The Hidden Code

by P. J. Hoover

  His words are hard to ignore. Something with that power could truly change the world.

  “Can it really do all that?” I ask my parents because I have to know. Ethan’s face has shifted, and his eyes look to the Code of Enoch almost greedily, now with hopes of taking it with him. Mine have, too, if I have to be honest.

  Dad runs a hand through his hair. “Yes, it can do all that. Everything Ethan’s dad says is possible. It created this world around us. These plants, the animals, the fish that swim in the sea. It could cure every disease known to man. It could make old age a thing of the past. All these things and more, the Code of Enoch is capable of.”

  “Which is why it can never be returned to humanity,” Mom says, her eyes still fixed on me as if she refuses to look away. I can’t look away from my parents either. I can’t believe that they’re really here.

  “That makes no sense,” Mr. Oliver says. He grits his teeth and flexes his fingers, and it’s only then that I see him reaching for something tucked into the waistband of his pants.

  He’s got a gun.

  I don’t shout out because he hasn’t reached for it yet. Maybe we can still get out of this peacefully.

  “You know it makes sense, Stephen,” Mom says. “Imagine that power in the hands of mortals. Yes, diseases could be cured, but as many and more new diseases could be created. Entire races could be wiped out, simply by customizing a disease specifically for their DNA type. Biological warfare would escalate to a scale we could never imagine. People could be killed with a thought. The Code of Enoch in the wrong hands would bring the end of the world.”

  Mr. Oliver’s eyes are wide. “So we never let it fall into the wrong hands. We protect it.”

  “We can’t protect it,” Dad says. “Not out there. Imagine Hitler getting his hands on the Code of Enoch. Stalin. Leaders throughout history. They would see the potential in moments, and once they started using it, it could never be stopped. It’s why we have to keep it here. Protect it here. Why it’s been that way forever. And why it has to stay that way.”

  Silence fills the room, and I think—hope—that my parents’ words are making sense to those around me. They’re definitely bringing me back to the reality of the danger in front of us. Ethan … I can’t read his face. But there is no understanding on his dad’s face. Nothing except the desire for the Code.

  Mr. Oliver lunges for me then before I know what’s happening. Before I can do anything to stop him. He grabs me with one of his arms and pulls his gun out with the other. Mom shrieks as he puts the gun to my head.

  I don’t move. I don’t dare because one wrong move and he could pull the trigger.

  “Let her go, Stephen,” Dad says. His face is filled with horror. “This is lunacy.”

  Mr. Oliver shakes his head. “This is reality. Nobody moves unless I tell them to, or I will kill her. I will pull the trigger.”

  His breath is hot on my neck. His hand that holds my body and head is clammy from sweat.

  “Dad, let her go,” Ethan says. His voice shakes, and though he’s only a couple feet away, if he tries to grab me, his dad could kill me.

  “No, Ethan. I’m not going to let her go. And here is what’s going to happen. You are going to walk over to the Code of Enoch. You are going to pick it up. If Hannah’s parents try to stop you, if they interfere in any way at all, then I will pull the trigger. I’ll kill Hannah first, and then I will kill them.”

  “We can’t let you have it,” Dad says, even though there is this part of me that wants him to say something, anything, to make everything all better. My heart pounds in my ears. My vision is tunneling. I get it then, in that moment. Ethan’s dad is truly beyond help. The death of his child has done something to him. Pushed him over an edge. I need to get away. Get the gun from him.

  “Dad, no, I won’t do it,” Ethan says. “I’m not going to get it. Don’t you see? Hannah’s parents are right. Look at you. Look at what you’re doing just to get the Code of Enoch now, here. What do you think people will do once it’s back in the world?”

  My heart melts in that moment, knowing that Ethan is siding with me, not his dad. But I can’t move to meet his eye without risking my life.

  “Put the gun down, Stephen,” Dad says. “Just put it down, nice and slow, and we’ll resolve this all.”

  Mr. Oliver shakes his head. “I can’t do that. I’ve been looking for the Code of Enoch for too long to let it slip away. It’s too close. I am going to take it. Finally, after all this time.”

