Drawing Bloodlines (11 page)

“Well, hell’s bells,” shouted Alan, “
freaking give it back to them!”

“I agree,” said Angela. “Why are we holding on to it? Just give it back to them.” She tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulders and then plopped down onto one of the plush sofas. “Or better yet … can’t we just leave it for them to find it somewhere? I want this nightmare to be finally over!”

“No!” said Nathan, sternly. “We can’t just give it back to them!” Several faces around the room suddenly contorted, including Malick’s face. “We can’t for the same reason why they are looking for it.”

“What?” asked Alan, dramatically.

“Look, if we give it back to them, they will find the person they are looking for — the one they seek!” pleaded Nathan. “We could be putting someone in danger — possibly someone we don’t even know — and I just can’t live with that.”

Alan’s eyes looked as if they were going to bulge out of their sockets. “Well, let me get this straight,” he said, turning to look at Leah. “Lauren, aka Amanda, who is your old roommate, is working with the Fallen Ones to find this m
edallion….”

Slowly, Leah nodded her head.

Alan then turned to frown at Nathan. “And you want us to stay in danger by holding on to the medallion to keep someone safe that we possibly don’t even know….”

Nathan smiled we
akly and then nodded his head.

“And Malick wants us all to go to London to get cloaked so those red hooded priests we saw t
onight can’t track us, even though some of us aren’t even sure we have powers. Have I missed anything?”

“Sounds about right,” said Jonathan, with a big smile. He paused to reposition his glasses. “And, at least for now, it appears the Order isn’t after us anymore. And I’m almost certain that the one they seek has something to do with the prophecy.”

Nathan’s eyes grew big and he shook his head at Jonathan fervently.

“What prophecy?” shouted Lafonda as she turned to gawk at Nathan. “No one said an
ything about a prophecy!”

“What — there’s more?”
cried Alan, plopping down next to Angela. “I think I might need to lie down.”

“You know,” said Jonathan, appearing confused. “I thought you knew about my research — that the new hier
oglyphs we discovered in the Cahokia Caves told a story. A new story about someone to come — the Legend of the Firewalker.”

“I know about your research,” said Lafonda, with a sneer. “And that the Order had sent someone after Dr. Helmsley in the caves that night. But no one said anything about the symbols turning out to be a prophecy.”

Alan’s blue eyes grew wide again and Angela quickly placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “After Dr. Helmsley?” he cried. “This keeps getting better and better. No one said anything about Dr. Helmsley ending up in a coma because she was attacked in the caves!” His hands started to shake and he turned to look at Angela. “So, not only are the Fallen Ones after us, but some symbol-haters called the Order?”

Jonathan’s perky face suddenly frowned underneath his glasses. “No, not exactly symbol-haters, I would say.” His piercing blue eyes soon looked like little daggers as he stared at Malick. “From what I can gather, the Order is a secret s
ociety made up of individuals with abilities similar to ours.”

“There are more freaks running around?” cried Alan, and Angela shoved him at the shoulder.

“I wouldn’t necessarily use the term freak,” continued Jonathan, pausing to adjust his glasses upon his nose. “But yes — Dr. Colvers and I believe they sent one of their members to destroy the hieroglyphs in the Cahokia Caves to prevent anyone from deciphering it.”

“Who the heck is Dr. Colvers?” s
houted Alan. “And why would someone go through all that trouble to destroy some old symbols drawn on some dusty cave wall?”

“Precisely!” said Jonathan, the gleam returning to his eyes. “Dr. Colvers is a professor in the School of Archaeol
ogy, at Oxford University in London …  but has a knack for conspiracy theories, secret organizations, and societies.” He paused, taking a moment to search his pockets. “We weren’t sure, but Dr. Colvers suspected that the Order was probably keeping a watch on us — monitoring our email and reading his online newsletter,
Now Is The Time To Know.”
He paused again after noticing the blank look on everyone’s face. “He really does know a lot about this topic and has a good amount of subscribers to his YouTube videos and his new blog.”

“Sounds like a nut job to me,” said Alan. Angela frowned.

