Sapphira joined her. “I thought he looked familiar, too. They’re probably one and the same.”
“If so,” Bonnie said, “it would make sense for the dragon to have the book open to his page.”
“But he looked younger when he came out of the statue, maybe early twenties.”
“Shhh!” Bonnie pointed at the scene. “Look!”
Timothy held a dagger against the girl’s throat. A woman shuffled toward him on her knees, her hands clasped, while another man looked on. Suddenly, Timothy pushed the girl toward the woman and dashed into the cave. The light transformed into a rush of flames. As cries of “Timothy! No!” rang out, the scene crumbled and fell to the page.
Bonnie tiptoed back to the table and touched the book. “Could this hold the stories behind all the people here?”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
Bonnie studied the page again. Near the bottom, an English entry, penned in lovely script, read:
Makaidos, also known as Timothy. Scheduled to be recalled from the Valley of Souls to Second Eden. Implanted in ovulum. Mounted in transport position. First attempt failed when residents did not call upon him by name. Goliath, also known as Dragon, transported in his place from an alternate ovulum mount. Because of the freedoms granted to Goliath, if he resurrects as a dragon, he will likely retain his memory of his time here and remember that his son also dwells in the valley. Makaidos will also remember this place, but only if those in Second Eden are wise enough to learn of the necessary sacrifice. Otherwise, he will not survive.
She looked at the array of wooden mounts on the table, one holding the egg the dragon had made. Were the others the “alternate” mounts? Could this place be a resurrection portal of some kind? She nudged Sapphira and whispered, “Is your eyesight sharper here?”
“I think so. And I feel a heaviness. It’s a portal, for sure.”
A flicker of light caught Bonnie’s attention. She looked down the hallway. Nothing but darkness.
She lowered her voice even further. “Should we see where that corridor goes?”
Sapphira matched her tone. “I’m thinking the book might tell us. It’s safer that way.”
“I wonder if it has an index of some kind.” Bonnie marked the page with one finger, pressed another finger behind the last page, and flipped to the back of the book. As before, dozens of odd symbols covered the parchment, but these seemed more organized, as if lined up in two columns. She touched a symbol at the top that appeared to be one of the column headings, larger and darker than the entries beneath it.
The book’s voice returned. “Destination Earth.”
She touched the other heading. Again, the voice rose. “Destination Second Eden.”
“Look.” Bonnie pointed at the first column. “This list is a lot shorter than the other one.”
“I think I’m getting the picture.” Sapphira set her finger on a symbol in the Earth column. “Try this one.”
As soon as Bonnie touched the entry, the voice responded in monotone. “Lazarus of Bethany. Called back to Earth by the Son of God.”
She moved her finger to another line.
“Dorcas, otherwise known as Tabitha. Called back to Earth by Peter, the apostle.”
Bonnie stared at Sapphira. “This is a list of resurrections!”
“No wonder it’s short. There probably haven’t been that many bodily resurrections. How many are listed here? Fifty, maybe?”
“Looks like it.” Bonnie touched a symbol closer to the bottom, a small bird.
“Bonnie Conner, otherwise known as Bonnie Silver. Called back to Earth by Ashley Stalworth, dragon healer.”
Now staring at the mounted egg, Bonnie swallowed through a lump. What could it mean? Had she come to this place? Had she been a statue, dragged to this room by the dragon and placed inside an egg? But how could that be? She had traveled to Heaven. She had seen Jesus and rested in his embrace. Could it all have been a dream?
She touched the entry again. “I wonder how we can find the right page that will tell what happened to me.”
The parchment bent. As Bonnie withdrew her hand, the pages flipped and stopped at a point near the back of the book. She touched one of the symbols, a humanlike figure, and, as before, the characters rose from the page and painted a scene, the quaint village in the sixth circle of Hades, complete with the street, the pitcher pump, and the building where Bonnie and Shiloh tried to escape through an electrified doorway.
