The Legend of the Firewalker (27 page)

Jonathan hesitated again. “I-I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t think I can help you.”

Both Lafonda and Nathan looked surprised by Jonathan’s response.

“Let me see,” she said. “Maybe I can help.”

“No!” shouted Nathan and Jonathan in unison.

Jonathan closed the browser window and proceeded to place his storage device into the USB drive. “Excuse me,” he said, “but I promised Erin I wouldn’t be long.” 

Nathan looked confused and wondered why Jonathan didn’t want Lafonda to see it.

Lafonda rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Whatever,” she said. “Are you all set for the banquet on Satu
rday?”

Jonathan continued to copy the file to his drive from the public server.

“Hello. Nathan,” said Lafonda, obviously annoyed.

Nathan jumped slightly. He had been so engrossed in what Jonathan was doing that he forgot to answer her.

“Oh — um, sorry about that,” he stammered. He paused to scratch his head. “Yes, I am definitely ready.”

Lafonda rolled her eyes again. “Most likely you won’t see me on Friday because I am leaving early to drive to St. Louis to pick up Leah.”

Nathan smiled. He was excited about finally meeting Leah, but he was even more excited about the close of camp. He felt like once camp was over, things would go back to normal again.

“And you don’t have to worry about the girls,” she said. “Angela will cover for me, and chances are you guys won’t even have a bonfire on Friday because it’s su
pposed to rain.”

“Woo-hoo!” shouted Nathan. “No more bonfires!”

Lafonda chuckled lightly, but then pursed her lips. “Don’t get too excited,” she said. “I said that it’s supposed to rain; I didn’t say that it will.”

“But wait,” he said. “What about the fireworks on Satu
rday?”

“There is a chance for rain on Saturday too,” she said. “But I guess we would just move the banquet indoors.”

Nathan peered over at Jonathan. His file was almost completely downloaded. Nathan stretched his neck to see if he could read the name on the file.

“So how is your buddy these days?” Lafonda asked in a sa
rcastic tone. 

“My buddy? Who? Jonas?”

Hearing Nathan say his name, Jonas looked up and smiled. He was sitting next to Christina Williams.

“He’s doing okay,” Nathan said.

Lafonda grinned. “I meant your buddy Malick.”

Nathan’s face turned red after he realized that she was s
erious. He hardly thought Malick was his buddy. “Ha-ha, funny,” he said. “And how is your buddy?”

Lafonda’s forehead creased. “My buddy?” she asked.

“You know,” he teased. “Leah.”

Lafonda fixed her gaze on Nathan and then tossed back her hair. “She’s fine,” she responded confidently. “In fact, I received a text message from her this mor
ning.”

Nathan nodded. “Okay,” he said. “That’s good, but don’t bother asking again about Malick because I don’t have an a
nswer for you.”

Lafonda grinned. “Leah said she was looking forward to seeing campus again. She also said she was excited to finally have the chance to meet you.”

“What? Really?” Nathan blushed. “I mean, why would she be excited to meet me?”

“I told her about you,” Lafonda said. “And don’t worry, I only told her about the nice Nathan that was sincere and ca
ring; not the rebel-without-a-cause Nathan who abandoned us a week ago.”

Nathan glowered. “Ha-ha. Funny, Lafonda. I am not tur
ning into Stephen Malick.”

“We’ll see,” she said.

Nathan frowned.

“Lafonda,” called Eva Marie. “Can you please help me?” She had a hint of desperation in her voice. “My computer just froze!” She frantically pressed several bu
ttons on the keyboard. “I hope I hit save.”

“I’ll be there in a second,” Lafonda responded.

Jonas headed over to help Eva Marie. The computer lab technician was coming over to help as well.

“Okay, well, you know the deal for Friday and Saturday,” Lafonda said. “And lucky for you, my grandmother made sure everyone was prepared as far as dress attire for the ba
nquet.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Lafonda grinned. “Now you don’t have to fret about what to wear to impress Leah.”

Nathan’s face turned red again. He remembered the hard time he’d given Roy about packing the slacks and loafers LaDonda recommended on the dreaded gold p
aper.

“Lafonda!” called Eva Marie again.

“Coming,” Lafonda said. She smiled one last time at Nathan and walked away.

Jonathan suddenly pushed back his computer chair and stood up. Nathan took a few steps back to avoid ge
tting hit by the chair.

“All done?” he asked.

Jonathan peered over his shoulder before turning his attention back to the computer screen. “My apologies, Nathan,” he said. “I am sort of in a hurry.”

“Did you get what you needed?” asked Nathan.

