Garrett and Breanne shared a look, but it was Lenny who made the first move.
“Dammit, Pete!” Lenny shouted as he picked himself up and ran toward his friend, and right toward the dragon.
“Crap! Lenny, no!” Garrett shouted, running for the sword lying where Pete had dropped it. The giant was just feet away, maneuvering his enormous frame to a sitting position. Great! He didn’t have time to deal with the giant. But it turned out he didn’t have to – Paul was on him.
Garrett dove, rolled, and grabbed the sword. He glanced back as Apep began a cast, “Shirayshi, Esh akoz—” But before Apep could get the fourth word out of his mouth, Breanne was there with Lenny’s staff in hand. She swung, cracking him over the back of the head. Apep staggered forward, falling to his hands and knees.
“That’s for my dad, you son of a bitch!” Breanne reared back again.
Garrett spun back toward the dragon.
Across the chamber, Sylanth drew in another breath and the two heads spoke. Garrett didn’t know what the thing said but when the dragon began to roar, he knew it was bad. All four eyes were locked on Pete and Lenny.
No! You’re not getting them too, you bastard! Garrett ran toward Lenny, watching helplessly as his best friend in the world slid to a stop at the feet of the dragon. Lenny grabbed Pete under the arms and started pulling him back. Pete didn’t seem to resist, but he wasn’t helping either.
The dragon’s heads parted, taking up position on either side of Lenny and Pete. They were trapped. There was no way they were going to make it!
Garrett pushed his body as hard as he could. “No! Over here! Right here!” he screamed as he ran, but it was no use. It was like the dragon didn’t hear him or didn’t care. The thing’s necks started to glow as a deep throaty roar began to build. Garrett realized there was no way he could stop this. This was real. And his friends were about to die just like Janis had.
Lenny must have realized he wasn’t going to make it too because he stopped pulling Pete. Instead, he stepped right in front of Pete. Lenny didn’t cower, and he didn’t flee. He lifted his chin in defiance, looked at one head, then the other and shouted into the roar, “Well, what are you waiting for, you overgrown gecko?”
The dragon’s roar increased as they opened their mouths, revealing the furnace within.
Garrett was close now. But close wasn’t enough.
The dragon’s roar turned to a scream as both heads jolted up toward the ceiling in a wailing cry.
Lenny flinched back at the screech, nearly falling backward over Pete as he waited for the burn, but the burn didn’t come. He cautiously opened one eye, raised an eyebrow, then opened both, his fear replaced with disbelief. “You got to be kidding me! Mr. Mustache?!”
Off to the dragon’s side stood David, holding Coach’s bastard sword, which was now fully embedded in Sylanth’s rear leg. David looked as shocked as Lenny.
“Well, don’t just stand there – run!” Garrett shouted.
David let go of the sword and staggered back. He and Lenny shared a “holy shit” look, grabbed Pete under each arm, and began to retreat. “Come on, Garrett!” Lenny shouted.
Garrett could have turned and run too, but he knew it was now or never – if he didn’t act the dragon was going to kill them all.
In a psychotic fury, Sylanth lowered their heads, their scaly jowls trembling with rage as they searched, intent on finding the source of their pain and incinerating it.
As the first head lowered to better scan for the trespasser, Garrett took three running steps toward it, his sword raised and cocked over his shoulder.
Sylanth reeled their other head toward their injured leg, biting hold of the sword and tearing it free.
As the dragon’s right head swung around toward Garrett, he fell back onto his thigh, letting his feet lead like he was sliding into home plate. The dragon’s head passed just over him. Once clear of the dragon’s head, he sprung up and spun around, set his feet, and before Sylanth could turn their head to find him he swung for the fences, hacking into the dragon’s neck with a savage swing.
Sylanth’s right head toppled to the floor, while its remaining head let out another pained, ear-piercing scream. Copious amounts of viscous blood pumped from the severed neck, washing over Garrett and pooling under his feet.
Sylanth spat fire from his remaining head along with seething shrieks of agony.
Lenny punched a fist into the air. “Did you see that?!”
