by Jerel Law
They had to move fast, and they still had the straps on their mom’s arms and legs to undo.
“Oh, Jonah,” his mother said, smiling weakly as he turned to face her again.
He grinned back. “Hold still for one second, would you?”
Her eyes grew big as he pulled the arrow seemingly from nowhere behind his back, and the bow appeared in his left hand. The white arrow glistened in the dark room as he held the point close to her wrist. Before she could protest or pull away, he swiped the tip of the arrow across the leather straps. They fell to the ground immediately. Moving over to her other arm, he did the same thing, and then he cut the bindings on her feet as well. When they pulled Eleanor up off the bed, she fell against Jonah, who caught her in his arms and propped her up.
“My dear children,” she said, “my dear children . . . you came . . .” She placed her hand on Eliza’s cheek and rubbed it softly.
“Of course we did,” said Jonah, continuing to look back over his shoulder every few seconds. “And now, we need to get you out of here.”
She held up a finger as she leaned against him. “The others,” she said, as she coughed loudly. “We can’t leave the others.”
She motioned toward the remaining seven nephilim, trapped behind their shields. They all still lay unconscious, just as she had been. The battle continued to blaze in the tunnel, but Jonah knew Henry wouldn’t be able to hold them for much longer. Soon, one of the Fallen would figure out that this was nothing more than a distraction and turn around.
“Mom,” he protested, “we don’t have time to rescue all of these people. We have to get you out of here . . . now.”
“Jonah,” she said quietly but firmly, “they have children too. Just like you. We can’t just leave them here for the Fallen and Abaddon. They’ll never see the light of day again. And his plan . . .” She broke off in another fit of coughing before she could finish. Even though her voice was still weak, Jonah heard the determination behind her words and knew she would never leave willingly until they had freed every last nephilim.
He looked at Eliza. “Come on, E. Let’s do this. And fast.”
Her arms were already raised, and Jonah followed her as she produced the shield and ran it into the ones covering the captured nephilim. Each time it knocked her back, but she was learning to steady herself and keep her feet. Jonah kept his bow and arrow ready, so that each time she destroyed the protective shield, he was immediately there to break through the straps.
They freed the African woman with the blond hair, the Asian woman, and then the man in the business suit. All three stumbled as they got up, falling against the wall behind them, but they soon steadied themselves and were able to walk, with some help from Eleanor.
Jonah and Eliza were approaching the next bed, which was holding a tall man wearing a Russian fur hat, when a fiery arrow slammed into the wall above them, raining shards of rock and dust on top of them. Turning quickly, they saw a fallen one standing in the entrance to the tunnel, restringing his bow to shoot again. His grotesque, scaly face smiled wickedly, his giant muscles rippling as he pulled the arrow back and took aim at Jonah’s head.
He let it fly, but Eliza was quicker. Her shield deflected the arrow, and it landed harmlessly on the ground, quickly turning into a tiny pile of black dust.
“Thanks!” Jonah shouted, but his eyes were drawn beyond the first fallen one, to the growing number of others behind him. The big one was screeching at all the rest, and Jonah knew what he must be saying. It’s a trap! The nephilim are escaping. Come back!
“They’re headed our way!” Jonah cried out to Eliza and his mom. “Run!”
But there was nowhere to run. They were against a wall, and a fallen angel had quickly blocked their access to the metal door. The only other way out was the tunnel, and that was out of the question. The only thing they could do now was pull behind the safety of Eliza’s shield, squeezing tightly together as they tried to fit both themselves and the three other freed nephilim inside the protective bubble. At least half of the Fallen had poured back out of the tunnel, the others continuing to fight the severely outnumbered Henry.
All of them concentrated their arrows on Eliza’s shield, and she began to take a barrage of hits. Her arms remained in the air, but she was struggling, and each blow pushed her back just a little more. Soon they were almost against the wall, and the arrows continued to pelt them from every direction.
