Plague of Coins (The Judas Chronicles #1) (19 page)

“He did that?”

This news seemed to impress Amy’s brother.

“Yes, he did!” enthused
Amy. “He poured that shit on our heads, and right after he did it the oil evaporated off our heads.”

“Or, it was somehow absorbed into our skin,” I corrected her, gently, wondering if I should add anything else.

“That’s exactly what happened to me last winter, when I ended up lost after escaping Stanislav’s camp!” Jeremy’s eyes were on fire like his sister’s peepers earlier. I could only imagine what a family get-together is like with these people. “He told me that it would protect me from harm—and it has. Without it, you could never get close to the Tree of Life.”

Zoran’s advisement from earlier replayed in my head. His sudden disappearance into thin air, along with all of the wonders kept secret far below his sacred little town, put a whole new light on this shit.

“How is that so?”

I was glad Amy posed the question instead of me. I wanted a little more insight into how her brother rolled.

“There’s an angel—a
real
angel—who guards the tree, which Dad told me to look for if I ever found the Garden of Eden. The last papyrus he was working on, before Stanislav murdered him and Mom, talks about the curse of death that awaits any unwanted visitors to the sacred garden,” Jeremy explained. “I didn’t encounter the angel until after I had been in the garden a week or so. Scared me shitless, man.... He stands about twelve feet tall and is built like the Greek gods of ancient lore. His face is more beautiful than any woman I’ve ever seen.”

“I’ve heard that description before.” I knew the full truth of what an angel looks like, having encountered several of these beings face to face a number of times during my existence. Of course, that would remain private information at the present time. “What’s his name?”

“His name is Ophanim,” Jeremy said. “It wasn’t the name I expected, since the name Jophiel appears several times in the Tibetan text that my father and I both translated.”

And here I thought it would be Raphael, since that was the angel’s name in the Eden stories I grew up with. Wonders never cease.

“Very well...so it is Ophanim,” I said, and then motioned to Alistair. “I take it that whatever idea you have of aiding my father has something to do with this angel. Correct?”

“This is true, at least in a sense. But rather than tell you how this might work, I’d prefer to show you. Come with me!”

The confident glint in Jeremy’s eyes and the easy, genuine smile on his face would command respect from many a man or woman. Thinking along these lines made me wonder how Amy dealt with her big brother’s powerful charms. At the moment, she seemed to study his face as if she just recently noticed something different about the sibling she had not seen in roughly a year. Perhaps it was the slimy glowworm remnants that she’d inadvertently transferred to him when they embraced earlier. But once he aided me in carrying Alistair, she shook her head and looked away. She smiled sheepishly, as if she had thought something a moment ago that she now understood was untrue.

Ever curious about the quirks in people’s behavior, I was keen to keep an eye on this situation, hoping to learn at some point what she found so odd in her brother’s appearance or persona. If I hazarded an immediate guess, it would be that this wonderful environment had somehow changed the person he was to a new man. Perhaps, even transformed him to his very core.

Jeremy swung his rifle over his shoulder and came over to where Alistair laid on the ground. Thinking it might help things if my son were awake, I tried to rouse him from his deepening slumber. But it was no use—not even our combined efforts could awaken him. The three of us lifted him, with Jeremy and me grabbing Alistair’s shoulders and Amy carrying his legs.

We set out toward the light, wading through waist-high grass. I kept my ears tuned for anything slithering beneath our field of vision. Fortunately, we reached the edge of the wooded area that separated us from the incredible flower garden in front of the light fairly quickly. Like an immense opal, the brilliant white glow shimmered with an array of rainbow hues swirling within. It grew more intense with nearly every step we took toward it. Like something inside the light knew we were coming.

As we stepped through the woods, I noticed a huge black panther resting between two large branches of what looked like a thick birch tree. The animal was enormous but didn’t seem interested in finding out how we tasted. For the moment, it casually regarded us as we passed by, its luminous yellow eyes monitoring our progress. Both Amy and I kept our own watchful eyes on the beast, and she damned near jumped out of her skin when it emitted a low-pitched ominous growl.

“Don’t be afraid,” said Jeremy. “Neafari scared the hell out of me too, but she’s never pursued me. Ophanim keeps her fed and happy.”

‘With what?’ I wondered
silently.

The feline was as big as a prehistoric saber tooth, measuring at least a dozen feet in length. I couldn’t see her fangs at the moment, but that hardly mattered since she had claws as large as my head. Despite Jeremy’s second assurance of safety, I continued to keep an eye on the panther just the same, more than a little worried about a possible attack from behind.

We hurried into the garden, and again I was hit with a powerful sense of amazement. Multitudes of flowers that were similar to roses, chrysanthemums, and hyacinths abounded all around us. There were many other floral species as well, and some of these resembled daisies, orchids, and violets. Like the panther in the woods, I caught the tallest of these flowers turning to follow our progress as we continued toward the light.

I wished we had the miniature cameras given to us by Cedric. Unfortunately, the final two that survived our collective misadventure had since been discovered and destroyed by Viktor Kaslow, according to Amy. I doubted Jeremy had a camera. But, maybe that was just my assumption based on his nonchalant reaction to everything we had seen so far.

“We’re almost there,” he announced as we neared the swirling light that had become fervently intense. I expected the light to become uncomfortable to look at, but for some reason, it didn’t bother my eyes. Nor was it a nuisance for Amy or Jeremy. As we moved closer to the light, it seemed to revive Alistair. My heart began to fill with hope.

“He’s coming around, isn’t he?” said Jeremy, studying my face. I’m sure my countenance had brightened considerably at the prospect of Alistair’s recovery.

