Spirit Fighter (Son of Angels, Jonah Stone) (11 page)

“Unbelievable,” Jonah said, shaking his head.

But a huge grin erupted on Eliza’s face, and she yelled, “That totally rocked!”

ELEVEN
T
HE
T
RAIN TO
N
EWARK

A
s quickly as they had celebrated, though, the reality of what happened hit them and they were back on their bikes, Jonah pedaling ferociously, Eliza hanging on for dear life.

They kept their eyes alert now, glancing back over their shoulders frequently. So far, nothing else had emerged from the woods or the road ahead. Finally, Jonah wheeled them up to the train station in downtown Peacefield, and they threw their bikes behind the bushes beside the parking lot, thinking that if they hid them, there would be a better chance of recovering them when they came back.
If we even make it back
. The thought hit him before he could ward it off.
Don’t think like that, Jonah. We are going to make it. We have Elohim on our side
.

Eliza stuck extra close to him as they searched for the ticket counter. They purchased two tickets to Newark and then hurried to catch the train that had just pulled in.

Nervous from their experience on the road, Jonah and Eliza walked through two cars before they settled into seats. Jonah leaned his head back against the headrest, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath for the first time in hours. He was just glad they had made it onto the train and were finally safe. Eliza, however, couldn’t control her energy as she sat beside him.

“I can’t believe what just happened back there!” she said, beaming. “Did you see that? Did you see what came out of my fingers?”

“I was there, Eliza,” said Jonah. “I saw everything.”

She acted like she didn’t even hear him. “They were coming at us, weren’t they? They had us surrounded. And when that big cougar jumped, something inside of me said no way it’s going to get us, because we are on a mission for Elohim, right? So my hands just flew up, and the next thing I knew, there’s this . . . force field . . . of super-dense light particles or something . . . all around us. That big cat bounced right off!”

Gleefully, she continued on for another couple of minutes, and Jonah rested his chin on his fist, waiting for her to finish, or at least breathe. He had to admit, he was impressed with his little sister. He had extraordinary strength, and she could create a shield out of light. He wondered what else they could do.

The words were starting to come back to him, verses that Mrs. Aldridge had spoken right before they left, as they were standing in the doorway together.

“What was it she said?” he muttered, and then grabbed the little Bible she gave him from his pocket, turning to the book-marked passage. “Put on the whole armor of God . . . that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil . . . taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one . . .”

Eliza was still talking, but stopped abruptly when she heard the word
shield
.

“The ‘shield of faith’! Of course,” she said. “The verses Mrs. Aldridge read.”

“Ephesians 6:10–17.”

She grabbed the small book and read the passage for herself.

“Put on the whole armor of God. . . . For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against . . . spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places . . . the breastplate of righteousness . . . having shod your feet . . . taking the shield of faith . . . the helmet of salvation . . . the sword of the Spirit . . .”

She considered the words for a minute. “You think these are all powers that we could really have? That this armor of God, it’s actually . . .
real armor
?”

Jonah thought about that. “We are definitely in a battle against something bigger than just flesh and blood. Like Dad said, there is a spiritual battle going on that is more real than we ever would have guessed. And now we’re in the thick of it. So, yeah, maybe this ‘armor of God’ stuff is a lot more real too. Mrs. Aldridge sure seemed to think so, didn’t she? The way she looked at us . . .”

Jonah’s voice trailed off.

“Do you think she knew where we were going?” asked Eliza.

“Yeah, I think she did,” Jonah said. “I mean, it doesn’t make any sense. How could she know? She’s just an old church lady, right? But showing up in the middle of the night, telling us those Bible verses, I just got the feeling that she knew everything.”

They both sat for a while in silence, thinking about everything that had happened in the last hour. Eliza looked down at her skinny fingers, squeezing them into fists, then opening them back up again, as if she couldn’t quite believe that kind of power had come out of these hands.

