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Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Meanwhile, back at the hotel rooiven up his hopes to be a professional wrestler and has resumed his ambition to be Spider-Man He made the decision after I pointed out that in Genesis, Jacob wrestles an angel and wins In short, a hu that he didn't re the Gideon Bible in out of the bathroo the Gospel of Mark and I'd lose the book if the angel found out about it

I thought Mattheas bad, skipping right from Joshua's birth to his baptism, but Mark doesn't even bother with the birth It's as if Joshua springs forth full grown from the head of Zeus (Okay, bad ins with the baptiset these stories? "I once uy who's sister's best friend was at the baptism of Joshua bar Joseph of Nazareth, and here's the story as best as he could remember it"

Well, at least Mark mentions me, once And then it's totally out of context, as if I was just sitting around doing nothing and Joshua happened by and asked ion Yeah, I reion was a wuss

I asked Balthasar if he was smitten with me," Joshua said over supper

"Oh no," said Joy We were eating in the girls' quarters It sirls would rub our shoulders while we ate Just e needed after a tough day of studying

"You weren't supposed to let him knoere on to him What did he say?"

"He said that he'd just come off of a hard breakup and he wasn't ready for a relationship because he just needed to spend a little ti to know himself, but that he'd love it if we could just be friends"

"He lies," said Joy "He hasn't had a breakup in a hundred years"

I said, "Josh, you are so gullible Guys always lie about stuff like that That's the proble allowed to knoomen, it means you don't understand the most fundamental nature of men"

"Which is?"

"We're lying pigs We'll say anything to get ant"

"That's true," said Joy The other girls nodded in agreement

"But," said Josh, "the superior leto Confucius"

"Of course," said I, "but the superiorabout the rest of us"

"So should I be worried about this trip he wants me to take with him?"

Joy nodded gravely and the other girls nodded with her

"I don't see why," I said "What trip?"

"He says we'll only be gone a couple of weeks He wants to go to a temple at a city in the mountains He believes that the temple was built by Solomon, it's called the Temple of the Seal"

"And why do you have to go along?"

"He wants to show "

"Uh-oh," I said

"Uh-oh," echoed the girls, not unlike a Greek chorus, except of course they were speaking Chinese

In the week leading up to Joshua and Balthasar's departure, Iher shift in Balthasar's bed I picked Pea Pods not because she was the irls, which she was; nor because she was the lightest of foot and most stealthy, which she was also; but because she was the one who had taught s of the Chinese characters that were the et the most accurate impression of the key that Balthasar wore on the chain around his neck (Oh yes, there was a key to the ironclad door Joy had let it slip where Balthasar kept it, but I was sure that she was too loyal to him to steal it Pea Pods, on the other hand, wasa lot of time with her on and off)

"By the ti on here," I whispered to Joshua as he climbed onto his camel "Find out what you can from Balthasar"

"I will But be careful Don't do anything while I' to see, has so to do with the house of doom"

"I' to look around You be careful"

The girls and I stood at the top of the plateau and waved until Joshua and thethe extra caht, then, one by one, we eway in the cliff's face The entrance to the passageway, and the tunnel for perhaps thirty cubits, were just wide enough for one ed to bruise an elbow or a shoulder along the hich allowed es

By the tiot to the chamber of the elements, where we practiced the art of the Nine Elixirs, Pea Pods had the sots of brass to a small stone crucible From the wax impression we had made a wax duplicate of the key, from that we'd made a plaster mold, which we'd fired to melt out the wax Noe'd have one chance to cast the key, because once the metal cooled in the plaster mold, the only way to release it was to break off the plaster

When we broke off the on on a stick

"That's so bulky iron boys, nothing elegant enough for a key like this

"When are you going to use it?" asked Pea Pods Her eyes ide like those of an excited child Times like that I almost fell in love with her, but fortunately I was always distracted by Joy's sophistication, Pillow's , Number Six's dexterity, or any one of the other charms that were heaped upon y to keep fro in love with any one of theure, because he enjoyed spending tiends of the stor He said that there was an innate kindness born in wo around the their physical charms astounded s I'd seen hi so down a beautiful wo