But Garrett wasn’t finished. He was committed to the cause – this bastard had killed their friend. There was only one way this was going to end: one of them was going to die.
“Paul! Help,” Breanne shouted as she continued to whack Apep across the back with Lenny’s staff. She risked a look over and found that Paul had his hands full.
Before Balor could get back to his feet, Paul grabbed his ankle with both hands and yanked.
Balor fell again onto his back and began kicking at Paul with his other leg.
Ducking the giant’s foot, Paul ran in between its legs, leaping up onto its stomach. Breanne’s hopes rose as Paul then tried to jump again to the slab, but they sank just as fast as Balor caught him in his fist.
Breanne hit Apep twice more across the back before he scrambled into a position where he could defend himself. “And that one was for Janis!”
Finally, Apep turned on Breanne. “Foolish girl!” He ripped the staff from her hands with an unseen force, pulling it to him. Drawing it back he swung at Breanne, striking her hard.
She staggered backward, grabbing her shoulder.
“Leave… her… alone!” Paul managed from the grip of the giant. He pulled his arms free, grabbed the giant’s thumb, and pulled it back unnaturally. The thumb emitted a loud snap. The giant bellowed out in agony. Its hand popped open, dropping Paul to the floor.
Paul disappeared below the slab and a second later the giant’s legs came out from under him with such force that both legs flew into the air as the giant toppled, its head striking the back of the chamber hard enough to fracture the temple wall.
Water sprayed from the newly formed fracture.
Breanne backpedaled away from Apep as he reared back for another swing.
Paul appeared on the slab in a full-on run toward Breanne and Apep. He didn’t slow as he approached, and he didn’t stop when he arrived. He hit Apep in a full run. Lenny’s staff went flying from Apep’s hands as he fell backward.
Breanne’s eyes clouded over, rolling back as she saw what was to come. No! Please! No!
Distantly, as the vision took hold, she sensed Paul and Apep fighting desperately. But it didn’t matter because now she knew how this fight would end. Oh god, she knew!
Water continued to gush through the fractured wall.
Apep tried frantically to shield his battered face from Paul. Finally finding his wits between strikes, he shouted in a voice somewhere between anger and terror, “Enough! Rayzae!”
Breanne’s mind cleared in time to watch helplessly as Paul’s body lifted, launching high into the air. He hit the ground below the slab with horrible force, sliding headfirst into the wall of the chamber. Water rushed all around him. She was sure she watched her brother die… she knew she was sure because she had already seen it.
Across the chamber Sylanth swung his remaining head back and forth, dowsing the area in front of him in brilliant, blue-green fire, his panicked eyes searching feverishly for the offender.
Garrett was sure he was going to die as the flames washed over his blood-covered body. He braced himself for the pain. When the flames hit him – and they did hit him – he felt only a warmth as the dragon blood covering him started to sizzle like fish in a fryer. But he did not burn.
Outside the envelope of fire, his friends screamed.
“Shit, David, do you see Garrett? I can’t see him!” Lenny was shouting.
“I think he’s in the fire!” David shouted. “Jesus, Len! I think he’s burning up!”
Not wa
iting around to figure out why he did not burn, Garrett scrambled to get away from the flames, quickly rolling under the dragon. Lying on his back beneath the beast’s great belly, he found the spot where he assumed the heart would be and, rolling over, he got to his feet in a squat. Pulling in a deep breath he gritted his teeth and thrust the sword upward, being sure to drive the weapon all the way to the hilt.
The dragon reared up on his back legs like a horse. But try as he might, the dragon couldn’t escape the bite of steel.
Garrett leapt up and grabbed the hilt of the sword, hanging his full weight from it, but it held fast, not budging. As the dragon fell back to his feet, Garrett ripped the sword from his chest, more blood pouring over his hands and arms.
Sylanth staggered, the dragon fire dissipating as he gasped in short, pained breaths.
