Before going under, Garrett had sucked in a ragged breath and tucked his chin tight to his chest. The maneuver was not keeping him from being choked completely but it was helping. Placing his hands over the back of Jack’s, he wrapped his fingers around the boy’s thumbs while pressing his own thumbs into the back of Jack’s pinky knuckles. Then he twisted. Then he kept twisting.
Jack’s wrist contorted unnaturally, and he let go of Garrett’s throat with a sharp cry.
Thankfully for Jack, the slippery water allowed him to yank his hands away from Garrett before they twisted to the point of breaking.
Garrett bucked Jack and twisted to the side, tossing Jack into the water beside him.
Jack beat Garrett to his feet and quickly stomped down in an effort to keep Garrett from standing.
Garrett spun with the rush of moving water, avoiding Jack’s foot, but he wasn’t able to avoid being swept dangerously close to the opening.
Breanne gasped.
Garrett managed to get to his feet, but even standing in place was difficult.
The two boys squared off again.
“Let’s finish this, Jack!”
“I’m going to finish you!” Jack seethed, charging forward.
This time, Garrett ducked low and flipped Jack over him, then pounced on top of him. He quickly tangled Jack’s arm up behind his back, wrenched it up unnaturally, and shoved him face-down under the water.
“Let’s see how you like it, Jack!” Garrett shouted from deep inside his guts, but what spilled forth was a crazed scream as all the calm slipped away, replaced by a suppressed rage no longer held in place by fear. Something inside him snapped, and he lost control.
Jack struggled below him, fighting for breath, but Garrett held him firmly under water.
“Garrett, stop!” Lenny shouted, running forward. “He isn’t worth it!”
But Garrett didn’t stop. “You will never hurt anyone else!” he shouted.
“Garrett! You’re going to kill him!” Lenny begged, pulling at his dobok.
Garrett didn’t hear his friend. There was nothing else; no one else. He would not stop until he felt the life leave Jack’s body. He hadn’t been sure he could kill another human being. Now he was sure he could, and he would. He would kill Jack here and now.
“Please! Garrett, stop!” Lenny begged.
The fight began to leave Jack as his body slowly succumbed.
Breanne rushed forward and bent down beside him. “Let him go, Garrett. You can’t kill him. If you kill him, he wins! He becomes the victim. You’re better than him.” She reached under the water and found Garrett’s hands and placed hers gently on top of his. “Look at me, Garrett.”
Garrett found her eyes, and the anger slipped away like a fish from the hand. He shuddered and let go.
Jack lurched upright from the water, choking and coughing. He pushed himself away from them, close to the edge of the culvert, and puked. Gasping, he leaned out over the side and looked out toward the dark water, then down river into the night. He looked back at them with hate. Hate unlike anything any of them had ever seen.
Garrett was the first to feel it. A sickening in his stomach, a turning. Bile crept up the back of his throat and he started to gag. It hit Lenny next, and Garrett watched, helpless, as he went down to his knees vomiting. Then Bre, then Paul, then the rest of them – all sick, all gagging like they’d just eaten something rotten.
“My skin, something is wrong with my skin,” Lenny managed.
Garrett frowned, feeling his tongue swell as his teeth began to ache. His head started to thump painfully with his pulse, and he became suddenly cold. The thumping in his head increased as his heart began to race. A dull twinge started to radiate down his left arm. His nostrils filled with the smell of death. It was bad, like the time he stumbled across a deer that had lain in the sun until it bloated and popped.
He heaved again, turning back to Jack, only able to squint through the pain. Jack was different. He was focused. Fixed in an expression of hate. His visage that of a madman. Suddenly Jack looked strong again, and there was no longer a hole below his lip where his teeth had come through. Garrett knew it then. Somehow… Jack was doing this.
In a final show of defiance, he looked at Garrett. “This isn’t over, Garrett. This will never be over.” His statement was that of a calm promise void of threat. He turned to the dark river and, without another word, tipped over the edge of the culvert. The only sound was that of a soft splash, barely audible over the ever-rising water.