"I'll take it from here," I said to Pea Pods I didn't want her to be involved any further in case things didn't turn out well

"When?" asked Pea Pods,ould I attempt to open the door

"Tonight, when you have all gone to live in the world of pleasant drealed It was the last time I ever saw her in one piece

At night the halls of the fortress were lit by the aht from the moon and the stars that filtered in from the s Everywhere e carried a clay oil laeways seee creature as they sed up the diht After several years with Balthasar, I could findquarters of the fortress without any light at all, so I carried an unlit la at the beaded doorway to listen for their gentle snores

Once I ell away fro one of the fire sticks that I'd invented using some of the same chemicals we used to make the explosive black powder The fire stick made a soft pop as I struck it on the stone wall and I could swear I heard it echo from the hall up ahead As Ibrie that the smell of the fire stick had stayed withan oil laht it

"Let me see the key," she said

"What key?"

"Don't be foolish I saas left of the mold in the room of the elements"

I took the key from where I'd tucked it in ht, turning it this way and that "Pea Pods cast this," she said matter-of-factly "Did she take the impression as well?"

I nodded Joy didn't seeirls skilled enough in , so why deny it?

"Getting the impression must have been the hard part," Joy said "Balthasar is fierce about guarding this key I'll have to ask her what she did to distract hi to know, huh? For both of us" She smiled seductively, then turned toward the door and pushed aside the brass plate that covered the keyhole In that second I felt as if a frozen dagger had been dragged over my spine

"No!" I grabbed her hand "Don't" I was overco of revulsion that wrenched my insides "We can't"

Joy sain and pushed s since I ca that was harmful You planned this, you must want to knohat is in here as much as I do"

I wanted to stop her, I even tried to take the key away frorabbed my arm and pushed into a pressure point that o numb She raised an eyebrow as if to ask, "Do you really want to try that, knohat I can do to you?" And I stepped back

She put the dragon key into the lock and turned it three ti I had ever heard, then she withdrew the key and shot the three heavy iron bolts As she pulled the door open there was a rush of air, as if so had moved by us very quickly, and my lamp went out

Joshua told etherthe room they called the house of doom, Joshua and Balthasar were caht was crisp and the stars shone with a cold blue light like loneliness or infinity They had eaten some bread and cheese, then settled in close to the fire to share the last of a flask of fortified wine, Balthasar's second that evening

"Have I told you of the prophecy that sent me in search of you when you were born, Joshua?"

"You spoke of the star My mother told me of the star"

"Yes, the three of us followed that star, and by chance we met up in the ether, but the star wasn't the reason ent, it was only our ation Weat the end"

"Me?" Joshua said

"Yes, but not just you, but what it is said was brought with you In the temple where we travel now, there lies a set of clay tablets - very old - the priests say that they date back to the ti of a child ill have power over evil and victory over death They say he will carry the key to immortality"

"Me? Immortality? Nope"

"I think you do, you just don't know it yet"

"Nope, I'ht people back frootten better at healing over the years, but my back-from-the-dead stuff still needs work I need to learn more"

"Which is why I have taught you, and why I a you to the temple now, so you may read the tablets yourself, but you must have the power of immortality within you"

"No, really, I haven't a clue"

"I am two hundred and sixty years old, Joshua"

"I've heard that, but I still can't help you You look good though, I mean for two hundred and sixty"

At this point Balthasar started to sound desperate "Joshua, I know that you have power over evil Biff has tolddemons in Antioch"

"Little ones," Joshua said modestly

"You ood"

"What I aain for it"

"Joshua, I am preserved by a pact with a demon If you do not have the powers foretold in the prophecy I will never be free, I will never have peace, I will never have love Everythe demon Shouldthe world has ever seen"

"I kno it is I'h it was an angel that told me, not a demon But still, you know, it's hard soht Pilloas giving etting this massive - "

"By the Golden Tenderloin of the Calf!" Balthasar exclai to his feet, his eyes ith terror The oldaround in the darkness like ato calht have a fit any second