by Bryan Davis
Matt glanced between the dim path ahead and the glowing orb. Often he, too, felt a voice inside, what most people called a conscience. Could that be what a companion was, an external conscience? Or was it something more?
When they crept around the bend, flames came into view. At an opening at the end of the tunnel, a heap of twisted metal burned low and weak, apparently soaked with oil, keeping the fire alive. Beyond the fire, flat ground stretched out, ending at a sheer wall in the distance.
As they drew closer to the debris, Matt spotted landing runners, a bent propeller, and two cockpit chairs. “A helicopter,” he whispered.
Holding his rifle at his hip, Valiant skirted past the burning chopper. A pop sounded. Valiant jumped back, shaking his hand, though his face showed no sign of alarm. “There is some kind of barrier here that burns on contact.”
“Let me go first. Maybe my cloak will protect me.” Matt squeezed between Valiant and the helicopter, collecting as much visual data about the craft as possible. With mangled guns barely attached to twisted side supports, it had to be an assault helicopter, definitely military. He reached out a hand. The fire was quite warm but not too hot.
When he passed through the portal with a sizzling pop and emerged on the other side, he turned. Farther back in the cave, Mom and Karrick came into view around the bend, Karrick arching a wing over her as he shuffled. So far, so good.
Matt shed his cloak and tossed it through the portal. When it penetrated the plane, it sizzled again and fell over Valiant’s hands. “Come on through.”
After spreading the cloak over his head and shoulders, Valiant stepped past the helicopter, raising a shower of sparks. When he turned, he stripped off the cloak and threw it back for Listener.
Something clinked on the ground. A glimmer rolled past Matt’s shoe, an egg-shaped bauble. Valiant dropped to his knees and cried out, “My companion! Where is he?”
Matt scooped up the little egg. Almost completely transparent, it sat in his palm, unblinking, motionless.
Valiant touched it with his fingertip, his eyes wet and his mouth open. He looked nothing like the unflappable warrior from Second Eden. He seemed lost, frightened.
“I am trying to speak to him with my mind, but he is not responding. Could this world have made him ill?”
Matt rolled the egg into Valiant’s hand. “I have no idea, but if yours is affected, then …” He spun toward the portal. “Listener, maybe you shouldn’t—”
“What?” Listener popped through the gap, the cloak over her head and her rifle tucked under her arm. Her companion teetered on her shoulder, then dropped to the ground. Letting out a squeak, she snatched it up and laid it in her palm. Her rifle loosened from under her elbow. Matt lunged and grabbed its barrel, saving it from falling.
Listener petted her companion with a finger. “What’s wrong, my dearest?”
With quick glances, Matt scanned the area. No immediate danger. He stood on flat ground near the center of a cavernous crater, at least a few thousand feet deep. Above, crisscrossing jet trails in the daylight sky, either early morning or late evening, proved that they had entered Earth’s realm.
He set a hand on Listener’s shoulder. “Are you okay? Is getting separated from your companion dangerous?”
“We aren’t separated. My companion is still here with me. I think …” She shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I don’t know what to think. She has never done this before, not even in the museum room.”
Matt pointed at the portal opening. “Maybe you should go back and make sure she revives.”
“Yes. Yes, I should.” Cupping one hand under the other, Listener kept her face close to her palm and ran like a scared little girl back to the cave. As before, the cloak protected her body as she passed through.
Valiant stepped close to Matt. “I apologize for my outburst of fear. I have experienced many more crises than Listener has, so, although my companion’s inactivity is shocking, I recovered quickly. I have my wits about me now.”
“That’s good. If I had any idea coming to Earth would cause this, I would have come alone.”
“Elam had concerns, but Listener tried to persuade him that all would be well. You see, she once went through Mount Elijah’s portal to the mining pits of Hades, and the journey had no effect on her. She thought that was enough proof that she could come to Earth. Yet, Elam wanted to take no chances. Since Earth and Hades were combined then, that might have made a difference.”
Matt nodded. “So Elam’s caution was justified.”
