Marilyn slipped around the demon and signaled for Shiloh and Karen to follow. As Shiloh tried to squeeze past him, the Watcher’s terrible eyes glowed. “Who put tape on the latch?” he bellowed.
Shiloh managed to get through and joined Marilyn on the other side of the hall. Karen’s turn. She stood and tiptoed toward the door, her legs trembling as she looked up at the demon’s sneering face.
Catherine picked up the roll of tape Marilyn had left behind and showed it to the Watcher. “I was waiting for a good time to escape.”
With the Watcher blocking most of the doorway, Karen had to flatten herself against the frame. Even so, her belt buckle grazed the demon’s thigh. He twisted his head toward her. “Is someone else here?” He jabbed his clawed hand at Karen, but she dove into the hall just in time, hitting the floor with a grunt.
“Someone is here!” Bending over and waving his arms, the demon searched for invisible intruders. Karen scooted away on her backside, but she didn’t have time to scramble to her feet. The Watcher pursed his lips and whistled a long, piercing signal. “Iridian!” he called. “Come!”
Catherine grabbed up Pebbles. “Hold on tight!” She dashed out of the room toward an exit door at the end of the hall.
In a flash of white armor, the Watcher flew after them, catching up in seconds. He grabbed Catherine by the scruff of her jacket and lifted her off the floor, making her feet dangle inches from the tile. Pebbles let out a terrified wail. Catherine wrapped her arms around the girl even more tightly as the Watcher stood near the door, stroking his chin. “Trying to escape was a foolish move. Maybe I should send you back to your people with a few broken bones to show our displeasure.”
Karen jumped to her feet and joined Marilyn and Shiloh in a huddle, so close to the demon its shadow covered their bodies. Marilyn placed a hand on each girl’s head. “We have to separate,” she whispered, her words nearly drowned by Pebbles’s crying. “I’ll try to save Catherine and Pebbles. You two look for Ashley.”
Iridian bounded into the hallway, the red colors in his coat glowing.
Marilyn sneaked past the Watcher and slammed the door to the furnace room, then ran toward the stairwell, clacking her shoes loudly.
The Watcher pointed in the direction of the noise. “Iridian! Fetch!”
The dog lunged ahead, galloping like a racehorse. Marilyn made a sharp turn toward the stairs but slipped and crashed into the wall.
Karen was about to cry out, but Shiloh clamped a hand over her mouth. Pebbles screamed. The Watcher set Catherine down near the wall. “Stay there and keep her quiet!” he ordered. Catherine hugged Pebbles to her chest.
The dog leaped on Marilyn and wrapped his massive jaws around her throat, thrashing her twice before dragging her back to the Watcher, a trail of blood marking their path. Marilyn hung limply from his mouth, her eyes closed. The rubellite pendant dangled from her neck, the bottom tip scraping the floor.
Shiloh hustled Karen past Iridian, her mouth close to Karen’s ear. “He can’t bark or chase us,” she whispered, pointing at the stairwell. “Let’s get out of sight.”
The Watcher groped around the dog’s jaws. “What did you catch? Ah! Feels like a human.” His fingers ran through Marilyn’s hair. “A woman, I think.” As his hand drew near her throat, the demon smiled. “I think you might have played too rough, little puppy. What a shame. But I suppose this one’s death will be enough punishment. We’ll just deliver her body when we release our two prisoners.”
Karen’s heart felt like it slid up into her throat, beating so hard she could barely breathe. When they arrived at the stairs, Shiloh placed her hands on Karen’s cheeks and looked her in the eye. “We can’t help Mrs. Bannister now,” she whispered. Shiloh’s hands were cool and calm, and only a trickle of sweat on her brow revealed any hint of worry. “It’s up to us to find Ashley. Do you understand?”
Karen gulped and nodded, but her voice was still buried in her throat. Her whole body trembled as the demon carried Catherine and Pebbles through the exit door, the dog dragging Marilyn in his wake.
Shiloh took her hand. “Try not to worry. Forty years in the circles taught me one thing; never doubt God, no matter how bad things look.”
Karen’s heart slowed enough to let her squeak out a reply. “They . . . They can’t look much worse.”