Garrett stole the opportunity, diving into a reckless roll between the dragon’s front legs. Then, springing upward he swung for the throat attached to the remaining head. Garrett’s sword found the beast, but with his blood-slicked hands, he couldn’t get a solid strike like with the first head. Still, the sword bit down, slicing the dragon’s throat.
With its last gargled breath, Sylanth found Garrett, his eyes boring into him. The ill wishes in the dragon’s eyes were too little too late – he would have no revenge.
Garrett never broke eye contact with the dragon, holding his stare until the head rested on the floor and the last of his life faded. Garrett wanted Sylanth to know who had destroyed them. It was the least he could do for Janis.
As Apep pulled himself back to his feet he gingerly touched his broken nose. He wanted to heal himself and stop the pain the Moore boy had inflicted on his face, but there was no time, not when he was so close. Wiping his sleeve across his bleeding nose, he turned to Balor. “If you agree to keep our truce and take me to King Ogliosh I give my word that our treaty will be upheld when I sit on the throne of Osonian. The others will all be awake now, Balor. By waking one, I have woken all seven of you!”
“Yes, I can feel the others. All have risen. All will converge on King Ogliosh. We must go to him,” Balor said.
“Yes. But first show me how to assemble the stones. This world is different now, Balor. They have new weapons, new… energy. If I assemble the God Stones into the Sound Eye, their world will change. Their energy won’t work.”
Balor stood looking down at Apep, hesitating – perhaps contemplating whether to trust the elvish wizard. “It is dangerous to assemble the Sound Eye before the portal’s conductor is ready. This world is not meant for such power.”
“Balor! You must trust me. If the humans’ power isn’t nullified, we will be in for a battle. We did this your way last time! I waited a thousand years for my army and look where it got us! The world is different now. We have to assemble them! Show me!”
Balor stared down, his one big eye unblinking. Finally, he held out his hand. “Give them to me and I will assembly them.”
Now it was Apep who faltered.
Across the chamber, Pete stood under his own power, tears still streaming down his face, as Garrett ran toward them.
Garrett stood in front of him. “I’m sorry, Pete.”
Pete threw his arms around Garrett and hugged him, and Lenny and David piled on. The moment was broken when they heard Breanne scream.
“That’s Bre!” Garrett said, water splashing over his feet as he turned toward Breanne’s voice.
“Yeah, and she’s yelling for me! Oh, this can’t be good!” David said.
“Come on!” Garrett said, splashing forward.
The others followed.
Pete wiped tears from his face and squinted in the direction of Breanne’s screams. “That water isn’t good. It can only be coming from one place.”
Lenny frowned. “We can’t be anywhere close to the Sangamon?”
“Not the Sangamon, Lenny. We must be under Lake Petersburg,” Pete said.
The three boys ran across the back of the chamber and around to the opposite side of the slab. Apep was atop the slab, speaking to the giant. As they rounded the slab, they found Breanne kneeling next to Paul.
“Jesus, what happened?” Lenny asked.
“Please, David. Please help him,” Breanne begged.
“I’ll try,” David said, kneeling next to her.
“Garrett… come… come here,” Paul managed through clenched teeth.
Garrett knelt down.
Paul reached up, grabbing his collar.
David placed his hands on Paul’s chest and closed his eyes.
Paul pulled Garrett close, whispering in his ear, “Take care… of… her… Garrett.”
“No, Paul! Get up! Please just get up!” Breanne begged.
Garrett’s throat constricted – he could only nod.
David started to glow.
Apep looked down on them from atop the slab.
Breanne sobbed. She looked up, her eyes finding Apep’s. “It isn’t going to work. He isn’t going to let it work!”
“Shall I finish them?” Balor asked, turning to the group crowded around Paul.
“No… leave them, they’re all about to die anyway.” Then he motioned with his hand, “Eshesh esh zaeray!”
“No! Leave him alone!” Breanne screamed. But it was too late – the words were spoken. Reflexively Paul’s body arched, forcing his back off the floor as his whole body seized. Finally, his muscles relaxed, and his body went limp.
Paul’s heart stopped beating.
“Oh god, no! Please! Please, Paul, no!” Breanne screamed.
