The Keepers Of The Light (God Stone Book 2)

by Andrew Schafer

  Jack watched the cloaked man as he moved steadily down the alley through the slowly falling ash and embers. The sky cracked with lightning that came too close for comfort. He blinked reflexively, taking his eyes off the man only for a second, but when the oddly colored lightning finished its dance through the clouds – the man was gone.

  6

  Overlooked

  Wednesday, April 6 – God Stones Day 1

  Rural Chiapas State, Mexico

  Gabi and Sarah stood there for a long moment, swallowed by silence broken only by their own increasing heartbeats and heavy breathing. The focus of their attention was a large jawbone with a double row of teeth, which looked different, sharper than human teeth, almost like… canine teeth. But that wasn’t all. It now became clear to Gabi what had bothered her when she only had a chance to glance over them earlier. These skulls were larger than they should be.

  “Sarah? Do these skulls seem too… big to you?” Gabi asked quietly.

  Sarah didn’t answer – not right away. She cocked her head to one side then the other and said in the same soft tone, “I was so taken aback by the racks, and with only our headlamps I guess I hadn’t noticed.” Sarah swallowed dryly. “Let’s see, the circumference of the average adult skull should measure between fifty-four and fifty-seven centimeters max,” she said, continuing to speak quietly as if the two were sharing some great secret they didn’t want anyone else to hear. Sarah unclipped a cloth measuring tape from her side and very carefully checked the circumference of the skull. “Seventy-eight centimeters. This just isn’t possible, unless… unless this person had a deformity. Yes, of course, that must be it. This individual must have suffered from gigantism. But the teeth? Perhaps a deformity caused by the gigantism? I… I just don’t see how…”

  As Sarah carefully began to measure the next skull over, Gabi stood silently in the dark and, not for the first time since descending into this place, she held her breath. Even without the tape, the next skull looked too big and so did the next and the next. Somehow, she knew – this wasn’t gigantism or deformities, this was something else.

  “Seventy-five centimeters. What the… Two people with the same condition?” Frantic now, Sarah checked the next, nearly knocking the rack over. “Seventy-three centimeters,” she gasped. The double row of teeth was visible on this skull as well since the lower jaw appeared to be missing. She checked the next, and the next, and the next, and found all were too large, the largest being eighty-one centimeters in circumference.

  Gabi stayed quiet as Sarah continued to talk to herself out loud now, scrambling in near panic to find reason in what she was seeing.

  “A whole race of people with gigantism and double-rowed teeth? No. No way… it couldn’t be. Come on, Sarah, be rational. Wait! Could these be Gigantopithecus?”

  Gabi’s eyebrows creased. “What’s that, Sarah?”

  “They were a genus of giant ape that lived over a hundred thousand years ago in China. They were giant, to be sure. Some even reached nine feet tall, but these skulls don’t belong to apes. Their features are too human and not only are there no records of them here in Mexico, but they didn’t have double rows of teeth.” Sarah wiped her face with one hand as if she were pulling off cobwebs. “Plus, the timing is all wrong! How could a prehistoric ape skull be present on an Aztec skull rack?”

  “Sarah, I don’t think these are apes, but whatever they are I don’t think they are Aztec.”

  Sarah froze. “No, Gabi, I don’t think they are either. It’s just so impossible! My god, how big would these people have been? Here, hand me your notepad.”

  Gabi passed her the pad of paper, and Sarah began calculating. “No, this can’t be right – I did something wrong with the math. Can’t be right – can’t be!” She did the math again and after a moment she looked up from the pad, able to answer her own question. “Oh, my dear lord! Charles, what have you stumbled on to? Gabi, these people would have been between ten and twelve feet tall!” she said, jutting her shaking finger repeatedly into the pad. “We’re looking at an undiscovered race… a race of people far above average size… a race of—”

  Gabi’s eyes exploded wide as the word burst from her lips, “Giants!”

