Joshua and the Lightning Road

by Donna Galanti

Sleepy-eyed, I stood up. Sam must have turned me in!

  “You!” Lo Chez grabbed me, his nose touching mine. “New boy. You told!”

  “No, it wasn’t me.” Terror ran through me. “I swear!”

  “Bunk four hundred and two, get over here.” Hekate’s voice crawled over us.

  Lo Chez’s frown fell, and he let me go.

  Hekate stood outlined in the light from the entrance as Lo Chez made his way to her. No, don’t go!

  The other kids stood in the silent dark.

  “You think you can take me down, Reeker?” Hekate said, her voice rising. “I’m older than you know and have more power than you can imagine.” Two guards stood beside her. I shrunk into myself, wishing to be anywhere but here.

  She grew taller, as if by a magical spell, her shadow rising like a monster on the wall behind her. “Who helped plan your takeover?”

  Lo Chez shook his head. “N-no one.”

  “Liar!” The guards pointed their vapes at his head as the lights flickered, casting ghastly shadows across their faces. The panting of hundreds of kids pulsed around me, and I pressed my fingers into the bunk bed frame, waiting for death to strike.

  Hekate held her hands high.

  Blue light blazed and the air crackled with electricity and smoke. When it cleared, Lo Chez still stood there.

  “Back to your bunks, Reekers.” Hekate’s shrill voice pierced the air. “No rest for anyone tomorrow unless those involved in this escape plan confess.” She turned and left. The guards remained standing at the entrance.

  There would be no prison break. The kids skulked back to their beds as I clutched the wobbly bedpost, waiting for Lo Chez to return. He shuffled toward me as his large body moved in and out of the light behind him. Strange moans carried to me. What had she done to him?

  Finally, he stood before me, his hands covering his face. Then he clutched my arms. That’s when I saw the nightmare that he’d become.

  His mouth was gone.

  His eyes bulged out with the scream he couldn’t voice. It sucked me into a deeper world of horror and held me frozen in its image. His nose flared and he shook all over, shaking me with him. Tears spilled down his cheeks, his mouthless flesh working with silent sobs.

  I wrenched away from Lo Chez and fell on my bed, hiding my own face in the scratchy mattress. He crawled on the top bunk, groaning from somewhere deep inside. I felt bad for reacting the way I did, but his monster face freaked me out. There was no comfort here, only work and punishment … death.

  Just then, a face popped out from under my bunk. I almost yelled when a hand pulled me by the shirt, yanking me to the floor.

  It was Charlie.

  And Sam was with him.

  Sam put his finger to his mouth. Charlie nodded, then Sam disappeared. I looked to see where he’d gone and felt a cool breeze. A sweaty hand pulled me down into a dark hole under the bed, and Charlie followed close behind.

  Our hideaway was dank and damp. My eyes soon adjusted to see a slant of light glowing above. There was a soft creak and a click, and I got a whiff of dead and rotting things as near total darkness covered us.

  “What’s happening?”

  “Shh,” Sam whispered back, just an outline before me. “We’ve got to run. Quick!”

  He shot off into the dark with a sack over his shoulders, but I pulled him back by his shirt and handed him my pen flashlight from home, grateful it still worked after my ‘shower’—and grateful my mother’s photo was laminated and didn’t get ruined. Sam hesitated, then took the flashlight from me and moved it around, casting light on the walls as if fascinated, then motioned for us to follow him with his new toy. Charlie shrugged at me from across the shadows, and we ran after our rescuer—if that’s what he was.

  The dark tunnel seemed to move in and out on either side as we ran. I reached my hands out to the cool walls for balance. Bits of earth brushed off, and who knows what other slimy, squirmy things came with it.

  Remembering the crystal, I felt for it in my pocket. It warmed my hand and glowed blue when I pulled it out, like the first time. Charlie bumped into me and gasped when he saw it.

  Sam turned around and gasped too. He reached his fingers out toward the crystal, then pulled them away. “A lightning orb!”

