Enoch's Ghost

by Bryan Davis

  The horse turned toward the wall. The image of the Earth had reappeared, but this time, the discs lay superimposed on the globe, and twisting webs were shooting toward the altar on the right. He lifted his eyes toward the sky. Dark clouds boiled on the horizon behind them, churning and racing in their direction.

  Dikaios bobbed his head. “Very well. The lady may ride behind you.” He lowered himself to the ground and looked up to the sky. “Climb on quickly. The storm to end all storms is fast approaching, and it will take all my speed to stay ahead of it.”

  Ashley pulled one of the pennies from her pocket and clutched it tightly in her hand. Stretching her arms and legs as far as she could reach, she spread her body over Roxil and aimed her eyes at her dragon-sister’s chest. “Let’s go for it, Walter!” she called. “She’s huge, so give it all you’ve got!”

  Walter charged up Excalibur’s beam and pointed it at the ground. Energy sizzled across the rocky floor and surged into Ashley once again. She lurched but hung on. White light streamed from every part of her body, radiating into the scales, while two narrow beams shot from her eyes and drilled into Roxil’s chest. “More!” Ashley called. “We need more!”

  Tightening his grip, Walter threw all his energy into the sword. A new flash of light burst forth and charged into Ashley. She lurched again and cried out with a blood-curdling scream, her limbs locking around her sister.

  Walter’s hands shook so hard he could barely hang on. His shout vibrated with his tremors. “Should I stop?”

  Ashley’s body quaked violently as she formed words with her screams. “Not … until … her eyes … open!”

  Sapphira dropped to her knees in front of Roxil’s face. “I’m watching her eyes! I’ll let you know!”

  His arms locking in place, Walter continued blasting Excalibur’s beam into Ashley. Her body bucked so violently, she had to latch onto Roxil’s foreleg and one of her spines to keep from falling off. She bit her lip so hard, blood oozed down to her chin.

  “I see her eyes!” Sapphira yelled. “She’s awake!”

  Walter shut the beam off and hustled to Ashley, resheathing Excalibur as he ran. She lay motionless on the dragon’s flank, facedown and arms splayed. He laid a hand on her back but withdrew it quickly. “She feels like she’s on fire!”

  Roxil lifted her head and swung it back to where Ashley lay. “Why is this human lying on me?” Her tail came forward and began pushing Ashley’s body down her flank.

  “No!” Walter shoved Roxil’s tail away. “For your information, that’s your sister Ashley, and she just healed you.” He cradled Ashley and carried her away from the dragon, ignoring the stinging heat radiating from her body. “We have to cool her down somehow!”

  Sapphira held out her hand. “The rain’s getting heavier, and it’s ice cold.”

  “That should help.” Walter laid her gently on the floor. “But will it be enough?”

  As she pulled off Ashley’s shoes, Sapphira nodded at Gabriel. “Take Walter to the top and see if you can get any news. Karen and I will sponge her down.”

  Still on his knees at Ashley’s side, Walter caressed her hand. “But I can’t leave her until I know she’s going to be”

  “Go!” Sapphira ordered. She and Karen hurriedly stripped off Ashley’s jacket, rocking her body to the side to pull it free. “Roxil will get us out of here when we’re ready.”

  Turning his head, Walter shuffled away, kicking through the debris the fiery cyclone hadn’t spun into oblivion.

  Gabriel ran up and patted him on the back. “You ready for a ride?”

  “Sure.” Walter shrugged his shoulders. “Let’s see what’s going on up there.”

  Gabriel unstrapped Walter’s scabbard, sword and all, and handed it to him. Then, wrapping his arms around Walter’s chest from behind, he lifted off.

  When Gabriel turned into the breeze, Walter resisted the urge to look back, choosing instead to gaze up into the weeping sky and concentrate on breathing slowly through Gabriel’s tight squeeze. Needlelike ice mixed in with the rain, stinging his cheeks. But that was good—the colder, the better. Cold was now a gift from above, something that could undo the terrible damage he might have done.

  Walter gnashed his teeth. That stupid dragon wasn’t worth saving, not if it meant losing Ashley! Sister or no sister, Roxil was a pest. She seemed callous and cold. He mocked the dragon’s words in a high, exaggerated tone. “Why is this human lying on me?”

