Eli Fletcher: Mark of the King: Book 1

Chapter Seven

I’m Questioned by the Police

“What’s your name, kid?” The angry one demands after I don’t answer immediately; the other officer closes his eyes and shakes his head.

“Eli,” I answer calmly and confidently.

The second officer grins at me, seemingly impressed at my lack of fear of the intimidating officer.

“You’ll have to forgive my partner; he’s cranky when he hasn’t had his donut and coffee before his first call of the day.”

I hold back a chuckle for fear of upsetting the cranky one more. I do let a small grin spread on my face, though.

“Well, my name is Randy, and this is my partner Bill. Those two by the door are James and Chuck. We responded to a call this morning about a missing child; a boy named Ian-”

“Eli?” Miss O says, suddenly popping out of the office. “Did you see him anywhere?”

Randy and Bill both turn to look at her but she keeps her eyes locked on me, her concerned expression never leaving her face.

I shake my head. “No, we got as far as Downtown but I didn’t see him anywhere,” I answer, my heart pounding faster and faster. When did this happen? Was this why Tentatio lured me out of the orphanage? He had to have known that Michael would have followed me, leaving the orphanage unprotected.

Miss O nods and then waves for me to follow her to Mrs. Katz’s office.

“There you are, Eli!” Mrs. Katz says, sounding angrier than normal. “Well?” she demands.

I shake my head again. “I didn’t see him,” I tell her.

Mrs. Katz falls down into her small desk chair, holding a hand up to her mouth, her eyes red and watery.

“Can you think of any reason anyone would want to harm the boy?” one of the plain-clothed detectives asks.

Mrs. Katz shakes her head. “I mean, all of these kids are brought here by some kind of family member, some of them without the knowledge of a parent. But, the building was locked up like it is every night. Have your officers found any sign of a break-in?” she asks.

“No, but for now, we’re just asking questions, ma’am,” the one in the gray suit replies.

Brown-suit-guy speaks to me, asking, “Did you sneak out of here this morning?”

“Sneak?” I answer. “No; one of the boys, I don’t remember which, came and told me that Ian was missing, so I started searching for him. Being the oldest kid here, I kinda feel responsible for them,” I begin and Miss O smiles at me.

“Is that when you told your teacher here about him being missing?” Brown Suit asks.

I nod. “I told her I searched the whole building and that I would look outside for him in case he wandered out there for some reason. I saw some suspicious looking guy out there; I’d seen him yesterday, too. So I…I followed him.”

“You followed a suspicious-looking, grown man on your own?” Gray Suit asks, flabbergasted.

“No, not alone; Michael went with me. We followed him Downtown, but lost him when we reached the road construction on Nevada,” I tell them.

Brown Suit narrows his eyes on me, making me a little nervous. “Did I do something wrong?”

Gray Suit sighs. “Other than try to play a pre-teen hero? No, you didn’t do anything wrong,” he says.

“Can I go?” I ask.

The detectives and Mrs. Katz stare at me for a moment and then Miss O speaks up. “Yes, Eli, you can go. Why don’t you go get cleaned up for the day?”

“What’s on your shirt, son?” Brown Suit asks as I turn to leave.

I look at my shoulder he’s pointing at and see the white powdery stuff on my shirt. “I don’t know.”

“Looks like drywall dust,” Gray Suit says.

“What’s drywall?” I ask, playing dumb.

Gray Suit grins and chuckles. “It’s what most walls inside a building are made of, kid.”

“They aren’t made of wood?” I ask, laying it on thick.

Gray Suit sighs again but Brown suit says, “Now’s not the time for a lesson in basic construction, son.”

“Did you see anything like that while you were out?” Brown Suit asks.

I nod. “There was a bunch of trash cans outside a building with some white chunks of stuff sticking out. I hid behind one when I thought that guy saw me following him.”

“The restaurant on Fifth St you like has been doing some remodeling, Jim,” Gray Suit says to his partner.

“Right,” he says as if he just remembered, but I hear suspicion in his voice.

“If you don’t mind, we’ll have the officers take a look around for any signs of forced entry and we’ll be on our way. We’ll have the department canvass the area and we’ll put out an Amber Alert for the boy. If you hear anything, please call us immediately.”

“We will, detectives, thank you,” Mrs. Katz says.

The detectives see themselves out, speak briefly with the officers outside and then exit the building.

“Eli, I’d like to see you in my office,” Miss O says and then leaves quickly before I can respond.

Michael and I both follow her to her office and take a seat in front of her desk. “Where were you?” she demands, her voice much louder than usual.

Michael waves his hand and the door shuts on its own.

“I was outside kicking the kickball Mr. Reese left out there, trying to clear my head about everything that happened yesterday. Then I saw Tentatio and then…” I hesitate, looking at Michael, “…I followed him downtown.”

“YOU WHAT?!” she screams.

“Allison,” Michael says calmly.