  “And I’m not going to let you,” Dad says, and then without warning, he lunges for Ethan’s dad.

  Mr. Oliver isn’t expecting this, but he recovers from his surprise quickly. He takes the gun from my head and points it at Dad instead. I elbow him hard in the side, and he lets me go. I twist out of his grasp and grab for the gun.

  I’m too late. The gun goes off.

  CHAPTER 30

  THE WORLD SHATTERS AROUND ME AS DAD FALLS TO THE GROUND. I HEAR someone scream. Maybe it’s me. I rush over to Dad, not caring that Mr. Oliver still has the gun, still aims it at me.

  “No, Dad, no.” I fall to the ground beside Dad and try to press my hands over the giant hole in his chest, but blood pours from it, out of him.

  He can’t die. Can’t die. This can’t be happening.

  His head falls to the side. His face drains of color. At the moment when I’ve finally found him, finally had him return to my life, Dad is dead.

  I look to Mom. Horror fills her face, and her eyes brim with tears.

  “What did you do?” Mom shouts. Her hands are clenched into fists, and she wants to run to Dad. But she stays by the Code of Enoch though it looks like it is killing her to do so.

  “That was an accident,” Mr. Oliver says. “I didn’t mean to do that. But as long as you do what I want, nothing else will happen.” He motions with the gun. “Ethan, get me the Code before something else happens that we’ll all regret.”

  Fury fills Ethan’s eyes. He spins around to face his dad. “No, Dad, I’m not going to do it. I’m not going to blindly follow you while you destroy the world around you. I can’t believe how stupid you’re being. Do you see what you’ve done? You’ve killed someone.”

  Mr. Oliver looks incredulous. “I said it was an accident. He was trying to stop me. How can you not see that I’m doing this for both of us? For all of us? For your mother. For Caden.”

  “Caden is dead!” Ethan says. “He’s dead! He’s not coming back. He never will.”

  “Get me the Code now,” Ethan’s dad says. His eyes don’t focus. He’s not thinking straight. Anger and hatred have driven him to a place I’m not sure he’ll ever be able to claw his way out of.

  Tears roll down my face. I blink them out of my eyes.

  “It’s not for you, Dad,” Ethan says. “It’s not for anyone. Why can’t you see that? We have to destroy it.” And then before anyone can stop him, he rushes to the Code of Enoch.

  Mom screams at him and reaches for him, but he shoves her aside. She falls to the ground, landing hard. Then Ethan grabs for the Code, as if he’s going to pick it up and throw it across the room.

  Lightning streaks from the Code, straight into Ethan’s chest.

  Every muscle in my body tenses as a horrible silence fills the room punctuated only by the crackling of the lightning. Then Ethan falls to the ground.

  Smoke begins to curl from his chest. Ethan’s eyes go wide, as if he’s only just realizing that he’s been hurt. The smoke wisps around him, forming a spiral, almost like it represents his life leaving him, seeping away.

  Mr. Oliver’s eyes land on Ethan, there on the ground, and confusion and anger flicker across his face. He looks to Ethan, to the Code, then back to Ethan, then back to the Code again. And horror fills me completely. What he’s done hasn’t even registered on him. First Dad and now his own son. There is no end to Mr. Oliver’s obsession.

  I rush to Ethan’s side, no longer afraid. No longer caring. Why had we even come on
this journey in the first place? Why hadn’t I just let this stay as it was, my parents missing, but alive? The Code of Enoch nothing but a fable that could have been forgotten. Then Ethan’s dad would have never known where to go.

  “Please be okay,” I say, grabbing Ethan’s hand. His eyes are having a hard time focusing. He opens his mouth, like he’s trying to say something, but no words come out.

  I turn my head, just enough that I can see Mom, rushing back to the Code of Enoch. I mouth a single word. Please.

  Mom’s eyes are filled with grief, but she understands. She places her hands on the Code of Enoch and closes her eyes. Where before lightning streaked out of the artifact, the room now explodes with light. Explodes out of her, as if somehow she’s channeling it through her body.

