Invisible drums beat an Indian battle cry. The leader of the demons slithered in, and his bat wings spanned the walls of the cave. He held in his claws The Book of Remembrance. “Our latest trophy.”
The underlings gathered around the flat stone where I sat bound in ropes. Round and round they circled, chanting curses and snorting a potion. The nefarious spirits soured my stomach, and their evilness rattled my nerves. I wouldn’t give in, though. I was a daughter of the king.
Hate stabbed at my soul, and the weight of evil wanted to overwhelm me. I resisted. I remembered the weight of glory. The underlings chanted louder. They desired my soul. I remembered what the king said.
“Do not fear, for you are more valuable than many sparrows.”
I fell through a dark hole into a bottomless pit. I quoted the words of the king again. “Do not fear those which kill the body, but can’t kill the soul. Rather, fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Their chants drowned out my words. I must not let anger or fear control me. The demons were the Olympians of hate.
Their noxious breath made me nauseous. I turned away. I tried to loosen my hands, but the ropes burned my wrists. Cruel images tormented my mind.
“Hate,” they chanted.
I cried out to the king. “Deliver me from evil, for you are the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever.”
Their chants continued.
The demons’ dark magic revealed a hallway full of kids. A boy with a Braves cap covering his eyes came up from behind me. He snuck in front of a student. I felt his fingers where they shouldn’t be. I turned around to face him. Judd laughed. I hated him—no. Anger welled up inside of me—no. I became depressed every time I hated him. Deep within my heart, I remembered the words of the king and his love for me. I remembered his command and recited the words by heart. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
The king’s words grew inside of me, words gushing forth from my heart as I needed them. Then I realized, the demons didn’t want to kill me. They wanted to possess me—like the cemetery man. They needed a body.
Much-Afraid cried out. “I love you.”
Cherios hopped up on a stone slab and gazed at me with her trusting brown eyes. “I love you, too,” she said. “Keep saying the words of the king.”
For a tiny moment, the demons seemed disoriented. A flash of light skimmed across the cave ceiling.
“So the little rabbit loves you, huh?” an underling mocked.
The bat creatures gathered around displaying needle stingers that protruded from their midsection. They wanted to zap me on my legs or arms. I tried to avoid the stingers, but one still stung my leg. I felt a twinge of pain, but the sensation disappeared—miraculously. Then I couldn’t catch my breath. It was as if I had fallen into a cold spring and had the wind knocked out of me.
The underlings chanted again. “Death to the animals, death to Shale, she belongs in hell.”
Ice tentacles crept up from my hands into my shoulders. I shivered. How much longer could I take this torment?
Much-Afraid cried out. “Don’t give in. Hold on. Don’t believe their lies. Remember the words of the king.”
Baruch whinnied and tried to bolt, but his tether prevented him from leaving. A demon flashed a sword at him. He whinnied, but when the sword landed on him, it bounced off, not even piercing his skin.
“Forget the donkey. He’s not who we want,” a demon shrieked.
The underlings gathered around me. They untied the rope, but two still held me on each side. The demons took me to a darkened archway. The hallway was long and became narrower as we neared the end. On the other side, a door opened to mysterious stairs, but once I stood at the top, I knew where I was.
The demon in charge demanded. “Bring the animals to the front.”
Baruch, Cherios, and Much-Afraid stood beside me. Their eyes questioned me.
“Tell them what you see, Shale. What is at the bottom of the stairs?”
I refused to look.
“Look,” the demon demanded.
“No.”
“Look now or you can watch your friends die a slow death.”
Momentary fear swept across their faces.
“Please don’t harm them.”
The demon holding Cherios quipped. “We’re waiting.”
A theatrical scene began. I stood at the top of the stairs with Fifi under my arm. I held my mother’s iPhone in my hand. As I stepped down the stairs, I texted a message. Fifi squirmed. I tried to catch him before he slipped, but he knocked the iPhone out of my hand. I reached out to catch it—more afraid I’d break the iPhone than hurt the dog. I had taken the iPhone from Mother without asking.
I missed the step and fell, dropping the dog. The iPhone bounced on the steps. I fell on top of Fifi. He yelped and flopped down a couple more. I fell forward and knocked him again. He rolled the rest of the way. My ankle twisted underneath me, and I couldn’t move, except to fall head-first. I braced myself to avoid hitting my face. At the bottom of the stairs, Fifi lay motionless.
He opened his mouth gasping for breath—air that never came. His eyes were still open. I picked up his still, warm body and cradled him. Tears streamed from my eyes.
What had I done? I killed Judd’s puppy—all to keep from breaking my mother’s iPhone. How could I tell anyone it was an accident when I had been so foolish?
I tore my eyes away from the horrific scene to face my friends— Baruch, Much-Afraid, and Cherios.
“I didn't mean to. It was an accident.”
“It’s Fifi,” Cherios said.
How did Cherios know his name? The few seconds that passed seemed like forever. Why did the demons reveal my shame? It was enough I did it and was unable to forgive myself.
The demons set Cherios down, untied Baruch, and released Much-Afraid.
The underlings continued to accuse me. “She deceived all of you.”
I shouted back. “I made a mistake. That doesn’t make me bad.”
The underlings became silent. Then the chants began again. The more hate-filled their words, the bigger they became.
The king’s power filled my mind. Goose bumps tingled from my heart and spread. A warm light pierced the cold darkness, and the oppression lifted.
“Yes, you’re right. I am nothing more than a worm, like that worm lying on the sidewalk that Judd wanted to crush. Nothing good inside me exists except that given me by the king. Just as I rescued that worm from his tormenter, my king will rescue me, too, and crush your head. The king promised. “If you forgive others, your heavenly father will also forgive you. I am forgiven.”
Cherios smiled from ear to ear. “Yes, Shale. You know the king.”
Much-Afraid nodded.
Baruch’s eyes glistened—no longer with mournful tears but grateful praise.
Magical stirrings from deep within bubbled forth and overflowed. Freedom beckoned me.
The biggest demon jeered, “The king is dead.”
Others chanted and danced. “The king is dead, the king is dead, the underlings will rule instead.”
I countered their lies, “He’ll always live in my heart. You can’t hurt me anymore.” I quoted the king again. “There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out fear.”
My shouts of praise to the king overcame their chants. Suddenly, the demons began to shrink—smaller and smaller, right before my eyes. As the underlings shrunk, they underwent a metamorphosis.
I shouted to my animal friends. “Join me in praises to the king.”
We sang our own song and drowned out theirs. “Blessed be the king forever and ever.”
They shrank smaller and smaller, and we grew larger and larger. Soon the underlings had shape shifted into nothing more than puny snakes. Even though they hissed, their voices became as a little mouse’s before a taunting cat.
I raised my hands in praise to the king. “To whom is the glory for ever and
ever. I know who I am. I am a princess—a daughter of the king.”
Joy flowed through my veins. We had conquered hate with love! Then something tragic happened.
Chapter 36
SECRETS OF THE GARDEN