“Eliza!” Jonah said, as she knelt on one knee, still holding her arms up, but just barely. His mom was beside her with her head bowed, praying, but she looked weaker by the second, and he knew she could not make it much longer in her current state. The shield began to flicker, and Jonah began to wonder what it would feel like to get hit by a flaming arrow. He looked at his mom and sister kneeling there on the hard cement, and realized how much he loved both of them, and how he wished he could tell them that now. But it was too late.
In just a few seconds, they were all going to die.
Jonah looked past the fallen ones, trying to spot Henry. A line of the Fallen were coming closer, but there was no sign of him anywhere. Whatever was happening in the tunnel, their guardian angel would be of no help now.
Just as Eliza’s shield disappeared, a large fallen angel, taller and even more muscular than the rest, stepped forward and briefly held his hand up. All of the arrows immediately stopped. His yellow eyes glared at them, and he smiled arrogantly, showing them his jagged, black teeth. His hands were on his hips, and steam blew from his nostrils. His skin was crusty and covered in scales, and when he stretched his crumply wings out to their full span, even some of the Fallen retreated a step back in fear.
He pointed to the three dazed nephilim who were crouching behind Eleanor, grunted some orders, and immediately three heavily armored fallen ones came and snatched them away, slapping glowing wrist and feet cuffs on them. He walked forward and then passed by each of them, glaring down at Jonah and Eliza, before standing in front of Eleanor.
“Eleanor Stone,” he sneered, “stand up.” She remained on the floor. “I said, stand up!” She slowly rose to her feet in front of the giant fallen one.
“Do you know who I am?” he said.
She shook her head. “I don’t know your name,” she said, meeting his eyes with her own defiant stare, “but I do know that you are a fallen angel.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, but I am so . . . much . . . more.” He roared so loudly that it shook rocks loose from the tunnel opening and they tumbled down into the room across the concrete floor. “I am Marduk. Commander of the Second Region of Abaddon.”
Eleanor simply glared at him and folded her arms, clearly unimpressed.
“But perhaps,” he said, suddenly morphing into a tall, handsome gentleman with dark hair and a goatee, wearing a brown suit and a matching hat, “this is who you’d rather meet.” He extended his hand and smiled warmly.
Eleanor grew as pale as moonlight. The man standing before her was the same smiling man posing with her mother in the old, faded picture. The picture of her father.
“I am Victor Grace,” he said, beaming at Eleanor. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, my oh-so-special daughter.”
TWENTY
FAMILY REUNION
Jonah looked at Marduk—or Victor Grace?—then back at his mother. This fallen angel was Jonah and Eliza’s grandfather. Ever since his parents had told him how his mother was born a nephilim, he had known that his grandfather was a fallen one. But to come this close to him, to feel the evil dripping out of the pores of his skin, made Jonah’s stomach queasy. His mother and his grandfather stared each other down, and he saw his mom straighten her back again and regain her footing.
“I wondered if we would ever meet, Marduk,” Eleanor said, and even in this filthy place, covered with dirt and blood, Jonah saw her quiet confidence start to rise back to the surface. Her arms were crossed, and he remembered where Eliza got her stubbornness from.
Marduk brus
hed a speck of dirt off of his shoulder and slid a hand into his suit pocket. “Oh, Eleanor, I knew this day was coming. After all, why else would we have taken such care to put our little plan in place? Why else would we waste time wooing you pathetic, weak-willed humans? Winning your mother over was so demeaning, to have to stoop to her level, to pretend like I loved her. She was so needy, so empty, so void of purpose in her life. And I had what she thought she so desperately needed. I filled that hole in her measly heart.” His grin distorted his face, which was full of hateful pride and rage. Stroking the beard on his chin, he continued on.
“Everything was in preparation for this day, the day we would finally be reunited, Eleanor, don’t you see? Of course you do. You know that now. But you didn’t see it coming, did you? We were patient. Our plan was too clever for even His pesky warrior-angels to detect.” Even though he had taken on the look of a stately gentleman, his voice seethed, full of the evil of a fallen angel.
“But you will all find out today why you are here,” he said, turning to look at all of the captives. “We have big plans for each of you. World-altering plans, dreamed up in the mind of Abaddon himself. And each one of you is going to play your part perfectly.”