“He is certainly wise and experienced.” His eyes still misty, yet lucid, Valiant looked around the crater. “I sense great evil here. An oppressive spirit. Perhaps this is a new phenomenon that has caused our companions to suffer.”
Matt nodded. Suffer was a mild diagnosis. They looked dead. “Maybe you’d better go back with Listener and make sure—”
“We’ll be all right.” Listener reemerged from the cave and walked across the crater floor, her hand curled into a fist. Her quivering lips revealed relief blended with worry. “My companion revived as soon as I went back, but she didn’t say much, only that if I were to continue this journey, I might be on my own.”
Matt touched her fist. “But you said you couldn’t imagine being without her.”
Listener pushed her companion into her tunic’s inner pocket, stripped off the cloak, and threw it across the portal into the Second Eden cave. “It’s not as bad as I thought it would be.” Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, then looked at Matt again. “I’ll be all right. Maybe we won’t be here long.”
“I agree.” Valiant tucked away his companion. “Let us hurry and find Eagle and Cheer. They must be close. They could not have scaled these walls.”
Matt turned to the burning wreckage. The portal looked like a rectangular door standing upright without anything supporting it at all. He stepped past the side of the door and peeked around it. From this angle, the portal was completely transparent, invisible. Instead of a tunnel, a bare rocky floor spread from where he stood to the crater’s perimeter wall.
After stepping back, he looked through the portal again and spotted his mother and Karrick a dozen or so paces into the cave. “Looks clear so far. I think you can come out. Just be sure to wear the cloak. I’m hoping Karrick’s scales will protect him.”
Matt gazed along the floor of pebbles and sparse grass until a ragged dark splotch came into view. He kept his voice low. “Follow me.” He led the way to an area of moist clay, dark red and bearing two ruts that continued toward a hole in the crater’s wall, a low cave entry leading into darkness. As they followed the trails, the ruts became more difficult to see, but intermittent drops of blood along the way made it clear that a wounded person had dragged himself, or had been dragged, to the hole.
Jogging on tiptoes, Matt hurried to the cave and stopped at the entrance with his assault rifle poised. Valiant and Listener closed in, Listener pulling her spyglass from its harness. Back at the portal, Karrick barged through the wreckage and swept much of the burning debris out of the way. Mom, now wearing the cloak, followed in his wake and emerged into the crater, still carrying her sword. She winced and pressed a fist against her stomach.
Matt took a step toward her, but when she gave him an “OK” sign, he relaxed. Valiant and Listener skulked to his side. Valiant leaned over and shone his flashlight into the cave, while Listener aimed her spyglass along the beam. “It is a low passageway,” she said. “I see a man lying motionless on his stomach with his feet pointing this way. He is within reach. Beyond him, the passage opens into a chamber with a glowing lantern standing on the floor, battery-powered is my guess since there is no flame. I see three pairs of military boots moving around, but I cannot see above their knees.”
“The man on the ground,” Matt said. “Can you identify him?”
She shook her head. “I hear him breathing, but his respiration is labored.”
&nbs
p; “Is there room to crawl through and squeeze past him?”
“Perhaps a child could make it, but no one in our party could get by.”
Matt furrowed his brow. Between the burning chopper, the blood trail, and the unconscious body, the clues indicated that the three men were likely enemies of the wounded man, and probably of Second Eden as well. A friend wouldn’t leave a bleeding man to die in a cave. And considering his position in the tunnel, he must have been trying to get inside after the three entered. To confront them? Who could tell? In any case, only one course of action made sense.
“I’m pulling him out.” Matt laid his rifle on the ground and belly crawled into the cave. When he reached the man’s boots, he grabbed his ankles and began a backwards crawl, dragging the man with him. Since the man offered no help, the going was hard.
As soon as Matt cleared the entrance, Valiant reached in and helped pull the man the rest of the way. When the man’s head emerged, they stopped and turned him to his back, revealing the bruised and bloodied face of Billy Bannister.
Matt gulped. “Dad!”
“Billy!” Mom jogged toward them, intense pain obvious in her gait. Karrick followed, beating his wings to keep up.
She dropped to her knees at his side, tossed the cloak and her sword away, and withdrew the candlestone gun from her belt. Light swirled within the casing, brighter than earlier, but still not as bright as before she healed Valiant.
