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An ancient mystery lies buried in an abandonded church, a treasure that will change Elijah Creek's life forever.
Elijah and friends Rob, Reece, Mei and Skid begin a quest for the Armor of God, a weapon of immense power in life's battles--seen and unseen.
My Scrapbook by Elijah Creek
Me exploring in Owl Woods
Telanoo, the land no one owns. Pretty creepy, huh?
Old Pilgrim Church, the starting place for all my troubles
Look inside . . . The Severed Head:
From my rocky perch, I surveyed the wasteland one last time and spotted something we'd missed before: a faint trail of flattened grass heading away from Camp Mudj, away from the Morgan farm, toward nowhere. Had Robbie and Mei and me made that path while looking for the hiding place?
I didn't think so. Actually, I was sure we hadn't.
But someone had. Someone has been here and left a trail.
Mustering all my tracking skills, I followed the disappearing trail over rocks and through scrub bushes. I must have looked like a hound on a rabbit's trail, nosing here and there, back and forth across the terrain.
At one point the trail disappeared for almost an hour. I crisscrossed the creek and scoured the landscape for trampled grass or broken twigs, anything, when . . . eureka! A medium smooth-soled
mud print on a slab of soapstone in a low swampy spot between two ridges. A footprint. A man's shoesize nine or ten.
Measuring the direction the shoe pointed against the sharp west wind, he had to be headingas the crow flies toward the old church.
Who else would follow me into Telanoo and stalk me all night to watch what Id do with his armor? The old man.
Maybe I should have been worried, but I wasn't. Maybe I shouldn't have felt a burst of hope, but suddenly I did. After all, was it just coincidence that we four kids had checked that crawl space in the first place? Was it just coincidence that Robbie and I had gone spying on the church just in time to see the old man bury the armor pieces behind the cemetery?
Elijah and his friends search for the Armor of God in the forbidden haunts of Telanoo.
A broken compass leads to a horrible discovery: was it an accident or murder?
Uncovering dark secrets--and trying to keep his quest under wraps--Elijah finds that his greatest struggle is with the truth.
My Scrapbook
The Mad River Boys' cabin. What a bucket of trouble they were!
the broken compasss that led us into a nightmare
Robbie named this The Bone Tree
Look inside . . . The Ancient Omen:
The day was calm, with a few big puffy clouds. I wore a tan jacket and jeans to blend in with the landscape. Skid showed up in his usual head-to-toe black. Robbie wore a bright red jacket so he wouldnt be shot by hunters.
"It's bow season for deer hunting," I explained. "Half the time we'll be in the park where hunting's not allowed. Don't go paranoid on us."
We took the usual gear: canteen, knife, bandanna, snacks, binoculars; and what we needed for the search: map, metal detector, shovel, my bow with hundred grain broadhead arrows--big enough to bring down a bear--and a real working compass. I hardly ever used a compass, but we needed precision here.
Following the winding road through the park, we pointed Jeremy Brill to the spot nearest Telanoo and had him drop us off. We started unloading our equipment.
"Hey, jerks, how about my money?"
"Give us a minute!" I said.
He eyed our gear. "What are you guys up to with that shovel, anyhow?" he asked.
"Exploring," I answered, and slammed the car door.
He rolled down his window. "Exploring what? I thought you were hunting."
We looked at each other. I was ready to blurt out the truth like Reece always did, that we were looking for an ancient treasure. Skid beat me to it in his own way.
He sauntered around to Jeremy's window, tossed in a couple of bills, and said, "None of your business, Brill."
Jeremy snorted, "Well, good luck, you kiddies. Hope you don't get lost and start crying for your mommies to come find you."
He tore out and was gone. I thought for sure Skid would be miffed. He just laughed and gave us a mission-accomplished nod.
BookThree
The Raven's Curse
Magdeline, Ohio returns to normal after the Dowland scandal, but the quest for the armor changes Elijah's life again: crisis hits his cousin Robbie.
Skid's secretive military dad plans an island getaway to toughen Robbie for the trials to come.
The guys expect a week in paradise. What they get are lessons in raw fear.
This raven was out of his territory, and seemed to bring bad luck with him
Our beach house on Farr Island. We had a blast!
Skid's dad really put Robbie through his paces: midnight jungle maneuvers and ripping out a a tree by the roots.
Look inside . . . The Raven's Curse:
Dry palm fronds rattled in the wind behind the beach house. Out on the darkening sea, shrimp trawlers were coming in for the night. To the side of the house, Elijah made a circle of driftwood logs for seats, and started a bonfire for charring our hot dogs.
Dad joined us and complimented Elijah's fire-making skills. "Good work, Creek. But keep it small. Were allowed a campfire, not a conflagration!"
We incinerated some hot dogs, and Elijah let the fire die down because the wind was blustery. When he had a nice bed of coals, we roasted marshmallows. We sat around listening to the crackling fire, the roaring surf, and the wind blowing through the palms.
