Great White Throne (27 page)

“Your troubles
are
our troubles.” Jacob was shaking his head. “Now you’ve given Cristo everything. You’ve done nothing for us.”

“That’s ridiculous,” I said. “I gave him nothing. I’ve fought him in every way I can.”

“Oh? How’s that?”

“I—” I’d stayed in his palace. I’d fought inside his drone. Against my will, but still. “I’ve prayed for God’s help.”

“Some help.” Jacob raised a rifle. “This is how you fight against a tyrant. I’ve signaled to the others that you’re here, that our cover’s blown. They’ll be here any second. You keep
praying
.” He cocked the gun with a snap. “I’ll lead the true fighters out of here. I’ll scrape and claw my way to range, and I’ll put a bullet in Cristo’s head.”

Good luck
. I held my tongue, kept my face blank. Then I did what he said: I prayed.
God, give me wisdom.
This wasn’t in my dream’s script. I had no idea what to do, but the last thing I wanted was to forget my hope.
Please, give me peace.

 
A group entered the room from behind Jacob. Chris pressed through to the front of the mismatched troop. Zafar was at his side.
 

“Glad you made it,” Jacob welcomed.

Chris ignored him and looked to me, then behind me. “What happened? Where’s Naomi?”

“The dragon has her.”

Chris closed his eyes and breathed out heavily. A moment passed in silence, then Chris turned to Jacob. “We have no choice left. We’ll attack as you and Zafar wanted, but my men aren’t facing Don without Elijah.”

“He’s no soldier. He’d rather pray than fight.”

“Elijah sees what we cannot,” Chris replied. “We are not all meant to fight the same way. He’ll help us now.”

“So says the Christian,” Jacob mocked. “So say the people who have never had their land—their heritage—face centuries of assault after assault. We’ve had to fight with our backs to the wall since before your religion was born. You can never understand what it means to fight.”

“You are a soft people,” Zafar agreed. “This is why only our lands have stood against Dajjal.”

“But our lands are lost!” Aisha shouted. The men gaped at her in my arms, as if surprised the paralyzed girl would command their attention. “Tehran is destroyed,” she continued. “The Mahdi is dead. Cristo is here, reigning over the city we all call holy. We can’t fight him as we’ve fought before. We must fight him as Elijah does, with faith, with—”

“Silence!” Zafar shouted. “Your words are nothing, girl. Soft lands, soft people have corrupted you.” He spat on the ground and turned to the other men. “The Mahdi disappeared and reappeared once. He will again. He and Isa will defeat Dajjal. We fight until that day. We fight until victory!”

“My people share this duty,” Jacob said, facing the men with him. “We fight for Israel until the Messiah comes.”

“The Messiah
has
come,” I said. “I have seen Him. He has spoken to me.”

Jacob jerked toward me and grabbed my arm. Our eyes locked. “You help Cristo, and now you abandon your heritage?”

“You don’t understand,” I said, my voice calm, my soul calm. Words flooded out of my lips, as if born outside my mind: “My faith has been completed. It was empty before, now it’s full. I will speak God’s truth to the world. I will seal Abaddon’s fate. The Lord has spoken, and I am the messenger.”

Jacob released his grip and gaped at me. “What’s wrong with you?” He sounded exhausted and confused. “What would Arella think of you now, Eli?”

Arella. Mom.
“I know what she thinks. I have seen her, and she has spoken to me. She gave me a message for you.”

Jacob shook his head gravely. “Your mind is lost.”

“She said it was Jesus who caught the roof above your daughter.”

Jacob’s mouth fell open. “Wh—who told you this?”

“My Mom prayed over your daughter. She told me,
it was the Messiah who caught the roof above his daughter.
He knew you needed her in these last days.”

“I … there’s no way you could know this.” Jacob was shaking his head. The other men were staring at him with confused looks as my uncle’s eyes grew moist. “What have you become, Elijah?”

“They say he’s a prophet,” Zafar scoffed.

“He is
the
prophet,” Chris said. “He is Elijah come again.”

The words sank into me. “I am only a servant, a messenger.”

Jacob eyed me, uncertain. I held his stare in silence. He breathed out heavily and looked away, facing the other men. “If Chris would have Elijah fight, I won’t stop him. We need every weapon we have.”

“Thank you,” I said.

Jacob nodded to me and straightened his back—all soldier. “The time has come. Follow me.”

THE MEN BEGAN climbing a ladder through the narrow shaft above. Jacob was the first to reach the top, before I’d even started going up. He slid open a manhole-sized lid, revealing the smokey sky above.
 

Most of the men had crawled out when Chris paused at the foot of the ladder. He clasped my shoulder. “We’ll try to get Naomi back, okay?”

I nodded. “And then we’ll get Brie.”

He smiled like it was an inside joke. We both knew the odds. “And if not today,” he said, “maybe tomorrow—after the Lord’s victory.” With that he started up the ladder.

I knelt down beside Aisha, where she’d been sitting. Her arms reached around me, holding onto my back as I rose and began to climb. The sounds of fighting grew louder with each rung. As we neared the opening, I heard gunshots, confused shouts, cries of pain, of death.

“Sure you want to go?” I rested a few rungs shy of the top. I couldn’t see anything but dark sky above.

“Is there any other way?” Aisha asked softly.

“Yes, we could stay in the tunnel, hide. These men won’t survive against Don and his machines, and we’ll go down with them. You won’t even be able to run.”

Her grip tightened around my shoulders. “Did I need my legs when I shot Alexi?”

“I guess not.”

“Then I will fight. Perhaps I can do more. I want the honor of dying to defend what I love.”

