Jodi smiled. How long did I sleep?
A few hours. I think dawn is approaching. Or whatever they call morning in this abyss.
Jodi tossed aside the heavy blanket and crawled out of bed. Who put me here?
One of the trolls. Gabriel told him to.
Of course he did, Jodi thought. Gabriel thinks of everyone.
She pulled the door open and climbed the narrow wooden stairs up to the main deck. She stood there for a moment, watching all of the activity. The trolls scurried back and forth reeling in and tying down sails, loading fuel into the furnace that kept the ship afloat, and doing a dozen other things that she could barely keep track of.
“How are you feeling?” Gabriel’s voice said over her head. She glanced up and realized that he was walking across a rope between the main mast and the forecastle.
“Fine,” she said. “Thanks.”
“How’s your arm?”
Jodi felt the wound on her shoulder. She flexed her arm and moved it around a bit. “Not bad,” she said. “It’s healing fast.”
“The trolls have a gift with healing.”
“So I’ve noticed.” She glanced back at the crew, working furiously around the ship. “They seem like they’ve done this before.”
“Some of them have,” said Gabriel. “They used to be slaves for the Shadow’s air fleet.”
“Slaves?”
“Yes. Occasionally one or two of them escape. Most of them never get a chance. They’re fed just enough to give them the strength to keep working. If they ever slow down or get sick, the shadowfriends just kill them.”
“That’s terrible,” Jodi said.
Gabriel slipped down off the rope and stood next to her. “Come here,” he said. “I want to show you something.” He led Jodi over to the rail and pointed to a vast plain beneath them. Shadowy mountains rose up in the distance.
“Where are we?”
“In our world? South America. In their world… nowhere in particular. Millions of creatures used to live on this plain. Trolls and centaurs and a thousand other races. This was a vast forest that stretched for thousands of miles in every direction.”
“What happened?”
“This is where the Shadowlords’ reign began. They captured the forest creatures and turned them into slaves. They used powerful magic to alter them and turn them into all kinds of foul creatures, like varsifur and goblins. They burned down the forest so the creatures would have no place to hide.”
“I don’t understand,” said Jodi. “They used magic to alter their genetic structure?”
“Something like that.”
“Isn’t that basically what the government did to make you?”
Gabriel stared into the distance, his hand gripping the rail. “Yes, it is. Just like them, I should never have existed. I’m a freak.”
Jodi hung her head. “I’m sorry I said that, Gabriel. I didn’t mean it… I was hurt. I was wrong.”
“I understand.”
“No, I don’t think you do. Gabriel, you’re more than just some kid that D.A.S. rescued. You’re more than an assassin or a field agent. You’re my friend. You’re part of my life. I never thought about it until now because I never had to, but I don’t know what I’d do without you. I need you. Pete, Reeves, and Julia do, too. We all need you, Gabriel.”
“We’ll see if you still feel that way after today,” he said. He turned to walk away and Jodi grabbed him by the shoulder.
“What do you mean by that? What are you planning, Gabriel?”
“I can’t tell you, because if I do, you might try to stop me.”
“It’s the machine, isn’t it? They’ve talked you into using that machine somehow. You’re not taking it somewhere to destroy it, you’re taking it somewhere that you can turn it on.”
Gabriel pulled away. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“No, you’re right about that. I don’t understand. So make me understand. Tell me what you’re going to do, and why. I won’t try to stop you Gabriel, I promise. I trust you.”
He considered that for a moment. “Do you really want to know?”
“Yes.”
“And you promise you won’t try to stop me?”
Jodi was silent for a moment, weighing her trust for him with her own fears. “Yes,” she said at last. “I promise.”
“Fine. Have a seat. I’ll tell you everything.”
Chapter 40
It took Reeves and the others half the night to locate Julia and rescue her from the freighter, and it was no small task getting her aboard the Albatross. They had to land the Albatross on the choppy ocean surface in the middle of a storm and wait for the crew to transfer Julia over in an inflatable speedboat. When the whole process was complete, Julia was frazzled, windblown, and shivering. Even so, she wouldn’t rest until they had explained to her everything that had happened while she’d been away. It took more than an hour to explain everything. Reeves got the plane to altitude and then put it on autopilot so they could talk.
