Spirit Fighter (Son of Angels, Jonah Stone) (17 page)

Upon hearing that name, Salmir winced, as if he were in extreme pain.

“Don’t say that!” he screeched. “That name. I can’t stand it!”

They watched him writhe in pain for a few seconds before he finally settled down.

“The Bible says there is power in His name,” Henry said as he studied Salmir. “Some of the Fallen can’t stand for His name to be said. That seems to be the case with this creature too.”

“Maybe that’s how we can control him,” Jonah said.

“Or maybe it’s proof that we shouldn’t trust him. If he really didn’t serve Abaddon, then Elohim’s name wouldn’t bother him,” Eliza argued.

The serpent winced, but said nothing.

“That’s a risk we’re going to have to take,” Jonah said grimly, eyeing the serpent.

“We have a journey ahead of us, my new friends,” Salmir said. “These streets lead to many mystifying places. Places full of shadows, where you might stumble upon something you’d rather not see.” He hissed a laugh, then suppressed it. “What I mean is, you certainly need a guide, and you have chosen the right one to take you where you need to go.”

Henry floated up above them, his arrow still aimed at the serpent’s head. Jonah followed behind, taking careful aim as well. Salmir slithered toward the three streets in front of them and chose the third one. A dim streetlight flickered against gray buildings. It was still mostly dark, even though the sun was on its way up.

“Down this road,” Salmir said in a high quiver, eyeing the arrows. “Come, follow me. I’ll take you to the nephilim.”

He slithered ahead, followed by Henry, and then Jonah and Eliza. Jonah was growing more and more anxious by the minute to see his mother.

Eliza fell behind a little, trudging after them.

“Hurry up, Eliza!” Jonah called.

“I’m walking as fast as I can,” she replied. “But I have to tell you, I don’t like this. How do you know he’s going to lead us to Mom and not into more trouble?”

“We have him right where we want him. And honestly, we don’t have another option right now,” said Jonah. “Just think about finding Mom and getting out of here as fast as we can.”

Salmir slid ahead, making rights and lefts around buildings, passing by, and sometimes through, humans, who continued on their way, unaware of any unseen presence. So far, he was living up to his word. He wasn’t trying to run away. He watched their arrows carefully. Every so often he would slow down, beckoning them on farther.

“Come on, come on, angel, and my human friends,” he would hiss. “Right this way. Hurry up.”

Soon a massive bridge came into view. It was made from stone and steel, with thousands of cables running from the base to the peaks at the two center supports. Lights that sparkled like stars ran along it, covering a mile of water, from Manhattan to Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Bridge.

“That’s the biggest thing I’ve ever seen,” Eliza said, in awe.

There was a wooden walking path down the middle of the upper level of the bridge, while cars and trucks drove beneath it. Walkers and bikers were moving along the walkway in both directions, but none were aware of what was happening in the hidden realm. Salmir slithered his long body up on the path, calling them to follow.

Eliza stopped and pointed to the end of the bridge. “Are you telling us that the nephilim are in Brooklyn?”

“Yes, yes,” Salmir said, almost gleefully. “Come, my friends. Our journey takes us this way. Hurry along now.”

He slinked down the walkway across the bridge. Jonah looked at Henry, who suddenly began to look uncertain.

“Well,” Jonah said to them both, “what choice do we have? Let’s go across the bridge.”

Henry seemed about to protest, but stopped. Jonah stepped onto the walkway with Eliza one step behind him. Henry followed, a wrinkle of worry still on his forehead.

Cars raced below their feet as they moved along the bridge. Jonah kept his eyes and arrow trained on Salmir, slithering quickly ahead of them.

“Come along,” he called out again. “We must cross this bridge. Your nephilim lies not far away. We’re very close now.”

“I don’t like this,” Eliza muttered to Jonah as they walked. “Not one bit. We’re following a snake across the Brooklyn Bridge. And we have no idea what’s on the other side, waiting for us. It’s insane!”

