Chloe's Guardian (The Nephilim Redemption Series Book 1) (41 page)

He snatched her up and flew again, soaring through the cavern. At that moment Satarel re-entered the realm. He was ahead of them, coming toward them.

That should keep him busy and miserable,
Satarel thought. An image of a snowy foxhole somewhere in the 1940s lingered in Satarel’s mind when Horatius listened in.

Horatius reversed and shot away as quickly as he could, closing his mind to all thoughts, using all his might to shut down any emotion, any glimmer of an idea. He plummeted through the cavern, taking Chloe deeper and deeper into the dimension.

Chloe stirred in his arms. The contact with Horatius was chasing enough of the doom away that her trance was dissipating. He projected a protective field around her and sped up, zooming headlong as the cavern took a sudden spiral downward. Satarel was fast coming on, probably growing suspicious every mile that flew behind them.

Satarel’s voice broke into his mind again, obscenities once again flying at the betrayal he suspected. Flaming balls began flashing past him again. He was far enough away that they were not hitting their mark yet, but they were exploding against the rock teeth around them.

Several caves opened in front of him. Without thought, Horatius plunged into the darkness of one. Not knowing which went where, he just dove. He had to get away from Satarel until he created a plan. His illumination was the only light. Inside, he found more branches in the cave. He chose and entered a new route. They curved around at a frenzy to follow the bend of the cave. Satarel’s audible voice echoed through the chasm.

“I will end you this time!” Satarel’s words echoed. Repeating, overlapping, fading. They bounced around inside the earthen tunnels.

Another tee and Horatius ducked beneath the low entrance of one passage and shot forward. Something caught his eye as he passed. When he looked back, it was gone. For a second he thought Satarel had gotten ahead of them.

The tunnels twisted round and round. They looked the same, maybe going nowhere. The deep caverns were unknown to him. They belonged to the Prince. His mansion lay on the other side of the passages.

He passed a place again where something caught his side vision. A gleam or glimmer. In the dark, it seemed like a far-off glow. Looking right at it, it was a cold stone cave wall.

Chloe moaned and squirmed in his arms. He shifted her, knowing she couldn’t be comfortable at their speed. The protective field around her weakened. So much energy was needed to negotiate the rotating, twisting tunnels. He could barely keep her from feeling all the pressure.

They passed through another cave entrance. Or was it another?
They all look the same.

They shot through a long straight tunnel, and then took an abrupt curve.

Satarel was waiting for them.

His face, full of fury, contorted with the rage of eons. Behind them swooped one of Satarel’s henchmen. His flaming sword flickered and splashed light on the dank cave walls. Satarel produced his flaming sword and slashed through Horatius.

He staggered. The power drained from him so abruptly, he could barely stay upright.

“You did not kill her yet?” Satarel said sneering. “Then I will have to. Both of you.”

The flame turned to burnished steel. Its razor edge glimmered purple in the light emanating from Satarel.

Again, something caught Horatius’ eye. He glanced at the wall next to him. And he saw it. A rip in the fabric of the dimension. And on its edges gleamed traces of Shekinah Glory.

He didn’t look back at Satarel. The swoop of Satarel's sword came at him. Horatius fell sideways into the tear.

He and Chloe were pulled into a realm unlike any he’d ever been. They were propelled along a tube of energy, dark at first, but growing in luster as they ascended. Up, up they soared, taken by the power of the passageway, not conveyed by any effort of his own.

The light intensified until they had to squint. Chloe sat up and then stood next to Horatius, held in place by a force with which he was unfamiliar. But it was soothing, and good, and healing. The damage from Satarel’s sword was reversed. The pain of Billy’s death was somehow buffered. The frenzied wrath toward Panahasi was extinguished.

Chloe looked at him and smiled. Her expression had transformed from despair to hope. Her eyes had life like he hadn’t seen in her before.

Horatius basked in the glow of the Shekinah Glory.
They
had been here. Somehow,
They
had forged and marked a path out of hell. The path had compelled him toward it, at the same time
They
spoke to him again.
They
had saved him once more. New hope for redemption spread through his being, assuring him there would be a way for him to experience grace.

Suddenly, they were out of the tunnel. It delivered them into the Chronos Band and before Horatius could react, they stood on the street in Denver, near where they’d encountered the gang so long ago. His Stetson lay crooked next to a broken bottle in the tall weeds along the sidewalk. He was already changed into his human form.

Chloe needed to find out if her family was okay, and if not, Horatius would need to do what he could to intercede. Though he could not think of what that might be. If he was still grounded, what could he do? If they were already dead, it would be even worse. Chloe would really need him then.

And though the pain of Billy’s death had been comforted by an amazing peace, he had to go back and correct the wrongs done.

CHAPTER
57

As they walked home, Chloe tentatively grasped Horace’s free hand. His hat was in the other. He looked down at her and winked. His expression was a mixture of tenderness and intimacy
.

He squeezed her hand, and it reassured her more. She liked the feel of his huge hand wrapped around hers. She felt safer to have it there.

“It will probably take awhile to process all of that,” he said as they walked along the weedy sidewalk.

Chloe couldn’t help but laugh at his absurd understatement. “I’m going to need therapy you know. Unless you can erase my memory.”

This time he laughed. She wondered what that meant. Maybe amnesia would be the best thing.

“I don’t know what is real,” she said.

“The kind of experience we have endured can be difficult.” She didn’t know if he was trying to comfort her. It sounded like he was speaking to himself.

Somehow during their flight, for the first time she’d forgotten her family. Now when they came back into her thoughts, worry hit her like a baseball bat. “What about my family? Are we in time to help? Have we returned before the fire?” She let go of Horace’s hand and walked faster.

