain clouds. Hot wind washed over Garrett, and the acrid smoke from his burning home assaulted his nose. This he could ignore. But the loss of his home assailed his soul, and the loss of his father and Mr. B. attacked his heart. These wounds were impossible to brush off.

  “What now?” Garrett asked thickly.

  “We move. This will only buy time,” James said, looking to Elaine’s ankle. “Can you run, Elaine?”

  “No. It may be broken… I… I rolled it pretty good,” she said, grimacing.

  James positioned himself so that Elaine could lean on him and take the weight off the bad ankle. As quickly as they could, they made their way around the block and into an alley.

  “James, what do mean ‘only buy time’ – don’t you think he’s dead after that?” Garrett asked hopefully.

  “I would love to think so, but he has the God Stones. Unfortunately, the prophecy doesn’t end with him dying in our basement. You still have a mission.” James looked back over his shoulder as if he expected Apep to come running toward him from around the corner. “You have to get to the temple, while we still have a chance.”

  Garrett looked to Elaine. “Mom, I have so many questions.”

  “I know you do,” she said, wincing as she shifted position from one foot to try and put most of her weight on the other. “This isn’t the way you were supposed to find out. All the Keepers knew the signal, knew that when Brother Brockridge called for the closed test it was time. What we didn’t know was that Apep would obtain the stones before we were able to properly… enlighten you.”

  “I want to be so pissed off right now,” Garrett said. “But I can’t. I want to run away – but I can’t. I want to just sit down and cry – but I can’t even do that!” He lifted his head and met his mother’s eyes. He searched them and found what he was looking for – love. He knew at least that much was true. If everything else was nothing more than a lie, at least that much he knew had to be true.

  Elaine smiled and hugged him hard. Then she pushed him back and found his eyes again. “You’re right, Garrett. You can’t do any of those things. Not now anyway. The prophecy has been written and your path is waiting. Now you must go.” She squeezed his shoulders reassuringly.

  “And you?” Garrett asked.

  “I must go too. James and I must warn the other Keepers and tell them of the loss of Brother Brockridge, of Phillip,” she said, her voice cracking. “We must tell them it has begun and Apep is here. We will be safe. Find me after,” she said, forcing an unconvincing tight-lipped smile.

  “Find you? How will I find you?”

  “Find your way back to the dojo.”

  “But the building burned.”

  His mother bent forward and kissed him on the cheek. Then she turned to Lenny. “Brother Brockridge put that staff in your hand for a reason, Lenny. Take care of my son. Keep him safe.”

  Lenny nodded.

  “Okay, little brother. I must go with your mom.”

  “What? Wait, you obviously know what you’re doing – come with me… help me,” Garrett pleaded.

  “Garrett, most everything in your life has been carefully orchestrated to prepare you for this moment. Sure, we had to improvise when your real father lost his shit. But we made it work. We gave you what you needed and taught you how to survive with less than most. We raised you poor so you would appreciate what you had when everything was taken away from you. We made sure you grew up strong because we knew you would need to be. I treated you like crap because you needed to learn to stand up on your own. Phillip treated you with tough love because the journey ahead will test all your morals – morals we have ensured you possess. Your mother loved you and made sure you knew love so that when the time came you would understand what was at stake.” James stepped closer and laid a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “This journey is yours. You will find all the help you need in your sages. The prophecy of Turek tells us no one can alter the course set forth. Find me when you destroy what’s in the temple. Right now though, I need to get your mother to safety.”

  James turned to Elaine and, just as they started to walk away, Garrett blurted out, “Wait!”

  James turned.

  “At least answer one question first.”

  “Sure.”

  “What’s in the temple that I have to destroy?”

  “What!? Brother Brockridge didn’t tell you?” James said, turning completely around and stepping back toward Garrett.

  Garrett held out his hands. “No. Apep came and, well…”

  “Did he at least tell you of the great battles and of the old ones who brought the God Stones to earth through the tear in space?”

  “Yes, he told us about the battles and the seven sages who defeated the seven old ones and even that Turek and Apep were both part of that group.”

  Lenny nodded.

  James reached up and scratched at a patch of whiskers. “Inside the temple lies one of the old ones, Garrett.”

  “What? You’re telling me there’s a space alien inside there?” Garrett asked.

  “Yep. It is in a state of suspension.”

  Ever since they found the journal, Garrett and his crew had speculated about what they would find inside the temple. A secret treasure? An ancient worshipping place built by the Masons? In truth, he had no idea what he’d expected to be inside Lincoln’s temple. But an ancient space alien? “I was hoping it would be some kind of God Stone instruction manual sitting atop an altar. But an alien? I thought all the old ones were destroyed by the sages?”

  “Not destroyed, Garrett. Defeated. The place you’re going isn’t really a temple as much as it is a prison. One of seven prisons across the world. One on each continent and all connected by the same spell. It’s a prison never meant to be found, with a being inside never meant to be awakened. Well, not until now. If Apep wakes it, the old one will show him how to assemble the God Stones into the Sound Eye. If that happens… God help us.”

  “And I have to go in there and kill it?” The words slipped from Garrett’s mouth, taking all the moisture with them. He tried to swallow. He didn’t need the answer – he just needed to say it aloud.

  “Yes, that’s where that sword strapped to your back comes in. All you need to do is get there first and use it to cut off the old one’s head. You do that, and Apep won’t be able to wake it up.”

  “Seriously?!” Lenny said.

  “Serious as a heart attack, Lenny. Now both of you, go.” And with that, James turned to Elaine an
d the two of them hobbled into the shadows of the alley in the opposite direction from Garrett’s destiny.

  For a moment, the two boys stood next to each other, silently watching the darkness of the alley that had just absorbed Garrett’s mother and brother.

  Garrett blinked, unable to speak as his mind reeled. Cut off its head! That’s all, Garrett, just cut off its head. You know… with a sword! No big deal, right!? He couldn’t let the gravity of it all weigh on him – not now. If he dared pause here, staring into the darkness too long, if he dared think beyond the next moment, he might just crumple right there in the alley unable to move. Finally, he turned to his friend. “What have we gotten into, Lenny?”

  Lenny gazed back down the alley toward his own house. “Garrett?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I don’t think we will ever be coming back here.”

  “Don’t say that—”

  Lightning cracked across the night sky, lighting up the neighborhood in an orange glow. It was beautiful, strange, and wrong all at the same time. With the crack of lightning, the power stopped fluctuating and Petersburg went completely dark. Two police cars sped past the mouth of the alley toward what was left of Garrett’s burning house.

  Orange flashes fractured the night sky again, followed by a boom of thunder. The night sky began to spit fat drops of rain.

  Lenny felt the first drop hit his cheek and panic consumed him. “Come on! Garrett, we got to go now!” he said, breaking into an instant sprint toward the library.

  “What’s wrong?” Garrett asked, matching pace in an easy stride.

  “The rain! The tunnel!”

  As the boys exchanged horrified glances, understanding slapped Garrett as suddenly as the next drop of rain. The first rule of exploring Petersburg’s drainage pipes was to never, ever do it in the rain. “Oh, this is just perfect! It’s going to fill!”

  Lenny shook his head back and forth. “What happens if we can’t get in Garrett!?”

  Elaine stopped in the shadows and turned to watch Garrett and Lenny as they ran away into the night – into their destiny.