Suddenly, Jonathan had a big smile on his face. “And then we found this!” he said, holding out the shiny, gold necklace from his pocket.

“Wait,” said Angela, abruptly, pointing at the shiny gold charm that dangled from the necklace. “I remember that from the first bonfire at leadership camp. Isn’t that the C
ahokia symbol you said you had trouble deciphering?”

“Yes,” said Jonathan, handing over the necklace so that Angela could see. “It’s the Cahokia American Indian symbol for Firewalker and apparently, it’s also being used as the crest for the Order. Nathan found it in the caves that night after the blonde woman they sent after Dr. Helmsley d
estroyed the symbols. She must have dropped it during the attack.”

Dramatically, Angela tossed the gold necklace onto the small wooden coffee table in front of them and then launched her head back against the leather sofa. “Another blonde?” she asked. “They’re going to start giving us blondes a bad name!”

Jonathan smiled. “And she was quite formidable too,” he added. “Highly trained — she could do Pneuma Novo and was even skilled in acrobatics.” He suddenly had a pensive look on his face. “And she most definitely gave Nathan and I a run for our money.”

“So, what’s a Pneuma Novo?” asked Alan, his eyes gla
zing over. “It sounds like a dance or something.”

“Alan!” shouted Angela, with a frown.

“What?” he said, quickly turning around to face her on the sofa. He shrugged nonchalantly. “Well, it does!”

“Pneuma Novo is what we can do,” responded Jonathan, shaking his head. “It basically means the ability to manip
ulate spirit energy.”

Alan had a blank look on his face and blinked at him a few times before finally speaking. “Oh, okay — well, that’s nice,” he mustered. He sighed. “Any who, at least that should settle all this talk about a prophecy. We shouldn’t have to deal with any more dangerous blondes — at least from the Order — now that the symbols are destroyed.”

“On the contrary!” said Jonathan with a smile. “Our blonde femme fatale may have been successful with destroying a big portion of the hieroglyphs on the cave wall, but it won’t prevent us from deciphering the rest of the prophecy.”

“Umm — what?” asked Malick. He started to fumble nervously with the zipper to his black leather jacket. “B–but you just said that a big portion of the hieroglyphs were d
estroyed.”

“Yeah, I’m confused,” said Angela, pausing to look at Malick. “How do you plan to figure out the prophecy
if it was destroyed?”

“With modern technology!” said Jonathan, cheerfully, holding out his cell phone. He smiled as everyone peered at the well-lit display on his phone. “I took pictures of all the hieroglyphs, as well as pictures of the inscription that a
ppears on the cave wall outside the secret chamber.”

“What!” yelled Alan. His blue eyes appeared to bulge out of their sockets again. “Are you i
nsane? Do you want them to come after us?”

“Oh, calm down, Alan,” said Angela, rolling her eyes. Inquisitively, she turned to look at Jon
athan. “What was the inscription?”

“Uh, I would definitely have to agree with Alan,” inte
rrupted Malick. “You would have to be crazy to keep those pictures.” He looked sternly at him and then at Nathan. “If the Order finds out that you have those pictures, they will come after you!”

“And how exactly do you know that?” asked Jonathan, through discerning eyes. “It appears that you know a lot about the Order.” He turned to look at Nathan and quickly, Nathan shook his head. “And it appears you are more learned in your abilities then the rest of us,” he continued. “What’s the connection? Family, perhaps?”

Malick swallowed hard before diverting his eyes away from Jonathan and then the others. “It’s just that…,” he stumbled. He turned to look at Nathan again. “It just seems that they will do whatever it takes to eliminate a threat.”

“Precisely,” said Jonathan in a derogatory tone. “It a
ppears that the Order is willing to go to great lengths to keep this prophecy from being known and I intend to find out why that is, by completing the prophecy.”

“Enough with the male posturing, already!” shouted Lafonda. “Jonathan, what was on the cave wall? What’s the prophecy?”

Dramatically, Angela tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulders. “Yes, finally!” she said, eagerly. “And what was the inscription outside the secret chamber wall?”