Instantly, the pain in his head and arm disappeared and his stomach settled.
“What the hell was that?!” Lenny said, rubbing his hands across his arms.
“He must have gotten close to the God Stones somehow,” Paul said, swallowing dryly.
Garrett threw his arms around Breanne, pulled her close, and hugged her. His whole body shivered as emotion racked his core. “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay,” she reassured him.
“I would have killed him, Bre. If you hadn’t stopped me, I would have killed him,” he whispered.
“Hey, it’s going to be okay,” she said consolingly.
“Yeah,” he said, unable to meet her eyes. “I’m just freezing, that’s all. We better move.”
20
Lincoln’s Gauntlet
Wednesday, April 6 – God Stones Day 1
Petersburg, Illinois
“It’s no good!” Lenny shouted over the rush of water. “The bricks I found are below the water! Dammit, it’s too high!”
Pete bent beside him. “Lenny, look again – are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure!” Lenny said. “The water is up to our freaking asses! When I was here the other day it was only up to my mid-shin, and the bricks were only like two rows above the water line. We’re so screwed.”
When the gang moved out of the first section of round culvert and into the arched tunnel, they had to step down another foot deeper into the water. When it was Breanne’s turn to step down, she gasped as she dipped even deeper into the cold water. This section of tunnel was the lowest section and thus the deepest.
“Paul, remember when you lifted the crane? Can you do the same thing but this time just smash in the wall?” Breanne asked through chattering teeth.
“You’re joking, right?” Paul asked.
Anyone who could see her face would see she was in fact not joking. She knew they had to do something.
“Bre, that’s like me asking you to just have a vision of what’s going to happen next. I’m not in any more control of my strength than you are of your visions.”
“Well, we have to do something!” Breanne said.
“I don’t know, if I focus,” he said with a shrug. “I might be able to punch through it if I don’t break my fist. I mean I don’t know if the water is too deep to get a good kick. The question is where do I punch?” he said, sizing up the wall.
Pete held up his hands, waving off the idea. “Wait… No. I got a feeling that may not end well. Unless you have superman invincibility to go along with your super-strength, you’re definitely going to break your hand if you punch this wall. Besides, the whole place is rigged with traps. We got to do this right.”
Garrett reached under the water, trying to feel for the initialed bricks. “Well, think of something, Pete. This isn’t working. And my hands are freezing.”
Janis touched Breanne’s arm. “Hey, put your hands in the water.”
Breanne looked at Janis quizzically.
“Just try. Can you feel it? Can you feel the water flowing around us? It’s like a living thing – powerful and intelligent. I had this strange feeling earlier too when I realized I could see in the dark. It’s the same energy. I can feel it now, right here, coming from all around me – from the water, from the earth, from the air.”
“Um, okay, Janis,” Breanne said, not feeling anything except the difficulty of keeping her balance in the strong current.
“Garrett, point t
o where the bricks are,” Janis said.
Garrett looked down the wall toward the archway to orient himself again. “Right in this general area where I am standing,” he said, pointing down at the water.
Breanne’s mouth parted as she watched Janis move through the water toward the spot with an effortless ease. It was strange, as if the girl were speaking to the current, coaxing it to move in a different direction than where the natural flow of gravity was telling it to go.
The water changed course, flowing around Janis, Lenny, and Pete as if an invisible wall had been inserted into the water around them. Gradually, half the tunnel was choked off. Breanne, Garrett, Paul, and David rushed forward into the dry pocket created by Janis’s invisible wall.
Janis opened her eyes and smiled. “Can you find them now, Lenny?”
“Whoa! Janis? That’s awesome!” Pete said.
The others all shot one another awed looks. But not David. He just smiled tightly. Breanne knew he was still waiting and hoping. She wished she could give him her visions. “Just be patient, David.”
