He took her hand, kissed her fingers, and she smiled again as she drew them back so she could finish dressing. Once they’d pulled their boots on, they left the tent and found Father Cornelius and Polly waiting in the stall, in front of the tent Ben had been sharing with the priest. Polly glanced out into the passage, glanced in either direction, and then nodded.
“I’m guessing whatever you translated from the bottom of the coffin, it doesn’t bode well,” Walker said.
Father Cornelius looked as if he might be sick. He ran a hand over the gray stubble that had appeared on his chin in the past two days.
“Some of it is a warning, like the writings on the lid and the encasement,” the priest said. His pallor had turned gray and suddenly he looked very old to Walker. “And I won’t claim I’ve cracked it completely.”
“You’ve cracked it enough,” Polly put in. “Just tell them.”
The priest cleared his throat with a dry rattle. “Most of what’s there—what was beneath the cadaver—is a history. An Apocrypha. In the era before Noah built the ark—”
“His name was really Noah?” Walker asked.
Father Cornelius fixed him with a searing glare. “Of course not. But I can’t pronounce it and don’t have time for guessing. It’s Noah, all right? Or it’s where the story began. Many ancient scholars believed that demons roamed the Earth in its infancy. In the fourth century Genesis Rabbah, Hebrews examining the early versions of the Bible interpreted certain passages to say that Noah took demons on board the ark. It’s just one of the many examples of ancient texts that establish—”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Walker said, heart pounding. He didn’t believe in any of this. So why did he feel a prickling at the back of his neck? Why did he wish he was anywhere but here?
“The same text, the Genesis Rabbah, discusses the idea that man existed in God’s image until the days of Enos, and then we changed. I’ve never been persuaded by any of the translations I’ve seen. There’s no clarity, but the suggestion is there that demons changed humanity in some fundamental way. This runs parallel to the myth of the Nephilim, who were supposed to have been born of a union between angels and human beings, or fallen angels and humans.”
“Fallen angels?” Kim echoed. “You mean demons.”
Father Cornelius grimaced. “Scholars can never agree. Tonight it doesn’t matter. The only thing that does is that the history written inside the coffin tells the story of a world in which demons began to infect people with their own evil. Some kind of seer predicted the flood—a priest or magician or even something Noah saw in a dream. It’s unclear, but Noah was persuaded. He built the ark for himself and his extended family. They brought plants and seeds and all the animals they thought they would need to settle wherever they landed, and they were ready when the flood came. But a demon called Shamdon found its way aboard. The demon murdered two of Noah’s sons and a granddaughter before they were able to capture and kill it.”
Walker waited, thinking there must be more to the story. Then he understood that he already knew how the tale ended. Kim and Polly were staring at the priest, but now both women turned their focus on him.
“The writing in the coffin—it identifies the demon by name?”
Father Cornelius nodded. “Shamdon.”
Walker ran his hands through his hair, hanging his head. He could feel his pulse throbbing in his temples. “You know I don’t believe any of this.”
Kim moved nearer, drawing his eyes to hers. “I think you do.”
“Is the body still back there?” he asked, looking to Polly.
“Still wrapped. It’s just a husk. No way has that thing been walking around, hurting anyone.”
“I agree,” Father Cornelius said. “The cadaver is a shell. But the demon… I believe it’s still here. Inside the ark… and inside one of us.”
“We’re talking about possession now?” Walker said.
The priest’s gaze hardened. “We are.”
Kim found her gloves and began to pull them on. “Come on, Walker. Meryam and Adam need to know. Whether they believe it or not, we’ve got to tell them.”
His face flushed. Did he have to believe it completely himself in order to pass along what Father Cornelius had found? Maybe not. When Polly and the priest led the way out into the passage and Kim followed, he realized that his own feelings were of no consequence. Father Cornelius and Polly would pass along their findings. His only decision was whether or not to back them up.
He hurried to get his own gloves, then hauled on his thick, woolen hat. By the time he caught up with them, they were already to the reinforced stairs that led down to level two. Snow swirled up the steps, driven on gusts of wind, and Walker realized the noise he heard was the storm. They moved past the overhanging portion of the outer wall of the cave and into the open as they descended to the first level. Teeth chattering, he regretted not having taken the time to dress more thoroughly, but when Father Cornelius had woken him, he had not imagined he’d be leaving his quarters.
At first the shouts from below sounded as if they came from far away, carried on the wind or echoing off the mountainside. Kim had led them down the steps and now she started to hurry. Polly tried to take Father Cornelius by the arm but he barked at her to go and find out what the fuss was about.
Below, voices shouted Adam’s name, ordered him to back off. Someone called out in urgent Turkish, but by then Walker was hurrying as well. One hand on the wall, he took the steps two at a time, the whole structure shuddering under his boots. Father Cornelius took his time, but old as he might be, he didn’t need anyone’s help. He’d used the word “fuss”, but whatever had happened on level one, it was a hell of a lot more than that.
Another voice shouted. Meryam’s. “Get your fucking hands off me!”
Walker hit the bottom of the steps at a run. Polly and Kim were ahead of him but he’d almost caught up by the time they’d reached the place where most of the staff were clustered. Kim shoved her way through, snapping at them, and Polly helped her clear a hole.
Through the gap, Walker spotted Meryam as she reeled backward. She staggered into shadow and then strode back into the light, blood pouring from her nose and a split in her lower lip.
“Keep back from him,” she told the staffers gathered around. “He’s lost his fucking marbles.”
Polly pushed through them, ready for a fight. Feyiz stepped in front of Adam, blocking his access to Meryam. A cut by his eye had started to swell, and he put his hands up warily.
“Stop, Adam,” Feyiz said. “This isn’t what you want. Not if you love her.”
Walker pushed through the staffers and came up beside Kim. His fists opened and closed, but there were others ready to step in as well.
Adam moved too quickly for all of them. Face carved with fury, he lunged at Feyiz, hammered at his face with such ferocity that Feyiz dropped to the snow. Adam straddled him, fists smashing down with a sickening, meaty sound. Blood smeared Adam’s fist as four people got hold of him, one student yanking his head back by the hair. Savage, snarling, eyes wide, he surged upward and grabbed Polly by the throat. She whipped an arm up and broke his grip, struck him two solid blows to the chest with a speed that indicated martial arts training. Taking his wrist, she twisted and kicked him in the softness of his armpit, then kicked again, knocking him to the ground.
They were on him, then. Walker rushed in, put a knee on his left arm as Polly took the other, and two grad students held his legs. Kim stood above him, shouting at him to calm down, even as Meryam appeared beside her, wiping blood from her face.