  7

  Home

  Wednesday, April 6 – God Stones Day 1

  Petersburg, Illinois

  The cold evening air stung Garrett’s lungs as he plunged forward, Lenny on his heels. They burst from the alley, crossing the highway where a row of parked cars lined the street, bumper to bumper. Without a single moment of hesitation or course adjustment, Garrett leapt over the hood of a brown station wagon, just barely clearing the vehicle. With all the grace of an acrobat, Lenny jumped up only enough to allow his butt to land on the hood of a maroon sedan. Momentum carried the boy effortlessly across the smooth surface and he too landed on the sidewalk, never missing a beat. Bounding down the sidewalk, the boys cut right, crossing the parking lot of the pizza place. They were only a few blocks away from home.

  As they ran, the boys could hear the fire trucks behind them in the distance. Garrett glanced over his shoulder, instantly regretting the decision – his heart sank. The sight of smoke and flames billowing from the dojo constricted his chest as he fought back the tears. The fire appeared huge now, too big to be just the dojo. It must have spread by now, engulfing the restaurant next door, the antique store on the opposite side, and maybe even Double D’s Dollar Store. By the looks of it, the entire north side of the town square was engulfed.

  Garrett swallowed hard. Mr. B was dead, wasn’t he? He knew it, felt it in his heart. Would they all die before this was over? He didn’t know what to think or what to feel. He knew what he must do, but he didn’t know how. The path had been laid out for him, and he had to complete what Mr. B died for. Go now and warn your mother of Apep’s arrival. Then get to the temple and destroy what’s inside! You must destroy it before Apep can get to it!

  Garrett pushed harder, reaching deep inside himself.

  Lenny began to fall behind. “Slow down, Garrett! I can’t… hold… your pace,” he said in short grunts.

  “We have to get home! He’s coming,” Garrett said, his jaw clenched tight as he sucked air through his teeth and nose.

  Heavy clouds stacked one atop another pressed down low in the sky, blotting out the setting sun. It wasn’t supposed to be dark for almost another hour, but it was dark and getting darker by the second. It was not until they turned onto Fourth Street that Garrett noticed the streetlights. First, they flickered on like they normally would, taking a few minutes to warm up. But then they continued to flicker, creating a strobe effect all the way down his street. With two blocks to go, the lights flickered off completely and the entire neighborhood went dark. No streetlights; no light at all, not even from the porches or windows.

  Garrett was forced to slow in the sudden darkness.

  Lenny caught up to him then, and once he slowed, he began hacking. “You think… the power outage has… something to do with what’s going on?” Lenny asked between gasps.

  “It’s more than that, Lenny. It’s too early to be this dark. Even with a thunderstorm building, have you ever seen it this dark?” Garrett spun in a circle, trying to see lights up on the bluffs, but all he could see was darkness. The only light came from the distant glow of the burning buildings uptown. From his left, Garrett heard a screen door slam.

  “Goddammit! Why is it always during my favorite show the power has to go on the fritz? I think they plan this! I think it’s a damn government conspiracy,” came a voice from the direction of the slamming door.

  Garrett recognized the voice of Mrs. Belford – one of his neighbors.

  A light flicked on then, as Mrs. Belford flicked a flashlight beam up toward the power lines, looking for the source of the outage.

  “What the hell are you doing, Maribeth? Are you going to climb the pole and fix the power? Get your ass back in the house and help me find some candles,” came Mr. Belford’s gruff voic
e.

  “Shut up, Larry! I’m telling you it’s the government!”

  “Come on,” Garrett whispered. “I don’t like this.” The streetlights had always been Garrett’s nemesis, the clock he was always racing home to beat, but he missed them now like an old blanket. He wanted to go back. God, he wanted to back this day up. And he wanted the damn streetlights to come on. They hustled blindly down the street, Mrs. Belford’s voice fading as she continued to rage about government conspiracies.

  Moving cautiously in the dark, Garrett found his front porch and then the door. Quickly locating the handle, he gave the screen door a pull then pushed his way inside. “Mom!” he yelled into the darkness.

  No answer.

  Lenny hesitantly slipped in behind him. “This is freaky, bro.”

