Joshua and the Lightning Road (7 page)

The promise of escape brought me new energy, and we ran in silence for a long time.

Chooga-chooga
.

In the feeble light from the flashlight and orb, the tunnel’s roof shook over my head as we reached the power mill and ran faster. Chunks of mud fell on my face. I brushed them away, cold and mucky on my fingers.

Long after the sounds of the power mill fled, Sam suddenly stopped. I ran into him, banging my head against his. Charlie ran into me and I dropped the orb, sure we’d all be blasted to bits, but instead, it rolled along the dirt floor like a giant neon marble. Sam snatched it up and curled his fingers tight around it. Had he wanted it all along? Did he really know what it could do? I waited for him to say something as the orb distracted me. He hesitated, then handed it to me.

“Keep it safe. Don’t let anyone get ahold of it.”

I pushed the orb back in my pocket and wiped the sweat off my face, dying for a fresh breeze to replace the damp tunnel air filling my lungs.

Charlie bent over, hands on his knees, to catch his breath. “Where are we, Sam?”

“Near the end of an old tunnel that once ran between the bakehouse and the power mill. It’s not in use anymore and they blocked it off here.”

Twittering squeaks punched the air behind us.

“What was that?” I said. Sam swung the flashlight around. It bounced off the walls, and beyond it the black spread deep, ready to suck us up.

“Tunnel rats,” Sam said. The squeaks stopped.

“Like the sewer rats?” The Auctioneer’s threats came back to me.

He nodded and put a finger to his lips. Charlie and I backed up.

A chitter exploded nearby, and Sam yelled, “Run!”

I needed no motivation, imagining a monster rodent chewing my fingers and nose—and dashed after Sam with Charlie next to me.

The squeaks came faster, angry for having to chase us. I dared a peek behind me. White ghosts danced up and down—only they weren’t ghosts at all, but giant rat teeth chomping at us, eager for a bite of boy. Behind those teeth was a determined diner. I was just as determined to not be eaten.

Whiskers scraped the back of my neck and air swished my arms as teeth swiped at us.

“Faster!” I shoved Sam on. Charlie looked behind and yelled, “
Zut! Zut!
”

My tired legs couldn’t possibly run faster, but with death at my feet I could fly.

The
chittering
soon faded. My shirt stuck to me with ripe sweat and my lungs burned from our pace, but better to hurt to breathe than not breathe at all.

Sam pointed the flashlight at rungs fastened into the wall and flung himself up them, pushing on a handle above. A door popped open. “Come on!”

Mad clicking of teeth grew closer and I scrambled after him, eager to escape the muddy tunnel. Charlie followed. Sam slammed the lid down. A squeal pierced the air.

Sam cranked the lid handle tight. “It can’t get us now,” he said.

We found ourselves in woods that stretched out in every direction. The blue sun hung over us in an early morning lavender sky as tentacles of fog reached up to grab it. The mist rolled heavy on the forest floor, slinking between crooked trees that offered up their broken arms to the sky and to the earth where they curved down like protective robes. These gray and white cobbled trees stood like old wizards who’d lost their magical power and were left here to die. Goosebumps shot down my arms from the creepy woods, but it was better than the power mill.

I flung myself on the ground, leaned against a tree to catch my breath, and ran my fingers over the furry moss that smelled of fresh-cut grass. A piece of home.

Charlie flopped down beside me, breathing heavy. “
T
rès fatigué
!
Must rest.”

Sam hesitated, looking around. “Not for long.”

“Starving!” Charlie groaned, holding his belly.

“Yeah,” I said. “What’s in that bag?”

Sam drew out what looked like corn dogs and the biscuits I’d eaten in the power mill. “Slug dogs and bong bongs.”

Charlie and I grabbed a slug dog each and chowed down. Sweet and crunchy.

“What are they?” I licked my fingers.

“Boiled slugs, dipped in honey, rolled in crushed acorns, and fried.”

I swallowed hard and Charlie and I cringed at each other. “And the bong bongs?”

“Made from the bong bong tree berry. The shell is crushed to make flour and formed in a ball then the berries are stuffed inside.”

