The Legend of Silver and Gold Book Two The Old Ones

Molly woke with a start as she heard a loud car horn blaring. The memories of what had happened to her during the middle of the night came rushing back. She felt her heart beating quickly. She wasn’t sure if it was from fear or the way she had woken up. She looked out her window. It looked like there was a traffic jam.

Molly looked toward the front of the car, expecting to only see Carver there. To her shock, she saw one of the women from the hotel in the driver’s seat. “Where’s Carver and Tora?” Molly asked, her heart beating faster. She was being kidnapped by one of the Powerful Ones. She reached for her door but before she could open it, she felt a hand on her arm.

“It’s okay Molly. You’re safe.” Molly turned to see Tora sitting next to her. “Eir is on our side.” Tora told Molly. “She helped us escape the attack last night.”

Molly looked toward the front of the car. That was when she noticed Carver. Both Carver and the lady were looking at her. “Where are we?” Molly asked in a shaky voice. She wasn’t entirely willing to trust the woman, Eir as Tora had called her, just yet. After all, the Powerful Ones had locked her in a cage.

“We’re on the highway outside Jackson, New Hampshire.” Carver told Molly in a calm voice. He could tell the girl was freaking out. “There’s a Nordic village close by. Eir said we should be safe there.”

The Valkyrie nodded. “It’s where I’ve been living for the last thousand years or so.” She told Molly. “The mountains there remind me of my old home back in Norway. It’s well hidden and if one was to try to look it up, they would just get the resort that’s also in Jackson, New Hampshire.” She smiled. She was convinced that they would all be safe there for the time being. Not even the Powerful Ones knew about the hidden village. They had only known to travel to Jackson to meet with her.

“We’re just stuck in this traffic jam.” Eir told Molly. “Most likely people are wanting to get to the resort. It’s the only amazing thing for miles around here.”

Molly leaned over and covered her head with her hands. She closed her eyes tightly. All of this was becoming too much for her. She felt a hand on her shoulder. “It’ll be okay.” She heard Carver telling her. She really wanted to believe him but she wasn’t sure what to believe anymore. The last safe place that they had gone to had turned out to be a trap before it had gotten attacked by others who wanted her.

Carver looked at Tora. “Talk to Molly.” He told her. “She might be willing to talk to someone closer to her own age.” He remembered how Skye hadn’t believed a word that Nichallo had told her back on the bridge in San Francisco or had been willing to open up to either Nichallo or Elizabeth but she had trusted him with her life. He knew part of that had been because he had saved her and had been willing to sacrifice himself to protect her from Nichallo’s attack. Maybe what Molly needed was another kid to talk to her.

Carver turned to Eir. “Are there any other exits we can take to get to your safe house?” He asked her. He didn’t want to risk the wrong people seeing Molly. For all they knew, the Amber Alert for Molly had reached Jackson and the highway patrol was searching each vehicle going past the city.

Molly pointed at the next exit ramp that was visible. “If we take this road, we can go on the back roads. Might cost a us about an extra half hour drive but we would get there a lot sooner than if we stayed on the highway.” She told Carver.

“Let’s do that then.” Carver said. He didn’t want to waste any more time on the highway.

“Want to talk about it?” Tora asked Molly in a gentle voice. She could see that Molly was freaking out. She knew what it was like to find out that the magical world was real. When her mom had told her how her book had really happened, she hadn’t believed it until she saw her mom use her magic.

Molly uncovered her head and turned to look at Tora. “How do you deal with this so naturally?” She asked Tora. “Why aren’t you freaked out by everything that just happened?”

Tora thought about it. “Trust me. I am freaked out by what had happened last night.” She told Molly. “Being put under house arrest by the uncle of someone who is like an uncle to me or seeing the death and, let’s face it, carnage, isn’t something I’m going to forget any time soon.” Tora smiled a little. “But I know Carver wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me. Like I said, he’s the closest thing I have to an uncle ever since my dad left my mom and me and his family shunned us.”

Tora looked at Carver. Even though he hadn’t been in her life for the last few years, Tora wished that Carver was her dad. He had done more for her than her own dad ever did back when Skye had still been alive. Tora looked at Molly. She wondered if Carver would be willing to adopt Molly. After all, Molly didn’t have anyone to go back to.

Molly shook her head. “I don’t know if I can do this anymore.” She said. “I didn’t realize that people would be wanting to lock me up in cages or that there would be people hunting me down.” She found herself wishing that she had never gone to the library. Maybe if she had just stayed home with her mom, they would be at home still.

“If it makes you feel any better, my mom went through this thing when she was about our age.” Tora said before she thought of something. She reached into her bag and took out her book. She handed it to Molly. “My mom wrote down the adventures she had as the Golden Child and had it published as an adventure book.” She told Molly.

Molly looked at the book. She wasn’t sure if she was willing to believe that everything in the book had actually happened but it might help her figure out how to cope with everything that was happening to her.

