Seal of Solomon (Journeyman Book 2) (8 page)

Joey gently closed his door and Gage pushed off the roof, slamming his. Joey brought up a hand to wipe away a few stray strands of hair onto his face in an attempt to cover his grimace, walking toward the trunk to get out their baggage. Externally he was energized for this trip, but felt drained to the core from all the preparations – nothing that a massive cup of coffee at the gate couldn’t remedy.

He popped open the trunk and removed a large hard-shell suitcase. “Death by daggers packed in here,” Joey said as he placed the heavy luggage on the pavement, steadying it as it tried rolling away. Reaching back in, he pulled out a red and black sports backpack, slinging it over his white tank top. “Decorative stones in this one. I think we are set, my man.”

He motioned for Gage to pluck out his own carry on and with his large arm, he brought out a stylish messenger bag. “I like my manly sack,” Gage said as he brought it over his shoulders, giving it a quick tap.

Joey closed the trunk, staving off a laugh as they set off for the check in counter.

Before long they had both successfully checked their bags and got their boarding passes, making their way through the terminal toward their departure gate. Lying between that, and Joey’s coffee, was a long line of patrons waiting to get through security.

Gage saw a shorter line over to the left with about a third fewer passengers and swaggered his way over to the agent at the entrance. Joey was finishing up a text to Justin – letting him know they made it alright – and didn’t notice Gage had left until he was almost to the agent. Instead of calling out to say something, he just let the big man do his own thing as he got in the longer line himself.

He watched as Gage tried make his way into the line, but the agent stopped him after looking at the boarding pass, indicating for him to join the main line. He shifted his weight, thrusting a hip out and raising his arms behind his head as he tried to put the moves on the older woman, but her sour face indicated that she was having none of it.

“Well that was a waste,” said Gage, joining the line with Joey. “We should really should look into the pre-check thingy.”

Joey shook his head. “Well big G, considering how often we actually fly commercial, I seriously don’t know if it’d be worth it.”

“Remind me to check when we get home,” Gage persisted.

“Fine.”

Ten minutes later, Gage was loading his bag onto the security conveyer before stepping into the full body scanner. He could see that the female agent was eyeing him – not in a suspicious way but in that ‘I want to take you right here, right now’ sort of way. She was fairly pretty and petite; much shorter than he was with long black hair drawn back into a ponytail.

He was in a better mood than during the car ride over, so felt that a little harmless flirting would help elevate it even more.

“Does this thing show
everything?
” he asked her playfully.

She smirked back at him, motioning for him to step out of the unit. “This way, sir. Just stand right here.”

“Name’s Gage,” he said with a subtle smile. She returned the gesture before looking back to her monitor, waiting for the scan to finish processing. A few seconds later a rectangle popped up over the front part of his pants in the diagram. “Sir,” she continued, “I’m going to need you to stand on the gray mat just over there until we can check this area out.”

Gage followed her directions and readied himself for another lady to be surprised by the monster he always carried with him. But, to his disappointment, a behemoth of a male security agent came over to him instead.

Joey was waiting in a seat past the security area, playing with his backpack zipper, when Gage finally traipsed his way out from behind the wall. The look on his face, with cocked brow and low slung smirk said it all.

“Issues?” Joey asked, trying not to smile too big.

Gage slumped in the set next to him and began to put his sneakers back on. “Yeah, seriously! I had to go through the scanner a couple of times because it kept showing something was down there.” He pointed straight down to his crotch. “Officer Dude literally ended up grabbing my shaft and squeezing. Said ‘well now it all makes sense.’ I didn't know what to do.”

“You at a loss? I figure you’d like that sort of thing. You are an attention whore after all,” Joey said with gusto.

“Yeah, yeah. Touché,” Gage muttered so quietly it was barely intelligible. “Now, where’s the coffee at?”

AFTER WAITING IN AN
absurdly long line for a five-dollar cup of coffee and heavy whipping cream, Gage and Joey finally arrived at their boarding gate with about fifteen minutes to spare.

“A15,” Joey said, confirming his ticket with the flight information on the display. “Yup, this is it.”

“At last,” Gage said, wasting no time claiming a seat, Joey putting his bag between them and taking a seat on the next chair. It was good to just sit for a minute and recuperate, irritation mounting from dumb people who thought they were the only ones walking around in the airport – aimless and constantly changing direction right in front of him. One guy nearly got a beat down when some of Gage’s pumpkin spice latte spilled out onto the terminal tile and he called him out. All it took was his trademark stare though to get the guy to back down.

“I don’t see how ya drink plain coffee, J.”

“What was that?” he asked, looking up from a quick scan of his notebook.

“Your cup of Joe. I dunno how ya like it without sugar. Or flavor for that matter.”

“Guess it’s an acquired taste,” Joey said, realizing Gage was trying to make small talk. He always did in situations where he had to wait. Saying he was vastly impatient without much of an attention span would be an understatement. It didn’t matter much though, as Joey found it pretty damn cute – though he would never use that word to describe Gage publicly.

“Why’s it called that anyway? Cup of Joe? What if I wanted to call mine a cup of Gage? Or Joey?”

Joey busted out laughing. “Are you being serious right now?”

Gage just stared.