Jonathan quickly deleted the file from the computer, closed the Internet browser, and placed the slim, black storage device into his pocket.

Nathan frowned. “Hey,” he said, “I was looking at that.”

“Sorry again,” Jonathan said. He placed his backpack over his shoulder. “You really should come up to the Cahokia Caves sometime,” he continued. “We will be entering inside the secret chamber any day now, and there are a few things that I would like to show you.” Jonathan cautiously looked around the room before whispering. “And I think you will find it very interesting.”

Nathan raised his eyebrows. He didn’t know what Jon
athan was talking about or why Jonathan would think he would find the caves interesting. “Okay,” he responded slowly. 

Jonathan patted him on the shoulder and proceeded to walk away.

“Wait,” said Nathan. He paused and Jonathan looked at him inquisitively. “I have a question for you,” he said. “It’s about your research.”

Jonathan adjusted the backpack on his shoulder and rep
ositioned his glasses. “Yes?” he said.

Nathan drew a big breath. “In your research,” he said, “have you come across anything about . . . dark and powe
rful forces?”

Jonathan stood there for a moment and then leaned in. “That’s a very good question,” he said softly. “There are many dark creatures mentioned in Cahokia mythology. But there is one story that is often repeated and stands out; and that’s the legend about the Fallen Ones.”

“But that’s just a myth, right?” asked Nathan.

There was a vibrating sound and Jonathan pulled out his cell phone from his pocket. He stood in silence as he read the text. From the look on his face, it appeared ser
ious. “Please forgive me,” he said, “but I really have to go.”

“What is it?” Nathan asked.

Jonathan stumbled, placing his phone back into his pocket. He fidgeted with his backpack nervously. “Everything’s fine. I just have to see Dr. Helmsley immediately.”

“But wait!” said Nathan.

“Everything will be okay,” said Jonathan reassuringly. “The dark may have its minions, Nathan, but the righteous have their heroes.”

18

A LIGHT IN THE DARK

Nathan sat quietly, looking into the fire. Darkness had set in and a cool breeze gently nudged the flames towards the lake. He thought about the evening and how Malick had r
epeatedly dodged his questions about the Order. He had hoped that by the time they were done filling the fire pits Malick would have at least answered one of his questions. But he hadn’t. The only thing Nathan was able to get out of him was a slight reaction when he mentioned his theory that the Order was a part of some secret organization. Based on Malick’s reaction, particularly his repeated attempts to find out how he developed this theory, Nathan concluded he was probably on the right track.

Nevertheless, he was still clueless, and Malick apparently wanted him to stay that way. He’d insisted that N
athan was better off not knowing and told him to stop asking questions. Nathan recalled his exact words were “remain in the dark.” By the time the fires were set, Nathan was so frustrated that he was relieved when Malick volunteered to help LaDonda escort a sick camper, Drew Waters, back to Lawrence Hall. 

Nathan continued to look into the fire but his gaze was broken by the sound of laughter followed by a su
dden crack of thunder. Lightning struck violently across the sky and a dark gray thunder cloud slowly made its way over Lake Charleston and the bonfire area.  

“Wahoo!” shouted Hugo. “We made it to the last bonfire before it rained.”

Jonas and Christina Williams sat on the other side of the fire while Andy high-fived Hugo behind them. “Yes!” he yelled. “Camp is officially over.”

“Come on,” said Alan, who was sitting next to Christina. “Camp wasn’t that bad, was it?”

“Technically,” chimed in Angela, “camp isn’t over. We still have the closing ceremony tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” said Hugo. “But leadership classes are done and there are no more projects!”

“You know, Andy,” said Eva Marie, with a cup of water in her hand, “I never saw your last project.” She glared at him skeptically. “Are you sure you even completed yours?”

Andy’s face turned red, almost matching his hair color. “Yes, I did,” he said, sounding rather annoyed.

Hugo laughed. “Yeah, I guess you can call what you turned in finished,” he said.

Andy’s face went from red to sour. “Whatever,” he mu
ttered. “I got it done.”

Eva Marie laughed. “I probably didn’t get to see it b
ecause you probably turned it in late.”

“I’ll show you late!” shouted Andy. He grabbed Eva M
arie by the waist and threw her over his shoulder.

“Aaah!” she yelled, her feet dangling in the air.

Andy had a wide grin on his face. “How about some water to cool you off?” he asked.

Andy headed towards the lake and Hugo let out a huge laugh. Eva Marie windmilled her hands and feet in an a
ttempt to get down. “Don’t you dare Andy! Put me down!” she yelled. Eva Marie’s cup of water flew out of her hand and landed in Jonas’ lap, wetting his pants and spraying water into Christina’s face.

