Joshua and the Lightning Road (22 page)

“Bo Chez!” He staggered and went down on one knee, but Leandro pulled him up. I looked at Leandro, wanting answers, but his gaze passed over me as if he didn’t even know me.

Leandro pushed the unconscious soldier off his horse and he hit the ground with a thud, but didn’t move. “He’s not dead, but he’ll have one bad headache when he comes around. He took me by surprise, but didn’t fare well.”

A soldier dragged his moaning friend away.

“Remove his weapons,” Hekate ordered. A soldier moved forward, but Leandro held up his hand and dismounted. He tugged Bo Chez along, my grandfather’s big head hanging low, but I could still see the blood that trickled down the side of his head from a nasty cut and a red-purple bruise swelled on his cheek.

“I have none,” Leandro said.

“We’ll see about that,” the Child Collector said, gripping my neck painfully again. I tried to wrench free but he squeezed tighter with his calloused hands. Struggling only rocketed more pain through me, so I forced myself to be still.

The soldier searched Leandro, finding nothing, then shoved him to his knees, taking Bo Chez down with him. I lunged forward but the Child Collector yanked me back and my teeth slammed together hard, vibrating into my jaw.

“I. Want. The. Lightning orb,” Hekate said, emphasizing each word with icy calm.

“And I want to end this Storm Master for good,” the Child Collector said. “Let me at him.”

“Leave my grandfather alone!” Courage sparked in me at knowing Bo Chez was alive, but he shook his head at me.

Hekate turned to me, eyes wide like two black coals in her white face, and pinched her lips together in a red slash. “Grandfather? How lovely. Two family members with ancient powers. What luck.”

The Child Collector shook me. “This filth is your grandfather?” He let one hand off me and twisted a grubby fist at Bo Chez, who tilted his head up just enough to look at the man he had scarred to save my life. “You dishonor the most honored post there is.” He spat on the ground. “And your blast to my face killed any career as a soldier. I’d be out winning battles now, not collecting these Reekers, if it weren’t for you. You’ll pay—and then some.”

“Leandro, let him go,” I said. “Why are you doing this?” He didn’t answer me, his face set like stone.

“Yes, Leandro, let him go,” Hekate said. “The Storm Master is mine.”

Leandro looked around at the army before him, and Bo Chez hung his head again. The horses snorted and stomped the ground. The silence grew, as did the Child Collector’s pressure on my neck. Through the roof’s hole, tree branches bowed down as if listening—and waiting—and the soldiers collectively took a step forward on their horses, vapes ready to strike.

“I’ll trade you the boy for the Storm Master,” Leandro finally said, standing again and tugging Bo Chez up with him. “He would be most useful to you in battle.”

“No!” I twisted to get free, but the Child Collector knocked me in the head. Pain flared, and the world became a shadowy shape for a second.

Hekate looked at Leandro. “And why would I trade the Reeker for him?”

“Because he’s not the Oracle.”

She stepped closer to him, her robe swirling angrily. “What do you know? Enough of this!” She waved her arms. “Soldier, search the Storm Master for his orb.”

The man stuck his hands all over my grandfather but found nothing. The orb pressed against my leg, begging to be found, begging to be thrown.

“Where is it?” Hekate screamed, her wild eyes and hands scratching at the air inches from Bo Chez’s face, her bruise a match to his. He flinched but didn’t step back.

Leandro pointed at me. “He has it.”

My heart sunk like an anchor inside me.

All heads turned to look at me. I wanted to disappear. The Child Collector kicked me toward Hekate, who now glared at me with narrowed black eyes like pits of poison.

All my loyalty and newfound love for Leandro dried up. I’d been angry enough to punch someone before but never wanted to kill them until now.

I wrenched the orb from my pocket before the Child Collector could stop me and threw it at Hekate. “Here!” The horse nearest her reared up, threw his soldier off, and in that instant a dozen vapes were aimed at me. Hekate’s arm flew up and clamped the lightning weapon in her fist.

My one chance. Gone.

I got another bash to the head for that. Harder this time. Stars swam around me and I groaned with the blow. When my head cleared, Bo Chez watched me with a contorted face.

Hekate held the glowing orb in her pale hand and turned it over and over. Its blue faded. “Mine now. And so are you, Reeker. Until I’m done with you.”

