Joshua and the Lightning Road

by Donna Galanti

  “The kids are going through the gate,” Charlie yelled as he landed.

  “By the gods, the Earth code does work,” Leandro said.

  “Do you think Bo Chez is still holding off Hekate?” I said.

  “If he can, he will,” Leandro reassured me.

  We loaded up the kids, and Finn wanted to help Charlie get them back to the Lightning Gate.

  “Are you sure?” I tugged on Finn’s shirt. He did look ridiculous in his purple outfit.

  “Totally!” He punched me twice on the arm and I punched him back, but neither of us smiled this time. An urgency rattled my insides. It felt like time—and our luck—was running out.

  “But my whole point in coming here was to get you back home,” I said.

  “We both will. Here’s to our greatest adventure, just like your grandfather’s stories.”

  “Yeah.”

  We punched each other’s arm at the same time, but our punches fell soft, and his terrified face from my attic flashed through my head along with my own fear of watching him be sucked away. We stood there for a moment, not saying anything. What else was there to say?

  We shared a bong bong from Leandro’s supply and a long drink then Finn boarded his kernitian, and the group lifted off in a blur of hooves. My best friend, the one I came here to rescue, disappeared again but this time I carried hope of seeing him soon. Then Leandro and I flew alone on the way to our final stop: the castle.

  The crumbling spires poked up from the treetops as the fog sucked at it. We landed to find that no soldiers guarded the castle. Its stone walls held no terror for me now. The giant doors stood slightly open, an invitation to enter, and we stepped into the dark hallway. Wall torches pathetically spit smoke and flames as we crept down the shadowy passage to the king’s throne room.

  Flickering light stretched from the open doors to the Great Hall. Leandro peered in and pulled the heavy door open with a screech. The chandeliers that once burnt bright were dark. Dim light came from torches that gasped out curls of smoke. Darkness stretched long across the massive room and in it the shadows moved, coming for us. I grabbed Leandro’s arm, ready to run, but it was only the torch flames casting their figures on the walls. He pointed to the end of the Great Hall, and there sat King Apollo on his cracked and charred royal pavilion, chin down. Chains wrapped around his body and throne and were padlocked to one of the pavilion’s legs. The once blazing logs in the fireplace now glowed a dying red. We headed for him, but he didn’t even look up.

  Leandro stopped at the foot of the pavilion. “King Apollo, where are all your guards?” He put his dagger away but pointed his vape at the king. It hissed, ready to strike.

  The king slowly looked up. “Gone.” He put his chin back down.

  “Gone where?”

  “To that traitor. I suspected Hekate’s mission for a while, but not even Zeus would spare me a few Storm Masters to fight her. He had other places to protect he deemed more worthy.”

  “Where are the children?” Leandro thrust the vape in the air, inches from the king.

  “The children?” King Apollo looked at Leandro in confusion.

  “Yes, your servants: the Reekers, ignorant Barbaros. Where are they?”

  The king’s head lolled to one side. “I had a son long ago. But he never got the chance to grow up.” He turned to me with a sad face.

  “But your son, Sam, is here now and sick. He could die,” I blurted out. “You’ve got to help him.”

  “Ah, that one deserted me.” The king shifted in his chair, pushing against his chains.

  “Like you deserted your own people?” I shot back.

  His arms curled in to fold on his stomach. He wouldn’t answer.

  “If you help us fight off Hekate and her army, you can get your kingdom back, Your Majesty,” Leandro said. “You must have some guards loyal enough to turn on her, but you’ll need to stop stealing mortal children for power and find another way to light your land.”

  “It’s impossible.” The king seemed to sink deeper into his chair. He was so pathetic, how could he have ever ruled a whole land? Sam was more kingly than his own father. “I put Hekate in charge of the mill to satisfy her need for power. But she’s greedy. She wants more.”

  “She wants it all,” Leandro said. “She’s evil immortal magic. She most likely has had a spell over you, my Lord. We must stop her.”

  “The other lands might help you this time,” I offered.