Jonathan took a deep breath and only the sound of the crackling fireplace could be heard in the room. “Okay,” he said, pausing to take a seat on the edge of the coffee table. Angela and Alan leaned in from their seats and Lafonda, Leah, and the others drew closer as well. “Most pe
ople in Cahokia Falls probably have heard of the Legend of the Fallen Ones — the Cahokia American Indian tale about how the world was created and the fallen angels, right?”

Lafonda and Samantha looked at each other and then at Nathan before nodding their heads. “Not so much a tale a
nymore,” said Lafonda, “but yes, continue.”

“See — that’s because that legend is everywhere,” said Jonathan. “Scribed in most of the caves and mounds around this area. It must have been a very popular story amongst the Cahokia people.” He paused, holding up the gold necklace and gold charm from the coffee table. “But unlike the sy
mbols used to represent the Fallen Ones, this was the first time we had ever seen this symbol — the Firewalker symbol — being used by the Cahokia Indians.”

There was a brief silence again as Jonathan took in their inquisitive and eager faces. “We saw it for the first time on the wall outside the secret chamber,” he said, with a smile. “On that wall, around the Firewalker symbol, were five other symbols and an inscription that said he will be known by those around him; a healer, traveler, teacher, a protector and guide.”

“And what in the world is that supposed to mean?” interrupted Alan. Angela quickly shushed him.

Jonathan smiled. “Behind that wall, inside the secret chamber, we discovered a new story that had never been seen before,” he explained. “And see this story — the Le
gend of the Firewalker — wasn’t only new, but different. It was prophetic in nature.”

“Explain,” said Alan, in a sarcastic tone.

“I was just about to,” said Jonathan, pulling up the pictures on his phone. “See, the legend states that in the time before the last battle, he will emerge, igniting the spirit from within, bringing down the veil that separates Spirit and Earth — restoring balance back to the spirit of man.” He paused, trying to enlarge the picture. “And then it says he will wield the power of the three: earth and spirit and fire.”

Angela, Leah, and Lafonda leaned in to get a better look at the picture, but Jonathan was too quick and had already pocketed his cell phone. “So far we were only able to dec
ipher part of the prophecy,” said Jonathan. “But with Dr. Colvers’ help we should be able to interpret the rest.” Poised, Jonathan looked confidently into the faces of everyone in the group. “I’m certain that this legend is a story of someone to come — the Firewalker.”

“Well,” said Angela, teasing her hair. “I’m sure I prob
ably won’t be able to find this on Google, but I’m guessing that in order to be the person mentioned in the prophecy, one must be able to wield fire.”

“Yes,” said Jonathan, with a light laugh. “He will wield the power of the three: earth and spirit and fire.”

“Ugh!” Alan sighed, dramatically. “The prophecy is called the Legend of the Firewalker. So, it should be a no-brainer that the ‘he’ they are referring to is the Firewalker and he can produce fire.”

Silence fell on the room again as everyone’s eyes slowly drifted toward Nathan. “What?” he blurted, abruptly, his face turning red. “Why do you guys assume it’s me?”

“Well, babe,” said Leah, with a shrug. “You are the Firewalker.”

“W–what?” stumbled Nathan. “Don’t you mean a Fir
ewalker?” Frustrated, he frowned at the nodding heads around the room. “Ugh, look guys, Malick can Pneuma Novo fire too!”

“Ha!” blurted Alan
. “I’m not totally convinced it’s a prophecy to begin with, but Malick? The someone to come?” He shook his head and then let out a burst of laughter. “Now we are talking about unbelievable. Trust me, you’re the Firewalker.”

Nathan glanced around the room while ever
yone seemed to agree with Alan. “Ugh!” groaned Nathan.

“But wait,” said Angela. “So, the person the Fallen Ones are looking for, the one they seek, isn’t Nathan?”

“No,” said Jonathan. “I’m pretty sure by now they know Nathan is a Firewalker. And if Nathan was the person they were looking for, they would be coming after him and not the medallion.”