When Julia heard about Gabriel’s disappearance and his strange behavior, she almost started to hyperventilate. “But what happened to him?” she asked. “He wouldn’t have done something like this. Did the Shadowlords get hold of him again?”
“That’s one possible explanation,” Reeves said, “but we have no way of knowing that for a fact. And it doesn’t explain everything.”
“What do you mean?”
“Gabriel had been acting strange from day one,” Starling said. “I did everything I could to keep him comfortable and entertained, but he was always distracted. As the days passed, I noted that he began to disappear for long periods of time. Sometimes he’d be gone for hours. I tried to keep track of him using our advanced security system, but at times it seemed like he just vanished in one place and then reappeared somewhere else.”
“That’s not all,” Pete said in a guilty voice. “We noticed it, too. He disappeared from his room several times. Just like that, with the door closed and not a sound. One minute he’s gone, the next he’s back. Jodi and I covered for him because we thought he was trying to find a way to escape from the mountain so we could go find Alfred. I guess we were wrong.”
“Oh, my,” Julia said, putting a hand over her mouth.
“It was more than his behavior,” Starling said. “His skin was pale and his eyes dark and sunken… honestly, Gabriel was starting to look a lot like a shadowfriend.”
Julia was horrified. Tears filled her eyes as she listened. “And now?” she said at last. “You have no idea where he’s gone?”
“No,” Reeves admitted. “We only know that he took the machine, and that the last statue is supposed to be located in Tiahuanaco.”
“Isn’t that in Bolivia?” Julia said.
“Yes,” said Reeves. “As a matter of fact, we should be there within the hour.”
Julia was silent for a few moments, digesting it all. It was obvious from the look on her face that she could hardly believe everything she’d been told. Finally, she said, “What about Jodi? Where is she?”
Starling took a deep breath. “We don’t know, exactly. She escaped the base just before we left. I received a report from Black Mountain that someone had opened the hatch of a hidden security tunnel about that same time. The security systems showed life signs of… what appeared to be a very large dog.”
“You mean a wolf,” Reeves said darkly.
Julia locked eyes with him. “A wolf?” she said.
They all looked at Pete. “I think you still have some more explaining to do,” Reeves said.
Pete locked his fingers together and put them to his lips. “Right… about that…”
He proceeded to tell them about Mr. Oglesby’s death and about his cane, most of which Reeves had already guessed. Julia was speechless. Starling seemed to be surprised by the explanation as well. She’d seen Jodi with the wolves in the battle at the Tech Sector, but hadn’t made the connection yet.
“I don’t think the sh
adowfriends took her,” Starling said. “I’d be willing to bet she went chasing after Gabriel. I’ll contact security at the base and send a search team out for her.”
“Thank you,” said Julia. “I’m terribly worried about Jodi… about both of them.”
At that moment, a beeping sound came from the cockpit. “It seems we’ve just reached Bolivian airspace,” Reeves said. “I’d better go land this thing.” He disappeared into the cockpit while Starling called Black Mountain on her satellite phone. She told her second in command to start searching for Jodi and Gabriel, and to triple security on the orphans.
“Keep it quiet, though,” she said. “I don’t want them frightened.” Starling had just hung up when Reeves appeared in the doorway. The large man wore a worried look on his face.
“What is it?” Julia said.
“You’d better come see this.”
They all squeezed into the cockpit. “Is that the lake?” Pete said, gazing down through the side window. He saw a broad plateau-like plain with a large lake stretching out to the horizon.
“Yeah, that’s where we’re landing,” Reeves said. “Tiahuanaco is at the south end.”
“So what’s the problem?” said Starling. Reeves pointed to a dark cloud in the distance.
“There’s a storm coming?” Pete said.