That sounded better. They hadn’t tasted bad in the power mill, just dry. I shoved one down now and chugged water from Sam’s canteen then passed it to Charlie. After my stomach was full I pulled out my pencil and rolled it between my fingers. Drawing always helped me forget things back home when I was upset, and so I drew here on the birch bark of this giant tree. My fingers knew what to draw. It was what Finn and I had talked about making many times: our fort. We dreamed of building it just like a real castle with towers to hide in, flags, and a moat to protect us. I signed it
Joshua was here
.

“Pretty good,” Charlie said, leaning in. “I wish my dad let me take art lessons.” He pulled at a thread on his ripped shirt. “There was a comic book camp at school but I had to do basketball instead.”

“Here. Try.” I handed him the pencil. “Add to mine.”

He studied the pencil, then drew trees around the castle and two figures, one short and one tall, running after his friend. And under
Joshua was here
he added
Charlie too
.

He thrust the pencil back at me and tilted his head, bangs covering one eye. “Pretty pathetic.”

“You just need practice, and now someone will know we were both here together,” I said, and his face brightened at that.

“Looks like King Apollo’s castle,” Sam said, glancing at it, and then in an instant pulled us both up. “Let’s go.”

We trotted after him, but Charlie twisted his ankle and I caught him before he cracked his head into a tree. He cried out and put his full weight on my arm, favoring his good foot, as he hobbled forward.

“I’ll be okay,” he said with a pinched face.

“You need better shoes,” I said.

“Yeah, well that will never happen.”

“How come?”

“We don’t have the money. All my parents do is fight about it.”

“Oh,” I said, sorry I mentioned it.

“I always wanted American brand names like the rich kids at my school. Like you.” He pointed at my clothes and shoes. “But my parents are poor. We live in a tiny apartment so I can go to a good school. I hate it.” He crumpled his hands in fists.

My clothes were something I didn’t think much about. Bo Chez bought me what I wanted as long as it was on sale.

Sam hurried back to us now, and Charlie put more weight on his foot.

“All right?”

Charlie nodded and we took off, a bit slower this time.

I took the slowed pace to dig at Sam for more information. “Are there really Greek gods here?”

He shook his head, switching the food bag to another shoulder. “Not anymore. They fell from power long ago, abandoned Mount Olympus, and lost their immortality.” He blew out a big breath, pushing the never ending mist away. “And now the descendants of the gods rule our lands, like Apollo’s heir runs the Lost Realm and—” Sam sniffed the air and looked wildly about. “Come on!”

He pulled us into the woods and we stumbled after him, the words
Mount Olympus
and
Apollo’s heir
still bursting in my head. This time I set the pace, mindful of Charlie’s sore ankle, peering behind me every few seconds to scan the woods for monsters at our back. My eyes darted to the treetops, expecting a freaky beast to jump on my back and tear me apart.

“How far until we find Finn?”

“We’re in Cypress Woods now,” Sam said in between breaths as we ran. “Your friend is at one of the workhouses or the castle. The bakehouse is closest. Either way, we have to go over Mount Parnassus to find him. It’s two hours by horse on the road so will be longer on foot.”

A mournful coo called in the distance. Another one responded. The mist licked around me like a gray flame and sharp pains pulled at my sides.

“Your friend isn’t the only reason to hurry,” Sam said. “We’ve got to get deep into the woods and take cover. Spies are all around.”

His voice lowered and took on a more ominous tone. “If they find out we’re missing before breakfast, we might not make it.”

***

We lifted unwilling legs up over the tree stumps and straggled over streams where strange things moved about. A fin pushed up from one. A tail flipped from another. Water splashed my jeans, cold and stinging. After that I leapt higher over them, fearful of being pulled down by a watery monster.

The quiet was unsettling with just the thuds of our feet on the mossy ground and the dead trees creaking in the breeze as they towered above. They seemed to move their arms in the mist, reaching out for us as if we could bring them to life. We ran through their graveyard, climbing higher and higher. The floor of the woods spread out as we moved up the mountain. There was no path, but Sam ran as if he knew exactly where he was headed. Finally, he stopped.

“Where are we?” A stitch tugged at my side with a worsening throb, and I was terribly thirsty.