“Hey!” yelled Christina.

Angela quickly rose to her feet. She had her purple hairbrush in her hand and pointed it at him. “Okay, Andy, that’s enough,” she scolded. “Put her down and knock it off!”

Andy sighed and released Eva Marie.

Eva Marie ran her fingers through her hair and fixed her shorts. “You can be such a jerk sometimes,” she said, before storming away. 

Angela sat down. “Gosh,” she said, “they are never this rowdy.”

Alan laughed vigorously.

“Why are you laughing, Alan?” she asked, slightly a
nnoyed. 

“At you!” he said, while holding his stomach. “What were you going to do? Hairbrush them to death?”

Erin tried not to giggle and Nathan laughed.

Angela looked down at the purple hairbrush in her hand and placed it in her back pocket. “Shut up, Alan,” she said.

Alan said, “You are hurting my stomach from making me laugh so much.”

Angela rolled her eyes. “Ugh!” she said. “I’ll be glad when Lafonda comes back.” She slowly rubbed her neck. “Watching my girls and hers is way too much for one pe
rson.” 

“Tell me about it,” protested Erin. “I’ve been pract
ically by myself for four weeks!”

“Sorry, Erin,” said Angela empathetically. “Where is Jonathan, anyway?”

Nathan broke his gaze from the fire to look around for Jonathan.

Erin placed the front of her shoulder-length brown hair behind her ears and sighed. “I don’t know,” she said. “He’s been gone pretty much all week and hasn’t told me an
ything.”

“You don’t know where he is?” asked Nathan, su
rprised. 

Erin scoffed. “Nope,” she said. “I haven’t really talked to him since Monday. I guess he figured camp is over, so why bother.”

“That really sucks,” said Angela. She had a sad look on her face. “You should say something to LaDonda.”

“I’m done with Mr. Indiana,” Erin added. She stretched her legs out in front of her, causing them to become illum
inated by the fire. “I’m just glad camp is over and I don’t have to deal with it anymore.”

Alan tossed a small stick into the pit but missed the fire. “Oh, well,” he joked. “He’ll turn up eventually. He’s prob
ably lost in a cave somewhere.”

Erin laughed.

Alan paused to toss another stick into the pit. “So, when is Lafonda coming back with Leah?”

“She’s supposed to be back tomorrow morning,” said Angela cheerfully. “I can’t wait to meet Leah and to see what clothes they bought.” She suddenly grew quiet, but then abruptly checked her silver-and-gold–starred cell phone. “I am, however, surprised that I haven’t received one single text message asking for my opinion on dres
ses.”

Alan shrugged. “They probably got caught up in the m
oment with shopping,” he said. “I know I do.”

“True,” said Angela, tilting her long, curly blond hair to the side. “I guess I’ll just have to wait until tomorrow.”

Alan leaned in and whispered, “So, I wonder what it will be like to meet Leah?” he said.

Nathan looked surprised because he was wondering the same thing. He often speculated about her personality and wondered how her laugh would be. He already knew what she looked like from his dreams, but thanks to the yearbook that Lafonda borrowed from Jonathan he had an image of her that wasn’t a terrifying memory. Nathan’s eyes slowly drifted into the red glow of the fire. He r
emembered how he felt looking in the yearbook and finally seeing her bright smile.

“I wonder if she’ll be crazy,” said Alan abruptly. He had a weird but serious look on his face.

Nathan couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Really, Alan?” asked Angela.

“What?” asked Alan. “I know everyone is thinking it — you’re just not saying it out loud!”

“Hardly,” said Nathan. “After all she’s been through, I can’t believe you still think she’s crazy.”

Alan looked like he was trying not to laugh. “I’m not saying she is,” he said. “I’m just throwing it out there. I heard she was like a crazy woman when they found her — so crazy they had to call the police!”

“That rumor was started by Steve and Amanda,” protes
ted Nathan. “And Amanda is known to be a little dramatic.”

“Well, the police part isn’t made up,” responded Alan.

“It was campus security,” said Nathan, through beady eyes. 

“Same thing,” said Alan confidently. “They had to call law enforcement to get her.”

Nathan stood up and kicked a rock into the water. “Whatever,” he said, “I’ve had enough of this conversation.”

Angela punched Alan in the arm.

“Ouch!” he yelled. “Why did you do that?”

“Because you made Nathan leave, that’s why,” she said. “Why did you say all that stuff about Leah?”