  “Did you say something?” Gabriel asked.

  “Yeah, but I’d better not repeat it.”

  Gabriel laughed. “Suit yourself. We’re almost there.”

  A few seconds later, Walter felt his weight press down on his feet again. Wind gusts from Gabriel’s wings bounced off the ground and breezed into his face as the pressure around his chest loosened.

  Tucking the scabbard under one arm, Walter dug out his cell phone and flipped it open. No signal at all. He drooped his head and walked far enough from the pit to avoid a view of the bottom.

  “Don’t worry,” Gabriel said. “She’s thousands of feet down. You wouldn’t be able to tell skin from scales from this distance.”

  Walter shoved the cell phone back into his pocket. “Aren’t you worried about your sister?”

  “Worried sick.” Gabriel clenched Walter’s shoulder. “But we have to do what we have to do.”

  “And what would that be?” Walter turned in a slow circle, eyeing the surrounding trees for any sign of movement. “There’s nothing to do around here.”

  Gabriel zipped his lightweight jacket all the way up and pointed at the grass. “These should give us a clue.” He pressed his foot into one of the giants’ tracks. “The ground’s probably wet for miles, so we should be able to follow their trail, at least for a while.”

  Walter smirked. “On the ground or in the air?”

  “I’m not about to carry you all over the countryside. You take the ground, and I’ll patrol from the air. With all the crazy stuff going on, I don’t think anyone’s going to think twice about a winged teenager flying around.”

  “Sounds cool.” Walter slung the scabbard back on and jerked the strap tight. “Tangling with massive, laser-eyed giants who laugh at Excalibur’s beam is a great way to pass the time. That’s my kind of party.”

  Gabriel pumped his fist. “Now you’re talking!”

  Walter glanced back at the enormous pit but could see only a dozen or so feet of the sheer wall on the opposite side. He turned in the direction the tracks led and pumped his own fist. “Let’s get going.”

  With three wing beats, Gabriel lifted off the ground, and, a few seconds later, he was circling from about a hundred feet overhead. “Can you hear me?” he called.

  “Yeah! Loud and clear!” Walter marched alongside the huge tracks, glancing up at Gabriel every few seconds. When the path led into the surrounding forest, he grabbed a thick walking stick. Every several yards, he plunged it into the ground and gouged out a fist-sized ball of earth. “Hansel and Gretel have nothing on me,” he mumbled.

  The tracks became harder to find, but scattered leaves mixed with mud usually led him in the right direction, and Gabriel frequently swooped closer and pointed out muddy patches farther ahead that gave away the giants’ distinctive prints.

  With rain and sleet pelting his hair, Walter pulled his jacket tightly closed and began to trot, pausing every twenty steps to gouge the earth again. He hoped the effort would keep him warm, but after three or four miles, he had to slow to a walk. “You have to keep going, you lazy bum,” he chided himself while puffing heavy plumes of white vapor. “You can’t stop now.”

  He glanced up and caught sight of Gabriel getting buffeted by the worsening weather. His verbal self-urging felt good, so he continued. “If Gabriel can keep going, I can, too. He’s old enough to be my grandfather, and he’s doing fine.” He slid down a grassy slope, then resumed a quick trot. “I gotta find the creep that’s causing al
l this. I owe it to Ashley to stop him. If she dies, I’ll …” He swallowed a lump in his throat and stayed quiet.

  Finally, Gabriel landed in a clearing about fifty feet ahead. He stooped low and examined the path.

  Walter hustled to join him. “What did you find?” he asked, trying to slow his breathing.

  “They split up here.” Gabriel waved his finger across the muddied leaves. “It looks like they’re all going in different directions now.”

  “Look for the biggest footprints. That should be Chazaq. If we follow him, maybe he’ll lead us to that Mardon guy.” Walter pointed his walking stick at one of the trails. “There’s the biggest one. You agree?”

  Gabriel nodded. “Looks like Bigfoot’s heading toward the highway. I saw a road from the air. It’s about a mile away.”

  Walter tapped his walking stick on the print. “If he walked on pavement, we won’t be able to follow him.”