“The Spring of Galene.” He pointed to a pile of rocks. Water bubbled from the top of the big rock in the middle and flowed down into a shiny basin. “A fabled spring that rejuvenates strangers on a long journey.”

Charlie nodded. “But is it safe to drink? Nothing
mysterieux
swimming about in it?” He must’ve noticed the stream-creatures, too.

Sam nodded and picked up a round leaf. He cupped it under the bubbling water and filled it up. He handed it to me, but I hesitated even though my tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth like a piece of paper. Sam shrugged and drank greedily, then Charlie drank. I finally took the leaf and drank too. A hint of sweet honey lingered on my tongue and flowed through me with healing warmth as energy surged in me.

“What was the real god Apollo like?” I said as Sam filled up the canteen from the spring.

Sam smiled, and it looked strange on his sad face. “He was the god of light, truth, music, and healing. They said he could prophesize the future, and he taught your people about medicine.” His face fell then. “But he was also the god of plagues and death like his twin Artemis.”

What was Sam’s role here that he knew so much? “How do you about all this?”

“
O
ui
,
”
Charlie
said
with
a
frown
.

Sam didn’t answer, then opened his mouth as if to tell us but stiffened, sniffed the air, and waved a hand our way. “Let’s go! The cadmean beasts are close.”

We could only go so fast. The mist spread thick through the ash colored woods, and somewhere beyond the nothingness could be giant, red-eyed beasts eager to rip us apart.

It wasn’t long until Sam stopped fast and took a deep sniff. “By the gods, hurry!”

He turned to his left and ran. Charlie and I were right behind him when a snarl cut through the silent vapor.

A pair of red eyes burned down at us. Then another. And another.

Trouble was here—stalking us through the mist.

Charlie, Sam, and I backed up to one another. Three cadmean beasts glared down at us, their mouths dripping with red foam. I didn’t want to be part of that foam.

The tallest one pricked its ears back and forth, and then snorted. Its breath pulsed in the air to the beat of its paw thumping the ground as curved claws scraped deep lines in the dirt.

“Don’t hurt us,” I said out loud. Instinct drove me to keep talking. “Leave us alone and we’ll leave you alone.”

The leader threw its nose up in the air and howled.

“You’re just making it mad,” Charlie said as he and Sam backed away.

The beast spoke, and to my shock, I understood him clearly. “As if you runts could do anything to us. We rule this forest, Reeker meat.”

The other beasts joined their leader in mocking us. “Reeker meat! Reeker meat!”

“Joshua—” Sam whispered behind me, but I cut him off with a glance.

“We’re not Reeker meat.”

“What?” Sam and Charlie’s mouths hung open. The beasts stepped forward. We all stepped back.

“
Mon dieu
,” Charlie said. “Why did you say that?”

“Didn’t you hear them?” I said.

Sam and Charlie’s gaze flicked to the beasts and back to me again.

“You’re a malumpus-tongue,” Sam said, as if that had some meaning to me.

I was as shocked as they. If beasts could smile and talk on this world, what else could they do? The beasts continued to laugh.

Charlie said, “What the h—”

“And they’re
not
friendly,” I whispered.

Charlie backed up further as he held onto my shirt, pulling it tight against my skin. “I didn’t think they wanted to play catch.” A branch snapped underfoot and we both flinched.

The trees crowded around us, the deafening quiet of the woods pounding in my ears. Sweat broke out on my lip and I wiped it away. The one beast licked its lips in return, then curled its mouth in an awful grin, exposing vampire dagger teeth.

The beasts inched toward us. “We don’t want to hurt you.” Bluffing still seemed the best idea.

“And you won’t, my tasty morsels.” The leader panted hungrily.

The lightning orb.
I had to trust in Bo Chez’s story and believe all its stormy, electric power could help us. But Sam had said the Greek gods lost their powers.
Let it do something! And if it breaks, I’m sorry, Bo Chez!

Charlie clung to my arm so tight it cramped. Fire flashed out of the leader’s mouth, and a long flame roared toward us, cutting through the mist like a fire sword. All three of us stumbled back.

The beast pack leapt toward us like hairy dragons. The moss beneath our feet snapped with fire and heat roasted my face and arms. Fire raced up the wizard trees, and their wood shrieked in splitting agony.