She whips her head around at him, and I’m sure if not for the fact that he’s an angel, he’d be more scared than he’s showing. I know I’m a little scared of her right now.

“I had everything under control; I was watching every move he made,” he tells her.

“Why didn’t you stop him from leaving the grounds then?”

He shrugs. “I didn’t see any reason to; I was watching him and sooner or later he’s going to be going off on his own to hunt down demons and you won’t be able to stop him then.”

“It’s my job to protect him, and how can I do that if he’s sneaking off?”

“You are correct in saying that he shouldn’t have left like he did. However, as his preparer, I was watching his every move; he was perfectly safe.”

“What happened to Ian?” I blurt out, interrupting the two of them before their argument can go any further.

Miss O stares at me for a long time. Her face goes through an array of emotions before she settles down in her chair again to answer my question.

“Who took him?” I ask.

“We don’t know,” she says, her voice breaking as her eyes become more watery.

“Was it a demon?”

Miss O shrugs. “We don’t know.”

“How do you not know?”

“There’s no way for us to tell,” she says.

I turn to Michael. “Is there anything in my powers that could give us an answer?”

Michael nods. “But, you’d have to find the exact spot he was taken from if it was a demon.”

“Can I do my own search, then?” I ask Miss O.

She stares at me again, as if trying to read my mind. I’m not sure what she’s looking for; I just want to find Ian.

“Go ahead,” she says and I leave with Michael right behind me.

“Where do you want to start?” he asks.

“The boys’ room,” I say and then turn the corner, march past the bathrooms and straight to the bunk room. It’s empty; all the kids are at breakfast now.

Each of the wooden bunkbeds has the name of its occupant painted at the foot. Before I’d come here, the older kids had helped paint the outline of their names while the boy or girl painted it in however they wanted. I wish I could have been there for that; it would have been a fun way to connect with the younger kids. All I really have now is helping in the pre-school/kindergarten room.

I find his bunk; the sheet and blanket are pulled back as if he’d gotten up for something. I stare at the bed for a minute and something begins to happen. A wavy, purplish line of sorts appears, leading towards the door. I follow it into the hallway, to the boys’ bathroom and to a specific stall; the vague line becoming darker and sharper as it leads me. When I push open the stall door, all I see is a purple glow.

I look over my shoulder at Michael and he nods. “This is where it happened. Ian was taken from here.”

“You see the glow,” Michael states.

I nod as I turn back towards the empty stall. “A demon took him from here,” I say. “Is there any way to figure out how it got in?”

Michael nods. “You saw where it originated from; he appeared next to the boy’s bed and followed him here and then they vanished from this spot.”

“They can do that?” I ask him, letting the stall door close on its own.

Michael nods again. “Tentatio has many followers that have crossed into the physical realm, though he is unable to without a vessel.”

“I still don’t understand why he’s stuck and other demons can pass through.”

“When the hell mount was opened, it was like a relief valve,” he begins to explain but can see in my face that I don’t understand. “Think of it like a dam; if there’s too much water behind it, it can build up so much pressure that the dam could ultimately collapse so there is a gate that allows some of the water out to reduce the pressure. When the last High Sicarius was in power, he created a gate that would allow smaller demons access to the physical realm so there wouldn’t be an explosion allowing all demons access. This keeps the former archangels from being able to cross over without a vessel. However, if Tentatio enters a vessel, he can use that vessel to open the flood gate and allow other former archangels to cross over.”

I take a deep breath as I take in this new information. “Okay,” I start, “one problem at a time. How do we get Ian back?”

Michael shakes his head slowly. “That I’m not sure about.”

“But you’re an angel,” I state, bewildered.

“Yes, but even we angels don’t know all that God knows. What you and I do know is, Tentatio sent a demon to take this boy and he lured you out of the orphanage to do it.”

“So, this is my fault,” I say, turning back towards the now closed stall; I feel like I might throw up.

“Only partially. Tentatio lured you away with the promise of returning your parents; but, yes, you should have listened to Miss O and remained here, especially while everybody was still asleep and vulnerable.”

“What could I have done if I’d been here?”

“You could have sensed the demon and fought it off.”

“With what?”

“You, Eli; you are a weapon. You have powers you don’t even know how to use yet, but like I said before, we need you to learn to get control of your emotions before I can really begin to teach you how to use them.”

“You expect quite a bit,” I tell him.

He nods. “Yes, we do. But you have to understand, you have been given a huge responsibility and it will one day go beyond this orphanage. For now, however, your station is here, watching over these children. While you call this home, they are in potential danger, but they are safer with you around.”

I want to punch a wall. Being here is putting everybody in danger but I can’t leave because leaving will put them in more danger; I can’t win for losing!

“Why don’t we go and join the others in the cafeteria for breakfast? You could use a break from all of this.”

With another heavy sigh, I nod and follow Michael to the cafeteria.