  The king sighed. “I wasn’t ruthless enough to stop Hekate. And I wasn’t always like this, you know. Do you believe me?” He leaned forward. I had no answer, and he slumped back down. “I used to be handsome and thin with fire in my belly. I once cared about my people, but Hekate changed things, changed me. Who would help me now?”

  “We would,” I said, not knowing how but eager to stop the witch.

  Leandro put his hand on my shoulder. “The boy is right.” His forceful voice caused the king to twitch up, wide-eyed. “I’m Leandro of the Arrow Realm and once a work camp guard, but now a fugitive as I seek my lost family. And I have supporters across Nostos who could help.”

  His last words echoed around the hall. The king glanced at his chariot that sat tossed to the side, broken and sad. “My people were great once. Could be again, but we fell away.”

  “Now is the time to stand on your own,” Leandro said.

  “If we only had special powers … .”

  “You don’t need powers to do the right thing,” I said, this fact dawning on me as I spoke the words.

  The king sat up straighter, cleared his throat, and said in a commanding voice. “As king I can pardon you, Leandro of the Arrow Realm. And a king’s pardon extends throughout all realms.”

  “Only if you remain king.” Leandro lowered his vape and his voice. “Come with us.”

  The king looked from me to Leandro and back again, and in his face I saw a glimpse of Sam and the young man he might have once been.

  “Someone recently taught me that sometimes you must trust on faith.” Leandro gave me a small smile. “Even if you must befriend an enemy to battle a greater evil.”

  Good thing I’d been right about him.

  “First we have to stop Hekate and her soldiers,” I said.

  “Agreed,” Leandro said. “If she takes over the Lost Realm, she’ll move on to conquering other realms. Even if you get home again, Joshua, you won’t be safe. And you, King Apollo, will be eliminated. Are you ready to die yet?”

  He thought about it, then shook his head. “Not yet.” He grasped the arms of his chair, strength coming back to him. “Hekate locked the children in the dungeon and took the key.” He pointed at a wall sconce. “But I have another set hidden there. It’s a master key and will unlock my chains.”

  Leandro strode to the sconce, reached in deep, and pulled out a large set of keys. They clanged as he unlocked King Apollo.

  The king then stood, his head no higher than Leandro’s chin, and tugged down on his purple vest.

  Leandro bowed. “Lead the way, sire.”

  Apollo strode out of the Great Hall. Leandro explained our plan to him as we made our way to the dungeon. The king sure moved fast for a man who was just feeling sorry for himself.

  Now he had purpose. So did I.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Leandro, the king, and the kids we set free from the dungeon all stood with me outside the castle. But this was no happy fairytale. It was grim and gory and real.

  And there was still a job to do. We called and called, but this time no gold-antlered beasts floated down from the darkening sky. I glanced from treetop to treetop that faded in and out of the mist. Come on! I would not spend a fourth night on Nostos. Could not.

  Leandro frowned. “Something’s wrong. They should have returned by now.”

  The growing murmur of the kids jangled inside me as we waited, hope disappearing, and the fog slithered around my feet, chaining me to this plac
e.

  Then an awful thought struck me. “What if Hekate’s army escaped Bo Chez’s storm?” And the words I couldn’t say sucked my breath up. What if Bo Chez was dead?

  “That could have spooked the kernitians enough to retreat home,” Leandro said, searching the sky. A weariness settled over him and his face filled with something I hadn’t seen there before—fear.

  King Apollo looked up at the silent trees reaching down for us with their broken fingers. “We may not survive this.”

  “We know,” Leandro said flatly. Fear snuck back—of total failure, of never seeing Finn or Bo Chez again … of death.

  The protests of the kids grew louder, wanting to know when they were going home. “For the love of Olympus, let me think!” Leandro held up his hands, and silence fell.

  An idea came to me and, wild and gross as it was, it just might work. “What about the korax?”

  Leandro turned to me. “What about them?”

  “They fly.”

  Charlie’s eyes bulged and he shook his head fast, biting his lip.

  “You expect their help?” Sam looked to the sky and back at me. “They serve Hekate and are unpredictable, like the kernitians.”

  Leandro looked doubtful too. “I don’t know, Joshua. I’ve seen good men die by their talons.”