“It’s … it’s not quite charged,” she said as she stared at it. “The candlestone inside me is sending energy to it. It won’t be long. I want to give Billy as much as I can.”
“And then it will drain you again.” Matt snatched the gun away. “Mom, you can’t do this. You can’t sacrifice yourself to—”
“Sacrifice?” She lurched for the gun, but he jerked it out of her reach. “Matt, sacrifice is all I can do. It’s what I came here to do.”
“Not when I can do it for you.” He handed the gun to Valiant and grabbed the cloak. After fanning it over his body, he laid over his father. “Karrick, light me up.”
Mom grabbed the edge of his cloak. “Matt, don’t. It drains you too much. Ashley took days to recover from a healing, and it’s been only hours. You don’t realize how close you came to dying last time.”
“Better me than you.” He nodded at Karrick. “Let’s do it.”
“No!” Mom leaned back as she pulled the cloak. “Billy is my husband. This is not your responsibility.”
Matt snatched the cloak away, making her fall back. When she thumped on her bottom, a twinge of guilt pinched his heart, but he shook it aside. This had to be done. “Valiant, please restrain my mother. We don’t have any choice. The more she suffers, the worse things will get here on Earth. We can’t let Tamiel win.”
“I agree.” Valiant grabbed Mom’s arm, helped her to her feet, and pulled her slowly backwards. “Bonnie, please don’t fight. We don’t know if Matt is in danger—”
“I will fight!” She beat her wings and surged upwards, but Valiant held her in place, his biceps bulging. As she continued flapping and flailing, she cried, “I have to save my husband! I have seen more healings than all of you combined. I know how dangerous they can be!”
“Matt,” Valiant said as he struggled, “move Billy away from the cave. The men inside are likely to hear the commotion.”
While Matt dragged his father, Listener stood at the cave entrance, her rifle ready. “It’s a good thing they have to come out one at a time,” she said.
Matt raised his hood and covered himself and his father with the cloak, his head near his father’s so he could send his eyebeams in when the time came. After positioning himself, he left a narrow viewing slit between the edge of his hood and the ground. Shuffling noises sounded—Karrick shifting into place. A whoosh followed, and heat pierced the cloak, beginning at the shoulders and spreading downward.
“You don’t understand!” Mom said as her voice began to falter. “Enoch himself said I should do this. He said the people I love might try to stop me.”
As Matt continued peering through the gap, intense heat radiated across his back. Pain drilled into his bones, as if Mom’s cries acted as the drill’s bit, and the flames energized the spin.
She settled to the ground and let her wings droop. “That’s it, isn’t it? You have become my oppressors.”
Valiant blinked at her. “What do you mean?”
“I am …” She coughed, then continued in a wheeze. “I am suffering more in my heart right now than I ever could in my body. Even you are being hardened by my stifled song. You can’t see the damage you’re doing because of the blindness in your eyes.”
A rifle shot cracked, echoing in the crater. A man lay at the cave entrance, his body halfway emerged and a handgun in his limp fingers. Blood poured from a head wound. “That’s one,” Listener said as she trained the barrel on him. “That will probably discourage the other two.”
“Listener!” Mom cried. “How could you?”
As heat washed over Matt’s entire body, he tried to toss away Mom’s words. He couldn’t let an emotional entreaty draw him from his duty as a son. Flames spilled across the edge of the cloak, forcing him to close the viewing gap. Not seeing his mother’s pleading face would help, though voices might still penetrate.
“He pointed his gun at me,” Listener said. “I had to fire.”
More pain roared into Matt’s bones. Scalding heat pierced his clothes. Dripping sweat made it feel as if his skin were melting. He bit down hard on his lip to keep from crying out. Maybe it was melting. But the suffering would be worth it … if it worked. If anyone should suffer, it should be him. Compared to Mom, he was worthless, just a kid who had stumbled through life like an awkward klutz. Even if he did die, at least Mom wouldn’t.
“He didn’t point his gun at you,” Mom said. “He hadn’t even looked your way yet.”
“I know what I saw.”
