Spirit Fighter (Son of Angels, Jonah Stone) (20 page)

“Jonah, look,” she said with a tired voice.

It felt like his head was made of cold steel, but he finally forced his chin up off of his chest and looked.

Through the darkness, ahead of them on the path, he saw it.

A single dot of light.

They both stared at the glowing pinprick. It was pure and dazzling white. Jonah felt a tinge of warmth as he focused on it, which took an edge off the cold.

Jonah forced himself up slowly and finally stood. Grabbing Eliza’s hand, he helped pull her up beside him, and they steadied themselves for a few seconds.

“Keep looking at the light,” he said. “Let’s walk toward it.”

“I . . . I don’t think I can,” said Eliza, sounding as if she might break down in tears again.

Words made their way to Jonah’s mouth again. He forced his lips to form the words and speak them.

“Give her strength, Elohim. Give us strength.”

They held on to each other and began to move, only inches at first. With each step, though, their strength began to come back. They were climbing up a slow incline, out of The Ramble, continuing to look at the light that was piercing the darkness around them. The blackness began to lose its grip; the cold wasn’t so harsh anymore. Daylight began to envelop them again, and the shadows faded into the distance behind them.

Finally they came to a pond and walked up onto a bridge.

Jonah stood in the middle of the footbridge and breathed in deep, his head feeling clear now.

“You okay?” he asked Eliza.

She swallowed and nodded slowly. “I think so. I’ve never felt like that before. I just wanted to give up. On everything.”

“Me too. That place was seriously evil.” He shuddered, thinking about what would have happened if they hadn’t had Elohim to rely on.

His eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight as he looked across the pond. Scanning the tops of the trees slowly, he noticed a column rising just above the tree line. A flag waved softly in the breeze.

“The castle!” he said, pointing toward the column. “The one I saw in my vision. That’s it!”

They bounded down the pathway together, filled with new energy, and with a new batch of nerves. What was there? Would they find their mother, and would they be able to rescue her?

The small stone castle sat on the edge of another pond. It appeared to grow naturally out of the rocky ground. Jonah wondered why something like this would be in the middle of Central Park, but they didn’t have time for a history lesson. He knew it held the key to finding his mother, and he was more than ready to get her and go home.

Hiding behind a bushy tree, Jonah and Eliza peered through the leaves at the castle entrance.

“What are we supposed to do? Just walk right in?” Eliza asked. “I don’t see anyone there.”

“It looks like that’s the only way to get inside,” Jonah said, watching the door. “And if what I saw in my vision was right, we have to get in there to find Mom.”

He pulled the branches aside and was about to walk forward.

“Wait, Jonah!”

His foot was in midair when he froze. Eliza pointed toward the ground in front of them. Barely visible, a beam of red light shot across the ground, about a foot above the dirt. It extended in both directions, turning toward the back of the castle.

She picked up a handful of dirt and tossed it in the air. As the dust floated down, a web of beams appeared.

“Some kind of laser beams?” Jonah guessed as he pulled his foot back. They studied the beams for a few seconds.

“I don’t know,” said Eliza. “But I’m betting it’s nothing we want to touch. Could be an alarm system, or they could even slice you to bits.”

Jonah heard movement around the sides of the castle. “Shhh!” he whispered, holding his hand up. Two large figures appeared, walking from opposite ends of the castle toward the door.

Easily eight feet tall, they walked in step with each other. They wore sand-colored body armor from head to toe, and helmets with face shields that made them look like futuristic robots. Both of the soldiers’ eyes were covered by a dark visor, and even when the sunlight fell across the visors Jonah saw only flat blackness. He wondered if, behind those helmets, they had eyes at all.

But the only weapons these modern-looking warriors seemed to be carrying were long, jagged spears, which they gripped tightly in their hands as if they couldn’t wait to run any intruder through.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jonah saw a flutter up above.

“Look!” he whispered. “Up in the tower!”

They could see at least four more soldiers, standing at attention in the tower, long spears in their hands. In between them, peering down, with hands shackled together, stood an angel who looked like a handsome teenage boy.

“Henry!” Eliza cried. Jonah put his hand on her arm and raised a finger to his lips. She lowered her voice to a gleeful whisper. “He looks like he’s okay!”

“For now,” Jonah replied. Those soldiers, whoever they were, were holding the guardian angel prisoner. But it was good to see his face, even here.

The door to the castle suddenly opened, and as the ghostly soldiers continued pacing, another figure stepped into the light. He wore a similar suit of armor and helmet, except his looked like black iron. The armor itself looked like it would weigh as much as the Stone family car. Instead of holding a spear, a long sword hung from his belt.

He slowly ambled between the guards, looked out into the sky, and lifted off his helmet. Jonah and Eliza drew back, repulsed by what they saw. Skin hung from his cheekbones, but just barely. And in a few places, it had apparently fallen off, to expose muscle and bone. His scalp, hairless, was the same.

However, what was most disturbing to Jonah and Eliza were his eyes. Like two dark stones sunken into the ground, they had collapsed into their sockets. He muttered something to one of the soldiers. Jonah shivered as they watched from behind the tree.

“That guy looks like he’s in charge,” whispered Eliza. Jonah nodded.

“We have to get in there,” he said. “We’ve got to help Henry. And this is where they are holding Mom!”

Eliza thought for a minute. “How are we supposed to get in there? The place is guarded by soldier zombies or whatever they are, and that’s assuming we can get through these red beams of light somehow.”