“Check the radar,” Reeves said. “That’s no thunderhead. It’s shadowcreatures.”
Pete glanced at the radar and saw that what looked like a giant black cloud was actually tens of thousands of dark, swarming creatures. “Oh,” he said.
“The sky above them,” Julia said, pointing. “The Shadowlords have summoned clouds to cover them. That’s how they’re gathering in the daylight.”
“What are we going to do?” Starling said. “We can’t fight that many shadowcreatures!”
“That’s not all,” Reeves said. “Look down there.” He pointed to a cloud of dust rising in the distance behind a convoy of trucks and military vehicles climbing through the hills towards the lake. “That’s the shadowfriends.”
Julia grimaced. “We’re in trouble Reeves,” she said.
Reeves turned in his seat, glancing back and forth between them. “We have parachutes in the back,” he said. “I’ll drop you over the jungle. Make your way west and activate your homing beacons. U.S. special forces should be able to find and extract you by nightfall.”
“Not a chance,” said Julia. “I’m not running out on you.”
“Me, either,” said Pete.
They all looked at Starling. She reached down and pulled out her sidearm. It was just like the EP3 blaster she’d given Pete, only larger. She checked a gauge on the side. “I’ve got enough juice to last twenty, maybe thirty minutes. What do you guys have?”
“Not enough,” Reeves said skeptically. “Take a look in the back closet.”
Julia and Commander Starling went to search the closet for weapons and ammunition. Pete fell silent as Reeves circled the plane around the north end of the lake and then came in for a landing. The Albatross gently skimmed the surface of the water for a few moments, sending a spray into the air around them. Then they settled down and went cruising across the surface, toward the ancient ruins at the south end of the lake. Pete kept his eyes fixed on the console, scanning the radar and other sensors for underground debris that might endanger the plane. Then a blip on the radar caught his attention.
“What is that?” he muttered. He turned to stare out the front window, towards the pyramids.
“I don’t know,” said Reeves, “Something’s going on up there.”
The sky was dark overhead because of the clouds, but several hundred feet in the air, something seemed to be happening. A dark shape appeared and then vanished almost instantly. The sky seemed to warble, as if the light in the area were somehow bending. Then, with a snap, the airship appeared.
“What is that?” Pete said.
“I think I can guess,” said Reeves. “Come on, let’s get moving!”
Starling and Julia rushed up to the cockpit and stared out the window. “Good lord,” Julia said. “What is that thing?”
Before anyone could answer, a shadow passed over the plane and the entire world seemed to go dark. Reeves pushed the overhead hatch open, giving them a clear view of the sky. An eclipse had begun. Inch by inch, the light of the sun vanished behind the moon’s black silhouette.
“We better get going,” Starling said. “If those shadowfriends get to that statue before us…”
“It’s the end of the world as we know it,” Pete said quietly.
Chapter 41
A moan escaped Gabriel’s lips as he struggled to bring the entire airship out of the Shadow world. The color drained from his face and perspiration beaded up on his forehead. Jodi watched in breathless anticipation as the world around them grew light and then went dark again several times, with a quick strobe-like effect. She grasped the rail of the ship dizzily and closed her eyes. Frostpaw whimpered and curled up at her feet. Then suddenly it ended, and the heavens around them brightened.
Jodi glanced over the edge of the ship and saw the ruins of Tiahuanaco stretched out below. “You did it!” she said. She turned just in time to see Gabriel drop to the deck. Jodi rushed to his side. “Are you okay?”
Gabriel didn’t respond. He was unconscious. She knelt down beside him and lifted his head onto her lap. She slapped his cheeks. “Gabriel, stay with me! Wake up!” His eyelids fluttered and then his eyes rolled back in his head. Jodi felt his pulse and noted that it was very weak. His skin was cold and clammy.
“Too much for the boy,” said a voice at her side. She looked up to see several of the trolls standing over them. “He was not ready for this.”
Jodi looked horrified. “What do you mean he wasn’t ready?” she said angrily. “Did you know this would happen?”