  I was scared of dropping it now, afraid it would explode like a grenade. Sam’s eyes were huge in the blue glow the crystal shed as clouds moved across its tiny space, rolling angry and stormy inside the glass. A spark flared. Charlie backed up and the blue light cast long shadows down his face, which bobbed like a ghost before me.

  Sam pointed at my crystal. “How’d you get one?”

  I decided to change the subject. “What’s in the bag and how’d you get us out?”

  Charlie nodded, still staring at the crystal … or lightning orb.

  Sam shook the bag. “Food to keep us going. And I put you and Charlie in the two bunks with secret tunnel doors under them. They’ve been sealed shut for a long time, but I re-opened them and got your friend for you.” He stepped closer then, his eyes widening. “By the gods, I’ve never seen a lightning orb though, just heard of them. They have great power.”

  Bo Chez had said so, but how would he have gotten hold of it?

  Then Sam added, “Storm Masters from our Sky Realm carry them.”

  My gut cramped. Storm Masters were real? “Sky Realm?”

  That’s when he said something even stranger. “Zeus rules there. It’s where he created the lightning orbs, after he left Mount Olympus.”

  I bounced from foot to foot, my legs eager to flee while my thoughts paralyzed me. Mount Olympus was real, too? But it couldn’t be. In school that was mythology, which means “not real.”

  “Non! Vraiment? Mount Olympus like the Greek gods?” Charlie stuck his jaw out as he echoed my thoughts.

  Sam nodded, his eyes white moons in the dark. “Vray-what?”

  “Vraiment. It means ‘really’.”

  “Then, vraiment, the Greek gods.”

  “What can the orb do?” I really didn’t want it blowing up in my hand.

  “I don’t know,” Sam said.

  Big help.

  “Did you steal it?” Sam tilted his head at me.

  “From my grandfather.”

  I wasn’t sure how to feel about Bo Chez now, and the fact that this orb—this weapon—had been in our house. This thing from another world—from the Greek gods! They were supposed to have superhuman powers, and this orb of theirs had just been on a shelf over our fireplace.

  Sam peered about as if expecting guards to burst upon us any second. “Enough for now. Let’s move!”

  I pulled him back. “Wait, you need to help me find my other friend, Finn, but I don’t know where he is.”

  “No time for that,” Sam said. “I got Charlie here for you as asked.”

  “Then we don’t go with you.”

  Charlie nodded, following my lead, and crossed him arms. “I’m here because of Joshua and his friend. We can’t just leave him.”

  Sam glanced back and forth between us then sighed. “Fine. We’ll find him first. There’s only a few places he could be anyways, but time is not on our side.”

  This all sounded good, but I still didn’t know whether to trust him. “Why help us at all?”

  “My days are numbered here, and I need a new home.”

  “New home?”

  “I want you to help me escape, too,” Sam said.

  I glanced at Charlie and then back at Sam. “What do you mean help you escape?”

  “To a new home with you on Earth.”

  “But we don’t know how to get back.”

  That’s when Sam surprised me even more by saying, “I do.”

  Chapter Ten

  The promise of escape brought me new energy, and we ran in silence for a long time.

  Chooga-chooga.

  In the feeble light from the flashlight and orb, the tunnel�
�s roof shook over my head as we reached the power mill and ran faster. Chunks of mud fell on my face. I brushed them away, cold and mucky on my fingers.

  Long after the sounds of the power mill fled, Sam suddenly stopped. I ran into him, banging my head against his. Charlie ran into me and I dropped the orb, sure we’d all be blasted to bits, but instead, it rolled along the dirt floor like a giant neon marble. Sam snatched it up and curled his fingers tight around it. Had he wanted it all along? Did he really know what it could do? I waited for him to say something as the orb distracted me. He hesitated, then handed it to me.

  “Keep it safe. Don’t let anyone get ahold of it.”

  I pushed the orb back in my pocket and wiped the sweat off my face, dying for a fresh breeze to replace the damp tunnel air filling my lungs.

  Charlie bent over, hands on his knees, to catch his breath. “Where are we, Sam?”

  “Near the end of an old tunnel that once ran between the bakehouse and the power mill. It’s not in use anymore and they blocked it off here.”

  Twittering squeaks punched the air behind us.