“I don’t know. Our return was not of my doing.”

Chloe broke into a run before turning the corner to get to her house. The distance was excruciating. Her insides cramped up, her stomach rolled, her heart convulsed.

She ran and ran. She didn’t know she was the one screaming. But when she found herself collapsed in a heap on the sidewalk in front of her house, she realized the noises were coming from her own throat.

In front of her was what was left of her house. The concrete steps went up to nothing. One flower pot was gone. The other, cracked in two with half shattered on the steps. Beyond the stairs black boards stuck up here and there, their charred remains bubbled and notched by the fire. The smell of ash burned her nose, nearly suffocating her as she gasped for breath through the sobs.

Horace was lifting her to her feet, pulling her into his arms, and letting her scream her grief into his chest.

Then her voice just stopped. She couldn’t express anything. It was too much. She folded up into a thin ribbon and slipped out of his arms. Her legs folded under her and she fell back to the sidewalk and just stared up at the ruins. After a time, she realized Horace was sitting next to her. He didn’t say anything or try to make her talk.

They sat there endlessly. Time was absent. The faces of her family clogged her vision, trapped in the house, burning and exploding.

An old man was standing nearby. She didn’t know how long he’d been there. He held a leash clipped to his terrier’s collar. The brown fur ball was sniffing her knee. She missed the first part of what he said.

“…a shame. What a loss.”

Chloe looked back at the house in silence. She didn’t need him to tell her that.

“It was an amazing fire. Quite frightening. And spectacular. The rest of the block worried our own houses would burst into flame from the heat alone. The smell was awful. Poo-poo Bear was just beside himself, weren’t you Bearzy Wearzy?” He reached down and scratched his dog’s ear. “And the ash and embers. Just everywhere. Look here. Here is some.” He toed a chunk of dry ash in the grass. “It’s all over my porch and begonias.”

Her nerves were too raw to listen to his voice. She covered her ears with her hands and ducked her head.

“Good thing the family is away.”

“Wait, what?” Chloe reran the muffled words she thought he had said.

“Oh yes,” he said. “They’ve been on vacation the past week—one of those time shares in Florida. Except the oldest daughter. I heard she’s in Brazil with her school band.”

Vacation? She tried to talk but her tongue was useless. Florida? How could they be in Florida? She looked at Horace for an explanation.

“Yes, three visiting men—I think from that church down the street—gave them the trip,” the man continued. “Said they couldn’t use it themselves. Poo-poo Bear and I were on a walk. The men were just leaving when we passed by.” He pulled back on his dog’s leash so it couldn’t eat any more grass.

“Do you have a cell phone we could borrow?” Horace asked the man.

“The whole family was screaming with excitement. The mom told me all about it.”

“Cell phone? Do you have one?”

He hesitated.

“I will give you my hat in trade.” Horace held out his Stetson.

The man’s eyes grew wide. “Really? I can
have
it?” He’d already taken it from Horace and was turning it around, inspecting it.

“Certainly. I have no further use for it. It is nearly new. It might be too large—”

The man put it on and handed over his phone. “Be careful. Don't scratch it.”

Chloe could barely control her fingers as she tried to dial her mother’s cell number. She’d memorized it after the whole mess in Scotland. After retyping it three times, she could finally hit send.

“Mom?” Chloe choked and tears poured down her cheeks again. “Are you okay?”

“What’s wrong?” her mom said.

“Is everyone with you?”

“Sure,” her mom said. “We’re at the airport. We’re coming back a day early.”

“Is Benji with you?”

“Where else would he be?”

“And Michelle?”

“Yes. Chloe, what’s wrong?”

Chloe started sobbing, unable to hold it in.

“Are you home? Have you been to the house?”

“Yes, Mama, I’m home,” Chloe cried.

“Is it terrible? The fire marshal called last night. It sounds just awful. Oh, they’re boarding. I have to go. We’ll call on our layover.”

“They’re okay,” Chloe said to Horace. “They’re okay!” She jumped into his arms and hugged him.

“Phone?” the man with the dog said with his hand extended. “Careful, that’s my new Pantech phone.”

Chloe gave it back. The man rubbed her finger prints off on his shirt tail then waited while his dog urinated on the first concrete step. “Come on home, Poo-poo Bear. Let’s go show off our new hatsy watsy.”

“So they weren’t in the house? Was I here? What does this mean?”

“It means Kaitlyn’s prayers were answered. When you depend on those outside of time, anything is possible.”

Chloe gasped. “Where’s Kaitlyn?”

Horace was quiet.

Chloe pounded him in the chest. “Where! Is! Kaitlyn?”

“I have to go get her.”

“What? Did you
leave
her back there?”

“I had no choice.”

“We have to go get her!”

“We nothing. You are staying here where you belong. I will go get her and bring her back.”

“Go! Go now. Don’t wait. I’m fine. I’ll wait here. No, I’ll call my dad. It doesn’t matter. Go get her!”

“No need to worry. Time doesn’t matter. I can get there as soon as I left. Even before.”

“I can’t believe you
left
her there.”

“It will be all right. Kaitlyn was watching over Billy for me. I will take care of him then I will bring her back before you know it.”

He didn’t mention the Corridor may still be off limits. But he was determined. He would find a way to get back to the sixteenth century to collect Kaitlyn. “I will come back as soon as I can.”

He transfigured, watching Chloe’s eyes expand as he changed. “Do not worry.” He bent down and stole a kiss—a longer kiss than he thought Chloe would give. “I will do whatever is necessary. Everything will be okay. I’ll be right back.” He made sure no doubt showed on his face. Her smile reassured him she believed in him once again.

He concentrated on the quantum level of his substance and transported out of Chloe’s dimension.

***