  “True, but there’s a huge power plant down the road at a waterfall. I’ll bet I know where he was heading.”

  Walter grinned, in spite of his gloomy mood. “To find the biggest outlet and plug himself in?”

  “That’s my guess.”

  Walter pointed his stick again. “Then let’s go.”

  “I’ll stay on the ground for a while,” Gabriel said. “I think our path is pretty much set.”

  Walter leaned into the swirling breeze and followed the prints, Gabriel at his side. Now that he was soaked, the bitter wind chilled him to the bone, so he started jogging again, still pausing to scar the ground with his stick.

  Gabriel nodded at the ground. “I’ve been wondering why you’re doing that.”

  “A trick I learned from Ashley. Always leave a trail.”

  “Good thinking. It sounds like you and she make a great team.”

  As he jogged, Walter glanced at Gabriel. His thin jacket was plastered to his chest, and his lips had turned blue. “You must be freezing.”

  “Yeah,” Gabriel replied through chattering teeth. “I’m pretty cold.”

  “Now would be a good time for a Sahara treatment. Know what that is?”

  “Sure do. I saw you get one after Ashley healed you during the flood.”

  Walter squinted at him. “You were there?”

  “Yep. I followed Bonnie around for years. I was sort of like her guardian angel, but I couldn’t do much to help her. I guess I was more like a ghost than an angel.”

  Walter shivered harder than ever. “That creeps me out. I wonder if any ghosts are following me around.”

  “You never know.” Gabriel raised his eyebrows. “I’ve seen stuff so weird, you’d never believe it.”

  Walter grinned. “Try me.” He quickly shook his head. “Never mind. It’s not smart to trade creep-out stories with a guy who has dragon wings.”

  Gabriel and Walter laughed together as they jogged on and on. After a few minutes, they arrived at the highway. As expected, the tracks disappeared, so they followed the road toward the power plant. Not a single car or truck came in sight as they hustled, making the going easier, but the bitter cold kept biting through their wet layers. Walter continued plunging the stick into the ground just beyond the edge of the pavement.

  A half hour later, the entrance road to the plant came into sight. The remains of a fence gate, bent and torn, leaned against a power company pickup truck. Slowing his pace as he approached the guard’s gatehouse, Walter dropped the stick. The upper half of a man’s body protruded through the station’s broken window, hanging limply with his arms dangling near the ground.

  Gabriel ran to him and felt his neck for a pulse. After a few seconds, he looked up at Walter, pain in his eyes. “He’s dead. Probably strangled. His throat looks like it’s been flattened.”

  Walter lifted the guard’s limp hand and rubbed his thumb across his wedding ring. “I wonder if he had any kids,” he said sadly. He put his shoulder under the lanky man’s body and gently pushed him back inside the tiny room, careful to avoid the blood and jagged glass. As he seated the corpse on a stool and leaned him against the back wall, he spotted a coat and an umbrella within reach. Grabbing both, he pulled back out and showed them to Gabriel. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “Dress as guards?” Gabriel asked. “Go into the plant in disguise?”

  “That was my first thought, but I’ve seen too many bad movies where the good guy tried it. The script always made the bad guys too stupid to notice.” As he tapped the umbrella on the road, the faint sound of an alarm siren floated across the breeze. “I don’t think real life works that way.”

  “You might as well wear it. At least it’ll keep you warm. I’d never be able to fit my wings inside.”

  As cold rain continued to fall, Walter gazed down the service road leading to another broken gate. “You say the plant’s at a dam?”

  “At the base of it, yeah.”

  “It must be hydroelectric.” Walter pointed the umbrella at the gate. “If it’s like the one Professor Hamilton took our homeschool group to see, it’ll be pretty much automated—not many people around.”

  Gabriel nodded. “A perfect choice for an energy-hungry giant who doesn’t want media attention.”

  “Right.” Walter stripped off his wet jacket and slid his damp arms into the guard’s coat sleeves. The thick lining felt heavenly, and the bottom hem fell close to his knees, providing more warmth.

  Gabriel touched the sword protruding from Walter’s coat. “I think this might make someone suspicious.”