Tora looked ahead as she saw Eir pull the car onto the exit ramp. She couldn’t help but sigh with relief. The traffic jam had given her a bad feeling. Now, it looked like nothing would get in their way of getting to Eir’s safe house.

Miles away, Salazar and Howard were driving to Providence. Neither of them was too eager about reporting their failure to Tempest. They knew that even though the plan had been perfect and that the only reason it failed had been because Coatlicue and Shub-Niggurath not paying attention to the Silver Child, that Tempest would most likely punish both of them instead of punishing the Old Ones.

Howard looked at Salazar. “How much trouble do you think we’re in?” He asked Salazar. Howard wasn’t ready to say goodbye to his immortality just yet and if Tempest was going to take it away, he wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Howard actually enjoyed being immortal and no one was going to take that away from him.

“We don’t even know if we’re in trouble.” Salazar reminded Tempest. “We just tell him the truth about how Shub-Niggurath and Coatlicue failed to get the Silver Child like they were supposed to. I mean there wasn’t anything we could do against the Powerful Ones so its really on the both of them.”

“Come on. We both know that Tempest won’t do anything to the two Old Ones.” Howard said before he crossed his arms over his chest. “They’re practically gods. We’re just two immortal humans. We’re easier to replace.”

Salazar pulled the car to the side of the highway. “We’re not the only ones who are easy to replace.” He said before he smiled. He looked at Howard. “There is someone else we can turn to for help. Someone that Tempest wouldn’t be able to challenge so easily.”

Howard frowned. What was Howard talking about? The Old Ones were the most powerful beings on Earth. He wasn’t entirely sure if Tempest was an Old One for sure but he was pretty sure that there wasn’t anyone who could challenge the strange man. “Who are you thinking of? A Dark One? A Powerful One? Who?”

“A Serpentorin.” Salazar replied.

“Now you’ve lost me.” Howard said. “What is a Serpentorin? Why haven’t I ever heard of one of these before?” He was curious now as to what Salazar was up to.

“You’ve heard of them.” Salazar told Howard. “They were usually mistaken for gods though. Quetzalcoatl, Kukulkan, Apep and Jörmungand are four of the main Serpentorins, possibly the last ones the humans had ever heard of.” Salazar took his phone out and brought something up on it. He showed it to Howard.

Howard looked at the phone screen. It was showing what looked like a carving of a man with a snake head with several plums of feathers coming out of the back of its head. He had a curved blade in one hand and a round shield in his other hand.

“That is Kukulkan.” Salazar continued. “He was a Serpentorin down in Mesoamerica with the Serpentorin Quetzalcoatl. The two were often mistaken for each other by the Mayans and the Aztecs who lived down there but they were separate beings.”

“You still haven’t explained how the Serpentorin would be able to help us against Tempest if he goes after us.” Howard said.

Salazar smiled. “According to the human race, the primordial gods of different mythologies are the ones who created the world. But they’re wrong. The world is a lot older than what most people know. Before the Powerful Ones, there was a being known as Aether. He was the one who created Silver and Gold through his two children, Artemis and Apollo.”

“Hold up.” Howard said. “You’re telling me that someone existed before the Powerful Ones and his kids, Greek Powerful Ones, created the Silver and Gold legends?” He had seen many crazy things in his life, and was willing to believe some things that seemed impossible but he didn’t think he could believe that.

“I know. I couldn’t believe it myself when I found the truth.” Salazar shook his head as he thought about that day. “But Aether was the father of Apollo and Artemis long before the twins were worshiped by the Greeks. But anyways, long before Aether, there were different races that existed. There were four of them. The Serpentorins were the ones who ruled the world right before Aether. In fact, Aether and some of the oldest Powerful Ones such as Ra and Odin fought the Serpentorins, scattering the Serpentorins to different parts of Pangaea.” He explained.

“How does that help us today?” Howard asked. “Do any of these Serepentorins live in the States?” The four that Salazar had listed were from different countries and they couldn’t get to any of the four before Tempest went after them.

“There is one that we can go to.” Salazar explained. “The one I’m thinking of was worshiped or feared, depending on who you talk to by the Cherokee. He was known as Uktena, a horned serpent. Said to once be a man before he was cursed as a serpent for failing to kill the sun.” Salazar wasn’t sure if he believed the myth but it was the closest description of an actual Serpentorin.

“So where do we find this Uktena?” Howard asked. If he remembered correctly, the Cherokee had been forced from their homes hundreds of years before. Even before he had been born.

Salazar smiled. “We can find him in Ohio actually.” He said as he brought something up on his phone. “Luckily for us, where he is has been closed to the public for years now.”

Howard frowned. “Where is this place?” He asked.

“The Serpent’s Mound in Peebles Ohio.” Salazar replied. “Apparently when the Cherokee went west, Uktena went along the Mississippi River but went to the east and along the Ohio River before going to the Serpent’s Mound.”

“Then let us be off to the Serpent’s Mound and let’s hope we get there before Tempest gets to us.” Howard said as he looked at the sky. He knew that a certain Old One could be listening in on them.