Shiloh nodded toward a set of wooden doors, one of the few passageways they had not yet explored. “It’s ajar,” she whispered, then peeked inside. Her hand tightened around Karen’s. “I saw a shadow . . . and a black dress.”
Karen backed away from the door, her voice still feeble. “Is it Morgan?”
“They’re coming out!” Shiloh jerked Karen’s hand. “Quick! Up the stairs!”
Ashley plugged two wires together in her restoration box. “There’s only one problem. My computers were destroyed in Montana, so I don’t have the processing power to decode Devin’s body.” She lifted a circuit board from the box. “This unit has a microprocessor that I used when the device was in prototype phase, back when I was restoring mice. It’s programmed to do the job, but it’ll take hours to work on a dragon. I really need Larry, my supercomputer, to do it quicker.”
Shelly’s red pupils pulsed, a wicked smile spreading across her face. Morgan was still in full control. “Can you send data to Larry through your tooth transmitter?”
“Tooth transmitter?” Ashley cocked her head to one side. “What are you talking about?”
Morgan scowled. “Oh, don’t play dumb, my little brainiac. Do you think Samyaza is incapable of intercepting your transmissions? We have been listening to your coded messages. Quite ingenious, but not unexpected from someone like you.”
Ashley set her fingers on her cheek. “So you let the messages go through? Why?”
“Because it suited my purposes perfectly. Your handheld computer would have brought them too quickly, but your clever clues drew all the dragons here at exactly the time I wanted them to arrive. The Watchers are merely waiting for Devin and my other reinforcements to attack en masse.”
Ashley tapped her jaw. “Larry!” she shouted. “It’s a trap. Tell the dragons to pull back!”
“Too late, my dear.” Morgan swept her arm toward the hole in the wall. “As you can see, the battle is already engaged. The dragons cannot retreat now.”
Outside, streams of fire and darkness clashed in midair. On the ground, a Watcher glided by carrying a woman and a child, followed by a dog dragging another woman’s body.
Ashley laid her hands on the table. “He has Pebbles!”
Walter shielded his eyes from the sun’s glare. “He’s got my mom, too. But what’s that dog carrying?” He laid a hand on his stomach. “It . . . It looks like Billy’s mom.”
“They are taking the prisoners to your friends.” Morgan grabbed one of the rejected lenses and broke it on the table, leaving a sharp fragment in her hand that she wielded like a weapon. Her face stayed perfectly calm. “I kept my part of the bargain. Now it’s your turn.”
Walter flared his nose. “Don’t be afraid of this chicken-hearted witch, Ashley! Break the candlestone and run for it! I’ll make sure she doesn’t follow you.”
Snatching a handful of Walter’s hair, Morgan pulled his head back, stretching his neck. She pressed the glass fragment against his throat, drawing a trickle of blood. She glared at Ashley. “Finish . . . the . . . job.”
“All right, all right. Don’t hurt him.” Ashley searched the table for a sharp instrument, anything with a point. Her glance landed on a screwdriver. She picked up one of the more polished lenses and checked her reflection, angling the glass to show the inside of her mouth. She inserted the screwdriver and popped out her tooth transmitter, then laid it in her palm and talked to it. “Larry. Listen. The receiver’s not in my mouth anymore, so I won’t be able to hear your answer. I’m going to modulate the data to you through this transmitter. Run it through the alpha/ omega algorithms and send me back the stream in binary.”
Ash
ley used the screwdriver to pry a microchip out of the open restoration box, then set the transmitter chip in the gap. Grabbing a couple of discarded wires and a soldering iron, she talked while she worked. “The new chip doesn’t have the same prongs, so I have to hardwire the I/O.”
As smoke rose from the soldering iron, Ashley’s shirt dampened. “It’s crude technology,” she said, “but it should work.” Finally, she laid her tools down. “I have to break the candlestone to let him out, so there’ll be no going back. I also don’t know how much ionic energy is left in the nuclear core. I haven’t recharged it with photoreceptors. Even if it didn’t leak during the earthquake, it might not have enough juice to complete the restoration.”
Morgan pulled Walter’s head back farther. “If it doesn’t work, then you will have broken our deal, and I will no longer be bound to it. Walter will die, and you’ll be next.”