  “What was that?” I said. Sam swung the flashlight around. It bounced off the walls, and beyond it the black spread deep, ready to suck us up.

  “Tunnel rats,” Sam said. The squeaks stopped.

  “Like the sewer rats?” The Auctioneer’s threats came back to me.

  He nodded and put a finger to his lips. Charlie and I backed up.

  A chitter exploded nearby, and Sam yelled, “Run!”

  I needed no motivation, imagining a monster rodent chewing my fingers and nose—and dashed after Sam with Charlie next to me.

  The squeaks came faster, angry for having to chase us. I dared a peek behind me. White ghosts danced up and down—only they weren’t ghosts at all, but giant rat teeth chomping at us, eager for a bite of boy. Behind those teeth was a determined diner. I was just as determined to not be eaten.

  Whiskers scraped the back of my neck and air swished my arms as teeth swiped at us.

  “Faster!” I shoved Sam on. Charlie looked behind and yelled, “Zut! Zut!”

  My tired legs couldn’t possibly run faster, but with death at my feet I could fly.

  The chittering soon faded. My shirt stuck to me with ripe sweat and my lungs burned from our pace, but better to hurt to breathe than not breathe at all.

  Sam pointed the flashlight at rungs fastened into the wall and flung himself up them, pushing on a handle above. A door popped open. “Come on!”

  Mad clicking of teeth grew closer and I scrambled after him, eager to escape the muddy tunnel. Charlie followed. Sam slammed the lid down. A squeal pierced the air.

  Sam cranked the lid handle tight. “It can’t get us now,” he said.

  We found ourselves in woods that stretched out in every direction. The blue sun hung over us in an early morning lavender sky as tentacles of fog reached up to grab it. The mist rolled heavy on the forest floor, slinking between crooked trees that offered up their broken arms to the sky and to the earth where they curved down like protective robes. These gray and white cobbled trees stood like old wizards who’d lost their magical power and were left here to die. Goosebumps shot down my arms from the creepy woods, but it was better than the power mill.

  I flung myself on the ground, leaned against a tree to catch my breath, and ran my fingers over the furry moss that smelled of fresh-cut grass. A piece of home.

  Charlie flopped down beside me, breathing heavy. “Très fatigué! Must rest.”

  Sam hesitated, looking around. “Not for long.”

  “Starving!” Charlie groaned, holding his belly.

  “Yeah,” I said. “What’s in that bag?”

  Sam drew out what looked like corn dogs and the biscuits I’d eaten in the power mill. “Slug dogs and bong bongs.”

  Charlie and I grabbed a slug dog each and chowed down. Sweet and crunchy.

  “What are they?” I licked my fingers.

  “Boiled slugs, dipped in honey, rolled in crushed acorns, and fried.”

  I swallowed hard and Charlie and I cringed at each other. “And the bong bongs?”

  “Made from the bong bong tree berry. The shell is crushed to make flour and formed in a ball then the berries are stuffed inside.”

  That sounded better. They hadn’t tasted bad in the power mill, just dry. I shoved one down now and chugged water from Sam’s canteen then passed it to Charlie. After my stomach was full I pulled out my pencil and rolled it between my fingers. Drawing always helped me forget things back home when I was upset, and so I drew here on the birch bark of this giant tree. My fingers knew what to draw. It was what Finn and I had talked about making many times: our fort. We dreamed of building it just like a real castle with towers to hide in, flags, and a moat to protect us. I signed it Joshua was here.

  “Pretty good,” Charlie said, leaning in. “I wish my dad let me take art lessons.” He pulled at a thread on his ripped shirt. “There was a comic book camp at school but I had to do basketball instead.”

  “Here. Try.” I handed him the pencil. “Add to mine.”

  He studied the pencil, then drew trees around the castle and two figures, one short and one tall, running after his friend. And under Joshua was here he added Charlie too.

  He thrust the pencil back at me and tilted his head, bangs covering one eye. “Pretty pathetic.”

  “You just need practice, and now someone will know we were both here together,” I said, and his face brightened at that.