“I think so—God I
hope
so!” Amy eyed my boy lovingly.

Seeing their reactions lifted my heart further, and I eagerly followed Jeremy’s lead as we continued to carry Alistair. We stepped through misty tendrils drifting down from the light’s main source. I suddenly realized that what looked like a giant ball of light was nothing of the sort. It was more like a tall spherical canopy that hung down from some invisible point. We stepped under the mist, and I allowed my gaze to travel upward until I gasped.

I couldn’t help myself. Seriously. In fact, I can’t recall when I’ve experienced a greater sense of awe and wonder in my entire life! Definitely not since shortly after my betrayal of Jesus and my botched double-suicide attempt—which was the first time I encountered an angel.

But this was beyond all that—
far
beyond it. An enormous crystal formation stood before us, sculpted by nature many eons ago. Looming well over a hundred feet above the cave floor, with a thirty-foot wide base, it reminded me of the giant oaks that thrive in the southern United States. But like I said, it was a crystal structure and not an organic monument like the famous Live Oak near Charleston. Almost turquoise in color, in some ways its porous appendages resembled the colorful coral stalks near Belize and other tropical water paradises throughout the world.

Mere words can’t describe it. Especially the feeling that came over me as I stopped and stared stupidly at this thing...the
Tree of Life!
It wasn’t just me who reacted like this. Amy wore an incredulous expression on her face while her knees trembled to the point they actually knocked together.

As for Jeremy, he looked on reverently. He had become quite familiar with the ‘tree’ during much of the past year. His eyes bore a glint of impishness. It was as if he had a secret he could hardly stand not sharing, but waited for the right moment to spring it on us.

He looked down at Alistair, who was sitting up. We had laid him gently upon the ground before us a few moments earlier, but I hadn’t noticed that he was awake until just then. Alistair’s expression was one of astonishment, even though he still winced from the wound in his abdomen.

“William, help me assist your father over to the stream,” said Jeremy.

“What stream?”

I had been so enthralled with the tree’s impressive height and breadth that I hadn’t noticed the bubbling water flowing near its base. Incredulous that I missed even hearing the water’s gurgle, I was still shaking my head about it as we lifted my son to his feet. He staggered gingerly toward the stream, though eagerly, as if he were a man dying of thirst.

I felt a powerful pull from the tree’s life force as we followed him. I could tell it called to each of us, perhaps to our spirits or souls. All I knew for sure was that I felt completely unable to resist, wanting to dive into the rippling clear blue water and cross over to the crystal’s enormous base. Unlike the frigid pool from earlier, this water carried humid warmth. Like a hot Turkish bath, tiny clouds of steam wafted off the stream’s surface and gently rose into the air.

Jeremy removed his rifle, and the satchel he carried over his shoulder. He then stepped into the stream, seemingly unafraid of what might be lurking in the water.

“Alistair, come here!” he said, his arms opened wide like a new messiah. There was that impish look again. “William and Amy, please join us in the water. Could one of you open his shirt, so I can easily get to his wounds?”

Another ancient memory flashed before my eyes. This one was of my old friend John ben Zechariah—Jesus’ closest family confidante other than his mother—and how he once motioned to me in the same manner while standing in the shallows of the Jordan River. That event transformed a mere spectator of the Gospel ministries into an eager participant. It played no small part in my fanaticism that would later lead to disenchantment when neither John nor Jesus had any interest in overthrowing King Herod and his Roman pals.

Amy gently opened Alistair’s shirt, while my son offered little help or resistance to her. It was the same deal when we guided him into the water, both of us on either side as we steadied his steps and kept him from falling into the water. Soothing warmth moved into my feet and legs, undeterred by my clothing. Amy’s nervous smile told me that it was a similar sensation for her. I couldn’t tell what it was like for my son, since he remained silent. But he wasn’t grimacing anymore.

“May the Lord have mercy on you, Alistair,” said Jeremy, which drew a disdainful look from his sister.

This surely was a side of Jeremy that she’d never seen before. How interesting.... This could lead to some serious fun later on, when the devout agnostic went toe to toe with the nubile religious convert. Save me a front row seat and some buttered popcorn for that one.

Jeremy didn’t seem to notice her reaction, still wearing the bemused expression from earlier. He cupped his left hand and scooped up some water, using his right hand to pull my son close to him. When less than a foot separated the two, Jeremy dripped part of the water on top of Alistair’s head, and then he rubbed the rest into the puncture wounds in his abdomen.

What happened next should not have surprised me. If it had been me and my body, it wouldn’t have. But to see my son’s wounds close and lighten in color, and then become a perfect flesh-tone match with the surrounding skin was astounding. The very first time I’ve seen this transformation happen to someone other than me!

“What in the hell?!”
Amy’s voice was barely audible.

She shook her head slowly. I knew right then that her seeing this miracle made an even deeper impression than watching me heal from severe burns less than twelve hours earlier. Surely, it was because of her brother’s involvement. It’s a whole different ballgame seeing someone you’ve known all your life—especially a sibling—do something miraculous as opposed to a relative stranger.

“Pops, Amy...who’s this guy?” Alistair gave Jeremy a wary glance after looking around, completely disoriented. “Where in the hell...wait, is that what I think it is?”

He suddenly gasped, while his eyes followed the height of the fabulous crystal formation in front of us. Apparently the expression on his face earlier had nothing to do with his conscious awareness. He started to move toward the ‘tree’, but slipped and fell into the water. Jeremy and I quickly pulled him back to his feet. The toxins might not have been thoroughly eradicated from his system yet. At least his mind seemed fully alert.