“He’s not who you want, Hekate,” Leandro said, who had calmly been standing by, still holding onto Bo Chez’s rope. “He doesn’t have all the ancient powers required to be the Oracle. He only has powers of two Olympians: Artemis and Apollo.”

Hekate continued to stare at the orb, two red patches flaming her cheeks. “Go on.”

“He may have blood in him from each land, and while it’s rare that both would pass on their ancient power from the fallen gods to him, it’s possible.”

But my mother had been mortal. Bo Chez had said so. Or another lie?

Hekate turned back to Leandro and slid the orb into her robe pocket. “But his smell betrayed him.”

“Perhaps your sense of smell is off. Perhaps you smelled him only because he holds powers of more than one Olympian, but not all—not enough to change our destiny and bring back the god’s powers. And perhaps you’ve never encountered a Reeker like him.”

Hekate paced before Leandro, a finger tracing her blood red lips. “Perhaps … he couldn’t command the water after all, supposedly. Tell me more.”

Bo Chez just dangled there like a captured animal.
Show me what to do.
But he didn’t. I was on my own.

“I work undercover for the Arrow Realm,” Leandro went on. “I seek out those with the ancient powers to draft into work for Queen Artemis as soldiers or hunters.”

He had said he didn’t hunt kids on his land. Had he lied about that, too? I stared at him, remembering his knife pushed against my neck. A soft, cold rain began to fall through the hole in the roof and the wall below it glistened as raindrops pinged off the tree branches.

“I met up with this boy, who stole a lightning orb, and his friends, and this Storm Master”—Leandro jerked on Bo Chez’s rope—“and thought it would be useful to stick with them for a while. I planned to lure them to the Arrow Realm under false pretenses. It would mean a big bonus for me to deliver mortal children to Queen Artemis along with a lightning orb and a Storm Master.”

I didn’t want to believe his words and yet it became clear. Leandro had betrayed us all.

“Explain what you were doing at Apollo’s court.” Hekate tapped her foot faster.

“I had taken the two boys as my captives and was informing King Apollo that I planned to take them to the Arrow Realm. It was a gesture of good will, being that I apprehended them in his land. Then the Storm Master showed up and changed my plan. And so did you.” Leandro smiled then, and where it once so recently boosted my spirits, it now chilled my insides, for he’d revealed what he truly was. A thief, a liar, and a murderer.

“And where is the other boy?”

“He got sick so I eliminated him. Artemis wants strong, meaty slaves to feed the beasts, not sickly ones.”

“Why should I trust you?” Hekate tapped her foot harder. The bruise on her cheek darkened, marking her like me.

Leandro’s smile fell, and he pushed his hand into his side as if it pained him from where he crash-landed. I hope it hurt like crazy. “Come with me to the Arrow Realm and see for yourself.”

Hekate exhaled deeply and glanced at her brother, who nodded, shaking me right along with him. “Perhaps Artemis and I can talk strategy, now that I’ve taken over the Lost Realm. It may help to have an ally.” She swished a hand at me. “Take this one, for now. If I discover he’s other than what you say, you’ll pay with pain.”

The Child Collector shoved me toward Leandro, who bowed at Hekate and then pulled me to his other side, holding me tight. I looked over at Bo Chez. Why didn’t he do anything? What was wrong with him?

“And I’ll take care of the Storm Master,” the Child Collector said, curling his cloak in with his fists.

“First, we use him, then you can have him,” Hekate said. “He’ll be an asset in battle.”

Bo Chez raised his head and finally spoke. “I’ll never fight for you, Ancient Evil One.” He straightened up, his Titanic body expanding the space it once hid in. In that instant he didn’t look defeated at all. He looked angry and strong and full of power. “I’ll defeat you again.”

Hekate twirled in a circle around him. She stumbled and regained her balance, facing him, fingers frozen in the air. “Aha! You’ve aged, Storm Master. So this is the one who injured you, Cronag?”

“Yes.” The Child Collector grunted, tugging his hat down lower over his face. Hekate glided to him and took his hand. She held it to her face, then pressed her other hand to his scarred cheek. He leaned his head in to hers, and for a moment only their deep synchronized breathing filled the quiet of the arena. I darted my eyes to Bo Chez for answers, but his eyes were focused on the two siblings. I pulled away from Leandro but choked as he ripped me back by the neck of my T-shirt. I kicked his leg, but he didn’t move, just knotted my shirt tighter. I gasped for air and he loosened his hold enough to breathe while every muscle in me wanted to kill him.

