The Gift of Knowledge (The Gifts Book 2) (11 page)

     “Look, Russ, that cloud formation is still in that exact same spot as last time.” Russ accepted the binoculars and took a long look in the direction where Ethan pointed.

     “Yup, you’re right. That’s strange. It appears to be the exact same formation in the exact same spot. I wonder if there isn’t a large body of water there?”

     “Or something else.” Ethan mused. “See if you can figure out how far away it is.”

    Russ mapped out some calculations and shared them with Ethan. “Those clouds are about sixty miles away. It would be a tough trek, but we could probably reach it in about three days on foot.”

     “Great, that’s something to look forward to.” Before Ethan could say more a burst of static emanated from the hand radio clipped to his belt, followed by Phoebe’s voice.

     “Ethan, do you read me? Come in. Over.”

     “I read you Phoebe, what’s wrong? Over.”  Ethan looked Emily in the eye. She could see the sudden worry there.”

     “You need to come back to camp. Cliff has been bitten by a wondering spider. He’s very sick. We’re fortunate that Jorge decided to spend the night here with Anke. We already have Cliff onboard the copter, and we’re getting ready to take off. Over.”

     “Phoebe, tell Jorge to take him to the hospital in Diamont Peru. It’s the closest. You go with him, and tell Jorge to come back for me in the morning. You got that? Over.”

     “I’m already on the copter, Ethan, I’ll see you tomorrow. Over and out.”

     Ethan turned to Emily. “I know you pray. Now would be a good time to do it.”

     A look of worry crossed Ethan’s face, and his hands trembled as Emily began to pray.

Chapter Nine

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

Jeremiah 29:12-14

     The doctor caring for Cliff met a frantic Ethan, with Emily at his side, in the hallway outside of Cliff’s room. He explained Cliff’s serious condition.

     “The patient is very lucky to be alive. We’ve given him the anti-venom and a round of anti-histamines along with some anti-convulsants to manage the seizures he experienced when he arrived yesterday. He’s resting now, but we will need to keep him a few days for observation.”

     “But he is going to be alright, he will live, right?” Ethan pressed the doctor.

     “It’s good you got him here so quickly. I expect him to have a full recovery. But he must rest for now. The wondering spider’s venom is a powerful neurotoxin that can cause damage to the heart and central nervous system. He’ll need tests to tell us if there is any lasting, serious damage.”

     “Give him whatever he needs, Doctor. Money isn’t a problem. I’ll pay for everything.”

     The doctor nodded and walked away.

     By the end of the week Cliff was up and eager to get back to work. But Ethan had other ideas. He talked to Cliff about going home for a while to visit his family and re-cooperate. Cliff was resistant at first but in the end admitted to still being weak, which gave Ethan all the excuse he needed to make arrangements for his friend to fly home. He and Emily helped Cliff board the plane before they headed back to the rainforest. While they waited for Jorge to pick them up, Ethan asked Emily a strange question.

     “Emily, what happens when you pray? I mean, I’ve had other people pray with me and for me and I’ve prayed myself, but when you held my hand and prayed for Cliff I felt something… like a surge of warmth throughout my body. What was that?”

     “That was the Holy Spirit moving in response to our prayer. I say
our
prayer because you held my hand and agreed with me in prayer. You know Matthew 18:19 says;
Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.
We agreed together in prayer, and the Holy Spirit moved to answer our prayer. It really is that simple. If you felt it you know it must be true. Right?”

     “I don’t trust
feelings
per say, but I will admit I did feel something physical. Something I’ve never felt before.”

     “Tell me a little about your upbringing. Did your family take you to church? Tell me what you know about the Lord.”

     “My parents are Christians. I went to church every Sunday when I was growing up.”

     “And have you given your life to Jesus? Have you taken him into your heart?”
     “I’ve prayed the sinner’s prayer, if that’s what you mean.”

     “Ethan, the question is what did it
mean
to you?”

      Ethan stopped to think about that for a few moments before he answered.

     “You know, Emily, I’m not sure exactly what it means to me personally. I said the words, but I don’t think I really understood what they meant exactly. I’m going to think about this and get back to you on it, if that’s OK by you?”

     “You take your time and get back to me.” Emily prayed silently for Ethan that the Lord would reveal himself to him.
“Dear Jesus, he really is seeking you. He just doesn’t know exactly what he’s looking for. Let him find you.”

***

     Simon found Dr. Lazar alone in the forest, alone as far as humans went. Spiritually, evil surrounded him. The thousands of demons who had come to his defense a week ago now clustered around him. Simon did his best to stay out of sight. It appeared as if the demons were helping Armodius reach his goal of finding Ethan. This was indeed strange behavior as Liam had pointed out. It was also bad news. With the help of the other demons, the chances of Lazar reaching the base camp, as well as Ethan and Emily, were now better than before.  He needed to share this news with Liam. He carefully stepped away from the cluster of trees he used for cover and took to the air.