I nodded. She was right. Death no longer mattered. We could run for a little while, but it would come back to this. There was nowhere left to hide, and no reason to try.

“Why are you still waiting?” Aisha asked.

“I’m worried about what might happen after you die.”

She laughed lightly. “I’m not. I’ve watched you, Eli. I share your belief in the light, and maybe even in
Isa
. I believe we will meet again on the other side.”

The way she said it, with such hope, made some of the tension slip out of my shoulders. “He came to me, Aisha. I saw him and heard him. Jesus,
Isa
—he’s everything.”

She studied me, her eyes concentrated. “I’m beginning to understand.” The sound of a gunshot pulled her gaze up. “Let’s go now.”

As I climbed the final few rungs up, I felt the warmth of hope and faith and peace. I felt God was with us, like maybe we could serve him in this fight. I felt like we could even win.

But then I felt a hard, cold fist. The instant I peeked out of the hole, something grabbed me and lifted us out.
 

A demon’s charred face was in mine. “He knew you’d come,” it growled. “He’s waiting for you.”

The demon tore Aisha off my back and threw her to the ground. Then it slung me over its shoulder and charged toward the Dome of the Rock. Androids flanked us. I looked back and my breath froze. The huge space was packed with androids in ordered lines, while dark blurs of spirits danced and weaved in their midst.
 

I twisted to look where we were going just as the Dome’s huge doors swung open. The smell of smoke and incense filled my nose. The demon flung me forward. I hit the ground, rolled and slid against something firm. Legs.

Don stood over me, black suit, open arms, and grinning as always. “Welcome, Elijah! It’s so nice to have you back. You’re in time to see my strength fully restored.”

My gaze moved past him. His presence felt almost familiar compared to what surrounded us. Pale yellow light lit the cavernous round room. Thousands of colorful tiles covered the floor. They probably covered the walls and the ceiling, too, but I couldn’t see them, because stacks of oval chambers crammed into the space. Each chamber sat on top of another, knitted together by fibrous cables running from the floor to the ceiling.

The ceiling was a swirling chaos of black and roiling flames. I could see the dragon’s eyes staring down at us through the blackness, as if the Dome’s golden ceiling weren’t even there. Dark wisps flowed out of the dragon, out of the darkness, and into the chambers along the wall. It seemed like the dragon was pumping evil into the entire hive—the chambers and whatever they held.

I took a deep breath and gagged. The incense was masking a heavy smell of sulfur. I wiped sweat off my forehead. My body shook and sagged, weak as if I had a raging fever. I felt clammy, nauseous.
 

Don backed away and stood between two columns along the Dome’s inner ring. At the base of the columns were two empty chambers. “These two are for you.”
 

“Who?” I asked.
Lord, help me. Help—

“You and Naomi, of course.” Don pointed past one of the chambers, and I saw Naomi’s motionless body sprawled on the ground. “I keep my promises,” Don said, but I was already scrambling, running to her.
 

I put my hand to her neck. She was breathing, she was alive.
God, you brought her back to me once. Don’t let her die now. Please God. Please God. Pl—

“You brought her to me.” Don’s words severed my prayer. “And now she is yours. She made for a fine Mary, don’t you think? Actually, the mother of my enemy was not nearly as beautiful. Mary was meek as a mouse, just like her pathetic child. Naomi is a true woman clothed with the sun. I’ll keep you both around, and you may continue to worship our son forever. I have new bodies prepared for both of you.”

Naomi had begun to stir. Her green eyes opened. “Elijah.”

“I’m here.”

“Where’s my son?” Her eyes scanned the room.

“He’s in his chamber.” Don pointed to a capsule near the center of the room. “He’s growing into what he was meant to be.”

 
Naomi lurched forward, but an android grabbed her. Her eyes blazed at Don. “God alone gives life.”

“Oh, I don’t deny he started this mess on earth. He’s also the one who abandoned it, who would let it destroy itself. I’m the one who will preserve it.” He stepped to the chamber closest to us and ran his fingers along its smooth surface. “Souls will no longer die,” he mused. “They will remain in constant pleasure, transported from one body to another, and I will draw on their energy to enable this perpetual, blissful life.”

 
“I’d rather die.” Naomi cringed away, but the android wouldn’t let her budge.

“You never cease to amuse me.” Don stepped closer to us. “Still thinking you have a choice.”

I tried to move back, but another android seized me. Its four arms clamped around my arms and legs. I didn’t bother thrashing. I prayed,
Thank you for letting me see Naomi again.
I smiled at her. “The Lord will return.”

She nodded and closed her eyes. “Thank you, God, for giving us this life. Thank you for loving us. Thank you for Elijah. Thank—”

“Enough,” Don said. Naomi’s mouth slammed shut. He glared at her. “You won’t think it either.”

The android holding Naomi suddenly injected something into her neck. In a breath she fell limp in its arms. It hauled her toward the chamber.

Don turned to me. “Last chance, Elijah.”

“You said we have no choice.”

“She has no choice, but you still do. Your soul is salvageable. You’re not fully turned. Not yet.”

God, what can I do?
I felt helpless. I prayed with all I had.

The sound of voices made me turn. A group of androids carried tied-up men, one by one, through the Dome’s doors. The first machine reached Don and dangled a limp man before him.
 

“Christopher Max.” Don smiled, then pointed to a chamber half way up one of the Dome’s walls. “That one.”

The android moved to the wall and climbed up it like a spider. It deposited Chris’s body into the chamber. Translucent fibers closed over him. A dark tentacle plunged in, as if stabbing into his heart.