Hekate broke the silence. “Then we shall have the pleasure of killing him, brother. And you shall have his body in place of the one he ruined.”

A slow smile cracked along the good side of his face. “No better revenge than to use the very body that hurt me, and what a bonus to command his storm power as my own.”

No!
My stomach flopped and a sick taste swelled in my throat at the thought of the Child Collector possessing my grandfather’s body.
Let me be dead before that happens
.

“Only for you, Cronag,” Hekate said, and raised her hands.

Blue sparks crackled along her fingertips, poised to kill, and she cast her hands out. The horses twitched and the soldiers pulled at their reins as skittish hooves bit the arena floor. I lunged for Bo Chez, but Leandro held me back once again. I kicked his leg harder. He groaned this time but wouldn’t let go.

Leandro yanked on Bo Chez’s rope and his neck muscles bulged—then the rope snapped in two. Bo Chez swung his arms in the air and a storm cloud burst above him. Horses screeched. Leandro knocked me down and fell on me just as lightning streaked the air. We slammed into the ground, the breath knocked out of me.

“Bo Chez!” I rasped out. Leandro dragged me up and along the dirt, away from the firing zone, but Bo Chez stood his ground, a giant wielding his power. Hail and vape fire rained down.

Blast! Blast!

Bo Chez’s body twisted as he was struck, again and again. He swayed but didn’t fall. The cloud grew bigger. He swung his hands in an arc.

Hekate’s pale hand thrust itself through the smoke. The orb pulsed blue in her fingers. I struggled to get out from under Leandro, but his hand pressed into me hard.

“Stay,” he grunted in my ear.

Hekate drew her hand back.

“No!” I ripped into the dirt to pull myself out from under Leandro but couldn’t break free.

Hekate let go. The orb rocketed toward Bo Chez. It sailed on blue vape fire, aimed to kill.

Boom!
It raced around Bo Chez in a lightning lasso.

Light blazed. Smoke bit the air.

His storm cloud vanished, and Bo Chez fell to the ground.

He didn’t get up.

The smoke cleared. Bo Chez lay on his side.
Get up!
But he didn’t. The orb sailed back to Hekate, and she plucked it from the air and slid it away.

“Take the body and place it in the ice cellar until we can use it later,” Hekate ordered two soldiers. They nodded and dragged Bo Chez up.

“Bo Chez!” I began to sob and couldn’t stop, falling to my knees as Leandro let me go. I crawled along the dirt pit, but a soldier kicked me to a stop. I lay there, gasping with tears and pain as the only family I knew was dragged off, his power and goodness hauled away like garbage.

Leandro picked me up and shoved the soldier who kicked me. “He’s my property now. I don’t want him damaged and costing me money, you brainless thug.”

The soldier pulled out his knife, but Hekate shushed him. “Now, now. No fighting, boys.”

The Child Collector strode to me and lifted my chin up as I hung in Leandro’s arms. I had no choice but to stare into his one eye that crinkled with satisfaction. “Feel the pain. Own it. It’s yours now, as mine was.” He squeezed my chin hard, his scars flaring at me with rage. Dizziness overcame me, and the arena tilted. Then he thrust me back into Leandro. “Take this Reeker out of my sight, but watch out. He likes to bite.”

Leandro gripped both my arms to my sides, and I let him hold me up as the Child Collector took his place next to his sister, putting an arm around her shoulder. This evil, unstoppable pair had taken away my everything.

“To the Lightning Gate and the Arrow Realm.” And with Hekate’s orders, Leandro pulled me to his horse and pushed me up on it.

“Let me go.” I punched at him, but he forced me down in front of him. Hard leather slapped my cheek as I bounced off his saddle horn. There was no breaking away from his strength. Mine had left me. Bo Chez had left me—again. It was too much to hold inside. I looked behind us at Bo Chez’s body being carted away by horse. He grew smaller and smaller as we left the armory, and tears stung my eyes, blurring the sight of the giant man who’d raised me, loved me … rescued me. I twisted my head back around, not wanting Leandro to see me cry. With each sob I breathed in bitter air, tangy leather, and Leandro’s spice. I swallowed each breath with hate.

The rain slowed and stopped as we followed Hekate and her men back down the wood’s path, taking up the rear. Behind me, Bo Chez remained, his power silenced. I wanted to run back, shake his big shoulders, and tell him it was time to go home.