  “Good men that they were forced to kill?”

  “Yes.”

  “Sam, maybe the kernitians are unpredictable, but sometimes they come to help. Maybe the korax would help too.” I spread my hands out with the thought.

  “Oui, but the kernitians are like Santa’s reindeer not birds from a scary monster movie,” Charlie said.

  “Would you rather call the cadmean beasts?” I snapped at him, tired of arguing about it.

  Charlie flinched, and I felt bad for yelling at him, but then he slowly nodded and struck the air with a finger. “D’accord! Korax it is!”

  “Hekate does treat them badly and keeps them in poor conditions, separated from their families,” Sam said.

  Leandro added to that. “Maybe if they believe they can be free of her torment and control, they may help us.”

  “And maybe they’d like to be heroes too,” I said.

  Leandro nodded. “And maybe they’ll listen to the king.”

  We all looked at King Apollo, who studied the sky. “I will do my best to appeal to them.”

  Disgust filled me at the thought of riding the backs of those beasty birds—but we were out of options. We appealed to the great korax that once clapped Earth children in their talons and carried them away. Then Leandro put his hand on my arm and pointed to the sky. It darkened with a heavy black cloud. They were coming and fast. The kids behind me cried out, but I yelled at them to trust us, it would be all right. If not, we’d be all be dead.

  Their canopy wings soared between the trees, then they pulled them in to their sides and glided down before us. Dozens of them. Black as the night with electric green eyes. Their enormous beaks clamped shut and they stood before us in silent rows, as if awaiting orders. One stepped forward and bowed its head. “Light bringers,” it croaked. “Why dare call us?”

  “You’re our only hope and we can be yours.” I talked to them, then motioned for the king to say something.

  The king hesitated then finally spoke. “I promise you a better life, one free of Hekate. Now, please, take us to the Lightning Gate.”

  The leader hobbled forward, green eyes gleaming at us. Its claws, with curved knifepoints, could shred me in an instant.

  “Oracle?” The question hissed on the breeze.

  “No,” I said.

  “Light bringer?”

  I hesitated for just a second before answering. “Yes.”

  The monstrous bird spread its wings and bowed its head with a cackle. “We serve.”

  I climbed on board with Leandro behind me, trying to ignore the bird’s rotten smell. It was hard to grasp the slippery feathers of the korax, but it was better than being clamped in talons. “Find a partner and ride together,” I told the kids waiting on the ground. “Hold on tight.”

  King Apollo was the first to move. He swung himself up on a bird. He got comfortable, then called to the kids. “Come now, you want to go home, don’t you?”

  The kids moved forward. When everyone had boarded a bird, we took off. Far in the distance, The Great Beyond beckoned with its soft purple. Had those Takers who’d attacked us finally stopped screaming and just floated along now waiting to die?

  I wouldn’t surrender like that. Leandro gave me a nod as he clutched the korax with one hand, the other wrapped tight around his vape. His strength—and the strength he’d helped me see in myself—made me want to fight whatever was ahead.

  I threw my fist in the air and—like Charlie—gave a great warrior’s cry.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  We sped toward the Lightning Gate with victory in our heads as we crossed over the village of the Lost Realm. For the first time, figures emerged from the houses to watch us fly over. Some pointed at us.

  The clearing appeared—Bo Chez still held off Hekate’s army, but the tornado funnel flickered as if losing power. Hekate reared up on her horse, leading the charge to escape this magical storm weapon. Bursts of blue light exploded, and she broke through the wind funnel. It closed behind her, leaving her army trapped, and she headed for Bo Chez.

  Lightning bolts burst from Bo Chez’s hand, splitting the mist like a whip to water, but Hekate’s fingers zapped her blue bullets back as she shot across the meadow. Bo Chez dodged left and right. And then a streak of light struck his hand. He cried out with a great roar of defeat—and the effort of holding back Hekate became too much. He staggered and fell.

  “Bo Chez!” I couldn’t stand to watch as we flew closer, but couldn’t tear my eyes away. “No!”