  Warmth fills me, so deep, so bright that I can’t keep my eyes open. I squeeze Ethan’s hand, and I let the light and warmth consume me. I think of trees and flowers and of happy times, playing with my parents when I was a child, walking through our menagerie, watering the plants in the greenhouse. I remember Dad reading to me, late at night, teaching me Latin names for the world of plants and animals around us. And then I think back to when my parents vanished. When Uncle Randall moved into Easton Estate to take care of me. How I hated that my parents were gone, dead I thought. I knew I had to make them proud. Make them happy. It became my passion, as if I had to prove myself to them even though they weren’t there to see. And now, with the light and the warmth around me, I realize that the need to prove myself vanished long ago and that I became my own person.

  I squeeze Ethan’s hand harder.

  He squeezes back, strong.

  The warmth fades, and when I open my eyes, the light coming from both Mom and the Code of Enoch diminishes. Ethan’s eyes meet mine, and he smiles, a smile filled with life. There is no sign of the smoke. No sign of his impending death. The Code has healed him.

  I lean over and kiss him and then rush back to Dad. Unlike the life that has been returned to Ethan, Dad is still dead.

  “It can’t bring the dead back to life,” Mom says, and tears stream down her face. “It’s why we have the graveyard outside. To bury the protectors once they’ve passed on.”

  I dare a glance back in Mr. Oliver’s direction, horrified at what he will do next, but a complete transformation has come over him. His face is void of anger and hatred, as if the Code has removed it from him completely. Healed him along with Ethan and me.

  He lets out a wail that fills the chamber around us, then throws his gun to the ground and rushes to his son. “Oh, Ethan, what have I done?”

  Ethan’s sitting up now, and Mr. Oliver grabs him in a hug that Ethan returns. And it’s in this moment that it dawns on me that there is nothing separating Mom and me now. I rush over to her because she refuses to leave the Code of Enoch. She pulls me into a hug so fierce that I worry it will crush my ribs, yet I don’t care.

  “I’ve missed you every day, Hannah,” Mom says. “God, how I’ve missed you. Watching you grow up. Seeing everything you’ve now become. We never intended to leave you. We came here to destroy it. But when we got here, we learned that it couldn’t be destroyed. You saw what happened when Ethan tried. And then the protector passed on, leaving us with no choice. We had to stay and protect it. One of us was going to return, but our map was destroyed in the water. We had no way out.”

  “I understand, Mom,” I say, and just being able to say that simple word, Mom, and knowing that she is here to listen to me, lets me know that everything will be okay.

  CHAPTER 31

  MR. OLIVER AND ETHAN CARRY DAD OUTSIDE. THEY DIG GRAVES FOR BOTH him and Scott, and we bury them there in the clearing in the middle of the forest. We fashion two simple stones, just like the others. Mom kneels by Dad’s grave and presses her hands to the soil. Her lips move, but I can’t hear her words. I don’t think I’m meant to. He’s all she’s had for the last eleven years, and now he’s gone. Though I feel like a hole has been ripped in my heart, I don’t think it can even compare to what she must be feeling. But her moment at the graveside is brief. She stands and walks back toward the tree, resting her hand on my shoulder for a fleeting, comforting moment as she does so.

  I wait for everyone else to leave, and then I kneel by Dad’s grave. I stay there with him, telling him all the things I would tell him if he was still alive, pretending he still is, just for this moment.

  “I don’t know what’s going to happen now, Dad,” I say. “I can’t leave Mom here. But I don’t want to stay here either. Maybe I should. Maybe that’s what I’m meant to do.”

  I don’t bother wiping the tears from my face because there is no one around to see them.

  “But I also don’t want to leave Uncle Randall. Or Lucas. Or Ethan,” I say to Dad. “I know that’s silly. Ethan and I have only been hanging out for a little while, but I feel like he’s meant to be a part of my life. And I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

  Dad doesn’t answer, but the birds sing around me. The voices in the wind whisper in the trees like the dead are talking to me. I only hope that I am able to make everything work out.

  I walk back to the tree and down the steps to where Mom stands by the Code of Enoch.

  “I can’t leave it, Hannah,” she says once I enter the room. “It has to have a protector.”