Walter bared his teeth. The jagged glass dug deeper, and a faster flow of blood painted a red ribbon down his neck.
Ashley placed the candlestone in one end of the box next to the glass collection tube and aimed the restoration light at the tube’s exit point. She poised her screwdriver on top of the gem and struck the top with a hammer, driving it through the crystal and slicing it into jagged halves. A dazzling eruption of sparkling light flowed into the tube, and seconds later began spilling out the other side into the glow of the restoration ray. The sparkles seemed to pile up into a tall column, each one zipping into an assigned position, like an animated jigsaw puzzle putting itself together. Once a sparkle found its place, it flickered out, leaving a solid piece behind, a reddish-brown fragment of dragon flesh. As the pieces collected, the shape grew slowly, expanding to fill half the room.
Slowed by the altered data transmission, the restoration process took longer than it ever had in the Montana laboratory. And, after all, this was the biggest thing Ashley had ever restored.
As the shape solidified, the dragon began to move, awkwardly testing its weight and lowering its head and long neck to avoid the ceiling. He seemed covered with reflecting sequins, glittering from the tip of his snout to the abrupt end of his tail, which Walter had severed in their last battle. A crack appeared in the pattern on one of his forelegs, a gash also provided by Walter. Finally, when the last sparkle of light winked off, the dragon let out a terrible roar. “Where is that little brat who trapped me in there?”
Walter gulped. The long neck swung the dragon’s head around. His red eyes flamed with vengeance. Morgan released Walter’s hair, and he fell to the floor, clutching the wound on his neck. “Devin,” Morgan said in a singsong voice, “I’m glad to see your anger in full bloom. You’ll need it for the battle ahead.”
“I want to make a torch out of that boy first.” Devin sent a sizzling blast of fire toward Walter, but he rolled out of the way just in time. The volley splashed against the wall, leaving a smoldering hole. Some of the fiery drops spattered on strewn paperwork, igniting several small blazes.
Morgan held up her hands. “Patience, Devin. He has agreed to remain my prisoner, so I will deal with him in due time.”
Walter scrambled to his feet and scooted over to Ashley. He gave her a healthy shove toward the gaping hole in the wall. “You did your part, now get going. I’ll handle this overgrown lizard.”
Ashley set her feet. “But I can’t leave you with—”
“That was the deal!” Walter pushed her again. “Go! With the battle raging out there, they’ll need you to heal the wounded.”
Ashley ran to the hole in the wall, pausing at the crumbling frame to look back. With smoke from the fires filling the room, a mist of gray veiled Walter’s face. She tried to smile, but her lips could only tremble. “Dragon riding tonight,” she said, pointing at him. “Don’t stand me up.” She ducked behind the exterior wall and peeked back in, biting her finger as the dragon’s head floated around the smoky room.
Walter picked up the two halves of the candlestone and fitted them back together. He held the restored gem, pinching it to keep it in place. “How do you feel now, snake?”
Devin flicked out his tongue. “Except for the wounds you gave me, fine.”
“Enough chitchat!” Morgan pushed a long black sleeve up to her elbow, exposing Shelly’s delicate forearm. “The candlestone has lost its power, so Walter is defenseless.” She pointed toward the hole in the wall. “Now get out there and aid the Watchers. My army is awaiting your arrival to attack, and you will soon activate my secret weapon.”
Devin lumbered from the room, keeping his wings folded in to fit through the hole in the wall. Ashley lurched to the side, pressing her hand against her chest to quiet her heart. Devin came within inches, but he didn’t see her. The near miss made her feel sick. Steeling her courage again, she peeked back into the room.
Walter coughed, waving at the thickening smoke. “Army? What army?”
“The Lord Satan has sent reinforcements, but since they are not as powerful as the Watchers, he would not allow them to come until I had a dragon on my side. You will soon see why.” Morgan grabbed the nape of his neck and led him toward the door to the hallway. “This way. I want Samyaza to join us.”
When they left the room, Ashley stepped back in. She batted at the smoke and coughed, tasting a chemical coating on her tongue. She wanted to follow, but Walter was right; they needed her help with the wounded. Holding her breath, she dashed past the growing fire and yanked the tooth transmitter from the restoration machine. When she broke back through the wall of smoke, she stopped outside and pushed the transmitter between two bottom molars and lodged it in place with her tongue and upper teeth.