“That will never happen, Marduk!” Jonah suddenly shouted. “My mom will never give in to you and your evil plans! You don’t know her.”
Marduk pursed his lips and put his hand to his chin, tapping one finger on his mouth, as if in deep thought. “You know, grandson, I am actually glad you and your sister are here today too. I’m thrilled that you have come and made your ridiculous little attempt to free your mother and all the rest of them. Because I want you to see what is going to happen, to witness history. I want you to see your mother turn to Abaddon, pledge her allegiance to him, and promise forever to do his bidding.” He toyed with his goatee playfully. “It’s what their breed does, after all, being half-fallen. So powerful, yet so easily swayed toward their darker desires. It will be good for the two of you to see how useful your mother can be. Before you die, that is.”
Jonah was furious, about to respond, when his mother did something that caught his attention. She slipped her hands behind her back as Marduk was talking, continuing to stare at him but fumbling with something in her fingers.
In her right hand, a glowing ball the size of a baseball appeared, an orb of green light that looked like it was spinning in her palm. Marduk had turned away to give his fallen ones a cocky glance, and that was all the time she needed.
She flung the ball of light at Marduk, and it sailed through the air like a major-league fastball, catching him squarely on the back. As it hit him, it exploded, blasting him into the crowd of the Fallen gathered around. He was sprawled out facedown on the hard floor, unmoving. The creatures around him wailed, and more than a dozen of them raised flaming arrows and spears, preparing to fire them at her.
“Wait.”
Marduk moved slowly, raising his hand from the floor, and reluctantly they dropped their weapons. Smoke was rising from his back as he picked himself up off of the floor, still in the image of Victor. “We can’t kill the nephilim, no matter how satisfying it would be. Boss’s orders.
“Besides,” he continued as he slapped the dirt off of his jacket and straightened his tie, “after Abaddon gets through with her, she could be the world’s next great dictator. And we wouldn’t want to spoil that, would we?”
“We can, however, have a little fun,” he growled. “After all, we never did have a chance to play catch, did we, daughter? You know, spend a little family time together? Maybe that’s why your aim is so bad.” He laughed scornfully. “Let’s see if you can catch any better than you can throw, shall we?”
Marduk charged at Eleanor, his yellow eyes breaking through the calm blue ones he wore as Victor. He ran headlong into her, with the intention of slamming her into the wall. But she quickly dug her heel down into a large crack in the cement floor and, in one deft move, caught hold of his head, spun around, and used his momentum against him, throwing him into the wall instead.
“All right, Mom!” Eliza said, tapping Jonah on the arm excitedly. “Did you see that?”
“Oh yeah,” he said, smiling at his mother in awe. “I think Marduk picked on the wrong nephilim today.”
Marduk growled fiercely at Eleanor, who had outmatched him twice now, in front of all the Fallen under his command. Jonah thought he could almost see Marduk’s skin boiling with rage, but then he watched in dismay as his body suddenly became fluid, a dark cloud of particles. The cloud zoomed through the air so fast Jonah could barely see it, and in one breath, it was behind Eleanor. Before she realized what was happening, Marduk had turned solid again and crashed his fist down across her neck.
Jonah watched his mother crumple to the ground. He tried to run toward her, but one of the creatures jumped out in front of him, sticking a flaming arrow in his face, daring him to take another step toward his mother. A dozen others had drawn their bows and held their arrows aimed toward Jonah and Eliza, itching for an excuse to let them fly.
Eleanor shook her head a few times as she faced the floor, dazed. Marduk stood over her, gloating. He shifted back into Victor Grace, reached down and grabbed her by the hair, and spoke in a soft, gentle voice. “You are a powerful nephilim, there’s no doubt about that. But let’s just remember who your daddy is, shall we?” He slung her head toward the floor and stood up, morphing into his fallen angel form again. “Tie her back up.”
Two nasty-looking fallen angels grabbed her and slammed her back against the wall, securing her hands and feet with their electrical chains.