  “Yeah, but I might need it. At least the blade works on the giants, even if the beam doesn’t.”

  “Try to hide it, then.” Gabriel pulled up Walter’s collar. “I’ll see if I can create a distraction from above. If Chazaq spots me, the better it’ll be for you.” After flapping a spray of droplets from his wings, he took to the air.

  Walter popped open the umbrella and hustled down the service road, following the roar of water and the faint alarm horn. Soon, the main elevator came into view. Two more bodies lay near its door. As he stared at the wet corpses, his knees weakened. He drew Excalibur from its scabbard and strangled the hilt. Somehow he had to stop that murdering fiend, no matter what.

  Finding a stairwell, he stepped over a broken door that had been torn from its hinges—obviously the path the Naphil took, since he was likely too big to fit into the elevator.

  He closed the umbrella and left it near the door, then hustled down the metal stairs on tiptoes as the path wrapped around the central elevator shaft. The brick corridor walls blocked out the cloud-veiled sunlight, while battery-powered emergency lamps hanging at each landing provided only the barest illumination. The stairwell grew darker and darker as he descended, giving him the same doomed feeling he had while climbing down to Hades with Ashley.

  Finally, he reached the bottom level and exited onto a dimly lit concrete floor at the base of the dam. With the alarm still blaring, he padded toward a bright glow in the distance, sidestepping to avoid three more dead bodies along the way. A sign near the top of a mammoth steel door warned of danger ahead in the turbine room, but a gaping hole in the metal proved that Chazaq hadn’t bothered to yield.

  As the glow poured through the hole, Walter skulked through, stooping low and shielding his eyes. With light rain drizzling on his head, he quickly scanned his surroundings. The ceiling and roof had been torn away, exposing the workings of the electricity-producing core of the plant. His scan followed the turbine’s massive outer casing up to the generator. Chazaq stood at the very top where the transformer should have been, his arms extended and his fingers spread. Although his two thumbs stayed inactive, his ten fingers poured out white streaks of light in every direction, piercing the clouds above. Twin red lasers shot from his eyes and blended in with the electrical array.

  Keeping a watch for Gabriel, Walter tiptoed ahead. With all the racket from the waterfall and the alarm, maybe Chazaq wouldn’t notice him. He spied a la
dder leading toward the generator just below the giant’s level. All he had to do was climb it, breach the fence that guarded the top of the turbines, and scale the higher generator access ladder while avoiding all the electrical hazards. Once up there, he could slice through Chazaq’s legs and short circuit that demonic dynamo.

  “Piece of cake,” he whispered to himself.

  After throwing off his coat, he slid Excalibur back into its scabbard, hoisted his foot to the first rung, and boosted himself up. It only took a few seconds to get to the top of the turbine, then a few seconds more to climb the fence, but when he grabbed the rung of the final ladder, red beams fell across his body. He froze and looked up at the giant. Chazaq glared at him while keeping his hands pointed skyward.

  “Where are you going, little boy?” the giant bellowed.

  “I’m touring the power plant,” Walter replied, shouting over the din. “I thought I’d come and get a closer look.” He scrambled up the rungs and stood less than ten yards from the giant’s massive feet. The monster had swelled in size, so much so that Walter’s head barely reached past the giant’s thigh. As the electrical field pulsed, Walter’s hair stood on end, and his skin tingled.

  The giant’s eyebrows arched. “I see who you are now, the warrior from the lands below. I thought you learned that your sword’s beam was useless against us.”

  “But the blade works fine.” Walter pulled Excalibur from its sheath. “Ask your suddenly shorter friend about that.”

  “If you dare to attack, you would be electrocuted before you could get in range. You are already endangering your life where you stand.”

  Walter squinted at the giant’s brilliant glow. Was he telling the truth? Was it worth risking an attack? What was this power plant takeover all about anyway?

  Trying to avoid suspicion, he let his eyes dart quickly to the skies. Gabriel was nowhere in sight. He cleared his throat and yelled up to the giant again. “Tell you what. Let’s say for the moment that I believe you—it’s too dangerous for me to attack. But it looks like you’re too busy to swat me like a fly. Why don’t you tell me what you’re doing, and I’ll be on my way?”