David looked down at the wet brick floor. “Didn’t Garrett and Lenny’s teacher guy say we would all feel something? Didn’t he say we were all Garrett’s chosen? Sages, right? Which is like mages. Which is the same thing as wizards. Well, I still don’t feel anything and honestly it sucks. I want to help, Bre – I want to do something,” David said quietly.
“Don’t feel bad, bro – I don’t feel anything either,” Lenny said.
“Like you need it. You’re a freaking martial arts expert and a circus acrobat all rolled into one. Plus, you got that badass staff the teacher guy gave you. I got squat.”
Lenny shrugged. “Well, you have a manly mustache.”
“Really, Lenny?” David said.
Lenny shrugged and turned away, pointing the flashlight toward where the rows started to curve from wall to ceiling, and began counting in a low, rapid mumble. When he reached row thirteen, he shouted it aloud. “Thirteen! Yep, right here! Okay, this one says j.c. on it. Give me the screwdriver and hammer, Pete!” Lenny held out his hand.
“Wait… Wait, wait, wait, just wait,” Pete said, waving him off.
Lenny shot him a look. “Wait for what? We don’t have time to wait, Pete, we need to move.”
“I worked on this passage a little more and I’m pretty sure we have to do this right or something bad will happen.”
“What do you mean something bad?” Breanne asked.
Pete pulled a folded-up piece of paper out of his backpack. “I copied the instruction parts down separately, so we would have them.” He cleared his throat. “It says, Once inside, look for the archway, which holds a xxx xxx xxx. When you find xxx xxx remove xxx beloved xxx and, once removed, reach inside and pull the lever. This will allow the way to open, showing you the path.”
Breanne scanned the brick wall with reverence. She couldn’t believe Abraham Lincoln actually built this. “So what does it mean, Pete?”
“If we do this wrong, I think we’ll trigger the first booby trap. Look, we have four bricks with initials. j.c., who we know is John Calhoun. b.g., who we know is Bowling Green. a.l.,, Abraham Lincoln, and then our mystery brick initialed a.r.”
“Okay?” Garrett said.
“After close analysis of that sentence, I believe the key word here is ‘beloved.’ This leads me to believe we are looking for a woman’s initials, which could only leave us with a.r. Why, you ask? Because—”
Garrett spun his finger. “Please, Pete!”
“Okay, I will get right to it, but only because I am cold, and we are probably going to die if I don’t.” Pete cleared his throat dramatically. “When you find xxx xxx remove xxx should read something like, when you find her initials remove my beloved a.r.’s brick. And once removed, reach inside and pull the lever.” “So here is my theory: a.r. was Abraham Lincolns first love – Ann Rutledge. His beloved Ann Rutledge.”
“Nice, Pete,” Breanne said.
Janis waved her hands back and forth in the water wall and giggled. “You’re a genius, Petey.”
“Alright, man,” Lenny said, holding out an open hand. “I’ll take your word for it. Now can I have the screwdriver and hammer?”
Pete smiled and gave Lenny the tools.
A moment later Lenny had freed the brick initialed a.r. He started to reach inside the hole, then stopped abruptly. “Pete. How sure are you that you’re right about this?”
“Pretty damn sure. Like ninety-nine percent,” Pete said.
“And if, on that one percent chance you’re wrong, what will happen to my hand?” Lenny asked.
“I thought you were going take my word for it?”
Lenny paused, his fingers wiggling in front of the opening.
“Honestly, I don’t know. But whatever it is, it won’t be good,” Pete said.
Lenny stood up. “I like my hand, bro.”
Pete bent down and reached into the hole. “Ninety-nine percent is pretty good odds.”
“Please be careful, Petey,” Janis said.
“Guys, I feel the lever!” Pete grabbed it and pulled. Nothing happened. He grunted and pulled again as hard as he could.
Near the opposite end of the old brick portion of the arched tunnel, a single brick fell from where the wall met the curved ceiling, splashing into the current.
