The Soulkeepers

Chapter 43: Showdown

Jacob tried to run in the dark behind Gideon, but the narrow path was bordered with thorn bushes. In the blinding darkness, the barbs tore his skin and more than once the front of his foot stepped on the back of Gideon's. He could hear the brushing of wings and the stomping of feet in the distance behind them. Malini's hand was cold and clammy in his.

"Gideon, we won't make it to the garden. We need a place to do battle," Dr. Silva whispered, panic evident in her voice. The cat jerked to the left and Jacob followed, pulling Malini along with him. Abruptly, Gideon stopped, causing his feet to plow into the cat and Malini to slam into his back.

"Jacob, reach in front of you at waist level and push," Dr. Silva said from behind him.

Jacob did what she asked, finding a doorknob. The door was extremely heavy and he had to throw his shoulder into it to get it open. Once he did, Gideon pulled them inside.

Dr. Silva set Lilly down and rummaged through her backpack. The hiss and dim light of an igniting match broke the darkness. She lowered the flame down to a candle. He could see the wick catch and then a pale light washed over them.

"Hold this." She handed the candle to Jacob and returned to digging in her bag.

They were in some kind of a church. At least, it was shaped like a church with pews, stained glass, and an altar, but the similarities ended there. Unlike the one the Laudners attended, no crosses or statues of saints filled this church. The pictures in the stained glass were of Watchers. Instead of a crucifix, a statue of a Watcher stretched its wings above the altar. A day ago, none of this would have meant anything to him. But after experiencing Nod, Mordechai, and the zoo, Jacob realized the evil of this place. This was not like a human church, where people came to think about how they could be better people, tried to live up to a higher standard or help each other. In this place, the Watchers worshiped themselves. It was, sadly, a testament to their egos. This was a world where the only priority was the desire of each individual at any particular moment. There was no law, no rules, and absolutely no guilt about anything because the only thing that mattered was obtaining more of what each Watcher desired.

"Ah, here it is. Malini, you and Jacob push all of these pews to the side. Quickly! Clear as large a space in the middle of the room as possible," Dr. Silva said. She held a container of salt in one hand and pushed pews aside with the other. Jacob continued to hold the candle but pushed with his hip and free hand as well.

Lilly sat on a pew near the front, still motionless but looking more awake than before. There was a hint of awareness in her eyes.

When they'd cleared a large circle in the middle of the building, Dr. Silva set to work drawing lines of salt on the altar, a giant triangle, and then another inverted atop the first. When she was done she had formed a large six-pointed star inside of a giant circle.

"The star of David," Malini whispered next to him.

"Gideon, I'm going to need your help, darling," Dr. Silva said to her cat.

In response, Gideon moved into the space at the center of the room. Front feet forward, he stretched his hindquarters into the air. His waist grew longer and his red fur tightened on his body. A pillar of flesh erupted from the cat's mouth toward the floor. The flesh split into a pair of legs and the cat turned itself inside out, fur moving up the legs and then the body of a man. When the process was finished, nothing was left of the cat but green eyes and wild auburn hair.

Gideon was easily seven feet tall, with long, lean muscles and a twenty-foot wingspan. The pearly white wings were similar to Dr. Silva's, but Jacob couldn't say he was a Watcher. What set him apart from everyone in the room was not his height, or his frame, or his wings, but his glow. Looking directly at Gideon was like looking into the sun. It filled the room. In fact, with Gideon's light flooding over them, he wondered if he should blow out the candle.