David’s glow faded away prematurely. The mustached boy swayed, but he didn’t pass out. He refocused and tried again, but the golden glow wouldn’t come. He turned to Breanne with tear-filled eyes. “I’m so sorry, Breanne.”
But Breanne was somewhere else. Pulled away to a place deep in her own mind – deep into her past. Her mother was telling her not to worry. It was going to be okay. They would just go back and get her violin, and if they were late for the Christmas recital at all, it would only be a few minutes. But Breanne wasn’t having it. She was arguing about how embarrassed she would be showing up late in front of all her friends and that she couldn’t believe her mother had let her forget her violin. They probably wouldn’t even let her play. She was so mad, and all she could think was she would never forgive her mother for forgetting her violin. And so, her mother drove faster. On the radio “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” played. In her mind she replayed the moment, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at her mother, I’ll never forgive you for this! Never! The words came hot and fast – and more words too! And, oh god, how she didn’t mean them! She wanted so bad to take them back!
Outside her mind was shouting that she couldn’t hear.
“Bre! Get away from him!” Garrett shouted.
“Bre, run!” David shouted.
She also couldn’t hear Lenny beating his fists on Paul’s chest and shouting, “You can’t die! You can’t die!” over and over. “I owe you a knife! How can I give you your damn knife if you die!” She wouldn’t know part of Lenny’s strange stepparent’s training had required he learn several first aid techniques, including CPR. She wouldn’t see Lenny begin giving her brother chest compressions. She wouldn’t hear him counting off, “One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand!”
No, Breanne’s world was now consumed with a shattering windshield, crushing metal, and the sound of her own heart as it broke. She couldn’t even feel the ribbons of shadow as they wrapped around her arms like cold, dead fingers. Reality was more like a dream as she became weightless, drawn up onto the slab, where she was dropped at the feet of Apep only to be snatched up again. This time the fingers that wrapped around her arm were very real – yet still, she barely noticed.
Garrett stood, pointed his sword, then started toward Apep. “You’re going to die, Apep!”
Apep smiled from atop the stone slab, “In the words of your dead friend, ‘Not today.’”
Apep turned and said something to the giant.
Balor took two strides forward and kicked the wall near the fracture.
The wall split open, pouring more water into the chamber.
Behind Garrett, Paul gasped for breath.
“He’s aliv—” Lenny tried to shout, but the sudden gush surged into the kids, knocking them over and washing them across the chamber.
Lenny scrambled for Paul, grabbing him by the collar. “We have to get out of here or we’re all going to drown.”
“But he has Bre! I won’t leave her!” Garrett argued, as he began wading against the current back toward Apep.
Paul’s face was full of confusion as he tried to speak in what sounded to the boys like a drunken slur. “Oh… my god… It’s Oak Island all over… but now I’m Ed… now…”
Apep glared down at Garrett, a condescending smile on his face. He handed the God Stones to Balor.
Balor turned his back to them, not allowing anyone to see him assemble the stones.
“He’s connecting them!” Garrett shouted, his eyes going wide as he pushed forward against the rising current.
“Goddammit, Garrett! We have to go now!” Lenny said, pushing David to go as he dragged Paul through the shallow water toward the entrance to the chamber.
Garrett waved a hand. “Go, Lenny, get them out. I have to stop them!”
But Garrett couldn’t stop Balor, who had just one movement left to complete the assembly of the God Stones into the Sound Eye.
With a single, unremarkable click, the entire world changed.
In that instant, intense energy spilled forth, spreading like a shock wave, permeating everything – saturating the world.
36
End Game
Wednesday, April 6 – God Stones Day 1
Petersburg, Illinois
Garrett could feel the increase of power, the supreme energy. It was thick in the air, pulsing in everything around him – amazing and ominous at the same time. Mr. B’s story of the great flood came rushing back to him. The last time the earth was exposed to the Sound Eye, it was used to tear open a hole in the fabric of space, nearly destroying the world in the process.
The Keepers Of The Light (God Stone Book 2) Page 25