  I commanded the other korax to take the kids and the king to the Lightning Gate. They flew off, and Leandro and I zoomed down. His grip tightened on me as we fell from the sky like an arrow released from his bow. The wind rushed by so fast my eyes teared up and everything became a blur. The meadow floor loomed, and we soared across it toward the fight, trees whirling past us. Bo Chez stumbled up and slashed his lightning bolts at Hekate. She twisted and turned away from them in a battle dance, her back to us. Bo Chez stumbled again.

  I held the orb tight in my hand, ready to throw it, but was afraid of hitting Bo Chez. Hekate’s horse bucked. Its hoof caught Bo Chez across the shoulder. He cried out and nearly fell. Hekate urged her horse on as if to trample him. He spun away just in time stretching his hands out to hold off his enemies, but they shook, then fell to his side.

  And just like that the storm funnel vanished. Bo Chez could hold it no longer.

  After a moment of confused silence the freed soldiers surged behind Hekate in a wave. She turned and saw us, gathered her reins, and bolted for us with her army, her vape fingers firing fast.

  “Down!” I yelled, and Leandro shoved me into the bird’s back as we flew over the witch toward Bo Chez and skimmed the ground. The end of the clearing rose fast. I commanded the bird to grab Bo Chez. Its talons snatched him up by his shirt, but then it swerved left to avoid Hekate’s blasts, and in doing so Bo Chez slipped, hanging precariously from one giant claw.

  “Bo Chez!” I reached for him, but Leandro was already bending down, straining to hold onto my grandfather’s large frame. I lunged further over, nearly hanging upside down, and grasped Bo Chez’s shirt. His face popped red as he tried to pull himself up. Fire streaked past me and our korax shrieked as blue flame struck it. The monster bird flapped its wings and Bo Chez was flung sideways, but he clenched feathers in his fists and held on tight as the woods advanced fast. Our crash was imminent when the bird turned right and circled the meadow. The wizard trees reached their arms out from the edge but couldn’t stop us.

  “Don’t let go!” I felt Bo Chez slipping.

  Bo Chez looked into my eyes like he had a hund
red times, with frustration and humor and love. This look was none of those. This was regret.

  “I’ll always come for you,” he said. His feet bounced on the ground as we jerked along. We were going down.

  “Leandro, help!” The injured bird dipped and swayed with our efforts.

  Leandro dared to look behind us. He still had one hand holding onto Bo Chez while he urged the bird on. “Hold on, sir!”

  “Take care of my grandson.”

  “No!” Clutching at Bo Chez, I slid further off the bird’s back. Hekate’s laughter filled my ears. So close.

  And then hands gripped my leg, pulling me down.

  Leandro couldn’t save Bo Chez and me. His stricken face was the last I saw before falling onto Hekate’s horse, slamming painfully into the saddle. She pulled me tight to her chest, and the sickening sweet stench of roses swarmed up my nose as I struggled to get free, but her magic hold was too strong. Trees flashed by in a blur.

  She pointed to soldiers riding on her left. “Get to the gate and stop anyone from going through.” They nodded in unison and veered away. I fingered the orb in my pocket, desperate but terrified to use it.

  An agonizing cry pierced my ears, and I twisted my head around to see the great winged monster crash in the meadow, a flurry of feathers and dust. Bo Chez and Leandro spiraled through the air. They smashed into the trees and were gone.

  “You,” Hekate said to a soldier who rode near her, “go back. Find that Storm Master’s lightning orb and bring it to me at the armory.” The soldier bowed his head and swung around while we galloped along with the remaining army. I focused on the dead korax, hoping against hope that Bo Chez or Leandro would rise up from behind it.

  Hekate twisted my head to the front. “Say goodbye to your friends. It’s you and me, Oracle. And your fate is short lived.”

  Home was gone. My friends were gone. Bo Chez was gone. Nothing could keep me going now.

  We slowed our pace and headed out of the field, into the woods. The soldiers fell into ranks behind us, two rows, side by side on our narrow path. The trees grew closer, creeping in on me like bars in a cage. Red eyes sprung from the murky woods and grew in number as black fur leapt at us from the fog. Cadmean beasts rode along now, and my cage grew smaller and more deadly.