  I close my eyes. Take a deep breath. I’ve been practicing the line, and each time I say it, it gets easier to accept.

  “I’ll stay here with you,” I say.

  Anger flashes in Mom’s eyes. “Absolutely not.”

  “I will. It’s the only way.”

  “It’s unacceptable,” Mom says. “There is no way you are staying here when you have such a wonderful life ahead of you out there.”

  “But I can’t leave you.” The thought of leaving Mom, of never seeing her again now that I know she’s alive, is too much.

  Her eyes brim with tears. “You have to, Hannah.”

  Ethan comes up beside me and takes my hand. “I don’t want you to stay here either which I know is totally selfish. But not now. Not when …” His words trail off, but I think I know where they were going because they’re the same words that are running through my mind.

  “I have to,” I say.

  “What if you don’t?” Mr. Oliver says, speaking for the first time since I’ve come back into the room.

  “What other choice is there?” I say. “I am not going to leave my mom.”

  Ethan’s dad takes a deep breath and lets it out before speaking. “I’ve had the last eleven years with my son, and I didn’t appreciate a single minute of them. All I could think of was what I had lost. What could have been if only I’d found the Code. My mind was a fog of hatred. I had eleven years, and I never lived one moment of them. Whereas you, Hannah, you lost as much as I did back then, and yet you went on with your life. You moved forward, and for that I hated you. I hated your family for what I thought they had done to me when none of it was their fault. My life, or the lack of how I’ve lived it, is my own fault. I’m done blaming others.”

  “Dad …,” Ethan begins, but his dad puts his hand up to stop him.

  “As we buried Robert, and as I saw everything that is out there, everything that is possible, I came to a decision. There is only one thing that makes sense for everyone. One thing that will work.”

  “I stay here, as I have been,” Mom says, “and you take Ethan and Hannah back to the surface.”

  Mr. Oliver shakes his head. “I stay here, protect the Code of Enoch with my life, not only as payment for the wrong I’ve done but because it’s the right thing to do. It’s what must be done. What I have to do. And in turn, you take Ethan and Hannah back to the surface. You live the life you missed. It’s a life without Robert, for which I will be eternally sorry. I can’t change that now, but I can do this.”

  Silence fills the room. There it is, right in front of me. A perfect solution. A solution I want so much.

  But Mom slowly shakes her head.
“I can’t let you do that.”

  “You don’t have much choice,” Mr. Oliver says.

  “I do,” Mom says. “I am the protector.”

  Mr. Oliver nods. “True. But look inside your heart. What does it tell you that you need to do, Laura? What is the best path we can all take from here? If I return to the world above, I return a failure. A murderer. As much as I want it to have been, Scott’s death was no accident. Neither was Robert’s. I was insane with my desire for the Code, but those were still my actions. I can never bring myself back from that up there, no matter how hard I try, no matter what I do. But here, now, I can do something real. Something that will matter forever. Something that will maybe, partially, make up for what I’ve done.”

  Ethan’s face is a mask of indecision. This is his dad we’re talking about, and yet everything Mr. Oliver says makes sense. It is the perfect solution … for me and Mom at least.

  I look to Mom. How much I want her to say yes. I implore her with my eyes. And in response, without a single backward glance, she steps away from the Code of Enoch forever.

  CHAPTER 32

  “YOU CAN NEVER LEAVE THIS PLACE,” MOM SAYS AS MR. OLIVER STEPS UP to the Code of Enoch. “We’ll take all the copies of the map with us.”

  The Code is quiet now, so unlike before when it had come to life and healed Ethan. Almost like he knows what I’m thinking, Ethan presses his hands against his chest where the lightning had struck.

  “I understand,” Ethan’s dad says, and then his eyes shift to his son.

  I feel like I should have no part in the words that pass between them. Mom and I step away as they talk, but their words still drift over to us.

  “I am so sorry,” he says.

  “Dad, it’s—” Ethan starts.

  “It’s okay?” Mr. Oliver says. “No. It’s not. But I can’t change what I’ve done. I can only do what’s right now. The decision is made, and I am so happy about it. Relieved. I feel like it’s the only thing I’ve ever done right in my life.”