Matt grimaced, trying to spot any sign of his father’s recovery, but he lay motionless, no hint of a stir. Why hadn’t the eyebeams appeared yet? Was Mom right about needing more rest between healings? No. More likely, he just wasn’t doing it right somehow. He always did mess things up at crucial times. Would this be yet another one of his failures?
“Listener, your senses are being blinded. No trained soldier would risk turning a handgun on someone who’s aiming an assault rifle at him. Think! It doesn’t make sense. Valiant, tell her.”
“I did not see what happened,” Valiant said, “but I trained Listener myself, so I know—”
“Not you, too, Valiant!” Mom groaned. “Resist the blindness! Don’t let the corruption of my song corrupt you. You still have a choice, but there isn’t much time left.” Sobs blended into her cries as she shouted, “Let me go! I have to heal my husband! I have to save my son!”
Matt tried to tune out her laments. It was the only way. Listening to crying females had gotten him in trouble too many times. Even Darcy had tricked him with fake tears time and again, and then after luring him into some kind of painful trap, she had called him gullible, a fool for letting emotions get in the way.
“Matt, listen to me.” Mom’s tone grew calm, her voice smooth and even. “The people of Second Eden are not accustomed to a corrupting influence, and their companions are inactive, unable to help. But surely you have heard the voice of evil many times. You told me about Darcy. You know about Tamiel. You have fought them off before, so you can do it again, only it’s harder this time. The song of the ovulum is no longer penetrating your soul to resonate with the law of love that God has implanted within you. The curse upon this land from ancient times is allowing evil influences to conquer those who are unprepared to resist, so you need to fight. Don’t let lying whispers blind you to who you are. God made you upright. Only your own choices bring corruption. You must see this. You have to choose to break free from the influences that will bind you in chains.”
Using a finger, Matt
lifted the hood an inch and peeked through the gap. With Valiant still clutching her arm, Mom knelt, her hands clasped and extended in entreaty. Ribbons of red and black pulsed through his vision, but they couldn’t veil her serene visage. Her emotional appeal had vanished, and she was now poised, her face tranquil.
“Matt. Listen to me. Don’t give in to corrupting thoughts. We need your courage. We need your strength. I can do this healing, but I cannot be the warrior you can be. If you are going to be a martyr, do so at God’s bidding, not Tamiel’s … or Darcy’s.”
“Darcy’s?” Matt clenched his teeth. Heat blistered his body. Pain ripped through his limbs. His heart thrummed in his ears, as if shouting a rhythmic chant, “Fool … fool … fool.”
He thrust out an arm, his hand spread. “Karrick! No more!”
The flames stopped, though heat continued storming across his skin and deep inside. He threw off the cloak and rolled to his back. “Valiant.” He licked his parched lips. “I was wrong. Let her go.”
Chapter 16
PARASITIC BEHAVIOR
Again driving with one hand on the Jeep’s steering wheel, Walter listened to the phone pressed against his ear. Ashley leaned close, also listening. Traveling on a snow-covered trail, the ridges and ruts made for a bumpy ride, challenging the Jeep’s four-wheel drive.
“Give it to me again, Carly,” Walter said. “That last bump almost made me drop my phone.”
Carly spoke with careful enunciation. “Lois established contact with the flying hospital in Second Eden. She sent Dr. Conner all we have about the parasite. It turns out that the skin cells I collected from Jared’s bed didn’t do much good. We couldn’t find anything unusual. So I started looking everywhere for more genetic material. That’s when I found a used Band-Aid in the trash that had some blood in the pad. Luckily it was Jared’s. Lois found a live parasite and analyzed it to figure out what makes it tick. And it’s really like a tick, except instead of sucking blood, it sucks energy. You see, normally an anthrozil’s photoreceptors will repel any parasites, but people like Jared and Irene don’t have active receptors. They have dormant ones. So the parasites are able to attach to and revive their receptors, but once the parasites are attached, they can’t be repelled. Then the anthrozils’ bodies revert to using those receptors for energy, and the parasites suck them dry. So the receptors act as agents for the parasites, taking energy from the host and passing it to the leech.”