“You know, Eliza,” Jonah said, “you said that right before the cougar jumped, you felt a strong sense that nothing was going to hurt us, that you weren’t going to let it happen. Then—
boom!
—a shield of light, protecting us from the animals.”

Eliza let out a soft whistle. “Amazing.”

“But the animals,” Jonah said in a low voice. “That’s the thing that scares me. They can control them. If they can use a pack of wild cougars to chase us down and almost kill us, imagine what else they can do.” They sat in silence, considering hundreds of awful possibilities.

“Remember the story about Jesus and the pigs?” Eliza said. “Jesus sent the demons out of a guy and into a bunch of them. And then they ran right off a cliff and down onto the rocks below. Poor pigs.”

“Yeah, I remember that one,” said Jonah. “I used to sit in Sunday school and think that would be cool, to see a bunch of pigs fly off the edge of a mountain. Not after what we just saw, though. I don’t want to see any more animals doing anything crazy.”

“So they know,” she said darkly. “Why else would they have sent the cougars? They must know that we left the house. And they probably know where we’re going.”

The train had begun to move, and both of them sank a little lower in their chairs. Dark outlines of buildings moved past them as the train gathered speed. The lights inside the train were not overly bright, but enough to see the faces of the other passengers. Jonah and Eliza began looking around at the people on the train, trying to catch glimpses of anyone who might look suspicious.

A pudgy man with a large briefcase at his feet was reading the paper two seats behind them. He was focused on the business section and didn’t seem to notice Jonah when he turned around to look. One row behind him, a white-haired lady in a pink-flowered dress with huge glasses and a shawl around her shoulders was knitting something and humming. He snuck a peek ahead of them and saw a man in a black leather jacket four rows away, tapping his fingers on the side of his chair, headphones on his ears. His black hair was shaved into a Mohawk, and he was nodding to the beat. Beside him, two older teenagers, a boy and a girl, sat really close to each other, the boy whispering in her ear, the girl giggling uncontrollably.

Mohawk-man suddenly stood up and turned around. He had more face piercings than Jonah had thought was possible on one human being. Rings across both eyes, several in his lip and nose, although for some reason, none on his ears. Pulling his headphones down around his neck, he began walking down the aisle toward them.

“Eliza!” Jonah whispered, trying not to look too alarmed. He grabbed her leg and squeezed.

“Ow! What are you . . . ?” But as she looked up she saw him coming too. The pierced man kept moving their way, slowly, and looking right at them.

“Get ready,” Jonah said, balling his hands into fists. The man had a chain coming out of his pocket that clattered against each seat he passed. He locked eyes with Jonah and Eliza, and his eyes grew beady and small. Finally standing right in front of them, he leaned down until he was no more than a couple of feet away. Jonah squeezed his fists tightly, about to jump out of his seat.

“You two kids have a problem?” His voice was high-pitched and squeaky, not at all what they expected coming from someone who looked so tough. They just stared at him, not sure how to answer. He squeaked again, “You’re starin’ at me. I don’t appreciate people starin’ at me.”

Jonah loosened his fists. “Sorry, sir. We didn’t mean to stare.” He gulped. “We’ve just never seen . . . never seen so many . . .” He made himself shut up, knowing he was going in the wrong direction. But the man suddenly grinned, showing three gold teeth.

“Never seen so many a ’ese?” he said, pointing over his eye to all the rings. “That’s awright, kids. I get that all the time. People usually just jealous.” He patted Jonah hard on the shoulder with a leather-gloved hand. “Maybe you kin have some a ’ese one day, huh? Now, which way’s the men’s room?”

Jonah and Eliza looked at each other as he walked on past, and when he had finally found the small bathroom at the back of the car, they burst out in muffled laughter.

“I can’t wait to see your new eyebrow rings,” Eliza said, snorting loudly.

Jonah elbowed her. “I’ll get those as soon as you get your lip pierced five times.”