***

     Since returning to camp, Emily’s disturbing dreams had not returned. But she continued to pray almost constantly, even if only in her mind. She’d sent emails to Marta and Aunt Gemma and received a happy reply. Marta was expecting again and wanted to know when Emily would be returning to help her plan for the new baby. Bradley, of course, was thrilled. Emily couldn’t tell Marta how soon she would be coming home, but she would be home long before the arrival of the new baby.

     This morning, Emily planned to work on translating more of the Spaniard’s journals for Ethan. She found him in the common tent with Phoebe, Russ and Gary. The four of them were reading an email sent by Cliff. He was doing better at home and had been offered a teaching job at a local college. It seemed he’d reconnected with his high school sweetheart and might be considering settling down.

     “Well, another good man bites the dust.” Russ said jokingly. The others chimed in with their own jokes about Cliff and marriage. They missed their buddy but were happy for him.

     “OK, let’s get back to work now.” Ethan, ever the boss, waved away his crew, who feigned groans of annoyance. Each member returned to working on their own portion of the larger project: cataloging and mapping the rainforest around them, and looking for any clues to a possible burial site for the long lost giants.

     Emily got to work on Ethan’s laptop. The journals had not yet yielded any more interesting information, except to tell of life on a Spanish galleon as it sailed to South America in search of gold and other treasures. Emily went through at least two months of daily journals by the man Juan Martinez de Soledad with his fascinating drawings of sailors at work and the Atlantic Ocean with its teeming marine life. His drawings of whales and dolphins were nothing short of amazing. Emily enjoyed looking through the journal and wondered why she’d never taken a closer look at the originals before when she’d had the actual ones at Perry House.

     As she continued to work through each drawing on the computer screen, and to translate each accompanying written entry, she came across a drawing of several men standing on a beach. One man in the drawing towered over the other men. This giant man was dressed in native attire and didn’t seem to fit in with the others.

    She translated the description written under the drawing.

    
We reached the beaches of the South Americas this morning. Our capitan allowed me to accompany him with some others to scout the beach for any natives or wild animals that could be a threat. After a few hours of hunting and gathering supplies of fresh fruits and nuts, we came across a fresh water river and filled our skins and barrels to take back to the ship. As we were loading the skiffs, some of the men ran screaming up the beach. They ran to the capitan yelling and pointing.

     “El Capitan, it is a monster, a giant. We must leave this place before it captures us and eats us.”  The capitan laughed at the men and ordered them back to the ship, then he and some of the other men went in search of the giant. I stayed with another of the skiffs. Before long one of the sailors who had left with the capitan ran back to the skiff where I was sitting. He told me the capitan had need of me and wanted me to draw the monster.

     The sailor led me to a cluster of boulders where the capitan and some of the men were hiding. The capitan gave me orders to draw what I saw. I looked over the boulder to see three of the ship’s sailors trying to converse with what can only be described as a giant. He was at least ten feet tall and had six fingers and six toes on each hand and foot, with pale skin and red hair.

    
The writing stopped there. Emily jumped ahead a few pages, but there was no more mention of the giant.
How odd.
She thought as she called out for Ethan.  

     Ethan looked over the drawing and read the words that Emily translated. His excitement could hardly be contained, as he took the laptop and began searching forward just as Emily had done.

     “Grrrr” Ethan moaned in frustration. “Look here,” he pointed to the screen. Flipping back and forth between the images of the two pages, it was easy to see the jagged edges of paper where some missing pages had been torn from the book.

     “I never would have dreamed the Spaniards came in contact with a living giant. That leads me to question the validity of the journals. Tell me, Emily, do you know if the journals were ever authenticated?”

     “Oh yes. Several historians examined them, and samples have been sent off for dating. Everything has matched up, and everyone agreed the journals were the real deal.” Emily remembered the original journals were no more, and she couldn’t help having a catch in her throat at the mention of them. Mr. Perry would’ve been saddened at their loss. She felt responsible for them, as they’d been left in her care. Ethan’s voice brought her out of her shame and guilt.

     “Well, then we have to assume this is a true historical accounting.” He read back over the translation and examined the drawing closer.

     “Six fingers and six toes with red hair…” Ethan mused aloud.

      Something he said triggered a thought in Emily’s mind. She remembered what Mari told her about the legends of the red-haired kings. She also remembered that Mari had told her she would explain the legends
when the time was right.
She wondered if the time was right yet and left Ethan to go in search of Mari.

***

     Mari was in the mess tent, as usual, when Emily found her. Emily asked for a cup of coffee and then asked Mari to join her at one of the tables. She realized she really knew very little about Mari, who was happy to take a break and enjoy a cup of coffee with Emily. She seemed to genuinely like having Emily around.

    “Mari, I’d like to get to know you a little. I only know that you were brought up in an orphanage in Peru and that you’re married to Anke. Do you have any children?”

    “Si, Senora. I have children, but they are all gone to heaven now. My ninos never lived for more than a few days after birth. Anke has been my blessing. He has cared for me and stayed with me in the times of shadow walking.”