Gasping for breath, she tapped her jaw. “Larry?” She coughed deeply, dropping to her hands and knees. “I need your help.”
The computer’s voice buzzed in the back of her mouth.
“Ashley, I detect extreme distress. Initiating security measures.”
“No! Don’t lock me out!” She coughed again, barely able to speak. “Pass code . . . beta . . . omicron . . . gamma.”
“Security lockdown terminated. How may I help you?”
With a final cough, Ashley cleared the tickle from her throat and rose to her feet. “Just keep listening.” A loud shriek pierced the sky, and a ball of fire shot over Ashley’s head. She sprinted toward the source of the sound, her voice shaking as she ran. “We’re all pretty frazzled, so we may need your logical brain to keep us cool.”
A hideous, serpent-like monster dove at her, black-eyed with dual fangs in its gaping mouth. She dropped to the ground and rolled out of the way just in time. Fire spewed over her body, engulfing the beast in flames. A familiar voice shouted from a circling dragon. “Are you all right, Miss?”
Ashley stood and brushed off her clothes. She recognized Legossi’s flying style, smooth and graceful. She banked, taking the knight in a wide circle, obviously staying in the air in case of another attack. “I’m okay, Sir Barlow,” Ashley shouted. “What was that thing? It wasn’t a Watcher.”
With a flurry of wings, Legossi finished the circuit, bringing the knight back into view. “No, Miss,” he said, speaking rapidly. “A new kind of demon has begun to rise from the lake. Foul creatures, to be sure. They have strange powers we are just learning to understand. I don’t know how long we can last.”
Legossi took him high into the air again. Ashley yelled at the top of her lungs, jumping into the air. “Any losses on our side?”
Swerving at a sharp angle, Legossi swooped down. “Two dragons missing,” Barlow said as he approached. His face came clearly into view, his eyes wide with distress. “And Marilyn is dead.” Legossi flapped her wings and shot back into the air. “Thigocia is in the heat of battle,” he called back as they rose higher. “She cannot heal her, so you’re Marilyn’s only hope.”
Barlow guided Legossi away, her scales flashing as they surged toward a cluster of dragons in the distance. Underneath the battle, a small group of humans darted around in a grassy field near the edge of
a forest. Ashley broke into a dead run, wincing as she passed the hideous, burning demon, wondering how an evil spirit could catch on fire.
She shook the image out of her mind and locked her gaze on the humans as she sprinted down the path to the lake. Would she have enough strength to endure another healing procedure? Might Marilyn be too far gone to save? Who would use the sword to generate the healing energy? The professor?
She kicked into her highest gear. There was only one way to find out.
Chapter 17
THE DEADLIEST POISON
Walter stood on the gravel path between Shelly, still possessed by Morgan’s evil spirit, and a Watcher. He stared at the battlefield on the border between war and peace. Behind him was the door to the visitor center, a symbol of peace and security. Before him, brave dragons and humans fought for the safety of millions who were still under orders to remain in their homes, cruelly unaware that their lives hung in the balance in this battle between good and evil.
While the Watchers engaged several dragons in battle high in the sky, Devin isolated another in a one-on-one shootout. His dexterity in flight was far better than Walter expected. What would it be like for Clefspeare himself to possess that magnificent body and combine such raw, brutal force with experience and wisdom?
Devin collided with the smaller female, then whipped around and slapped her wings with his shortened tail. She tumbled in flight, spun downward, and plunged into the lake, her body sending up a geyser-like splash. Walter cringed. If this kept up, the battle wouldn’t last much longer.
Suddenly, the lake seemed to boil, huge bubbles popping on the surface. Then, from each bubble, a black snake-like creature arose, slithering through the air as if swimming upstream. It was hard to tell how big they were from so far away, maybe six to eight feet long, each one with a set of sharp-tipped black wings.
“My endgame strategy is at hand,” Shelly crooned in her Morgan-possessed voice. “The queen will now send her knights across the board. Since Devin has arrived, the dark angels can join in battle.”