A man appeared out of nowhere, a tall man walking slowly toward her. An aura of light surrounded him from head to toe, much brighter around his face, blurring his features.
The miniature Bonnie called out, “Jesus, help me!”
The man drew closer and sang out, “Contentment holds eternal keys to days of peace that never pass.”
As her breathing eased, Bonnie whispered, “Contentment,” and closed her eyes.
The man leaned over, scooped her spirit effortlessly into his arms, leaving her dead body behind. He kissed her forehead. “Come, my child, my beloved lamb, and see what awaits you in your final resting place.”
As the man held her aloft, the village faded away. Seconds later, a new scene took shape, a dazzling city with streets of gold, gem-coated ivory buildings, and a lush tree heavy with enormous fruit. People strolled along the streets, singing and talking, each one with a brilliant smile.
The man covered Bonnie’s mouth with his own, a kiss of sorts, but much more than a kiss, the passing of breath from one soul to another. As he pulled his head back, she gasped and inhaled. As gentle as a first-time father with a newborn, he set her down feetfirst. She looked all around, her eyes wide. The man pointed at various people, whispering to her, as if telling her each person’s name.
Finally, she turned and gazed at him, her eyes sparkling. “Jesus?”
“Yes, little lamb,” he said, extending his arms.
She leaped into his embrace and disappeared for a moment within the light. When he released her, she bounced on her toes. “Am I in Heaven?”
His voice, fine and resonant, seemed peaceful, unhurried. “You are at Heaven’s boundary so that I may give you this glimpse of what awaits you. Remember what you have seen, for you will need this vision to encourage another child of mine in the near future.”
“So I’m not staying?” Her head drooped a fraction.
Smiling, he set his finger under her chin. “After one of my angels leads you on a brief tour, I will take you to the Valley of Souls where you will await your resurrection to Earth. When you rise, you will not remember that valley at all, for it is a land between the worlds where all events are lost, save for what is recorded in Abaddon’s log book.”
As if blown by the majestic voice, the book’s projected image faded away.
“Abaddon?” Sapphira asked. “That name sounds familiar.”
Bonnie rolled her eyes upward as she tried to recall the Scriptures. “In Revelation, Abaddon is the angel of the abyss. In the Old Testament, the name was used side by side with Death and Sheol.”
“Do you think he’s the dragon?”
“Maybe.” Bonnie touched her chin, repeating the words from the vision. A land between the worlds, a place to await a resurrection. So she really was here!
After finding Makaidos’s page again, she kept her finger there and flipped back to the index. “Let’s see what the other column is all about.” She touched one of the symbols near the center of the list.
“Unborn hybrid,” the voice said. “Daughter of Tamara, the former dragon. Killed in the womb.”
Bonnie touched the name again. The book flipped back to the appropriate page, but this time, instead of characters, English words spelled out the logged entry.
This is an unusual case. The female child came to me as a hybrid, part dragon and part human, as if an incomplete metamorphosis had taken place. Although she was weak and malformed, the spirit in her pulsed with a radiance I have rarely seen. Because of her dual natures, I decided not t
o give her a rubellite ring as I had given the human child who became Angel, that is, the unborn offspring of Rebekah, the former dragon. Instead, I assigned two companions to her, one of dragon essence and one of human essence, and they seemed at odds with one another immediately. I granted one the right to name the child, and it decided immediately, much earlier than the usual one-year standard. Why it chose “Listener,” I do not yet know. I then sent the child to Second Eden.
“What about my father?” Bonnie turned back to the index. “If he’s in this place, maybe Abaddon wrote about him.”
Sapphira set a hand on Bonnie’s arm. “I thought I saw something, a flash of light down the hall.”
Bonnie looked that way. “I saw it earlier. I’ll hurry.”
She touched several entries in the first column in rapid succession, listening to each name the book announced, but none seemed familiar. Then, beginning at the bottom of the second column, she touched those entries until it said, “Matthew Conner. Killed by Devin the dragon slayer.”