  Garrett shouted again. “Dad!” There’s no way Apep could have beat us here – is there? But then Garrett wasn’t sure how the guy traveled either. Did he drive? Did the God Stones give him the power to fly? Or could he just magic himself from one place to another? As he stood there in the entryway, he found himself suddenly hesitating. With all these thoughts racing through his mind he felt less and less confident he should be yelling at all. What if he’s here now?

  One thing was for sure – something was wrong. His parents should be in the kitchen. He should smell the fragrant aromas of his mom’s cooking, and his dad should be sitting with his back to the wall in his favorite chair – the king’s chair. His dickhead of a brother should…

  Someone grabbed him.

  He tried to cry out, but his feet went out from under him and he hit the floor hard on his back. Something pressed on his chest, and he couldn’t move. He heard Lenny grunt, then a second later he was lying on the floor next him.

  Instinctively Garrett rolled his fingers into a tight fist and punched at the object pressing down on his chest. Lying on his back, he couldn’t chamber his fist properly, and the distance to the object was short. His strike had little effect.

  “Knock it off and shut up! Both of you,” came a commanding whisper from the darkness.

  “James! What the hell!” Garrett demanded in an angry hiss.

  “I said shut up. We don’t have much time. Apep’s coming – isn’t he?” The comment was as much a proclamation as a question. James didn’t wait for an answer. “Now both of you get to your feet and follow me,” he said, removing his foot from Garrett’s chest.

  “How do you know about Apep?” Garrett asked, quietly getting to his feet.

  James pulled Lenny up by the wrist, and when both boys were on their feet Garrett heard the distinctive flip top of James’s Zippo lighter as he flicked it open and struck the flint wheel. The three boys were illuminated in the soft light from the flame. “Little brother, if you want to live, we need to move now.”

  Quickly they moved through the house, guided by only the flame from James’s Zippo, and a strange flickering glow spilling through the kitchen window. The streetlights were blinking on and off as the city’s power fluctuated, unlike anything Garrett had seen. But not the lights in Garrett’s house – those stayed dark, which meant they must not be turned on. As they hurried past the kitchen window, he noticed that not only his parents were missing, but so was the king’s chair. Suddenly the streetlight outside grew impossibly bright and burst with a loud pop.

  Garrett tensed, missing a step as Lenny ran into his back.

  “What the hell is going on, James, and why are the lights off?”

  “I said be quiet.”

  They moved onto the back porch. Are we going outside? There was nothing in the backyard except rabbit cages. Unless, maybe they were going to the garage?

  James crossed the back porch, walking past the washer and dryer before stopping in front of the basement door. “Come on,” he urged, giving the door a tug.

  “We’re going down there?” Lenny asked skeptically. “I’ve never been in your basement. I didn’t even know you had a basement.”

  “Well, it isn’t much to see,” Garrett said, having only been down there a few times himself. From the groans of the old wooden planks, he wasn’t even sure the stairs would hold all three of them at the same time. He hesitated, unsure, then he turned and motioned Lenny to wait. Once James stepped off the last step, Garrett motioned back to Lenny as he descended the stairs. He stepped down, looking back apprehensively in the low light. Lenny’s face scrunched as he hurried forward to catch up. The basement was damp, with a pungent mildew smell.

  The set of rickety wood stairs landed on a poorly constructed patchwork of concrete. The piecemeal floor looked like an afterthought, or possibly a clever plan to conceal a body hidden long ago. Red brick walls, old and crumbling, stopped halfway up to reveal a dead space of sloping dirt. Pillars of crudely stacked stone placed precariously on top of the half walls were all that supported bowing floor joists darkened by time. Plumbing and wiring ran this way and that between and sometimes through the floor joists themselves.

  James held his Zippo out in front of him like a torch as he led them across the small room and past a sump pump protruding from a dark hole in the floor, silent now but ready to evacuate water should the need arise. Further still, they went past a pair of hot water heaters, one a rusting antique long ago replaced but never removed. The other was rusty too, but it sat hissing, elevated atop a platform of cinderblocks, a pair of tarnished copper pipes extending from the top.