The trolls looked at her guiltily. One of them handed her a wineskin. “Give him drink,” he said. “Slowly. He must rest.”
She tipped the skin to Gabriel’s lips and he gagged. “I’m sorry,” Jodi whispered, wiping the spilled wine from his cheek. She looked up at the trolls and saw the helpless stares on their faces. Frostpaw trotted over to her side and nuzzled Gabriel.
He is weak, but he only sleeps, he said, trying to comfort her.
I don’t know what to do, Jodi thought. Look what he’s done to himself. Why?
For something he believed in, said Frostpaw.
A cry went up at the front of the ship, and the trolls all rushed up to the bow. “What is it?” Jodi called after them. “What’s going on?”
One of them turned back to her. “Shadow,” he said. “Too many. We’ll never escape.”
Jodi looked down at Gabriel’s pale face. She gently set his head down and stood up to face them. Suddenly she was angry. “Escape?” she shouted at them. “Since when was the plan to escape?”
The trolls looked away sheepishly. “But there are too many,” one of them said. “We cannot fight.”
“Then do what you came here for!” Jodi said. “Get this ship to the ground and find that statue!”
With that, she ran over to control panel. She’d seen the trolls working it, and she knew which one controlled the furnace. She set the release valve, and there was a hissing sound overhead as the hot gasses escaped from the balloon. The airship began to drop. “No!” one of the trolls said. “They will kill us! We must run!”
“Run where?” said Jodi. “The Shadow surrounds you. Where will you run that they will not find you? You’re not in the Shadow world anymore!”
They suddenly looked uncertain. One of the trolls nodded in agreement. “Yes!” he shouted. “The child is right. Taea wanka shea!”
A murmuring went up among them. The trolls continued to argue in their strange-sounding language. Jodi couldn’t understand the words, but she thought she understood the emotion behind them. It didn’t take long for the troll to convince the others that they had to keep fighting. At once, they all moved to t
heir stations. Their new leader began barking out commands.
Jodi turned her attention back to Gabriel and saw his eyes flutter. He looked up at her, a weak smile playing across his lips. “We did it?” he said.
“You did it,” said Jodi. She helped him up to a sitting position. “Here, drink this.”
Gabriel swallowed a gulp of wine and rested his head back against the mast. “Where are we?”
“Right where you planned,” she said. “We’re right over Tiahuanaco.”
“Help me up,” Gabriel said. Jodi started to protest but Gabriel silenced her with a glare. “No time for that,” he said. “Get me to the rail.”
Jodi consented. She helped Gabriel to his feet and then threw his arm over her shoulder, helping him walk to the rail. When they got there, he put both hands on the rail and leaned over, scanning the ground below. Jodi saw him teetering unsteadily and she put her arm around Gabriel to steady him. She couldn’t help herself. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to notice.
“There,” he said, pointing. “In that temple.”
Jodi followed his gaze. “Where the stairs go down into the ground? Are you sure?”
“Trust me. I can tell.”
Jodi glanced at the trolls, busily working to get the ship settled. “How do I get it?” she said. “Tell me, and I’ll bring it back to the ship.”
Gabriel shook his head. “That won’t work. The machine has to be in the temple, under the ground.”
Jodi glanced nervously at the approaching swarm of shadowcreatures in the sky and the rapidly moving army of shadowfriends on the ground. We’ll never make it, she thought, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it aloud. Instead, she said, “All right. Let’s get you to a seat where you can rest. Then I’ll get these lazy trolls moving!” Gabriel laughed.
Jodi joined in with the others, tying off ropes and getting the ship prepared to touch down. When the others weren’t working fast enough, she actually started barking orders at them. At one point, one of the trolls sarcastically said, “Quiet, little girl. Go play.” A deep growl erupted from Jodi’s chest and she felt the wolf inside of her taking hold. She almost decided to let it go. Then, seeing the frightened look in his eyes, she pulled back. The troll turned away and rushed back to his work, double-time.
Shadow Rising (Shadow Born Trilogy Book 2) Page 22