When she touched the entry a second time, the book flipped back a few leaves of parchment. Again, the page contained only words.
After I received Matthew Conner and used my rhetoric to turn him into stone, he escaped, and I have not been able to locate him. Because the land of Second Eden cries out for his medical expertise, he was scheduled to go there at this time of danger. I will continue to search for him, for the days in that land continue to darken. Without him, many could die.
Sapphira jerked Bonnie’s arm and hissed, “Someone’s coming.”
Bonnie flipped the book to Makaidos’s page and ran with Sapphira back to the column. As they hid behind it, Bonnie tried to settle her breathing, but to little avail. Knowing now that the dragon was probably the dreaded Abaddon, a powerful angel, her heart thumped wildly.
As before, lantern light drew close and filled the hallway, ushering in the draconic shadow. The new light played on the walls, but something was different, a tiny competing shadow.
Bonnie looked back at the table and gulped. The candle! It was still lit!
She grabbed Sapphira’s knee and pointed. With a wave of her hand, Sapphira whispered, “Extinguish.” The candle’s flame withered and disappeared.
The dragon shuffled into the room and set the lantern on the table along with a large hourglass. His scaly brow arched down. Picking up the candle, he stared at a thin string of smoke rising from the wick.
His blue eyebeams flicked on again. “Intruder,” he said with a calm voice, “if you insist on snooping and stealth, then you are proving your lack of love for truth. Those of high character live in the light, unashamed of being seen no matter where they go. I entreat you, in the name of integrity and incorruptibility, make the choice to show yourself, and your punishment will not be pitiless. If you ply a treacherous trade in this domain, you will surely fail, and the injury will come upon your own head. So I will not seek for you. The choice is yours.”
Chapter 10
Abaddon’s Lair
Bonnie measured the dragon’s words. Of course she wasn’t being treacherous, but she didn’t want to suffer punishment, severe or not. Yet, if he was Abaddon, he was really an angel, but was Abaddon a good angel or a fallen angel? She couldn’t remember if the Bible made that clear.
She looked at Sapphira, who was now staring straight at her. Sapphira raised her hand, as if conveying a stop sign. Silently they agreed to take their chances and wait where they were.
The dragon flicked off his beams and let out a long, “Hmmm.”
Turning back to the table, he flipped over the hourglass. Sand trickled through the pinched glass and collected in the lower half, each grain sparkling as if electrically charged.
“The time of resurrection approaches,” the dragon said. “When the last grain falls, the ceremony in Second Eden will commence, and those on the table who are called from that realm will rise to resume life there. But what brings life to them will bring strife to others. If you are in this chamber when the table is energized by power from on high, and you are unprepared, you will die.” Breathing a spark-filled stream, the dragon turned and walked toward the hall.
When the lantern light died away, Sapphira rose and lit up one of her fingers. “Should we try to open the portal here? That would be the quickest way out, and maybe we could help the people of Second Eden.”
Bonnie scooted to the table and eyed the hourglass. At the rate the sand fell, it looked like they had at least several minutes. “We have to get my father to give himself up to the dragon. Second Eden needs a doctor.”
“But we’d have to find both your father and Abaddon before time runs out.” Sapphira touched the bottle of liquid the dragon used to put Timothy into an ovulum. “We could try to do it ourselves.”
“Should we follow the dragon?” Bonnie asked. “Maybe he would help us if he thought I could talk my father into going.”
Lighting a fireball in her hand, Sapphira looked around the room. “I don’t see any other way to get out, so following him makes sense.”
“Then we’d better take this.” Bonnie picked up the hourglass. From top to bottom, it was about the size of her head. “That way we’ll know how much time we have.”
“Fair enough. He probably left it here for us anyway.”
Sapphira led the way through the hall. With their wet shoes squeaking on the stone floor, they had to soften their steps. Even the weakest squish echoed in the cavernous corridor.