Dad stood. "You men gonna sleep out here?"
"We were thinking about it," I said.
Robbie shot me a hateful look. "Since when?"
I'd had it with his attitude. "Hey, spoilsport, it's a free country. You can sleep with the fishes for all I care!"
"Watch your mouth, Marcus," Dad said. He took acouple of steps, stopped and turned. "You know to gauge your camp according to the tide, I guess." Once again he headed for the house, but stopped a second time, as if he remembered something. "Oh, by the way, don't let de hag ride ya."
Elijah looked at me for a translation. I shrugged. "No entiendo."
"The boo hag," Dad said in a sinister voice. Haven't heard of her?" He grinned wickedly and took a seat. "You need to know, men, if youre going to be out here alone tonight . . . she's a legend born in the misty swamps from the days when the Gullah practiced voodoo, living in the terror of darkness, shunning the power of the light. Boo hags are worse than vampires," he said in a low voice. "They don't suck your blood. They steal your breath. Ohhhh . . . they are the most frightful of all creatures from the abyss. . . . "
BookFour
The Path of Shadows
Elijah's clan has only one new clue: the flight of the raven into Council Cliffs State Park. But illegal fires burn in those canyons at night and cast suspicion on Elijah--the only one who knows the canyons like the back of his hand.
To make matters worse, Dowland's journals disappear from the police station and the clan loses one of its own.
This bear unknowingly became part of our plot to scare those evil camp counselors. I never laughed so hard in my life!
Shadow Bridge. The four of us worked on it all summer so we could take Reece with us into Telanoo
Fatman's Squeeze. What almost happened here.... I don't even want to think about it.
Look inside . . . The Path of Shadows:
Skid and Reece were trading troubled glances, and I could tell just by the look in their eyes what they were thinking: they were wondering how Dr. Eloise--or Mrs. Dowland--could talk about God like he was the greatest thing ever, after living under an alias and stealing journals from a police department like a common thief.
"Have you begun to look for the next piece?" Dr. Eloise asked me directly.
Skid butted in, his voice cold, "We'll stay in touch."
"What omens are directing you?" she asked, eyeing us curiously.
"Omens?" Reece asked.
"As in truth, dear. Remember amen and omen mean truth. What truths are you following?"
"A little bird told me something," I said hesitantly.
Her face lit up. "Really?! Not in a deep gorge with a brook, I suppose?"
A chill went through me; she'd hit the nail on the head. "Um, sort of."
"Just like Elijah of old. Where? Where?" she asked hungrily.
"State park," I said, being vague. Skid scowled at me.
She glanced at Dr. Dale knowingly. "It's as we discussed. The park."
My heart skipped a beat. How did she know about that? Had they been following us? Were they trying to get ahead of us with their know-how and the journals?
She saw the shock on our faces, and her eyebrows went up. "Oh, weve been working, dears. After a series of wild goose chases, we found the faintest evidence that the shoes had a Moravian connection."
What's that? Rob asked.
"Another pot of tea, shall we? But brace yourselves. This story will leave you queasy."
Elijah's only hope of finding the Sword of the Lord is to join two quirky professors on a whirlwind tour of Ireland.
A trek through castles and curiousity shops uncovers tales of horror--and a long-lost relative.
Elijah gets his first taste of spiritual warfare and discovers that the veil between this world and the next is thin . . . very thin.
Pics of Leap castle and ogham script here
We took a tour of spooky LEAP CASTLE. home of the extinct bloody MacMerrit clan. Rob
joked, "Their gift shop is
closed for ALL ETERNITY!"
The Hill of Slane where I built
a fire against the darkness
Ancient Ogham Script
Look inside . . . The Haunted Soul:
I asked the policeman what happened.
He shook his head sadly. "Poor bloke got off the tour bus, walked over for a look-see, and was gone.
Fifth one this year." He eyed the swift, gray sky. "Frightful still wind a moment ago, sill as death now. Puts the fear of God in ya sideways, don't it? Stay this side of the fence, folks." He turned to go and then nodded to Skid and me. "But if ya venture out there to get a straight-down look like so many do, stay on yer bellies, lads, and mind the wind."
Everyone but Skid went up to the observation tower. I half expected another topography lesson from Dr. Dale, but his crinkly eyes were focused on Skid, who looked small and lonely. Under his breath Dr. Dale said, "'My enemy will say,"I have overcome him," and my foes will rejoice whe I fall.'"
"What's that from?" I asked.
"Words from the Warrior," he answered quietly.
"Do you feel it? Do you feel the darkness falling?"
His question set me back.
"He wants one of us," Dr. Dale said quietly.
"Who wants who?" I asked.
"The evil one, and . . . I don't know."
I looked out over the dark, churning sea below us. It was a little eerie, but nothing more. I didn't feel darkness falling.
When we came back down, Skid had passed through tthe break in the fence but was clinging to the post for dear life.
"What are you doing!?" Reece screamed at him.