The rest of the twenty-minute ride they loosened up, talking, giggling some more when Mohawk-man walked by again, quietly trying to figure out their plan once they got to New York. They were feeling better, even confident, about rescuing their mother. They were part angel, after all. And most important, Elohim was with them. He wanted them to succeed, and if He was with them, what did they have to fear?

But as soon as Jonah grew confident with that thought, another, more sinister one came.
Elohim was there when they took her. And He didn’t do anything to stop them. Why was that?
This unsettled him, and he fidgeted in his seat the rest of the way to the station.

“Next stop is Newark Station,” the computerized voice said over the loudspeaker.

They hopped off the train into a busy lobby and began looking for the subway they needed to ride into the city. Morning rush hour was a few hours away, but there were still plenty of people, compared to the lonely feeling of the Peacefield train station. People were hopping onto trains, scrambling toward exits, or looking for the next train to catch. Jonah and Eliza wove their way through the crowd, finally passing into a tunnel that led to the subway connection point. Jonah glanced up at the old clock. 3:47 a.m. They had just enough time to spare. The subway that would take them to the World Trade Center Station, on the south end of New York City, was scheduled to leave at four o’clock.

The brick tunnel was not very long, but dark and damp. Moss was growing on some of the bricks, water trickling down the sides, and Eliza shivered as they walked in. For a moment, they were away from the crowd, alone, footsteps echoing off the walls.

“Excuse me, young ones.”

The shaky voice of an elderly woman came from behind them. They turned to see an old lady in a pink-flowered dress with a shawl over her shoulders, hunched over with a cane. The lady who had been on the train, sitting a few rows back. She smiled pleasantly as she held something out in her hands.

“Yes, ma’am?”

The old woman’s hand trembled holding the paper. “I’m trying to find my way, and I have this map, but I just can’t seem to read it.” She laughed sweetly. “These old eyes . . . I have these huge glasses and I still can’t see a darn thing. Do you think you could help me out, honey?”

Eliza stepped forward helpfully, smiled at her, and took the map. “Of course. Where are you trying to go?”

Jonah watched them study the crumpled piece of paper. A slight breeze brushed against his face, and he shivered from a sudden chill. Deep down, a familiar feeling began to well up. The same feeling he’d experienced the other night, riding his bike on the dark road. Fear.

Something was wrong.

“Eliza!” He pulled her toward him. “I think we need to go.”

“I’m just trying to help this lady, Jonah,” she said, swatting at him while staring at the map. “Hold on a sec.”

Jonah grabbed her arm. “Eliza! Listen to me.
We have to go
.”

She was about to let him have it when she saw the fear etched on his face. Eliza turned back and looked at the elderly woman.

She was still smiling that sweet, grandmother-like smile, but instead of hunching over, she now stood totally upright, and her eyes flashed sharp yellow in the shadows of the hallway. Her lips parted as her smile grew bigger, revealing gleaming, razor-sharp teeth that almost matched the yellow color of her eyes. She began to laugh.

“You didn’t think you could get away from us that easily, now, did you? You may have outsmarted my cougars, yes, but we’re not done with you yet.” Holding her cane up like a sword, a long blade suddenly popped out from the end, along with two smaller blades on each side.

“Run!” Jonah yelled. Still holding Eliza’s arm, he bolted toward the entrance to the subway station. But they heard a clattering sound and felt the brush of someone moving very quickly over their heads. The old woman fell from the ceiling, right in their path. Somehow she had scurried past them, like a spider on the wall, and blocked the exit. They stopped in their tracks, mouths hanging open.

“I may be old,” she said, in her frailest voice. But then her voice changed, growing strong and low. “But I can still move pretty fast, don’t you think?”

She glared at them in the darkness, her yellow eyes cutting through it, eyeing them like a spider toying with a couple of flies caught in her web. Suddenly, she charged at them, snarling, a crazed look on her face, with her cane-sword raised. She was too fast for them to run away.