Everyone spun, aiming their lights toward where the brick had fallen just in time to see a huge chunk of wall and ceiling collapse. Bricks rained down, splashing into the current below.
“Holy crap!” Lenny said.
“Wow, guess that’s our path,” Breanne said.
Everyone followed her toward the newly collapsed section of brick. Janis moved too, which moved the dry pocket along with them.
“I’ll go first,” Garrett said. The opening was high enough that he was forced to jump up and pull himself over the wall. Lenny went next, and together he and Garrett helped pull everyone else over while Paul helped lift them from his side. Once Janis was pulled over the wall, the now raging drainage water resumed its natural flow, much deeper and fiercer than before.
David glanced over at Janis. “I sure hope you can do something with this water when we leave, or we won’t be able to get back out.”
“We’ll figure something out,” she said.
“Everyone, be still. Don’t move until I get my bearings.” Pete shone his light along the wall of the arched tunnel. They were now on the opposite side, behind the wall they had stood in front of only moments ago. “My god, this place is amazing,” Pete said, motioning everyone to follow. Carefully he led them down some crudely cut steps along the narrow corridor.
“Look at that!” Breanne said, pointing at mechanisms on the back side of the brick wall. Metal-forged blades connected to pivoting bars on counterweights. Everything was covered in rust, but the blades still looked sharp.
Pete stooped to inspect one. “Lenny, Garrett – ho-ly, look at this!”
They eased forward, stopping next to Pete and Breanne.
“Whoa!” Lenny said.
“Yeah, if we had reached inside any of the other bricks and pulled those levers…” Pete swallowed.
“Yeah… it would’ve released the counterweight and no more hand!” Garrett said.
“Exactly.”
Lenny looked up and studied some old wooden beams. “What do you make of that, Pete?”
“I think if we’d broke through the wall, the tunnel itself would have collapsed. See those?” Pete pointed at a few precariously positioned timber braces near the ceiling of the tunnel. “If we’d smashed the wall, those would’ve come down, and I think the tunnel would have come down with them – at least the entrance.”
Lenny whistled.
Breanne felt a thudding in her chest as memories began to flood her. Memories of a collapse on a dig site in Mexico where she nearly got her family killed. Then a flash of a more recent memory on Oak Island, trapped in the treasure tunnel at the bottom of the Money Pit. Had it r
eally happened that morning? It felt like a lifetime ago. She started to breathe really hard as the worst memory came. This one was a lifetime ago but felt like yesterday. The memory she feared most. The memory of her mother, shattered glass, and blood.
“Can you guys believe we are inside Lincoln’s hidden freaking tunnel!” Pete said, trying to take it all in. “These beams were put here by Lincoln and Bowling Green! Those mechanisms… and look over here,” he said, pointing to some old tools – shovels, a pickaxe, and an axe. “Can you imagine the value of this stuff? These are Lincoln’s tools!”
Breanne wished she could give a shit, she really did, but the fact was she couldn’t. She didn’t figure anyone else really did either. She needed to find a way to wake her father, and they all had to stop Apep – stop the end of the world.
Maybe it was the melancholy look on Garrett’s face or lack of enthusiasm on everyone else’s, but Pete’s excitement seemed to fade quickly as he flushed with embarrassment.
Garrett looked at Pete with an empty smile that said he knew his friend meant well.
Pete smiled back weakly with a look that said, I’m sorry, man.
In that moment, Breanne knew these were good kids – good friends. In a way she envied that. Her life had been organized around a sole purpose: become a great archeologist like her father. Her mission simply didn’t lend itself to close relationships outside of her own family. She knew, too, whether she wanted to admit it or not, her isolation was self-imposed. She chose to shut everyone else out. As she watched the wordless interaction between Pete and Garrett, she knew she had missed out on something important.
The Keepers Of The Light (God Stone Book 2) Page 15