"I'm done with it," he said, "I'm done."
"Done with what?" she demanded to know.
"His fear of heights," I answered.
Reece threw Dr. Eloise a glare. "You're not going to stop him?!"
Dr. Eloise called, "Marcus, it's obviously safe to crawl to the edge and look down." She turned to us. "Why don't you join him?"
Reece grabbed my arm. "No, Elijah!"
Still haunted by echoes of a demonic voice, Elijah becomes a fugitive from his own life.
Hostile and reclusive, he discovers the next clue to the armor. but it may be too late. He's trapped in Gilead in the dead of winter.
No one knows where he is--except the two from beyond who are watching him, vying for his soul. And the final piece of the armor is till hidden somewhere, waiting to be activated.
Gilead, my secret hiding place on the
remote fringes of Telanoo.
While I was dying a slow death in Gilead, Rob was taking great photos
of the ice storm. Nice work, Rob.
I staged this shot later to remind myself WHO could provide what I needed, when I needed it.
I named this Great Horned owl "Leap Castle" cuz he looked like that haunted place. Do you see the remblenace? Okay, I guess it's just me.....
Look inside . . . The Angel of Fire:
Do you want me to lay here and die, God? Or do you want me to saw off my foot and crawl home and never run again? Which one is it? Is someone coming? Are they searching Telanoo right now? Or are they questioning the Stallards? Is news spreading across the Midwest that a boy from Magdeline is missing and thought to be headed for Chicago? If I wait too late to amputate, I won't have the strength to go through with it. But what if I do it and five minutes later they find me? I dont know what to do!
Exactly.
I could almost see the evil one grinning at my predicament. He sounded a lot like Justin Brill.
I seethed. Don't you get it? Im not listening to you! But I was listening. And as I played the conversations over and over and over, the difference in God's words and his got more and more distinct. The difference was in the content and in the tone. I felt pure hate coming from the shadowy messages.
But I'd always sensed God's love for me in his words, even the time in October when God said he'd let me see my enemy, and his voice was stern and a little scary.
I knew it in the same way that I knew how Reece felt about me, even when she was rolling her eyes over something about the Bible that I was too dense to get.
I recognized the disgust in the evil one's tone because of how Justin Brill was always making fun of me. Wow. I would never have seen the difference so clearly if I'd never heard Brill's slams and name-calling: Hey, Nature Boy, eat any roadkill lately? Hey, Creek, you and Elliston . . . mumble mumble . . . heh, heh, heh. How he leered and jeered at Reece and me. I had something he didn't. He was jealous!
God had been using something bad to teach me an important rule: good could come from bad.
But if I die out here, please don't let Brill end up with Reece. That would be sick and wrong.
It's been a year of silence and uncertainty since Elijah Creek escaped Gilead by the skin of his teeth. Suddenly, the clan is called on a mission of spiritual warfare in Japan. Tragedy forces Elijah to rethink his life.
He finds a sword. But is it the legendary sword of the Lord? Is the clan fully armed against the occult power of Lotus?
Have they learned what it means to put on the whole armor of God?
My Scrapbook - JAPAN!
(We would have been lost without Mei!)
This is a "gateway to the gods." But Reece and Li prayed, "Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of Glory may come in." And the next day everything changed.
We met the Students of the Seven Seas at Nikko. Here we're getting ready for our first prayer journey.
Amakusa Shiro was a teen like me. In 1637 he died along with 37,000 others because he refused to give up God. His statue shows him wearing a sword. I was looking for a sword of a different type . . .
Look inside The Carpet of Bones:
Dr. Eloise's small, glittery eyes drilled into me: "Our Mr. Dowland was in error, child. The Armor of God must never again rest in peace!"
After a long pause, I said, "Could you help me make an international call?"
She smiled, pulled something metallic out of her pocket, and folded it into my hand. "Follow me."
It shouldn't have been hard for a bunch of teenagers to say good-bye to an old person like Dr. Eloise, who'd always been a little left of center. But we all had a tough time that next morning. We promised to keep in touch.
On the slow train from Shimabara to the seaport, I plugged in Mei's music and watched the rice fields go by. What she said in Ireland was right: theres no other green like rice fields in
August--natures neon.
I watched my clan. Rob was asleep on his backpack. Marcus was talking to Mei. Sitting on the opposite side of the train, Reece locked eyes with me in a way that sent my heart into my throat. She'd been watching me awhile.
I smiled at her. She smiled back. It seemed like a scene from a movie: blue mountains and sky whizzing past behind her, background music floating through my brain. I was suspended between worlds, between going and staying. I was in Ireland on the Hill of Slane where Marcus had said we were the new wave. Ireland, where we'd searched for the sword when we had it all along.
In that look that passed between Reece and me, we relived it all: a three-year quest from Magdeline to Farr Island to Ireland and beyond.
My whole life is in Magdeline. How can I leave?
Look inside here
God is stronger
than the darkness.