“I know, Eliza, it seems kind of crazy,” Jonah admitted. “But what other choice do we have? We don’t know our way around down here, and he does. Sometimes you just have to trust.”

They were almost at the middle of the bridge now, and every few seconds Salmir continued to coax them on.

“Hurry up, friends,” he hissed. “Don’t want to be late to find Mommy, do we?”

Jonah continued moving, but with each step, he began to sense that maybe Eliza was right. Holding on to the railing, he looked down into the traffic below and started to feel queasy.

They were almost halfway across when Salmir glanced back at them again, yellow eyes narrowing. Jonah thought he saw him flash an evil grin, and suddenly he began to slither, much faster than before, toward the end of the bridge.

“Hey! Where are you going?” Jonah yelled. But within seconds, he had slid off the end of the bridge, disappearing down a side street. Jonah didn’t even have time to fire an arrow at him.

“What is he doing? Where did he go?” Eliza shouted, but no sooner had she said the words than Jonah heard a scraping sound behind them.

He looked back for Henry.

But Henry was gone.

“Henry?” he called out, searching the sky. Maybe he had flown up to get a better view of Salmir. At the same time, he heard a large splashing sound in the waters below. They looked down at the water and saw nothing but swirling water and bubbles.

“Henry!” Eliza screamed, leaning over the edge of the walkway.

They were quiet, listening. But all they could hear was the traffic passing below.

“Did he just . . . jump in the river?” asked Jonah, watching the bubbles. Before Eliza could try to answer, a long black tentacle shot up out of the water.

Jonah pulled her away from the edge of the bridge, which caused both of them to fall down in the middle of the path. The tentacle grabbed at the air where they had been standing, and instead latched onto a large steel cable.

“J-J-Jonah,” Eliza stammered. “What is that?”

“I don’t know,” he cried out as he pushed himself up off the ground and pulled Eliza to her feet. “But whatever it is, I’m guessing that’s what took Henry!”

A young woman on a bicycle rode past them, enjoying the view of the city, totally oblivious to the fact that a giant tentacle was holding on to the Brooklyn Bridge.

Another tentacle shot up out of the water, sending Jonah and Eliza shuffling backward. It grabbed another steel cable, wrapping itself around. The two tentacles were thicker than Volkswagens. Jonah wondered how big the creature that the tentacles were attached to was.

He didn’t have to wait long to find out. With its two arms grasping the cables, the monster began pulling itself up.

A mouth full of teeth emerged first, each one bigger than Jonah. There must have been hundreds. The creature had ten tentacles, a long, snakelike body, and a thrashing tail covered with razor-sharp spikes. Red eyes glared at them as it whipped its head back and forth viciously. Three other tentacles had grabbed the bridge as the monster pulled. Another stretched out over the water, away from them, holding an angel.

“Henry!” Eliza shouted. He was water-drenched and dazed, trying to find his bearings. The creature held its captive out for them to see, as if it were taunting them.

Jonah pulled a white arrow off his back and tried to steady his shaking hands. The monster saw the gleam of the arrow and growled angrily, bearing down on him. Aiming at the tentacle that held Henry, he took a deep breath and let it fly. The arrow soared over Henry’s head and past the monster, floating down into the water below.

Quickly Jonah pulled another arrow, aimed again, and fired. This time it hit the tentacle squarely. But it bounced off, landing harmlessly in the water. Shakily he fired another. His aim was true, but the arrow might as well have been a feather for all the damage it did.

“It has armor, Jonah!” Henry shouted. “It’s impenetrable. Your arrows are just making it angrier!”

The creature reared its head back, and a blast of fire came from its mouth and nostrils and shot a hundred feet up in the air. A wave of heat hit Jonah like he was standing in front of an open furnace.

This thing can breathe fire?
They had definitely ticked the sea monster off.