They both turned around and sat quietly in the grass. Jonah racked his brain.
How are we supposed to get into this castle? We can’t just go straight through the door. So what do we do?
He grabbed a small stone in his hand and tossed it onto the ground in front of him in frustration. It tumbled down the hill.

“ . . . and the walls came tumblin’ down . .
.
”

The lyrics to the old Sunday school song flooded his mind. His head snapped up and he turned around again to study the castle.

Could it really be that easy?

“Jericho,” he said simply.

Eliza cocked her head. “What?”

“Jericho.”

Jonah got up and dusted his hands off. “Stay here and don’t come out until I tell you to. I’ll be back in a minute.”

“But—” she protested, but he wasn’t listening. He stood with his eyes closed, concentrating. He prayed that Elohim would again give him the feet shod “with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” Then his tennis shoes disappeared, replaced by the sandals.

“Sweet,” he said. “Here goes nothing.” And then Jonah began to run.

He focused on the edge of the red beams, staying just outside their reach. His feet began to move faster and faster. Running along the perimeter, he had to lean in a little to the left, he was moving so quickly.

In a blur, Jonah passed Eliza, standing there with her mouth open. One lap down.

Six more to go.

None of the soldiers had seen him during his first pass. He kept his head down, focusing on the ground in front of him. As he moved around again, he could tell that his feet were already beginning to wear a slight path out.

Two laps completed.

Jonah tried to move his legs even faster. On lap three, he felt the doubt creep in.
Is this really going to work? Maybe it’s just an old story
.

He bore down, though, determined to push through the doubt. Four laps down, then five. He was a blur of energy, passing Eliza, who had apparently realized what he was up to and was quietly cheering him on.

It was on lap six that he felt the flat handle of the spear across his stomach. He went spinning into the air, did two flips, and landed on his back.

He uttered a low groan. The back of his head hurt, there was a gash across his left elbow, and his back throbbed. Slowly he opened his eyes. He saw towering trees above him, sparkling both with the light of the hidden realm and the sun breaking through. Then the shadow of a man covered it all up.

Jonah felt dizzy as the man stooped down over his face. Suddenly, he was looking into a pair of glaring, sunken eyes.

“Just who do we have here?” he said. “And what is it that you’re doing, running around our little fortress? Awfully quick, for a mere child.”

Jonah tried to sit up, but a gnarled, gruesome-looking hand shoved him back down to the dirt.

“Not so fast, boy. You haven’t answered my questions.”

Jonah craned his neck, looking for any sign of Eliza. He prayed that she had stayed hidden behind the tree.

“My name is Jonah,” he said, and then coughed, spitting blood onto the ground. He had bitten his lip too.

“Nice to meet you, Jonah,” the man said, yanking him to his feet. Jonah staggered, putting both hands on his knees. He noticed that he still had his sandals on. “Did you come for your friend Henry?”

Jonah picked his head up and looked into the decaying face.

“Oh yes, boy,” he said. “You don’t have to tell me who you are. I already know. Henry is your guardian angel. And one of those nephilim is your mother.”

“You don’t know anything about me,” Jonah said, spitting again. He tugged against the grip on his arm, but it was solid. He glanced at his feet.

I just needed one more lap
.

“You will come with me now,” the man said, dragging Jonah along the path. “Abaddon will surely reward me handsomely for this capture.”

Suddenly, a flash of white light erupted behind them. Something slammed into Jonah’s back, pushing both him and his captor to the ground.

Eliza stood over them, her shield blazing! As she forced herself between Jonah and the soldier, Jonah realized that it must have been the soldier that crashed into him after receiving the impact of Eliza’s erupting shield. Her shield brushed against Jonah’s elbow now, its coolness actually soothing his aching cut.

“Go, Jonah!” she screamed. “One more lap! Go!”

The soldier grabbed his spear and slapped it across the shield. Eliza stumbled backward into the trees. He towered over her, spear raised, but she still had the shield around her.

Jonah hesitated. She could not hold off this monster for long.

“Go!”

Hearing her voice again, he knew what he had to do. Jonah turned away from her and began to run again.

Elohim, I hope this works!

He sped around the corner, even faster than before. He heard the commander scream orders to his henchmen. A soldier jumped in front of him, spear raised.

Jonah closed his eyes and leaped. Somehow his speed carried him over the soldier’s head, and he landed on the other side, and on his feet. He kept running. It wasn’t much farther now, and all he could think about was what was happening to Eliza.

When he turned the last corner, he saw a group of soldiers standing in a line, spears thrust toward him, waiting. The commander was behind them, holding Eliza by the arm.

There was no time to stop. He was so close.

Jonah barreled at them full speed. When he was almost to the point of the first spear, he leapt again.

Everything slowed down in that moment. Jonah saw himself flying over the soldiers, watched their confused faces, and he heard Eliza scream. He landed flat on his stomach on the other side and glanced over toward the castle to see where he was.

Lap seven
.

Jonah closed his eyes and waited for something to happen.

But nothing did.

He only felt the dull end of a spear planted forcefully on his back.

Great
.

“Jonah!” Eliza was crying out to him. “Jonah!”

He turned his head to see her, the sister he had just let down. The sister he had just allowed to be captured, along with him.

“What?” he mumbled.

“There’s one more thing,” she said slyly, as the commander pulled him off of the ground. “Remember the story? I think we need to shout.”

She was right. Jonah vaguely remembered that in the story of the battle of Jericho, Joshua and his troops shouted, claiming their victory before it happened.

Jonah and Eliza looked at each other. With one voice, they began to yell.

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhooooooooooooooooo!”