Keohane, G. - Solomon's Grave

Thoughts of his father. And his mother, who likely still didn’t know that her family was gone forever.

“What,” he began, then had to swallow. His mouth was dry. They should stop at a McDonald’s somewhere, get a drink. He tried again, “What do you think Josh told them?”

Elizabeth turned her head, slowly, and Nathan braced himself for the verbal assault she’d been building up.

“I don’t know,” she said, softly. Looking back out the window, she continued, “Where are we going, Nate?”

He offered her a small, humorless laugh. “I don’t know.” The relief of her calmness made him giddy. He tried to control it, keep from laughing hysterically at their humorless predicament. The last time he’d done that, he’d been beaten almost to death. Where were they going? Good question.

Elizabeth turned to him again, this time twisting and bringing one knee onto the seat. “Nate, what was that, at the front of the church? What was it?”

“You mean the fire?”

She raised her voice. “The... thing ... in the fire, Nate! Didn’t you see it?”

He shook his head, slowly, not in denial but confusion. “I’m not sure; there was too much going on. You mean the Covenant? What thing ?”

She looked at him a long time, not in anger but something else, something he had not seen in her face even when her mother had been sick, not to this degree. She looked... horror-struck. Her lips were tightly closed. He wanted to urge her on, feeling a twist in his gut from the possibility that tonight had more dimensions than even he had seen.

“What is it? Elizabeth, what did you see?”

She shook her head, quickly, a child’s emphatic no! , then turned in her seat until she was staring out her side window.

“Nothing,” she said at last. “Nothing.”

Johnson had forsaken his window during the conversation, his large head moving in the rear view mirror, back and forth between them. Sensing nothing more of interest, he turned his wet nose back to the two inches of fresh air coming in from outside.

They drove on, staying on the interstate. Nathan still felt exposed on this open road, uncertain of where to go next. He needed to listen to his instincts from now on. Go where the Spirit might direct them.

When it returned fifteen minutes later, Elizabeth’s voice was weak, tired.

“Nate?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think God’s going to mind me tagging along like this?”

He smiled, sensing the Old Elizabeth returning. Even her jabs at his faith were a welcome relief. “I thought you didn’t believe in God,” he said.

“Yeah, well, regardless, do you think he’ll mind? I mean, bringing the dog wasn’t one of your brightest ideas, but me ... what about me?”

The question carried such a weight of importance, in its implication and the almost desperate way in which it was asked, Nathan took his time in answering.

“No, E,” he finally said. “I don’t think He’ll mind. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m beginning to think you were supposed to come with me.”

He’d gone too far. His fear doubled when Elizabeth suddenly broke out in renewed sobs, at times banging her head lightly against the passenger window. He doubted she even knew she was doing it.

He wanted to take back what he’d said, then remembered something his pastor in Florida once told him. If a parishioner is crying, they do not want to hear anyone’s voice. They only need to know you’re there with them.

He reached out and gently touched her arm. Her sobs, after a while, lightened. She turned back to him, holding his arm with both of her hands, and leaned her head on it like a pillow.

After a while, he assumed she’d fallen asleep. Instead, she whispered, “We’re going to have to eat, I suppose, and find some new clothes, a pair of shoes for me, if that’s OK. Get rid of this car.” She sighed. “I can’t believe you brought the dog with us.”

“I’m not sure how much money I’ve got, and I don’t dare use my ATM card. Not that I have a whole lot in the bank anyway.” He tapped the steering wheel with two fingers. “Not sure how we’re going to trade in this car, either. I mean, technically, it’s stolen.”

“Well,” she said, her voice fading, falling into sleep, “we could always sneak onto a train car, or something. I’ve got forty bucks in my pocket. Not much, but I guess if we’re supposed to be where we are, like you said, something will come along.”

Nathan agreed, but since he could feel Elizabeth’s weight fall heavily on his arm, he didn’t say so. Her breathing fell into an even rhythm of sleep.

She was right. They had no money to speak of, a car stolen from a dead psychopath, a ninety-pound orphaned dog, and objects of unlimited power and historical consequence—which could easily change the world simply by the knowledge of their existence— wrapped in a potato sack in the trunk. Something had to come along. They would drive until they could drive no more, and have faith that in the end, something would present itself.

They drove in silence down the empty highway, headlights revealing only the next few yards ahead. Soon the car was only a red point of light fading into the distance. Then it, and its occupants, were gone.

About the author:

Daniel G. Keohane’s short fiction has appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies over the years, including Cemetery Dance, Apex Science Fiction and Horror Digest, Shroud Magazine, Extremes 4, The Pedestal Magazine, Gothic.Net, and many others. Solomon’s Grave is his debut novel, though it has been previously released in both Germany (as Das Grab des Salomon ) and Italy (as il Segreto di Salamone ). An active member of the HWA and SFWA, Dan lives with his family in Massachusetts, where he is always at work on the next novel.