Enoch's Ghost Read Online Free

Sorry!” He set the lid carefully on the ground. “I was trying to get a better look at the coins. Why were you saving them?”
    “When we left the hospital after Ashley was born, Timothy bought a newspaper and coffee from an elderly street vendor. When the man gave Timothy those coins in change, he closed Timothy’s fingers around them, and I will never forget what he said. ‘The dime represents the ten spies who quaked at the sight of giants in the Promised Land. They are chaff in the wind, a dime a dozen. But the pennies represent the two faithful witnesses who believed God would conquer the Nephilim. They are the widow’s mites—copper coins, yet rare gems—a gift that Jesus declared far more valuable than the treasure of kings. Keep these coins and never forget God’s promises.’”
    Ashley plucked the dime from the box. “What should we do with them? We can’t bury them now.”
    “Put them in your pocket,” Thigocia said. “The box is worthless, so there is no sense taking it along. We can store the telegram and the ring in your bag’s waterproof pouch.”
    After sliding the coins into her jeans pocket, Ashley handed the box to Walter, withdrew the telegram, and unfolded it. Holding the worn edges carefully, she read out loud. “Congratulations on the birth of your daughter. May she live in peace and learn the secret behind the Oracles of Fire. Signed, Gabriel.”
    As she scanned the logo and address at the top of the page, she tapped her jaw. “Larry, I need you to contact the Western Union office on Stephens Avenue in Missoula. Find out the data source of the request for the telegram Gabriel sent to my birth hospital on the day I was born. It says it came from Glasgow, but I have my doubts. If they won’t give the source to you, go ahead and snoop in their database if you can. It could be a matter of life or death.”
    “Consider it done.”
    “What? No witty reply?”
    “On a scale of one to ten, your tone of voice registers a nine point six on the ‘I’m-totally-stressed-out’ meter. It is not safe for man or machine to test your limits at this time.”
    “Good choice,” Ashley said. “Give me your report as soon as you can.”
    Walter nudged Karen. “Larry sneaked in a scale joke again.”
    “Hush!” Ashley elbowed his ribs, but she couldn’t keep a smile from breaking out. “Or feel my fire-breathing wrath!” She held back a grimace. Walter didn’t laugh. Was that joke too lame? Shaking her head at her lousy timing, she propped the telegram in front of Thigocia’s nose, but not close enough to risk singeing the page. “Does it make sense to you that Gabriel would reveal his location like this? Glasgow is huge, but why even give a hint?”
    “It would not make sense at all. Makaidos … I mean, Timothy and I asked that very question.”
    “Could it be a clue to where he really was?” Walter asked. “Some kind of family code? You know, maybe Glasgow means some other city.”
    “There was no code.” Thigocia’s red eyes seemed to darken as she recalled her story. “We left Gabriel near Glasgow with one of the Circle of Knights who took him to Patrick where he stayed for a time. We hoped he would be safe while we led the slayers to the States to get them off track. Patrick later told us that Gabriel disappeared, and before this telegram came, no one had heard from him for forty years.”
    Karen pointed at the note. “So what’s that stuff Gabriel wrote about Oracles of Fire?”
    Thigocia’s draconic lips turned upward, revealing a gentle smile. “While he was in Dragons’ Rest, Timothy met a girl named Sapphira who told him she was an Oracle of Fire, but he only knew that these oracles would bring about an end to Dragons’ Rest. He never saw her again, but we know that Dragons’ Rest was destroyed, so this girl might have had something to do with it. Maybe finding her is the key to finding Gabriel.”
    Ashley refolded the telegram. “Or maybe even finding my