Read Online Joshua and the Lightning Road by Donna Galanti - Free Book Online

with just the thuds of our feet on the mossy ground and the dead trees creaking in the breeze as they towered above. They seemed to move their arms in the mist, reaching out for us as if we could bring them to life. We ran through their graveyard, climbing higher and higher. The floor of the woods spread out as we moved up the mountain. There was no path, but Sam ran as if he knew exactly where he was headed. Finally, he stopped.
    “Where are we?” A stitch tugged at my side with a worsening throb, and I was terribly thirsty.
    “The Spring of Galene.” He pointed to a pile of rocks. Water bubbled from the top of the big rock in the middle and flowed down into a shiny basin. “A fabled spring that rejuvenates strangers on a long journey.”
    Charlie nodded. “But is it safe to drink? Nothing mysterieux swimming about in it?” He must’ve noticed the stream-creatures, too.
    Sam nodded and picked up a round leaf. He cupped it under the bubbling water and filled it up. He handed it to me, but I hesitated even though my tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth like a piece of paper. Sam shrugged and drank greedily, then Charlie drank. I finally took the leaf and drank too. A hint of sweet honey lingered on my tongue and flowed through me with healing warmth as energy surged in me.
    “What was the real god Apollo like?” I said as Sam filled up the canteen from the spring.
    Sam smiled, and it looked strange on his sad face. “He was the god of light, truth, music, and healing. They said he could prophesize the future, and he taught your people about medicine.” His face fell then. “But he was also the god of plagues and death like his twin Artemis.”
    What was Sam’s role here that he knew so much? “How do you about all this?”
    “ O ui , ” Charlie saidwith a frown .
    Sam didn’t answer, then opened his mouth as if to tell us but stiffened, sniffed the air, and waved a hand our way. “Let’s go! The cadmean beasts are close.”
    We could only go so fast. The mist spread thick through the ash colored woods, and somewhere beyond the nothingness could be giant, red-eyed beasts eager to rip us apart.
    It wasn’t long until Sam stopped fast and took a deep sniff. “By the gods, hurry!”
    He turned to his left and ran. Charlie and I were right behind him when a snarl cut through the silent vapor.
    A pair of red eyes burned down at us. Then another. And another.
    Trouble was here—stalking us through the mist.

Chapter Eleven
     
     
    Charlie, Sam, and I backed up to one another. Three cadmean beasts glared down at us, their mouths dripping with red foam. I didn’t want to be part of that foam.
    The tallest one pricked its ears back and forth, and then snorted. Its breath pulsed in the air to the beat of its paw thumping the ground as curved claws scraped deep lines in the dirt.
    “Don’t hurt us,” I said out loud. Instinct drove me to keep talking. “Leave us alone and we’ll leave you alone.”
    The leader threw its nose up in the air and howled.
    “You’re just making it mad,” Charlie said as he and Sam backed away.
    The beast spoke, and to my shock, I understood him clearly. “As if you runts could do anything to us. We rule this forest, Reeker meat.”
    The other beasts joined their leader in mocking us. “Reeker meat! Reeker meat!”
    “Joshua—” Sam whispered behind me, but I cut him off with a glance.
    “We’re not Reeker meat.”
    “What?” Sam and Charlie’s mouths hung open. The beasts stepped forward. We all stepped back.
    “ Mon dieu ,” Charlie said. “Why did you say that?”
    “Didn’t you hear them?” I said.
    Sam and Charlie’s gaze flicked to the beasts and back to me again.
    “You’re a malumpus-tongue,” Sam said, as if that had some meaning to me.
    I was as shocked as they. If beasts could smile and talk on this world, what else could they do? The beasts continued to laugh.
    Charlie said, “What the h—”
    “And they’re not friendly,” I