There was a new determination in Marduk’s eyes now. He turned to one of the nephilim, the one dressed in the suit, and beckoned him over. The fallen ones freed him from his restraints and, walking reluctantly to the middle of the room, he stood inches away from the commander. Jonah had never seen a grown man shake and twitch so much before.
“Your name?” growled Marduk. The man stammered, staring down at his shoes, anywhere but at him.
“I . . . uh . . . I . . .”
“You have forgotten your name, nephilim?” he jeered.
The man finally looked up. “R-Roger, sir, Marduk, sir,” he said feebly. “Roger C-C-Clamwater.”
Marduk smiled reassuringly. “Roger Clamwater, look at me.” Roger continued to look down. “Look at me!” As he said this, he raised his finger, and Roger’s head snapped up, like a puppet. “That’s right, Mr. Clamwater,” he said soothingly. “Look into my eyes. Just like that.”
Jonah watched as the man locked eyes with Marduk for several seconds. The color began to drain out of the man’s face. The fallen angel grabbed the nephilim on each side of his head and held it even closer to his own, staring him down with his terrifying yellow eyes. Jonah looked on in horrified silence. Marduk’s lips were moving, just slightly, as he continued. Finally, he released the man and the gaze was broken. The nephilim dropped to one knee and lowered his head.
“My lord.”
When the man looked up, his eyes were black, like shadows. The trembling was gone, replaced by a confident smirk now stamped across his face. A few of the nephilim gasped. The man walked over toward the fallen ones and stood in front of them, hands behind his back, awaiting his new master’s next command.
“See now,” Marduk said comfortably, “that wasn’t so difficult, was it?”
Another nephilim was released and pushed forward— this time it was the large Russian. He looked terrified, but was unable to resist. Marduk repeated what he had done with the first nephilim, staring down into his eyes, mouthing some unknown words, and then the Russian bowed, pledging his allegiance to the Evil One.
What is he saying to them? Jonah thought. What could make these innocent people change from being scared out of their wits to being so . . . evil?
Jonah watched in disbelief as the same thing happened one by one with each of the next five nephilim. All were dragged before Marduk unwillingly, looking ready to die fro
m fright, but afterward, they just as readily gave themselves over to him. Seven of them stood behind Marduk now, neat as robots in a row, hanging on his every word, waiting for him to tell them what to do next.
There was only one left.
“Eleanor?” he cooed softly, extending his grotesque hand toward her. As he did, he transformed into Victor Grace again— her father, reaching his hand out to his daughter.
She paused for a few seconds, but very slowly began to walk to the middle of the room. Jonah grabbed her arm.
“No, Mom!” he screamed. “No! You can’t do this!” She looked at him briefly, her eyes full of fear and sadness, but somehow vacant too. She didn’t say anything as she pried his fingers from around her arm. Eliza was still leaning against the wall in a daze, watching. “No!”
But she kept walking, until she was standing face-to-face with Marduk again, who wore a sickening smile as he looked down at her like a hawk at a mouse.
“I knew you would come around, Eleanor.”
Just as those words left his lips, an arrow came hurtling toward his skull. Without looking, he reached up in a blur and grabbed the white arrow in the palm of his hand, snatching it out of the air. With one hand he snapped it in two and threw it down on the floor.
Jonah stood holding his bow, breathing sharply, his heart about to race out of his chest.
“I have had enough of you, boy!” he said, turning away from Eleanor and stomping toward Jonah. Before he could pull out another arrow and fire it, Marduk was in front of him, and Jonah felt his strong fingers clamp around his arm like a vise.
Turning to look up, Jonah’s eyes met those of the fallen angel, and the room around them began to disappear.
TWENTY-ONE
NEW YORK CITY ASYLUM
FOR THE INSANE
The room, like a wall of blocks kicked over all at once, had fallen away. Jonah’s mom and sister were gone. The other nephilim and the Fallen were nowhere to be seen. Jonah found himself lying facedown on a white-tiled floor, which smelled like a combination of industrial cleaner and his middle school gym. Picking himself up, he realized he was standing in a long hallway. The walls and ceiling were also white, lit by those same fluorescent lights.