  Lenny poked Garrett in the back. “What are we doing? Why is he taking us down here?”

  “I don’t know,” was all he could manage. His mind spun with questions. Somehow his brother knew about Apep. As much as he didn’t want to think it, he knew the question burning in Lenny’s mind. Should they be trusting him?

  Beyond the small first room there was a second. Garrett had only gone in this room once. Not because he was forbidden to go, although his father had made it clear there was no reason for him to be playing in the basement and he should keep his ass out of there, but because it was just a single boring room very similar to the first. It was dank, dark, and creepy. To the best of Garrett’s memory, it held nothing other than the furnace. The one time he had gone in there was when his father asked him to go down and tell him if the furnace’s pilot light had gone out. Though his father hadn’t said it, Garrett knew it was hard for him to make the trip up and down the stairs with his bum hip.

  James rapped on the door.

  “James, who’s in there?” Garrett asked, stepping backward into Lenny.

  James ignored the question.

  Lenny shot Garrett a look that he returned with a sideways nod toward the stairs. No words needed to be exchanged to know the plan: if this goes bad – make for the stairs. The sound of a bolt sliding open from the other side of the door broke the tense silence. Garrett didn’t even know it locked from the other side. Why would it lock from the other side? Slowly, the door swung inward to the room beyond, and light spilled out, washing over them. James snapped his Zippo shut and stepped inside.

  The first thing Garrett noticed was the king’s chair. It sat empty by a folding card table. On top of the table sat three nearly empty glasses of sweet tea and a lantern. Leaning against the chair was his father’s ivory-handled cane. As he made his way through the open door and looked to his left, he saw his mother. He pushed past James and ran into her arms.

  She pulled him close, hugging him tightly. “Oh, thank god you’re okay!” she said.

  The embrace triggered a release of emotions, and Garrett sobbed freely in his mother’s arms. He pulled back enough to look her in the face. “Mr. B is dead.”

  His mother’s face fell as she glanced back over her shoulder. Following her gaze Garrett noticed his father standing along the far back wall with his back to them, a brick in his hand. The walls in this room were complete, stretching all the way to the ceiling. His father held a brick slack at his side. Garrett craned his neck to see around his mother. A whole pile of bricks were stacked near a large void in the wall. At the so
und of Garrett’s words, the brick tumbled from his father’s hand, his shoulders slumped, and he sagged forward, leaning heavily against the wall.

  The room fell quiet.

  Finally, James broke the silence. “Father, let me do that.”

  James’s tone was concerned, caring – not a tone Garrett recognized from his brother. He’d also never heard James refer to Phillip as father. It was always dad.

  His father turned, allowing his dark eyes to find Elaine’s.

  Garrett noticed it then, a look shared between his mother and stepfather. A look of deep sadness in their eyes as though they had just been told a dear friend had died. Yet as far as Garrett was aware, his parents had barely known Mr. B. He squeezed his mother tight, never wanting to let go. As long as he could stay right here in this moment, he knew whatever in the hell was going on would somehow be okay. But then Elaine did something completely unexpected. She pushed him back out of her embrace.

  “Enough. Stop crying. If you want to be sad, be sad later. Right now you have to act.” Her voice was stern and commanding. Not her normal I’m giving you the what for to save you serious trouble from your father tone of voice. No, this was different – she was different. This woman meant business. The sudden shift left Garrett dumbstruck, but he found himself straightening up, nonetheless.

  Lenny’s face contorted in confusion.

  James ran to the wall and continued pulling bricks, exposing an opening to something beyond the wall. “Lenny, give me a hand!” James said, waving him over.

  Lenny quickly shook himself out of his shock and ran to the wall. He paused only briefly, then nodding to James he began yanking bricks out of the wall as quickly as he could. The bricks were mortared in, so after pulling the loose bricks James motioned Lenny to stand back as he swung a small five-pound sledge, giving the next couple rows a good whack to fracture the mortar around several more bricks.