  “Looks like King Apollo’s castle,” Sam said, glancing at it, and then in an instant pulled us both up. “Let’s go.”

  We trotted after him, but Charlie twisted his ankle and I caught him before he cracked his head into a tree. He cried out and put his full weight on my arm, favoring his good foot, as he hobbled forward.

  “I’ll be okay,” he said with a pinched face.

  “You need better shoes,” I said.

  “Yeah, well that will never happen.”

  “How come?”

  “We don’t have the money. All my parents do is fight about it.”

  “Oh,” I said, sorry I mentioned it.

  “I always wanted American brand names like the rich kids at my school. Like you.” He pointed at my clothes and shoes. “But my parents are poor. We live in a tiny apartment so I can go to a good school. I hate it.” He crumpled his hands in fists.

  My clothes were something I didn’t think much about. Bo Chez bought me what I wanted as long as it was on sale.

  Sam hurried back to us now, and Charlie put more weight on his foot.

  “All right?”

  Charlie nodded and we took off, a bit slower this time.

  I took the slowed pace to dig at Sam for more information. “Are there really Greek gods here?”

  He shook his head, switching the food bag to another shoulder. “Not anymore. They fell from power long ago, abandoned Mount Olympus, and lost their immortality.” He blew out a big breath, pushing the never ending mist away. “And now the descendants of the gods rule our lands, like Apollo’s heir runs the Lost Realm and—” Sam sniffed the air and looked wildly about. “Come on!”

  He pulled us into the woods and we stumbled after him, the words Mount Olympus and Apollo’s heir still bursting in my head. This time I set the pace, mindful of Charlie’s sore ankle, peering behind me every few seconds to scan the woods for monsters at our back. My eyes darted to the treetops, expecting a freaky beast to jump on my back and tear me apart.

  “How far until we find Finn?”

  “We’re in Cypress Woods now,” Sam said in between breaths as we ran. “Your friend is at one of the workhouses or the castle. The bakehouse is closest. Either way, we have to go over Mount Parnassus to find him. It’s two hours by horse on the road so will be longer on foot.”

  A mournful coo called in the distance. Another one responded. The mist licked around me like a gray flame and sharp pa
ins pulled at my sides.

  “Your friend isn’t the only reason to hurry,” Sam said. “We’ve got to get deep into the woods and take cover. Spies are all around.”

  His voice lowered and took on a more ominous tone. “If they find out we’re missing before breakfast, we might not make it.”

  ***

  We lifted unwilling legs up over the tree stumps and straggled over streams where strange things moved about. A fin pushed up from one. A tail flipped from another. Water splashed my jeans, cold and stinging. After that I leapt higher over them, fearful of being pulled down by a watery monster.

  The quiet was unsettling with just the thuds of our feet on the mossy ground and the dead trees creaking in the breeze as they towered above. They seemed to move their arms in the mist, reaching out for us as if we could bring them to life. We ran through their graveyard, climbing higher and higher. The floor of the woods spread out as we moved up the mountain. There was no path, but Sam ran as if he knew exactly where he was headed. Finally, he stopped.

  “Where are we?” A stitch tugged at my side with a worsening throb, and I was terribly thirsty.

  “The Spring of Galene.” He pointed to a pile of rocks. Water bubbled from the top of the big rock in the middle and flowed down into a shiny basin. “A fabled spring that rejuvenates strangers on a long journey.”

  Charlie nodded. “But is it safe to drink? Nothing mysterieux swimming about in it?” He must’ve noticed the stream-creatures, too.

  Sam nodded and picked up a round leaf. He cupped it under the bubbling water and filled it up. He handed it to me, but I hesitated even though my tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth like a piece of paper. Sam shrugged and drank greedily, then Charlie drank. I finally took the leaf and drank too. A hint of sweet honey lingered on my tongue and flowed through me with healing warmth as energy surged in me.

  “What was the real god Apollo like?” I said as Sam filled up the canteen from the spring.

  Sam smiled, and it looked strange on his sad face. “He was the god of light, truth, music, and healing. They said he could prophesize the future, and he taught your people about medicine.” His face fell then. “But he was also the god of plagues and death like his twin Artemis.”