Jonah peeked up again, long enough to see it shoot flames into the air a second time. He rolled himself over behind a stone column and swallowed hard. Glancing over to his left, he saw Eliza crouching behind another part of the bridge, doing her best to hide herself. They both heard Henry’s cries as he was thrashed back and forth through the air.

“Eliza!” Jonah called out. But she was too busy staring at the monster to hear him. She was watching it intently, like she was almost studying it. The monster leaned its head back and blew fire out of its mouth a third time. Amazingly, Henry thought he saw a slight smile curve on Eliza’s lips.

The monster reared back and roared so loudly that Jonah and Eliza had to cover their ears. It snapped its spiky tail quickly and pulled hard with its tentacles, propelling its massive body onto the bridge, Henry still held captive in one of its tentacles. Before Jonah could call out to Eliza, he saw her stand up.

And then she walked out in the middle of the bridge directly in front of the monster.

“Eliza!” Jonah shouted. “Get down! What are you doing?”

She ignored him, eyes squarely on the beast. Its red eyes found her and narrowed, focusing on its prey.

In a split second, it dawned on Jonah.
She wants to be seen!

Satisfied that the creature had targeted her, Eliza began to retreat down the bridge, walking backward. When she saw it begin to follow her, pulling itself along the bridge, she began to run.

“I’m going to need your help, Jonah!” she called out to him.

The monster seemed to be infuriated by this little girl in front of it. Picking its head up, it opened its huge jaws, exposing gigantic teeth and the blackness of its slimy throat. Smoke swirled around its tongue.

It cocked its head back to breathe fire again, and when Eliza saw that, she hit the ground.

A blast of flames shot across the bridge.

Jonah stood up and held his breath. The creature was past him now, and in all of the smoke and flames, he couldn’t see his sister anywhere.

Then a figure stood up on the bridge. Eliza! Running again. Jonah looked ahead of her and realized where she was headed.

Two giant stone towers upheld the massive bridge. She was going for the first one, as fast as she could. Eliza was no longer turning around to make sure the monster followed. Now she was in an all-out sprint.

Jonah chased them both. The creature moved fast and was gaining on her. Jonah felt his feet transform again, and he surged forward. But even with the angel-power of his shoes, he could tell he would never get there in time. The beast was moving too fast.

Eliza was determined, though. Jonah watched as she continued to run as fast as she could. The monster charged ahead furiously, a tentacle reaching out, just behind her foot.

But she was through the opening in the stone tower.

And the beast was unable to stop.

It crashed through the opening, but its enormous body could not fit. Only its head and neck extended through Eliza’s side of the tower. The rest of its body thrashed around, but was hopelessly wedged inside the stone structure.

Jonah quickly made his way through the other side of the opening, which was clear, narrowly avoiding the swinging tentacles of the frustrated monster.

Eliza stood to the side with her hands on her knees, breathing deeply, but smiling at Jonah.

He wanted to yell at her, but there was no time. They still had to deal with this creature and try to save Henry.

“Come with me!” she said, and she bounded up on the creature’s back.

“Eliza!” Jonah yelled. “Seriously?”

But she wasn’t listening. He breathed in deep and followed her onto the beast.

It began to twist its head fiercely, aware of the kids on its back.

“Whoa!” Jonah said, as he stumbled and almost fell, barely able to grab onto a thick plate of armor. Eliza was just ahead of him.

“Come on!” she shouted. “We need to get on top!”

“Why?” he yelled. “What are we doing?”

She rolled her eyes and motioned urgently. “No time to explain. Just come. Now!”

He hopped up beside her, and they were clinging to the monster’s neck just as it reared back again to blast the sky with another round of fire from its gut.

“Pull an arrow!” she commanded. Jonah did as he was told.

And then he realized what Eliza had seen down on the bridge a few minutes ago. He knew why she had brought them here. As the creature pulled its head back to breathe its fire, for the slightest second, the scales of armor around its neck loosened. Eliza grabbed one of the scales and pulled it back. Underneath was soft, pink flesh.