“Haha, I guess that’s a yes then,” Joey said closing up his notebook. “Well, my theory is Joe is a way of calling someone a fellow – like ‘hey I’m an ordinary Joe.’ Coffee is pretty much the common man’s drink which damn near everyone craves, so two plus two equals a mighty cup of Joe.”

Gage nodded. “Makes sense to me, though I really like a cup of Gage better.”

“Ditto,” Joey replied with a wry smile. “So before we board, I wanted to tell you a few things I learned yesterday about these mysterious items. Okay with you?”

Gage leaned back in his seat, took a big gulp of his latte, and speedily rifled through a bag, taking out an oversized cinnamon bun from the crinkling paper. “I’m ready!”

Joey guzzled some of his as well, set it on the floor, and began speaking with his hands – gesticulating all around as he normally did. “So it seems that there are a total of six artifacts, known colloquially as the Solomon Six. Two of these we already know about: the amulet and chain which never seem to come off of your neck.”

Gage stared down at his V-neck; both were tucked up underneath it. Joey was right, since wearing it in Denver he never did take it off. The urge to do so just wasn't there.

“That leaves us four,” Joey carried on, grabbing a piece of the roll. “It seems all of these items are in someway tied to Lucifer himself, or at least Hell, which is probably why they are keys to opening the doorway. Unfortunately for us, as with all things mystical, the actual
how
they do this isn’t explained in an instruction manual.

“Now, three of these are mentioned in several spots and I think Om should be able to shed light on them for us once we get up there. One is referred to as the Seal of Solomon, with some allusions to it being a means to control demons and other low level supernatural creatures.”

Gage perked up at the notion. “Damn,” he said with a mouth full of soggy breading, “that could prove useful.”

“Agreed, though I don’t think it’ll elevate you to Hell Knight status, controlling legions of troops on our behalf. I’m thinking
maybe
a single demon could be swayed? Who knows, but we definitely would have an advantage with that in our arsenal. Anyway, another one is described as a piece of jewelry, though that’s pretty much where that trail ends. It could be another necklace, ring, or something similar.”

“I’m putting my money on an earring. The Devil’s pretty stylin’ from what I gather, so it could fit.”

Joey’s face went flatter than week old soda. “If you say so, G. The third one is pretty easy. It's a crown of some sort, though where it is or what it does is a complete mystery to me at this point.”

“That just leaves the final item, right?” Gage asked, looking over to see if boarding had started yet. They were still good. “Any clues whatsoever?”

Joey shook his head. “Nothing really substantial. Since the other items appear to be things that can be worn, it's not that much of a stretch to assume this last item is, too.” He reached down and took another drink of his coffee, finishing off the cup. As he set the empty container back down, his eyes widened as though an idea sparked in his mind. “There
were
lots of references to death. So, I suppose it could also be something like a weapon. Ugh, I really have no idea; that’s all I got right now.”

“It’s more than we had before, J. Great job.”

The both of them collected their trash and Joey took it over to a nearby garbage can. Just then, a voice came over the speakers.

“Ladies and gentlemen in the gate area, welcome to Flight Number 3131 to New York’s LaGuardia Airport. We’d now like to welcome aboard those passengers traveling with small children or those who need assistance boarding to come aboard…”

A few minutes later Gage sat himself in the aisle seat, Joey next to him in the coveted middle. Joey chuckled as he nudged Gage’s elbow off the thin blue armrest.

“You know…” he said with a massive shit eating grin, gesturing with his hands in an almost villainous manner, “I can’t wait to see the faces on the Council when the best damn Journeyman around, who also happens to be ‘unofficially sworn and sanctioned,’ just shows up at their door.”

Gage returned the nudge, but a lot harder, replacing his elbow on the armrest and causing Joey to give his own a generous rub.

“Oh me too,” Gage replied with a sprightly wink. “Can’t wait.

ADRIENNE COULDN'T TELL
if her eyes were open or still closed up tight, struggling to see much of anything at all. It was pitch black wherever she was, darker than a starless night with a new moon. Nothingness was all around her. No sound, no sight, no smells, nor touch.

She had felt uncomfortably weightless for some time now, as if floating her way through an endless void. Directionless and without control, trying to move anywhere through the fluid-like space was demanding; knowing which way was up or down, pretty much impossible.

After what seemed like infinity, a softness started to expand beneath her like a cushy balloon – a mattress? Finally, the feel of something familiar.
My God what a weird dream
,
she thought to herself, stirring underneath the thick covers trying to keep the chilled air from robbing her of the last remnants of warmth.

“My God, Gage,” she called out, “it's freezing in here. Could you bump up the heat please?” She waited for a reply, but there was none. “Gage? You there?”

The sound of heavy rain was her only answer as it beat against the windows with a threatening roar and brief pulses of light offered fleeting glimpses of the room. She knew that she recently developed a habit of waking up in strange places with Gage, but this place felt off in some way. Familiar, yet not.

“Okay, Ady,” she said cautiously as her eyes darted to disparate parts of the room, illuminated by each flash. “Either you're still dreaming or you had one hell of a kick-ass bender last night.”

She grabbed at her forehead but there wasn't a pounding headache, nor was her throat woefully dry. “Well, no apparent hangover,” she whispered, tossing off the comforter. It slid right off onto the floor as she propped herself up in her sweats and loose tank, feet dangling off the edge of the bed.