A warm breeze blew past. Although permeated by camphor and garlic, it felt good as it swept through their wet clothes. Bonnie touched her sweatshirt, merely damp now. The humidity in this place had to be extremely low for it to dry that quickly.
As Sapphira’s fireball washed the hallway in pulsing light, Bonnie scanned the surroundings. Vibrant frescoes decorated each side wall—men and women rising from coffins and hospital beds, babies hatching from plant sacs, and a man walking out of a cave, bound like a mummy in linen wrappings.
At the border of each mural, a painting of an open door ushered in the next fresco. The doors were old and wooden with hinged iron knockers, and a dragon ducked his head to pass through. Each dragon at each door carried a lantern at eye level, the glow extending behind him halfway across the previous mural and also forward to meet the glow from the next dragon’s lantern. The series of dragons seemed to be a guide to passersby as they walked through the corridor in this museum of resurrection.
Bonnie looked from side to side, trying to find any of the biblical accounts of resurrection. One might have been Lazarus coming out of his tomb, but without labels it was impossible to tell for certain.
Soon, a new arc of light came into view far ahead. As the flickering aura bobbed up and down with the dragon’s now familiar gait, Sapphira blew out her fireball. They slowed their pace further.
After a few more seconds, Bonnie spotted the dragon. An old wooden door swung out on its own, and he disappeared through the opening, leaving her and Sapphira in the retreating light of his lantern.
A shiver ran across Bonnie’s skin. She felt like a character in one of the murals, or a lost museum patron trying to find the exit. It seemed that Abaddon was leading them along. He had even left the door open. They had to keep following. They didn’t have much choice.
Still pressing their shoes down quietly, Bonnie and Sapphira kept pace. After traversing another long hall, this one without frescoes, they stopped at a second door. This one was closed, and the dragon’s lantern hung on a hook attached to the ceiling. A long shepherd’s hook leaned against the wall next to the doorjamb. With the warm breeze still flowing, the lantern swung lazily from its perch.
Sapphira grasped a metal handle and pushed the door, then pulled, but it wouldn’t budge. “Should we look for another exit?”
“It doesn’t make sense,” Bonnie said. “I think Abaddon was leading us. He even left a lantern here, so why would he give us a dead end now?”
“A test?” Sapphira asked.
/> “He did talk about a test to prove wisdom.”
Sapphira knitted her brow. “Just what we need. We’re in a hurry to save lives, and this dragon wants us to solve a puzzle.”
“But to him we’re intruders. Why shouldn’t we have to pass a test?”
Sapphira blew out a sigh. “Okay. Time’s running out. What could the test be?”
“Do you sense a portal?”
Sapphira furrowed her brow for a moment before shaking her head. “It seems normal.”
“A secret word, maybe?”
“I have no idea what it would be. I doubt that ‘Open sesame’ is going to work here.”
Bonnie glanced at the hourglass. It looked like about a fourth of the sand had drained to the bottom. “How about a series of knocks? You know, the six, nine, thirteen combination you told me about.”
“How would Abaddon know about that?”
“It can’t hurt to try, can it?”
“It can hurt.” Sapphira lowered her voice a notch. “He’ll know for sure that we’re here.”
“I think he already knows.”
“Okay. I guess it’s worth a try.” Sapphira stepped up to the door and tapped six times with her knuckles. After a moment’s pause, she tapped nine times, then thirteen.
Nothing happened. It seemed that the door glared at them impatiently.
Sapphira picked up the shepherd’s staff. “Should I knock with this?”
Bonnie touched the curved end. What could it be for? There weren’t any sheep around, and knocking with a staff wouldn’t be any different than knocking with a hand, would it?
As she thought, a slight squeaking sound made her look up. The lantern continued to sway in the breeze.
“I have an idea.” She set the hourglass down, took the staff, and reached the curved end toward the lantern. With a deft twist, she looped the end through the handle and lifted the lantern from the hook. As she brought it down, she backed away from Sapphira, allowing her to take it.