The sound of their voices faded as Nathan walked away. The last thing he heard was Angela saying something about Steve and Amanda still being missing. He stood in front of the refreshments table and picked up one of the wind-strewn cups that rolled back and forth across the table. He wanted a drink of water, but the container was empty, and so were the bottles of fruit juice and bags of chips.

Nathan sighed. He wasn’t in the mood to rejoin the group, so he decided to clear the table. He found a black trash bag and started to put the utensils that had been used in it.

“Wow, that table looks like a war zone,” said a cheery voice behind him.

Nathan sighed again.
Who is this now?
He turned around and was surprised to see Samantha Darding standing in front of him. Nathan cleared his throat.

“Oh
— hi, Sam,” he said.

She smiled. Her hair was loosely pulled back into a bun, and a long strand of curly brown hair hung freely to the side of her face. “So, there’s nothing left?” she said, eyeing the table.

“No,” said Nathan. “When it comes to food, these guys are like vultures.”

Samantha laughed. “Here,” she said, placing her empty cup into the bag, “I’ll help you.” She looked up into the o
minous sky. “I assume we will be leaving soon, anyway.”

“Yeah, I suspect that as soon as LaDonda and Malick r
eturn, she’ll be ushering us out of here.” Nathan paused to look up at the sky. He noticed the trees had begun to sway and the air seemed cooler. “I’m surprised she hasn’t texted one of the counselors yet, instructing us to head back to Lawrence hall.”

“Yup, it definitely looks like a storm is heading our way,” she said. “I hope it doesn’t affect the banquet or the fir
eworks tomorrow.”

Nathan chuckled. “Don’t worry,” he said. “LaDonda a
lready has that covered. I was told that if it rains, we’ll just have the banquet inside.” He paused to start folding the tablecloth. “And in the past, if it rained on the Fourth of July, they would usually just have the fireworks display the following day.”

Samantha took the other end of the tablecloth to help him. “I know,” she said, with a smile, “I live here too, r
emember?”

He smiled, placed the folded tablecloth in a maroon bag that had plastic cups in it, and nodded. “Yeah. That’s right,” he said, feeling slightly embarrassed.

“My parents will be here tomorrow for the banquet and closing ceremony,” she continued. “Jim too. I suspect he’s only coming because of Lafonda.”

Nathan nodded and attempted to collapse the table. A bolt of lightning lit up the sky and a crack of thunder sounded off in the distance.

“I’m sure Lafonda will be excited,” he said, with a chuckle.

Samantha smiled and then stood in silence for a moment. “How come I haven’t seen you at any of Jim’s parties or when Lafonda comes over?” she asked.

Nathan could feel his face turning red. “You mean, at your house?” he stammered.

“Well, technically it’s my parents’ house,” she respon
ded. “But yes.”

Nathan’s ears burned so he knew his face had to be bright red. The truth was, he just didn’t think he would fit in. He shrugged. “Um, no reason,” he said.

“Good,” she said enthusiastically. “Because I am having my seventeenth birthday party next month and I want you to come.”

His eyes were wide. “Me?” he asked, in surprise. He didn’t want her to know he was surprised so he relaxed and spoke with a more confident voice. “I mean, you want me to come?”

Samantha nodded and tried not to giggle. “Yes,” she said, “you can just come with Lafonda. It will be fun; and I’ve invited some people from camp too.”

“Am I missing something here?” he asked. “Are those two back together?”

Samantha’s eyebrows were raised. “I don’t know anything,” she said, with a grin. “I’ll let them tell you.”

He frowned. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the clouds directly above them. The sound of loud rumbling thunder followed and Samantha jumped. Nathan looked down and saw that Samantha was holding his arm.

“That was loud,” he said.

Nervously, Samantha released Nathan’s arm and fidgeted with her clothes and hair. “Yes,” she said. “It was.”

He looked down again. This time it was because his cell phone was vibrating in his pocket. “I bet that’s LaDonda cal
ling me,” he said.

Nathan spoke on the phone for a while and then ended the call. “Yup,” he said. “It was LaDonda. She said she’s almost here, but wanted me to clean up and break down the table.” 

“Check,” said Samantha, while eyeing the folded-up table and closed garbage bag. “You are way ahead of her.”

Overhead, another bolt of lightning lit up the sky, fo
llowed by a low rumble. LaDonda and Malick were walking swiftly out of the forest, and Nathan was surprised to see Argus close behind them.

“Listen up, everyone!” LaDonda said loudly. “As you can see, there is a storm heading our way, so let’s pack up and head back to Lawrence Hall.”